When Love and Hate Collide

Chapter 4: Swamp Land Brawl

Surprisingly, I didn't have a nightmare this time around. Well, I was listening to my IPod, so it normally helps keeping my Hunter problems at bay. It was about me back in my high school days. I was so young and fiery back then. Hell, I'm twice as fiery now! I saw my first boyfriend, Marshall making love to me for the first time. Feelings of love and hatred began to swirl in my head, causing to turn in my sleep. It felt so real, that I needed to get away from it. "Wake me up!!" I bellowed in my dream state.

A shotgun blast rang in my ears about a second later. I shot up to my knees, startled by the sudden gun shot. Shortly following the blast, Alex screamed, "Holy shit! Brace yourselves, y'all!" The helicopter flipped and tossed in the air, causing us to shake around like a tossed salad. I grabbed ahold of the pilot's chair to hold on. However, it wasn't enough to prevent me from flying into the windshield as the chopper crashed into an empty field. I groaned in pain as I rubbed my head. Alex asked me, "Are you k'?" I saw the pilot, who had a huge section of his head blown off from the shot gun blast I heard. I grumbled as I stood up, "Who's the asshole who shot the pilot?!" Everyone pointed at Nick, who held a smoking auto shotgun in his hands. He scoffed, "Thanks for ratting me out, guys." I snarled as I climbed over the dead pilot, "Damn it Nick! I'm going to shoot you in the ass!!" He gulped and cursed, "Oh shit!" As I scrambled over the debris from the crash, Nick pressed himself against the hull nearest the door. I almost leaped at him, but Coach caught me, pulling me away from the conman. "Beating him up isn't going to help us. Chill the hell out, Chris!" I struggled in Coach's grip, watching Nick scrambling to get the door open. Sheila sighed as she spoke matter-of-factly, "Pull the lever down, Nick." He stopped for a second and studied the door. The red arrow pointed in a down arch, telling the person to pull the lever down. "Oh", Nick se pulled it down and the door hissed open. He bolted out the door, while everyone else walked out of the crashed chopper.

Coach finally let go of me and let me fall in the dirt; my legs were weak from the crash. "Nick! Come back so I can fill your ass with lead!!" I barked at his retreating form. Ro shook her head and defended, "He shot the pilot because he was infected. He's not that stupid, shooting the pilot without a reason." Wait…the pilot was infected? And Nick shot him to protect us. "OOOOOOHHHHHHHHH. Oops. Now I really feel like a bitch. Damn menstrual cycle!" I turned to Alex and Ellis, who were dusting themselves off. "Ellis. Alex. Can you boys bring Nick back? I need to apologize…again." Ellis evilly grinned at me and ushered his little bro to follow him. Nick was looking down the path, when the Bucker brothers walked up behind him. "Come on back, Nick. She didn't mean it", Ellis said in a comforting tone. Nick snapped, "That psycho bitch will shoot me in the ass! No thanks." Alex countered, "She wants to apologize for her actions. She knows why you shot the pilot." Nick huffed like a little kid and shook his head. Ellis sighed, "So be it, Nick." He grabbed his left arm and Alex quickly grabbed his right arm. "Hey! Let me go, you dumbshits!" Nick snarled. Alex retorted, "That hurt, Nick. Seriously!" Ellis soothed his younger brother, "You'll get used to him…eventually." They dragged Nick back to the group, while the captive struggled all the way there.

I stood up as Ellis and Alex returned with their struggling conman. As they let go, I spoke to Nick, "I'm sorry, Nick. I didn't mean to pounce at you…" "Like you did the first time?" Ellis teased. Ro walked to him and smacked his head as I blushed at the memory. Nick blushed too. That pounce was very awkward for both of us. I continued talking, "Anyway, I promise not to attack you if you warn me before you do something out of place." Sheila walked next to Nick and performed the purr he failed to do earlier. We both grew redder and I snapped, "Sheila! You're such a pervert!! No teasing remember!" She shrugged innocently, "It must have slipped my mind." Nick scoffed, "My ass! Wait a minute." He turned to me and asked, "What teasing?" I darted my eyes, thinking of some sort of bluff. I grinned and replied, "No teasing over the fact that I like Ellis." Everyone stopped what they were doing when I said that. Nick gained a shocked look on his face. Ellis blushed and replied, "I'm flattered, Chris. I really am, but I don't like you in that way. You're not my type. Besides, I have my eye on someone else." I rolled my eyes, thinking that he just gave away his little secret. It's obvious that he likes Sheila and everyone knows that. Well, except for his brother. Ellis raised his hand to me and continued, "No hard feelings?" I nodded as I played a grin. I shook his hand, "No hard feelings, Ellis. We'll just remain friends." "Cool. Will do, Chris!"

Alex asked, "Where the hell are we?" Ellis released my hand and snapped at Alex, "You're the copilot! You should know where we are!" He retorted back, "The chopper was going to New Orleans to pick up additional survivors! We must have landed somewhere between Whisperin' Oaks and New Orleans! That's all I know!" Ellis sighed and replied, "Ok. First things first. Everyone grab a weapon!" I walked back into the destroyed chopper, hoping that I can still use my AK. I was able to grab Sheila's sniper. "Hey, Sheila! Here's your sniper!" I shouted as I tossed it outside. A loose bullet was in the barrel and when I tossed it outside, it fired. Everyone jumped out of the way and the bullet nailed a Hunter in the head from a hundred feet away. Alex whistled, "Damn! Nice shot!" I poked my head out and saw the smoking sniper and then at the faraway corpse. "Wow. What luck!" Grabbing the rest of the M&Ms, I leaped out with my AK in my hands and walked to the carcass.

