On the south side of the hospital, darkness slowly fell from the sky, casting a somber veil over the surroundings. Walkers wandered back and forth, gradually making their way toward the hospital, drawn by the sound of gunfire.
Even though the sky was filled with smoke and walkers had taken over the streets north of the hospital, a lone figure was moving down the street toward the building, gripping the barrel of a machine gun tightly in her hand.
As the figure slowly crossed the dark intersection, half her face erged into the light, revealing none other than Alicia Clark.
Alicia spotted a walker drifting away, then quietly dragged a dumpster into place. She scavenged through clothes on the ground and off the bodies of walkers, stuffing them into the container.
After a few minutes, she discarded the straps and gear around her body that restricted her movent. She then walked slowly to a cleared corner of the hospital and began to climb a nearby staircase.
Today, Alicia felt, had been an especially bad day—full of unfortunate events. She had taken the initiative to help Jason out of the ss he was in, simply because she knew him. Sohow, sothing inside her just wanted to help him, even if it ant having a serious argunt with her brother before coming here.
This decision had been entirely her own, and she felt good about it. She believed she hadn't made a mistake.
After the recent confrontation with the Vultures—and now seeing most of them slaughtered by Jason—she was convinced that even if she hadn't known Jason, it would still be the right call to get him out of that hospital.
Still, she might not have risked so much if she hadn't heard soone ntion Jason's na. If not for that, she'd probably be back in her community with the others by now.
Feeling the numbness in her legs, Alicia entered the hospital. The first thing she saw were two bodies on the floor, both with gunshot wounds to the head. The sound of gunfire had started to die down, which likely ant the battle was nearly over.
"I hope they don't try to kill ..." Alicia held the radio in her hand, waiting for the right mont to contact Jason.
...
anwhile, Jason had entered a dark room. After finding nothing, he headed up to the second floor. He stared at the wooden door ahead and gauged his surroundings before slowly reaching for it.
But just as he raised his hand, the door suddenly swung open and several figures erged.
Jason reacted quickly, raising his pistol and firing two shots, but what happened next caught him off guard. A man burst out from the opposite room and tackled him to the ground.
Caught off guard by the surprise attack, Jason hit the floor. He drew his knife and stabbed the attacker hard in the leg.
"Ahhh!!!"
The man's agonizing scream was silenced by a blow to the throat. Agitated and breathing heavily, Jason rolled to the side and used both hands to choke the man beneath him.
"Argh!"
"Die, bastard!"
Jason growled through clenched teeth as he pressed his thumbs into the man's throat. Sensing death, the attacker clawed at Jason's eyes, desperate for air—but slowly, his strength faded as unconsciousness overtook him.
Just then, from the other end of the hallway, a figure walked slowly toward him. With a calm, steady voice, the person asked from a distance, "Are you Jason?"
Hearing those words, Jason grabbed the knife from the floor and rushed toward the voice.
The unknown figure flinched, startled by Jason's sudden reaction, stepping back just as Jason grabbed her collar and slamd her against the wall.
Jason covered her mouth to keep her from speaking, raised his knife, and was about to drive it into her—when he paused, rembering her question.
"How do you know my na?"
Jason looked closer at the figure beneath the hoodie and realized it was a girl. The situation was strange enough to cause him to hesitate.
The girl—none other than Alicia—t Jason's eyes without fear and calmly said, "You should step back. If I wanted to hurt you, you'd already be dead."
Jason glanced down and saw a pistol pressed against his side—right where his vest didn't cover a previous gunshot wound. He imdiately stepped back and watched the woman carefully, waiting for an answer.
Even though he couldn't see her face clearly in the dim hallway light, she raised her hand and gently pulled back her hood, revealing brown hair that shimred faintly in the dark.
"You still haven't answered my question. Who are you, and how do you know my na?"
Alicia was obviously nervous with a knife so close to her body, but she didn't show it in her eyes. When Jason had rushed her monts ago, she thought that was the end. But to her surprise, Jason had co to his senses and asked her na instead.
"I'm Alicia Clark. Are you Jason?"
When Jason heard her na, he slowly lowered his knife and looked at her with a faint smirk. "Well, this is a hell of a coincidence—and even more so that you ca here. I never thought we'd et again... No, I didn't expect to see a familiar face in a place like this."
As he spoke, Jason heard the distant growls of the walkers and refocused on Alicia. She holstered her weapon and started walking toward the place she had co through to escape.
Following her, Jason glanced down the hallway and saw several walkers running toward them. He pulled a rifle with a long suppressor from his gear bag and started shooting the red-eyed walkers charging their way.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The shots tore through the walkers' skulls, but they also alerted others who were climbing the stairs to the second floor.
"We have to get out of here—there's no ti to waste!" Alicia called out, glancing back at Jason, who was still firing.
"I'm right behind you!"
Jason pivoted and changed his magazine. He had been watching for any sign of other survivors, but had found none. Quickly, though in pain, he moved toward a shattered window.
"Through here. If we want to live, we have to jump!"
But just then, a figure neither Jason nor Alicia had seen rushed out of the hallway with a knife in hand.
"You bastard! I'll kill you!"
Seeing the attacker charge at Alicia, Jason threw himself forward, tackling both of them to the ground.
By now, Jason's body was losing strength. It seed the hits he'd taken earlier had done more damage than he thought—and the adrenaline was finally wearing off.
The enemy, who saw Jason as the reason his entire group had died, was overwheld with rage. Thinking of everything he'd lost, he lifted his boot and stomped Jason's head, unleashing all his bottled-up fury.
But Alicia was already behind him—still holding a dagger, her favorite killing weapon.
The enemy saw her standing there, and though she hesitated to strike a lethal blow, he executed a quick technique to dodge to the side.
Alicia lost her balance, shocked at how fearlessly he had moved despite her being so close to slitting his throat. She cursed herself for being such an idiot in that mont.
But Jason hadn't been lying on the ground doing nothing—he got back up and kicked the enemy in the head. The man hit the floor and tried to rise again, but Jason was already on him. He grabbed the man's forehead with his left hand, yanked his head back, and with the dagger in his right hand, expertly slit his throat.
"No ti—let's go!"
Alicia helped Jason to his feet and they both leapt into the dumpster, which was half-filled with clothing.
"Shit..." Jason muttered as he landed hard inside the container.
At that mont, the walkers reached the corpse of the man Jason had just killed, tearing him apart and ignoring any other movent inside the hospital.
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