Survivor Tales - Chapter 7-10 (Patreon)

Chapter 7 - Oliver 5

Apparently the military wasn't able to help us out until tomorrow. Fine. But we then needed a place to stay for the night. The soldiers and Raul saw no problem in taking someone else's home for the time being. At the apartment building it had been the same. It felt wrong to break in, but we all agreed we at least couldn't be stuck out in the open. And it was a big house. Two floors, first floor with the kitchen, two big living rooms and hallway, plus half a bath, the second held five bedrooms with a few shared bathrooms. And there was the doublewide trailer two. Being twelve people, we certainly needed the space, if we were to stay here.

“And they got beer,” Norton said, rummaging the fridge.

“Come on now,” I said, not wanting to pillage the poor folk who lived here. “They still might come back, y'know.”

“I'm only borrowing, nurse,” Norton said in a slightly condescending tone. At least that was what I got from it. Perhaps hunger was making me more antagonistic.

I just shook my head, turned and almost walked right into Corporal Daphne De Jesus. She had been our rescue mission. She seemed headstrong for the most part. Must be, being a female officer I figure. She even slightly sided with my apprehension to break into someone's home, even if they suspected them to be dead. In the apartment building I guess the odds were less, and besides; I was way too exhausted than to even complain. Not that I had gotten all that much sleep since.

“They'll understand,” Daphne had reassured me, “It's only temporary. We'll write them a note before we leave, explaining it all.”

It was reassuring she wasn't just barging ahead with their case, as they were soldiers and we were the civilians, but tried to talk me into it.

“Run along,” Norton snorted, as I gave De Jesus a nod and headed to the living room, where most of my fellow civilians had found themselves at home. I was starting to grow a slight resentment towards these soldiers, despite De Jesus trying the diplomatic approach.

Raul and Debbie seemed to be getting along, despite what Raul had done right in front of her, yet they sat there playing a clapping game. The big slightly scary man doing something like that with such a diminutive girl as Debbie was quite a collision of contrasts. Ana and Peter held a friendly chatter going, Dr. Mallow looked to be resting her head from the pain meds. Lauren stood outside on the veranda with her back towards us, looking towards the endless fields stretching out behind the house.

Looking over to the kitchen, I saw Floyd, Norton, Paulsen(who they referred to as New Guy) and Stemson muttering to each other. I swore they glanced menacingly at the group, but I was probably imagining it. But what I saw was two cliques not interacting with each other at all. Moving my gaze, I looked at Daphne De Jesus, a Hispanic girl from California. Pretty in her own right, I have to say. And she looked like she had just looked away. She said something to the others and soon after Floyd headed outside to the front of the house.

Again I shook my head, and headed out to my aunt, figuring no one should be out alone.

“What's up?” Lauren asked.

“I just don't feel right taking someone's family home,” I said. “I mean, the apartments were like prebuilt shit and no one had lived there more than a few years. This is a generational home.”

Lauren's face turned to sympathy, lifting a gentle hand to cradle my cheek, smiling at me. “It's okay to feel that way,” she said, lowering her hand and giving a small sigh. “We need a place to stay, and this looks as good as any. And I think I saw a washer, so we can probably clean up after us, if nothing else.”

I nodded, joining her gaze out into the fields. At least my cause wasn't falling on deaf ears. It certainly made me feel a bit better. It was the truth after all. There was a small town down the way, but we were already here. And if the helicopter came down, it would likely look for ours.

So night came. The soldiers rotated the guard duties, as we never knew what might roll up from the small town, or from wherever. The rest of them slept in the trailer, rather in with the civilians. Regardless of how many rooms there were, we all concluded no one should sleep alone. Ana and Debbie thus took what looked like a girl's room. Peter and Raul in one. Me and Lauren in one, as we were family so whatever. As if that didn't warrant any privacy. In addition, as we had to have Dr. Mallow as I was the only one she trusted so far with her bandages, we got the master bedroom. Peter and I found an old foldable bed I figured I could sleep on, letting my aunt and the maimed doctor get the most comfort.

It wasn't like I got any sleep anyhow. I stood by the window and looked at the giant figure of Floyd standing out in the field, watching our rear. Another soldier watched the front. It wasn't like I was watching his silhouette in particular. I was just looking to look. Sleep didn't come yesterday and it didn't come today. I couldn't find any rest. I couldn't locate if it was fear, or if it was something else. It was almost like I expected to wake up dead or infected, or worse, to wake up and everyone else to be infected. My aunt, Dr. Mallow. Debbie, Peter. The rest too. It was like a fear that if I shut my eyes for one second, if I didn't keep watching over them, they'd be gone the very moment I found sleep. I couldn't risk it.

So I didn't. I stayed awake. Looking at the door, listening for any creak awry, and checking whoever held guard was still there. As I stood in the darkness, the moonlight casting my long shadow across the floor, I heard Lauren shuffling too. Dr. Mallow was probably in a state of heavily medicated for the pain, but also tired. Surviving the end of the world was stressful enough, and she had to do it with one leg.

I soon felt Lauren next to me, her arm around my waist like yesterday, resting her head on my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around her and gave her a light squeeze. Maybe at the army base we'd finally find some rest.

“I just keep expecting those things to bang on the window, to wake up in the middle of the night to flee,” Lauren whispered.

“Me too,” I said.

“I have sleep meds in my jacket, but I'm afraid something will happen while I'm knocked out,” she confided.

Having no words but my silent agreement, I slowly stroked my hand against her back, at least in an effort to comfort her. Everything we knew had turned to a cold, harsh world, so it felt good to feel someone warm and kind next to me. Adding to the small, shortlived peaceful euphoria we could hear Dr. Mallow's heavy breathing behind us as she slept soundly. At least one of us got some rest. That was all that mattered. We remained that way, standing side by side for a long time, until she gave my back a stroke back.

“You should rest, sweetheart,” she muttered. “I'll wake you up if something happens. Roxy needs your hands well rested if her stitches come loose again.”

I gave a heavy sigh. I knew for the sake of my patient, or potential other patients, I should be as sharp and well rested as possible. But in the end, I released Lauren and turned, leaving her staring out into the night. That's when I noticed my aunt indeed did only sleep in her underwear, and had done nothing to cover up before getting up to join me by the window. With a swallow, I lay down on my foldable bed, trying to not admire my aunt's moonlit forms. She stood in an oversized t-shirt that hung below her waist, but I could faintly make out the bottom of her butt and her naked legs.

Her brown hair cascading down her back, and in the moonlight I swore it looked like she had silk as skin. My aunt Lauren, I reminded myself. I was probably just infatuated with her as she was a mature attractive lady who had stepped into a motherly role. Yet, I couldn't help but appreciate her for what she had done in that role. And if there was anyone who could put my mind at ease so I could rest, I think it was her.

So to get any rest at all, as no one knew what tomorrow entailed, I rolled over to my other side, facing away from my aunt. And my eyes slowly moved over to Dr. Mallow, her uncut leg slightly sticking out the covers, and her bra strap above the sheet. There wasn't anything overtly sexual, but to the boy that I still felt like, I guess I couldn't hide my young instincts in this house filled with attractive women. “God damn it,” I complained inwardly.

Yet in the midst of that, I heard some shouting from outside. Me and the girls were the only ones facing them, so I doubter the other’s heard. It seemed to come from the trailer, which the five soldiers had crashed.

I looked at Lauren, and she looked back at me, her brow frowning in unison with mine. I quickly got up, and the two of us quietly snuck downstairs and to the kitchen door, which faced the double wide

I peeked out the door, and indeed, it seemed the other three soldiers, Corporal De Jesus and PFCs Norton and Floyd were in the double wide trailer, discussing things in loud voices. While my aunt and I stood on alert, the soldiers quickly went out the door, closing the door, yet we couldn't help but overhear a bit as they stepped through the dewy grass.

