Chapter X: Passing On What Is Mine

Anna, Seven Years Later, Sierra Nevada Forest, California


"Come on, Buck! We're gonna lose him if you keep being a slow poke." A twelve year old Anna said as they trudged through the brush of the Sierra Nevada's thick forest.

"I'm coming, i'm coming." The large man grumbled behind her, "Sheesh. Got no patient bone in your body do yuh, Anna Bear." He said, grinning.

The blood trail had thinned and it was getting harder to track the large stag Anna had shot. It was her first and she was reluctant at first, but seeing as they were pretty low on meat, it was ideal to teach Anna something as big as the lesson was with taking a life. Anna had stopped on the path as she looked around looking for tracks in the dirt and anything that was a tell-tale sign that the stag had been through here. "It got away.." she turned to him looking down in disappointment. She turned around towards him and started walking back the way they came. Buck stopped and watched her for a second think about what he could say to make this stick in her head. She would have to remember this lesson to survive out there amongst the nightmare's He and his friends had been hiding her from. "Anna," she turned to him with a small pout on her face,"come on, just a little further. You can't give up that easily. If you do, you could miss a lot things you'd wish you had later... like this meat. Now, do you want deer steak for dinner or do you want another one of those MRE's that Conner has been giving you." He smiled, knowing her answer from all the times she complained about how the dry, almost tasteless food had worked on her appetite for something a little more.. fulfilling to eat. "Fine." She narrowed her eyes at him."But just so you know, we're not gonna find anything."

He looked at her with a grin that told her he knew something. She walked past him, and pushed aside several branches that were in their way of a clearing. The knee length grass swayed in a light breeze along with the branches of the trees surrounding them. In the center of the small clearing about twenty or thirty yard away was the stag laying on its side across a log. They could see its breath fogging from its flaring nostrils. Blood ran down its furry shoulder and down across its chest to the log below. Small bits of coagulated blood clung to the bullet hole that was perfectly aligned with the heart of the now conquered beast. "Good shot, kiddo. Right where i told you to hit it." He smiled and pulled off his FDNY cap, putting it on her head. They started towards it and, only after a few steps, they heard a distant screech. A wail that was much closer to them, definitely less then a hundred yards, followed. What are they doing all the way out here?! Buck's mind screamed as he thought of what to do besides stare at the surrounding brush. Anna backed up to stand beside him. Without thinking his rifle had been pulled up to bare on the potential threat that surrounded them. "When I tell you to run, you run okay?" He whispered to her without looking.

"No, i'm not leaving you!" she hissed through her teeth.

"You'll do as i say, Anna, I won't tell you again. Now stay quiet and be ready." He said, slowly stepping back as she stayed behind him, keeping his pace. There were rustles in a small group of hedges on an adjacent side of the tiny scenic meadow and then a small, dark humanoid figure charged out straight at the vulnerable deer at the center. It moved quickly from the tree line to the kill, stopping only to sniff the air and asses its surroundings. The wind was flowing from their front, so the ghoul couldn't smell them in the breeze. Buck kept his SCAR's scope on it's head as it looked around, slowly edging toward the slain animal, still not aware of their presence. When it reached the nearly dead animal and saw that it was still breathing, it hissed and lunged its teeth at its neck, creating a spray of blood that even they could see from their position. It sprayed up into the air as the animal tensed its muscles one last time, the fog of its breath no longer came. After a few seconds of stillness, the creature that used to be human unlatched its jaws from the animal and let out a primal roar into the sky. The shrubs and bushes that surrounded the scene exploded with more of the infected that sprinted out to dine on freshly killed flesh. Even Buck couldn't count how many there were.

Oh God.. We have got to get out of here. Now! He thought to himself. The next few seconds were pure silence. Not even the sound of the wind blowing could be heard. Anna's and Buck's heart rate slowed, making time seem to go slower along with it. They could only hear their individual heartbeats as the ghoul that had first entered the clearing turned seemingly slow in their altered sense of time towards them. It's face was covered in blood, bits and strings of meat and blood hanging from it's mouth. It's mouth was normal size at first but then it slowly crept into an inhuman smile. Time sped up again when it bulged its eyes and let out a gut wrenching scream, causing all of the infected in the scramble for the deer to turn towards them.

Oh God. Oh God, Oh God! Anna's conscious yelled at her to run, to sprint away in the opposite direction and lose them in the thick trees, but Buck remained still and so did she. "Anna," He said without moving a muscle. "I want you to turn and run as fast as you can back to camp and warn Mitch and the others and then get inside the house and lock it up. Wait until my go. Got it?" His breathing was calm, eyes focused forward on the group that was staring back at them. Anna's breathing picked up, "No, we're a team and we stick together. Im not going anywhere without you."

