The small group crossed a street alert and wary of what could jump them. Whenever. Anywhere.
The sun's rays shined over what was left of Fairfield. Crows cawed to one another as they descended in pairs or soared in circles. Francis glanced at the Birds, some were now making a meal out of a mutilated corpse. They plucked its cold, dead eyes out from their sockets and poked around at the exposed organs before swallowing pieces of rotten meat greedily.
"So we're just going to walk up on whoever we heard?" He judged looking away.
"They're survivors. We could work together if they cooperate." Louis said.
"What if they don't want to? Who's saying they're 'friendly?' Have any of ya seen The Walking Dead? We're kinda-"
"That was the only gunfire we've heard in days." Zoey reminded. "Who's saying they aren't? We could probably get rescued."
"You should know this Zoey you said you watched a lot of horror movies. Most of the time this doesn't end well. Investigating leads to disaster, disaster usually leads to death. I rather fight more vampires than be held at gunpoint."
Bill shook his head. "I swear to God he's a child trapped in a man's body. And for what's probably the hundredth time, they ain't vampires. You're what, thirty-five years old and you still can't tell the differences between zombies and vampires?" Louis and Zoey giggled lightly as Francis shot him a look.
"Well I haven't seen them eat people either," he retorted. His stomach growled again. "...I'm still hungry."
Soon an apple was chucked at his face.
He bit into it while giving Louis a thumbs up when Bill suddenly paused. He watched as fresh blood slowly flowed all over the sidewalk from around the block. The other three leaned aside in unison to see what stopped him. Francis chewed intensely. Upon seeing the crimson liquid, he and Louis gazed at one another. "Told you," Francis pointed with his mouth full, "death."
The sound of buzzing flies met their ears as Bill quietly inched forward with Zoey close behind. He peeked around the corner, the buzzing grew louder. And he uttered a groan.
Zoey quickly moved ahead and stopped in surprise. "Holy shit."
Louis was next to look and immediately turned away, face contorting like he was about to vomit. Francis stepped up next to them to see what it was.
Bodies. Awfully torn apart and shot up bodies of once prowling special infected among commons. From what could be made out. One was a Hunter, its throat was slashed so wide open it was almost decapitated. Its windpipe exposed. A metal pipe stuck out of its stomach, staining its tattered white hoodie with dark blood. Another was a Smoker. Fluid and more blood widely stained the brick wall it slouched against with a stain streaking above. Littered with bullet holes. Two more looked like a Boomer and a small impish infected that wore a torn grey tank top and dirty tan shorts. Its hunched back exposed a severed spine, large puncture holes stabbing through its ribs; half of its face was missing. Revealing its jawbone. The arms were long, its large hands had crooked, broken fingers. The infected's still, opened eyes looked crazed. Vomit, intestines and brain matter splayed across the ground and onto nearby vehicles as the common infected seemed to have been at the mercy of a chainsaw. Their torsos and stomachs slashed open, limbs violently dismembered; leaving broken, splintered bones and muscles poking out of the wounds. Many laid in a pile where the mass of blood had come from.
"Good God. " Francis muttered, turning to Louis. "Still think they're friendly?" He tossed the apple core aside.
Louis gave him the eye, "they were defending themselves. They weren't killing people."
Zoey shield her nose and gazed at Bill who looked the gory sight over. "...Let's get going. They may have been defending themselves but as Francis said they probably ain't friendly." He finally said.
Francis glowered, although was glad the old man agreed. Louis nodded and coughed at the morbid smell. The biker lingered in the back with his gun ready. As he observed the slaughtered infected taking some steps, he made a double look when something on the messy ground caught his attention.
Francis knelt down on one knee to it up. Finding it was a piece of clothing. It had been torn off a little above the cuff from a multiple dark and pastel colored flannel, the buttons still intact and stained with small amounts of blood. Upon further inspection when he turned it over in his hand, his breath caught in his chest and he felt his heart skip a beat when he saw an old, white acrylic paint stain the size of a golf ball on the fabric.
'No way…'
A door flew open as he yelled. Startling a girl to jump and whirl around. Sending a small tray of white paint on the floor from a desk. Some splattered onto her and Francis laughed in amusement from his success in scaring her. She hollered and threw some paint brushes at him, dotting his hoodie with different colors.
Francis stared at the fabric and grazed his thumb over the hard paint surface. This couldn't be real. This was just a coincidence. It had to be a coincidence...
"Yo, tough guy get your ass moving!" Louis called. They were about fifty feet away. They waited, but he didn't move like he didn't hear him.
"Now what's his problem?" Bill asked, voice thick with annoyance. "...I don't know." Zoey replied after some seconds, not taking her green orbs off the biker. She walked over to him.
