"Get your asses up," Bill said, waking the rest of the survivors from their fitful slumber. "Last day of the forest. We should be able to reach the next city by noon."
"Finally," Nick said, rising unsteadily to his feet. "Can't wait to waltz into another ghost town."
"There better be food there," Ellis said, hopping up off of the forest floor. "I'm starved."
"I hope there's food, too," Bill said, "but until we know for sure, we have to be careful with our rations. Our supplies are so low that unfortunately we'll have to skip breakfast."
The other survivors groaned, which Bill ignored. After everyone had taken a leak, the survivors moved forward. With the city skyline faintly in sight, navigating through the forest was much easier. Common Infected were still straggling, but their numbers were looking to thin out the closer they got to the city.
"Is it a bad sign we're not running into more Infected?" Rochelle asked. "Last time that happened we had a giant Tank on our asses."
"I'm not sure," Bill said. "It's possible there are more dangerous Infected in the city, and they're culling the commoners out here for sustenance."
"Sustain...what now?" Ellis asked.
"Food," Nick said, rolling his eyes. "They're eating these zombies for food."
"Damn, you serious?" Ellis asked. "That's something I could've spent the rest of my life not knowing."
"Quiet!" Francis said. "I think I hear something growling."
The survivors stopped talking at once, looking around them and up in the treetops. A holler pierced the sky. Zoey aimed her pistols quickly and shot a Hunter that was lurking in a tree above them. The Hunter lost its footing, fell off the tree, and landed with a thud on the forest floor.
For a moment, no one moved. However, when it became clear that the Hunter was not getting back up, the survivors breathed a sigh of relief and moved on.
"Damn," Ellis said. "I remember when my buddy Keith and I would climb trees as a kid."
"Oh shit!" Nick said. "I won the bet. Rochelle, Coach, better pay up."
"Pay up with what?" Rochelle asked. "We've got nothing to give you."
"Figure of speech," Nick said, "but maybe I can have first dibs on whatever the fuck food we can find today."
"Hang on a sec," Zoey said. "What bet are you three talking about?"
"Before we ran into you four, Ellis would talk nonstop about this buddy Keith from his childhood," Rochelle said. "After we met you, he stopped mentioning him for some reason. The three of us had a bet going about how long it would be before he mentioned Keith again."
"And I won the bet," Nick said. "Man, Ellis, the way you were blabbing on and on about him, I thought he was, like, your gay lover or something."
"Fuck off," Ellis said.
"I always assumed he was imaginary," Coach said. "The way you kept talking him up, making him out to be this awesome guy, I thought for sure it was too good to be true."
"Hey man," Ellis said, "if I hadn't lost all my photos when the apocalypse hit, you'd know for sure that Keith was the real deal."
"I believe you, Ellis," Zoey said, wrapping an arm around him and kissing him on the cheek. "Your friends can be cynical all they want."
"We need to keep moving," Bill said.
The other survivors agreed, so they kept walking through the forest, hoping that they would be able to find supplies in the city that lay ahead. Gratefully, with the lack of common Infected, they did not need to exhaust the little ammo that they had remaining. After a few more hours, the forest ended, and they could see the city ahead of them.
"We made it!" Louis said. "We're finally out of the damn forest."
"Careful," Bill said. "There could be specials down there. We need to raid the city for supplies, but if we're not careful, who knows what we'll run into. Stay close and keep your eyes peeled."
The survivors moved towards the city in a tight circle, looking all around them to make sure no Infected could get a jump on them. When they entered the city proper, they started going house by house to see if they could find any additional supplies. When they reached the end of the first street, they were still empty handed.
"All the houses we've hit are cleared out," Ellis said. "What happens if we can't find anything?"
"We've checked one street," Francis said, "in a city that has, like, at least a hundred more. Don't fucking panic."
"Should we split up to cover more ground more quickly?" Ellis asked.
"No!" shouted Zoey, Rochelle, and Bill all at once.
"Okay, geez, you don't have to hit me over the head with it."
"In all the horror movies I've ever seen," Zoey said, "splitting up never ended well. Usually the funny guy always goes first."
"Son of a bitch," Ellis and Nick said at the same time. They then turned to each other.
