The rest of the Junivelle hunter group was already waiting for Juni and Bonnie when they returned to the run-down apartment complex.  The group had decided to make it their base of operations, mainly because it was the only location in the city that they really knew the location of.  Sure, the hunters all had maps but for some really weird reason, the city was a ridiculously unrecognizable maze due to several blockades, rubble, and zombie hoards which seemed placed in those positions to specifically keep anyone from going there and forcing that someone to take the long route around.  The amount of locked doors and the fact that most of the bathrooms were hidden for some dumb reason was getting really annoying, too.

It would hopefully be behind anyone really soon.  Jenni stared in annoyance at the newcomer as they approached.

"That's the civilian, and she wielded an Uzi!?"  She remarked harshly.  "I thought I was supposed to be the only randomly picked up person, here."

"She nearly killed herself just to save us all!"  Annoyed, herself, Juni snapped back.  "We've only been with her a short time and already she's been a lot more nice and helpful than YOU."

"Well, you know,"  Jenni muttered.  "You've only been with me a short time, too..."

Deciding to ignore Jenni for a bit, Juni turned towards BB.  "And now, Bonnie, I guess I should introduce you to the group. This is Roberto. We call him Rob. He's... um... the big guy."

Rob waved.  "Hiya."

"This skinny guy's Jonas, our main tracker for tracking down Dark Stalkers."

Sighing, Jonas simply crossed his arms.  "Bah."

"This is Terrace, my right hand man."  The leader happily continued.  "He um... does nothing.  Ditto with my left-hand man, Fokken, who's not here at the moment."

Terrace grinned.  "Hey there."

"This is Kerikov. He's a new mysterious guy that I don't really know anything about who signed on only shortly before this mission."  Explaining with only a slight shrug, Juni looked towards the guy BB Hood already just met.

"Yo."  Kerikov greeted.

"And this is Jenni."  Juni beamed with a semi-evil grin.  "She's an even newer mysterious gal that I don't really know anything about who we met during this mission and is a very suspicious person."

Jenni was not amused.  "Ahem! Just because I called dolt gives you no right to suspect me of anything!"

Unknown to all of them, Kerikov secretly schemed in the background as everyone was paying attention to Jenni.  He slowly muttered to himself, "Muhuhahahaha. Gullible fools. No one shall ever suspect that I signed on right before this mission.... to get laid-----en with money!"

One of the other many hunters in the room quickly stepped up.  "What about me? Why don't I get an introduction?"

"Because I'm out of breath."

"Ack! Just great. They kill the nameless guys even before they go after the extras!"  The dismayed hunter commented as Juni finally finished the introductions..

"And everyone, this is Baby Bonnie Hood. BB for short. She's a mysterious civilian who carries around an Uzi for some weird reason that I just met, and it's our job to make sure she gets out of here safely."

“Damn, I deserve an introduction damn it!”  The nameless extra clad in a plain red tee shirt, who are armed with a Flash Gordon ray gun that didn’t really function as a laser weapon, but it made a cute novelty, hissed.  “I didn’t serve as an officer in the Navy just to be a nameless extra.”

“What was your rank?” Rob asked.

“I was an ensign.”  The red shirted man pounded his chest with pride.

“That’s nothing...”  Jenni chuckled, ready to bragged about her history, “I used to be in Delta Force as a staff sergeant attached to the...”

“Huh?” Juni interrupted, as all ready, that seemed so unlikely.  “Your only in your mid-late teens... twenty, tops.”

“So?”

“How in the heck could you get such a rank and able to join the Green Beret, since woman are rarely attached to combat units?” The leader explained with a cruel snide.

“Let’s just say in the end I had to sell my...” Jenni then paused, realizing that she could not tell them her deep deep dark dark deep dark secret. “I mean, so?  What does that have to do with anything?  I’m the dolt, remember?”

"Oh yea, true."  Hand to chin, Juni conceded.  "Well, anyway, BB, why don't you like... make some new friends while we use this computer in this room which just happens to be in working condition to video contact our outside home base near the city.  It even has a microphone for us to do so with!"

"Great..." Bonnie could had chosen more words to describe this... but that would rude. Here she was with the crack team assigned to save all the helpless civilians, which is just B.B. from their understanding.  Really aptly since Bonnie is neither considered helpless, nor a citizen of this country.

