LAST IMMUNE: THE APOCALYPSE KING

Chapter Two: They Turned Grey

CRASH!

Cole heard the sound before he saw the figure drop down the twenty feet frame, landing on the conveyor belt with a sound that should’ve broken every bone it had.

Nonetheless, the figure stood up.

Cole had seen bad things. Four years in the military, two deployments, and one tour he didn't talk about.

He'd seen what violence did to human bodies and he thought he had a working understanding of the range.

But this thing standing on the conveyor belt had recalibrated that range immediately.

The Grey had been a man as the shape was there; two arms, two legs and an upright posture but its skin had become the color of pale, old ash.

Beneath its grey skin, dark veins branched across its face and arms.

Its eyes, when it turned toward Cole's flashlight, were flat white, its lips drooling thick black blood.

It didn't look confused or in pain. It looked hungry in a way that had nothing to do with food and Cole threw his flashlight at its head but the Grey ducked it and came off the conveyor belt in a sprint.

"What the hell?!" Tann backed away and ran.

Cole had two seconds to decide and he grabbed a steel pipe from a maintenance shelf, planted his feet on the ground, and swung the pipe when the Grey reached arm's length.

The impact was solid, and the Grey staggered but didn't go down as it snapped its head back, its white eyes finding Cole without delay.

Cole hit it harder and harder again, until it went down. He stood over it breathing hard, pipe in both hands as the Grey on the floor twitched twice and died.

"Cole!" Tann shouted from somewhere deep in the warehouse and Cole found him in the breakroom.

The door was open, the vending machine glass shattered, and Tann was backed into the corner behind the table as a Grey stood between him and the exit.

This Grey was different from the one Cole had just killed. It was smaller, definitely a woman, and wore what was left of a yellow jacket. It snarled at Tann and hadn't heard Cole come in.

Cole moved fast and quiet, the way his buddy, Reck, had taught him years ago — "don't announce yourself, don't give your enemy time to prepare, just close the distance and make a decision."

He got the Grey by the back of its collar, and threw it into the vending machine, hard enough to cave it into the remaining glass and hold it there.

The Grey thrashed harder, stronger than its body size had any right to be and Cole quickly jammed a table against it.

"Go," he said to Tann but Tann didn't move, he just shook vigorously and stared at the creature.

"Tann!" He yelled at his colleague and Tann finally scrambled out the breakroom, and down the corridor.

Once Tann had a good head start, Cole dashed off and released the Grey, not looking back to see what it did next or how fast it sprinted after them.

They made it to the loading dock and Cole got the doors down and the locks engaged while Tann's body shook heavily — the kind of shaking that came after adrenaline runs out.

He slid down the wall and sat on the floor. "What was that," he asked.

"I don't know." Cole went to the dock window, a strip of reinforced glass at head height, looking out at the parking lot.

"It was Mrs. Heller, from receiving. I recognized her jacket."

Cole said nothing as he still couldn't wrap his mind around everything.

"Cole. That was Mrs. Heller."

"I know!" His tone came out harsher than he’d intended.

Three more Greys roamed the parking lot, one of them stopped and turned its white eyes toward the window and Cole stepped back.

He checked his phone but still no data, except for an emergency broadcast notification.

ALERT ! NATIONAL EMERGENCY — DO NOT APPROACH AFFECTED INDIVIDUALS — DO NOT GET BITTEN BY GREYS — FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS TO FOLLOW

Unfortunately, no further instructions followed.

Tann was still on the floor and Cole finally looked at him. His hands were shaking, his breathing was fast and the color of his eyes were off due to fear, until Cole saw his forearm.

There was a fresh bite mark three inches above Tann's wrist, the skin around it already began showing thin dark lines, branching across his veins.

Cole's chest tightened as he whispered. "Tann."

"I'm fine," Tann said immediately. "It barely got me. I didn't even feel it, I think it was when I knocked the machine—"

"Show me your arm." Cole demanded.

There was a long pause and Tann pulled down his sleeve to cover the bite instead.

"Tann."

"I'm fine, Cole." Tann's voice pulled tight. "I've had worse. Remember Previtt's dog? This is nothing."

Cole crouched in front of him. "Let me see your arm." and Tann reluctantly showed him the wound.

"How?" Cole asked quietly and Tann laughed.

"I don't know… I don’t know how any of this works. Nobody does and maybe it's not—" He stopped rambling and pressed his free hand against his forehead. "I feel really warm," he said.

Cole sat down on the floor next to him and they were quiet for a long while. Outside, a Grey hit one of the parked cars and an alarm blared.

"My sister," Tann muttered. "I need to get to my sister."

"I will help you find her." Cole said.

"You don't even know where she lives."

"I will find Dana, if you tell me."

Tann told him and Cole memorized the home address.

"I don't want to—" Tann started. "Cole, I don't want to be—" He gestured at the door, at whatever was on the other side of it.

Cole didn't say it would be fine. He didn't say any of the things people said when they didn't know what else to say.

He just stayed on the floor next to his colleague and waited, because that was all he could do.

The darkening veins reached Tann's elbow by 5:58 AM.

By 6:15 it was at his shoulder.

And at 6:40, Tann stopped being Tann.