Alan- auto shotgun
Doc- auto shotgun
Jamie- submachine gun
Zoey- dual pistols
--
The survivors had been cruising through the streets for almost ten minutes, finding no military vehicles, but plenty of zombies that were either ran over, door-checked, or just ignored. Alan leaned against his door, staring out into the dead city with a bored expression on his face. Doc looked ahead, choosing random streets to go down in hopes that they'd stumble upon something.
"Why the fuck is this city so fucking huge," Doc asked himself. "How many vehicles are we looking for again?"
"Williams said it was four squads right? So four squads equals four vehicles," Jamie replied. "We already found one, so we just need to find two more."
"Wrong again boss," Alan exclaimed, leaning forward. "We got something on the radar!" Everyone leaned forward, looking at a beeping dot on their radar. "Awe yeah baby! Half way there and we haven't even spent a day!"
"Where is that at," Doc questioned. Everyone looked to their right, which is where the dot was in accordance to their position on the radar.
"Evidently…somewhere in that parking garage…" The hummer slowed and all the survivors looked out the right side, seeing a multi-level parking garage. "Well, let's get going."
"You got it Jamie," Doc said as he pulled into the parking garage. "Odds are they probably headed for the top right, for better broadcasting signal and whatnot, so that's where we're going first." The hummer rolled through the empty parking garage before getting to the top. "Oh shit…"
"That's not at all fair," Jamie added. Ahead of them were dozens of parked cars, all with car alarms and in the center of the parking lot was the military vehicle turned on its side. "Alright, there's about eighty thousand car alarms between us and that jeep…tell me we've got melee weapons…" Maria started digging through the back, pulling out sections of the jeep that was designed for storage for anything that could be used as a blunt object. After a minute or two, Maria came back up and shook her head. "Fuck! We're so screwed…"
"Yo boss," Alan began, "I think I see some blunt objects we might be able to use." Jamie followed Alan's gaze and saw a crowbar, a two-by-four, and a random leather glove.
"That could work," Jamie replied. "Alan and Zoey come with me, Doc get the jeep moved so we can get the fuck out of here incase if one of those alarms goes off." Everyone shot a glare at Alan, who froze instantly.
"Dude, there are way too many cars for even me to want to fuck with…probably…" The three survivors got out and ran towards the makeshift melee weapons, Zoey being the only one with a fire arm; a pistol. Jamie picked up the crowbar and Alan picked up the two-by-four which had several nails and screws sticking out on one end. "Now this is some demented shit."
"I still don't get what's with the random glove," Jamie said, turning back to the black leather glove.
Zoey bent down and picked up the piece of leather, "Whoa, it's kind of heavy. Heavier than a glove should be." Jamie and Alan gave each other confused looks before turning back to Zoey. She put in on her left hand and balled up her fist a few times. "Holy shit, I think these are brass knuckles!"
"No fucking way," Jamie said with an astonished look on his face.
"Zoey I swear I will let you hold my RPG if you give me that glove," Alan quickly pleaded.
"Screw that, you have your demented piece of lumber. I'd much prefer brass." Alan grumbled in disappointment while Jamie and Zoey smirked and continued towards the jeep.
The survivors moved as quickly and cautiously as possible towards the jeep, keeping an eye out for any zombies that might pop out of nowhere. The survivors then made it to the jeep, still keeping an eye out. Jamie crawled up on the jeep while Zoey and Alan kept watch. Jamie reached for the door handle when suddenly a zombie's fist exploded through the window, throwing Jamie off the jeep and onto the ground. Zoey and Alan turned around as a zombie in a military uniform climbed out. Zoey took careful aim with her pistol then shot a bullet cleanly through the zombie's head. The infected gurgled then fell back into the jeep.
"You okay boss," Alan asked, turning his head slowly around the corner of the jeep.
"Peachy," Jamie lied in a groan. "Fucking zombies…" Jamie climbed back up on the jeep and opened the door, using his crowbar to keep the door open.
The survivor jumped down inside then began looking around. Aside from the now dead infected and broken glass, there wasn't much in the jeep. Jamie turned on his flashlight then began scanning inside of the jeep, not really finding much of anything. He moved to the back and looked around. Alan and Zoey were standing watch outside when suddenly, something landed between them: a red gallon of gas. The two survivors looked at each other before another gas tank landed between them, and another, and another, and one last tank of gas, making a small little pile.
"I take it he found gas," Zoey stated. Alan nodded in agreement.
Jamie continued looking around the jeep for anything important, opening the glove box, which contained nothing. The survivor then noticed a piece of paper under his foot then bent to pick it up. Jamie read then note then pocketed it before making his way out of the jeep. Alan carried three tanks of gas while Zoey carried the other two. Jamie groaned and cursed as he tried to get out of the jeep, a task that proved most difficult with the giant canister on his back.