But, that's a subject to be digressed.

They seemed to have the means to get out of the city.  They could actually mean well, but something about this group just seemed quirky.

"Hey, BB, is it?" Rob started, since no one else bothered to speak up, "What's on your mind?"

"Nothing, I'm just reminding myself that I should be glad I work alone."

"Really?  What's your job?"  The onslaught of stupid questions from the big man began as the really sUxx0r1ffic (much to Juni’s annoyance) communication connection on the computer Juni was using finally connected to the base right outside the city.

A young but gray-haired albino man with a kitty cat behind him quickly appeared on the screen.  "Ah, good day, Miss Junivelle.  I trust the mission is flowing smoothly?"

"Not really, Fokken..." Juni remarked as she glanced off to the side while Terrace eagerly slashed up a Fear shirt with glee.  "But at any rate, we're ready to leave.  This place is a mess.  Could you help us get out of here?"

"Of course."  Fokken answered as a zombie in the screen slowly crept up from behind him.  "I've found a secret passage behind the hanger of the building nearby.  You can use that to reach your destination.  Escape, even.  If you have to."

"OMIGOSH!!!!"  Juni quickly put her hand to her mouth as the zombie prepared to grab the young man.  "Fokken!  Look out!"

"What the...?!?"  Surprised, Fokken quickly attempted to break free from the creature's grasp as the zombie proceeded to attempt to eat his brains.  "Hey!  Get your filthy hands off me, ruffian!!  Stop that!!  Hey, what are you doing?  ARGH!"

A gun was quickly whipped out of Fokken's pockets which quickly blew the zombie's own brains out.  Juni, blood pressure up from the sight, stared for a moment before breathing a sigh of relief.  "Oh, whew, thought that you were a goner and that zombie was going to eat your brains there for a moment."

Fokken simply stared back and replied questioningly, "That was a zombie?"

"Oh never mind.  Look, is there a faster way to get out of here?"

"Oh very well."  Fokken snapped.  "I'll go get the chopper then.  Just take that hangar route I told you about, head to the roof of that building there, and I'll be right there."

"Mew!"  The kitty cat that was watching everything happily jumped on Fokken's shoulders as he walked off, before Juni turned the computer off.

Juni quickly turned around to assist Rob with his questioning.  "Yea, anyway, what IS your job, Bonnie?  You already know ours."

"My job?  I kill monsters..." Bonnie answered.  It was only fair to explain since Juni did ask.

Juni stood in a little shock; that was not expected.  What were the odds of encountering another darkstalker slayer?  The teen-aged blonde smiled at her younger counterpart.  Maybe it wasn't a surprise after all, judging by her confident display and her ability to wield just lethal weapons.

"Ahh... how cute!" Juni softly sang, the demon hunting image this girl had was just so WAFFable. "So, how did you get here?"

"Long story." BB replied.  It was also one that she did not wish to relay.  "We need to figure out a way to get out of here. You do have a plan, right?"

"A plan?  Well, at least we know where we're supposed to go, which is a start."  Beaming, Juni quickly took out a map.  "Now, our target location would be right on the roof of the Parasol Inc. building, since that's the closest building with a flat accessible roof.  We need to do one last scan of the Parasol building for any other survivors though, so I guess some of us will have to remain on guard at the bottom floor and hold off any zombie hoards that come after us.  Takers?"

"Will you be in the guarding group?"  Jenni asked.

"Huh?  Oh, I guess we're both going to be doing the scans."  Juni shrugged.

"Excellent!"  Beaming, Jenni stood up and put her hand against her chest.  "I'll handle the guard duty then.  You can send some of the trash with me if you wish."

All of the hunters quickly raised their eyebrows at the trash remark as Juni paused in confusion before slowly replying, "Um... okay, I guess.  So, Bonnie, which group would you want to go to?  Normally we'd choose the safest for you but it looks like both have a rather nasty chance of getting surprised attacked by a zombie horde or something."

Bonnie pondered the question for a bit. Her suspicion and curiosity naturally tried to take over.  Something was fishy. The youngest person in the room knew that.  Parasol is behind this somehow, and maybe, a quick rummage through their files would reveal something.