I kneeled before the dead zombie and pulled out my Swiss Army knife. Nick warned Alex, "This little obsession of hers may be a little gruesome." Alex asked, "What obsession?" I plucked the tooth out and showed Alex. "This obsession", I replied. He stared at the blood-stained tooth with awe. "You are one badass bitch, Chris. I'm sure glad you're on our side!" I grinned as I stuffed the tooth in my pocket, "Thanks. Glad to see that someone doesn't think I'm a lunatic." Nick rolled his eyes and pulled out his Magnum. Everyone else had to grab broken or damaged weapons. Alex was stuck without a firearm. Ro asked, "Alex, do you have a weapon at all?" He scratched his head for a second and then snapped his fingers in discovery. He pulled out a butterfly knife from his pocket. Coach scoffed, "That'll do you very little when the horde comes." Alex snapped, "It's better than your damaged weapons! Besides, it's the only weapon I've got. Ellis never let me use a real gun! I was stuck with Nerf guns and darts!" Ellis retorted, "You're too young to handle a gun! You could kill yourself!" I growled at the sibling bickering. "Enough, you two! We're in the middle of a fucking zombie apocalypse! Everyone gets a fucking gun! Fuck me!" I began panting like a crazy person and looked down the path. Everyone got really quiet after my meltdown. Alex was terrified of my attitude. Sheila had to comfort him by whispering in his ear, "She's much better than this. Two words: woman thing." Alex shivered at the thought. She slapped his shoulder and said, "Exactly."

I spotted an abandoned gas station down the road. I felt a bet coming on. "Nick! Come up here!" I heard his footsteps approach me and halted next to me. "What? What is it?" he asked. I pointed to the station and asked, "See that station?" He nodded. I continued, "I bet you five bucks that there are weapons inside." He scoffed, "I'm feeling lucky. You're on!" We shook hands and Nick ushered the rest of the party to advance forward.

We were able to get into the station with very little zombie problems. On the counter, there was an Assault Rifle, Auto Shotgun, Pump Shotgun, Hunting Rifle, and a Grenade Launcher. Melee weapons like the axe, the skillet and the machete were on the floor. An ammo pile was near the door. Nick groaned, "Fuuuuck." I grinned and nudged his side, stating, "Pay up!" He groaned again as he fished around his pockets for the five dollar bill he won from me last night. He pulled it out and I snapped it away. "You win a little, you lose a little, Nick", I chuckled as I stuffed it into my other pocket. As I grabbed ammo for my AK, Nick grumbled, "I tend to lose a lot when you came into my life." "Consider me bad luck."

Alex saw the Grenade Launcher and immediately grabbed it. Ellis was a little too protective of his younger brother. "I don't think so", he growled, "Big boys play with big toys!" Alex scoffed, "I am a big boy, Ellis! You may not like it, but I am! I can handle this Grenade Launcher!" Sheila saw how tense Ellis got, so she grabbed his shoulders and soothed, "Relax, Ellis. We need all the help we can get. Trust your little brother, k'?" He sighed deeply and slowly nodded, "Ok." Alex wooted as he loaded the high-powered weapon. Ellis grumbled as he walked to the door, "Damn you, zombies."

Once everyone got their weapons and supplies, we cleared the station and walked down the road. As we blasted zombies, we came across a watery gap that was un-swimmable, possibly because of crocodiles. Sheila asked while we stared into the shadowy water, "Who can swim?" Alex, Sheila, and I raised our hands, while Ro, Coach, Nick, and Ellis looked down in shame. I said, "Ok. If any of you four fall into the water, shout for help and one of us will save you." "Sounds good", Coach replied. Nick countered, "What if we stay away from the water all together?!" I pressed the lever for the ferry and snapped, "Fine. Stay here with the zombies while we advance forward and get rescued." Nick growled, "You don't have to be sarcastic, Chris." I smirked evilly and said, "I wasn't." Nick flinched and everyone else went "Ooooo!" The groaning of the horde caught our attention. We began killing zombies as if they were ducks with targets at the carnival. A Charger saw me and decided to ram me. Sadly, I didn't see the Charger because I was dealing with a Spitter and a Smoker at the same time. It charged at me full speed, but Nick saw it and tackled me out of the way. The Charger fell in the water and we watched the one-armed zombie flailing in the water until it drowned. Nick commented, "I guess zombies can't swim either." "That's good in our cause" added. Ro barked over the madness, "Love birds! The ferry's here!!" Nick scrambled off me and turned beet red. I stood up and ushered him to the ferry.

A Hunter jumped onto the ferry before the gate closed. Alex screamed, "Crazy legs!" Before it got a chance to attack Alex, I round-house kicked it. My kick forced one of its teeth out of its mouth as it stumbled against the railing. I quickly punched it in the face, sending it screeching into the watery abyss below. However, my hand throbbed like hell. I flailed it in pain, growling, "Ow, ow, ow, mother-fucking ow!" Alex chuckled, "You have a dirty mouth on ya. By the way, thanks for protecting me." I rubbed my knuckles as I replied, "You're welcome. That creature is called a Hunter. I'm a Hunter hunter. Remember that."

