As Miranda finishes warning us, a tick-tick-ticking noise can be heard skittering just on the other side of the door, making all of us hold our breath in terror.
After several heart-stopping moments, the skittering gets quieter and quieter before silence reigns in the room. I slowly turn towards Miranda before whispering, "What the fuck was that?!"
After catching her breath and calming down, Miranda says, "We don't know. We entered McKinley Hall and split up to take care of everything quickly, but when only half of us met up after our meet-up time, we decided to try and find them together. It's then that it struck; it was like lightning, stabbing Phil with its bony hand before darting away and hounding us all the way here."
Miranda's explanation leaves the room silent until I speak up, "We should stick together; whatever this thing is, it obviously likes to ambush us when we're least prepared or alone."
Everyone silently nods as we gather what we can and prepare to leave before Philip begins coughing terribly, and we all realize that he's almost definitely infected.
"I'm fine, I'm fine! Let's just head out before that thing comes back!" Philip quietly shouts between suppressed coughs.
Everyone looks at me, unsure of what to do, "Hey, Philip... Are you sure you're okay? It might be better if we find you a safe room to lie down in, and we'll come back later on when we have more people and weapons to kill that thing?" I offer to Philip, trying to coax him into staying behind of his own accord.
"No! I'm fine, and I'm getting out of here!" Philip says in an almost frantic panic, dashing through the door...
Only to be immediately skewered by that bony creature crawling around on the ground, causing the rest of us to panic and dash out in all directions. Me and John ended up going in one direction towards the police station shooting range while losing track of just where the others in the armory went.
But, just out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of the creature, and it made me sick to my stomach; it had no skin, revealing a skeleton draped in the faintest of sinuous muscles to allow for movement. What was worse was that the skeletal hands and feet were almost completely stripped of muscle, leaving only sharpened bony tips, which they used to grip the ground and shred into Philip's skull, eating chunks of his brain before turning to lock eyes with me as we're fleeing. Its hollow, sunken eyes reveal a terrifying primal intellect as I curse.
"Definitely not the zombies from 'Shambling Unliving'!" I shout as I hear the malformed mockery of a man begin to run us down.
"Scree! Scree! Scree!" It seems to laugh loudly as it closes in. We dive into the shooting range and slam the door behind it while I try to brace the swinging door so the creature can't come in. Causing it to repeatedly slam against the door to force its way through. With its bony fingers occasionally slicing through the gaps.
"John, get something to block this door!" I shout to John, who just stares at my arm... Where I notice a slight but noticeable bleeding cut on my forearm.
"Fuck, when'd that get there?!" I shout as each word is punctuated by a slam of that creature's fists against the door.
"I'm... I'm sorry!" John shouts as he shakily pulls out a pistol he picked up from the armory and aims at my leg.
"John! What the hell, man! Put that away!" I shout in disbelief, straining to hold the door back.
"I-I have to live, and you're already infected!" John shouts before the gun goes off, more in shock than intent, as the force of its recoil knocks the gun from his grasp, and instead of penetrating my leg, the bullet ends up shredding through my stomach as the shock of the injury lets the creature break through the door pouncing on me as John uses my imminent demise as his chance to escape.
"You fucking bastard!" I shout as I try to keep the creature at bay while it slashes and stabs into me, dragging me all across the floor.
By some miracle of flailing around, I was able to wrap my hand around the pistol John had dropped and started unloading into the creature, and it was only after firing 3 or 4 shots that I was able to nail the bastard in the head.
And it's then, as the adrenaline finally subsides, that the excruciating pain sets in, causing me to writhe on the ground. After what felt like an eternity, I propped myself against the wall with the pistol in my hand, thinking about what I had to do next.
A light blue screen stops me as I'm about to eat my last meal... A lead bullet.
[Greetings host, your planet is doomed to enter the final stages of ecological, societal, and biological collapse due to the prolific and unchecked infection and mutation rate of the Terro virus. As such, an experimental system designed by higher dimensional beings has been implemented to assist the host in reconstructing their quickly crumbling world in an effort to prove or disprove several hypotheses posited by the higher dimensional beings. I wish the host the best of luck.]
What kind of sick joke is this? I'm already infected, and there's no cure!
[Fret not, my simple-minded host; you've acquired sufficient Viral Load through your recent and pitiful display of martial prowess to purchase the skill:]
[>Viral Conversion- This allows the host to transfer the accumulated viral load into AVLP for use in further mutation development.]
"So... I can live?" I ask the sarcastic blue panel in disbelief, afraid to grasp my final straw of hope, in case this is all just a hallucination induced by the infection.
[That is what I said... Is the host an accurate representation of this species's intellectual capabilities, or are you just... Special?]
"Alright, why are you so snarky? And the name is Silvester Murdoch. What should I call you?" I ask the floating blue screen.
[It's how I was made? What's your excuse for taking so long to confirm your purchase of the skill that would save your life?]
"Oh shit, you're right, how do I do that?" I ask, trying to tap the screen.
[It's simple; all you have to say is, 'Oh, All Powerful system chosen by the higher beings, please grant this simple hairless ape's request and bestow upon me the Viral Conversion Skill.]
"Oh, all power-... You're just messing with me, aren't you? I think I'll call you Pima since I think you're going to be a serious pain in my ass. I wish to purchase the Viral Conversion Skill." I say done with their antics.
[Tsk, you're no fun.] Pima says with an eye rolling emoji.