"I'll join the recon group." B.B. mentioned.

"Now that that's finally over..." Terrace brushed his hair back.

Then suddenly the room quaked, and the monstrous nemesis, thought to be dead at the fast-food place, ripped through the floor. On instinct, everyone drew out their respected weapon, and gave an evil-eyed glance at Terrace.

"What did I do?" He shrugged, which was difficult to do with his huge assed sword.  Bonnie rolled her eyed, although his sword almost reminded her of someone else, a figure she once knew in her early career days.  Ah, yes, his name was...

The monster growled... no time to stroll down memory lane.

Eyebrow raised as she took out her gun, Juni slowly remarked, "That thing withstands a lot, huh?  Fry it... um... oh right.  Fry it, boys!"

With that, everyone began to unload into the beast.  Well, except for Terrace, who didn't want to jump into the line of fire.  The monster just stood there taking the bullets deciding whom to kill first, and the hunters pretty much figured that out, too.  It definitely was not a good situation.

"Over here!"  By the window, Bonnie shouted to the beast.  Who, oddly enough, decided to listen.  With that, it charged right at her.  As soon as it got near, BB quickly flipped the window curtain over herself right before the monster came crashing through the window, sheet and all.

Juni put her hand to her mouth.  "Oh no!  Bib's..."

"Way to go."  Jenni snidely commented.  "Couldn't even save one out of one civilian.  Look's like somebody failed their mission..."

"But... how??"  The blonde stuttered.

"How what?"  Everyone quickly turned to see Bonnie standing in the doorway.

"Oh no!  Bonnie cloned herself!!"  Terrace screamed in horror.  Everyone scoffed, especially since Bonnie had explained that she performed a slight-of-hand trick while the big-swordsman was in witless shock.

"That's nonsense, and you know it."  Juni rolled her eyes.  The only person she knew who could clone himself up a new body was her boss, the Master of Shadowlaw.  Suddenly, she recalled the announcement of Bison's first self-cloning success.

"I shall call him, Mini-me!"

What a minute??  Juni realized that particular event never happened.

"Um, anyway,"  The hunter leader slowly began again.  "Now that everything's settled here, let's get going!"

"Where that invincible unstoppable monster just fell out the window?"  Jenni asked, before realizing the answer for herself and smiling.  "Well, lead the way!!!"

Suddenly, just as the red hooded hunter appeared from another side of the apartment, the same monster had done so.  Bonnie turned around and immediately back stepped away from the creature.

"This is getting redundant!"

The hunters debated whether to open fire again or not.  While they argued among themselves, Jenni aimed her rocket launcher straight at the beast, only to have her shot thrown off when Juni bumped into her.

The rocket struck the ceiling above the creature, which could be seen as a blessing as it weakened the floor above, causing it and any furniture above (which happened to be a piano) to fall on the monster.

"Why did you do that?"

"I was trying to get out of the back blast area."  Juni shot back then slowly glared at her with an accusing look.  "You wanted to kill me too..."

Jenni simply casually shrugged to the rather annoyed hunter leader.  "Maybe."

In the dull and dark end of Squirrel City, which could mean anywhere, a group of young people gathered against the wall of an alley.  Each of them inhaled from a rolled up paper that burned on the end and exhaled the smoke.  The sluggish drag of feet had been their only alert that someone had joined their company.

"Braaaaaains... "

"Duuuuuuuuuude!!!!!"

"Uuuuuuuuuugh..."

"Whooooooaaaaaaaaa.... you gotta try this..."

One of the members in the crowd noticed something about this newcomer, while the other offered some of their rolled up stuff.  Main things to point out:  the ragged cloth, hair falling out, and flesh dissolved skin.

"Um, guys?"

A painful screaming death shortly filled the city.

"Damn it!" The hunter, Terrace shouted as the team approached the back end of a building.

"What is it Terrace?" Jonas turned, and glanced towards his companion.

"I've tripped on another potted plant.  This city has all these herbs growing in pot at random locations."

"What?"  Jenni knelt down to examine the shattered pottery, "Another marijuana plant.  Squirrel City likes to grow these things for personal use."

"That's would explain a lot about this city." Kerikov noted, "How did this city get supplied with so much drugs?"

Juni placed her hands around her back, and started to whistle to herself while everyone else pondered the question.

