The Dead Ones

Follow the story of the survivors of this pandemic and see how far they are willing to go to survive, to find the truth about how it all began, and to find a way to bring it all to an end.

The lair

 

 

   "Good to see you again James, how are things today?"

"It's been going good for some time now. I don't think it could be any better." James assumed his usual seat on the dark red leather sofa lined with maple hardwood in the middle of the office. Directly across from James was Doctor Brown who sat in a matching armchair. The whole office was coordinated so it was outfitted primarily with deepened reds and dark stained woods. There was a few big windows that drew in much natural light which seemed to bring life to the room which otherwise would feel more like a lair than a therapists office. There was a big oak desk with a computer on the top as well as a pile of neatly stacked files which towered on the opposite side of the monitor. In a small metal frame sat a picture of the Doctor’s wife with their two sons. Two wooden bookcases stood on both sides of the desk against the wall and were filled with books which seemed to have no real use except to be decorative. The floral wallpaper was paler in comparison to the red carpet and had a few of the credentials obtained by the Doctor. James knew it was the Doctors job to seem friendly and trustworthy to all his clients, but James always considered Brown to be one of his good friends.

 

   "What if I told you I have news that would make you feel a whole lot better than usual?" Brown couldn't help having a huge smile.

"I would say, you better spit it out already."

"Well it seems you've made some fast progress, today you've been cleared for release and you can go home."

"That's exactly what I've wanted to hear, I can't thank you enough Doc. Without everything you've done for me I'm sure I wouldn't be able to handle this place without you." James said exhilarated.

"I know, I'm grateful to have had you. That's why I wanted to make sure I was the one to pass on the news to you." Brown paused for a moment to look at his phone as it started to vibrate. "I'm sorry I need to take this," James nodded understandingly.  "Hello. Wait, what? I'm on my way," Brown now showed a level of concern and James couldn't help but to inquire.

 

   "Is everything alright?"

"My son isn't feeling too good, he had a high fever and now my wife says she's put him in his room for a timeout. After giving him medicine he started biting. He's six but I thought he got over his biting phase. He probably picked it up from daycare. Last night he got sent home with a letter informing the parents of a kid who had been violent and was fighting some of the kids. Our son was scratched so it wasn't that bad but still. I need to go check in on them now."

"You better hurry then," James now also was filled with concern, "I hope it's not too serious and he gets better quick. He'll get over that phase again, I'm sure of it. Afterwards we can meet up some time. You've got my number somewhere over there in those files. I'd love to meet your wife and kids." Brown stood and walked over to the doorway and James followed him into the hallway. Together they walked to the elevator and rode it down to the lobby.

"I guess this is where we separate then, but I'll take you up on that offer. Once my son is better we can all get together for dinner. Until we meet again I guess." They shook hands and bid each other farewell. James walked to the parking lot and got into his truck, he was so excited to finally be allowed to make a one way trip home. He was put at ease knowing he would no longer have to traverse the busied downtown streets and could return to his quieter suburban life. James wasn't too fond of all the tall skyscrapers which blocked the view of the sky. He also thought there were too many people, that the crowds on the street usurped him. Driving was also so much more difficult. Cars parked on the side took up half of the road, and people were always crossing at random moments in random places. While he was driving in his black pickup truck, James could barely make progress going down the street, he couldn't help but notice how often he had to pull to the side for passing ambulances and police cruisers up until the moment he had to take an early turn to get on the freeway.

First Encounter

 

 

   James sat patiently in his pickup waiting for the traffic to start moving again. He began to check himself out in the mirror, checking for any blemishes on his tanned completion. He saw nothing but his hazel eyes staring back at him so he stroked his chiselled chin and brushed his short black hair forward. Something came into his peripheral vision turning his gaze away from the mirror.

   James looked right when he heard the sound of shattering glass. He turned to see a man who had run to the car in front of him breaking through the driver's window. James saw how bloody the man was and assumed the gore was a result of the broken glass. The bloodied man was fighting with the driver which led James to assume the guy was a car thief. James swung open his car door and rushed the man at the car in front of him. He grabbed the man and forced him onto the hood of the medium sized SUV. James noticed the man looked very pale, his pupils were fully dilated, the whites of his eyes were now yellow, and he had blood staining his teeth. The man seemed to be sick but was still putting up a fight reaching for James' face and clicking his teeth as he made biting gestures. The driver had regained himself and reversed his car in a panic which caused the man to drop to the ground. Before he could get back up the panicked driver raced forward in attempts to get away, but in doing so the man got caught on the front tire and was dragged a few feet before the tire finally rolled over his torso. James was mortified by the sight of the man who just got run over, but even more so by the fact that he was still crawling around as if invulnerable to the events which had just taken place. James got back in his truck and raced to the off ramp knowing he had to get home quick, that he had to leave because in his current situation he couldn't risk getting in more trouble with the police. The whole way home his mind was occupied by the man he had been fighting, and the fact that he should have died underneath the tire of that car.

  

   James was back in the silence of his own neighbourhood. He pulled up in front of his house and reversed his truck into the driveway. He sat there for a moment dumbfounded as to how someone could just flee knowing there was a possibility they killed a man in a hit and run accident. James grabbed his keys and pulled them out of the ignition and as his truck turned off he heard another car roll to a stop in front of him. James slowly reached to his glove box expecting to see someone from the accident coming to try and turn him in. He was instead surprised to see a young girl that was about the same age as him. This put James at ease but he was still somewhat skeptical which is why when he stepped out of his truck all he could ask was, "did you follow me?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry but I didn't know what else to do," she cried as tears started to form.

"Why are you crying, what's wrong?" James saw how distraught this girl was and really wanted to help her.

"I saw what you did back on the freeway -” she started.

"I didn't mean to hurt him. I didn't know that was going to happen." Jason suddenly became defensive.

"I believe you, it's just, I thought since you were so willing to help someone else, you could help me."

"Oh. Yeah. Sure. What is it?" James now calmed down no longer feeling like she was going to accuse him of anything.

"It's my dad, he's sick. A man like the one who attacked that car jumped on my dad and he got hurt." She was starting to get choked up again.

"Alright, I'll see what I can do." James started walking over to her car when her father finally came into view as he was lying down on the back seat. He was visibly ill as he was heavily perspiring; he was clutching the wounds on his arm which were still bleeding onto the back seats.  James opened the back car door and removed his shirt saying, "Sir, I'm going to wrap up your arm to try and stop the bleeding." James took a shallow moan from the man as a form of confirmation to continue. James began wrapping his shirt around the man’s arm when the man began trying to speak.

"You must be a really great guy to help out complete strangers," he wheezed.

"I guess you could say that," James agreed.

"Well may I ask one last favour of you?" James just nodded still tending to the man’s wounds. "Promise me you'll take care of her," the man exhaled. James just looked at the man. When he was about to leave the man grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "Promise me," he said once more.

"I promise," James agreed and closed the car door.

 

   James walked back over to the girl. "Is he going to be alright?" Her voice trembled.

"I think he's going to be alright." James wished he said it more confidently than he felt but somehow they were both aware that what he said was a lie. She couldn't help but to lower her head and frown. James grabbed her hand and gestured to the house, "come on let's go see if we can grab him a blanket." James escorted her through the door and asked, "So what's your name?"

"Vanessa Vermont."

"I'm James. It’s nice to meet you. Now let's go get your dad that blanket now."

 

   James thought if he knew he would be bringing back a beautiful petite blonde he would have cleaned up his house a little bit. He wasn’t the most successful individual when it came to women, but he didn’t mind much. He believed if he waited long enough the right one would be revealed to him, but at the moment he just wanted to focus on his job as a security guard. James always felt his house being two stories was too big for just him, but he thought downgrading was pointless. All of his friends and family lived downtown but he knew he didn’t want to surrender his peaceful life just to be closer to them. James thought he couldn’t live through the chaos downtown, the fact that he had his own property made him really love his suburban home.

  

   James found a blanket and began to go back to the car. As he was walking towards the car a bloody hand slammed against the inside of the window bringing James to a halt. Slowly Vanessa's father began to sit up and James was horrified by the man’s face. It was the same as the man's on the freeway, and now he was beginning to bang on the window. Vanessa collapsed to her knees behind James and began to wail. James knelt beside her and held her as she burrowed her face into his shoulder continuing to cry. "I'm sorry. I wish I could have done more."

"It's not your fault, you did everything you could," she cried out between sobs. James still felt a great amount of sorrow for Vanessa but he didn't know what he should say or do so he just sat there and let her cry for a moment.

 

   After a short while Vanessa was able to partially collect herself. "So what are we going to do about him?" Vanessa questioned. James knew she meant who was going to have to finish him off, but he didn't think he would be able to bring himself to do it.

"What if we just let the car roll down the hill with him in it?" It was the only suggestion James could think of that didn't involve having to get physical with the man.

"But then how would I be able to go anywhere, or get home?"

"How about you stay with me? Just until we figure everything out. Then I can take you wherever you want." James couldn't help but remember the promise the man made him make in his final moments.

"I think that would be okay, if that’s the only way. Are you sure you wouldn't mind if I stayed?"

"Not at all. I wouldn't want anything else." James was surprised at how genuinely he cared for this girl. He knew even without the promise he wouldn't be able to let this girl go out on her own, and having someone to keep him company was just a bonus.

"Okay, let's do this." Together they walked up to the car and the man began making biting motions towards the glass as they drew closer. James quickly opened the car door, ducking under the steering wheel to avoid the outstretched arms coming from the back seat. He grabbed the gear shift, changing the gear shift to neutral. He quickly slid back out, closing the door before Vanessa’s father in the back was able to grab him.
"Well the hard part is done. I'll give you a moment alone, once you're done you can give it a little push and it'll roll down the street. When you're done I'll be waiting inside for you."

"I'll see you in a bit," she offered a faint smile. Then James walked back into the house and sat in the kitchen, waiting for her to make her peace with her father.

