A/N: readers be warned that the F-bomb is used once in this chapter, there was really no other word to put without losing effect.

Also I am in the process of developing a new story, the first chapter or two should be out within a week or so. I encourage all of those who are reading this to give it a look when it comes out; don't worry though, Heirs wont suffer from it.

Update(4/10/07): The second story may need to wait due to specific circumstances.

Chapter 14: First Contact
(May 4th --- 29 day after Outbreak)

We are in such deep shit, Warrant Officer Nate Walters told himself as he wearily hefted Davis's M-14 rifle. Mostly wooden, it rested against his shoulder like a morbid baseball bat. Nate felt bad about taking Davis's weapon, but he had needed to save what ammo he had left in his own MP-5. Sparing a quick glance at what had been Davis, he knew that the dead man wouldn't be needing his weapon anyways. Davis had fallen shortly after Stevens as the men had retreated up the stairs. They had lost the battle, and were now separated from Captain Mendez and the others, who had also been forced to retreat. Nate was still in touch with Mendez through his short wave radio headset, but that was all.

Another demon appeared at the bottom of the stairs and moaned deeply in a way that seemed to say, "Oh, look! It's prey!" Of course, the idea that this thing could be intelligent was ridiculous. And horrible, he added as the thing fell back after coming across the barricade, which wasn't much: a hardwood table, a few chairs, and a desk or two, but it got the job done.

Nate stood up and made his way to the room where two of the three remaining members of Walter's group were heatedly discussing about whether they would choose food or sex if given a choice; both things had been in very short supply since the outbreak.

"… and then I would fuck her while I had the buffalo wing-"

"That's pretty messed up Marquis," Nate interrupted before things got raunchy, "did a piece of fried chicken violate you when you where a kid or something?"

Jim Marquis stopped humping the air and looked up at the warrant officer. "Ha-ha-ha," Jim said bitterly, "if you were any funnier I think I would have lost a lung by now." From behind Jim, Mike Hendrickson gave Nate a thumps up as he tried to muffle his own laughter; the civilians had always been amazed by how well he and the others coped with what was supposed to be the end of the world. Nate didn't find that surprising in the least, since over the years they had seen all sorts of carnage and death. Of course none of those situations had been as bad as this.

-Thud-Thud-Thud-

Nate's ears perked up as what sounded like heavy footsteps reverberated through the hallway. "You two did clear the upper floors, right?" he asked in a whisper, quietly placing the M-14 against the wall and taking out the comparatively small MP-5; it had little more than ten rounds left, but it would do.

"Course' we did," Mike replied in a hushed voice, gripping his ancient model 1894 Winchester over his shoulder as he instinctually took his place against the wall next to the doorway. Jim fell in behind Mike and they both flashed Nate a thumbs up.

The footsteps slowly got closer, but something seemed off to Nate; they were unnatural for a demon in that they sounded as if they had a normal rhythm; demons usually limped or wobbled stiffly.

Dismissing the seemingly pointless observation to the back of his mind, Nate said a silent prayer and burst into the hallway, followed by Mike and Jim. Through the rush of adrenaline it took him a moment to register the sight in front of him. First he noticed the colorful clothing that they all wore. Civilians… Then he saw the glistening swords they all held. Armed civilians, he corrected himself as he finally looked at their faces.

"Kids! What the hell are a bunch of kids doing here?" Jim blurted out as the stern looks of the new group turned to those of indignation.

"You two stay back and stay quite," Nate hissed as he approached the new group of people; he couldn't disagree with Jim's assessment, but it was a bad way to start a dialogue with someone who could be trying to decide whether to help you or rob you blind.

As he approached, a young girl stepped out to meet him followed by an older boy in a full suit of chain mail. What…the…hell. From five feet away Nate stopped and looked the two kids over; he couldn't help but notice that they hadn't put away their swords and that there was a lot of tension in the air. He followed the girl's gaze and found she was looking expectantly at his gun, which he had subconsciously trained on her head, as indicated by the red dot between her eyes.

"Well, I've made a decision," Nate began after half a minute of tense silence, "you are not Vikings."

The girl gave Nate an inquiring glance. "Care to explain that little gem of wisdom?"

Nate lowered his weapon and signaled Jim and Mike to do the same. "Well I just can't imagine a pretty lady like yourself going around raping and pillaging," he explained with a smirk.

Her features softened considerably and she put her sword back in its sheaf, the chain mail-boy and everyone behind them followed in kind. "Are you Captain Mendez?" the girl asked.

"Nope, I'm second in command Warrant Officer Nate Walters. Pleasure to meet you, little missy," he replied casually.

The girl glared at Nate, feeling as if he was talking down to her. "I would prefer if you call me Sally… or Captain, if you feel so inclined."