“Look, we're safe here until we're picked up. So chill the fuck out and do our job until tomorrow,” we heard De Jesus saying, almost like trying to calm her comrades in arms.

“All I'm saying, if they're short on manpower, we'd best looking at getting our asses up there ourselves,” Norton said.

“I'm not going anywhere without a bird,” Stemson replied. “You heard the thing they said on the radio?”

“We got a kid and a handicapped woman, we can't travel such distances with them,” De Jesus retorted.

“We'll come back for 'em! The four of us alone will be up there in no time!” Norton sneered.

“Oh, I guess I didn't get the fucking memo that they named you a fuckin' officer,” De Jesus muttered. “Because I am!”

“You really gonna pull rank?!” Norton said quite loudly.

“Better take it down,” Floyd's deep voice muttered, before it grew quiet. “I think we got company.”

The door swung open, and the giant black man that was Floyd stepped out. I didn't want to seem like I was eavesdropping, even with how little I liked their little discussion.

“We just saw no one is on guard duty,” I said. Lauren nodded her agreement.

“Babysitter's here,” Norton said, Stemson joining him as they left the trailer. “Don't you worry, nurse, we’ll be watching the front and the rear.”

I saw Norton's beady eyes travel from my face, to Lauren's and then down. I realized Lauren likely hadn't covered up, thinking something was awry, so Norton was taking in her naked thighs. Lauren noticed too, as she huffed and made her way back inside, and I followed just behind. And after how Norton had openly glared, I kept my eyes to myself as I walked behind her in the stairs.

We then heard a loud thump from upstairs. It came from Peter’s room. Lauren and I bolted up the stairs. I was unarmed, but Lauren still had her snub nose up in our room.

“Jesus fucking christ!” we heard Peter yell.

The two of us bolted up the stairs and rammed the door open. Raul stood in his cargo pants and shirtless, with his dripping machete as one of the infected laid headless by the window. But it wasn’t quite like the others… it was the remnants of a human, but looked more alien. Longer, nimbler, yet more compact. Much reminiscent to the fuckers that climbed the apartment building. But we were hundreds of miles away from Courtington. And it reeked. More than usual. Taking a small wiff, it… smelled of gasoline, diesel.

“It’s taken care of,” Raul said. “We opened our window because it’s so fucking warm. Lucky I was back, it almost got Peter here. Sorry about that, buddy.”

“I-it’s okay,” Peter said, still in bed.

“Thank fuck we have these sleeping arrangements,” I muttered. Raul nodded.

“What was  that?” Ana asked, peeking her head out from their room.

“Nothing. Back to bed,” Raul said. Ana disappeared back to her room.

“Let’s go,” Lauren said, nudging me to follow.

We turned and headed down the hallway. As much as the adrenaline had thumped us both into action, our body still needed whatever rest we could get, even if it wasn’t sleep. And it was just the one. Which in its own right was weird. Infected seemed to like their flocks, so unless we heard a bunch of commotion outside any minute now, it was indeed just one. But that didn’t make much sense either. Did they roam around on their own these ‘special’ types?

“Can… I know you’re not a kid anymore, and maybe it’s weird,” Lauren said as we entered the bedroom. She didn't finish her sentence, she just patted the mattress beside her as she laid down next to Dr. Mallow, who slept undeterred by anything it seemed.

I raised an eyebrow at her request. “You want me to sit?” I asked.

“No, silly. Could you, erh, you know, sleep next to me? I don't know, maybe I feel a bit safer,” Lauren asked. “And that's if you're comfortable, of course.”

Well, to be honest, I definitely found it awkward that she wasn't wearing much under her big shirt, and to sleep next to her and Dr. Mallow felt a bit daunting. Still, the notion that my aunt requested some measure of security, however that was, made anything but an affirmative shoulder shrug not an alternative.

So I, still, a bit awkwardly laid down next to her. I glanced over at the clock on the nightstand. It read 10.34 PM. Then it suddenly read 05.11 PM.

I shot my head up from the pillow. I guess I had fallen asleep. I noticed Lauren's hand on my chest and her sleeping face on the pillow next to me. But once awake, even in the ‘old world’, I usually never found sleep again. I carefully removed her hand and made my way out of bed. I hadn't undressed last night, so I felt a small shiver run through me as I made my way down the stairs and out on the veranda out back. The morning fog hovered across the pastures stretching as far as I could see, only a tractor road separating one green field from the other.

Out in the field I saw some cows had approached a nearby fence, where Raul was standing. It looked like he was feeding them something corn-looking stuff. I was not a farm boy so I had no idea. I walked down there, nothing else to do.

“Good morning,” Raul greeted. My first impression of him was chipping away as I looked at him petting a cow. And how he had taken care of Debbie after everything.

“‘Morning,” I replied, nodding quizzically at the cows.

“I just milked them. I heard them complain, so I figured no one else would,” Raul said. His voice was usually rough and harsh, but when he talked about kids and animals he was like another person. “Found some feed in the barn and a salt lick.”

“You grew up on a farm?” I asked.

“Yeah. Grew up in a small town not unlike the one we got down the road. Drove a John Deere since I was your size,” Raul said. I had a hard time thinking Raul was ever my size. “Always liked animals more than people.”

“I can tell,” I chuckled. Raul did too.

“Here,” he said, moving aside. I raised an eyebrow, but he nodded encouragingly.

I carefully stuck my hand out to pet the giant animal. It looked a bit unsure, but almost like a giant dog, it sniffed my hand a bit before accepting my caresses. It felt warm and fuzzy under my palm, pressing its snout up to meet my strokes.

“The Corporal told me they found a dog untouched, and they had several reports of animals being unharmed by the infected,” Raul told, finding himself a new friend to pet.

That brought the conversation Lauren and I had listened in on to the front of my mind. How some of the soldiers wanted to potentially leave us behind. And by the sounds of it, maybe there was more they weren't telling us? Like that conversation from last night couldn’t stem from nothing, right?

“Erh, last night,” I started. “I heard the soldiers talk about how they might consider traveling up to that base or whatever. Without us, perhaps.”

Raul didn’t respond at first, focusing his fingers behind the huffing cow's ear, giving it some firm scratches which it looked to greatly appreciate. I wasn’t sure if he was just thinking or what he was doing. He always wore those sunglasses so it was hard to know how to get a read on him.

“A military base is a hub for a lot of potential noise,” Raul said after a bit. “Maybe staying down here is better.”

“What?! Are you fucking nuts?” I said. If the National Guard fell in Courtington, or if there was a huge spread from Indianapolis, who knew where those hordes of infected would go? And who knew what was going on in the south? Evansville, Terre Haute in the west? A military base would likely be way more safe for sure.

“I mean, someone has to take care of these girls until the owner comes back. If ever,” Raul said, his voice kept nonchalant and serious.

I guess I was a bit surprised. Though we had never met until two days ago, Raul had in that short time become part of a ‘core group’. Maybe it was just my young brain, and the fact we’d faced so much together in that short time, but the thought of Raul leaving the group wasn’t something I had foreseen. I wasn’t sure what exactly I had foreseen.

“And I’m not shocked, by the way,” Raul said, retreating his hand, leading the way over to a smaller shed. “We’re civilians, they are soldiers.”

“De Jesus seemed reluctant,” I said.

Raul gave a small smirk at that, opening the homemade door to the shed, revealing it to be a chicken pen. He grabbed a basket by the door and stepped inside. The small pen wasn’t big enough for us both, so I stood outside and looked at him collecting eggs.

“So you’d stay regardless?” I asked.

“I think so. I’ve had enough of the military, and like I said, these animals don’t milk and feed themselves,” Raul said. So that was it. The answer was two fold, and in a way that made more sense.

