Race Against Time (part 2)

Author's note: I feel like I've been a roll lately with this story. This is the fourth chapter this month. Anyway, this is picking up directly after the events of chapter 20.

One more thing, there will be some more torture. Reader discretion is advised.

Enjoy!

September 29th

1:31 AM

TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:

34:28:20

There was no time to be lost at that moment, as someone's life was at stake. A special someone, that is, as Tammy took the wheel to the van that she was driving. Her eyes were facing right in front of her, as the determination to find Andy was all she had then.

It was raining at that moment, with the humidity of southern Florida being a common thing.

On the front passenger seat, Ana looked at her like she was a bit crazy, but really, why wouldn't she be "a bit crazy"? She just saw her boyfriend get tortured live on camera. Why wouldn't she be worried about him? The question on everyone's minds was whether she will get him in time before anything else happened.

Ana had her phone in her hand with a GPS tracking system up. She had found the exact address where Andy was, as the signal came from another island off the mainland. They brought some support with them on their mission. Cora Russell, Nina Suhr, and Summer Chavez immediately volunteered, as they felt that while Andy owed them for some past favors, he happened to be in real trouble and that maybe those favors will be deducted. Or maybe they just have a soft spot for him, who knows?

The only other person who joined in on this was Brad, as he had dealt with a few of those thugs before. Now that he found out that they were working with Phenotrans, as they were allied with the Mendoza cartel, he wanted to help Ana, who wanted to help Tammy.

Other survivors, such as Tomomi, Deidre, Gary, Rhonda, etc. wanted to help, too, but the two professional agents declined their help. One of the reasons was because they didn't need all those numbers. Another reason was that it could be dangerous.

The three bodyguards sat in the back seat with Brad sitting in the very back by himself. The only thing that was on his mind was the betrayal of his partner, as he left him for dead among the undead. He also knew that Ana was green and also suspected that Tammy was in over her head. The three bodyguards were different as they knew how to fight and have been in a zombie outbreak before, as well as been on deadly missions before.

Tammy wanted to go at it alone, as she was willing to risk it all for her now fiancé. Hours prior, Andy popped the question, but they were going to get there if she could help it and she was intent on it. She didn't talk a lot while she drove, as she had only one thing on her mind and she was really focused on it.

The concern on Ana's face was as clear as day, even if it was dark outside in the after hours. The concern was for both of them. She was appalled by what Andy was going through. She even wondered who the person behind the camera was. The only person who she suspected was the person who called on the hit, but who was it? Neither she nor Tammy knew. There was only one way to find out.

She looked right at her and took a deep breath, "Tammy, are you okay?"

"Shut up! I'm fine, okay?" Tammy quickly responded. "Just don't talk to me. I'm already having a bad day."

"I just want to give some advice," Ana replied.

"I don't need your fucking advice, okay?!" Tammy yelled.

"Please, just listen to me, okay?" Ana said. "I know that you're worried about Andy, but you need to keep your head straight. We're facing something dangerous, and I don't want you to do anything stupid. I care about him, too, and I am also worried about him, but if you don't think straight, those guys might kill you, too. I'm trying to help you."

"You don't understand," Tammy said. "I would do anything for him; I would even die for him. I know he would do the same for me, but this wasn't how I pictured it."

The three ladies in the back seat didn't say anything, but the looks on their faces really said a lot. All three of them looked concerned, especially Summer, who had started to take back some of the jealousy she felt from earlier that night. She was attracted to Andy at one point, even though that was before they started dating, as well as came close to scoring with him.

"I know you would," Ana said. "But I am also sure that he wouldn't want you to get hurt either. Just keep calm. I have a feeling that he is fine."

Then something else hit her. "I think that whoever was filming him getting tortured was trying to get into your head."

Well it worked. Tammy thought and nodded her head and took a deep breath and wiped her eyes a bit while trying to maintain focus on the road. She tried to hold back tears. The main thing that was on her mind was her boyfriend's safety. In fact, it was the only thing that was on her mind, enough that she plowed through zombies left and right, even when some had hung on to the van. She was determined to save him. The question on her mind was who would do such a thing. She suspected it was the man who called the hit on him, but who was it?

