"Damnit." Green eyes shifted nervously along the landscape, the familiar sound of an approaching horde reached his ears. Pushing off from the tree he had been leaning on the conman took off running again, desperately seeking any kind of refuge for the moment. All he currently had equipped was a magnum pistol he'd found on a body, and with all of four bullets left in the clip he decided trying to face the oncoming horde would not necessarily work out with the odds in his favor. So he kept moving.
Suddenly it was almost as if the stars aligned and lady luck was actually on his side for once. A cabin appeared from between the trees and Nick wasted no time bee-lining it to the door. He found that the windows were all boarded up and something had been shoved up against the door but a quick inspection revealed make-shift roof access and a skylight. The conman didn't hesitate when he stomped in the glass; he only wished it had been a lot quieter. He jumped down into the small cabin and pulled out his magnum, switching on the flashlight to reveal the faces of three other survivors.
A small scream escaped the parted lips of one pink-shirted female as the skylight crashed in and the light was shone in her face.
"What the hell you think you doin' son!" The eldest of the group yelled, a man in his mid-forties wearing a purple and yelled polo shirt.
"You gon' attract them zombies in here with all yo' damn noise!" He took a step toward the newcomer, nostrils flaring.
"Listen calm the fuck down, we're all hiding so let's just sit here and be quiet!" Nick growled back at the older man.
"Nah son! You just wore out your welcome! I-" He was interrupted mid-sentence by a young southerner who grabbed him, his finger pressed to his lips asking for silence. A hush fell over the four of them as they listened for a moment, straining to hear. It was faint but it was there, growing louder by the second. The horde Nick thought he had ditched.
"Shit!" Nick growled under his breath.
"Oh now you gone and dunnit!" The eldest spat, throwing his hands up in exasperation. He now had two things on his agenda, wasting this horde and then ditching the new guy. He shoved the dresser that had been pushed up against the door out of the way, the door swung open revealing a group of infected rounding the corner and running up onto the cabin porch. Without so much as a second thought he aimed his shotgun and began to fire.
"Ro! Cover me!" He yelled. Rochelle pulled herself from the corner of the room and stepped into the door frame.
"Guess that means you're with me, kid." Nick grumbled, motioning to the broken skylight as bodies of the infected began to hover over and drop in one by one.
"Nice goin', asshole!" Coach yelled over his shoulder at Nick. Ellis said nothing, pulling out an old fire axe and getting to work. It felt like the longest two minutes of their lives as they battled through the horde, finally a window of escape neared and the group took it without hesitation, filing out of the door and booking it down an old beaten path until they eventually lost themselves in the woods.
Happening upon a small clearing the four of them stopped to catch their breath. It was quiet enough to know that at least there were not infected in the immediate vicinity, no surprises.
The youngest stood first, a young man from Savannah with a yellow 'Bull Shifters' shirt and a blue-billed cap he was too attached to to lose, even though the zombie apocalypse was upon them.
"Name's Ellis." He said, offering a hand out to Nick who waved it away.
"That there's Coach and Ro." He said, pointing respectively at the older man and woman.
"What's yer name?" He asked, turning his attention back to the newcomer, who was wearing what looked to have once been an expensive white suit, but was now just a mud stained mess.
"Name's Nick." He said finally, straightening himself up.
Coach and Rochelle, at this point, really had no intention of letting Nick travel with them. Nick felt the same way, but he knew what he needed was the safety and protection only offered by traveling with a group. It went against all of his instincts but in a world like this he knew he couldn't afford the luxury of solitude, not if he wanted to live through this.
Ellis, always being happy to see new faces, fought long and hard for Nick's right to stay and travel with the group and in the end he won out though he got no thanks from Nick. Coach made sure it was ingrained in Nick's mind that if he so much as stepped a toe out of line he would be cast off and left to fend for himself, Nick begrudgingly agreed.
It was quiet as the group weaved their way through the trees, the only noise to be heard was their footsteps through the thick brush, twigs cracking, the sound of light breathing between them, eyes alert and ears straining to hear any small sound of a threat. And for a good twenty or so minutes there was absolutely nothing, not a sound beyond themselves and it felt nice, peaceful. Coach and Rochelle had previously talked about perhaps finding shelter way out in the country or the woods where people seldom traveled but unfortunately the idea had to be ruled out, there was not enough food to be scavenged from the stores or safe houses around town, imagine living out in the middle of nowhere with absolutely nothing.
"How far do y'all think it is to town?" Ellis chirped, breaking the thick wall of silence that had slowly built up between them.
"Probably a bit of ways still, sweetie." Rochelle murmured, her eyes scanning the trees.
