. Whitaker quicAuthors notes: the story is moving along at a good pace now hopefully it stays that way in anyway here is no.49 enjoy :)

Chapter 49: The east side

The boat continued along the ocean at a decent pace, the survivors all gathered around the back of the cabin as Virgil guided the boat down stream, "alright we are approaching the east side port now so get yourselves ready I don't know how many infected stand between you and that bridge but its gonna be a lot" Virgil said as the survivors were busy ensuring they had all the supplies they needed while several members of the group were cleaning out their weapons. "This is it people, once we get to this bridge we contact the military and we get the hell out of here" Whitaker said with renewed confidence, Rick however wasn't so sure about this, all throughout their journey they had gotten several hints that things weren't quite right, dead bodies with bullet holes something about people being carriers, was going to the military really the best option? He simply sighed and continued cleaning out and checking over his ak47, "hey Virgil you sure you don't wanna come with us?" Jake asked but the man driving the boat merely put a hand up as a sign of decline, "I appreciate the offer but I know there is more survivors out there that could do with my help just like the group that came before you and just like yourselves" he said the group nodding their understanding at the man's reason. Sam thought about all the nice people they had met along the way here, the chopper pilot from Fairfield central, Heavy, Gary and Dave, the shadow man from the draw bridge, Sergeant Marcel and the survivors from Riverside, Lieutenant Daniels and his 2 comrades and crazy Pete and now Virgil, she smiled as she thought of the good memories she had with these people some of which had sadly fallen in the battle against the green flu. "Here we are folks this is as far as Virgil goes but ya'll can make it to the bridge from here" he said shaking Whitakers hand and smiling at his fellow survivors, "thanks for everything you've done Virgil you stay safe now" Heavy said shaking the man's hand, "im gonna go back down river and see if I can find some more folks" he finished as the survivors got off at the dock waving goodbye to Virgil as his boat pulled away and began to head back down the way they had come from.

The survivors all looked around at the area that they were now in, they were standing on a dock just off the from the rest of the land, a pier lead up to the mainland where several common infected had already been spotted, Sian fortunately found a baseball bat lying neglected on a wooden bench, as well as another first aid kit that they knew would come in handy. She picked up the bat testing its weight in her hands with a few swings before deciding it was a good choice to preserve ammo, Heavy now had his shotgun equipped and his beloved minigun strapped to his back in an effort to conserve its ammo, Sam also had her Katana equipped in a firm grip her sniper rifle slung over her back, Jake using his 2 SIG SACUERS for the time being while Whitaker choose to keep out his M4A1 in case they needed a burst of automatic gunfire to keep a horde at bay. "Alright lets get moving the bridge is that way" Whitaker said pointing to their right, the group then began to head out dispatching of the various common infected in the area as they slowly progressed down the street riddled with broken buildings and abandoned cars, the road seemed like it was going to go on for a long time, but the group had one major advantage to help them get their. Next to them on the left was a freeway slightly elevated from the ground they stood on, "im guessing this freeway hooks up with the bridge in some way shape or form" Rick said as Whitaker nodded thoughtfully agreeing with the man's judgement, "seems like a good shout, if we follow this freeway we should get to the bridge in no time at all" he said continuing to walk down the street weaving in between the cars that littered the road. The group pushed on killing anything unhuman in their path as they slowly but steadily navigated down the street making sure they were walking parallel to the freeway, it was then that they came to the end of the street they were on, "looks like we all need to climb over this fence to keep following the freeway" Jake said pointing at a chain link fence that blocked the way forward.