"Who cares, can we just get inside Parasol?" Jonas suggested.

"That might be a problem. . ." Rob stepped back from the door. "It's locked."

"Wait. . . " Terrace snapped his fingers with a quick sense of rationalization, "We need to open it. But how?"

"No, reaaaaaaaallllyyy." Everyone else commented, then they all brainstormed possible ideas on the obvious question.

"Maybe we can unhinge the door. . . the means we'll have to find a screwdriver, which could be located inside the auto-body shop near the apartment . . . "

"But that's door is blocked, so we'll need a step ladder . . . I've seen on near city hall, which my guess is being renovated . . . "

"However, the gate is locked and can only be assembled by finding three jewels that were stolen from the alarm clock thing by the entrance . . . "

“They could be in the safe that lock by a electronic device . . . we’ll need a set of triple ‘a’ batteries . . .”

"I've seen a vending machine that had sells batteries . . . can you believe that?"

"Any one have money... I'm not buying..."

"The cash register at the McDonalds could have money... but, it's usually locked with a combination code..."

"If we can find a phone directory... we could find the address of one of the employees..."

When a brief gunshot rattle went off and zapped everyone's eardrum, they all ceased their collective ideas.  Bonnie had already pulled the door open while her firearm's barrel kept its faint smoking.

"Yeah. . ." B.B. smiled to herself, rather than giving an evil glare, "Jewels, batteries, screwdrivers my hiney! Let's go."

"Who said you could take charge?" Juni snapped, "You forget!  The mysterious dolt knows everything! The puppet knows nothing. I knew that I was the puppet and that you were the dolt thus making ME the one in charge of everything! So hahahaha!"

B.B. giggled and retorted "You know that I was just taking advantage of you the whole time, right?"

Jenni found herself insulted at this, and cleared her throat in the obvious attention getting gesture. "I'm the one with the mysterious unknown background, here!"

"Well, B. B. Hood's background is mysterious to me."  Juni replied.

"As is Juni's to me." BB added.

Jenni simply sighed.  "Why me?"
 

***
 

"You're really taking your time, aren't you?"

The female M.A.R.S. commander of the L.U.V. wasn't very satisfied with the mission so far.  She should have been done a long time ago.  Should have, but Jenni Brandiwine wasn't expecting so many added factors.  It would have been much easier to get out if they didn't have to coordinate an entire hunter group alongside those other two girls.

The commander's voice continued.  "If you think the assignment was so messed up from the start, why didn't you take things into your own hands?"

Ever since that time, Jenni wasn't sure if it was ever safe to take things into her own hands again.  But she already knew that she couldn't rely on anyone else anymore.  This time, however, it was just herself.  There could be no one there who would betray her now.

She would take things into her own hands... but... no, then again...

"She doesn't remember me.  I think I've been mistaken."  Jenni replied back into the phone.  Funny how gullible all of these hunters were, to not notice anything odd about her using one of the only working phone booths in the city.  None of that really mattered, though.  Some regret in her voice, Jenni continued.  "There isn't any reason for me to keep this up.  I should have just died and joined her instead of damn myself for eternity."

"Calm down.  Don't worry about it."  The mature soothing voice from the other side spoke.   "Just remember that you're part of a grand test, so you get to enjoy a few benefits and don't have to commit just yet.  You're only having the sample right now."

Jenni blinked in surprise.  "You're not mad?"

"Of course not.  Well, you do still need to complete your assignment of course.  Even if it is with the assistance of an entire hunter group."  A pause of silence, then the voice continued.  "Are you still worried?  Even if you decide to back out, this was a very nice experiment for us.  We thought that the perks of our product would be too good to pass up, but apparently not.  Market analysis, especially in a business as special as this, doesn't come cheap, you know."

"I'll think about it."  The young brunette replied.  "But I don't know.  If she really is gone..."

That's when Jenni noticed the wire.

That suddenly explained everything.  They WERE playing games with her, after all.  Whoever this Junivelle really was, she definitely wasn't all she seemed.  Jenni frowned.  Good thing the conversation was cryptic enough not to incriminate her.  It was time to launch a counter offensive...  Now if she could only figure out where that little girl Bonnie fit into everything.  She knew her orders, but she didn't know the reasoning for most of them.

