PART FOUR

Upon trying to land at the airport they found it completely overrun. They couldn't reach it to get fuel for the helicopter, so they moved on, attempting to make the next several miles to another airport. However, just as they were over a forest, they ran out of the last drops of fuel they were running on and plummeted to the ground.

The three crawled from the wreckage.

"You okay?" Matt asked the two.

"I think I'm good," Ike said, holding his arm which had been sliced open by some sort of sharp metal.

"I'm fine, but your friend there needs a bit of help," the pilot, Ryan, said.

"Did you have any medical kits on the helicopter?" Matt asked, rummaging through the shrapnel that remained of the helicopter. He sliced his hand on something and recoiled, continuing to kick through the piles. Finally, a large white box caught his eye. He opened it with his good hand and got out a roll of gauze.

He wrapped his hand, then moved to Ike, spraying antiseptic on the wound. Ike cried out and reached out, ready to stop Matt, then realized that he was only helping, so stopped and winced. Matt looked up and down the huge cut. It was deep, and about 8 inches long. He grimaced as he wrapped it in gauze.

"How's it looking?" Ike asked.

"That's going to make a pretty scar," Ryan replied, grinning. Suddenly, there was a screech from somewhere in the jungle. Ike grabbed his pistol, Matt grabbed his rifle, and Ryan had a tactical shotgun.

"Damn, they're here too?" Ryan asked, looking around, as if one was going to just be standing in the clearing they made by crashing the helicopter.

"Of course they are," Matt said quietly. "They're what's left of humanity. Meaning, like we were, they're everywhere." He scanned the area with his rifle. Thankfully, the sunlight still shone through the foliage, about midday now.

"We've got to move," Ike said. The others nodded. They loaded their guns. Matt shoved the med-kit into his backpack.

"Wait," Ryan said. He went to the helicopter and pried the compass that had been embedded in the dashboard out. "Which way to the nearest city?"

"I think it was east," Matt replied. "That's where we were headed, right?" Ryan nodded. "Alright. Let's get going."

"We need to stop," Ike said, holding his arm tenderly. They'd been walking for hours.

"Alright," Matt replied. "We'll set up camp around here." They walked a little further, exiting the trees and entering a large clearing, cut through the middle by a large river. "Come on, Ike." He wrapped his arm around Ike's shoulder and walked him down to the riverside. They sat down and started a fire with some wood and lighter fluid.

"So, what now?" Ryan asked.

"I don't know. For now we'll just sit and rest."

"It'll be dark soon. Then what?"

"Hm. I've never been in a jungle with these things before. It should be similar to an urban environment, just… maybe more cover for them." The three shuddered at the thought. "But as long as we stay here, where we can see them if they start coming, we'll be fine. We may have to travel later. By dark."

"Seriously?" Ryan asked.

"We're close to the next city. When we get there, we'll be fine, as long as we can find shelter."

"Before they find us."

"…yeah." The three sat in silence for a minute.

"Before you found me, I was an engineer," Ike said, making small talk. The other two looked over at him. "I got wounds like this all the time. So this is no new thing to me. And that's why I was dirty when you found me. Ever since… well, all hell broke loose, the water and electricity have been down. So I didn't have time to shower after my shift. Then they found me. Not you guys. THEM.

"I managed to fight them off for a while, but eventually, I became weak and I couldn't fight them. I was almost dead by the time you guys found me. I was in that crane. Remember?"

"Yeah," Matt said, grinning. He remembered it well. He and Ean fired at the infected, when suddenly, a Tank came up. It was about to kill them when it was suddenly thrown into a nearby building by a crane. Ike was operating it.

"I was a pilot, obviously," Ryan said, piping up. "I used to fly a helicopter for a news crew. We were above, covering the outbreak. We saw the things… what they did… we were the source of all of those clips on the news. Remember those?" They nodded. The news reports on the first hour. How they were instructing all civilians to stay indoors. That's ultimately why so many died. If they had told them to be armed on the roof or in the basement, like the man in the vault did…. He knew, before just about anyone. "But we were the ones running the clips and we were the commentary for it too. Ha. That newscaster, that Penny Bennet. Cold-hearted bitch that one was. Did you hear all that stuff she said? All for ratings. Damn her. I remember one case, it was a mall outbreak, I think. 'Look at that carnage! Are you seeing this folks? People are getting ripped apart down there! Let's hope that's not your family!' and she laughed. For god's sake, she LAUGHED. How can you laugh at something like that? How… how can anyone…

"But I learned later my family WAS down there. Most of them. They were just shopping. Innocent civilians. I probably filmed their death. Those things, ripping and eating everything. Those bastards. That's why the commentary changed. I hate to say it out loud. I pushed her."

"What?!"

"Yeah. I had to. She was screwing with my head. I started hearing voices. Her voice. Her horrid laugh in my head. If I didn't, I would've gone crazy. I did some of the commentary after that. The smart ones. 'Get indoors, and secure yourself. If you have a weapon, don't hesitate to use it'. That was me. Not to be arrogant, but I would've made a better newscaster than her. But I'm glad I was a pilot. I survived, and she didn't. I'm sorry." He hung his head. Matt put a hand on his shoulder.