“You think we all should stay?”

“Despite my first impression of you, you seem like you can make your own decisions. But Mallow needs medical supplies, and if I’m not wrong we’re almost out of morphine? I’m no pharmacist, but we can’t let her live on Ketamine until we can ease her onto lighter stuff,” Raul said, occasionally grunting as he had to lower himself here and there. The chicken pen wasn’t built for someone of his stature. “And I know if the big cities and towns fall we might be overrun here, and perhaps the military bases have lots of weapons to fight ‘em back, but again. That’s a lot of noise, and we know those biting fucks like that.”

Raul certainly had given me a lot to think about that morning. If they decided to leave, could we keep us hidden from the infected down here? I mean, a lot of people make a lot of noise and commotion... but if there were only a few of us... Maybe I was worrying too far ahead, since all of our chances could rest in Stemson actually contacting the base and getting us that helicopter ride. And I guess I could talk it out with Lauren. Dr. Mallow would certainly get better medical attention at the base, I figured.

As I stepped back inside, I saw the younger soldier called Paulsen, Norton and De Jesus wrapping up a small breakfast, seemingly getting ready to leave.

“Where are you heading?” I asked, concerned they were already leaving. Though, if Norton left, I wouldn’t be sad exactly.

Norton snorted at my question and looked at the other’s like I was dirt on his boots and shook his head, before pretending not to look at me.

“Just checking the perimeters,” De Jesus said, trying to be reassuring.

“Yeah, making sure your asses is safe,” Norton spat.

“You need a fourth?” I asked, though I wasn’t all that keen on meeting more of the infected, and certainly not in the company of the people who wanted to ditch us.

“Nah, we’re good,” Norton said, marching out, joined by Paulsen.

De Jesus came over to me, turning her voice lower and friendlier, rather than her commanding presence she seemed to exert around her soldiers.

“I hate odd numbers in the field, but we can’t risk any of you guys. We’re soldiers, and you’re regular citizens. We’ve been trained for this. I’d take Floyd with us, but we need at least two here. Especially after last night. Raul told me about the infected.” At least she took the time to explain. “So sorry, but you’ll just have to linger back. I know it sucks, but this is our job.”

I nodded. I guess them leaving two behind at least meant we weren’t getting ditched.

“Did Raul also tell you it was one of those climbing bastards?” I asked. De Jesus’ eyes went a bit wide at that. “Yeah. It climbed through a window.”

“Jesus. I had no idea,” she said. “According to Stemson, one may have jumped onto the chopper and hitched a ride for a bit… I guess that confirms it.”

“Yeah, it reeked of gasoline,” I said. De Jesus looked to be thinking that one over. At least we knew where that bastard came from, hopefully. “Well, don’t take too long,” I said, breaking her trance. De Jesus smiled and went out to her fellow soldiers.

I looked at them heading out. It made sense, but it also felt like we were being excluded. They rather wanted ‘odd numbers in the field’ than trust us. I snorted, heading into the living room where Peter was fumbling behind and old timy TV, Debbie and Ana sitting in the couch. Debbie looked quite anxious for the TV to come on.

“She wants her cartoons,” Ana explained. “We couldn’t get it to turn on last night, but Peter is taking a look.”

I slumped down next to them, not really having anything to do until Mallow was awake. We still had a bit of Oramorph left, so it was fortunate that we were getting picked up some time today. Suddenly, the TV came alive with a small triumphant holler from Peter.

“Composite,” Peter explained as he emerged, as if that explained everything. I was not all that tech savvy, but oh well.

“Shouldn’t we check the news?” I proposed.

“After,” Peter said, sitting down next to me. It was clear they wanted the distraction.

A crazy looking bear appeared on the screen. It was weird how the TV worked down here, but not in Courtington. And that they still ran cartoons. Maybe it was automated? But then again, why didn’t we get any signal upstate? Looking out the window I saw the three soldiers walking down the road. I wondered what they knew, what they had heard on the radio. Was there more to it than what they led on?

Chapter 8 - Daphne 3

I didn’t like not telling the group what was really going on, why we weren’t getting an immediate pickup. There was the official reason, then there was the real reason. The base probably had all intentions of sending a chopper when they were able to, but from what I gathered from Lieutenant Cornwall, it seemed like they had other things on their list of priorities. We were relatively safe, as stated, meanwhile the National Guard was stuck in the middle of Courtington with what had amassed to tenth of thousands of infected around their fortress. Indianapolis was a constant battle too. So the army was in the process of several operations. Namely, closing off these giant areas, and running rescue missions. And as these goblin-climber motherfuckers seemed to be able to jump onto helicopters, I was guessing flying in wasn’t exactly the safest approach either. There were scary times upstate, and in the rest of the Midwest it seemed.

So we were sitting ducks. Which is why I figured it was a good idea to secure the immediate area. Perhaps in time, check out the nearby town. If anything, to clear it for the infected. It was a town with a population of a few hundred, and if all of them were infected it was better to know sooner rather than later. But one thing at a time.

For now, I was battling myself on how to ease the news. Especially after initially withholding information. It wasn’t entirely on purpose. The magnitude of what I learned had left me a bit uneasy. And I could already tell there was some contagion between us and the civilians, this would just drive that vedge further.

“I always figured you for a dyke,” Norton said, as we turned onto a gravel road that wrapped around the north side of the farm. We kinda hoped it would meet with a tractor road, giving our ‘patrol’ a nice bow and thus overview of the area.

“What now?” I asked.

“You know, you and Pinky?” Norton said. Oh right.

“What changed your mind?” I asked. Pinky and I were never romantically involved, but I was curious to see where Norton was going with this.

“Oh nuthin’,” he chuckled. “Just a pretty nurse back in the house. Cute one.”

I shook my head. I was glad I was leading. Why did Floyd and Norton have to notice these things? And what was there even to notice? Sure, Oliver was a nice young man, and perhaps I found him somewhat attractive, but surely I wasn’t the only one? I knew both Floyd and Norton were ladies men in their own ways. One of the first things Norton tried to do was cozy up to me when he joined our squad. Though, his demeanor wasn’t really one that screamed attractiveness. And he quit once I put him on his ass, and later on in training missions when I showed some merit. Or perhaps, he just thought I was a lesbian.

“I like that Cuban chick. Ana, right?” Paulsen said. He was the New Guy, but as we had linked up with the civilians, he sort of automatically leveled up his social status among the soldiers.

“Dibs,” Norton said.

“Too late, Floyd already called it,” Paulsen said. “Last night.”

“None of you guys will have dibs on anyone,” I said. “We’re protecting them. Not fucking them.”

“Can’t we do both?” Norton replied in his sly manner. “I like that Lauren. Nice legs.”

“Enough! We’re looking for biters, not getting laid,” I said.

“Whatever you say, ma’am,” Norton replied lazily. “But if you pin that nurse down, I don’t see–”

“Shut up!” I said in a lower voice.

“Hey, we’re just chatting here,” Paulsen said, trying to get on Norton’s good side.

“No, over there. That tractor,” I said. I thought I heard something shuffle in a now too familiar way. Norton nodded, making a small rotation around a small green tractor. “Use your knife,” I said. We had a view in all directions for miles, but it was a practice we best get used to. To keep noise to a minimum.

Norton hurried over, and crouched down shortly followed by the sound of his knife breach into the crevasse in the back of someone’s head.

“Ah shit,” Norton complained. “These fucks bleed like nothin’. At least we know where some of the farmers have gone.”

As I moved over I saw Norton wiping his knife on the overalls of what used to be a very large man. It was the first time I had seen one up close, and with the wherewithal to look at him. He looked like an old grandpa. White beard, dirty overalls. Bite marks. And he sat on a tractor that indeed was in one of the pastures that looked to belong to the farm.

