Chapter 9: Per Favore, Dio, Salvo Me!

We still haven't found any survivors by the time we reach the fourth and final floor. It looks like this is where the elevator had gotten stuck. Through the dimness, I can see some poor soul lying inside of it, ravaged by those infected. His blood-stained cane lies beside him, showing that he fought until his last breath. The electricity probably shut off right as he was trying to make his escape...poor bastard. A blood trail from the elevator leads to one of the rooms. "Eyes open, fellas." Bev says, as she prepares to open the door. She thrusts her shoulder into it and hastily arms her SMG as she stumbles into the room. The trail ends where one of the dead lies, sitting against the wall next to a broken window. On the wall beside him are some words scrawled in blood, "Per favore dio salvo me" For some reason, we all stopped and stared at the body. Of all the bodies we had seen on our way up, why was it that this one caused us to pause? "Anybody know what it means?" Jones asks. Looking at the blood-soaked pictures inside the dead man's wallet, Bev answers, "It's Italian...it says, "Please, God, save me." As she stands back up, a bang rings from the bathroom of the apartment. We open the door to find a girl, around four, crying behind the shower curtains. Bev walks over to her and picks her up. "Hey, sweetie, you okay?" She doesn't say anything; she just buries her head into Bev's embrace. From all the pictures hanging on the walls, we learn that the girl is the daughter of the man in the living room. He had locked her in the bathroom, to protect her from the infected (or maybe, from himself). "Don't let her see anything." I tell Bev. She takes off her hat and shows it to the little girl. "You like my hat? Huh? Do you like my hat? Tell you what, you go ahead and put that on for me, ok sweety? No peeking." Mitchell pokes his head out the window and looks down, "Guys! I think I found her!" We look down the side of the building and there she is, the girl who had started all of this. Judging by the glass around her, it looks like the little girl's father had thrown the red-head out of the window just before he bled to death.

After clearing the last room, we start heading back down the building. George, Mitchell, and I surround Bev and the girl to ensure that, if anything were to pop out, the little one was out of harm's way. When we get back down to the second floor, Lin's voice comes through Georges radio.
"Sir, we have a problem!!!" George breaks formation as he reaches the first floor. "What now?!" he shouts. Out of the silence, a single shot rings out from the streets, causing us to pause for a moment. After the initial startle, we all run outside to see what caused the shot to be fired. As we exit the building, Jason and Lin can be seen arched over the hood of one of the cruisers, pointing their guns at something down the dark street. "Sir, we have to go, now!!!" Jason screams. Bev takes the little girl and puts her into my cruiser. "Wait, what about your car?!" I ask. "It's not mine...It's Fuller's." she says, as she buckles the little girl into the passenger's seat. "Let me drive...this girl needs me near her right now..." I give her the keys and seat myself in the back of the car. "You two make sure she gets to HQ safe!" George screams, as he drives away to help out other officers in distress. Jason and Lin wait for us to leave before driving off themselves to who-knows-where. I sit silently, but vigilantly in the back seat, watching for anything that moves outside. The centimeter thick glass holds little comfort from the lingering shadows out in the streets. A few of them start to chase us, but Bev just halls ass, blasting through the stoplights. The little girl curls herself up into the seat and (unbelievably) doses off. "...What are we gonna do, Pete...what the hell are we gonna do?" Bev asks, malaise trailing behind every one of her words. "I don't know..." I reply. Reaching HQ, we are alarmed to see the main entrance barred shut. Bev picks up the radio, "Dispatch, is everything okay in there?!" Claire answers, "Thank god, no one was picking up! Yes, we're all okay! Those things tried to get in the station but a few of us managed to block the doors. If you're thinking about heading down into the garage, you need to know that the door hasn't opened all the way because of the power out." Approaching the garage door, we can see a small opening where the door had stopped three feet from the ground. "Looks like we have to leave the car here..."Bev says. She gently wakes the little girl up and takes her into her arms. Quietly, we walk down the ramp into pitch black darkness with only my flashlight to guide us. Walking through the garage, every single one of my footsteps can be heard bouncing off the walls. After a few yards, we finally reach the door without any trouble. Before I can even knock, Nicole swings the door open, shotgun in hand. "Come on!" We enter the building and hastily shut the door behind us.