 

I promise

 

 

   James waited patiently in his kitchen. He decided to look in his fridge to see if he could survey how long he had until he would need to go out and get more food. James grabbed the door handle and pulled the door open. When he peered in the fridge he was more than delighted to see that most of his groceries were still untouched from the other night when he restocked his fridge after going to the grocery store. What James didn’t expect was hearing the clink of bottles rattling against each other. James could almost envision the dark brown bottle beginning to perspire, the sound of it hiss when the contents are unsealed, the tingle as well as the bittersweet taste as the liquid crawls down his throat. The front door slammed shut breaking James out of his trance; he collected his thoughts and vowed he wouldn’t ever touch that drink again.

 

   Vanessa moseyed into the kitchen holding her one shoulder with her arm looking at the ground. It was evident that she was a bit uncomfortable with what had just happened beyond the front door. She had a bit of blood on her jeans and shirt but James quickly connected it to her having to load her bleeding father into the car at the time the accident occurred. James didn’t really know how to start, so they stood there for a minute surveying the other. Vanessa decided to be the one to break the silence, “thank you for letting me say my good byes,” she said gratefully.
“Don’t mention it, I’m sure he was a great man.”
“Yeah,” she paused looking to drop the subject, “So, do you have anything to eat? I haven’t eaten anything since this morning.”
“Well the good news is, we got enough food to last us a week or two. You can have whatever you’d like,” James thought with this he’d try to lighten the mood a bit. As Vanessa went to rummage through James’ fridge and cabinets for a snack, James went into the next room to see if he could find some clarification through the news. Vanessa came and joined James short after she had cleaned a red apple and together they sat trying to listen to the news caster relay the information to them.

 

   They were calling it an epidemic. All the available news channels were focusing on the situation at hand, doing their best to provide the best coverage of the events unfolding as they happened. “Similar occurrences are being reported across the country. Officials say this makes it difficult to pinpoint the place of origin for the virus. What is known is that the virus is highly contagious passing only through the wounds inflicted by the infected.   It is now advised that individuals stay off the streets and remain in their homes for the duration of the outbreak until help arrives. It is best to avoid contact with those who appear sick. Infected individuals are considered to be highly aggressive and it is not recommended to engage them in any way. If confronted by an infected person it is reported that they can withstand vast amounts of damage to their body, the only known way to neutralize them is to cause lethal injury from the neck up. We will continue to broadcast for as long as we can as new information becomes available.” The same information was being recycled by all the news channels so James decided to turn the television off.

“At least we have somewhat of an idea of what’s going on,” James said. “That’s why the guy on the freeway didn’t die, and why your dad -”
“Can we just not talk about that anymore.” Vanessa was clearly annoyed, wanting to disassociate herself from the events which took place before she came inside.
“Yeah sure,” James apologized. “Now we just have to figure out how we’re going to be able to camp out in here for a little while.” Vanessa sat there looking at James, waiting for him to provide instructions. She was ready to do what was necessary to stay with James. She knew that he was all she had now and she was certain she wouldn’t be able to survive on her own. James and Vanessa needed each other and they knew together they had the best possibility for survival. Together they began to secure the house, committing themselves’ to each other to provide and protect until the very end.

 

Downtown

 

   From what was being said on the news, the situation was getting worse. Every day more people were becoming infected, and law enforcement efforts to control this growing infectious population were beginning to fail. They simply did not possess the resources as well as the numbers to control the situation at hand. The prime objective was to now hold their ground until the National Guard was able to provide reinforcements. Reinforcements were being sent all around the country, primarily to the big cities where the infection rate was at its peak. The reinforcements were only a couple days away and it was believed that once they came, order would be restored.

   Downtown the situation wasn’t as good as what the news was reporting. Every available person in law enforcement was present in attempts to fend off the infected individuals from the core of the city. Hundreds of police officers gathered together suited in riot gear to protect them against infected which got too close. Snipers located on the roof were used to scout where the infected were coming from, as well as to thin out the crowds when they came as waves. Amongst one of the many snipers was Trevor Gianni. Trevor was fresh out of the academy and this was his first act of duty. At the moment he was beginning to get nervous, he had shot almost fifty rounds making each of them count, but he looked at his ammo supply and he knew he would soon be out if he had to keep shooting the way he was. Every few minutes he had to fire upon incoming hostiles. When things seemed to have calmed down for a quick moment Trevor turned to grab his radio. “Is there a possibility of an ammo drop any time soon?” Trevor was surprised to hear that he wasn’t the only one that was running low on ammo, and in fact he had the most ammo out of all the snipers from what he was hearing. James had about eight clips left, most had about three to five, and some were even down to one. James knew the others were burning through their ammo too quickly which is what made him even more horrified by the response of his Captain.
“Ammo will be available within the next hour.”
“Sir, most of us don’t have an hour. What are we going to do?” Trevor was starting to become more anxious.
“We hold our ground. Reserve as much ammo as possible. Shoot to kill, and let us pray that our troops on the ground don’t join the dead ones.” The captain was both stern yet solemn. No one dared to disobey his orders, so every sniper held their position on the rooftops.

Trevor looked up at the sky, gazing towards the setting sun. He couldn’t help but wonder what would come once the sun had gone. It would be much more difficult to spot the dead ones with only the light provided by the streetlamps. Just then Trevor heard the ground troops yelling out orders. He looked down to see they were readying for the next wave of attack. It seemed as we were regrouping, the infected were doing something similar as this was one of the biggest groups of them yet. For every unit on the ground, there were two dead ones which left them greatly outnumbered. Trevor cocked his sniper and looked down the sight of his scope. The dead ones moved at varying speeds, some slowly limped, and others ran in a sprint. Trevor focused his sights on the leading sprinter and took his shot. His aim was perfect, the bullet travelled entering from one side of its head and exited through the other, its momentum carried it a few feet as it dropped skidding across the pavement. Trevor exited his scope to reload his chamber, and in doing so he noticed a commotion at the back of the squad. Everyone had been so focused with the huge group that they didn’t notice the few that were coming up on the rear. Once the chamber had been reloaded, Trevor lined up his shot at the back of the group. A dead one was only a few steps away from an oblivious officer. Just as it reached out to grab the officer Trevor made his shot. The dead one fell on top of the officer causing him to stumble. Once he regained his balance he cleared out the remaining few behind the squad and looked up to Trevor giving him a thumb up to show his gratitude. Trevor felt accomplished knowing he was able to save at least one of his fellow officers. He returned his fire to the front of the group, and a short while after they were all able to dismantle the crowd.

   The corpses littered the streets, four of which were fallen officers. Some of the officers were assigned to move aside some of the closer bodies to the side of the street. They were only given a short amount of time until they had to return to formation but the bodies further away were beneficial as they slowed the incoming dead ones who tripped over the other infected. The ammo had been delayed due to the amount of infected, the couriers couldn`t as easily make their way through the streets. The sun had now set making the situation that much more complicated. Much of the dead ones were getting too close to the ground units due to the shadows that concealed them. Trevor was still up on the roof providing cover for the ground units but he was now down to his last ammo clip. He picked up his radio once again, “how long until the ammo gets here, we`re almost out Captain.” James was getting a bit agitated.
“It’s just a few minutes away, hold for a bit longer men.” The Captain was still trying to assert his authority. Trevor used his sniper scope to look at the other snipers. They all looked discouraged, he knew they wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer. He watched as one sniper fired his last shot and dumped all his clips down to the street below. The amount of dead ones advancing on the ground units were increasing. One by one dead ones would drop, and one by one the snipers would deplete all their ammo. Soon enough the sniper fire had ceased and Trevor had taken to looking at the other snipers again. He had seen that in the darkness they were all retreating. Without the help of the sniper fire the dead ones were advancing quickly on the ground units. Trevor did his best to kill any that got too close but for every dead one killed, two took its place. The dead ones were now on top of the ground units and they could do nothing to fight them off. They were overwhelmed and the dead ones began tearing off the riot armor, feasting on their flesh afterwards. Trevor knew he couldn’t stay anymore, there was nothing he could do to help these men now, and he couldn’t bear the sight of his fellow officers being eaten alive.

   Trevor ran over to the staircase. Running down the stairs he checked his magazine to see how many shots were left, he had two. Once Trevor reached the bottom of the stairs he saw there was a dead one blocking the door to the exit. He quickly lined up his shot and exploded the head off the dead one’s shoulders. He thought now he only had one bullet. He was sure downtown wasn’t safe anymore, but he was unsure if he would be able to make it out of the city with only one round left. Trevor slowly opened the exit door and peered out to see if any more dead ones were close to him. There were none close enough to notice him so he slipped out and quietly closed the door behind him. The next step was to find a way to get out of the city. Trevor saw a police cruiser sitting in the middle of the street. Since the lights were still flashing Trevor assumed the keys must still be in the car.

   He crouched and slowly crept towards the cruiser hoping no dead ones would see him. When he peeked around the corner of the building he saw that all the dead ones were still feasting on the dead police officers. Trevor saw this as his chance to make his way to the car unseen. Once he got close to the cruiser he was delighted to see the keys were in fact still in the ignition, but when he looked at the alley across the street he saw a dead one with a duffel bag. Trevor knew this dead one was once the person who was supposed to deliver him his ammo. This would be his one opportunity to get his much desired ammo for his gun. He had one shot and he knew once he took the shot they would all be drawn to the sound of the gun. Trevor thought all he had to do was make the hit, grab the bag, and run back to the car so he can drive out of the city. Trevor put the barrel of the gun on the hood of the car and lined up shot. He was too nervous and couldn’t steady his aim. He decided he couldn’t wait any longer, he pulled the trigger. The shot missed, and the dead one with the duffel bag slowly turned its gaze on Trevor.

