Author's notes: Nothing really to say here except here's no.51 enjoy

Chapter 51: A future for us

The large man smiled as motioned for the survivors to sit in the various seats in the room, "now you all probably wondering what is going on and what is happening here, but first of all let me just say well done on making it here, especially if you came all the way from Pennsylvania, that is one hell of a trip" he said shaking Whitakers hand with a strong smile on his face. "So what exactly going to happen to us, weve seen a lot of shit and weve seen people shooting people if your gonna line us up against the wall and shoot us for being whatever the hell carriers are just do it quick" Whitaker said, however Papa Gator merely shook his head, "My dear sir why in the past we may have shot carriers we don't do that anymore it isn't necessary and we now have a way of dealing with the carrier situation" he finished perking up their interests. "So what is going to happen to us?" Sian asked, "have any of you ever been to a place called the Florida keys, they are a small group of islands off the coast of Rayford shipping town, on one of the island a small group of carriers have settled in and made themselves at home, they recently contacted us asking for help setting up, originally we said no but then we realised that at the end of the day carriers or not they are still living human beings" he went on. "So we sent them supplies and in return they agreed to take in all carriers, they now have a good little settlement set up with running water growing plants and lots of non perishable foods, so tomorrow morning you will be sent by helicopter to your new home where you will spend the rest of your lives living in peace without causing harm to non immune survivors" he finished.

The survivors were simply speechless, despite them being led to believe that carriers would be shot on sight they now learned they still had a chance, after everything they had been through it didn't end with them being lined up against a wall and shot, it ended with them living on an island in peace with other carriers, to live a normal life in peace and quite without the fear of infection. "So wait how do we know there is no infected on the island?" Sam said causing Papa Gator to laugh, "Infected cant swim and any infected that were on the island have already been dealt with by your fellow survivors, there is nothing for you to worry about now go and get something to eat in the canteen area your probably all starving after what you've been through" he finished. Whitaker immediately stood and shook the big man's hand, "I cant thank you enough for what you have done for us we all really appreciate it" he said the, "its no problem even if there are differences between us there is no need for things to get hostile and who know maybe if doctor Keith finds a vaccine you'll all be able to come back to the main land and live with us as though nothing was ever different" he said causing smiles from everyone. "Now go you've got a big day ahead of you tomorrow and you are all probably very hungry" he said motioning with his hand for them to leave, they all got up thanking Papa Gator and the pilot of rescue 7 who was there as they all left and went back the way they came with the Sergeant.

As they passed through all the rooms they said thank you to all the scientists and soldiers who merely nodded in response, even saying goodbye to Dr Keith and Einstein who both waved the survivors off as they were escorted to the canteen area for carriers, of course as they expected they weren't allowed to mingle with the unimmune survivors through fear of spreading the virus but they expected nothing less. Once they were at a table they looked around to see that there was several other survivors around them as well all conversing in their little groups, it seemed as though they weren't going to be the only ones going to the Florida Keys in the morning, they sat around conversing discussing exactly what they thought the keys was going to be like. "So this is it huh after everything weve been through we are heading off to the Florida Keys" Sam said a beaming smile on her face as Jake was bought over to them with a bandage around his left leg the Sergeant smiling as he lead the young man over, "he's got nothing broken just a few bruises on his knee he will be good as new in no time" he said walking off as Jake collected his food and joined the others. "Well then how about that huh we started off in the middle of war torn Pennsylvania and now we are here in the deep south about to be taken off to our island paradise to live out the rest of our lives free of the infection" he said sitting with Sam who wrapped an arm around him smiling at him as she leant her head on his shoulder. "I just hope it was worth it, we lost good people getting here and 2 good friends too" Rick said quietly as Heavy patted him on the back, "wherever they are now son they are proud of how far you have come" he said quietly smiling at the younger man in the pristine suit.

...

Soon enough it was evening time and the soldiers came to escort everyone to their living quarters for the evening, they had spent the entire evening joking around and playing games, the men were escorted to one side while the women were escorted to the other, Sam smiled as she let go of Jake's hand gently kissing him on the check, "goodnight Jake" she said softly, "yeah goodnight sweetheart see ya in the morning" he said walking into the men's dorm. She and Sian both going into the girls dorm, both of them smiling at eahcother as they removed their foot ware and climbed into actual beds, "so you and Jake got the hot's for eahcother huh?" Sian said teasingly while smiling at the same time, "well I don't know yet but I guess we will soon enough" she said smiling as she pulled the warm duvet over herself, Sian doing the same as the women both quickly fell asleep with warm feelings about freedom and partially about men too. The men also quickly drifting off to sleep as they were all very happy as to the prospect of the next morning where they would be whisked off to an island paradise to spend the rest of their lives in peace away from the mainland which was full of nothing but trouble and bad memories for them...

...

