Chapter Two - The Station

Brutus continued to air his complaints aloud as he went to the back of the car and began to push. Ever since they'd been forced off the main highway and onto the back roads the car had been struggling. The rainy conditions had created mud. The near constant stop and go had only served as a distraction from the reality that for the last two hours they'd had little idea where they were going. The battery on the car's dash mounted GPS had died less than an hour into their drive and with the gray clouds suffocating the sun any attempt at determining the correct direction was a mere guess at best. Having to stop to push the car from the mud only made things worse and each exit from the vehicle left them susceptible to attack from the Infected. They'd seen several zombies about an hour ago along what was luckily a portion of the road sheltered from the rain by a thick canopy of tree branches and leaves.

Brutus heaved as hard as he could as Malana hit the gas and powered her way out of trouble. Brutus was glad the car was moving again but as he climbed into the car he was beginning to wonder if there would be an inch of him without mud splattered over it when the day was through. Judging by Kael's childish laughter he could only imagine his entire face was caked with the stuff.

"Please don't make me do that again," Brutus complained.

"Sorry," Malana said, "next time me and the Doc will go, and you can pump the gas."

"Damn right," Brutus said.

"How much fuel do we have left?" Allan asked.

"About half a tank," Malana said, "with the roads like this I don't know how long that'll last."

"Doesn't matter," Brutus griped, "We're lost, even if we followed these windy dirt roads for a hundred miles we'd just end up in some backwoods hick town."

"I have to agree," the Doc said, "We need to find our way back to the highway."

"The only way out of the woods is a map," Brutus said, "barring a miracle in which our GPS suddenly comes back to life I say we ditch the car and cut through the woods on foot."

"There's less than an hour of daylight left Brutus," Malana explained cutting down his idea.

"So," Brutus tried, "there might not be a lot of them out there."

Brutus quieted down. Even he could see the wisdom in Malana's argument and the stupidity of trying to make it on foot, in the mud, through a forest likely teeming with infected. Those infected were probably composed of the people who'd abandoned the endless parade of cars that had prevented their progress and forced them into the forest. There might be hundreds, even thousands of them and each one would be attracted to the slightest noise. Even if they managed to make it through the forest undetected they had little idea which way to go to cut back to the highway. The night would be cold and wet out there in the chilly November rain. No, Brutus decided, even if it was all but futile in the car it seemed no better out there.

Malana felt utterly hopeless and her mind was hard pressed to combat the boredom brought on by hours at the wheel sliding through mud. She felt a small smile creep across her face when she saw that up ahead the road transitioned into pavement. Apparently their long winding road had led them back to some semblance of civilization. She felt a weight lift from her shoulders and a glance at the expressions of the other three survivors told her that they too were relieved. She turned back to the road. She slammed on the breaks immediately, her heart pounding as someone bolted from the woods and raced across the road in front of her. She caught her breath, hardly able to think straight as she gestured for her gun. Brutus passed up her M4 assault rifle with the silencer they'd found amongst Arnold Wilhelm's things attached to it.

She slipped from the car with all four Survivors whispering for her to be careful while they too readied their weapons. Malana saw something else then. At first she assumed it was a bird, it was so high up in the trees. Soon enough she realized the truth though, it was human, or at least it had been. The figure was dressed in a dark hooded sweatshirt and was leaping from tree to tree at an alarming rate. Malana followed behind it thinking it might be chasing after whoever or whatever had dashed in front of the car. Whatever it was it was fast, moving swiftly from tree to tree like a silent hunter stalking its prey. She couldn't keep up. She saw it heave itself from the top of one tree with one last leap but it flew so far she couldn't see it anymore. She could hear screams now, horrifying ones - infected. She burst through the tree-line gawking in horror at the sight of the Hunter tearing into the flesh of the man she'd seen before. Malana lifted her M4 and fired off three shots which burrowed into the Hunter's back. She kept firing until finally nineteen rounds had entered the infected and it fell limp.

