Time Frame: Zone 15 and Afterward
Rating: T (language and mentions of sex)
Established relationships: Nellis, Frochelle, and new arrivals.
Description: The group finds themselves out in the open again!
*Note: Very sorry for such a delay in updating. I have had a lot of personal things going on, as well as very shoddy internet connection lately.
It happened without warning. One autumn morning everyone was going about their busy day at feigning normality, and by the afternoon, the center of town was a warzone. As many as 40 infected managed to make their way into the compound, running about, attacking people. Most were common infected, but a tank and a hunter were among the fray. Chaos ensued and by the time the din was worn back down, several were injured and it was unclear as to whether or not there were any deaths to report. The hospital staff was bustling to care for all the numerous injuries of the day and the military personnel in charge of Zone 15 were looking for answers that were fast rather than answers that were right.
"Ellis, move your ass, son. Some shit is happenin up at the main gate." Coach called, pulling his former companion from where he stood at the face of the garage he was supposed to work at that day.
He didn't answer, instead he made his way as fast as he could across the large gathering yard and skirted around a crowd that formed around several raised voices.
"Yeah, I went out, because I was told to go out. But I took the SOUTH fucking gate, and not the WEST fucking gate, which was the exact fucking gate that the infected came in through. So, naturally I fail to see how this is my fault." Nick was shouting at a man in uniform.
The crowd was getting bigger. Everyone that walked by stopped and looked in to see what was going on. The southern man that was in charge of Nick's job was trying to hush the arguing men.
"Maybe it was you, Jerry." Nick accused, pissed off and not in the mood to be lectured in front of strangers by a man that had no authority over him.
The red-faced younger man drew his gun, pointing at the elevated gambler, "Like hell it was. Maybe...definitely, it was you!"
"Get that shit outta my face." Nick stepped forward, only to be blocked by a familiar form putting himself between the man he loved and the man with the gun.
"Don't shoot him!" Ellis yelled, facing the man called Jerry, trying to spread out and block as much of Nick as he could.
"Ellis, no. C'mon buddy you're gonna make this a hell of a lot worse!" Keith called from the space in the crowd that he stood, exhausted.
In the confusion, the man with the gun focused on a new target, the mechanic.
"Move." He instructed.
That was all it took for the gambler to draw the handgun [forbidden to non-military] he had hidden in his waistband and pointed it in return at Jerry, reaching around Ellis's right shoulder.
"Lower your weapon, fuckface." He snarled.
"Nick, calm down." Ellis whispered.
"Yeah, let's take it easy." Rochelle encouraged from her place beside Francis.
"Where did you get a gun?" Nick's boss asked.
"I have my fuckin ways, Colonel Sanders." Nick answered, returning his focus to his immediate threat, "Take your gun out of his face."
"Tell him to move."
"I aint movin, or you'll shoot him." Ellis answered.
"He's not going to shoot me." Nick assured.
"I aint movin, Nick." Ellis repeated.
"Goddamn it, Ellis. You're throwing me off."
The colonel motioned for the floor, drawing the attention to himself.
"Nick, you know it isn't permitted for non-military to have firearms." He started, trying to bring down the murmuring crowd.
Nick nodded.
"It also isn't permitted for non-military to leave the compound."
"I was told to leave the compound through the south gate...for things. Kennis told me that you told him to tell me to go and be back by 3pm." Nick assured.
The man called Kennis did not confirm. He stood there in silence with a pissed off look on his face.
"I went through the south gate. This shit isn't my fault!" Nick was getting elevated again.
"Kid, both of those offenses are punishable by banishment." The colonel said, solemn expression.
"That's bullshit!" Rochelle called, mixing in with the crowd's differing opinions. Most seemed like they were all for the idea of kicking one member out.
"There's nothing I can do."
"You're kicking me out? With the infected?" Nick was incredulous. Really? Just for having a gun?
"If you try, you might be able to try your luck at Zone 14. Open the gate." The colonel motioned for two soldiers to follow his instructions.
"If you're kickin him out, I'm going too." Ellis assured.
"No, El-" Nick started.
"Nah, Ellis, come on-" Keith was saying.
"Y'all shut up. I said I'm goin and I'm goin. No one is gonna make me leave you." The southerner was stern in his assertion.
