Rob: And via the mysterious arts of technopaganism I transport your perceptions roughly 7 hours ahead.
Readers: You suck.
Rob: Remember people, awareness leads to power…
The five remaining survivors arrived at Costa Pico (sue me if it's an actual place) at 4:00 o'clock the following day. To recap: our hero/anti-hero has been introduced, along with fellow survivors 2-4, survivors 5,6 and 7 are all dead, 8 was rescued thanks to survivors 1,2,3 and 4. Survivors 1,2,3,4 and 8 leave the city and head for a sea port (city was land-locked) called Costa Pico, naturally, both Nick and Jason want to head in first to check out zombie activity, but there is a conflict of opinions…
Oh, and 8 went insane:
"Personally I don't see why we shouldn't just roll on in there" Guye said, Jason laughed, but Nick only smiled.
"This thing makes a lot of noise." He supplied.
"What?" Guye asked.
"They're worried that if we do just roll in there all the zombies are going to come out of their hiding places and swarm us, then we can't get out of this tank thing" Sarah told, Guye considered this.
"Couldn't we just lure them all out and then mow them over?" Guye asked.
"Yes, but that'll waste petrol" Jason told him, Nick stood up and took one of the 9mms, with the sawn-off shotgun and his spade.
"God… you look more like some kind of Evil dead survivor with all that gear" Jason told him, he loaded the sawn-off and left the ammo for it.
"Maybe, but I'm better, so are you" he said with a grin, Jason nodded at that and picked up a 9mm. He then walked over to the window and peeked out of the iron bars, they had stopped about 500 metres away from the port before they had decided on going no further, on a country road behind a large barn, they would go in over the fields as inconspicuously as possible, make a quick recon, and pull out. Both of them knew it probably wouldn't be that simple, With no sign of zombie activity, such as dead people, loud noises or indeed the living dead, they opened the door and leaped out, then closed it silently, making for the barn around the north side, away from the city. The two of them stood on either side of the barn doors and signalled each other to open the doors, as the doors slid back, the evening light filled the barn, Jason walked in, pistol drawn and held in both hands, looked around his immediate surroundings, then grinned
"Nothing here" he said, and there was nothing there, no cows, no zombies, just the supports for the building and a small amount of hay.
"Great, I'll see you here in 2 hours, perimeter search?" Nick asked
"Yeah yeah, I'll see you later" Jason said, and left the barn for the north side of town, the shortest route, Nick left and headed around the fields so he would come in through the east, the two of them knew it was far easier to go it alone than with even one person with them.
Reaching where he could get a better view he leapt over the fence and onto the road, looking around quickly with the elevated position he took in the surroundings, to the north-east lay the barn and the armoured vehicle, ahead lay a straight road leading directly into the town, he grinned and started walking, and it wasn't long before he started to see corpses on the road, most had bullet holes in their heads, and that sparked a small amount of relief, if someone had been shooting up zombies, and by the smell of it, it was quite a while ago there would be a lot less zombies actually in the town, he knelt down next to one of the bodies and poked it in the face with his 9mm, happy it wasn't alive, he examined the bullet rounds, it seemed not only were they shot in the head but a large amount of bullets had ended up in their torsos, after examining another he was certain that it was probably military or mafia with automatic or semi-automatic weapons, that meant M-16s, sub-machine guns, Uzis, Desert Eagles, 9mms (seeing as no self-respecting mafia member would never dream of using Berettas) and a serious attitude. It also meant that Nick could travel in confidence now, and he merrily walked down the path, shovel over his shoulder and guns in their holsters.