MEANWHILE…

Andy stood there in the torture room with his hands tied. He started to think about what he had gone through. There was no doubt that he felt a lot of pain, whether it was being hit by the baseball bats, especially the ones with nails and barbed wire. He felt some pain from that burn on his chest. It didn't help that he got shocked in the process. For all he knew, it was just about to get worse.

But one thing hit him. He was tortured, yes, but why didn't Simon join in on "the fun"? He was the one who called the contract out on him, so why were those guys doing his dirty work? He was right in front of him and was an easy target. It would have made sense if Simon tortured him as well.

They may have been broken my bones a bit. They may have made me bleed. They even shocked me. I think I may have pissed or shit myself. But one thing that they did not do was break me. They'll have to kill me to break me and I'll damned if Simon gets his hands on Tammy. Also, because he caused all of this, I'm going to take his ass down.

He had noticed something a bit out of the ordinary. When he looked up above him he noticed that the strap had deteriorated a bit. It appeared that the straps that they tied him with weren't strong enough. So there may have been a chance that he could break free and make an escape.

As he stood there, footsteps were heard and some banter was heard from the other side of the door. He knew that round 2 was about to start, but on the inside, he had a plan of his own. He looked down and slouched a bit to give them a vibe that they had broken him.

The door opened. Ricardo, Jorge, the two other guys, and finally, Simon walked in through the door. Andy looked down to floor. Simon looked up right at him. From his perspective, Andy looked like a broken man, but unbeknownst to him, he was faking it.

"Well, well, Andy," Simon said. "I guess we finally broke you down. Not just physically, but also emotionally. And guess what? We still have more to do here."

Andy slowly raised his head to face the sadist dead in his eye. What wasn't expected, however, was that a smirk grew on Andy's face.

"What are you smiling at?" Simon asked.

"You know, being that you wanted me dead so badly," Andy said. "I am surprised that you didn't torture me. I mean, come on, you have to rely on others to do your dirty work, when I was right here the whole time for you to torture?"

A look of confusion rose on Simon's face. "What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying that you couldn't just kill me yourself," Andy said. "Because you're too much of a…"

Simon rushed to his face. "You better watch what the fuck you say to me!"

"Oh, did I strike a nerve?" Andy said. "And you call yourself a professional. By the way, how's your headache doing?"

"What headache?" Simon said. Andy then moved his head back and then butts it to right to Simon's face.

"Owwww!" Simon yelled. "You motherfucker!" He yelled and then raised his arm as he was ready to punch him. Andy quickly noticed that Simon's legs were spread apart, which opened a window to move his leg back to kick him right in the balls. Right when he did that, Simon yelled again from the pain of getting hit below the belt.

Ricardo, Jorge, and the two goons walked in and then punched Andy a few times while he was still strapped down. One of them even put on the brass knuckles to add a little extra pain to the attacks. Andy hung there with his arms to the ceiling and was their little punching bag. Simon had gotten up after that kick to the nuts. It was even crazy that the gang's shot-caller was involved in this, but because he had dealt with their prisoner, it was understandable.

"Out of my way, boys, he's mine," Simon said in an angry tone. He approached and then delivered a hard right to his bare stomach and delivered a left hook to his face. He delivered multiple punches to him. The more Andy moved, the weaker the strap got.

"Is that what you wanted?" Simon said. "I'll rip your fucking throat out!"

He picked up one of the baseball bats, but it was the bare one, unlike the other two, and then whacked him right in his left knee. Andy screamed loudly from the pain it caused. Another agonizing scream had filled the entire room when Andy was hit in the back with the same bat. Ricardo stood back and watched the beating take place with little emotion on his face. From behind his back, he got out a car lighter and then quickly pressed it Andy's chest.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" The loudness from the scream overshadowed the sizzling sound of seared skin. He continued to move and finally, it broke the strap and he then fell to the floor.

He lied there and looked up directly at the light, but then he was surrounded by the guys who were in there with him. The last person who walked up was Simon. The others joined in and started kicking and stomping on Andy while he was on the floor. Jorge kicked him in the stomach. Andy got his body up as he was on all fours. Ricardo delivered a swift toe kick to his face, leaving a bruise around his jaw and blood coming out of it, if he wasn't a bloodied and bruised mess already.