   Trevor stood and froze there for a moment as the dead one began to sprint towards him. He bashed the stock of the gun against the forehead of the dead one as it lunged for him and once more when it fell to the ground to finish it off. Trevor took the duffel bag and threw it into the cruiser. When he looked behind him he saw all of the dead ones had stopped feasting and were now fixed on him. Trevor jumped in the car and turned the keys in the ignition, the car had stalled. Looking in the rear-view mirror he saw that the dead ones were now limping and running towards the cruiser. He tried to start the car once more, no luck. At this time they were now at the cruiser, banging against the windows. One last time he turned the keys and the engine roared. Trevor was flushed with relief and put the gear in drive. He floored the gas pedal sending all of the dead ones on top of the car crashing to the floor and running over some of them that made their way to the front of the cruiser. He also thought that hopefully the suburbs were not as bad as downtown because that was the only other place he knew he could be safe. Trevor hoped that once he made it to the suburbs, he would be able to group up with at least one of the survivors.

 

Safe House

   James and Vanessa had been locked up in his house for just over a day. James gathered what lumber he had the day before in order to board up the doors and windows on the ground floor to ensure no one had easy entry into the house. James couldn’t fall asleep, he felt uneasy knowing there were feral people roaming around. He left his room and walked down the stairs to go into the living room, he thought since he couldn’t sleep he might as well watch the news to see what was happening.

   It was 2:46 a.m. when James turned to the newscast. It was dark and the only light came from the glow of the television screen, James didn’t want to have his house stand out by turning his lights on. He sat on the couch waiting for the news update to start when a hand rested on his shoulder. James was so startled he leaped up ready to fight off whatever tried to grab him. Fortunately for James when he turned around all he saw was Vanessa. “S**t Vanessa, don’t sneak up on me like that.” James was both relieved and irritated as he sat back down on the couch.
“Sorry,” she said somewhat amused taking the seat next to him, “I couldn’t sleep either so I thought I’d come down and join you.” Just then the news report began and both of them turned their attention to the television.

   The newscast was showing video footage captured by the news helicopter. Abandoned cars were left scattered on the roads, bloody corpses filled the streets, some were being eaten by the infected and some were reanimating back to life joining the others to eat, and stray fires blazed out from some of the crashed cars. James saw some of the infected were wearing riot gear which made him uneasy about what he might hear the newscaster say next. “Still following the events unfolding downtown, the situation is intensifying. The footage shown was captured twenty minutes ago. From what was shown it is evident that local law enforcement efforts have now failed and though they are moving with great haste, the National Guard is still expected to arrive in a day. Downtown is now compromised and all remaining survivors are advised to evacuate if possible. The so called dead ones have assumed control and the only advisable course of action is to wait until the Nation Guard comes to re-establish order.”

   James felt a knot begin to form in his stomach and all he could do was put his face in his hands. Vanessa saw this and began to reassure him, “I’m sure your friends and family made it out, you shouldn’t worry about them too much.” Vanessa knew his pain all too well, but she knew they had to focus on their own survival.
“Yeah, I’m sure they’re just fine.” James was just filling himself with false hope, but he knew there was nothing else he could do. “So we got one more day together, are you hungry? We can have a midnight snack.” James was trying to stay positive and thought making food would be enough of a distraction. Vanessa sat at the island in the kitchen while James took out a package of bacon from the fridge. He put the lights on in the kitchen and turned his dimmer switch so the lights were at their lowest setting, that way he could still see what he was doing when he was cooking.
“Now if those things weren’t out there, where would you be going to work in the morning?” Vanessa was trying to learn more about James since they would have to stay together for a little while longer.
“I would be going to stare at monitors all day, I’m a security guard. What about you?”
“I in fact would be sitting at a desk all day typing away and dealing with millions of files, I’m a paralegal. It looks like we’re both about the justice,” Vanessa said jokingly, “but did you hear about that security guard that assaulted that lawyer? They found out he was drinking on the job.”
“Yeah I heard about him,” James didn’t seem all that interested, “how do you like your bacon?”
“However you like it, it doesn’t matter. So tell me, how is a twenty six?” James nodded in approval. “How is a twenty six year old like you alone in a house like this?”
“I guess I just haven’t found the right person to share it with.” James didn’t know if she was being flirtatious or if she was just curious.
“How do you manage it, financially I mean if you don’t mind me asking.”
“I guess you could say,” James paused, “I got a good inheritance.”
“Rich parents?” Vanessa asked.
“Dead parents,” James started uneasily, “it was a few years ago, they went down in a plane crash.”
“That’s horrible,” Vanessa sympathized. “Then what family do you have living downtown right now?” Just then flashing red and blue lights flooded the kitchen and living room.
“One second,” James said as he ran over to the front door. He tore off the planks of wood and opened the door. The man who stood on the other side had the same tanned complexion and hazel eyes, though his black hair was a bit longer and was curly not straight. James and the man who was dressed in riot gear shared a short embrace. James then turned back to Vanessa and said, “Vanessa, this is my brother, Trevor.”

 

False Hope

   Trevor looked past James at the bronzed blonde sitting in the kitchen, and then turned his gaze back to James offering him a large smile like he knew what was happening. James looked at him and shook his head assuring it wasn’t what he was thinking. Trevor turned his attention back to Vanessa and said, “I’m guessing the car in the driveway is yours?” James turned back to Vanessa and she lowered her head.
“Yeah it’s mine,” she admitted guiltily.
“What about your father,” James asked concerned.
“He made me promise,” Vanessa started, “promise that I wouldn’t allow him to carry on as one of those things. He didn’t want to hurt anyone.” Vanessa looked up at James and saw he was still concerned so she reached into her back pocket and pulled out a hunting knife. “I drove up as far as possible so you wouldn’t see the car in the driveway and I dragged the body down the street to hide it. I knew you didn’t want to do it and I didn’t want you judge me for what I did.” Vanessa was starting to get watery eyes and she used her sleeve to wipe away the forming tears. James walked up to Vanessa and rested his hand on her back to comfort her.
“I could never judge you for that. It just shows how strong you are.” As James was comforting Vanessa, Trevor went back to the police cruiser to turn the lights and engine off. Then he grabbed his rifle and duffel bag from the passenger seat and went back inside. When he got back inside he saw James was still comforting Vanessa and he couldn’t help to say, “So did you make enough bacon for me too?” Vanessa couldn’t help but laugh as James practically dove for the frying pan on the stove.
“I almost forgot about the bacon. Luckily it didn’t get too crispy.” James thought he would’ve felt horrible ruining Vanessa’s bacon after what she had just confessed. James filled two plates with the bacon he had just cooked and offered them to both Trevor and Vanessa.
“Are you sure bro?” Trevor didn’t want to impose by taking James’ meal.
“It’s fine, I’m sure you need it more than I do.” James thought a little food would do Trevor some good after what was shown on the news. Trevor sat next to Vanessa at the island and began to eat with her. “I see you brought your work home with you,” James motioned towards the rifle and the riot gear, “how was it?”
“It was s**t,” Trevor chuckled, “I’m pretty sure most of my unit got out but there were so many of those things that the people on the streets stood no chance. I had my own close encounter trying to get that car outside but I’d say it was worth it. At least we’re all together now and that’s all that matters.”
“Well now that you are here we can wait it out until the National Guard comes,” James said, “you must be pretty beat, you can take my bed and I’ll sleep on the couch down here.”
“How about you sleep with me,” Vanessa offered to James, “I don’t think it’s that safe to be down here alone in case something happens.”
“Alright, thanks.” James was grateful he wouldn’t have to be uncomfortable on the couch. “Maybe we should all get to sleep now,” James suggested. Everyone agreed so they all headed upstairs to their bedrooms after everything was turned off and the barricades were checked over. When James got into the bed with Vanessa she began to nestle close with him despite his efforts to stay on his own side of the bed. Before James went to sleep he couldn’t help thinking how right it felt to have her so close and he knew he would do whatever it took to protect her. Trevor and Vanessa were his first priorities and together they would help each other survive.

   James awoke the next morning to the hum of truck engines. He gently removed Vanessa’s arm off his chest and slipped off the bed making his way to the bedroom window. There were multiple army transport trucks; each carrying up to twenty soldiers in the back and after every couple of trucks there would pass a Humvee with a mounted machine gunner in the back. James counted about ten trucks and five machine gunners. He wasn’t sure if that was just enough or too little to fend of the infected from the city. James wondered why they had made it almost a day early but assumed the news was just letting people prepare for the worst. Once all the army vehicles had passed he turned back to Vanessa and saw that she was still sleeping, and he heard Trevor coming from the next room. When Trevor appeared in the doorway he had a sly smirk on his face. “Did you see them?” Trevor didn’t attempt to quiet his voice even when he saw Vanessa sleeping. “That’s not going to be enough men.”
“How can you be so sure?” James whispered trying not to add much noise so Vanessa could sleep.
“I was there,” Trevor started, “Our men couldn’t even last until reinforcements came, and who’s going to back up these guys once it all goes to s**t.”
“I guess you got a point, so what should we do for now?” James noticed Vanessa was beginning to wake up and lowered his voice even more.
“The fact that we haven’t heard much gun shots is a good thing; there aren’t much dead ones in the suburbs. Whatever strays wandered this far are being cleaned up by the soldiers so we should be good for a little while longer, but it’s only a matter of time until the dead ones gain a few numbers.” At that moment Vanessa woke up.
“What’s going on guys?” Vanessa sat up rubbing her eyes.
“The army is here,” James informed her, “but we don’t think it will be enough to stop the dead ones.”
“I guess we better check the news. Keep watch, and see how well they do.” Vanessa was straining to keep her eyes open.
“Not a bad idea, we’ll see if they last as long as we did.” Trevor was moderately sarcastic.
“Let’s get ready then. After we’ll go downstairs, have some breakfast and watch the news.” James went into the bathroom and groomed himself the best he could while rushing to get a head start downstairs to start cooking for everyone. When James opened the fridge he tried his best to ignore the brown bottles on the fridge door, he then looked at all the stuff in the fridge. He was still satisfied with the amount of food that was left.