"You ok?" She asked. She was surprised to see him jump, seemingly out of his thoughts. Francis looked up at her, and Zoey was further surprised seeing stress etched in his face. Distraught filling those brown eyes of his.
"What's wrong?!" The alarmed college student spread her arms out to the sides as he leapt to his feet. "Will you talk to me-what's that?"
"Something's up." Louis confirmed as he and Bill watched the two. Both men jogged over, "we cannot stay out in the open like this!" Bill harshly reminded once they reached them, earning the large man's attention. He took a second to collect himself, inhaling shakily while doing so. He looked down at the fabric and everyone followed his eyes.
"You're freaking out over a piece of clothing?" Louis criticized.
"Bill, guys, this is...gonna sound fucking crazy-"
Francis was once again interrupted when the sound of a truck engine alerted them all. At once, the four looked in the direction it was coming from. It was drawing closer.
"Aw shit…" Louis muttered.
"Assemble inside and stay low!"
Bill, Zoey and Louis hurried for a clothing store. However Francis stood his ground as he continued looking in the direction the rumbling came. He tucked the fabric into his pocket. "Francis, come on!" Louis cried when he pointed his shotgun forward. "Hold on!"
"Don't be stupid they could just run you down!" Zoey said as they all watched him anxiously.
Francis stared forward for some seconds, before glancing between the three and ahead of himself. He lowered his gun and jogged to what was closest to him. Jumping through the red-stained window frame to a drug store and dove around a corner. He carefully peered back to see outside.
A large black Chevy Silverado rumbled by. It looked heavily smeared in blood. Francis narrowed his eyes. The windows were dark, he wasn't able to tell who could be inside.
From the clothing store, Louis, Bill and Zoey huddled close to one another hidden within clothing racks. Listening and watching stressfully as the truck carelessly rolled over bodies before disappearing. "Did anyone see who it could be?" Louis quietly asked.
"No, the windows are too dark."
The engine shut off. They could hear passengers clambering out which grabbed the attention of a single infected. Francis watched as it charged around the corner, heaving and snarling as it went. Almost immediately, the sound of a blade slashed through it with a sickening squelching noise. The body dropped back into view revealing its head was now gone. It was yanked back out of sight, followed by a young male voice.
"Tell me again why you like to frisk these things?"
"They could have something useful." Came another slightly deeper voice.
"Alright, circling back around is wasting time. Let's make a quick sweep and get the hell outta here." A female directed.
Footsteps sounded, from what Bill could guess there were maybe five to six people. He strained his hearing as the footsteps, chattering and light laughter went in different directions. "They sound really young...like, Zoey young." Louis observed, looking at the veteran.
"I heard."
"So maybe…"
"Young or not Louis, you can't trust anyone."
Louis' shoulders drooped but then he softly gasped. "Zoey you ain't the only girl left after all!" He whispered.
"Shh, I think some of them are coming this way." Zoey whispered back completely dismissing the news. The trio ducked down into the shadows of the clothes. In between the rows, four silhouettes swiftly made their way inside. All appeared almost the same height, three were feminine. Three of them had a smaller body structure while The man was a bit taller and had a medium-toned build. Not too muscular, but toned. They ventured further into the dark store. Bill quietly gestured at his comrades to back away and follow him.
"I hate dresses." Said another female.
"What don't you hate?" The male snorted.
"Hoodies, I don't hate hoodies."
Louis and Zoey looked at one another, "is that a female Francis?" Louis joked in a hushed tone, she nodded mid-sentence. Eyebrows raised.
"Quiet…" Bill said softly. The sound of a large gun cocking met their ears. The three of them froze, Zoey was the first to carefully peer over the clothing racks, just in time to see two of the strangers. Both were girls. One wearing a black hoodie with a black and white celtic knot on the backside. From what she could tell, the girl had shoulder length medium dark brown hair. She Kicked items in her way while the other walked beside her. Medium length blonde-brown hair under a beanie hat and carrying a bag slung over her red-grey jacket. Zoey ducked back down when they neared.
They listened as the strangers rummaged and made a mess of things while quietly trying to sneak by. There was an occasional "ooh! I like this," or a "yeah no, I'll pass."
A shadow strolled by the rack the three were hiding in. As they passed, the tip of a dangerous-looking blade dragged through the clothing.
