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#13
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Re: THE MOON HAS WINGS - a zombie story
*Sees comments on page while sipping coffee. Spews drink all over screen*
Wait, people are actually reading this crap!? I kid, of course. I really appreciate the comments. No hard feelings, TGRF. You did vote for the other story, after all. ~TAF TAF was the Storyteller... in THE ENEMY'S LAST RETREAT |
#14
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Extra
At any rate, here you guys go. And Chapter 6 will be here on Saturday.
Spoiler Alert!
Twelve People In The Woods: ____ It was quiet and breezy, the green clearing void of zombies and making for a good place to stay. A foodless picnic. After all the panic and the walking, it was good to settle down for some. Good to make plans for others. ____ Thomas sat in his secluded spot, eyeing the others from the distance. Just because he had nothing to do didn’t mean he’d go hang out with them. He’d sooner be spending his time hanging out with his actual friends. Wherever those few might be now. It was impossible to say for any loved ones, unless plain dumb luck should claim otherwise. He couldn’t count on that. ____ Thomas looked to Header. The Sergeant was still working on the radio, time not being kind to the device’s wounds. Header was half fixing it and half looking around him, making sure no one noticed that he had no idea what he was doing. Thomas scoffed, wondering how it managed to get so damaged in the first place. Looks like he couldn’t count on the Sergeant either. ____ He didn’t know how this was all going to end. Maybe the Army would show up and things would get chipper. But maybe not. Thomas had a feeling things would more likely than not end very badly. And bloodily. Things seemed a bit better now, but it wouldn’t take much for this new life to rear its ugly head again. ____ The others could act as civil as they liked. It’d only be a matter of time before they broke down. Thomas would not do the same. He knew the state of things already. ____ Inside he felt a little bad for priding himself so much on some kind of imaginary superiority. It was a very childish notion, voiceless gloating over the triumph of his pessimism, waiting to be proven right at the worst of times. Shedding fewer tears or being less surprised of terrible revelations wouldn’t make him the better man. ____ Thomas crossed his arms, a tad cross himself at the second thought, wondering if maybe he should go join the others and get to know them a bit better after all. Instead he continued to sit and watch from a distance, wondering inside why he was even here at all. ____ Meanwhile, Cecil showed Thorn around the clearing, Wendy silently tagging along. While everyone else chatted amongst themselves about unimportant things, they had the bigger picture to worry about. They had acquired the proper setting for an LZ. Now Cecil needed to keep his little haven secure. ____ “It’s a nice place, but it’s surrounded by forest on all sides.” He told the Corporal, “We’ve been worried about being unable to watch everything—feels a little naked—but with you guys here it shouldn’t be a problem.” ____ “Yeah, I could see it being troublesome.” Thorn replied. Ever since they’d arrived he’d kept an eye out, already silently concocting ways to patrol it. ____ “I’m thinking two scouts should do the trick. Especially with three times the guns as before.” ____ The Corporal scanned the trees around him. 360 degrees of potential zombies lurking in the woods. As long as they all stayed close to the center of the clearing, it’d take a while for any zombies to reach them. Slow, individual ones anyway. If they showed up en masse, you’d have to pack up quick and run for it, no backup plans or escape routes preplanned. ____ “I wouldn’t fret too much about it.” He assured Cecil, “Once Header hails a chopper, it won’t be a problem anymore.” ____ “He’s taking his sweet time.” Wendy put it bluntly. ____ “No, don’t worry about it.” Cecil said to her, “He can take as long as he needs.” ____ She looked at him funny, “Right.” ____ Cecil watched her walk off, turning and glancing at Thorn, “She’s pretty direct, huh?” ____ “Hm. Yeah.” The Corporal insouciantly replied, seemingly oblivious to it. ____ “Anyway… if you don’t mind me asking… how long do you think it is gonna take to get the helicopters here?” ____ Thorn raised an eyebrow, “If I knew I’d tell you, Cecil. We’re a little severed from the rest of the force right now.” ____ “Right…” Cecil closed his eyes and stroked his chin. He now lacked the calm demeanor with which he had dismissed Wendy’s exact same concerns. Like a parent being calm in front of their kids. ____ Thorn smiled a bit at the look and harmlessly punched Cecil’s arm, “Right right. You don’t need to worry. I’ll keep this place locked down. Not a single zombie’s getting in under my watch.” ____ “Thanks. You army guys are a godsend. I think everyone’ll really appreciate it. It’s been pretty hard on Abbey and David… and Miles… and everyone.” ____ “It’s what I’m here for.” Thorn’s eyes moved from one person to the next as he watched them, “But to be honest, I think they seemed pretty tranquil under your watch.” ____ “Thanks. This sort of thing’s hardly my career, but I try.” ____ The two stayed off by themselves at that, backs to each other, watching opposite ends of the woods. Keeping eyes out for the sake of their fellows. ____ David leaned over to the barren fire pit, trying repeatedly to snap a flame to life with a lighter. He burnt his thumb and gave up, sitting back up and muttering to himself before looking at the newcomers, “So you all came straight from Chicago, yeah? Where’s all the ridiculous accents?” ____ “Well I’m not from Chicago.” Brooke explained, “I was there with friends. For work.” ____ David raised an eyebrow, “Oh yeah? Me too. What kinda work?” ____ Brooke quietly strummed on her guitar, “Symphony.” ____ “You play in an orchestra with that thing?” ____ “Oh, no. I play violin. I know a few instruments.” It probably would’ve been smarter to grab that before taking off. But the guitar was more important. Back on subject: “Anyway, I’m from Ohio. You?” ____ “Atlanta.” ____ “A lot of out-of-towners around here.” Abbey noted, quietly bobbing her baby in her arms, “Cecil and George aren’t from here either. And Miles… why were you here?” ____ “Uh…” Miles had been sitting amongst them but hadn’t said a word. Not ominously, just staring off into space blankly. It’d only been a few days, but the severity of recent events had just about wiped his memories away, “…Job interview. I wish I could’ve just called.” ____ “If it’s any consolation, I lived in Chicago.” Jaxson offered. ____ “Yeah me too. I’d sooner die than go anywhere that worships any team but the Cubs.” Stacey rationally said, “Or the Bears. Or the Bulls. Or the Blackhawks…” ____ “What about the White Sox?” Jaxson asked. ____ “The White Sox can go to hell!!” ____ “Well there you have it.” Brooke said to David, “The soldiers I don’t know where they’re from. They don’t talk a lot about it.” ____ David nodded to Thomas off by himself, “And him? What’s his deal? Why’s he off by himself?” ____ “He’s just being edgy. Don’t mind him.” Brooke dismissed. ____ “Who did he lose?” Abbey inquired. ____ Brooke paused, “You know… I don’t know. I would think someone. We’ve all lost a lot of people. But he hasn’t said anything. Not to my knowledge…” ____ “He’s a bit of a jerk anyway. I bet he never would’ve stopped for me if he hadn’t been stuck there back at the city.” Stacey dismissed. ____ “Oh come on, be fair.” Brooke argued, “He’s not so bad. Things are rough. I’m sure it’s been really hard for him.” ____ “Yeah, but how much you wanna bet he was like this before the outbreak? Always scoffing and smirking and scowling and other S-words…” Stacey trailed off, gradually distracted by Abbey’s baby. She’d been sitting next to the young mother, teasingly waggling one finger above the newborn’s grasping hands—the kind of person helplessly and instantly enamored with any infant. ____ “What’s her name?” She listlessly changed the subject away from Thomas. ____ “I told you already.” Abbey replied, not a hint of impatience in her voice, “His name is Gabe.” ____ Stacey looked over at David, “Are you the father?” ____ He tossed his arms up, “Why would you immediately assume I’m the father? Have you been drinking? I told you already I’m not from around here!” ____ Jaxson smiled, bemused, “Well, he’s got your nose.” ____ “Does he?” ____ “No.” ____ Miles smirked as David instinctively checked the baby just to be sure, already insecurely feeling his own nose as he did so. Brooke wasn’t as amused, however, internally wanting to reprimand Stacey for the stupid question. Wendy was the only one in Cecil’s group to be from around here. And the father wasn’t in their group. Therefore… ____ Abbey obviously had it on the mind as well, gaze falling to the child in her arms, “No, my husband’s… not here right now.” ____ Stacey apparently caught on, “I’m sorry.” ____ “It’s okay.” Abbey continued, sighing, “You know, for the longest time he and I didn’t want to have kids. We thought it was perfect love just between the two of us, and anything else would impede on that… But now… this child is all I have left of him. It’s like a tiny part of him is still with me… ____ “I was always worried about the noise, having a baby and all. But Gabe is nice and quiet for a baby. Now things feel a little bit too quiet.” ____ It was quiet indeed. ____ “Don’t worry.” Jaxson was the first to speak up, “Things will be back to normal before you know it. You have all of us!” ____ “Yeah! We’ll look out for each other until we get to safety!” Brooke added. ____ “Thank you.” Abbey smiled, “I was a little worried when Cecil brought newcomers, but you’re all good people. Thank you.” ____ “Exactly! From here on out, your kid has twelve parents!” Stacey said. ____ David scoffed, “Eleven. I hate kids.” ____ “David can be the grouchy grandpa then.” Stacey rectified. ____ “Can I be the uncle? I like uncles.” Miles suggested. ____ “No.” ____ “Damn it.” ____ Thomas watched them talk about absolutely nothing from a distance. He had a tendency to eavesdrop, especially around particularly loud speakers (no names, no names…). However, their conversation was inconsequential at best so he dropped it. ____ Header walked over, still fiddling with his radio, “What’s up, Thomas?” ____ Thomas declined to reply directly, “Did you get it fixed?” ____ The Sergeant shrugged, demonstrating by turning it on and letting it spew its empty static, “I don’t know. Hope I didn’t make it worse. Think I heard a word or two outta it. I’ll keep at it here in a bit.” ____ “Hm.” Thomas knew better than to be surprised, “It’s a start I guess.” ____ “It ain’t over yet.” Header assured him, “There’s a chance just the speaker is busted.” ____ “Right. Of course. We’re saved.” Thomas replied. ____ “I know it’s hard. Just hang in there. We’ll get to safety yet.” ____ “Safety’s one thing. It’s still not going to undo what’s already been done.” Thomas looked to the Sergeant, “I saw your picture. What are you going to do even if we do get to a shelter?” ____ Header frowned, “About my family? I’m not sure.” ____ “Do you really think they’re…?” Thomas began. He wasn’t terribly familiar with Header’s situation or how he had chosen to interpret it. But he knew that there was more to the Sergeant’s motives than just plainly following orders. ____ “I intend to find out.” Header finished, “But we gotta get outta here first, yeah?” ____ “And if things don’t turn out so great?” ____ The Sergeant was silent, one hand nervously grasping at nothing, wishing he was holding another cigarette, “I don’t know, kid. Don’t know…” ____ “Hm. Right.” Thomas dismissed, staring dead ahead at nothing in particular, “Well, you have plenty of time to figure it out…” ____ That much was true. They didn’t have much. If not zombies on their hands then time and little else. For now the best they could do was simply sit and wait. Waiting for something to change. Hardly a way to live. But what choice was there? ____ And so, whether in silent contemplation or in planning or in small talk, everyone continued to wait. For all the hours they could spare. And with no zombies in sight and with nowhere to go, they had plenty. ~TAF TAF was the Storyteller... in THE ENEMY'S LAST RETREAT Last edited by TheAverageFan; August 12th, 2017 at 09:38 PM. |
#15
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Chapter 6
Anyway, let's get on with the story. Time for Chapter 6...
However (a touch of a spoiler here), I am extra-obliged for this chapter to remind you all that this story is rated 18+. You might've forgotten this since nothing's happened over the last few chapters. Still, I feel that it is worth reminding you since Chapter Six in particular is like 80% responsible for that final rating. You have been warned. But worry not! For those of you who might not be able to handle it, I will include a bullet-point summary of this chapter's events below. So if you'd rather not read this stuff but still want to carry on with the story, merely read that, and come out of it equally informed! So there you have it. For everyone else, let's begin: Chapter 6
Spoiler Alert!
6 Torture ____ Most of the day was spent in boredom, nowhere to go and not much to do other than chat. People sat around and talked, or spent time by themselves, thinking about their lives. Lunch came and went without incident. Not a zombie in sight all the while. If there were more undead lurking in the woods around them, they were taking their sweet time making a sluggish entrance. Only twice did the sound of distant aircraft pique the group’s attention, people trying to see past the trees only to give up quickly and return to the center of the clearing. One time was a far-off airplane, the other a lightning-fast jet. Both equally out of reach. ____ But that’s okay. As long as they were safe there, they could wait. They all pretended to have indefinite patience, struggling to stay optimistic with each passing couple of hours. Nobody wanted to spend another night out here. Zombies or not, things seemed far less safe in the dark, backs turned to the forest around them in defenseless slumber for hours on end. Until then they could remain hopeful. ____ Indeed the sun made more progress then they did, journeying across the sky over the course of the day while they waited for help. While the sky was still blue Thomas watched it begin its final descent toward the opposite horizon. ____ Not terribly surprising. I have the feeling we’ll be here for weeks. He figured to himself, crossing his arms and closing his eyes, Maybe before long Cecil really will beg for me to put on shows just to pass the time. ____ As if to mock him, again the sound of aircraft drew near, one last jinx. This time it was the unmistakable spin of rotary blades, close by and roaring. ____ “Look, look!” Stacey leapt to her feet and pointed skyward, “Helicopters! Just up there!” ____ “’Bout damn time! Flare, Thorn!!” Header hopped to his feet and raced out to the center of the clearing. The aircraft—four helicopters—were close enough to witness them. This was their only chance. As the choppers drew near Thorn lit his signal flare and waved it about, blazing red sparks flying. Header rushed to the Corporal’s side and waved his burly arms, “Gather round, folks! We’re gettin’ out of here!” ____ “Finally!” Brooke exclaimed, slinging her guitar case and hurrying after the soldiers. She pressed her hands together tightly as the helicopters seemingly spotted them and began their descent, “Thank you!” ____ Abbey breathed a sigh of relief, the noise lost amidst the roaring aircraft, “Oh, thank God!” ____ Thomas held his thanks, preferring to celebrate once he was absolutely certain the nightmare was over. The bright flare was hard to look at, and luckily hard to miss. The helicopters flew down low, turning and making their way toward the clearing. The sound of their blades tore through the air as they slowed and descended. The grass waved about wildly as the first chopper gently touched down. Already the second began landing on the other side. Not a soul wasted any time gathering around them, like impatient commuters around a stopped bus. This was their first sign of true comfort and security since the outbreak, and not a damn one of them was going to miss it. ____ Save for one. Thorn clutched his rifle as he neared the landed aircraft, eyeing its unmarked hull, “Hold on guys, I’m thinking—” ____ Too late to finish thoughts. The doors opened and out hopped several armed men. These were no U.S. soldiers. Most were wearing masks or any clothing that concealed most of their faces. They wore no standardized uniforms and carried AK47s, some already raising their guns. ____ “Everyone get down!” Thorn shouted, immediately leveling his M4 at the strange men and firing without hesitation. Bang bang!! ____ He dropped two of them, his bullets kicking their surprised heads back and throwing blood onto the helicopter behind them. But with more coming from the chopper Thorn was a little outnumbered. The soldiers rushed out, shouting with weapons raised. ____ A bullet from the side took Thorn’s scope right off his weapon’s rail, the attackers coming at him from the flank. He grimaced and, quickly determining that this was an unwinnable confrontation, raised his hands and backed off. ____ “Back up, back up!!” The first to approach said, pointing his AK47 at Thorn while another took his M4 from him. The unknown attackers were quick to overwhelm and disarm Header and Cecil as well. The soldier kept his weapon leveled at Thorn’s head, staying out of melee reach and holding him at gunpoint, “Don’t try anything, American.” ____ “Whatever you say.” Thorn replied, keeping his hands to his head and remaining calm. Already he was taking mental notes. ____No markings, financed enough for aircraft, not American. He silently assessed, listening to the strange men talking as they shouted at the group. Some weren't speaking English at all, others fluent and unaccented, Well, some not American. More like half and half. ____ “What’s happening, Thorn?” Stacey shouted at him, face pale and back pressed to the others as one of the soldiers pointed a rifle straight at her. ____ “I don’t know. Just stay calm and don’t make any sudden moves unless I successfully do.” The Corporal replied. ____ Thomas held his wrench tightly and stayed close to the others. He could feel his own heartbeat quicken dramatically as the barrel of one of the guns passed him by, a soldier moving it from one of them to the next. He had no idea what was up or how to process it, but he did know that Thorn’s words of wisdom weren’t going to help them get out of it. So Thomas did what he did best, muttering to himself, “Right. Stay calm. I’ll do my damnedest, sir…” ____ “What’s going on?” Wendy said from the other side of the clearing, half talking to herself. She’d been off on her own before the helicopters landed, and was the only one to go to the second aircraft, “I thought we were—” ____ She turned to the landed helicopter by her just as the door opened. A thin man with messy black hair jumped out, immediately raising a pistol and shooting her through the head without hesitation. BANG!! ____ Even as the loud blades of the two still-airborne choppers continued to roar above them, the sound of the gunshot tore through all other noise around. It took Wendy’s life in a millisecond and immediately hijacked everyone’s attention to its source even as it faded in echoes. ____ The man left her there and walked over to the others, smiling as he caught a glimpse of Thorn, “Ol’ buddy, ol’ pal, Christian! What are the chances? I knew the army was in town, but still!” ____ Thorn saw him and scowled, “Silvin.” ____ Silvin held the pistol up and inhaled the smoke still emanating from it. It was his favorite, a Desert Eagle, the most powerful pistol he could ever ask for. His enemies and his allies behind his back called it “The Compensator”. Those who got caught saying that usually didn’t say it again. ____ His grin widened, “It’s so good to be home! America the beautiful! The place has really livened up since I was last stateside. It’s been a busy couple of days, yeah Corporal?” ____ Thorn frowned, “The second this all started I knew you were involved somehow.” ____ “Brilliant deduction skills. Slow clap. I appreciate you thinking of me like that. Beautifully bloody, yes.” Silvin said, pacing back and forth as he talked, “I do wish I could take credit for it. Still, it feels good to see the world fall apart. Nice and lawless. Nobody’s even giving us trouble for killin’ whoever we please. Guess the authorities have their hands full as it is. But I don’t know… I miss being singled out. I miss being on the news. It’s stealing all my thunder!” ____ “You know this nutcase?” Thomas asked the Corporal, unsure whether that was going to help or hurt their chances of survival. ____ Thorn refused to break eye contact with Silvin even as he replied, “It’s a long story, Thomas. Let’s just say we’ve been at each other’s throats for a while. I’ve been trying to put him away for a long time.” ____ “I truly appreciate the dedication, Thorn.” Silvin said, “It feels so good to have a nemesis. Keeps things exciting. Like the best action movies! Glamorous!” ____ Thorn scowled, “There’s nothing glamorous about what you do, you child-killing psychopath. You ever talk to one of your victims?” ____ “Oh, boo-hoo. Not the kiddies.” Silvin replied, “I forgot you can only murder certain people and in certain ways.” ____ “They’re called morals.” ____ “Whatever papa government tells you is right, kid. The underdog always has to play unfair to win. They don’t have the luxury of morals. And besides, why should I care? Now how does it feel to finally have the tables turned? Where’s your armies now? Your billions of dollars?” Silvin retorted. He began circling around Thorn as he talked. ____ The two had the floor: Silvin’s men aiming in silence, waiting for a move or an order, everyone else watching in morbid quiet, not daring to speak up for fear of being shot. Thomas merely bit his lip and hoped that somehow Thorn could get them out of this. How he didn’t know, but Silvin seemed remarkably relaxed around him. It was as if the rest of them didn’t exist at all, just two enemies talking out in the middle of nowhere. Even Sgt. Header dared not interfere, silent as stone. All any of them, bystanders, could do was watch the two talk it over. ____ Silvin continued, “Besides, it’s been a lot of fun, playing cat and mouse with you. Tell me, Corporal, how was cleaning up that marketplace last March? Pretty big mess, I’d say. You were so close to finding the bomb that time too.” ____ Thorn seemed used to such taunts, “I didn’t do any cleaning up. I was too busy filing paperwork on all those seized weapons of yours. That was around the same time of year, yeah? So much money in one place. Tisk tisk.” ____ “Ha! No big loss. I don’t need cash. Drones are nice and cheap now. Remember last September? Too bad they don’t make roofs for playgrounds.” ____ “Well you’ll need all the drones you can get with that shortage of manpower. Putting all your boys away after that botched bombing of yours last new year’s was quite the failure, I’d say. Not a lot of gloating from your end that time, I recall.” ____ “Botched!? Failure!?” Silvin stormed over, triggered first, pointing his pistol right at Thorn’s head, “Those were my best men!” ____ Thorn shrugged, “Well apparently not.” ____ Silvin scowled furiously at him, only to smile and laugh in a strange sudden change of mood. He lowered his weapon and backed off, waving a finger at Thorn, “Ha ha… Ha ha ha ha!! I like it! How long have we been at this, Thorn? How many people killed or spared? All of it minute and meaningless compared to what’s happening now.” ____ Thorn frowned in clear disagreement, “You sound jealous, Silvin. You’re outdated.” ____ “Far from it.” Silvin waved a finger at him, “Don’t let the zombies divert all your attention from me—I’m still here for a damned good reason: to remind the world that human cruelty is alive and well. In fact, business is booming. I’ll show you.” ____ From the second helicopter came another terrorist. He wasn’t like the others, unarmed and a bit chubby. He walked over to Silvin, glancing at the survivors and impatiently stroking a bushy beard, “Can’t we get on with it, Alex? Let’s just tie them to trees and let the zombies do the work. Or just shoot them.” ____ “Bonjour Adib. Et non.” Silvin replied sharply, “Je n’ai pas encore fini.” ____ “Can you not do that?” Adib said, “I worked really hard to learn English.” ____ “Deshalb spreche ich Deutsch.” Silvin backed off and looked about to all the others, “No, no. I’m bored of just killing survivors. Why should I be stuck on cleanup duty for whatever the zombies’ve missed!? I wanna have some fun! And besides, I don’t think these good people here know that they’re in the presence of an All-American Hero!” ____ He strode over to the others, glancing from one person to the next. Thorn stood and watched, only able to frown and dread what the man must be thinking. He was hoping his presence would be enough to draw Silvin’s attention away from the civvies. He liked the people he’d met so far, he didn’t want to see them… damn…! ____ There was still a soldier behind him, gun pointed to his head. The terrorist was smart enough to not stand too close to get the jump on. Besides, everyone was being held up right now. If he tried anything, who knew how many people would get shot. ____ Silvin faced him again, “Tell me, Thorn. You’ve probably been bunking with these folks for a few days now. Such a hip, young, diverse, trendy group you’ve picked out for yourself! Chosen any favorites yet? I know how much you love the civvies. Who’s the lucky lady? Or guy—I won’t judge. Except the girls always scream so much better, so yes I will judge. Which one is she?!” ____ Already seeming to have made up his mind, Silvin went straight for Stacey. She backed away as he quickly approached, eyes widening with fear. The second he reached for her she slapped his hand away and tried to bolt, the soldier closest to her grabbing her and throwing her back into Silvin’s arms. ____ “No! Lemme go!” Stacey cried, completely dropping her normally chipper attitude and panicking as he grabbed her. ____ Silvin held her tight, making sure she could see the gun pointed at her, “Careful girlie. It’s either me or a bullet to the head. Pick your poison. Personally I’d go with the bullet, but it’s ultimately up to you. You’re a strong, independent woman who can make her own decisions.” ____ Thorn grimaced and shouted loudly at him, in no mood for any of his sick games, “Let her go, Silvin! Right now!!” ____ He only smiled more, pointing back at Thorn, “We have a winner! First try, too!” ____ Her legs kicked in the air as she squirmed, shouting high-pitched and indiscernible pleas. Thomas watched and bit his tongue, feeling awful for staying put. Sure, Stacey was annoying, and while he supposed this was a better way for them to go out than being eaten alive by zombies… well, he still couldn’t stomach it. ____ Brooke apparently felt much the same way, almost running out to help her without hesitation. Idiot! Thomas grabbed her arm and cut the instinct short, drawing Brooke’s attention back to the terrorist ahead of them. ____ The soldier kept his cold eyes on the two of them. It was all they could see of his face, those eyes, and they were just as lifeless as the mask hiding the rest of him. Thomas knew he wouldn’t hesitate to shoot them all dead. They couldn’t give him any excuses to. ____ Stacey just kept screaming and kept struggling, “No! Get away! Don’t touch me, you horrible man!!” ____ Silvin paused as stared down at her, “‘Horrible man’? Strange choice of words. Horrible man… Let’s see what the doctor’s diagnosis is.” ____ He wormed his way behind her and forcefully grabbed her breasts, grinning at Thorn while he viciously groped her, “Yes, yes, these feel like androphobic breasts, all right. Unloved.” ____ Thorn grit his teeth and held his tongue as he watched. He wanted to charge straight for the terrorist and beat the snot out of him. He wanted to chew him out. He wanted to snatch his gun back and put some bullets in him. But he knew what Silvin wanted was for him to try any of those things. Every word or attempted action would only spurn more suffering for the others. So he stood there and did nothing. Because nothing was all he could do. ____ “Let go, let go!” Stacey screamed. ____ “Shush or bullet. I’m busy.” Silvin told her. ____ With Thorn not biting, he quickly got bored and stopped groping Stacey. Instead with one hand he grabbed her face and forcefully held one of her eyes open. His other hand drew a combat knife, Silvin twirling it around. Stacey’s panicked eyes glanced about, terrified but silent for fear of what he was doing. ____ “Say, lady.” Silvin asked, “Have you ever seen Un Chien Andalou?” ____ “Stop it!” Abbey suddenly spoke up, apparently tired to watching the sick display and shouting directly at Silvin, “Just stop it!! Let her go this instant!!” ____ Silvin glanced over at her and did just that, releasing Stacey and facing his accuser. ____ “Oh, baby.” He said, glaring at the infant in her arms with wide, piercing eyes. Thorn’s heart sank at the look. Why didn’t you keep your mouth shut, Abbey? ____ He sheathed his knife and stormed over to her, pointing to Adib and then to her. Adib hurried to Abbey’s side and grabbed her, separating her from the others and holding her while Silvin wrenched the baby out of her arms. ____ “No, NO!” She shouted. ____ Silvin ignored her and walked away towards the edge of the clearing, singing in a loud, bold voice, “Verstossen sei auf ewig, Verlassen sei auf ewig!! Hört, Rachegötter, Hört der Mutter Schwur!!" ____ Adib followed him curiously, pulling Abbey along with him. She screamed and struggled all the way to the forest. Thorn sighed as they disappeared from view and just closed his eyes, waiting for something to happen. ____ Stacey shakily got back to her feet, trembling as she stood there, gun still trained on her head. She was relieved and terrified at the same time. She had no idea what Silvin was planning to do to her, but whatever sick ideas he had were now reserved for the one who had spoken out. She didn’t want anyone to have to suffer her fate, she just wished more than anything it hadn’t been Abbey. ____ Even in Silvin’s absence no one had much of a chance to do anything. They stood clustered together in dreadful silence while the remaining soldiers stood around them, apparently still waiting on orders to finish them off. ____ In the forest Silvin trudged around, the woman’s baby in his hands, “Into the woods, into the woods…!” ____ He was looking for options. There were always plenty. If God hadn’t intended for him to be so cruel, He shouldn’t have made so many deliciously painful ways to kill people. Just about anything out here in nature could be used to maim or murder. It was just about picking a favorite. There! Perfect! ____ Lodged in one distant tree was a small hornet’s nest, wedged between two branches. Silvin grinned again. He only ever had three expressions: a straight-faced scowl, a knowing condescending smirk, and a wicked toothy grin. He’d been using the latter quite a bit today. It was a good day. ____ Adib came over, still holding Abbey. She was already in tears, stammering as she begged, “Please don’t. Please! I’ll do anything! Please, I’ll do anything!” ____ Silvin pretended to think about it, “If you want your baby back, why don’t you come take it back?” ____ “I—I can’t!” ____ “Well if you can’t come take your kid, who’s supposed to do it?” ____ Abbey sniffled, “I don’t know!” ____ “Exactly!” Silvin pointed at her, “You’re going to remember that for the rest of your life.” ____ With that he turned and threw the baby to the tree. The infant landed right by the trunk, beginning to cry loudly. Silvin took out his Desert Eagle and aimed precisely. ____ BANG!! ____ With one well placed shot the nest above shattered instantly, parts of it falling from the branches. About a dozen or so angry hornets were scattered from their home, Silvin stepping back and keeping his distance. Some of the insects were drawn to the screaming baby, flying down and stinging the child. ____ “No no no NO!” Abbey screamed and wailed, kicking and fighting to break out of Adib’s grip. ____ “Why get so upset over something he’ll never remember?” Silvin asked, “Daddy Dearest broke my arm when I was two years old and the only reason I even know that is because Mommy told me so eight years later.” ____ Abbey wasn’t interested in debates. As Adib glanced from the baby to its mother and back, his grip waned with uncertainty. The second she could Abbey broke away from him and charged straight for Silvin. ____ He only smiled and whirled around, striking her with the handle of his pistol and knocking her to the ground. She spat out blood and weakly struggled to get up. ____ “Look!” Silvin commanded, putting one foot on her back and stooping down, grabbing her hair and yanking on it, forcing her to look up. Silvin held her firmly and pointed his pistol at the baby as the hornets attacked it, “Now watch! Watch as your God does nothing! Watch as your government does nothing! Watch as your friends do nothing! Watch as you can do nothing! What is that, like nine months down the drain? Just like that! Isn’t that just so awfully, horribly, morbidly hilarious!?” ____ He let go of her and got back to his feet, “I am the king of the lawless land, and I rule with an iron fist! I take what I want! I inflict my will upon others because I can! Men loathe and envy me! Women fear and cower before me! I can think of no greater freedom! Why should I deny myself of life’s greatest pleasures? This is the only place where I am truly alive! And the fact that the people I hate tell me I can’t have it only makes it that much sweeter!!” ____ His monologue was cut short prematurely as one of the helicopters above them was quite unexpectedly riddled with bullets and exploded. Another round of shots destroyed the second of the still-airborne choppers. From the northwest two military helicopters flew in. Their approach had been masked by the trees above and the roar of Silvin’s own aircraft. ____ “Sh*t! No fair!” Silvin growled, “Damn. Not even a minute of misery.” ____ He aimed quickly and fired again, shooting Abbey’s baby and silencing its cries. BANG!!! ____ Abbey jumped at the deafening noise and just laid there, daring not look up in the following silence. ____ Silvin put his pistol away, grimacing at he looked at the aircraft above, “Well, nuts. Time to split, Adib.” ____ “Wiser words were never spoken, sir.” ____ “Damn straight they weren’t.” Silvin turned and sprinted deeper into the woods, not stopping for anything, his right-hand man hurrying after him. ____ From above the clearing the military helicopters swerved around, open firing upon the clustered groups of terrorists below. Rounds tore up the remaining aircraft on the ground, the soldiers in the open either bolting for the woods or futilely firing back. ____ Now!! The second the soldier behind Thorn moved his rifle up to shoot at the aircraft, the Corporal took out a knife and lunged for him. He crammed the blade into the terrorist’s neck and wrenched it out, blood splattering the grass. ____ “Damn! Damn damn!” Thorn grabbed the man’s AK47 and turned, firing at the other soldiers without a second thought. The loud, full-auto fire of the AK pounded the air, the Corporal dropping one hostile after another as he stormed forward toward the woods. Where Silvin went. ____ By now the noise had attracted several zombies, slowly making their way out of the woods and walking toward the survivors. Thorn swore more under his breath as they got in his way, spraying them with AK fire and running on ahead. ____ “Thorn!” Thomas grabbed his wrench and bashed in the head of a nearby distracted terrorist. Despite the man’s occupation it still felt a tinge harder to bring the tool down on his skull. There was no time to stop and contemplate that, however. He ran over and smashed the teeth of a zombie in the Corporal’s way, trying to help however he could. ____ In that moment everyone sprinted to action. Cecil ran over to the corpse of the man who had been holding him up. He retrieved his pistol and Header’s M16, tossing the rifle to the Sergeant before firing at the other enemies. Header wasted no time shooting up any remaining soldiers, unfazed by the helicopters' gunfire above him and methodically taking out the troops not distracted by them. Brooke raced to Stacey’s side, helping get her away from the battle. Stacey picked up one of Wendy’s knives off the bloody grass as they went, stabbing every zombie that dared to get close to the two of them. George meanwhile grabbed his hammer and sunk it into an enemy’s eye socket, while Miles tackled one of the soldiers, knowing full well a single bullet could end him. Everyone did something the second they could, absolute chaos unfolding in the clearing as the choppers fired, as the terrorists raced about, as the zombies entered the fray. ____ But Thorn ignored it all, continuing to march ahead, AK at the ready. ____ “Bastard!” He shouted as he barely spotted Silvin racing away, aiming down his sights and firing. Rifle bullets made small craters in the trunks of the trees, missing the escaping terrorist. Thorn scowled and continued firing, cursing under his breath. The gun was inaccurate and the kick hard to control. But he tried his damnedest. Every time Silvin slipped away it meant another sad story for someone in the future. There was so much blood between them already. ____ Thorn kept firing until the weapon was out of bullets. He swore and threw the rifle to the ground. Silvin was gone. Dammit, he was gone. Thorn reached for a sidearm, anything that’d give him more to shoot with. But he hadn’t retrieved his M4 or his pistol. Damn, damn! He violently punched the nearest tree and slumped down in furious futility, gritting his teeth so hard it hurt. ____ His vengeful thoughts were interrupted by the sound of crying. Thorn caught quick notice of Abbey laying over there, wailing. The Corporal walked over and stooped down to her side. Honest to God he was just relieved to see her still alive. ____ “Abbey…” ____ She said something, indiscernible amidst all the sobbing and whimpering. Thorn glanced to where her baby lay. He got up and walked over, picking the infant up and pinching the few remaining hornets dead as they fruitlessly stung at his gloves. Silvin’s Desert Eagle had left quite the exit wound, a terribly gruesome sight. He wasn’t sure if Abbey should see it or not. He was never sure with these things. He’d always been a terrible consoler. ____ Quietly walking back over, he helped Abbey to her feet, murmuring to her, “Come on, come on, let’s go. I’m sorry. Let’s go…” ____ The last of the terrorists and zombies had been killed or dispelled. Header spat and reloaded his rifle, glancing skyward and trying to wave down the helicopters above him. Gradually the two choppers landed, the spin of their rotors slowing over time. ____ Several U.S. Marines got off the aircraft, approaching the group and securing the area. Brooke recognized the last man to exit the helicopters: it was Nazar. In the chaos of escaping Chicago she had practically forgotten about him, but there he was looking just the same as the day he left her. ____ “It’s you! Nazar!” She said, running up to him. ____ Nazar didn’t look shocked to see her, “Indeed it is. Don’t worry, everyone. I’m here to help.” ____ “A bit late there, sir.” Header grunted. ____ “You were the one who stopped reporting in, Sergeant.” Nazar retorted sharply, “I suggest you take my help while you can get it. It’s a fine mess you’ve made of things already.” ____ Thomas wiped blood off his wrench, hoping this was the last time he’d have to use it. Still, he didn’t know this man and was confused that both Header and Brooke seemed to be acquainted with him. Hopefully he was here to help, but he had that same conceited look Silvin had. Both had very punchable faces. But then again someone had told him he fell into that category once, so… ____ Nazar looked across the group with impatience, “Get in the transport helicopter. I’m taking you all to VACC. It’s very safe there.” ____ Met with silence, everyone still somewhat in shock, he frowned, “Or you can stay here.” ____ “You don’t need to tell me twice.” Miles said, snapping out of it. ____ “Good. Get in.” Nazar said, “And Header. General Tandom says he heard what happened with the printer in Chicago, and that you can stay at VACC with the others if you want instead of going back out into the field.” ____ Header merely nodded, “I appreciate that, sir. But I’m feeling at my finest when I’m working. I just got the feeling our work’s far from over.” ____ “That’s your decision.” ____ “I know it is, sir.” Header turned, spotting Thorn helping Abbey out of the woods, her dead baby in his arm. The Sgt. walked over to them, helping her to the helicopter. Stacey followed him, merely holding Abbey’s hand. She couldn’t think of anything to say. ____ Thomas watched the four of them get into the helicopter, frowning. What a disaster. What a reminder of why he always felt the way he did. Things hadn’t really changed one bit. ____ He glanced to Brooke right next to him. She was staring at Abbey as well, eyes full of helpless sympathy. Boundless sadness and fury trapped within, without words or actions to truly express themselves, miserable silence in its place. Thomas wondered what she must be thinking. ____ It must be especially hard on her, someone always working to stay positive. Nothing like a dose of real life to punish the delicate views of the insistent cheerful. He had the feeling that it would only be increasingly difficult for her as the apocalypse dragged on. If Nazar hadn’t shown up with offers of sanctuary, everyone here would likely be over the brink of despair. ____ “You there.” Nazar instructed him, snapping Thomas out of his inner musings, “Climb aboard. I’ve got places to be.” ____ “Thomas? Brooke?” Cecil asked, “We need to get moving right now.” ____ “Sorry, let’s go.” Brooke hurried onto the helicopter, Thomas right behind her. Nazar didn't follow them, only making sure all were aboard the transport chopper before turning and walking back to his own vehicle. ____ Cecil nodded his approval, checking to make sure everyone was accounted for, “Thomas, Brooke, Stacey, Abbey, Thorn, Header, David, Miles, Jaxson, George…? Who’s missing?” ____ “Wendy.” George said somberly. Cecil could only hear him talk, his face hidden in his hands. George had known her better than anybody. ____ Cecil frowned and said nothing, trying to find somewhere to sit on the cramped transport chopper before settling next to the pilot. ____ “You good, sir?” The pilot asked, strapping in and getting ready to take off. ____ “I’m good.” Cecil replied, “I’m just tired. Long day…” ____ Thomas rubbed his eyes, looking from Thorn and Header—somber—to Brooke, George, and Stacey—depressed—to Miles, David, and Jaxson—keeping to themselves—to Abbey—distraught, “Yeah… Long day…” ____ Brooke glanced to him, trying her best to ease his worries, “It’s over now. A new day will come. It has to.” Chapter Summary:
Spoiler Alert!