Malana rushed to assist the man. She pushed the zombie corpse off of him promising herself to have Doc examine it later. Despite the entire attack lasting less than a minute the man had sustained serious injuries. Malana cursed herself for not having her bag with her, which contained medical supplies. She unzipped her jacket and pressed it against the man's wounds as best she could and called out for her friends. The woods were coming to life with sounds and blurry shapes darted in and out of Malana's line of sight as if waiting to move in.

Brutus crashed onto the scene with a trail of infected behind him. He turned with his machete in hand and cut a line across the first infected's chest. The creature hissed in protest before being trampled by its companions. Brutus hacked the next and the next but they were quickly surrounding him. He spun in a full circle going for their knees. With each zombie unable to walk he slipped from the circle of horde members and gave them a mock salute as Malana opened fire and used the remaining bullets in her M4 magazine to finish them off.

"What's wrong?" Brutus asked.

"He was attacked by some kind of infected," Malana said.

"My angel, you're so beautiful," the man said reaching for Malana.

"He's delirious," Brutus laughed.

"They're going to be on us," Malana protested.

"Please," the man said suddenly seeming coherent, "there's a Ranger Station not far from here. I have supplies there. I'll be okay, just get me the hell out of here!"

Malana and Brutus grabbed the man and rushed as quickly as they could. Luckily Kael and Doctor Wright had arrived and with the aided assistance of their pump action shotguns the entire group managed to make it back to the car. The injured man was forced to lie atop Brutus and Kael while the Doc attempted to mend his wounds as best he could.

"Where is this Ranger Station?" Malana asked.

"Follow this road," the man said whining as Doc put pressure on the bleeding, "third right turn, then the first left and you can't miss it."

The setting sun split through the tree tops as they raced for the Ranger Station. The infected were in frenzy. Dozens rushed out into the road and began beating against the car. Malana tried to speed up but she couldn't risk flooring it and missing the turn on this narrow woodland road. Brutus grabbed his Remington and out the window down feeding the barrel into the nearest zombie's mouth and squeezing the trigger. The Zombie's head erupted into a fountain of blood, brains and skull fragments that stained the trunk of a nearby tree. Brutus pumped the shotgun and took out another one before handing to Kael. The kid cleared the remaining zombies on the right hand side of the car before passing the shotgun up to Malana.

"You could have at least reloaded it!" She griped after firing off the first shell to find the shotgun empty. She struggled to stay on the road while getting out her silenced M9 and popping a nearby zombie. She rolled up her window and shouted for the others to do the same as she dropped the last zombie that was close enough to impede them. They broke free of the horde then and quickly came to the third turn and then the first. The Ranger Station was in view now with windows boarded up, a hefty steel door and a jeep with a make-shift mounted gun in the back parked in the driveway. Unfortunately several infected were already gathered outside as they pulled in.

Brutus grabbed the shotgun from Malana and reloaded it before handing it back to Kael. Brutus was almost proud of the way the kid's face lit up whenever he got to wield the big guns. They pulled up making sure to hit the nearest zombie and leave its blood splattered across the hood. Malana slipped from her seat and grabbed the M4 from Brutus.

"You need an extra magazine?" Brutus asked but Malana was already out of ear shot.

An infected bum rushed her with blood trickling from its horrid mouth. She swung hard and heard a loud crack as the rifle butt of her M4 struck the zombie in the head. Down the infected went but before she could finish it with a shot to the head another one was on her. She fired managing to kill it but its body toppled toward her nearly knocking her to the ground. She managed to stay on her feet but was now getting hit from behind by another infected pounding at her shoulder. She leapt back hip-firing her M4 and dropping the zombie. She could hear the horrid shriek of another one behind her but the deafening sound of a shotgun from behind told her that Kael was watching her six. She breathed a sigh of relief as Brutus and the Doc carried the injured Ranger into the Station. She gave the remaining infected the slip before rushing into the Station.

"Come on Kael," she said in a scolding tone when the young man remained on the porch, "You can kill more of them later. There's no shortage of the damn things."

"Get your ass in here!" Brutus shouted.

Kael pumped the shotgun. He had no shells left. Reluctantly he turned back toward the Station but soon enough his feet had stopped moving forward. He felt as if he was leaving the ground as something seemed to coil around his ankle. He flew back off the porch landing hard against the hood of the car and struggling as the strange serpentine thing constricted his body.