There was a knock on the door and Sarah and Guye looked to one another, Sarah picked up one of the 9mms and opened the door
"We're back" both Nick and Jason said, apparently unscathed and un-bloodied
"What happened?" Sarah asked
"Nothing, the town is deserted, plenty of supplies too" Jason told her
"So we can just drive on in?" Guye asked, almost mockingly
"Yep" Nick told him, and got in, he went through to the back where Sam was wide awake and reading a book
"Hey" He said
"Hey yourself" she replied, smiling
"How are you?" Nick asked
"Pretty good, when're you next going out there?" she asked, Nick smiled
"Soon, the port is deserted, it's an easy ride" he told her, she smiled
"That's good to hear… er…" she said, Nick motioned for her to continue
"Thanks…" She said
"For what?" He asked
"Taking care of me… and saving my life" she said, he nodded
"We all helped, I couldn't have done that alone" he told her
"It was sweet of you" she said, he smiled
"Hey, we're in this together right?" he asked
"Yeah, of course" she said, smiling
"You want something to eat? Me and Jason brought some food back" he asked her, she nodded and stood up, then went through and sat down with a smile on her face. Again he was aware of his role in the group as the one of the two hunter-gatherers and sighed inwardly. He walked in after her, sitting down and putting some music on, and he lit up a cigarette, they had an extensive library of music at all times, thanks to the evolution of the hand-held market with such products as the mp3 player and iPod
The port was indeed deserted from everything apart from bullet-ridden zombies, there was more than enough damage to the infrastructure of some of the buildings to suggest someone had a tank or missile launcher and was busy incinerating other zombies as they arrived
"Alright, Guye, find us a store we can raid, everyone's on duty" Jason told Guye, who nodded and pulled up across the street from a gas station, it was night and the moon was casting a eerie glow over the town, Nick only had his faithful shovel with him while everyone else tooled up with a 9mm each.
"Hey, can I ask you a question Nick?" Guye asked
"Sure" he replied
"We all know Jason here was in the military, so that explains his efficiency, but you're a normal guy aren't you? No combat training, no tactical rehearsal and so forth, what makes you so goddamn prone to surviving this hell?" he asked, Nick was momentarily stunned by the precision of the question
"You're a smart kid when you want to be, it's the same thing, just rely on your ability to perceive zombies before they bite you, a zombie that hasn't seen you is a very good thing" he explained, Jason nodded
"He's right, but it doesn't explain who he is" he said to Guye, Nick grinned
"You want a life history or something?" he asked, Guye nodded, Nick paused momentarily
"Maybe once we get out of this port yeah? Something doesn't seem right" he said, ignoring the ominous portent of what he just said, and the group left the security of the armoured vehicle and walked over to the gas station, Sam with them, holding a 9mm relaxed in her left hand
"Okay whaddaya need?" Guye asked, Jason and Sarah were already moving through the small shop, filling baskets with tinned food, chocolate and pastries
"You can get the drinks, grab a few of those Red Bull multi-packs as well, they'll come in handy if someone has to keep watch" Nick told him, and jumped over the counter with a basket, filling it with cigarettes, batteries, disposable razors and, without grace, shoved three boxes of tampons to the bottom of the pile, deciding that leaving them because of gender/social issues would probably result in him being slapped around like a kitten by the two femmes of the group, he noticed Sam looking out the window and looked himself, then swore
"Guys! Pistols out!" he said, leaping back over the counter, ditching the basket, and marching out of the shop, shovel at the ready
"Hey shitheads! Watch what your doing with that!" he shouted at the two people nosing around their transport, both jumped and pulled guns, turning and delivering a barrage of shots into the windows of the garage, Nick swore even more violently than before and dived back in, where he saw everyone crouching for cover on either side of the door
"What happens now?" Guye said, peeking his head round the door, Jason pulled him back as shots impacted the wall near him
"Well, they have our truck, but they won't get far, we've got the fuel" Nick replied, grinning, there was a cessation of gunfire, and Sam took a look out of the destroyed window
"One of them just punched the other" she said, Nick took a look, then stood up and walked out again
"Gentlemen! I see you are well equipped to deal with the onslaught we face these days! I ask for parley!" he shouted, Jason laughed at that, but the two holstered their weapons and walked over
"Sorry, there's a crapload of dead zombies that've met some wannabe rambos, we figured what with this armoured beast of yours you must have been with them, we were about to raid that store afterwards" the kid said, pointing. He was about 15, dirty, bloodied around the knees, but ready to blast every single one of them if needs be, he reminded Nick of himself at that age
"Yeah, I saw the aftermath of that outside town, who were they? Military? Police?" he asked
"Military, real gung-ho cowboys too" the other kid said, he looked a little older, but not much, he realised the first kid was sporting a black eye, and had fired on them first.