"Well, I suppose I'd better check on the soldier status."  Jenni began to end the conversation.  "I'll make sure that every citizen... erm, all one of them, makes it out alive."

"Very well then.  Call us when you want to purchase the trial package."

With that, she hung up the phone, exited the phone booth, and proceeded to answer her waiting messenger.

"Um, weren't you supposed to be searching the Parasol building?"

"I came back to check up on things.  I left someone to the job who should be more than capable enough."  Juni looked off to the side, shrugged, then quickly glared back at Jenni.  "What I'm wondering is how the Green Beret was able to get yet ANOTHER female commander in such a high position."

"Ah, well, you see, the Delta Force has a really dark secret."  Grinning, Jenni leaned over and whispered to the young blonde.  "The highest commanders are really women who just happen to look like men.  The hierarchy is actually an extremely feminazi-ist one which secretly laughs down on the entire male gender in general."

Juni put her hands on her hip and frowned.  "That's just silly.  And I take offense at the term, feminazi by the way.  People are always using the nazi pseudonym or whatever it is to describe evil extreme power trips and that's really not what nazism is about.  NAZIS ARE REMARKABLE YOUNG PEOPLE WHO DON'T DESERVE TO BE PORTRAYED THAT WAY, DAMMIT!"

Jenni's response was a blank stare.

"Oh, um... oops, I don't know where I got that particular quote."  Juni shrugged.  "But it's true, I think, regardless."

"Erm... riiiiight."  What Junivelle didn't know was that the... lightheaded loftiness of that quote wasn't what caught Jenni off guard.  This couldn't just be a coincidence.  "You... know who I am, right?"

"Ah, guess what the great Avelle would say to that?"

Annoyed, Jenni crossed her arms.  "'Maybe I do, maybe I don't'?"

"Erm..."  Fumbling through her notes a bit, Juni hesitated to respond.  "Lessee... um, yea!  That'd be it."

"........hmm, are you going to be sticking around then?"  Jenni rolled her eyes then handed Juni a steering column.  "Here, hold onto this for me then."

For some reason, Juni stared at it wide-eyed in surprise as Jenni walked off.  "What the???!?"

Was she onto her?  At any rate, it didn't matter.  Jenni needed some more time before she could be sure that it really was her...
 

***
 

Surprisingly, the offices and hallways inside the Parasol building were relatively less trashed and distraught as the other environments within Squirrel City.  For the center of large company, its primary building is kind of small; just five floors or so off.  As Bonnie cautiously moved between the cubicles, she found it rather odd. If this company was responsible for the zombie outbreak, then surely they would had taken measures to cover up all the evidence.

What was that hunter, Juni, was hoping to find?  It was said earlier that Parasol had hired the Avelle Hunter Team (or what they called their little group) to find any survivors, and seemingly to gather any clues about the outbreak. That only drew two possible conclusions; a) Parasol wasn't truly the cause of this plague, or b) it actually, but not as a result of a dark hidden conspiracy-- maybe, a controlled experiment that went out of control.

Personally, Bonnie would rather just get out this wretched city as soon as humanly possible.  However, this whole incident proved to be a disturbing mystery, and B.B. does not enjoy going through an ordeal without knowing a little something behind the matter.  Only exception to that rule is if she would be paid on a 'no questions asked' basis.  That doesn't apply when you
just happen to be at the wrong place, at the wrong time.  While the helicopter was en-route, she guessed she could rummage through the files inside these desks.

Once, she knows a little about this Parasol, she might have a better reason as to why they hired Juni's demon-slaying commandos.  It really sounds ungrateful, but the little found that group a little too suspicious.  Precaution is what dominated her wary judgment; Bonnie is not the paranoid type, and she had plans to jeopardize her only ride home by turning her weapon on them prematurely.  But, at the earliest of ages, her grandmother had always taught her to be careful around strangers.

And, one could say that they don't get any stranger.  Juni, especially, something about her just reeks 'top secret organization', and furthermore.  Her appearance, this is not going into the body suit and little tie, this goes more into the actually facial feature.  Interesting similarities had been noticed between her and that Martian cop, Jenni . . . it's was almost as if her and...

Nah. That would be just impossible.

