Chapter 6 – Bon Appetite – July 14th 2033

"Tess. Run. RUN!" Joel stopped pointing his pistol and instantly grabbed Tess by the arm and fled. I was confused, but I looked behind me, and saw an Army Hummer driving directly towards us. Without hesitation we all ran and followed Joel, jumping down into a huge trench. We stayed low and stayed quiet, desperately hoping that they had not seen or heard us.

"Holy shit! I got two dead uniforms. I repeat. I got two causalities in Sector Twelve. Requesting immediate backup." Shit. That's just what we needed. The fucking military after us, if they found us we'd be minced meat.

"Follow me. Quickly." Tess motioned for us all to follow. It had been a long time since I'd been outside the city walls properly, and I didn't recognise anything. I just hoped Joel and Tess did. We ran towards cover, an old wall that had long since started to fall apart.

"Alright Ellie. When I give you the signal, we run. You two, keep an eye on our rear but don't fall behind." I wasn't going to argue with her, she was a natural leader.

"Alright. Run". Tess ran towards the edge of the trench, following the wall that would hopefully lead to an exit. We all followed her, Ellie staying close to Joel's heels as she had been instructed to earlier.

"Keep out of the lights. If they see us, we're done for." Quaid said, keeping his voice low but loud enough for just us to hear. We kept moving from cover to cover, keeping close to the wall of the trench so we wouldn't be in the lights from the soldiers guns.

"Okay it's gonna be another sprint. You ready Ellie?" Tess looked towards Ellie.

"Sure. Yeah." Ellie started to sprint with us. As a fourteen year old girl she had a lot more energy and stamina than us, I was already beginning to tire. We ran through the trench, jumping over obstacles, ducking under old pipes, it was like going through basic training in the military.

"God dammit. They're everywhere." Joel sounded worried, like he was unsure if we were going to get out of this alive. If we was worried, I was worried. I could tell the guy was a professional. We ducked down into an old sewage pipe, climbing through it. Despite the fact that the sewage pipes hadn't been used for years the stench was unbearable. As we emerged from the end we jumped down into another deep trench, landing in a puddle of water.

"This is bullshit. This is impossible. They're fucking all over the place." I was angry, angry at Marlene, angry at myself, angry that I was even in this situation.

"Stay calm dammit. We can do this." Tess reassured me. She really was a natural leader.

"Stay down don't let 'em see you." Just as Joel give us that piece of advice...

"There! Got 'em! Shoot to kill!" A soldier pointed his gun at us and opened fire. The flash-light on rifle temporarily blinded me, and I felt a hand grab onto me and pull me out of it's beam. Quaid had started running already and dragged me out of the soldiers line of fire.

We ran through the trench, bullets flying past us at every turn.

I tried to count how many soldiers there were but I was concentrating on not falling over and get shot through the head. Ellie was following Joel as close as she possibly could, doing her best to not meet her end in this trench.

"Holy shit they're fucking everywhere!" Ellie was sprinting along side Joel still.

Tess suddenly screamed out in pain. I turned around. She was in the dirt, a bullet had shot her right through her left knee and she'd keeled over in pain.

"Tess!" Joel ran towards Tess, but before he got to her. Another bullet had been fired, this time through her skull. She lay there, still and motionless, her empty eyes starring up at Joel.

"Come on! Get a fucking move on!" Quaid grabbed Joel by the wrist, beckoning him to keep running. We were sitting ducks out in the open!

"Get off me!" Joel pushed Quaid back and I ran to his aid. We both grabbed Joel and ran with him, not giving him a choice. He was fighting back, desperately trying to get to her body, but we needed him alive. Besides, I wasn't going to let him die for no reason.

We kept running, and Joel stopped fighting us and ran with us. Ellie hadn't left our side the entire time and she was handling the situation quite well. My fourteen year old self would be in tears already. We finally reached a safe area where we could catch our breath and decide what to do next, we were in another sewage pipe.

"Listen. Joel. About Tess back there?" Ellie was trying to comfort Joel, but Joel really couldn't care less about that right now. He was to angry at me and Quaid for dragging him away.

"Here's how it's gonna go. Nobody mentions Tess, ever. Not you Ellie, and especially not you two Brits." I didn't wanna piss the old timer off so I got straight down to business.

"How are we gonna get to the University then?" I asked Joel. Joel, not to long ago, was happy enough to take Ellie to the capitol building, but with the University being so far away, I could tell he wasn't looking forward to the journey. Truth be told I don't think any of us were.

"Well. I know a guy, owes me a favour. Colorado's pretty far so we need a car."

Me and Quaid looked at each other. We had a car, but weren't to fond of taking it all the way to Colorado, chances are we wouldn't get it back here. Best keep that to ourselves for the time being. In a post apocalyptic world it's fucking hard to get hold of a car, let alone one in good working condition.

"Right. Who and where?" I questioned Joel. I was wary about who we worked with, working with Joel was dangerous enough but at least they seemed trust worthy. The more and more people we bring into this though, the more complicated it will get.

"Guy called Bill. Not to far from here." Joel was deep in thought. The wrinkles on his face gave him a natural frown, when he was actually frowning? Scary was an understatement. "He helps get us goods to smuggle into the city." From what we'd seen so far Joel was dangerous, and it's safe to assume that this Bill guy is dangerous to in his own right.

"I know him. He's that crazy bastard. Lives in that city alone right? You sure he's not gonna put a bullet in us?" Quaid knew him to? The fuck? I don't remember anybody called Bill, let alone some guy that ruled his own kingdom.

"I admit, he's a bit unhinged, but he's a good guy. Just let me do the talking." It seemed like the plan was going to go ahead but I had a few queries of my own.

