Author's Note: Just to clarify, this chapter takes place immediately after Chapter 3.

Nobody's POV

The time is around 5:30 pm. In the middle of a zombie-infested city were two survivors. One of them still had his heart pumping. The other survivor was reloading her rifle and checking to see if it was still in working condition. Between them were the corpses of two tanks that were killed by Tracy.

Ryan's POV

As I walked towards Tracy, I went to one of the corpses of the tanks and pulled my throwing knife right out of the beast. The tip was covered in blood. I pulled out a handkerchief from my satchel and cleared the blade. Eventually, I made it back to Tracy.

Then, I said, "Hi Tracy, Mind if I get my Revolver back?"

She replies, "I just saved you and you just ask for your gun back? No Thank you? The least you could do is complement my new clothes."

"Well, Excuse me for not noticing your new clothes after running for my frickin' life."

But this was true. She did have on new clothes. She wore a white tank top with a black leather jacket on top of it. And she had brand new jeans. She even wore her hair down (no more ponytails).

She mumbles something under her breath as she hands back the Silver Bull. I had to change the subject...then, It came to me. "Hey Tracy, did I ever tell you why I'm here, in this city?"

She stops her mumbling and replied, "Its pretty obvious, your just trying your best to survive, right? I'm just trying to get to a rumored evac-center in the mall...that is until you saved me." She blushes a little.

"Well, I could tell I have some explaining to do...". So, I told her everything. About Jason, about Rosa (us being friends, no point in going into detail), the school, the stadium, Fort Red Night, why I'm here, everything. After all the explaining, she pauses and finally says, "Wow..." She stops walking.

She eventually says, "Well, if your gonna help those survivors, we gotta find them first." She went on a few steps ahead. I didn't realize it till now but we were in the rural part of the city now. The part of the city where vegetables and meat are produced. While we were walking, I had found about thirty buckshots for my AA12, a few rounds for the revolvers, and bullets for Tracy's pistols from a single corpse. In the distance, gun fire could be heard...

Meanwhile, back at Fort Red Night

Trujillo's POV

Things were pretty quiet here at the outpost. The military was still giving me the same orders they've been giving me. Watch the survivors, take in survivors, and of course watch out for the green flu. It was like as if the higher-ups didn't care for this outpost anymore.

Ryan's friend, Jason, was fully recovered. His leg was no longer damaged. The outpost nurses had taken good care of him. He could now walk on his injured leg without any help, but he did walk with a slight limp. I wish I could say the same about Ryan's other friend, Rosa.

Rosa has been pretty restless for the last few days. She has been waiting for his return ever since he left. Things were under control till his fourth day of absence. That day was now referred to as "The Red Claw Incident". The day started the way it normally would here at Fort Red Night.

Food was being distributed around the outpost to the survivors. When Rosa said something in French, she snapped at another survivor that stayed here. It happened so fast, the other survivor was Jerry, he was a great friend of mine. Jerry said something about Ryan. Rosa cursed in French and there was a single gunshot and some claw swipes.

The next thing I knew, Jerry was on the ground, blood running down his shirt. And Rosa had started fleeing into the surrounding woods. Jerry was shortly taken to the first-aid tent after the incident. Before she ran, I think I saw Rosa clutching her chest. Rosa was obviously injured. Telling Ryan about what happened will be a bitch...

Back to Ryan...

Ryan's POV

The rural part of the city had some similarities to the urban part of the city. In fact, if you weren't a local then you probably would have thought you were in the suburbs. Me and Tracy were just walking, killing strays, and making small talk. While were walking, there were small signs that there were survivors here not too long ago. I'm not sure if Tracy has noticed.

Soon, we found ourselves in the farmer's market. The farmer's market was basically one big alley that had many miscellaneous booths that sold products. But now, the market is just a wreck. There were fruits scattered everywhere. Booths were also looted, torn up, and ruined.

At the other end of the market was a sandman. It had not noticed me or Tracy yet. It was bent over a box and scooping up whatever fruit was inside the box and eating them. It made an odd sound whenever it chewed. I didn't know Sandmen had to eat.

Then suddenly, a shot rang through the air. I didn't fire that shot. The sandman dropped the fruit it was eating and turned to face the survivors that disturbed him. The sandman didn't have any facial features, where the face was suppose to be was just sand and blank features. The sandman made a deep breathing sound (like as if it were inhaling) and suddenly, the market (and my vision) became blurry and I couldn't see a thing. The sandman had conjured up a small sandstorm.

Sand was in eyes and I couldn't see a thing. I felt something scratch my back with sharp claws, I couldn't help but let out a scream of pain. A scream (not mine) followed by a shot rang through the air and as sudden as it started, the sandstorm stopped. When the sand finally cleared up, I saw Tracy on the ground with the sandman's corpse right in front of her. Her rifle in her hands with smoke coming out of the barrel, she also had a victory grin on her face.

I went to Tracy. Out of the sandman's attack, Tracy was hit the hardest. She was covered in scratches. There were scratches on her shoulders, her back, her arms, and her legs. I knew how to treat these kind of injures.

I took out the first-aid kit that was in my satchel and started working on her injures. While I was fixing her, she said something that I couldn't hear, she mumbled it. Then, I said, "Tracy? What was that?"

She repeated herself, "...Thanks."

"Don't mention it." I said.

Then after that, she was knocked-out and unconscious again. But her heart was still beating. After I was done fixing her up, I placed her rifle on her back and carried her. I had to find a saferoom for her to rest in. She needed it.

After a short walk out of the farmer's market, I found myself on a hayfield with a little tool shred and a house overlooking the shred. Then, I felt the burn coming from my back. It was horrible, it felt like agonizing pain. I couldn't stop to deal with it because we didn't have any extra first-aid supplies left. I had to live with it.

Inside the house, there wasn't much and it ain't no saferoom. But It was better then nothing. My vision was getting hazy and blurry. I placed Tracy on a sofa in the living room and I myself went on my own sofa. Everything instantly went black.

Author's Note: Nope, no notes other then me updating some profiles

And

See ya next week for the next chapter.