Shiva reached out to Rudra’s dead body preparing to throw him out of the window. “No!” Sweta shouted, throwing herself in front of him. “Have you lost your mind?” said Shiva, angrily. “He has endured enough... he- he hasn’t turned yet either.” she stammered. Shiva frowned, “He is dead.”

“I know and … and if you throw him out he will only turn into a zombie.” said Sweta. She wasn’t thinking all she knew his body would be crushed, the worse part was it won’t be enough to stop him from lurking like a zombie forever.
 “And what do you suggest we do?” said Shiva, irritated.

“Burn him.” said Sweta.

“Here?… inside the building?” asked Shiva, irritated. “Please...” begged Sweta.

“You do realize you are jeopardizing me and yourself?” He warned Sweta. It was a ridiculous idea the entire building could catch fire if they did that Sweta knew but she had her parents turn into a zombie. Once turned it would become an endless living of Rudra’s body that did nothing but hunt. There was a part of her that felt that her brother’s soul was probably still inside that body, suffering. It would stay trapped until his body was gone.
Sweta didn’t want that for Rudra.

“I watched my Mummy and Daddy turn, I know what will happen to him.” Said Sweta.

Shiva chewed on his lower lip. His expression softened a little bit, maybe he felt sorry for Sweta.
“We’ll burn it before we leave the museum besides it has become a hive for zombies it would not be bad to give them a proper death.” Said Sweta.

Shiva took a long breath and pushed his left shoulder to his face, there was a square device strapped to his black vest. He clicked a button on it with his right hand. “This is Officer Shiva from the ground rescue team 8 confirming a single female survivor from K. M. survivor camp, over.”

“Just one?” a female’s voice came back, in disbelief.
The officer took a deep breath “we were late.” said Shiva, dejected. “Copy.”

The radio turned back on.“What about the team?”

Shiva looked almost afraid to answer “Roma and I are the only ones left.”
“That would mean just the three… Alright. The rescue will be there in 15 minutes ETA.”

It seemed the talk would last for a while. Then her mind flooded with the memories of her brother being attacked. It was right there, her brother was right there. All she had to do was turn but did she have it in her to look at him. She wanted to punish herself for letting her die.

“The helicopter is coming.” said Shiva, irritated. He clicked on the radio again. “We can burn him before we leave the building, if…, he doesn’t turn. I’ll call in my partner and see we can find enough gasoline to burn this place down.” said Rudra. Sweta was about to open her mouth but he clicked the radio again.“Roma air rescue is coming, copy.” he said.

“Copy.” a female’s voice came back from the other side of the radio.
“Any survivors? Over.” asked Shiva.

“None. What about you?” she said disappointed.

“A high school girl.” He answered.

“Thank god.” Roma sighed in relief. It seemed like having a single survivor made the trip worth it for her.
“Say that when you see her.” said Shiva, annoyed.

“Don't worry as long as they are alive there is a chance. So, where are you?” said Roma.

“The west wing, third floor, over.” answered Shiva.

“I’m on the first floor….” a growl followed “What was that?” asked Shiva. “Hold on let me check.” The radio beeped.

“Roma is everything okay? Over.” No answer came back.

“There are hoards of them.” shouted Roma, panicking.
“Roma… Roma!” Shiva shouted.
 While the officers were busy trying to reach his teammate. At the end of her sight for a very small moment, Sweta thought she saw her brother’s body twitch.

“Damn it!” shouted Shiva, frustrated.
Sweta jolted and looked back at Shiva. Hands-on his hips,
Shiva paced back and forth a few times. A blast a few floors below shook the building.
“What was that?” said Sweta, panicking.

“A hand grenade.” replied Shiva, worried. “There are bottles of gasoline on the first floor.” said Sweta. Shiva looked at her confused “You’ll need your partner to bring it.”

Shiva got the cue. He looked at Sweta’s brother’s corpse.

“It will take time for him to transform. Besides….”
She looked at her brother. There was a part of her who desperately wanted to believe that her brother wouldn’t hurt her even after death or was it that she wanted to stay where her brother was.

“Besides?” asked Shiva.

“Besides, I’ll be safer if two officers are protecting me.” A lie.
Shiva stared at Sweta, took a deep breath. The sound of bullets being fired broke the silence.

Sweta looked at him and said, “I’ll be fine.”

Shiva let out a long breath, “I take it back.... what I said about you being intelligent. You are stupid to the core… Fine suit yourself.” he sighed.
He quickly slipped out his backpack then took out something. “Take this radio if anything happens contact me.”

Sweta nodded as she took the radio then stuffed it into her school uniform’s pants pocket. He was about to leave. “Do you know him?” he asked, his head turned towards Rudra’s direction. “He is my older brother.” she answered.

Shiva thought for a second his eyes were on the floor, then they moved to her. He took out a gun looking unsure. He cocked the gun then presented it to her.
 “You are lucky. That one of my team who died today was a female officer she had a small handgun.” said Shiva.
“I thought guns were not common in our country.” Asked Sweta.

“ The officer got it from a gun smuggler. Since the hazard started the government haven’t been able to provide enough ammunition as a result even the seniors have turned a blind eye to getting officers getting extra guns for self-protection. Even if it meant getting them through questionable means.” Shiva presented the gun to Sweta.

Is this guy stupid handing over a gun to a teenager?.. Sweta’s hands hesitated to reach out at first but took them. Her index finger almost slid into the trigger.
He caught her hand “No, no...keep your index finger stiff and straight, away from the trigger.”
Sweta took the gun carefully between her hands. She kept her index finger straight. “Now slide the index finger only when you need to,” said Shiva.

Sweta looked at him confused “Why are you giving me this?”

“Because when he wakes up he won’t be your brother anymore.” he said, pointing at her brother. She felt her heart sink.

“You’re suggesting I kill my brother?” shouted Sweta.

“I am suggesting you save yourself.” said Shiva.
Shiva raced down through the stairs, Rudra had pointed out to her earlier. He stopped a few steps below, turned to Sweta one last time and said “Sweta your brother would never want you to die, I can tell because you are here.. Alive.”

There was a long silence, Sweta looked at the gun she was holding, the air rescue would be here... Shiva was right. Did she even want to be rescued? She slowly turned to look at Rudra’s corpse. Flesh torn apart from the fight earlier, laying in the pool of his blood. Her eyes immediately pulled away.

What was the point? She had nothing left.

She looked at her brother again, she wondered why was she agonizing herself by looking at her brother’s body. She was going to look away again but she saw his eyes which were still looking at the closet. The axe he had given her was still on the floor where she had left. She slowly walked to the cleaning equipment closet she watched the axe for a few seconds.

“Survive.” Rudra’s last words echoed on her mind, she picked up the axe, moved closer to the stairs and slumped on the floor.