Chapter 7: Running

"I see. Your body is not only immune but completely fights off the infection as if it's merely a cold."

"Really? How?"

"That's what we're going to find out. If I may borrow your arm..."

Cole's eyes shot open and looked to the side. He doesn't remember falling asleep. He felt something being wrapped around his shoulder and began to panic but relaxed when he only saw Roger wrapping bandages around his shoulder.

"Why did I think it was something else?"

"Oh you're awake. I only gave you enough so that I could remove the bullet."

"You didn't have to do that." Cole croaked out.

"Oh I insisted." Roger said with a smile. "Better accuracy when my patients don't scream."

"Who said I'd scream?" Cole laughed. Roger laughed as well.

"You should be good now. The wound began healing itself when I knocked you out but I stitched you up anyways. Knowing your body, the wound should heal itself pretty soon and you'll probably absorb the stitches in the next couple of days."

Cole nodded and looked around and saw that Zeke wasn't in the room. "Hey, where's Zeke?"

"Outside on the roof, keeping guard with the sniper rifle. Told him this might take a while and it appears that we're smack dab in hunter territory." Roger assisted Cole in putting his shirt and jacket back on.

"Anyone come by yet?"

"No one yet. Hopefully it stays that way."

"Yeah, let's feed off that optimism for a while."

Zeke walked back inside and unintentionally threw the sniper rifle on the floor.

"No one's come?"

"Nah it's all clear. But I wouldn't cling on to that happy news for a long time. There's still the matter of the tank apparently lurking about." Zeke looked at Cole. "You doing alright man?"

"Yeah I'll be fine. Nothing that won't heal."

Silence had fallen once more in the room, the tension slowly beginning to creep in.

"Look…I'm sorry I flipped out on you earlier. I can't force you to be a cold blooded killer after being out for twenty three years. I know that's not you. Never has been really."

"It's okay. I'm sorry too. Truth is I can't. I may never be able to kill like you do without feeling sick to my stomach. Maybe someday soon, but I wouldn't count on it. All I can do is make do with what I have."

"You're a human shield, got a killer knockout punch and can punt heads into next week. Hypothetically and literally of course." Zeke joked. "I'd say that's enough." He smiled.

The tension that existed between the two of them had been killed just as quickly as it came.

And Roger was astonished.

There were times he doubted that he and Zeke would be able to have the friendship they had all those years ago. Though the immediate destruction of said friendship was his fault, it was against his will. An order was an order.

But looking at the way Cole and Zeke interacted with each other gave him hope.

Maybe someday Zeke will be able to put what happened behind them. Not let it affect their friendship as much.

The past can finally remain in the past.

Running…

Running…

"He's over here!"

Why the hell am I running?

Trees…plants…I'm…in a forest?

I have to keep running. I have to...

"He's in my sights!"

Sounds of gunshots harshly filled the air. Rapid fire gunshots. These weren't bullets to debilitate, these were bullets to kill.

"Why isn't he going down?!"

"He's a bio terrorist! Takes a lot more than a few bullets to take down those freaks."

Bio terrorist? Oh right...

Keep running, make a left...hide behind a tree.

No climb up, get a better vantage point. I should have thought this through.

But I didn't. I couldn't. Short notice plans still suck to this day.

I hope the others are okay.

They're getting closer, maybe they left the others alone and are only coming after me.

I need to defend myself…but…so little energy. No place to recharge. They can be sources though.

No…there's no time. I have to keep moving.

"He's in the trees!"

Moving…have to keep moving.

"Get the RPG, torch his ass!"

A branch I landed on breaks and I'm falling to the ground. A fall like this usually doesn't hurt, especially a height as small as this. Wrong day to not be a cat. I hit the ground with a hard thud, pain immediately rushing in. The electricity jumps to soothe the pain. I hear the thunder rumbling in the sky.

"Fire!"

Good day to be a cat.