"Listen, you guys want the truck, take it, we're here for a boat" he told them, the young survivors looked at one another, grinned, and shook their heads
"That's what brought us here man, great minds think alike" the first said, Nick frowned, the story didn't fit
"About those boats?" He prompted
"You could try the warehouse down on the docks, we got a ignition key from there in one of the rooms" said the first kid again; the second was quiet, quiet enough to raise that suspicion bar just a little bit more
"Right, thanks. Give us a day or two and then you can take that truck wherever you want, I'll leave the keys in the ignition" he said, and turned, walking towards the gas station, he could feel their glare on the back of his skull.
"Well?" Jason asked
"They're lying, they've been holed up here for days, they aren't carrying those guns for killing zombies either" Nick told him
"You think?" Jason asked, Nick nodded
"What?" Guye, Sarah and Sam all asked at once
"Whoever it was that blasted through here a couple of days ago, left these kids here to gather resources like weapons, food, etc, they'll then be picked up in a few days with everything they have, in return they get hot food, a bed, an almost normal lifestyle" Jason told them
"But all we've got are 9mms, a few shotguns and food, we don't pose much of a threat against tanks, apaches and assault rifles" Guye said
"You're thinking too linear; they can't get the fuel for helicopters, that'll just be a waste, however they probably quite like the look of our contraption, I told them they could have it anyway" Nick said
"What? Why!" Jason shouted
"Don't need it anymore." He explained, and told them about the warehouse
"That sounds like a trap" Sam offered
"Anything they said would be a trap, if only to get us to bugger off for a while" Nick said
"We need to get our stuff off the truck" Sarah said with a groan
"Yep, come on" Jason said, walking out, all of them walked up to the truck, weapons holstered, the two kids were leaning against it like it was already theirs
"What do you want?" the first asked
"Our stuff, get out of the way" Jason told him, he bowed and moved aside, and the group walked in, Nick picked up two of the remaining 9mms and his sawn-off, Sam and Jason both picked up an extra 9mm while Guye, Sarah and Jason all picked up the remaining shotguns, then they started packing the food and supplies away.
"Okay… where are the keys?" Sarah asked, Nick swore
"Right, let's go" he said
"Where?" Jason asked
"Back to the truck, those little bastards lied to us" he said, when they got back the truck was missing, so it had obviously been stolen already
"At least we still have our weapons" Guye said, looking on the bright side of things, Jason was showing irritation
"So what now? No truck, no boat, we're stuck!" Sam shouted, Nick lit up a cigarette
"Not necessarily" he said, taking a concentrated draw
When they reached the boat yards Sarah was about ready to proclaim Nick insane when he jumped aboard a medium-sized yacht
"What? I can use one of these, and I can train you guys to help" he told them, Jason seemed amused, and Guye was excited
"Are you sure?" Sarah asked
"Definitely, Guye, you know anything about sailing?" he asked
"I know your supposed to move the sail so the wind catches it, and someone has to hold the rudder or we'll lose direction" he said uncertainly
"That's pretty much it once everything's set, bet your glad I brought a compass now" he said to Jason, who nodded and joined him, the others shrugged and jumped on too
"Right, Guye, you've got the rudder, I'll do the first shift on the mainsail so you guys know what your doing" he told them, and cast off the pier
2 days later they were getting hungry, and the work was an almost lonely business, everyone went below deck to avoid the cold of the sea air after their shift, and eventually Nick ended up staying on deck so they didn't have to change all the time
"How long has he been out there?" Guye asked