Once they were over the fence they continued on pressing ahead as quickly and safely as they could, then in front of them was what looked like a security checkpoint for the military, a large barricade stood above them with mounted miniguns on the top on each side and barbed wire across the top, "how the hell are we gonna get passed this?" Rick asked as Whitaker looked for a way around. "Maybe if we go into this tower like building on the left we could get around maybe even get onto the freeway" Sian said pointing directly at the building in question that was as tall as the freeway itself, "hell yes the girls got the right idea, come on this way" Whitaker said walking over to the door that lead into the building closing it once his colleagues were all inside. "Up the stairs" Sam said leading with Sian up the stairs which consisted of several flights of stairs going up to the very top of the apartment building various doors leading into the apartments all around them, no one wanted to go in and see what horrors lied behind the doors and this they kept moving steadily. Somewhere inside the building groans and pattering of feet could be heard from nearby, everyone tensed up as they continued to ascend the stairs not knowing who or what was out there, finally however they reached the top floor and looked all around for a way through, "look a service door leading to stairs that give access to the roof" said Jake as he used his crowbar to pry the locked door open before leading everyone through once again placing the blunt object on his back. Sure enough they were on the roof of the building that they now resided in, Whitaker walked over to the edge and looked to see they were just a few feet above the freeway, "looks like if we jump we could make it onto the freeway" he said causing everyone to look at him in shock, "are we sure that's the best idea?" Jake asked the older man nodding his certainty to the idea. It was quite a slow process but sure enough within a few minutes everyone was safely onto the freeway and they looked ahead to see that in the distance mostly obscure by the setting sun was the bridge in question, "this is it people we stay on this road and we get our asses to that bridge" Whitaker said pushing forward the others following closely behind.

...

"Get your asses in this chopper right now!" Coach screamed over the roaring of the helicopter blades and gunfire of his colleagues, finally Nick ran into the back of the helicopter, and the back doors closed, "hang tight folks we'll be safe in no time" came a voice through the intercom as the helicopter began to take off, "rescue 7 to papa gator all lambs are extracted you are clear to begin buzzard run over" came the voice of the chopper pilot through the intercom. "Affirmative rescue 7 beginning buzzard run now over" Papa Gator said back, Ellis looked out the window as the middle of the bridge they had just crossed went up in a blaze of glory as 2 jets dropped bombs on it, the infected on the bridge screamed as they were utterly annihilated. Ellis then cheered as he sat back in his seat his 3 friends all sighing deeply as they sat in their chairs, "I cant believe it we actually made it to the military" he said excited at finally being rescued by the people in question, "settle down son its all over now" said Coach as Nick and Rochelle conversed amongst themselves. The helicopter flow off away from the scene of the destroyed bridge as what was left of the military abandoned the bridge site deeming the city of New Orleans uninhabited by humans, the jets then began to drop bombs all over the west side of the city blasting any infected still in the city to kingdom come, "Papa Gator on the way back to base now request info on what to do with passengers over?" The pilot asked as Papa Gator quickly responded, "you are to bring them here to me for briefing on what will happen next and then return to your station to await refuelling and resupplying over" he said the pilot quickly accepting his instructions as the helicopter continued to fly towards home base, "affirmative Papa Gator will co roger and out" he finished.

...

The survivors all looked up as the bridge lit up like the fourth of July, "holy shit they just bombed the bridge, that means the military is still over there!" Jake cried in excitement, "well ill be damned looks like we might get through this shit after all" Whitaker said ushering everyone forward quickly as the survivors now had renewed hope of getting out of the infected torn streets. The group pushed on navigating around abandoned cars that were most likely littered with dead bodies no one wished to discover, any common infected along the way were dispatched with ease by melee or short burst of firearms, surprisingly no special infected had been encountered since their engagement with the tank back at the plantation house, they took this as a good sign. The abandoned cars seemed to be endless but they supposed that was normal in the world that they now lived in, the only thing on anyone's mind was getting to the bridge, they just had to after all they had been through and all they had encountered and lost, they had to make it for the people that gave their lives to help them. The sound of pitiful sobbing soon broke everyone from their hopeful trance and once again and impending sense of despair was put on everyone shoulder like a crushing weight, "shit where the hell is she?" Rick asked seeing no sign of the offender of the crying, "is she standing or is she sitting?" Sian asked, "everyone be careful walked slowly and follow me" Whitaker said quietly everyone following the older man as he slowly lead the way forward. The sobbing slowly grew louder and Whitaker quickly threw a hand up motioning for everyone to stop as the witch finally came slowly walking into view, "shit shes right in the way" Jake said quietly Whitaker debating on what to do next, "lets cross to the other side of the freeway and see if we can sneak around her" he said as they climbed over the central reservation and slowly tip toed past the sobbing infected. Thankfully she didn't seem to noticed and once they were safely passed her they all breathed a collective sigh and pressed on leaving the sobbing witch to her own demises, "I really do hate these creepy ass snow white bitches" Jake said quietly causing a few chuckles and nods of agreement from his colleagues.