"What the hell is that thing," Alan asked Jamie.
"Oh this? It's a larger canister of gas," Jamie answered. "Pretty sweet huh?" The survivor pulled his crowbar out from propping the door up, causing it to slam rather loudly. The thunderous slam set of a car alarm, which caused a chain reaction of the other car alarms, creating a deafening song of car alarms. "BULL SHIT!!"
"FUCK IT ALL," Alan shouted.
"SHIT, SHIT, SHIT!"
The survivors then hauled ass towards the hummer, which was ready to go. Maria opened the back doors while Doc opened the passenger door. The survivors heard the cry of hundreds of zombies at once, causing them to run faster and faster. Zoey was the first one in the back, scooting Maria over to the other door. Alan got in the front passenger's door at the same time Jamie got in the back next to Zoey. The doors closed and Doc floored the gas down the ramp, heading down the parking complex. The horde of hundreds of zombies met the survivors on the second level, blocking their only exit. Doc quickly turned the hummer, throwing everyone inside the vehicle to the side.
"Buckle your seatbelts or die," the blonde doctor shouted.
Everyone quickly strapped themselves in, not knowing what to expect. The hummer flew forward, smashing through the small wall of concrete and flying off of the second floor. Everyone inside, except Doc, began screaming at the top of their lungs in fear as the hummer flew towards the ground. The large vehicle landed on its front two wheels, followed shortly by its rear wheels, causing it to shake violently and nearly threw the survivors around like ragdolls. Doc turned sharply, then went down the street as quickly as possible. The rest of the survivors were shocked, disoriented, and shaking with fear.
"Ho…ly…shit Doc…" Alan slowly uttered, turning his head towards the driver, who remained unchanged by his stunt. "Can we pull over? I've got to change my pants…"
"Ditto," Zoey said, trying to stop her shaking.
The survivors pulled over once they were safe, but not to change pants. They put the gas they acquired in the bottom flooring in the back, and Jamie put his crowbar in one of the side compartments for later usage.
"So was there only gas in the jeep," Alan asked before closing the back door.
"Nope, there was a note." Jamie pulled the wrinkled piece of paper out with some writing. "It said they took their radio to one of their safe houses nearby because evidently one of their guys was infected and they didn't want to hold out incase if one of those car alarms went off."
"Makes sense," Alan agreed. "Except how do they know about safe houses?"
"The safe houses were set up by CEDA and the military," Zoey replied. "They put guns, medical supplies, and ammunition in the safe houses so any survivors could be better equipped to survive."
"So…the military set up a safe house in that strip joint we went to a few days ago?" Jamie and Zoey shook their heads before moving back to the hummer.
"So we don't know where this safe house is though," Doc said, after Jamie told him what the note said.
"Well odds are they didn't get too far," Jamie replied. "So all we have to do is search the surrounding area to find any survivors, or their radio."
"Why do we need the radio whenever we're kicking gas in the ass," Alan asked.
"Better to have both options, just in case. Plus we're looking for any other clues to find Zoey's friends. So we could potentially find survivors and a radio, it's a win-win."
"Only if there are survivors and a radio," Alan muttered back. "Why do we need ALL of these radios anyway?"
"I asked one of the soldiers awhile back," Doc replied. "He said each radio separately is only short range, but with all of them together and a lot of wiring it can be long ranged if you're high up enough with little to no signal interference." Alan opened his mouth to speak; "He said the army uses those radios to place at evac points all around for the short range. The long range can only be achieved with creative rewiring."
"Can we do that creative rewiring," Alan questioned.
"Nope," Doc answered matter-of-factly.
"If anything we can use the radio we have to find the other one right?"
"Worth a shot," Jamie agreed, pulling the radio up from the flooring. "Good thinking Zoey." The survivor turned the radio on and turned a few knobs, then pressed the side button on the speaker. "Hello, is anyone out there? Is anyone alive?" Jamie released the button and the survivors heard a low whisper. They turned the volume up, words slowly becoming audible.
"Can't be too cautious," a voice muttered. "Zombies everywhere. They're trying to trick me! Yeah, they can talk, I've heard them speaking! Have to survive, can't trust anyone, can't trust anyone."
"Hello, who is this? Where are you?"
"Can't trust anyone…"
"We can help you," Jamie said, trying to talk sense to the crazy man. "We have weapons and supplies, you just have to tell us where you are."
"Zombies trying to trick me, but they won't get me." With a sigh, Jamie placed the radio down in his lap.
"Here, give me it," Alan said as he took the black box. "Yo, asshole! We're zombies and we're coming to get you, so why don't you just save us the trouble of searching for you and tell us where you're at unless you're just a pussy!"
"Can't trust them, zombie trick!"