"Wait whoah, hold back a bit here. Are you sure we can trust this guy? I trust you Quaid but, fuck the guy lives on his own in a town. That's bound to drive you a bit mental." Loneliness can drive anybody over the edge, let alone in a world where most of the population are either infected or about to kill you.

"Trust me." That was all Quaid said, and I did.

10 years ago

David stood me in front of Sergeant Miller's corpse, his body still dripping blood from the several bullets I had shot in him earlier. His body was already starting to stink, not that it mattered. The room was full of bodies that smelled worse than a sewer full of dog shit.

"Now, what would you like to try? Arm? Leg? How about some rib?" David walked over to a metal drawer, and grabbed his machete. It was a well used blade, covered in blood.

"Look if we're done here. I'd like to leave." This wasn't a battle of brute strength. It was a battle of wits, a battle I was losing so far.

"We're not done here. So, you stay. At least try some of the product you've brought me?" It was an order disguised as a question. David walked back closer towards me.

"Look you stay back from me alright? Just stay back! I'm not going to eat any fucking human meat!" I started to walk back, slowly. I finally cracked, he'd gotten to me and now he knew it. I'd let my fear compromise me, and now he wouldn't stop until I dead too.

"It's good, you'll like it." David walked closer towards me, machete in hand. He licked his lips, like he was viewing a succulent steak, ready to be eaten with some fava beans and a nice chianti.

"Fuck off! Stay back!" The thought of being eaten terrified me, this isn't how I wanted to die.

David grabbed me

"Get off me!" The fear swelled up inside me like a balloon ready to burst.

"Would you like to try some?" His mouth was practically dripping, he was read to eat.

"No." I could've just gave in and ate the damn bloke but I didn't want to eat a person.

"I didn't mean to imply you had a choice." David sneered at me. His sharp teeth showed like a lion after it's prey.

I decided enough was enough, I was getting out of this alive one way or another. I threw a quick uppercut to David's solar plexus, enough to take the air out of his lunges. Without waiting I pushed him back with as much force as possible. David steadied himself. I grabbed my pistol from my holster when suddenly he threw his machete at me. It was like a Concorde flying towards my face, I narrowly moved my head at the last second as the machete impaled into the plasterboard behind me. I'd been concentrating on the machete and as I looked back towards me I saw David had already started running towards me. I panicked and raised my pistol to shoot him in the head but it was too late. Just as I had raised my pistol he grabbed onto my wrist and used his other hand to grab onto my neck. He slammed my wrist against the wall and I dropped the gun from my right hand onto the floor. He tightened his grip on my neck and I was starting to struggle against him, I tried to push back but he was stronger than he looked and it was getting harder and harder to breath.

I clenched my left hand into a fist with the intent of sending a left hook to his temple but just as I threw the punch he raised his right elbow. My fist slammed against the joint and put me in more pain than I was originally. I was running out options. He was quite literally choking the life out of me. We were making direct eye contact and his mouth curved into a smile, revealing his sharp jagged teeth. Teeth that would be ripping through my flesh the second I was dead. I refused to go that way. I brought up my right foot and kicked his left knee with as much force as I could generate, he screamed out in pain as he let go of my hand and neck and fell to the floor. I threw my weight into a kick directed to his ribs that sent shock waves of pain throughout his system. I dived to the floor, hoping to grab onto him so I could send punch after punch into his fucking face, but he rolled out of the way at the last second. The man shrugged off pain like it was nothing. I crashed into the floor, my nose hitting off the floorboards sending a jolt of pain through my face. My nose was definitely broken and I could feel it sending steams of pain throughout my face. David climbed on top of me and punched me in face and threw a right hook into my nose.

It was already broken but the pain was excruciating, I'd never been in this much pain before in my life. I reached out with my hands, desperately trying to grab onto anything that would tip the scales in my favour. My right hand gripped onto something familiar, my pistol! I gripped it firmly in my right hand, making sure that I wouldn't drop it this time. I brought my hand up and pointed the towards his head but he grabbed the pistol in both hands trying to aim it towards my face. We were locked in a desperate battle, each trying to put a bullet in each others brains. The gun started to turn towards me, I tried to grip the pistol with my left hand but he placed his knee on my forearm so I couldn't move it. The pistol was slowly turning, the barrel getting closer and closer to my face. I wasn't strong enough to hold off both of his arms, when I was only using one of mine. The barrel was centimetres from pointing directly at my head now and I was getting desperate. The barrel was pointed directly at my temple and just as David was about to pull the trigger, I flipped the safety on. He looked confused, pulling the trigger only gave audible clicks and David looked confused. I took advantage of this. In his confusion he had loosened his grip on my me, and I flipped him over. It was my turn now, and I sent punch after punch into his face with speed I didn't think I was capable of. David was on the verge of unconsciousness, and I could see he didn't have much strength left in him. I stood up and walked over to the machete, pulling it out of the wall. I was contemplating beheading him then and there, part of me still angry and terrified. I wanted to end his life, but despite the fact that he would continue killing and eating people, I still had to dispose of the soldiers bodies. Him eating them would leave little to no trace.

"You're lucky. You do what you do best, you eat these bodies, you don't leave a trace. If you come after me, if you try to find me, if you come after anybody that I care about. I will kill you. Do you understand me? I'm going to take that as a yes, because if I ever see you again I'm going to make you wish you were a fucking vegetarian." I grabbed his head and slammed it off the floorboards with enough force to knock him out, but no enough force to kill him. It was time to collect my payment.

"I won't do it. I refuse."

"You got that fucking right mate."