...

The last 30 minutes of walking had been a right pain in the backside for the survivors as the sun was now beginning to set in the sky, all of the survivors were quietly cursing themselves up a storm as their feet were aching from the constant non stop walking, "I know we wanna get to that bridge as soon as possible but we need to find somewhere to rest in a moment, as well as somewhere to rest for the night" Jake said from the front everyone agreeing with him. "We need to get off this freeway soon in anyway it doesn't hook up with the bridge directly but puts us about 5 miles from it" Whitaker explained, "I think once we get off the freeway we should try and find a safehouse or a building that we can fortify to hole up on" Rick said. The bridge itself now looked much larger as they slowly but surely moved closer and closer to it, they journey took an unexpected halt however when a large group of commons were spotted up ahead on both sides of the freeway, "well shit looks like we have to take em down if we wanna press onward" Heavy muttered quietly before raising his shotgun and firing at the nearest infected dropping it. Soon enough the rest of them caught the scent of the 'non infected' and screamed in fury as the charged forward murder on their botched minds, the survivors raised their weapons and opened fire, for a large group it didn't take long before the last infected fell with a pathetic whine. Without another word being spoken the group pressed on, the crossed over the scene of grizzly but necessary murder and pushed forward, they weren't going to let anything or anyone stop them now, they were closer then they had ever been to getting to evacuation they had to make it now no matter what. The sun was now getting lower and lower as the darkness of night time was beginning to swallow the sky, "our journey on this freeway ends at the next junction then we have to get to the east end of the bridge on foot" Whitaker explained as they continued walking along, he wasn't incorrect either as at the next junction they came to the sign for the bridge pointed off of the freeway and down into the city below. They swiftly made their exit from the freeway and walked through the intersection of the turnoff before turning left down a road that was signposted for the bridge any infected being dealt with swiftly and mercilessly, "this is it people less then 5 miles and we are at the bridge" Whitaker said with much more confidence in his voice then he had ever had before now.

Soon enough the sun had set and darkness plagued the sky engulfing them in its feeling of terror, now they were at the mercy of the infected left in the city, so far there was no sign of any infected in the immediate area, but the survivors knew better than to give in easily to the hope of their being no more infected in their path, they knew they were out there somewhere waiting like vultures for the perfect moment to strike. "Their should be abuilding we can hole up in for the night up ahead, ive been looking at the map of this city and there a building marked on here with military activity" Whitaker said quietly as they slowly pushed forward all of them checking all angles around them for any signs of their enemy. "Hey is that your building their?" Sian asked pointing at a tall building on the left, it was 3 stories tall and had boarded up windows across every available window, as well as this the front of the building was littered with barbed wire preventing infected from easily accessing the place but making it so that survivors could get in providing their carefully climbed across the razor wire. They were careful to climb over the wire and immediately made for the stairs, climbing up both stories and entering a conveniently placed saferoom that lead to the roof, they closed the door once they were inside and immediately layed down on the floor, "well shit less then 5 miles to go until we get to that bridge and all we have to do is what till morning" said Sam smiling at everyone. "Alright you lot get some rest im gonna have a look around for anymore supplies and then take the watch, as soon as the sun rises in the morning we get our asses off and find this bridge" Whitaker said his tone suggesting he rather excited but none the less the other agreed with the leader of the group. Once everyone was asleep Whitaker took to looking around the safe room walls at the messages written by other survivors, he found some useful information including that 1 mile form the bridge was a active radio set that allowed contact with the military and that within a mile of the bridge was a straight road that led directly to it. Whitaker then climbed up to the roof and looked at the large object in the distance that burned furiously in the middle, he smiled gently as he tuned back to look at his sleeping colleagues, he was going to get them all safe if it was the last thing he did, "tomorrow baby, we are out of this shit hole" he said quietly returning downstairs.