"You got some balls, Andy," Simon said. "You're tougher than I thought. I thought we broke you, but it looks like we are far from done."

"Fuck you," Andy said while lying on the ground and spit out some blood. "If you want me dead so badly, finish me off."

Simon then pulled out a pistol and pointed it right to Andy's face. Everyone else in the room was surprisingly shocked at this image. It was as if they didn't expect him to draw his gun.

"You know, this is too easy," Simon said. "I have an even better idea."

He holstered his gun and then picked up the clips that one of the other gangsters picked up before. It was obvious that those clips were jumper cables. Jorge went to the batteries and put them to 400 volts. Simon hit the clips together and caused a flash. The gangster with the Dominican flag getup pushed a chair, while the other guy just sat Andy on the chair and held him down as Simon slowly approached his nearly-naked and battered body and opened the clips and closed them right on his nipples. Andy's body shook from electric current entering his body. It was even worse than when he was shocked with the tasers from before.

BZZZZZT! That was the sound that was made from the shock that Andy had endured. Simon unclipped the jumpers from his chest and watched as he shook from the torture. The other gang members may have contributed to the torture as well, but they looked at Simon like he was crazy. It appeared that he was enjoying inflicting pain on him. And for what reason, too? There had to be more than met the eye. It couldn't just solely be that Andy was with his ex.

The guys were about ready to leave the room once more, but then something else happened.

"I'm…still….here, assholes," Andy said very slowly.

Simon, Ricardo, and Jorge turned around and noticed that he was still breathing.

"Man, this guy is tougher than we thought," Jorge said.

"You should have seen what he did yesterday," Ricardo said.

Simon didn't say anything and then walked closer to him. He looked him up and down. Confusion on his face was clear, as Andy shivered in the chair.

How are you still alive? Simon thought.

As physically broken as he was, Andy spit blood right into Simon's face. What did Simon do in response? He pushed the chair Andy was on backwards, causing him to fall. Simon looked at the broken young man's body and scowled at him.

"This isn't over yet," Simon said.

As soon as everybody left the room, Andy tried to get himself up, but the shock had paralyzed him a bit. Not so much that he can't move at all, but more that he had a hard time getting up. He knew that this won't last long, but if he didn't try to move now, it would probably lead to extra torture, and given the state he was in, it was likely that more torture would do him in.

He could move a little, as he slid himself off the chair, but he couldn't get up off the floor. He felt his heart beating. It had thumped quite a bit before, especially from the tension of the torture, as well as the shock he had just received.

Meanwhile, Simon was on the other side with Ricardo and everyone else. It was clear that they were answering to him, as he was the benefactor in all of this. After all, Mendoza was working with Phenotrans and Simon was an operative of that shady pharmaceutical company. The Caribbean Boyz were allies of the Mendoza Cartel. Sometimes they were used as hired guns to their bidding. But Simon was the one who called on the hit. Why else did those two Devil May Cry cosplayers try to off Andy, especially when the third member had to handle matters inside? Or even that crazy mechanic from before? It's like that old song said, for the love of money, people will steal from their own brother, for that lean, mean green.

"Hey, man," Jorge said. "Where's my paper? I brought him to you, now you got to pay me."

"Don't worry, you'll get your money," Simon said. "Though I am upset about one thing, I thought you said you broke his spirit."

"We did," Jorge said.

Simon slapped him in the face. "You broke nothing! Otherwise he wouldn't have talked shit like he did."

Simon was disappointed that the torture didn't work as well as he thought. While the first round was tense enough, he realized that they didn't break Andy the way they wanted to.

"You know, I think I have another idea," Simon said.

All the gang members looked at him like he was crazy.

"Hey, man, I think that guy has had enough," Ricardo said.

"What, are you going soft of me?" Simon said.

"First of all, I am mostly in charge of these guys, at least until Mendoza gets here," Ricardo said. "So you better watch your fucking mouth. Second, I'm just saying that guy has had enough off all this shit. He don't know shit about nothing. You broke him real good and I'm just sayin' he don't need no more pain."

