We'd made it past downtown, and were nearly there. I started to see small groups of those marrow-munchers move into the suburbs. A chill ran down my spine, and fear entered my heart. What if my family wasn't there? What if they were bitten? Well, I wouldn't know until I saw it for myself. We came up on my cousin's home, expecting the worse; but to my relief, It looked like the yard was well defended, the windows were boarded up, and there was barbed wire fence outlining the yard. I picked up a stick, and tossed it at the fence. ZAP! The fence was electrified. I saw the door move slightly, and the end of a gun poke out, I raised my arms in surrender, hoping not to get shot. I called to the door, "It's me!" The figure in the doorway relaxed, and called out, "You damned fool, I nearly shot your ass to kingdom come!" I smiled and shook my head, and motioned for my "team" to follow me. I led them up a path to the house. We got in, and the defenses went up; My cousin introduced himself to my team, and they introduced themselves. "How is it up north? Untouched, or infested?" Andrew asked, getting us a drink. "Infested," I said, then I took a swig of what ever the liquid was. I heard him say, "Shit…"
"Listen, Andrew, There's nothing left for us here, and we can't really stay in one spot, we need to keep moving." I said, getting up. He nodded, then Mitsu said, "Hey, some walkers are starting to gather, want me take them all out?" I shook my head, "No, save your ammo, let the traps take care of 'em." The fence began to fry the ones in the front, and the others watched as their brethren were cooked to well-done. We watched in dismay, as the second row climbed over the ones that were roasting, and onto the lawn. "Now, can I waste them," Mitsu forced, cocking his M60. I studied the undead, hoping that they wouldn't get very close; to my discouragement, they were tripping the traps faster than they could get set back up, and they were nearly to the house. "Fire," I said, putting a hand on my friend's shoulder. They dropped like rocks. Andrew got his guns and ammo packed up, and got ready to make a dash for the car we'd used. The crowd had thinned, and we made a mad dash for the car… until we realized that it wasn't gonna carry all of us and our equipment. "Figures," I muttered, "We need a bigger vehicle…" Andrew snickered. I saw a pick-up not to far from where we were, so I grabbed my stuff and ran for it. When my team saw what I was doing, the dead-meat caught our scent. "MITSU! COVER OUR ASSES!" I yelled as I hot-wired the truck. Andrew threw his stuff in the back with the rest of our gear, and hopped in. Mikala jumped into the passenger seat, and Mitsu was spraying into the "train" that had been formed. I got the thing started, and Mitsu knew it was time to go. He leaped backward, and landed in the back. We were off, and were leaving those dirt-sacks behind. Mikala said that she had some unfinished business back up north, and that the next time we were up that way, that we could drop her off. I figured that it had to do with family, and I thought that it would be a good idea, but I had to finish my business over here first. It was maybe twenty minutes later, when I saw the High School. I stopped the pick-up truck, grabbed my weapons and climbed out. Mitsu leaped to my side with his M60, but then I said, "Don't bring that in, the bullets'll go through the walls, and kill possible survivors, use your sword." I put my M14 in the back, and said, "Andrew, Mikala, wait here, if there's any trouble, honk the horn." With that, I walked through the doors of the school in a search for my friend.
