~z~
Chapter 10
Escort
Douglas glared up at the soldier who now was offering his hand out to him. Instead of accepting the assistance, he batted his hand away. He brushed on his bloody nose with his hand and slowly begin to stand up. "Son of a bitch." he seethed.
The soldier wiped the grin from his face and stood up straight as well. "I'm sorry about the nose, bud. You'll be fine. Don't worry."
"Hurts like a bitch. Fucker." Douglas spat, holding his nose as he continued glaring at the soldier.
"I already apologized. Relax." Sampson returned.
"Well, it was pretty goddamn unnecessary to deck me in the face!" Douglas exclaimed.
"Bud, listen to me." Sampson stepped towards him. "I could have shot you in the face instead. You were aiming a gun at me. You know how that feels to have a gun aimed in your face?"
"Absolutely." Douglas groaned. "Don't think right now is the first time either."
"Alright, smartass." Sampson shrugged, dismissing his ensuing complaining. "Now if you're done acting like a little girl over a bruised nose, maybe we can jump to the part where we get you folks out of this hellhole."
Douglas shook his head. "You have no idea how fucked up of a morning I've had. That we've had."
"This ain't a competition, bud. But if it were, I'd make the record clear - I'm going from door to door to find survivors. Most of the time, nobody answers. Either they left on their own, or they're dead." Sampson explained.
Douglas sighed. "Even despite what's happening here - I'm surprised they didn't send you guys here just to surround the neighborhood. Stop anybody that tries to get through."
"What purpose would that yield?" the soldier immediately questioned.
"To stop the infection from getting out, of course. I wouldn't have suspected that they'd send actual soldiers in here." Douglas explained.
"To stop it from-" the soldier stopped speaking and instead offered a confused expression. He mulled over Douglas' words over for a few seconds until his puzzlement was replaced with a realization. "Bud.." he began as he shook his head, "The infection didn't just hit this neighborhood."
"What? How many places did it hit?" Douglas asked.
Sampson's face went blank. "You.. haven't heard..?"
Krystal looked to her brother. "Doug.. it hit everywhere."
Douglas turned to Krystal. "Everywhere? What do you mean by that? It couldn't have hit everywhere. It's not possible." he dismissed.
"All over the country, man." James answered.
"No. Absolutely not." Douglas denied almost instantly. "Ludicrous, kid. That's downright impossible!" he exclaimed at James.
"He's telling you the truth." Sampson spoke up.
"This isn't possible." Douglas rejected further.
"It's very possible." Sampson corrected him. "Bud, this is happening right now. Cities and towns all across the country have gotten hit by this virus."
"But that'd require several hundred devices.." Douglas stated, finally coming to a realization.
"We'll get to the bottom of this, I'll bet on that." Sampson nodded at them. "But for now, we gotta get you folks to safety. That's why my squad was sent out here. We're here to evacuate you guys out of the deadzone."
"Deadzone?" Douglas questioned.
"Codename for the areas greatly influenced by the virus." Sampson answered.
"You know," James began, "it isn't long until this infection spreads. If it hasn't by now, it will spread out of this neighborhood. Out of the other towns and cities. It will literally be everywhere."
"We know that." Sampson stated. "Our mission is to take you folks to safety, like I said. This is place is a major deadzone - meaning, it just ain't safe here." he went on to explain. "Look, we don't have time for this. We need to maintain a schedule. I see you folks don't look ready to head out yet, so gather your belongings now, alright? I'll give you folks ten minutes, and then we're moving on. I suggest you come with us to safety."
"Yeah - we'll come with. We've got nowhere else to go." Douglas accepted the offer.
"Glory." Sampson chimed somewhat sarcastically. "Alright, ten minutes I said. Gather your shit together. Go." he ordered.
Douglas looked to Krystal and firmly placed his hand on her shoulder. "You heard the man. Go pack some clothes. I don't know if we have any bags or anything. You know where everything is. I still have my clothes in my duffel bag in my room. So grab that for me while I bag some groceries, alright?"
"What about mom and dad?" Krystal asked, frowning at Douglas.
Douglas sighed. "Please. Go get your things together, sis."
Krystal frowned and looked at the ground. She brushed past Douglas as she sulked to the stairs. Douglas watched her head upstairs and then turned his attention to the soldier again. He stepped forward a bit and spoke in a hushed tone; "My parents are dead. What about them now?"
"I'm sorry to hear. What about 'em?" Sampson questioned.
"We have to bury them. We can't leave them to decompose in the goddamn kitchen. We need to bury my parents." Douglas stated.
"There's no time, bud. I'm sorry." the soldier quickly apologized.
"No time?" Douglas was taken aback. "No time to bury my parents? How does that even equate to logical sense? It makes zero sense. Since when have we left our loved ones lying around to rot? We.. we gotta take 'em somewhere. Bury them, y'know?" Douglas explained. "Honor your mother and father so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you." Douglas recited. "I stand by that. I want to honor them by burying them."