"What makes you think you're the funny one?" Ellis asked. "I'm the one who always makes the jokes."
"Bullshit," Nick said. "I'm the one with all the sarcastic quips. I'm a funny guy."
"If you don't shut the fuck up right now," Bill said, "you'll be the dead guys."
Suddenly, they heard a low howl from the distance.
"Charger," Coach muttered. "Keep an eye out."
The survivors looked around. Zoey caught sight of a Charger coming from down the road. "He's there!" she yelled. The survivors took aim and exhausted the rest of their ammunition to take it down. The Charger fell forward and landed with a loud thud on the street.
"Son of a bitch, I'm out of ammo," Nick said.
"So am I," Zoey said. "Everyone do a quick ammo check."
When the survivors checked their supplies, it was to reveal that only Bill and Louis had any amount of ammo left.
"Well this is fucking perfect," Francis muttered. "How the hell are we gonna fend off the next attack?"
"We need to stop fucking around and start raiding these buildings faster," Bill replied. "No more small talk, let's move."
The survivors raided more buildings, desperate to find ammunition and food, but every building they checked had only scraps of food remaining, and there was no ammunition in sight.
After sweeping a few more streets, some of the survivors were starting to panic.
"All I have to defend myself is this fucking machete," Ellis said. "What the hell are we gonna do?"
"I know I'm usually the optimistic one here," Louis said, "but even I'm starting to freak out."
Suddenly, they heard another howling in the distance.
"That's a Hunter," Nick said, "and we've got no ammunition left to defend ourselves. We're fucking dead."
"As long as we're still breathing," Bill said, "it's not over. Louis, you and I have to fend off the Hunter with whatever ammo we have left. The rest of you stay behind us."
Louis and Bill took aim in the direction where they heard the hollering from. While they were waiting, they heard a slight coughing in the distance.
"There's a Smoker here, too," Zoey muttered.
"Keep an eye on the rooftops," Bill replied. "If you see anything, holler."
With the sun shining brightly in the sky, it was hard to look up at the rooftops to find the Smoker. Suddenly, a tongue lashed out and wrapped around Zoey's body.
"Help!" she screamed as she was being dragged down the street.
Bill and Louis turned to take aim at the Smoker, but Rochelle stopped them. "Save that for the Hunter!" she yelled. "Ellis, cut Zoey free!"
"Got it!" Ellis yelled, barreling towards Zoey as the Smoker continued dragging her away. He was able to catch up and cut through the Smoker's tongue. Zoey rose to her feet, and she and Ellis took the remaining part of the tongue off of her.
"Thanks," she said. "I appreciate—Ellis, behind you!"
"Huh?" Ellis asked, but another Charger plowed into him and ran him into a building. "Help!" Ellis cried.
Zoey picked up the machete that Ellis had dropped on the ground. Without giving it a second thought, she ran towards the Charger and sliced it in the back. The Charger howled but did not drop Ellis. He kicked out behind him, hitting Zoey in the leg and making her fall to the ground. She rose up quickly and slashed the Charger in one leg, then the other. This time, the Charger stumbled to the ground and dropped Ellis, who was slow to get up.
"Kill this son of a bitch!" Ellis yelled. Zoey cut through the Charger's head with the machete. Blood spewed out and splattered her and Ellis, and the Charger finally came to a dead stop. Zoey and Ellis were panting heavily after the effort, but they both smiled.
"Thanks, Zoey," Ellis said. "You saved my...ow." Ellis keeled over in pain.
"Give me your first aid kit," Zoey said. "I'll patch you up." Zoey took the kit from Ellis and began wrapping him up. When she was done, Ellis was able to rise to his feet, but he was still not able to move quickly.
"Thanks again," Ellis said. "We need to go back to find the others."
"They're just down the road," Zoey said. "Come on."
Zoey helped Ellis back over to the rest of the survivors. They saw the corpse of a dead Hunter near them. "You got him?" Zoey asked.
"Thankfully, yes," Bill said, "but Louis and I have exhausted our ammunition. We're sitting ducks."
"Better hope we don't run into, like, a Tank or something," Ellis said.