"Well buddy, if you're goin, so am I." Keith called.
"Me too." Rochelle added.
"Well if you aren't staying, I'm not. I always did hate compounds...zones...fences." Francis agreed.
"The guv'ment came and took my weed. I'm out, too." Keith's roommate John stepped forward, followed by Sid.
By the end of the event, Zone 15 lost eight of its members: Ellis, Nick, Coach, Rochelle, Francis, Keith, John, and Sid. They were given a short time frame to run, followed by a guard, back to their houses to take what they could before being ushered out the gates.
When given the chance to follow, Zoey and Louis decided to stay in Zone 15 in safety. Before they were sent out into the woods, the group was given a gun for each person, in hopes of clearing their conscience, believing that one gun each was enough to get each one of them to the safety of the next zone several hundred miles away.
"Gimme the handgun, El. I can't fire a shotgun." Keith noted, holding up his damaged hands. With no thumb on the left hand and only three complete digits on the right, he had to hold a handgun tight with both hands in order to use it. Any gun meant for two hands was out of the question.
"Here ya are, buddy. I'm better with a handgun anyway." Ellis replied, changing guns with his friend.
"Not bad firing off two at a time, might I add." Coach huffed.
"He learned how to shoot one-handed. See, when he was 14, he broke his left arm and collarbone, and for some reason, my dad thought this was the best time to teach El how to shoot...insteada teachin me." Keith recalled, causing his friend to try ignoring this story. Ellis felt bad about how much better Keith's dad treated him over his own son.
"I can't believe this shit." Nick grumbled, walking slightly behind the rest of the group. "Guys, I'm...I didn't mean for this to happen."
"Don't worry about it. They were wrong." Rochelle assured, keeping an eye peeled on all of her surroundings. It was going to take some getting used to, being constantly on edge again. She was getting comfortable in Zone 15, sleeping well again, feeling almost normal.
"I'm just worried about your heart. You don't have your pills no more one those last ones in the bottle are up." Ellis noted, shooting Nick a concerned look.
"My heart will hold out until we reach the next zone. I'm fine." He assured, certain of his own words. This heart condition thing was such a crock of shit. He felt that he knew his own organs, and his heart felt fine.
Nothing changed on the outside. Infected were still roaming around, and teaching two new people how to shoot was not making things easier. It was a panic, the entire day. They traveled until sundown and took refuge at the soonest convenience, inside of a tipped over bus. Some of the windows were broken, but it appeared that someone already tried using it as a shelter, because sheet metal, bars, and wood panels were blocking any entrance into the bus. The only way in or out was through the emergency exit.
"It's gonna be a long night," John sighed, "get comfortable if you can."
He was taking his own advice, curling up on one of the seats that detached and now lay against what was now the floor, and what used to be the bus' left wall.
The rest of the lot tried stretching out on the floor. Rochelle and Francis partnered up, huddling together as the night turned cold. Autumn was not freezing yet, but the night time was not as pleasant as the summer had been.
Keith opted to stay awake with Coach and keep first watch over the group, watching his best friend curl up into the arms of the man that didn't deserve him, long after everyone else fell asleep.
The night was long, full of the sounds of infected that probably never stopped. They only seemed to come up again outside the comfort of the zone. They paid no attention to the overturned bus, and it was going to stay that way so long as no sound or movement was observed inside. The group learned months ago to sleep relatively still. Their mute companion, Sid, had been doing this for most of her life. When she slept, she would wake up sore every time because she would will her body to lock up into a protective shell over her.
"Rise and shine. We made it through night one back out on the trail." Coach said, not shouting, but it was loud enough to wake everyone back up.
"If I'm not mistaken, there's a rest stop about three miles up the road…about three. Not 100 on it, though." Ellis offered, vaguely familiar with the area.
It was a long walk, and though Ellis was right about the distance, three miles felt like 30 miles. Something about being forced to do something each of the group thought was over made each trudging step feel a little more helpless.
When at last they reached the abandoned shop where several semi-trucks were permanently dumped, Nick was already itching to explore the inside, hopeful that there might still be some supplies worth salvaging just beyond that door. He quickly took the handle of the boarded up glass door and pulled.