"With what? You got a shovel on hand? Or are you gonna go loot a nearby shed in your neighbor's backyard?" the soldier rhetorically questioned. "Listen bud, there's no goddamn time. I'm terribly sorry about your parents - I truly am. If it's somehow any consolation, my parents live a few counties down the line. I've got no idea how they're doing. I tried calling - but nothing. There's no guessing whether my parents are alive or not. I wish I could be home right now, protecting them. I could protect them. I'm a soldier for Christ's sake, so-"
"I'm a soldier too." Douglas interrupted.
"..what?" Sampson questioned. "All soldiers active here were called out to protect civilians. So what the hell are you doing here, soldier?"
"Corporal, you watch your tone." Douglas growled. "While you and your boys were sitting on their asses before this day, I was out there. I was overseas risking my ass until a few days ago when I came home for my sister's birthday. I've been through worse shit."
Sampson scoffed. "Worse shit, have you? And if you're such a super soldier, you'd think you wouldn't have complained like a girl about the little smack in the nose, huh?"
"Quit with the belittlement, fucker." Douglas groaned.
"Whatever." Sampson scoffed. "But hey, you should be out there. You should be out there helping people to safety."
"That's what I'm doing here." Douglas claimed.
"No, that's wrong. You're here on your own accord." Sampson argued.
"I'm here protecting my family. Or hell, I'm trying. I did try. I failed in an aspect, you see? My parents are dead. Everything that transpired today is just a big fucking mess. Life is now a mess, and so, I don't know why you're even here. You said you could be protecting your parents. There's no shame in leaving here to protect your parents or loved ones. There's absolutely no shame."
Sampson nodded in agreement until Douglas mentioned shame. "The only shame I'd have is ditching everybody who needs me. Doug – I think that's your name – I believe in what we were taught by our Lieutenant. Maybe you know him. Lieutenant Velmer?"
Douglas nodded. "Yeah. He pulled strings to get me here this early in March."
"Glory." Sampson shrugged. "But see here, he taught us to serve others before we serve ourselves. Maybe it wouldn't be considered greedy to head home to my parents. I totally would had I not been here today on duty. Go figure." he sighed. "But listen to me, bud; there is shame in dropping everything just for myself. You know what being a soldier is about. Serving and protecting the peace of this country. This morning, our country is under grave danger. As a soldier in the army, I must put others before myself. I'm putting others before myself all day. And there's no shame in that either."
Douglas stood there, digesting all that Sampson said. "All I'm saying is that there's no wrong in taking care of your loved-"
Suddenly, a loud noise cracked into the air. It was a gunshot. Sampson immediately turned away from Douglas and stepped outside. Douglas turned to James; "Don't let my sister into the kitchen." he ordered. James nodded, and Douglas ran outside after Sampson.
More gunshots went off as Douglas made it outside. He looked at the source of the noise, and saw one of the soldiers firing at lurkers. In front of the soldier, lied two dead lurkers already. A few more were headed his way. The soldier across the yard took aim, but was interrupted by Sampson; "Stop! McAndrew, hold your fire! You keep on point over there!"
Sampson ran to the other soldier's side. He was spritzing a barrage of bullets at the two remaining lurkers. One of them recoiled after being shot in the torso, but kept walking forward again. "Gallagher!" Sampson shouted and pushed the soldier aside. "Stop your goddamn spraying! You aim for the head, private! We went over this plenty times!"
"Sir, this is just.. so fucked up, man. I can't keep calm at a sight like this!" the private stammered and quickly took aim at the lurkers again. He began firing into the crowd, hitting one only once in the arm after firing his last few bullets. "They should fucking drop already!" he exclaimed and began to reach into his utility belt for a fresh magazine.
Sampson pushed the private back, causing him to fall into the grass. "Boy, I told you to stop spraying. You hear me?" he questioned coldly and loudly.
"Y-yes sir. I-I understand!" the private stuttered more so.
"Alright, you better." the corporal bitterly added. Suddenly, he felt a tug at his shoulder. He whipped around and struck the zombie with his assault rifle. The zombie was pushed back a few steps before it regained its balance. Its bloody teeth were easily clear. It looked as if it were recently feasting on something - with the flesh suspended from its fangs as a testament. "Down, boy!" Sampson boomed as he aimed his rifle at next zombie's head. He gave the trigger a quick tug for a second, only allowing a single bullet to escape the weapon. It impacted the zombie - punctured it directly through its eye - and exited out of the back of its skull. The zombie immediately dropped back, into the green, and thus continued to dye it red with blood.
"Oh glory, I didn't forget about you either." Sampson said aloud as he aimed his military rifle at the other zombie. The zombie, much like the other fallen one had, growled and eagerly showed its fangs. As it reached out at the corporal, he shot it in the face - more specifically, through its mouth. Its teeth shattered as they clashed with the blood. It toppled over onto the ground. However, it was still living. Its growls were faint, but it was certainly still aggressive as ever. Sampson knelt down around a meter from the lurker.