As soon as we got off the ferry, we heard a Tank roar through the trees. "Oh shit!" we all shouted in unison. It crashed into the clearing and threw a concrete slab at us. We scattered away from the flying debris and opened fire on the beast. Alex asked, "What the hell is that thing!?" Shelia shouted, "That's the Tank! Shoot it!!" Alex nodded as he aimed his Grenade Launcher at it. He pulled the trigger and a grenade nailed it in the shoulder, causing it to sheik in pain. Alex wooted, "Hell ya! I hit that bad mother-fucker! Take that!!" The Tank turned to him with a pissed-off look on its face. Alex's attitude went from hyper and cocky to "oh shit" mode. The Tank charged at him and Alex booked it, screaming like a little girl. The rest of the team watched in amusement. Alex ran for the bank of the river, made a sharp turn and the Tank fell into the water, sinking like a boulder. Alex stopped and looked behind him. Seeing the Tank sink, he got cocky again, "You got owned, bitch! Don't mess with Alex Bucker!!" Ellis removed his cap and face-palmed himself in embarrassment. Ro laughed at Ellis, stating, "Good thing I'm an only child." Ro's comment made me think of my siblings, pain stirring in my veins at the memories of them. My whole family was killed by the infected, with me being the only survivor. Only Sheila knows about my true pain. I spoke lowly to Ellis, "You should be happy that you still have family left. Count your blessings, redneck!" Sheila sighed at my tone. Everyone else looked at me with concern. I growled at them, "Let's keep moving."

We came across a catwalk, so we decided to use it to stay above the water and the marsh. I was not in a good mood at all, thanks to my problem and the memories of my family's death. Sheila wanted to cheer me up somehow, but she came across a snake on the walk in front of her. She stopped dead, because she's not the biggest snake fan. Nick took the lead, oblivious to the snake. He tripped over it, falling forward, "Shit!" He landed with an "oomph!" He cursed, "Ow! Fuck! Who tripped me!?" The snake slithered across his back, causing him to freeze in place. He prayed, "Please be someone's arm. Please be someone's arm!" Coach sadly answered, "It's no one's arm, Nick." Alex added, "It's a python!" Nick yelled, "Get this thing off me! I can feel it tightening!" Alex grabbed his newly obtained pistol and aimed for the snake. He fired, but it missed and the bullet went into the flesh of Nick's ass. He yowled in pain and snarled at the younger Bucker, "Shoot me again. Shoot me again! I dare ya!" I shoved Alex out of my way, grumbling, "No wonder Ellis never gave you a gun. Your aiming sucks." He ignored my insult. I shot the snake in the head, seeing Nick flinch for a second. I pulled the dead carcass off his back and tossed it away. "You're safe now, you big baby." He snarled, "I'm safer with that snake than with you! Psycho bitch with a gun! PMS chick with a firearm! Spoiled brat with – aaaaahhhhhh!!!!" My Magnum shot a cap right into the other cheek of his ass. I kneeled down and snarled in his ear, "You can call me any and every swear name in the dictionary, but you never, EVER, call me a spoiled brat!! Got that, Nick!!??" He was suddenly terrified of me. Sheila pulled me up and away from him. He was about to talk, but the howling and moaning of the zombies cut him off. Coach helped Nick to his feet and said, "We'll take care of your ass once we save ours!"

We fought our way through the horde as we ran across the cat walk. Every step Nick took inflicted pain on him. He gritted his teeth and made weird faces to show his suffering. Part of me wanted to explode into hysterical laughter, but the other half wanted to help him, because I feel guilty for shooting him. Alex and I had to cover him, because we were the ones who shot him in the first place. Besides, I refuse to leave anyone for dead. Even if it is Nick. Nick hobbled ahead and a Boomer was in front of him. "Oh shit!" Before the Boomer vomited on him, I quickly shot it in the head, clearing the path for him. Ro was attacked by a Smoker about five feet away from the safe room. Alex shot at it about five times and only one bullet hit it in the shoulder. Ellis finished it off with a shot to the head, making it explode in a puff of green smoke. Sheila was the first to reach the safe room, followed closely by Ellis and Ro. Coach covered Alex, Nick and I closing the door behind us.

The safe room was in a drainage pipe. Nick groaned in pain as he tried to bend down. "We hear you, Nick", I scoffed. He looked up and snarled, "You did this to me. Shut up." Coach commanded, "Nick, bend over. Chris, hand me your knife." Nick's eyes bugged out of his head. "There's no way that blood-stained knife is going near my ass!" Coach countered, "If we don't get those bullets out, you can get lead-poisoning!" I added, "I clean my knife! It's sterile! Jesus, it's not that dirty! Besides, we're in a drainage pipe! Not the most sterile place, I'll admit." Alex pulled out his butterfly knife and handed it to Coach. "Here, use this. I hardly used it and I bought it about a week ago." Coach nodded, "Thanks, Alex. Time to pull some bullets out. Drop your pants. Nick." Ro, Sheila, and I couldn't help giggling when Nick played with his belt. Our giggling made him freeze; he forgot that we were in here. "Ellis, can you escort the women out of here?!" he spoke in a hissing tone. Ellis laughed, "Why? You don't want an audience?" Nick's face grew red again, making him very uncomfortable. The song "You Can Leave Your Hat On" from the Full Monty movie played in my head, which made me laugh more. Nick grew redder. Coach snapped, "Do it, Ellis!" "Ok! Jeez, Coach. Come on girls. No free stripper show today." Ro whined, "But Chris was so looking forward to it!" I hit her, barking, "Shut up!"

Before I walked out, Nick quickly shouted, "Betcha five bucks you'll be laughing at my pain, Chris!" I retorted as I faced him, "You know what, Niiiii…" I was stopped short because his pants were already around his ankles. He froze like a manikin as we linked eyes. Thank God he was wearing boxers. Dark blue ones too! I quickly replied, "You're on" and I bolted out the door.

