The force of the impact as the Helicopter crashed into the building knocked the breath out of me. The area immediately went up in flames and I let out a scream, grabbing at the straps holding me in my seat. Finally, my fingers found the clasp and I clicked it open, springing to my feet and away from the closest flames.
The sound of a metal sheet crashing through the roof nearly deafened me and I covered my ears, panic picking me raw. The sheet went flying through my seat, slicing it through straight down the middle.
I swallowed hard, unable to tear my eyes away from the wreckage. Even in my panic, I quickly came to the realization that I had almost met my own end. I had no time to mull over my thoughts, for someone grabbed and dragged me through the side of the Helicopter.
Louis led me forward by my upper arm, out and away from the burning remains of our original means of escape. When we were far enough away, he released me and we both collapsed onto the dirt, covered in sweat and blood.
"Thank you," I turned to him, coughing.
Louis only nodded in reply before being taken over by a coughing fit.
I looked around nervously at our surroundings, nervous that his coughing would attract unwanted attention, and quickly came to the conclusion that we were pretty lucky as to where we crash-landed.
The helicopter was in the center of an open field with only old, abandoned warehouses around. No infected were rushing in to tear us apart, so the nearest infected must have been more than at least half a mile away from us.
Francis and Bill came up behind us, their arms full with goods salvaged from the fire. They placed everything on the ground before us, handling the guns with care as to keep them from going off accidentally and killing someone.
"Hey, Sunshine Beam. We just crashed." Francis turned to Louis, raising an eyebrow. "You got somethin' positive to say about that?"
Louis smiled. "We're walking away from it, ain't we?"
There was a pause, then Francis sighed. "Yeah, alright... I'll give you that."
"What n—" I coughed, clearing my throat. "What now?"
"Well, where are we?"
"Um," Louis pulled a map from his pocket. "The last thing the pilot said… We're in Fairside, which is right here…" He pointed to a spot on the map. "This area looks more industrial, so we're probably around here."
Bill walked over and squinted at the map. "What's that street called?"
"… Wade Avenue?"
"I'm willing to bet you that that Avenue is right past those warehouses ." Bill pointed somewhere behind him and Louis turned. "The pilot was taking us to that there town a few miles past Fairside."
"Riverside? That's right here."
"Well," Bill sighed, running a hand over his face. "Guess that's where we're headed. Let's go."
I took one of the shotguns, tightened the strap, and flung it over my shoulder. We all split supplies equally whenever we could find any, and today was no exception. There were medical kits in the helicopter and the guys managed to salvage four of them, one for each of us.
I claimed one of the kits and checked the safety on my pistol. The last thing I needed was to shoot myself in the leg.
When the others were ready, we started walking along the edge of a building, guns ready. There were a few infected scattered here and there. Bill was the only one with a silenced gun, so he took care of most of them with lone headshots. We didn't want to draw attention to ourselves, and there were few enough infected in the immediate area that a silenced shotgun could handle them singlehandedly.
For all we knew, a horde sat waiting on the other side of the next building. We couldn't take the chance of having everyone shoot and make too much noise.
An hour later and we had gone a little over a mile. We were moving slowly, but this was unfamiliar territory.
"How do we know there are even Safe Houses around here?" I hissed under my breath. I crouched next to a crate, staring out the entrance to the warehouse we were camped inside of.
"What else are we supposed to do, Zoey?" Bill said from somewhere behind me. "It's not like we can just waltz over to the closest person and ask them if there are Safe Houses in the area. We need to take a chance."
"I know," I sighed, slowly making my way over to a nearby door. Raising my gun, I turned the handle and slowly opened the door, preparing myself for what could be inside. There was one infected sitting against the opposite wall with its head between its knees. I motioned to Bill and he raised his gun. A second later the infected was collapsed on the ground of the warehouse, the fragments of its head splattered on the wall behind it.
I went through a few boxes, not expecting to find anything, when my eyes settled on a Propane tank.
"Francis," I said and motioned to the tank.
He used one hand to raise it with ease and I groaned internally. I was coming to terms with the fact that I was the least valuable member of this group, but it was a work in progress.
Bill was an amazing strategist because of his experience in Vietnam. Following his lead, we could maneuver past an entire horde of infected without alerting a single one, not to mention that he knew exactly when to throw what explosive to get the best possible result.
Louis had killer accuracy: he could knock out an active Jockey from fifty meters with one bullet.
Francis was huge and unquestionably the strongest out of all of us. One hit with a baseball bat and a dozen infected heads go flying, completely decapitated. He could lug that Propane tank for the next two hours without breaking a sweat, while I wouldn't even be able to raise it off the ground.
Granted, he's thirteen inches taller and about a hundred and fifty pounds heavier, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm virtually useless.
We left the warehouse and made our way towards a tall chain-linked fence. Louis was leading with Francis right behind him and Bill all the way in the back, behind me. After a few more steps, Louis stopped dead in his tracks and turned back to us, wide-eyed.
"I think I hear a Witch."