February 8th, Day 50
We stopped off at the city of Albuquerque for the night. I wish I could have avoided the city but some how we lost all our food. I don't know, but either way, we're here in Albuquerque for the night.
"Hey what's that over there?" James asked pointing to something in the morning sun. We just stopped for the moment to rest.
"I don't probably a city? Let's go check it out really quick." Ken suggested to him.
"Alright, hold on; let me get my bino-oculars." James replied while running over to get his binoculars from his bag.
"Whatcha doing there, my little plaything?" Sarah asked as she walked up to me.
"Go away, I'm 'batin." I told her. Ah Idiocracy, what a great movie.
"What the hell is "Batin'?" she asked.
"I'm writing, is that better? And stop calling me your 'little plaything', it gets annoying and my name is Mike. M-I-K-E. Now get that through you thick skull." I told her bluntly
"I'd rather not, my little plaything." She told me while pushing me into the sand and got on top of me.
"And I'd rather have you get off." I told her while pushing her off of me.
"You're no fun," she said while crossing her legs and crossing her arms under her breasts.
"I am fun, just not-." I was interrupted by the shouts of James and Ken.
"Hey guys! Guys!"
"What is it you two?" Karen asked.
"We found a…a city!" James panted.
"It's Albuquerque …we can restock on ammo and…and food." Ken added while regaining breath.
"Damn it, I was hoping to avoid the cities, but with our food gone, we gotta go there." I said.
"Let's just hope we don't waste any more ammo than we need to." Danny commented as he put on his vest and his pack on.
"Yeah, and let's hope we survive this." Colt added in.
"We will," I said reassuringly then thought to myself God, I hope we do.
* * *
"Go left. You go right; I'll head up the middle." I ordered as me, James, and Danny I lined up in front of the door. Colt's kicking it in since he has the most leg strength of any of us. I nodded to Colt and he kicked the door in while we rushed inside.
"Clear," James called out as he came from a room going off to the left.
"Clear over here," Danny also called out as he strolled out from the kitchen.
"Upstairs, I got point," I motioned with my hands. They nodded then we headed up the stairs.
We searched each and every room. Each one was worse than the last. We came into the Master Bedroom and saw three G's chowin' down on a person. They ripped off flesh and put it into there mouths. Blood dribbled down the sides of their mouths and ate.
One looked up at us then dropped its mouth and let out a deep moan. It stood up and shambled over to us. I put my foot onto its chest and put the muzzle of my shotgun on its forehead. It grabbed my boot and then Boom! The entire top head was gone. It just went poof, gone. The other two zombies stood up and came after us.
Danny pulled out his pistol and cocked it. He heard something from behind us and breathed, "Oh fuck."
James took out the two in front of us then turned behind us.
There was probably around 10-11 zombies shambling towards us. Once they set foot into the doorway, we started shooting, but we took turns.
"Aw man, those bodies stink something fierce." James said while putting his bandana over his mouth. Danny and I did the same.
"Aw, god damn that stinks. Hey Colt." I said while pressing my earpiece.
"Yeah?" the earpiece crackled.
"We gotta burn this house; I think we got 13 or 14 bodies up here. We're heading down now."
"Roger that, I'll get the Molotov's ready then." He replied.
"Let's move guys." I ordered then weaved my way through the rotting bodies.
As we came outside, Colt had Molotov cocktail's rag ablaze then threw it through a window. He lit two more then threw those two, one through a downstairs window and the other through another upper window.
"Ready?" Danny asked.
"Let's get out of here. James said then we started weaving through the cars.
"How's the hunt going guys?" Carol's voice asked through our earpieces.
"Had to torch our second one. What about you girls?" Danny asked.
"Still in the Market District."
"Roger that. Good luck girls."
"You too," The feed cut out.
Once Carol cut out, we walked in silence for around 10 minutes. I heard the report of a rifle. The bullet hit Danny in his helmet, but was knocked to the ground. We each took up positions behind cars, for cover.
"You alright Danny?" I asked while pulling him to safety.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Where'd I get shot." He asked and I pointed to the middle of my helmet. He just sighed with relief that he was still alive.
"How are you and Colt, James?" I asked while setting my shotgun down and un-slung my sniper.