“Poor guy,” Paulsen muttered.

“Poor guy? It’s my knife that got all slicked up with his fuckin’ blood,” Norton muttered, standing back up and peering down at the farmhouse down on the other end of the field.

It was true these infected bled a lot. It was like most of their blood had relocated to their head and were in constant pressure, and the smallest puncture made it burst out like a geyser.

“So you don’t think the heli is gonna show up for us?” Paulsen asked.

“Ma’am, private,” Norton corrected. “She might be a girl, but she’s still a NCO.”

“No. They’re too busy closing off the cities,” I muttered. It was true.

Cornwall had told me as much as possible on a secure channel. It seemed like the army was indeed willing to sacrifice a huge chunk of the Midwest by quarantining it off. Make perimeters that nothing could pass through. All those unaware souls in Courtington. Army, National Guard, and most importantly, regular citizens. And Courtington was likely not the only place that held such a foothold. I still didn’t know how to tell the group, as I wasn’t sure how they would react. The lack of rescue, how the army was going to close off areas where their loved ones likely lived.

“Just hope we’re on the right side then,” Paulsen muttered. “Don’t wanna end up on the wrong side of that quarantine zone.”

“All due respect, ma’am, I think it won’t work,” Norton assured.

“Yeah? Why so?” I asked.

“Didn’t we already have a bunch of smaller quarantined areas around the Midwest? Isn’t that how we ended up in this mess?”

As much as I didn’t like it, it did sound like history was repeating itself. But they had to do something to regain control. But rest assured, I seriously doubted we were getting any rides back home anytime today at least. Or this week. By the sounds of it, all resources, even on the Canadian side, were relocated to quench the outbreak. Operation Amber Sky they called it. I guess they were using the airforce, or just felt creative.

“If we’re staying here for a longer period of time, and no jokes now, I think we might have to start getting familiar and friendly with these people we’re bunkered down with,” I said, as we embarked on our patrol again.

Norton didn’t say anything, but that sly smile sure as hell told me he’d be more than happy to be friendly. I just hoped the men could behave themselves… I knew it had been a while, and that drove some guys nuts. And now with so much steam to blow off? I trusted it wouldn’t come to that. Maybe I should, for this reason, and plenty of others, make some alliances within the group.

That evening we got the call from HQ. We weren’t getting our pick up. I relayed the message to the group before everyone retreated for the night. Without the internet, nor your personal electronic devices, I guess there wasn’t much to do once it got too dark to hang outside.

One delay became two, two became three. We gathered whatever the different people had learned of the infected. By the sounds of it, they bite you. Then some of them would eat you, unless  there was more regular ‘alive’ folks around. Sound attracted them more than anything by all accounts thus far. Smell was a strong second, by what Oliver and Lauren had told. Especially blood. Sight a third. But from everything we knew, it seemed like they were not as sentient as people were, and in fact, more primal than most animals even. Like there were base instincts to consume and that was it. Though, there was the special ones. Behemoths and goblins, but there wasn’t too much intell on those yet to make any discerning conclusions to their behavior.

As dangerous these times were, I could tell the group as a whole was bored to tears. I guess no clear leadership made that happen. I for one was hesitant to command them around, even if I perhaps should. Raul had been their previous leader, but seemed to keep for himself most of the time. I saw Ana sunbathe out in the field, the guys sleeping on guard duty. One time Peter just disappeared, worrying us all, only to show up with a bunch of stuff he had been scouring the barn and other places for. Raul and Oliver seemed to be the only ones who kept busy. Raul (and sometimes Debbie) was tending the animals, driving the tractors, and doing all kinds of farm work. Oliver was either joining him, or tending to his aunt or Dr. Mallow.

Which brought us to our fourth day on the farm.

“We need to go to that town,” Oliver said one day he had cornered me. I had selfishly tried to avoid him so as not to give the guys ammunition. “There’s a pharmacy down there, and we need more morphine and ibuprofen. We’re easing Mallow over to lower grade stuff.”

“You used up all your ibuprofen?” I asked, perplexed. As far as I remember, he had brought a bunch. But the town so close by, unchecked, had irked me for quite some time now. It was something we had put off that had to be done. Couldn’t have such unknowns on our doorstep.

“Your men tend to nurse their headaches,” Oliver said.

And yeah, the guys had started drinking a bit. Sometimes a bit too much, whence they came to Oliver for painkillers. He had been reluctant, but as they were soldiers, which they reminded him of, he obliged.

“Right. Give me a list,” I said.

“No, I’m coming with. I have terrible handwriting,” Oliver said sternly. He looked at me like there was no debate, his blue eyes looking so determined.

“Erh, but–”

“I know what to look for, and where to find it. It’s much faster. Besides, I’ve dealt with the infected a bunch before. And besides, more should learn how to navigate–” Oliver said, making too much sense. But I was barely getting a grasp on what he was even saying. I just watched his glittering white teeth pierce through those inviting lips, so succulent. How… how would he react if I reached forward and… no that is silly…

“So that’s okay right?” Oliver concluded. I had zoned out. Fuck.

“Yes. Right away,” I said, not fully aware of what I had responded to.

“Great. I’ll go change Dr. Mallow’s bandages. Talk to Peter, he has something he wants to show you. I’m telling you, we can be resourceful too,” Oliver said, hurrying up the stairs. As I watched him depart, I wondered if he was working out or if he was just naturally gi– Peter. Right.

I found him outside in one of the sheds he had occupied. He had brought a bunch of tools down there and made a real workshop it seemed. Peter was quite the nerd, as he read his comics and did his own thing, but perhaps he was useful in his interest for how things worked. He was an engineer, but I had a sneaky suspicion he had been quite the handyman growing up. I had heard how he made his dad a new car battery, for instance. Or that he made his own fireworks for 4th of July. And he even had constructed a somewhat decent prosthetic for that doctor.

“What’s up, Peter?” I asked as I entered. Peter stood hunched over a desk. He jumped a bit as I greeted him.

“Oliver told me he wanted to head into town,” Peter said, steadying his voice.

“Did he now?”

“So I was thinking. Sometimes it is not smart to fight, but flee,” Peter said. The tone of his voice gave away that he was aware of how people thought of him. He awkwardly scratched his neck. But I just nodded for where this was going. He wasn’t wrong, after all. “So I made these. I found some black powder and… stuff.”

He held out his hand where he held a series of red and gray blunts were tied to a string of thin rope. It was hard to mistake what it was. Firecrackers. I looked Peter with a raised eyebrow. He smiled awkwardly before dumping it in my hand.

“Heh, I mean, they attract to noise right? You know, perhaps a decoy can be useful in a pickle. I… I’ve tested a few on some infected,” Peter said.

“What?!” I near shouted. Peter shot up his hand defensively.

“I did it far away! And it worked!”

“You could’ve been killed!” I muttered. How could these folks expect us to trust them when they were so reckless. Peter at least had the wherewithal to look abashed.

“Sorry,” he muttered.

“It’s okay…” I said, calming myself.  Peter looked away, turning beet red from being yelled at. The poor kid meant well. “Thanks. It’s a good initiative. Just be careful, right?”

He nodded, smiling at the compliment.

The town wasn’t exactly a town, and only ten minutes or so away with car. From what we could see it was a crossroad with a small pharmacy (thank God), a small store, a bar a hardware store and few other buildings. I had tasked Stemson to draw a somewhat map, as he was the most map-read person of the squad. Me, Paulsen, Stemson and Oliver. Taking some of Olivers advice, I figured Stemson needed field experience. We had no idea how long we’d be down here after all. We didn’t have enough rifles to arm Oliver, but at least he got an axe and a spare Glock we had laying around. Probably for the better, especially in close quarter combat and noise. Plus, I figured the recoil of an AR-15 might be bit much without knowing how much shooting Oliver had done.

