Chap 8 is here, it feels a bit delayed but here you go

Enjoy

Chapter 8

Riley was pissed, not only was he jumped by bandits the night before, he now had to find a way to escape and he isn't given many chances to do so.

Riley watched as the bandits stormed an apartment building, dispatching the several undead inside with relative ease before he was corralled into the room towards the rear of the building, far from the door where he was tied to a chair and left to himself.

He could hear an argument in the next room over "I say we head back now we got one, that's enough" one man said "No! we are staying, we need at least one more prisoner or my brother isn't going to be happy" another said who was clearly the leader as the other man gave up his protest "Alright, but why are we taking captives we are only here to scout this town out" the first man asked "Information, the one we got so far is pretty tight lipped but my brother will get him to talk" soon after they had finished talking Riley's head slumped as he gave in to exhaustion.

-Flashback/Dream-

Riley woke to his grandmother barricading the door to his room "What's going on Gran?" he asked puzzled and confused at his grandmothers actions "They are here" she said "Ok let's get going then" Riley replied.

"Dan will be here to get you away soon, Riley we just have to hold out" his grandmother explained just as something started banging at the door "The window Riley, I'm right behind you" she said.

Riley hurriedly open the window as his grandmother passed him a bag of supplies, the banging on the door grew louder until the door gave way to the force and zombies poured in, Riley's grandmother looked at him with sorrow filled eyes "Be safe" she said as she closed the window and was torn into by his grandfather.

"Gran!" he shouted in sorrow before Desert Dan yelled at him from his pickup truck "Riley jump onto the back" Riley hesitated before leaping down and onto the back of the truck, the landing was cushioned by the several bags of supplies filling the bed of the truck.

"You alright Riley?" Dan asked as Riley climbed through the window and onto the passenger's seat "I'm... I'm okay" Riley said, the pain he was feeling was written across his face.

Desert Dan gunned the engine and the truck stormed out of the rear car park of Riley's Grandparents Hotel before hitting the road "I'm sorry about your Grandparents Riley... they... they were good people" Dan said trying to lift the younger man's spirit.

Dan cursed himself from him momentary lapse of concentration as truck smashed into a small horde of infected and lost control before slamming into the corner of a building. The crash had pinned Dan's leg making him unable to move "Riley grab the green bag in the back and run. Quickly, Now!" Dan said as he eyed the approaching zombies.

Riley immediately grabbed the bag and sprinted, pain spread across his face and he felt as if he would break, his feelings got even worse when Dan's truck exploded in a ball of inferno. All this sacrifice for his sake weighed heavy on his heart, Riley didn't like this strong feeling of guilt but he knew life is painful and unfair so he discarded his guilt, his sorrows and steeled himself as he prepared his mind for life in this cruel world.

-Flashback/Dream End-

Riley wakes to an unknown man cutting his binds, he was slightly surprised to find that someone had sneaked past the bandits. The man smiled at Riley as he sneaked over to the door and reopened it only to get clobbered across the face with the stock of a shotgun "Fuck" Riley muttered as the stock was brought down on his head too, his mind swirled into darkness.

-The day before-

A man was lying on top of a gas station roof, if there were anyone around to see him they would think this man has lost his mind because he appeared to be talking with no one. The presumably unstable man saw several blurry figures in the distance, he squints his eyes before pulling a pair of glasses out of his pocket and putting them on.

The blurry figures became the all too familiar shape of zombies, this didn't surprise the man but what did was the group of living people that killed the zombies. The group of people had a prisoner with them, one word rang through his mind "Bandits" the man spent a few more moments observing the bandits, assessing their weapons and equipment then a familiar voice echoed through his head "Save him... Phil" he quietly replied "Sure thing... Lane"

After shadowing the bandits for the past few hours Phil decided to set up for the night on a roof not far from where the bandits were staying, he decided to catch a few hours sleep as the sky slowly became shrouded in darkness.

The morning chill that Phil woke to told him now would be the best time to spring the captive, he would have the cover of darkness for another hour at least, steeling himself for the soon to be encounter, Phil quietly lowered himself down off the roof and headed over to the apartment building.

Thankfully the idiot bandits had left the door unlocked, Phil silently entered the apartment, taking note of the number of sleeping bandits, he began checking each room for their captive.

