Well, here I am guys. I have returned. I don't know if anyone actually follows this story anymore, but I think it is my duty to finish this story. There are only two chapters left including this one anyways. In this chapter, we get introduced to a few characters we have not yet seen yet.

I hope you enjoy this.

The bullets completely shredded the store as everyone dove for cover, the shattered wooden splinters raining down on everyone. I dove to the ground next to Himitsu and I saw Martin taking cover at the very corner of the store. Sabrina and Miko were doing alright, having taken cover behind the bottom of a display case. Azure was getting serious, having dove behind a concrete barrier on the street. The bullets continued to rain down on the group and I couldn't help but wonder, who the hell was shooting at us?

The docks…

"Damn zombies!" an old man pulling the trigger on an old machine gun shouted in rage as bullets shot from the ancient metal gun.

Another man was next to him, firing his shotgun towards the store. They both wore farmer's clothes and they were both very old. The one manning the machine gun had a long grey beard and wore a tattered straw hat while the other man only had cigar in his mouth and he was bald. They continued to rain bullets down on the store, screaming in rage as they did so.

"Cecil! Johnson! Stop!" a voice shouted from behind the two old men.

The old men must have heard something over the roar of the guns as they turned to look at who had spoken. Their expressions were originally stone cold, but they softened at the site of the young man running towards them, an AK-47 slung around his shoulder. He was 5' 11", 140 lb, Caucasian/Japanese mix, or in his words, a "mutt", brown hair and eyes, and had a buzz cut. He wore a set of dog tags with identification on him, which was a gift from his father. He slightly thin but not skinny, prefers being called "wiry". He was wearing blue jeans and a brown smudged t-shirt as he came up to the two old men. He looked at the two of them, confused.

"What's going on? Are the zombies attacking?" he asked as the man with the beard nodded.

"Yeh Geoffrey, we saw dem zombies near that old wooden store over dere." said the bearded man as his partner nodded.

Geoffrey frowned and looked down the road to see several zombies stumbling towards the makeshift blockade that lay in front of the port. Cecil and Johnson didn't have the best eyesight, so they could have mistaken a group of survivors as zombies. However, whether the group of survivors were friendly or not, was the mystery. Geoffrey watched the zombies carefully, hoping that the survivors would quickly kill them to signal that they were not zombies.

Within minutes, Geoffrey got his wish. Bursts of sound reached the group's ears as the zombies were dropped like hot potatoes, a chef's knife flying through the air into a zombie's head. Geoffrey let out a shout of triumph as several figures came out of the wooden store, their hands in the air. They held guns and blades and Cecil scratched his head and stroked his beard with the other.

"Huh, guess they weren't dem zombies after all…" he said as Johnson let out a short laugh.

Geoffrey turned to Johnson and told him what to do. The farmer ran down towards the barricade and quickly opened it and ushered the group of survivors inside.

…

You would not believe how relieved I was when the shooting stopped. You wouldn't believe how relived I felt when the barricade slowly rolled open and a bald man holding a shotgun quickly ushered us inside. It was definitely a seaport, but there were not many ships inside. There were one or two large yachts and a large tin shed next to the wooden docks but besides that, nothing besides an old fishing boat that looked like it had seen better days.

"The name's Johnson. Pleasure to meet y'all." The bald farmer said as everyone introduced themselves.

The farmer nodded and quickly went up a ramp that led to a small watchtower. We followed him and eventually came to meet another old farmer, and a young man, not much older than we were. He had his hair cut in a buzz and he shook everyone hands. He smiled as he introduced himself.

"Hey, my name is Geoffrey. I'm sorry about all the shooting. Cecil and Johnson don't have very good eyesight." He said as everyone smiled.

He continued on by showing us around the port. It wasn't very big, but it was impressive given the circumstances. The tin shack had a variety of stored goods that had been looted from stores and had significant storage of oil. I was definitely getting an idea for what do. Eventually, we ended up back at the watchtower.

