Well I'll admit that I've been gone an extremely long time all for countless reasons some good , others are just excuses but for the longest time I just lacked motivation but any who he is the next ( and long awaited for my friends irl) chapter
New Allies
In the safe room, our break was close to thirty minutes long, just enough to revitalize and grab what we could from the room, which were fast acting painkillers [(so cleverly named Pain Pills) I hate generic brand names] and a crowbar (which Claude just had to have). It was after seeing the crowbar when it hit me: only Claude and I had any melee weapons, our knives and his new crowbar; so I had to do something about that.
"Claude, I think we should hit a sporting goods store or something." I said
"And why should we do that; that'll just take us the long way to the base." Claude had replied.
"It's because you and I are the only ones with any way of living when we run out of ammo" I said calmly.
"Umm…don't you mean if we run out of ammo?" both Sabrina and Cerena asked.
"No, he's right," he said slowly after some thought. "Unless we find the right type of ammo for our guns, we'll have to have some way to fight the infected off; Hayden and I have our knives, and I now have this." He said as he raised up his new crowbar. After showing off with is "skills" with the crowbar (he really just swung it around like an idiot), everyone just agreed to head to a sporting goods store.
We left the security of the safe room after that. The good thing about breaking into the safe room was that the other door, the exit, was cleared of infected, because of the group that locked the safe room exited, clearing a path of infected with them. It was an easy trip; we only came across ten of the common infected and one Hunter (it had managed to pounce Claude but he just pulled out David and stabbed it in the face).
When we finally made it to the mall we headed for the Northern Plaza because it had just about everything and anything we could use as melee weapons because of its martial arts weapon store, department store, Rippin' Jack's Blades store, the guitar shop, and most importantly it was home to the Gun Shack, which luckily carried the type of ammo that we needed.
"Okay, everyone head over to any shop you think will have what you feel comfortable with crushing a zombie's face in." Claude said. "We'll meet back here when Hayden says to." Before Sabrina could even ask why, Claude cut her off, "Hayden decides because he's on look out, meaning that he will not be able to look for a weapon."
With that said everyone headed off in their directions. Right off the bat Dwight and Jonathan headed into the sporting goods store and went straight for the bats. I could also see that they were arguing on what type of bat to get, not that I could blame them; after all they had a choice between the iconic wooden ones, lightweight aluminum ones, and durable carbon fiber ones. Hershel and Sabrina went into the guitar shop and I was impressed on two accounts; firstly that they were willing to use guitars for weapons, and secondly, a.k.a. the most important reason, was that Hershel could even stand being that ungrateful little―wait a minute were did Claude and Cerena go?
"Damn it Claude, there are only two things that you and Cerena could be doing and I swear that if you're not looking for melee weapons I'm going to skin you!" I semi-shouted into my comlink. And of course Claude either turned his com off or he's just not listening to be for something that he finds trivial.
While I was on look out I started thinking that I should grab a fire axe or a sledge hammer for a melee weapon because they would serve a practical use, just like Claude's crowbar. So I made the decision that as soon as I saw one I would grab it. And soon everyone called back to tell me that they were ready and waiting my all clear sign.
"Its all clear everyone so quickly regroup on me." I said, but then remembering about security alarms, I quickly said "But remember to take off the secu―" *sounds off at least three alarms going off* "―rriitttyy taaaggss. Damn it, everyone into the Gun Shack now!"
Everyone knew were it was located so I didn't worry about them getting lost, nor did I worry about them surviving as they each had someone to watch their backs; I didn't. This was going to be tough; everyone was on the same floor as the Shack while I was two floors above that. But at the time it seemed like a good idea because it had a great vantage point of most of the shops with useable melee weapons.
"I understand that there must be some reason why you told us to head for the Gun Shack, but can you let us know why we have to go there?" Hershel asked through his comlink.
"It's because the Horde are attracted to lots of loud and obnoxious noises. So they'll be here in a few minutes and they'll keep coming until we shut off the alarm system. So logically the Shack is the best place for us to regroup. And hopefully I'll see you guys in a few minutes." I replied.