I guess the look on my face made Ro and Sheila laugh. My eyes were wide, my arms were shaking and one side of my jaw was hanging open. Ro asked as she laughed, "Did he moon you?" I shook my head. I was too shocked to speak. Sheila waved her hand in front of my face, hoping to snap me out of my traumatic state. She grinned and told Ro, "I've got the cure for this. Hey Chris. Spill the beans girl!" That sentence to both me and Sheila makes us go into a mode we call "fan girl" mode. I blinked and I began talking rapidly, "Holy shit! He bet me five bucks and he had his pants down. Thank God he doesn't go commando!" I shivered at the mere thought. Ro asked, "Boxers or briefs?" I blushed, "Boxers." Sheila asked, "What color?" I grew redder, "Dark blue." Sheila snickered, "You're blushing!" I snapped, "No I'm not! It's just the heat!"

In the safe room, we heard Nick scream, "Owww! Jesus Christ!" I placed my hand over my mouth to prevent me from laughing. Ellis barked, "Quit being a baby! Man up for your girl out there!" Nick barked back, "Chris is not my girl owww! Fuck my luck!" Ellis grinned slyly, "I didn't say it was Chris." Nick gritted his teeth, while Coach chuckled, "Busted, Nick." He snarled, "Shut up, you two!" Pop goes the first bullet. Alex walked to the door and announced, "That's one bullet out. Working on the second one." Sheila said, "Thanks for keeping us updated, Alex." Nick howled in pain again, while Coach barked, "Stop moving! Damn, where's a tranquilizer when you need it?!" Ellis chuckled, "You know, he seemed to stand still when Chris saw him in his drawers. Maybe I should…" Nick quickly barked, "I don't fucking think so, Ellis!" Alex returned to the guys and he commented, "You're so touchy about her. You like her and don't bother denying it. I know love when I see it." Ellis nodded, "Alex is the womanizer of the family. I've never seen him with the same girl twice. He's like a romance hound." Nick huffed, "We are not together. No way in Hell!" Alex smirked, "We'll see. Your actions depict your emotions." The second bullet popped out of Nick's ass. He howled again, cursing, "Pain! Mother-fucking pain!!" I couldn't hold my laughter any longer. I cackled so loud, it was louder than Ellis singing on the Midnight Rider's stage. Nick hissed, "Shut up, Chris!! I won the bet, bitch!" I replied between my cackling, "I know. It's too damn funny!" Alex came back to the door and declared, "Nick's ass is now lead free. He just needs to be patched up and he'll be ok." Ro replied, "As long as his screaming and her laughing don't attract the horde, we'll be fine out here."

The boys were able to fix up Nick's ass with alcohol and big gauze pads. After 10 minutes of Nick screaming "This fucking stings!" and of my hearty laughter at his pain, the boys walked out as if nothing happened. Nick was able to stand upright without pain or funny faces. I pulled out the five dollar bill I won this morning and slapped it into Nick's hand. "Thanks", he grumbled. "No problem", I grumbled back in a mocking tone. Sheila noticed something on the left side of Nick's neck. "Hey, Nick?" He responded, "Yeah, Sheila?" She grinned, "Is that a hickey on the left side of your neck?" He blushed as he popped the left side of his collar trying to conceal it. Ro teased, "So. Nicky's got a hickey!" She nudged me, hinting that I was the culprit. "It wasn't me! I swear to God!" Coach nodded and smirked, "Oh sure. Right. Now we know what happens in the safe rooms when we're all asleep." Nick defended, "A hooker gave me the hickey, not Chris! It'll go away…soon I hope." Ellis winked at him and nudged him playfully, "Keep telling yourself that." Nick sighed in defeat, "You guys are impossible sometimes." I grumbled, "For once, I agree with you."

Ellis saw the swamp and declared, "Time to get wet." Nick complained, "Urgh. This mud water is going to ruin my suit." Ro countered, "You mean the suit covered in zombie brains?" He defended, "Hey. Brains come out. Mud water doesn't. Don't ask me how I know that." I chuckled at his comment. "I sure won't, Godfather. Except that's one more thing to haunt me in my nightmares." Ellis stated, "That and the Hunter? Damn, you must have some messed-up nightmares. One time, my buddy, Keith had a nightmare so scary…" I quickly cut him off, "Ellis, you can tell your story later, k?" "Okay", he said in disappointment.

We continued blasting zombies through the swamp, until we came across a parachutter. "Damn. Now I feel like I crossed into 'Jurassic Park 3'", I quipped. Coach rolled his eyes and said, "More like a war movie gone wrong to me. You know paratroopers?" I nodded at his connection. We continued until Sheila got snagged by a Smoker. "Shit! Smoker's got me!!" Ellis grabbed a chainsaw and charged at the towering zombie. "Let her go, you sumbitch!!" He fired up the chainsaw and laughed menacingly at the Smoker. He went all "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" on it. He sliced the tongue off first, then its leg, causing it to trip. For the final blow, Ellis swung the chainsaw over his head and brought it down on its head, cutting his body vertically. I whistled and commented, "Damn, Leatherface. Rescue your girl, so we can get moving." Ellis blushed as he helped Sheila to her feet. "She's not my girl, Chris." I grinned evilly, "Then why are you blushing like crazy?" Nick hit my side with the butt of his Assault Rifle, stating, "Leave him alone. No wonder they tease you." I growled, "Newsflash, Nick. They tease you too! Shut up." Sheila said, "Thanks, Ellis. I owe you one." He blushed harder, "You don't owe me, Sheila. We're friends in this fight. We protect each other and fight together. Simple as that." She grinned and winked at him, making his knees shake. "Come on, Ellis. Let's get moving." He nodded and thought, "Once I get the feeling in my legs back!"

