Chapter 2

(Dante's pov)

This place looks amazing...it felt so...lively too...kids playing in a empty field...farmers tending crops...dogs and cats with their owners...and this place even has schools. It really felt like a safe haven...

"Come on. I'll take you to the guy in charge." The man in the suit tells me.

I followed him to a motel near a hospital as he knocks on the door three times to get someone's attention.

"Yeah?" I heard a man's voice.

"Got someone I want you to meet."

"...Coming."

As the door opens...I see...wait...I know this man...has a police uniform...short brown hair...brown eyes...tan skin...Major Thompson!

"Major Thompson?" I asked him.

They looked at me shocked that I knew the man's name right off the bat...Thompson went silent for a minute then says...

"Dante?"

I nod slowly as Thompson sighs with sorrow...

"John. I need some privacy with the kid." He tells the man with the suit.

"Alright, Roy." The man in the suit said as he left me be.

"Come in...we need to talk..."

I enter in the motel room as he closes the door behind me and went to sit down on a chair.

"Major...what happened? Shit went to hell so fast when I heard the news about the dead lingering around."

"...Yeah...I was going to go on break but couldn't cause of some car accident going on when all of a sudden...I saw zombies shambling near the highway...and heading to the city...I called back up but no one came. Your brother rushed in a couple of hours later when he saw me from his car...and was horrified when we saw a horde of those zombies heading towards us...we tried to get everyone away the best we could but the horde was too much...we had to make a run for it and head to your house but we saw a herd of those zombies storm in the house. Marco freaked out thinking that you were dead that it was his fault that he didn't save you. I convinced him that you were probably aware of it and that you were hiding somewhere in the city. Days later, we gathered up a couple of people who needed safety and a new home and built this fort. And here you are. Alive and still breathing." He said with a sigh.

"Is Marco still around?" I asked him.

"Yeah...he's sobering up in the bar when he was drowning away his sorrows. If he's still drunk, keep away cause I've had my dealings with aggressive drunks and saying one word can set him off." He tells me as I sighed with relief.

"Okay..."

"Before I send you to him...here..."

He tosses me a key and as I caught it...I looked at the brass key for a bit...reminds me of a house key...

"That key opens up a suburban house near the bar and the church. Look for a blue house with a black roof. That's your new home." Major Thompson tells me as he gets off his seat.

"Thank, Ma-"

"Please...call me Roy. Only the soldiers here call me Major Thompson." He chuckled.

Anyway...Roy leads me to the bar and as we got there...I see Marco sitting on a stool resting his head on a counter...

"Marco..." Roy calls him.

"Leave me alone..." I heard Marco groaned.

"Will you listen to me? ...I have someon who wants to see you."

Roy nudges his head to let me know that it's my cue...as I slowly walked to Marco...

"Hey, bro." I said to Marco.

He immediately raised his head off the the counter and looks at me with complete shock...he jolts off te stool and rushes towards me with one strong hug.

"Oh thank god you're alive...I thought you were killed..." He said softly.

"Can't...Breathe..." I gasped.

He let's go of me and had a big smile on his face as Roy chuckled.

"How did you managed to survive when I saw the zombies swarm in the house? I thought you died in there..."

"Well I woke up from the sound of a car crash near the house, when I watched the news about the zombies, I knew right off the bat that I should get my supplies and get the hell out of there. Thankfully I relied on stealth than just running cause if it's one thing I learned about zombies is their senses aren't too perfect when it came to sound. Loud sounds is what attracts and I was lucky that the zombies were focusing on other people who ran for their lives and the sounds of a car alarm. So I quietly but quickly got in the mall and made shelter in one of the stores that plenty of food and supplies for me to fend myself in case the zombies came."

"And did they come?" Marco asked with worry.

"Nope. No one. It was peace and quiet for a couple days. The only people I saw was that guy in the suit and a couple soldiers with him. He convinced me to come here when he warned me about zombie possibly overrunning the mall."

Roy looked at me shock while Marco just looks at me disbelief that I was in the mall unscathed for five days. Yeah...I call that luck...or it could be god watching over me...

"Kid...you got balls to be staying there for days cause zombies tend to go to linger around the malls alot of times possibly looking for victims and believe me...it's horrifying to see a shit ton of zombies in malls. If you lingered there too longer, you would be fucked. Hell, we had to bring an army of soldiers to clear it out before we would claim the mall as part of our territory." Roy said with disbelief.

"God I don't need to remember that..." Marco groaned.

"Anyway...you should get some rest, Dante. Tomorrow is a big day for you."

"Which means you need to work. Roy rewards the hardest workers luxury for their hard work." Marco adds.

"Yup. But I'm not going to let you do anything until you are trained. Can't have unskilled survivors on dangerous tasks and get themselves harmed or worse. Which is why we prepared a school to train survivors on the necessary skills they need." Roy says as we walked out the bar.

He wasn't kidding when he said this fort has a school...a school that is about the size of a high school building...if the school had a sniper nest on top of the school.

"You're not planning on giving homework there?" I joked.

"Very funny, smart ass. That stuff is for the kids here to help them forget the horrors outside of the fort." Roy smirked.

"You're gonna like it when you get in there. Has all the necessary courses you need to surviving. Combat, scavenging, engineering, leadership and building." Marco tells me with a smile.

"Leadership?" I asked Roy.

"You remember that man with the suit? He's a leader and no...it's not like that I only let skilled leaders to keep the fort under control if I'm not around temporary. They work with many ways like recruiting survivors, bartering and cheering up survivors. Their charismatic words is what helps them succeeding on their goals." Roy explains.

Makes sense...I guess.

"Well I'm looking forward for tomorrow. I'll go get some rest...once I get a nice shower. I haven't showered for days." I smiled.

"Spare clothes in the dressers. Be sure you get those clothes washed and dried with the machines in the house. Better that way than wasting time on scavenging ruined clothes." Roy tells me.

"Okay, Roy." I said as I walked to my new home.

So I went to my new home and as I opened it up...it felt like...home again...but that's not what your main concerns are. You're probably asking...does it have power or running water? Glad you asked caused when I checked, it has them and thank god for that too cause I would be very unhappy if it didn't.

"I can get used to this..." I sighed as I put my backpack on the chair near the table.

Better than sleeping under a ruined building...

(Marco's pov)

30 minutes later.

"I'm a little worried about my brother getting involved in all this..." I sighed.

"I know the feeling. It's a harsh world here...no law...no government...shit can go horribly in seconds." Roy sighs.

"Yeah..."

"Teach him to survive tomorrow. Then when he's trained, you can have scavenge with your help. Protect him like the older brother you are..." Roy tells me as he pats my shoulder.

"...Okay." I nod.

"And don't worry...we'll do our best in finding your parents. The scientists are working on a radio to contact survivors in coming here and if we're lucky...they'll come here." Roy tells me.

"Good to know..." I smiled.

Let's hope that radio finishes soon cause I'm so eager to see mom and dad...please be safe...