"What do you mean hopefully?" seemingly everyone asked.
"Remember where I am. I'm the farthest away from the shack and I'm alone"
"So why don't we just go and help your sorry ass" Sabrina asked. Well I'll be damned; she seems to care about my safety, sort of, "After all I don't think I could handle the shit Hershel and Claude would give me if I didn't try to help." And there went any good thoughts I had about her.
"Don't bother because honestly you guys could just find the security room and shut off the alarms if I don't make it in ten minutes. End of discussion." After saying that I turned off my com, and looked for the fastest way down, which would either be a broken escalator or a working flight of stairs (and yes they are the exact same thing).
*half an hour later*
"Me and my big mouth, next time we're separated I'm making sure that they either wait for me or come looking for me, no more being a hero." I thought aloud to myself. Stupid Boomers at all the fucking elevators, making it impossible for me to regroup with everyone and to make things even better, the fucking alarm was still ringing. Well I can't do any thing about the alarms except for hoping that Claude and everyone else make it to the security room. But considering every thing I believe I'm doing well, thank you stealth. But knowing my luck, I'm most likely going to run into something really bad really soon.
Well I guess my luck just really sucks because I was right. I heard the cries of what I was certain was a Witch, and that would make things complicated because I'm certain I can't sneak past her and killing her will attract even more Infected to me. To make things worse I don't even know where she is. Hopefully, however highly unlikely, I could sneak past her.
No more delays I told myself, this is do or die time. As I slowly moved to the direction of the Witch's crying, I took out my S&W M500 because it's the strongest weapon that I have. And when I think about it it's kinda funny that I used this to kill the Smoker Enzo. I followed the crying to a small clothing store and so I naturally peeked inside to see if the Witch was in an easily accessible part of the store. She wasn't, instead she was huddled in the back. But knowing that this wasn't like the game I wasn't sure what would agitate her and without knowing that it would be too dangerous to leave her alone if she was feral…that's it. Why didn't I think of this before because if she's not feral then she can help me in locating my friends… and Sabrina.
Unfortunately, there is only one way to find out if one of the Infected and that's to go up to one and see if it attacks. So I moved a little closer to where she was, and was rewarded with what she looked like. She was, as I suspected, not like the Witches in the game because she had really long platinum-blonde hair, wasn't anorexic looking (honestly why are all of VALVe's Witches so damn thin), had as much as I hate to admit it, her chest was bigger (I juts admitted to being a pervert didn't I? Great.). Now I just have to find out if she's feral or not but I'm not sure how to go about it.
Think Hayden think, there must be someone who would know how to handle this. Eureka, Claude would defiantly know what to do. And soon enough I had two ideas on what he would do. One: he would say 'Awwww looks like someone needs a hug' then he would get killed, two: he would shout 'Hey little emo girl quit angsting up the place other people nee-' then he would get killed…okay maybe he's not the best example, so I'll just do the exact opposite thing right?
Damn it I guess the old fashion way is the only way. So with my S&W M500 in hand, if things got ugly, I moved slowly to the Witch and asked "Excuse me ma'am, are you alright?"
"Yeah I'm alright." She cried unconvincingly
.
"Okay seriously, tell me what's wrong?" I asked, somewhat aggressively, hoping that a little intimidation would work.
"Why would you care?" she spat out. Okay intimidation was not the answer, so maybe a real reason would work?
"Because I can't just leave a defenseless girl here alone" I said wholeheartedly
"Okay, what's wrong is that I don't know who I am, how I got here, or why I look like this" she said, and as she said that she started to cry again. Smooth move Hayden, making a girl cry. Hopefully I could get this situation around and get her to accompany me so she could watch my back.
"Well maybe you're memories will come back to you soon" I said unconvincingly and I could tell she knew but I sounded unsure because I thought I heard one of the Special Infected. I was right; it was a Hunter, good thing their growls are loud even at a distance. "There's not much time left before this little shop isn't safe anymore, so I'm only going to ask once. Would you like to accompany me and help me get to a safer place than here?"