In the meantime, BB had some document fishing to do while she was separated from the rest of the group.  Not really expecting to find much.  Classified notes don't just turn up on random desks or inside trash can, not with the invention of the paper shredder.  Computer systems might a more practical approach, if the encryption hurdle could be by-passed. Inside the pharmaceutical research office, BB sat done at the main system terminal hoping to access the computer database. As Bonnie tried to type in several characters on the keyboard, she is constantly reminded of that problem. Unfortunately, the little girl didn't play with computers as much she did with toy guns and teddy bears. One with adequate computer skills could have handled such systems. But, for now, she had to rely on the instructions of the tracker person in the group, Jonas (who so far was a great help).

"How do I get inside the computer? The password keeps kicking me out."  Bonnie asked over the handheld radio that Juni had given her.

["I don't know the password . . . guess."]

"How is that suppose to help me?"

["Bah."]

Okay, maybe he wasn't the greatest of help.  Not the most expressive person in the world either.  Bonnie did not know him that well, but from her impressions with everyone in the group, Jonas seemed like the cynic straight, in-line type character.  He did appear to be eldest in the group, through his maturity level did not compare to the others in the group, like Terrace, or Rob, or Kerikov.  Imagining what stupid adventures he had to put up, with traveling with those types of boys would naturally drive on to such behavior.  Bonnie could almost understand; it's better to work alone sometimes.

"You're not helping you know!" The girl shouted before slamming the radio on the desk. It's time to guess.

Random entering of words and numbers could on do so much.  And, unless you plan on the reliance of a million in one miracle, that tactic was pretty hopeless. Pushing the keyboard aside, Bonnie searched the desk for any clues.  Secret codes are usually special days, company phrases, or even the names of loved one. Most of the items were mere garbage. Yet, a picture frame stood out, as the photograph of the girl had something written on the corner.  Reading revealed that it could a little note from whoever the person was, to the owner of this desk. Maybe, they were boyfriend and girlfriend, husband and wife.  Matters not, it this picture woman is an important person, then her name might be the password.

BB Hood turned to the computer once again to try her luck.

Code: Veronica

When the screen switched from the locked screensaver to the directory files, Bonnie clapped softly to herself at this achievement.  Even if it was more luck than skill, the girlish hunter was still pleased.

"Yah!" She picked up the radio, and announced her success to Jonas; "I'm in the database."

["Good job. Now all you have to do is search it."]

"How?"

["Try entering any words that you think might bring up any information like plague or zombie. . ."]

Through her computer skills were less than the average computer junkie was, BB possessed enough understand to be able to point and click through various windows.  Maybe a database search could un-earth some useful information.

Search: Plague

Total Results: None

Okay. Bonnie stared at the blank screen, and found the result quite odd.  Parasol is a medical company. Surely there should be something in their database regarding plagues, diseases, or viruses.  Even if it didn't have anything to do with the one that spawned a city full of ghouls.

Search: Zombie

Total Results: 1 [Click for more info]

Well, something good came up.  Bonnie sighed with relief as she moved the mouse to access the info. She figured that some clues about this ordeal would be explained.  How many files with the keyword 'Zombie' could be on a corporate database?

Now Loading: ZombieMadness.Exe

A video game? An annoying surprise for the little hunter. At another time and place it would had been considered cute, maybe even ironic.  But, there was no time for games at the moment.  Bonnie canceled the load, and took another moment to ponder a more accurate search.

Search: Police Reports

Total Results: 3,205,982,932

For some reason, it was certain that those keywords would had generated too broad of a search.  The baby blue eyes that belonged to this girly slayer scanned the list for anything medical, biological, or demonic.  Nothing of the sort was found, just legal complaints about sexual harassment, embezzlements, D.U.I.'s and indecent exposure in public by numerous employees (don't ask).  By now, Baby Bonnie was ready to shoot the computer with her sub-machine gun.  Computer researching is not necessarily the strong suit for someone who always 'shoots first, asks later'.

Search: This is stupid!!!!

Total Results: 1 [Click for more info]

Out of mere curiosity, Bonnie clicked on the result.  Almost expecting the networked computer to reply with a smart remark, as if it were a sentiment machine. Wouldn't have been a smart move.  To computers their worst torture is what she heard was referred as the "blue screen of death".  BB was sure that a more evil punishment could be concocted. What was displayed on the screen was not some cruel twisting mockery (this computer really don't possessed a sadistic sense of humor, it doesn't run on Windows).

