This is not how I saw this day going. Piers dodged out of the beast's way again as it charged towards him. His headset buzzed in his ear as a roar of cheers rang through the device. Many of his teammates were applauding his evasive skills and giving him words of encouragement. While Piers had been fighting this monster, the rest of his team had gotten to higher ground inside the surrounding buildings. "If you guys are done watching the show, how about a little fire support?" Piers was almost in awe at the level of unprofessionalism they were displaying. It was easy for them to take the situation lightly when it wasn't their necks on the line.
"Don't worry, rookie. We always have your back." Right as the words rang out, Rick fired at the beast's head. The blast did nothing but stun the beast for a moment, taking its attention away from Piers and towards its new annoyance. It shook it's head wildly, spraying the surrounding area in more blood and gore than a Quentin Tarantino movie. As the lumbering giant mutant deer focused on where the shot had come from, Piers took stock of his surroundings. The only thing left from the gas station were some red barrels, scattered around, that had the word flammable written on the front. If this were a video game, I could just shoot them, and they would explode. Piers laughed at the very idea. As if on cue, someone missed a shot meant for the creature's leg and pinged into one of the barrels. It sent out a massive eruption that knocked Piers clean off his feet. A bunch of "Jesus Christ!" and "Holy fuck!" rang out from the ear piece, not that Piers could hear them very well.
As he regained his footing, the creature seemed to morph in the smoke that was filling up the air. It's hind legs had been severely damaged by the blast, but seemed to be regenerating at an alarming speed. With a loud crack, the beast snapped its back into place and set his sights on Piers once more, its dead eyes now bulging out of its head. It flailed around, unable to clearly see, but now more agitated and dangerous. Piers noted the layer of skin on the animal's legs. It looked almost scale like in appearance, but with open, exposed gashes on the back of both knees. Determining those as weak points, he formulated a plan of attack.
"Chris, I need to get behind this thing. I think I have a way of immobilizing it." Communicating his plan to the rest of the team, Piers engaged the creature. With a challenging stance, he waited for the beast to charge him again, leaping to the side at the last minute. Now behind the thing, the team opened fire to give Piers some time to get into position. With his sights set on the fleshy part of the animal's leg, he found the point where the two tendons connect. Even in the creatures new skewed state, hitting it still made the creature go down.
Unable to run, the creature fumbled about, only able to use three of it's legs. "Sorry big guy. Wish it didn't have to be this way." Chris sounded almost remorseful for the animal as he fired a final shot into it's left eye. Immediately, the creature went limp; all signs of life left in that moment. With the battle drawn to a close, the men emerged from their buildings, still in attack mode; ready for anything. Chris seemed lost in thought as he examined the quickly decaying carcass. "How did this happen to you buddy? Wrong place at the wrong time?" Chris gave out an annoyed tsk.
As Piers rejoined the team, hushed words of admiration flooded him from the others. Even Chris gave him a wide grin and a thumbs up. "Good job out there Nivans. That quick thinking is what I like to see!" Chris's grin turned into a full fledged smile, showing every pearly white inside his head.
"Our victory will have to wait." Carlos interrupted. "We still have to find the girl."
Piers rubbed his head in an attempt to quiet the headache that was coming on. "About that..." He trailed off.
"What? You know where she is?" Corrie seemed almost overly enthusiastic about getting this mission over with.
"Yea. Yea, I do. She's with Claire and some guy named Leon." Remembering the name, he finally had time to put the pieces together. Leon. The one she told him about. The ex.
"Leon? What the hell is he doing here?" Chris seemed to ponder over the information for a moment before finally asking, "Which way did they go?"
Piers pointed to the building beyond the now ruined gas station. "They ran in there before all the chaos started out here. They shouldn't be far." Chris shook his head and issued the orders to head out. As the rest of the team got into position Chris nudged Piers in the side.
"Claire's fine; I know she is. It's the girl I'm worried about. How has she survived out here? How has she known to stay away from the infected?" Piers chewed at his bottom lip.
"She's definitely infected. I know the doctor want's to assess her for the cure, but I don't think it will help. She didn't look normal. She didn't even seem like she could talk. I know he want's his family back, but..." He trailed off. Chris closed his eyes and let out a sigh.
"I know. The chances she could recover from this are slim to none, but we still have to try. I would want someone to at least try if I was in his situation." Chris shrugged his shoulders and gave Piers a pat of the arm. "Let's go get our girl, shall we?"