Author's notes: well nothing to say other than enjoy number 35 its a pretty slow one but the action will pick up soon enough
Chapter 35: Salvation
Sam smiled as she and Sian were lead by soldiers to the shower area for women, once inside they went inside the showers leaving their clothing outside and had their showers while armed soldiers guarded the outside to ensure any infected inside the town couldn't sneak in on the unarmed women while they were in such a vulnerable stat the men were lead to the men showering area. Sam had a beaming smile as she emerged from the shower head to find a new pair of clothes outside the area with a note attached stating her clothes were being washed, not only this but a toothbrush and toothpaste was waiting for her as well, after getting in to her new clothes which consisted of a pair of purple chinos with a light short sleeved white shirt as well as her purple hoodie which had already been cleaned and her shoes which looked much cleaner after having the muck from the sewers washed off of them. "This is fine" she said inspecting herself in a nearby mirror deciding her ear rings were more likely to cause harm then good and removing them placing them in her backpack which was laid on the floor near where her new clothes had been found, she then emerged from inside the shower building the 2 soldier on guard armed with AK47's nodding at her as she passed. Sian soon emerged after now wearing a a pair of jeans that were a light blue colour with a short sleeved purple shirt with a sheriff's star logo on it as well as having a pair of boots that were just above her ankles and a white long sleeved blouse that went over the top. "Stylish" Sam said giggling at the older woman who stuck her tongue out in reply, "come on lets go see what the men are up to" she said turning to the soldier, "thank you for your protection gentleman" she said and the 2 soldiers simply nodded, "just doing our job ma'am" one said, with that the 2 women gathered their weapons and backpacks as well as there now clean old clothes which were placed in 2 neat bags before heading off to find the mens showers.
Once they were there the 2 girls howled with laughter as all 6 of the men were now wearing hospital gowns to cover themselves as they sat around a table engrossed in a game of cards, "well dont you boys look great" Sam said, she merely received a few grunts in response as the men continued playing, soon enough the men rejoiced as their clothes were returned to them and they took off to a changing area and returned wearing their now clean clothes their weapons and backpacks also being given back to them. "Ah this is much better" said Rick inspecting his now pristine black suit in the mirror, "well dont you look charming now that your fancy suit aint covered in shit" said Dave with a chuckle as Rick merely scoffed at the younger man, "it is nice to be able to smell fresh again knowing that the rest of the world smells like shit" said Whitaker. With that being said and done the men went back to their card game with the women joining them as the sun began to set over the populated town of Riverside, Rick checked the time on his watch to be 8:30pm, "its getting late anywhere we can sleep for the night?" Rick asked a nearby soldier who nodded, once they finished their card game the soldier and Sargent Marcell led the group to a large open area on the main road of Riverside littered with houses on one side and a car park full of large tents on the other side, the Sargent led them to a very large tent that had just enough bunks in it for their entire group. "Sorry its not the best accommodation but considering how many people we actually have in this town we have to do with what we can get" he explained but the survivors merely smiled as they all got comfortable on their respective bunks, "we will be fine with what we can get, thank you sir" said Dave and the Sargent smiled before nodding, "my pleasure, you folks get some good rest now" he said bidding them farewell.
The group got comfy in their chosen beds before spending the next few hours talking until finally the sun fully set shrouding the world around in darkness save for the various lights that were being used to light up Riverside, eventually everyone save for Whitaker and Jake were asleep, "man i cant sit here if im not asleep come on lets go do something" said Jake getting up from his bunk Whitaker doing the same as they left their colleagues to rest peacefully. They walked around for a while before finding sergeant Marcell with some of his men near the church, the man happily invited them over for a chat and standing on the upper floor of the church gazing over the town they talked for hours about their experiences with the infection, "so there's many different types of infected out there then?" the Sergeant asked as he listened to Jake and Whitaker explaining about all the infected that they had encountered. Then they explained about the super witch and her hunter underlings and the Sergeant immediately frowned not liking anything he was hearing, "it sounds like you and your friends have had quite a bad experience out there" he said and 2 men nodded. Then Jake explained how Dave one of their colleagues was scratched by an infected in the sewers, "we dont mean to worry you sir but we thought maybe you had a doctor here or something that can take a look at him in the morning" Jake said and the sergeant nodded, "considering how long ago he was scratched i think it is a safe bet to assume that your friend is immune but we will get doctor Evans to take a look at him in the morning, you see im not that concerned because many folks who have come here have been injured by infected at some point and 99% of them turn out to be immune to the infection" he said smiling. As a loud bang and multiple flashes were heard coming from the front of Riverside, the 3 of them saw the house that they come in from light up occasionally as bangs went off, "probably the men picking off the occasional bogie" he said reassuring the 2 men he was with who nodded in response, "well looks like you army guys have done a great job at keeping the infected out soo far" Jake said the sergeant chuckled nodding, "indeed, although one or 2 of the hooded ones have managed to get in by jumping over the fence they didn't last very long" he said making a gun with his fingers and firing causing the 3 of them to laugh.