"Captain of what, the honor roll?" Jim called out. You idiot, he yelled mentally, we are trying to make friends, not get disemboweled by a little girl and a bunch of her friends.

Sally began to reach for a pouch by her hip before the bodyguard put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. "Are all your men like him?" she asked angrily, "Because if they are-"

"Please ignore Jim; he is so busy fantasizing about having sex while he eats buffalo wings that he isn't thinking straight," Nate replied dismissively.

"Hey! That's not- mmmfffffuh"

Mike covered Jim's mouth. "Yes, please excuse his rudeness," Mike apologized, "it's been a rough month." Finished speaking, Mike dragged his comrade back into the room they had come from, leaving Nate to handle things.

Nate stroked his beard nervously and waited a moment to allow Sally the chance to regain her composure. "As inappropriately as he put it, my colleague does bring up a valid point; what exactly are you a Captain of?"

"I am a Captain of the Intrepid Defense Force," she replied proudly and then added, "Where is Captain Mendez?"

Well I'll give her one thing, she is persistent. "Captain Mendez is currently stuck in the basement with the civilians, but I can put him through over the radio if you wish," Nate conceded.

"That would be acceptable… wait! Where are you going?" she yelled as Nate began to walk away.

Nate stopped and looked over his shoulder. "I'm getting you a headset, be back in a second," he replied and continued forward, disappearing as he went down the stairwell.

Although Sally couldn't see Nate at the moment, she could clearly hear the warrant officer's gun go off and the moans of the creatures downstairs growing noticeably louder. "Don't forget," Jacen whispered to Sally and the others, "I'm supposed to be a guard, so none of that Lord Jacen crap."

The floor vibrated under Sally's feet as Nate ascended the stairwell in leaps and bounds with a bloody headset in his left hand. "Here you go," Nate began wearily after he used a dirty rag from his pocket to wipe away the blood and handed it to Sally. "Courtesy of the late Sergeant Davis. Now just give me a second to contact Mendez first and then he's all yours."

"Very well," Sally replied, frowning slightly at the still blood soaked headset in her hands.

Nate nodded to her and turned his back to them. Sally tried to listen in on the conversation but could only catch one or two words. A minute later Nate turned back around and pointed to a switch on a wire draping down from the headset itself. "Flick the switch to turn it on."

Ignoring the smell of blood that the device reeked of, Sally hastily put on the headset and activated it. "Captain Mendez can you hear me… Over," she added as an afterthought, trying to remember what the people in the movies would say.

"I hear you loud and clear."

"Sir, I'm Captain Sally Bishop of the Intrepi-"

"Her last name is Bishop?" someone behind her asked.

"Apparently," another replied.

Sally covered the microphone with her left hand and shot an angry glare at the group as a whole. "Please excuse the interruption," she continued after everyone fell quiet, "As I was saying, I am Captain Sally Bishop of the Intrepid Defense Force."

"Pleasure to meet you Sally," the voice paused for a moment and let out a deep sigh. "You have no idea how relieved I am to hear your voice."

Hearing the tired tone of the man on the other line, Sally frowned and glanced up at Nate; he looked how Mendez sounded. He was covered in dirt from head to toe, he smelled like a public restroom, and his beard seemed to have twigs embedded into it. My god, Sally commented mentally, these people have really been to hell and back.

"Sally… Sally are you still there?"

"Yes, I'm here," Sally replied. "So Captain, what can we do to be of assistance?"

Mendez waited a moment before replying. "How many of you are there? Do you have a means of transporting all of us out of here?"

"There are nine of us… now," she spared a consoling look at Jacen, who had flinched at the statement; "Originally there were twelve, but two had to be sent back to Intrepid and the other died; we don't have transportation, but we did pass a large Fed-Ex truck not too long ago."

"Ok, we can make this work… Nate you there?" Mendez asked. Nate didn't respond but Sally did see the man jump slightly from the spot where he stood overlooking the stairs. "Damn it Nate, answer me. I know you're eavesdropping."

"Sir," the Warrant officer replied over the radio in a defeated voice. Sally sighed in amusement; her initial reaction to Nate and company was decidedly not positive but in the short time since they had met she had already started to warm up to their antics and now realized that it was only natural to be a little off after everything they had been through.

"Good; now here's what we are need to do…"

"Jacen you can't go down there," Sally exclaimed, "I won't let you!"

Nate coughed impatiently. "Come on now, don't be stubborn. He is your bodyguard, now let him do his job and save us."

Jacen let out a wry smirk and looked over at Sally. "Yeah, Sally, let me do my job," he said mockingly, daring her to challenge him in front of Nate. He didn't like deceiving Mendez and the others but it was necessary to do so until he could prove that he was a capable leader despite being only seventeen.