"Get a load of this, Gallagher." the corporal called over. The private walked to his side. "This fucker is paralyzed. Must've hit somethin' important, huh?" The private showed a disgusted expression and took aim at the 'crippled' zombie. He fired a single bullet into its head, finishing it off. Sampson glanced up at the soldier and stood up next to him. "Shit. This really got you spooked bad, huh?" he assumed as he slung his rifle around his back.
"It looked like it was suffering." the private mumbled and turned away.
Sampson caught Douglas in the corner of his eye. He strolled over to him and began to speak to him. Krystal witnessed the events as they transpired from the window of her room. Her stomach dropped as she witnessed the soldiers kill off those few zombies. She still couldn't believe what the country had turned to in just a few short hours. Krystal looked to her digital alarm clock resting upon her desk, but realized the power was still out after noticing it was still blank. She wondered what time it was by now. It couldn't have been past noon, she assumed. But in those few short hours, so much had happened. Too much happened in those few short hours. Krystal's life was no longer like it was; nobody's life was the same again after those few short hours.
She watched through the window, Sampson patted Douglas' shoulder, and seemed to have prompted him to return inside of the house. Krystal turned away and looked to her bed. On it, sat a duffel bag that she had started to fill with clothes. She walked to her drawers and began stockpiling more clothes. He walked them over to the bag and placed them inside. She did so until the bag was finally full. She zipped it shut and hung the strap around her shoulder.
Krystal came down the stairs and met Douglas in the hallway. She took his duffel bag from around her shoulder and handed to him. "Thanks." he nodded as he grabbed it from her hand.
Krystal silently nodded back. She looked to the door which led into the kitchen. She saw that James was standing in front of it, glancing back at her. From what she could tell, it seemed as if he was standing in front of the door for a reason. The reason being the barring of entrance for herself. She looked to Douglas and sort of assumed that he told James to ensure she didn't make it into the kitchen - the spot her parents presumably lied dead. She bobbed her head down towards the floor, and brushed past Douglas into the living room.
Douglas frowned as he looked in and saw her curled up on the couch. Sampson strolled next to him and peered into the living room through the archway. "She's.. she's taking it hard." he mentioned.
Douglas glanced at Sampson for a second, before looking back toward his sister. "Hell, wouldn't you?" he questioned quietly.
Sampson nodded. "Well, look; we gotta roll out of here real soon. And by real soon, I mean in two minutes. So get her ready, talk to her. You know?"
"I know." he answered. "She's not going to be ready in two minutes, though."
"Bud.." Sampson began. He shook his head.
"Talking to her is gonna take longer than two minutes." Douglas pointed out.
"Bud, I'm real sorry about this. I really am. But we're running out of time. We can't afford to stay here. It is necessary we move on, especially because we have no choice but to remain on foot. I have to bring you folks out of the deadzone here. My squad and I have other parts of the neighborhood to hit up after we bring you folks to safety. We're on a tight schedule as is, bud. We need to go. Two minutes is the time you have left here."
Douglas sighed. "Jesus Christ.."
"Two minutes, alright?" Sampson reminded as he tapped onto Douglas' shoulder with his hand. He looked into the living room where Krystal lied. "Go talk to her." he prompted.
Douglas immediately walked past the soldier and into the living room. He stood there in front of the couch that Krystal was curled up on. "Krystal."
She did not really react, leading Douglas call louder; "Krystal!"
"What?" she questioned harshly.
"Please get up, Krystal." her brother requested.
"No." she answered.
Douglas knelt down in front of the couch. "Please.. just look at me, sis. Krystal.."
"Mom and Dad are dead." she muttered.
Douglas sighed and stood up tall and looked around the room, unsure of how to respond to his sister. Finally, he crossed his arms and nodded to himself. "Yeah.. they are." he said gloomily.
"You.. you killed them." Krystal furthered.
"They were already dead." he shot back instantly.
"Tell me what happened, Doug." she ordered, still in a dark voice.
"Well, you can start off by looking at me." Douglas suggested.
She slightly peeked up at him. He shook his head. "I meant sit up, face me."
"Doug.." she began to groan.
"Come on, Krystal." he complained. "Look at me."
She sighed deeply and slowly leaned up. Her eyes met with Douglas' eyes as she sat forward. "Here I am." she muttered.
"Krys, we have two minutes to get up and go." Douglas revealed.
"Wh-what? What do you mean two minutes?" she immediately questioned.
"That soldier says we have to leave in two minutes. Hell, one minute by now. He'll take us somewhere safe."
"Wait." she prompted. "What about mom and dad?"
Douglas sighed and and stood and turned away after a few steps. Softly, he muttered; "What about them..?"