Louis visibly looked more concerned than before. Maybe they weren't friendly. Without Francis on standby they could probably be slaughtered in an instant. He could see the other two, the third female and male talking about something. He chuckled at the girl's comment. She appeared to be wearing dark rimmed glasses with dirty-blonde, medium length silky hair while the man had short dark brown hair and freckles dotting some parts of his neck. He had a colored tattoo of vines and a Spider web running from his right mid upper arm to his mid lower arm. As Louis moved along, he wasn't paying attention and his shoulder bumped into one of the emptier racks. He flinched badly and tried to grab it, but made things worse. The analyst actually punches it and sends the thing noisily toppling over with Bill turning around in alarm. Zoey leaped onto his back from her crouched position reaching for it, however it crashed to the ground.
Both of the stranger's heads whipped in the direction, and Bill hastily motioned for them to move away while the strangers walked out of sight.
"Hey what the shit was that?" One of the girls from the back called. "I don't know. Could be a Hunter, find it and kill it." Replied the man.
...
Francis listened carefully hidden behind a wall. He heard the other two strangers come in, unsure where they went. Although they didn't sound dangerous, he knew better. Looks are deceiving. The biker peered around the corner as the lights continued to flicker like they had when he took cover. "Let's go see what we can find for drinks, I'm getting pretty damn thirsty." A man suggested.
"I could go for some blue voltage right now." A woman moaned.
"If I knew where to find a whole shit ton of it, I'd get it to you."
"For Beth too. She would beat our asses if we didn't give her any."
Francis froze at that name while they conversed. His eyes widening slightly. It felt as if a ton of bricks was dropped on him.
Beth?
"Yeah you're right. If there's one thing scarier than these infected, it's Bethany without her voltage. Hey let's get some cold ones while we're at it!"
"There isn't any alcohol in a drug store."
"I know but somewhere."
The girl laughed as Francis grew lost in thought. He could now hear the pair going through stuff, but he wasn't concerned anymore. He mouthed the name, and then his hand was in his pocket. Fidgeting with the fabric nervously. He pulled it out and Francis felt nausea in his stomach from looking at it.
It...had to be a different Bethany. It had to be. She was somewhere safe. Both of them were somewhere safe…
He wanted to keep believing that.
He wanted to so badly believe they were not dead somewhere. Or infected. Or left behind like he had been.
But this piece of fabric betrayed his prayers.
As Francis stared down at it, from behind him another door slowly opened. Francis snapped back to reality when he heard a deep, vicious snarl. Francis whipped around, and came face to face with a large crouching Hunter. It looked about his size. He quickly went to pull his machete out but it was too quick. With a shriek, the infected lunged forward quicker than he could process and tackled the survivor. The machete fell from his hand; Francis shouted as his shoulder blades slammed into a fire alarm. The loud piercing beeping ripped through the air as Francis fell. Stunned, he grunted and rubbed a throbbing sensation in his back until the Hunter growled once more. He looked up in time to see it lunging at him. It dug into his biceps while trying to reach for his chest and neck. Francis reared a fist back and gave it a rough punch in the face, snapping its head to the side. It glared at him baring yellow and red stained teeth. Saliva dribbling down its chin, until it swung its hands in a blinding fury. Francis struggled to keep from getting slashed, pushing and kicking when a wrist connected with his hand. Shaking the surprise away, he quickly jerked the other towards him to snatch as well, and held them back while trying to knee it in the stomach.
"What the fuck happened?!" Screamed the woman's panicked voice.
Torrents of wails filled the emptiness outside. Increasing in volume the faster they came.
...
"Who the fuck sent off the fire alarm over there?! IAN!" Shouted one of the girls angrily. Alarmed Bill, Louis and Zoey all leaped up from they were hiding. Startling the strangers to look at them all at once.
"Hey there!" Louis happily waved.
The beanie hat survivor quickly pulled out a pistol and fired some rounds at the approaching sick. The others did the same, pulling out weapons and started to either blast away or slash into them with whatever they carried. Infected tripped over each other or objects as they scrambled in a frenzied fashion to get in, gouging themselves open on glass while doing so and crashing through untouched windows. Blood splattered on the floor from their wounds. They kept coming. Clawing, grabbing, lashing and shrieking at the air rabidly. Zoey and Bill were back to back shooting down what came at them, including infected children. Their small bodies were blown back and slammed into shelves, trampled by others when they hit the floor.
The man cut down those who got too close and whirled around right in time as another lunged at him from behind. Only to have its skull cracked open by a quick and powerful swing of Louis' baseball bat.
"I've got your back!" The analyst yelled.
"Someone needs to turn that Goddamn thing off!" One of the girls yelled.
