Several miles away from Sanctum was a different group of people with the same intentions in mind. In an alleyway shielded from the sun a form darted towards a pile of rubble at the end. A pair of young eyes peered over, taking in all they could. The figure turned around and motioned, and two other people appeared at his side. All three huddled together contemplating their next move.
"Do you see that Sarik?" said one of them to the first. "They have an extra armor"
The one known as Sarik turned towards him.
"You think I don't notice that?" He half whispered, sounding a little irritated. "We still have to get food. We aren't going to survive much longer if we don't get some now."
The other two shifted their weight nervously. They both loved Sarik very much as a friend, but they were starting to trust his judgment on this mission.
"We either die out there from starvation or by bullets from the PAR. At least we can strike a deal with the living."
With that, Sarik turned around and started to off moving through the random piles of rubble towards the supply depot they had been eyeing. All three of the young men had been friends for the last 4 years during the war, and surviving had brought a friendship unlike any other. They were a family now; their old ones no longer existed, killed off by starvation, disease, the war, or the monsters. Living in the last several years had been hard on all of them, but they managed to get through. Time after time, Sarik had proven the most wise of the group, and the other two easily followed him after having shown it so many times.
Sarik moved ahead of his two friends, Brett and Dier, hoping to get a little time to think to himself on the way over. He wasn't sure how long he could do this, leading his last two friends into danger everyday was taking its toll. 'How long will they follow me?' he wondered to himself. He couldn't stop them from dying. He knew one day, one of them would, and he didn't know how he was going to deal with it. It would be his fault for leading them in, the pain of such a thing would be unbearable for him. Neither of them would blame him, and he hated that even more, someone had to be at fault.
He glanced back again as they closed for the last hundred yards. They were still there, following him dutifully, as he knew they would. His mouth started into a sorrowful smile, but he stopped and reminded himself that he would deal with things as they came. Now was not the time for thinking of what could or would happen; now it was time for them to go into action.
The best way the group had found out to get in was to simply sneak in. Haggling proved useless, as would fighting, since the only weapons the boys carried were daggers and simple bludgeoning weapons they could pick up.
The supply depot was up against a row of other buildings, which made it easier for the group to sneak up from the side or back. In front of the depot was a street, or more of a plane of concrete, as two of the buildings on the other side of the road had collapsed. This made a good open area for the PAR units to defend, and when dealing with brainless zombies, the main strike force of the monsters, enemy tactics were rarely considered.
Sarik lead them slowly along the side of a building, carefully keeping out of view of the guards. Usually there was some sort of back entrance or escape route that the boys would use to get in, but he wasn't seeing one.
As he got closer he started to question there
being one at all. He started to turn around to signal to the others
but on doing so kicked over a pile of rocks. The other two froze
where they were. All the guard's heads turned towards the three
attempting to sneak up.
"Get them!" one of the guards
yelled.
Sarik and the others tried to sprint away, but they were
cut off by something far worse the living people. There behind them,
was one of the many monsters that roamed the streets; a zombie. Its
half decomposed corpse shambled towards them slowly and let out a low
moan. Flies enveloped its hideous form, and the stench was literally
breathtaking. It was either death by the zombie, or if they headed
back, capture by the PAR unit. Dealing with the living was always
better, especially since the trio had no real weapons. They had
survived so far by keeping close to other living people who could
defend themselves, or by simply avoiding any contact with the dead at
all. Their choice never came to fruition, for as soon as they turned
back, they almost fainted from what they saw. Coming towards the
guards was a legion walking dead. At least 60 of the monsters were
dragging themselves across the open area to feast on the living's
flesh. The guards saw the zombie next to the boys and the look of
horror on their faces as they turned back. They quickly turned around
to engage the mass of zombies.
"Open fire!" cried the man in charge, although none of the others needed any command to begin shooting. They all knew what they were up against, and even though their firepower severely overpowered that of the dead, they were also hopelessly outnumbered. A large 40 mm mounted gun began blasting its way through the front line of the zombies, along with other assortments of weapons the PAR unit had. Zombies began pilling up on the street, but the others simply climbed over them. They were only 30 meters away by now. The guards continued their firing, knowing it was almost pointless by now, but hoping to make at least some dent in the oncoming forces. Another guard grabbed a radio and began calling for backup. Pandemonium broke lose as the first wave of zombies broke through the line. Gunfire went in every direction, blowing apart decayed limbs of the dead and sending small chunks flying.
The three boys didn't wait around for an invitation and ran past the reaching zombie that was behind them and into a building. They searched around and found a door that led into the basement so they could hide until the fighting was over, and hopefully never get found. To their luck in the basement, they found a smashed wall, which lead into a large sewer system walkway. They headed through and ran down the tunnel as fast as they could, trying to escape the inevitable death behind them.