"!"
"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU ZOMBIE FILTH," the crazy man shouted into the radio, nearly blowing the whole speaker out. "I'm on Pasture Street! You'll see me as the one shooting you, you god damn animals!"
"Thank you, see you in a bit crazy man." Alan turned the radio off then turned it back to Jamie, who stared at his partner agape.
"It must take a crazy man to get through to another crazy man," Doc muttered under his breath. The survivors headed for Pasture Street, which turned out to be one big street with a small restaurant at the end of the road. "Where do you think the crazy guy is?"
"Come get me zombies!" Everyone turned to the restaurant at the end of the road. Doc put the hummer in reverse then backed away from sight of the restaurant.
"Plan of action," Doc asked, turning to Jamie.
"Working on it…"
"I say we shoot him," Alan said aloud. "The dude's obviously bat shit crazy. He might bite us if…" The survivors looked at one another, all thinking the same thing.
"Shit," they all said in unison.
"So now we're dealing with a crazy, and most likely infected individual. This is fucking great…" Several bullets flew down the street, in front of the survivors' view. "Correct: a crazy, and most likely infected individual WITH guns."
"Shoot em," Alan said, getting ready to jump out.
"We're not shooting him," Jamie snapped.
"He's infected," Alan replied. "What're we waiting for: him to become a zombie?"
"We don't know he's infected!" Suddenly, a hobo with greasy hair and a long beard came around the corner with a pistol in his left hand and a fully automatic assault rifle in the other hand. He turned to the survivors with a crazed look in his eyes and a pale complexion with blood coming from his ears and mouth.
"ZOMBIE BASTARDS!!"
"Duck," Jamie shouted.
The survivors did so as the hobo began firing at the vehicle. Thanks to the military, the windows were bullet proof and most of the metal was reinforced. Doc slammed on the breaks, launching the hummer forward. There was a muffled thumping noise along with some cracking and snapping as the hummer was slightly lifted off the ground. Doc stopped the hummer, eyes wide with astonishment. Everyone lifted their heads up at the same time and everyone slowly turned their heads towards Doc. There was a silence as Doc remained silent with wide eyes and shaking hands.
"Did you just…" Zoey began.
"Yep," Alan replied.
"To the-,"
"Uh huh," Doc answered Jamie. There was another prolonged silence before Alan simply shrugged then opened the door and jumped out.
"Whew, that boy got fucked UP!" Alan slammed the door then walked back to the street, then down towards the restaurant with his shotgun slung over his shoulder. Jamie and Zoey sighed to each other before getting out as well, followed shortly by Doc.
"Oh god," Jamie muttered, turning his head away from the mangled body that was once the crazy hobo.
Zoey covered her eyes and tried to walk past the body, completely blind. The others moved past and joined up with Alan who was standing in the doorway waiting on his team.
"Come on ladies, get a move on!" The survivors opened their eyes once they got past the corpse and headed into the restaurant and began searching. "Jesus there's a lot of food here!"
"Most of it has to be cooked though," Doc replied, picking up a piece of raw meat with disgust. "You think if I threw this the zombies would chase after it?"
"It's worth a shot," Zoey said with a laugh. "Those zombies don't seem to be much smarter than the average dog…or Alan."
"Hey," the bulky survivor snapped. "Wait, that crazy hobo had guns! I'm gonna go get them okay?"
"You're seriously grave robbing a hobo," Doc asked, lowering his arms with shock.
"At least I didn't run him over," Alan shot back with a smile before running back outside. Jamie and Zoey turned to Doc who remained quiet in his defeat. The three survivors continued to search through the restaurant in silence.
Alan grabbed the pistol that the hobo had, the assault rifle, and found a few, now bloody, clips on the corpse. Maria opened the back door once she saw him coming and allowed the bulky survivor to place the new weapons and few bits of ammo back. Alan nodded to Maria who moved away from the door before Alan pulled it down and closed it. The survivor walked back to head towards the restaurant before he noticed something next to the hobo's corpse.
Inside the restaurant, Jamie had stumbled upon tons of graffiti on the walls, sloppily written, most likely from the crazy hobo survivor. The writing seemed to mostly be about the time he spent hiding in the restaurant. As it turned out, the hobo usually loitered outside the restaurant and would often get some food from the owner of the place. Whenever the infection hit, the hobo apparently stole a police officer's assault rifle and pistol and hid out in the restaurant, which was conveniently closed that day. Jamie skipped most of the gibberish, not too interested in how he became crazy. Something interesting caught the survivor's eye as he placed his finger under the text and began reading it over.