The project is going to end up a complete failure.  The test subjects are getting worse, as if they're turning into zombies.  Several members of the viral research suggested to the supervising staff that we terminate all studies on the S-Virus.  Constantly had the CEO shot down our efforts.  All we hear is how Parasol would lose funding from the Black Kitty Corporation if our research is aborted.  I don't see the logic; the company could survive without their funding.  Something is interfering with the CEO's reasoning.  I see no reason to develop the S-Virus.  This is stupid!!!!

At least useful information came out of all the frustration and surfing.  Bonnie noticed that the file and more references that were encrypted.  She decided rather to try and hack the system (since she really can't), it's better to save all the data on a CD and find someone to decrypt the coded kilobytes. When the saving was complete, she couldn't help notice that if the files were encoded then how they were not copy-guarded?  Not that she be bring it up in future security meetings.

The disk was ejected from the writing drive, and secured within a small corner of her basket; right between the extra magazines and first aid kit.  When she got up from her chair, and grabbed all her items, she noticed her puppy was barking frantically. It sounded like it had been going on for quite a bit.  Once she faced the general direction of the barking, she knew exactly why.  A half dozen zombies were inside the room, slowly inching towards her.

It's amazing how sitting in front of a computer can make one oblivious to their outside surroundings.

"Oh joy!" Bonnie sprang with an energetic step, almost ready hug her newly acquired firearm like a prized teddy bear.  Fiery casualties of the zombie mass reduced the threat to a substance resembling applesauce with a burning smoke that once had been their decaying bodies.  Such display in sheer firepower could only trigger the hunter's developing appreciation of the G-11 rifle, which used highly unusual and odd shaped rounds that packed an explosive punch.  Only four words could express the girl's feelings, "I love this gun!!!"

Future occasions might make it necessary to conserve specialized firepower until the optimized moments.  Low intelligent variants of walking decaying flesh deserved not such excessive firepower. This case was just for experimenting purposes; naturally since it was picked up. It always a good idea to know all of your arsenal capabilities.

The only thing that stopped her from using the new rifle before is the caution against using a weapon without knowing too much about it.  Rounds had a rare tendency to get stuck inside, or the barrel could be stripped; either malfunction could cause the weapon to explode thus severely injuring or killing the user.  Standard ammunition could be disastrous; the thought of these explosive bullets going off inside the chamber could only leave a scorched corpse.

If anything, you'll learn just how much fun new weapons can be . . .

["Bonnie... this is Jonas... please respond, over."]

The static click of the hand radio unit, buzzed from the desk with the central terminal. Bonnie walked over to recover the small communication device in order to inform Jonas of what happened.

"This is B.B., over."

["I've heard what sounded like gunshots. What happened? Over."]

"I've ran into more zombies... nothing important."

["That's a . . ."]

And that was it. The radio suddenly went dead, with no apparent explanation or reasoning.  Bonnie shook the thing, trying to see if that would help. It didn't, so she tried to call back to get a response from Jonas.  Which didn't not help.  If she knew more about this device, she could at least open it to check the batteries.

Following the broken radio.  The lights and power inside the building switched to blackness.  Only the emergency power lights turned on, giving the room a dim blue aura.  Bonnie circled herself about, facing as many directions as she could to locate any leads or sources.

This is a good time to point out another horror movie cliche. First the phones (or communications) go out, and then the power goes just right before the moment...

Through one of the doors inside the room. The nemesis monster barged its way inside; a pile of wooden splints and sawdust material remained as the evidence of the poor door’s existence.  A snarled bellowed from the creature's lungs and echoed from every corner of the room.  Bonnie took a step back, and found it hard to believe that this thing is still alive.  How could it keep surviving such odds of painful deaths involving pianos, bullets, explosions, and falling?

But, such evil monsters do not die on their own.  The little girl knew she what she had to do.

No more running. No more leaving it dead without viable proof.

No.  It's time to finish this.

Once and for all.

