Jean was not in the best form. Her black battle suit, the mercenary one, not the voyager one, was stained red, giving the entire suit a depressing dark red theme. Two large holes were opened up in both her suit and her arms, and there was nothing to keep the blood from spilling out onto her clothing. The bullet Spence put in her leg was slightly less damaging than the licker claws, but it was by no means a scratch wound either. It was just a small penetrating wound, but it was enough to stop her from walking for a while. In the given environment, it also meant certain death.

Carl had no time to worry about the t-virus the licker certainly brought into Jean. He quickly laid Jean down and took out an army knife. Cutting off the random pieces of cloth around the wounds, he frowned at what was left of the exposed skin, the torn flesh, and the severe loss of blood.

Jean coughed and opened her eyes. The twisted look on her face meant she wasn’t exactly having fun.

“You ok?” Carl asked an obvious question, trying to distract Jean from her pain.

“What happened?” Jean’s words were quiet and forced as she kept her teeth tight.

“Spence pushed you to the licker. I knocked him out and killed the licker.” Carl briefly explained. “But you...you’re injured. Severely.”

Jean coughed. “Tell me about it.” She tried to grin but only managed half what she wanted. The result was a mixture between a smile and a scream. “We need to leave now.” She tried to stand up, but her effort only resulted in a pained groan. Carl bit his lips as he knelt down and helped Jean up on one leg. He could see the pained look on Jean’s face, but there was nothing he could do but try to make the process faster.

Jean paused as she walked past Spence, who was still knocked out on the ground. Carl looked at her in confusion. “What is it?”

“Kill him.” Jean said.

“What…” Carl frowned. He was fine with knocking him out and leaving him here to die, but killing him directly...

“He attacked us. He is our enemy.” Jean persisted. She didn't want to babysit Carl all the time. “Kill him.”

“He's a human. He’s unarmed and defenseless.” Carl tried to come up reasons to escape what had to be done.

“I was unarmed and defenseless, and that didn’t stop him from taking me hostage. He is an enemy. If we let him go now, who knows what he will do in the future?” She saw Carl was still doubting, so she made a final push. “Mercy to your enemies is cruelty to your friends. I would rather let my enemies die than let those I care about suffer. I hope you can make the same decision”

Carl sighed and looked at the wounds on Jean’s body. The girl was right. If Spence lived, there was no telling what he might do in the future. Jean was lucky enough to survive this time, but if he strikes again, the next friend under attack might not be so lucky. Carl didn’t want to let someone he cares about die because he couldn’t do what had to be done.

He aimed his rifle at Spence’s head, closed his eyes, and pulled the trigger. A bullet ripped the man’s head open.

Turning his gaze away from the mess that was once a living man, Carl knelt down and carried Jean in her arms. He knew Jean, on one leg, was too slow. Jean resisted a bit, but nevertheless gave in. Together, they moved toward where the train was.

If some undead attacked at this point, then they would find an easy prey. Carl knew there was no way he could carry Jean and fight off the zombies at the same time, so he simply tried to walk faster.

Usually, when someone was afraid of something, that exact thing tends to happen. This was precisely what was happening now as Carl heard growls from behind him.

“Hold on.” Carl gripped to Jean tightly and started running. He took a second to turn back and look, and realized zombies were pouring out of a hallway. It was just a couple zombies at first, but the sound of their growls attracted more and more zombies in just seconds. The second time Carl looked, the zombie count was in the dozens and growing.

As he moved, Carl could feel his body aching. He wasn’t an athlete before being a recruit, and all the running and fighting had made him way too tired to carry a sixteen year old girl while running. The growls got closer and closer. He knew it would be ten seconds tops before he was caught up and hunted down. There was no way he could fight dozens of undead by himself. He also knew he could last a few more seconds if he abandoned Jean.

He looked at the girl in his arms, who was already unconscious. If he dropped her now, she would leave this world peacefully. Even if he could save her, she would be too wounded to contribute to or even survive the mission. In that case, why shouldn't he leave her to buy himself some time? No one could blame him for trying to save himself. Carl's eyes turned cold.

And he kept on running...with a certain blonde in her arms.

For some reason the zombies were never able to get close enough to reach him. Afterward, Carl concluded he must be running faster than he thought because of all the adrenaline and fear. The truth? No one knew.

Turning around another corner, Carl saw the train. The rest of the team were already on the train. Carl could see Rain and Alice standing at the door, waiting for him. As soon as they saw him, they started firing on the horde of zombies in pursuit. Carl could feel the bullets fly by him and land in the undead behind, resulting in some extremely painful roars.

Carl ignored the bullets. The distance from where he was to the train took three seconds. With one final leap, he landed in the train. He was about to fall over, but Alice lended him a hand and held him up.

“Get the train moving!” Carl didn’t have time to thank the blonde. Zombies were swarming up, and two guns couldn’t stop the fearless beasts from going after their food. The train needed to move now.

Laying Jean on the floor of the train, he turned around and grabbed onto the rifle that was strapped to his belt and fired on the approaching zombies. Rain and Addison came to help as well, each carrying an automatic rifle. A storm of bullets washed over the incoming zombies and held them back for the time being. The gunshots attracted more zombies and even a few lickers, but they were too late. The train was already moving, and the zombies could only chase after the train as it gradually gained speed. As slow as the train seemed to be, it was much faster than the rotting legs of the zombies. The lickers could catch up to the train, but somehow they failed to do so.

Killing one licker with random bullets is luck. Killing several is hinting of a conspiracy.

As they got out of danger, the team immediately assembled around Jean. Even though they have just met for a few hours, the relationship between most of the team was close. The amount of trust fighting side by side could bring was impressive.

“What happened to her?” Alice asked, eyeing the menacing wounds and asking the question most of the team was wondering. Licker claws were different from zombie scratches and rifle wounds.

“Spence pushed her in front of a licker.” Carl checked Jean’s wounds. They were still bleeding.

“That dick.” Rain cursed angrily. “He’d better not meet me.”

“I killed him.” Carl replied concisely, skipping over the event. “We need to get her medical attention. In fact, we all need medical attention.” He looked at the wounds some of the team received from the undead. From the Red Queen they have learned that scratches from the infected could make them infected as well. The thought of turning into creatures with peeled flesh, rotting flesh, and cracking bone was enough to make the elite soldiers shiver.

Alice suddenly remembered something. She turned and ran to a corner of the train and pulled out a briefcase. In it were several syringes containing green liquid. “Anti-virus.” She explained shortly, handing the syringes to the infected. Two of the mercenaries took it without any hesitation. Alice took one for herself as well. A long scratch was on her arm. The road here for the team except Jean and Carl wasn’t easy either.

“Is it going to work? We have been infected nearly an hour ago.” Carl asked doubtfully as he injected himself and Jean with the syringes. The green liquid brought some coolness into his burning body, but most of his body was still on fire. If there were results, it was limited.

“It needs to work.” Rain decided. Her friend JD was one of the infected mercenaries.

Carl nodded, not wanting to argue, but deep down he wondered what would happen if the anti-virus failed. He didn’t go through all this trouble to become a zombie.

As the sound of the train running through the track continued, Carl was horrified to realize the heat within him remained. His mind was getting clouded. Every thought became so slow. His muscles started to ache. Both his mind and his body was failing.

Carl didn’t like where this was going.