Suddenly, they heard a growl pierce the air and the ground began to shake.
"Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me!" Nick yelled. "Nice going, jackass."
"The hell are we gonna do?" Coach asked. "We've got no weapons and no Molotovs to slow this thing down."
"I can barely move," Ellis said. "You know what? You guys save yourselves. I can stay here as bait, distract him as long as I can."
"No way, son," Bill said. "I will not leave a man behind."
"Hang on," Francis said. "You can piggyback on me for now. I'm the strongest one here."
"Whatever you're doing, do it fast," Louis said. "This Tank sounds like it's getting close."
Francis draped Ellis over his back, and the survivors started running in the opposite direction of the Tank. Unfortunately, he was able to gain ground on them.
"This isn't working," Bill said. "I hate to say it, but we really do need to split up. The Tank can't kill all of us if we separate."
"Fine!" Zoey yelled. "Into the buildings! Groups of two!"
The survivors split up into four groups of two and entered four buildings nearby. Francis and Ellis made up one group. Zoey and Rochelle, Nick and Bill, and Louis and Coach were the other three.
The Tank took a moment to decide where to attack and went into the building that Francis and Ellis had entered. The two of them were in an abandoned convenience store, and they were hiding in one of the aisles. They could hear the Tank barreling through the store, trying to locate the two of them.
"The fuck are we gonna do?" Ellis asked. "We are sitting ducks in here!"
"Will you shut the fuck up for once?" Francis asked. "This asshole is gonna find us."
They could hear the Tank barreling closer, so Francis dragged Ellis to the next aisle over. They were able to see outside the store, and Francis caught sight of a container that normally housed propane tanks.
"I've got an idea," Francis said. "We need to see if there's any propane in that container out there. We can blow it up and try to slow this fucking thing down."
"And what if there ain't?" Ellis asked. "We'll be this thing's lunch if that's empty."
"You got a better idea, Sherlock?" Francis asked. "Quick, we have a clear path."
Francis dragged Ellis towards the front of the store. When they reached the front, they accidentally knocked down a display of sunglasses. The Tank roared and turned, looking Francis and Ellis dead in the eye.
"Shit!" Francis yelled. The two of them left the store and made it to the propane container. The Tank barreled towards them, knocking over all of the shelving in his path.
"This thing's fucking locked!" Ellis yelled, pointing out the padlock on the container.
"Hang on," Francis said. He hit the lock with the end of his shotgun three times, and on the third hit the lock broke off. They opened the container and saw two propane tanks on the shelves. "Bingo," Francis said. He grabbed the propane tanks and set them on the ground. "They're both half empty."
"Too late, he's here!" Ellis yelled. The Tank came outside and roared at Francis and Ellis. It charged towards them, but before he reached Francis and Ellis, it was hit with a glass bottle and ignited on fire. The Tank roared in pain and turned around. Ellis and Francis looked behind them and saw Rochelle. The tank charged towards her, but was moving more slowly since being ignited.
"Rochelle!" Francis yelled. "You have another one of those?"
"Yes!" Rochelle yelled, dodging the Tank and running towards Francis and Ellis. "Shit, are those propane tanks?"
"Throw them towards him!" Francis yelled. He and Rochelle threw the two propane tanks into the street.
"Over here, asshole!" Ellis yelled. The Tank turned and started charging towards them, but the propane tanks were between it and the survivors.
Rochelle ignited the other Molotov cocktail and stood firm. Just as the Tank was nearing the propane tanks, she threw the cocktail. It ignited the tanks, which promptly exploded, knocking the tank off balance and burning it even more. Finally, the Tank collapsed to the ground, which shook violently. It finally stopped moving.
"Thank God you were able to find those mollies," Ellis said. "I thought we were done for."
"Don't let your guard down yet," Rochelle said.
The three of them moved further down the road, and the other survivors came outside, now that there was no danger for the time being.
"Nice job taking out that Tank," Bill said. "I have other good news, too. I was able to find a gun shop not far from here. We can stock up on ammunition there."
"Great! Let's go," Louis said. The survivors all followed Bill, and they were soon able to enter the gun shop and scour for supplies.
"Perfect!" Francis said. "There's enough ammo here for everyone. Stock up as much as you can!"