"Not the time." He said still not moving. "Are you ready?" The rifle held in his grip shifted to the left. He was targeting the ones on the outside first. He was going to fight them, and Anna knew it. Despite her age, years on the road with Buck had taught her many things about survival and him as a person. He'd told her stories about before this, when people went to war with one another over land and oil and many lessons came with these tales. It wasn't just about the mission when he went out. It was always about the person next to you. They come first. Many of his lessons, stated and not, she would remember until her final days.

She pulled her cap on tighter and nodded, even though he couldn't see it. "GO!" He yelled squeezing a shot off milliseconds after he shouted the order, sending a round through the skull of an infected on the very edge of the group. Anna bolted into the forest behind him, not looking back when she heard the shot and moved to the next as the group exploded into motion towards him. She ran, bobbing in and out of the trees and jumping over a fallen log. She ran until her legs burned and then kept running. She didn't hear the sporadic shots behind her; her blood was flowing to quickly through her ears and the adrenaline allowed her to focus on staying on the move. Her pace picked up as she found the path back to their camp, along with her hope that she could get some help for Buck. The sliding chain link gate came into view and Michael, a well-built fire-fighter, stood guard on top of an old tractor trailer. His dark blue cap covered his face shadow as she was running towards him. "Mike!" He looked up. "Michael! Open the gate! Hurry!"

"Anna, whats-"

"Just do it!" She snapped. He stepped on a pedal that activated a motor while it was held down, opening the gate just enough for Anna to get through. "Where's Buck?" Anna was slumped over, panting heavily. She pointed a thumb over her shoulder, not looking up until she caught her breath. "He's out there.." She breathed for a second. "He's fighting them.. alone." In the distance, gunshots could be heard, but only barely. "Who was it, Anna? Be specific."

"There were," a breath,"These people." She swallowed the dry lump in her throat. "They were like animals!" She yelled in anger. "They came out of nowhere, and took my deer and now.. now they're after Buck!" her eyes started welling with tears as she said the final words. Michael jumped down and started running to a large wooden building that sat right next to the road that ran through their camp. He stopped when he noticed she wasn't following. "Come on, Anna! We have to tell the others." She couldn't help the tears running down her cheeks as she ran behind him.

They burst through the door, Anna coming in just after Michael. The face of Conner and two others came into view as they rounded the corner to the living quarters. "I think we've got infected on the perimeter. Anna came running back in and she says Buck's out there fighting them alone."

"That crazy bastard.. They weren't supposed to be here for another year!" Sandesky, a thin man who had been one of the only civilians they had brought along and hadn't lost.

"I know! I know they weren't, but they are, so we have to do something now."

Conner spoke up,"Well, first we have to help buck. Michael, get a couple guys and go see if you can find him. Bring him back if you can." Anna stood helplessly to the side and shifted her weight from foot to foot as she watched and listened to the men deliberate on a course of action. She remembered Buck's last instruction, so she turned around and went for the door, but was stopped before she reached it. "Anna, where are you going?" Michael had followed her when he saw her turn down the hall. "I have to go home and lock it up. Buck told me to and I don't want something to happen and the house to be messed up when he comes back." She didn't want to believe he was dead. She couldn't believe he was. He'd been like a parent for as long as she could remember. Tears shown brightly in her eyes again and she wiped them away using her sleeve as she turned to go out the door.

"Well, if you're going, i guess i am too." They both walked out into the cool, January air and ran towards Buck and Anna's house; a small wooden house that was close to the fence she had just came through. It stood just in between two others that were just like it; the only ones in the perimeter fence that were for civilians. The rest of the occupants of the camp stayed in the living quarters of the main building. They jogged over to her house, going in and bolting the iron shudders shut on the windows and back door. Michael stood in the front doorway looking across the site for movement. "Do you have a gun?" He asked. She shook her head 'no' and stepped out beside him. "Here," he said, giving her a small thirty eight caliber pistol. "You don't have to use it since this place is buttoned up pretty good, but just in case..." She thanked him, and held it in her right hand at her side. A group of men met in the gravel circle at the center of the settlement and talked before splitting up to defend their own separate sections that divided the settlement. A woman and two children went into the house next to her's and shut the door. Michael leaned down and hugged her. "Gotta go, kiddo. We'll get Buck back to you.. Don't worry about anything." He said, trying to assure her that everything was okay. He jogged away to the gate and climbed back on top of the trailer near the gate.