I'll be back for more before you know it! ~TAF TAF was the Storyteller... in THE ENEMY'S LAST RETREAT Last edited by TheAverageFan; March 20th, 2022 at 04:15 AM. Reason: Added line |
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Chapter 7
Ah, but surprise surprise! Disappointed that you had to skip last chapter and have nothing to read? Worry not, for there was another reason for the week-long break before Ch. 5 came out! Today you're getting Chapters 6 and 7 at once! How about that?
And since Ch. 7 is one of my personal favorites, let's waste no time getting into it, yes?
Spoiler Alert!
7 A Dark Fall ____ Nazar’s helicopter had taken off ahead of them but it didn’t take long for the transport chopper to get into the air. Nothing could put into words the feeling of being off the ground, out of the undead’s reach. Sweet relief. Immunity, speed, the helicopter was like an angel taking them to heaven. ____ Thomas slumped into his seat, finally relaxing for a bit. With the exception of the helicopter’s roaring blades, it was remarkably quiet inside the aircraft. Everyone had plenty on their minds, from the horrid nature of Silvin’s attack to the wonderful idea of finally being safe from the undead. The kind of wicked juxtaposition only real life could possess: the most boundless Comedy and the most miserable Drama. Either way the conclusion of their trains of thought were undoubtedly all the same: please let this be the end of this nightmare. ____ “How much farther?” Cecil broke the silence, urgently asking the pilot. ____ “Not far, sir.” ____ “Hurry.” ____ “This is as fast as I can go.” ____ Thomas kept his eyes closed, listening to them talk, letting their words be mere background noise. He just wanted to get there. He had no idea what VACC was, but Header seemed to trust this Nazar guy, and he was pretty reliable if not a poor radio repairman. As long as the zombies couldn’t get in. ____ The helicopter continued its flight for around fifteen minutes uninterrupted. After a while, Cecil broke the silence again, muttering to himself. ____ “When are we gonna get there already? Come on, come on…” ____ Thomas opened one eye and stared at him. He was rocking back and forth a bit, shivering. He just kept muttering. ____ “We’re almost there, sir. Relax.” The pilot assured him. ____ Cecil ignored him, “Oh, please. I don’t wanna die, I don’t wanna die.” ____ “Header…” Thomas said. ____ The Sergeant looked up, apparently not listening to Cecil’s ramblings. Thorn glanced over as well. Instantly the Corporal reached for his sidearm, “Oh sh*t.” ____ “Cecil!” Thomas shouted, getting up and reaching for him. ____ It was too late. Cecil got up and lunged, grabbing the pilot right next to him and biting his neck without hesitation. Thomas ran to his side and tried to pull him off, Thorn running over as well, pistol drawn. ____ Immediately the helicopter swerved downward as the pilot struggled with the controls. Thomas tried to get a grip on Cecil but Thorn yanked him back. Thomas fell to the floor, only managing to have pulled Cecil’s pistol off of him. ____ Cecil took another bite out of the pilot and faced Thorn, no more words to say. With another lunge, he met his fate, Thorn shooting him through the head as he pounced. ____ “Argh!” The pilot shouted, clutching his wound and convulsing. He lurched back and forth, unable to pilot the chopper as the infection took a quick hold. The aircraft took another dive. ____ Thorn took one look into the cockpit and knew he couldn’t save it, “Everyone brace yourselves!!” ____ “You’re kidding me.” Miles said. ____ Thomas got off the floor and grabbed hold of one of the many straps lining the side of the helicopter wall. He didn’t have to wait very long. The chopper nosedived straight into several trees. ____ CRASH!!!!!!!!!! ____ The cockpit took the brunt of the damage, completely crushed in a second. The body of the aircraft flipped through the air and hit the ground hard. Glass shattered and walls bent. The transport chopper barreled through the woods, snapping growth and ramming trees. Inside the craft it was up then right then left then up again, metal walls pounding their backs and straps digging into their skin. ____ And then it stopped as soon as it started. If the helicopter hadn’t been flying low already, and if it weren’t for the kindness of bending tree trunks, that would have been the end of it. But it was over. They—Thomas at the very least—were alive. ____ The front and back of the aircraft had been sheared off. At least it wasn’t difficult to escape the wreckage. Thomas crammed Cecil’s pistol into one pocket and crawled out, looking around. More goddamned woods. ____ “Ah, Christ…” David climbed out, panting. He had a nasty gash on his shoulder but was otherwise okay, “I’m alive. Thomas. Anyone else?” ____ “I’m okay.” Brooke chimed in, lugging her guitar case out of the crash only to set it aside and go right back in. She helped pull Miles and Jaxson out. Thomas felt a slight wave of relief at the sight—it looked like most of them were okay. ____ The bright shine of Header’s flashlight illuminated the wrecked helicopter, the Sgt. helping Stacey and George out. He dusted off his hands and looked skyward, “Well, sh*t.” ____ Lastly Thorn and Abbey evacuated the destroyed aircraft. ____ “No, no no…” She muttered, completely devastated. Thorn tried to help her walk but she just wasn’t having it, “This can’t be happening… You said everything was going to be okay! I can’t do this!” ____ “Yes you can.” Thorn argued softly, “We’ll get out of this.” ____ Abbey responded by suddenly dropping to her knees and grabbing his pistol out of its holster. Instantly Thorn stooped down and grabbed her arms, forcing the gun barrel away from her as she pulled the trigger. ____ Bang bang!! ____ Two shots narrowly evaded Abbey’s head as Thorn tried to wrest it out of her hands. The Corporal deprived her of it, backing off and putting the firearm away. ____ “I’m sorry, Abbey.” He said solemnly, “But not with my gun. Not mine.” ____ She said nothing and continued weeping. It was quiet again but not for long, David walking over and suddenly punching George in the face. George collapsed only for David to grab him by the collar and raise his fist. ____ “You knew! Bastard!” He accused, “Cecil was infected!” ____ “How was I supposed to know he was bitten?” George pleaded. ____ “He wasn’t bit back at the clearing! I was standing right next to him the whole time!” David shouted, “He’d been bit before and didn’t say anything! You didn’t say anything!” ____ “Get off me!” George punched him back, getting to his feet and backing off. ____ “Hey, hey, hey!! Stop!” Jaxson rushed over. ____ David wasn’t having it, trying to force his way past Jaxson to George, “Him and Cecil were always buddy-buddy together! He had to have known! I was sleeping ten feet from an infected man last night, you bastard!” ____ “He didn’t know! Cecil must’ve been bit on his own and panicked.” Jaxson theorized. ____ Miles stepped in, “We’re stranded now because of him! What if he did know?” ____ “Cecil and I saved your life!” George shouted. ____ David pushed Jaxson out of the way and got another punch in. ____ “You cowards almost got us all killed!” He yelled. ____ “I am not a coward!!” George stumbled back and then flung himself at David, the two struggling. Jaxson tried to pry them off, Stacey rushing over and trying to help. Shouting filled the quiet woods as both accusations and fists were flung. ____ B-B-BANG!!! The sound of a triple-burst gunshot blasting off into the air from Header’s M16 overpowered their arguing. The Sergeant lowered his rifle and took center stage in the following silence, having their attention. ____ “That’s enough, gentlemen!” He said, “Now our country is still in a state of national emergency. While that’s the case martial law is in effect ‘round here. As a representative of the United States military that puts me in charge. This is now a benevolent dictatorship, with me bein’ the King an’ Corporal Thorn here being the Queen.” ____ “I appreciate that, sir.” Thorn said. ____ Header continued, “Now as King I retain the right to shoot any of you for whatever reason I damn well please. So don’t break the rules. Rule number one: no more fighting amongst ourselves. Got that?” ____ George and David were silent, unarmed and at Header’s mercy. ____ “Good.” The Sergeant smiled, “Now all we gotta do is just sit tight here and wait for our friend Nazar to return. That flaming heap of metal over there should make for a good signal fire. Then we’ll be right on track. But first I’m gonna do what I shoulda did when we first met. We’re gonna check for bites, every one of you.” ____ A high-pitched howling echoed in the distance, Thomas nervously glancing in that direction and gripping his pistol tight in his hands. ____ “I don’t know if we can wait for Nazar.” He muttered. ____ Amidst the distant trees something was coming. Pairs of glowing yellow eyes peered out at the group. More wicked howls and screeches followed, unnatural movement amongst the woods. The shadowy figures moved with the sporadic nature of a flickering flame. Countless glowing eyes in the dark. The screaming neared at an alarming rate. ____ Thorn loaded his rifle, “Just great. More zombies. Always more zombies.” ____ “I don’t know if those are just zombies…” Brooke said, turning pale as she watched the figures approach. ____ They were zombies, but something was dreadfully off about them. Their eyes glowed brightly like yellow-tinted flashlights. Their movements were unnaturally fast and random, limbs twitching constantly. They were nearly a blur at times they were so fast, shaking like seizures or with the unnatural movements of a claymated movie monster. While other zombies moaned these creatures shrieked. They were coming in quick, and there were plenty of them to go around. Quote:
____ Apparently thinking the same thing, Thorn drew his pistol and offered it to Miles, “Have you shot a gun before?” ____ “Me? Yeah… a while ago.” Miles glanced nervously from the firearm to the Initiated quickly coming close. His shaky hands accepted the weapon. ____ “Safety’s already off. You have ten shots. Aim down the sights and always, always, level the notches on the front and back.” Thorn hastily advised, raising his M4 as he talked, “Everyone behind me!” ____ Thomas tried to take the tips to heart as the undead advanced. They were only coming from the one side, so at least he wouldn’t have to watch his back. He hoped. Holding the pistol at arm’s length, he closed one eye and then the other, not sure which one to use. The iron sights at the ends of the pistol seemed difficult to line up as he tried to aim for the nearest zombie. Unfortunately these special ones refused to stop moving, twitching constantly and jerking to and fro erratically. ____ They were fast and beginning to get too close for comfort. Thomas aimed and fired. ____ Bang!! ____ The firearm kicked like a horse, sending Thomas’ arms flying upward and completely ruining his lining up the sights he had spent so long doing. How the hell did Thorn and Header control the recoil on these things? Furthermore, he missed completely, the shot seemingly gone from existence and the Initiated only coming closer. Harder than it looked on TV. A bullet was such a tiny thing, as was a zombie head from this distance. Even the slightest bit of inaccuracy would mean failure. Again the two military men had made it seem so easy, rarely missing their targets. Their rifles had scopes and grips and stocks and all that stuff, Thomas excused himself, backing up and aiming again. ____ Header glanced over his shoulder at the rest of the group, “Get going! Run!” ____ Seeing the speed and numbers of the Initiated was all the motivation everyone needed. David and George took off first, seemingly over their quarrels in the face of the undead threat. Despite undoubtedly being able to run laps around the others, Jaxson was the last to make a break for it, opting to help Abbey to her feet. In her current state she might have lacked the will to live that gave the others such speed, but she certainly did not want to fall to the fangs of the undead. With her and Jaxson taking off, only the four armed men remained. ____ Bang! Bang bang!! Bang! Bang!! ____ Gunfire filled the air, mingled with the screams of the undead. Thomas continually backed up as he fired. Miss. Miss. Hit. Ah, but only in the damn torso. No good. If he dared to look away from the zombies he would’ve seen the others undergoing similar troubles. Miles was about in the same state, and even Thorn and Header were having trouble hitting targets that moved so fast. ____ “Back up, back up!” Thorn instructed. ____ Two fast-approaching Initiated made for easier targets up close, the Corporal popping their heads and reloading as fast as he could. Still only more came. A third rushed and tackled him. ____ “Ah!” Thorn hit the ground, grabbing the Initiated’s neck and struggling to hold it back as he clambered for his combat knife. The creature squirmed and shivered and snapped at the air with the speed of a wind-up chattering teeth toy. Its yellow eyes glowed brightly in his face, like a strobe light as its incessant twitching cast its gaze aside and back. Quickly Thorn drew his blade and crammed it into the weak flesh of the monster’s forehead, ending its movements swiftly. He had to get up and fast. More were coming. ____ The four men hastily retreated further away from the crashed helicopter as the Initiated pursued them. If they had the time to look past the host of glowing eyes they’d notice even more zombies heading their way. It would be impossible to stay beside the crash. ____ “Damn!” Thomas managed to actually hit one of the Initiated and found his next shot to be nothing more than empty clicking. He was already out of bullets. Never had the chance to get any more ammo from Cecil—he hadn’t the foresight nor the stomach to pilfer the man’s corpse from the wreck. ____ He crammed the emptied gun into his pocket as best he could fit it and opted for his wrench. It’d likely yield more kills than his poor aim would. Then again, he didn’t doubt the dangerous nature of fighting such swift beasts with a melee weapon. ____ No time to think about such things, because the Initiated were already upon him. One raced up, Thomas clocking it across its twitchy head as it lunged. The second was there before he could recover his swing. Its cold hands seized him by the arms and its mouth opened in a millisecond. ____ “No!” Thomas had but a second to react, thinking to headbutt the monster in a desperate bid. Fortunately he didn’t have to, George suddenly returning and smashing its head with his hammer. The creature collapsed, still twitching uncontrollably as dark blood spilt from its open head. ____ “Your tragic death isn’t here yet, actor boy.” George panted. ____ “Seems not. Thanks.” Thomas dusted himself off. ____ “I’m not a coward.” He replied simply, the two quickly backing off as more Initiated approached, melee weapons at the ready. ____ More running and shooting through the darkening woods, Miles too quickly ran out of ammo. He looked to the others, panicked, “I’m not seeing an end to these things! There’s more zombies coming!” ____ Header, gifted with seemingly endless ammunition for his M16, was unfazed even in the face of all these monsters, “Keep up the retreat!” ____ “There’s no way in hell we can outrun these starry-eyed bastards!” Thorn refuted. ____ “Target those ones then. There ain’t much of them left!” ____ The Sergeant was right. The bright-glowing eyes of the Initiated made their numbers easy to asses, and there were only a handful left. The bad news was that their forced stand against the creatures had given ample time for the slower normal zombies to catch up. The standard undead monsters hid better in the dark and, overshadowed by their faster and noisier companions, were actually difficult to see coming. The group was going to be overwhelmed. ____ Thomas struck down another Initiated, George bashing aside another zombie that nearly snuck up on him. Thomas nodded his thanks and bolted, figuring that the ammo-laden Thorn and Header could deal with the rest of the Initiated. Apparently he wasn’t the only one with that notion, George and Miles chasing after him as they fled after the rest of the unarmed group. The ear-piercing shrieks of those monsters filled the air behind them, followed by more gunshots. ____ Initiated weren’t the only ones that could sprint, however. Running normal zombies pursued them, darting between trees and hounding them down as they fled. Thomas struck them aside whenever they neared, one tragically taking his wrench with it as it fell. Well damn. Full retreat mode it is then. The light of the half-moon—only two of its four wings visible—illuminated their path as the fires of the crashed helicopter faded from sight. ____ “Behind you! Run!!” Thorn’s distant voice echoed at their backs, the incoming scream of an Initiated quickly following. ____ There was no outrunning these monsters. George whirled around, the only one still with a melee weapon. Two Initiated pounced the second he turned, already upon him before he knew it. Their always-moving muscles dodged the first swing of his hammer, punishing teeth sinking into his arm. Four bites between the two of them in a single second. ____ George froze, the same panicked look on his face that probably came across Cecil upon his realization. The Initiated immediately dropped him and began to move on ahead, apparently more concerned with spreading their disease than with devouring entire bodies. Unarmed, Miles and Thomas were next. Just run. You can’t outrun them. But just run anyway. ____ “No!” George grabbed the two zombies and held them down, struggling to bash their brains in while he still could, “I am not a coward! I’m not a coward!” ____ Miles stopped in his tracks and ran to George’s side, kicking the Initiated while they were down. Thomas stopped running as well and watched. Miles just kept stomping as George just kept yelling and hammering away. Getting their revenge on the Initiated. Getting their short-lived revenge on the disease. ____ Miraculously still alive, Thorn and Header caught up to them. They’d polished off the remaining Initiated but were still on the run as more standard hordes were after them. Thorn shouldered his rifle and raced up to Miles, tearing him off the dead… undead. ____ “Let’s move!” He scolded, “Don’t stop running!” ____ Header stooped down to help George up, “C’mon, big boy! Move yer legs!” ____ One glimpse of the man’s multiple bite wounds kept the Sergeant at bay, George merely shaking his head, “Leave me. I want to be by my leader.” ____ Header said nothing, because nothing needed to be said. He nodded in the direction of the others and they took off. George watched them leave and shakily raised his hammer to his eyeline. He wanted to be near Cecil, the man who had kept them alive this long. That couldn’t happen if he got up and walked away, looking for brains or whatever the damn hell these monsters were after. He closed his eyes tight and swung inward with all the strength he could muster. And he kept at it until all was dark. ____ Thomas ran and ran, Miles right behind him. The trees came and went, but the howls of the undead behind them never faded from earshot. Laden with equipment, the two soldiers behind them struggled to keep up, the sounds of them shooting nearby zombies keeping Thomas alert to their presence. ____ Brooke and the others were just up ahead, apparently having stopped and waited for them with morbid curiosity. Thomas wondered who among them was stupid enough to come up with the idea to stop, waving his arms as he approached, “Move, you idiots! They’re coming!” ____ As if a point needed to be proven first, Stacey raced over to him and threw her backpack with all her might, the bag striking a running zombie right behind him. She hurried over and quickly stabbed it until it stopped moving. Thomas stared down at her, shocked that he hadn’t even noticed one was still behind him in the chaos. ____ “S—See? Move!!” He shouted. ____ “Go! Go!” Jaxson said, hopping to his feet. His bones ached from the crash, but then so did everyone’s. He could leave them in the dust if he wanted. But what’s the point of winning a race if nobody’s in the stands? He dashed to Miles and Thomas’ sides, helping them move—both were plenty exhausted from running already, “C’mon.” ____ Miles accepted the assistance, the trio moving along as fast as they could. He cracked a tired half-smile at Jaxson, “Heh, you do this often when you’re helpin’ pairs of old ladies across the street, Jaxson?” ____ “The old ladies I can carry on my shoulders, fat-ass.” Jaxson replied in weary jest. ____ Thomas struggled to recover as fast as he could, hating to be reliant on others. Just part of the nature of his work, he supposed. Even in a one-man play some other dimwit could still mess up the lights. ____ Thorn and Header kept up the rear, still firing upon any zombies running fast enough to catch up. Thomas wondered how long it would be before they too ran out of ammunition. One state of being screwed at a time, though. Catching his breath, he relieved himself of Jaxson’s support and kept running on his own, Miles soon to follow. The nine of them ran through the woods. ____ It felt like one of the longest nights ever lived. The zombies never relented, never had to stop to get a breather, never ceased in their numbers. So it felt, anyway. The good news was that there shouldn’t be so many zombies out here in the middle of nowhere, this forest. That meant there might be a town nearby. Such thoughts would constantly have to wait, however. The group fled and fled. ____ Hours upon hours later, the running zombies gradually stopped coming, eliminated by gunshot or by melee weapon, and the slower ones were left behind. Finally, finally, there was a chance to rest. The dead never ceased to walk, so they’d probably only get a few hours of sleep at most. But there was sleep to get. ____ Brooke was the first to collapse, gasping for breath and rubbing her shoulder where the guitar case strap had been digging into her over the last few hours. No matter how hard it was on her, she had held onto it amidst the chase. Thomas smiled at bit at the notion, finding it equal parts endearing and idiotic. She was lucky to be alive—he’d almost been bitten in the chase multiple times, running unhindered. ____ Everyone else didn’t take long to follow in her footsteps, falling to the ground and letting their lungs run wild with exhausted breaths to make up for the last few hours. Only Header—unfazed bear of a man that he was—remained standing. ____ “Well,” He stated calmly as if nothing had happened, “I think we got us a couple hours on our hands now. Let’s get some food and sleep while we can.” ____ David sat up, an arsenal of complaints at the ready, “What about the helicopter? No way we can go back there.” ____ The Sergeant nodded, “Change of plans, then. Zombies’ll probably keep at our heels, so I’m afraid it might be difficult to stay in one place long enough to wait for Nazar to find us.” ____ “What do we do then?” Stacey asked, dumping the contents of her backpack onto the ground and looking for her favorite candy bars. Nuts and caramel. ____ “We head to VACC on foot I suppose.” Header answered, “We know the direction it’s in and that it ain’t too far. That’s good enough for me. If we can find a good radio signal I might be able to get in contact with ‘em too.” ____ “I’ve got my phone.” Thomas offered, “Call them up?” ____ Thorn shrugged, “Do they even have a number, VACC?” ____ Thomas took his smartphone out, “Let me check. Internet, don’t fail me now.” ____ Miraculously his phone could still get a signal even out here. He got online and did a quick search. It was funny, while on the web it almost seemed like things were still normal. Everything online was unaffected by the apocalypse. Just goes to show the difference between the world of the internet and the world of flesh and blood. Regardless, the search results weren’t terribly helpful. ____ “Is there not a website for VACC?” He asked, “And what does V.A.C.C. stand for? The first results are for ‘Vascular Access Certification Company’ or something. Let me search ‘vacc acronyms’… Nope… nothing that would seem related to the military.” ____ “Nazar didn’t say.” Brooke said. ____ Thomas scowled, “Well great. They’re unlisted. So helpful.” ____ “I’ve gotta say, I’ve never heard of it myself.” Thorn shrugged, “But apparently it’s safe there. That’s good enough for me if it isn’t too far.” ____ “I’ll take safe.” Miles sighed and stared skyward, “It’s hell out here.” ____ It was quiet again for a while. David and Jaxson opted to go to sleep instead of eating, Header tossing Miles his rifle as he leaned against a tree and shut his eyes too, “You shot pretty good today, son.” ____ “Oh. Thanks.” ____ “That’s why I’m confident enough to put you on guard duty. Keep an eye out for zombies and wake me up in two hours.” ____ Miles frowned, “Oh. Dammit.” ____ Thorn decided it was okay to risk a fire, scrapping together a few snippets of underbrush and lighting it up. He leaned back and stared at the tiny blaze, letting the others crowd around it and eat their rations. He himself was starving. But too sick to eat. The day’s events were still weighing down upon him. A feeling reaffirmed with every glance at Abbey. ____ She too wasn’t sleeping, just staring empty-eyed at the fire. Thorn frowned and stared at the ground. Another life ruined. Another life he couldn’t save. He should’ve tried to swipe a gun and at least shoot Silvin before being killed himself. A damn hesitant coward, you are. He sighed and rubbed the sides of his head. No, Silvin’s crony Adib wouldn’t have wasted nearly as much time in dispatching them all in his boss’ absence. They were lucky to be here right now, but it was a miserable kind of luck. Painful luck. ____ Stacey looked from him to Abbey and back, feeling much the same way. She curled up and hugged her knees, feeling cold but not wanting to get closer to the flames. Her exchange with Silvin had been brief thanks to Abbey speaking up. Fleeting enough not to have his touch plague her still when she closed her eyes. Not like the other times. She wished that wasn’t the case though. It had cost Abbey dearly. ____ Now it was Thorn who seemed to be reading her thoughts. He sighed again and closed his eyes, “You should all get some sleep. You too, Miles. I’ll keep watch.” ____ Miles nodded his approval, “Thanks.” ____ Thorn continued, “I’ll make sure we get to VACC and quickly. I promise you’ll all be safe soon. Leave the worrying to me.” ____ Thomas wasn’t buying it, “Shoulder everything yourself, eh? Haven’t you and Header done that enough already? Bet you’re about out of bullets by now.” ____ Brooke looked over at him, somewhat surprised, “Thomas…?” ____ “You look exhausted,” He went on, “We’re all exhausted. That’s why we need to get through this together, right? Like it or not, you might need the civvies to help out too. I don’t like being dead weight.” ____ Thorn smiled a bit at being called out, “You’re right. Maybe I’m the liability here…” ____ Thomas glanced over at Stacey and Abbey before continuing quietly, “If… If you don’t mind me asking, what is the deal between you and that Silvin guy anyhow?” ____ The Corporal sighed, “It’s a long and depressing story.” ____ “I don’t want to pry. Maybe another time—” Thomas began. ____ “No.” Abbey interrupted quite suddenly. She took a deep breath and looked Thorn in the eyes, “I want to know.” ____ Miles shouldered the M16, “I’d like to kill him first chance I get.” ____ “Well get in line.” Thorn replied, “There’s countless people who have that right.” ____ “He…” Abbey began, “He did it to you, didn’t he Thorn?” ____ The Corporal looked back at her, “Like I said. Long story. Sleep if you like, but for those of you willing to listen… I suppose you deserve to know.” ____ With that, he leaned back, stared off into the dark, and began… Quote:
Spoiler Alert!