The survivors broke through the glass counters containing the ammunition and reloaded their weapons.
"We should hold out here for the time being," Rochelle said. "This is probably the safest place for us to be."
"Agreed," Bill said, "but we still need food and water. Ellis, you and I should hole up here."
"What?" Nick asked. "Why can't I camp out here?"
"Ellis is too slow," Bill said, "and I'm the best shot. We can hold the fort here while the rest of you try to find some food and water."
"Fine," Nick said. "Let's go, guys."
The six other survivors left the gun shop, leaving Ellis and Bill alone. Bill reached for his breast pocket, but then remembered that he had run out of cigarettes days ago. "Son of a bitch, I could use a light," he said.
"Yeah," Ellis said. "Me and Keith used to sneak out of school to smoke and drink. Even after we got caught and suspended a couple times, we always still enjoyed doing it."
"What the hell even happened to this Keith kid?" Bill said. "Did he get Infected?"
"I never found out," Ellis said. "He and his folks moved away right before we were gonna start high school. He said we'd keep in touch, but I never heard from him again. I wish I had been able to see him one more time, but when the Infection hit, that just couldn't happen."
"I'm sorry, son," Bill said. "Losing your best friend isn't easy. I lost a few good men in the war."
"Damn, that sucks," Ellis said. "Look, I ain't gonna even try to understand how hard that must've been. I never even thought about signing up to serve, even when my parents insisted that was the only way I'd have a chance at a future."
"What were you doing, then, before the Infection hit?"
"I was fixing up cars for a living," Ellis said. "Didn't pay a whole lot. Then again, I didn't need a whole lot. I was getting by just fine for a while there, but then...well, you know what happened."
"Maybe someday you can tell us more about your old life." Bill let out a deep breath. "It's been pretty nonstop since the eight of us ran into each other. Maybe we'll find a place someday where we don't have to look over our shoulder every minute, and we can get to know each other better. I'm sure you're eager to get more acquainted with Zoey."
"Shucks," Ellis said, starting to blush. "I'd love to get to know her better, too. You ever had anybody like that in your life?"
"No," Bill said. "Was never much of the dating type before the war, and after...well, things were rough. I ended up sitting on the sidelines for the rest of my life. If I have one regret, more than anything else, I wish I had raised a family. That's something you young kids don't understand these days. You don't take advantage of the time you have, it's gonna fly by before you know it."
"Yeah, well, I mean, everything's different now," Ellis said. "How we live is totally different now."
"It's like being at war again," Bill said. "If I do anything else for the rest of my life, I hope it's finding a safe place for the seven of you to live at least somewhat normal lives. You deserve that chance, a chance I took for granted in my life."
For a moment, Ellis almost thought he could see a tear in Bill's eye. Bill turned his face away, and when he turned back, the tear was gone.
The two of them remained in silence, looking around to make sure no Infected had entered the store. Finally, they heard the other survivors come back in, chatting in a mostly jovial nature.
"Did you find food?" Ellis asked.
"Yep!" Louis said. "Even better news, it's in a bunker."
"Yeah, some fucking survivalist made himself a bunker in the basement of his house," Nick said. "I used to make fun of those guys, but I guess they had the right idea after all."
"We brought you and Ellis some food from that bunker," Rochelle said. "Once you're done, we'll lead you back over there."
"That's awesome news, guys, thanks," Ellis said.
Zoey handed him and Bill a can of baked beans. "These are lukewarm," she said, "but this house we found has a generator, and there's a microwave in the bunker. We have enough food to last us a few weeks if we're careful, and we can actually eat it hot."
"That's excellent news," Bill said. "Well done. Did you run into any Infected over there?"
"A couple strays," Coach said, "but nothing we couldn't handle. We gotta be a little careful, though. There's a few Boomers in the area. We snuck past them okay, but they could attract all kinds of attention if we ain't careful."
"Let's go then," Ellis said, dropping his empty can of beans on the floor.
Bill was finished as well, so the survivors headed out to make their way to the bunker. Now that Ellis had rested a bit, he was able to walk under his own power. They made their way slowly through the streets, keeping an eye out for Infected. They eventually found the group of Boomers that Coach had warned about, but the survivors were far enough away to avoid detection.