“Pull up here, Stemson,” I said. We drove one of the trucks we found on the farm, but it being diesel meant extra noise, so best stop a minute or two out of town. It luckily worked. Oliver and Paulsen sat back on the bed. “We’ll walk the rest.”

I tried to help Oliver down, but being a young bodied man, he jumped down easily. Paulsen and Stemson snorted, stifling a laughter. It was meant to tease me, but it looked to offend Oliver more, much to my frustration.

“Okay, you’ll be my wingman,” I said to the nurse. New snorts. It was a good thing Norton wasn’t here. “That means, I’ll lead and you’ll stay no more than a foot or two behind me. We enter rooms in unison, but I’ll go over that when we get so far. Just see how Stemson and Paulsen do it, right? Normally the whole team goes as one, but we’ll split up to spend the least amount of time here.”

Oliver nodded. Despite the previous snickering, he seemed to take whatever I told him to heart. No comments about having played ‘Call of Duty’, no false bravado. He was here for the mission, not to prove himself.

Something that struck us as eerie as we entered the small town, was that here were only a few infected. We took them all out silently, but was surprised to not find anymore immediate. While the town was a small one, and surely the population was spread, I expected at least a good few. Maybe they all had headed up to Indianapolis or Courtington? How these things thought or if there was reasons behind what they did was beyond what we knew, but from what I could tell there wasn’t exactly much between their ears.

“Stemson, Paulson, see if you can find an exterior ladder and take that roof,” I said, pointing to the bar. The two soldiers hurried over and around the building. “We’re getting your meds, we just need secure the area a bit. Get an overlook.”

“Certainly,” Oliver replied, his eyes searching the buildings.

“Try soften your eyes,” I said. “Don’t zone in on details, but rather take in the whole picture.” Oliver’s nodded, and his beautiful blue eyes unfocused a tiny bit. I quickly looked away so to not be staring.

Oliver and I made our way down to the front of the bar. Empty cars and empty streets. Except for a few corpses. Infected and people consumed before they could turn. I had never seen it happen, but I had heard about it. I looked over at the roof to see if the boys had made it, and indeed they had. Thumbs up. It wasn’t yet safe to yell and command and such, and I had no idea what was up there, so I waited for them to radio us. Stemson and Paulsen disappeared, likely checking around in different directions.

I peered towards the window, not stepping too close. I saw that there were some inside of there, but not many. But if we could board it up or something and leave them for a rainy day, that would be preferable.

“Ma’am,” Stemson called over the radio. Even over the radio I could hear his hushed voice, and a hint of despair. “Up the road, about five hundred yards, there are at least a hundred of those biter fuckers. But it looks like they’re either standing still, or heading away. Hard to tell.”

“Shit,” I muttered.

“We might have to call it off then,” Oliver suggested. Though I saw in his eyes he really needed to get those meds. Fuck. I had to make a call.

“We just gotta be real quiet then,” I commanded over the radio, giving Oliver a nod.

“We’re coming down,” Stemson said.

“You can’t be serious?” Oliver muttered. Even if they were way up the road, none of us knew really how well their hearing worked.

“Come on, we’ll be quick,” I said, silently cringing at how the guys would react to my wording. Oliver shook his head, but the pharmacy was in a diagonal line from here.

Stemson and Paulsen soon joined us and we headed over. The big windows made it look clear, but it was hard to tell. I looked to Paulsen for him to take the lead. Half a minute later, the whole thing was clear, only a clerk and a previous customer that needed some knifing.

“At least you don’t shoot them,” Oliver said, taking the lead to look through the aisles, me walking not too far behind. “Abe, that soldier… erh. Well, he preferred shooting them, and I was hauling Dr. Mallow around. We never lost them for one bit!”

“I heard they have pretty good stamina,” I recalled. “Certainly the big ones had that.”

“You fought one of those?” Oliver asked, finally finding what he was looking for.

“Yeah. Up in Courtington in fact. Up by that one park,” I said, thinking back. It seemed so long ago. Hell, I was supposed to be on medical leave right now from that. But Oliver stopped as I said that, turning to look at me.

“That was you? I saw that. At distance, though,” Oliver said in awe. “You met one of those and survived?”

“Sure did,” I muttered, blushing a bit at Oliver’s amazement at my prowess. It honestly made me swell up inside in a way I hadn’t felt in a long time.

“Here,” he said, dumping a bunch of packs in my hands, which I in return shoved in my pockets as he did the same.

Then we heard the jingle out in the front. Stemson and Paulsen were already inside, so it couldn’t be them. In fact, as we hunkered down, we found them sneaking around the end of one of the aisles, heading towards the entree.

I looked over at the infected. Because it surely was one of them. It didn’t look like it came with any particular purpose. Maybe it had heard some noise and went to see if it was its next meal. I studied it a bit. It was sort of different. Instead of looking like a disheveled human, or one of those goblin fucks, it had a long jaw, low high-pitched gargling emanating from it’s throat as it staggered around. Pale, and a lengthy neck.

Something was off. Something was not right about this one. Something told me that this one, this one we oughta stay clear of.

But Paulsen was right there with his knife.

“Wait!” I called. But too late.

Paulsen rose to plunge his knife into the infected, the monster craned its neck and let out a searing scream which burned into my ears like chalk on a chalkboard. Instinctually I grabbed my ears and cowered under the loud noise.

Paulsen acted quickly, shoving the knife through its face. As abruptly as the scream came it also disappeared.

“Fuck me,” Paulsen gasped, a small sweat on his head.

“That can’t be good,” Stemson muttered.

I felt it before I knew it.

“We better get going,” I said, glancing out the window. That was loud. Way too loud.

The four of us jogged out into the street, and as we looked through the town we saw the hundreds of infected sprinting towards the town. The shrieking fuck had called them! And they were closing in fast. And out from all the buildings we saw infected come through windows, glass doors, stumbling through cracked openings, and stumbling off of flat top roofs. In matter of moments, we were damn near surrounded.

“Fuck!” Stemson yelled.

“LETS GO!” I yelled. “BACK INSIDE!”

I thought I had seen a back door there. The street leading up to our truck already had a dozen ragged biting monsters making their way towards us. But as soon as we were inside, the doors and windows were being shattered by the infected. With shards of glass in hands, torso, and all over, they stumbled into the building. We were being swarmed before we knew it. I took my hand knife and shoved it into one, killed another swiftly after. I heard Oliver next to me grunt as he axed up several as they approached.

“Hold them off, there’s a backdoor here,” I called.

Stemson and Paulsen raised their rifles and shot at them. Oliver and I quickly found the door and pushed at it. Fuck. Something was on the other side. More infected.

The two soldiers were soon next to us, as the masses pushed them back, tipping over shelves as easy blockades. It worked to some extent, as these seemed to be regular ones, unable to climb effectively. Yet, as clumsy as they were, they closed in.

“PUSH!” I yelled, handing a spare magazine to Stemson.

Paulsen butted one of the infected in the face, blood exploding onto him. As he went for another, one grabbed his arm, another his shoulder and he was yanked toward the biting jaws of his assailants. Stemson, unable to reload fast enough, quickly grabbed hold of Paulsen to pull him back. Oliver quickly shot one who almost grabbed Stemson in the process, before quickly turning to help me with the door to the orchestra of Paulsen’s screams. A look over my shoulder and I saw the pain in his face as he was being torn in opposite directions.

“Oh no!” Paulsen gasped as his eyes went wide with realization. “NO!”

A deep crunch came from his shoulder and almost effortlessly, Paulsen’s whole shoulder dislocated from his body, with bloody tendons, muscle, and meat creating strings between his socket and his dismembered limb, the monstrous beings immediately eagerly feasting at his arm as if it was candy.