Bill kicked back an infected and held it down with his boot before blowing its face off. Teeth gritted he looked up and gasped when a Smoker came in view from outside. "Get outta the way!" He yelled at the girl in glasses. She didn't hear him. The Smoker screeched and shot its long, slimy tongue out to wrap around her waist. She cried out when it yanked her back, so Zoey raced forward and slashed the appendage in half. Clearish green fluid and blood squirted from the appendage. The Smoker screeched in agony as the beanie hat girl cracked one side of her neck and sent a bullet between its eyes. The body collapsed in a heap of smoke as brain matter sprayed on nearby commons.
The black hoodie girl chucked a large knife of some sort into another's face. She swiftly raced by it as it fell, swung again to slash an infected's throat open, then quickly sheathed it to pull out an AK-47. She sprayed furious bullets into more of them while Zoey ran side-by-side with the girl she just saved. Panting as they went, together they stabbed, slashed and gunned down their attackers.
"Heads up! Boomer!" The man hollered. The sight of a large and fat gurgling infected appeared in everyone's view and was trying to make its way inside. Almost falling through the window frame from being pushed around. "Everyone get back!" Bill ordered. He raised his M16 assault rifle once the others did so and shot a couple quick rounds. One in the face, the other in the stomach, resulting its body exploding in a mass of gore. Splashing the outside of the store in crimson. Other infected stumbled away as the bottom half of the Boomer staggered backwards and fell into the streets, where remaining intestines spewed out.
Bill pulled out his own large knife and began cutting away with the man and girl in glasses doing the same. Fluids stained everyone's skin and clothes as more of it, limbs, gore, flesh and guts splattered in all directions; objects in the store were tossed and bashed around or used as makeshift weapons during the battle.
"Where in the holy hell is Francis?!" Louis screamed over the inhuman roaring. He yelled again and kicked away a sick woman before stabbing her straight through the heart with a large piece of glass, then quickly shot the others behind her one by one. He looked over just in time to see the girl in the beanie hat pull something out from her bag and switched it on.
"Bombs away!" She hollered, and tossed the beeping white object outside. Many of the infected raced after to beat on it and each other until the noise increased and exploded. It tore the commons apart and decorated everything close in sloppy chunks of flesh.
The girl in glasses decapitated and killed off infected that didn't run for the explosive. "You'd hope those pipe bombs would kill them all off!" The man yelled, shooting others over his friend.
More of them ran around the block with the fire alarm piercing the air, as a small horde made way for the drug store.
...
"God fucking damn it!" Francis yelled in rage.
Its strength felt equal with his. It screamed in his face, gnashed its teeth rapidly at him; violently clawing. His blood flicked in the air in specks that dot the floor and objects until Francis was able to punch it in the face again. The bodies of charging infected dropped dead in front as they brawled, their blood also splashing onto the floor. The two rolled and crashed against shelves before the Hunter swung a hand up and caught Francis across his chest. With a yell he pushed himself away and kicked when it immediately jumped at him again. The shrilling fire alarm, the screams of oncoming infected and gunfire from behind deafened his ears. He kicked it underneath the jaw, sending its head upwards and biting its tongue so hard it bit the tip off.
The Hunter squealed in pain recoiling in a daze. However, it only took a second for it to snap out of it when the special tried to grab Francis again. Earning a retaliated head bash from its target.
The Hunter's head whipped back once more. The hood to its brown dirty hoodie slid off and revealing grey-white, blistered cut up skin. Its dirty matted brown hair looked it was violently ripped out of its head in bloodied clumps. Slowly, the special glared at him. Francis ignored the throbbing in his own head and looked into its sick, disturbing eyes. Black and dark red eyes filled with an animalistic hatred he couldn't understand. It made him pause what he was doing, when another gunshot rang through the air. A bullet dug straight into the Hunter's forehead.
Francis spun around where he sat to see the two strangers. A girl holding a VZ-58 rifle stared with a cold look at the Hunter. Her partner rushed to her as Francis scrambled to organize himself. "Hey, thanks." He said, reaching for both of his weapons discarded from the fight.
"You're welcome!"
Francis quickly rose to his feet, and they both watched in shock as he towered over them to where they almost had to crane their necks. "Good Lord he's enormous!" The smaller man cried.
Francis' eyebrow twitched, "excuse you?"
"No time!" The girl reminded as the infected continued to pour in. All three backed away continuing to fire into the horde until Francis remembered. He raced for the fire alarm and switched it off, then punched a lunging common away to shoot a hole in its chest. A loud, freakish cackling was then heard from somewhere outside, but the smaller man quickly took care of the second impish infected Francis had seen when it threw itself in the store. He held an arm out in front of the girl before taking her hand, holding his M16A4 in the other with a look of seriousness on his face. "Hey, let's go!" He yelled, leading the way while Francis and the girl killed off a couple more from either side of them.