The next morning wasn't like other mornings the survivors had experienced, they didn't have to get up and worry that infected were all around them, they didn't have to ration dwindling supplies of food like they usually would if they were on the search for evacuation, they didn't have to wonder if the day they were currently in was going to be their last due to the infected. They just woke up gathered their things and grouped together in the canteen for breakfast, "well this is it, a few more hours and we are off to spend the rest of our lives living in paradise" Whitaker said as the group all happily enjoyed a decent breakfast for once, "well it was about time something went our way after the numerous times we thought we had reached evac and failed" said Heavy. They all spent the morning chatting happily and eating decent food while they counted down the minutes until they would be transported to what was being called 'Bill's Island' a somewhat questionable title perhaps but not without its meaning and foundation according to Papa Gator, soon enough the sergeant they came to know and love come to greet them with a beaming smile on his face. "Alright ladies the time has come for you to get your asses off to your new home" he said, Whitaker shook the mans hand smiling, "I cant thank you enough, you've been great help" he said the sergeant simply nodded his understanding as he motioned for the group to follow him. Soon enough the group was back outside where a helicopter was waiting for them, a few guards were seen by chain link fences leading into the compound, Papa Gator was also waiting for them with a man that none of them recognised, there was also the other carriers the group had been with since they arrived already in the helicopter waiting for them.

The man was dark brown in colour and was bald, he wore a purple and yellow team jacket and had light coloured pants on he smiled as the survivors walked up to him, Papa Gator took it upon himself to introduce the survivors to the man, "this is one of the survivors we sent to Bill's Island 2 days ago, he's come back to take you all with him to the Florida Keys" he said as the man shook Whitaker's hand, "my friends call me Coach guess ya'll can do the same" he said the survivors smiling at him. "Got to meet you Coach, so we all ready to go?" Whitaker asked as everyone nodded, he then turned to Papa Gator, "listen thanks for all your help, just stay safe alright believe me its not a human friendly world out their anymore" he said seriously shaking Papa Gator's hand. "Don't worry about us, well be in constant contact with you and we promise we wont go back to the mainland unless we absolutely have to" he explained as the rest of the group including Coach all boarded the helicopter which began to turn its engines on, "good luck to ya'll stay safe now" Whitaker said waving as he boarded the helicopter. Soon enough the helicopter took off as the back compartment closed keeping the survivors inside, "alright people lets get the hell to salvation" Whitaker said as the other survivors all cheered, finally the helicopter began its journey to the Keys and in no time the mainland was replaced by sea. Whitaker took a seat next to Coach and Rick and the 3 began a conversation with each other while Heavy and Sian also talked together about lost friends and happy memories of the past, finally Sam sighed as she leaned her head on Jake's shoulder the young man putting an arm around her as she quietly drifted off to sleep on his shoulder the young man soon joining her.

...

The helicopter had been in flight for a good hour and the pilot announced they would soon be reaching their destination, "so what's this island home like its their lots of people their or is it rather quiet?" Rick asked as Coach turned to face him, "there is a good 100 plus of us, and chances are any carriers will likely be coming our way now, hell just yesterday 2 more boats arrived from the mainland and the military has promised to send all carriers to us from now on" he explained Rick delighting at the fact that they weren't a small group but a decent sized one. "Im guessing you were part of the group that made it to the bridge before us?" Whitaker asked Coach nodding, "it was a long trip but we made it the end and that's all the counts", Whitaker nodded, "so your the group that Virgil picked up before us from the plantation house" the name Virgil immediately causing Coach to perk up. "Ah Virgil bless that man's soul, is he alright?" Coach asked, "well he was when he picked us up but he went back down the sea to see if anymore survivors needed rescuing I only hope that man is alive and well, he wasn't the only survivor who helped us either" Whitaker said as he went on to explain the other people they had met on their journey. Including Gary and Dave and the Siege of Riverside where the survivors had failed to stand their ground against the Witch who would remain nameless and her horrible army of infected, Lieutenant Daniels and Crazy Pete and finally how they came to meet Virgil and their confrontation with the Angels of Death in the swamp. Coach was utterly speechless as he listened to Whitaker's story, he thought his team had been the ones to struggle and suffer but now he couldn't help but feel sorry knowing that Whitaker had lost 2 good friends getting to New Orleans, knowing that their was some kind of Super Witch out there and that an unfriendly group of survivor had killed another human being also put him off but he knew that Whitaker and his team had hearts of gold and he trusted them with his entire being.

"Well shit that quite a story you have there" it was then Coach remembered something, "hey speaking of which did you know we met another survivors called Whitaker in a gun shop in Savannah" Whitaker froze at the mention of the name, the mention of another person with his name and a gun shop caused a single tear to stroll down his face, after everything that had happened his brother was still alive and kicking. "You alright son?" Coach asked, "that man you met was my brother, im just glad he's still alive even if I didn't get on with him very well", "well shit that is something huh" Coach said patting the man on the back, "alright folks we are about to land so get yourselves ready" came the voice of the pilot. Sam and Jake awoke to see everyone looking out the windows of the back compartment of the helicopter, sure enough clear as day was a rather large island with several others in the distance, they could also see a large settlement had been set up, "well shit here we are folks the Florida Keys" Coach said addressing everyone as they stared in amazement at the amount of survivors they could see walking around. Finally the helicopter landed and the back compartment once again opened, everyone quickly left the helicopter which once it was empty began to lift off again, they waved the helicopter goodbye as it began its return to New Orleans, Coach then smiled as he turned to face all the survivors with him, "welcome to Bill's island and welcome to your new home" he said.

End Chapter

Author's notes: he we are folks the survivors have finally reached salvation, next up its time for them to meet the leader's of Bill's island with that said thanks for reading up to this point and I will see you all in the next one

Goodbye

Next Chapter: Bill's Island