Paulsen must’ve passed out, because he stopped screaming.

The sudden lobotomization of Paulsen caused Stemson to lose his grip on him, and the rest of Paulsen disappeared into the masses, rendering us as next. They were so close now, despite the barricade made by the fallen shelves, making my rifle hard to maneuver, so I unsheathed a fairly large dagger I had found on the farm to hack at the oncoming scores. The three of us hacked and stabbed, but the friction and swinging was making my arms numb and heavy, each motion more cumbersome than the last. And the whole store in front of us was filled with these biting fucks, and outside there was even more.

“We’re dying,” I gasped, as my lungs were burning. “If we stay here. Next opening we got, we rush the door.”

My fellow survivors nodded, both of them soaked in sweat. I could see from their fighting they were in the trenches as well, but there was no quit in us. Letting go for one second, misstepping or shifting your weight for a moment in the wrong direction, would be a certain peril. And even as we fought each of us for this to not be the day we fell, it was inevitable. So when with one last push, we created enough room for all three of us to throw ourselves at the door.

The door finally flung open, and as promised, the infected were there waiting for us. Though not yet as many as inside the store. Oliver swung his ax at the first and the second, before heading toward the corner of the building, only for a bunch of the snarling monsters to round it before him. I looked to the other side, but the situation was much the same. Instead, I saw a ladder. It was our only hope. Except it was surrounded by biters.

I shot ourselves a path, but we had to move quickly before it closed in again. I knew I had given Stemson one of my two spare magazines, so I couldn’t shoot forever, even with perfect shots. I heard a loud scream and an ‘oomph’ behind us. Stemson had been caught in the door, but managed to pull free, but even with his dark green shirt on you could see the blood seeping from his shoulder.

“You first,” I called to Oliver. He didn’t argue, scaling up the ladder quickly.

Stemson hurried over, but he didn’t go up. With a pained grunt, I shoved one infected into two others, shooting the ones behind them, in an effort to recreate some space. But more quickly approached, only hindered by the narrowness of the backyard.

“Get up!” I yelled, unsheathing my dagger. Stemson shook his head, clutching his side.

“Go on, I’ll hold ‘em off,” Stemson groaned. I knew what he meant. He had been bitten. Both more than once and likely in places not easily amputated. His bloody hand wrapped around my blade, taking it out of my hands, giving me a reassuring nod. I let go, and grabbed the ladder. I gave him one last look as I climbed up.

I couldn’t looked over the edge to see him succumb. I just couldn’t. Stemson fought for a bit, but not forever. I don’t know what was worse. Hearing him groan in pain under the ladder as he was being eaten, or when it stopped.

Chapter 9 - Daphne 4

I looked over at Oliver. He was untouched except for the obvious blood spatter and sweat soaking his tight t-shirt. He was trembling a bit, but I couldn’t tell if it was from exhaustion or from the trauma.

“You okay?” I asked. He nodded, his eyes trailing down my body, stopping at my waist. “What?” I asked, looking down. Blood. My own. I hadn’t seen it before now. I hadn’t felt it. When did it even happen?

Oliver hurried over, and without even asking, he yanked my shirt up, and soon I felt his fingers gently touch wherever my wound was.

“Oh,” I said in surprise. Not from him almost ripping my t-shirt off, but from how warm, yet strong and firm his fingers were.

“It’s not bite marks,” he said, releasing me. He walked off to the other end of the roof and stared out into the ether.

I suspected what he was thinking. I was thinking it too. It was stupid to go into that pharmacy. We should’ve listened to him. I can’t understand why I didn’t. It was the reasonable thing to do, but I insisted on pushing on with our mission. It had gotten two of our men killed, and probably us as well. There was no way we’d be able to fight our way through all of those. We had killed, what, twenty? Thirty perhaps? That still left heaps of them, only two tired ones of us. What a failure…

“We can’t let them get up to the farm,” Oliver said, still not looking at me.

I wasn’t sure what he wanted us to do about it. I had perhaps fifty bullets left, maybe some of my two former fellow comrades, but that was a leap. Oliver had, say, ten bullets himself? We’d maybe get half, and then what? But reason once again sidestepped. I was ready to do anything at this point. If suicide to save a bunch of others was the way… If Oliver requested it, I guess I would do it.

Oliver looked to be scanning the streets for ideas. I was glad he did, because I had none. It was like a lever had been pulled inside my head. Nothing could make me think. I was paralyzed. Instead of doing anything, I just slumped down against a vent, staring empty at the ladder. Paulsen and Stemson. Stemson was in his own right a NCO and all, but had been little in the field. Paulsen, green as they come, brought in from the recruit as a replacement. None of them should’ve come today, least of all as a duo. Would Floyd or Norton have done that screamer any different? Would I? The different scenarios played inside my head until my vision blurred. I sniffled, and rubbed my eyes with my sleeve. I was never one to cry, but there just had been so much. Turns out, I was only human after all.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, gently rubbing it as I tensed up before wrapping around to my shoulder as Oliver slumped down next to me with a heavy sigh. He had every reason to hate me, and even worse; justifiably so, as all of this was my fault. Yet he chose to show me sympathy, to give me a touch of comfort. It just made it all so much worse.

I rested my head on his shoulder and silently felt my tears crawl down my skin. We sat like that for what felt like an eternity.

“There’s a truck across the street. Much like the one we drove. I think I saw keys in the ignition. If we make it over, shooting and hacking our way, we can honk and holler and draw them away,” Oliver said after a while.

“Yeah, of course,” I muttered, resigning myself to my fate. “But what if it’s out of gas?”

“Well. Back to the drawing board,” Oliver chuckled, withdrawing his hand to rub his hair.

With a small groan, he stood up again, looking around for something. It wasn’t the worst of ideas, but a sacrifice should be worthwhile. Though, in a car… Maybe there were some opportunities after all. So I stood too. Maybe there was something.

That’s when I saw a face.

Across the street, above the hardware store, I saw a face plastered against the window. Someone was in there it seemed. Recalling from before, a bunch of the infected had come from there, so maybe they had been trapped up there all along?

“Oliver,” I called, pointing. A curly haired blonde woman was looking over at us.

“I’ll be damned,” Oliver muttered. “They don’t realize… They better get outta here before it’s too late.”

And as if on cue, we heard an engine approach. Up the road a bit, past our own truck, we saw another pick-up heading our way. I couldn’t quite tell who was driving, but it was obvious who was hitching in the back. Ponytail, sunglasses, and six foot eight. They were heading straight toward the horde, and didn’t even know it yet. There were hundreds down there!

“HEY!” Oliver screamed, waving his arms. I jumped up, waving mine too.

“GO AWAY!” I screamed as well, trying to wave my arms for them to turn around.

Instead, Raul took a knee in the bed of the truck as they rolled into town, aiming a rifle at the flock filling the street before them. Out both the windows I saw Norton and Lauren lean out, and immediately started to gun down each and everyone filling the street. But even so, there were still so many left, and they started to close in on the car.

“Quick!” Oliver said, nodding to the rifle.

I had another idea. I wasn’t sure I trusted any of my ideas anymore, but this one couldn’t hurt. I shoved my hand down into my pocket, fishing out the firecrackers Peter had given me. I had forgotten all about them. I tossed them to Oliver who caught the message. He lit the fuse and tossed it away from the truck. If not all of the infected drew to it, at least some would.

“Let’s go!” I called, jogging to the latter.

It was clear, so I hurried down. But I should’ve taken my time, as I misstepped. For a moment I was airborne until I felt my leg crack beneath me on the concrete. I whimpered out, trying to swallow the unbelievable pain.