The trio jumped out of the store and began to shoot after the rest of the horde. Francis frantically looked around for his group, seeing more of the infected racing for the clothing shop.
...
"I've had enough of this horseshit," the black hoodie girl grumbled.
Quickly, she grabbed a bottle with a rag hanging out of the top from one of her members at the same time Bill lit a cigarette. She held the bottle out to him. "May I?"
"You may." Bill lit the rag which only took a few seconds to burst into flames. She chucked it at the horde and once breaking against the gored road, engulfed everything in fire. The infected caught in the growing flames wailed and cried in agony as their skin started to burn off their bones. They staggered around wildly trying to distinguish the flames, a few even kept running at the survivors. Though it didn't take long for them to collapse. Some crawled weakly across the ground shrieking until eventually, they laid still.
Finally, everything started to quiet down. The air now reeked of gore, burned flesh and hair. The fire steadily extinguished by wet patches on the ground and snow falling from above. Leaving sizzling embers, and charred marks on wood.
All the survivors in the store stood or sat where they were panting heavily, observing the carnage leading outdoors.
Louis heaved a breath as he sat resting against a wall. "Haha...hahaha! Yeah!-"
He stopped when the barrel of a gun was pointed down at him. Frightened, Louis looked at it then up at the owner. The girl in glasses. She watched him silently. A part of her sleeve of her flannel was torn off with dots of white paint speckling the fabric.
"Get up."
Louis obliged immediately. Holding his hands halfway to show they meant no harm.
"Great way to say thanks for working together," Bill sneered as Zoey looked on, holding her own gun up to defend her friend. He looked over at the black hoodie girl. She was nowhere in sight.
"Whoa hey, I think they're alright." The man next to her said gently.
"How do we know they are?"
The beanie hat one looked between everybody as Francis and two more headed towards the windows. Louis carefully shooed Zoey to put her weapon down. She hesitantly obeyed.
"I-it's ok…" he started, trying to keep calm. "We're good people. M-my name is Louis." The girl before him watched his every move as he gestured to his partners. "This is Zoey and Bill. We have another, but he's somewhere outside."
They all remained quiet until the man gently pushed the barrel down, telling her it was alright. She retracted and took a step back as he took over. "Name's Jordan."
He looked at the girl who held Louis at gunpoint. "This is Bethany." He gestured to the beanie hat girl, "Keirstan."
Francis made it inside with the two strangers and observed his surroundings.
"Over there is Ian and Amber." Jordan continued when he saw them.
"Hi!" Amber smiled. "Sup," Ian greeted.
In appearance, they were all North American Caucasian. Bethany was one of the girls with the smaller build, had the dark rimmed glasses and the dirty-blonde hair. Her eyes were dark green-hazel. Jordan was the man with the tattoo, short dark brown hair and toned build, his eyes were a deep brown. Keirstan had the Blonde-brown hair. She also wore red-rimmed glasses, had a small build and also had brown eyes. Amber had a small build as well. She was slightly taller with light brown eyes, thin framed glasses and medium short brown hair with a tattoo under her right arm saying "be brave" in bold black letters. Ian also had a toned build, but slightly smaller than Jordan's. He was also a little tall in height, his eyes were a dark brown with short black hair. They all looked in between 5'3 to 5'6 in height; and freckles dotted their skin variously on all five of them.
"This here is…" Jordan looked around, as did everyone seeing one of them was missing.
"Where did that little shit go?"
"Probably out back, looking at hoodies." Keirstan shrugged a shoulder.
Bill stepped up more relaxed now as Zoey had put her gun away. "It's nice to meet you kids. You all did a good job handling that horde."
Francis took a quiet step forward. His eyes scanning over the group as they all conversed.
"I'm sorry about pointing my gun at you," came an apologetic familiar voice.
"Hey, no worries girl!" Louis cheerfully replied, "we all get a bit suspicious in a world like this."
Francis' attention lingered over to where they were. And saw her.
Beth laughed among conversations the group was having. His heart was pounding. His lip trembled. He couldn't believe it.
She was here.
This could mean...they both were.
Ian was the first to see he looked petrified in his spot. "Uh...you alright man?"
Francis instantly knew this was no hallucination. Louis and Zoey were talking to her and Jordan as Bill nodded at something Amber and Keirstan were saying.
They were not safe. They were here. They were here.
"Hey, I said are you ok?"
He barely heard Ian's voice. His own caught in his throat.
"...Beth?" Francis whispered hoarsely.
It was loud enough for her to hear. She turned around. In almost an instant, her eyes widened, her face falling. Jordan looked at her and then the biker. As Small tears sprung in her eyes she ran into his awaiting arms.