"Since last night… he says he doesn't mind the cold" Jason said, shivering
"Bullshit" Sam said, and went outside
"You okay?" she asked, Nick nodded, he seemed to be lost in concentration
"You know if your too cold you can come down" she told him, he nodded again
"I'll come down before tonight so I don't freeze" he said, she shook her head
"That's not good enough, stop being so independent" she told him, he broke his concentration and smiled at her
"It's not about being independent, I enjoy sailing, pure and simple" he said, she sighed and sat down next to him at the rudder
"How goes things pilot?" she asked, he grinned
"No ship activity, fog's setting in, I might want to drop anchor overnight if those clouds start kicking the bucket, we'll have to drop the mainsail so we don't get struck by lightning" he explained
"We don't have to worry about any of those zombies out here do we?" she asked, he shook his head
"They might be attracted to us, but they can't swim in open water, mostly they just sink to the bottom" he told her, she smiled and moved closer to him, he noticed this and smiled
"How are you anyway?" he asked
"Cold" she told him, he nodded and offered his jacket, she stuck her lip out
"You're completely selfless aren't you!" she shouted, he knew she was toying with him, but also that she felt very alone
"Don't hide your emotions" he told her, she looked shocked
"You still feel pain over Bobby, don't you?" he asked, she locked his eyes for a moment, and then looked down
"Yes… but I don't think I loved him… not really…" she said, growing sadder just for saying that
"You shouldn't lie to yourself either" he told her, she looked up, all he was doing was staring out into the evening sky
"Who are you?" she asked
"My name is Nicolas, Nick for short, that's all that matters" he told her, she stood up
"Your wrong, there's more to you than just a name" she said, he nodded
"There is that" he told her
"What about your past? Where did you go to school?" she asked
"A small town just south of here, I was planning on going past it, I had some good times back then, and then some bad" he said, keeping it short
"Your parents?" she asked
"They divorced near the end of my second year, I haven't spoken to my father for 8 years" he told her, and a pained look crossed his face
"What's wrong?" she asked, and the same, stoic face returned
"My family is dead. So is yours, that's why my past has no meaning" he told her, she smiled
"You're pretty deep, you know that?" she asked
"Yes. Underneath any sailor is a philosopher, and humans don't come much deeper than that, if only everyone wasn't so bloody ignorant we'd probably of lived in Utopia" he said, shaking his head and muttering, then he paused and lit up a cigarette
"How come you smoke?" she asked, he grinned
"I started by smoking cannabis, then got addicted to nicotine, what I didn't know was my dealer laced the stuff with ketamines, and I got addicted to them as well, I quit weed after finding that out" he told her, she frowned, she had seen people on ketamines before, it was used by some for date-rape, and those who were addicted were almost as bad as smack-addicts, she looked at him critically, and saw nothing to show that other than that he seemed uncommonly focused and strong, she felt a deep admiration for this guy, a man in his own aspect yet only 18 years of age, opposed to Jason's 20
"That must have been hard for you" she said, knowing too well that going cold-turkey from smack could actually kill a man, she was unsure about ketamines on the other hand
"People didn't understand me, my mind was erratic and useless, so I learned to focus, and to be aware, when I did eventually come off weed the traits stayed with me, only grew stronger" he told her, smiling at the irony of it
"Thank you" he said
"For what?" she asked, blushing slightly
"I've never been able to talk to someone openly about all of this. You're the first." He said, she gawped.