Quickly, on my hands and feet I move out of the way. It saved me a direct hit, but the blast still sent me flying back first into another tree, completely taking the air out of me. I groan and reopen my eyes, gray spots dancing in my sight. My ears were ringing from the loud sound of the RPG. I take a few deep breaths and my vision returns to normal and my ears stop ringing. Just in time.

"Fire!"

I quickly get up and do a combat roll out of the way. My ears start ringing again.

God damn it, everything hurts. The electricity is doing all it can to heal my body but I'm running out. Gotta keep moving.

"Spread out and find him!"

I stay in the bushes and focus what energy I have left. Everything unimportant fazes out while everything else becomes light as day. They're everywhere, more than I can count at this point, and all of them well armed. In my weakened state it's best that I don't piss them all off at the same time.

Doesn't mean I won't though. Eventually.

One of them is walking in my direction. He doesn't have much on him, an assault rifle with 10-20…no 40 bullets. But it's not what's on him that counts. It's what's in him.

Humanity is indeed dead. I'll give her that.

I wait for him to get close enough to me. He eventually stops walking and stands with his back to me. I lay low and walk toward him.

But my timing was off. I moved too slowly and he turned around. His eyes went wide and went to open his mouth to signify that he had found me. He needs to be quiet. Now.

I immediately tackled him to the ground and restrained him; my arm on his neck, restricting any sound, limiting proper oxygen intake and I put my knee on his arm. He certainly isn't flexible enough to kick me wherever it would matter. Besides, his other hand was currently trying to restrain mine. He saw the blue glow in my hand and knew what it meant.

As he should.

He tried to fight me off but it was no use. My hand went to his face and the surge of electricity immediately coursed through my veins. Every wound was healed and my weak state was a thing of the past.

I felt truly alive, after being dead for so long. I couldn't help but drink it all in.

I look down at him and briefly study him.

A yellow star means a dark feast.

I began to search his body for anymore supplies. I need to get away from here. Far away from here. Back home. I'm not immortal, definitely going to need some stuff to help me get there.

I felt the cool barrel of a gun on the back of my head. I raise my arms up in surrender but I should have known better. These weren't bullets to debilitate.

The trigger was pulled and the bullet went straight into my head. My eyes were wide open, my jaw slack, and my vision completely gray. Dark spots began dancing within in my sight now. I felt myself being roughly picked up and carried. Then I was tossed like useless cargo onto the back of what felt like a truck. I couldn't see much but my hearing was still decent for the time being.

"...Tell me how this works again?"

"Chemical...body...rejects the infection."

"Because of the..."

"Take him to Phoenix...good as dead...Fireflies...harness the cure..."

Their words begin to become too muffled. My vision continues to darken. But in the darkness I see little lights floating around. Bouncing around and dancing gracefully.

They remind me of…fireflies…

Then my vision clears up; it briefly returns to gray then to color. I feel the rain coming down and see the crack of lightning lighting up the sky, followed by a sharp rumble of thunder. A surge races quickly through my body and I'm alive once more.

There are two more trucks beside this one; one on each side. Three men stay on the back of the trucks with rifles ready, keeping guard.

"Going to Arizona..."

I can't and I will not go with them.

I let the electricity flow freely until it surrounds the truck.

Then the truck is lifted.

"What the fuck?"

"This freak took a bullet in the head! How the-?"

I will not yield…

"Cole…Cole…Cole!"

Cole was roughly shaken out of his sleep by Zeke.

"Another strange dream…" He looked over at Zeke and saw that he had a panicked look on his face.

Something was wrong.

"What's the matter?" Cole asked.

"Swarm of hunters and…the tank is here."

Cole's eyes widened.

"Roger's trying to find a route around them, but like he said we're smack dab in the middle of hunter territory."

Cole sits up and stands up, before grabbing his bag. He spies the sniper rifle on the floor and contemplates taking it.