Thorn’s Story Sweat Or Tears ____ Dress shirts always felt especially stuffy on hot Summer afternoons. That was the most distinct memory Thorn had of that day. He tugged at his shirt collar repeatedly to cool off while he stood there at the street corner. He was chubbier back then and didn’t shave so religiously, a big bushy golden beard decorating his chin. Neither of these helped his heated condition, let alone the nerves of this being his first job. ____ He was still in college and was working Security for a city parade or festival or whatever it was—he didn’t keep up with these things. He was hoping for a job that required more sitting down and looking at computer screens, but work was work and anything to help his resume would do. This live outside work wasn’t quite the same. People swarmed the streets left and right, their causal chatter like a roaring wave of collective noise. Thorn did a radio check and continued standing there, watching. People were here to have fun, he was there to work, to make sure nothing went wrong. ____ His radio fizzled to life, a static-covered voice calling his name, “Radio check, Christian. How’re things looking over there?” ____ It was Ben, the one who hired him for this gig. Tall guy, glasses, a better friend than he deserved. Thorn pinched the radio and replied, “Everything looks good, I think. …Over?” ____ “Right. Just, uh, yeah. Stay in touch.” ____ “Ben?” Thorn asked, “All I gotta do is stand here, right? And keep an eye out?” ____ “Pretty much, man. That and help people find the bathroom. Easy peasy.” ____ “Alright thanks. Over and out.” ____ Thorn released the radio and breathed heavily, continuing to tug at his collar to air out. In spite of the simplicity of his job, the large crowds still made him nervous. It was a lot to keep track of. Nothing but nerves, probably, he should just relax. Thorn took a deep breath. People were here to enjoy themselves. That was good. Thorn just smiled and waved at people who looked at him. ____ “Hey hey!” A man he waved at strode over, speaking to Thorn directly and loudly. He was a pale, lanky guy around the same age as Thorn. Sunglasses shone in the heavy light, hiding his eyes, but his toothy grin expressed what his gaze didn’t. ____ “Uh… hey?” Thorn replied, unsure if he was supposed to recognize this character. He always dreaded the idea of forgetting about someone who hadn’t forgotten him. ____ The man walked over, holding his arms out and looking around the place, “Some festivities, huh? People need to get outside more, yeah? Thanks for making all this possible!” ____ So it was a stranger. Thorn eased up a bit, allowing himself to lower his guard. There were plenty of other Security Officers on this block anyway. He managed a slight smile, “Uh, yeah. No problem.” ____ “Right, right,” The man nodded, “Yeah, I’m glad the city organized this event. Anyway, mind if I take a pic? Is there some rule against that?” The man took out a phone and held it up. ____ “Oh, no. Go ahead.” Thorn replied. ____ “Cool. Cheers.” The man leaned next to him, adjusting his sunglasses lower to show his eyes and grinning. With a quick click he took a selfie, moving his glasses back up and examining the picture, “Great, thanks a lot! I’m blogging this whole event, right? This’ll look great. Listen, have you seen Taxi Driver?” ____ “What?” Thorn asked, “No, I don’t think so.” ____ “Too bad. Neat little flick. De Niro’s great. Well, see ya around!” ____ With that he took off, nearly walking into a little girl skipping her way through the street, white balloon animal in hand—too clumsily made to tell what animal. She bumped into his leg and backed off, immediately tugging at his hand with an anxious urgency. ____ “Huh, what?” The man leaned down and listened for a second, getting back up right after and waving at Thorn, “Yo, security guy! This kid says she lost her parents. You guys help with that sort of thing, right?” ____ Thorn hurried over, “Right. Sorry. C’mere, let’s find your folks.” ____ He took the girl’s hand and led her out into the crowded street. People were everywhere. He wasn’t sure where to begin. ____ “Ben?” He tuned into his radio. ____ “Yeah?” Came the short reply. ____ “Found a kid. Lost parents. Should I take her to you?” ____ “Uh, yeah, sure. I’ll get the supervisor.” ____ Thorn headed back, the little girl tugging at his hand as he walked. He waded his way through the crowded street and glanced around, the child’s sharp cry catching his attention. ____ “There! There!” She shouted, pointing to a man and woman standing by one of the stands lining the road. ____ “Oh, right. There you go, kid.” Thorn replied, glancing at them. He smirked. They didn’t look like they’d even noticed she was gone. Regardless, it didn’t matter now. He let go of her hand, “Okay. Don’t run off, okay?” ____ “Thanks mister!” The kid squeaked and instantly took off towards her family. ____ Thorn smiled, glad to be of some use. He pinched the radio on his shoulder again, “Nevermind that, Ben. Situation’s resolved, going back to post—” ____ BOOM!!! A massive explosion cut him off, a giant blast erupting from one of the stands right by the girl’s family. It cracked the air and threw Thorn down to the concrete, ears ringing like church bells had struck his eardrums. A pillar of gray smoke threw itself out around the shattered stand, floating up into the air and leaving scores of people in its wake. ____ Panicked screams slowly faded into audibility as Thorn’s hearing returned, the guard sluggishly sitting up and looking around. People ran all about the street in a mad frenzy, countless others littering the ground and not getting back up. ____ He himself was still dazed, everything a blur. Trying to register what had just happened. Explosion. Shockwave. Gray smoke, unglamorous, shattering. Blood everywhere. ____ No! Thorn struggled to his feet and raced over to where the blast had occurred, fighting his way through the fleeing terrorized. He spotted the little girl, sprawled out on the pavement, and rushed to her side. ____ She was alive but not for long. Half of her clothes were already drenched in red, the girl merely laying there, staring off into space. The balloon animal was not just popped but torn asunder beside her. Her chest continually heaved up and down, her breaths coming only in halves as if she were choking. ____ “No, no…” Thorn eyed her with dread, completely at a loss as to what to do. He reached his shaking hands down to pick her up. No! Don’t move her! That’s what you were supposed to do, right? He didn’t know. What was he supposed to do? Thorn glanced left and right, looking for answers but finding none. He was supposed to be in charge here. Sweat dripped from his face as he was thrashed by panicked hesitancy. ____ The little girl’s expressionless eyes drifted up towards him, Thorn looking back down at her and wishing his gaze could offer her more than hopelessness. ____ “What do I do?” He sputtered, glancing back and forth, still aimlessly looking for directions, “What do I do?” ____ Finally the child simply stopped choking, becoming still. Thorn shakily got back up, instantly ducking back down at the thunderous booming of a second explosion, this one even larger than the first. More screams could be heard further down the street, soon followed by the faint ringing of sirens. ____ Thorn stumbled around the street, lost in a wide-eyed panic. The chaos continued around him, but all he could hear was that ringing. It persisted the entire walk down the street. ____ Three days later. ____ Thorn sat alone in his darkened apartment, shades drawn on all the windows and only one light on. He sighed before clumsily holding the glass to his lips, letting the last of the liquor within trickle into his throat. He set the glass aside and leaned forward in his seat, rubbing his eyes. He was drinking himself to death and all he wanted to do was sober up. No, he wanted to wake up. ____ After the smoke had cleared the police had arrived. As the shock wore off then came the sympathy. After the sympathy came the questions. Thorn had shook his head more times than he could remember. He wasn’t physically injured. He had no idea what was going on. He just needed to go home. ____ The news played on the TV at the far end of the room. It’d been on since he got home, but he avoided eye contact with the screen. The high-pitched voice of the news lady on there harassed his ears all that time, droning on and on about the bombs. The worst was yet to come: ____ “Police continue to search for renowned terrorist Alex Silvin, who has recently claimed responsibility for the attacks.” She had announced, “A photo surfaced on Twitter this morning picturing Silvin at the festival alongside one of the security staff.” ____ That selfie picture illuminated the screen, Thorn smiling dumbly next to that man. Under those sunglasses were smirking, knowing eyes. Thorn only felt more sick staring at it, displayed on the TV for all to see. He wished he was dead. ____ “Authorities are still investigating how Silvin managed to get the bombs past security. The chief of police had ‘no comments’ on the issue. With me here is retired counterterrorist expert Dean Smitt. Dean, perhaps you could offer some insight into this tragedy and how it might’ve been stopped.” ____ “Well Helen, the silence from the investigators is deafening. We’re talking a major oversight here on an unprecedented level. You don’t just walk in to an event like this with IEDs—especially of this size—pull off an attack like this, and then just drop off the grid. I would think at best this is a serious case of negligence on the behalf of the security or, judging from the picture we see online, perhaps even assistance from an insider. Speculation, of course.” ____ “Of course. We’ll keep you up to date for any new developments.” ____ Questions flooded his address, social media accounts, and email soon afterwards. ____ How could you not recognize one of the most wanted men in the world!? ____ I demand repercussions! Someone has to pay! ____ Because of you my brother is dead! ____ How are you not in jail because of this? ____ I don’t buy the police accounts. We both know you’re guilty. ____ If I ever see your face on the street… ____ If you had any decency whatsoever you’d kill yourself. ____ On the fifth day Thorn ran out of alcohol. He was afraid to go outside, afraid of the death threats. No, he didn’t fear death, he would welcome it. What he truly feared was not dying, having to go around living looking people in the face. Dread was worse than death. He’d gladly die before he had to go back out into that world again. ____ Thorn walked by his kitchen table, dragging a chair out into the middle of the cramped apartment room. The chair legs made an irksome scraping sound on the floor, irritating noise doubling up with the TV still on in the corner: ____ “Frankly the most worrisome thing is the sheer confidence expressed by Silvin. This is the second attack this year and we still don’t have this guy. The fact that he was walking around in public and went unnoticed is a disgrace to our national security. He’s laughing at us. And you can rest assured that if he was able to get back into the country this easily he’ll slip out uncaught too. ____ What people want more than anything right now is assurance. And I don’t think our current administration is capable of giving it to them. We’ve been reading horror stories about this guy for almost two years by now. Why haven’t we caught him yet? It’s a joke! Look at this picture: it’s a complete joke to him!” ____ Thorn walked into his bedroom and opened his closet, sorting through it. As soon as he pulled out a belt the phone rang, Thorn sighing and answering, “Hello?” ____ “Christian? It’s Ben.” The unmistakable low voice replied, “How are you?” ____ “How do you think I am?” ____ “Listen, I saw the picture on the news the other day. I just wanted to let you know that you’re okay. You’ve been cleared. You’re innocent.” ____ Thorn scoffed, “It doesn’t matter what the police think. Everyone’s already made up their minds about me.” ____ “Forget about them. Who cares what they think?” ____ “I care.” Thorn sat down on the bed, staring at himself in the mirror across from him, “What am I supposed to do? This will never go away. I don’t deserve it to go away.” ____ Ben sighed, “Don’t talk like that.” ____ “How many people, Ben? How many?” ____ No reply. Thorn rubbed his eyes. Why couldn’t he just wake up from all this? ____ “I’m not dead but my life is over.” He continued, “And that’s the most selfish way I can put it. People are dead because of me.” ____ “No.” Ben refuted, “They’re dead because of him. It’s his fault, and his alone. Despair is what he wants, Christian. He feeds off hopelessness.” ____ This time Thorn didn’t reply. ____ “Are you going to give it to him?” ____ “Thanks, Ben, and I’m sorry.” Thorn replied, “But I have to go.” ____ He hung up, continuing to stare at himself in the mirror, pondering for a long, long time. He hated the man he saw on the other side. An awkward, nervous, blithering idiot who let people down and couldn’t decide on anything. Silvin had played that idiocy for all it was worth and left that man to take the brunt of the public’s rage. ____ Thorn hated the man in the mirror, but he hated Silvin more. And he was still out there, making a mockery of everyone with the mere fact that he was still free. What could Thorn do about that? Get knocked down and stay down? Merely get out of the way for the people who knew what they were doing to handle the situation? No, both men needed to die. ____ Finally Thorn rose up and briskly walked out of his bedroom and into the bathroom. He snatched up an underused razor and immediately began to run hot water in the faucet. Applying cream soon after, Thorn quickly yet methodically shaved every hair from his fat face. He ignored any minor amateurish cuts and kept at it until not a single strand remained. It wasn’t enough. He set his razor down and took a pair of scissors, snipping his lengthy hair indiscriminately until it was nice and short, albeit messy. ____ You, he thought, pointing to himself in the bathroom mirror, Christian Thorn is dead. You’re a new man. A bold man. A man who doesn’t let people down. A man who stands for everything Silvin is against. ____ Walking back out Thorn noticed the kitchen chair still sitting in the middle of the apartment room, awkwardly sticking out. He walked over to it and stared up. There was a single wooden beam hanging low in the arched ceiling, directly above the seat. ____ Thorn got on the chair and stood up straight, reaching up and touching the beam. He closed his eyes. Whenever he did, all he could see was that bloody street, the emotionless gray smoke, the remnants of the people he was supposed to keep safe. ____ Opening his eyes and jumping up, Thorn grasped the beam in both hands and began pulling himself up until his chin was over it. He was flabby and weak, but the drive was stronger than the lack of muscles. He did it again and again. ____ That chair remained in the center of that apartment. It was his chin-up chair. ____ Thorn’s body did not want to change. Gravity bore down upon him in each lap. Sweat made it hard to see, hard to think. And he was always sweating at boot camp. ____ Give up, his senses kept shrieking at him, give up. His CO agreed. ____ “Yer gonna be the first to go, piggy! All you gotta do is ring that bell and you’re free to go! Give up, piggy!” He screamed at Thorn as he struggled to push himself off the wet filthy ground. Thorn’s arms were shaking violently under the stress. It felt like they would just fall off. At home he had trained until exhausted and stopped. Here the pushups continued, whether he was broken or not. Thorn stared at the mud ahead of him, struggling to breathe. Just give up. ____ “Argh!” He collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath and shutting his eyes tight. ____ He had lost count of the times his resolve had wavered and fell apart. Apathy mounted an endless siege upon him at all hours of the day. ____ “Heh.” His drill sergeant sneered, “And there it is. Get up or get packing! What’s it gonna be, piggy? Sweat or tears?” ____ But whenever he’d close his eyes, he’d see that bloody street and remember why. Thorn opened his eyes, sucked up the exhaustion, and leapt back to his arms. ____ “Sweat.” He said, “Front row seat.” ____ “So you’re the new kid, eh? I hope you’re as good in the field as you are promising in your file.” Thorn’s new Sergeant skimmed through some papers. ____ “As good as you need me to be, sir.” ____ “That’ll be the max, Private. Welcome to the Marine Corps Special Forces. I’m Sergeant Brysen Header. I hear you’ve got a bone to pick with a certain terrorist?” ____ “Alex Silvin, sir. A couple bones.” ____ “Good. You’ll be extra invested. We’re going to be working joint operations with counterterrorist units. How’s your French?” ____ “Bueno.” ____ “Ha! I like ya already. Follow me. You’ll get more details at the briefing.” ____ “Breach!” Header aimed his AA-12 at the door and in a quick flurry of blasts freed it of its hinges. ____ Thorn slipped his shades on and threw a flashbang at the wall, letting it ricochet into the room. Bam!! A wave of light blasted through the door, Thorn raising his M4A1 and rushing into the room. ____ The first two men he saw had Uzis. He aimed his rifle and shot them dead immediately. Behind him entered Raizen and Jones, riot shields at the ready. Another man cowered from the light in the center of the room near a large cubical device. Raizen immediately knocked him down and subdued him. ____ Thorn trained his weapon on the last man as he recovered from the flash. He stumbled about for a second before recollecting himself, turning and aiming a pistol at a phone on a table in the corner of the room. Thorn quickly zeroed in on his head and fired. Bang! Bang! ____ “Clear!” He announced, lowering his rifle and scanning the room. Raizen had secured a target, Jones was disarming the device, and he had just spared some intel. He managed a grim smile. I’m onto you, Silvin. And I’m not gonna stop. Now things are really whatever they are! Stay tuned for next week! ~TAF TAF was the Storyteller... in THE ENEMY'S LAST RETREAT Last edited by TheAverageFan; August 17th, 2017 at 06:18 PM. |
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Chapter 8
Time for another Chapter in Moon Has Wings! I can't believe we're getting close to Ten Chapters already! But even that's a few weeks off, so let's just focus on where we're at: Chapter Eight:
Spoiler Alert!
8 Standard ____ “Get up, get up!” Thorn’s hushed whispers brought Thomas reeling back into the waking world. Always too soon. It was still dark out, the winged moon only just beginning to fade from sight. It was that part of the morning where the sun and the moon’s tips shared the sky, everything drenched in a light blue color. ____ The Corporal walked around, hurriedly waking the others, “Come on, rise and shine. Zombies are coming. It’s time to go.” ____ He glanced over his shoulder, M4 at the ready. The slow but steady hordes approached, a wave of zombies coming in like the tide. Luckily Thorn and Header had killed just about all the runners, so these ones merely shambled at a snail’s pace. But they didn’t stop for anything, given plenty of time to play catch-up while the survivors slept. All except Thorn, of course. He hadn’t slept a wink, exhausted beyond words. But while he hadn’t had any shut-eye, at least he got rest in the form of assurance. ____ “I bet you need sleep more than anyone.” Brooke had told him last night (or rather a few hours ago) as he leaned against a tree and surveyed the distance for undead. ____ “I’ll manage.” He had replied, determination fighting fatigue. ____ She frowned, “Do you blame yourself for what happened? Still?” ____ “For today or my story?” He asked. ____ “Either.” ____ Thorn sighed, glancing at Stacey and Abbey as they slept “Everything that happened to those two today happened because of me. Silvin wanting to hurt me by hurting them. He made that quite clear. I’ve never had any friends or family for him to toy with before. But now that you’re all with me… ugh. I’m putting you all in terrible danger, damn it!” ____ Brooke walked over to him, standing close and ensuring that he couldn’t avoid eye contact, “Thorn, listen to me. We lasted long enough for Nazar to arrive because Silvin took the time to mess with you. If you weren’t there, he probably would have shot us all and moved on.” ____ “Maybe…” ____ “You know him better than anyone. Would he?” ____ Thorn thought about it, “Probably… I guess…” ____ “Then stop being so hard on yourself.” She said, “We wouldn’t have made it this far without you. That I can say for certain.” ____ He chuckled a bit, “Ha, I guess I haven’t changed much after all. Thanks, Brooke. I don’t know how you manage to stay so positive in all this, but I’m damn glad you do.” ____ “I’d go mad if I didn’t.” She replied, “More than anything it’s because I believe that good is ultimately the strongest force in this world. No matter how cruel this virus is, no matter how evil other men are, I refuse to be a prisoner of despair.” ____ “Thank you.” He repeated simply, “We wouldn’t have made it this far without you either.” ____ Thorn had taken her words to heart, feeling more at ease than he’d been before even with no sleep. They were going to make it to VACC no matter what. And no amounts of hardship—undead or otherwise—was going to stop them. They didn’t have time to waste on these zombies. ____ Thomas groggily got to his feet and rubbed his eyes. From here the zombies seemed rather distant, but he knew they still didn’t have much time to get going. They needed to pack up and hit the road fast. ____ He went over to Stacey, the only one still sleeping, and shook her awake. She grumbled from under the covers and kicked at him, before finally sitting up, “Ugh. It can’t have been four hours already.” ____ Thomas picked up her baseball cap and put it on her head, “Two. Early departure.” ____ She yawned and stretched, “Carry me.” ____ “No.” He got up and faced the incoming zombies, taking out his pistol only to remember it was out of bullets. Thorn probably had plenty of ammo for his sidearm, but Thomas wasn’t sure if it world work for his gun or not. He probably would’ve given him some if it would. Without his wrench then, he was as good as unarmed. All he could do was hope that the zombies would continue to come only from one direction for now. Of course, the longer the virus persisted across the country, the less likely they’d be to have that luxury. The zombies would come from more places than just Chicago. ____ Everyone got up and grabbed what they needed, not wasting any time in retreating from the undead hordes. Header led the way, going northwest—the same direction the helicopter had been heading when it went down. It didn’t take long for the zombies behind them to disappear from sight, but that was no reason to stop. It was going to be another long day of keeping on the move. ____ Gradually the sun crawled out and replaced the winged moon in the sky, its bright orange light at their backs as they headed west. Dawn only reminded Thomas of how tired he was, but there was never a good time to catch up on sleep. Now he truly understood just why things were so dangerous in those old zombie movies. People grew tired and hungry quickly. They needed sleep to maintain their sanity. But the undead monsters never stopped their march. Even with those who only ever walked, the zombies were relentless pursuers. No doubt the crash of the helicopter the night before—as well as the gunfire of the battle with the Initiated soon afterward—had drawn the attention of many zombies around. They were attracted to sound, Thomas was pretty sure of that. ____ Spotting some blood on the forest floor ahead of him, Thomas took note of the nasty gash of David’s shoulder as well. He seemed to be managing the injury, but was losing blood nonetheless. He’d need to get medical attention if they’d ever find the time to stop. Thomas continued following the blood as he moved, wondering if the undead were possibly attracted to that as well. Perhaps it was just life in general they sought after. Maybe there simply wasn’t a way to throw the zombies off their trail. They needed cars. ____ Thomas had plenty of time to ponder all of these thoughts and more as the group stayed on the move. It was a long march, a constant reminder of how little sleep they had gotten. But nobody wanted to be zombie lunch, so they all stuck to it. ____ The hours passed before anything of real note came up. Header found the edge of the forest and stepped out, finding a field ahead and some suburbs beyond. He nodded his approval, “Civilization! Betcha this is where some of those zombies came from.” ____ “Think there’ll be anyone here?” Jaxson asked. ____ “Idunno.” The Sergeant replied, “Depends on if they were evacuated or not… or if they were warned or not. Let’s find out.” ____ It might be dangerous, yes, but the idea of finding food, shelter, or perhaps even friends in the town was difficult to pass up. They couldn’t have taken all the cars, all the food, all the supplies. ____ The Sergeant led the way across the field, nearing the neatly lined houses of the first neighborhood. It looked to be a little place, small and tidy. The streets were empty and silent. ____ “Okay.” Header said, “Let’s search the place and see what we can find.” ____ “Yeah, good idea.” Thorn agreed. ____ “It might take a while to scour the whole neighborhood, so let’s split up into two teams. I’ll be the leader of Team 1. And Team 2’s captain can be… let’s see now… who’s birthday is closest to today?” ____ Thorn frowned, “Why don’t I just be Team 2’s captain?” ____ “Oh, right. That makes more sense.” ____ “Yeah. Miles, Brooke, and Abbey, why don’t you come with me?” Thorn began leading the way cautiously, “Stay close.” ____ Header nodded to the rest of the group, “That makes Jaxson, Thomas, Stacey, and David. C’mon, let’s see what we can find.” ____ “Okay,” Thomas said, “Just be aware that you’re the only one with a gun. I’m out.” ____ David pointed to the Sergeant’s AA12, “Yeah, care to share that thing?” ____ Header snorted, “Boy, I ain’t trustin’ any of you with this thing. Thorn’s toy pistol might be fine for civvies, but this here AA12 is for me and me alone. Besides, I’m saving it for emergencies.” ____ “Did last night with those twitchy freaks not count as an emergency?” David scoffed. ____ “A REAL emergency!” ____ “Fine, whatever.” ____ Thomas wasn’t sure what kind of gun the Sergeant’s AA12 was, so he didn’t argue. If they were lucky they might find some more firearms around, or maybe ammo for the gun he did have. But more realistically they should probably focus on finding more melee weapons. ____ The five of them wandered the street, keeping their eyes peeled for any sign of trouble. The first dilemma Thomas soon noticed was that there was in fact a lack of cars on the road. People must’ve bolted all right. Things had gone to hell so quickly, the spread of the zombie virus faster than anyone could’ve predicted, it was easy to forget that it hadn’t even been a week. Yet it was all already gone. ____ Jaxson tapped on the door to one of the houses, hearing no reply. He tried the door and found it locked, turning to the others, “Nothing.” ____ Thomas picked a rock out of the front yard and threw it through one of the windows, a satisfying crash giving them entrance. ____ “That works, I guess.” Jaxson said, looking like he’d rather not come across as a ransacker but nonetheless opening the shattered window and climbing in. He opened the door for the rest of them and the group ventured inside. ____ It was dark and quiet in the house, empty too. It reminded Thomas of his apartment as he had been moving out. Just about everything from every shelf and drawer had been hastily taken, any needless items strewn about the rooms. Thomas stooped down and picked up a fork, frowning with the disappointment of not being able to find anything useful, “Damn. Somebody really tore this place up.” ____ “People further out might’ve had a bit more warning time before the zombies showed up.” Header hypothesized, “Folks probably packed up and hit the road while they could.” ____ David kicked a couple plates around on the floor, “Where to?” ____ “Military bases, evacuee centers, westward, Canada. I dunno.” ____ “It’s sad.” Stacey picked up a discarded stuffed animal, “Houses without people. Someone lived here…” ____ “Once.” Thomas said, glancing around one of the back rooms, noting a busted back door in one, “Look at this: the porch door’s broken. Looks like someone beat us to the punch, looking for stuff.” ____ Header walked over, frowning and nodding, “Damn. Yeah, I was afraid of that. This place’s been cleaned out twice. Okay, next house.” ____ “In here.” Cpl. Thorn instructed, slowly creaking open a house door and cautiously peeking inside. ____ Miles peered into the dark rooms within. It was familiar ground, being in a neighborhood, but it still felt off, empty and dead. He gulped, “Do we really have to do this? It seems… invasive.” ____ The Corporal glanced back at him, “Well, we don’t know how far it’ll be to this VACC place. Don’t you think it’d be wise to see what we can find here? We don’t exactly have a lot of food or water. Or bullets for that matter. Here, last mag.” ____ He handed Miles one last magazine for his pistol. Miles took it and slid the empty clip out of his firearm. It was cold and heavy, the magazine, packed with potential kills. At one point in his life he had been vehemently against guns—he didn’t like the idea of being able to take a life so easily, so impersonally, so carelessly. It was scary to think that the ones you loved could be deprived of life in a millisecond. ____ But here he was defending himself and the others from those who had already had their lives taken. Miles loaded the weapon and slowly entered the home. Until you find more ammo you have ten shots. Just count to ten… ____ Brooke waited for the two with the guns to go in first before entering. She was still unarmed (unless you count a guitar case as a weapon), so the idea of potentially sharing a close-quarters space with a zombie wasn’t a great motivator. But they all had to do their part. Thorn and Header had been carrying more supplies than a mule over the last few days; surely she could manage finding and carrying a few things of her own. ____ She crept into the house, jumping immediately as the sound of a gunshot came from within. Thorn stepped back from one of the open rooms, a puddle of blood forming on the floor in front of him. ____ “Sorry. Just one zombie.” He assured the others, “Clear, Miles?” ____ Miles quickly entered another room and looked around, checking for undead. It was paced, nervous work: he wasn’t sure where the zombies would hide when alone in a cramped space. He had seen a movie once where monstrous infected creatures hid in corners, and each new room checked was fraught with the fear of being jumped from behind or his blind side. And that’d be the end of it. ____ Fortunately no such fate befell him, the other rooms all empty. He breathed a sigh of relief and walked back to the others, “It’s empty.” ____ “Thank goodness.” Brooke walked over to the Corporal. The zombie he shot was laying in the center of the room, a woman with a deep green dress. There was a small hole drilled into her pale grey face right between her right eye and her nose, the back of her head splattered from the bullet Thorn had put in her. ____ It was the first time she’d really ever stopped to actually look at a zombie for a while. It was easy to forget that each individual of the wretched hordes was just a person at one point. Who was this woman before? What was she like? Answerless questions, lost to time. Only God knew now. The idea that no matter what at least someone would always remember a person’s story was the single comfort for her. ____ Brooke stared at her for a second or two longer before snapping back to attention to the room around her, a kitchen. Thorn was already rooting through a fridge, searching for anything usable. Quickly locating a pantry, Brooke began doing the same, Miles watching over her shoulder. As to probably be expected from an abandoned house with a door already knocked in, there wasn’t much to be found. Already cleaned out. ____ “Damn. No drinks.” Thorn muttered, “Anything, Brooke?” ____ “Sunflower seeds.” ____ “That’s something, I guess.” ____ “Snacks will be good on the road.” Brooke reasoned, “Anything in there?” ____ “Some spoiled stuff. And someone was kind enough to leave some empty water bottles.” Thorn replied, shutting the door, “Damn. We’re gonna need water more than anything.” ____ “Why don’t you try the faucet?” Abbey quietly suggested, standing at the doorway to the kitchen. ____ Thorn walked over to the kitchen sink and turned it on, standing there dumbfounded as a steady stream of water poured from the faucet. ____ “Oh, um, right.” He said, immediately beginning to fill his canteen with the fresh water, “I, well, everyone’s been talking all this apocalypse nonsense… I guess I just naturally figured nothing would still be working.” ____ “…Well sh*t. I’m taking a shower then!” Miles concluded. ____ Brooke lit up, “Ooh, a shower!” ____ The two stared at each other for only a second before bolting to the stairs. ____ “Kids, kids…” Thorn dismissed sarcastically as they ran out of the room. He continued filling up bottles, glancing at Abbey over his shoulder as he did so, “You should probably go after them. After all this zombie nonsense I bet a shower would feel great.” ____ Abbey leaned against the kitchen doorway, crossing her arms, “What about you?” ____ Thorn chuckled, peering out the window to check for zombies, “Heh. Don’t worry about me, Abbey. I’ll shower up after the rest of you. Okay?” ____ Abbey sighed, not at his words but at life in general, “Yeah. Okay.” Four People Take Showers: ____ Miles wasted no time cranking up the water and stepping into the shower. He didn’t care if it was hot or cold—anything would do. Warm water sprayed from the nozzle above, like instant rain. Miles smirked a surprised half-smile as he felt the water. He had almost expected it to not work at all. It was a wonderful feeling, but inside he wondered how many more chances he’d ever get to be pleasantly surprised. ____ He was a dirty kid when he was much younger, never liking to take the time to bathe even after a long day of running around. While others his age were inside playing video games or talking over the phone he’d be outside. The half-shade, half-beam of the sun between the trees always felt good, felt alive, on him. He’d break off small branches and try to build things or throw empty beer bottles at the side of an old run-down barn by his house. Not much to do out there, but he’d find ways to kill time nonetheless. Anything to postpone having to go back home. ____ The irony wasn’t lost on him. Now he’d take every precious second of this shower for what it was worth, and do everything in his power to avoid going back out there in the woods. Where the zombies were. Heh, maybe it wasn’t the woods he liked, or the house he hated. Maybe he just liked to be wherever the people weren’t. Not good people like Brooke and Abbey and the soldier guy (Miles wasn’t great with names). Other people… ____ “Ugh…” He pressed one hand against the stall, leaning forward and letting the water cascade down his back. He was grateful to get the chance to wash up, but could still stand to lay down and take a good long breather. Still shaken up from the crash, still shaken up from everything that had happened for that matter. When would it all be over? When they got to VACC? When the zombies were dealt with? When everything went back to normal? Or when he was dead. ____ Don’t let it get to you. Don’t be overwhelmed. Just calm down and count to ten. Stay in this moment: this quiet, clean, secluded place. Just count to ten. ____ Miles wasn’t sure how it’d all end, but for now it was best just to enjoy the comforts he could get. He took his sweet time showering, taking the hot water for all it was worth. It had been a long couple of days. ____ Humming to herself, Brooke let the water run down her, sweet cleansing relief from the apocalypse outside. It’d been the first shower she’d taken since the day of the outbreak, a callback to even the tiniest bit of normalcy like a sanctuary from the awful new world outside. Hopefully there would be such accommodations at VACC, but for all Brooke knew this might be the last shower she’d ever take. Death lurked around every corner now. But that was no way to go about life, thinking that way. ____ She used to sing in the shower, not terribly surprising for her line of work, lyrics flowing with the water. Her roommates would playfully mock her for singing too loudly and not-playfully ridicule her for always taking too long, but she couldn’t care less what they thought. In that tight locked room, it was as if nothing else in the world existed. Stress, schedules, dangers and the like were all gone. She was alone on Earth so she could sing as much and as loudly as she pleased. ____ Then it’d be back to life as normal, short on time for always taking so long. The complaints of those around her mattered again, and she’d get ready for work as fast as she could and hurry out the door to be scolded by her boss. A much worse reality was waiting outside now. Brooke wished she could simply stay in here forever, carefree. But that was no way to go about life either. ____ She would sing to feel better about it, stay optimistic and hopeful as she did around the others. The group needed it constantly. But right now she felt short of breath. Tired. Like it or not, it was all getting to her too. Here was the only place where she could hide it. ____ Brooke hung her head and caught her breath, leaning on the wall and letting it all sink in. The horrors. Screaming, gunshots, blood pouring from an open bite, the undead like relentless hounds, always chasing. Always running. She spent the rest of the time in the shower recollecting herself. Get cleaned up. Put a smile back on your face. And don’t take too long in the shower. ____ Abbey stood just about directly below the showerhead, just letting the water pour down on her hair, running down her face and body. She simply stood there, soaking, sighing heavily. She was thin, frail, not taking up too much space in the shower. It’d always been like that. ____ Sometimes, back then, Greg would come into the shower with her, behind her, wrapping his arms around her. Often right after a fight, that step into the shower the first step of many apologies. It didn’t matter that they fought quite a bit, she always reasoned, they were always quick to make up afterwards. How things ended were more important than the hardships suffered on the way there. ____ “I’m sorry. I just didn’t want to be dependent any longer.” He had said the last time he had done that, “I thought I’d look weak. I wanted my old life back. I see now that more than anything I was just afraid. And I’m sorry. Abbey, baby. I’m sorry that you married a coward.” ____ His arms came around her like they always would. He was an averagely built man, but in here he felt so strong. Abbey sighed and leaned back into him. She didn’t say anything. Nothing needed to be said. ____ Greg continued, “I don’t know if I’m ready. If I’ll ever be ready. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that I’m not afraid anymore. Let’s do it. Let’s have a baby.” ____ And then life happened. And then death happened. ____ Abbey stared forward on that thought, water dripping from her bangs. The wall ahead was white and blank, sprayed with countless droplets. Facing the same way as she always did, standing in the same spot she’s always stand in, but in someone else’s house, and all alone. He was never coming back. Why was she wasting her time here waiting for him? Why was she wasting her time anywhere in this hell just by being alive? Nothing was going to come back. ____ She didn’t have an answer, so she just showered quickly to get it over with. No reason to waste water. ____ Thorn faced away from the showerhead and just let the water strike his back. The pressure was higher than he was used to, the streams on his spine feeling like someone was scratching his back. It felt great, liberating. He was light as a feather, relieved of all that equipment he’d been carrying over the last week. He actually had a few bruises across his body, where the gear had been pressing down on him for hours on end. Things bumping against him with every step, tapping turning to hammering as time went on. Nothing he couldn’t manage, but still. ____ He wondered when all this was finally going to get to him. He didn’t have anything waiting for him back in the States when he returned, no friends or family or even belongings on the line. While everyone else despaired as the zombies took everything from them, he was just there, no less disadvantaged. Maybe he came off as a freak to the others like that, someone who could never understand what they’d endured. No matter how much he’d transformed himself into who he was today, Thorn had always had some trouble connecting with normal people. Maybe… ____ He’d kept the water cold. He was more used to it and had figured the others had been abusing the hot water plenty before he came in. Now he cranked the heat up, feeling the rewarding rush of scalding hot water soon after. ____ No, the others’ pain was his pain, every loss a failure in his duties. Knowing that Alex Silvin was at least in part connected to the outbreak was more than enough to give Thorn a shared responsibility in the disaster. He owed it to them—every single member of his group—to get through this alive and well. He’d do it or die trying, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to die to some nameless monsters while Silvin was still out there, unpunished. ____ Thorn let the hot water steam up the room before shutting it off and stepping out. He wiped off the foggy mirror and took out his razor, running it under the cold water in the sink. Expertly running it across his face, he cut what few hairs could be found trying to crop up. He’d been doing this every day for years. He didn’t need any cream, using simple soap for now, any cuts were deserved. The single straight-razor blade glided across his face in waves. With the grain. Across the grain. Against the grain. ____ The Corporal stared at himself in the mirror, wiping his face with a towel. He was clean, young, muscular without overdoing it. Some would figure him quite handsome. But all that mattered to him was that he didn’t look how he once did. Looking appealing was something people with lives and futures worried about. ____ It was time to go. The others were waiting. ____ Further down the street, four houses cleared, Header opened a drawer by a bed and took out a handful of small red boxes. He turned and tossed one to Thomas, “Check it, boy. Got some bullets for your pistol. It uses 9mm, right?” ____ Thomas caught the box and glanced at it, “I don’t know.” ____ “Yer out of bullets, aren’t you? Try them out.” ____ Thomas frowned, his eyes drifting from the little box to his gun. He didn’t know anything about his own weapon, save for what he could gather from TV and movies. On stage any gun his character would wave around drunkenly and philosophically would always be a snub-nosed revolver. Always a revolver. ____ Cecil’s firearm wasn’t one of those, a sleek black L of a gun. Gun, that was its name. Thomas didn’t know anything else about it. He fiddled around with the weapon, clumsily with novice knowledge but carefully with the awareness of what it was capable of. He finally managed to slip the magazine out. ____ Impatient, Header took it from there. He swiped the mag from Thomas and sat down on the bed, inserting the bullets into it with, well, military efficiency. Each bullet clicked in firmly, crammed between their brothers in the clip. ____ The Sergeant handed it back over, “There, that’ll hold fifteen shots. You got yourself a decent gun there: M9.” ____ Thomas slid the magazine back in, making a satisfying click as it did so. M9, it was called? He supposed the better he knew his own weapon the better his chances of making it to VACC alive. Header seemed to be thinking the same thing, pointing to the weapon. ____ “You pull that back when you’re ready to start shooting. Do that every time you reload. That there’s the Safety. ALWAYS have that on when you’re not using it. And don’t point it at anything you’re not willing to kill, got it? GOT IT?” ____ “Got it, sheesh.” Thomas said. He took the rest of the little ammo boxes and pocketed them. Around fifty shots or so. Unfortunately the only magazine he had was the one in the gun. Header had them lining his body, able to reload his M16 in seconds. Thomas would have to make those fifteen shots count and reload between battles, taking time to manually insert more bullets into the magazine. He hoped that with Thorn and Header looking after things he wouldn’t have to shoot at all. But hope was synonymous with naivety in his eyes. He’d been forced to shoot before and he’d have to do it again. The only question was how often. ____ “Well. It’s something.” Header figured, “I hope Thorn’s group is having better luck than us with finding stuff.” ____ “I’ll admit that I didn’t expect these places to be so heavily looted already.” Thomas agreed, “Everything goes to sh*t faster than you’d think.” ____ “True that.” The Sergeant nodded to the door, “Let’s get out of here.” ____ Down the hall Stacey and Jaxson explored the other rooms. While Thomas and Sgt. Header were looking for bullets, they had other things to worry about. The group’s forage hadn’t yielded much. And who knew how long they had to search before the zombies would catch up to them. They had evaded quite the horde the night of the crash, but zombies didn’t give up easily, tortoises of hounds. Unyielding. ____ Jaxson peered through a closet, frowning, “I wish I could at least find a good weapon. I feel a little useless without one. This place has been stripped to the bone.” ____ “I’ve got a knife.” Stacey assured him jokingly, “So don’t worry. I’ll protect you.” ____ She walked into another bedroom and began rooting through drawers. At least clothes weren’t in too short a supply. And just look at this cute top. More nonessentials to cram into her backpack then. Nothing but distractions from the misery, but welcome ones nonetheless. ____ As Stacey turned to leave something moved around on the bed, buried under tired white covers. She shrieked and quickly backed up, brandishing her knife. Whatever had been in there had been so still she hadn’t even noticed. ____ Startled, she cautiously approached, holding the knife high in the air, ready to start stabbing at a moment’s notice. Zombies weren’t typically so stealthy, but she knew by now to expect anything from them. ____ Just as a confused Jaxson entered the room to see what the commotion was all about, the thing under the covers moved again, groaning and rolling over. He glanced to the bed to Stacey and back, “What’s going on?” ____ “Shh!” She replied sharply. ____ Finally the thing emerged, a man rolling over in the bed, eyes shut tight. He was sleeping, or at least just waking up. Empty beer bottles rolled around in bed with him, clanking together as he moved. The man sat up, shielding his eyes from the afternoon light, squinting at the two before him. ____ He was a mess of a man, scattered, witless. ____ “…What day is it?” He asked them, a slow talker. ____ Jaxson looked at Stacey, bewildered, “Uh… Sunday?” ____ “Ugh. Sunday!” The man’s muscles refused to hold him up. He flopped back down on his back, bottles rolling to his sides, “Sunday…” ____ After a few seconds of silence, he slowly managed to sit up again, staring at them, “And… who… are you people?” ____ Stacey frowned, “Do you have any idea what’s going on, mister?” ____ “It’s Gene.” The man rubbed his eyes, “Well, something about zombies? Hysteria? Stay in your homes? Orson Welles, eat your heart out.” ____ “It’s not a joke, man.” Jaxson informed him, “Your whole neighborhood has been cleared out. We’ve been running from the undead for a while now.” ____ “You’re serious?” ____ “Yeah. Seriously serious.” ____ Gene looked around the room, blinking repeatedly to wake up, “Mackenzie said it was a joke… Ah… that b*tch! She got me drunk off my ass and left me for dead!” ____ He threw off the covers and got right out of bed, stumbling over to the dresser and fishing out some clothes. ____ “Oh God!” Stacey looked away as he walked over, “Well, he’s not bit.” ____ “Yeah. Not bit.” Gene threw on some pants and a shirt, facing them again as he buttoned it up hastily, “Gee, I’m terribly sorry about all this. The place is a mess. I—I’m not used to having guests.” ____ His “Yeah” was more of a combination of “Yeah” and “Yup”, ending with the fatigued P of a yawned word. He fumbled with the last few buttons of the faded bright pink dress shirt, abandoning the effort 4/5ths of the way up. And there he stood, staring at them with a groggy smile. A hung over charm, pathetic but also amusing. Stacey looked to Jaxson and he looked to her, both equally unsure where to go from here. ____ “Header!” Stacey decided to call out, “Will you come down here?” ____ The Sergeant came down the hall, “Ah, hell. What now?” ____ “Nothing good, I’ll bet.” Thomas followed him. ____ Header entered the room and stared at Gene, his face showing no surprise whatsoever as usual. He only made his standard straight-faced frown, neutral, “Who’re you?” ____ “Gene.” ____ “He was just in here.” Stacey explained. ____ “You live here, son?” Header asked. ____ “Well, yeah, I suppose.” ____ “You don’t look like the type to own a nice house like this.” ____ “I won the lottery.” Gene said, “Two years ago. I moved into this nice neighborhood. I don’t know though. I don’t think anybody liked me being here very much.” ____ Header wasn’t impressed, “Mr. Gene, are you aware of what’s going on?” ____ “Well… I am now.” Gene adjusted the collar of his dress shirt, “I guess it’s pretty dangerous around here, isn’t it?” ____ “It’s certainly about to be.” Jaxson said, “We’ve got quite a few zombies after us.” ____ “Then we’re in a pickle, aren’t we?” Gene observed, “I guess I should probably skip town. Uh, if you’ll have me.” ____ Thomas scowled. He knew this kind of person. The kind you couldn’t count on. They’d show up to work late or drunk, trying to clumsily charm their way into good graces to make up for their unreliability. They’d forget their lines or improv and fail, awkward silences ripe for the scathing critics. A nuisance in the real world, a possibly life-ending liability in the apocalypse. He was trouble, Thomas could tell. Or maybe he was just being a judgmental asshole. Could he really blame himself for being cautious at this point? ____ But it ultimately wasn’t up to him. It was up to Sgt. Header, the king of the group. ____ The Sergeant merely nodded, “Hmm. Sure. A civvie is a civvie.” ____ Gene stared at him, “A what?” ____ “I think it means civilian. He says it a lot. Ignore him.” Stacey extended a hand, “Anyway, I’m Stacey.” ____ “Stacey! Enchanté!” Gene seemed to wake up more as he accepted her hand and shook it loosely, “And you are…?” ____ “Jaxson. We can all get acquainted later. There’s a lot of us.” ____ “Right, right. Lead the way. I’m no trouble, honest.” ____ “Good. We got enough trouble already.” Header said, “Gene, we found some handgun ammo in the other bedroom. You got a pistol?” ____ “Well, not if you didn’t find one with the bullets.” Gene replied, “The Mrs. probably swiped it before leaving.” ____ The Sergeant walked out of the room at that, “Fair enough. We’ll take what we can get. C’mon, everyone. We got more ground to cover.” ____ David was downstairs by the open door, keeping watch as he clumsily tried to bandage his wound with a raggedy tablecloth. He glanced over at the others as they came down the stairs, only showing dull surprise at the sight of a sudden new member, unsure what to say. So he didn’t say anything about that, only reporting, “I saw some of them further down the street. Only about ten right now, but more will probably come. Are we done wasting our time here or what?” ____ Thomas peered out one of the windows, indeed seeing several zombies shambling about in the distance. More sluggish motion could be vaguely seen in the forest beyond. He scowled at the sight, “Damn. How are there so many after us?” ____ “Probably corralled together after they all go after a single group of survivors.” Header figured. He raised his M16 and walked outside, holding his fire for now, “We shouldn’t stick around here for much longer. Let’s find Thorn and get moving.” ____ “Damn.” Gene squinted as he got a good look at the undead, the true gravity of the situation slowly mounting on him, “Damn!” ____ The group hastily made their way across the empty street, searching for the others while the horde slowly made their advance. They had killed most of the sprinting zombies as well as the Initiated, leaving only slow-moving walkers. But there were plenty of them, that was for sure. The entire population of a small town bearing down upon the handful of humans remaining here. ____ Thomas found it unfortunate. These were pretty nice houses, certainly more than he was used to, and he had hoped that they’d find more here and have more time to find it. But with the undead at their heels time was always short, no matter how slowly the monsters walked. They’d just have to deal with the horde until they could get better transportation. Unfortunately if there was one thing everyone universally had taken when fleeing the outbreak, it was a car. ____ It was also tempting to hide out in one of these homes, lock the doors and board up the windows. It’d undoubtedly keep the zombies at bay—they might never get in at all. But would they ever go away? The monsters never stopped or gave up. You could starve in a shelter like that, unable to ever leave. No, they’d have to stay nomadic. At least until they reached a real bunker like VACC would hopefully be. The kind of place you could really hide out in forever. If they ever got there. ____ Header approached the first zombie to get near, striking it squarely in the face with the butt of his rifle. He wasn’t willing to shoot, not knowing how much the noise attracted the undead but well aware that more always seemed to show up after a gunfight. It was still perfectly possible that more zombies were still hiding out in the neighborhood, unaware of the humans’ presence. Header would shoot when he had to. ____ The group kept up a brisk pace, Header scanning the houses and keeping an eye peeled for open doors. Most were closed. The Sergeant grew impatient as more zombies inevitably came from the forest, a slow but steady timer. He whistled loudly and called out to the nearest open door, “You there Corporal!? Time’s up!” ____ Thorn jumped a bit at the sound, seizing his M4 and calling to the others, “Sh*t…! Okay people, time to go.” ____ It shattered the fleeting sensation of relaxation that had followed washing up. Normally a shower helped wake one up but here the warmth, water, and steam combined with the waiting for the others to finish only made one sleepy. Miles had slumped into an easy chair the second he was out, leaning as far back as he could and letting his eyelids have their way. Brooke too wasted no time surrendering herself to an empty bed and curling up, waiting for sleep she knew she wouldn’t have the time for. Ah, laziness, the long lost luxury. It had never felt better, after so many long days fleeing the undead. ____ Already geared up with all his equipment and ready to go, Cpl. Thorn frowned at their lethargy, “Come on guys. Guys!” ____ Miles yawned, “Give us a break, Thorn. The poor civvies are tired.” ____ “Ha. Seriously, time to go.” ____ Brooke sighed, “Okay, but I’m taking this pillow. It’s comfy.” ____ “Alright, fine. We’ll take the pillows.” ____ They swiped what they could and returned to the street. Header and the others were waiting. The Sergeant was pleased to see them. ____ “‘Kay, good.” He said, “How many houses did you manage to hit?” ____ “Uh, one.” Thorn replied. ____ “ONE!?!?!” Header snapped, mumbling other complaints to himself before giving up, “Forget it. We’re out of time. Let’s get goin’.” ____ “Calm down, old man. We found lots of water, at least. Here, catch, catch, catch.” Thorn tossed any spare bottles at the others, only noticing on the last lob that there was a new face in Header’s group, “Who the hell is this?” ____ “It’s Gene. Nice to meet you, sir.” ____ “Ah, whatever. Nice to meet you too. We can all get introduced later. Let’s bolt.” ____ Gradually more zombies came from the woods, no one wasting any time in hurrying down the street in the opposite direction. Now it seemed like the whole town’s worth of undead had come out to play. It was time to get going or get eaten. The other houses would just have to wait, no time left to settle down for even a short moment. ____ Another day, another twenty-four hours spent on the move. Not a second to waste. They hit the road and didn’t look back, continuing onward until the zombies were out of sight, and further still until the undead were out of mind too. It was the best they could do for the time being. And so it continues...! Comment and stuff and I'll be back with another chapter come next week! ~TAF TAF was the Storyteller... in THE ENEMY'S LAST RETREAT Last edited by TheAverageFan; August 17th, 2017 at 06:18 PM. |
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Chapter 9
I'm back, and the length of this chapter ought to more than make up for it. It was so long that some of it needed to be moved to next week. That'll make it all the more exciting though.