"It's over when I say it's over," Simon said. "Besides, I am the one who is providing the money for bringing him to me."

Ricardo and Jorge looked at him with a bit of disdain and impatience. Jorge only brought Andy in for his initiation into the gang, as well as to get money. But really, he and the shot-caller, along with the other two gangsters, looked at Simon like he was sick and twisted.

Outside of the lair, which turned out to be an abandoned house, was a van. It only meant one thing.

The abandoned house was located on another island that looked like it had seen much better days. It was in an area where nobody even bats an eye, so if Andy would have been killed, nobody would even search the area for a body. The island was known as West Bay Island, and it looked like it was once a luxurious area to live in, like the island that was south from there where the safe house was. The house was big, like it was custom-built, but the upkeep may have been too much, or maybe the homeowner just abandoned it.

But that wasn't important. It appeared that someone didn't think everything through when Andy was being filmed getting tortured.

From the exterior, several cars blocked the gateway, likely because zombies would have found their way inside. However, being that it was so deserted, zombies were hardly a problem. They would only know someone was present if they sense human flesh was close by. Of course, that wasn't to say that zombies weren't around at all, as Tammy had mowed through some of them when she entered the area.

Once Tammy put it in park, she grabbed one of her weapons and quickly exited the vehicle. Ana looked at her like she had just gone off her rocker, as Tammy walked fast away from the van. Cora looked closely and saw her carry her weapon with a mixed look of concern and intrigue. The video really took a toll on her, as she wanted to do anything in her power to make sure Andy was okay.

"Oh my god, she really would do anything for him," Ana said.

Cora leaned forward with her face right beside Ana's, she added her input. "That's love right there."

Nina and Summer leaned in over the tops of the front seats and watched.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Ana said. "We have to help her."

Ana noticed that Tammy left the metal bat behind. The four ladies and Brad all got out of the van.

Two gang members stood around and noticed the attractive redhead woman approaching them. One of them was ready to draw his gun, but Tammy quickly drew her shotgun axe.

"Don't even try!" She yelled. "Where is he?!"

"Who," said one of the guards.

"Don't play fucking dumb with me," Tammy quickly responded as she stood there with the shotgun barrel right to the man's face.

The gang member didn't want to cooperate as he reached for his pistol, but Tammy quickly thought ahead and turned her weapon around and gripped the barrel and swung the axe end towards the man's arm and sliced through it. A loud scream sounded as blood had dripped from the man's severed arm. That guy just wasn't smart.

She looked to the other guy and turned the weapon around and pointed the barrel to his face. "Tell me where he is or your brains will splatter all over the pavement."

"He is inside," the other guy said, who was wearing a button-down shirt with a lot of guns as the patterned print. "It won't do you any good."

"Watch me," Tammy said. She stormed right into the grounds and saw the big house right in front of her.

She walked right onto the grounds armed to the teeth ready to blast anybody who got in her way. It was dark and rainy outside, which made things slightly more difficult. Her man was inside, but where inside was the real question.

Right from above, Tammy was seen walking on the grounds through an upstairs window.

"Hey, man," said the Dominican gang member. "Looks like we got some company."

Simon looked towards the man by the window, with the others by his side.

"What the hell are you talking about? Nobody knows about this place," Simon said. He walked quickly towards the window and then out of eyes was a very familiar face to him. "What the fuck? How did she find us?"

His eyes shifted towards the upper left and through the gateway walked another familiar face. Ana was seen running towards the yard with the three bodyguards behind her.

That bitch, I should have known. He thought, though really, he didn't think it through that someone was able to trace the signal to find Andy. Then another familiar face was in his sights.

What the hell? He's alive? Shit! Simon was shocked to see that Brad had survived the zombie attack. If Ana hadn't been there when it happened, he wouldn't have been so lucky. Though Brad was infected, he had to make use of the time he had before he would turn. He was not going to let that happen, especially because he got more Zombrex from the hospital.

Angry at how someone came to save his hostage, he looked towards everyone.