...

The next morning came quick and Whitaker wasted no time waking everyone up, "alright ladies its time to get up and get moving we have a big day ahead of us, filled with fighting the infected shit bags one last time and then getting our asses off to evac and then getting a little piece of paradise" he said rather happily as everyone gently arose from their places. Sam smiled at the older man as everyone began to dig through their bags pulling out food to eat for the morning, however the group was now running quite low on supplies of food, thankfully their ammo supply was still pretty decent, "so this is it huh?" Sian said everyone looking at her smiling as they all realised that this was it, once they got to the bridge they only needed to contact the military and that was it freedom was finally theirs. "Once we get within a mile to the bridge its a straight path along a long road and then we are at the bridge, there is also a radio set near a military checkpoint there we can contact them with as well" Whitaker explained everyone delighting at the news, "then what are we waiting for lets go" Rick said walking over to the safe room door and slowly pushing it open. The group quickly vacated the safe room and went back downstairs, luckily there was no infected outside the building and the group simply turned left and pressed on towards the bridge which was now visible in the distance the fires created by the bombs had now brunt themselves out. Soon enough infected began to appear more frequently but the survivors didn't let that stop them they were going to reach the bridge and no amount of infected was going to get in the way of that, blasting them all to shreds with their most powerful weapons in tow, the group rallied forward not allowing any infected to slow them down. A sign appeared for the bridge its message clearly stating they were 3 miles away, the continued to charge forward the infected racing after them but merely being dealt with swiftly and coldly, a smoker and hunter both appeared and within second both ceased to exist, "alright people your doing good now lets keep at them" Whitaker said keeping the morale high as they turned into another street with signs towards the bridge.

The group moved forward with increase intensity as they moved closer and closer to the bridge not stopping for even a charger that came rampaging through only to be blasted to bits by heavies trusty minigun, soon enough another sign appeared 2 miles to go, the bridge now looking closer then ever and very much directly in their path as they pushed on moving faster and faster power walking their way through the infected horde. Sam gritted her teeth as she slashed away at any infected that came too closer for comfort with her katana as she powered her way through the infected menace, "there it is the military checkpoint!" Heavy said pointing forward at 2 large gates that took up a large portion of the road each, a broken down barricade in the middle and sure enough right their in the middle was a radio set on a table currently producing static. Whitaker quickly run up to the set and slammed his finger down on the button before talking into the intercom, "hello, hello, this is a group of survivors form the military checkpoint can anyone here me over?", their hope were all lifted when a voice quickly came through in response, "what the that's coming from one of the checkpoints close to the bridge, Papa Gator weve got some more survivors!" came the voice before another took over. "Hello who am I addressing over" the voice of Papa Gator asked, "hello there my name is Whitaker and I am here with 5 other survivors requesting evac from a checkpoint 1 and a half miles away from the east end of the bridge over" he said, "bridge are you immune?" Papa gator asked. "Hell yeah we have come all the way here from Fairfield Pensilvania and I can assure you sir that we are immune as shit" he said, their was a moment of silence before the voice spoke again, "Whitaker you need to get to the east end of the bridge, rescue 7 is there doing recon for anymore survivors get to the bridge and they will bring you here to me, they leave in 10 minutes so get your asses moving, god be with you" Papa gator said singing off.

The survivors all looked ahead the bridge that looked so close but soo far as suddenly an angry chorus of growls and screams broke out all around them, the infected were coming and there was a lot of them, "alright people this is it, we get our asses through their checkpoint and up this road and then we are at the bridge, we have a helicopter waiting for us" Whitaker said turning to look at the path ahead as the infected began to emerge from behind them. "This is the last mile" he finished raising his rifle as he began to run past the checkpoint the others flowing as the infected gave chase, the survivors ran and ran as the infected came following them, but they couldn't stop now, this was the final hurdle and they were gonna cross the finish line.

End Chapter

Well this section of the story has come quicker then expected but im happy to say in proud of what I have written so far and I can only hope you are as well, with that said thanks for reading and I will see you all in the next one.

Goodbye

Next Chapter: the last mile