Anyway, no time to waste! Chapter 9:
Spoiler Alert!
9 The Tower ____ A week. That’s how long it was. It was how long it had been since the outbreak before, give or take, and it was how long the group continued their journey after Gene joined them, give or take. It was actually becoming quite hard to remember what day it was, schedules shattered by the apocalypse. Thomas only dared to check his phone every now and again, battery draining unfortunately fast. It was too bad, nice to still have one of the luxuries of the normal days, but tragically short lived. Even with a charger there was no way of knowing how long the electricity would last. ____ Just make it to VACC in one piece. They’ll have electricity there. Food, water, shelter too. Then it’ll all be over and you won’t have to worry about this kind of stuff any longer. He thought as he took a quick swig of water, frowning at the scarce contents after. It was amazing just how fast people could go through this stuff, their little scavenger hunts’ yields already slim. Forget the zombies: if there was any way this journey would drive them all nuts it’d be shortages of food and water. ____ They’d try their best to make do with what they had and hope each and every day that VACC was only just around the corner. It never was. ____ The days of travel had been uneventful, forced to stay off the roads and evading the undead at every turn. Some days one could go without seeing a zombie at all, feeding the blissful hope of possibly losing the horde behind them. Other times they’d come across a large number of zombies and have to avoid them all day long. Out here away from the city it was more of a game of cat and mouse: zombies often moving en masse and leaving large areas of land void of their presence. Not that it was any excuse to settle down: you could never truly count on there not being any undead nearby. ____ Every now and again a helicopter or plane could be seen flying across the sky. Always tempting to immediately try to grab their attention, but the aircraft were always far off in the distance, the noise they made always exaggerating their closeness to the group. Perhaps it was better that way, relying on themselves to reach VACC. It didn’t need to be said, but everyone was wary of outside help at the moment. There was no way of knowing what those aircraft hid: be it help or more people like Silvin. Even provided that nutcase was the only one of his kind out here, there was certainly the possibility of others being plenty dangerous, snapped or gone mad with the pressures of the apocalypse. Thomas was glad to be in the company of sane people. Morons, some of them, but sane nonetheless. They’d probably be harder to find as time went on, levelheaded individuals. ____ Time passed, they kept on moving, Zombies came and went, evaded or dealt with when needed. Thorn in particular insisted on avoiding the undead, bashing them with his rifle over shooting more often than not. Thomas took this as the Corporal’s way of saying he was running really low on rifle ammunition. Thomas himself was glad to have bullets again, although he was still a bad shot, worse than Miles anyway. He didn’t have the ammo to spare for practicing either. It wouldn’t be his problem anymore once they reached VACC, of course. If they reached it. ____ They didn’t even know what they were looking for. Just a general direction. The building could very well be entirely underground, for all they knew. They could’ve walked right over it a day or two ago and not even noticed. No one dared bring that up. ____ The days were uneventful, even those fraught with dangers. They were boring and tiresome. And they were beginning to blur together. Only the stages of the winged moon could tell the nights apart. Maybe it was just Thomas’ inexperience with astrology, but it seemed to go through its phases faster than usual. Hardly the strangest thing about it. ____ Still, it had a habit of keeping Thomas up. It was so big and bright—staring at it forever could drive a man mad. Luckily he always had company with the night watch. Some days he was so sleepless he would volunteer to take over for them. ____ Things were beginning to get tiresome. Morale began to drain like water from a leaking container. They had to reach VACC soon. They at least had to contact them somehow. Anything would do. ____ And on the seventh day, there was something. ____ That morning Header glanced into his cigarette pack, frowning. He’d been doing his damnedest to not smoke straight through it, struggling to limit himself to a single cigarette a day or less. Still there weren’t many left. Fewer than there should ever be. ____ “Damn it!” He snapped, looking at the others around him, “Somebody’s been stealin’ my smokes! Don’t think I don’t notice!” ____ “Who would steal your cigarettes, Header?” Brooke asked. ____ “Damned if I know.” The Sergeant replied, “But I’ll find out, I assure you all.” ____ “Certainly couldn’t catch another smoker by the smell—I think you overpower them, sir.” Thorn joked. ____ “That reminds me, we forgot to get a toothbrush for the Sergeant while we were in that neighborhood.” Stacey added. ____ “Ha. I oughta leave you all to the zombies…” Header grumbled, getting to his feet and putting the pack away. He’d need to save those precious few cigarettes for later, muttering curses to alleviate the stress in place of the smoke. It’d be another long day, after all. The Sergeant got to his feet, kicking loose dirt from his boots by tapping the side of a tree, “Al’ight, folks. Let’s get moving. We need to find this place sooner or later. Or at least a way for them to see us.” ____ “’See us?’ Any ideas?” Jaxson inquired. ____ “Yep. Next time we get the chance: anywhere open, fortified, stocked or what have you. A radio or a signal fire, anything. That Nazar guy found us once, I’m sure he’s lookin’ for us again, right?” ____ “I hope so.” ____ Header turned and began leading the way onward, “Exactly. So keep yer eyes peeled. For opportunities.” ____ Thomas couldn’t decipher if it was smart or desperation. But the change of plans was a welcome change of pace. The more things turned into a slog the worse it was for morale. Nobody still had the same determination to reach VACC as they had a week ago. ____ If they just had a car. It was often easy to forget just how painstakingly slow walking was by comparison. Driving half an hour to your niece’s birthday party would be a day’s journey on foot. It’d be long over by the time you got there. So was the trek to VACC. If only their flight had lasted just a bit longer… ____ The woods around them had been unrelenting over the past few days. It made directions difficult to keep track of and continuous walking harder than it needed to be. Brambles and jutting rocks pricked at sleeves and shoes respectively. Before then it had been mostly open fields. Of course, you could see in the distance that you were headed nowhere fast. Here there was at least the hope that they’d come out of the woods and stumble onto something. ____ And strangely enough, so it was. After several hours they finally emerged from the increasingly dense foliage, finding an open valley before them. Still more forests winded around the clearing, with the odd road weaving around the trees. Hints of civilization, at least. A road was something to follow, and would lead to another town eventually. ____ But it wasn’t the road that caught Header’s eye. He pointed to a tower across the valley, atop a hill in the distance, “There! See that? Looks like a lookout tower.” ____ “Like an old fire tower? What’re you thinking, Sergeant?” Thorn inquired, “They might have a radio?” ____ “Yup. We’ve been at this a while. I’m thinkin’ we should at least try to contact this VACC place. Or at least the General. Something, anything. We can’t just keep wandering around like this forever.” ____ “No, you think so?” Thomas said sarcastically. ____ The Sergeant nodded, “Yeah, I think so. No time to waste. Let’s go through the valley. It’s just across that abandoned carnival down there.” ____ Down below in the open was a large swath of colorful but faded buildings. Ugly and empty. Everyone in the group stared down at the place with equal amounts of distaste. ____ Stacey was the first to speak her thoughts, “Um, no. Carnivals are creepy. I’m not going through there.” ____ “Oh come on now.” Header argued, “It’ll take longer to go around.” ____ “I’ll second Stacey.” Thomas said, “I hate carnivals, or circuses or whatever. Going through there in a goddamned zombie apocalypse is just tempting fate.” ____ “True that. There’s been some weird things going on since the outbreak started.” Brooke added, “It’s a bad idea.” ____ “Agreed.” Miles said, “I don’t think I could handle zombie clowns.” ____ Header tossed his arms up, “Oh c’mon! You can’t be serious! Who doesn’t like clowns? It’s probably a lot more dangerous goin’ the long way ‘round! Corporal, tell ‘em!” ____ “I don’t know, Sergeant.” Thorn reasoned, “Maybe it isn’t a great idea…” ____ “Clowns are scary.” Gene said, “I’m still a bit on your group’s good graces though, so I don’t know if I get a vote in this or not.” ____ Brooke put a hand on his shoulder, “Gene, of course you get a vote. You’re part of the group now. Especially if you don’t want to go down there too.” ____ Header looked to his decreasing options for support, “David, you’re an adult! Tell ‘em how ridiculous this all sounds!” ____ David shrugged with both confusion and apathy at being put into the spotlight, “Me? What do you want me to say, Sergeant? Who cares how we get to the tower as long as we get there?” ____ “That settles it. This way.” Jaxson concluded, already beginning to head toward the distant tower. Nobody stuck around to debate it further, starting the long arching trek to their destination. ____ “Buncha slack-jawed…” The Sergeant mumbled to himself, standing alone as the last to leave. He hesitantly followed them, continuing to grumble all the while, “Spineless, pussyfooting, scaredy-cats… In a goddamned zombie apocalypse and they’re afraid of clowns… give me a break… carnivals aren’t creepy—they’re awesome! Ferris wheels and cotton candy and balloons and… back in my day goddamned twenty-five year-olds weren’t ‘friad of everything… ” ____ While it was a longer trek to the lookout tower, the idea of a possible working radio put a spring in everyone’s step. Increased morale made walking more of a breeze, everyone going a bit faster to cover the extra distance. ____ Unfortunately it wasn’t the only reason to move faster. The absence of zombies was no longer for granted. Undead could be seen lurking in the distant trees, slow-moving walkers gradually coming after the group as they passed by. Thorn bashed them aside with his rifle, others resorting to kicks and dodges when necessary. ____ The zombies weren’t a problem at the moment, but once again the group was being followed, gradually corralling up more undead as the journey went on. The most they could do at the moment was to simply keep moving swiftly and hope that the monsters would be left behind over time. There simply wasn’t enough ammo or even hours of the day to bother with killing them all. ____ Hours passed quickly as everyone neared the tower. Finally the trees relented once again, thinning out, their leaves parting and the tower coming into sight. They were close. Very close. ____ “We’re almost there!” Thorn pointed, “Just a bit further, people!” ____ “Told you it wouldn’t be a problem!” Stacey teased Header. The Sergeant mumbled something or other about character and cowardice or whatever, finally taking the lead again as they neared the building. ____ “You can brag when we actually—” He began. ____ A sudden gunshot stole all the attention, interrupting him. BANG!! It rung through the air, seemingly louder than other shots in its unexpectedness. A missing bullet kicked up dirt in the ground, dangerously close to feet. ____ “Ack!” David jumped back, the shot landing closest to him, “A psycho! Shoot back!” ____ Header, apparently already noting that the shot came from the tower, instead raised his arms into the air, “Hold up, now. Hey there! We don’t mean no harm!” ____ Silence lingered for a few dreadful seconds, either to be followed by words or another bullet. Thomas didn’t like the Sergeant’s surrendering gesture, but he couldn’t see the shooter himself. The tower was quite a good vantage point, after all. All he could do was hope the hidden gunman would be willing to talk. ____ Finally words replied to the Sergeant, a male voice shouting back, “Are any of you bit?” ____ “Nope!” ____ “Are there any zombies after ya?” ____ Header glanced to the others, unsure how to reply. The question could be an offer of shelter if they were being pursued. It could also be a “I don’t want your troubles” kind of question. No good answer. ____ Stacey decided to speak up for him, “Yes! Please let us in!” ____ “…I don’t need yer zombies!” The voice responded. ____ Header scowled, “We just need to use the radio. It’ll only take a—” ____ “Radio don’t work!” ____ “Maybe we can fix it!” Brooke offered. ____ “…” Silent thinking. ____ “Please at least let us try!” She bit her lip at the continuing quiet, “Please!!” ____ The voice finally relented, “Alright fine. You can try. But only for today!” ____ “Thank you!” Brooke breathed a sigh of relief, holstering her guitar and beginning to head toward the stairs leading up to the tower. Nobody wasted any time following her. ____ “Wait, wait, wait, wait!” The voice shouted as they began climbing the stairs, “I see you all. No military types!” ____ Thorn paused, “Huh? What?” ____ “Yeah, you two stay outside! Or no deal. I don’t trust your kind.” ____ Thorn looked to Header, who nodded, and sighed, “Alright. The rest of you go on ahead.” ____ “Are you sure?” Stacey asked him. ____ “Yeah, we’ll be okay.” ____ “I’ll try to reason with him.” Jaxson offered. ____ Thomas shrugged, “I don’t know if we’re in a position to negotiate with this guy.” ____ The tower was moderately high up, a small hut of a cabin raised well over thirty feet up into the air by thin metal beams. The rickety old staircase led sharply up, veering 90 degrees right at each corner support beam until it reached the top. Someone would later draw this picture of the tower while they were writing down the events of their travels. He later gave up that endeavor when he realized he was no good at writing and nobody cared about their adventures anyway. ____ The shed rested on a platform, the building’s windows dark and faded. A silhouette hid behind a screen door, the only way in. ____ The man within suddenly threw the door open as Thomas and the others drew near. His face was hidden behind a gas mask. He had wild dark hair and black clothes: a leather jacket with numerous tears. In gloved hands he held a long-barreled rifle, not sleek and black like the two soldiers’ but wooden—Thomas didn’t know what it was called; a hunting rifle, maybe? His appearance was a little shocking, the clothes and mask making him look like a movie bad guy. Although he’d never be more than an extra. ____ “Well?” The man said, lowering his gun as he affirmed their being uninfected, “Coming in or not?” ____ He held the door open, allowing entrance to the cab. It was luckily a fairly spacious place for a single room, nothing but a table in the center and various outdated and oversized machines along the walls. A single bag of potato chips lay torn upon the center table. ____ “Cozy.” Gene noted. ____ The man didn’t reply, merely pointing his gun at a big hunk of junk of a radio system in the corner, “There’s the radio. Damn thing don’t work but you’re free to try. Fix it or get on your way.” ____ “Right.” Thomas said, looking from one person to the next. Come on, you idiots, someone’s got to know something about fixing these things. Speak up. ____ Miles was the first to catch the drift, “Yeah. I’m on it. Uh, David, Jaxson? Why don’t you guys help?” ____ They hopped to it, examining the machine and muttering amongst themselves about their inexperience and its age. Stacey turned to their host as they worked, “Why are you wearing that mask?” ____ “Zombies travel by air, sweetheart.” ____ “Please don’t call me that.” She replied, “Besides, it does not. They infect by bite.” ____ “I got this off a dead soldier. They wouldn’t be equipped with ‘em if they didn’t need them.” The man reasoned. ____ Thomas internally wondered if the stranger had happened upon the soldier’s corpse or made him that way. He didn’t speak on it but instead scoffed at the guy’s logic, “I think it’s just the initial chemical bombs that did that. We’ve been near zombies for weeks and we’re fine. You don’t need that.” ____ “Oh. Okay.” Apparently convinced, the man slipped the mask off. Underneath he wasn’t far off from Thomas’ age. He was young and grizzled, hair unkempt and face stubbled. In spite of his slovenly appearance he still managed to make it work. ____ “Oh!” Brooke almost seemed a little surprised at the notion that there was a man under that mask, not a bad looking one at that (or so Thomas figured). ____ “It’s Reed. Don’t bother remembering it. I don’t intend to keep any friends around. The last couple of people I’d been with tried to leave me for dead when the sh*t hit the fan, so you’ll forgive me if I’m a bit distrustful of others.” ____ There are eight of us. No need to proudly declare what an independent loner you are, idiot. Thomas thought, speaking differently, “Don’t worry, Reed. We just want to give this radio a whirl and we’ll be on our merry way.” ____ “You’d better if there are zombies after you. How long is it gonna take?” ____ “Uh…” Miles stalled and guesstimated an imaginary answer, “Might be a while.” ____ Reed sighed and slung his rifle over his shoulder, “Fine, fine. You have until nightfall. Then you’re all out of here.” ____ Thorn sighed and glanced up at the cab above him. It’d been around a half-hour now and he hadn’t heard much of anything. It ate away at him, uncertainty. Those people up there were his responsibility. No, they could take care of themselves. ____ Header sat on one of the steel support beams by the stairs, smoking away as his partner paced around. He blew out a steady stream of smoke and sighed, “Yer bein’ antsy, kid. What’s eatin’ at you?” ____ “Just a bit nervous. Can’t help it.” Thorn replied. ____ The Sergeant offered him the cig, “Sit down. Take a drag?” ____ Thorn sat next to him but declined the latter, “No thanks. Don’t smoke.” ____ “Ah, of course you don’t. Too perfect, yeah?” ____ “Yeah. Sorry about that.” ____ Header chuckled, “Don’t sweat it, kid. Couldn’t ask to be stranded with anyone better, partner.” ____ “Yeah, same to you, partner…” Thorn glanced at his superior officer. He could still see a corner of that printed picture sticking out of the Sergeant’s pocket. It got him thinking, “Y’know, Header… You know my stake in all this.” ____ “Yup, same stake as always.” ____ “Well, I mean you’re pretty old for a soldier.” Thorn theorized. ____ “Hey, hey, I ain’t old!” ____ “My point is, why’d you stick around? Really, you’re about as old as they’ll let you be on tours. You could’ve gone home plenty of times.” ____ Header stared out toward the horizon, breathing smoke out calmly. In the farthest of distances by the gradually setting sun he could make out the smoky streaks of missiles flying through the air, arcing high into the sky before going back down to earth. He wondered what was going on out there, who was firing at what and why, a lone soldier cut off from the rest of the battalion. He took another swig of smoke and exhaled slowly, “I dunno, kid. I just do what I do. I guess I stick with the service ‘cause it’s the only thing I’ve ever been good at.” ____ That reasoning Thorn could certainly understand, “So what’re you gonna do if all this zombie sh*t does get resolved?” ____ “I don’t know, kid.” Header glanced over at him, “What’re you gonna do if all this Silvin sh*t gets resolved?” ____ “I don’t know… touché.” ____ “Guess we’re just two guys with guns and no lives to live.” Header frowned at the sight of his depleted cigarette, flicking the lonely butt down to the ground below, “But in your case, a bit of advice from an old man doing this too long: Live.” ____ “Heh, noted. If I can.” Thorn smiled, “And I thought you said you weren’t old.” ____ “Listening to your bullsh*t aged me enough to qualify.” ____ “Oh shut up!” Thorn laughed, hearing Miles shouting something above and perking up, “Is that results I hear?” ____ Header leapt to his feet, beginning to ascend the stairwell, “Let’s find out.” ____ “Got it, got it!” Miles exclaimed, twisting random dials on the oversized machine. He was no expert—none of them were—it seemed like Reed merely didn’t know how to turn the radio on. But there was no reason to tell anyone that when he himself had been fiddling with it for thirty minutes. Shared inexperience with Jaxson and David made that fact less humiliating. ____ Sound waves cried wildly as Miles fiddled with the dials, up then down with each twist of the knob. Nothing useful. ____ “Get out of the way, you idiot!” Thomas rushed over once the radio was on, moving Miles aside and assuming a pair of headphones as he tried to get a signal, any signal. Nothing, static, a faded prerecorded voice, nothing again… ____ “There’s got to be something!” Jaxson said, everyone quickly gathering around as Thomas tried to get any contact. ____ “On it, on it…” Thomas grumbled, tapping the clunky microphone by the machine, “Hello? Anyone there?” ____ Thorn and Header quickly arrived, the Sergeant tapping on the screen door, “Did you get it working?” ____ Stacey hurried over and opened the door for them. Immediately Reed leapt to the defense of his little tower cabin, “Hey! I said no army guys!” ____ Not hidden or with a gun leveled at them he seemed far more trivial, Stacey brushing his complaints off without a second thought, “It’s important. Over here.” ____ Header quickly took Thomas’ place, “Get out of the way, you idiot!” ____ Both the headphones and radio spat out more white noise as the Sergeant worked. It was a far-flung hope, reaching out for communication. ____ “This is Sgt. Brysen Header of the United States Armed Forces. Contact… Mayday… Over?” The Sergeant repeated over and over. ____ Kshshshsh…! Static. Static… Header carefully tuned one of the knobs and continued speaking. ____ Quite suddenly a voice came back. Female, monotone, but not prerecorded. ____ “Sixty-six, twenty-four, one. Relayed. Nazar will get back to you…” ____ Header jumped at the voice, grasping the microphone tightly as he replied, “‘Nazar’? This is Sgt. Brysen Header, do you copy? Hello?” ____ Miraculously the voice replied, “Yes? I read you. You’re coming in weak, sir. Over.” ____ “You said Nazar. Is this VACC?!” ____ “This is a public emergency signal. But yes. You know Nazar, over?” ____ Header nodded despite the audio-only nature of the conversation, “Yes, yes! Put him on, over!” ____ Nobody dared to say anything, listening intently to the conversation. Reed stood in the corner pouting, arms crossed at the lot of them. ____ After a few seconds of silence a familiar voice came to the mic: “You’re coming in fuzzy, Sergeant. Where the hell are you?” ____ “We crashed an’ zombies chased us west.” Header hastily explained, “We’ve been trying to find VACC for a week now, over.” ____ “Who didn’t make it?” Nazar asked in an extremely to-the-point manner. ____ “Cecil and George, over.” ____ “What? I’m not hearing you, Sergeant. Are you reading me?” ____ Header scowled, grumbling curses and he continued trying to make the old radio work, “I read you Nazar, over! Damn! Can’t you hear me?!” ____ “Make it work, Header!” David scolded. ____ Nazar continued, “Sergeant? Sergeant! You’re not coming through. Listen, if you can hear me, come to VACC. The coordinates are 88.58 west, 42.02 north. Get here now. I repeat…” ____ “Sh*t!” Header turned to Thorn, “Pen, paper, map, now!” ____ The Corporal scrambled, tearing the place apart rapidly and returning with a mechanical pencil and a torn scrap of paper. The table in the center of the room had a map of the area on it, Stacey grabbing it and rushing it to Header’s side. ____ The Sergeant read off his list of favorite curses as he tried to get the mechanical pencil to write, the old tool short on lead. Scribbling madly, he wrote down the listed coordinates and cross-examined them with the map. He located it and drew an X, drawing a line between it and the red “you are here” dot in the center. ____ “Hot damn!” He exclaimed, throwing down the mechanical pencil triumphantly and leaning back in his chair, “Boys and girls, we are back in business!” ____ “Woot.” Miles said. ____ Thomas knew better, scoffing at the notion of premature celebration, “We can relax when we actually make it there.” ____ “If you make it there.” Reed interjected, peering out one of the windows, “I see movement in the woods. You all got what you wanted, now get out of my hair. Sh*t!” ____ He raised his rifle, aimed down, and fired. The deafening shot pounded the walls of the cabin and assaulted everyone’s eardrums. BANG! ____ “Hell!” Jaxson covered his ears, “Okay, okay, we’re going!” ____ Header hastily folded up the map and pocketed it. Brooke picked up her guitar case and headed for the door, the first to reach it. Reed stepped in her way and slammed the door shut, blocking the exit. ____ “Don’t!” He ordered, “Get back! There’s twitchies down there!” ____ The sound of fast feet ascending the stairs below them was followed by a shrill shriek. Almost immediately an Initiated climbed up to the platform, running to the door and beginning to pound on it with unbelievable speed. Like fast-forwarded knocking: bangbangbangbangbang!! ____ Reed struggled to hold the door shut, the screen beginning to get bloody as the monster tore its hands apart pounding the door with so little self-preservation. Thomas ran over, loading his pistol and aiming right past Reed’s head. The firearm’s barrel lined right up to the Initiated’s face, the shot following piercing it right between its glowing eyes. Bang!! ____ Reed flinched as the weapon discharged right by his ear, splattering the fast zombie’s head. He released the door and grabbed his rifle, looking around the room for something to bar the door with. ____ “No! Keep that open!” Header ordered, “If there are zombies coming, it’s better to kill ‘em on the stairs.” ____ “Damn you!” Reed snapped, following him out onto the platform and looking down to the woods below. Already more zombies were closing in. The man cursed and aimed his rifle, “Look at all the zombies you brought with you!” ____ Thomas followed the two outside, figuring that he’d be needed. He quickly tried to replace the bullet spent on the Initiated. There’d be plenty more where that came from, after all. ____ He glanced at Reed, “I bet if you ran for it, you might be able to get out in time.” ____ Reed didn’t look happy with them but still refused, “No… no use in running now. You guys probably need all the help you can get.” ____ There you go, tough guy. Got a heart after all. Thomas grimly thought. ____ Header quickly took charge of the situation, “Al’ight Thomas, Miles, you two cover the stairs. Corporal, better help them with that. Who else got a weapon?” ____ “I’ve got a knife.” Stacey offered. ____ “Good. C’mere.” The Sergeant ordered, “Stay by them stairs and stab anything that gets too close. Last resort. Me, I’ll try to pick off the fast ones as they come. Why don’t you help me with that, uh, what’s your name?” ____ “It’s Reed—Reed Tandom—and don’t order me around!” Reed said. ____ Header laughed, quite startling to everyone, “Ha! You said it was Tandom?” ____ “What of it?” ____ “Are you in fact related to General Tandom? The big general?” ____ Reed scowled, “None of your goddamned business! Now what is it you wanted from me?” ____ “Right. Try to shoot those speedy zombies, will ya? You got the rifle for it.” ____ Reed nodded and peered over the edge, firing not soon after. Thomas and Miles went to the stairs and descended, giving themselves plenty of room to back up. Stacey remained at the top, waiting nervously with knife in hand. ____ “Remember, first two people to come up are humans.” Miles told her. ____ “Don’t worry!” ____ Thorn followed them, calling out to David first and handing him a combat knife, “Here. Help Stacey if things get overwhelming.” ____ David took the blade, looking uncertain, “Uh, I’ll try.” ____ “Try away.” ____ The Corporal caught up to Thomas and Miles, aiming his M4 down the stairwell. Already the undead were coming out of the woodwork, zombies emerging from between the trees around them. Slow-moving waves of them, the sluggish zombies coming out in large numbers. Weeks of being evaded instead of shot enabled them to form bigger and bigger masses over time. The good news was that their numbers wouldn’t count for much all crammed together on the steps. ____ Bang!! Another Initiated ran out into the open only for its head to burst open, shot dead. Header and Reed patrolled the platform above, taking any shots they could find on the faster undead. They had barely survived their first encounter with the Initiated, so seeing each one killed made Thomas feel warm and fuzzy inside. ____ Unfortunately two men could only cover so much. The last of the Initiated made it to the tower, ascending the stairs rapidly. Their constantly-twitching bodies looked very unnatural as they moved up the steps, with all the grace of a person suffering a seizure trying to climb stairs. That didn’t seem to slow them down though. Thomas grimaced as they neared. Time to see if you’ve improved your aim. ____ Miles was the first to shoot, missing the nearest monster’s head and striking its shoulder. Unfortunately this made the Initiated flinch, its recoiling head causing Thorn’s well placed shot to miss. Thomas waited for it to recover, aiming as best he could and managing to shoot it right through the nose. ____ The monster collapsed, still twitching. The other zombies were quick to take its place, their clustered clambering pushing the corpse off the stairs. ____ Thomas didn’t have much time to celebrate his hit, firing more shots at the undead coming toward him. Suddenly the idea of making those fifteen bullets last was ludicrous and quickly forgotten. His best hope was that a single bullet might manage to pierce multiple zombie skulls, but given the uneven footing of the steps it wasn’t a likely prospect. He fired, hit some, missed others, left a handful of the creatures wounded. It was over in less than a minute. ____ “Damn!” Thomas cursed, his gun quickly running dry. How could he be out so quickly? Miles beside him was still shooting. If he had run out of shots he had reloaded already. Lucky to have extra magazines. ____ Thorn was also still firing away. Each of his shots were calculated and accurate, the Corporal firing consistently every second. Thomas had always wondered why Thorn never used the weapon’s full-auto mode—it was a machine gun after all—but the guy never seemed to miss, so maybe spraying bullets was just a waste to him. He was far too controlled to burn ammo like that. ____ Thomas couldn’t help but feel a tad jealous of the two, or perhaps unimpressed with himself, backing away from the fight and hastily trying to cram more bullets into his weapon’s magazine. The nearing groans of the undead made his hands shake while his back was turned, clumsy not a good way to be in while trying to reload. The bullets refused to cram into their new home, stubborn like spoiled children. He pried them until they fit. ____ “Reloading!” Thorn alerted, “Hurry it up, Thomas!” ____ The second Miles was the only one still firing the zombies surged forward, quickly gaining more ground as they sieged the stairwell. Miles kept shooting back, but panic was starting to worsen his aim. ____ “Come on, man!” He shouted urgently. ____ “Hold at least one of your damn horses!” Thomas retorted. ____ Mag finally full, he loaded the pistol and rejoined the others. Immediately he had plenty of targets to choose from. By now most of the mass of zombies had made it to the tower, several of them worming their way up the steps. The other ones crowded around directly beneath the tower cabin, as if they knew where the living were but had no grasp of height. ____ No time to worry about that, though. Thomas took aim at the undead in the very front of the stairwell, zombies pressed tightly together making it hard to miss. Not impossible, but hard. He wasted no time in squeezing the trigger. ____ Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! ____ More undead fell, more took their places. Limp bodies fell from the stairs, toppling over railing or slipping beneath it. ____ “Back up, back up!” Thorn commanded, starting to slowly make his retreat, firing into the advancing undead all the while. ____ “Damn, damn, damn!” Thomas cursed, already out of bullets again. He backed up the steps, struggling to reload his pistol while moving. The zombies had sustained numerous losses, a rain of bullets slowing their ascent up the stairs. However, with nowhere for the survivors to flee to, the slow zombies had numbers to spare, bunching up together as they swarmed around the tower. ____ The trio quickly fled up the steps, the undead in hot pursuit. An Initiated wormed its way out of the mass of zombies and tore up the stairwell after them. The monster covered a lot more ground than their measly human legs ever could, racing up and seizing Thorn by the boot. ____ “Ah!” The Corporal fell, twisting and attempting to shoot his attacker, firing a bit too early and missing the creature entirely. Clawing wildly and screaming incessantly, the Initiated clambered on top of him. It tore at his armor and bit down into his rifle as he struggled to hold the beast off with it. ____ Stacey lunged out from beneath the platform’s railing, cramming her knife into the Initiated’s neck, “I’ve got you!” ____ She could see a rare glint of fear in the Corporal’s typically calm eyes. The Initiated spasmed on top of him, refusing to die. Stacey yanked the knife out and kept on stabbing, the monster finally keeling over and going limp. ____ Thorn kicked the thing over, scrambling to his feet and backing off. He nodded his thanks, breathing heavily, “Thanks a million Stacey.” ____ “Yeah.” She said, a little shaken herself. ____ There wasn’t much time to chat. More undead were coming. Like ants ascending their hill, the zombies slowly clambered up toward the tower platform. Thomas hastily reloaded, Header coming over to assist. After only a few seconds gunfire tore the air apart. Zombies were relieved of their brains, their limp corpses falling nearly three stories to the ground below. ____ Reed glanced down at the crowded stairwell below his tower, his rifle not of much use against such numbers. He frowned and frowned some more, unable to express his displeasure more than that. Just how many zombies had they rounded up coming here? Should’ve sent these people on their way. No, that wasn’t the right thing to do. Too nice, too nice… ____ Brooke exited the cabin, Gene following, morbidly curious. She peered over the edge, biting her lip at the sight of all the undead below. They couldn’t have finally tracked down VACC’s location just to be stranded and eaten here. She’d admit she didn’t know much about guns, but she did know that the armed members of the group didn’t have enough to eliminate all these zombies. They had to get out. ____ “We need a way out of here.” She stated simply. ____ Reed shrugged, “If there was a way, lass, we’d have taken it already.” ____ “Well…” Gene said, scratching the side of his head. If he was concerned about being eaten, he didn’t show it, “I’m all ears on any suggestions.” ____ Brooke looked around the platform, looking desperately for a way out, “Think girl, think… Damn!” ____ The armed ones were by the stairs, Stacey and David right next to them. They certainly had their hands full: firing, reloading, stabbing, kicking. There was no going down that way. Had to be another possibility. ____ Brooke returned to the cab, tearing the place apart looking for options. Abbey and Jaxson just watched her, paralyzed with uncertainty. The room was plenty messy already, no shortage of junk to root through. But that only left more potential options to find… ____ “What are you thinking?” Gene inquired. ____ “I’m thinking I have an idea.” What could happen next? Only time will tell! ~TAF TAF was the Storyteller... in THE ENEMY'S LAST RETREAT Last edited by TheAverageFan; March 17th, 2022 at 03:30 AM. |
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Chapter 10
Hello again, everyone! As promised I am back with the tenth chapter of MHW. The first for the first week of the new year!! Last time there was a bit of a cliffhanger, and this is another longer chapters, so let's get right to it, yes? Chapter 10:
Spoiler Alert!
