"I... I never really did have much luck with the girls."
"...Maybe. But what's luck? I'm sure some people would argue that good luck with girls means no contact with 'em."
"Maybe." A silence asserted itself.
"And stop using past tense."
A cough that could have been a laugh under different circumstance issued forth from the lips of the bloodied man.
"You know as well as I do that there's no way out of this one. It's done man. I'm done. I don't know if I want you to stay or leave, but..." Another silence. The ceiling fan clicked overhead. "Actually, forget that. I know I want you to stay, but if you do, you're dead too. You know this."
"Yeah. I do."
The bloodied man grunted a bit as he propped himself up against the wall. The activity caused his wounds to bleed more fervently than before.
"I'm not scared though, Jinx, really I'm not... I lived a life relatively empty of regrets..." His dry rasping cough-laugh sputtered out again. "And if you and your sticking around here fucks it up, then so help me I'll..."
"What'll you do? Kill me?" They both shared a slight chuckle. Jinx looked out the window at the many shambling forms clawing to get into the derelict apartment.
"You gotta go now, Jinx."
"I know."
"Tell the others where I hid the tequila."
Jinx laughed slightly and supported the bloodied man's head.
"Heh... We already found it."
"You b-bastards..." A laugh turned into a fit of coughing, spraying Jinx with blood. "Sorry a-about that, man, it's just that I... I can't..." With that, he went limp. Jinx propped his friend up against the wall and closed his eyes. He wiped the blood from his face and leveled his .357 at the corpse's forehead.
"It's OK, man... I'm sorry about this too."
Elsewhere.
By James AmendJinx walked up the stairs and opened the door to the roof where the military helicopter sat, prepped for take-off.
"What the hell took you so long?" yelled a teammate as Jinx walked toward the helicopter.
"He had some stuff to say."
"Like what?"
"He called you a bastard, for one." Jinx hopped into the helicopter and Mina followed.
"Wouldn't it be more pertinent to say bitch?" interjected the pilot.
"He called you a bastard too, Brogan."
"Well he can call me what he wants, but I got his tequila."
"Bastard." Laughed Jinx.
The helicopter took off, leaving the doomed apartment complex to it's own devices. They had searched, as ordered, and found nothing. Hell, because of the whole venture, they were light one demolitions expert. Jinx lit up a cigarette and inhaled.
"Smoking kills." Said Mina with a wry look on her face.
"So do they." Jinx pointed out the open side of the helicopter, where a large group of zombies had gathered in front of a mall. "But they don't do it quite so enjoyably."
"Looks like a got-damn Led Zepplin concert down there." Interjected Brogan.
"I'd say Grateful Dead." There was an awkward silence.
"Holy hell that was lame."
"Shut up."
They were passing over the mall now.
"Hey, check it out. 'Alive Inside.'"
"So it would seem. Wanna get 'em?"
"What do you 'Wanna get em?' It's our orders to get 'em. Now, unless you'd rather go grab a soda and maybe catch a movie, I think we better land this bird and rescue these people. Now get tactical."
"Might wanna hold the onions on that one, boss man, we just got a message from Pastor."
"Put it on public channel, Brogan. Mina, you listen too."
"Nah, I think I'll just sit here and play my game boy. I'll play my damn game boy, Jinx. You know, the one I always play instead of listening to messages from Pastor." Jinx just stared at her. "Idiot."
Jinx laughed with her and put the pressed the earpiece further into his ear. The message played.
"Fort Pastor, rescue site number 117, requesting any and all available reinforcements." The message was simple, and that was it. It just played over and over again.
"You've got to be fucking me." Mina mumbled.
"Heh, some of us can only dream."
"Brogan, cut the shit. This is bad."
"I know. I'm en route, boss."
"Looks like those poor bastards in the mall are gonna have to wait."
"Looks like it."