Rachel - Interactive Story - scene 21

Continued from scene 20

Rachel edges closer to Lawson, hands outstretched, keeping her voice low and calm. "Listen to me, Officer. We need to—"

"Get down! Now!" Lawson's eyes blaze, her finger tight on the trigger. Rachel moves closer, and Lawson fires a warning shot into the sky. The crack of the gunshot echoes through the street.

Simpson slams the accelerator, the cruiser lurching forward with a screech and tearing down the road. For a split second, Lawson's eyes shift to the retreating car. Seizing the moment, Rachel lunges forward, her hand slicing through the space between them. Her fingers clamp around the cold metal of the gun, twisting it sharply from Lawson's grip before the Officer can react. She quickly steps back, her chest rising and falling with controlled breaths, eyes locked on Lawson's stunned, wide-eyed expression.

Rachel holds up the gun, showing it to Lawson as she moves backward. "I'm not here to hurt you. You need to understand—this infection isn't what we think. It's turning people into those things. Simpson was right, and you know it."

A low, guttural noise slices through the air, shivering Rachel's spine. She glances down the street and spots movement—three figures rounding the corner, staggering forward, their limbs jerking with unnatural stiffness. They close the distance slowly but surely, maybe 200 feet away.

Lawson's hands tremble, and she shakes her head, words tumbling in disbelief. "You've all gone mad. I can't just stop being a police officer. You just shot that man."

Rachel's jaw tightens. "That wasn't a man anymore," she says. She glances at the older man still huddled on the ground, his hand clutched around his leg. A dark, jagged bite mark glares back at her, wet and raw.

The three infected figures advance, now within 150 feet. Rachel steps back. "We need to move," she mutters, her eyes shifting back to her car.

Continue to scene 22