"Their bodies are in the kitchen, aren't they?" she inquired. She sat there for a few seconds and received no response from Douglas. "We can't leave. We can't leave their bodies there."
"Krystal.. I wish we could do something about it, but we can't."
"Are you okay with this?" she shot back before she stood up from the couch. "I'm not even relatively close to being okay with this.
He turned to face Krystal. "Did you just ask me if I'm okay with that?" Douglas questioned harshly. "You should know damn well I'm not okay with it! Do you think I'm content with leaving our parents to fucking rot in this house? If it were my choice, I would have buried them by now! Don't even start with me, Krystal! You have no fucking clue what happened this morning! So fine, you want to know what happened? I put them down, Krystal!" he shouted and took a few breaths. "I had no choice, Krystal. I'm not proud of what happened here today."
Krystal's frown deepened. "Doug, I'm sorry."
"I want to bury them. I really do.. but we can't. We don't have enough time." he whined before pulling his sister into a hug. "I'm sorry, Krystal."
Krystal sighed quietly and wrapped her arms around her brother. "I just can't believe they're gone."
"Me neither, sis." Douglas added as he put his head down on the top of her own. He felt tears being readily produced.
Sampson walked into the doorway of the living room. He stood there silently as he watched the brother and sister hug each other tightly. He sighed and glanced at James. "You ready roll outta here, kid?"
James nodded. "Yeah." he answered.
Sampson nodded back and looked back to Krystal and Douglas. "We're ready to roll out." he announced. The two looked over at him. "And hey - I truly do feel terrible about your folks. I'm really sorry for your losses. Just let my men and I do our part. We'll get you out of here safely. I can assure you of that."
"We're ready." Douglas stated.
"Alright.. let's go." Sampson prompted and turned out of the living room.
"Wait." Douglas suddenly prompted.
Sampson turned around and looked at him. "What?"
"I forgot something important. I'll be out in a sec. Real quick, alright?" he held his hand up as he began to slowly back away. "Alright?"
Sampson seemed to think about it for a second before nodding at Douglas. "Make it quick."
"Thank you." he said out of gratitude and began to quickly stroll back down the hallway.
"Come on, you two." the soldier ordered as he stepped out of the house. Both James and Krystal followed in the soldier's lead outside. "He's got about twenty seconds." he muttered as he began to slowly stroll away towards one of his men.
James glanced over at Krystal. Her was down and she was looking at the ground. Her hands were in the pockets of her jacket. Her stature was slumped. How she truly felt was more saddening than how she was to be seen now. James knew she was destroyed. His promises ended up being broken. He was wrong and now she was hurt. Hurt very terribly.
"I'm sorry." he apologized.
Krystal broke out of her trance and looked over at him. "What..?"
"I was wrong, Krystal." James inserted.
"What do you mean?"
"I told you that they would be alive. I was wrong, and so I'm sorry."
"You don't need to apologize. You did nothing wrong." Krystal insisted in a reassuring tone.
"No, I did wrong, because I was wrong. I said they would be okay."
"James!" she half-shouted, successfully pushing him off of his tangent. "Listen to me, James. You have nothing to apologize for. You did nothing wrong."
"Krystal, I-"
"What you did was get me home safely. If anything, I should be the one apologizing for being such a hassle."
James shook his head. "No, you weren't a hassle. Not at all."
Krystal shrugged and looked down at the ground for a second before returning her eyes to his. "It means a lot to me that you helped me get here. It really does mean a lot to me. And my brother. You reunited me with my brother. I know I already miss my parents a hell of a lot, and that won't change, but I still have Douglas. And thanks to you, I'm with my brother again. So.. so thank you."
"Krystal-"
James was about to speak when the door was heard opening behind them. The two teens twisted around to see Douglas standing there. He took a few steps towards them. "What'd you get?" Krystal questioned.
"Don't worry about it." he dismissed. "But yeah, I think we're ready."
"Fire." Sampson suddenly spoke aloud.
Douglas turned towards the soldier. He looked from where he was looking - at one of his soldiers. In front of the soldier was another zombie. It seemed as if they kept coming. As if they knew they were there. As if the zombies were tracking them and their every single movement.
"Don't shoot!" James suddenly shouted at the soldier. "You're gonna-"
"Have you lost your mind?" Sampson yelled over at James. He glanced back at the soldier. "Gallagher, shoot that rotten piece of shit!"
James hurried his pace a bit towards them. He was about to protest, when the noise boomed throughout the air. The lurker that had been inching towards the soldier had now dropped to the ground without any further movements. "What the hell is the matter with you guys?" James questioned aloud.
Sampson eyed James and shook his head. "Kid, what on earth are you talking about? Why wouldn't we shoot these monsters?"
"Don't you realize they're attracted by sound?" James questioned.
"Sound?" Sampson questioned back.