We came across a crashed plane, which shocked the hell out of us. "How the hell did a plane crash here?" Coach asked. Ro replied, "I don't know." Ellis added, "That'll explain our parachutter. Hey, Chris. You know you said you thought you were in 'Jurassic Park 3'?" I nodded at him, "Yeah." He continued, "I feel like I'm a survivor from 'Lost'." Nick quipped, "Let's hope there are more answers than questions at the end of this episode." Alex asked, "How do we get through this?" Nick suggested, "We can go around it." I sighed, "No. Look." I climbed into the broken hull and pointed at the emergency hatch. "That's the answer to your question, Alex. We'll open this hatch and shoot like hell. The alarm will attract the horde." Coach asked, "How do you know this?" I turned to him and replied, "Let's just say this isn't my first time activating the emergency hatch on an airplane." Sheila aligned herself at the hatch and readied her sniper. "Open it, Chris." I nodded and pulled the handle up, causing the hatch to launch forward onto the wing. "Go, go, go!" I shouted over the alarm as I leaped onto the wing and ran to the edge of it. Ro, Alex, and Coach followed me, while Nick and Ellis stayed with Sheila to act as protection. The horde swarmed from all directions, cutting off all possible escape routes. "Let the blood fly!" Ro roared as the onslaught began.

After we destroyed the whole horde, I went "tooth hunting" while everyone else regrouped. Nick healed Sheila, saying, "I was saving this for me, but what the hell." "Thanks, Nick", she replied as she reloaded her sniper. Ro saw Ellis clench his fists at the scene. Coach asked, "Where did Chris go, y'all?" I was approaching Coach from behind, but I coughed. My cough startled him, causing him to swing his axe behind him. I yelped as I jumped away and slid off the wing and into the shallow swamp water. Coach looked down and called, "Sorry, Chris! Are you k, girl?" I stood up and called back, "I'm fine. It's ok, Coach. That axe missed me by an inch." I was soaked in swamp water, but it did help me stay cool in the heat. Well, at least it doesn't smell too bad. A little bloody, but nothing too retching. I stuffed all the Hunter teeth into my pocket and climbed back onto the wing. Ro saw how soaked I was and she snickered, "Decided to take a dip, Chris?" I mocked, "Ha ha. My sides are splitting. I needed to cool down." Ro whispered in my ear, "I think Ellis needs to cool down as well. I think he's the jealous type." She pointed to him, whose hands were shaking fists. I nodded, "I think you're right, but I'm not going to worry about right now. Let's go."

As we walked deeper into the zombie-infested swamp, the water got deeper and deeper. Ellis stayed close to Sheila, eyeing Nick at a distance. I rolled my eyes at the native redneck. Nick would never be interested in Sheila and everyone knows that. Maybe not Alex, because he's the rookie of the group. Come to think of it, my one-man army grew bigger. I was alone for a while, until I rescued Sheila from a witch. Then we saved Nick, Ellis, Coach, and Ro at the Motel 6 a couple nights ago. And when the helicopter crashed, Alex tagged along. Seven survivors with one goal: survive the fucking zombie apocalypse!

The water was up to my bra line, so I had to hold my AK over my head. I chuckled at myself, "I feel like a soldier in 'Nam. All that's missing is the airstrike." Coach said, "Don't call it on us please. We want to get out of this swamp in one piece, not scattered in pieces in it." I laughed, "Ok, Coach." We came across a house that's partially underwater. Nick asked, "Did they actually build this house underwater?" "Someone should've fire the construction crew", I commented. We heard Alex scream, "Fatty in front of Nick!" As soon as Nick faced forward, a Boomer barfed on him. "I'm blind!" he shouted. I shot the Boomer and grabbed his shoulder, "I'm here, Nick. Stand back-to-back with me and use your axe!" He leaned against my back and grabbed his axe. "I trust you, Chris. Don't let me down!" I replied as I pulled out my Magnum, "I won't. Hit any silhouette that rushes at you!" He nodded and we stood our ground against the waves of zombies attracted to Nick, thanks to the Boomer bile.

Once the onslaught ended, Nick wiped the rest of the bile away from his eyes. "Yuck! I hate Boomers!" he growled. "Do you hate snakes more than Boomers?" I asked in good humor. He scoffed lightly and said, "Boomers are #1 on my hate list. Snakes just startle me." I nodded as I put my Magnum away, "That makes sense. Come on. Let's get to higher ground before we become raisons." He chuckled and followed me out of the flooded house.

We met up with the others, who failed to remember our Boomer problem. "What the hell, guys?! Why did you leave us for dead?!" I barked. Sheila replied, "Relax, Chris. Ellis got snagged by a Smoker and he startled a witch around the same time Nick got puked on. I knew you would protect Nick, so everyone else fought off the witch." Nick and I said in unison, "Ohhh." We walked onto the road, which led to a town with a huge plantation in the middle. Ellis shouted, "Safe room dead ahead guys!" We all ran towards the safe room, but a Hunter pounced me. I yelped as we tumbled down the slope into the water again. Realizing with that Hunter on top of me, I can drown. So I rolled with the hill and came out on top of it instead of being on the bottom. The submerged Hunter thrashed violently, trying to attack me, but I held its arms still as much as I could. Every second its thrashing grew more and more vicious, until it stopped thrashing all together. I stood up and watched its body float to the surface. I harvested its tooth and sprinted towards the safe room.