She answered right away with yes, so I put away my S&W M500 and pulled out one of my MK 23 and asked "Do you know how to use one of these?"
"Yeah that's something that I still remember" she said somewhat happily. I guess that just remembering something about her life is something to be happy about. I was about to give her the pistol when I told her,
"You have only fifteen shots so when you need ammo let me know." It was relieving to know that she knew how to use the pistol because now I won't have to worry about protecting her. Now all I/we have to do is find the security room in this maze of a mall, and I know my luck will die on me so I'll be facing a Horde real soon.
"It just occurred to me that I never asked for your name, so would you be so kind as to tell me what it is?" I ask politely. The main reason I asked for it is not so much that I care but that it would be easier to call her by her name than the you, girl, or the Witch.
"That's another thing that I do remember. It's Miranda, Miranda Wolfe." She said rather proudly, but I'm sure that there's nothing to it.
"Well I guess that the first thing we should do is head to the Gun Shack for weapons for you and ammo for me. How does that sound?'' I asked for, and I mainly asked her because when you travel with people you don't know its best that you never ever piss them off, especially in a zombie situation, ever.
"That sounds good and all but maybe we should hit a wilderness survival store or something so we can grab some packs for food, and ammo I guess, and some, or a lot, of water." She responded
"That sounds like a plan. So we'll get the gear then the weapons. Alright so follow me 'cause I passed a store that fits the bill. But remember to stay quiet because the alarms cause the Infected to gather but any noise we make louder that the alarms will attract Them to us." I warned. She had a confused look as if she didn't know what They or the Horde are, but I'm glad she didn't ask about it here.
We made it to the wilderness survival store in about two minutes and I was glad that we didn't come across anything, and more importantly I was glad that everything was still in stock (I guess my luck isn't that bad after all). I quickly grabbed four duffel-bags and a backpack. I told Miranda to take the same things I did and luckily she did so without arguing. I then filled a few of the duffel with simple dry ration-like foods.
"Miranda, while this sounds a little crazy, only pack what you're comfortable carrying because we will come back here later." I said. Now she looked really confused but still followed my orders. "Alright now that you're ready, let's head on out."
When we walked out I noticed that there was a Horde that wasn't aware of us yet. Just my luck (guess I was right about it after all). So I quickly and, more importantly, quietly pulled out my TAR, looked down the sights, and looked for the most accessible means of escape, and soon enough They noticed us.
"Miranda run to the emergency stair case In front of us" I shouted as I opened fire at the Infected in front of us. Unfortunately I was only able to him them in their shoulders but it was enough to cause them to stumble out of the way, giving Miranda a clear path. But of course when she reached the door of the emergency exit, it was locked, (who would lock an emergency door anyway) luckily the MK. 23 I gave her was able to shoot out the lock with about seven shots. She quickly ran in and headed down while I followed backwards as to keep firing at the Infected that tried to follow. I stopped as soon as I crossed the threshold of the door and shot at anything that tried to get close. When I heard Miranda start shooting again, obviously to break the lock on the first floor door, I knew I did the smart thing otherwise we might have been overrun. When I heard that the firing of Miranda's gun had stopped I ran down the flight of stairs while still facing and attacking the Infected.
"Miranda bring some of the benches near you to barricade the door!" I shouted at her when I crossed the threshold of the door, slamming it shut. Soon enough she had brought a bench I laid in across the door but told her to bring more. After about ten minutes there were enough benches blocking the door to stop the advance of the Horde. For now at least. As I took a breather I noticed that the emergency exit had exited in front of a directory of the mall.
"Miranda," I called "Help me look for the Gun Shack and to see if we can find the security room of this mall." I was glad that she did help look for the two destinations of ours with me.
"The security room isn't listed on this stupid thing but the Gun Shack is really close to here." Miranda said as she walked away from the directory and towards me.