"The more you shoot off your guns, the more that'll come. They can hear it. They do hear it and they come towards the source." he informed the soldiers. "Why else do you think we have these?" he rose the rod up for a second before slowly lowering it.
Sampson did not respond at first, unlike any other time he was spoken to. "Hell, I didn't know that. They're attracted to sound? Really?" he questioned.
James nodded. Douglas sighed and crossed his arms. "Sons of bitches can hear us, huh? So what? Let 'em come. We've got the firepower to take them out."
Sampson shook his head at Douglas. "No – that won't be necessary. No point in wasting ammunition if we don't have to. But it looks like.. other methods of incapacitating these grody beasts will have to do." he explained and look over to the soldier that was still scouting from the other side of the lawn. "McAndrew, get your ass over here!" Sampson commanded. The soldier quickly turned and jogged over to the rest of them. Sampson momentarily patted the soldier's back as he arrived. "Alright, you two.." he began as he looked back and forth to his two privates.
"These dead fuckers," he started back up as pointed out one of the corpses that was shot down. "they're being attracted here by sound." he stated. "Your guns are pretty frickin' loud, so you two are gonna hold off on shooting, unless you're in an emergency situation. That's means you either whack those shit-smelling pricks over the head with any blunt objects - such as your rifles - or you're gonna take out your knives and insert it into their damn foreheads. Puncture their skulls and stab their brains. Either way should do it. Any questions, boys?"
"Well, what would you classify as an emergency situation?" the one private, McAndrew, questioned.
"If you find yourself surrounded by a crowd, I would implore you to shoot them dead. Look, just do whatever you can to make sure they don't drag you down." Sampson answered.
McAndrew nodded, leading Sampson to look at his other private, Gallagher. The soldier shook his head. "I got it, corporal."
Sampson smiled and patted the two on their backs simultaneously. "Excellent." he complimented. He looked up to Douglas and the two teens. "Are we finally ready to get moving?" he asked rather anxiously.
Douglas nodded. "On your lead."
Sampson continued to grin. "Fantastic." he chimed. He turned to his two privates again. "Alright, let's evacuate these survivors out of the deadzone. McAndrew, you're on point." he ordered. McAndrew proceeded to begin walking down the sidewalk. As Sampson followed, he turned towards the others; "Follow up behind us, Gallagher." The private nodded and beckoned the 'survivors' to proceed.
Douglas glanced at him and turned in pursuit, following by Krystal and James. The soldier walked behind them, looking around for any potential trouble.
Sampson gripped his weapon in his right hand as he followed his soldier's lead. He turned to his left to see that Douglas was aside of himself. "So, you said that Lieutenant Velmer, uh, pulled some strings to get you home, huh?"
Douglas nodded as they proceeded to walk down the street. "Yes. He somehow managed after he was pestered enough by.. well, my parents.." his voice trailed off.
"Hmm.. right." Sampson muttered, easily recalling that Douglas had mentioned that his parents were dead. "You really think you're better off here in this hellhole of a country?"
"Can't say for certain." Douglas shrugged. "But I can say I'm content with being here. I'm pleased I can be here to protect my sister." he added as glanced at Krystal. Her head was down as their group continued onward. He sighed and looked back to Sampson. "I think it was fate that pulled me here. Not just human resource. Not just Velmer." Douglas explained. "It had to be fate."
Sampson chuckled lightly. "Bud, I can tell ya that ol' Velmer would disagree with you on that one."
"Let him." Douglas dismissed. "I'm sticking by my theory."
"Stubborn, are we?" Sampson questioned jokingly.
"How often do you see cases where a guy is allowed to come home for something that isn't the holidays of December?" Douglas asked.
Sampson shrugged. "Not often, bud."
"Exactly." Douglas announced. "Fate at work."
"Glory. Whatever you say." Sampson shook his head, grinning still but minimally. "So, what'd you say brought you back again? Your sister's birthday, right?"
"That's right." Douglas answered. "It was quite the surprise." he added, thinking back to how it happened only two days ago. How he came back happily to his family. How his sister smiled upon seeing him for the first time in several months. How it was just yesterday that he walked back into church. How pleased the friends of the family were to see him return. How everything was supposed to turn out well for his family.
"But now shit has truly hit the fan." Sampson added.
"Yeah, and we've still got people out there." James suddenly spoke. Krystal's face lit up. She had practically forgotten about her friends. Her mind was occupied by the burden of the death of her parents. She wondered how they were doing - and whether or not their families were still alive.
"People, huh?" Sampson looked back at James with a rather inquisitive expression. "Who?"
"Our friends. We all split up so we would cover more ground quicker." James answered. "They're still out there."
"Well, we've checked several places already. Plus, we're not the only squad out here gathering you folks up. There's a few other squads out there too." Sampson stated. "But if you're saying you've got a number of friends out there yet, I'll personally go out there and search for them."
"Well, we planned to meet back up at our transportation." James replied. "But we weren't aware that the military was out here, getting people to safety."
