--Phase 11 “The Numb”--
Allen muttered a whispered curse at himself as he made a solemn oath to ensure that neither Nathan nor Benji would ever experience the kind of horror that he had. He crouched next to Nathan and looked at Benji. The man's respiration was very shallow, and the muscles under his eyelids were moving quickly. It would not take long till Benji woke up and freaked out both of them. Allen put a lot of thought into finding a way to save Benji from his misery, or at the very least, to make Benji's anguish less severe and buy more time for them. Even if he does not have the cure, his knowledge of medicine should be able to assist him... a bit.
“Nathan, what’s Benji’s blood type?” Allen asked.
“Uhh...? It’s O,” Nathan answered as Allen got one crazy, insane, dangerous, life threatening idea. Well, at least it was an idea. In this desperate situation, a crazy idea was the best idea.
Allen removed his jacket off Benji and then went to retrieve some items from the bag he was carrying. There were some needles in the bag. Nathan had no idea what Allen would do until he saw him inject the needle into his arm and transferred some of his own blood into Benji.
“Allen!” Nathan was shocked and horrified. He did not know how to react when Allen used another tube to transfer Benji’s blood into his.
“I don’t want to be a burden because of lack of blood, I need to be able to walk,” Allen gave Nathan an excuse as he felt some pain on his vein as the virus blood entered him. “I’m adding more time for all of us. Maybe another half hour...”
“Uhh...” Benji opened his eyes after mumbling incoherently for a minute. Even though he was still frail, he seemed to be doing much better. He was sure he could get up and go for a run again. Benji slowly started to understand the circumstances he was in and how Allen was able to assist him. As he removed the tube, a wave of horror overcame him, and he despised Allen for having to aid him in such a terrifying manner. “What the fuck, Allen?!”
“That's all I can do.” Allen uttered in a shaky voice as he was falling to the ground. While Nathan attempted to wake Allen up, Benji got up and put a stop to the blood transfusions. Suddenly, the air was filled with a tremendous roar. The screams of the zombies could be heard coming from the passageway where they had come from earlier. Benji was able to quickly put his revived mind and body to use as he dragged Nathan and Allen to take cover behind some barrels. From their hiding spot, they were able to make out the footsteps of the zombies approaching them at an ever-increasing distance.
“Allen,” Nathan called Allen again as the oncologist finally opened his eyes and smiled.
“I’m fine, don’t worry,” Allen gave an assured reply. “Make sure your weapon is ready.”
Benji gave a forced nod as they got their gun pointed on the edge of the tunnel, ready for the zombies. He was angry with Allen for the way Allen had helped him, but he realised he should be grateful and tried to keep the others from getting bitten.
The sound of gunfire boomed through the air as the guys opened fire on any zombies that they came across and shot them in the head. The atmosphere was quite intense. The air was thick with the odour of sulphur, and the sound of gunfire could be heard in the background. Nathan threw a grenade that he had saved earlier, which caused the zombies to burst into flames like a bunch of balloons.
In the same moment that they believed they had the upper hand, there was a roar followed by a sharp crash. They were completely aware of what that meant. The monster that they had fought in the elevator earlier, which was significantly larger than any of the zombies, drew nearer and nearer. While Nathan and Allen were focused on shooting the head, Benji attempted to slow down its movement by shooting the legs. Some of the bullets reflected back to nearby zombies, killing them.
It was no used. The same thing happened as before. The amount of zombies did not appear to decrease no matter how many times they shot at them. The monster kept moving closer and closer. Benji cursed as he tossed his last grenade, and they hurried to the tunnel that Dominique had taken.
They did not get deep enough, just a few turns till they could shot the monster in safe distance. Yet, every struggle they did, nothing seemed to work.
“Damn it!” Nathan desperately desired to escape all of this terrifying situation. He could not take it anymore. They were battling a monster in his nightmare, and he had come dangerously close to losing Benji. They had to get out of there as quickly as they could to get Benji and Allen treated. They were wasting their ammunition in the pointless struggle they were putting up. He wanted everything to come to a stop, and if this was a dream, he wanted to snap out of it as soon as possible. He also wanted to wake up instantly.
“Get down!” Allen shouted as he threw fire dynamite to the monster. They laid down on their stomachs on the wet ground as hot air burned above them. It took them close to thirty seconds to rise to their feet and regain their composure after falling down. They took a glance and observed that there were no zombies moving. Like the monster, they were all reduced to ashes in the fire. Sighing, the three men collapsed again on the floor, gasping for some fresh air.
“Allen!” They heard a faint shout from the round room and they saw a figure approaching them. They were having trouble seeing well, but Allen was certain that it was Kaien. Allen hoped and prayed that Kaien would be okay, and he was. When the man ran to his side and asked whether he was all right, he felt an overwhelming sense of relief.
“I’m okay,” Allen said and Kaien went to examine the others. To his surprise, he saw Benji was way better than he thought the man could but he did not question the situation. Allen was so terrified that Kaien knew he had made a terrible and stupid decision to help Benji. Undoubtedly, the man would hit him.
“Benji felt better suddenly, we should get out while we can,” Nathan lied as he got Allen’s signal. Benji wanted to protest and tell Kaien there were two infected people there but Nathan prevented him.
“So is it a dead end in your way?” Benji finally gave up his real statement and changed the subject.
“No, it’s the way out,” Kaien declared as relief and horror were shown in the others’ eyes. Kaien knew he did not need to ask anything to know the answer.
“Dominique hasn’t returned yet,” Allen stated.
“We should get going,” Kaien ordered as he pulled Allen but the man did not want to move.
“Are you saying we should abandon him?!” Allen broke up, shouting for the first time at Kaien.
“We are not abandoning him.” Kaien did not yell back. He did nothing but keep talking while maintaining his composure. “Allen, he is aware of the consequences, as we did agree before we went our own ways.” Kaien's voice had shifted into a deeper and sterner tone when he said, ‘Come on, there is no time to waste. Benji's life is on the line!”
Nathan pulled Benji as they got Kaien’s signal to proceed to the tunnel ahead. Kaien had made sure he cleared most of the area he passed to make their going out easier and faster. That was why he took too much time to come back.
“I won’t leave him,” Allen’s answer was final too. Kaien slapped Allen as the man was shocked to bits. He never imagined being slapped by his only savior. Kaien’s cold gaze was calm and intense, and he flushed beneath his scrutiny.
“Dominique won’t want his sacrifice to be in vain. I will come back to search for him after I get the three of you out safely.” Kaien was trying hard to keep cool and lower his voice just to get Allen to shake his head again. “Come or not to come, it’s your choice.” Kaien let go of Allen as he walked past him with final saying, “I need to get Benji out for the treatment before it is too late...”
‘And what about me?! I’m also dying here! And Dominique!’ Allen wanted to scream but he did not.