"Well, what are you just standing there for? Go out there and kill them!" Simon said.

The other gang members had made their break to go and find other areas to try to defend their lair.

Tammy was outside as she looked around to find any entrance that wouldn't draw suspicion on her. She looked to her sides, but once her attention faced forward, the front door had opened and a thug drew an Uzi and pulled the trigger. With it being dark out, the bullets missed, but that opened up the chance for Tammy to aim her shotgun towards him. She squeezed the trigger which sent the man flying backwards as blood had splattered on the surrounding walls.

Once the corpse dropped outside the doorway, she immediately went inside the house. For an abandoned place, there were some lights on. Someone had probably used a generator for the electricity, but that didn't matter. The house was big. Andy could be anywhere.

Outside, the quintet had finally caught up and gotten to the grounds of the abandoned manor. Ana looked around to see which way she could go to get inside. Gunshots were heard from the inside.

I hope she didn't get shot. She thought to herself. She looked to her right and saw that it was clear. Brad and the Guardian Angels had followed her, only to find that some other gang members had gotten outside of the house. Surprisingly enough, they weren't armed with firearms.

Ana and Brad holstered their guns and put up their fists. Cora, Nina, and Summer all got into fighting stances, as they were ready to fight them. One gang member drew a knife. Another one had brass knuckles. So they were armed with other types of weapons. The knife-wielding gangster swung the blade towards Ana. She barely managed to dodge the attack as he was close to cutting her. But she had a trick up her sleeve, or actually from behind her jacket, as she swung a weapon that quickly drew towards the man's gut and then clocked him in the head. It turned out that she had the baseball bat with her.

Another thug tried to stab Brad, but he blocked the attack and twisted his arm and threw him to the ground. Cora quickly punched a thug in the gut and then in the face and then jumped up to do a spin kick to him. Summer elbowed a thug in the gut and then kneed him right to the face. Nina punched a thug in the face twice and then delivered a roundhouse kick, knocking him down. The three ladies sure knew to take care of themselves, even when dealing guys who were bigger than them.

Ana signaled to the three ladies and Brad that she was going inside to look for Tammy.

"Don't worry about us," Cora said. "We'll cover you out here."

Inside the house, Tammy opened some doors to check if there was any sign of Andy. She didn't want to say anything, because there could have been more thugs inside the house. She knew that if she made a sound, it will draw attention on herself. She managed to take down a few thugs who were in the house. She was now upstairs. She had checked multiple rooms. It was a big house, so there were plenty of possibilities.

As she snuck around, behind one of the walls was Jorge, who had a spiked bat in his hands. On the other side, Simon and Ricardo stood there. Simon slowly peaked around the corner and saw her and then quickly backed against the wall. Simon looked to Jorge and shifted his eyes towards the hallway where Tammy was. Jorge nodded his head. Ricardo ran his thumb across his neck while facing Jorge, signaling that he should kill her.

Tammy had her back turned as she slowly walked. She looked around as she slowly moved forward. The area felt empty, so she felt it was time to move a little faster. She reached the end of the hallway and a bald Puerto Rican man quickly got out from behind the wall and swung a spiked bat towards her. She jumped at the sight and fell backwards before he could hit her. He swung the bat downwards and she quickly rolled to her right, causing him to hit the floor.

"Well, I never thought I'd see you again," Jorge said. "Well, you came to the wrong place."

Tammy lied there and faced him. He held the spiked bat in his hands.

"It's too bad a pretty girl like you has to die like this," Jorge said.

She was not about to let this affect her. Andy's life was at stake and she knew that she would have to go through him to get to him.

PSYCHOPATH BATTLE: JORGE DIAZ

She got to her feet and then picked up her shotgun axe and gripped the barrel. His back was turned towards her, so she swung the axe end towards his back, but then he turned around and dodged the attack. He then swung the spiked bat towards her back as the nails had punctured her back a little bit. She then dropped her weapon in the process.

She screamed from the pain that she had endured, except he didn't hit her that hard. Jorge then swung at her back once again. Tammy tried not to scream this time, even though the nails hurt. Jorge dropped the bat and then approached Tammy as she lied there face down with minor bloodstains coming out of the back of her jacket.