"It's down this next road," Rochelle said in a whisper. "There. Oh shit…"
The survivors could see that a Witch had camped herself in front of a house.
"Don't tell me that's where the bunker is," Ellis said.
"Fine," Nick said, "then I won't tell you."
"Damn," Ellis said. "How are we gonna get past her?"
"Get past her?" Francis asked. "Obviously we need to kill her."
"Do we, though?" Bill asked. "We kill her, she'll scream, and that group of Boomers will certainly come over here, not to mention God knows what else is out here. If that bile gets on anyone, it could bring even worse things. But if we sneak around her and get ourselves to that bunker, we won't attract any attention."
"And how the fuck are we supposed to do that?" Nick asked. "This house is totally fucking fortified. The windows are all sealed shut. The front door's the only way inside."
"Then we tread carefully around her, one at a time, and get ourselves into that bunker," Bill said. "I'll go first."
Bill stepped gingerly around the Witch and up the steps to the front door. The Witch started growling for a moment, but once Bill was in the house, she quieted down. Bill left the front door open and beckoned the other survivors towards him, holding up one pointer finger to indicate to them that they needed to enter one at a time.
"Who's next?" Rochelle asked.
"Fine, I'll go," Francis said. He tiptoed carefully up the stairs next, but stumbled on the last step and nearly fell on top of the Witch. The other survivors gasped, but Francis balanced himself and was able to get into the house.
Now that both Bill and Francis had entered, the other survivors were feeling more comfortable with this plan. Zoey walked in next, followed by Louis, then Coach, then Rochelle. Nick and Ellis were the only two left.
"Feel like going next?" Nick asked.
"No," Ellis said. "After you."
"Come on, Ellis, ladies first."
"No, Nick, you go. Age before beauty."
"The fuck are you two doing?" Bill asked in a hushed whisper. "Get your asses in here!"
"Fine," Ellis said. He tiptoed up the steps, but caught his foot at the last step and started to lose his balance. Just before he was about to fall, Nick grabbed his arm, having come up behind him. The Witch started growling more loudly. Nick and Ellis quickly entered the house and shut the door carefully behind them. The survivors backed away from the door as quickly and quietly as possible.
"You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Nick said, smacking Ellis in the arm. "The fuck were you doing?"
"I didn't count the steps right," Ellis said.
"You almost got us killed!" Nick replied, shaking his head in disbelief.
"The two of you need to shut the fuck up now," Bill said. "That Witch isn't out of earshot yet. Take us to the bunker now."
"Follow me," Rochelle said. She led the survivors down a flight of stairs to a fortified steel door. She opened it, and after the survivors entered the bunker, Coach closed the door behind them and lowered a steel bar to securely seal them in. The door also had multiple locks, which Coach used to lock the survivors in. The eight of them sat down on the floor and breathed a collective sigh of relief.
"God damn!" Ellis said. "There's tons of food here, just like you said. How the fuck did you even find this place?"
"We got lucky," Zoey said. "This house was in much better shape than the other ones on this street, and we figured there had to be a reason why. Whoever was here before us was prepared."
"That's great and all, but I have one question," Ellis said. "If this guy was so prepared, how come he ain't here now?"
"We were wondering the same thing," Rochelle said, "and I found the answer. Hang on." Rochelle stepped away for a moment and came back with a ratty looking notebook. "Guy kept a journal. I won't read the whole thing, but he ended up catching the Infection early on, before anyone even knew how it really worked. His last entry was that he was starting to lose control of his thoughts, and after that...well, I think it's pretty obvious what happened."
"Damn," Ellis said. "Still, though, this is good news for us. We can lay low here and plan our next move."
"Alright," Bill said. "It's starting to get late. I think we've earned ourselves a real meal here, but we can't go overboard. After tonight, we need to keep conservative rations. It may look like there's a lot here, but there's eight of us, and we don't know how long we need this to last."
"Got it," Francis said. "Now, let's eat!"
The survivors gathered some dehydrated meals together to prepare. None of them knew what lay ahead, but for the moment, they had a chance to finally relax.