"Take it man; we're going to need all the firepower we can get. I was able to salvage a lot of Molotovs, nail bombs, and ammo."

"I'll definitely take it but it's not going to be enough. Roger isn't kidding." Cole used his radar pulse and his mind was filled with numerous images of hunters searching the area. And the tank followed not too far behind them.

Roger came running down the stairs with a somber look on his face. He couldn't find an escape route.

"We gotta come up with something! We're just sitting ducks out here." Zeke said. "Couldn't we just keep going the way we were going; keep heading north?"

"They've got the perimeter of this place surrounded."

"How did they know we were here?" Cole asked.

"Sniper must have sent out a signal when he saw us. Some sort of security measure I suppose."

Cole sighed and rubbed his head. He began to pace back and forth.

"I've taken out those gangs and conduits in Empire City, the Beast, helicopters, all of that bullshit. There must be something…"

He had to have had that dream for a reason.

"If I knew where I was in that dream this could be much simpler."

Wait.

Forest.

"Roger, are there any forests near here? Woods or anything like that?" Cole asked, gears turning fast in his head.

"Paiz Park. Maybe not so much trees, it's mainly a field, but there is tall grass."Roger responded. "Why?"

"Where is it?"

"About Northeast from here."

"Though it may be a bit risky I say we can shake them off there. Shouldn't knock us off too far from our route, right?"

"Not really. I mean if you find an extra couple of minutes added on a disaster then we'll have to reconsider."

Cole laughed. "Alright. Just as long as they don't have an RPG."

"An RPG? Why?"

"Uh, nothing, nothing. We good to go?"

"I am. Are you Roger?"

"Always am."

"Alright, let's do it."

The trio managed to slip by and leave Mathis, the hunters none the wiser. As they continued on to Paiz Park, the number of hunters began gradually decreasing. Once they got to Paiz Park they found the area completely void of hunters.

As Roger said, the grass here was quite over grown and if they laid low, they would be very hard to spot.

But one more problem.

It was quiet.

Too quiet.

Uncomfortably quiet.

"Alright from here, we can continue on to Pleasanton…" Roger trailed off.

"What…what's wrong Roger?"

"Shh!" Roger pointed ahead of them.

"Well it's no wonder this place is so quiet." Cole muttered.

Not too far from them was a clicker, staggering about, emanating its signature clicker sound every once in a while.

"Well it's just one, we just have to-"

Cole faintly heard the powerful roar of an engine. Too powerful to be a car…

A surge of pain went through Cole's head and voices soon filled it.

"There are some infected over in Paiz Park. Marcus, take that tank of yours over there and clear them out before they make their way here."

The tank appeared not too far from them. Roger gestured them to stay as close to the ground as possible. They all went to lie on their stomachs, resting on their arms in the tall grass. It's a good thing that they were wearing dark colors that blended easily against nature's landscape.

The tank began firing at the clicker and continued to fire even when there was undoubtedly nothing left of it.

The loud sound of the tank's engine and gun fire alerted the infected that wandered nearby. Their screeches loudly filled the air and ran over to the source of the sound.

"And you know what to do if you find those tourists Frank warned us about."

The trio was sandwiched between the infected and a tank. What could they do? If they stayed, they would easily welcome death. If they ran, the tank would most likely spot them. There was still a sliver of possibility that it wouldn't but it wasn't a comforting chance.

Cole looked at the infected. Not too many runners or stalkers, but a scary amount of clickers and a downright frightening number of bloaters.

He looked over at the tank and saw that it was well protected. Completely covered with steel, barbed wire and on the front, in black paint said "run". Nothing, at least with the first shot, could destroy it.

But then Cole spotted something flashing on the side.

He was familiar with that device.

A device with five glowing lights on it, with the sixth one flashing.

This device usually served one of three purposes on a machine; as a powerful aid, a source, or a weakness.

And Cole knew a good weakness when he saw one.