Malana's M4 magazine was spent and her M9 had only four rounds left. She grabbed the nearest weapon she could find, a crowbar sitting on a counter, and sprinted as fast as she could. She wedged the bar under the slimy surface almost unable to believe what she saw when the serpentine enemy that had grabbed Kael retracted itself into the mouth of a nearby infected. Surrounded by a cloud of eerie green smoke the infected coughed and hacked as it bounded away through the woods.

"What the fuck?" Brutus asked aloud watching the, "Was that that things tongue?"

"You alright?" Malana asked and Kael, who felt utterly embarrassed but glad to be alive, nodded.

"Even if he is alright I'm gonna kill him," Brutus growled, "You fucking stupid kid? You nearly got yourself killed, next time you listen to us."

"Never mind that now," Malana said looking around, "The sun is setting and all this noise is bound to attract attention. Let's get inside."

With the heavy metal door to the Ranger Station shut and bolted the group breathed a collective sigh of relief. Malana tended to the injured Ranger and helped Doc seal up the wounds. Luckily the man hadn't been lying; the Station was fully stocked on medical supplies. First Aid Kits were plentiful as were antibiotics, sedatives, pain killers and even surgical equipment. Brutus, of course, bypassed all this to admire the collection of guns. Aside from the standard side-arms issued to Park Rangers and a few hunting rifles there were several assault rifles and plenty of ammo.

"Will he be okay Doc?" Malana asked.

"I gave him a sedative," Allan explained, "He'll be fine, at least if he is immune he will be. I'm curious as to what attacked him, those were deep claws, are you sure it was an infected and not a wild animal?"

"Positive," Malana said, "but it wasn't an ordinary zombie. It moved fast and jumped incredibly far. It tore into him and did that much damage in a matter of seconds. Something is going on with the infected, they're changing."

"The virus is mutating," Doc agreed.

"That explains that thing with the tongue," Kael said with a chill up his spine.

"We need to get out of these woods," Brutus whispered as the sound of infected banging against the door outside.

"I say we get clean," Malana said noting that the lights were on, "This place clearly has back-up generator. We each get ten minutes in the shower."

"And after that?"

"We wait for the Ranger to wake up and then get the hell out of here in that Jeep with the gun."

The group cleaned themselves up before opting to shut down the generator and conserve power as well as fuel. The darkness was pervasive - it seemed to swallow them up. The only noise was the pitter patter of rain and the constant banging of infected fists against the walls and door. Luckily the place was boarded up so solidly that it would have taken an army of a hundred infected to even begin to make a dent. The rain began to die as the group spent the night struggling to find sleep.

Kael lay on his back and looked up at the ceiling. He couldn't see anything. Darkness consumed the entire place making the ceiling above a projector for his thoughts. The day replayed in his head. How fearless he'd felt using the shotgun to tear through two zombies at a time. In an instant he'd gone from invincible to vulnerable when that infected, shrouded in smoke, grabbed him from the porch. He'd gotten a pretty nasty bruise on his back from the impact with the hood of the car but in truth it was his pride that had been injured. He knew why he'd lost sight of his own safety. He understood why it was he was loosing control and having far too much fun zombie killing. He couldn't bear to tell the others though. Only Malana knew the truth and he'd forced her to swear she wouldn't tell. The memories gave him nightmares, nightmares that kept him awake on nights just like this.

He could still hear her crying as she turned. Her shrieks, her claws, and the gun he'd used to kill her. The gun his Father had hid in the pantry all those years. He turned on his side as sleep tried to take him but he was shaken from the sandman's grasp by the sound of someone stirring.

"Am I dead?" a voice asked.

"The Ranger's awake!" Kael exclaimed.

"Keep your voice down kid," Brutus moaned, "Some of us need our beauty sleep."

"I'll start the generator," Malana said grabbing her flashlight.

Soon enough the lights were back on and all but Brutus were up and about. The Ranger seemed for a moment as if he didn't recognize them but when he saw Malana return from the basement a wave of memory crossed his mind.