Upon opening the door to the room towards the back, Phil saw the sleeping captive then decided to leave the door slightly ajar to provide a hasty escape "Hey, wake up buddy, I'm getting you out of here" he whispered into the captives ear as he cut the captives bindings.

Riley gave his saviour a nod of appreciation as he watched him sneak back to the door and slowly reopened it, the man gazed out of the door then turned back to Riley signalling him to come.

When the man turned back around he was clobbered in the face with the stock of a shotgun, knocking him out "Fuck" Riley muttered as the stock was brought down on his head too, his mind swirled into darkness.

-Some time later-

Phil was awoken by a bandit emptying his chamber pot on Phil's face "Get up Brave man, we are moving out" said the bandit who had two rather familiar fencing blades decorating his hips, Phil replied with a piercing stare, which earned him a kick to the guts.

Phil and Riley were placed in the middle of the bandit group as they left the apartment building, one bandit ran ahead to scout their path, even bandits had to contend with hordes and a horde was not something Phil wanted to deal with right now.

After several minutes of being led around Riley was quite surprised that they have not encountered any infected yet 'Probably something to do with that huge roar yesterday' he thought.

The scout bandit signalled at the group to stop before sticking his head around the corner to check down the alley way, he came face to face with a teenage girl "Hi..." the girl said with a smirk across her face before an inferno spouted from her makeshift flamethrower, setting the bandit alight like a candle.

The bandit group was shocked by the sudden attack "Oh Shit!, take cover now!" the leader shouted as the burning man screamed in pain before falling to the ground.

The deathly silence the followed the bandits gruesome death invoked a strong sense of fear into the youngest (and stupidest) bandit who thought it was a good idea to try rushing their foe, he ran at the alleyway entrance expecting to fight a flamethrower only to see another teen, this one male (who wasn't wearing a shirt) swing a metal baseball bat which had spikes welded to it, one such spike pierced the bandits temple, the bandit dropped like a stone, the blow to the head causing his body to thrash about violently.

The remaining three bandits were slightly unnerved by the convulsions and spasms of their recently killed comrade's body "Alright dick faces, you two deal with these arse holes and I'll watch over the prisoners... Go!" the leader shouted.

The leader was furious when his subordinates refused to attack, he was about chew them out but a bullet clipped his ear and hit one of his subordinates in the forehead "Ahh! Fuck! Where the hell did that come from!?" he shouted as he clutched his now bleeding ear and turned to see a man in the distance with his rifle trained on his face.

Seeing this as a moment to get some revenge Riley booted the last subordinate in the face, about to boot him again he found his binds cut, he turned to see a girl cutting Phil's binds and a shirtless boy wielding a now bloody baseball bat "I guess I should say thanks now shouldn't I?" Riley said.

"Not to me" the boy said confusing Riley slightly, he pointed at the girl "Not her either, you should be thankin-" the boy said cut off by Phil kerb stomping the subordinate "Nobody takes my blades... you hear me..." before stomping again " NOBODY!"

After retrieving his blades from severely beaten subordinate Phil turned his attention to the leader of the bandits "You are a despicable person who does not deserve to breath the same air as the rest of us" Phil said scolding the Bandit leader.

The Bandit Leader merely chuckled "When my brother finds out you have taken me hostage... Ha... you won't last a week, he'll come down on this town hard" the Bandit boasted before turning to see the sniper approach "Did we ever say hostage?" the new appearance said.

The bandit realised their intent "I ain't dying without a fight" he said before charging at Phil with his bowie knife, Phil quickly retaliated by drawing his blades, taking a sidestep as he redirected the bandit's attack with his Epee blade and bring his heavier sabre blade down on his neck, the bandit uselessly grabbed at his neck as blood gushed from the wound "N-No..." he said gurgling as his throat filled with blood and he died.

"So I guess I should be thanking you then..." Riley asked to the sniper wielding newcomer "He was the one who wanted to save you two" said the shirtless teen as he rested his baseball bat over his shoulder, the sniper wielding newcomer stepped forward and said "A good friend of mine once said 'Seek others, Not for Safety but for Sanity', the name is Cale Harris" Riley's mind reeled when he heard the same words he believes in "You wouldn't happen to know a certain US army Sergeant do you?"

There you are hoped you all liked it

R&R please

Don't expect chapter 9 anytime soon as i am fully devoting my writing time to Apex Evolution Chapter 1

Thanks for reading