She went back inside, shut the door and pulled on a small leather strap that hung from the top of the doorway, bringing down a large iron shudder over the doorway. The only light in the house was from the small outlook slits that were cut out of the shudders. She went further into the dark room and fetched some matches out of a cabinet drawer and lit candles that were along the tops of tables and cabinets and dressers, bringing light to the home. She peeked out the window when she heard shooting from outside and screaming from the house next door. The one where the woman and children had gone into. The woman screamed, muffled by the iron and wood that surrounded her. The two children, both girls she knew from the lessons Miss Franklin had been giving four days a week, ran out the front toward the main building. The woman tumbled out as a ball of arms and legs, a human figure jumping on her and pinning her to the ground. It latching onto her neck and shook it's head violently to tear at the flesh, small sprays of blood came out on both sides of where its mouth met skin. The woman was dead in seconds; her body limp at the loss of blood. The figure got up and looked around before sprinting off. Ugh i hope this passes by fast. Michael and Conner need to hurry up and get this place safe again. We need to find Buck! Anna thought to herself. She sighed. Why couldn't Buck have just ran with me? I mean i know he was Force Recon and all, but these... things don't really look like normal people.

A group of three infected past by her window, causing her to gasp in surprise and step back from the shudders. She heard more screams out to what sounded like the main building and then screeching from around her house. It felt as if the infected, as Michael had called them, were surrounding her house and killing everyone she knew. Like she was being saved for last. The screams didn't stop. some sounded close, others sounded distant. People must have tried to run away. God, i hope at least someone gets away. She thought. Then, after one final blood-curdling scream being cut short, there was silence. Anna waited in the dimly lit cabin for anything. A sound. A voice that would tell her to come out and that everything was okay. Even another scream would make her feel better than the deafening silence she was in now. A gunshot near the front door was the sound to break the silence, making her jump in fear. She shifted from foot to foot pondering whether to go outside or not, but the battle in her head wasn't stopping with reasons to go and ones to not.

What if those things are still out there? But what if someone needs help? What if someone's bleeding out there with no one around? But what if they get you? The most anguishing question then entered her mind. What if i'm all that's left? The thought silenced all the others as she took hesitant steps to the front door's shudder. She peeked out the slit and looked around the center circle of the settlement. She saw a body lying near her door and two others out in the gravel circle. She knew there were more with all the screams. How many? She didn't know and she didn't want to. Moving her hands to grip the strap that came from the bottom, she pulled the heavy shudder up and into its place just inside the wall. Next, she opened the door and shut her eyes tightly when the light outside poured into the opening.

She squinted and let her eyes adjust before opening them fully. The deadly silence left her when the sound of the wind blowing through the trees came to her ears. Nothing more came as she stepped out the door and then the crunch of gravel under her feet became audible. She looked around at the settlement. Only bodies were left. No one living stood, as far as she could see. She looked towards the main building, spotting what was undoubtably Conner's body. The fence was draped with two or three bodies that were near the fence. Guess Michael got a few of them before they got in.. She took two more steps and then stopped abruptly halfway through the next step. There were eyes on her. She felt them on the back of her head as if whoever's eyes were boring a hole into her skull. She turned slowly gripping the small pistol in her pocket, bringing it out to her side.

Now facing her house, she didn't see anything but the black doorway that led back inside. She peered into the blackness and slowly, but eerily a figure appeared. It started taking steps towards her, the head twitching slightly as it got nearer. It entered the light and Anna started backpedaling when she saw the things muscular arms and legs that both went down to the ground. It was covered only by shredded pants that went down to its mid-thigh, revealing much of it's scars and claw marks and even bullet holes that had healed over. Its lips curved into a devilish smile and its irises went completely black as it stepped forward slow and then slower, and finally stopping mid-step. Then, like a cheetah in the plains of Africa, it sprung forward towards Anna bringing its arms up in a sudden motion that would have easily taken down a man if they hadn't been paying attention. Anna, however, saw it coming and side-stepped avoiding the charge completely and brought the pistol up. She unloaded on the monstrous being, missing a shot and then made a line up towards its head with the bullets until it clicked. She hit it once in the head, but it still didn't go down. She could see the glint of the bullet lodged in its skull before it was covered in coagulated blood like she had seen coming out of the deer earlier. She looked down at the useless weapon she now held and threw it at the creature, who instantly roared at the petty annoyance the metal object caused it when it hit its face.

Anna ran away, turning the corner of her house and going down the alley between hers and the neighboring house and turned again to move along the fence that surrounded the perimeter. The infected behemoth followed her path, gaining ground quickly. It may have been bigger and scarier, but Anna had lived here for seven years. She knew this place better and it was her one advantage that she could use. She turned the next corner of the house abruptly, sending the monstrosity sliding into the fence when it tried to make the corner. Anna then sprinted out into the circle towards the main building, only to find its front door bolted from the inside. She turned around and saw the infected spot her from across the lot. She stood, fear dominating her mind. What do i do? Where do i go? What do i do!? It started after her in a dead sprint, bellowing in a deep roar as it crossed over the gravel. Time slowed. Her heartbeat became constant in her ears. The creature was in slow motion when a bright yellow streak went through its left temple and exited through the other, leaving a fine mist of blood behind. Time sped back up as it's body fell to the ground and slid a few feet before finally stopping. Anna looked around and yet again saw nothing moving. She moved towards the center of the circle looking around the settlement for movement.