10 Fear ____ Things could be better. They could be worse, yes, but they could still be better. Be it too much fleeing over fighting or bad timing or just bad luck, a small army of zombies had them cornered up here on this tower, no way out in sight. But they had just acquired the coordinates that would lead them to VACC. Brooke wasn’t willing to let them go out on a low note when there was still hope. ____ “Aha! This!” Brooke said as her rummaging managed to uncover some cables. Tightly wound, thin and strong. She didn’t know what they were there for, what any of the junk in here was for. But just maybe this would work… ____ “Let’s get out of here.” Brooke explained to the others’ curious glances, “Maybe we can use this to rappel down?” ____ Jaxson didn’t buy it, “Things down there aren’t exactly much better than they are up here. You’d be surrounded the second your feet touched the ground.” ____ “But…” Brooke thought about it, “As long as there’s no sprinters left, we’d have a better chance running for it. We just need to get out of here alive.” ____ Abbey spoke up, “Just don’t go straight down. Make a zipline or something.” ____ They potentially had the means to do it, these lengths of cables. While the gun-toting survivors scrambled to hold off the incoming undead, Brooke and the others would find a long term solution to the problem. Namely one where they got out of this alive. ____ Brooke exited the cabin and began looking for anchor points, opting to fasten one end of the cable to the railing. Reed came over and helped her, expertly tying it into a double knot. ____ It was thankfully sturdy, with plenty of extra cable to spare. With a bit of luck, it might just work as a zipline. They could figure out the finer details later. For now they just needed to make sure the other end could make it to an anchor point of its own down there. And that’d require one very brave or very foolish person. ____ “Well.” Gene said as he eyed the lonely bundle of cable, “Any volunteers?” ____ Everyone immediately looked at Jaxson, be it in direct stares or subconsciously out of the corner of their eyes. Intentional or not, the message was clear. ____ Jaxson backed off a bit, “No no no, why me?” ____ “Come on, you’re the fastest. It’s no contest.” Brooke goaded, “Please?” ____ “Pretty please?” Gene added. ____ Jaxson sighed and rubbed the sides of his head in a rushed attempt to be therapeutic. He had a feeling it would come to this, his obvious talents a curse of responsibility when it came to fast distractions. But it was true: no one else was a better choice. He was their best chance of getting out of here. ____ “Okay, fine.” Sucking it up, he walked to the edge and grabbed the cable, tossing it over and preparing to rappel down. ____ Peering over the edge, he saw the many zombies clustered below. The other end of the cable dangled loosely near the side of the undead crowd. Not nearly far enough away from the creatures to give any comfort. But it had to be done. ____ “You all owe me big time if I live!” Jaxson said, nervously climbing over the edge of the platform and carefully beginning to make his descent. ____ “Of course!” Brooke promised. ____ “I’ll give you all the cash in my wallet!” Gene added. ____ Jaxson grumbled to himself and ignored them. The cable bit at his hands as he slowly slid down. Comfort was the least of his worries though. The closer he got to the ground, however gradually, the more zombies began to catch on to his location and crowd around the spot below him. ____ “Okay, okay…” Jaxson muttered to himself, looking down at the monsters. Clutching the cable between his legs and holding on with one arm, he carefully began to pull the remaining length of the cord up to him. It was difficult and acrobatic work, holding himself up while he gathered the rest of the cable. The gunshots above him were distracting and the moans and groans of the zombies were disconcerting to say the least. But he worked through the nerves. ____ Now for the hard part. Starting slowly, he began moving back and forth, swinging to and fro. The cord was stiff and didn’t sway much, but he kept at it. Everyone watched him from above with morbid hope. ____ “What’s he doing?” Reed asked. ____ “If I had to guess, making sure he doesn’t land on any zombies.” Brooke figured. ____ Back and forth, back and forth, Jaxson just stuck to it. After a while he had picked up quite an arc of a swing, the sluggish zombies below lazily moving in place as they tried to keep up with him. ____ “Okay, okay, okay…” Jaxson quietly told himself, consolation as he determined the right distance to jump. Hesitation was always a good way to come in last place—he couldn’t take too long judging it. Finally he saw his window, reminding himself audibly, “Now!” ____ Grasping the remaining cable, he let go on the last swing and jumped to the ground below. He hit the earth hard but had to time to gather himself from the impact, racing to a tree not too far from the tower. It had many sturdy branches that would do just fine: a perfect place to zipline to and escape. It’d certainly be easier to escape the zombies there than it would be from atop the lookout building. ____ He didn’t have much time. The zombies were already onto him, several of the monsters splitting off from the main crowd swarming the tower and heading after him. Luckily all the runners had made their ascent up the stairs, not his problem. Jaxson shouldered the cable and dashed away from the monsters, quickly making it to the tree and beginning to climb up. ____ Unfortunately there was still one zombie left in the crowd who was a match for his speed, a lone Initiated screeching deafeningly as it sprinted after him. Jaxson was only one branch up before the creature caught up to him, its cold bony hands clambering at his shoes. ____ “Ah! Sh*t!” Jaxson looked down at it, kicking clumsily at its face. The Initiated’s head twitched wildly, jaws opening and closing like a chattering teeth toy, hard to tell if it was really flinching. And if he couldn’t tell if his kicks were effective, they probably weren’t. ____ The Initiated clambered up the tree as it yanked at him, trying to pry him down. Jaxson shouted and struggled, narrowly evading its rapid-fire bites. Behind the crazed monster he could see more shambling zombies slowly coming toward him. Quickly becoming more panicked, Jaxson just kept kicking fruitlessly, shouting curses to himself and hoping one of the monster’s infected teeth didn’t puncture his shoes. ____ BANG! Just in the nick of time, a well placed liberating shot came from Reed’s rifle, splattering the Initiated’s head and causing the creature to drop dead. Jaxson merely stared in thanks and snapped out of it. He knew what to do to really help. ____ The cable was stiff and unwieldy, but Jaxson did his best to fasten it to one of the studier branches of the tree. It was a perfect plant, its arms high up and numerous, with plenty of places to drop down and evade the undead from. The monsters could barely manage the stairs: hopefully they weren’t good tree climbers. Hope wasn’t much, but it would have to do. ____ “I’ve got it!” He shouted once the job was done, doing the best he could to ensure the cable was secure. If both ends weren’t just right it wouldn’t work. ____ “Okay, we’re in business!” Gene said, looking to the others as he neared the taut cable leading down, “Shall I test it out for us?” ____ “Test away.” Brooke approved. ____ “Alright. Here goes… Geronimo!” Gene exclaimed, holding onto the cable and climbing over the tower’s handrail. He awkwardly held onto the rope, clutching it with his hands and then his legs, and began inelegantly inching his way across, not daring to play it any riskier than that, “Okay. I’m going… I’m going…” ____ Sure enough, the cable held, Gene slowly but surely making his way down to the tree below. He was no gymnast, taking almost five minutes to scoot his way down, but he made it without falling prey to the zombies or gravity. It worked. ____ Gene struggled to reach the tree branch as he finished his descent and fell to the ground below, Jaxson helping him up. ____ “It works!” Brooke lit up, “Let’s get out of here! Abbey, you go next. I’ll get everyone else.” ____ Abbey just stared wide-eyed at the long way down but didn’t complain, climbing over the edge and carefully clutching the cable with the same inexperience as the one before her. Okay, you can do this. Just hang on for dear life and take as long as you need to. ____ Things were beginning to look up from one end of the tower cabin, which was good because they were beginning to look pretty dour on the other side by the stairs. The armed members of the group had been shooting and shooting, but the undead just kept on coming. Thomas backed off and grimaced at the situation, struggling to cram more bullets into his weapon. ____ It was a shooting gallery down there, fish in a barrel. But he’d spent a lot more time reloading than shooting. Gradually the endless masses of the undead were gaining more ground. They were just about at the platform itself. Stacey and David had their hands full now, stabbing at whatever they could as reach from behind the rail. ____ Thomas’ hand slipped, letting a handful of precious bullets fall to the ground. He cursed and backed up, stooping down and trying to pick them up as fast as he could. Brooke almost tripped over him as she raced around the corner. ____ “Thomas!” ____ He scowled, “What are you doing?! Get back in the cabin! Start barricading sh*t!” ____ “Forget about that!” She shouted, talking to everyone present, “Jaxson rappelled down and made a zipline! We can get out of here!” ____ “Y’all git goin’ then!” Header ordered, “We’ll hold ‘em off! Go!” ____ While they talked the zombies pushed further, some already beginning to spill out onto the tower platform. ____ Reed stopped to shoot two zombies before turning to make his leave, “Move it! Host first!” ____ He ran to the cable, slinging his rifle over it and sliding down quickly. He was gone, everyone still up atop the tower now down a gun. ____ “Let’s go!” Brooke snapped at Thomas, “Stacey! David!” ____ Thomas scrambled to his feet, leaving the spilt bullets behind as he made his hasty retreat. Brooke pointed to the cable fastened to the rail, “There! Just hold on and make your way down.” ____ BANG! Reed fired from the tree below, killing a curious zombie as it broke away from the others and began heading toward him. The man scowled and looked back up to the tower, “The longer y’all take the worse this’ll get! Move it!” ____ “I’m going!” Thomas shouted back, beginning to climb over the rail. ____ “Wait!” Brooke said, stopping him. She slung her guitar case off her shoulder and set it down. ____ Thomas stared at it, figuring it out before she could say it, “What? No!” ____ “Please!” She insisted, “I wouldn’t be able to make it down while carrying it!” ____ “Then leave it! I ain’t carrying it!” ____ “I can’t! It’s precious to me!” ____ “I’m not falling to my death because it’s ‘precious’!” Thomas refuted. ____ “Please!” She repeated, “This escape route was my idea! You owe me! Please please please please!” ____ “Argh!” Thomas couldn’t believe himself as he picked the unwieldy thing up. It was heavy and awkward, especially while one was trying to climb over an edge and hold onto a cable thirty feet in the air. But he did it. For some insane reason he’d probably never know he did it. ____ Thomas clutched the line. It was taut and uncomfortable to his hands and legs, digging into him as the guitar on his back yanked at him. Thomas craned his neck and looked below him once, staring skyward and not daring to look back down again as he inched across at a snail’s pace. ____ “Damn damn damn damn…” He muttered, words the only solace he could conjure up. His hands nearly slipped, Thomas plenty sweaty-palmed after the near-death encounter with the zombies. He gripped the cable twice as hard and moved half as fast, “Damn damn damn damn damn damn damn…!” ____ “Thank you!” Brooke praised, not far behind him. ____ Thomas made his way, struggling the whole time. The second the tree was in reach and the ground wasn’t so far down he released the cable and just fell down. It was a hard landing but the pain was no match for the wonderful feeling of the guitar case strap easing up on his shoulder and torso. It wasn’t trying to tear him in half anymore. ____ “Ugh, finally. I’m never doing that again.” He breathed heavy breaths of relief, not wanting to get up. ____ BANG! Reed’s rifle fired off again, loud and violating to his desired rest. Reed neared Thomas and kicked his leg, “Get up! We gotta hold them off until the others get down! You still got bullets, don’t you!?” ____ Thomas just kept breathing, wanting to lie there and keep his eyes closed as long as possible, “I’m sorry, didn’t you say you were a loner or something? Why don’t you split already?” ____ Reed scowled, “Dammit! You and your pals led these freaks here! I had a good fortified spot for one person, as long as nobody marched a goddamned zombie army to my front door like y’all did! My stuff is still up there!” ____ “You mean your potato chips?” ____ “Shut up! You all owe me double for this, so I demand your protection!” ____ “Whatever.” Thomas said, ignoring him. He figured if he was really needed the others would speak up. Alone Reed’s complaints didn’t make for a good reason to get up and were easy to phase out of mind. What wasn’t easy to ignore was Brooke making it down the zipline and reaching for the tree branch only to slip and fall on top of him. ____ “Ow!” She said, clambering off of him and dusting herself off. ____ “Oof! Oh God…” Thomas gasped, pushing her off and hastily removing the guitar case. He carelessly shoved it away in her direction, “Just take it!” ____ She accepted the instrument joyously. For a while back there she had been legitimately concerned about being forced to leave it. Thomas helping it endure all this was a welcome surprise, “Thank you, Thomas! I really mean that.” ____ “Damn you…!” ____ “Serves you right.” Reed muttered, aiming and firing again. Gradually more and more zombies were beginning to depart from their post beneath the tower and beginning to move towards the survivors. And yet still more remained by the building. Why? Reed grit his teeth in frustration, “What’s taking them so long up there? Why ain’t they come down yet?” ____ Jaxson bit his lip, sharing equal concerns, “I don’t know. I’ve got a bad feeling.” ____ Thorn backed up, firing away: Bangbangbangbangbangbangbangbang! ____ He had switched his M4 to full-auto fire, spraying lead into the zombies as they continued to fan out. A sudden surge of the undead monsters had come at just the wrong time, the beasts no longer confined to the cramped stairwell. Precision wasn’t an issue anymore. All that mattered now was making sure the civvies would go untouched. ____ “Watch out!!” He ordered, shooting the legs out of two runners as they closed in on Stacey and David. Click! His carbine ceased to function after just the two bullets, however. Sh*t! Thorn backed up, feeling for ammo but finding none. He was actually out of bullets for good. Now he was no different than the civvies. Zombies closed in on him too. ____ A shot zombie collapsed, knocking Stacey over. Another snagged at David’s shoe and brought him down. He shouted in panic and scrambled to fend off the attackers. No! The escape cable was only a few feet away! ____ “David!” Stacey leaned over and began stabbing the zombie David was grappling with. Its twisting flesh wrenched the knife out of her hands and another monster came reaching for her. ____ Bang! Bang bang! Miles turned and shot the zombies as they closed in on the two. He stumbled over, struggling to keep his aim straight as he tried to help them up. Thorn was out of ammo by the looks of it. Header was covering him right now, precise M16 fire only having a limited effect on such numbers. It was a mess up here. It looked like the civvies would have to take care of themselves right now. ____ “Help!” David shouted, struggling to push the limp zombie corpse off of him. Miles’ awkward aim wasn’t much assistance in eliminating all the zombies, another of the monsters grabbing David by the leg and opening wide. They were all being gradually overwhelmed, every undead grabbing hand or widening jaw instantly replaceable. He kicked it away and stabbed another as it crawled toward him. ____ Who cared if you were too old or too tired for this sh*t? This was no way for a man like him to die. He had a life waiting for him back home. So get up or don’t! If they just wasted time tripping over each other in an endless cycle of assistance nobody would make it out of here. ____ “Watch out!” Stacey cried, clambering to her feet as more zombies closed in. ____ Miles rushed to her aid, struggling to reload and simply dropping the pistol in his panic. He instead just opted to grab her and pull her away toward the zipline, Stacey picking up the gun and firing at the nearing zombies. Bang bang bang bang! ____ She surprisingly dropped several of the enemies even in her hasty, panicked fire—terror making her a better shot than a worse one. David ducked down low to avoid being shot, just trying to crawl his way out of the madness and reach the escape. ____ “Watch where you’re shooting!” He scolded, stopping to kick a crawling zombie away. Another merely took its place by his side as he struggled, unhesitatingly leaning down and biting his arm, “Argh!!” ____ As if to compound on the one slip-up, another zombie stumbled over and stooped down, biting his leg. And more were coming, their numbers allowing them to advance unpunished. ____ “Sh*t!” Header just kept firing, his M16 having continuously less effect all on its own. Now it was his turn to have bad luck, the weapon jamming as he aimed to assist David, “Sh*t! Everyone get down!” ____ “Noted!” Thorn punched a zombie away and made a hasty retreat to the zipline diving to the floor as he did so. ____ Sgt. Header reached back and quickly grabbed his AA12, aiming the weapon at the hordes around him and firing without hesitation. ____ Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom!! ____ Full-auto shotgun fire leveled the entire platform, each shot tearing through zombie bodies and knocking them down in droves. ____ It cleared all the undead around them, the Sergeant facing the stairs and continuing to fire away with the weapon, keeping further zombies at bay. ____ Unfortunately while the shotgun had torn many of the zombies asunder it hadn’t killed them all, several of the monsters simply struggling to crawl after their prey. They were slow, but they were still coming nonetheless. ____ “David!” Stacey shouted as the crawlers neared him. ____ “Oh God…” David muttered, wincing from the pain as blood oozed from the wounds, “This wasn’t supposed to happen! Don’t let them eat me!” ____ Miles and Stacey merely stared, having no clue what to do under the pressure of the moment. Unable to help but unable to merely turn their backs on him and escape. David stared back at them, “Do something!” ____ Thorn got back to his feet and pointed to the zipline, “Get out of here, you two!” ____ “But…” ____ “GO!” The Corporal ran to David’s side and kicked at any zombies that got too close. Miles and Stacey gave him one last look before obeying the command, carefully grabbing onto the cable and making their slow escape, leaving David’s fate in Thorn’s more capable hands. ____ “14, 15, 16…” Header counted with every shot of his weapon. He backed up and nodded to Thorn when the two civvies were gone, “You get goin’ too! Move it!” ____ “Aye sir.” Thorn pulled David away from the few remaining crawling zombies. He propped him up against the cabin wall and, merely nodding at that, retreated down the cable. ____ “Wait for me…!” David reached after him. It was too surreal, one slip up and everyone suddenly leaving him for dead. He glanced at the Sergeant, the only company left, “Do something!” ____ “19, 20!” Header finished, the AA12 immediately ceasing its fire as he did so. He reloaded the weapon and put it away, going over to David and beginning to unjam his M16, “It’s gonna be okay, David. You ain’t getting eaten under my watch!” ____ David wasn’t pleased, “I’m bit, Header! Do something! You’ve gotta do something! Isn’t there anything? I don’t feel ill, so you can do something, right? Tell me something good!” ____ Header knew he didn’t have any time to waste, more zombies probably already on their way up. Good thing this was hardly a waste of time. He stooped down next to David, “Where you live? Before?” ____ “What? Northwestern Arkansas. In goddamned Mimal’s asshole!” ____ “Good.” Header said, “That’s pretty rural. I’d say your family’s pretty safe. Might not be any zombies around there at all right now.” ____ “You think so?” Although there was a touch of sarcasm and disbelief in his tone, the thought still seemed to distract David a little bit from the pain. ____ “Yeah. Zombies is fast as hell in the cities. But it’ll take ‘em a lot longer to reach everywhere else. That’s really the best place to be right now. I reckon they’re gonna be all right.” ____ “Oh, God… You really think so?” ____ “Yeah, I really do.” ____ David sighed—half-tired and half-relief—and leaned back, closing his eyes. The second he shut his eyelids Header immediately raised his rifle and shot him through the head. B-B-Bang! ____ He was dead instantly, life taken before the noise even reached his unknowing ears. Header let out a sigh of his own. Dammit. More zombies were coming. David was a goner either way. Best he could do was give the man a glimmer of hope and take his life quickly before the undead ate him alive. Best he could do was ensure it was a deed no one else had been forced to do. ____ Grunting, the Sergeant laid David down and retrieved Thorn’s loaned knife from him. That was the most he could do for him, quickly getting back to his feet and racing to the zipline. He slung his M16 over the cable and leapt off, holding the gun tight. ____ The rope tore at the rifle, stuck between its grip and its magazine, taking Header down to the others below. The tree came up fast, the Sergeant releasing the cable at the last second and hitting the ground rolling. Not a second to waste, he got up and pointed toward the woods, “We’re out! Let’s move it!” ____ “David?” Abbey asked. ____ “I said move it!” Header wasted no time leading the way. Now that there were no more living humans at the tower, every zombie there was beginning to follow them. ____ Abbey watched him go, looking genuinely frightened. Her gaze went to Miles for comfort, but he didn’t seem so shocked at the revelation of David’s death, merely silent and avoiding eye contact. They weren’t that close, Miles and her, but all of a sudden the two of them were the last living members of Cecil’s group. The only ones left to recall any shared experiences between just the six of them. How much longer until the same began to happen to this group? ____ The Sergeant was right, however. There was no time to waste. The zombies were still closing in. They had somewhere to run to now, so they had better get on with it. Header had seen the road when they’d entered this valley, he had a map and directions to VACC. And by God he was going to see to it that they made it there in one damned piece. ____ Everybody scrambled to their feet and made haste. With zombies at their heels the whole way. They were no longer trapped, but the danger was far from over. It was time for more running and gunning. One member gained, one lost, and the same old running. ____ Hours passed in quick movement, rolling clouds taking up the sky as the daylight waned. Everyone stayed on the move and didn’t look back. As the sun set rain began to fall, dripping down from the trees above. Even in the last minutes of daylight nobody dared stop to rest. Gradually the zombies were left behind, slowly but surely. Still the effects of their pursuit could be felt even in their absence. They were out there, and stopping to rest without putting a great distance between them was suicide. ____ It was close to midnight and pouring rain before the last traces of the zombies behind them were gone. The forest waned, giving way to a road and an empty town. A stray zombified dog meandered around the street, water and blood dripping from its matted fur. Header stopped to quickly shoot it before walking across the road, keeping his eyes peeled. The Sergeant approached a large dark building that towered over the other humble suburban structures. ____ “It’s a hotel.” He reported, yanking one of the doors open for the others. ____ One by one everyone else hurried over, moving as fast as they could to avoid the punishing torrent of rain. Generous puddles drenched their shoes, droplets scattering with every step. Even in the short sprint to the hotel, they were all soaking wet. And cold. And tired. And miserable. ____ “Ugh!” Stacey threw her arms down, flinging water from her fingertips. She shivered and looked about the dark lobby, “Never been so happy to be indoors. But does it have to be this creepy place?” ____ Thorn turned on his flashlight, illuminating a small portion of the area. Header briefly checked for zombies and nodded his approval at not finding any. He swiped some room keys from behind the old-fashioned check-in counter and tossed one to Stacey. ____ “Big place, strong lockable doors…” He explained. ____ “Dry too.” Gene added, quivering in his drenched dress shirt. ____ Header nodded, “Yep. It’s a good place to stay overnight. It’s safe. Corporal, you wanna check to see if we can get any power here?” ____ “Yeah, sure.” Thorn walked off fearlessly, knife drawn. ____ Thomas turned his phone flashlight on, frowning, “Well. They’ll have towels at least.” ____ “Yup yup yup.” Header tossed another room key to him, “Think three rooms should do it?” ____ “I guess.” Thomas caught the room key awkwardly in one hand, almost dropping it. Room 219. Luckily the lights came back on, fully illuminating the lobby. One of the elevators creaked open, alerting its proper functioning with a ding! ____ Thorn walked back into sight, grinning at the lights, “We’re in business, people. Looks like someone tried to save power before biting it. Going up?” ____ They had three rooms amongst them: Thomas, Thorn, Miles and Reed in one, Header, Gene and Jaxson, in another, and Brooke, Stacey, and Abbey in the third. Although they had the whole hotel to themselves, it was still probably best to stick together in at least smaller groups. That meant sharing beds but who cared at this point? There were beds. Showers and power too. Nothing worth complaining about. ____ Thomas exited the shower and slumped into a chair in the corner of the room, drying his hair with a towel. Thorn shed his vest and equipment, leaning his carbine on the wall and sitting on the bed. He picked up a remote and smiled at it, tossing it carelessly onto the carpet, “Whenever I came to a hotel as a kid, all I’d ever do would be to watch TV. Never wanted to go anywhere, see any sights while travelling. Simpler times.” ____ “I was quite the opposite.” Miles said, “Of course nowadays you won’t catch me complaining about staying indoors.” ____ “The globetrotting soldier just staying inside and watching TV? How against-type of you.” Thomas snarked. ____ “I’m just reminiscing, Thomas. My childhood’s just about all I’ve got.” Thorn said. ____ Reed scoffed, “Being in the military will do that to you. No future.” ____ The Corporal merely shrugged, “Yeah, well, bad news: nobody’s got much of a future now. ‘Sides, I got a gun out of it. Even if it is a little out of ammo at the moment.” ____ “Goodie, got a gun. Shoot shoot, bang bang! Ooh-rah and all that.” Reed dismissed. ____ “Four-out-of-ten: trying too hard.” Miles criticized flatly, “Besides, Thomas is our edgy guy. If you impede on his turf he might get mad.” ____ Thomas crossed his arms, called out, “Oh, shut up! I’m not ‘edgy’!” ____ “Uh oh, see what you did. Now he’s gonna quote Macbeth at us. 'Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him well...'” Miles joked, clearly enjoying himself. ____ Thomas suppressed the urge to correct him, knowing that doing so would only be taking the bait. Instead both him and Reed opted to grumble to themselves. ____ “Well, at any rate, it’s damn late. I’m exhausted. Let’s get some sleep.” Thorn walked to the light switch, glancing over his shoulder, “Are you coming to bed, Thomas?” ____ Thomas groaned and refused to leave his chair, “I think I’ll sleep here, thanks.” ____ The Corporal frowned, “If you’d like to sleep alone I can take the easy chair.” ____ “It’s not that. Don’t worry about me.” Thomas replied, “I just prefer to sleep like this. Got my chair, my footrest, real cozy.” ____ Miles sat up, “Do you not like beds?” ____ “Why do you say that? So what if I don’t?” ____ “You’re a clinophobe? Far out.” ____ Thomas scowled, “How do you even know what it is? Forget about it. It’s none of your business. Turn off the light. I’m tired.” ____ “Alright, alright.” Thorn relented, flipping the light switch, “Nighty-night, gents.” ____ With that the room was cast in complete darkness, only the sound of creaking mattresses and the rapping of rain on the windows left. It was punishing weather out there, but oddly smoothing to listen to, the full weight of the day’s exhaustion finally allowed to set in. Nobody denied it. There’d be no insomnia tonight. Everyone would get good sleep. Everyone except one of them. ____ An odd sound coming from the hall woke Stacey up. Her eyes opened wide, staring at the window as raindrops dripped down it. It was the last of the weather, the thick clouds parting to reveal the moon. Its strong white beams shone down to the dark earth below, big and bright. Had its presence awakened her? She had been sleeping on her side—for how long it was impossible to tell—her back to the door. Brooke and Abbey were still asleep. Stacey lay there, staring forward and blinking. The interruption had ensured she only got a few hours of sleep at most, yet she wasn’t drowsy. What woke her up? ____ Screee…! That noise. It was that. A faint low screeching sound, coming from the hall. It was like the sound of something heavy and metallic being dragged along the ground. Stacey didn’t have the faintest idea what it could be, but she could hear it again. It didn’t sound like a zombie. It didn’t sound like one of the others. What was it? ____ Whatever it was, Stacey didn’t like the sound of it, her mind rushing to all manners of fearful conclusions. Even if it wasn’t a zombie, fear of the unknown proved to be stronger. But it was late at night, when fear ruled all the other senses. Stacey tried to logic her way out of the anxiety. ____ It’s nothing. It’ll pass the door and keep going. She reasoned to herself, It’s probably nothing. Go back to sleep. You really need it. ____ The attempt to convince herself didn’t work. Finally the heavy dragging noise came to the door. It had been consistent in pausing for four or five seconds before repeating, but now it stopped entirely. Whatever it was, it was right outside the door. And it wasn’t going anywhere. ____ Its mere presence felt like spying eyes right at Stacey’s back. Still she refused to face the door, curling up and wishing for it to go away. She didn’t want to wake the others yet, self doubt and hesitation telling her she was overreacting or that her mind was playing tricks on her. After all, the door was locked and latched. And it’d been over twenty seconds without that noise again. Maybe it had gone— ____ BANG!!! Something slammed into the door loudly, its unexpectedness and volume making Stacey jump. After a few seconds whatever was on the other side rammed the door again. She refused to turn and face the door as the repeating sound continued, louder and louder each time. Her breaths quickened and her eyes widened as it persisted. ____ BANG!!! BANG!!! Another heavy ram came twice in quick succession, even louder than before. Stacey yelped and hid under the covers. It’s just a zombie. The door’s locked. It’s just a bad dream. It’ll go away eventually. Wake up, Brooke, Abbey! ____ Quite suddenly the banging ceased entirely. Silence persisted for what felt like a long time. Stacey finally grew the nerve to sit up and look at the door. She could barely make it out in the dark, the outline of the doorframe and the bronze glint of the locks the only indicators of its location in the room. It almost felt miraculous that the door had withstood the vicious assault, but that didn’t mean Stacey wasn’t prepared to scream at a moment’s notice should the mysterious attacker continue. This was its last chance to be some cruel trick being played on her. ____ Gradually the locks began to turn of their own volition. Stacey turned pale at the sight, pure shock suppressing any screams. The knob turned and the door slowly creaked open. Something large and cubical sat in the doorway, silhouetted by the hallway light. ____ Stacey wasn’t having it, turning from silenced terror to full-on panic, sitting up in bed and throwing off the covers, shrieking at the sleeping others, “WAKE UP, WAKE UP!! GET UP!!” ____ “What? What?” Brooke jumped at the screaming, scrambling out of bed and turning the light on. ____ “LOOK! LOOK!!” Stacey hysterically shouted, pointing at the door. ____ Brooke jumped at the sight of the previously-locked door now suddenly open. The dark object at the door was now illuminated in the light. ____ It was an oven, a standard metal box with a glass window and a stove top. Brooke became more confused than frightened at the sight, just relieved that it wasn’t a zombie. Stacey, however, seemed more afraid of the stove than any undead monster. She backed against the bed’s headboard, covers bunched up around her, shrieking. It was as if the oven was the most terrifying thing the mysterious intruder could have possibly been to her. Whatever she was saying was impossible to discern, trauma making her words unrecognizable. She was more panicked now than she had been since the zombie outbreak had started. ____ “Stacey, Stacey, calm down!!” Brooke insisted, trying to stay levelheaded. ____ “What’s happening? What is that?” Abbey asked, exhaustion making difficult for her to take all this in. ____ Stacey just kept pointing, “It—It’s there! It opened the door! G—Get it out of here!!” ____ “I don’t get it, Stacey…” ____ “Don’t ‘Stacey’ me! Get it out of here!!” ____ “Okay, okay! Abbey, stay with her. I’m getting the others.” Brooke cautiously approached the oven. In spite of its odd location, it was indeed just a normal stove. It couldn’t possibly be turned on so she climbed over it without consequence and hurried down the hall. ____ Header was already opening the door and peering down the corridor, “What’s all that racket? What’s happening?” ____ Brooke pointed, “Something weird. There’s an oven in the hall. Stacey is hysterical.” ____ “What…?” Header raised an eyebrow, “…Uh, okay. Hold on. I’ll get Thorn.” ____ It was a strange wake-up call indeed. Lights were turned on, guns were loaded, and eyes were rubbed. There was no denying that what had happened was no illusion. There the oven sat by the doorway, indisputably there. The only question was why. ____ “What do you think?” Brooke asked the soldiers, arms crossed. ____ Thorn and Header looked the oven up and down. The Corporal scratched his head, “Well… It’s an oven.” ____ “Where’d it come from?” Miles asked. ____ Gene walked down the hall, tapping his foot on an indented trail in the faded beige carpet, “Well, try following the yellow brick road. Looks like it was dragged here.” ____ “I don’t care how it got there!” Stacey stammered, “Just get it out of here!” ____ She sat in the corner of the room, still plenty shaken and refusing to move from that spot. It was unlike her to be so upset and quivering, her typically indomitable spirit completely doused. Abbey stayed by her. Even she was in higher spirits. ____ “We’ll check it out. Don’t worry.” Header assured Stacey, donning his vest and equipment as he talked. ____ “Would you feel better if someone with a gun stayed here?” Abbey asked. ____ “I don’t…” Stacey muttered, not bothering to finish her sentence, “Thorn.” ____ The Corporal was helping Thomas, Jaxson, Miles, and Brooke move the stove away from the door. He squirmed past the thing and entered the room, going straight to Stacey’s side. He put a hand on her shoulder, “It’s okay. Calm down. There’s no danger. Why are you so scared?” ____ “None of your business!! Don’t touch me!!” She snapped. ____ “Okay, I’m sorry.” Thorn backed off, taken aback but still plenty understanding. Sometimes it was easy to forget that they all had their own often-complex reasons for acting like they did. It wasn’t his business. He sat on the foot of the bed, rifle across his lap, with Stacey to his right and the door to his left. ____ It was silent in the hotel room while the others moved the oven away from the door and the armed members went off to investigate. The company and the quiet seemed to calm Stacey down, and after a while she looked to Thorn again, now aware of how she’d come across, yelling at him like that. ____ “I’m sorry, Thorn.” She wiped her eyes as she talked, “I just don’t like being touched. Sorry. Thanks for being here. There’s no one I’d rather have here. Keeping watch, I mean.” ____ The Corporal nodded simply, “Don’t mention it.” ____ I figured. He thought, You should know just as well as anyone that my rifle’s empty. ____ Like any overweight furniture, the oven had left a clear footprint across the flooring. The trail went straight down the hall, making a hard left into the elevator door. A stove taking an elevator; how different. Header, Thomas, Miles, and Reed loaded their weapons and crammed themselves in, going to the lobby first to check things out. Sure enough the tiled floor before them when the doors opened were covered in scrapes. In the west wing of the hotel lobby there was a small restaurant. The easily traceable trail led straight to the kitchen. ____ Header boldly strode into the small scullery and flipped the light switch. Flickering lights lit and unlit the kitchen, finally staying on and illuminating the pale white room. Silver and black counters and cooking equipment lined the walls, save for a single missing space at a row of three identical ovens. Nothing else looked out of place in here. ____ “Found our culprit.” Reed pointed his rifle at the empty space where the stove upstairs had once sat. ____ “So who moved it?” Thomas inquired. Sensing no danger, he put his pistol away, opting instead to cross his arms. ____ “You think some random people did this? You see how many of us that thing took to move?” Miles said, “I don’t know about that…” ____ Thomas gave him an “are-you-serious” look, “Are you suggesting the oven moved itself into the elevator and came a-knocking at the girls’ door?” ____ “I don’t know, man. I haven’t had a clue what’s going on since this whole outbreak started.” ____ “You mean like ghosts, or something?” Reed asked, “Are you sayin’ this was supernatural?” ____ Miles shrugged, “Anything’s possible.” ____ “If that statement were true we wouldn’t be in this mess to begin with.” Thomas rebutted. ____ Header ignored all of them, walking over to a phone hanging on the wall and dialing for Room 217. If the power worked, so would the internal phone system. ____ The telephone suddenly ringing made Stacey jump, fear of more haunted appliances clouding her judgment. Thorn could’ve admitted that he hadn’t expected it either, telling himself that he hadn’t jumped a bit too as he answered, “Hello? Corporal Thorn speaking. Room service?” ____ “Yeah right.” Header’s grizzled tone replied, “We’re in the kitchen, an’ sure enough there’s a missin’ spot where our cooking machine friend must’ve come from.” ____ Thorn leaned back, kicking his feet up at the bedpost, “Okay. What do we make of it?” ____ “What can we make of it, kid?” The Sergeant answered, his words embodying a shrug, “It’s weird, yeah. We can’t make much sense of it, but nobody’s hurt and we can’t exactly go sleep somewhere else. There’s zombies outside, no doubt.” ____ “True. Better this than bit. Best we just make sure there’s at least one gun in every room. I guess I can stay here and keep watch too, just in case.” ____ Header laughed, “Keep watch with yer empty gun? Ha! Look at you, kid. Stayin’ in the girls’ room!” ____ “It ain’t like that!” Thorn shouted back, flustered, “That’s tactless and inconsiderate!” ____ “Right, right… well, I’m comin’ back up now.” ____ “Aye sir.” Thorn hung up. ____ The incident was weird but relatively harmless to most of the group, just about everyone retiring and going back to sleep without much trouble. After all, it hadn’t changed the fact that they were all very tired when they had reached the hotel to begin with. It was dark and quiet and comfortable: there was no reason not to make the most of it, especially when they’d been sleeping outside so often in recent days. ____ It was a luxury Thorn was willing to go without. He sat in the seat in the corner of the room, rifle propped up next to him. He quietly drummed his fingers on the sheath of his combat knife. The rain had stopped and it was quiet, the sound of that drumming the only noise around. He enjoyed the silence. It was the kind of silence he could stay up to. ____ He was perfectly capable of getting no sleep. Countless hours had been spent in silent waiting across his career. Sitting still laying out in the desert doing nothing but looking through a rifle scope for eight hours. Sitting under a dock, neck-high river water around him, simply keeping his eyes peeled for an entire night. Knowing what it was all for helped him power through every vigil back then. ____ Seeing Stacey look at least a little more at ease helped him. She was also still awake, her eyes looking out the window. Even though she’d calmed down by now she still wasn’t her usual self: extremely quiet and looking deep in thought. ____ Thorn just watched her, hoping his presence would help her get some rest. She was usually so bubbly and loud, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. People like her acted eccentric because they could, a wonderful luxury. He hated seeing cruel real life bear down on her and reduce her to more quiet misery. ____ Stacey silently glanced over to him. There he was, sitting in the dark corner watching her. Not wanting to come off as creepy, he offered her a simple smile. Stacey merely smiled back, finally laying down and facing away from him. ____ Good night. Thorn’s eyes drifted to the window, to the winged moon in the sky outside. As strange and eerie as the events that had occurred tonight. Thorn didn’t know what was going on around here, but whatever it was it’d have to get past him if it wanted the civvies. He’d die before letting it get to them again. ____ They weren’t the only two still up. Two rooms down, Thomas sat in his chair sleeplessly staring at the nearby window. Everyone had more or less shrugged off the events, but he had more to think about. ____ Everything was off, wrong. Supernatural or not, there’d been something very wrong with the strange incident. Odd as it might’ve been, Thomas could understand why Stacey was so shaken up by it. It wasn’t the noises that scared her, it wasn’t the door opening on its own, it was the oven itself. There was something about it that seriously got to her. Something he’d probably never know. It was something specific to her. ____ How’d they know? How’d it know? ____ Thomas glanced at the bed near him. He frowned and looked away. The light coming from the window drew his eyes. The rainclouds had since parted, the light of the moon shining down from above. Thomas stared at it. The winged moon was huge. ____ The longer he looked at it the more uneasy he felt. It had such a strange ambiance to it—those the best words he could root up to describe it. It was like a giant unblinking eye staring down at them, knowingly. It knew their secrets. And it could make it all real to punish them for it. ____ No, he was going crazy. Thomas knew better. Yes, it was all insane. But giving in to the unknown would only excuse more mad thinking. If Brooke’s answer to this was to stay positive, if Thorn’s answer was to stay strong, then Thomas would stay rational. ____ Unfortunately there was nothing remotely rational about tonight’s fears. Thomas looked away from the moon, looked away from the beds, and tried to sleep. There was always a reason he had trouble, after all. And so things continue! ~TAF TAF was the Storyteller... in THE ENEMY'S LAST RETREAT Last edited by TheAverageFan; April 13th, 2019 at 03:23 AM. |
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Chapter 11
Welcome back to The Moon Has Wings! We may be slower than a handicapped snail, but we still have a higher output rate than the Fanfic Competition!
