Day 18
The family and the prisoners drive off and back to their neighborhood. The military and police forces there have been overrun by zombies. The group sneaks back into their home to retrieve supplies and stuff needed to survive out there while nursing Kevin back to health. They sit down at their table and begin discussing what their next plans are. They turn on the radio and they hear of evacuations taking place at Camp Murray at Victoria on Vancouver Island. After some reasoning, the family eventually decides to travel there together and start packing up. They begin their journey from British Columbia to Victoria, prepared for whatever threat they face, living or dead.
At the main checkpoint, the six robbers stood guard at the border into the city. One of the robbers was armed with a light machine gun while the others were armed with melee weapons. Another robber had a sniper rifle and took a position on top of an eighteen-wheeler parked near the robbers.
"Man, I am just praying for someone to trespass us," the sniper said, "I am waiting for a zombie to walk into my crosshairs so I can shoot the brains out of them."
"Save your bullets," the machine gunner ordered, "If it's a zombie, then we can wait for it to come towards us and then we can kill it with our melee weapons."
The robber held a chainsaw as his weapon set it down at his feet and smoked a cigarette. He turned to a robber armed with a sledgehammer. "You want one?"
"Got any menthols?"
The robber pulled out another pack of cigarettes. "Take all of them, I was saving them for you anyways."
"When's our shift over?"
"It'll be soon man," a robber armed with an ax said.
"Was I talking to you?"
"No, but I was answering you."
"This sounds like a conflict," Sniper smirked, "Something I can watch."
"You shut your mouth," Sledgehammer berated. He placed a menthol in his mouth and turned to the flamethrower robber. "Can you do the honors?"
The flamethrower robber held the barrel of his M2 up to the tip of the cigarette, lighting in for Sledgehammer. "You welcome by the way."
"No need to thank you. All you did was nothing basically. If you save my life, then I will thank you."
A zombie moved towards from outside the border. "I got it, boys," Chainsaw said. He starts up his weapon and dons his goggles and a mask. Now if any infected blood gets in his face, it won't get into his eyes and he won't be infected. He decapitated the infected and kicked its body to the side.
"Now that is how you do it."
Jonathan and the other captured robber named Jack had their hands tied behind their backs and being pushed forward towards the city border by Aiello and his allies. They walked slowly to the checkpoint with the six guarded robbers.
"You will never win. Do you hear me, Aiello? You will never win, my men and I will not let you. Even if it costs us all our lives, you will not win," Jack grunted.
"You are prepared to sacrifice the lives of your friends?" Aiello sounded disappointed. "You are not worthy of becoming a leader."
"Jack, we don't sacrifice men. People are not a dime a dozen nowadays," Jonathan told, "We can't win them all, so there is no use in unnecessary sacrifices."
"Shut up brother. I'd make a better leader than you would ever be."
Aiello just found out the two men were brothers. He now realized they had more leverage than ever. He had both leaders in their grasps.
Aiello and his allies and hostages approached the checkpoint with caution. It was when the six robbers noticed them, they began shouting. Only three of them were armed with firearms while the others were armed with melee weapons.
"Don't fucking fire!" Aiello ordered. "We have your two leaders in our possession. No harm will come to either of them if you do as we say."
Jonathan held up a hand, signaling for them to stand down and do whatever the man says. "This guy's on edge. He and his friends, do exactly what they say."
"Thanks, Jon, now step one of our deals. We want you guys to give us a vehicle so we can get out of this hellhole," Aiello demanded. "Second, I want weapons. Third, I want you guys to stop killing people, this is not right."
"You don't get to make that decision," Jack said. "We will still kill, even when you are gone. We have to survive somehow."
"There has to be something more than surviving. You have to live."
"If we let you go, how do we know you won't come back and kill all us robbers?" Jack asked, trying to spark a fire between the two groups.
Aiello made the right choice not to answer.
"Guys, get a car for this man and he will let my brother go first," Jonathan begged to the robbers in desperation. "I just gave a command and now you must follow it."
Having total control over his robbers, the sledgehammer and flamethrower robber went into the city to secure a working car big enough to fit all seven people. They brought back a sports utility vehicle.
"Now like I said, I will give one person up for every deal you guys fill in." Aiello ordered for Tai to release Jack. He shoves him forward and towards the crowd of robbers. Not taking any chances, Aiello and his allies walk towards the SUV parked outside the border and they climb in.
Aiello still held Jonathan at gunpoint and ordered for them not to shoot any weapons at the group as they drive away.
Despite that however, Jack refused to back down. "Don't listen to a single word this guy says. He is going to slit our throats in our sleep."
"No!" Aiello protested. "I am never coming back here. You will never see my face again, I promise. I will never cross paths with your robbers ever again."
The sniper on top of the truck aimed his rifle at Aiello. He lines his crosshairs up to Aiello's head, just several inches above Jonathan's shoulder.
"Jack, just for once listen to me," Jonathan begged. "I want to live to see another day. If you piss him off, then he is going to shoot me in the skull because of your actions. I don't want to die."
"And I don't want these survivors to live either." Jack turned to his robbers. "Those of you who have guns, light 'em up!"
The sniper shot Aiello, but the bullet curved downwards and shot both Jonathan and Aiello in the shoulder. That was not the only result.
The sudden pain in Aiello's shoulder forced him to fire the gun upon reflex. A bullet tore into Jonathan's skull and came out painted with blood. Aiello was terrified at his results that he widened his eyes.
