Whittaker watched the group of four walk into his store and take a gun each, along with a laser sight and med-kit.
It had been a week since Riley had passed though. He had watched her scale the truck like it was nothing and pass through to Kappel's. That girl never ceased to surprise him. He knew she was still there, he could sometimes hear a few gunshots and her yelling. He truly liked that kid, she was always the light in everyone's eyes. He remembered when he first met her, when she was nine years old.
"Those were the good times...", he thought with a sad sigh, watching a young man around 25 in a suit walk over to the P.A system.
"Um, hello...?" Came the accented voice of the young man.
"Must be a Boston boy..." Whittaker thought, moving over to his microphone.
"Hello there. I've barricaded myself on the roof with ample provisions. But in my haste, I forgot cola. So here is my proposition: If you go find me some cola at yonder food store, I'll clear a path to the mall for you. So the matter on the table is: do you four have the nuts to get me this cola?"
He watched as they contemplated the request, before pressing the button for the intercom.
"Alright, we're in. We'll getcha your cola, sir.", came the voice of the larger man in the purple shirt.
"Thank you, generous strangers! But before y'all leave, are ya headed to Kappel's mall?"
"That was our intention, yes.", spoke the suit, picking up some ammo.
"Well, when y'all get there, could y'all do me a favour-"
"Another one?"
"Yeah. A week ago, a girl I knew since she was nine passed through and headed to Kappel's. She's still there now. If y'all can find her and get her to tag along with ya, you'll be fullfillin' the last good wish of an old man. Also... tell her that I'll miss her."
The four survivors looked up in surprise.
"There's another?"
The youngest, with the hat, piped up with determination.
"Alritey then, Whittaker. What's the name o' this girl?"
Whittaker took a breath before replying.
"Riley. Her name's Riley Stark an' she's 18- almost 19. You'll know her when ya see her, she wears a leather vest over a hoodie. Hard to miss."
"Okay, we'll find her."
"Thank y'all. Now, go get me some cola."
BOOM
The four of them stood back, shielding their eyes as the CEDA tanker blew up with one shot from Whittaker's grenade.
His voice rang over the intercom for the last time.
"Thanks, good luck on gettin' outta here. Just don't forget 'bout Riley, now!"
They shared a nod before making their way past the abandoned camp in the parking lot, careful not to activate the alarmed car next to a ratty looking tent.
Barricading themselves in the safe-room, they sat down for a breather. They would tackle the mall a bit later on, they needed the rest. Plus, now they had to find some girl that the gun store owner claimed to live in the mall.
Today would be tiring, that's for sure.
Half an hour later, Coach huffed a little as he led his team-mates toward a door. A door that would set off an alarm, the off switch two stories up in the control room.
He silently observed the three people he was stuck with since they saw the covered-over corpse of a woman (Cecile) atop The Vannah hotel.
First was Ellis. He was a Savannah boy, like himself. 24 years-old and high spirited.
Then there was Nick. Personally, he wasn't too fond of the 26 year-old suit-wearing man, but he did prove to be useful, though a little untrusted.
Lastly there was Rochelle, or Ro for short. She was, at the moment, the lone woman in the group. Though she was quite down-to-earth, she was a good team-mate.
Drawing in a breath, he signalled to the others to run for the alarm, before kicking the door open to a horde of infected.
"Shit, watch out!"
Riley woke with a start from her nap in a shitty-looking third-story closet.
She had managed to outrun a male hunter that had been chasing her, his intentions clear.
"Fucking creep..." she huffed, thinking back to the chase. Sometimes, understanding the infected wasn't the best ability.
"C'mon darlin', you know you want me..."
"Screw you, you shady bastard! I'm not interested, now fuck off!"
"Well, you are the only female special I've seen apart from spitters and witches, and they'd either burn my skin off or tear me to shreds."
"Well too bad, Nigel! Go ask your long-tongued buddy Eric to help you with your urges and leave me alone!"
"Not so fast, Riley! It's no use runnin', I'll hunt you down! Just you wait!"
Ugh. Nigel was a hunter, and an obsessive one at that. Anyone that heard gunshots and yells (Whittaker) was hearing her trying to get Nigel to stay the fuck away.
She rubbed her eyes and let out a yawn as the shrill noise of the alarm rang in her ears.
"Ugh, I hate Fuckin' alarms... Wait- ALARM?!" she gasped, sitting up quickly and smashing her head on a shelf. Ignoring the slight pain, she flung open the closet and was welcomed with an unpleasant sight.
Nigel, his pal Eric the smoker and pretty much all of the male special infected, except tanks.
"Time to play a little game of cat and mouse~" Nigel said in a sing-song voice, all of them getting a goofy grin on their faces.
"... Fuck."