"All right then lets head over there so I can refill on ammo and so you can, and I mean no offence, get something better to use than just the pistol I gave you." I saw her get this look on her face as if I just slapped her so I explained my reasoning, "you only use one magazine for the gun, by the way hand it over," she did and I reloaded the gun and gave it back to as I was saying "while I had to use five of mine to keep Them off of us."
"Fine." Was all she said as she walked off to the Gun Shack. 'Good job Hayden you just went and pissed of the only person who could help you' I thought to myself. Hopefully she would get over it soon or I just might be in big trouble.
It only took us five minutes to reach the Gun Shack and I quickly restocked on my supply of ammo, then I filled a few of the duffle bags with the ammo types my friends and Sabrina were using. When I was done I headed to the register and opened it. It was empty.
"Why are you opening the register?" Miranda asked, I guess she heard the "ping" the register made when I opened it.
"It's quite simple" I started to say "It's because there are going to be some people that we'll meet that are still going to ask for cash if we want them to help us. And on the note of taking things from this store if any gun catches your eye, just take them, since no ones going to know who took them."
"But that seems so wrong." She replied.
"Well if it makes you feel any better I'm going to try and break open the safe they have stashed in the back."
"Why is there even a safe here?"
"Because this place is cash only" as I finished our conversation I looked for a strong looking weapon to help blow the hinges off the safe. After a few moments I can across a slightly modified Winchester Model 1887 10 gauge shotgun (it was modified 'cause it was missing it's stock and the barrel had been sawn off), I decided to test if it was strong enough to destroy the safe. When I entered the back room I nearly laughed when I busted the safe open. I know I've both busted and cracked open harder safes. When I realized what went through my mind I stopped laughing. Damn you Claude.
I was glad, I was able to get a little over $250K, so either lots of people bought lots of guns or this guy didn't deposit his money yet, not like it matters now. I decided that it was a good time to see if Miranda had picked any weapons.
When I reentered the main room I noticed that she had acquired a holster for the pistol I gave her, she had two IMI mini-Uzis (meaning that she'll be the fourth one of us that can shoot akimbo), a Remington M24A3 (finally we have someone who will be our sniper, that is unless Claude is hiding a sniper rifle in his giant case).
"So Miranda you ready to find that damn security room?" I asked.
"Yeah lets get this over with, the alarms are starting to piss me off." She replied.
"All right lets try starting on the top floor."
"That seems like a good idea"
"Good. Let's head out" I said as I started to walk out of the store, and while I was exiting I noticed an empty self with a sign underneath that read 'Don't forget this once in a lifetime deal and buy this Browning M2 machine gun'. Miranda walked not very far behind me, currently equipped with her M24 sniper rifle. Not long after we left the Gun Shack, we came across a working elevator, and we decided why the hell not and got in it.
We got off on the fifth floor and slowly worked our way through this wing of the mall. A few minutes of awkward silence passed between the two of us and I knew that this would get ugly fast if neither of us said anything but I couldn't think of anything to say, so I tried to escape into my mind to find a way out of this boredom. Well that worked for like five seconds. Damn it, so now I have to come up with a conversa-
"So," Miranda said casually, "You said that you're here with friends."
"Yeah, why do you ask?" I replied, secretly thankful that Miranda started the conversation and not me.
"Well if I'm going to be traveling with you guys I just want to know what their names are and what they look like."
"That sounds fair" I answered realizing that I would be very helpful and less confusing if she knew the names of the people she would soon be traveling with. "Okay first there's Claude Kogima, he stands at 6'3", has medium length dyed white hair, styled in a bed head fashion, three scars on the left side of his face from the ear to the lip, wears red, non prescription contacts. He is wearing a traditional black trench coat with a white tee underneath, and has pair of dark jeans and black steel-toed boots. Next is Cerena O'Connor, Claude's current girlfriend 5'7", Caucasian, dirty-blonde, wearing a red jacket, black cargo pants and white sneakers. Then there's Hershel Lionheart, an old friend of Claude and mine. He's a runt being 5'7". He's dressed casually, wearing a grey hoodie, a pair of blue jeans, and a pair of running shoes. He has enough of red hair to cover the patch he wore over his right eye. Then there's the twins Jonathan and Dwight Springfield. They're obviously identical twins. The only difference between them was that Jonathan had black hair with gold streaks and Dwight had gold hair with black streaks. They dressed similarly, black pants, blue shirt, and black shoes, though Dwight was dressed more formally with slacks, an oxford shirt, and dress shoes while Jonathan, dressed in a blue tee, black jeans, and black running shoes, both are Caucasian. They stand at about 6'1". Finally there's Sabrina, she's about 5'6" had medium-long (past her shoulders) black hair with red highlights, green eyes, and looked slightly Asian, possibly Chinese or Japanese. She wore an open black zip-up with a black tee underneath, and black jeans. By the way she seems to really hate me."