Jack could not believe what happened. Out of pure anger, he snatches the axe from one of the robbers and hurls it up towards the truck and towards the sniper. The axe pierced him in the neck and he fell off the eighteen wheeler, dead.
When Aiello heard Tai started up the truck, he kicked Jonathan's corpse forward and jumped into the backseat just as it hit full speed. The SUV drove as fast as it could to get away from the city.
The robber with the LMG wanted to fire, but Jack was blocking his aim. By the time he got a clear visual, the SUV was already out of range and firing now would mean wasting bullets.
Jack held Jonathan's corpse in his hands, tears falling down his cheeks. He was filled with both pain and anger. Pain that his brother was dead and anger that Aiello killed his brother. He then vowed vengeance. He would follow Aiello across the country if that's what it took to avenge his brother.
He turned back to the five robbers still alive. "How many men do we still have? At least eleven robbers are currently dead according to the intruder."
"Plus us…" The chainsaw robber said. "We have thirty-six robbers left alive."
"Good, I want every single robber in LA to hunt down that SUV in the distance. I heard Aiello say he had a wife and son so we are going to find his family and kill them. No matter what, and then we shall take the city of Vancouver as our new location."
In the back of the SUV, Abby began stitching up Aiello's shoulder wound. He felt pain in his shoulder as Abby dug into his skin to get the bullet out. "You know, that bullet shot Jonathan in the shoulder and slowed down the bullet from entering your shoulder. You are very lucky the bullet didn't break apart upon impact."
"How do you know all of this stuff?" Aiello asked. "You must have learned it after the apocalypse or something."
"My mother was a surgeon. A world-class surgeon before the apocalypse. Before she died, she taught me how to stitch up wounds and treat injuries. What's your story?"
"My mother stayed at home to take care of me and my twin sister while my father was a railroad worker, meaning he was the kind of guy who installs train tracks. Something like that requires a lot of physical labor, which whipped him into shape."
"And that's how you became in good shape?"
"Yes. I know why you're asking and I just want to remind you: I am married. I don't regret having Erik or getting married. If you have a chance of love in the apocalypse, grab it." He turns to Luis in the front seat. "What's your story, Luis?"
"My parents were travelers from Mexico. They arrived here in Canada just two days after the first outbreak. Luckily, they weren't bitten, but I have not seen them in a long time. Not since I turned nineteen. I've been living all by myself from now."
"Tai, what about you?"
"My old man of a father was a congressperson for Idaho. He was left trapped there when the outbreak started. It was just me and my mother, and she ended up overrun, but I have no idea if she's alive or dead. This happened just three years ago."
Oliver then told his story. "My father was an engineer and my mother was a mechanic and carpenter. I grew up loving to build things rather than breaking things. I remember when I was four, I wanted to be an architect. But because of this apocalypse, I can never be that."
"What about you Sadie?"
"Got nothing much of a story. I don't remember having a father and when I asked my mother, an optometrist, she told me that my father was a serial killer. I asked how she could possibly fall for a serial and she told that she was unaware that he was a serial killer."
"Vince man, my first victim?" Aiello jokingly said.
"Nothing much, I was an orphan. Been living on the streets with various homeless people, been taught self-reliance ever since this whole outbreak started. That's pretty much my story."
"Aiello, where are we heading?" Tai asked as he pulled up to the side of the road. "You can drive if you want."
"Okay then, as soon as Abby finishes up."
"Done."
"Okay then." He steps out the SUV and onto the dirt ground. He looks back the way they came and border into Canada was no longer in sight and nothing but a memory on the road. They've already been driving on the road for three hours. They still had to spend several more hours.
"You said we're going to your camp? Right?" Abby asked.
"Yeah, it's based at a power plant in Vancouver. We have electricity and more importantly, we can fry zombies with the electric fences." Aiello climbed into the back seat. "Are you ready for an epic adventure back home? We got enough gas?"
"Yeah," Sadie answered, checking the dashboard.
"Hop in and we are going back home and back to the Moral One's camp." Aiello shifted gears as soon as everyone was in the car.
Just before he took off, he saw a zombie in the rearview mirror. A single zombie with its left arm chopped off. It reminded him of the first zombie he ever encountered for some reason.
"Are we going or not?" Oliver asked from the passenger seat, tapping Aiello on the shoulder.
"Yeah, just saw a zombie. Should be no big deal though." Aiello shifted gears. "Well then, enough dilly-dallying. Vancouver, here we come."
He shifted gears once more and drove off.
Abby asked. "What else is at the camp?"
"Aside from food, water, clothes, medicine and a map of all possible safe havens across Canada."
"I hear Washington DC may be the best safe haven there is."
"Abby, we simply do not have enough resources to travel that far. Every day a human dies and every day a zombie is born." Aiello rubbed his forehead in anxiety.
Day 19
The next day, as they drive across the country, they are met and encountered by a group of bandits called the Roadside. The bandits attempt to take everything that the group has, but Aiello, after taking charge of the group, refuses to give anything. Things start to get extremely hostile between the groups, leading to the Roadside bandit leader to draw his gun and aim it at Aiello. Aiello is much faster at pulling his gun out and shoots him in the brains before finishing off his friends. The rest of the group is shocked to witness Aiello shooting living people dead. They are able to put things behind them and get back on track.