I apologize for the delays, but hey, at least we don't deal with cliffhangers too often. And it's finally time to get to work on the next ten chapters! Let's hop to it. Chapter 11: Not terribly long but it does shake things up a bit. How? Read.
Spoiler Alert!
11 Split ____ For once morning came late. Everyone who could nab any sleep took all they could. The hotel was essentially a fortress against the zombies, lockable doors and insurmountable floors keeping the undead away. That and finally having a map to VACC left the group a lot of security. Remember security? It felt wondrous. ____ It was actually light out when Thomas woke up, not the dark before dawn, but light itself. He rubbed his eyes and sat up out of his sleeping slouch, feeling better. Perhaps it was the extra sleep or the increased morale of knowing where VACC was, but it was welcome either way. ____ Miles was the only other one in the room, Thorn staying guard in Room 217 and Reed missing. Ditched, perhaps? It didn’t matter as long as the guy hadn’t stolen anything, and with the exception of his own rifle it didn’t appear that way. ____ “Morning.” Miles greeted him, “You look less grouchy than usual.” ____ What a greeting. Thomas got up and stretched, “I feel less grouchy than usual.” ____ “Good sleep, huh?” ____ “Sometimes that’s all it takes.” Thomas replied, “Any idea where Reed went?” ____ “Rifle guy?” Miles looked to the door, “No. He was gone when I got up.” ____ “Suspenseful.” Thomas dismissed, “At any rate, I suppose we should get ready to leave. Header’s probably not going to want to waste any more daylight hours loitering around here. We don’t have the food for it.” ____ “I guess so. I bet wherever we’re going has enough to last like six years or something. Speaking of food, I’m hungry.” ____ “Yes, yes, go on ahead.” Thomas permitted, heading toward the bathroom, “I deserve at least one last shower before going back onto the road. One last reminder of city life…” ____ Miles ignored him and hastily opened the door to their room, jumping in surprise as Reed stood directly outside, nearly punching his face as he reached to knock. ____ “Ah! What’re you doing here?” Miles questioned. ____ Reed scowled, “What do you mean, what am I doin’ here?! I went out to find some food! You think I deserted you?” ____ “Well you did say you would.” Thomas said, Reed’s surprise visit drawing his attention, “Anyway, we already have rations. Which is good because you look rather empty handed.” ____ More scowls from Reed, “I changed my mind! I want a one-way ticket to this place you’re goin’ to. And I found something a lot better than eats while I was out.” ____ Miles raised an eyebrow, “What’s better than that?” ____ Reed reached into his pocket and took out a shiny car key, grinning as he held it up for the two to see. If either of them were sipping a drink they’d have spewed it out on sight, both Miles and Thomas exclaiming in unison, “A car!?” ____ It didn’t take long to assemble everyone, Reed’s promises of transportation almost too good to be true. If there’d been one thing proven to be unbelievably elusive in these times, a working vehicle was definitely topping the list. It was the one thing every fleeing survivor universally took when evading the undead hordes. Combine that with directions to VACC, and suddenly a way out of this mess finally revealed itself. It almost seemed too good to be true, something everyone was more than willing to consider. ____Briskly assembled and moving, Reed led them all out of the hotel lobby, "This way, people." ____ Both in the back, Stacey tugged on Miles’ shirt, “Are you sure we can trust this guy?” ____ “I mean, he did come back to get us instead of just taking off.” Miles reasoned, “That’s got to mean something, I guess. Besides, we’ve been trying to find just one working car for over a week now. I don’t think we can pass this chance up. Right?” ____ The way he talked never seemed to instill a sense of confidence in Stacey, as if he was always unsure of himself and seeking confirmation from others. But that was kind of what she liked about him, strangely comforting in an oxymoronic kind of way. ____ He changed the subject, “Anyway, how’d you sleep?” ____ “Oh, um… fine.” She said, “Why do you ask?” ____ “I don’t know.” Miles stared at the ground, “I didn’t know if you still felt unsafe. I was thinking maybe if you wanted you could have my gun.” ____ Stacey glanced to the pistol in his hand, surprised at the offer, “Your gun? Gosh, Miles, I don’t know why you wouldn’t want to hang onto it.” ____ “Back when we were up on the tower, I missed some shots.” He explained, “When you picked it up I thought your aim was a lot better than mine. I don’t know, I guess I’m just not so great under pressure. Maybe you should take it. If someone better had been doing the shooting back there, maybe David—” ____ “Keep it.” She said at that, “I barely had my eyes open when I shot your gun: it was just luck. I think you’re the best one out of all of us to have it. And, and don’t think like that.” ____ “You think so? Are you sure?” ____ “I’m positive.” With that, Stacey picked up the pace, following the others. Miles stared at his pistol, wondering if she was right. ____ At the front of the group, Header interrogated Reed as he led everyone across the street, “Where’d you find this car, boy?” ____ “Just down the road, by a gas station.” Reed explained, “I smashed the window and found the key under the floor mat. I said ‘I reckon this here belongs to another group of people out scavenging just like me’ so I waited about half an hour. But nobody showed up.” ____ “Did you make sure it had gas?” Thorn asked. ____ “Hell yes, I’m not stupid. Actually, I filled it up while I was by the station.” ____ Even Brooke found it a touch hard to believe, “So you found a working car and a place that still had gas? Are you sure about this?” ____ Reed’s stories came true as they came into sight, a simple faded red car parked right by a gas station with an oddly low roof. ____ “There, and I’m sure as sure, lass. Let me show you why.” Reed put his gas mask back on and walked over. He stooped down and rooted through some trash on the open street, finally holding up a shattered metal container. It looked like a oversized coffee can blown open from the inside. You could hear Reed’s grin as he walked back over and made sure everyone could see it, “See this here? It’s got a blasting cap in it.” ____ Jaxson didn’t follow but looked uneasy nonetheless, “So…?” ____ Reed carelessly tossed the canister aside, waving his rifle around in one hand as he motioned to the surrounding area, “So I reckon this here’s another spot where one of them spastics blew a zombie bomb off. Haha, it’s kinda funny—people around here either died or split so quick there’s actually still transportation and supplies still left over. It’s like bein’ in the eye of the storm, yeah?” ____ “Oh.” Brooke said, not quite finding it so funny as she glanced around the empty town. She already looked a little uncomfortable with Reed’s use of the word spastic, and now the idea that this place was one of the original attack sites didn’t help lighten the mood. One could practically already see what this place might’ve been like two weeks earlier: quiet, happy, unsuspecting. ____ Reed was seemingly unaware of the vibe, continuing on, “Yes, I imagine someone could probably pepper these little bombs all around town and set them off without much notice. It wouldn’t take much. For the big cities and stuff you want a big boom explosion for the TVs and News and stuff to see, but for a little town like this you can be a lot more sneaky with it. No need for theatrics out here, yeah?” ____ “Uh, right.” Miles said. It was a rather awkward silence following his words, so he shrugged and continued, “Er, anyways, I’m noticing a little problem.” ____ “What’s that?” Abbey inquired. ____ “Well, there’s one car, and like ten of us. We sure as heck can’t all fit in there.” ____ Header stroked his chin and nodded, not seeming to think about it much. Or perhaps that was what he had been internally deciding the entire conversation, “Hm, yeah. I imagine the unarmed ones oughta go, save fer one. Howzabout Jaxson, Abbey, Stacey, Brooke, and… Thomas. Yeah, you’re the best driver, Thomas.” ____ “I told you I’m not a…” Thomas halted his retort, knowing that he shouldn’t talk back at a chance to get out of here. ____ Reed suddenly got angry, “Hey, hey now! First of all, I found this car! Second of all, you all owe me for letting you use my radio and ruining my hideout! I demand to get a ride!” ____ “But you’ve got a gun!” Jaxson pointed out, “You’ve got better chances of making it to VACC on foot than we do.” ____ “Too bad.” Reed said, “I’ve got the key, and if you don’t want me to swallow it right now, you’ll drive me to VACC!” ____ “Let him go.” Thorn instructed calmly, “He’s got a point. We do owe him.” ____ Reed strutted over and triumphantly got into the car. It had a faded sunroof, which he opened and looked out from, waiting for the others. ____ Thomas turned to Jaxson, “I guess that means you’re driving.” ____ “Huh?” ____ “Header said we’d probably only need one gun for driving to VACC. Reed counts, doesn’t he?” ____ Jaxson looked conflicted, finally sighing and running both his hands through his hair, “…No… you go on ahead. I’ll be fine going on foot.” ____ “Don’t be stupid.” Thomas ridiculed. ____ “I’m not being stupid.” He looked serious now. ____ Miles seemed to find this amusing, “Is it pity, Jaxson? Are you saying you don’t think Thomas could make it otherwise?” ____ “Shut it! I’m just saying it’s not a race!” ____ “Isn’t it though? ‘Cause if memory serves people as selfless as you tend to finish last.” Miles teased. ____ “Sorry, I’ve made up my mind. Looks like you’re stuck with me.” ____ Thomas had no intention of arguing with him. Few things annoyed him more than people squabbling over who got to be the martyr. Instead he took out his pistol and held it out, “Very well. At least take this, though.” ____ He’d spent just about all his ammo back at the tower, the pistol itself carrying his last eight bullets. But with a car he likely wouldn’t need its assistance further. The least he could do would be to ensure Jaxson would have a better chance making it out of his next altruistic act alive. Moronic as such acts were. No, Jaxson had effectively saved Thomas’ skin twice now. He was a good man, and what he did was hardly moronic. Truly moronic would be carrying someone’s guitar while climbing down a three-story tower by a flimsy cord. ____ Jaxson cautiously accepted the gift, looking unsure if he trusted himself with the weapon. Thomas didn’t care—the guy’d volunteered himself for this so he’d have to learn to get used to it. ____ “Thanks.” Jaxson said simply. ____ “Whatever.” Thomas dismissed. ____ “C’mon, let’s go!!” Reed snapped from the car. ____ He saw no reason to wait, plenty of hours of daylight wasted already. But he wasn’t part of their group. Truth be told it was suddenly a little hard to say goodbye to half the people they’d come to know over the last several days. They were good people, relatively speaking, and inside everybody silently hoped to see every single one of their faces again once they all reached VACC. Even if it did mean going a while without seeing each other. Maybe forever… ____ Header distracted Reed’s demands with reason, taking out the map to VACC as he loudly replied, “Now hang on there, fella. If we split up, both of us are gonna need the directions to VACC. Someone help me copy these down, yeah?” ____ Two hotel restaurant napkins and a ballpoint pen swiped from the gas station provided the means of sloppily copying the map and coordinates. Even with the most precision one could spare in trying to replicate the chart perfectly, it still looked terrible. But functional. The key was making sure the cardinal directions and miles-to-centimeters ratio matched up. That was all it would take to get them to VACC. ____ While the Sergeant worked on the map everyone taking the car piled in. Even if it would work for anyone desperate enough for a ride, the trunk had to be filled with supplies: more gas for the car from any container around, Stacey’s backpack and Brooke’s guitar. Thomas watched the two girls put their stuff in the trunk from the rear view mirror, frowning as he figured they could manage to squeeze a sixth person in here somehow. But nobody else was complaining, even from the group still stuck on foot. Perhaps too polite to suggest anything otherwise. That was their own fault. If they never made it to VACC it wouldn’t be on him. ____ Looking at least mildly uncomfortable sitting next to Reed in the back, Abbey rolled down the car window and called out to Miles, “Miles! Would you come here?” ____ “Me?” Miles walked over, not used to being singled out, “What is it?” ____ “Do you remember when we first met? Give or take a few hours? We found those mushrooms in the woods.” ____ Miles crossed his arms and leaned his elbows on the open car window, “Yeah, I remember.” ____ “We were all so hungry. And George insisted they were good to eat.” Abbey smiled a touch thinking about it, “He got so mad at us since we still wouldn’t eat them. He was just so convinced.” ____ “Yeah. I think you and me were the only ones who did not partake.” He reminisced, “Maybe that’s why David didn’t believe a word out of his mouth from then on.” ____ “Ha, no wonder he’s such a grump! Poor thing!” ____ “Ha ha… totally understandable. It was my first day out in the middle of nowhere—I wasn’t about to fall victim to the most basic mistake you can make out in the woods!” Miles paused, “Uh, listen Abbey… is there any reason you’re bringing this up? Like right now?” ____ “Well, I mean…” She tried to gather the words to finish her sentence but instead gave up and started anew, “Listen. Just promise me you’ll make it okay. To VACC I mean. Just promise you’ll be there.” ____ “Yeah. I will. You too.” ____ He didn’t even pause to consider that there was a good chance he might not make it to VACC. No need to tell her that he could never truly keep that promise. Such things were out of his hands. But he made the promise anyway. He knew why she’d brought up that story out of the blue. Under all that quiet was an extremely distressed woman, still suffering from insurmountable loss. If she was really going to get through this intact, she still needed everyone around her. Their support was the most powerful thing they had at the moment. ____ And he needed it too. So he promised to be there without a second thought. And everyone in that car had better be there when he arrived. ____ “C’mon, can we get goin’ yet?” Reed complained, interrupting thoughts. ____ “Yeah, yeah…” Header walked over and stuck one of his burly arms through the driver’s side window, handing the original map and directions to Brooke as she sat in the passenger seat, “There. I marked down where we’re at. Jus’ take the road to those coordinates. Simple, right?” ____ “Right, simple!” Brooke repeated, sounding more confident than she looked as she unfolded the map awkwardly and tried to figure things out. ____ “It better be.” Thomas grumbled, trying to roll the window up over and over in a futile bid to hint Header to move his arm. Finally the Sergeant was satisfied that Brooke knew what she was doing and backed off, Thomas sealing the window as he left before turning to those around him, “Jeez, finally. We good, people?” ____ “Hunky-dory, right as rain!” Stacey said. ____ “That sounds like a yes. Go, go!” Reed snapped, sitting down and making sure people could see that he wasn’t buckled up. ____ “Right, right, going…” Thomas put the car into drive, calling out to the others through the open window behind him, “We’ll see you all later.” ____ Thorn gave him a thumbs-up, “Let’s hope so.” ____ Jaxson shrugged nonchalantly, “Maybe we can just build a signal fire and have you come pick us up when you’re done. How’s that sound?” ____ Thomas scoffed, “Don’t count on it. If I actually make it to VACC there’s no chance in hell I’m leaving it.” ____ “Don’t blame ya.” Header said, “We’ll be there. See ya.” ____ “Right.” Thomas left them at that, wasting no time in speeding off. It was almost shocking how fast the car moved in comparison to foot, but he was back in the driver’s seat again. With no traffic in sight, he saw no reason not to take advantage of that speed to the fullest. They were off. ____ Those left behind watched as the car sped off down the street, gone in an instant. That vehicle would cover more ground in an hour than they could ever hope to in a day. A little disheartening to see to those who had to walk the distance, but as long as it was ferrying friends to safety it was a good sign. ____ “And they’re off.” Thorn spoke first, “Gosh, they grow up so fast, don’t they Sergeant?” ____ Header nodded, “Indeed they do, kid.” ____ “And then there were five.” Miles added. ____ “Well, it’s for the best.” Gene reasoned, “Those unarmed folks need the speed for the safety. Best we can do is go right after them and hope to see the same fate...” ____ He was quiet for a few moments nodding in self-agreement, suddenly realizing something and speaking back up loudly, “Hey, wait a hot minute!! I don’t have a weapon; why didn’t anyone suggest I go too!? Now I’m the only one here without a gun! What gives?!” ____ “Nobody cares.” Header dismissed, “Anyways, let’s git moving. Way I see things, if there’s a workin’ car here then there just might be another one around town. Let’s see what we can find.” GUN PARTY DAY ONE ____ There was truly no time to waste. Just by the merit of not having a car their group had a lot more ground to cover right from the get-go. It would be easy to say just find another, that the two groups could ride easy to VACC from there. But it was never easy. That would just be too nice. ____ Sleeping the day away had given the host of zombies after them ample time to catch up. There’d been no sign of the undead when the survivors had arrived late last night, nor had there been any around the gas station where they’d found the car, but now in the daylight further down the street an occasional zombie could be seen in the distance, aimlessly walking about. Perhaps losing track of a group of prey had scattered their horde, days of corralling disbanded over a lack of a target. Best not pick them up again. But even if they did evade the zombies, it was a bad sign that they didn’t have time to scour the whole town for transportation. ____ “Aye there folks, stay low.” Header quietly warned as the five men moved between abandoned buildings, staying far away from the undead, “Don’t shoot.” ____ A small store was missing its doors, and they cut through it as they evaded zombies on the streets. Gene and Miles swiped wrapped snacks off the shelves, no time to raid any further than that. As they moved to leave Thorn held up one arm, whispering sharply, “Hold it!” ____ A lone Initiated stood outside the exit, twitching and spasming even as it stood in place. It looked like it didn’t belong out in the daylight, but its presence couldn’t be ignored regardless of how well it fit in or not. It didn’t seem to detect the group, its usual screeching replaced with an odd back-throated hiccupy moan, “Oon—OhnnnOnnOooonOhhnn…!” ____ “Sh*t.” Thorn muttered under his breath, “I don’t know how long we’re gonna have to check out this place, Sergeant.” ____ Header peered at the Initiated through the scope of his rifle, trying to keep the sights locked on its ever-moving skull, “Looks like it don’t see us just yet. Keep a low profile and let’s go back around the other way. Guess we’d better skip town.” ____ “Maybe we can get the jump on it.” Jaxson offered. ____ “I think they’re attracted to noise.” Thorn said, “Can’t shoot it. Otherwise it probably won’t go down without a fight, and a lot of screaming. Let’s not.” ____ “Damn. Okay.” ____ A little hesitant to let the Initiated out of sight, the group left the store the way they came in, staying close to the buildings as they backtracked and took the long way around. Going a few buildings back and around an alley led them to a different street altogether, with no zombies in sight. They could move a bit faster now. ____ This time Gene was the one to spot something, pointing to an open garage door further down the road, “There! Cars!” ____ There were two cars in there, one with its hood up. Both were older looking models, one practically a trapezoid with wheels and silver lining. ____ “Hot dog! Fingers crossed!” Header exclaimed, snapping his fingers at Jaxson and Miles, “Try to get them runnin’! Thorn, help me keep an eye out.” ____ “Aye sir, on point.” The Corporal complied. He stood by the entrance, peering down the road and scanning the streets with expert precision. Even though he was out of bullets, he still insisted on keeping his rifle raised, barrel resting on his knife-clutching arm. ____ Jaxson hopped into the car with its hood raised, fishing a key out of the glove compartment. He crammed it into the ignition without hesitation and tried to rev it up. No good. ____ “Problem?” Miles asked him. ____ “Nothing works. Battery, probably.” ____ “Well, this is a garage after all.” Gene reasoned, “We’ve got another car. Maybe we can hook them up and recharge the battery.” ____ “Yeah, let me try this one.” Miles tried to open the door to the second car, finding it locked and with no keys in sight. He yanked at the door repeatedly, “It’s locked!” ____ “This is a car shop.” Jaxson told him, “They wouldn’t drop anything off here without keys.” ____ “I’ve got it.” Miles assured him, pistol whipping the passenger side window and smashing it open. CRASH! ____ “No you—!” Jaxson shouted, gritting his teeth and covering his ears, preemptively wincing as the car’s alarm went off. A loud, whining siren screaming like a needy child pierced the air all around them. ____ “Agh!” Not expecting it, Thorn whirled around and faced Miles, “You moron! Everyone get out of here!” ____ “No, try the car quick!!” Gene argued, snapping his fingers at Miles as he rushed to the car door. ____ Miles opted for the latter, quickly getting into the driver’s seat and looking for keys. Thorn rushed to his side and broke the window with his rifle, seeing no reason not to with the alarm already blaring. He leaned in and smashed off the panel on the steering column, fiddling with the wires underneath and beginning to hotwire the car as if he’d done it for a living. ____ “Holy hell—you know how to hotwire?” Gene asked. ____ “Learned the hard way in Azerbaijan. Nice place. Long story.” Thorn said, “C’mon… C’mon now…” ____ Unfortunately this car was refusing to start too, the engine only revving once before giving up, not even struggling to get started but outright refusing. ____ “Piece of sh*t! At least turn the alarm off! I’m essentially turning the key!” Thorn cursed, looking from the wheel to outside and back, wondering how many seconds they had before the zombies started showing up. ____ “Well Team Armed is off to a wonderful start already.” Jaxson said, peering out the garage and beginning to see the curious undead coming out of the woodwork, “Header, you seeing those? Should we start shooting now?” ____ Header backed off, shaking his head but keeping his rifle raised, “Naw, let’s just scram. Ditch the car, men. The noise’ll draw the zombies away.” ____ “But…!” Miles protested. ____ “They’re still there ‘cause they don’t work! Let’s move! Now!” The Sergeant ordered. ____ Ready to give up or not, everyone understood that Header was their best option for survival, so they’d all better do as they were told. Leaving the cars behind, they hurried out of the garage and began running down the street. Some of the zombies were already at their heels, that single Initiated making itself known as it burst from the crowd of slower undead and sprinted after them. ____ Getting visions of almost dying from the same fate yesterday, Jaxson whirled around and faced their fastest pursuer. This time Reed wasn’t there to bail him out. This time he could bail himself out. ____ “Oh no you don’t!” He shouted, taking Thomas’ pistol and firing it squarely at the coming Initiated. Click! Safety’s on. Jaxson frowned and fumbled for the tiny switch on the weapon, “Oh no.” ____ Bang! Miles had him covered, shooting the speedy zombie dead and continuing to run, “You got some learning to do, Jax!” ____ “Wow, you’re right! Thanks, Miles!” Jaxson replied, friendly sarcasm increasing as the sentence went on, “Now you only owe me three times instead of four!” ____ “That should be easy. Just try to shoot three more zombies.” ____ “Witticisms later!” Thorn scolded, “Just keep running!” ____ The stupid car alarm just kept on sounding off, drawing most of the zombies near. Still others were more interested in flesh over volume. Luckily it seemed like there was only the one Initiated, so it was merely a matter of staying on the move. The real bad news was that the empty town, and any supplies it still hid, would have to be left behind. Ever on the move. Ever skimming the brink of death. What will this mean for the future? You'll just have to wait for next week... or month... Maybe next week. Well, we'll see. No promises. Later, people! ~TAF TAF was the Storyteller... in THE ENEMY'S LAST RETREAT Last edited by TheAverageFan; March 17th, 2022 at 04:40 AM. Reason: Fixed Typo |
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Chapter 12
And we're back! Sorry for the day-long delay (and I'm sure you're definitely unused to delays at this point... ), but the longer chapters take longer to edit as you can imagine, and this is indeed a longer chapter. So what else needs said? Hop to reading, folks.
Chapter 12:
Spoiler Alert!
