Author's note: Wow these reviews are on a roll! Whoo! These next few chapters are where my whole idea for this story sprang from, I was just walking home from school one day and I pictured it. Anyways enough of my gibberish, On with the story!

-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-

Miles can cut this tie we've made
the sharp side of the blade

As these words play out
they'll try and drag you down
you feel like one of them
Who we will find.

-"Sandpaper and Silk" By: Hawthorne Heights

-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&

How long is the night?

Chapter 10

What now?

-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-

Their eyes were sore.

An entire night with eyes pealed wide open was not what their worn out bodies wanted right now. They had made a tiny camp under an old oak tree. They had made no fire, made no noise.

They listened, watched and waited.

Hoards of the living dead had run by them, as they sat under the tree, unnoticed. The infected inhumane beings yelled in savage tones, their language unreadable due to the fact that most of them had the Plaga living in their neck.

Leon had brought out his blacktail as they stumbled by, but thought twice about it. There had to be well over five hundred of them, most likely the rest of Newark.

Now it was morning, a new day.

Leon and Ashley decided that they would leave as soon as possible and set off at a quick pace because the motorcycle had run out of gas.

Leon was reloading his guns and snacking on stale crackers that Michael had sent them. Ashley leaned up against the tree waiting for him to finish, spinning the gun carelessly around on her finger.

Finally Leon stood up and told Ashley that they would be leaving. The walk was boring and not much conversation had occurred between them.

"Hey look over there!" Ashley's voice broke the silence. "I think it's another town."

They approached it with caution but when they reached the edge of the town there was nothing at all, just a bunch of burning buildings and wreckage.

They passed through it all with no interruptions. Not a zombie or any other creature jumped out or tried to ambush them, the town was destroyed and nothing could be living in it.

Now there was nothing but the open land in front of them. Nothing had happened here by the looks of it. Ashley began to wonder if the disaster had only occurred around New York.

She changed her mind when a tipped over car appeared before them. It seemed so out of place on the clean road. Leon told Ashley to stay back as he slowly inched his way towards the broken vehicle.

He pointed his gun at the driver's door and opened it with his other hand.

A gray lump fell out and landed on the hard road. Leon inspected the car and saw a decapitated leg on the gas pedal. Then he looked at the gray thing's leg and noticed that it had both of its legs.

Too late. The thing stood up (much like the iron maiden does in the waste disposal on Re4) and lunged at Leon. He quickly fired as many bullets as he could into the creature until it slumped back to the ground with a grin on his face.

Leon turned around and saw a gray blur and heard an 'eep' as Ashley disappeared.

"Shit."

The blur dashed into the trees, Leon close behind it. He skillfully dodged tree limbs and rotten logs as he ran after Ashley and her captor. By now he could see the thing.

It looked like the creature that had been lying in the car, posing as the driver or some rotted corpse.

Leon pointed the gun at one of its legs and fired. The gray thing fell on the ground and Ashley quickly ran to Leon.

It stood back up, a hole blasted right through its leg. The creature limped towards Leon and opened its mouth.

"Give us the girl."

Ashley looked at Leon and back at the creature. "What the hell is that thing?"

It grunted and glared at her. "We are your betters, creatures bred to destroy all human kind and take over the world, making it our own."

"How come I'm always stuck with these things?" grumbled Leon.

"Silence. Hand the brat over."

"What do want with her?" Leon pointed his gun at the monster.

"That is none of your business." It leapt towards Ashley, but got a bullet to the head instead. Its lifeless body fell to the ground and melted into it.

"Those things are easier to kill then Ganados," Leon said. He didn't put his gun away; they could still be in danger.

Another gray creature stepped out from behind a tree. Ashley was pushed to the ground by Leon and quickly hid behind a rock. She heard Leon jump out of the way as multiple bullets bounced off the rock.

"You won't get out of here alive," it yelled as it fired another round of bullets towards Leon.

"Who taught you how to use a gun," Leon demanded.

It snickered and shot at Leon again and again until he heard the gun click. He ran at it and delivered a punch right into its face. It stumbled backwards. Leon took out his knife and stabbed it in the creature's heart.

No blood poured out of it. Leon had figured that they were already dead by the look of the first one. He pulled his knife out of its body and cleaned it off. Then he went to go find Ashley.

"What are those things? They know how to speak English and fire guns!"

"Don't have a clue. I have a feeling we'll be finding out sooner or later."

They walked out of the trees and back onto the road. Leon checked to make sure the gray thing was still by the car, and it was. They went past the car and down the road, heading south.

Leon felt watched. He knew that they hadn't seen the last of the gray things. They continued to walk down the road until Leon heard something coming from the ditch. He pointed his gun towards it.

Something moved and a sifting noise could be heard.

Leon and Ashley peered into it. They saw someone they hadn't seen for a long time.

Sitting on a plaid blanket, torches of blue flames surrounding it, sat the Merchant. He sported his usual costume and had a scarf tied around his face. He looked up at Leon and showed him all the things that were pilled in his coat.

"Got some things ya might be interested in stranger." He handed Leon a pack of first aid sprays and some more clips of ammo.

Leon dug in his pocket for some money but the Merchant put up his hand.

"I don't want anything for it stranger, keep it."

"So what are you doing here anyways?" Ashley butted in.

"Got some good sales going on."

"Are they kindda gray looking?"

"I never sell them strangers anything. They put a gun to my head but Oi finished 'em off." He pointed behind him to a pile of gray corpses.

"Thanks," Leon said. They turned around and started walking once more.

From a fair distance away they could hear: "Heh, heh. Thank ya."

They hadn't come across anymore of the gray creatures. Leon wanted to find out more about them. He saw yet another small town spring up in the distance.

Once they reached it they knew this one was different then the others. There were no crashed cars, no litter, and no badly damaged buildings.

"Do you think there's anyone normal here?" Ashley asked as they walked through the abandoned streets with their guns drawn.

"Doesn't look like it."

They passed a small corner store and looked inside. There was nothing out of the ordinary and everything looked almost perfect.

Next they came to the little confined area where all the houses were built. Leon and Ashley walked down the streets quietly, their footwear making clicking noises that echoed around everywhere.

"Well I'd sure say it's abandoned." He stopped and looked around, ears alert just incase something was trying to sneak up on them. "We should scout one more block and then continue on."

They passed an old cottage looking house. Something in it caught Leon's eye. There was a very dim light coming from the house.

"Ashley follow close behind me. It looks like this place isn't abandoned after all."

"Okay."

Leon pushed the door open quietly and walked through the well furnished home. He checked all the rooms then proceeded up the stairs to the room where he saw the light coming from.

He turned a corner and felt the metal barrel of a gun jab into his head.

&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-&-

Reviewer responses- once again I won't be posting any. How come I always choose the worst possible time to go on the computer?

Anyways here's some shout outs to : Cyram, Luna-Starr, LeonFan2k3, Blaze the Bad, Dualzero, and Jediferret.