A sunlit sky. That's all Tricia really wanted to see right now. A blue sky with the sun to the side and the white clouds in the middle. It seemed at least a millenia since she'd last seen one. But instead, every night she'd go to sleep and every morning she'd wake up, there was only this never-ending storm that grew more and more violent each day. The skies of morning were always grey and lifeless, and at night time the skies were a complete black without a single hint of a star or a moon. The rain came down like cold bullets proppelled from the sky, and the howling winds were more chilling to listen to than the cries of the zombies from beyond the gates. It was strange, because Milwaukee wasn't known for storms, or at least not storms like this. This storm itself seeemd all to violent and fearsome to Tricia, as it it weren't natural at all.
She had been watching it for a few minutes, standing by just one of the many windows along the second floor of the mini-base. Her hands tapped along the window-sill as her blue eyes wandered back and forth across the dark sky, the rain hammering down just a few inches from her face with only a thin sheet of glass seperating her from the downpour. Not the storm was so interesting, but despite its ferociousness, Tricia actually found it relaxing to watch.
It had been 2 days since they had lost 3 people from the group. 2 whole days since they'd lost Madison, Tex and Marissa. It had also been 2 days since they'd set the flares and gotten the signal from the chopper.
They hadn't heard from the chopper since...
Tricia wasn't surprised. In this weather the chopper had either been taken down by the assailing winds, or the pilots just didn't dare to fly back and attempt to rescue a ragtag group of 6 people stranded behind the walls of a military fort. Maybe their lives just weren't worth braving the storm....
Tricia sighed and let her mind wander elsewhere. There were other things worrying her, like the fact a maniac was still loose in the Fort. They hadn't seen Billy since that fateful night, but they knew he was still around somewhere, hiding out along the grounds biding his time till that psycho made his next move.
But surprisingly, Tricia wasn't afraid. She wasn't scared of seeing Billy, in fact just the opposite, she wanted to find him so she could beat the living crap out of him. The man had killed a friend of hers, and there was nothing more Tricia wanted to do than make him pay.
Those exact thoughts surprised her. The old Tricia would've probably locked herself in her room and never come out until Billy was caught by someone else. But things were different now.... She was different now.
She never wanted to hide or run again, she wanted to fight, to be someone useful for once and not spend all her time in fear. Not to mention, she had become pretty deadly with a colt and glock.
Who would've thought, the prom queen goes commando, Tricia couldn't help but grin at the thought.
Lost in thought, and she didn't even know he was next to her until he had his arms until she felt an arm wrap gently around her waist. She smiled and leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder.
They shared a few brief moments of silence, just enjoying each other's company until Tricia finally spoke again.
"Tyler....."
"Yeah?"
"Do you think the chopper will ever come back?"
"I know it will."Tricia sighed. She wanted so badly to believe him, wanted to believe that one day they might get out of this place where they could be free, be happy, and be together...
But that was nothing more than a dream, realized Tricia, and everyday the chopper failed to return, that dream was pushed further and further away
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There was crackling. Then static, and then came the voices. Craig almost couldn't believe it at first.
He, Shannon, and Dunn had all been standing in the control room for over a half hour. Shannon had insisted that she could get the radios working in that time, and Craig had called her on it.
"If we ever get out of here," started Shannon as she fixed up the last of the controls, "You owe me 50 bucks."
"Duely noted," answered Craig as he moved next to her, leaning down closer to the control panel to try and hear the voices more clearly."Well, I can't hear shizeeot," said Dunn, "I don't hear any pilots. Shannon probably intercepted some phone sex line."
Shannon rolled her eyes at the comment and then, flipping a switch, turned up the volume on the speakers. The voice was now coming in clearly.
elta......do you read.... I repeat... can any of you hearme....
"Holy crap," breathed Dunn as he heard the voice over the radio, "Is that ....... .God?"
"No you idiot," said Craig, who then turned to a nearby intercom, "Is this the chopper pilot from 2 days ago."
that I am.... I couldn't....... the storm..... shit, breaking up, hold on.
Silence, then the static started up again.
Ok, sorry about that. I couldn't fly back here because of the storm, but I should be arriving back at the base within a day.
Craig resisted the urge to jump up and cheer and from a side-glance he could tell Shannon wanted to do the same.
"That's great news," continued Craig.
storm's. still to heavy, another chopper coming with me. Keep in contact through radio, over and out
Craig clicked off the intercom. He looked down for a second, then shoved his fist high into the air and yelled, "OH YEAH!!"
Dunn raised an eyebrow at Craig, "Er... dude, what the hell was that."
Craig sighed and lowered his hand, "I have no idea."
Shannon giggled, "Oh yeah indeed."
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Bullets and screams. Fire and laughter. And not the happy, joyous laughter but that evil cackling kind. That was all Billy ever heard or saw, for the most part. Of course, right now it was all in his mind. A private little hell that he'd concocted within his own imagination, an inescapable prison of thoughts and self-doubts. Wherever he would go, he would hear people laughing at him, people who weren't even there. They were nothing but mental illusions but to Billy they were as real as stone.
Even now, as he lurked within the shadows of the main base, he heard that same, cruel, mocking laughter. It reverberated through his head like the pounding of a tribal drum.
Billy Burrell had been bullied all his life, had been mocked and picked on as a kid and even when he'd joined the military, thinking that he'd find a better life as a soldier......maybe find acceptance. But no, it had been worse than back home in Texas. For him, the military had been a living nightmare. The boys bullied him and the commanding officers bullied him and the girls laughed at him. He had been forced to spend his days as a a private alone in his room drawing and carving and plotting.
Then there came that one day when he'd lost it, the day of the Invasion. The same day he was to be removed from the military as he'd been proclaimed a psychotic nutcase by his superiors and thus sentenced to be discharded immediately.
When the zombies first attacked the main base however, he had made his move. He had shot two officers, a commanding officer and a woman, both who had been especially cruel to him during his stay there.
He thought he could get away with it, but they caught him anyways. Even while fighting off zombies, the other soldiers still managed to catch him and throw him into a cell. Yet Billy didn't mind. Hell, he was safe from the zombie hordes in that cell, and as soon as he got rid of that other person in the cell, he was not only safe, but completely alone without anyone to bother him.
Until he was freed..... of course.
The death of Madison had been an accident. He hadn't meant to shoot her. It was purely on instinct and anger that he'd grabbed that gun on shot. He had silently wept for for his fatal mistake in the very shadows he stood within this very moment. But there was no bringing Madison back, she was gone, and he could only look to the future.
"Just one more," he whispered. He got down on one knee and planted the last device at the edge of the main base. There was a click of the switch on his hand, and then the beep, followed by several beeps. Billy stood back up with a big smile of his face, proud of his work.
There was one positive thing that had come out from his experience of snooping around a military base for the last two years, and that was finding out how to make and plant bombs.
See, Billy Burrel was looking to the future, and saw nothing. He had no future and he knew it. Now, he was just making sure that everyone at Fort Pastor shared the same fate..........