"So, that's the end of the tour, what brings you all here?" Geoffrey asked as Azure answered the question.

"We were trying to find a way a refuge, but our truck broke down. We decided to just get some supplies and to head anywhere we could." explained Azure.

Geoffrey nodded as he thought about this. He looked up to look at our group and grinned.

"Then how about you join us? I mean it would be a-"

Suddenly, Cecil and Johnson jumped into action, Cecil manning the machine gun and Johnson reloading his gun. Geoffrey immediately turned to look down the road, his eyes growing in horror. We all let out a gasp and felt dread reach into our souls when we saw what was happening.

Zombies. Hordes of zombies headed our way.

Cecil fired the machine gun, spraying into the crowd and Johnson fired into the crowd as well, trying to take down as many as possible. Geoffrey grimaced as he unslung his gun and aimed towards the crowd. We all tried to help out, but Cecil just yelled at Geoffrey.

"You know what to do Geoffrey! We'll hold them off long enough for you to escape!" he shouted as the machine gun roared.

Geoffrey clenched his teeth and he grabbed Cecil's shoulder.

"No way I am leaving you now! We went through too much Cecil!" he shouted at the old man.

Johnson let out a cackle as the gun ran out of ammo. He replaced the clip as he looked at Geoffrey.

"We're old men Geoffrey! You have an entire life to live! Besides, we're almost outta bullets!" Johnson shouted as he loaded his last clip and pulled down the cocking mechanism.

Geoffrey grimaced and finally turned to us. His face was dark as he pointed towards the tin shack.

"Everyone, to the shack! Cecil and Johnson will hold the position for as long as they can! In the meantime, bring all the food you can carry! If we can't eat it, or use it, don't bring it with us! Get as much fuel as you can!" he shouted as we all nodded and to get all the things we needed to get.

The sounds of zombies and bullets rang in our ears as we all ran to get the supplies.

…

The small barrel of oil I was carrying sloshed as I quickly ran and dumped it into the old fishing boat. My arms were a bit sore from carrying the food and the oil to the boat. Martin and Azure were carrying on board a small container of gas and Geoffrey quickly led them below the deck to fill the engines. I turned to look at the barricade behind me and I saw that Cecil and Johnson were doing a great job of holding off the zombies. It looked like Johnson had run out of ammo and Cecil was trying to conserve his bullets.

"Vi'Nay! Hurry up!" I turned to see Sabrina waving at me from on the ship.

I nodded and I quickly went towards the old boat. I jumped over the dark water and I landed on the rusty deck, looking around to see everyone storing away the gasoline and food. I started to feel a bit seasick. Miko and Sabrina went into the captain's room and Geoffrey was inside, messing with the digital map on the dashboard. It was definitely old, but it was better than nothing. He quickly started to put in coordinates and I felt a little bit uncertain with the fishing boat.

"Why don't we just use one of the yachts?" I asked Geoffrey as Martin and Azure came up from the engine room, their cheeks stained with grease in a few places.

"A yacht wouldn't stand a chance on the rough ocean waters. This fishing boat has braved the mightiest waves, she'll take care of us." explained Geoffrey as he finally input the coordinates.

A small blip appeared off the coast of Australia and I couldn't but smile when I saw where the blip was on.

It was Christmas Island.

Geoffrey put the small key into the ignition and the boat sputtered to life, moving out into the water. When we were a few feet out into the water, he handed the controls to Azure and went out on the deck. We all looked through the small windows to see Geoffrey saluting the port as zombies swarmed over the docks.

We all lowered our heads and the fishing boat headed towards Christmas Island. I hoped the authorities would allow us to enter. If they didn't, we were as good as dead.

Sorry this took so long. The next chapter is the last one and I think you will like the ending. One of my favorite HOTD authors started writing again so I found some inspiration to write this. Happy Easter everyone! FF