Uh, yeah. Long time no see eh? Sorry if this is kinda crappy but I haven't slept, its currently 6:49 in the morning, and I haven't touched this story in God knows how long.
Chapter 11- Discord; The Living Tombstone's Remix
'I'm not a fan of puppeteers, but I've a nagging fear someone else is pulling all the strings. Something terrible is going down, through the entire town, wreaking anarchy and all it brings. I can't sit idly, no, I can't move at all. I curse the name, the one behind it all.'
"It is wisdom to recognize necessity when all other courses have been weighed, though as folly it may appear to those who cling to false hope."- J.R.R. Tokien
Philo had never truly been one to hold a personal grudge. But between Joshua's mysterious disappearance, not yet ruled a murder through loud protests by much of the group, the approaching Infected army, and the constant state of depression most of his remaining friends were in, he was bound and determined to hold a grudge against someone. Anyone. Because there had to be someone to blame for the sorry state they were in. It didn't help that Alec had taken to disappearing for hours on end and when he did return, he was shaken, ruffled, and visibly disturbed. The Smoker could see that he was slowly but surely loosing his mind, all the various forms of stress they were under plus his own personal emotional climate were slowly killing him. Though the Hunter was too proud to admit it, he needed to either leave the city, or get some help. But every time the subject was breached the past couple days since he had woken from his near comatose state, he would react with almost violence, snarling and hissing insults in Infected and human tongues before stalking off. It worried Philo greatly to see someone he considered a brother being torn apart by his own mind but there was nothing he could do if the Hunter wouldn't accept his help.
So he threw himself into gathering information on the Infected army while also trying to find out what really happened to Joshua. So far he had come up with nothing conclusive except the shell of a military-grade weapon. Alec was determined to blame the human army for it, his rage almost pushing him into raiding one of their camps alone in search of his brother. Ellis managed to hold him back with some calming words and a rather strong hold around his middle. As far as the Infected went, they were drawing closer at an alarming rate. During one of Alec's disappearing acts, Philo sat down with Ellis and Wolfen and proposed seeking out the human army for protection. They agreed that it was probably the most wise decision to make, but they knew that, in Alec's current state of mind with all his suspicion and rage directed at any humans outside his group, they decided it wasn't the best idea at the moment. When the Hunter returned, they acted as though they hadn't discussed anything of importance and carried on as usual.
Three days after Alec's awakening, Philo was perched on a rooftop on the edge of the city, a pair of rusty binoculars in his hand. It was still dark out, the moon barely visible on the horizon, but he could still see perfectly. The Infected army spanned the horizon, their camp fires dots of light in the distance. They were close enough to make him very nervous, but not close enough to cause true worry. Of the army itself anyway. He had caught several scouts trying to sneak into the city, either letting them pass and following them from a safe distance to find their destination, or dispatching them as soon as he saw them. Several, he noticed, had explosives on them. With little thought to it, he drew the easy conclusion that they were either going to bomb buildings that would be tactical places for the humans to use, or the camps themselves. Needless to say, he managed to inadvertently save many lives because of his actions. It made him feel sort of warm and fuzzy inside in a weird sort of way.
Sighing, he lowered the binoculars, hooking them onto his belt and standing with a stretch. He had been in the same place for upwards to three hours now and the chill that remained the hair made him rather stiff. He gradually made his way down the stairs to the bottom floor of the building, peeking into various rooms for anything that may or may not be useful to place in his small pack and bring back to the house. There wasn't much. Anything that remained was either too large to carry, had been partially raided, or was broken beyond reasonable repair. More than once he wished that one of his two missing team mates was there with him, missing their company and the banter he always managed to get in with them. Shaking the thoughts away, he crept across the street, always always listening for any sounds that were out of place in the otherwise very silent suburb. Gradually he skulked his way closer to the house, which was more or less centrally located, picking up bits and pieces of useful scrap, abandoned cans of food, and filled and unopened bottles of water and other drinks, his thoughts wandering as he went.
The sound of tramping feet alerted him to an army patrol, forcing him to duck into an open shop, hiding behind the boarded up door to listen as they paused to investigate the area. "Are you sure that new consultant of the Commander's is competent?" one of the soldiers asked in a low voice, sounding nervous.
"Hey, they supposedly out did that previous dick of a consultant, Howard." a second voice snapped back, a bit further away. Philo narrowed his eye, deciding that he should file this information away for later.