"We're good," James said then gave a thumb up.
"Let me take this bastard out." I ordered while lying under the car and using the tire for cover. Now where are you? I asked the shooter with my mind as I pulled up my scope. "Damn it. I don't see him. I need someone fast for a decoy." I told them and James leaned up against the car, ready to bolt. "When I say 'Mark', you haul ass until you here my rifle shot." I said while unscrewing my suppressor and he nodded acknowledgement. "Mark!" I shouted and off he went. Rifle fire sounded around him then came my turn. I shot where I was able to see the flash of the gun from the sniper.
The bullet exited from my rifle and hit the enemy right in the forehead. After that shot, it grew dead silent.
"Something's not right." Colt mused after a few minutes. "You still there James?"
"You know it!" He answered.
"Hold on," I put my helmet on the muzzle of my rifle and lifted it. The rifle jerked back and the helmet clattered and rolled until Colt grabbed it. "James, you and Colt take the right side. Danny and I got the left side of the sidewalk. Don't stop for anything. Sprint all the way to building in front of us on my mark." I ordered through the throat mike.
"But that's suicide!" James whined.
"Then let's us the cars for cover." Danny suggested and is if the cars didn't want that plan, one that was behind us blew up and flipped onto the others.
"We'll use Pet's plan." James said with a loud gulp while I put on my helmet.
"Alright, we're moving in 3…2…1…Mark!" I shouted and started running down the sidewalk.
Bullets whizzed by my head but they never stopped me. I was jumping over bodies, tires, debris, turned over mailboxes and anything else that can be found on a city sidewalk. I came to the T-intersection and felt something brush my sleeve but I ignored it. I came up to the side of the door to where I thought the sniper was hiding. Danny came up behind me and James and Colt took positions on the other side.
I kicked the door down and stormed inside. Once I was in, I stopped dead in my tracks. The sight I saw was just a horrible thing that cannot be expressed in words.
The entire room was covered in blood. It was smeared all over and bodies strewn everywhere. Peoples faces, arms, fingers, legs, pieces of skin, muscle and everything else was torn or ripped away, bones were showing and…. I can't describe it anymore; it was just a horrible, horrible sight to recap. I still get nightmares just from thinking back on that period.
I walked back outside in a daze, I put my back against the wall and slide until I was sitting and someone asked if I was alright. My response was, "Go look inside."
"My god," I heard James, "this is just to-to horrible."
"I don't want to look anymore, let's just go." Colt suggested.
"Yeah, let's get out of this place." Danny agreed.
They came out and saw my helmet between my legs, sitting with my back against the wall with my shotgun on my lap, my sniper resting against my shoulder.
"Let's go meet up with the girls." Danny said.
"Yeah," I agreed while getting up, "let's."
"Let us never speak of this again." James suggested as we walked on.
"Agreed," the rest of us said in unison while I put on my stuff.
* * *
"You girls find anything?" Danny asked the girls as we came into earshot.
"Nope, what about you guys?" Karen called back.
"Just a guy thinking we were Zach but we're ok." Danny replied.
"That's good," Carol said. "Ok, we only got this building left; you guys want to check it out?"
"Yeah, I got point." I said while shouldering my M3. I took the doorknob and turned it and tried pushing it in. nothing. Colt and I tried shoving it in, but nothing happened. I kicked down the door and almost threw up at the sight of the bodies that came tumbling down.
"Bail!" James shouted. "Bail damn it!"
We found an apartment complex that was clear of blood, bodies or anything else of that type. We found 5 rooms across from each other and settled for two per room. Ken and I had the first room. James and Colt had the second, Danny was with Cameron. And the girls had their partners.
Well, the room me and Ken had was a plain one. It had two bedrooms, one bath and a small kitchen. It was a good room since sleeping mostly on the ground, during the trip hurt. Luckily, the apartments had running water so we were able to shower. I can't even remember the last time I showered during those three months.
"Man, I feel so clean!" Ken gasped from his room.
"I know what you mean; it's been so long since we last took a shower."
"Yeah," Ken said with a sigh, but a knock came from the door. I hurriedly put on my pants, since I was in my boxers. I fell over putting on my pants so Ken walked over to the door to stall for a bit so I can put on my damn pants. "Who is it?" he asked.
