London Bridge Is Falling

We land in West Virginia at a makeshift B.T.A.R HQ, It's the last one standing. We enter a room with a bunch of people one of them looks familiar, it's Noah. We look at each other, hopefully there's no hard feeling, after all...I did steal his car.

"Lara" He says, holding out his hand.

"Noah" I say. "Nice to see you again" I shake his hand firmly.

"Sorry to hear about your partner"

I shake my head. "Thanks. So what's going on?"

"We found the source of the virus. It's being shipped from London by a guy named Mikal. All things point to him, he's the founder of the virus"

"Okay. So you're saying we gather a team and kill the bastard?"

"Exactly" He says. "Get geared up, we're going as soon as possible"

I gather up gear and put on my B.T.A.R uniform. I run my fingers across the patch on my shoulder, remembering the time in California, my first mission, my first time seeing an infected. I gulp down a lump in my throat, knowing this might be our last mission, but everything we do is for the sake of humanity. Marina grabs some gear too, she's going with us. The more people we have, the better. I watch Selena load a few magazines, it's like she's angry at the world. I know deep down, she's scared and she blames herself for Dylan and Sen's death.

"Selena" I say. "Can we talk?"

She stops and puts everything down on the table in front of her. "Yeah"

"I'm sorry. It's not your fault, none of this is"

She rolls her eyes. "Look, Lara. I don't need a guilt trip from you or any of you people here" She picks up and knife and slams it into the table.

I laugh to myself. "We're about to go back to the heart of the virus and kill this guy. Get your shit together, Selena. We're a group, a team. So start acting like it"

"You aren't the leader"

"I'm the co-leader and Dylan is dead, so now I make the rules" I stomp away back to my section and tie up my combat boots.

"I'm sorry" She says from afar. "Everything has got me worried and scared"

"Yeah" I say. "Everyone here is"

We're going in with a group of ten. Me, Noah, Marina, Selena and a few others. We board the plane and watch the small runway evaporate in the distance. This might be the end to the virus, or it might be the end to humanity. I fall asleep, listening to classical music on an mp3 player I found back at the B.T.A.R. It's a bittersweet moment, listening to music for the first time in years. When I awake, Selena is smiling, Noah and Marina are throwing food in each others mouths. They're having fun, despite the worry of dying or not. The cloak is not over London anymore and it's dark, even when the sun is shining. It's a rough land, the runway hasn't been taken care of since the outbreak. When we get off, a few cars wait for us. It's weird driving the streets of London again. Normally we'd be walking. We pass by things that bring back horrible memories. The helicopter where I was wounded still sits in the grassy field. The buildings still charred from the initial bombing. Everything is so different now, the world will never be the same. The cars eventually stop and let us out. We stand just outside of a large building, the building That Dylan and Jo went into, the building that Jill died in. The windows are busted out and everything is abandoned.

"This place...we've been here" Selena says, opening the car door.

"Yeah" I reply. "He was right under our noses"

"The lab is underneath" Noah says as the cars leave.

"Let's take this guy out" Marina smiles, she doesn't know if she'll make it or not. None of us do.

We enter the building and make a quick sweep, looking for anyone but there's just dead bodies, blood everywhere, limbs torn apart. Noah clicks a button on the front desk and the floor opens slowly, revealing a small platform that'll take us down.

"Do we know he's here?" Marina asks.

"Yeah, they did an internal scan" Noah says. "He's here along with backup"

"Great" She swallows hard.

The platform comes to a hard halt and two sliding doors open. A few people check the area, it's clear and we're off, sneaking down a long hallway. It's filled with blood, like a big slip and slide. We stop and twist the silencers onto our guns. We round a corner and see bodies lined against the wall, they aren't dead. They're a weaponized experiment. They all turn around in sync and leap at us. Bullets spray and blood coats the walls and floor. We move on, prying open a set of doors that block our paths. And then bullets come from another direction. One grazes my neck, making blood drip down it. I instantly aim my gun at the other group and fire away. Blood sprays against my uniform, one of our team members are down. Once we kill the rest, there's only six of us left. We continue with our journey, killing anyone that steps in our way.

"Stop!" A man yells. "You've killed my men" It's Mikal and he's holding a vial of the virus in his hand.
"What makes you think you can just come in here and do that?"

"They left us no choice, Mikal" I say, aiming my gun at him.

"Don't put my name in your mouth, bitch!" He presses a button and the floor drops, it's like a fast elevator. When it eventually stops, the room is large and we're all laying on the floor.

I stand, the pain in my head pounds against my skull. I pick up my pistol and look around, Mikal has taking the vial of the virus and now he's mutated into something, some monster. His arms are stretched beyond the human limit, his teeth are razor sharp and his face is half melted off. He charges at me but one of our teammates pushes me out of the way, taking his own life. Selena jumps up and shoots endless rounds at him. I watch in horror as he groans in pain, but doesn't die. Noah and Marina shoot at his head.

"The only way to kill him is to blow this place to shit!" I yell. I look around for a way back up, there's a ladder. I head for it and start climbing. "Distract him!"

I get to the top and enter a small room, a room with a bunch of buttons and before I can press one, an infected latches it's teeth into my neck. I flip it over my shoulder and stomp my boot over and over on it's head. I fall to the floor and cry, all the emotions that have been backed up are now leaving my body. And then I see Selena, Noah and Marina climb up. They pick me up off the ground and sit me on a chair.

"He's down for now. Let's blow the place and get out of here" Marina smiles.

The floor cracks and breaks, sending everyone flying back. I fly through a window and slide ten feet across the floor. My forehead bleeds and my arm feels like it's broke in twenty different places. But the buttons are still intact. I crawl forward, my body feeling like a temple collapsing. But before I can get to the buttons, Mikal kicks me even farther across the room. Selena jumps on his back, slicing at him with a knife. He throws her off and tosses the knife at me, but she jumps in front of it. She falls to the floor, spewing blood from her mouth.

"Selena" I crawl towards her and hold her in my arms until her last breath.

"Lara. Get the fuck out of here!" Marina yells, pressing the button for the lab meltdown.

"No!" I scream. But I know there's nothing I can do, so I pick my body up off the floor and start running.

I hear an explosion and I start to feel the heat on the back of my neck and then the floor vanishes. I manage to grab onto something attached to the ground outside. I look down, seeing nothing but a pool of fire. I pull myself up but something grapples onto my leg, It's Mikal.

"Even if you get out, you'll never make it" He laughs evilly.

"Fuck you" I say, kicking at his hand. His eyes widen as he falls into the fire. I pull myself up onto the road and look over the edge. There's nothing. I turn around and limp away, listening to the building crash into the endless depths of hell. I hold my wounded arm, thankful to be alive.

"Anyone left?" A man asks, he's part of the B.T.A.R.

"It's just me" I say.

"Need a ride?"

"No...I'm not going home...anytime soon"

END.