...
Several hours later the sun had risen once again and as expected Doctor Evans was called down to the survivors tent to take a look at Dave's arm, the others looked rather concerned as the doctor examined him, "you dont feel ill or sick or cold at all do you young man?" the doctor asked and Dave nodded, "well your showing absolutely no symptoms of the virus what so ever so in my medical opinion you are most likely immune to the virus, but we will take a blood sample and get back to you with a more accurate reading he said taking a needle and taking a sample of Dave's blood. Then the doctor left as Whitaker, Jake and Sergeant Marcell returned, "i wouldn't worry young man, the doctor hasn't been wrong about a diagnoses yet and hes highly likely to be wrong now" said the sergeant patting Dave on the shoulder the young man nodding. With in the next 10 minutes the survivors were all up and went to the centre of the town where they had a pleasant breakfast before being allowed to wonder off and do as they pleased, the 2 girls went off to do their own thing leaving the men to spend the day drinking beer and playing cards once again. Sam and Sian travelled to the far end of Riverside reassuring the men they would be back by the time the sun went down once again, Sian growled in frustration at the amount of men wolf whistling as she walked by, Sam merely chuckled as they continued walking along taking in their surroundings, the houses in the town were surprisingly still in one piece and looked almost pristine. The buildings we still in tact and there was no sign that their was even infected merely on the other side of a metal gate that lead to the harsh world that they now lived in, as they walked along Sam looked up at one of the mountains that surrounded the town and frowned as a shadowy figure stood their watching the whole town, she then froze causing Sian to look at her. "What is it?" she asked, however when Sam looked back at the spot where she saw the figure however there was now nothing their in its place, "nothing" she said quietly shaking her head, 'am i seeing things' she thought to herself.
...
Several hours had passed without any incident and now the soldiers guarding the front house entrance grew bored as they fired at the occasional boogie they were greeted but nothing but silence from the road that lead into the forest away from Riverside, "this sucks, we always get the butt end of all the jobs in this town" said one of them throwing his arms up as his rifle lay next to him on the ground. "Someones gotta do it mate and i guess we just drew the short end of the straws" said another chuckling as the first one grunted in annoyance, they then all froze as another common infected stumbled into view from one of the trees groaning as it slumped forward paying them no mind. One of the shotguns raised a shotgun and slowly stood up, "i got this one" he quietly called walking forward towards the zombie in question, "dont worry buddy im gonna make this quick and easy" he said cocking the shotgun, however he then screamed in horror as something long and fast shot out of the darkness and wrapped around him, he screamed as he was pulled inside the trees before going silent. The other soldiers had no time to react as a hunter wearing all black snuck up behind the soldiers and jumped on the back of another, the man cried out in agony as the creature began ripping his back apart exposing his spinal cord and splattering flesh and blood all over the walls. Before the final too soldiers could react one was pinned by the common infected that bit into his neck ripping a large gaping hole in the mans throat, he gagged and spluttered before finally succumbing to his injuries and falling to the floor a large pool of blood developing underneath his greying corpse. The final man fell to his knees as the female hunter gently knelt down in front of him smiling as she lent forward pressing her lips to his, he went wide eyed as something long and sharp pierced his stomach he look down to see the foul creatures fingers embedded in his stomach, he doubled over groaned in pain as the fiend pulled away before slashing his throat. The man gagged as blood poured from his wounds before he toppled over laying in a pool of his own blood, then mercy emerged from the darkness of the forest with her lips pressed to the mans she had captured before gently tossing him to the ground, the man began to gag and sputter as his skin began to turn grey and his eyes a deep burning red. He screamed one last time before the green flu consumed him and he rose bowing his head to the witch who merely chuckled, "indeed gentleman you drew the short end of the straw" she said howling with devilish laughter as a large shadowy figure emerged from the trees behind her breathing heavily as its giant form towered over her. "When do we attack mistress" the male hunter asked standing above the mutilated corpse he had mangled, "we begin now" she said with a wicked smile as many pairs of red eyes began to light up from the forest, "first you 2 know what you must do" she said and the 2 hunters nodded the female smiling with a devilish grin. "Then begone both of you complete your task and signal when the attack begins" she said as the 2 hunters leapt over the house towards the town of Riverside, Mercy smiled before turning around, "are you ready Todd?" she asked staring at the hulking creature, "i am ready to make Whitaker and his foolish survivors pay your majesty" he said with a much deeper voice then he had before.