   By the time everyone came downstairs James had all their finished cooking all of their breakfast. James turned on the television as they all sat and watched from the island as they ate. The expected arrival was estimated at twenty five minutes until the army convoy reached downtown. No one felt like saying anything as they all anticipated the fight that would soon take place so they all sat there in silence finishing their food. The more James thought about what Trevor had said, the more he doubted the capability of the army. He thought if this was the case he had no idea what the three of them would do next. There was enough food for about a week but he knew once that week had passed they would have to go out and find more. He thought they would deal with that later, and for now he would see if the army would be able to prove him wrong. Once the broadcast had begun from the news helicopter, all three of them looked at each other anxiously. None of them knew how everything would play out.

   The army trucks were running over dead ones, clearing their path into the downtown streets. Once they had driven a few miles into the city the convoy had come to a halt at an intersection. Soldiers filed out of each of the trucks and began picking off any dead ones within their vicinity. Once they established their position the trucks were being parked in attempts to create a roadblock for each of the four streets closing in all of the soldiers. A Humvee was placed in the middle of the road with two trucks on both sides of it, that way the machine gunner had a clear line of fire. The roadblocks were set up and the soldiers assumed their positions on top of the trucks and in front of them ready for dead ones. Except for a few lonely wanderers the streets seemed to be empty. “So far so good,” Trevor thought the military had done a better job so far than his ground units, “but now the fight starts.” Right on cue the dead ones started running in waves down the street. The helicopter wasn’t showing where they were coming from but it didn’t matter because the soldiers all opened fire. The soldiers were at a great advantage with the use of the mounted machine guns as they seemed to mow down all the incoming dead ones. “Looks like they may actually stand a chance,” Trevor said, but James thought it was too good to be true. The soldiers continued killing the dead ones when James saw something out of the corner of the screen. A dead one on a roof was beginning to walk close to the edge of the building. The dead one proceeded to step off of the building attracted to all the noise and began to plummet towards the soldiers. The dead one managed to land on the Humvee’s driver which killed him on impact causing him to push on the gas pedal. The Humvee took off and drove towards the crowd of the dead ones and crashed into a street light. Once the gar crashed the dead ones jumped on the Humvee and grabbed a hold of the gunner which they began to feast on. Glass from a second story window then shattered and rained down upon some of the soldiers who were standing on a truck. When they looked up they say dead ones pouring out of the window onto the truck. These events drew off enough fire that the dead ones running up the street were able to advance almost up to the barricade. By the time the soldiers turned their attention back to the streets, the dead ones had dove onto them. The fifth Humvee in the center of the perimeter began firing but was unable to kill the dead ones fast enough as they came over and under the trucks. The other three sides of the perimeter turned their attention to focus on the dead ones which were filtering in. Without the soldiers giving the same attention they once were to their own sides of the street, the zombies were closing in on all four sides of the intersection. Just as the dead ones were about to breach each side, the broadcast was cut off.

   Vanessa was overwhelmed, “now what?”
“Now we figure out what we’re going to do next.” James was doing his best to remain composed.
“I actually thought they would last longer than that,” Trevor was still focused on the news, “let’s just hope some of them were able to make it out. There’s no point in staying and adding to the numbers, we already got enough of those things to worry about.”
“We’re in the suburbs and like you said earlier, we don’t have anything to worry about for a while,” James reasoned, “so we should just stay here while we can. At least we got all the stuff we need, we can figure out what we’re going to do after.” From the look on both Vanessa’s and Trevor’s face, they seemed to agree with this proposal.
“Then once they start coming we need to get the hell out of here,” Trevor instructed, “We can’t let ourselves get trapped in this house.”
“But where will we go?” Vanessa asked.
“Away from any city, we can’t be close to any city because there will be way too many of those things.” Trevor was certain after being downtown and watching what it was like now, he never wanted to return to any city.
“Then it’s settled, we stay here until we have to go out west.” Vanessa felt that she needed to say it out loud for it to all be certain. They all nodded in agreement and went back to watching the television.

 

The Final Week

   The news broadcast picked back up not too long after to show the events after the military attempts to regain the city. It showed the carnage which was left behind after the military engaged the dead ones. The bodies piled up all throughout the area. Sections of the sidewalks and streets were completely blocked out by blood and corpses, the dead bodies even topped the roofs of the army trucks. Some of the former soldiers who had now joined the dead ones were now idly roaming around with their rifles swinging from their necks. The soldiers who managed to survive did their best to stack on as many persons as they could on the Humvee and drove with haste out of the city limits. Stray survivors were seen running through the streets following the path of the Humvee hoping it would be the safest path as the Humvee squad managed to dispose of a few of the dead ones. A couple of the soldiers were caught by the dead ones but it seemed as if the retreat had been the only successful operation thus far.

   Once the military had withdrawn from the city the news turned to report on the activities of the government. A supposed vaccine was said to be almost complete as health administrators had not stopped working since the first reports of the infection outbreak. Government officials had now moved out of office and were now being transported to a secure location to ensure they are in no danger of the dead ones. From their new location they will still be able to survey and assess the situation to certify they can continue making the best decisions to combat this infectious virus.

   Trevor had set up a television in one of the rooms upstairs where the three of them could sit and watch while looking out the large rectangular second floor window. The second floor windows were the only windows in the house that weren’t boarded as they were out of reach and everyone felt they needed to be able to see what was going on outside. “How do they have a vaccine already, it’s only been a few days.” Trevor was skeptical about the government’s claims.
“They have the best technologies don’t you know.” Vanessa teased Trevor with a bit of sarcasm.
“Where do you think they take them,” James questioned, “All those government people when something like this happens?”
“I bet they take them to some nice island retreat like Hawaii or Fiji,” Vanessa answered, “You don’t have to worry about that much once you’re on an island compared to when you’re in the city.”
“Maybe I should have gotten into politics,” Trevor joked.
“If you did you wouldn’t have that sniper right now,” Vanessa joked back. She gestured to Trevor’s sniper rifle that he rested in the corner of the room.
“I’d trade my rifle for a spot on a beach any day.” Trevor couldn’t help but smile at the idea.
“Maybe we can make it to a beach one day,” Vanessa said cheerfully turning to Trevor.
“Hopefully that day comes sometime soon.” Trevor responded amused by the thought. James had been standing at the window the whole time surveying the neighborhood. He thought now would be a good time to cut in the conversation the other two were having.
“I’m sorry to interrupt that lovely conversation you guys were having,” James began, “but it seems like we got some rather active neighbors down there." The urgency in his voice inscribed enough curiosity to get Trevor and Vanessa off the couch and come to join him by the window.
“Are they alive or the dead ones,” Trevor questioned.
“They’re alive.”
“Then what are you talking about?”
“Just watch,” James finished.

   A couple of the neighbors down below on the street were running back into their house from the car in their driveway. It seemed as if they had attempted to resupply themselves at one of the stores and were now trying to transport their goods from their trunk to their kitchen. While they were unloading their car another car pulled up on the street and a few bulky men got out. They began yelling at the brunette sisters and one of their boyfriends. James was good friends with the two sisters and was genuinely concerned for the safety of the three of them when the three men began arguing with them. James knew the sisters as Kate and Britany. Both sisters were slender and brunette Caucasians, though Britany was a slightly taller and had blonde highlights. Chet was light skinned with a medium build and a buzz cut. In his tank top his arms looked more toned than bulky when he stepped up in order to protect the two girls; he looked scrawny in comparison to the large bulky men. In doing so the man reached for the pistol which was tucked in the back of his pants and held it out towards Chet. The three men felt that they were robbed of the goods which the girls had in their car. They had apparently followed them home from the supermarket in attempts to serve their own justice. The three men looked like woodsmen with their light blue jeans and plaid shirts, one with no sleeves. Trevor ran back to the corner of the room and grabbed his sniper. Once he got back to the window he knelt down, snuck the barrel out of the window, and took his aim. The argument began to escalate as the girls began to panic when they man began to press against Chet’s forehead with the barrel of the gun. Chet looked a bit uneasy but he held his ground and attempted to reason with the man. “James, should I take the shot?” Trevor was unsure if he should intervene and save the neighbors. The man pulled the pin back on the pistol to show he meant business.
“Take the shot,” James ordered. Without a moment’s hesitation Trevor pulled the trigger and the man with the pistol dropped to the floor with blood pouring out of his head. The other two men ducked behind their car and grabbed their own guns shooting at Trevor, James, and Vanessa. Trevor reloaded quick and shot one of the two men and dipped back down below the window. As he was down reloading another round in the chamber he heard one last gunshot then silence. When he peered up out of the window he saw Chet standing over the last man with an outreached pistol. Chet had picked up the dropped pistol and finished off the last man as he was focused on Trevor. The sisters and Chet looked over to the three of them and waved. They began to walk over to the window and Britany yelled up, “Why don’t you guys come out and treat yourselves to something.” James, Trevor, and Vanessa looked at each other with unsure looks. Trevor shrugged and made his way to the front door; he thought he might as well be rewarded for using up a couple of his shots. James saw this as an opportunity to expand their group; he believed uniting the groups seemed to be in the best of interest for everyone.