The gate was opened slightly, a fire's smoke drifting across the entrance blocking anything on the other side. She watched as an injured and bleeding Buck walked through carrying his SCAR in one hand and a long serrated knife in his other. He was hunched over slightly, holding his stomach and limping as he moved towards her. Her vision became blurry with tears for the third or fourth time that day as she ran to him as he fell to his knees. She reached him and wrapped her arms tightly around him. The weapons in his hands hit the ground and the limbs in question came around Anna's torso, reciprocating the hug in full. "Don't you EVER do that to me again!" Anna said through the tears. He sighed, allowing a tear to escape from each eye and roll down his cheeks. "I'm not going anywhere." He said. Anna pulled away and looked down at his bloody body, spotting several claw and bite marks along his limbs. There was a knick taken out of his left ear and even a bite mark on his collar bone just beside his neck. Blood ran out of every wound, mixing with the infected's as it ran down and dripped to the ground. "Wha-What can i do?"

He smiled sadly at her,"There's nothing you can do. Its already in me-"

Anna sobbed. "What's in you? i heard Michael call those things infected. Are you sick? Is that what all this is?" She said, gesturing around them.

He nodded yes, taking her hands in his. He looked down at them, studying them as if it was the last time he'd feel the small soft palms. "We wanted to keep you away from the rest of the world. Maybe later we would show you when you got older, but for now we wanted to live a life without having to worry about the infected. We were gonna show you eventually, but only when you were ready. I guess, instead they showed us that we couldn't hide." he looked back up at her, another pair of tears streaking down his face and into the brown hair of his long beard. He let go of one of her hands and patted the FDNY cap on her head. "You sure have grown up, kiddo." He smiled again, showing his teeth in pride of the young lady she had become under his guidance. "I'm so proud of you." He dropped his hands to his sides and weakly grabbed his SCAR off the ground and pulled the strap over her shoulder. "There's magazines in my dresser in the house. My go-bags just beside my bed. There's enough there for you to make it to the next town. Go to Conners garage and the keys for his buggy should be hangin' up on a rack. Take 'em and get out of here. They might still be around, so hurry. I've taught you everything i could. I just hope it was en-" Anna looked down, her shoulders shaking and tears falling into her lap. "Hey," he said, putting a finger below her chin and raising it to meet his gaze. "I need you to go now. What i have to do next isn't for your eye's," He said pulling her into one last tight hug.

She pulled away, locking eyes with him. "You said you weren't going anywhere!"

"I wont, Anna. I'll always be here, watching over you. I'll always be in your memories."

"Y-You m-m-mean-" She stopped, a horrified expression coming onto her face. "You're d-dying?"

He could only shake his head yes, a catch in his throat preventing him from speaking. He shook his head, trying to get rid of the double vision he was getting as it blurred, but this only succeeded in worsening his headache. He kept his eyes closed. "Anna," she looked at him, desperately hoping that this wasn't the last time. "I need you to go. What happens next, i cant allow you to see." He said bringing his head down, his eyes veiled by the shadow of his dark green cap. He slumped, all his limbs going limp.

She scooted forward, wrapping him in one more embrace. "I love you, Buck." She said in a calm and cool voice. He tried returning the sentiment, but all that came was a whisper. He didn't want this to be the last thing she remembered so he gathered his strength, sending it all to his arms. He shakily raised them around the girl and tightened them with all his might. It was enough. She knew he was trying. "I love you, too, Anna." He said a little louder, but audible enough for Anna to hear. Tears streamed down both of their faces as she pulled away. her body only moving because it had to. He looked up at her as she walked around the corner to their house. His body once again went limp, the energy fully sapped from his body. His hand went to his chest, crawling up using his fingers and gripped the pistol in it's holster, dragging it out slowly and, even though it was light, the weight caused it to fall to the ground. His vision went black, but he raised the gun to his chin, not needing his sight to fulfill his final duty. Feeling the cold metal on his skin, he closed his darkened eyes and pulled the trigger.


A/N Sorry about the past couple days! i would've had this out yesterday but my internet was out, so i couldn't publish this unfortunately. This was a pretty cool chapter to write. I know Buck is one of those really cool, badass, warrior guys that everyone likes, and i feel bad for him getting killed, but it HAS to happen for the future. I'll have Elsa's side out by Wednesday for sure. It may be out before then, but just in case i don't get to it, Wednesday is a good date. Gives me some time As usual, follow if you wanna get notified when i update, favorite if you enjoyed it so far, and leave a review telling me your thoughts, comments, questions, etc.. You guys n girls are awesome! Thanks for reading and i hope you enjoyed!