"I… I'm sorry to intrude" she said, he laughed
"I told you, thank you" he told her, they paused, just watching each other, and then she smiled
"Your welcome" she said, he nodded and looked up, then changed course
"It's going to rain, I'll make for that bay there and we'll drop anchor, it'll only take a minute with these winds" he said, she just looked at him silently while he adjusted the mainsail until he noticed she hadn't done anything, she stood up and walked over to him, locking him in the eyes again
"What?" he asked, and she kissed him, he pulled back at first, then let go of himself and kissed back, holding her cheek gently in his hand, a minute passed until they stopped, and both knew affection for one another
"I…" she began, but he silenced her and kissed her once on the lips
"Too much of a good thing can be bad" he told her quietly, and dropped the anchor, he then set about covering the deck and dropping the mainsail
"We received a message 10 minutes ago, there's a ship out there broadcasting on all frequencies, they're standing by" Jason said as the two walked into the cabin
"What was the message?" Sam asked
"'To anyone who's listening: We have a battleship free of infection, anyone wishing to join us can do so as long as they aren't infected.' They asked for people to bring food and medical supplies, fuel if possible" Guye recited
"Sounds good." Jason offered, Nick nodded and picked up the radio
"Hi there, is anyone receiving me?" he asked, and flipped the receiver
"This is the S.S Redemption, we changed the name, receiving you, over" the operator responded, Nick thought for a moment
"We received your message, what is your position?" he asked
"45 miles west of Port Pico, we have you on radar, what's your situation? Over" the operator requested
"5 survivors, food, weapons. We're scraping by" Nick told him, and passed the radio to Jason
"Understood, any wounded?" the guy asked
"None, we lost 3 from our original group" Jason said
"What're your plans for tonight?" the operator asked
"We're planning on weighing anchor in this bay for the night, there's a storm coming, we'll find you in the morning" Jason said
"Received, we'll move closer to the port. We're picking up radio messages all over the place, more people survived than we thought, command wants to see whether we can do something about this veritable Armageddon" the operator said
"Understood, good night, over." Jason said, and turned the radio off
"This is good, someone's actually got off their arse and is trying to help" Guye commented
"Maybe" Nick told him, Guye frowned
"What makes you say that?" he asked
"They spoke of command, so they may have ulterior motives, but, if your right, then we may have the ability to reclaim this planet" Nick said, and Sam saw a shine in his eyes where they had been so dark and tired before
The yacht had three rooms below deck, the one they were in held a double-bed, just like the others, so sleeping arrangements were not an issue, especially not after Jason pulled a bottle of scotch from his bag, Guye grinned and took out five plastic cups from his
"You got any soft drinks to go with that?" Sarah asked
"Yep." He said, and they filled the cups, the room they were in was the largest, and had a table where they were all sat around, there was a shelf of books to one side that was currently being examined from across the room by Nick, he stood up and picked one out
"Gawd dammit, the apocalypse kicks off and you start reading books?" Jason asked, Nick walked back over and dropped the book on the table, it was about 3 inches thick
"It's called Shogun, about a English pilot who gets chased by the Spanish through the panama canal and ends up on the other side of the world, he becomes a slave, then is elevated to the honour of a liege lord with vassals and two swords after saving his captor. The western samurai, so to put it. Just another example of where humanity went wrong" he said
"He was given position by a person who imprisoned him? So he's a turncoat" Jason said
"Not exactly, he was given the position because he did an honourable thing, he preserved the life of someone whose honour vastly outweighed his own, and he showed honour and respect in the face of torture and brutality, so they made him one of their own, he went on to burn Portuguese ships trading with the Nipponese, as the Japanese call themselves in their language" Nick explained, Jason was impressed
"Sounds like a good book" he conceded
"More, if someone can imagine an idea like that, or create entire worlds inside their own minds, or even imagine an entire world that has already been created, surely humanity can be redeemed, all it takes is for people to face their natures and their destinies" Nick told them, Sarah and Sam were both listening quietly, unsure of how to comment, but Jason said;
"Philosophy, eh? Didn't realise you were a student" he said
"I got interested in it a short while before this all kicked off, but before that I was into Buddhism and Shamanism and Discordia and all that crap, in reality I was only looking for a path, and I almost found it when I discovered the political side of punk" he told them, Sarah smiled slightly at that, and Nick caught it
"Fucking Anarchist" Jason said with a hint of glee, Nick shook his head
"Please, you know as well as I do that's only a label in itself, it's how the media managed to manipulate people's understanding of Anarchy, they did the same with Communism" Nick said, Sarah frowned
