Chapter 1: Those Granted to Hell V

—And that's it! Everyone, silence. Let's listen...

The two men were talking loudly. From their body expressions it was not good at all.

—Then fuck off, you cunt! We don't want faggots on our team. When we say you should pull the trigger, you do it because it's a fucking order, asshole. —A large, bald, tattooed, leather-clad man said angrily.

—Fuck you! I'm tired of doing shit for you. While you stay there, scratching your balls, we're risking our asses. We're robbing, stealing and killing for you, you fucking ingrates....

—Jack, what's going on is you don't have the balls to do what's being asked of you. You were strictly ordered to take out the bitches who locked themselves in the children clothing store! As much as I would have loved to bang the youngest one....

—I just can't deal with this! I've had enough. I got tired of your shit, even long before all this happened, you guys always push me aside, you don't take me into account in decisions... all this time I've been your whore, and you've been my pimp.

—Oh God, are they talking about us? —Molly felt a strange feeling in her chest as she listened to him.

—We tried... for good, but then some fucking lunatic broke into the place, fucked up the windows and took them away. We couldn't risk it...

—That's what you should have done, with the group! It's unbelievable that a stranger outside the group had more balls than you. What about what you did this morning? You were ordered to kill all the civilians and to hold back those who could be useful to the group, yet they escaped... And killed one of our own!

—It's not my fault! You can't just kick me out! It's hell out there... and it's just...

—Maybe it's time to implement a new rule. Death to the cast out, my friend. So... after I shoot you, I'll throw you to the dead. How about that?

At that moment, and without giving himself the luxury of responding, the man took his shotgun and shot the bald man. The black-and-white cameras showed a huge black stain on the floor, the result of his stomach being ripped to shreds.

Thanks to the shooting, the man escaped while other subjects chased and shot him in an attempt to neutralize him.

What caught the attention of the group in the shelter was not the fact that they were trying to hunt the man down, even other cameras in the plaza showed them chasing him, but that one of the subjects who approached the bald man lunged at him, tearing a chunk out of his jaw.

—Megan, turn off the lights! —Nikolai ordered, as he saw that there was a group of people, probably just like those thugs, nearby.

Megan listened. Although nothing was visible on the cameras, the bursts of light that were produced implied that they were shooting, completely blind. Nikolai just waited for them to shout, one shout after another, each with a distinctive tone.

—Turn on the lights.

Megan did so.

By the time the lights came back on, the scene was as expected. Of the five men who were helping the bald man, and who were assumed to be members of that group that was murdering people non-stop, only one of them was far enough away from the danger zone.

The bald man had finished ripping off part of the jaw of his colleague, who had transformed himself. Between the two of them they attacked a third one, the bald guy took off the lower part of his body, since he no longer had legs... and bit the ankles, while the other infected guy put his hand in the mouth of that poor man, making sure to tear out his tongue and sink the rest of his mouth to eat and eat.

The fourth guy?

He died as a result of the shots fired by the third man. His body was now inert on the ground, but... he came back.

And then, he attacked the fifth. The fifth guy tried to attack but he was so terrified that his body did not react, and he just let himself be bitten... bitten. He tried to push his fallen companion away, but it was useless as the superhuman strength of the infected was such that it broke the hand of the subject who tried to push him away.

Nikolai, Megan... Ashley... they all saw what was happening.

They all learned only one truth.

George entered the room, as he was looking for his husband, who was not in bed. When he entered and saw Michael, Rogers hugged him and kissed him.

It was then that he said something that confirmed what everyone had in mind.

—We are all infected, George.

George's smiling face, those gleaming white teeth were hidden by a face full of horror, of fear....

In response, he just hugged him.