"Wow" was all Miranda said.
"Yeah I know it's a lot of info." I replied.
"No not that. I'm surprise that you managed to say all of that in one breath."
"…" was all that came out while I did my perfect imitation of a fish trying to come up with an answer. I decided that it wasn't important and just shrugged and said "Well your guess is as good as mine on how I could say that without taking a breath in the middle of it."
That was all the talking we needed for we came across the bodies of dead Infected. This was a good since it meant that Claude and the rest of them had passed through here.
"Ok Miranda we're close to my friends since only they are this good at killing these damned things." I said
"You absolutely positive about that?" she asked skeptically.
"I'm sure. See how some are missing arms, legs, torsos, and groins?"
"Yeah, but I don't know how that you know that it makes if your friends." She said rather bluntly.
"I know it's them because Claude loves blowing arms off of things as well as torsos and groins. And Hershel has a thing about plowing the legs off of them, we're all not really sure why and neither does he and he constantly tries not to go for the legs."
"That's kinda really weird but I guess it's a good thing that we know that they came through here."
"Tell me about it." I said hoping that they were all right. "Alright we've spent enough time here, so let's get going." 'Since for all we know they could be in a tough spot' I thought to myself.
So we decided that we would just follow the carnage and hope for the best. And after about ten minutes we were rewarded when we heard the sound of several guns being fired at one. But the thing that surprised me was that I heard something that sounded more powerful than the weapons that I remember the rest of the group having, and there were no missing guns at the Gun-.
"Claude you crazy son of a bitch" was all I muttered, while smirking, when I realized what the powerful gun was.
"What did Claude do?" Miranda asked me confused as why I would randomly say what I did.
"He took the Browning M2 that was missing from the Gun Shack." I replied between small laughs. "So put your rifle away 'cause this is going to be in close quarters so I would suggest that you take out those Mini-Uzis of yours." She just nodded and did just what I told her to do and I was right she had a mini in both her hands, and while she did that I was pulling out my TAR-21. "So you ready to head out there shooting everything that attacks us while hoping that my friends don't manage to accidently shoot us?" Oh God I love the face that Miranda made when I said what I did, for it was evident that she started losing confidence about what we were going to do. But she finally nodded that she was ready.
With that said, we ran towards the source of the gunfire, and in a few moments we were greeted with the sight of several dozen, if not more, of Them all swarming towards Claude and co. When I looked in there direction I noticed that both Claude and Hershel had seen me and they were telling the others to pick their targets carefully or at least I hoped that they were.
Soon after that Miranda and I started shooting at everything that was in our way, and I was thankful that there were no Specials in the Horde. And for no good reason I started to take count on how many of Them I was killing, so far it was seven, plus the twelve that I took out at the emergency exit. I only reloaded two times before They got to close for me to safely reload so with my left hand I pulled out the 1911 from its convenient holster and started shooting while I tried to put my TAR back on my back.
When I looked a Miranda I noticed that she was really impressive with her guns, she didn't allow any of Them to get close to her. Anyway we slowly moved up to Claude's barricade and it was then that I noticed that Dwight was the one of the .50 cal.
Soon thanks to Miranda and I, the Infected in the immediate area were dealt with and I saw Cerena go behind the barricade and I then noticed that the alarms soon stopped. Well I'll be damned; they made it to the security room.
