Ch. 24

We didn't say anything for a few minutes. We just stood there, absorbing the fact there was someone else was alive. It seemed impossible.

I finally muttered, "So what to we do?"

Diane turned to me. "We need to go and help them."

"What?!" Kevin exploded. "You want us to go through Blood-bath city?"
I rounded on him. "Those people are alive. We need help in any way possible."

Kevin shook his head. "How do you know those are survivors? For all you know, those could be explosions from gas leaks."

I hate to admit it, but he did have a point. Those could be gas leaks or something else exploding.

But then my doubt went away when I heard three more shots, in rapid succesion.

I turned to Kevin. "Convinced," he muttered. "But it's still suicide to go through the city."

Again, he had a point. All we had in our disposal were three teenagers, one shotgun, one sword, five semi's, four six-shooters, a handful of backups, a couple of knives, steel batons, and my half-beaten car.

I really wanted to go out there with a couple of grenades, a couple of automatic rifles, a platoon of soldiers, a tank, and maybe an Apache helicopter.

"Look, I really want to help," I said to Diane. "But if we don't have a plan, we are not going to get five feet out the door."

"Why don't we do what we did last time? Cause a diversion and sneak away."

"Because last time, there was not an army of zombies outside of the store, only a few of them were in front of the store at the time," Kevin pointed out. "Also, it was night."

"Well it's almost evening now," Diane countered, waving an arm at the setting sun.

"And we are better armed now," I pointed out. "We have a better chance than last time."

Kevin didn't answer us right away. He just walked to the edge of the store and begin pacing back and forth. I could see the frustration between his decisioins. He wanted to stay alive, but he wanted to help. This was not a choice for the weak. A real challenge.

But I knew Kevin. He would never back away from a challenge.

He came back with a determined look on his face.

"All right. I'll help," he said. He pointed a finger at me and said "but if I die, you're going to be the first person I bite."

"Fair enough," I grinned.

"So what do we do?" Diane asked.

"We prepare."

We went back down and turned the generator on. We needed the light so we could gather supplies. Diane started loading a backpack full of medical supplies, Kevin loaded a couple of handgun magzines and the revolvers, and I surveyed the area from the roof. I had a pair of binoculars and a map of the city. Judging by the sound of the echo and the direction I'm sure it came from, the survivors could be within a two-mile radius, east of the store.

This was not going to be easy. East of the store was nothing but houses, small convience stores, the skating rink, a clothing store, and a suburban housing complex. We could spend hours, maybe even days, looking around and not find anybody.

I spent a couple of more minutes observing the map. Even though I lived in this town all my life, I never been on the east side of town. I never found a reason too; furthermore, it was a maze of streets and dead ends. This, to me, was going to impossible.

Rolling up the map, I went back to my friends and suited up for the trip. I put on a couple of pairs of sweats and a pair of black khakis. Also, a couple of pairs of long-sleeved shirts and put on the leather jacket I wore the other night. For my limbs, I pulled on a pair of black steel-toed boot and a pair of fingerless paintball gloves. I wore black was to blend in with the night.

When I was done, I went to the hunting section. Kevin was was double-checking all the guns, his sword strapped to his back. He looked up from his work when I approached.

"Are we ready to go?" I asked.

He smiled. "You look like a Special Ops soldier."

I laughed and looked at his ansemble. He only had on a pair of black sweats and an underarmor shirt. Like me, he wanted to blend with the night, but why thin.

"And you look like a ninja. Why are you using thin fabrics?"

He shrugged. "I want to be able to have speed when I using my sword or running away." He suddenly withdrew his sword and swung the blade right in front of my face. I didn't even have time to blink.

"If I wore too much, it will slow down my strokes," he explained. It made sense.

"So are we ready to go?" I asked, picking up my favorite Beratta.

"Yep," he told me. He pointed to all the guns on the table. "All these guns are ready to go. I loaded the other automatics and revolvers so in case we do find survivors, they can have a weapon to defend themselves."

"Good idea, but what are these?" I asked, pointing to a pile of straps.

"Those are for you," came a voice behind. There was Diane, carrying the backpack full of her medical supplies. "I made them for you. They're holsters."

I picked them up. "You made them?"

"Yeah. In my spare time."

I strapped them on to my belt and legs. They fit perfectly. They even had snaps to secure my handguns in place.

"Thanks. This will really help," I said graciously, holstering my Beratta and a Glock.

"No problem." Diane shouldered the backpack. "Are we ready?"

"Yep," I announced. "Let's head to the garage."

We put the handguns into padded cases and put all the loaded clips into a seperate backpack, along with a few extra boxes of bullets. We also each had a small .38 for backups. I put on a belt and latched a sheath for my knife and my steel baton. Then I put a couple of extra magazines in front pockets of my jacket. Finally, I stuck the .38 in the waistband of my jeans. On the way to the garage, I pulled a baseball cap from the racks. It was black with red dragon on it. I always liked dragons. I don't know why, but the cap would help me conceal my hair.

We loaded everything up in the car. I was about to slide into the driver's seat when I realized something.

"Guys, doesn't one us need to stay here? You know, to open and close the door?" I asked innocently.

They stopped at once. How could we be so stupid to forget something like that? Why didn't we think about this before?

"Okay, so who stays behind and guards the fort?" Diane asked.

"Well, we could flip a coin," Kevin suggested.

"There's three of us. How is that going to work?"

I sighed. "I'll go regardless what you guys decide. So it should be between you two."

"Why should you decide whether you go?" Diane said angrily.

"Because I want to," I said sharply. "Conversation's over. Now flip the damn coin."

They both scowled at me. Kevin pulled a coin from his pocket. He hesitated, then flipped it.

"I call heads," Kevin called. He caught the coin in his palm and closed his fist. Even though I wasn't envolved, I could feel my heart beating in my chest. One of my friends will go on this suicide mission and might not come back.

Kevin took a deep breath, then opened his palm. Heads.

He looked up. "I won. So I choose to go."

I smiled. I knew Kevin was doing this for me. He knew I wanted to keep Diane out of this mission.

"Well, it looks like I'm going. I'll see you when I get back," he said to Diane. He opened the door and got into the passenger side. But before he could close the door, Champ trotted over.

"Yes, I will see you later as well," Kevin mumbled, scratching Champ's ears. After a few moments, he pushed Champ away and closed the door.

I turned to Diane. It shocked me to see that she was crying slightly.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I just feel left out. I want to be there with you."

"Why though?" I thought she wanted to stay here were it was safe.

She didn't answer right away, but she did put her arms around my neck.

"I'm not scared to go out there," she whispered. "But I am scared that I might not see you again."

I wasn't expecting that answer. Diane really did want to go. Not only because she wanted to help the survivors, but because she wanted to be with me.

I hugged her tightly. "Don't worry about it. I promise I will come back."

She pulled away. "Really? You promise?"

I pecked a kiss her on the forehead. "I promise. Now you better get upstairs and provide us with a distraction."

She smiled and walked away. I watched her go, wishing I had more time to say good-bye.

"Anyday now!," Kevin yelled.

That snapped me out of my daze. I walked around the car and joined Kevin in the driver's seat. I took a couple of deep breaths. They didn't help.