...
Once the sun had set Whitaker and his gang had reunited as Doctor Evans quarters where they had all had blood samples taken and were waiting for the results of the doctor's examination, the had received good news when the Doctor came and told them that Dave was in fact immune to the virus, now they were all undergoing the same test. Soon enough the doctor returned to them with a beaming smile on his face, "good news folks your all immune to the green flu virus" he said smiling as they all cheered the sergeant chuckling as he watched from the door way however the good mood was shattered as a soldier hurriedly came rushing into the room, "Sergeant Marcell we have lost contact with the soldiers at the front house and several dark figures have been seen roaming around outside the main gate of Riverside" the soldier said looking worried as did the the Sergeant. "We better get back down there" he said, Whitaker then placed a hand on the soldiers shoulder causing him to turn around, "if there is danger coming to Riverside we wanna be there to help you defend it" he said Sargent Marcell smiled and nodded motioning for the survivors to follow him. The Sergeant then took on grim expression as he noticed some of the soldiers leading up to the church looked extremely worried and fearful to some degree, "whats going on soldier?" the Sergeant asked a soldier that approached from the church, "we dont know sir we haven't received any radio communication from the soldiers at the front house, none of them have come back either people are getting worried" said one of the soldiers. Sergeant Marcell looked around him and grimaced, the people were becoming concerned and worried and this was the last thing that they had wanted, "alright soldier gather some men and we will all go down there and take a look" said the Sergeant the worried looking soldier hastily nodded and turned to face the others signalling them to head back to the church towards the exit. "Alright you guys stick close we dont know what we are in for when we get out of the town" said the Sergeant and Whitaker and the others nodded as the followed the man towards the church hoping nothing bad had happened to the soldiers, Rick frowned he had a bad feeling that someone or something from the past had followed them all the way to Riverside.
...
2 soldiers walked around on patrol in a corridor in a building inside the town in Riverside, both of them turned to look outside a large window overlooking their surroundings as they continued walking along, why they were guarding the building they didn't know as it was currently empty but no one argued with Sergeant Marcell, "how much longer do we have to stay here?" the male soldier asked turning to a female soldier with long blonde hair. "I dont know but im not about to disobey a direct order from Sergeant Marcell because you got bored" she said the male soldier grunting in annoyance but then freezing when they both heard a twig snap from somewhere outside. They both looked to the window, the male soldier gasped as a flash of movement then passed his vision, "what was that!?" the female soldier asked quickly raising her rifle however her male counter part lowered the weapon raising his own, "stay here ill go outside and check it out" he said walking towards the stairs. She watched through the window before he rounded the corner and went out of sight, she then waited for 30 more seconds before she realised that something was clearly wrong as her counter part had made no noise what so ever, "Steve?" she called out through the window, she then gasped as she heard a loud floor board creak from behind her. She then slowly turned and moved back into the corridor where she was froze in horror, there standing in the corridor was a dark shadowy figure groaning as it slowly stumbled forward, "hello are you alright?" she asked concerned but she soon wished that she hadn't said a word, the figure rose its head to reveal deep crimson eyes and then shrieked like a banshee before it began to charge towards her. She cried out before raising her rifle and firing the attacked fell to the ground and never moved again as a pool of blood formed underneath him, the woman then raised her weapon again as another figure appeared at the stairs... followed by another...and another...and another. All of the figures rose their heads to the woman who could only stare in horror it was then that she recognised the front figure as her partner, but now he had corpse grey skin and deep crimson eyes and barely any clothes on, "S-Steve..." she called out however the figure only screamed back as it and the others began to run forwards quickly closing the distance.