Sally began to straighten up as if to protest, but stopped herself and nodded wearily. Nate gave Sally a respectful glance and then looked back towards Jacen. "OK kid, tell me the plan again; I want to make sure you remember."

"I am going to wade through the creatures and make my way to the other side of the room where the radio transmitter is set up. Then all I have to do is flip the switch on the microphone and wait for everything else to fall into place."

Nate gave Jacen a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Good luck kid…" His features softened and in a quiet voice he added, "Don't get killed."

"That's the plan," replied the ruler of Intrepid as he descended the stairwell, flashing Sally a decidedly fake reassuring smile just before disappearing from view.

Jacen's mind was clear and determined as he reached the bottom of the stairs and rounded the corner. That changed when he first set eyes on the mass of creatures standing in the main room. There were hundreds, ten times more than Jacen had ever seen at one time and also the first creatures he had seen since the horrible scene at the diner.

Instinctively he reached for the loosely hanging sword at his side but then released it from his grip, realizing that it would only make things harder. Then Jacen ran, gathering all the momentum he could before he slammed shoulder first into the mass of undead. The stench of rotting flesh nearly overwhelmed him, singing the hairs in his nostrils as he used his arms to pry open a gap.

Almost instantly the creatures began to attack Jacen as he began the slow process of wading to the other side of the room. Pain shot up his arm as one tried to bite him; as much as he may have wished it otherwise, the armor could only protect him from breaking the skin, not preventing pain.

It took Jacen a little less than ten minutes to make it to the halfway point and by that time he could barely feel his left arm. He was also having trouble breathing due to one creature that had landed a hit to his chest; through his almost ten minutes of hell, though, not once had he responded to any attack.

I can't keep this up, Jacen told himself as he felt his body start to weaken. That was when the images started playing out in his head; images of him avenging Mark, images of him fighting back and killing every single creature in the room and outside. They all deserve to be killed. I should slaughter every single one right now, Jacen thought irrationally.

The images and thoughts invigorated Jacen, converting his anger and rage into raw energy. During the time this happened, something tugged at the back of his mind, asking to be let in and enticing him with more images of vengeance. Each new blow from the creatures fueled Jacen as he continued on, while at the same time causing the tug to become a little more forceful. Jacen slowly began to forget what he was there to do as he became overwhelmed by an urge to kill.

Then one creature swiped at Jacen's head, causing his legs to buckle; he fell beneath the mass of death and decay. As Jacen lay sprawled face down on the ground, his vision began to clear as a cloudy veil that he hadn't noticed before was lifted from his mind. Suddenly he could think rationally. The first feeling to return was fear, fear that at any moment the creatures would bend over and tear him apart, but they didn't. After a full minute of waiting to embrace death he risked a look up.

Jacen looked up and nearly burst into laughter; the creatures couldn't reach down to get him, since they were packed together in the room as snugly as a can of sardines. They can't bend down to reach me, he commented to himself in amusement, subconsciously knowing that this was not the time to be entertained but unable to stop. What he did do was continue on, taking full advantage of his discovery by crawling the rest of the way.

He made it to the transmitter twenty minuets after he began this hellish mission and flipped the switch. Mission accomplished, Jacen said to himself but then his smile faded as he realized something. I have to get away from it now! If I hide under the table then they might knock it over. Acting on his insight, Jacen dove back into the forest of feet, and waited sprawled on his stomach for the plan to come together.

Elsewhere in the center of town:

"Look for nice cars with fancy rims," Nate informed Communication Sergeant Marquis and Brett; Sally had insisted on accompanying them.

Marquis gave Nate a questioning look. "Why?"

"Umm guys?" Brett asked as he looked over Nate's shoulder, speaking for the first time since they left.

"Just one second kid," Nate said dismissively to Brett before explaining his reasoning to Marquis; "What do you think is more likely to have a very loud sound system? A Cadillac Escalade with spinning chrome rims or-"

"Umm, guys?" Brett interjected in a louder voice.

Nate looked over and glared at the boy for interrupting. "What?" the warrant officer asked with venom in his voice; Brett pointed over Nate's shoulder. Glancing over to the area the boy was pointing at, Nate gaped. "You gotta be joking…," he said, trailing off. After a moment, he sighed heavily and said, "Marquis, get it set up."

Marquis looked at the chosen vehicle astonishment. "But Nate, I mean Sir… its a-"

Nate massaged his forehead in annoyance as he interrupted Marquis. "Yes, Jim, that is an ice cream truck."

A/N: I am having trouble with the 15th chapter and I am having trouble contacting my beta, not their fault though. Also, I would appreciate it if anyone who has been following the story to give me an honest opinion on something: Have any of you noticed a decrease in the amount of physical description? I need to know whether my writing abilities are becoming worse over time or if its just in my head.

Much appreciated