Chapter 5: The Woman At The Gate

Irritation bubbled through me as I stared at Kael’s motionless body. 

This man was trouble and unfortunately he was too valuable for me to throw out to the zombies.

In his unconscious state, I stored him in the system-enhanced storage space, while I tried to clear my head and think about this new development.

Out of sight, out of mind.

My gaze settled on the outer perimeter. The section where Kael had crashed into my compound was visibly damaged. The wall was still standing, but a portion of the supporting structure had cracked, leaving a weak point that would need immediate attention.

I pinched the bridge of my nose.

Wonderful.

The world was ending, and I already had an expensive repair job.

I zoomed in on the damaged section, studying the surrounding area. There was no immediate sign of danger, but that meant very little.

 I needed to repair it before an infected person could climb into the compound, not that I was not prepared for such a situation.

In my previous life, the infected hadn't started out particularly intelligent. They were little more than rabid humans, their minds consumed by an unexplainable hunger that drove them to attack anything living.

That was bad enough.

But they hadn't stayed that way.

As the days passed, they changed. Their movements became more coordinated. They began hunting in packs, surrounding their prey and cutting off escape routes with efficiency.

By the time the rain reduced to a light pitter-patter across the window panels, the world outside was in absolute chaos but the infected seemed to avoid this secluded area, they had migrated to the more urban part of the city.

My phone rang and I picked it up looking at the caller ID, it was my scheming step-sister.

“Amy, to what do I owe the pleasure?” I asked, my voice calm even though the scene at the rooftop was still fresh in my mind.

“Jade! Where are you? The City is in total chaos, tell me your location so that we can come to you. Mom and I are trapped in a hotel” She asked breathlessly, voice laced with fear.

My face brightened and I let out a low giggle, “You seem to be having a good time Amy, I would come get you, believe me I would, but I wouldn't want to spoil your fun. Tell Leo I said hi, and by all means please stay safe, there seems to be some kind of ruckus on the news” 

“Jade! This is not the time for jokes, people are attacking and biting each other like barbarians, there's blood everywhere and the police aren't doing anything, we can't even get through to-” 

I didn't catch the last part of Amy's sentence because there was a loud bang on my gate. I cut the call, turning to the monitor to check what was causing the disturbance.

It was a woman, a girl of about fifteen that looked almost identical to her and a huge German Shepherd dog.

“Help! Somebody help us!” The woman shouted, banging on the gate with more urgency.

Wonderful. Another problem.

I picked up the mic connected to the speakers I had mounted by the gates, “Who are you and what do you want?”

“Help us! Please!” She cried,pushing her daughter away from her.

“Ma'am, are you infected? Have you been bitten?” I asked, squinting at the monitor, the image was grainy.

The girl was crying, trying to run to her mom who was actively pushing her away.

“Get away!” The woman shoved her and she fell, the dog started barking.

The girl scrambled upright, reaching for her mother again, but the woman backed away from her like she was afraid to let the girl come close.

My eyes narrowed.

I had seen plenty of people panic since the outbreak began. I had watched strangers abandon their friends and parents leave their children behind to save themselves, but something about this woman's behavior was overly strange.

“Ma'am, I'm going to need you to leave my property, I have a gun” I said calmly into the mic.

The girl turned in the direction of the speakers, her hair was muddied and plastered to her face, her dog and mom weren't much cleaner either.

"Please, you have to let us in! We have nowhere else to go!” She cried.

“I'm going to ask one more time, have you or your companion been bitten?” I said, watching their movements closely.

“Yes, I've been bitten. Please save my daughter, please open the gates” The woman cried.

Normally I would pay her no mind, but something in my heart could not turn the girl away, maybe it was the mother's sacrifice, or maybe I was a little bit crazy.

I scrambled down the stairs, the steel doors I had installed as protection opened as I lifted the latch, then the second one swung open.

I finally stepped on the porch, sprinting under the rain to the side gate.

“Is the dog infected?” I shouted, hoping my voice would carry to the other side.

“No” came the little reply.

I unlatched the gate, then twisted the lock and pulled the girl in, the dog followed at her heels.

“Help me,” the woman whispered, but I knew that she couldn't be helped, there was nothing I could do for her at this point.

In the time I had spent running towards them, she had fallen to the ground, arms bent at an inhuman angle. I had a gun in my hand, maybe I could put her out of her misery.

"Please don't shoot" The girl whimpered, tears gushing down her face. I pulled her into my arms, tucking the gun back in my holster.

“Please..” The woman whispered, in the same moment, her whole body twisted with a loud crack and lifted from the ground, her eyes turned bloodshot and she turned her head in a rapid movement, looking at us like meat.

“MOM!” The girl screamed lunging for the zombie, who was in turn running towards the gate.

I sprang into actions immediately slamming the gate shut, heart beating like a drum in my chest.

The impact of the woman colliding with the closed gate made the structure shudder. I waited for a beat, listening for sound of movements, none came.

“Come on, it's not safe out here” I said finally then turned around and walked towards the house, leaving her to follow.

The blue system window materialized in front of me.

[Emergency Target: SUBJECT ZERO]

[Status: Released from Pocket Dimension]

[Suppression Protocol: ACTIVATED]

[Deadline: 14 Days Remaining]

[Mandatory Objective: Return Subject Zero to the Pocket Dimension before the suppression deadline expires.]

[Restriction: Subject Zero must be returned without his knowledge or consent.]

[Warning: Direct disclosure of the suppression protocol is strictly prohibited.]

[Failure Consequence: Suppression Protocol failure. Host privileges and system access may be permanently revoked.]

I stopped in my tracks, staring at the notification.

Subject Zero released? Permanently revoked?

I had put Kael inside the storage space myself, what did the system mean by released?

Before I could summon another window, a final message appeared:

[WARNING: SUBJECT ZERO IS NO LONGER CONTAINED.]

My blood ran cold.

Slowly, I turned toward the hallway.

A man stood beside the final steel door. Tall, broad-shouldered and dressed in the same bloodstained clothes he'd been wearing when I stored him.

Kael Thorne.

His gaze moved from my face to the gun in my hand, then settled on the frightened girl standing behind me.

Finally, his eyes returned to mine.

"Interesting," he said quietly. "You look surprised to see me.”