Had he not been quick-witted, he would not have had any time to react to the gun barrel in his face. Had he been less experienced with thinking on his feet, he would have frozen, rather than drawing his own gun and pointing it toward the immediate threat without skipping a beat.
The gambler was now face to face with another human being, a man likely several years younger than him. The two each had a right-handed grip on their handguns, Nick's colt versus the stranger's revolver. The man was roughly two inches taller, clad in work boots, a worn out pair of Levis, a sweat-stained white shirt, and an open plaid flannel shirt. He was well-built with dark hair hidden under a cowboy hat and five o'clock shadow appearing on his face.
They stared at one another for a moment, before the stranger spoke.
"You're the guy from 15." He said in a thick Texas accent. It wasn't a question.
"Do I know you?" Nick replied, not confirming his statement or lowering his gun.
"No, but me and mine were from 15, too. We left the same time you did, out the back gate after we seen how they banished your group." The man replied.
"How many do you have behind you?" Nick asked, sensing more eyes and more importantly, more gun barrels focused on him.
"Got enough." The stranger replied.
"How many is enough?" Ellis asked from behind Nick, gun already aimed at the stranger, but trying to focus on the darkness as well.
"Guys, come on." Keith was saying quietly, standing behind Ellis, unarmed and encouraging a peaceful resolve. "Sir," he said to the stranger, "if we lower ours, will you lower yours? We don't mean ya any harm. We didn't know anyone was here."
"If you will, we will." Came a reply.
"Nick?" Ellis questioned.
"All of your group comes outside, and we will lower our guns." Nick proposed.
"Fair enough." The stranger replied. He looked back into the darkness of the building, "Guys, come on out."
One by one, four new faces aside from the stranger emerged from the building. One was a heavyset, older biker that could have been a relation to Francis if everyone didn't know any better. Two relatively young women stepped forward as well. One Hispanic and one Caucasian. The Hispanic woman had her hair held back in a ponytail and appeared very able to defend herself. The other woman appeared bookish and sported wavy red hair. The final face was one that was very likely a man, but could have passed for a woman with the way he was dressed. He had shoulder-length wavy dark hair and a feminine face.
"This is Queen." The stranger introduced the young, feminine man.
"Dick, my name isn't actually Queen. I'm Danny, nice to meet you. This is my dad, Bud." He motioned to the biker, who nodded a greeting.
"This is Ylaina and her wife Evie. Ylaina is a doctor and-"
"Hey, I recognize you. Evie, was it? I saw you around at work." Nick motioned to the tough girl.
"You're that guy they had interrogating people across the hall, right?" She recognized him as well. They each gave a brief nod of mutual respect.
"And I'm Jared." Said the stranger.
"Nice to meet all y'all." Keith waved at them. "I'm Keith. This is my buddy Ellis. His buddy Nick. John, Sid, Rochelle, Coach, and Francis. Where are y'all headed?"
"Same as you, the next available zone." Danny answered.
"Maybe it would be wiser to join forces? I mean, we're able to guess that you're all sane and not completely evil, based on the mental testing they do in 15." Coach requested, "Safety in numbers."
"We were kinda hoping we'd catch up to you guys. I don't know how much y'all had to fight to make it to 15, but for us, it was Hell."
"Pretty much same here." Rochelle agreed.
Francis nodded, remembering the day his group lost Bill.
"It doesn't look like those things are thinning out any more than they were months ago." The pretty redhead said, thick accent apparent. It was European or Eurasian, possibly Ukrainian.
"Jared and I were the only ones in our group that had any proper firearms training. It was hard protecting the others." Evie detailed, earning a grunt from Bud.
"I can't help it if it was a felony for me to own a gun!" He stammered, "And I was damn good with a knife, you little shit."
Nick smiled.
"Yeah, me and Nick were pretty much the only ones in our group good with a gun, but Coach and Ro caught up. Keith does what he can, and the others are learnin quick." Ellis added in.
"So, are we doin' this?" Francis clarified, eyeing his surroundings, clearly uncomfortable with being out in the open.
"If y'all are down, we would welcome ya." Jared confirmed.
"Nick, what do you think, man?" Coach asked, wanting some definite commitment.