"You're looking for your boyfriend, huh?" Jorge said.

"Where is he?" Tammy said.

"You think that I will tell you?" Jorge snidely replied. "Besides, he ain't gonna make it. He's probably dead by now."

Jorge grabbed her and picked her up to her feet and then pushed her against the wall. She looked at him right in the eye.

"You're that same guy from earlier," she said. "You tried to take him in the morning and then at night."

"That's right, it was me," Jorge said. "Do you want a cookie?"

Jorge reached for his pocket and got a knife out.

"You know, you're about to join your boyfriend very soon."

Tammy didn't want to believe that Andy could be dead at that very moment. She suspected that he was playing head games with her.

He looked at her and then ran his fingers through her hair and down her face, much to her discomfort. He held the knife close to her neck, too. What else could she do at that point?

Think fast, Tammy. With Jorge standing so close to her, she kneed him right in the nuts causing him drop his knife. His head was so close to her that she moved her head back and then butted against it hard. He moved backwards a bit, leaving her a window to move out of his sights. She quickly headed towards her shotgun axe to pick it up.

She turned around with her weapon drawn and pointed it at him.

"Tell me where he is!" she yelled.

Jorge laughed and then ran forward and tackled her while she had the shotgun in her hands. Once he tackled her, the gun went off making a few holes in the ceiling. The shot was so loud that Ana, who was downstairs, heard it. She ran to find where the shot came from.

Tammy had dropped the weapon once again. Jorge was now on top of her, and then reached for another pocket to get out a taser and then shocked her on the right side of her torso. He threw the stun gun to the side and then got out his knife once again and was ready to stab her. She looked scared right then, but lucky for her, the taser wasn't far away as she picked it up from her left and then shocked him right on his side before he could stab her. He fell off of her, which caused her to move to find anything that she could use. In situations like this, anything can be a weapon. She found a few chairs set up, as it appeared that was where some of the gang members were hanging out.

Jorge struggled to get up. As he barely managed to make it to his feet, Tammy swung a chair right to his head. He fell down, but he wasn't knocked out.

"I'm going to ask you for the last time," Tammy said. "WHERE IS HE?!"

Jorge slowly crawled on the ground barely conscious. He was able to acknowledge Tammy's plea, and given the state he was in, he had no choice but to crack.

"H-he's…in," Jorge said slowly and pointed towards a door that was cracked open a tad. "There." His head then fell to the floor. Was he dead or was he unconscious? Tammy didn't care. She just went forth into the room Jorge pointed to.

She opened the door and saw Andy lying on the floor. The light was still on and she quickly went towards him as he lied there. She kneeled right before him and then pushed his body right onto his back. She breathed a couple of times and then tears ran down both of her eyes. She looked at his nearly-naked body and saw that he had wounds on his stomach and was red on his face and other parts of his body, like his knee and his back.

"Oh my god, what did they do to you?" Tammy said as she was slowly starting to break down. "Why did they do this to you?"

She started crying as she kneeled right next to Andy's body right there. She then picked up his body and wrapped her arms around him as she cried into his shoulder.

Meanwhile, back downstairs, Ana walked around trying to find a staircase to find where the gunshot came from. As she walked, she heard someone say, "Hey, Ana."

Ana jumped at that and then turned around and saw that it was Brad.

"Oh, Brad, you scared me," Ana said. "Hey, where are those three girls?"

"They're outside standing guard for anything else," Brad said. "They certainly know how to take care of themselves. The leader with the hat even told me to go inside and help you."

"I'm just looking for Tammy," Ana said. "I think she's upstairs. We have to find her."

"Not so fast, bitches," a male voice said nearby.

"Yeah, you ain't goin' nowhere," said another male voice.

Ana and Brad turned around and saw a man with a T-shirt that said "Soy Cubano, got a problem?" on it. The other, a man wearing a bandana of the Dominican flag and his button-down shirt had a print of the same flag.

"I remember you," said the Dominican guy. "You squeezed my nuts yesterday. If you really wanted some, you should have just asked. 50 Cal can give you some of that lovin'."