"Look who finally decided to show up." Claude said to me while grinning. "You obviously didn't get the invite did you?"
"Hey at least we weren't so late that your party was already over." I replied going along with the joke.
"So who's the girl that's with you?" Claude asked seriously. I expected Miranda to answer but instead she just tried herself behind me. If the situation was different I would've found it to be a really cute thing on her part.
"This," I said as I put Miranda in front of me, "is Miranda Wolfe. I found her in the back of a clothing store a while ago. Everybody make sure you play nice, for she doesn't remember much about herself after she became a Witch."
After I had said that I heard everyone gasp, except for Claude he went "Lé gasp"
"Why the hell do you have one of Them traveling with you?" Sabrina yelled furiously.
"Firstly, fuck you, that's why. Secondly, I would like to see you travel in a mall filled with Infected and not look for any kind of help. And thirdly, she's here because she's not feral." I shouted at Sabrina, effectively shutting her up.
"Well before we can have Miranda officially join us, she needs to answer a very important question. Do you prefer your kittens with or without ketchup?" Claude asked with a very serious face. I knew right off the bat that he didn't care either way and he just wanted to confuse her and have fun with everyone's reactions.
"Uuum, with" was all Miranda said uncertainly.
"Very good" Claude said as quickly lost the serious looking face and put on a giant grin. "Alright people, Miranda the witch is going to travel with us from now on."
"What!" shouted Sabrina "You be serious" Considering that no one said anything she continued "Fuck, you are"
"Any ways before I was rudely interrupted I was going to say two things. First, Hayden considering that you found her, you are the one who is responsible for her." He paused to see it any one had anything to say about it; while I just nodded that it was fine by me. "Second, and most importantly, I didn't think you were a big enough pervert to have help from a well endowed woman that's only in lingerie." As he said that several things happened. First, Claude was slapped several times by Cerena for what he said. Secondly I noticed that Miranda turned a bright shade of red. And thirdly I realized that he was right and I then proceeded to turn red in the face as well.
Then there was an awkward moment as I tried to figure out what to say. Luckily Cerena broke the silence with something helpful.
"Ok, Miranda, come with me we're going to get you something acceptable to travel in. Sabrina you come too."
"Do I ha-" was all Sabrina got out.
"Yes now shut up and get your ass over here." Cerena replied impatiently.
After they left to get some much needed clothes for Mirada I walked over to Claude and punched him in the arm as I said "Was that necessary? I mean did you have to embarrass the both of us?
"Yes it was necessary and you know it's my purpose in life to make sure that you're always embarrassed." Claude replied with the most sincere grin on his face.
"You're an ass you know that right?"
"Yeah I know. How could I forget, you, Hershel, and Cerena are contently reminding me of the fact." He replied off handedly.
"I hate you" was all I could come up.
"I know, and that's why I'm you best friend."
"Hey, what about me?" Asked Hershel, feeling left out.
"We haven't forgot about you" Claude and I answered simultaneously.
"Good because without me you two are just a pair of idiots." He said.
"Yeah and with you, the three of us are a crowd of idiots." I countered
"And a few more would make us a party of idiots." Said Claude.
"Anyway" I started "I hope I remembered the ammo you all use, so refill" when I finished I threw the duffle filled with all kinds of ammo.
"Dude you're a life saver" replied Hershel.
"I know but we should head over to the wilderness survival store so we can grab some canteens and dry foods." I said knowing that it would help in the long run.
"Claude, why didn't we think about that earlier?" everyone but Claude and I asked.
"Simple," started Claude, "because we knew that Hayden would think about it."
"To be honest, it was Miranda who first came up with the idea." I said giving credit where it was due.
"So you're telling me that Miranda not only has a body many would go gaga for, but she also has a brain. Damn Hayden you hit pay dirt with this one."
"Shut up" was all I said as I hit Claude on his other arm.
"You make it to easy Hayden so it's your own damn fault. Anywaaaaaaaay Springfields stay here and guard my new fifty with your lives. And if the girls get back before us let them know where we are." With that said Claude, Hershel, and I made our way to the wilderness survival store.
