"Are we clear?" I heard a faint voice behind me. I still couldn't hear clearly because of all the grenades that landed near us. I tried to look for my teammates.
Our team leader, my brother Josh, was standing behind me, looking for enemy movements. Gary was lying on the ground, but he didn't have any serious injuries. Patrick offered him a hand and helped his stand up. Roy was on the turret, scanning the area.
"I think so." replied Roy after a while. When I got my hearing back, I turned to face the men.
"Is everybody alright?" I asked, not paying attention to my own injuries.
"Yeah. This was fucking close." said Patrick and everyone agreed. Josh pointed to the area in front of me. I understood and got my weapon ready. We couldn't be sure if there weren't some enemies left, so me and Roy kept scanning for any movements.
"You two, on me. We'll check these buildings. Keep us covered." ordered Josh and the three of them moved right into the building. They were on their own inside, but they could they care of themselves.
About five minutes have passed when I heard Roy cursing back in the humvee.
"It's fucking jammed!" he was referring to his turret, Our equipment wasn't in its best when they sent us here, but nobody cared. The higher ups didn't care.
"Well, do something about it or get on your saw." I replied but kept my eyes on the empty space. I had a bad feeling about this all before and this situation didn't alm me down at all.
I heard his playing with the turret so I turned around to look at what's he been doing.
"What the fuck Roy? Stop playing around and get on your other weapon, you'll deal with it later." Just when I said it I heard Roy shout my name. It was too late though, the bullet scratched my arm and I fell back on the ground. Sniper. I tried to get back behind the cover and while I did, I saw another bullet hit Roy in the head. I didn't have time to warn him and he didn't have time to get in the car, to find a cover of his own. I watched his lifeless body drop into the humvee.
"Sniper, he got Roy." was all I could say in the comms, before a loud noise interrupted me. Everything went nuts from that moment. An RPG round hit the building where the rest of my teammates were. A strong wave hit me and I flew a few meters before landing on the ground. My sight was blurry. There was dust everywhere and all I could see was a dark figure coming out of the ruins. I couldn't recognize who it was. I blacked out after that.
I woke up, covered in sweat. My dreams, or nightmares to be more accurate, were getting more real every night. I could feel the hot air on my skin, every scratch that covered my face, adrenaline driving through my veins, even that feeling of guilt and terror playing in my mind. I had a cold shower once I was out of the bed and went to the kitchen were the rest was having a breakfast. Just one look at all that food made me want to throw up and I was sure it wasn't from the alcohol I had last night. I thought I was getting better in dealing with my nightmares and memories, but I wasn't sure what triggered these reactions.
I stopped remembering things once Jenner started talking about the walkers. It got me interested, listening to everything that happens once you get bitten. You lose yourself and are left with only the hunger. Killing these things was not a mistake. They were not humans anymore.
After the lecture we sort of got back to enjoying this time without the walkers. But not for long, the air was soon filled with frustration and fear. The lights went out and when we wanted answers, the only thing we got was a time of our death.
I couldn't believe this, we got this far, running away from the walkers and now we were supposed to die doing nothing.
We were back at the lab with Jenner when the door closed behind us and we were suddenly trapped like rats in a cage.
"You son of a bitch! Let us out of here!" shouted Daryl and ran over to Jenner. Shane stopped him and pushed him back.
"Hey Jenner, open that door now." said Rick with a calmer attitude. I looked at the timer on the wall, just twenty eight minutes left. I could sort of understand Jenner's reasons for this, but was there a need to include us into his suicide attempt?
I heard Sophia crying behind me. I looked around and she returned the look with watery eyes. Her mother, Carol, was holding onto her. This reminded me of the first time I came into the camp.
"You can't do this Jenner. I don't care if you want to take a coward's way out, but I don't. Non of us do." I said, moving closer to Jenner.
"She's right. We didn't fight for nothing all this time." agreed Rick. But still, Jenner didn't seem to agree. It didn't matter what we say to him.
Eventually, Shane and Daryl tried to break through the door, but it was pointless. The doors didn't break. I kneeled beside Sophia and put a hand on her shoulder. She was shaking and sobbing.
Daryl tried to attack Jenner once again, but this time even I stood up to stop him. I pushed him back with both hands and held onto him until he calmed down.
"Last night you said that it was only a matter of time before everyone you loved was dead." Jenner was referring to Rick. We all looked at him, hardly believing Jenner's words. I didn't know Rick that much, but if someone was more determinated to live than me, it was Rick.
"I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?" said Rick.
"There is no hope. There never was." Jenner was desperately trying to convince us of his truth. Rick didn't believe him though. And so didn't I.
"Maybe not for you, but some of us still have faith left in us." I sighed.
"You know how it feels to lose someone, don't you? Aren't you a soldier?"
"I've lost enough to know how it feels, yes. But those men died fighting for other people's safety. Their beliefs and duties got passed down to me and I have no intention to disappoint them. I swear to you, I will protect these people, I will get them out of this hell or I'll die trying, you hear me Jenner?" I almost couldn't believe my own words, but I said them. Maybe it was a marine in me talking or maybe it was a desperate try to get out of here. But I got Jenner's attention.
"Let us keep trying as long as we can." added Rick and Jenner finally gave up.
"I told you topside's locked down, I can't open those." he said and walked over to the console. He pushed a few buttons and the door opened. I didn't waste time standing around, I ran to the door motioning the others to keep moving. We got to the top, but like Jenner said, everything was locked. We tried everything to break the windows, but nothing worked. And then, Carol said she's got something that might help, grenade. She wanted to give it to Rick, but I stepped in.
"Do you even know how to use one of these? Besides I'm a faster runner." I pushed Rick back and told Carol to find some cover. Rick didn't try to stop me. I looked around to see if everyone was in a safe distance and then placed the grenade near the window and pulled out the pin. I turned on my heels and ran back to the others. I grabbed Daryl's hand and he pulled me over behind him just when the grenade went off. A massive pressure wave spread over the whole place and luckily it was enough to break the glass.
I thanked Daryl with a nod as I got back on my feet and we ran out through the broken window. Along the way we killed few walkers and got into cars. Just in time before the blast, a blonde woman who lost her sister in the walker's attack in camp, Andrea, and an older man, Dave, came running out of the building. The blast was enormous and it would definitely be a quick death. I smiled when I looked at the ruins of the building. Just another day on the job, I thought.