"We've all done things we weren't proud of during this tough time," he told Ryan. Ryan nodded. "The sun's setting. We'll take shifts sleeping. One at a time. Ike's first." Ike nodded, already drifting off. "Ready?" he asked Ryan.

"As ready as I'll ever be. Let's hope none of those bastards find us here."

"Let's hope."

Day broke quietly. The wildlife normally echoing throughout the jungle was dead silent. A new life was there. Or death. Either way you considered them, the horrid, evil creatures screamed their cry out into the sky as dawn slowly broke.

"Wake up," Ike shook Matt.

"Where are they?" Matt asked groggily.

"No, it's morning. We're leaving." Matt looked around, nodded, and wiped his eyes. They went down to the riverside and filled their bottles with the freshwater from the river. They started off through the forest again. Each cry filled their heart with terror. They all sounded so close.

"We going the right way?" Matt asked.

"Yup," Ryan replied, consistently checking the compass. Matt stopped.

"What is it?" Ike asked. Matt looked down. Underfoot there were small, near-identical chunks of rock.

"Gravel?" he asked. They started forward quicker and found themselves facing a highway. "The city!" He looked down the highway to see the silhouette of a city. "Maybe this time we'll find something worth finding." The others nodded and they started for the city.

"We need to find supplies soon," Matt said, killing another zombie via headshot from his rifle. "I think we should try a supermarket or something."

"Where?" Ike asked, firing at zombies with a pistol.

"I don't know. Ryan, where are we going to find a grocery store?"

"I think there's one up the street from here."

"Alright, we'll start heading that way. Ike, street or roof?"

"Eh… roof."

"Let's go." Matt ran towards a door, kicking it inward and surveying the room with his rifle. "Clear!" The three sprinted inside and started up the stairs to the top floor of the house. Matt took a wooden chair and started stabbing the legs at the ceiling. Finally, the holes created a gap through which the other two boosted Matt, then he helped them climb up into the attic.

"If we can find a way through the roof, we can start heading for the grocery store," Matt said.

"Or at least find one," Ike replied. Matt began looking around the room.

"Think this'll work?" he asked, starting up a chainsaw.

"That could work," Ryan said, grinning. Matt tore it into the ceiling, the sawdust grinding and showering him. Finally, he cut a box through which plaster and ceiling tiles fell through. They found a chair nearby and used it to climb up and onto the roof. Suddenly, they heard the sound of splintering wood and the screech of the infected.

"Move!" Matt commanded. They started to sprint across the roofs, jumping from roof to roof, scanning the horizon for a sign of a grocery store.

"Nothing yet!" Ike reported, firing backward at the several infected following them over the gaps between the roofs. Due to the sheer number of infected, some were dropped into the gaps, falling to the ultimate breaking of limbs and decaying bones.

"Wait, there!" Ryan cried out. Matt looked behind him for a moment, grinning. He saw the large sign displaying the name of the grocery store.

"Thank god!" Matt cried out, continuing his running. Finally the amount of zombies dwindled to nothing. "Move, before they come back!" As he turned to sprint toward the store, he and the other two fell through the roof. It collapsed, as did the next floor. His vision was a dark red shaded with gray. He groaned, attempting to get up. He eventually got to his feet, helping Ike and Ryan up as well.

"Wait," Matt said. "Is that...?" The other two followed his gaze. It was another one of the vault-like doors from New Orion.

"Another vault?" Ike asked. They walked over to it and spun the lock, the vault door opening slowly. Suddenly, before Matt knew what had happened, there was an infected on top of him, smacking at him with its claws. It appeared to be an adolescent wearing a hooded pullover.

"Hunter!" Ike cried before firing at it with his tactical shotgun. It fell off, darting around the room almost impossible to see. Matt fired his rifle, hitting the Hunter in the leg. It cried out, getting on one knee, allowing Ike to shoot it in the head with his shotgun. It fell over, bleeding through its hoodie. Matt got to his feet slowly. The three entered the vault.

"What is this?" Matt asked, picking a piece of paper off the wall. Ike reached into his pocket and retrieved a paper much similar to the one in Matt's hands. "Where'd you get that?"

"The other vault. I found it on the wall. It's all gibberish though. You can read it, although it wont do much good." Matt took it, then, suddenly, there was a loud roar from upstairs.

"Tank..." Matt whispered.

"Dude, we're screwed," Ryan replied. Matt thought for a moment.

"Close the vault," he said finally. The two looked at him, then looked at the vault door. They grabbed the bars and pulled hard. They heard a rumble as the Tank hit the floor in the basement. As they pulled it closed, they heard the Tank hit it with its fists and scream. Then they heard it stomp off. "We'll just wait about an hour before we leave again. There's food here." He grabbed a can and began eating, as did the others.

"What's going on?" Ike asked finally. "What's with these vaults and those weird pieces of paper?"

"I don't know," Matt replied. "But we're going to find out."