When we walked in, I immediately saw zombies banging on a door, and there were screams behind it. I took Mitsu's sword from its sheath and cut them down into freak-bits. I rapped lightly on the door, and said, "Is anyone hurt in there," I listened closely, and I heard a voice say, "No, we aren't; Who are you?" I smiled, "A friend, is Tawny in there?" My smiled dropped when they said no. I then asked them where I might be able to find her, and they didn't know… figures. I thanked them and went on my way. Mitsu caught up to me, and said, "Dude, can I have my sword back?" I gave it to him, with a nod. We continually searched the building, pounding on each door, asking where she was, I had nearly given up hope… untilI saw a swarm of those undead gutter-slugs at a double door, and were pounding on it. Either there was something in the room behind the door that had just run in there, or they just wanted in; I wasn't really sure of the latter. I hefted up my PPSh, and gave a quick spray. They turned around and gawked at me, debating whether or not I was an easy meal… or they didn't know what to do, until I gave another quick spray. They fell to the floor with a thump. The group wasn't all that big, maybe Ten or Fifteen of those things. I quickly ran up to the door and knocked on it. "Hello? Who's out there," came a familiar voice. I gave a large smile, and said, "It's me, Tawn; I'm here to get you outta here!" I looked at Mitsu and said, "Cover me, I'm gonna see if I can get this door open," I went up, and tried to force the door open. after a couple of hits to the door, I decided to back up to the wall, then charge it. Let's just say, that the door busted, and splintered. As I got up from the floor, I saw Tawny, her boyfriend, Luke, and her brother, huddled in the corner of the room. Huffing, I said, "Come with me if you wanna live," I reloaded my PPSh. "Uh, dude, we got company!" Mitsu shouted from the hallway. I heard him grunt, and I heard the sound of flesh being cut. I looked back, then back at the three, and said, "Either we go now and live, or we can stay and die; it's your choice, but I vote for living," I walked out, to see Mitsu doing a Japanese sword thing and completely slicing them to pieces. "You seem to be having fun," I said, cocking an eyebrow. He just chuckled, and continued what he was doing. Tawny said, "We're right behind you," I looked back at them, and grinned, "Then stay close, I don't wanna lose anybody. Mitsu, let's go!" He gave a salute, and covered us. Going through the maze of corridors, I finally got everyone out. It had started to rain again, and the rest of my team were waiting in a hummer with our equipment. The engine was running, and They were in the spots that they were with the pick-up. The three of them ran for the hummer, but apparently, my party had neglected to warn us about any walkers. Tawny had made it to the hummer, and her brother was getting in, and her boyfriend was maybe a few feet from the vehicle, when I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. I swung in the direction of the movement, and saw maybe four or five of those walking gutter-slugs. Time seemed to slow down, and I watched, in terror, as one of them grabbed hold of Tawny's boyfriend, and sunk its teeth into his neck. I pulled out my 1911, and fired once. The zombie was killed, but I was too late to save him. "Yebat' !" I cursed, and rushed over to him. I put my hand over the wound, but I knew it was only a matter of time. Mitsu killed the remaining ones. "Hang in there, pal, Stay with me…" I said, looking him in the eye. As he gasped for breath, he pulled me close, and whispered in my ear, "Tell her that I love her…" then his pulse stopped. I put him down, gently, got up, and pulled out my pistol. I was about to put a round in his head, but Tawny stopped me. "NO," She wailed, "We have to bury him!" I looked at her, and said, "He was bitten, which means that he could come back any minute, and feast on us. Also, he wasn't bitten by a normal zombie, like in the movies, he was bitten by one that was infected by element 115." As if on que, his eyes opened, and tried to bite my ankle. I saw him move, and I popped off a shot in self-defense. Tawny began to tremble; I looked at Mitsu, and he shrugged. I saw her start to fall to her knees, but I managed to catch her. She tried to push me away, but then she just let me hold her. "We have to go, They probably heard the shot." I said, Picking her up from the ground. We climbed into the vehicle, and drove off.
It was a tight fit, even for a hummer; I was true to my word, and dropped Mikala off back up at the north side of the city. "Thanks for everything," She said, as she hugged Mitsu and I. We were like brothers to her, and it was hard letting family go; She handed me her AK-74u, and said, "Take this, I won't be needing it," I gave a small smile, and said, "We'll miss ya, Misha," I said, taking the SMG. She grabbed her shotgun, and all the ammo she had for it, and walked off. To this day, I still don't know what happened to her, did she die? Did she survive? Did she find a place that wasn't infected? I don't know, but one day, I may find out. Anyway, we had driven around the country, for maybe a few months, and we'd done fairly well, although we'd picked up some stragglers, it was perfect. Mitsu and I had honed our Martial Arts skills, mine being Jeet Kune Do, and his being Mui Thai. Also, Andrew had started a family with on of the stragglers we'd picked up. Her name was Sam. Tawny had finally come around from what happened to Luke a few months back. I could tell that she was still blaming me for what happened, and I guess that I deserved it. I had told her what he had said to me, maybe a few weeks after; she hadn't responded to what I had said, and I guess that she didn't want to talk. This world had become hell, and we were gonna find a way to survive it, even if it cost us our sanity. Every so often, Andrew, Mitsu and I would go out to a local military base and look through their files for Element 115. We found the element mentioned in old Nazi documents; Necromancers, raising the dead, and just a bunch of creepy stuff. Apparently, this had happened before, and it was stopped… but I guess the ones who had stopped this 115 mess hadn't finished the job, or they had died trying.