Oliver was right behind me. I stuck out my hand, but instead of giving me support, he took my hand, dragged me up, and continued the lift until he fireman carried me over his shoulders, sprinting toward the pickup, dumping me next to Raul like a sack of potatoes. It was certainly a moment of embarrassment to be ragdolled like that as an NCO, as the most seasoned soldier, but this day was far from my best day of soldiering, so I had to wallow in my pain.

“We need to draw them away, they’re too many,” Oliver told Norton. For once Norton nodded without any remark. “There’s also a family in the hardware store. Drive there and we’ll have to get them out before we’re caught up.”

Norton nodded backwards. “There’s not enough space.”

Raul jumped down from the hood. “I’ll get the other truck,” he said, sprinting before we had a chance to object. Wow. Just like that, Oliver had taken over the whole operation. And by how Norton reacted, it seemed like he earned his respect as well. Perhaps I wasn’t the clear leader I was supposed to be? I guess some would say I already had a good eye for Oliver, but seeing his swift call to action was just adding to his list of positive traits.

“How did you know to come?” I groaned, rubbing my ankle.

“We heard a scream, and when we didn’t see you comin for a bit, we figured you were in trouble,” Norton explained, driving the small distance, sending me a small smile, “I’m not leaving my NCO behind. Laurie, keep the engine going. Drive around if need be. Kid, on me.”

“Got any more nine mill?” I heard Oliver ask.

I managed to climb fully onto the bed, leaning up and throwing my rifle up and using the rim as support. If I couldn’t do anything with my feet, I’d shoot any bastard approaching. And boy did they come. Norton and Oliver didn’t waste any time, though, and neither did Raul. Soon a whole family was loaded onto the other pick-up. Oliver hurried over to me, dragging me onto his back again.

“What are you doing?” I asked, perplexed.

“I’m sending you back to the farm,” Oliver grunted, hoisting me onto the other truck. “You’ve done enough.” I closed my eyes at that. That one stung. Deservedly so. “You’re hurt, if we need to– you know what? Just go, alright?” Oliver said, hurrying towards the other truck. Time was of the essence, and the infected were still persistent.

So instead of joining the mission, I looked at the infected stumbling after the honking truck as Raul drove us away. I watched Oliver become smaller and smaller. I knew he would do anything to keep that horde away from the farm. I just hoped I’d get to see him again.

Chapter 10 - Oliver 6

“That nerd gave us a bunch of stuff back there,” Norton yelled back at me through the constant honks. Me, Lauren, Norton, and two of the folks we rescued had come along. A dad and his son. The dad had a long face, with a weird soul patch beard that did him no favors. But when he saw what we were doing, he offered to join, and we had no time to argue.

“You guys heard that scream?” I yelled, lighting a fuse and tossing it to the infected following us.

“Hell yeah. Whatever that was drew these fucks out of all kinds of corners,” Norton yelled. “What was that scream anyway?”

“A shrieker,” I said, as if that explained anything. “Long mouth, long neck, pale.”

“Right,” Norton yelled back. Lauren turned in her seat to look back at us, shooting me a warm smile. “And I’m guessing we ain’t seein’ Stemson and Paulsen anymore?”

My lack of reply was more than enough. It was the most brutal killings I had witnessed. Paulsen was ripped apart in front of me, and Stemson had been eaten more or less alive just beneath our hiding spot. We had heard all about the cannibalism, but I hadn’t fully seen it until now. Or worse, heard it. Norton slammed a frustrated fist on the steering wheel but kept us slow enough for the infected to almost catch us, but fast enough so they didn’t. We’d occasionally pick them off if they got too close, or simply shoot them.

I turned to new folks. The dad and the son. The son was a spitting image of his dad, except beardless. Beady eyes, long faces. Helpful, apparently.

“Flint,” the dad introduced, sticking his sweaty hand in mine. I guess mine were quite moist as well. “Wallace Flint. This is my boy, Junior.”

“Oliver,” I replied.

“You a soldier like these folks?” he asked.

“I’m a nurse,” I said. “Sorry, but can we save the chit-chat? We got at least a hundred-and-fifty of these bastards hauling ass after us.”

“And that’s not the fun part,” Norton called from the front. “We’re almost out of gas. I didn’t check it before we left.”

“There’s a gas station up ahead,” Flint said, kicking one of the infected in the face. Apparently, he had a steel tip, because the infected keeled over dead.

“We ain’t stopping for gas!” Norton said.

“We don’t have to,” I muttered, trying to figure out what Flint was getting at, grabbing his collar as he almost lost balance from the impact. “Norton, do you have a grenade?”

“Yeah sure, here ya go, want some smokes with that?” he japed.

“No, I mean for the gas station,” I called.

There was a brief pause from the front. I saw Norton think it over, and then the aforementioned gas station approaching us. “Alright. We’ll slow down to make sure we drag in as much as possible. Get ready!”

Having retrieved Stemson’s dagger, and the Flints armered with a long pipe and an axe, we started hacking on the closest ones to hold them off. They couldn’t catch up entirely as Norton slowed, but enough to climb on if we failed. But the fight from the drug store still had its effect on me, so I was hoping to God we’d make it up there quick. Every swing and shove burned in my arms, my shoulders screaming from any impact I made.

“I’mma speed up a bit to get a headstart. When we get there, me, Lauren, and Ollie load up all the firecrackers, dad and kid, make a bunch of noise and draw them in. This gotta go quick,” Norton yelled, slamming the gas.

I honestly wished I could do the hollering, as I had no idea how long until my arms gave out, or my lungs for that matter. But when Norton slid up between the pumps, it was back to work. Lauren jumped out. We exchanged a small mutual appreciative look, and started loading all kinds of fireworks and firecrackers out of the two crates. Peter sure had been diligent. Norton came around, two pinned grenades in his hands.

“When they get here, we gotta sneak out as to not draw any attention away from the burning and the loud noises, got it?” Norton said. “I doubt we got them all to follow, so we better get the fuck up to that farm as soon as possible.”

We distributed the firecrackers around the truck fast, hearing the Flints taunting the infected. They seemed to have slowed down from getting hacked and shot at, but was still unrelenting in their pursuit.

“Wait, how do we get out of here?” I asked, looking at the truck.

“One problem at a time,” Norton muttered, before letting a whistle out for the Flints, motioning the group to get going. “I’ll light the fuse. Once its lit, we need to go!”

Lauren waved for us to follow around the gas station, but it wasn’t far enough if all the actions movies were any indication. Soon after Norton was back with us, urging us silently to run. He sprinted around the corner and down the street again so we were facing the station. Suddenly I keeled over and slumped to the ground. Lauren immediately filled my vision with her freckled pretty face. I felt dizzy, realizing I hadn’t been breathing properly.

“Here,” Norton said, helping me up. “I said quiet, but still remember to draw breath. We need to go a bit more.”

The Flints motioned us over to a U-Haul truck. Gazing over at the hundred or so infected, we saw them flocking around the truck. It worked. Loud noise seemingly trumped any other instinct of the infected. Norton stepped in front of the truck and drew the pin of one grenade and threw it. He drew the other and threw it as well.

“Fuck,” I heard him mutter.

I saw where the grenades landed. Much too short. He took out his rifle. It wasn’t like the other’s, it had a scope and longer. Bolt-action. Norton drew his breath and just as the grenades masked the sound of his rifle, he shot and hit the gas tank of the truck seemingly without effort. The sound of metal against metal and the loud boom the truck went up in a fireball, followed shortly by the whole gas station being consumed in a massive, orange explosion. Even from behind the truck I felt the heat.

Infected didn’t seem fazed by being lit on fire, except for being burnt alive. Their pain receptors didn’t seem to register the flames as they still poured into the flames. Fizzing sounds and the smell of burning rotting flesh filled the air, making my eyes water in the matter of seconds. Norton hurried up the road towards the town, waving his hands for us to move away from the burning flock.