"I reckon I'd be correct by saying that the military should be hitting up every neighborhood in the next few days." Sampson claimed. "I think we can handle it. So where did you and your friends plan on meeting up? My boys and I can head that way after we drop the rest of you off."
"Our means of transportation was a bus." James replied. "It's about.. well, over ten blocks down that way." he prompted as he pointed to his general right direction.
"Wait, really? A bus? Where did you kids get a hold of a bus?" Sampson questioned, a bit psyched.
"Word hit while we were at school. We took one of the school buses." James explained.
"Shit, kid. You scored then." Sampson chuckled lightly. "Hell, you drive it yourself too?"
James shook his head. "Well, sort of."
Sampson shrugged and gave a refreshing sigh. "Well, you kids are definitely resourceful. No doubt about that."
James thought back to the conflicts that occurred on the bus. There was no way James could consider himself resourceful. He came under a high quantity of pressure, and cracked very easily. He knocked Mr. Vagadir unconscious due to his rage that he held in. His intensity towards Bryan, which lead himself to getting punched out in the first place. If it weren't for James' anger, he thought things could have been handled differently. Maybe so many people wouldn't have left if Vagadir hadn't been hit. Maybe they could have settled it differently and peaceably. James wished he could go back and put a cap on his temper – to stop all the violence from occurring. The violence he lead to. The violence he caused. The violence he was responsible for.
"Resourceful?" James finally questioned in disbelief. "Not by a long sh-"
"Heads up!" one of the soldiers, McAndrew, shouted. He pointed out a small crowd of zombies. They were headed in their general direction.
"Ready yourselves, boys." Sampson ordered as he quickened his pace and stopped next to McAndrew. He turned back towards the rest of the group. "Gallagher, keep us covered." he commanded. The soldier nodded. Sampson turned back toward the small crowd again. There were only three of them. Each sporting the discoloration of skin. Each sporting blood, whether it was painted on their clothes or dying their fangs. Each of them reaching towards the corporal. Each of them hungry for more flesh.
Sampson quickly pulled his assault rifle and its strap from around his body. He glanced over at McAndrew. "Kill 'em after I get their attention, alright? You see a chance, you make it. Make it happen, private." he briskly ordered and faced the small crowd of zombies. "Come on, scumbag!" he taunted. After their proximity increased between himself and the closest one, Sampson quickly launched the bottom of his boot into its stomach, pushing it back a few steps. He rapidly turned towards the next one that was closest and slapped it with the barrel of his assault rifle, thus spinning the zombie out of place. He spun his rifle around in this hands and struck down the same zombie with the butt of the gun. Before he could react, the zombie he had kicked back was already been grabbing for Sampson. "Th-that all you got, shitbird?" he grunted and shoved the zombie out of his face.
McAndrew quickly swept in from behind the zombie and dug his knife until the back of its skull. After pulling the knife out, leaving blood squirting out, it slowly turned to face the private. He stepped a bit, surprised that it still stood. "Christ." he muttered.
With his assault rifle, Sampson pushed back the third zombie as it reached towards him. Its grasp entangled his assault rifle, stopping him from pulling it back. "You fuck." he grumbled and pushed on the zombie as hard as he could manage, successfully knocking it into the grass. He unsheathed his military knife and slammed it in the zombie's forehead, ceasing its movement. He stood and attempted to wipe the blood from his uniform with his gloves, but it only resulted in more stains. Sampson spun around and gave his attention to the last two zombies.
The one zombie was finally managing to stand from the two whacks it received, while the other inched towards McAndrew. Sampson let out a quick and loud whistle, obtaining the attention of the both zombies. They were both now standing, and began to lurk towards Sampson nodded at McAndrew. "Take it out." he ordered.
McAndrew scurried behind the zombie once again, noting the dark black blood leaking from its cranium, leaving the back of its ripped shirt bloody. He grabbed on the zombie's shoulder and yanked it downwards onto the ground. As it spun onto the green and attempted to steady itself again, McAndrew launched his knife deep into its temple. Its sporadic movements finally ceased.
The last zombie was creeping towards Sampson. He backed from it and nodded slightly, accepting the challenge it posed. "You ain't shit." he muttered. "Less than shit." He once again gave the zombie a good shove with the flat heel of his boot. "Call the dog, will ya?" he shouted to McAndrew.
"Hey!" McAndrew shouted at it. "Right here!"
The zombie dumbly turned towards McAndrew and let out a low growl. Its attention was now totally encompassed by the private. He jogged up behind the zombie and briskly jabbed it in the crown of its skull with the knife several times. The zombie lifelessly collapsed into the grass as blood fled from its head.
The group stared at the three corpses that now surrounded them. "Christ." Sampson began to pant. "That didn't feel too good."
"It sure as hell isn't supposed to." Douglas stated.