We came back about ten minutes later, and just to answer your questions the trip was uneventful, but Claude did pounce a Hunter just to let it know what it felt like to be pounced (I don't think he got over the fact that he was still the only one to be pounced so far) and yes the girls were back. To be honest I was surprised by Miranda's new attire. She was wearing a pair of black boots (if I had to guess a type they would be steel toed), a pair of khaki cargo pants, a tight black tee underneath a navy blue oxford shirt (the buttons above her bust were left unbuttoned); she was also sporting a pair of black fingerless leather gloves. Damn, they really know how to clean house don't they. And with Claude and Hershel being the idiots that they ate just what to whistle (at least Claude DID whistle, Hershel went "Wheet-whooo" because he can't whistle at all).
Needles to say Miranda was embarrassed for being put on the spot again and Cerena started hitting Claude and Hershel with a…where in the hell did she find a folding paper fan?
"Alright" I started "So where are we heading to now?"
"Well, there is a service elevator to the maintenance tunnels bellow the city in the security room. I suggest that we take those tunnels to head out towards the military base." Claude said after a second of thought.
"Well" I started as I turned to face to group, "Who's opposed to the idea?" No one was opposed, that was a great thing for that meant no one should complain too badly for the path that we are choosing to take.
"Alright then," said Claude, "Let's head out.
The elevator was big but because of Claude's M2 we had to take two trips, the first was Claude, Claude's M2, Cerena, Dwight, and Jonathan. The second was me, Miranda, Hershel, and Sabrina. Needles to say the trip down was relatively uncomfortable for there was a lot of tension in the air. When the doors opened I quickly got out of there.
The tunnels were tall and wide which help for transporting military vehicles around the city without disturbing the peace, also since our city can have flood problems these tunnels also serve as a path for the water to go to as not to destroy homes.
"So Claude do you know where the base is from here?" I asked
"Not a clue." He responded. The group deadpanned and I just face-palmed. "But I'm sure the arrows on the walls are a good indicator as where to go." Sure enough we noticed the there were arrows on the walls. Well we all felt like idiots but what can you do?
So we headed out, following the arrows, and everything was calm. I knew that wasn't good. We would either come across a dead end or we would come across a tank and I hope to god that we don't come across a tank. I was torn out of any thoughts that I had when I heard someone in the distance shout "Take that you god damned freak bag." Other than that there were sounds of dying Infected. Whoever was there we had to help. I looked over the Claude and his face told me that we should help him. So we quickly ran over to the direction of the survivor and hoping that we didn't get there too late.
We arrived just in time to save him from being Smoked, since Claude threw his Remington M870 at him. But I was surprised when I saw what the survivor was. He was a S.W.A.T. officer and still if full riot gear and he was using his ballistic shield to his advantage and considering that his nightstick was made to subdue it doesn't surprise me that he abandoned it for a lead pipe but the moment he had the shotgun he really started to damage all of the Infected around him. After the last of Them were dead he turned to us and said.
"I don't know who you guys are but I'm glad you showed up when you did." He started, "I've seen a lot of my men get carried away buy those things with the long as hell tongues. Thanks for the M870 by the way."
"It's not a problem" Claude answered him.
"Yeah I'm sure if our roles were reversed that you would have saved us.
"Yeah I would've but getting back to the matter on hand what are you civilians doing in these tunnels?" he asked.
"Were heading to the military base that is stationed here." Answered Claude, "I've got all the necessary paperwork that allows me to travel here with as many others I choose."
"That makes sense, and if it's not too much trouble do you think that I could travel with you guys for a while, considering you are the first I've seen that are more than capable of handling yourselves. And I know it would be to your advantage if I helped, after all others will show more respect considering you'll have an officer of the law on your side, not that I'll try to take control or anything." said the S.W.A.T. officer.
"It won't be a problem" I said, "But first we need to know your name."
"Of course, my name and rank is first lieutenant Adrian Sheppard" answered Sheppard.
