Adventure of Ella Bawer 1

Ella reaches the quarantine checkpoint as the military line collapses. Abandoned rifles lie scattered across the concrete, while zombies shove through the inspection lanes and hammer the barricades.

Two Marine riflemen are down behind an overturned barrier, their positions empty. Beyond them, the control booth is sealed with filing cabinets and a steel chair braced beneath the handle.

A middle-aged woman with a narrow build, brown skin, cropped gray hair, and a yellow CDC jacket peers through the booth glass. One hand grips a folded route map.

The researcher points toward the nearest lane. A chain-link gate buckles inward as several zombies press against it, snarling through gaps in the metal.

Ella snatches her rifle from the concrete beside the overturned barrier and brings it to her shoulder. The sling catches briefly, tearing a strap loose with a sharp crack.

Her shout cuts through the checkpoint. The buckling gate shudders harder as the trapped dead turn toward the sound, and the damaged sling hangs uselessly from the rifle.

The CDC researcher drops the route map onto the booth counter where Ella can see it through the glass, then begins dragging a cabinet away from the service access.

A rifleman’s abandoned ammunition pouch lies within reach beneath the barrier, while the gate’s lower hinge groans against the concrete.

Ella hooks the ammunition pouch from beneath the barrier and strips the loose rounds into her pockets. Then she plants both hands against the buckling gate.

The dead slam into the chain link from the far side, but Ella’s massive frame braces the weakened section against the concrete. The lower hinge steadies under her weight.

Inside the booth, the CDC researcher drags the steel chair away from the service access and pulls open a narrow maintenance hatch behind it.

The gate continues to shudder beneath the pressure, but it stays closed. Behind Ella, the booth’s service passage yawns open into darkness, ready for their withdrawal.