   James felt weird standing in the middle of the street; he hadn’t been out of the house for days now. Trevor and Vanessa both seemed relieved that they had some sort of an excuse to get out of the house. Chet had his arm around Kate as he towered over her, Britany stood next to them and she had her sights locked on Vanessa who was standing between James and Trevor. Chet reached out a fist towards Trevor, “I can’t thank you enough man, you saved my a*s.”
“Yeah, thank you so much,” Kate added.
“You weren’t so bad yourself,” Trevor met Chet’s fist with his, “I never thought you’d finish the job like that.”
“You have to do what you have to do right. It seems those dead ones aren’t the only thing we got to worry about now.” Chet couldn’t help but look over his shoulder back at the three dead men in the street.
“But thankfully it’s all over now,” Britany said as she went in between James and Vanessa and linked arms with him, “you can take whatever you want James.” Vanessa side stepped away from them and Kate rolled her eyes at Britany.
“I think I’m good for supplies, but we should be thinking more about what’s going to happen when we’re faced with more encounters like that.” James was unsure if everyone would be accepting of his proposal. “Obviously we have power in numbers, and if we get caught in a situation like today, it’d be good if we had the other for protection.”
“So you want us all to group together?” Kate asked.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” James answered.
“You know he’s got a point,” Trevor said, “Soon enough those dead ones will be here and more guys like those might show up.”
“If guys like those show up, this time we’ll be ready for them,” Chet gestured to the guns the three men left on the street. “We got everything we need here anyways.”
“What will you do when your supplies run out,” Trevor challenged, “the dead ones will be here and you won’t be able to do more of your shopping.”
“We’ll figure that out when it comes to it. For now we’ll just continue bringing in our groceries.” Chet turned around and picked up a bag of groceries and when he turned back Trevor was standing in front of him. Trevor reached into the bag and grabbed two 4 packs of chocolate bars and stared at Chet.
“Then I guess you won’t mind if I take this then. Two packs for two bullets. Sounds fair don’t you think.” Chet had no response but to just nod. Trevor turned and walked back into the house and Vanessa quickly followed after him. James still had Britany linked to his arm as Kate and Chet started to grab the last of their groceries. Kate noticed her sister was still holding on to James and was confused as to why she hadn’t already come to help.
“Are you coming Brit?” she asked. Britany looked a bit tense and after a short pause she finally stated her answer.
“I think James is right. I feel like I’d be safer going with them, so I’m going to stay with James.” Britany squeezed James and he put his arm around her for reassurance.
“Suit yourself, I’m staying with Chet.” Kate was visibly annoyed by Britany’s answer. Britany didn’t want to be under the scrutinizing look of her sister any longer so she reached for James’ hand and pulled him back into the house. Soon after the street was once again empty besides the parked car in the middle of the street which had three dead men around it who had now bled out all over the road.

   James was greeted by the sight of Trevor and Vanessa laughing in the kitchen while eating two chocolate bars. Trevor chucked a chocolate bar at James and Britany. “What’s mine is yours,” he said humorously.
“Hey, I’m sorry about Chet. I’m not too fond of him myself to be honest.” Britany was somewhat embarrassed by how the others had acted outside. “I hope you guys don’t think I’m anything like those guys. I really do appreciate the offer to stay with you guys.”
“At least you made the right decision by coming with us. You’ll always be welcome here.” Trevor was delighted Britany decided to stay.
“Thanks, I think I made the right decision too.” Britany looked happily up at James and James returned a smile. James now had his attention on Trevor who was still finishing up his chocolate.
“Let’s go upstairs and see if we there’s anything else going on with the news.” Trevor got up and went over to the stairs.
“Britany and I will start getting lunch ready then,” Vanessa offered.
“Sounds great, we’ll be back down in a minute.” James and Trevor both went upstairs and Trevor turned on the television as James walked over to the window displaying in front of the house. “What are we going to do about those guys down there?” James thought it was a bit unusual having three dead men lying on the street outside his house.
“We don’t have to do anything, let them sit there as bait for the dead ones or as a warning for more people like them.” James couldn’t find any reason to argue against this statement no matter how much he didn’t really like it. “Bro let’s talk about something a bit more serious,” Trevor had a growing smirk on his face, “you know Brit is completely into you right?”
“No she’s not, she’s always like that.”
“Then you’re completely oblivious, trust me she likes you.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” James had never thought about Britany like that before. He was still somewhat skeptical but thought he should probably trust his brother. They both turned to the television and saw that the news was reporting that a vaccine was now being moved to multiple locations for administration. It was said that there was already an outpost set up out west distributing this newly created vaccine to any survivors who wished to get it. “That’s awesome. We were going to go out west anyways.” James commented.
“Yeah, we should go talk to the girls and see if they want to take the shot.” As Trevor and James got up to go back down the television shut off. “Did you turn that off?” Trevor asked James.
“No, it just went off by itself.” James answered timidly. That’s when they heard someone provide them with the answer they were seeking for downstairs.
“Guys! The power went out!”

   The power had gone out through the entire city. With no one able to maintain the power grids there was no functioning system in place to provide power. The food the girls were preparing in the kitchen was still cooking due to the fact that James had a gas stove instead of electric. “We still can cook but it doesn’t matter since all the food in the fridge will be bad by tomorrow,” James informed everyone, “so Trevor and I have a proposition.” James let Trevor take over.
“From what we heard on the news, they’re handing out vaccines in a city west from here, so we need to figure out who wants the vaccine and who doesn’t. Who wants the vaccine?” Britany looked around unsure but no one responded to Trevor’s question so he took that as a unanimous decision. “Then it’s decided no one is taking it. There’s no way that s**t works anyways, but we’re going to have to head that way anyways because it’s going to get dangerous here so we can’t stay.”
“How about we just cook what’s left in the fridge and be on our way then?” Britany suggested.
“There isn’t much food left anyways. We’ll leave tonight after dinner. Right now we should pack up what we want to bring with us.” James initiated a searching in which everyone looked for things which they thought would be beneficial to bring along with them for the trip. Once everything had been packed and placed at the front door, they all gathered in the kitchen to have dinner before their departure. The sun had set and without the power it was difficult for everyone to see.
“I’m not trying to be rude or anything Vanessa, but I think you should ride with me in my car,” Trevor said cautiously. “I don’t think it’s good to be riding with all that’s in the back seat.”
“That’s fine. I don’t think you guys want blood all over your stuff anyways.” Vanessa kidded.
“That leaves you riding with me Brit.” James noticed Britany was beginning to blush at his remark. They all finished with their meals and were about to start loading up the cars when they heard a scream followed by two gun shots.

   They all were so busy gathering their supplies that none of them noticed the dead ones had started filing into the street. Across the road beyond the few dead ones, they could all see beams of light coming from flashlights within the house across the street. James put his arm around Britany and she began to sniffle doing her best not to cry. “What should we do?” Trevor asked. James surveyed the area, there were about three dead ones between the two houses, each one feasting on one of the dead men, and there seemed to be about three flashlights converging on the top floor of the house. “I told you leaving those guys down there was a good idea.”
“We’re going to have to get over there and see if we can help them.” James was frustrated.
“That’s going to be hard considering we have dead ones down there and we don’t even know what those guys got in there.” Trevor opposed.
“We have no choice, if we don’t clear those dead ones and deal with those guys over there we won’t ever get a chance to load up the cars and get out of here.” James reasoned.
“Then we’ll need to take some of your kitchen knives because I’m the only one here with an actual weapon.” Trevor guided them down the stairs and picked the biggest knives for himself and everyone else. Then he made his way to the front door and opened it as quietly as he possibly could.

   Once he was out of the door Trevor crouched down and moved along the street as fast and as quietly as he could. He used his knife to stab each dead one in the head as they ate killing them all with much haste. It was evident he wanted to finish as fast as he possibly could. Once he got to the front door of the house across the street he waited for everyone to catch up to him. The front door was left open by the intruders and the four of them were able to slip in quietly. They heard crying coming from the floor above them and three men talking. Slowly they crept up each step in the staircase trying to avoid making too much noise. When Trevor got to the top of the staircase he was startled to see a man in a skeleton mask sitting on the floor against the wall staring at him. He quickly grabbed the rifle which was slung around his shoulder and aimed at the man when he realized the man was bleeding from his chest. “That explains the first gun shot,” he whispered to the others and proceeded up the stairs. When they all made it into the hallway they heard the men arguing over what they were going to do with the girl who they were certain was Kate. One wanted to take advantage of her, another wanted to take her with them, and the last wanted to kill her. Trevor leaned against the wall outside the doorway and peeked in. All three masked men had their back to him as they faced Kate who was sitting at the foot of the bed. On the floor was Chet who had a bullet wound in his head. He quickly moved to the other side of the doorway and motioned for everyone to move into the room. Trevor and James crept up to the three men with Vanessa and Britany behind them. When Trevor got in range of them he stood up and hit the middle man in the head with the stock of his gun and shot the man on left once he turned and aimed. James had stabbed the last man in the back a couple times and he dropped to the floor. Kate grabbed one of the guns and emptied the clip into the middle man’s body. Then she dropped to the floor into a hysterical cry. Britany dropped down beside her and comforted her as the James and Trevor looked out the window. They saw more dead ones had come into the street attracted by the dead bodies in the street. “Let’s get her into my car and we can start loading up the cars before even more of the dead ones come.” Trevor instructed.
“Come on, we have to go,” Britany said to Kate and lifted her up to lead her out of the room. Everyone started making their way out of the room with Vanessa trailing behind who was picking up all of the guns.

   Kate was put into the back seat of the cruiser while everyone else began killing dead ones or loading up the cars. Even though Trevor did his best to kill the dead ones quietly with knives, he couldn’t help but notice they wouldn’t stop coming. James had almost finished loading up the two cars when out of the corner of his eyes he saw something moving fast. A few of the dead ones were running down the street. “I’m going to need your help here James,” Trevor yelled out. James went to stand next to Trevor as the girls continued to load up the cars. As the couple of running dead ones closed in Trevor shoved the knife through its head as it lunged forward. When the next one ran towards James he just stuck out the knife and let the dead one run into it but with all its force James was knocked down to the ground with the dead one on top snapping at him. James couldn’t do anything but hold it back so it wouldn’t bite him. When he turned to look at Trevor he was still occupied with killed a few more dead ones which were running at him. Once he had an opening he stabbed his knife through the dead one on top of James and James rolled it off of him. He laid there trying to gain his breathe back when the girls yelled out that they were finished loading up the cars. Trevor helped James get up and jokingly said, “It looks like you were struggling there.”
“What took you so long?” James said exasperated.
“I had to finish the job while you were snoozing around,” Trevor laughed. James just shook his head still shaken by being pinned. The girls were already waiting in the cars so James got into his truck and Trevor went into his cruiser. James started up his truck and looked in his rear-view mirror. He saw Trevor was ready to go and dead ones were running towards them in the distance. He looked at Britany and asked, “Are you ready to go?” She took his hand and offered him a smile. James took one last glance towards his house before he put his car in gear and took off down the street. James and Trevor drove side by side down the street as they made their way west towards the supposed outpost, leaving behind the dead ones in the distance. James was confident that this would be for the best, but as he looked out towards the open road he couldn’t help but wonder what was to come; that this was going to be only the beginning of something much more.