Alex closed the door as I ran inside. He shouted, "What happened?! You were behind us and in a flash, you were gone!" I panted, "I was attacked by another Hunter. I had to drown it but I claimed its tooth. That's…seven new teeth for my collection." This safe room was an abandoned house. I yawned as I scanned my surroundings, "We should rest here for a while. Take a break." Everyone agreed with me. Ro wondered into the kitchen and found lots of bottled water, a few pans, disposable plates and silverware, and few cans of Spaghetti Os. "Hey, Chris? Do you have a can opener on your knife?" I replied, "Yeah. You need it?" She nodded, "Yeah, if you want to eat, I do!" I chuckled as I pulled it out and handed it to her. She used the can opener end to open to slide open the lids of the cans. Once she opened about five cans, she handed to knife back to me. As soon as the knife landed in my hand, my hips began cramping. "Oh shit! Cramps!" I grumbled to myself. Luckily, this safe room has an inside toilet. I ran into the bathroom and got cleaned up. If you know what I mean.

After my bathroom break, I walked out and began working on my Hunter teeth. I sat in a shady corner and untied my necklace. Screwing holes in the roots of each tooth, I was able to lace my prizes onto the necklace. I grinned in delight as I tied my necklace back around my neck. Looking if no one was watching me, I untied my bandana and rung it of all the water it absorbed. I softly touched my forehead and had a flashback of that day of sorrow. It was the day my family perished and the day I vowed revenge on all Special Infected. Especially Hunters. My eyes grew watery at the memory, so I quickly wrapped the bandana around my scar and sighed. Only Sheila knows the story. Everyone else is left in the dark when it comes to my past. Maybe I'll tell them…soon.

Coach called to me, "Come on, Chris! Join our little zombie team! Don't go solo, girl!" I slightly grinned and joined them at the table. I sat next to Nick and Sheila. Coach, Ellis and Alex were on the other side of the table. Ro was cooking up our dinner. Sheila asked me, "Do you still have your poker cards?" Nick's eyes immediately looked at me with a spark of interest. I scoffed, "Of course!" I pulled out my "lucky" poker deck out of my right back pocket. I said in a smooth gangster-like voice, "About bout a friendly game of cards? To pass the time, boys?" Ellis nodded his head and Alex raised his hand, "I'm in!" Nick grinned, "Deal me in, Chris!" Sheila said, "I'm feeling lucky today. Sure, I'll play." Coach finally replied, "Fine with me. Chris and Nick, no cheating, you two!" I crossed my heart in a mocking fashion and said, "Conartist's honor." Nick scoffed at me, "We have no honor!" Coach rolled his eyes and repeated, "No cheating!" We both nodded. Alex grinned evilly as he said, "What about strip poker?" I immediately shouted, "No! No strip poker! The one game I refuse to play!" Sheila begged, "Oh come on, Chris! We're not in Vegas and you can die tomorrow for all we know." Nick muttered under his breath, "Jeez, I hope not." His comment caught my ear, since I was sitting right next to him. I sighed heavily, "Alright. I'll play strip poker. Any objections?" I waited for a few seconds and saw no one raise their hand to object. I pulled my deck out of the box and began shuffling, grumbled, "I wish we were playing with more girls than just me and Sheila. This is a dog's game."

Thank God my deck was rigged. I was winning half the time and the most dressed compared to everyone else. I had to remove my socks, sneakers, and my jacket. Ellis and Alex were the closest to going completely naked. Ellis still had his Harley Davidson boxers on, while Alex still had socks on. We learned that he goes commando, so everyone refused to look under the table. "Why commando?" Sheila asked Alex. He grinned slyly, "It's for my lady friends." I turned to Nick and told him, "I expected you would be the player in this team, but I'm wrong." He huffed offended, "Thanks, Chris." Nick was bare-chested and shoe-less. Every time, I dealt the cards to Nick, I blushed for some reason. The scratches from last night weren't bleeding anymore, so he decided to take the bandages off. Coach was shirt-less, but he also wore an undershirt. He lost enough rounds to remove both shirts. Sheila was also shirt-less, exposing her bra to the four male zombie slayers. Ellis had his eyes glued to her chest; he couldn't take his eyes off her. I laughed at Ellis, "This game separates the dogs from the men." He blushed fiercely. Nick and Alex joined my laughing, but both men earned slaps to the head from Coach. Ro was watching in amusement while she cooked the Spaghetti Os. Once they were done, she called, "Alright, you wanna-be strippers. Grab some grub!" Ellis shot from his chair to Ro first, then followed by me. Before Alex stood up, Nick quickly said, "Pants first, Alex!" Sad to say, Alex was the last in line for the food. I never thought Spaghetti Os tasted so good.

Ellis asked me after the game, "Is your deck fixed or something? I was one loss away from going Full Monty!" I grinned evilly, "Yes. The deck is fixed. 5 Aces and 5 Kings, my dear Ellis!" He barked at me, "No wonder I kept losing! You cheated!" I raised my finger calmly, "I didn't cheat. My deck was fixed before this game was even thought of." He growled as he slipped his pants back on, "I hate you right now." I chuckled, "I know."

Everyone was putting their clothes back on, but I decided to let my jacket dry out a little. I had an amusing time playing my first game of strip poker, even though Nick's sexy chest made me blush like crazy. Wait…was I thinking "sexy"?! I shivered at the thought of Nick being sexy. Time to change the subject!