It was quiet and felt almost too good to be true as they continued wordlessly through the woods, but eventually they found themselves on a solid pavement path. It was hard to see where the road was going, either side was lined with a thick wall of forestry, and it was nearly impossible to tell which way they had come from if they had been on the road the whole time.
"I say we go right." Coach said after a long moment of silent decision making. Rochelle and Ellis agreed but Nick folded his arms over his chest, a brow raised.
"What makes you think we didn't just come from over there?" He asked, his voice had a hint of a challenge behind it. Coach scoffed.
"Well I don't know that for sure, Nicolas, but maybe you wanna go ahead and go the other way by yo' damn self and see what happens." Coach said dismissively, he turned on a heel and headed up the road. Personally, he didn't care if Nick followed or stayed behind, his goal was to find somewhere safe before nightfall. Nick rolled his eyes and followed behind the other three, feet dragging. He was really dreading this decision of staying with them but hey, since he'd joined the team they'd been zombie free... So far.
It was a relatively quiet hour (or two) as the four survivors carried on down the road, they picked off the occasional wandering infected with melee weapons, so as not to draw the crowd and it seemed as though nothing much happened... Until Ellis called out from the top of the hill.
"Ey! Guys! I can see the town from here!" He shouted, waving his arms frantically and jumping up and down. Nick rolled his eyes at the kid, he was too damn excitable and loud... And talkative, more than once he'd suddenly rattle on about his buddy 'Keith' and require one of the other three to ask him to be quiet before he'd stop. He'd literally go on and on and on, between Coach and Ellis, Nick was already starting to go crazy. Ro was decent in Nick's eyes, she had her head firmly planted on her shoulders and she was sassy, but she didn't talk a lot either.
"Calm down son!" Coach called back, jogging slightly to make it to the top of the hill.
"Holy shit! We about dun made it!" He said, leaning over to catch his breath. Nothing more was said as they ventured down the long hill and toward town, which took a little longer than they thought but eventually they made it. Upon passing the towns welcome sign Ellis pointed out an unmistakable bright orange spray painting of a house, they were almost there! Ellis ran ahead, the town seemed dead and he couldn't wait to see the inside of that safe house. Coach and Ro were fast on his heels and Nick continued to bring up the rear, he made no effort to run, he figured he'd get there when he'd get there.
"Ey guys! There it is!" Ellis yelled as a big red door came into view, he sprinted toward it and in that instant things went to shit.
A coughing-screeching noise could be heard from the rooftops as Nick was whipped off his feet by a long, wet... tongue? He struggled against it but found it was no use, unless someone could cut the tongue or kill the Smoker above him he was stuck.
"Help! Smoker's got me!" Nick yelled, he continued his useless struggle but to no avail. Wailing was heard in the distance as an oncoming horde approached, fast and sudden they immediately overwhelmed Coach and Ro as they tried to fend the infected off. Ellis had already reached the safe room but hearing the screams of the infected he turned back. He ran back, past Coach and Ro who now had the horde under control and toward Nick who looked like he was about to pass out from the Smoker's choke-hold.
"Hang on Nick, I'm comin' for ya!" Ellis shouted, raising his gun and pointing it toward the Smoker. He took a few shots at it and it began to flee, releasing Nick in its haste.
"Shit we gotta getchu up." Ellis said, grabbing Nick's arm and helping him to his feet. Nick nodded a thanks as they headed back toward Coach and Ro who were now finishing off the last of the horde.
"Get into the safe house!" Coach shouted, taking off toward the big red door. Ro and Nick followed suit with Ellis holding the rear, picking off the last few stragglers that posed a threat. Suddenly a long wet tongue snaked around Ell's mid-section and began dragging him back toward where Nick had originally been grabbed. The trio had all reached the safe house at this point and were weighing the pros and cons of saving Ellis. At this point he looked doomed, but on the other hand he was a great shot.
"We gotta-" Rochelle began to speak but before she could finish her sentence Nick tore out of the safe house and back toward Ellis, he stopped to shoot at the Smoker, a single bullet between the eyes killed it and it fell lifelessly to the ground. With Ellis in tow he booked it back to the safe room and boarded the door behind them.
"Holy shit! Thanks for comin' back for me man, I thought I was dun for!" Ellis said breathlessly.
"Yeah, well. Now we're even, kid." Nick grumbled in a low voice. The four of them sunk to the floor trying to catch their breath.
"Well at least we made it." Rochelle commented, though they had barely even made it at all. Thankfully they had a safe place to sleep for the the night and a quick inspection of the cupboards showed canned beans for dinner. It was sad to say that this, right here and now, was considered living the good life. Before the infection had spread all four of them had good jobs, nice houses and decent cars (well, Nick being the exception perhaps) and now they had been reduced to running from place to place, hiding from zombies and praying that CEDA would find them and take them somewhere that was actually safe.
This was living the good life indeed.