"I don't know Hale. We're too close to the edge of the city for my liking with how close those freaks are getting." a third voice sighed. "What about you Provost, you're being awful quiet."
"I don't like it either, but this plan of the Commander's and his new 'best bud,'" the words were biting and sarcastic, "seems legit. I'm worried about the lack of communication. With no way to get the power plant back up, we have no radio contact."
"Yeah," the initial soldier breathed, seeming even more nervous. "and sending a runner would take too long if we got into a pinch. We'd all be dead by the time they got help." Philo stiffened when his voice drew too close for comfort to the shop he was hiding in, feeling the urge to cough clawing its way up his throat. Cursing himself and his breed, he smothered it with hardly more than a very muffled wheeze. The soldiers heard it anyway because there was sudden eerie silence and then the sound of weapons clicking. Swallowing thickly, Philo moved slowly and deliberately, his single hand in the air in a show of surrender and his long tongue retracted into his throat. He stepped carefully into view of the soldiers, taking stock of his surroundings. "Who and what are you?" the nervous soldier demanded, his machine gun pointed right at Philo's forehead.
"Not a threat to you so long as you're not a threat to me." he replied, his voice scratchy and tired. "Can we just talk? I'd rather not explain to my pals why I'm Swiss cheese." he put on his best placating grin, aware that its affect was diminished greatly by his scarred face. He hoped anyway that they would at least lower their weapons.
"You're Infected." one of the other ones stated. Philo resisted the urge to make a sarcastic remark at it and nodded calmly. "You with the army?"
Philo shook his head, lowering his arm slowly. "No. In fact we were planning on avoiding the fight if at all possible. I'm afraid their leader sort of wants my Hunter pal as his second in command, for the power and his brains and all." he shrugged a lopsided shrug. "But I think y'all have a couple of our buddies amongst your ranks."
A third soldier scowled and stepped forward, though the Smoker noticed that they seemed a bit more relaxed. "What would make you assume that?" he growled.
"Just a theory. One's female with short hair and a bit of an attitude problem and a chronic limp. The other's male with short black hair and perpetually timid. Probably injured. Ring any bells?" at their blank looks, Philo sighed. So either they're laying low or these morons don't know their face from their ass. He groaned to himself, resisting the urge to slap his own forehead. "Never mind. Doesn't really matter." he paused, deciding to go ahead and go against his better judgment. And his gut. "Listen. There's four of us in my group. Two humans, myself and a Hunter. The Hunter is intelligent but there's a problem." when he noticed he had their attention, he plowed on. "He's been having some major issues with his Infected side. The combination of multiple head injuries and having never truly learned to control it are making him... unstable. He also blames y'all for the disappearance and possible death of his brother."
"What are you asking of us exactly?" the fourth soldier asked, his eyes narrowing.
"I'm asking..." and I can't believe I'm asking this as well. "I'm asking if it would be possible for us to seek shelter in the nearest major camp. We could help y'all out in the fight as well as scouting. We also have information on the army leader, Gregory." Bat shit insane son of a cheap whore that he is. "And they would never suspect a Hunter or Smoker to come into their camp seeking 'shelter' if in reality, they were scouting for you all." he could see the gears turning in their heads, feeling nervous but accomplished. With the state Alec was in, he was more or less the pseudo-leader of the rag tag group and had put himself in charge of information, scouting, and keeping the others somewhat stable. Ellis was a nervous wreck because of the war and Alec's behavior and Wolfen was still a pissed off recluse with an air of 'look at me crooked and I'll eat your left testicle' around him when he didn't want to be spoken to. They needed all the help they could get, no matter their personal feelings on the matter. Now wasn't the time to be picky.
"So what you're saying is... you want shelter for yourself, a pair of survivors, and an unstable Hunter in our major camp. And you're willing to offer espionage services in return?" the fourth soldier, who was obviously the most intelligent of the group now that Philo thought about it, drawled. He was silent for a while before he sighed, closing his eyes. "Come back here at noon with your buddies and we'll set you up with an escort."
"What!" soldier one squeaked.
"Provost you can't be serious!" soldier two snapped, scowling.
"Do you really think the Commander would agree to this?" soldier three demanded, scowling as well. Provost turned and leveled a glare at them, causing them to clam up rather quickly.