I spoke out loud, "Hey guys. Name one random thing about yourselves." Alex went first, "I used to play basketball when I was a tyke. Not I hate it." Ellis said, "I can't stand double ditch jump rope. I'm not fast enough to clear both ropes at once." Ro told us, "When I turned 15, I took every Barbie I ever owned and sawed their heads off. No more Barbies!" I laughed, "Hell ya!" She grinned at me and gave me a high-five. Coach said, "Silver fish creep me out. I hate those little buggy houdinis!" Sheila chuckled, "I know, right? I don't believe in the Tooth Fairy or Santa, but I do believe in Freddy Krueger." Nick asked, "Isn't he the burnt guy with the striped sweater, razor glove and kills you in your nightmares?" She nodded. Ellis chuckled and grumbled in his best Freddy voice, "Welcome to my world, bitch!" Sheila playfully hit him, while everyone laughed. Nick said, "I suck at playing pool. I love playing pool, but my gaming skills suck. I can't gamble on a pool table, because I will always lose." I chuckled, "Now I know I can win at pool now. Anyway, I have two tattoos. One is on my right hand and the other is on my left shoulder blade." Ro asked, "Can we see them?" I pulled off my right biker glove and showed them. "You can see this one, but not the other." It was a red and blue colored star. It looks like this:

Everyone except Sheila looked at it. Alex asked, "Why a red and blue star, Chris?" I answered, "The red represent the fiery side of me. The blue represent the mellow side of me. The star is in my last name, Starly." Alex quickly called to everyone, "Tell your last names." I sighed, "I'm a Starly." Sheila said, "Spyri and damn proud." Coach said, "My last name is Calloway." Ro said, "Mine is Lucason." Nick declared, "My last name is Rowker." Alex and Ellis spoke in unison, "We're Buckers." Everyone said, "We know!"

Alex grew bored after that, so he decided to go exploring around the safe room. He noticed stairs behind where Nick is sitting, so he walked behind him and went up into the increasing darkness. In fact, it got so dark, he had to pull out his pistol in order to use the flashlight. "Damn, these people fought back." He walked into what looked like a bedroom and searched it for anything useful. On the bed, there was a duffle full of items. He just peeked inside and immediately liked the contents inside. Alex grabbed the duffle and ran down stairs.

"Guys! Look at what I found!!" he shouted to us. Ellis and Ro looked up at him right away. Sheila was humming to my IPod she "borrowed", Nick was looking outside the safe room door, Coach was finishing off the rest of the Spaghetti Os, and I was taking a small nap. Ellis leaped out of his seat and walked towards his little brother. However, he tripped over my out-stretched leg, causing him to yelp as he plowed into the floor. I grunted as a response and turned over. Ro asked Ellis, who gained assistance from Sheila, "Are you ok, Ellis?" He nodded, "Yeah. I'm ok. Hey, Chris? Can you hear me?" I groaned in response, "Is the house on fire?" "No." "Is anyone dead or dying?" "No." Then I growled, "Then let me sleep, Cindy! Christ!"

Everyone got confused, especially Ellis. "Who's Cindy?" he asked Sheila. She answered, "One of her sisters." Nick cocked his head to the side and commented, "She has a family?" Realizing this was a personal topic, she told Nick, "Maybe you should ask her. Maybe she'll open up to you." He scoffed, "Pfff. Fat chance."

Coach barked into my ear like a military sergeant. "Wake up, Chris!!" I yelped in surprise as I sprang to my feet. "Jesus!! Where are the hostiles, Sarge!?" I growled sarcastically. Coach replied, "They're outside. But first, Alex has something to show us." All eyes are now on the rookie. He held up the duffle bag and placed it in the middle of the safe room. He opened it and removed all of the contents. There were clothes inside, but they were too raggy or too small to wear, so they'll be used as cleaning rags or temporary bandages. This duffle bag is like an Easter basket for zombie slayers: pain pills, adrenaline shots, frag ammo, incendiary ammo, laser sights, two Magnums, a Grenade Launcher, Combat Shotgun, Auto Shotgun, M60 (lol! JK!), two Assault Rifles, and an Auto Sniper Rifle. Sheila gasped at the sight of the powerful firearm. Alex knew she wanted it, so he picked it up and handed it to her. She cried in happiness, "I love you, Alex! Thanks!" He chuckled lightly, "You're welcome, Sheila." Ellis growled softly at Sheila's comment. I lightly hit him to restrain his jealousy.

Nick deployed the frag rounds, giving everyone a chance for some extra fire power. "Sweet", I said as I loaded my AK with frag ammo. Ro collected any spare cans of Spaghetti Os and bottled water and opened the bag wider. "Hey! Guys, there's a flare gun in here!" She pulled it out of the bag and showed everyone. Coach took it and opened the barrel. All six chambers were loaded. "It's fully loaded. We'll use this for emergencies only." We all nodded, agreeing to Coach's idea. We placed the flare gun back into the bag, along with the canned food, water, and a few old shirts, leaving everything else behind. Alex picked up the Auto Shotgun in order to replace his used Grenade Launcher. Sheila pulled out a can of bug spray out of one of the side pockets. "Thank you, God!" I shouted happily. She sprayed all of us with the spray until the can was empty. Since Alex found the bag of treasures, he was in charge of it…for now.

"Is everyone ready?" Ellis asked as we suited up for another zombie run. I grabbed my dry jacket and a stray machete, stating, "I'm good to go!" Sheila spoke, "I'm set." Nick replied, "I'm ready!" Ro said, "I'm ready to kill!" Alex jumped up and down with excitement, "Hell ya!" Coach replied, "Ready to go!" Ellis grinned as he opened the door and walked into the run-down town.

Our frag rounds made very short work of the zombies. I decided to save my ammo and used my machete instead. All seven of us fought our way into an old house, which had a back door to make us advance forward. Sheila grinned as she poked her new weapon outside the back window, looking for targets to snipe. She's on something we call a "sniper high", which gives her a trigger-happy attitude and a creepy smile of insanity. She nailed several zombies many yards away, stealing all of our future kills. Alex groaned, "Come on. Leave some for us to kill." I just shook my head, thinking, "Fat chance. She needs to waste her sniper high."