 

Road Trip

 

   Driving west on the freeway there were no real signs of life. Besides the occasional abandoned car off to the shoulder of the road, they never saw any people that were actually alive. With their two car convoy they traversed the freeway avoiding any dead ones that wandered the road in attempts to avoid any damage to their cars. No one felt like it would be smart to stop and camp out so instead everyone alternated between driving and sleeping. Vanessa was driving the police cruiser as Trevor and Kate slept. In front of them was Britany’s turn to drive though James wasn’t tired enough to sleep.

   James was trying his best to stay awake in the truck so he turned his attention to Britany. “How are you feeling right now?” He asked.
“Good I guess, besides the fact that I haven’t gotten the chance to talk to my sister yet,” she says somewhat troubled.
“She should be fine,” James says supportively, “no one liked that Chet guy to begin with and at least she’s with us now.” James looked at the side mirror at the police cruiser behind them. He looked at Trevor who rested his head against the window as he slept and Vanessa who stared intensely at the road ahead. He couldn’t see Kate so he assumed she was lying down asleep in the back seat. “You’ll get to talk to her soon enough,” he added.
“I wonder how much farther we have to go to get to this place. We should get off the road soon so we can have a proper sleep and actually get a chance to eat.” Britany heard James give an approving hum and continued on. “I just want to be back on a bed again instead of a car seat. Then we can finally stretch out instead of feeling so cramped up in here.” When she didn’t get any response from James she glanced over to him. From what she saw she assumed he had finally fallen asleep, she knew it would’ve happened eventually. “But there’s no one else I would rather be with right now and I wouldn’t want to leave your side because I don’t want anything bad to happen to you. I couldn’t imagine living through this without you. If only you knew the truth before all this happened.” Britany knew she couldn’t say any of this when he was awake, no matter how much she wished she could.

   When James awoke he looked into the side mirror and saw Kate was now driving and he thought if she was behind the wheel her feelings must have improved. He turned to Britany who still was driving down the road and asked, “How long was I out for?”
“Just a couple of hours,” she answered cheerfully. She was happy James was awake so she wouldn’t be alone any longer.
“I hate sleeping like this. It makes me feel so stiff.” James rolled his head around trying to stretch out his neck.
“I’m telling you, we need to stop off somewhere soon.” As they continued down the road they spotted a sign off to the side that indicated there was a motel coming up. “Maybe we can rest up there,” Britany said pointing to the sign.
“Put the turning signal on and we’ll turn off here then.” Britany flicked on the lights and coasted down the road a bit further. Once she took the turn the police cruiser followed and James could see the confused look on their faces in the mirror. They turned into the abandoned parking lot of the motel. The motel was two stories high with staircases outside on both sides of the rectangular building. It wasn’t the worst establishment as the exterior seemed to be freshly painted red, the doors looked new, and the red tiles on the roof looked newly placed down.

 

   Everyone got out of their cars and came together. Trevor looked at James and asked, “Why are we stopping here?”
“We all need a night to sleep, I’m sure all of us are tired of sleeping in the cars so we should just take the night off the road and stay here.” Looking around James saw no one seemed to disagree with this.
“We better check all of them rooms then and make sure there are no unwanted guests. Let’s go check.” James and Trevor walked over to the office to look for the room keys. “Looks like they’re all here,” Trevor informed pointing to the wall full of hanging keys.
“Take them and we can start checking the rooms,” James instructed. Trevor grabbed all the keys on the wall and together they walked back to the girls.
“There are twenty keys so each of us has to check four rooms each. Once we check all the rooms we should meet back here. If you find anything just shout.” When everyone understood Trevor’s instructions they took their keys and began checking the rooms. Each room was similar; a large bed in the center, a television opposite to the bed, chairs in the corners, and a bathroom to the right or left side of the entry way. Nobody found anything in any of the rooms so they all met back at the cars.
“Looks like no one checked in since this whole thing started,” Vanessa said.
“So what do we do now?” Kate asked.
“Now, each of us picks whatever room we want to stay in for the night,” James said excitedly.

 

   Each of them grabbed a key to their most favourite rooms and ran in different directions. Kate, Britany, and James went upstairs while Trevor and Vanessa stayed on the ground floor. Vanessa and Trevor went into their own rooms but eventually Trevor left his room to go join Vanessa. Kate and Britany went into a room together while James went into his own. Each of them was equally grateful to take a break from the confinements of their cars and to allow themselves to rest, even though it wasn’t even close to dark out yet.

 

   James ran into the room and once the door was closed behind him he dove onto the bed. Sprawled out over the neatly made bed he felt relieved knowing he would finally have a place of own even for a little while. The fact that he was in a bed brought him much comfort. It only took a couple of minutes before James passed out on the bed.

 

   In the room next to James Kate and Britany were finally given the chance to talk. “It looks like you made the right choice, coming with all these people,” Kate said wearily.
“That doesn’t matter, we’re together again. But are you alright,” Britany asked cautiously, “I mean, about back home.” Britany knew by the way Kate’s eyes were watering up the subject was still a sensitive one.
“If he wasn’t so stubborn or stupid he would still be here. I wanted to go with you but I just couldn’t leave him alone.”
“Who were those guys in the house,” Britany was trying to get as much information as possible.
“We heard the door get kicked in so Chet went to go check it out. He saw one of those guys in the masks and the guy chased Chet up the stairs and that’s when Chet shot him. I ran into the closet because I was scared and that’s when Chet came back in the room and the other three men were right behind him. They told him to drop the gun but instead he pointed it at them and one of the shot him before Chet could shoot. I screamed and they dragged me out of the closet and onto the bed. I had no idea what would’ve happened and then you guys came.” The whole time Kate was talking she was fighting back her tears but now she just couldn’t fight them off any longer. Britany held her soothing her until she finally got all of it out.

 

   Vanessa wasn’t surprised to see Trevor at her door. They were close back at James’ house and even more so once Britany had come into the house. With Britany occupying all of James’ time Vanessa had taken to the only other person in the house, Trevor. Vanessa found Trevor was someone she could really connect with. There was no doubt that there was a certain level of attraction between them. They were both aware of how the other felt but neither of them wished to verbalize these feelings.

 

   Vanessa stepped aside to let Trevor in. “I wanted to come see if you were alright,” Trevor said stepping into the room.
“Really?” she asked skeptically.
“Not really. I forgot there’s no electricity and I got bored,” Trevor grinned sitting back onto the bed resting his back against the headboard.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have opened the door, and let you die of boredom out there,” the sarcasm in her voice made Trevor laugh.
“You wouldn’t do that to me. I know you couldn’t last without me.” Trevor liked joking around with Vanessa. She lied down on the bed and rested her head on his lap.
“Well the dead ones aren’t a problem, I just wouldn’t really have anyone to talk to,” the sarcasm in her voice was now gone.
“I guess. My brother and Britany are a for sure thing and I don’t really know much about Kate.”
“She’s never said much the whole way here,” Vanessa shifty uncomfortably on the bed, “We know nothing about her.”
“Hopefully she’s nothing like her boyfriend,” Trevor said annoyed at the thought.
“We’ll find out eventually. I guess we just have to wait until she’s comfortable enough to open up.”
“Until then we got each other,” Trevor began to stroke her hair back.
“And that’s all I need,” Vanessa sat up and gave Trevor a quick kiss on the cheek before she went into the bathroom.

 

   James awoke to a knocking at his door. With the curtains drawn he saw Britany at his window. James rolled off the bed and moseyed over to the door to let her in. After he opened the door he walked over to the corner of the room and sat in one of the chairs. “What’s up?” He asked.
“I thought I’d come to just check in on you. I just finished talking with my sister.”
“How’s she feeling?” James was still trying to wake himself up.
“She’s been better, but not that bad considering everything that happened,” Britany said sitting on the bed.
“That’s good. It’s good you got to finally talk with her.” James was staring intensely at Britany.
“What? Is everything alright?” Britany was beginning to feel nervous.
“I’m not sure,” James was gazing at her.
“What do you mean?” Britany was now feeling more anxious.
“If only you knew the truth.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Before all this happened. I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.” Britany sunk a little on the bed once she realized what he was getting at.
“Oh. So you heard all of that,” she said somewhat embarrassed.
“I wasn’t fully asleep you know,” James was delighted.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Britany was both embarrassed and angry.
“I didn’t know what to say at the time. I didn’t want you to be embarrassed.”
“It’s too late for that, I bet you think I’m an idiot,” Britany buried her face in her hands.
“Not at all, it just proves Trevor was right. I’m glad he was.” Britany looked up from her hands to see James smiling at her.
“So it doesn’t weird you out?” Britany was still somewhat uneasy.
“The timing is a bit unfortunate I agree, but I’m glad you still said something.” James saw Britany was starting to smile again. “Do you want to be together?” Now James was nervous.
“Of course I do.” Both of them were now no longer nervous and overjoyed that both of them were now in a relationship. “All those years as your neighbour and it took you this long to finally say something,” Vanessa said humorously. James thought back and couldn’t help but think he should’ve known that all those times before she was in fact flirting with him.
“I know I’m not the best with those things,” James began walking over to the bed, “But now I’m yours.” They began to kiss becoming fully captivated by each other forgetting all the terrors that lurked outside.

 

Neurotics

 

   It was beginning to get dark outside and through the windows they all could see the silhouettes of dead ones walking through the parking lot. Before it became dark and the dead ones arrived they all unloaded their necessities for the night. They took their food and weapons into their own rooms. Vanessa took her collection of guns from the cruiser and handed out the pistols to everyone to ensure they had the means to protect themselves if necessary.