"Why the hell am I the leader here- oh hell with it, yeah. We'll join ya." Nick gave Jared a nod.
"Great. Well, we were in the middle of raidin this here store. We figured we'd travel til it got to be dusk. We should be right on the inside of town by then. We'll look for a place to sleep and find more shit in the mornin. Good?" Jared explained.
"Works for me."
The next several hours were spent on high alert, being that it was taking some getting used to, being on the outside again. Everyone equally hoped that the second they set foot in Zone 15, they would have seen the end of dead people walking around, and hideous mutants trying to rip them apart.
By the time they reached a safehouse, the lot of them were dirty and exhausted. This house in particular had a good supply of food left behind, but no running water, much to Nick's dismay. He hated being dirty again. This was the opposite of a good time. He was cranky, hungry, tired, and stiff. He worried about when his heart medication was going to run out, and he and Ellis hadn't had any time to relieve stress together in two days. It didn't seem like a long time, but with tensions being this high, a quick kiss in the bathroom when no one was looking was not going to cut it.
The new group spent some of that night trying to get to know one another.
"Yeah, Bud isn't my biological dad. He took me in and took care of me when my parents kicked me out of their house, for obvious reasons. Those silly bitches. I stuck out like a sore thumb. I think they were just waiting for me to say it, so they could cut my tuition and buy their rich asses a yacht." He said with sass.
"Kid was such a little bitch when I met him. I toughened him up, showed him how to make a weapon out of almost anything, and now he can pretty well handle himself in a fight." the older man nodded.
"I didn't come out in my country." Ylaina explained, "Homosexuality is highly frowned on. Even girls. The guys will get aroused, jerk off, and then tell you how sick you are. I met Evie when we were on assignment together and she made me want to be myself."
"You're Russian?" Nick asked.
"Yes." She clarified.
"My family knew about me from the time I was a kid, and they didn't give a shit." Evie added, giving Ylaina's hand a squeeze, wedding bands on their fingers.
"Are any of you couples?" Danny asked.
"Yeah, Ro and Francis are." Keith pointed out as Rochelle, Ellis, and Nick exchanged awkward glances.
"Aside from that, we're all strangers that just met up. Aside from Keith and Ellis who were best friends since they were little." John added.
"So that means most of you lost someone." Jared said seriously.
"Lost my wife to cancer two years before all this shit. I don't know about my kids and grandkids. I can only pray that they're good." Coach replied.
"I just had my parents and brothers. I lost my dad almost a decade ago. I don't know what happened to everyone else." Ro put in.
"All our family and friends are dead." Keith motioned between himself and Ellis.
"I got two ex-wives out there somewhere. Other than that, some siblings. I don't know if they made it." Nick explained.
"Me and Sid just had relatives, and we have not come across any of them." John said.
"Huh, I was living the single life, too. So I didn't miss anyone. I was raised in foster care." Francis shared, before taking another drink of the beer he found in the cupboard, grimacing at the canned taste.
"I didn't get to the whole getting married and having kids thing. So really I just lost my parents too. I know I lost them, seen em die. Pretty awful." Jared threw in.
"Me too." Keith added, "I'm sorry, man."
"I had a huge family, and believe it or not, when this shit went down we were having a party. Everyone died. Except me." Evie mentioned.
"I hated my parents. I don't know where they are. Do not care." Ylaina sighed. Nick mentally reminded himself to connect with her.
As the night wore on, various members of the group started turning in, finding a place to sleep in the ransacked house. There were only two bedrooms, so the two couples took those, while most stayed in the living room area. Nick and Ellis managed to sneak off for a quiet quickie in the bathroom before curling up on the floor together, Nick's back bracing the door in case any lookie loos wanted to bust in.
After coming down from the high of orgasm, both men were too tired to talk to one another about the events of the day or put much effort into getting dressed again until the house became too cold to allow sleeping naked.
Waking up from a brief stretch of shut-eye, Ellis laid awake on the floor, using Nick's arm as a pillow and reflecting on how the hell they were going to survive out here until they trekked the hundreds of miles to the next Zone. They had more man power, but were running out of bullets quickly. He could only hope that at least one of the town's several gun shops had not been completely gutted, or they were all going to have to master hitting things in the head for the next few weeks.