"It's me," said a female voice that was a bit muffled from the door. "I need to talk to Mike about something."
"What's the password?" Ken asked and there was a pause.
"I don't know; bacon?"
Ken looked over at me and saw that I was ready. He nodded and said, "Alright, hurry up." He opened the door and the demon spawn from hell came into our room. Its name is Sarah! And Karen came along also.
Ken closed the door as both cleared the doorway and both came up to me, but Sarah was the only one interested me. She had a serious look in her eyes and I can only guess what she wanted.
"I need to talk to you alone." She told me as I pulled my shirt down so she doesn't get any ideas.
"Ok, come on in, I guess." I said walking into my room and closed my door after Sarah was in. "So, what is it that you wanted to talk about." I asked while watching her taking a seat on the bed.
"Ever since we left the compound, I've been scheming with Cameron on how to kill you guys off." She said with a sigh.
Now there's a shocker. I thought with surprise but I kept my tone steady. "Mhmm…Well now, what's up with you telling me this?" I asked as I sat in a chair across from here.
"My guess is guilt took over and I did not want it on my conscience."
"I see. So you were overwhelmed with guilt that you came to me to relieve it. Why do I feel like you're holding back on me? And why did you come to me instead of one of the other girls?"
"1, I'm not holding anything back, I just had to say tell you that and 2," she sighed, "I just fell I can trust you more than anyone else in this group. Well, I'm going to go now, have a good night's sleep." She said as she walked out and closed the door behind her.
"Yeah, good night." I told myself and crawled into bed since it was 2200 hrs. I fell asleep around midnight.
February 15th, Day 57
It was a long and lonely road that we crossed. It was hard to travel with the silence. Everyone tried starting a topic but no got into it for long. We even tried singing war songs, or any type of song, but we still fell silent. It was a fruitless endeavor to get us to talk, but we kept to our own thoughts as we walked on.
As we walked along, we came to a freeway and saw it was jam packed with cars. We just stayed off to the side and kept walking. Sometimes we would come across a trench and the only way to cross it was to cross a bridge. We would run into the occasional ghoul but we disposed of it like always.
We found ammo in food in those cars or SUV's and a change of underwear, socks and I even found a chargers hat. I burned it when we made camp.
February 20th, Day 62
We just arrived in Arizona today and god it was hot as hell. It's becoming harder and harder to travel across desert without a lot of water. All we can do is charge on until we reach California.
February 22nd, Day 64
Finally! We stopped into a small town and found two Hummvee's in perfect condition, meaning: full take of gas, two fully loaded .50 caliber machine guns, the keys in the ignition and both engine's are running smoothly. Danny and I were the drivers this time with James and Cameron as gunners.
Once we were getting ready to leave, out of nowhere, these random guys popped out and surrounded both the Hummvee's
"Get out!" shouted the man next to me while he pointed his MP5 at my head.
"Alright," I said, while cocking my shotgun as quietly as I could. I opened the door and bam! I shot the guy then hit the pedal the Hummvee shot forward.
Bullets pinged off the armor and the bullet proof glass.
James and Cameron opened up with 50's as we sped off.
"Red Ghost, come in Red Ghost, this Demon's Hell. Over." I spoke into the receiver.
"We read you Demon's Hell, what's your status? Over." Jenna asked through the radio.
"We're alright over here, I just got a little blood but it ain't my own. How about you girls? Over."
"Were absolutely fine over here. Red Ghost out."
"Roger that Red Ghost. Demon's Hell out." I said while replacing the receiver. "California, here we come!!" I shouted and someone yelled out "Yeehaw!"
February 23rd, Day 65
We arrived in L.A. just an hour ago in one of the designated "Green zones," or safe zones. We we're directed here by Army units up from San Diego, along the 5. It was pretty crowded in the Rec Center we are staying at, but I'm not going in to complain. We are going to watch over recruits in two days for the New Army, well… Carol, Ken and I will since we were officers in the Marines. The Army said we can stay the same rank if we become Combat Officers. As a Captain, I'll be in charge of Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, and 101st Airborne Division. Since both Carol and Ken are 1st Lieutenants, Ken will from now be my Executive officer while Carol will be XO of Delta Company. Let the training and the fun begin!