"My heart is beating like.. like a drum or somethin'. Holy Christ." Sampson exclaimed as he tried to calm his quivering breaths. "This just ain't right." Sampson said aloud. He looked to the knife he held. It was coated in blood. His gloves and sleeves were also splattered in the crimson dye. "Christ, it's all over me, ain't it?" he muttered to himself. He reached into his back pocket with his left hand and pulled out a navy blue handkerchief. It sported an ornate pattern dotted in white as the border. Several other dots of whites were spaced across the soft cloth. Across its surface, were several small tears, seemingly from aging and use.
Sampson looked back at his combat knife and noted again how it seemed to be entirely painted by blood. He stroked the bloody blade with the handkerchief, making sure to carefully do so to not result in slicing the cloth. He flipped the knife in his hand and began to swab the blood from it. After leaving the knife without a trace of blood, he placed it back into its holster along his hip. As Sampson eyed up his handkerchief, he froze in place.
The handkerchief was drenched in blood. It was seeping into the rips and into the cloth itself. It was soaked and was dripping with blood. The droplets fell to the lake of red that waited below, tucked away into the grass. Sampson's mouth was gaped open. He seemed distraught by the sight of the handkerchief. The remnants of its original blue color were hardly present. Its new base color was red.
"Jesus Christ.." Sampson gasped as he stared down at the handkerchief. His hands were trembling as he had it in his grasp.
"What?" Douglas questioned as he confusedly observed the corporal's reaction to the bloodied cloth.
"I just mindlessly wiped.. the blood of the dead.. onto my pappy's handkerchief. Without baring a thought to it. It just.. just happened." Sampson explained as he frowned. "Dowsed in this blood."
"Rinse it in some water.. Jesus Christ, it's not a big deal." Douglas dismissed.
Sampson glanced at Douglas. "There's no way in hell any amount of water is going to remove all this blood."
"Get over it, man. I'm terribly sorry about your handkerchief being covered in blood, but there are bigger issues to worry about. Alright?" Douglas barked.
"Eh, I'm sorry." Sampson quickly apologized. "It means a lot to me, this old thing." he stated as he looked back down at the bloodied handkerchief. He glanced back up at Douglas. "It's basically an heirloom.. well, in its early stages anyway. I want to pass it down one day, y'know?" he explained before returning the handkerchief to his back pocket. He spotted his rifle and picked it up from the ground.
"Come on." he beckoned with his left hand as he clutched the pistol grip of the rifle. He turned away as the rest began to follow in his lead.
Douglas made his way up next to the soldier. "I should add I'm pleased that your mind does track to your family."
"At the moment, I'd rather it didn't." Sampson admitted. "I've got a task to complete, right now in the present."
"It's natural it would be on your mind." Douglas stated.
"Right, I know." Sampson accepted. "Like I said, I'd rather not think about it."
"It's hard not to." Douglas added.
Sampson sighed as continued to lead the pack forward. He glanced over at Douglas before he looked forward again. "Enough."
Douglas shrugged. "Sorry I basically classified that handkerchief as unimportant. I didn't know what value it held to you."
"It's fine. After all, it's just a handkerchief." Sampson downsized.
"An heirloom." Douglas nodded. "It's important to hang on to important things. Even if just by memory."
"That's right." Sampson nodded back. He looked to James. "Such as the hope that your friends are still alive. Cause we'll find them."
James simply shrugged slightly. "They.. I hope so." he muttered, not wanting to make any more promises.
"Hey, there's no harm in being hopeful." Sampson mentioned.
"There's harm in making empty promises." James responded with almost no delay.
Krystal sighed as she was walking next to James. "It's hard to even be hopeful right now, all things considered." she groaned.
"No matter what life tosses your way, you just need to think past it." Sampson claimed. "Look, I know it's hard. It really is, especially now. The matter of the fact is, we have to keep our minds thinking about the good that can come out of life - no matter what hell life becomes. The fact that life can still be played out positively gives me enough reason to remain in its wake. I have hope that we can help you towards the Quarantine Zone. It's the least I can do. The least we can do."
"It means a lot more than you'd believe then." James stated. Krystal nodded slightly in agreement.
"Glad to know." Sampson replied. "Now, you were saying you kids came in on a school bus?" he questioned, eyeing James.
James nodded. "Yeah. It's across a few streets from here, probably."
"Like I said, we're not the only squad out here. There's at least a few more out of our guys out there, so don't worry. We'll find them. You'll all be safe and sound." Sampson attempted to assure.
"I hope so.." Krystal sighed.
"Just need to stay hopeful." Sampson repeated. "It's a hell of a truthful lesson I learnt. Keep your faith in what's right to you."
Douglas shook his head at Sampson. "Now, I didn't realize you were a preacher, corporal."
"No, no, I wouldn't call myself a preacher at all. It's fine and dandy that folks have their beliefs of whatever. No, everything I said comes as common sense to me. The military didn't just offer a job. You should know that, you're a soldier too." Sampson insisted.