 

   James, Britany, and Kate ate in the same room upstairs while Vanessa and Trevor ate together on the lower floor. Kate still felt uneasy about her given situation and was still not fully informed. She looked from her can of beans to ask, “So where are we going?” James looked at her somewhat confused.
“Didn’t anyone tell you yet?” The look on her face showed him that no one in fact had. “We’re going to that town up in the mountains. There’s a military outpost that’s giving out a vaccine, but no one wants to take it.”
“Then what’s the point of going there?”
“To see if we can get help from the military, they can protect us from the infected,” Britany alleged. “How much longer do we have until we get there anyways?” she added. James pulled out a map that he had neatly tucked into his back pocket and analyzed it.
“It looks like we’re about a few hours away. We’ll be there tomorrow afternoon.”

 

   On the lower floor Vanessa was finished eating with Trevor. She was brandishing her gun on the bed next to him. “It looks like you’re not the only one with a real weapon now,” Vanessa joked.
“Well mine is still better, and I doubt you even know how to use that thing,” he challenged.
“Don’t worry. A time will come when I’ll show you I’m better than you.” She pointed the gun at the window and started making gunshot noises. As she was making her gunshot noises a few real gunshots were fired off in the distance.
“Either you got really good at that or there’s some people shooting out there,” Trevor teased.
“You think we should be worried?” she hesitantly asked.
“I’m sure we’re fine, it’s pretty far off. I bet it’s just some people killing some of those dead ones out there,” he said coolly.
“I’m sure you’re right. If you’re as good as you say you are with that rifle then I won’t have to worry about anything anyways.” Vanessa placed her pistol on the nightstand next to the bed and cuddled up next to Trevor.
“If I could I would kill all of these things. I really doubt the military will be much help after what happened downtown,” Trevor stated.
“It’s not like we have much of an option thought We have to just go with it for now until we can figure out what to do next,” Vanessa reasoned.
“I guess you’re right. We’ll just have to pick back up tomorrow. I’m driving first.”
“Fine, I guess I can give you this one. At least I get to sleep a little longer.” Vanessa was glad that Trevor offered to drive because she knew she would be too tired to stay awake long enough to drive. Her eyes began to feel heavy and she knew she needed to rest. “I’m going to sleep, goodnight Trevor.”
“Goodnight.” Trevor looked out of the window into the darkness. He stayed awake for a little while longer still unsure about what made that gunshot earlier. He couldn’t help but have a bad feeling that they would soon be exposed to whoever made that gunshot.

 

   On the upper level James, Britany, and Kate were all still awake. James had carried a cot into the room earlier to allow all three of them to sleep together in the same room. “How are you on that cot James?” Britany asked.
“I’m fine, are you guys good together on that bed?” he asked in return.
“We’re perfect up here,” Kate answered. James wished he could have slept in the bigger bed with Britany but he didn’t want to leave Kate on the cot. “So do you have any ideas about that gunshot earlier?”
“Since my brother hasn’t said anything I’m sure it’s just someone finishing off one of the infected,” James said.
“Or maybe the infected finished them off,” Britany pondered.
“What if it’s more people like those looters. We might be next if it is,” Kate was starting to get concerned.
“If it is then we’ll deal with them in the morning. I doubt they’ll be travelling at night and if they are we’ll be able to see them coming. But we could also just be overthinking it all.” James did his best to reassure the girls but he couldn’t help but wonder himself what it was that made that shot. When no one had offered any response James assumed that the girls had gone to sleep. He left his cot and walked over to the window. Beyond the parking lot he could see the freeway and dead ones walking along it. He couldn’t see anything other than the dead ones moving which led him to believe that they would have to wait to see who was shooting and if they were still alive.

 

   Everyone woke up at exactly the same time to the sound of more gunshots. This time the gunshots were closer than they had been the night before. James rushed out of the room onto the walkway outside his room and peered over the railing. He saw Trevor running out of the room with his sniper rifle in his hand. James ran over to the staircase to meet Trevor. “Let’s climb up on the roof and see what’s happening.” Trevor instructed. Together they ran over to the ladder on the side of the building which led to the roof and the girls all joined together on ground floor near the cars.
“What’s going on?” Kate asked fearfully.
“We’ll just have to wait and see what the guys tell us. Get your guns ready just to be safe.” Vanessa’s voice was steadier than Kate’s. She readied her gun and used her hunting knife to dispose of any dead ones approaching the cars. They all knelt behind the cars to reduce their visibility and waited until the guys came down to tell them what was happening.

 

   On top of the roof James and Trevor laid in a prone position as they looked towards the area that the gunshots had come from. Looking through his scope Trevor could see people running, but he couldn’t make out what they were running from. “There’s some people running down there,” Trevor informed James.
“Are they dead ones or alive?” he asked.
“They’re alive,” as he answered another gunshot went off. “Someone shot one of them and now they’re all surrendering.” Trevor saw a Humvee come into sight with five soldiers riding along in it. “It’s the army,” Trevor announced. The people rested on their knees and raised their hands. As the driver exited the vehicle the soldier in the mounted gain began surveying the area for any onlookers. The driver pointed his rifle at the people and began firing at them.
“What the hell is going on?” James was panicking.
“They killed all those people,” Trevor said furiously.
“We need to get out of here!” James started getting up to leave.
“No!” Trevor tried to stop James but he saw that it was too late. The gunner on the Humvee had spotted James climbing down the ladder. Trevor was forced to do the only thing he could, he shot the gunner before he could make his take aim at James. The rest of the soldiers looked at Trevor and he then began descending back down as they opened fire upon him. “Get in the cars!” he yelled out to the girls waving at them. The girls hastily got in the cars and waited for the guys to reach them to let them know what was going on. James reached his car first and speedily took off. Trevor came shortly after and tried his best to catch up to James on the freeway. The girls were questioning the guys to try and figure out what was happening but they were too focused on trying to escape.
“You better tell me what’s going on,” Vanessa demanded staring at Trevor.
“Tell us what’s happening,” Britany asked James as she looked at her sister in the backseat who just shrugged. Right on cue the Humvee appeared behind them turning onto the freeway. They began firing and the girls in James’ truck started screaming. James instructed that they duck down and cover their heads. The rear window was shot out and the glass rained down on Kate causing her to squeal. This probed James to push down further on the gas pedal to do his best to outrun the soldiers.

 

   Back in the police cruiser Vanessa was doing her best to stay calm. She thought at the rate that they were going; it was only a matter of time before the soldiers caught up to them or one of their shots made their mark. She grabbed her gun and readied it to shoot back at the soldiers. She pulled back the pin on the pistol and looked into the rear view window. “What are you doing?” Trevor asked.
“Just keep driving,” Vanessa was doing her best to concentrate, she wanted to make her shots count. She began to lean out of the window to line up her shot.
“Get back in here before you get yourself killed,” Trevor pleaded as he grew more concerned. Vanessa ignored him and continued looking down the sights of her pistol. “They’re going to shoot you!” Trevor was now more frantic than before. The bullets crept up the side of the car leaving a line of bullet holes leading up to Vanessa. She remained unfazed and continued lining up her shot. “Just shoot already!” Trevor felt helpless since he had to focus on driving. Vanessa pulled the trigger releasing the bullet which travelled through the windshield of the Humvee and into the forehead of the driver. The Humvee veered off into the field next to the freeway running into a crowd of dead ones. The soldiers were forced to focus their fire on the incoming group of dead ones that they had attracted along the way. This gave them enough time to put distance between themselves and the Humvee which allowed them to finally escape.

 

Home Stretch

 

   Vanessa leaned back into the car with a satisfying smile on her face. She turned to Trevor and saw the furious look on his face. “What the hell was that?” he angrily asked. She looked at him and gave him a shrug.
“It looks like you’re not the only one with a good shot,” she said humorously.
“This isn’t funny, what if they had shot you,” Trevor was still heated.
“Oh so you really do care,” Vanessa said mockingly.
“Shut up,” Trevor said now annoyed by her. He turned his attention off of her and instead onto the road. He noticed that James had put on his turning signal to indicate he was going to turn into one of the gas stations at the side of the road. Trevor noticed there were not much dead ones in the area so he thought it was best to turn now before any came.

 

   James got out of his truck and waited as Trevor pulled up behind him and got out. Trevor looked at everyone and asked, “Is everyone alright?” James looked down at his arm and saw it was red.
“I think I got hit,” James said astonished. Trevor walked over to James and rolled up his sleeve until he found the wound. He looked at the wound then back up to James. “How is it?” James asked fretfully. Trevor slapped James on the cheek and smacked his arm where the wound was. “What was that for?” James grimaced.
“It’s just a little flesh wound, the thing barely hit you,” Trevor said somewhat relieved, “since we’re here we might as well look around for some supplies while we can.”

 

   The three girls waited outside while the guys went inside to see what they could find. Ahead of them across from the front door was the register and on either side of them were half stocked isles. In the corner was a bathroom which had an out of order sign posted to the door. James and Trevor split up and began scanning each side to see if they could find anything worth taking on the shelves. James finished first so Trevor quietly said, “Go check out that washroom.” James walked to the washroom and noticed a few blood stains on the floor. He balanced all the items he took from the shelves onto one arm to open the door. Once he turned the door knob the door swung open knocking him off balance which sent him to the floor. A dead one came out and fell on top of him. James yelled out for help to Trevor. Trevor sprinted over to James but was cut short by a dead one who jumped out behind the counter sending Trevor to the floor. Both brothers were wrestling dead ones on the floor screaming out for help while doing their best to keep from getting bit. Vanessa ran in after hearing the commotion and saw Trevor in front of the cash register and heard a commotion in the corner who she assumed to be James. Vanessa quickly took her aim and shot the dead one off of Trevor which in turn freed him to take up his rifle to shoot the dead one on top of James.