12 The House Of Covets ____ In many ways Jaxson had always been a bit of a fretter, doubting uncertainty always slowing his judgment. But one time he was never nervous was before a race. A lot of other people were, nerves heightening on the eve of the competition. They shakily stretched and breathed deeply, trying to convince themselves that they were getting pumped up instead of trying to calm down. Jaxson prepared for every event long in advance. All spare time was invested in it. There was no reason to get shaken up now. ____ The only other person who didn’t seem worried was Saul, a fellow track athlete. His calmness came from overconfidence, though. He wasn’t one to worry because he didn’t worry about anything, just winging it when it came. He was good but it made him a slacker in all his pursuits, and he had a lot of them. Jaxson always remembered disliking him. ____ “I’m surprised you’re bothering with this one.” Jaxson told him. ____ “KYS, Jaxson. If you think you’re gonna win just because you’re obsessed, then you’ve got another thing coming.” Saul countered, sounding more agitated than normal. ____ “Sue me for being dedicated.” ____ “No, I’d still go with obsessed.” Saul said, “The rest of us shouldn’t lose just because we have lives.” ____ “Whatever.” Jaxson ignored him at that. Sure, the rest of these people had money to blow on their college lives: drinks, unnecessary classes, junk food, the whole shebang. He’d gone to school to learn and move up in the world, not to party. It wasn’t his fault, it wasn’t his Dad’s fault. It was just the way things were. But screw those other people. Their “lives” came at a price. He had nothing but pure drive, and he won every race with it. This was no exception. Especially for any event with a prize to offer. ____ Jaxson was done talking to him, so Saul kept talking to himself only, in mutters as he took off his jacket, “Making us all look bad because you’ve got nothing better to do… Well not this time. I’ve—” ____ He was interrupted by his own cell phone ringing. Saul immediately stopped talking and answered, quickly turning and retreating to another room only a few sentences in, “What is it, Mom? Oh, right… Yeah, I know. Oh… Okay, what’d they say? Is she okay? …Oh… I see.” ____ Jaxson found his quick change in tone worrisome. It was a tone he hadn’t heard from Saul before. It piqued his interest so much he couldn’t help but follow after him and listen in to the rest of the conversation, curiosity becoming concern. He pressed against the wall by the open door to the other room and peeked in, silently eavesdropping. ____ Saul had slumped down in one of the overly red chairs, rubbing his forehead as he talked, “Yeah…? Is it permanent? That’s all they can do? Yeah…? Well can't they… okay… No. I—I’m alright. You just worry about her, okay?” ____ He sat up a bit straighter, his tune changing as he seemed to be talking to another person now, “Hey Sis. You doing alright? Listen, I’ll be right over. What? No, who cares about the dash? …You’re sure? Positive? Okay. You just watch. I’ll run for the both of us out there. Yeah. I’ll bring you home the trophy myself. Eh, haha, don’t worry. I exaggerated. I’ll win first place by a mile. I promise. Watch me out there. Okay… okay. Love you too. Bye.” ____ He put the phone away and slumped back down, putting his head in his hands and sighing deeply, “Oh God… You can do this… C’mon, just get through this…” ____ Jaxson pressed back against the wall and just listened to him exhale. It sucked, yeah, but remember what Dad said. They needed this. No, it wasn’t right. No matter how much he wanted it, needed it. It just wasn’t right. Jaxson let out a sigh of his own and slunk away. He was perfectly capable. He didn’t need a boost or a free pass from some competition. He could make it. It wasn’t his race to win anymore. ____ After a good five minutes Saul returned, having regained his composure. He clearly saw no reason to share his circumstances with anyone else. So Jaxson wouldn’t share his decision with him either. It wouldn’t be the same if Saul knew his rival was going to lose intentionally. He obviously wasn’t in the mood for pity. ____ “You ready to take home the silver, Jaxson?” Saul asked. ____ “I can take home whichever medal I want.” Jaxson retorted, “You’ll be lucky if you get bronze.” ____ “You just watch.” ____ “Slackers don’t win. Runners do.” And with that, they set out to the field. ____ The stands were hardly filled, but that didn’t matter. The right people were watching. Saul paid more attention to the lone camera in the stands watching him, live streaming to an equally small audience. But the right people were watching. ____ Jaxson went to his row, getting down low and propping his feet against the starting block, preparing to sprint. He was going to give Saul a run for his money. But he wasn’t going to give it his all. He’d made his decision. He only waited for the gunshot. ____ “C’mon, let’s go home.” The distaste reveled in Dad’s tone as he spoke, unhidden. He kept up a brisk walk down the street, not waiting or concerning himself with the possibility that Jaxson must be tired enough already. No reason he shouldn’t be, immediately after a sprint like that. But they both knew he was just fine. So Jaxson kept his mouth shut and walked behind him. ____ “You wanna talk about what the hell happened out there?” Dad said. ____ “What do you mean?” Jaxson asked sheepishly. ____ “Don’t think I don’t notice this stuff. You completely botched the race. Intentionally! This was supposed to be our big break. I thought you wanted to be a runner.” ____ “I’m sorry Dad.” Jaxson mumbled. ____ A sigh, “Look, I’m not mad because you lost. I’m mad because you decided to lose. Why would you let that prick beat you like that?” ____ “…” ____ “Well? I know you’re better than him.” ____ Jaxson sighed. He didn’t know why he felt adverse to explaining himself. Maybe it was a stupid reason to throw the race. Saul was a prick. But that was only as Jaxson knew him, which wasn’t very well. Not exactly good enough reason to hate a guy. ____ Still, he had known his decision was the right thing to do all along, stupid or not. No use in hiding it from his father. ____ "It was his sister. I overheard it before the race. Something happened with his sister. I don't know what I was thinking... it just didn't feel right. So I threw it, for her sake. I don't think he knew that I knew, but still. I thought it'd be better that way." ____ Dad simply remained quiet and listened, face unreadable all the while. Jaxson didn't feel assured by the silence, and spilling his guts hadn't lifted the weight off his chest either. He bit his lip. ____ “Jaxson…” ____ “Sorry, Dad. I know we really needed to win this one. I swear I'll take the next prized game.” ____ Quite unexpectedly, Dad turned and pulled Jaxson to him, hugging him, “No. No, I’m proud of you! You did the right thing, and you did it on your own. Who needs the money? We’ll get through this yet. C’mon, let me buy you dinner.” ____ “Still?” ____ “A good deed is more worth rewarding.” He eased up on the pace, walking by Jaxson’s side. They walked down the street, with plenty of problems still, but all minor compared to their attitude. That was back when one could afford to be kind, and live. GUN PARTY DAY TWO ____ It sucks. Jaxson thought as the memories brewed in his head. It was early the next morning, and he’d woken up earlier still and snuck off from the group to take a leak. He merely stared out to the wilderness before him as he did so. A rain-inspired mist stretched on in the valleys, mixing with the early blues and violets of the morning. It was beautiful but also quiet and cold, the beginning of another tedious journey. Maybe he should’ve taken the car. But that just wasn’t the way he did things. Not much had changed. His Dad had been overjoyed. Now he was dead. The best Jaxson could hope for was that his new friends wouldn’t suffer the same fate while they were away. Nor this group here. ____ Maybe it’s bad judgment on my part. He silently mused, I just didn’t see any reason to take the car for myself when others could use it more. All I can do is hope it’s not a decision that’s going to end up costing me. I guess I just can’t help it. Sorry Dad, I’m still just a sucker for squandering opportunities. ____ Part of him thought it was a suicidal tendency, that Thomas didn’t really deserve the chance to take the easy route to VACC. But he believed in good people. It would pay off one way or another. He hoped. ____ He finished up and turned to go back to camp—perhaps too efficient a word for it—finding Gene heading in his direction. ____ “Gene? You’re up awfully early.” ____ “Well, gotta take a leak.” He explained, “That Sergeant guy apparently thinks we don’t need breaks during the day now that the others are gone. I think he forgot that we’re ‘civvies’ too. Anyway, what are you doin’ out here by yourself?” ____ “Same as you. And I needed to think.” Jaxson explained. ____ Gene laughed, “Well that’s the best time to think!” ____ Gene was kind of a strange guy; even after a week of travelling together Jaxson didn’t know him all that well. But he was the other one in this group who’d been unarmed up until this point, so maybe he was in the same boat about the car. He probed that idea, “I was just thinking about if I did the right thing. Staying behind like that.” ____ “What do you mean?” ____ Jaxson ran a hand through his hair, “I don’t know… Just, I guess I always volunteer myself for last place. I wonder how long until I get myself killed doing that.” ____ “Well…” Gene seemed to need to think about it, “I think it’s superb.” ____ “How do you figure? Superb?” ____ “It’s like how you set up the zipline for us before.” Gene hypothesized, “Nobody else could’ve done that I bet. You’re the best person to volunteer for that sorta thing.” ____ Jaxson frowned, “I guess. I suppose that makes it less of a choice. If I don’t offer to do the noble thing, it’ll come off as selfish.” ____ “That’s one way to look at it. But would anyone really blame you for doing something ‘selfish’ in times like this?“ He continued, “When you could probably leave us all in the dust, it’s great that you opt to stay behind for the rest of us. Look at me: I’ve always been a talentless hack. All my accomplishments could be chalked up to dumb luck. And when that’s all you’re good for, you can never thank yourself for anything. I can’t pride myself on my skills—it’s out of my hands. Nobody can rely on me. I’m useless.” ____ “…” Jaxson mused on his perspective, “You’re not useless Gene.” ____ “Right, right. Well take comfort in this: there’s no way in hell you’re gonna die out here while I’m still alive. You’re too qualified to die.” Gene lightly punched his arm and walked past him, “Now beat it. I still gotta p*ss.” ____ “Sure. Thanks.” Jaxson headed off, back to camp. ____ “Al’ight folks.” Header looked over the napkin map, trudging onward as he read it, “We got us one advantage over the car group and one advantage only. They got to stick to the road. We can just skip all that damn weaving and winding and go straight to our destination. So let’s make the most of it.” ____ His rifle and shotgun knocked together as he walked, both slung over his back. About every two steps. Miles stared dead-eyed at the weapons as he walked endlessly. It was an irritating way to keep track of their paces, another reminder of how slow going on foot was. Not being bound to the roads wasn’t exactly a game-changing advantage. It’d still take a long time to reach VACC. But they were on the right track. ____ They’d managed to throw off the zombies from yesterday, out in the middle of nowhere again, cutting between towns through fields and streets and forests. A lot of keeping eyes out for zombies and a lot more trudging. Thus was life, nomadic. Still going to the promised land. ____ Thorn kept up the rear, empty carbine held close to his chest. Miles was surprised the Corporal hadn’t requested his pistol back since his M4 was out. But perhaps he thought letting the civvie keep the responsibility of a weapon boosted morale more than it’d boost accuracy if he didn’t. ____ “Well…” Thorn said as they walked, “Anybody see any good movies before the outbreak?” ____ “Bored?” Miles asked him. ____ “Curious.” ____ “I’m getting hungry.” Jaxson said. ____ “Haven’t heard of that one.” The Corporal jested. ____ “No, I’m just getting more and more famished.” Jaxson explained, putting one hand on his stomach. They’d skipped breakfast that morning. ____ Gene was walking in front of him, and he fished out a candy bar and tossed it high into the air, “Here ya go, bud.” ____ Jaxson matched his pace and caught it, “Thanks, but Man does not live on chocolate alone. I’d maim for a good meal.” ____ “We’re out of rations.” Thorn reasoned, “Just gonna have to find more substantial food when we get the chance.” ____ “If only it were that easy. We might find some more junk food, maybe some canned fruit, but what I want is some meat.” Jaxson explained, “Back in Chicago there was this local place, Modie’s. Great little restaurant. Miss Modie was one big sassy lady—best rude service you could ask for. It was sleazy and terrible for you, but damn. You couldn’t find a better bacon cheeseburger in a thousand miles.” ____ Modie’s was where his dad had taken him back then. They only went there a couple times a year but it was worth it. It was just a nice place to be, although if you were going to take up space there you had to buy something. Simple and old fashioned—the kind of place where you could pay by just tossing cash on the table and walking out, no questions asked. ____ “Here’s your failure burger, boy.” Miss Modie had told him, sloppily sliding the plate over to his end of the table, “I ate more when I gave up runnin’ too.” ____ “Thanks, Miss.” He said. ____ “Shut up or I’ll spit in yer next drink.” She lumbered off at that. ____ Dad piped up, “Make sure she doesn’t do that, Jay!” ____ Jay was the cook and the only other employee Jaxson knew at that dump. When he wasn’t cooking he often just stood there, staring off into space. He was skinny and awkward looking and white as a bone. The guy swore like a sailor, but he didn’t look like the type who’d curse so colorfully. It made his language all the more strangely hilarious. ____ Weird but lively, the two in that restaurant. Jaxson hoped they were both okay, wondered where they were now. Realistically not in good shape, but since he’d never know he could picture them safe, somehow still in business in some crowded evacuee center. Not like Dad. He knew firsthand that what his fate had been. ____ Miles’ complaining snapped him out of it, “Don’t talk about bacon while we’re walking. It’s too cruel.” ____ “It’s probably dangerous to eat meat ‘n’ stuff while we still don’t know about the virus.” Header said, “But they might, might, have some safe at VACC.” ____ “Well let’s walk faster then.” Jaxson figured, trying to leave his somber thoughts behind. ____ Gene held one fist up into the air, “To VACC at once then! And if we ever eat hamburgers again we’ll toast to Miss Modie’s honor!” ____ A big if. Always an if. Just keep walking. Jaxson picked up the pace, wondering how the other group was faring. Better hopefully. Maybe? CAR PARTY DAY ONE ____ On the road. ____ Traffic was a thing of the past out here, people long gone or dead, nothing left behind. Thomas had a car again and nothing to slow him down, so he kept the accelerator pedal in a constant press. Because why not? ____ Brooke sat beside him, Stacey, Reed, and Abbey all cramped together in the backseat. Brooke was the only one to slow him down, confusedly looking over the map in her hands, clearly no expert to an old-fashioned mode of navigation. She probably needed her phone to tell her where to go before the outbreak. They were bound to the roads, but for now directions didn’t need to be terribly specific. As long as she figured things out by the time they drew very near to VACC it would be okay. ____ “You sure you know what you’re doing?” He asked anyway, already mildly irritated. ____ “Sure I do. I was the navigator when I took a road trip with my friends.” She replied, “Went to the Rockies. We almost died! It was fun.” ____ “Goodie.” ____ “Relax. I was just a teenager back then. We barely had our licenses.” Brooke turned her attention back to the map, stopping to reminisce for a moment first, “…Besides, I don’t think we’ll need to turn for a while now.” ____ Thomas scowled, “‘You don’t think’?” ____ “I mean, as long as this road keeps going West.” ____ “Well you tell me if it keeps going West or not!” Thomas complained, motioning with his fingers while keeping his hands on the wheel, “I know we all like to act all yippee ki-yay all day, but I’ve finally got a damn way to safety so I’d like to not miss it, alright?! We’ve had enough stupidity abound thus far.” ____ Brooke frowned, holding the map out on the dashboard for him to see, “There, see the road that’s going West? That’s where we’re going! And see Header’s directions? They say go West! Happy now, or is that physically impossible for you?” ____ “Get that out of the way, I’m trying to drive!” ____ “Sorry, I thought you wanted to verify it with your own infallible eyes! I’m apparently not a reliable enough source for you!” ____ Reed interjected the quarreling, leaning forward and snapping at the two of them, “Good Lord! Shut up! How about I drive and navigate!? And you two can bang in the backseat! How’s that sound, huh?” ____ Both Thomas and Brooke looked over at him, then looked for words to strike back at him but found none. Satisfied, Reed leaned back, crossing his arms. ____ “Just… make sure to let me know in advance when I’ve got to get off this road.” Thomas said, trying not to strike any more nerves. Having a car was great. Wonderful. So great that it was actually stressing everyone out. That antsy almost-there, last-chance-for-something-to-go-horribly-horribly-wrong kind of nerves. They were doing good, not fantastic. They could all calm down permanently when they were actually there. When the danger had actually passed for good. ____ “I will. I promise.” Brooke assured him. ____ It was quiet at that. Thomas just kept the car going at a good 55 miles per hour (no reason to floor it when there could be a zombie-crossing at any point down the road). Much as it pissed him off being considered “the chauffeur”, he did like a good scenic drive. It was something he didn’t get to do much. The longer he could go like that in contemplative quiet the calmer he felt. ____ Brooke mused over the map, Stacey gazed out the window, Abbey merely stared down at her hands cupped together. It was quiet indeed. Quickly growing bored, Reed reached into his jacket pocket and took out a harmonica. He leaned back and put the instrument to his lips, the music following coming out screeching and wailing and begging for death. ____ “Agh!!” Thomas put one hand over his ear, all accumulated tranquility shattered in an instant. Regardless of certain choices made regarding their survival, Brooke was at least a damn good musician. People were actually willing to give up sleep to stay up and listen to her play at night. Reed was atrocious, stopping and trying to start over repeatedly as he attempted to play his harmonica, half his endeavors nothing more than sputtered blowing. ____ “Stop! Stop it!” Stacey cried, “Take it and throw it out the window, Abbey!” ____ “No!” Reed immediately moved the instrument away from Abbey, right into Stacey’s hands. She swiped it and began rolling down the window, Reed grabbing her wrists and trying to snatch it back. Thomas watched them in the rear-view mirror, fighting like small children. You’re almost there; nothing’s trying to kill you. Just put up with it. ____ “Hands off, ya girlie twerp!” Reed swiped the harmonica back, “This is mine. You can’t ditch it. It was a gift!” ____ “From who? The devil?” She asked. ____ “Sorta: my dad. ‘I like playing the harmonica so you must like it too because we’re related—herr-de-der!!’” He answered, breaking into a mocking voice before sighing and looking to the small silver device, “I’ve had it sixteen years and I’m still no good.” ____ “If you don’t like it then why are you playing it?” ____ “I dunno… to kill time I guess. And practice makes perfect so don’t judge the way I play!” He snapped. ____ “That’s the spirit.” Brooke encouraged, “But maybe don’t practice right now, yeah?” ____ He shrugged, “What? I get bored on the road. I always listen to music. You’re a music lady, aren’t you lass? Why don’t you show me how it’s done?” ____ She shied away from the offer, for some reason not wanting the share the used instrument with him, “That’s okay. I’m no good with woodwinds.” ____ “It ain’t a woodwind—it’s a harmonica.” ____ Brooke didn’t bother answering that, merely politely repeating the decline by shaking her head. Reed frowned and leaned back, putting his harmonica away again. ____ “Well damn it. It’s too bad there’s no room for your guitar.” He said, “I don’t like silence.” ____ “Maybe the radio works.” Brooke theorized, switching the car radio on and flipping through channels. ____ Mostly silent with a few emergency broadcasts. Thomas was about to scoff at her notion when suddenly some music did flip on. Surprising as all hell. ____ A voice on the radio soon made itself known as the tunes eventually faded, “You’re listening to the last broadcast of DJ Kellar. They shut down the prerecorded public broadcast a few hours ago. I guess that’s means everyone around here is either gone, dead, or left for dead. ____ “I’ve got a few zombie teeth embedded in my gut right now. I’m pretty much done. How long it’s gonna take I don’t know. I got nowhere to go, so here I am. Until that hour comes, whoever’s listening, enjoy our station’s last playlist while it lasts. Just like the good ol’ normal days, yes? Happy hunting out there, people. If any of you still are people.” ____ The voice faded back out as he put on another song, just about everyone staring morbidly at the radio. By complete random chance they’d just caught the likely last words of a dying man over the air, almost haunting in its timing. ____ “…What do we do?” Stacey asked, looking to Thomas since he had the wheel. ____ He didn’t look back, “What can we do?” ____ “We can enjoy the music.” Brooke suggested, “While we can.” ____ It was nice to have on, just like the good ol’ normal days. Listening to the far-off recordings of some bands while driving somewhere. To pass the time and color the mood. Something to enjoy. A luxury fleeting but presented nonetheless. ____ Feet gradually tapping, quietly humming, worries fading, they just kept on driving. Letting the next worrying turn come when it did. The House – 2879 Luckmire St. ____ Evening. Thorn watched the sun make its early descent, obscured by violet clouds and the bare branches of trees. It was good to have a day without almost suffering a heart attack (Miles—car alarm) or being forced to spend a good couple of hours just trying to throw off a pack of pursuers (see also: the helicopter fiasco, the tower fiasco, the car alarm fiasco…). For today it was just dull walking. That was okay: as a soldier Thorn had come to appreciate dull. Dull meant life. And day long marches were no obstacle for him. In fact, now he felt light as a feather. Out of bullets, out of rations, the Corporal was less burdened than ever. He could keep this up. ____ They’d been moving between thin forests and empty fields just about all day, occasional vacant roads meaningless without any buildings or cars around them. The only real change was the light fading from a cold empty yellow to a visible indigo as the sun set. The moon had been visible most of the day, faded in the blue sky, bright and vibrant now. It was a thin crescent, only one wing visible. Representing questions that no one currently had the time or resources to answer. ____ By sundown the five survivors were still going down an empty street stretching through empty fields. A bent street sign read “Luckmire St.” in bold letters that had long since lost interest in their color. You wouldn’t think it much of a neighborhood at first glance though: a lonely road stretching on with nary a house in sight. It wasn’t farmland, just empty space. Like they’d found the blankest corner in Illinois. ____ Sgt. Header eyed the sign as Thorn shone his flashlight on it, the line of his frown wobbling as he mused and chewed on nothing. The wind gave him the slightest hint of rotting meat. He couldn’t see the undead from here, but they were around. Somewhere. All he knew was that it was a bad sign that he could detect an undead presence solely by the smell. There was a host of them around here and he couldn’t see it. ____ Thorn looked to the Corporal to the darkening sky and back, “What’cha thinking, Sergeant?” ____ “I’m just wonderin’ if we should search for shelter or not. Might be a hard find.” He replied, “I dunno if we’re gonna be able to sleep otherwise.” ____ Miles crossed his arms, “We’re tryin’ to catch the Z’s and the Z’s are trying to catch us, eh?” ____ The Sergeant nodded, “Yeah, I ain’t sure. I don’t like this open quiet.” ____ Thorn looked past Header, “Yo Sarge, is that a light way down the road?” ____ He nodded in the direction, the tiniest speck of orange-yellow light shining far off, obscured by the few tress daring to pop up around. It wasn’t fire—that was all that could be ascertained from here. A light bulb’s beam seemed alluring and mythical out here, in these times. ____ “Curiouser and curiouser.” Gene said, looking at the others, “Press X to investigate, folks?” ____ “Hm,” Header nodded again, as he so often did in both agreement and contemplation, “I don’t see why not.” ____ They all set off in that direction, no sunlight left to experiment with. The light was further down the road, a good twenty minute journey on foot to its source. Over here the street forked into a lengthy driveway, a thin, starved road winding off. That in turn led to a large house, secluded, tucked in the corner of the field where the forests started to pick up again. ____ It was the porch lights. Probably easily missed in more crowded areas, but shining bright out here in their loneliness. ____ Header held up his arm at the sight, signaling for a stop, and stooped down low. He gazed through the scope of his rifle and surveyed the dwelling. He seemed to reach some sort of conclusion and rose back to his feet, handing his M16 over to Miles, “Take a look.” ____ “Me?” Miles lifted the weapon, finding it unwieldy, and peered through the scope. The lights were the most obvious feature he could note from here, but zooming in he could see movement by the house’s walls. Zombies, about eight of ‘em. They were wandering aimlessly about, never straying from the walls as if magnetized to it. ____ He lowered the rifle and handed it to Jaxson so he could see too, “I don’t get it. What’s it mean?” ____ “There’s people in there.” Sgt. Header concluded, “Fer one thing they’re turning their lights on. An’ those zombies are trying to get in. They can tell people’re in there.” ____ “I get it.” Jaxson said, “Maybe we can help out? They might let us in for the night?” ____ Gene was the next person to look through the scope, having eyes only for a garage on the left side of the house, “If they stuck around maybe they kept their car with them, eh?” ____ “Only one way to know for sure.” Thorn agreed, “It’s clear there’s zombies in the area. We need somewhere safe to sleep.” ____ Agreed upon, the group cautiously neared the house. As they came closer, some of the undead managed to pull themselves away from the walls, turning and sluggishly making their way toward the newcomers. But they were slow, and there were only a few of them. Thorn took the lead, his arm darting out as the first zombie neared him. He thrust his combat knife expertly between the monster’s eyes, wrenching the blade out and then shoving the creature over with the barrel of his carbine. ____ Jaxson and Miles stayed back, unable to be so surgically precise. Perhaps the soldiers could be casual about the undead's numbers, but they were experts at this sort of thing. Even if there was only one zombie, a single slip up could mean death. Jaxson stayed close to Miles, him being the better shot, and carefully aimed his gun at the approaching zombies. ____ Closer, closer… between the sights… now! ____ Bang! He shot a zombie clear between the eyes, the monster knocking another one over as it collapsed. Precise M16 fire from the Sergeant made short work of the rest. Jaxson stomped the downed zombie’s head repeatedly until it stopped moving, an unexpected rifle shot piercing the nearby ground making him jump. BANG!!! ____ Knowing that the round hadn’t come from any guns of theirs, Header faced the house. A shaking rifle barrel poked out from an open but boarded window by the door. Anything behind the gun was concealed by thick drapes and wooden planks. But it didn’t matter who it was: they were the home owner, and he needed to talk to them. ____ Header made sure to visibly keep his weapon down as he shouted out, “No need to shoot, sir. We don’t mean you no harm.” ____ A woman’s voice called back, “Not interested in whatever you’re after. Now leave before I shoot you.” ____ Header insisted, “Now just hear us out, ma’am.” ____ BANG!!! Another gunshot. The Sergeant glanced to the dirt beneath his boots, but the warning shot was nowhere to be found around his feet. Instead it had set up shop about two yards to his right. He seemed to think a moment before continuing to advance toward the window. ____ “You stay back, sir!” The voice reprimanded. ____ “Uh, sir…?” Thorn asked the Sergeant, “Feel like pushing your luck twice like this in three days?” ____ “I know what I’m doin’.” Header dismissed him, slowly venturing on ahead. He wasn’t worried. He knew what it was like to stare down the barrel of a gun. He’d done it twice before. And he knew that this rifle wasn’t staring him in the eye. ____ BANG!!! The weapon discharged once again, the bullet flying far off to the left. Header wasn’t surprised, moving closer. BANG!!! Another bullet threw earth up as it struck the ground, far off from any feet. ____ “I mean it! Stop!” The voice said. ____ “We don’t mean to hurt you!” Header answered, “We just wanna help ya.” ____ BANG!!! A bullet lodged into the dirt right between Header’s feet. Too precise. This time the Sergeant halted. Now the gun was looking at him head-on. ____ “I. Mean. It.” The voice warned, “We don’t trust you. Leave!” ____ “Al’ight, al’ight…!” Header shouted. He slowly stooped down to the ground and laid down his rifle, slinging his shotgun off his back and following suit. He got back to his feet and put his hands on his head, “Listen! We mean it too. We need somewhere to stay the night.” ____ “Not falling for it!” The voice insisted, “We have got enough problems as is. We don’t need more of them!” ____ “Look, I don’t know who or what’s got you so rattled, ma’am.” Header was adamant, “But we ain’t part of that. Maybe we can help ya. We’re desperate. Anything.” ____ “…” It was quiet for a good while, hushed whispers coming from within the house. Finally the front door opened and out peered the woman with the rifle. She was right at the turning point from middle-aged to old, and looked as tired as one could expect from all the stress of a zombie apocalypse. She motioned for everyone else to lay down their weapons, still pointing her rifle at them as she invited them inside, “In, in, in! Quickly!” ____ “Yes ma’am!” Thorn set his carbine down and hurried inside, the five of them crowding into the home. ____ “Sorry, sorry, sorry!” Gene apologized as he squeezed past Miles and Jaxson in the front door. ____ It was a homey home, worn and ugly colored furniture well lit by far too many lamps. Books were everywhere. Every window was boarded up, although the wooden planks looked like they were assembled by a one-armed man. ____ It figured then, that a man with an arm in a sling was waiting for them inside the house. He backed up as the newcomers stepped in, waiting for his female counterpart. ____ “Okay good. Shut the door, honey.” He told the woman, “My name is Stanley. This is my wife, Shelley. Now get in the corner and don’t move a muscle.” ____ “Certainly, sir.” Thorn moved to the back. ____ The woman with the gun, Shelley, followed them closely. Here in the well-lit house she didn’t seem quite so hostile, getting a better look at her new guests and slowly lowering her weapon, “You two are with the army?” ____ “Yes ma’am, that is correct.” Header said. ____ “They didn’t send anybody out here.” Stanley noted, looking rather inquisitive as he eyed the two. ____ “We’re en route to a base west of here, helping get these guys to safety.” Thorn explained, “You could come with us if you wanted to.” ____ Header seemed more interested in Stanley’s slung arm, nodding at it, “What happened to yer arm? Did you get bit?” ____ “Shot.” Shelley corrected. ____ “Accident?” The Sergeant’s eyed her gun. ____ “No.” She clarified, Header raising an eyebrow at the answer, “An outsider shot my husband while trying to break into our home.” ____ Gene shrugged, “Gee, I guess I see why you guys weren’t so happy to see us. Sorry for barging in on you all.” ____ “Maybe we can help.” Header offered, “Corporal’s got first aid if yer hubby’s still in need of medical attention.” ____ “That’d… be stupendous, actually.” Stanley said, “We’re not exactly doctors, you see.” ____ “Thorn, would ya?” ____ “On it.” Thorn retrieved one of his aid kits and strode over, the two seeming a bit more at ease. Stanley sat down in a loveseat and Thorn pulled up a chair next to it, getting a good look. He’d never trained to be a field medic, it not being his goal in the armed forces, but had learned his share over time. He’d stitched up bullet wounds before, and he’d been stitched up before. During a sting in Latvia he had been shot through the arm, and Stanley’s wound looked very similar to his back then. ____ Shelley watched him inspect her husband’s injury, glancing back to the others, “You mentioned something about a base? Some kind of safe haven?” ____ “Yeah, a place called VACC.” Miles clarified, “Didja want to come with us? I don’t suppose you have a, uh, a car?” ____ “Honey…?” Stanley asked her, wincing in pain as Thorn tinkered with his lesion. ____ Shelley looked to him, a contemplative and torn look in her eyes that seemingly indicated they’d had this conversation several times already, “I’m starting to think it’s our only shot. We can’t take it all with us.” ____ She sighed and returned her gaze to Miles, “We do have a car. It’s just…” ____ “Aw, don’t tell me it doesn’t work.” Jaxson preemptively rubbed the sides of his head, fed up with that excuse from every vehicle they’d come across. ____ “No, it’s not that. I mean, it’s got a busted tire—we don’t get out much—but it can limp along just fine. It’s just those outsiders.” She looked to Stanley’s arm, “They refuse to leave us be. They’ve practically got a perimeter set up around us.” ____ “Hm?” Thorn’s attention was piqued, “We didn’t see anybody on the way over here.” ____ “Oh, they’re there.” Stanley winced again as his wound was cleaned, “They’ve been harassing us for days. They looted all the other places around, and they want our car and everything else we’ve got.” ____ “And what’s more, there’s a great big mass of zombies in the area that followed them here.” Shelley explained further, “A few break off towards us but they mostly leave us alone. The outsiders circle around like vultures to keep them at bay, but with the undead following them it’s honestly inescapable from both sides.” ____ “We can replace yer tire and make tracks getting’ out of here.” Header offered. ____ “Only if you brought one with you.” She countered, sighing a second time, “We love this old place, but… we don’t want to surrender it to those savages. It’d be one thing if they just took the car and sped off, but I imagine that would only give the zombies one thing to attack around here.” ____ “It’s okay.” Stanley consoled her, “Truth be told dying here wouldn’t be so bad, where I’m comfortable. I’d say you five can go ahead and take the car, but… well, I don’t know how far you’d make it. Maybe you’d best get out of here while you can, before those guys start associating you with us too much. OW!” ____ Thorn plucked a tiny scrap of metal from his flesh, quickly starting to patch the wound again afterwards, “There you go, fella. Still had a little piece of bullet in there.” ____ The Corporal packed up his tools, getting up and glancing around trying to spot a place to wash his hands in the other rooms as he talked, “Well, Sergeant? What do you think?” ____ Header stroked his chin, clearly weighing his options. If everything Shelley and Stanley had said was true, he’d be staking lives on his decision. But it was the right thing to do. He made up his mind, “Sir and ma’am, perhaps we could help y’all repel this group of miscreants. Then we could take yer car to VACC.” ____ Both of them looked surprised, as if the shelter for the medical help was a fair enough trade already, “You’re willing to help?” ____ “Yep. You said they’ve been ‘harassing’ ya, so I reckon they’ll be here tomorrow, yeah? All we gotta do is hold our ground and show ‘em to leave y’all be. You said they was vultures: show ‘em yer not dying prey.” ____ “They’ll try to kill you.” Stanley pointed out, “I really appreciate the offer, I do, but you should probably just go now. Worry about your own people.” ____ “No.” Jaxson denied, “I’m willing to help too. I don’t like bullies. Besides, all this ‘die in here’ stuff? Don’t throw your lives away like that. Come with us, you two.” ____ “Other civvies? Objections?” Thorn asked. ____ “I’m game. If there is a big herd of zombies around then I’m not passing up the chance to take a car.” Miles reasoned. ____ “Well…” Gene said, “There is one issue. Milady over here made you all drop your guns outside. I don’t suppose it’s too late to go get them? They might be a little handy.” ____ “Oh sh*t.” Thorn said, “He’s right.” ____ Shelley became very alarmed at the reminder, “No, don’t go out there! They’ll be watching. Maybe they didn’t bother you before because you were all carrying those guns!” ____ It wasn’t a terribly unreasonable assumption. Header could confess to not paying the utmost attention out in the field an hour ago. It was very dark, they’d been monotonously walking all day, and he’d been on the lookout for noisy zombies and shelter, not human scouts. But they needed those weapons. Not good. But necessary. ____ “Al’ight, people.” He said, trudging over to the front door, “I’ll get what I can an’ come right on back. We got no choice. Don’t worry, ma’am. I’ve dived headlong into worse. Thorn, you come with me, an’ maybe one other person.” ____ “Jaxson…” Jaxson whispered to himself. ____ “Jaxson, how ‘bout you? Yer fast.” ____ He nodded to himself in unsurprised sarcasm but didn’t fight it. He was fast, he needed to retrieve his pistol, and it was the right thing to do. But the thought of some sniper out there was rattling nonetheless. Even if it would only take a few seconds to race out and grab his gun. ____ “Be careful…” Stanley warned the three as they walked over to the door. ____ Header merely nodded his usual nod, moving his shoulders to loosen up as he grabbed the doorknob. The Sergeant unlocked it and opened the door wide, carefully peering out into the dark for a few seconds. The distracting stench of zombie still lingered in the air, the quiet of the outdoors equally deceptive. He watched and listened, finally holding his arm out and waving it before darting back inside. ____ BANG!!! The second he did so a gunshot sounded off from the distance, flying through the open door and shattering one of the lamps inside. ____ “Sh*t!!” Miles jumped and backed off, immediately distancing himself from the windows. He had been the most confident that there hadn’t been anyone else outside when they’d come to the house, the thought of being watched just as unsettling as the gunshot had been startling. Jaxson merely stared and gulped. ____ “Still going?” Stanley asked, scooting to the other side of the loveseat further away from the open door. ____ Header didn’t seem fazed, “Y’all got a back door?” ____ “Yes, why?” ____ “Show me. Jaxson, you come with. Thorn, count to thirty and give them a bang, yeah?” ____ “Yes sir.” ____ With that, the Sergeant let Stanley take him to the back of the house, Jaxson sheepishly following. He didn’t know what the man was planning, but either way he still wasn’t feeling all that good about going out there. ____ There was a screen door in the back, boarded up completely. Stanley pried a loose plank off the window next to it and opened that up instead. It was a hard climb out, equally eerie dark and quiet waiting on the other side, but Header didn’t seem worried. He squirmed through the open window and hopped on outside, quickly glancing around. The leafless forest of trees encroaching the fields were closest here, only about forty feet off from the back of the house and surrounding about half of it. If there were any snipers back here, he’d have an even harder time spotting them in those woods. ____ As Jaxson climbed out, the Sergeant reached up to the lit porch light by the boarded back door. He carelessly smashed it with his fist, shrouding the two of them in darkness. Now it didn’t matter so much if there were others spying them from the trees. He causally brushed the light bulb glass off his glove, a few bits of blood included, and then promptly began making his way around the house. ____ Jaxson followed him, breathing deeply. He didn’t know what Thorn was counting to thirty for, but he did know that it meant they didn’t have long. Now he was really nervous. ____ Just outside of the porch light at the front of the house, the two were much better concealed than they would be coming out the entrance. The light out here would help them spot their weapons, so it was a bit more necessary. It also meant they’d be fully illuminated as well. Jaxson squinted at the darkness ahead of him, trying to spot the sniper, but he couldn’t see anything no matter how hard he tried. The best he could do was hope they were poor shots, and have faith in the soldiers’ plan. ____ Inside Thorn was calmly counting the seconds, “27, 28, 29, 30.” ____ He reached up and plucked a flashbang from his vest, the only grenade he had. Its effects on the zombies was probably extremely limited, but he’d wager it’d still work fine on humans. Especially those waiting in the dark for so long. A smoke grenade would’ve been even better for this situation, but that would’ve been even less useful against the undead, so it made sense he hadn’t been given any for Operation Urban Retrieve. He’d make do with what he had. ____ “Flash out!” He warned the others, rushing to the door and hurling the grenade out into the darkness. It sailed off into the night abyss, quite a throw. A second or two passed before a brilliant burst of light shone off in the distance. Even from here it was hard to look at, but quick as a blink. Those closer by might experience longer-lasting effects. ____ “Now, boy!” Header commanded as he saw the flashbang go off. He rose to his feet in a jiffy and sprinted out to the guns in the grass. ____ “Here goes!” Jaxson muttered, hoping Thorn’s distraction would work. He immediately raced to the front of the house, eyes desperately scanning the ground for weapons. Thorn’s rifle there… it’s empty… but still possibly useful as a deterrent or for intimidation. Stop thinking and move, damn it! ____ BANG BANG! BANG! Gunshots sounded off again, not even the whizzing of nearby bullets following them. They were missing badly: that was a good sign. Header could tell from the sound that they were rifles similar to Reed’s and Shelley’s. So the shots coming that fast was a good indicator that there were at least two snipers out there. Move faster. ____ The Sergeant swiped his M16 and AA12, hurrying for the still-open front door as Jaxson gathered the M4 and went for the pistols. ____ BANG! BANG! Now a bullet whizzed past Jaxson, splintering wood as it struck one of the boarded up windows right by him. He jumped, panic further speeding him up as he barreled for the second pistol and turned to the door. Another shot cratered the dirt by his foot. They were clearly recovered from the flashbang. Time to move. ____ As someone who participated in track rather frequently, Jaxson was used to a gunshot being a good motivator to begin running at full speed. This was certainly no exception. If anything it was a further reinforcement of the rule. He raced for the door. ____ Unfortunately, unfortunate as it always somehow was in these scenarios, he was used to racing on even footing. Here things weren’t the same, Jaxson’s foot slipping on the dirt and his other foot tripping a bit as he stepped onto the pavement leading to the door. He fell down. ____ “Sh*t! Jaxson!” Miles shouted, him and the others watching morbidly from between the boards in the window. ____ BANG! BANG! ____ Header screeched to a halt, tossing his AA12 inside and whirling around. He dropped to one knee and unhesitatingly open fired into the darkness. As he did so Shelley quickly flipped the porch light off, the weapons now retrieved, hiding Jaxson from sight. She hurried outside and helped him up, returning to her home as Header covered the two of them. ____ B-B-Bang! B-B-Bang! B-B-Bang! The muzzle flash of his weapon lit up the inky blackness, the Sergeant firing relentlessly with little regard for ammo. He’d spotted muzzle flashes out there in the fields as they fired upon Jaxson, and kept careful track of those spots as he aimed. ____ Their fire had ceased since he started, Header barely able to make out two silhouetted figures rising from the tall grasses out there and retreating off. They were gone. He spat and quickly moved back inside. ____ The door was quickly slammed shut and locked, Jaxson dropping Thorn and Miles’ guns to the carpet and slumping down in the loveseat, breathing heavily. ____ “Good work lad.” Header congratulated him. ____ “Am I hit?” ____ Header glanced him up and down, “Well, yer grazed. Why? You want a Purple Heart or somethin’?” ____ Jaxson glanced to his legs. A gash had formed on his right calf, a shot having snatched some of the skin and flesh away as it passed him by. Thank God he wouldn’t need to do much more running cooped up in this house and in the car. Or at VACC for that matter. He was more concerned with how painful it’d feel once the shock wore off. He reclined back, joking it off, “Yeah, a medal would be nice…” ____ Thorn took out another aid kit, walking over and stooping down to his leg, “Don’t worry, bud. I’ll getcha fixed up. And here I was worried I was lugging these things around for nothing, what with any Z-related injuries being fatal.” ____ “Oh, glad I could help you get some use out of those.” ____ Shelley sighed and cautiously peered out the peephole of the front door, “So what happens now? They’ll be back.” ____ “I’ll tell ya what happens now. We bide our time, we fortify this place, we wait.” Header answered, going from addressing her to addressing everyone in the room, “And when the time’s right, we fight.” And there you go. Tune in again soon when the story continues! Soon being a relative term! See ya! ~TAF TAF was the Storyteller... in THE ENEMY'S LAST RETREAT Last edited by TheAverageFan; March 19th, 2022 at 04:33 AM. Reason: Fixed typo |
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Re: THE MOON HAS WINGS Ch. 12 - a zombie story
Update time, dear reader(s): 3 things.