The woman cried out before she quickly dove back into the room she had been in closing the door behind her and locking it as many loud began to occur on the door, she backed away in terror before reaching for a radio in her pocket and turning it to the right wavelength, "Attention to anyone who can hear this, there are infected inside Riverside i repeat there are infected inside Riverside" she cried out before putting the radio down and raising her weapon tears appearing in her eyes are cracks began to appear in the door. "You know there is really nothing you can do you know" came a voice from behind and she began to shake as she slowly turned around to come face to face with 2 hunters sitting on the bed to her right, the female hunter smiled savagely and quickly shot up as the woman raised her weapon and swatted it from her hands into the waiting arms of the male hunter, who was now wearing her former partners uniform. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" the woman asked shaking heavily as the female hunter gently brushed a hand through her hair fondling with it as the woman watched her terrified, "our identity is of now matter to you" said the male hunter rising from the bed and testing the weight of the weapon he now held in his hands. "As for what we are doing here, we are putting an end to you and your fellow survivors salvation" he said the woman gasping in horror as the female hunter continued to gently caress different parts of her body, "b-but why we aint causing you no harm!" she yelled out being held back by the smiling female hunter. "That isn't the point, the point is, is that this is our world now...and you are our greatest enemies" the male hunter stated coldly, "but dont worry, we aren't going to kill you, no we have better options for you my dear pet" the female hunter stated as she wrapped her clawed hands around the woman's neck leaning forward and pressing her lips to hers. The woman cried out through the kiss in displeasure and thrashed desperately trying to escape the horrid action she had been forced into, the hunter then pulled away and threw the woman to the ground bearing her fang like teeth in a savage grin as she did. "You can do something much better than die my dear precious little flower... you get to experience being on the winning team" the female hunter stated bearing her teeth as she began to move closer to the shivering woman lying on the floor, "n-no, no, no, no, no, NOOOOOOOOOO!" the woman begged before a horrid shriek of pain echoed off the walls of the building followed by sadistic laughter, "welcome to the horde" a quiet female voice said from a room... after several minutes the infected banging on the door stopped and began to walk away from the room as gut wrenching sobbing could now be heard from inside the room and 2 figures wearing army fatigues quietly left the room holding assault rifles as the crying began to echo off the walls of the apartment complex other than that the area was left completely silent...
...
Sergeant Marcell quietly lead the way towards the house guarding the front of Riverside as Whitaker and his team accompanied by several soldiers quietly followed, as they made the final approach to the house they immediately knew that something was very wrong, there was no sounds of the soldiers talking coming from the building what so ever and several groans could now be heard from the other side of the building... the infected were coming and there was a lot. The Sergeant approached the back door to the house and quietly and carefully turned the door knob and slowly and surely pushed the door open... he immediately wished that he hadn't though as he was greeted with the sight of 3 mutilated corpses and blood all over the walls, doors and floor. "Shit.." he managed before turning away with a look and feeling of sick about him, "you lot go and fetch a stretcher party immediately and get more men, i have a feeling we are gonna have a fight on our hands" he said calmly and the men nodded before they departed leaving the sergeant with Whitaker and his fellow survivors. They all recoiled in horror and disgust as they observed the grizzly scene that was before them, "something horrible happened here" Whitaker whispered as he walked through the house and out to the front staring into the forest that lay beyond, "be careful" Rick said coming through with the older man he had come to trust. The others all quietly and slowly followed as Whitaker's hands balled into fists around his assault rifle turning his knuckles white, "she did this" he said quietly and everyone looked at him confused for a moment before sinister laughter began to reach their ears. Everyone raised their weapons as a large shadowy figure emerged from the trees with a smaller sleeker figure with glowing red eyes sat on its shoulder smiling at them as they both came into view. "indeed Whitaker i did" Mercy said as she sat on Todd's shoulder her legs crossed and a devious smile on her face as Todd himself growled aggressively as his large red omens opened up causing everyone to step back in horror as they took in the sight of the massive behemoth that now lay before them. "It's that god damn Witch again!" Dave said stepping forward and pointing his shotgun at the figure who jumped from the hulks shoulder landing neatly on her feet and coolly walking forward, "yes it is me my dear little man, but please call me Mercy!" she said bearing her fang like teeth in a savage grin as many red eyes began to light up behind her and many angry growls and heavy breathing could now be heard, "shit!" Gary hissed.