'More people trying to take refuge here. Trying to impersonate the military, there's no military out here. Stabbed him to death, had to, no other choice.' Jamie winced with disgust, but had to continue. 'A few minutes later, three more came in. I shot at them and told them to leave. They tried to trick me, but I told them to leave. One of them said he would kill me, hahahahaha, I shot at him, hahahahaha. I didn't kill them, but they left all the same. One of them was injured and dropped his hat. Mine now old man! I can't take pity on them! I have to survive! Have to!' Jamie's eyes narrowed as he read the last few sentences over and over again.
"Yo, who wants a military beret," Alan's voice called out. "I didn't even know they made these anymore?" Jamie turned and walked quickly out of the kitchen out to the front door. Apparently Doc didn't care too much and Zoey was searching in the far corners of the restaurant. Alan put the beret on his head, adjusting it a bit. "What do you think boss? Too much?"
"Give me that," Jamie snapped as he swiped the hat off of Alan's head.
"You could've just said yes."
"Where'd you get this?"
"Grave robbing." Jamie walked towards the farther corners of the restaurant towards Zoey.
"Hey," Jamie called out. The brunette turned with a confused look at Jamie, who held the beret up to her. "This look familiar?" Zoey's mouth dropped open as she slowly took the beret from Jamie's hands.
"Where did you…?"
"Alan took it from the hobo." Zoey looked up, shock covering her face. "But, but, the but is important, I was reading what this guy was writing and he said he didn't kill them. He killed a military officer, but not any of your friends."
"Where did you read this," Zoey asked. Jamie moved his head back and ran towards the kitchen as Zoey followed closely.
"Found the radio," Doc cheered happily. Jamie and Zoey ran past him. "Or whatever, don't be happy…"
Jamie stopped in front of the wall of text and Zoey immediately started reading it. The brunette got to the part where the text talked about three survivors, placing her hand over her mouth in relief. Zoey turned to Jamie, then back to the wall, reading it again very carefully.
"They could still be alive," she said quietly. "They might be alive! Yes, holy shit yes!" Zoey began jumping with joy as Alan and Doc walked in.
"W, t, fuck," Alan asked.
"They might be alive," Zoey screamed as she ran towards Doc and Alan, throwing an arm around each of them. "Fuck yes!" Zoey turned around and looked into the sky. "Fuck you zombie apocalypse! You hear that?! FUCK YOU!" The cry of a horde could be heard from outside. "Whoops…sorry guys."
"Back to the hummer, now," Jamie shouted. The survivors ran to the door, seeing the hummer waiting outside of the door for them. Maria leaned out of the window and motioned for them to hurry. "Wait, is she really driving right now?!"
"Beggars can't be choosers," Doc screamed as passed Jamie.
The latter shrugged then headed for the hummer. Zoey got in the front while Doc, Jamie, and Alan squeezed into the back. Maria floored the gas, sending the jeep flying down the street before turning to the right. The survivors were now staring into a small, but still threatening horde of zombies.
"Fuck," Alan shouted. "Give me my gun!"
Maria slammed on the gas again, causing everyone to be pushed back into their seats. The little girl lowered her head, glaring angrily into the oncoming horde of angry zombies. Maria jerked the steering wheel to the side, throwing the rear end of the hummer smashing into several zombies before the large vehicle sped down another road while the zombies chased after them. The three guys in the back had been thrown out of their seats and struggled to get back in their seats.
"WITCH," Zoey shouted, pointing to the middle of the road where said infect sat, sobbing to herself.
"FUCK," the guys screamed before they could even look out of the windshield.
There was a sudden and repeated thumping noise along with a faint screech. Everyone looked at one another then to Maria and then in the back windshield where they saw a Witch angrily crawl after them with one arm as the rest of its limbs were useless. Everyone turned back to Maria who stayed focused on the road.
"Someone tell me when she became a NASCAR super star," Alan shouted with wonder in his tone.
"NASCAR," Doc repeated. "All they do is make left turns, I'd say she's more of a—WHOA SHIT!!"
A Boomer walked around the corner of the street, standing in the middle of the road now. Maria swerved the hummer onto the sidewalk and forcefully pushed her door out with her arm and leg. The door collided with the Boomer, which exploded on the door, covering the entire side of the hummer with bile. A horde of zombies flooded out of the buildings and began running towards the survivors. Maria slammed on the gas, flying towards the smallest number of zombies. The vehicle reached high speeds before it collided with the first wave of zombies, either smashing the infected or crushing them under the weight of the vehicle. Maria broke through the horde and sped off down the street, leaving the horde in the dust. After turning a few corners sharply, the little girl flopped back into the driver's seat and slowed down a bit. The rest of the survivors had been clutching something to the point where every knuckle in the vehicle was white as paper. All their eyes were wide as plates and focused on Maria who didn't pay any attention.
"Can we pull over," Doc asked sheepishly. "I have to change my pants…"
"Ditto," Zoey said, her tone weak and trembling with fear.