"Thank you," he said with a smile, "I'm Derrick Green. I work for the Pennsylvania Game Commission - at least I did before all this happened."

"Pleased to meet you Mister Green," Malana said shaking the man's hand.

"His angel," Brutus mocked with a yawn.

"It wasn't me that did most of the work," Malana explained, "That would be Allan over there. Say hello Doc."

"Can we cut the pleasantries and skip to the part where we ride out of here?" Brutus asked packing up his sleeping bag and putting it back into his over-sized pack.

"Mr. Green needs to rest," Doc argued, "We should wait."

"No," the Ranger replied climbing off the medical table and stretching, "I'm fine, thank you. I probably won't be much use in any fight but I'll be able to walk just fine."

"When was the last time you saw an infected just walk?" Brutus said coldly, "Damn things are always full tilt toward you."

"How is it that you're out here all alone?" Kael asked suddenly and Derrick's expression turned very grim indeed.

"I wasn't alone," the Ranger answered with a quiet distant tone, "My brother Chuck was here and my friend Dale. We were attacked and got separated. I ran off into the woods when that jumping zombie started hunting me. I saw Dale get hit by this infected that came charging out of the woods full force and starting slamming him into the ground. I don't know what happened to Chuck."

"We'll go out looking for them at first light," Malana offered softly patting the man on the shoulder.

"Like hell we will," Brutus growled, "If you want to go on some suicide mission in the backwoods of PA and get yourself killed that's your decision but come sun up me and that Jeep are getting out of here."

"Brutus!" Malana shouted but Derrick shook his head trying to diffuse the situation.

"He's right," Derrick said sadly, "My brother is probably dead. We should get out of here at first light. How did you guys end up all the way out here anyway?"

"The highway was a dead end so we decided to take a little detour," Kael explained, "We got hopelessly lost."

"Here," Derrick said gesturing toward something pinned up on a cork board, "This is a map showing all the back roads around here for miles. We also sell PA road maps, just nineteen bucks."

"Ha ha ha," Brutus said sarcastically.

"HELP!"

"What the hell was that?" Brutus asked spinning toward the door.

"HELP!"

"It's coming from outside," Malana whispered.

"Derrick, help me!"

"Holy shit, no," Derrick said, his face growing pale as could be, "It can't be. My, my, brother."

"HELP! Help before they get me!"

"You sure it's him?" Malana asked.

"It's definitely his voice," Derrick nodded, "And who else would know my name."

"Brutus, M4," Malana demanded and she scowled at the massive man angrily when he didn't move to get her gun immediately, "Brutus!"

"You can't be serious Mal," Brutus said using his personal pet-name for her, "You could get hurt."

"I'll go with her," Derrick announced grabbing a hunting rifle and making sure it was loaded.

Brutus reluctantly retrieved her weapon and made sure she had an extra magazine just in case. The voice was still calling weakly for help and it seemed just outside the door as Malana and Derrick moved to undo the bolt. The door swung open. To their surprise there weren't any infected on the porch at all. Apparently hours of fruitless pounding had eventually convinced them to seek violence elsewhere. Derrick's heart skipped a beat when he saw his brother laying face down just beyond the porch. He rushed forward and grabbed him. Only the did he note the crimson puddle forming beneath his brother and the scratches across the man's face, the cold look in his eyes, told the rest of the story.

"He's dead," Derrick said choking on the words.

"He's been dead for hours," Malana said feeling the man's flesh.

"How the hell did he call for help then?" Derrick asked, "He had to have been alive, and we're just too late."

"No," Malana said, "look up there in the trees, look at those eyes."

Up above them perched on a branch sat a blackened shape. Its demonic eyes shined in the dim light cast by the moon. Malana stepped back with her rifle at the ready. She called for Derrick to retreat with her back up the stairs and into the Station but he seemed unresponsive. She watched him lift the hunting rifle.

"HELP!"

