Free An Infinite Sorrow by R.J. Harker Page B

live."
      "I know. It's just weird..."
      "We've changed together a million times.  Space is at a minimum down here.  We're on combat alert all the time now."
      Rich still found himself looking at the door.  His feet.  Alice.  The wall.  Alice...
      "Um, why don't you tell me more about future land here?"
       "I still don't believe you can't remember."  She was finished dressing.  "Everything is gone.  It's gone, Rich.  At first we thought maybe it was just the town, or the state.  The army would, could, come, or we could make contact with someone.  It never happened.  Someone would have come by now."
      She put her hand on his cheek.  "Did you conveniently forget about us too?"
      "Us?  You mean..."  Rich could tell she was hurt, but only for half a second.  She covered it.  She had become a hard person over time.  "Never mind, it doesn't really matter.  It doesn't matter.  You want to hear about future world?  We are completely surrounded by horrific things that want to kill us.  Day in, day out, we huddle in this bunker complex, fighting off attacks and struggling to survive."
      Rich didn't like where this was going.  "So, there's no hope of rescue?  No escape?" 
      "You initiated an escape plan.  Last year. And it was a good one, too.  We lost half our people and just barely made it back here alive.  Now, there are more than twice those things outside the complex, and we're running out of supplies.  I..."
      She was almost crying now.  Rich didn't really know what to say.  "Alice..."
      "There's nothing else you can do.  Without you leading us, Rich, we'd all be dead.  I hope you get your head right soon."  She left the room, leaving him alone with his thoughts.          
    ***** 
      Another guy ran into the cafeteria.  "WORMS!!  WWOOOORRMMS!!!"  Everyone scattered like ants.  There were a few screams.  Liz pulled two TDI Vectors off the wall.  Alice jumped onto a Browning M2 platform which lowered into the room.
      Rich couldn't believe it.  "WHOA!  What's a worm?" 
      Something came stumbling into the room.  It vaguely looked like a man, but the body was swollen.  You could barely see his arms and legs, and the only details in the face were two tiny, black eyes.  The thing made some type of weird chirping sound, jumped on all fours, and slithered toward them. 
      Liz fired two long bursts at it.  The worm-thing exploded all over the room. 
      "AAAAAA!!"  Rich was under one of the tables.  "WHAT THE HECK?" 
      Liz reloaded.  "Alice told you.  This is no joke.  They overran the town, killed everyone.  What's wrong with you anyway?"
      Fifty more of the worm things came slithering into the room.  Everyone was firing, more soldiers ran into the room to join the fight.  Someone threw Rich a gun, and he dropped it.  "I don't know how to use this?!?" 
      "Are you kidding me?  Fight!"  One of the creatures slithered up over the table and swallowed his head.  It started violently throwing his body back and forth, as some sort of acid was eating through the table.  Rich ran. 
      In the background, the screaming started.  Liz turned to yell something at him as a huge horn ripped through her chest.  A giant worm dropped onto the platform Alice was on.  He couldn't see what happened to her.  Within a few minutes, everyone was dead or missing, and he was alone. 
      He crept through the dark halls, toward the only light he could spot.  Weird, rustling sounds which made his skin crawl echoed in the halls behind him.  Stan stepped into the hall in front of him, dressed in a nice suit.  "Well, there goes primary group two.  Took them long enough..."  He stepped into the light.  Rich followed.  "Come on!  I can't do this anymore.  What does this all mean?" 
      The source of the light was an elevator.  Stan motioned for him to step in.  "Come on, then.  You want to know the truth?  Here we go."
      "How do I know this is