Ana rolled her eyes at that remark.

"My boy Fidel right here had that other bitch with you yesterday," 50 Cal said. "However, I would like to give you some lovin', but our boss told us to take you both out."

50 Cal and Fidel drew a couple of pistols, but then Ana and Brad quickly drew their pistols.

"Look, we're just looking for my friends," Ana said. "We're not here for you. Let's not do this."

"Oh, I think one of our boys had taken care of that white bitch," 50 Cal said. "You two are next."

"Look, we don't want to deal with you two," Brad said. "Just walk away and let us look for my partner's friends."

Fidel squinted and winced a bit, "No, I don't think so."

Fidel and 50 Cal had pointed their guns at the two agents and were about to shoot them, but were then shot themselves by Ana and Brad. They didn't want to comply with their requests, but for the two federal agents, it was kill or be killed.

Both men lied on the ground in pools of their own blood.

"Man, what did we get ourselves into?" Ana said.

"I don't know, but for these guys to go after your friend, this seems really personal or deep," Brad said.

"This is getting out of hand," Ana said. "We need to find Tammy right now. Come on."

They went up the stairs to look for her.

Back upstairs, Tammy was still with Andy and held him against her. She had stopped crying, but the tears were still running down her face.

Outside of the room, Jorge had regained consciousness while lying on the floor and saw Tammy in the room sitting down with her back to him. He looked around and saw a pistol lying around. He got up and went to pick up the weapon and cocked it.

He walked towards the door to the torture room and raised the gun and pointed it towards her without her knowledge.

But just then, the right side of his head was pierced with a bullet and then fell to the ground. Tammy looked up and saw that Ana and Brad arrived just at the right time before Jorge could shoot her.

Ana and Tammy looked at each other. Tammy signaled to her to get out of there and that she needed to be alone right now. Ana told Brad that they should leave them alone. They got out of the room and Ana stood close to the wall and looked down and put her right hand to her eyes.

"Are you okay," Brad asked.

"No, I'm not," Ana's voice cracked when she said that.

"Listen, I'm sorry about your friend," Brad said.

"Thank you," Ana said as she started to get emotional.

In the room, Tammy continued to hold Andy in her arms.

"I came here for you, only to see that I was too late," Tammy said.

"When I said that you were my angel, I wasn't lying," a voice said into Tammy's ear.

Tammy's eyes opened wide and backed away from and looked right to Andy's face, whose eyes were open right then.

"Oh my god, you're alive!" Tammy was more than happy to see that Andy was alive. Ana and Brad peaked through the door and were relieved at what they just saw. Ana took a deep breath and cracked a smile a bit.

She then looked all over him.

"Who did this to you?" she asked.

"It…was…Simon," he said slowly.

Tammy had a look of disgust mixed with a lack of surprise in this. She should have known that it was him.

"Wait, did you say Simon?" Ana said as she walked in. "He did this to you?"

"Simon did this?" Brad said.

"Yeah, he did," Andy said. "Why are looking at me like that?"

Brad added, "Simon left me to die earlier. I found out that he was working with Phenotrans."

"Listen, we'll talk more about this when we get back," Ana said. "We need to get you patched up."

Tammy got to her feet, but Andy struggled to get to his feet. He tried to get up but felt pain in his knee as well as his back. Ana saw a bag lying in the room and then saw his clothes and phone lying around. She went to pick up his things and put them in the bag. Tammy helped Andy get to his feet.

"Just wrap your arm around my neck, okay? I'm here for you," Tammy said.

Tammy offered him her shoulder so that she could help him get out of there. All four people got out of the room. From a distance, three women stood there.

"Hey, you guys, we gotta get outta here now," Cora said.

"Why, what's going on?" Ana said. "Are more of those guys coming?"

"Yes, but that's not all," Nina said.

"I think some zombies are on their way, too," Summer said.

Cora and the other two looked towards Andy.

"Oh my god, what happened to you?" Cora said.

"I'll tell you later," Andy said.

"All of us will protect you," Cora said. "You can count on us."

All seven people managed to get out of the abandoned house. Ana told Tammy and Andy to wait by the gateway so that she could get the van back and they could get in.