It took the five of us over an hour of alternating between jogging and walking to finally get a view of the slightly sloping road leading up to the farm. We heard them before we saw them. The infected. And the gunshots for that matter.

“Oh fuck,” I muttered as I looked up at them. They hadn’t yet noticed us. A quick scan told me that none of them were the climbing kind either.

“Looks like we didn’t get all of ‘em,” Norton said. “Come on, let’s go.”

“You sent my wife and kids to this?!” Flint exclaimed.

“And now we’re savin’ them,” Norton said, undeterred.

“We can’t fight all those!” Flint said.

“Not with that attitude. Now come on. Oliver, look,” Norton said, pointing to the sheds and the barn.

While most were surrounding the house, there were a few banging on the other buildings.

“Flints, stay here. I don’t know how good you are in a fight–” Norton began.

“We can fight!” Flint said indignant, as if his personal pride had been called into question.

“Sure. Alright. Me and you two fucks try to get a situation on the house. Oliver, take your aunt and see if you find Peter or whoever the fuck is up there,” Norton said, waving his two companions along as he hurried down towards the gas station, presumably to round it and come up towards the house on the far side.

“Let’s go,” Lauren urged, donning her small snub nose.

“Wait,” I said. Lauren nodded, pulling out a screwdriver, me the dagger I had retrieved from Stemson.

The horde was much smaller than the one we had burnt, but they were still a vast amount for a small group of people to deal with. We had to be smart about this.

“Let's fuck 'em up,” I said, hurrying toward the closest one.

The dagger was so sharp I severed its head from the body with ease, and more importantly, without barely making a sound. Lauren shoved her screwdriver into the back of the head of another. I lopped another. Only at least a hundred more to go.

We made a couple more silent kills before we reached Peter's workshop. We gently knocked on the door, hoping he was in there, and hopefully without any bites or anything.

“Peter?” I whispered. “You in there?”

No answer. Lauren tried the handle, and it opened. We peeked in, but it was empty.

“Shit,” I muttered.

“I know they're alright,” Lauren said. “I just know.”

Lauren took the lead, and we hurried to the barn. Ten infected died to our weapons as we cleared the barn door. Turns out, stabbing was much easier on the joints and our fatigue rather than swinging mercilessly.

“Oliver, is that you?” I heard from the inside. “Lauren?”

“Peter?!" I whispered loudly. “You okay?”

“Yeah. I got Roxy here, but I need some help,” Peter said through the door.

“We'd love to, but you gotta open the door,” Lauren said, looking over at the farmhouse where we could hear curses and shooting.

I guess the rest was in there, but as windows shattered I knew they were inside. I just hoped Norton and the Flints were able to make a dent. We had to get down there and help. We had already lost too many. And there were kids down there for Christ's sake.

The barn door peered open, and Peter's glassed face came into view. He was pale and shaking. He looked over his shoulder, and as soon as he let us in.

“What's wrong?” I asked.

“There's so many,” Peter muttered. “I heard screams from the house…”

“Dr. Mallow is okay then?” I asked, thinking something had happened to my patient. I didn't want my first successful surgery, an amputation at that, to be for nothing.

“What? No!” Peter answered, then plastered a cheeky smile. “In fact, I was testing out some new prosthetics for her. I struggled to make a decently balanced leg, but I managed to make... erh, I'll just show you.”

Peter led us to the back of the barn, where Dr. Mallow was seated on an old stool.

“Welcome, Oliver,” Dr. Mallow said.

“Doctor,” I said, nodding.

“Look,” she said, rolling up her skirt, showing her stump. Only there wasn't a stump, but the socket for a prosthetic. Then I saw the AR-15 next to her, its stock sawed off.

“Erh, what is going on?” I said.

“Bad-ass,” Lauren said, obviously piecing this construction together better than me. “I wanna be her when I grow up.”

“Peter is quite the genius,” Dr. Mallow said. “While Oliver catches up, get that truck, and help me here. We need to get going now that we have able bodies. No offense, Peter.”

“Non-taken,” Peter said, proudly gawking at his creation.

“Help me here, Ollie,” Dr. Mallow said, waving her hand for me to approach as Peter and Lauren hurried out. “Take that M4, and slot it into the socket here.”

“Wait, is that a gun mount?” I asked, nodding to where her knees used to be, where a prosthetic socket now was attached.

“It's fitted for a rifle stock, yes,” she said, chuckling. “Peter cut down one of the spare rifles. Now slot it in. Hurry!”

I hurried to obey, grabbing the sawed-off rifle, and inspecting Peter's creation. Sliding the weapon into the slot, twisted it and it clicked, the handle out to the side so she could somewhat easily reach it. It wasn't the most elegant thing, but it did the job. Where did Peter get his ideas from? Those damn comics probably.

“You know how to shoot?” I asked.

“Shut up, help me up here,” Dr. Mallow said, impatiently throwing her hand around my shoulder. “You'll drive. I can't handle the recoil so can't sit in the back, and I will have to lean on you. Just focus on driving.”

Just then Lauren came honking back with the truck Raul had driven. She jumped out, and jumped in the back, along with Peter. I hurried Dr. Mallow into the passenger seat as there was a bunch of infected who had followed the roaring engine and the car horn, and the barn was now open, so they could stream in.

“Drive, drive, drive!” Lauren yelled, blasting two shots at the two first that came bursting in.

I hit the pedal to the metal and floored us out of there. Next to me, Dr. Mallow tried to navigate her attached rifle to point out the window, headbutting me in the process.

“Ow! Hey! Easy there, Doc,” I said, steering the wheel.

“We should cut these windows. Look away, I'll roll the skirt up a bit more,” Dr. Mallow grunted. “Eyes on the road, traveler.”

“Skyrim references? Really?” I shook my head, eyes on where I drove.

At first, I thought to just run right into the crowd, but I didn't want to get bogged down. I felt Dr. Mallow shift next to me, then heard a loud crack from her firearm and her jerking in her seat, headbutting me again.

"Ah, the good stuff," she sighed as her shot hit the bull's eye. Then she started shooting in loud bursts. I now understood why they needed earpieces on a gunfield. That was not something I'd ever forget. “Don’t get too close, we’ll get stuck!”

I swerved through them, my knuckles white from clutching the steering wheel as to avoid getting stuck. Mallow and the two in the back picked them off, but as we killed two, three new seemed to pop up. But at least we eased the pressure for those fighting inside. I could barely make out the silhouette of Raul hacking away in the kitchen, and other figures.

“Aim at those,” I said, pointing to the infected busting through the kitchen window.

“There are too many!” Mallow grunted, but shot at them regardless.

“There's an ATV over there!” Peter yelled. “I'll get Roxy on it, then we can cover more ground!”

“Good idea,” I yelled, speeding towards it.

Peter and Lauren quickly helped Dr. Mallow over to the ATV and they sped off, Lauren joining me in the front.

“There's more coming!” Lauren yelled, pointing north.

I looked up the slope beyond the barn. Fuck. At least a few dozen. I quickly handed her my Glock as it had more bullets, and drove toward the swarm sprinting toward the ruckus that came from the farmhouse. Lauren took her stance, steadied the weapon with the heel of her hand, and started to pick them off. Some stumbled and died. Some jerked and danced. Some barely made it back on their feet. But they kept coming. I checked the rearview mirror. The folks in the house were still overrun, about to face a bunch of new ones. And soon I could Lauren's gun run out of bullets, shortly after her revolver too.

Lauren looked at me, and then back at the house. We exchanged a quick look, signing our mutual silent agreement. One way or the other. This was it. Lauren scooted over in her seat so she was next to me and I floored it.