With the G-11 rifle in her possession, B.B. delivered another explosive punishment at the creature.  Despite all doubts of its success, bullets were currently the only option available.  The ammunition made fiery sparks upon contact with brownish slimy skin. But, it did not cause any organic insides to splatter outward, nor did it even knock down the creature.  It simply pushed him backward, like a suggestive shove rather than deadly shot.  She still fired anyway, and slowly backing away in the process; keeping as much distance as possible from the creature.

Regrettably, the little light from the emergency power cast poor visible.  This, plus the added smoke born from the gunshots had given the room a very dark fog of battle.  It made the certainty of Bonnie's accurate firing on the creature more and more of question.  Only brief illuminations of the projectile's explosive flares provided any visible indication of the creature’s location.  And she noticed that it slowly got bigger. . .

No, it wasn't getting larger.  It was getting closer.

When swift-thundering stomps pounded the floor, Bonnie realized it was going to charge right at her.  She disengaged all firing, and took a mad sprint towards the side to get out the way.  Didn't work and Bonnie felt a slimy sensation hugging her neck just before it slowly squeezed itself.  The monster was using its tentacle to perform a chokehold.  Her body was
slammed to the floor, causing her basket and weapons to clatter on the floor.

With oxygen becoming more of a precise commodity to her lungs, the red hooded girl reached around at random to find anything that'll fight off the monster's death grip.  A knife would be preferred, as slimy tentacles could always be cut off.  With the room dark as it is, she could not tell if she was starting to black-out, but the puppy barking cries at the fight started to sounded faded... yes, she was starting to lose sense.  Then her hand felt an object; small... round like a ball... a small pin stuck in it.

A grenade.  It might do the trick.  Bonnie grabbed it small hand bomb, pulled all the safety pins, and then threw it in a high arch, which exploded somewhere behind the creature. The grip around her neck was released after an accommodating and comforting 'thud' sound.

Bonnie started to breath a little more heavily; a combination sigh of relief slash deep breathes to re-fill her lungs, while she felt the oozy stain around the red hood.  Under the dim sapphire lights, the creature lied dormant.  With her cigarette lighter, the little flame detailed more light, and a better picture of the sleeping beast.  Several bits of metal, and a scorched halo were found on the back of the monsters leathery garment; that grenade had landed on his back and exploded on instant contact.  It's body was still in one piece, and the concussion force of the grenade only knocked it cold where any human would had a family resemblance to pudding.

Bonnie searched about, reclaiming all of her arsenal while Hari returned to her sides.  Just before she departed the room, dog barks yelled warnings and monstrous groans of disorientation stirred from the floor.

Fudge! The thing was still alive.

Bonnie Hood is not going to allow that monster to stay in 'still alive' category.  Aware than her G-11 needed reloading with the only remaining ammunition magazine, she grabbed her fully loaded Uzi, and relentlessly opened fire on the monster while it was down on the ground.

After she expended her firepower, the room remained silent.  Bonnie took a slow caution  motion towards the creature, and it still did not move.  Right next the lying beast, her shoes felt a sticky liquid substance which made a splashing noise as she stepped around.  The dark puddle glistened in the emergency light.  Logically, one could guess it was the creature’s bodily fluid.  Maybe, it was her imagination that alerted her about the creature getting.  Realizing that, Bonnie wondered if her assault with the Uzi had over done it.

Nah!

While she moved out of the office, she quickly reloaded her submachine gun, just to be on the safe side.  At least some good data was found.  Now she had to find the others.

Then she heard a puttering whooshing noise.

It sounded a lot like. . .

A helicopter!

Bonnie could not express such joy over such a loud noise. Ignoring all the pain in her body, she grabbed her puppy and ran up the flight of stairs that led to the roof.

< It's here! >

On the roof of Parasol, Bonnie waved her arms back and forth to get the attention of the pilot.  The searchlight almost blinded Bonnie, as her eyes grew accustomed to the darkness in the building.  But, she didn't care; it told her that she got the pilot's attention.  With that she moved out of the way, towards to edge to get the attention of Juni and the others downstairs.

"Everyone the helicopter is here, we can leave!!" Her lungs produced the loudest yell it could muster out of the little girl.

Looking back on the zombies, killing veggies, unstoppable mutants, and doomsday-like maze had made Bonnie so happy when she realized what three word sentence that could be said now.

"It's finally over!”