She destroyed every common zombie in our path. She blew into the smoking barrel, like Clint Eastwood or John Wayne. I don't know my cowboys. Sorry. She beckoned us to advance down the gut-and-blood littered road. Ellis stared at her as if he was staring at a goddess. Nick waved his hand in front of the redneck's face, asking, "Hey, Ellis? Are you in there?" Coach slapped Ellis on the back, causing him to finally snap out of it. "Damn", he replied dazed, "I was in paradise for about 15 minutes." Ro corrected, "It was only 30 seconds, Ellis." He countered, "It felt much longer than that."

As we trekked down the path, Sheila had a random thought. "Hey, Chris. Let's play 'I Spy'." I stopped abruptly and asked, "Why?" She replied, "Because I killed every common zombie within 100 yards and I'm bored." I sighed, "Fine. I'll start. I spy with my little eye, something that begins with 's'." "Smoker", she answered. "Yep", I answered as I shot it with my Magnum. "Ok. I spy with my little eye something that is white." I looked around for something white, but the only thing that was white was Nick's suit. I sighed, "Nick?" She replied, "Right! Your turn!" I rolled my eyes and said, "I spy something that is pale and perverted." She asked, "A Jockey?" I nodded as I nailed the Jockey in the face several feet away. "I'm up. I spy something that falls under the definition of 'grifter'." I groaned, "Nick?" "Si!" I sighed, "I spy an ugly bitch." She shouted, "It's a Spitter!" I nodded as I killed it from afar, "Yeah it is." "Ok. I spy…" I quickly interrupted, "If you spy 'Nick' one more time, I'll maim you with my bare hands." She only giggled as she continued, "…something that has brown hair, a gruff attitude and a hickey on the left side of the neck." I growled, "I refuse to answer!" Nick blushed and face-palmed himself in embarrassment. Alex and Ellis began jumping up and down, flailing their arms in the air, like two hyper students in class, trying to answer the teacher's question. Sheila laughed and pointed at Ellis. He bursted out, "It's the one and only Nick!"

"I warned ya", I growled as I charged towards Sheila. She yelped and ran behind Nick for protection. She was using him as a human meat shield. I crashed into Nick and reached over his shoulder to try to grab Sheila. "I'm going to incap you! Come here!" She smirked as she watched in amusement. Nick was going very uncomfortable and surprisingly, hard. I jumped against his body, trying to give my arm more reach to Sheila, but it didn't work. Everyone except me and Sheila began to notice the growing bulge in Nick's pants. "Oh my!" Ro whispered. Ellis, Alex, and Coach tried their best not to laugh. I was completely obvious to his erection, until it brushed my leg. I froze and prayed, "Please be a gun barrel. Please be a gun barrel!" Nick bolted up the path like Roadrunner and back into the house.

Ellis and Alex bursted out laughing so hard, they began snorting and kneeling over. Ro hit Ellis and Coach, who wasn't laughing, dragged Alex up the path by his ear. Sheila was confused and I was petrified. "What happened?" Sheila asked. Ellis answered between snorts, "Nick got spooked by another snake! And Chris made it excited, if you know what I mean!" Sheila gasped in disgust. "You gave him a fully clothed lap dance?!" I bluntly said, "I don't want to talk about it."

Coach and Alex returned with the mortified Nick. His erection was gone, but not the redness of his face. When he spoke to me, he hardly looked at me. He was either looking at the ground or had his eyes closed. "I'm sorry about that", he whispered. I decided to erase that incident from my memory so I replied, "Sorry about what?" I expected him to reply with "Exactly", but instead, he said, "You know what I'm talking about!" I shook my head innocently and replied, "No I don't." He finally caught on to my little trick, so he relaxed. "Exactly."

We continued down the path and met more zombies. Sheila wanted to snipe them all, but we wouldn't let her. We dashed onto the elevated houses that were built above the water and marsh. Ro came across a bridge that will connect the gaps between the two houses. That's our ticket out of here! She pulled the lever and the bridge crashed down with a bang. "Let's go!" she shouted. We dashed across the bridge and didn't slow down until we got into the safe room. We rushed in inside and Ro closed the door behind us.

Panting, Ellis asked, "Is this how a celebrity feels while being chased?" Ro replied as she leaned against the door, "I don't know, sweetie. But I'm beat! Who else?" Everyone raised their hands in unison to Ro's question. Coach then said, "Alright y'all. 15 minute break." All of a sudden, a small growl echoed through the room. We stayed perfectly still and quiet. After 7 seconds, Ellis whispered, "Nick?" He whispered back, "Yeah?" Ellis snickered, "Is that your snake growling for attention?!" Nick sneered at him and flipped him off, while everyone else had to hold in a snicker. I blushed in embarrassment instead. "Poor Nick", I though.

In the darkest corner of the safe room, a Hunter was napping inside. I guess when we ran inside, he woke up. It pounced Ellis, startling him. Before it had a chance to slash him into shreds, Sheila bashed it in the head and I killed it with three frag rounds. Ellis was scared shitless when Sheila helped him up. "Are you ok?" He shakily nodded. I harvested the tooth and smiled at the speechless redneck, "Karma is a bitch." Nick smiled as well. As I walked past him, he said to me, "Badass move." I grinned at him, "Thanks, Nicko." He groaned at the nickname, "What did I say about petnames for me?" I replied as I worked on my necklace, "You said nothing, other than the fact you hate being called 'Nicky' or 'Nickolas'. 'Nicko' is still good. Besides, petnames is a term for couples. Last time I checked, we're not together in a romantic fashion." "We're not!" he growled. I calmly replied, "Good. Rest up. We'll need all the energy we can get to survive the next run."