"Of course. Values to go around." Douglas agreed.
"Important lessons for life. I knew that from since I began my training." Sampson stated. "Bud, it taught us a lot."
Douglas nodded. "Absolutely."
"And part of the deal there was self-evaluation." Sampson stated. "Realizing how much of a difference I really do make in the world. Looking down on the world using a grand scale, maybe you'd notice hardly any difference in my presence – or the presence of any certain person. We all make a hell of a difference. It all comes down to what we do for our fellow humans – whether they be soldiers, civilians, or maybe even otherwise. Velmer told us to never undersell ourselves. He told us that underselling ourselves equated to undermining ourselves. If you won't defend yourself, who will? If you refuse to value yourself as at least somewhat valuable, why should anyone else? I don't call it arrogance at all – I personally don't think of myself as some deity or even close to that. But I know my strengths and I know my place. I know my value. I'm an asset."
"Might that make us here liabilities?" Douglas questioned, staring at the corporal.
"Of course not." Sampson denied. "No doubt you can make a difference in this disaster too."
"Not all of us. There's doubt I'm anything but a liability." Krystal muttered.
Sampson frowned. "Don't count yourself out. Plus, having experience in the military or other things doesn't really add value to the person. That value comes from who the person is." he mentioned. He halted and gazed up the street, where he spotted a few zombies. "Ironic I say that only a few moments ago. Those things there – those monsters – there can't be much said about it. They aren't themselves anymore. They aren't people anymore."
"They're already dead. Like souls entrapped on this planet, stopped from accessing heaven. That's what honestly bothers me." Douglas claimed. "In essence, this place is Limbo for them. Their souls haven't moved on, thanks to the corruption or illness or whatever the hell it is. This is Limbo. Lord have mercy."
"I don't discourage you to hold onto that faith, but I have to comment it's a tad late for the having of mercy." Sampson commented.
Douglas sighed and could not manage a response. "How close to this evac position are we?"
Sampson turned away and glanced down the street. He noted the intersection ahead down the road. "We're there the moment we turn right on the road here. Barely one-hundred feet away."
"Let's get there, then." Douglas prompted. "We've wasted enough time as is."
Sampson nodded in affirmation. He beckoned the group as he began to lead them once more. They began to make their steps towards the intersection. He gripped his rifle tightly, anticipating the sight of trouble ahead. As they headed forward, he couldn't help but note the amount of corpses. The neighborhood had been struck by a hurricane of chaos. He wondered how other places across the country were taking the disruption that surged life as a whole.
The group made their way to the intersection, where they were overheard by a few zombies. "Avoid them! We're practically here!" Sampson ordered. "Keep us covered back there, Gallagher! Come on!" he shouted as he began to lightly jog down the sidewalk, followed by the remainder of the group. Their pace was quickened as they followed Sampson's lead. After several meters of distance, Sampson halted in front of a large building – one that Krystal and Douglas recognized immediately.
The building was none other than the church that they had attended throughout their lives. Cemented stairs lead up a miniature hill to the actual church. Its exterior walls consisted of limestone sculpted into the shape of bricks. The double-doors that acted as the main entrance to the church were entirely daubed in red – but not of blood. A cross was carved into the upper part of each door. The front side of the church sported clean glass windows framed in ovals. Along the sides of the church, were windows of stained glass, which were glossed in several colors as they depicted an image of a gathering of people or a peaceful angel. Atop the church sat its steeple, which matched the white of the rest of the structure. Within the steeple, rested a large bell which was seemingly begging to be rung.
Sampson chuckled and held his arms out at the church. He turned and faced the rest of the group as he glanced around. "Think those creeps lost sight of us for the time-being. But hey, here we are."
"The church." Krystal gasped. "This is our church we attended."
"Maybe that means we'll know some of the people already here. Then we can get a better grasp of what's going on here." Douglas speculated.
"You two – keep watch." Sampson ordered his two privates. Sampson beckoned for Krystal, Douglas, and James to follow him. He walked up the short pair of stairs, followed by the others. He tapped on the pair of doors a few times and awaited a response. "Usually takes a while for them to answer." he muttered.
"I can't believe that this is the place. Our church." Krystal repeated. "I really hope the people we know from here are actually here and in one piece."
"Clearly, we've still got some ways to go, to find everyone else that remains." Sampson added.
Finally, the right door opened. A dark skinned soldier, wearing practically the same attire as Sampson, stood there holding it open. "You're back. Osman will be glad to hear that."
"Thanks for keeping the time by getting the door, Wade." Sampson dryly commented.
The soldier shook his head. "He won't be happy to hear about your never-changing attitude problem. Come on, we've still got work to do here today."
"As if I don't know that." Sampson muttered. He pushed the left open and held it there before beckoning them to enter.
"Alright folks, come on in. Make yourselves at home."
~z~