"Yes. Because you, Hale, are going to go back and convince him that this is in our best interest." he snapped, his voice cold and commanding. "Now." with a 'yes sir,' Hale scrambled away, disappearing down the street quickly. "You got a name Smoker?" Provost asked, turning back to Philo. Once he got introductions and general descriptions out of the way, the Smoker made his way quickly back to the house, praying that all of the other three were there. Pushing his way through the door, he dropped his bag by the stairs and did a quick sweep of the rooms. He yanked Wolfen out of his room and told him to wait upstairs before moving to Alec and Ellis' shared room. He woke them up quickly and lead them, the two bleary and muttering profanities behind him, upstairs.
"Philo, you had best have damn good reason for waking us up." Alec growled, letting out a toothy yawn.
"I think its a good reason."
"What is it exactly?" Ellis mumbled, rubbing his eyes. "Surely it coulda waited a couple more hours."
"No, 'cause we have 'till noon to decide on a course of action." the Smoker sighed, dreading the outcome of his next few words. "Look, I was out checking on the Infected army's position, way too close by the way, and I ran into a squad of human soldiers." the others stiffened noticeably at that, a low growl escaping Alec as his eyes clouded with anger. "Wait now Alec before you go on a war path. They didn't shoot at me, gave me a chance to state my case. And I kinda... asked if we could shelter ourselves in their base in return for our services as scouts." he winced at the heavy silence that followed, waiting for yelling and a possible brutal beating.
"You. What." Alec hissed, his chest cavity filling with air as he stood, trying to make himself larger and more threatening. "What the hell sort of wild hair do you have going on you idiot! What could possibly make you think this is a good idea?" he was practically screeching by the end of his statements. Ellis stood, laying a placating hand on the Hunter's arm. It didn't appear to have a noticeable effect but at least it kept Alec from lunging at the Smoker.
"Think about it stupid." Philo snapped back, looming over Alec with a hard look on his face. "Once Gregory gets here, who do you think he'll seek out? The army? Or more allies. And if he finds you, we're screwed, especially with the state you're in. The humans are the best chance we have for protection and maybe, maybe, of finding Josh. We'll have food, shelter, and allies, or meat shields depending on your view. I see no downside. And you'd best look past that blinding rage you've sunk yourself in and see sense or I'll beat it into your lousy ass." he hated yelling at friends, hated raising his voice in general, but Alec needed it bad.
"So what, you think we can just waltz into the base expecting to be handed laurels and goblets of wine? I think we'll get shot before we get to the gate!" Alec yelled back, now up in Philo's face.
"And I think you need to trust me for once since we've known each other! I've followed you and your ideas and plans this whole time and to what end? Our group is broken up. You're a psychotic wreck, Joshua is missing, Spirit is missing, Ellis is worried to the point of premature gray hair over you and this whole situation, Wolfen is a raging recluse, and I'm slowly killing myself trying to keep what's left of us together! Think idiot! What's more important, our safety, or our petty desires and wants?" he paused to take a breath, not missing the stunned looks the three had on him. "I know you don't want to seek help from the human military. But I also know you don't want to be turned into Gregory's personal lap dog. The humans are our best shot of staying alive. The group I met will wait where they are to set us up with an escort to the base. And I'm going, with or without all of you." by the time he fell silent, he was more or less whispering and had stepped back a few feet.
"Philo... don't say that. We can't separate any more than we already have." Ellis said, his eyes round and glistening. "I think... I agree with you. We should at least give the army a chance. Maybe Josh will be there." he turned to look at Alec and then at Wolfen. "What about you? You've been awful quiet."
Wolfen sighed, running a hand through his hair and shifting his weight. "I don't really see much of a downside. We'll have access to a constant supply of food and water, fresh weapons and plenty of ammunition, and enough allies to create a decent wall between us and the Infected."
They all looked at Alec, who was infuriated and lost at the same time. He swallowed thickly, seeming to realize how ridiculous he was being about the situation. Most of his anger faded from his crimson eyes and he let out a ragged sigh. "Alright fine. I'm outvoted, I know when to give in. We'll give them a chance." he glared at Philo. "But if there's even an inkling that they killed or hurt my brother or that they'll betray us to Gregory in the end, I'll personally kill every single one of them and leave the city to the Infected." with those last threatening, growled words, he grabbed Ellis' hand and dragged him back downstairs, muttering under his breath.
Yeah its short I know, but the next one will hopefully be a bit longer. I'll have it up as soon as I can. Hope y'all enjoyed and leave meh some reviews for my return! It provides me coffee to drink when I decide to be stupid and pull all nighters like this.