#1: Happy 1000 views everybody. Yaaaaaay. #2: An edit has been made to the previous two chapters stating how many days it's been for each group. It occurred to me that it's never explicitly mentioned that the scenes with the "car group" are taking place approximately 1 day before the parts with the "gun group", as we've seen a day pass with the latter but not the former. It now states what day it is during scene transitions. Go check if you don't believe me. That should clear things up. #3: This week's release will be delayed by a few days. This is because there's a ton of content this time. Chapter 13 is very short so you'll be getting Chapter 14 as well. And Chapter 14 is extremely long. So look forward to that. ~TAF TAF was the Storyteller... in THE ENEMY'S LAST RETREAT |
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Chapter 13
Okay, so that "couple of days" delay turned out to be a week, sue me! But it's all certainly worth it, because that "two chapters at once" thing turned out to be 3 chapters at once, which is a record. I just wanted to get to certain things in the story and that turned out to be forty pages' worth of story. So you'll have no shortage of reading to do. That is if you read this stuff.
Anyway, Chapter 13:
Spoiler Alert!
13 Parable Of The Gladly Dead ____ Even after the endless walking of weeks past, it still felt good to stretch your legs after a day spent driving. Thomas stretched and stretched again as he left the car. It was permissible, having to stop—they’d come plenty far already. ____ While the vehicle worked just fine, it had a gas tank like a 100 year old man’s bladder. So they’d stopped to refuel. Thank goodness the gas station they found the car by had fuel to spare. Otherwise he’d probably be pretty furious right now. ____ “You think we’re getting close, lass?” Reed asked, leaning casually against the side of the car as he talked, “I still ain’t sure where exactly we’re goin’.” ____ “Move.” Thomas retrieved a gas container from the trunk, shooing Reed away from the fuel cap, “All I know is it’s safe and it’s where we’re supposed to go. Brooke, you know this Nazar guy more than the rest of us.” ____ “I barely know anything about him, just that he’s from there.” Brooke confessed, “He’s very mysterious.” ____ “I don’t like mysterious when it comes to our well-being.” Reed argued, “I know y’all don’t have a lot of other options, but are you really sure this VACC place is gonna have your best interests in mind?” ____ It was a possibility only the detached outsider was willing to admit. Thomas knew of course most of the others would be willing to trust that strange fellow and gladly march the group to their doom. He’d like to say he knew better, but honestly what other options were there? They’d been out here longer than two weeks, losing a member of the group an average of about every four days. How long would they honestly make it without VACC? No, he was as doubtful as Reed, but he’d quietly go along with the others’ plans simply because there was no alternative. Thomas would keep his doubts up, all set to be either proven right or pleasantly surprised. As close as you could get to a win-win in these times, he supposed. ____ “I wouldn’t sweat it, bucko.” Stacey told Reed. She sat on top of the car while she waited, swinging her legs back and forth in an overtly carefree fashion as she talked, “That Nazar guy bailed us out before. I think you’re just being paranoid. Oh!” ____ The breeze picked up, a rush of cold air nearly snatching her baseball cap off her head. Stacey clutched her hat, frowning at the cutting gray weather, “Brrr! It’s getting cold out. Are we going to get there today?” ____ “Try tomorrow.” Brooke assured her. ____ “Please tell me we’re not sleeping in the car.” Stacey complained, “I only love winter when it’s on the other side of a window.” ____ “I’ll find somewhere, okay?” Thomas said, screwing the fuel cap back on. He walked back to the driver’s side door, job finished, stopping to tap on the backseat window. Abbey was still sitting in the car, and she glanced over and rolled down the window as he tried to get her attention. ____ “Yes?” She plainly asked. ____ “Do you want to get out before we hit the road again? It looks pretty cramped back there.” ____ “I’m alright.” She left it at that, not thanking him for asking or even seeming to think his offer over. ____ Whatever you say. Thomas was fine leaving it at that too, letting her have her way and getting behind the wheel. He flipped the key in the ignition and got the vehicle started again, the hum of the machine his only warning to the others to hop in. Nobody wasted any time. ____ Brooke fiddled with the heat as the car got back on track, but it didn’t seem to work. Only a few hours ago the sun had been out and it’d been quite warm, but it had since retreated behind a carpet of gray clouds. The wind had picked up and brought a cold front with it. And this time of year daylight was going to be in short supply as the evening went on. The sunny high of getting a car had worn off quickly indeed. ____ Brooke frowned, “It’s not working. Sorry, Stacey.” ____ “Don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine.” Stacey rubbed her arms, wishing the window ahead of her hadn’t been smashed, cold air constantly darting in like a cold fan. She’d live, but it was another incoming layer of misery that only VACC could spare them from. The colder it got the worse it’d be trying to survive out here. Not a lot of fun. ____ Thomas glanced at his passengers in the rear view mirror, gradually applying the accelerator. The sun would be making an early descent soon, so it’d probably be for the best that he kept an eye out for places to stay the night. He could likely suck it up and drive straight to VACC, but he figured he’d get his fair share of complaints from the others if he tried that. His family had been like that, his father always wanting to drive straight to a place with zero stops, everyone else needing a break or distraction every half-hour or so. Now he understood a bit better. Stopping was nothing more than another chance to tempt fate. But it’s what the rest of the family wants. So be it. ____ About an hour and a half later, another cluster of buildings came into sight. A sign for a motel stood tall above them, a eye-catching advertisement for the most weary of eyes. That’d do. ____ “How about a motel?” Thomas asked everyone, “That’s not so different from a hotel for a place to stay at.” ____ “That works. It’s getting dark out.” Brooke agreed. ____ Thomas took a right and pulled up. It was a dim, hideous, L-shaped building looking like it’d been built right on top of a parking lot much too big for it. Only a single floor, with not a light on in sight. Thomas drove alongside it, headlights on scanning for zombies. There were none. ____ “Well?” He asked the others. ____ “Dingy but doable.” Reed decided, “Maybe park in the back. I don’t wanna wake up to a stolen car.” ____ “Good thinking.” ____ The car was moved to the other side of the building, everyone exiting and looking around, watchful in the increasing darkness. Leaving the car behind did give one a sense of unease, like letting go of a handrail while on shaky ground. It was quiet and there were no zombies in sight, but there was a strange creepy ambiance that lingered nonetheless. That could be found at a lot of places in these times though, so there wasn’t much use complaining about it. ____ The clouds above had parted, the full winged moon shining bright down upon them below. Thomas gave it a glance, finding it odd. The moon had been waning last he spotted it, barely visible in the daylight, yet now it was full again. Thomas still didn’t like looking at it or thinking about it, so he did neither and hurried to the motel front, quickly tracking down some room keys. ____ He didn’t bother trying to map out who slept where, just swiping a bunch of keys and walking out of the small office where he’d found them. The door had been wide open and some bullet holes were visible in one of the walls. Someone’s story unfolded here, its remnants seemingly only existing to make one wonder what exactly had occurred. No point in trying to deduce it. ____ Thomas walked out and opened up the first room he came across, turning his phone’s flashlight on and peering inside. Dark but void of the undead. He tried the lights but nothing came of it. They’d have to do without for the time being. Fortunately the full moon was plenty bright, so throwing open the drapes cast the dim room in an indigo light. Passable. ____ The motel room was nothing more than a pair of cramped conjoined bedrooms, an equally petite bathroom tucked into the corner of the first. Thomas checked every corner for any zombies in hiding, finding not a thing. He turned his phone light off and slumped into an easy chair in the corner, already feeling stiff and uncomfortable. He’d already been sitting down just about all day. ____ Reed glanced around observationally, habitually running his tongue over his teeth. He set his rifle down and leaned against the wall, gradually sinking down to the floor as his fatigued legs neglected their duties, “Well, here we are. Let’s get some sleep while we can.” ____ Stacey walked over to the bed, poking the covers as if it were a corpse. The sheets were unusually cold. She frowned and looked back at him, “This place gives me the creeps.” ____ “You can sleep out in the car if ya like.” Reed offered. ____ “No thanks. Out there gives me the creeps too.” ____ Brooke walked over and peeled back the covers, seemingly less bothered with them, “With real monsters out there in the dark, yes. C’mon, the sooner we go to bed, the sooner tomorrow will be here.” ____ Stacey sighed with the mounting stress, “Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow… I’ll die if I have to wait any longer for VACC. It’s like Christmas Eve, only fraught with death.” ____ “So let’s sleep! And then maybe we’ll finally get to this place you’re all talkin’ about.” Reed agreed. He glanced at Abbey, who was still standing by the door silently, “Hey lady, you want the other bed or what?” ____ She just stared at him for a second or two before replying, “I’m… I’d sooner not be by myself.” ____ “Understandable.” Stacey agreed. ____ “I can sleep on the floor.” Brooke proposed. ____ Reed hopped to his feet, “Offer accepted, lass. It’s all mine, then. See you people on the morrow.” ____ He went into the other room, taking his gun with him. The door shut behind him, a fittingly loud good-night to the rest of them. Thomas watched him go, his eyes turning to the girls figuring out sleeping arrangements amongst themselves. He probably looked like a preying owl in that dark corner. If they’d noticed they didn’t seem too fazed by it. The least they could do was offer him one of the bed’s blankets. ____ Thomas sighed. He could probably go ask Reed for one, or hell, even get a towel from the bathroom. But he didn’t feel like bothering Reed, or even getting up. Trying to get a fix on his feelings, Thomas pinned the words for it as strangely anxious. Maybe it was because of the debacle at the hotel last night, or maybe it was just nerves. No power, only gun in the other room, car outside… it was hard to sleep when one’s guard was lowered. And the act of sleeping in itself was lowering one’s guard. Perhaps that was why it was so difficult oftentimes. ____ But he had to do it. They probably had a big day tomorrow. Perhaps the biggest day. Thomas closed his eyes and breathed deeply. It’d come eventually. ____ “Well…?” Gene dared to peek out the window, trying to get a good look of the outdoors from between two boards, “Did you scare them off? Should we make a break for it now?” ____ Header was dismissive, “I don’t think that’s a good idea. If they are still out there, that could go over badly. Don’t worry, I’ve got me a good plan of when we play our hand. It’s gotta be when they least expect it.” ____ With that he held a bowl of soup to his lips and sipped obnoxiously at it. It’d been awhile since he’d had real food, its delectability dancing on his tongue. Undeniably the best part about forming an alliance with Shelley and Stanley was that the two of them didn’t go out much. Ergo, when they did go out for groceries, they stocked up. Ergo again, they still had a lot of food. Food they could be generous with since they were now planning on leaving their home behind. The Sergeant set the bowl down and took a bite out of a slice of Texas toast. Mmmn… non-rations. ____ “Thanks for helping us get through all that.” Stanley told him, “Shelley and I don’t eat a lot of that stuff—we usually get it for houseguests—and it tends to stockpile up.” ____ Jaxson, just as famished as the rest of them, actually laughed at that, “Ha! Yeah, we’ll help with anything you’ve got.” ____ He winced with discomfort as he chuckled, the bullet wound grazing his leg having quickly gotten over shock and becoming quite painful. It was like a nasty scrape a hundred-fold, the small chunk of skin and flesh missing causing every adjacent muscle to cry in pain. Thorn had patched him up best he could, but it still hurt. Hopefully he wouldn’t need to move much in the coming days. ____ Miles had eaten quickly and merely sat in the corner, watching them all. He nervously twiddled his thumbs, perhaps impatiently. ____ “So…” He spoke up, finally putting forth his thoughts, “What’s the plan? For our defense and eventual escape tomorrow? You do have a plan, right?” ____ “Aye, yup.” Header grunted. ____ “…Okay…?” Miles waited for the Sergeant to go further into detail. ____ “You’ve certainly got the arsenal.” Stanley nodded at their resting weapons, “Might be a bit difficult to fit some of those through the boards.” ____ “That’s just the thing.” Header set aside his plate and walked to the far end of the room, peering through a bullet hole in one of the planks across the window, “These ain’t exactly bulletproof. If you’ve got any extra wood, you’d better double up. An’ stack any furniture you got against the walls. That’ll put a stop to any pistol rounds. The rifles we can’t do anything about.” ____ “Well then what’s the point?” Stanley inquired, “We’re sitting ducks trying to shoot back from an obvious spot.” ____ “Which is why we’re not gonna take any obvious spots.” Thorn explained, glancing to his superior officer, “Is that what you’re thinking, old man?” ____ “Exactly right, kid.” Header acknowledged, “Make our own hidden nests, shoot up the enemy an’ rattle ‘em good. Then we can break for it in the car.” ____ “How is the car?” Thorn asked. ____ Shelley shrugged, “I think it could meander along just fine without one tire, but getting it going will be like trying to pull it out of a ditch.” ____ “A hard start?” Jaxson looked up. ____ “There may as well be a great big pothole in our garage.” Stanley put it, “Might be arduous revving it up to bail us out of here.” ____ Thorn frowned, “If we take too long getting it out and about it’ll get shot to hell.” ____ “Well…” Jaxson mused. ____ “Yes sir?” The Corporal eyed him, “You’ve got a kind of look going there.” ____ “I might just have an idea… It’ll take a bit of work, but it’s an idea…” ____ “Idea, plans, lots of work before dawn…” Gene said, “This sounds like a job for a montage! Let’s do it!” ____ In a way, that was exactly what they were going to do in preparation for tomorrow. After they finished eating, everyone hopped to it. Gene and Miles helped Stanley begin to move all the furniture, doubling up on the windows’ defenses and continuing to fortify the household. Anything that could work was dismantled and put up against the walls. Furniture was disassembled, nails were held in mouths, entire rooms were rearranged, and soon the whole house was filled with the sound of hammers banging away. ____ While they worked on that Header asked to see the garage, “Let’s take a look at that car, yeah?” ____ “It’s just over here.” Shelley led him to it, opening a door just down the hall to reveal an absurdly-brown room filled with junk. An aging light illuminated a gray van. ____ Jaxson followed the Sergeant in curiously, seemingly pleased with the car, “Oh sweet, that’ll carry all of us no problem!” ____ Header examined the vehicle’s missing limb, no tire on the driver’s side of the front axle. Not even just the tread—the whole tire was gone. The car was leaning to that end hard. Driving it like that would throw up sparks like all hell. ____ The soldier grimaced and spat, glancing to Shelley and rubbing his boot over the wet garage floor, “Er, sorry about that. Now then, first thing’s first, we gotta put the tire back on. Flat or not, it’s better than trying to drive with nothing. Jaxson, you ever replaced a wheel before?” ____ “Uh… I mean…” ____ “Well yer about to learn.” Header rooted through all the junk in the garage, finding a car jack surprisingly quickly, “Ma’am, I don’t suppose you still got the tire?” ____ “Actually yes, under those paint cans.” Shelley went over to retrieve it as the two men started slowly lifting the vehicle back to an even level, “I don’t know what good it’s going to do though…” ____ “It’ll let us drive is what.” ____ “Yes, but won’t they see us putting the garage door up? They’ll shoot us to ribbons.” She pointed out as she rolled the flabby tire over. ____ Header caught it as she rolled it to him, lining it up to the axle plate, “We ain’t puttin’ up the garage door. We’re gonna burn rubber in place and bust through.” ____ “But I already told you, it’s too slow to start. You’re not going to do any burnout with a lopsided car like this.” ____ “Er, well. Hmm…” Header paused, looking from the car to the garage door as the gears spun in his head. Or tried to spin, at the very least. ____ Jaxson suddenly looked up, stroking his chin, “‘Lopsided’? What if we made the car a starting block?” ____ “What’s that?” The Sergeant asked him. ____ “In a lot of running sports, you have this device that you prop your feet up against. It sort of puts you in the best starting position before you begin, so you don’t slip up right out of the gate.” Jaxson pointed to the limp tire, “I don’t know if it’ll work, but if you get rid of the tread on the flat and prop it up with something so the axle’s even… you might be able to do it.” ____ Shelley raised an eyebrow, although she herself was unsure if it was an “are you serious?” or a “you’re onto something…” expression. ____ Jaxson shrugged, “We just need to build up speed before exposing our escape to the bad guys, right? Like I said, best starting position.” ____ Header grinned and nodded, “I like you, kid. Yer resourceful. Let’s do it!” ____ With no small amount of work, the three stripped the tire of its tread and built up a stand for it. Dismantling a carpentry work bench in the garage supplied the wood for the starting block, a flat raised surface for the disabled wheel to stand on. Thank God Stanley never got around to building that shed out back. ____ Finally Jaxson eased back on the jack and the car rested down again, finally standing up straight for the first time. Shelley breathed a sigh of relief and wiped her hands off, “Hope this works, you two. Are we done?” ____ “Not quite.” Header said, “Last but most important thing. Follow me.” ____ He left the garage, swiping a saw and a hammer from the bench first, and rounded up Cpl. Thorn. The Sergeant made a few rounds through the house, eyes peeled as he walked. Shelley curiously followed him. ____ “There.” He walked over to one of the walls and stooped down, knocking out part of it and beginning to saw out the rest. He slowly but surely began forging a thin slit in the wall, about a foot wide but only an inch or so tall. ____ “What are you doing?” Shelley asked him. ____ Header leaned back and held his M16 up, keeping the scope level to the open slot in the wall, “Here, see this? Lookout point. Too small to be all that noticeable from a distance. While the enemy’ll be eyeballin’ the windows and doors, I’ll be looking at ‘em from here. Our rifle shots’ll penetrate the wall, so it don’t matter if the barrel’s pressed against it. Get the idea?” ____ “You were sticking your gun out when you held us up out there.” Thorn told her, “You didn’t need to do that. Gives you away. As long as the scope can see, you can shoot.” ____ “I get it.” Shelley nodded, “You’re going to line the house with these little things. As soon as they catch on to your location, you can run off to another. It’s like a reloadable ambush.” ____ “That’s the ticket.” Header said, “Afraid Miles and Jaxson won’t be able to do it, but us rifle-users should be able to handle it. Thorn, yer empty carbine’s on decoy duty. We’ll hook it up to one of the windows.” ____ “Aye sir.” ____ Shelley ran both hands through her hair, “You guys really know how to plan this stuff out. I’m, well, I’m sorry for almost shooting you out there. We’re lucky you came along. I don’t know how much longer Stanley and I were going to be able to keep this up.” ____ “Don’t mention it, ma’am. Just years of practice rootin’ out holed up a-holes. Some of their expertise must’ve rubbed off on us, eh Corporal?” Header handed him the hammer and saw, “Go ahead and cover the other room. An’ make sure to cover them up so the light in here don’t give them away to anyone spyin’ on us.” ____ The Sergeant returned to the garage to fetch more tools, and the two soldiers began whittling out lookout spots in every wall that wasn’t made of bricks. Again the house was filled with the sounds of hammers battering away and saws eating at the walls. Each spot methodical, everywhere in-between covered with anything that could bite a pistol bullet. Every nail put in or peephole cut another step closer to being ready for what was coming. A montage accomplished indeed. ____ A scream woke everyone up, Thomas jumping in his easy chair and snapping to still-tired attention. Where was his gun? What was going on? ____ Abbey was sitting up, her hands pressed tightly against herself, feeling around frantically. She was screaming in terror like a lunatic, “My skin! My skin!!” ____ “What! What!?” Brooke jumped, startled just as badly. She scrambled to her feet—quickly slinging her guitar in case they needed to bolt—and fumbled for the light, only recalling that there was no power as she flipped the switch. ____ Thomas snapped out of his bleariness and rushed to the windows, throwing the drapes open and letting the overpowering light of the full moon do the illuminating. Reed swung the door open beside him and stepped in, pointing his rifle around looking for a target. ____ “What’s up?” He demanded, looking to Abbey as she continued acting hysterical. ____ She was staring in horror at her shaking hands, and even looking at her for a second explained the panic. She had writing all over her, the simple words “KILL YOURSELF” written repeatedly in black ink from head to toe. ____ “What…!? What!?” She stammered, begging them all for an answer as she pulled at her sleeves and shirt. Everywhere she looked it was, everywhere, far too elaborate for anyone to truly pull off so perfectly. She kept on panicking and looking at herself, getting tangled in the covers and falling out of bed as she flailed. ____ “Abbey, Abbey, it’s okay!” Brooke rushed to her side, trying to help her up. ____ “What the hell?” Reed looked down at her. ____ “What’s happening to me!? Who did this to me!?” Abbey screamed. ____ “If I had to venture a guess I’d say there’s some internet trolls lurking around these parts.” Reed answered bluntly, lowering his rifle as the vague threat gave way to confusion. ____ “Reed!!” Stacey snapped at him harshly. She crawled over to the side of the bed and helped Abbey get back up. Echoes of the previous incident at the hotel resounded clearly in her head. She had needed comfort back then, and she knew Abbey was going to need it here. ____ Reed shrugged, “What do you want me to say? I don’t have a damn clue what’s going on with you people. Thomas, you were in the room. What happened? …Thomas?” ____ Thomas’ back was pressed tightly against the wall as he watched the two girls help Abbey, trying in vain to calm her down. He probably looked rather cowardly like that, staring with wide eyes at her and refusing to help. But he couldn’t move a muscle, as if his back was magnetized to the wall and his eyelids were pried open. That was all he could do, staring in horror at the stunned, violated woman before him. Watching her smear ink all over herself as she tried to get it off her skin. The full moon mercilessly illuminated her for him to see. ____ Yes, it was violation. Two nights in a row now this had occurred: first with Stacey and now with Abbey. Different instances, yes, but inexplicable and rattling nonetheless. Both had left their victims utterly traumatized. He could maybe come up with an explanation for the first, but this… it was getting to him and quick. ____ “Get it off me! Get it off!” Abbey cried. ____ “Get some water you two!” Stacey ordered the two men, Reed turning and bolting off to the restroom faucet. Stacey glared at Thomas as he stood there, “Thomas!!” ____ He just kept on staring, slowly prying himself from the wall. He could feel the beams of the moon at the back of his neck. It wasn’t supposed to be full. Hell, it wasn’t supposed to be winged at all. Knowing that, seeing Abbey like this, Thomas knew there was no escape. It was like something was trying to weed them out one by one. And it would be his turn eventually. ____ “No…” He said, slowly backing off. ____ “Thomas!!” Stacey shouted at him again. ____ He just gawked at her, then turned and fled into the other room. Brooke watched him go, getting up soon after and going in after him. Stacey looked from her absence to Abbey and back, unsure what to do on her own. ____ Reed returned with hands cupped, spilling water balanced between them. He held his hands out, Abbey hurriedly trying to wipe the ink off. It was thick and wet, blurring as the water washed over her hands. ____ “There we go. You’re okay…” Stacey told her, trying to sound as consoling as possible. ____ “I’m… I’m…” Abbey whimpered, at a loss for words, “Why me…?” ____ Stacey didn’t have a good answer, just falling back on the same words, “It’s okay…” ____ Once the water Reed was clumsily holding was depleted Abbey just put her head in her hands, shuddering, “M—Maybe I should—!” ____ “Hey!” Reed snapped at her, Abbey not expecting the tone and looking back at him wide-eyed, “What are you doin’!?” ____ “Wha…?” ____ “Look, I don’t have a clue what’s goin’ on around here with you two… But I’m sick of all this wailing and whining! Look at this!” He took her arm and rolled the sleeve back, revealing the words underneath, “Whoever or whatever’s doin’ this is spitting in your face! ‘Kill yourself’, really? Is that how they’re gonna mess with ya? Are you seriously gonna give in to this bull?!” ____ Now both Abbey and Stacey were just staring at him. ____ “Now I don’t know what kind of thoughts you’ve got going on in your head, but if you’re honestly going to kill yourself, don’t do it ‘cause of this horsesh*t! And if you’re ain’t going to do it, then get cleaned up, grow a backbone, and tell this… thing… to shove its pranks up its ass!” Reed instructed, “Or are you gonna fall apart under the spotlight like actor boy over there?” ____ His shock approach somehow seemed to work, Abbey’s breathing gradually slowing to a more normal rate. She closed her eyes and processed it all, finally calming down just a little bit. Reed was right, strangely. This inexplicable force seemed like it was… on the same side as the people who had orchestrated this outbreak. If that was the case then it could go straight to hell. Her feelings were more complicated than she could ever put into words, but when it came to those people things were very simple: she’d fight them at every possible turn. ____ “I’m okay… Just give me a minute…” She sighed, “We’re almost to VACC. Just get this stuff off of me, please. Please, please, please...” ____ Reed nodded, cooling his tone, “Yes, ma’am.” ____ Stacey watched the exchange and slowly exhaled a sigh of relief. Part of her wanted to chew him out already, knowing from experience that he was damn lucky his approach had worked. But for now the best thing they could do was work together in silence to help clean the ink off their friend. ____ Light poured in from the open windows as Thomas stumbled into the other room, not sure where he was going. He eyed the bed and backed away from it, his breathing quickening. His hands hastily rubbed the sides of his head, a feeble effort to calm down. They were almost to VACC. Just ease up a bit. But how could he? What escape was there from this? ____ He leaned one hand against the wall and stared at the floor, begging for even breathing. Fear made it too difficult. No matter how few zombies there were, no matter how little danger there really was, he felt horribly exposed. As if reality itself was set against him. Nothing could hide or be hidden from it. There was no evading it, nothing one could ever do to fight it. ____ His chest hurt, felt tight. The dread. ____ The door opened and Brooke came into the room after him, “Thomas? What’s wrong?” ____ He didn’t care to converse with her, not now, “Nothing’s wrong. Go away. Abbey probably needs you.” ____ “Stacey and Reed are with her. And besides, I’m not sure she’s the only one who needs help.” ____ Thomas stood back up straight and ran both his hands through his hair, relenting to her persistence, “I just don’t get what’s going on. Why is this happening to us?!” ____ “I don’t know, but…” She walked closer to him, seemingly sensing his fears, “Everything happens for a reason. I don’t know what the reason is, but we’ll get through it together.” ____ “Just because it hasn’t happened to you yet.” Thomas denied, walking around her so he wouldn’t have to face her, “It’s cruel, Brooke, haven’t you seen that by now? Denial’s not going to make this go away! What am I supposed to do when it happens to me?!” ____ She took another step forward, “I know it’s scary. But it won’t beat us. Just have a little faith! God’s in control!” ____ “I don’t… believe in that sort of thing!!” Thomas snapped at her, more than sick of her lack of a grasp on the situation. Yes, snapped. Something about her words brought something up out of him, something that’d been brewing in him since this whole disaster started. She’d been talking plenty, to everyone in the group, spouting her happy nonsense and making them good and ready to be disappointed and despair all over again. Even while one of them was just in the other room screaming in terror she was still at it. And enough was enough. It was his turn to spout. ____ Thomas turned faced her head on, “All you do is play pretend and spread your naivety to everyone in the group! What good did God do when all this began, huh? What good did it do for Abbey or her baby!? All you did was get her hopes up so they could be crushed twice as hard!! Just stop with it! I’m too smart for it! You should be too old for it!” ____ “I—I…” She stammered at his shouting. ____ “God didn’t stop this outbreak, He didn’t save Abbey’s baby, He didn’t save Cecil or David or any of them! Is He gonna kick in now all of a sudden and get us through this!? And then what!? We’re supposed to live in this hell and be happy about it!? Until we starve or get eaten!? And if He somehow saves us from that, then what!? We’ll sit in a cold bunker and wallow in the death of EVERYONE we love, until some goddamned comets come blow us all to hell!? Where’s He going to be then!? Answer me, damn it! How am I supposed to take comfort in your stupid beliefs if you can’t even answer me!? WELL!?” ____ She didn’t answer him, staring at him through the whole speech wide-eyed and frightened. When he finally stopped yelling she just took a few steps back and slumped down to the floor. She put her head in her hands and began to cry. ____ Thomas’ breathing gradually slowed, his feelings quickly going from anger to triumph to disgust. Just look at what you’ve done. She’s just been trying to cope same as everybody. Same as you. He stepped back, giving her some more space, feeling rather awful. Everything the zombies took from her, everything Silvin had done, none of it had ever made her cry. But he’d just done it. ____ Thomas looked away from her, not knowing what to say. He still didn’t feel any better about the primal terror lingering in him. He’d just made her feel worse. ____ After about a minute of tears and awkward silence Brooke finally tried to recollect herself, shakily getting back to her feet. Hugging her guitar case to her chest she slowly tried to walk around him and out of the room. ____ “I’m—I’m sorry.” She sniffled, constantly trying to wipe her eyes, “I’m sorry for always bothering you. Always trying to push my views on you. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I promise I’ll leave you alone from now on.” ____ Thomas frowned at her, at himself, as she quietly walked past him. He wasn’t sure if it would be right to say anything further, but he was sure that he didn’t want her to go. ____ “Brooke. No, wait!” He grabbed her arm, only to have her pull away from him as she kept walking. Unwilling to give up, he went after her, grabbing her again, “Brooke!” ____ She whirled around, trying to pull her arm away from his grasp, but he wouldn’t have it. For only a instant they struggled. And then in a split-second flash of passion the next thing he knew they were kissing. It was all so fast Thomas already couldn’t recall who had started it. It didn’t matter much—all the stress and tension was wildly diffused away. The struggle turned into an embrace and the two just fell over onto the bed next to them, kissing away. ____ It was profound and out-of-nowhere, origin and destination unknown and likely rooted in pure catharsis or foolish emotions. But it was something Thomas hadn’t felt in a long, long time: touch. And he’d forgotten how much he’d missed it. He wrapped his arms around her, her doing the same to him, and didn’t stop. ____ Finally reality caught back up to the two of them, remembering the dire life around them and the circumstances that had led up to this moment. They stopped kissing at that realization and let go of each other, both turning onto their backs and staring up at the ceiling above. ____ “I’m sorry.” Brooke hurriedly apologized, “I don’t know what came over me. I’m just a little confused right now.” ____ Thomas sighed, “…No… I’m the one who ought to apologize. …I know I’m a jerk. I’m sorry for that.” ____ “You’re just realistic. The truth is, I’m terrified. That’s all I’ve been since this mess started, before that even. I don’t know what’s going on, everything around us is falling apart. And all I can think to do is smile. I should’ve realized long ago that I was doing more hurting than helping like that. But it’s all I can think to do.” ____ “All I can think to do is despair.” Thomas countered, “The outbreak hasn’t changed a thing. I’ve always been like that. But the fact of the matter is, that smile of yours… I’m still falling for it. I get angry because I really want it, more than anything, and I just can’t have it.” ____ He kept his eyes to the ceiling, only hearing her voice, “Why can’t you have it, Thomas? I know you’ve lost something, but I don’t think it was the zombies that took it from you…” ____ Thomas sighed again, dredging up gray memories, “What can I say? It’s a story you’ve heard a million times before. Stupid kid lives life with loved one. Loved one gets sick. We do everything we can, fight every step of the way. We pray every day and every night. Loved one dies slowly and painfully, begging for it to be over before the end. Stupid kid learns the futility of life. End of story.” ____ “Thomas…” ____ “I’m sorry I’m not like you, Brooke. Truth be told I never have been. It just took enough heavy doses of reality for me to finally come to terms with it.” ____ Brooke didn’t say anything. ____ “Real life isn’t like what we want it to be.” Thomas explained, “That’s why we make up stories to feel better about it. Books, plays, religions, all of it. The truth is, no matter how you ‘feel’ about it, reality will never bend to your will. It will always break you before the end. There is no deus ex machina in real life.” ____ “What’s deus ex machina?” Brooke asked. ____ “A narrative device: god from the machine.” Thomas explained, “When everything is at risk, when the stakes are at their highest and the characters are at their lowest, something shows up to magically make it all right again. The audience calls it a miracle, the author knows it’s a crane. It’s not real. It’s just there to make the crowds happy.” ____ “…” Brooke didn’t say anything to that, seemingly musing on the idea. ____ Thomas decided to find her reasoning as well, “And you, Brooke?” ____ “…What about me?” ____ “I imagine you didn’t start off this way either. People are always the most passionate if their ideals are newly founded. What’s your story?” ____ “I don’t think you’d like my story…” Brooke dismissed. ____ “Try me.” Thomas was serious. ____ “If you say so… Back in Ohio, while I was still in school, I used to volunteer at a local hospital.” Brooke began, “There were always homeless people on the drive down, waiting at curbs and traffic stops. There were always the same few every day, with their own little cardboard signs. I was always too scared to stop and give them anything. I hated being stuck at a light right next to one. I avoided eye contact. More than anything I felt guilty.” ____ “Yeah?” Thomas inquired. ____ “Most of them had signs asking for money or food, essentials, even just straight-up asking for beer. But there was always this one man. His sign just read “God bless”. He never asked for anything. I think at first I was afraid of him most of all. He still seemed so content, it made me feel even worse.” ____ Thomas let her talk, visioning her tale as if the ceiling above him were a projection screen. ____ Brooke continued, “I went to that hospital for two years, and that man was on the way down every single day, never once changing his sign or asking for anything else. Eventually I started giving him singles or fives, sometimes a water bottle if I had one with me in the car. He’d just quietly accept it and always say ‘God bless’.” ____ “What happened to him? Did you become his friend?” ____ She sighed, “I felt good enough just giving him a few dollars, and I was still too afraid to engage him or any of the others beyond that. It didn’t matter much. About a year and a half into my work, one morning someone pulled up by him, rolled down the window, shot him and drove off. And that was the end of it. ____ “And yet after all that, all I could think about every time I drove past that spot was how happy that man had been. He might’ve been ignorant or just doing what would make him feel better. Maybe even just fishing for dollars from whoever that sign would appeal to. But I could tell, just from the look in his eyes: he was joyous. More than anything, he didn’t care how good or bad things were. He was above that. That’s how I wanted to be.” Brooke held her hand above her and watched it shake, “But I’m not like that. I’m still scared and guilty. And every second I’m trembling with doubt.” ____ Thomas finally looked over to her. He was confident that they were both just bottling up their own insecurities and the kiss had just been them illogically snapping at once. But looking at her now, he wasn’t so sure. ____ “You are like that.” He insisted, “You’re a shining city of a hill in the midst of all this.” ____ “‘You are the light of the world’.” Brooke added, “Thomas. I know when we look at it all straight-on it’s nothing but darkness and horror. But such strange things have been happening: the moon has wings, these horrible unexplainable events, the dead walk the earth… You have to wonder if the supernatural is very much at work around us.” ____ “All I’ve seen so far from these things is cruelty.” Thomas denied, “If all this comes to pass and nothing you believe in is there for us, what then?” ____ Brooke answered more strongly this time, “Then I’ll still be there with you. But if it does, Thomas? Will you rejoice with me?” ____ She offered her hand, and he held it. But still he returned his gaze to the ceiling, unwilling to give her proposal too much thought. The hope she was trying to offer him was still too much for him to accept right now, too high of expectations for one to get anything but more desolation out of it. But for now, he’d settle for holding her hand. If he could have that wonderful touch again, he’d have gained far more than he’d lost with the apocalypse. The chance to love something again. Oh, we're getting deep now are we? There's more yet. Onward! ~TAF TAF was the Storyteller... in THE ENEMY'S LAST RETREAT Last edited by TheAverageFan; March 17th, 2022 at 07:18 AM. Reason: Fixed typo |
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Re: THE MOON HAS WINGS Ch. 12 - a zombie story
I'm here, even if I'm not reading. I wonder: how do you get it to keep the indent like that? It doesn't do it for me when I paste from Word...
~TGRF. P.S. Oh, and your sig says you're in the 'Clock Towel' btw... |
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