The men at the church quickly returned with a stretcher party and more armed soldiers and quickly moved the mutilated bodies as the soldiers moved through the house and were greeted by the sight of the witch and Todd and many figures beginning to emerge from the darkness of the forest and what lied beyond, "ah more soldiers the more the merrier" Mercy said turning on her heel and walking back to Todd who growled aggressively as the men raised their weapons. "What do you want now you ugly bitch?" Jake asked aggressively as the figures began to swarm Mercy and Todd, "i want my world rid of pesky humans such as yourself" she said just as aggressive taking him back with her savage tone, "so i offer you an ultimatum, surrender and join us... or resist and die slowly and painfully" she said her face twisted into a wicked scowl as she stared at her most hated enemies.
The stretcher party quickly made their way back to the church and one of the men quickly reached for the radio station before pressing the button and talking through the mic, "to all survivors in Riverside, there is a shit ton of infected at the front gate waiting to break into the town, arm up and prepare to defend yourselves and be aware for any infected already in Riverside!" he shouted through the radio set as the survivors inside the town began to panic and gather their weapons and supplies. Sand bangs and armoured personal carriers were sent to the centre of the town and were stationed their as soldiers and survivors alike took up positions their guns pointing at the front gate, "we defend ourselves now and hold them off or we die trying" said one of the front soldiers riling up the others as they pointed their weapons at the front gate.
Back at he front house the survivors began to edge back from Mercy and her hulking pet and towards the house as one of the soldiers received a radio broadcast coming from the church, "sir the citizens of Riverside have prepared to defend the town from the incoming attack, i would suggest we retreat to the town centre and stand with them" the soldier quietly whispered and the Sergeant nodded, pulling a flash bang from his belt. He gently nudged Whitaker's shoulder and the man turned and saw the flash bang before nodding, the survivors continued backing up as Todd began to inch forward the queen as moving forward, "do you surrender or do you die?" the queen asked impatiently. "If you want us dead then you'll have to come after us!" Sergeant Marcell then threw the flash bang forward, their was a blinding flash followed by the queen screaming in pain as she covered her eyes, the other infected including Todd also seemed to become dazed as well, "come on RUN!" the Sergeant cried and all the survivors quickly ran back through the house shutting the back door behind them and breaking for the church. They made it back to the church where the bodies of the soldiers were and the church man who was now curled up in a ball inside the church safe room, "he refuses to come out, says hes too scared" said a soldier, "leave him theres nothing we can do everyone up the top and down to the street QUICK!" the Sergeant shouted. As they made their way to the main street 2 soldiers took up the 2 mini guns posted on top of the large gate leading into Riverside and began firing at many dark figures that began to charge towards the gate. "Now listen all of you, there is a shit tone of infected beyond that gate and we already have infected inside the town so either way we are screwed, but ill be damned if im gonna go down without fighting" said Sergeant Marcell, "so lets show these brainless mother fuckers that we can still hold our own when we are outnumbered" he cried out and the others all began to cheer as the 2 men on top of the minigun posts jumped back as large debris was thrown at them destroying the 2 large weapons. The large gate then began to open causing everyone to look in alarm, "who in goods name is raising that gate" the Sergeant cried out, "good luck survivors your gonna need it" came a voice from an intercom followed by devilish laughter as the gate opened to reveal many crimson omens waiting to enter the town...
End Chapter
Author's notes: well that one took longer than i though it would to do and i would also like to apologise for not uploading in a while, with that said i hope you all had a great Christmas and a wonderful new year :)
Until then thanks for reading and ill see you all in the next one Adios :)
Next chapter: The siege of Riverside