From a distance, inside a dark car were a Caucasian man and a Hispanic man. The men were Simon and Ricardo, respectively. Both men stared at the couple standing there to wait for the cavalry. However, Simon looked directly at them deep in thought.

I know his weakness. I think I have an even better plan. He'll see what I am going to do. Just then, an evil smirk rose on Simon's face.

"Hey, man, let's get the fuck out of here," Ricardo said. "We have to meet with your boss, anyway."

Ana pulled up and stopped with everyone in tow. Summer opened the door and the couple got into the far back seat. Once they sat down, Ana hit the gas and they were on their way back to base.

Tammy had Andy lean his head against her shoulder. She held him in her arms once again. He fell asleep not long after.

"It's okay, baby. I'm here for you and you'll be okay soon. We just have to get you some help."

She kissed him on his forehead, while Summer looked at them. She remembered the attraction she felt for him in the past, but what she just witnessed was real love that those two had. The other two bodyguards looked at them and Tammy noticed them looking.

"You really love him, don't you?" Summer said.

"With every inch of my heart," Tammy said.

"I see," Summer said. "I usually don't say this, but you're blessed."

"Thank you," Tammy said.

Zombies had made their way onto the island that they were on as Ana rammed through many of them. It was going to be quite a drive to get back to base, but she needed to give Andy some of the medical attention that he needed. She remembered that she had rescued that doctor at the hospital, as well as Tonya, who was an emergency medical technician and nurse. He will definitely need some kind of treatment, but the question was how long until he could walk right again? There had to be a way for him to function.

It was only a matter of time until they got back to base. The rain had stopped. Everyone got out of the van but one of the bodyguards opened the door and Tammy helped Andy get out of there. Summer offered her shoulder to him as well. She still felt a bit of that attraction from before, but she also knew what those two had. Ana had opened the door so that everyone could get in.

Surprisingly enough, some people were still awake. Rhonda and Gary looked up when Tammy and Summer brought Andy, as did Deidre, Gregory, Eric, even the group of girls that Andy had rescued a couple of nights ago. Everyone looked on with so much shock and relief that he was okay. Agent Simpson walked up and saw the condition he was in.

"What happened here?" he said.

"It's a long story," Andy said. "We'll talk about this later. I just need to get some rest right now."

"Hold up," a female voice said.

Andy and Tammy turned around and saw Tonya and Ross.

"I think I should patch you up a bit," Tonya said. She then got out a first aid kit and started to put bandages on the wounded areas, like his back and his stomach.

"There's a doctor here, too," Tonya said.

"That's great, maybe I'll have him look at some stuff later," Andy said. "I just need to get some sleep."

"Come on, baby," Tammy said.

She helped him climb the stairs a bit so that they could go to the bedroom. Andy has had a rough night. Thankfully his angel came to save him.

September 29th

2:32 AM

TIME UNTIL THE MILITARY ARRIVES:

33:27:42

Another note: Oh boy, this chapter was kind of a struggle. I will admit that this was filled with mushy moments but I had planned to do it like this. It was supposed to illustrate how far someone would go to save the person he/she loved.

Regarding references, the headbutt bit from Andy earlier was a reference to a less-than-well-known 2000 film called "Bait," which starred Jamie Foxx.

The part about "breaking spirits" was a reference to a classic Simpsons episode called "Kamp Krusty."

Regarding the names of the two thugs that Ana and Brad dealt with. 50 Cal was somewhat of a reference to rapper 40 Cal of the Diplomats (also known as Dipset). As for the other one, Fidel, well that's self-explanatory.

Also, why the area was supposed to be dilapidated and it was implied that it was in an abandoned mansion. It was actually a reference to GTA Vice City and also Vice City Stories. The city that I created (Well, some of the credit should be towards a good friend of mine, as he came up with the name) for this story is an expy of Miami, as well as other Florida beachside cities like Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, etc. but primarily Miami. Regarding the GTA reference, Prawn Island had abandoned mansions in Vice City, but in Vice City Stories, in that particular area, the houses looked habitable.

Anyway, until next time, peace out.