"All right then you can keep the Remington and lets head out. And since your new mister first lieutenant we are following the arrows on the walls."
Sheppard acknowledged this with a nod and we headed out once again. And we were off once again.
We traveled along for maybe a quarter mile before we came across a closed flood gate. Now this shouldn't be a problem because there are airtight control rooms built next to the gates to keep operators safe from floods. We found the room but it was locked and that shouldn't be so because if there's no floods the doors to the control rooms should be unlocked since the lock from the inside . So Claude, Hershel, and I did the most reasonable thing to do and then we started to pound on the door as to get person inside to know that we were out here.
"Vat, vat do you vant?" said someone from inside the room
"Well we want you to open the door so we can get through." Said Claude.
"Oh, zat's all vell vhy didn't you just say zat instead of pounding on ze door."
"Well how else would we have gotten you to know we were here." Said Hershel
"Zat is a good point but you do not understand ze 'eadache you have given me because of zese."
"I don't understand how that could have given you a head ache unle– your drunk aren't you?" I asked the man.
"Vell of course I'm drunk, vhy vouldn't I be?" he responded
"Well can you at least get to opening the door?" asked Claude
"Sure is no problem let me just find ze right button. Oh I think I founds it."
*flood gate alarms from it slowly opening."
"God damn it" Everyone and another male voice say. Wait another male voice. That came from behind our group. I turned around to see four individuals. A girl from our school in a red jacket, a biker who looked to be in at least his late thirties, an African business man, and an old man in a 27th Infantry, "Wolfhounds" army jacket.
"See I told you going down here would only cause us trouble" said the army vet to the biker.
"Calm down Bill, getting angry won't help." said the girl. Damn I know she's in a few of my classed. The professors don't like because she's always talking about the horror movies that she's always watching. I know we've talked to her before and even recommended a few movies for her and she gave us some good recommendations as well. So why don't I remember her fucking name?
"Zoey, I didn't think we would run into you." shouted Claude and Hershel (I can't believe I forgot her name, considering it was so simple), obviously excited to see someone from school, and more accurately someone in our class. And from the look on her face she didn't expect to see us either.
"Hey guys, I didn't expect to see you considering all that's happened to the city. And I'm impressed that you made it here without anyone who is trained in combat." Zoey said. I guess she hasn't noticed Adrian but she's still right since he just joined our little party that is getting to be not so little anymore.
"So Zoey how is it you know these kids?" Bill asked.
"Yeah she knows us" I answered for Zoey, "We had the same classes at school."
"That's right" Zoey said, "They even helped me when I started falling behind."
"Well" Hershel started "We wouldn't have had to if you didn't spend your time watching all those movies."
"Oh shut up, all three of you even gave me recommendations and I gave you some too."
"Not that this isn't important and all but we're going to be in some deep shit real soon. So if you would please hurry this along." Said the biker.
"Sadly I agree with Frank/the big man" both the business man and I said. Well I'm glad that I'm not the only one to realize that we were waiting precious preparation time.
"Alright, Hayden and Mr. Suit have a point so Zoey you can go back to your group and everyone in mine listen up. We're going to hold this point until- hey you in the room what's your name?" Claude said.
"My name is Vincent van Bonbon" said the intoxicated Vincent.
"van Bonbon, what kind of name is that?" Said Bill.
"Von that can mess with your face." Replied Vincent.
"Well getting back on track" started Claude, "We'll hold out here until Vincent gets the door open, so Vincent make sure to find a way to open that fucking door."
"Zat vill be being no problem for me." Responded Vincent
"Well since we're stuck here too everyone help out Zoey's friends until we get out of here." Shouted Bill.
"We appreciate the help" both Claude and I said.
"I've been at this long enough to know that if someone doesn't shoot you off the bat then you should help them out." Replied Bill.
We all quickly got into the best possible defensive positions that we could, considering that there was nothing to use as cover.
*Horde moans, yells and screeches*
"Alright people get ready, because he they come." Claude shouted as he put his M2 down.
There you go, please review while English is my first language grammar is not my best point