 

   James gathered his items and quickly stood up. “Thanks for the help Vanessa,” he was irritated.
“I’m sorry, I couldn’t see you behind the stands,” Vanessa was apologetic due to the fact that she somewhat felt responsible for James’ anger.
“Oh it’s perfectly fine,” he said as he briskly walked passed her, “I’m just glad you guys have each other’s back.” James forcefully swung open the door and walked to his truck brushing off the other girls when they went to him to see how he was doing. Vanessa and Trevor slowly trailed out after James and were greeted by Kate’s and Britany’s confused faces.
“What’s up with him?” Britany asked a little concerned.
“He’s just a little worked up about what happened in there, he’ll get over it,” Trevor said before he got into his cruiser. Britany noticed Vanessa looked a little down on herself.
“What’s wrong Vanessa?” Britany asked.
“James is upset that I helped Trevor before him, but I couldn’t get to him first. I didn’t think he’d get this angry at me,” Vanessa said starting to get upset.
“I’ll see if I can talk to him for you,” Britany said before going back to the truck.
“Thanks,” Vanessa responded before they returned to their cars.

 

   Britany could tell James was still a bit angry. “What’s wrong?" she asked breaking the silence.
“I’m just a bit rattled up by all of this,” James confessed.
“You know you can’t blame Vanessa for what happened.”
“I know and I feel bad but I just want to get to this place already.”
“Don’t worry, we will soon.” Britany saw no reason to continue the conversation past that point.

 

   Trevor took his eyes off the road for a quick moment to look at Vanessa who he saw was still somewhat upset. “Don’t worry about it too much. I’m sure he’ll be over it by the time we get to this place,” he reassured her.
“Yeah, I just don’t want him to be mad anymore.”
“That couldn’t have gone any other way, you did the right thing,” Trevor noticed a sign in the distance next to the freeway, “and it looks like now we’ll get to see if he’s forgiven you or not.”

 

Welcome To Aurillia

 

   “Welcome to Aurillia,” James read off the sign as they drove into the town. The town seemed appeared to be abandoned considering it was supposedly a sanctuary for survivors. Houses were all boarded up in attempts to provide protection for the people who once lived there. Multiple cars lined the streets and driveways which indicated that there were in fact people who came to seek the aid of the military. They weaved between cars, drove across front lawns, and even back yards to try and maneuver around the town in attempts to find where the military had set up its post, the whole way they spotted no people.

 

   They finally spotted what they believed to be the military outpost. A ten foot tall fence topped with barbed wire created a large perimeter around an area where there were a few army trucks and big green tents. In between them and the army outpost there were a few dead ones and there were even more within the outpost. James and Trevor both pulled over to talk about how they were going to proceed. “Now how are we going to go about this right now?” Trevor asked.
“Honestly, it doesn’t seem like there’s that much infected between us and the outpost,” James said looked out towards the outpost, “We might as well take them out now so we won’t have to worry about them later.” Trevor too looked out to survey the area.
“I guess you’re right, I don’t feel like waiting to sneak around them either, so let’s get to it,” Trevor agreed parking his car and turning the engine off.
“And don’t I get a say in this?” Vanessa asked wryly.
“Well clearly you’re good enough of a shot, so why wouldn’t you want to get a bit of target practice,” Trevor winked at her and got out of his car. James looked towards Britany and Kate who were evidently waiting on instructions from him.
“You guys should come too; it’s probably safer that way. Just stay back a bit and only use your gun if you absolutely have to.” James checked he had everything he needed before he exited his truck and walked over to Trevor.

 

   Trevor used his sniper scope to scout out the area. From what he could see he thought it would be a challenge but it would be manageable. “It looks like there’s about fourteen of them,” Trevor whispered over to James, “Are you still up for it?”
“Yeah I’m ready,” James whispered back while looking back at the girls, “But I think they should stay here just to be safe.”
“Alright, I’ll go tell them.” Trevor turned to go inform the girls of the plan so Vanessa took this as her opportunity to walk over and talk things over privately with James.
“Hey, what’s up?” James said casually.
“I just wanted to apologize for everything, I did everything I could,” Vanessa sincerely said.
“I understand. I acted out of line back there. I had no right to hold you responsible for what happened,” he apologized, “You won’t have to worry about being in a position like that again though,” his voice now grew more serious.
“What do you mean?” she asked curiously, but before he could give her an answer Trevor had returned.
“Let’s go,” Trevor said patting James on his back, “We got a job to do.” Together they walked away concentrating on the task at hand and James didn’t even bother to look back at Vanessa who was left there standing more confused than ever.

 

   An open field rested between the military outpost and the five of them. The girls waited by the parked cars behind the guard rail on the street while the guys hopped over and went towards the infected. The guys crouched and crept close to the infected unveiling their knives. “Take them out quietly so we don’t have to fight them all at the same time,” Trevor whispered. Once they had sneaked close enough they looked at each other and gave each other a signal for the takedown. James and Trevor both lunged for the kill and the infected simultaneously dropped but one of the shrieked on the way down. The other dead ones turned and towards Trevor and James who were standing in the field somewhat dumbfounded. “So much for that plan,” Trevor said keenly, “Kill the runners first.” A few of the dead ones started running towards them and Trevor took a few steps back but James instead proceeded forward.
“What are you doing?” Britany cried out, she was now overwhelmed by terror. James brought out a large machete that he had packed for the trip. The first runner reached him and he side stepped while tripping it and slicing it in the back of the head. Another came and he forcefully drove his blade into the front of its head sending it to its back. The last runner came close so James quickly pulled up his machete across its neck resulting in a decapitation. James looked back at Trevor who was standing in shock and gave him a quick wink before he went to finish off the rest of the slower dead ones.

 

   The girls started walking over to meet the guys. Britany was first to reach the guys and she went straight to James to punch his chest. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she furiously asked.
“Getting the job done.”
“Well you’re going to get yourself killed,” she was still fuming.
“You don’t need to worry about me, I’m fine.” James said trying to calm her down.
“I do need to worry because I care, don’t you?” she cocked her eyebrow at him.
“Of course I do, why do you think I did all of that. I did it to keep all of us safe. I did it to protect you.” He seemed to have said the right answer because this put her at ease. “Now we can get up to that outpost.” Everyone shared an awkward look before they continued up to the outpost.

 

   When they reached the outpost they realized the front gate was closed and locked. “At least we’re protected from them, but that’s a lot more than I thought there was going to be,” Trevor said scanning the area. “We need to find another way in, and what to do about these infected.”
“How about we go around back to that building in the back and see if we can get on the roof or something,” Kate suggested.
“That seems like the only thing that will work at the moment,” Britany agreed, and so did everyone else. They made their way to the back of the building and found a ladder which was just a bit too high out of reach for them to climb.
“Come help me push this dumpster over James,” Trevor instructed and together they moved the dumpster under the ladder. One after the other they climbed up the ladder onto the roof and crawled over to the edge on the other side to peer into the outpost. Trevor exited his scope and informed everyone about what he observed in the outpost. “I can see about fifty of these things in there. I guess this is what happened to everyone who came seeking refuge,” he said.
“So how are we going to deal with all of these things because I doubt we’ll be able to take them on ourselves,” James questioned. Trevor began looking around to see if he could find a solution to rid the outpost of all the infected.
“There’s a Humvee with a mounted gun there and it seems like it still has a good amount of ammo left in it. One of us can hop down and get into it to gun all those things down,” Trevor suggested.
“But which one of us is going to go down there and do it?” Britany asked, “Because I know for a fact that James isn’t going to do another thing like that again," she said giving James a serious look.
“I’ll do it,” Kate said stepping forward. “I want to do this, I want to prove that I am for this group and I feel like I haven’t done anything really to contribute and this seems like a good way to start.”
“Are you sure, you don’t need to go through with it if you don’t feel like you want to,” Trevor asked.
“I’m sure, and I’m ready,” she said confidently.
“Alright well then this is what we’re going to have to do,” Trevor started to share his plan, “We’re all going to go near the front gate and lure them all there so you can drop down and get into the Humvee. Once you’re there we all can step to the side and you’ll have a clear shot to shoot them all down once we’re out of the way. The ammo is already in the gun so all you have to do is aim and pull the trigger. Are you good with all of that?” Kate nodded and all of them except Kate began descending off of the roof. They all ran to the front gate and started making as much noise as possible which brought all of the infected in the outpost. The infected crashed onto the fence causing it to lose a few links which made them worry that the fence would fall but it still stood high. Once the infected had all reached the fence they saw Kate drop down and get into the Humvee in the corner of the outpost. She extended her arm up as a signal to indicate she was ready and everyone ran off to the side until they were well out of the firing range. Kate began unleashing the firepower of the mounted gun on the infected and they began swiftly dropping. She shot all of the runners that had turned to go after her and cleared out the infected which did not get lured to the front gate. Kate was just about finishing up the last bit of infected when everyone started hearing rapid clicking noises. “It had less ammo than I thought; she’s not going to be able to kill the rest,” Trevor said alarmed. Kate pulled out her pistol from the back of her pants and aimed it at the dead ones but she never shot and put it back. “Why won’t she shoot?” James anxiously asked.
“Hurry up and shoot the last couple with your rifle Trevor!” Britany said in a panic.
“It’s jammed, I can’t shoot!” Trevor was now beginning to panic. As he was fumbling around with his rifle trying to get it cleared, the dead ones began closing in on Kate who was freaking out in the Humvee. “I can’t get it!” Trevor was still panicking. One of the infected had made its way to the Humvee but Kate was able to buy herself a moment to escape by kicking it in the face. She jumped out and began running towards the front gate. As the dead ones began to circle back a few quick gun shots dropped the last remaining dead ones.
“Good job Trevor,” Britany said with a sigh of relief.
“That wasn’t Trevor,” Vanessa said fearfully, “Look on the roof.” On the roof they could see there was a soldier who was still aiming his assault rifle down into the outpost.

Reviews

[Ikaria Icarus]

Hi, any new updates on this? loving this.