"But the Communist revolution ended with just another dictator, Stalin" she said, Nick laughed
"Anyone who gets into that power position at the very top could be a dictator, just as easily as a benevolent person who got into that position could create practical miracles in the world around him, what people fail to understand is the power that they have already, just by thinking they form ideas and opinions. Unfortunately they lack the independent mind to act on them because they're force fed tripe about how they have to work in order to pay taxes and eat when in fact all that was really happening was mass exploitation" he explained, and knew he was talking more than he had for a long time
"What do you mean, mass exploitation?" Sam asked suspiciously
"Okay, Capitalism in a bag: You work, you get paid, you pay taxes, and we provide food, shelter, warmth, water and electricity. What they don't tell you about is the profit margin they make when you work; you never get your full wage because that's taxed already" he explained
"So what? You got a better idea?" Jason asked, Nick smiled
"Yep, get rid of it. Change it, make it evolve, do whatever, hell I'll gladly go with Anarchy, it'll give everyone equality, which will make all this moral bullshit disappear because everyone lives in the same size house, eat the same amount of food, drink the same amount of water, use the same amount of electricity, etc" he told them, Jason shook his head
"Your saying that there would be no power structure?" he asked
"No, not as such a power structure but a control structure, so that people can communicate collectively" Nick said
"Power is control." Jason stated, Nick shook his head
"Control is only power when that control can solidify its position in power. If we simply change the control structure every couple of months that can't happen" Nick explained, Jason laughed and rocked on his chair, Sarah and Sam had been pouring drinks all through the discussion, un-evenly mixing the drinks, of course they had restricted the amount slightly in Guye's drinks, only to ensure he was awake until they all went to sleep
"Okay, but where exactly would we get to get power from? And food? And Water?" Guye asked, showing the rare sign he was more intelligent than he seemed
"You mean Capitol? Well that's the interesting thing, Capitalism for a short while can be a liberating thing, it can elevate nations from poverty and make things just a damn sight more comfy. But after a while Capitalism starts losing that exponential growth in economy and welfare, because the competition starts growing and putting Capitol into other countries so that they still get the profit from the wages, but the rest of the wages feed that nation, making it stronger until eventually they're just as dependant on capitalism as we were, So the two markets have to go head to head in order to survive. It simply doesn't occur to co-operate because the idea is completely alien" Nick explained, pausing momentarily to drink and light up a cigarette, then he noticed Sam watching him visibly relax and he smiled at her, she realised she was thinking about what he had said earlier about his past drug-use while staring at him lighting a cigarette, she tried to give him a comforting smile
"Not to mention counter-productive" Jason clarified
"That's true as well, as to what you asked, the all the food and water and electricity is already here, we just need people to work the fields and the levers and the pumps" he said, smiling
"This all came from picking up that bloody book" Sarah said, looking at Shogun
"The simple fact is that Capitalism, as a system, doesn't work long-term. The reason I like the samurai tradition of Honour so much is because it worked as a system based off something that is inherently human, they just forgot to change the command structure" he finished, Guye sank into his chair
"All this makes me almost glad the Zombies took over" he said, there were a few abrupt chuckles at that from Nick and Jason, who then shut up. Nick looked away; he had gotten caught up in old debates that brought out something from him that he hadn't felt since the crisis began 2 months ago.
"With that note, I'm going to bed" Sarah said, and walked out of the room, Jason smiled
"I'll sleep in here if you don't mind, I prefer to be near the exit" he said, and threw himself on the bed, breaking some of the supports
"Sam, I can't decide where I'm sleeping until you decide" Nick told her, she grinned and put his cigarette out
"You'll sleep in my room" she said, Jason smiled, and shot Guye a questioning look, he shook his head and the two walked out of the room, her arm in his.
"Er… shouldn't she be feeling upset about -?" Guye said quietly, Jason shook his head
"She still is, human compassion can be a valuable thing, Guye, don't forget that" Jason told him, and tried to go to sleep. Guye said nothing for a while, finishing his drink, then looked at Shogun, he smiled and started to read, losing himself from the pain of the world around him as he was transported into another. He didn't stop reading until it was nearly morning…
Rob: Crapoth. I apologise to those readers who wanted some action in the form of gore and maimings (like I would give you any other in a zombie survival horror) I also apologise for ranting a bit. Merely setting the scene for the future chappy's
Readers: WTF is this shit!
Rob: heh.