The voice of his brother cried out again but this time Derrick knew the deception. He knew that the voice came not from his brother but from the foul lips of an infected. He took aim and fired. The shot split the air of the silent November night but missed the infected. Down the demon swooped on wings of skin that had grown between arms and torso. Legs with hooked talons at the end of what used to be toes reached forth gripping Derrick's uniform and lifting him into the air as a horrific shriek resounded in the night. Malana watched with her heart racing and her mind too deep in shock to even move for the first few seconds. The forest around her was coming to life now, the screeching of the winged zombie alerting a horde of infected to their location. She lifted her M4 using the glint of moonlight on the gargoyle's wings to aim and shoot. Down the demonic infected fell spiraling. Derrick slipped from its grip and crashed amidst the trees although Malana couldn't see where or if he had landed safely. She had no time to think about it as the horde descended.

"HORDE!" She shouted.

The other survivors leapt into action. Kael went for the shotgun but Brutus was there, luckily he had something even better to offer the kid. Kael stepped out onto the porch wielding the .357 Colt Python they'd recovered in Harrisburg. He lifted the gun and pulled back the hammer. The recoil was incredibly strong, the barrel leapt up but the shot had been dead on blowing out a nearby zombie's kneecap leaving him bleeding out on the forest floor. Brutus stepped out with his shotgun leveling a crowd of four oncoming infected with one spread.

Doc arrived and Malana had him switch rifles with her. She needed his scoped M1A to keep Derrick clear. She could see the man now, rushing toward them but struggling to keep the zombies off his back and limping. She picked off the zombies chasing after him one at a time but despite being a good shot she still had to pick her targets carefully to avoid injuring Derrick. She threw the rifle down and grabbed the crowbar she'd left laying on the porch. She waded out into the horde hooking zombie skulls and beating them back as she cut a path toward Derrick. Normally this would have been suicide but with the others working to thin the herd she actually made good progress while only sustaining a few minor bumps and bruises on route.

"Help!" Derrick shouted her way.

She looked up to see him wrapped in the slimy tongue of the smoking zombie they'd seen just the other day. She cursed herself for not having her weapon as the tongue pulled Derrick nearly thirty feet into the air. There was little she could do now for him but a few moments later the zombie seemed to erupt into a puff of smoke as a series of rounds from Doc's M1A hit it. The tongue relaxed and done Derrick went. Malana heard his legs hit the ground with a sickening crack. She rushed toward him as the infected surrounded him. She beat them back with her crowbar as they pounded the already heavily wounded Ranger. She split skulls and felt splatters of blood against her recently cleaned skin. Finally the horde was cleared away and the gunfire on the porch of the Station attracted the few zombies that remained. She bent down to examine the man's wounds. His leg bones jutted from his skin painfully and blood surrounded him, scratches and bruises were everywhere and he coughed up blood as he stared up at her barely clinging to consciousness.

"I'm done. I'm done," the man repeated.

"No," Malana said trying to stem the flow of blood, "I can get you back to Doc, he can fix this."

"Did anyone ever tell you how beautiful you are?" Derrick said with a smile, "If only you weren't so damn optimistic."

Malana watched the life leave his body. She felt a sudden surge of rage and sadness as the man passed from existence despite her best efforts to get to him and save him. She found herself frustrated that the horde had trickled to a stop and she had no zombies to kill. She walked back to the Ranger Station with a despondent look on her blood splattered face. The others tried to comfort her. Even Brutus said a few kind words about the Ranger and about Malana's valiant effort to save the man. Nothing seemed to shake her sadness. Even the sunrise didn't put a smile on her lips.

The group readied supplies almost in silence and loaded up the Jeep with enough food, fuel and ammunition to last them to Gettysburg.

"I get the mini-gun!" Brutus said approaching the Jeep.

"No," Malana said, "I want the gun."

"Revenge won't help," Doc tried to convince her.

"He's right," Kael said, remembering how his desire for wanton zombie killing had nearly gotten him killed.

"You think you can follow the map Brutus?" Malana asked.

"I think I can handle it," Brutus said with a look of concern on his face, "You gonna be alright?"

Malana hit the trigger to make the mini-gun barrel spin without firing. A smile came across her lips.

"Yeah," she replied, "I'll be just fine."