Okay, so it took a while but I finally moved up to the next section of the story. I'm going to put together about three more chapters for an even ten and then an acknowledgements...it's truly been fun doing this and if you can think of anything else I should do I will. I would love to write more of this but I'm running out of ideas. So please, shoot me what you've got and I'll sort through them and make it happen. I love you all for following this and favoriting it. I'm not used to having people like my stuff so Fanfiction has been a big confidence booster for me. Truly I love you all, keep it real.

Hunting a Dream

I watched on in horror as Maverick strode out calmly and paced around them. "I'm getting tired of this little game Raymond…I don't see why you protect those humans. Why not give them the gift of evolution like the rest of us? They'd be happy in their new forms with the strength and talents to survive without fear. You'd like that wouldn't you; a world without fighting or fear? All you have to do is make the trade…their lives," He said motioning to April and her group, "for the humans…it's a fair trade."

"Why do you want them? They can't be turned. I've seen them scratched, bled on, covered in goo and bile, and I've even seen Tanner get bit…but none of them have turned."

"Simple…it's like a vaccine. A little dose and they build up immunity…but if you over-dose them…continuous injection of Infected blood…they will turn."

I gritted my teeth, I didn't want to see him hurt my friends, but at the same time April was family. "Don't listen to him Ray!" April yelled, "You've got to do what's best for the greater good! Fuck this asshole!" At that Spike rammed his left arm into her back and drew away, the spikes drawing blood. She screamed in pain and I ran to the edge of the roof, Seth holding me back.

"Be silent please pretty little April…the adults are talking." Maverick said.

She spat in his face and he grew frustrated. He took one of his black claws and slowly drove it through her side. She screamed and shook violently as she tried not to move for fear of damaging her insides. Myra looked away, not being able to face her sister in agony. Tears streamed down my face, "How can you stand by this Myra…how can you watch him hurt our sister!? You're nothing…weak…coward!" She turned her back to the sight of April and shuddered silently.

I couldn't stand to watch any longer, "Maverick stop…I'll…I'll yield…I won't give the humans to you…but I will surrender myself…if you just let them go…I'll go quietly."

He smiled and withdrew his claw, "It's not what I wanted but I'll take it…let's just see how long they survive without you."

Seth tried to stop me but I simply moved him aside and jumped from the roof. I grabbed a lamppost as I fell through the air to stop my descent and simply dropped to the ground. Spikers surrounded me and they dragged me off with them. I saw the doors open and Becca try to run out to me. April limped over and urged her back inside. I couldn't have them hurt because of me…Maverick wanted the humans to join him…but I didn't want that…maybe it was just my selfishness, letting them cling to that sense of humanity that they valued…I felt no different than them, I just looked differently…was being Infected all that bad? I didn't get a choice…just made the best of a bad situation. It's true…I didn't ask to be a Hunter or an Infected…it just happened…everyone should get a choice. Becca shouldn't have to suffer because Maverick wanted her to be just like him. She chose to be human because she wanted there to be something left of the race…extinction for the sake of assimilation is foolish. But I will play the sacrificial lamb for now, the martyr for the sake of the few…and to think, I never got to tell Becca how I really felt…it's a shame.

Back within the encampment they had made out of two by fours and tin roofing, the Puppeteers were celebrating…all but two. While Maverick gave his big speech over rejoicing at the dawn of a new era, the birth of a new kind of people united under strength, Myra and Chuck couldn't help but shift uneasily. Chuck felt worst of all, he had just saddled up with them because humans had killed his brothers, but even here Boomers were just cannon-fodder. They controlled the lesser Infected and marked the sectors for the patrols. They were on the frontlines when it came to hunting humans, and they were the fewest in number now a days. Myra was lucky though, Hunters were valued for their speed and strength; they were the elite of the other Infected because they could bring down anything in the army. They were Maverick's personal task force. She looked at Ray, how he was being humiliated and broken by these Infected, covered in acid, spikes, and claw marks; she felt just as bad as when she had watched April. Other Hunters were averting their eyes and a few who hated Ray were joining in the fun, but the underlying truth was the same; it was unbearable to see your sibling tortured this way. She walked over to Chuck and grunted, and he gurgled a response. They both couldn't stand to see this done…the older Infected were starting to see the light of Ray's cause. Sean, the head of the Smokers walked over to them, "The Chargers continue to pussssssh us around…how much longer will we wait?"

She looked away, because the idea of opposing Maverick was insane. The Infected enjoyed their torture of Ray and the mocking of the three remaining Tanks in the city that had been put up in cages. They roared and thrashed, but to no avail…they wouldn't get free. But perhaps that was the solution to her problem. She gathered together the Smokers, Boomers, and Hunters and told them her plan…at midnight, they'd strike.

I hurt…all over, there were burns and bruises and cuts. I could feel my blood draining away, but that wasn't all bad…it let me know I was human…I was human. That thought gave me some peace…at least I would die human…Maverick couldn't take that from me. Then I heard the roaring and smashing. I lifted my eyes and saw the Tanks rampaging through the camp smashing anything in sight. Special Infected or regular it was just a massacre before me. I looked off, and the Spikers had teamed up to bring a Tank down. The other Infected scrambled to bring down the Tanks. That's when the Hunters and Smokers began to attack their own. Myra charged in and went straight for Maverick. No…don't do it! I screamed in my mind for my mouth wouldn't open. A Smoker came and set me free, I think it was Sean from the apartment complex, he told me to run, to get away from here but I wouldn't have it. Boomers were exploding left and right splattering the crowd with guts and bile, and regular Infected ran in and shredded anything with the bile on them. It was chaos and that's just what I needed. I stood wobbling and tried to walk stumbling a bit and I shuffled my way over to Spike, leader of the Spikers, I tapped him on the shoulder and as he turned I swiped, slashing his throat open. His blood poured out and he looked up at me right before I drove my claws through his head. I stood from the kill feeling invigorated as the adrenaline began to course from my brain and I looked around. I saw Myra on the defensive from Maverick as they spun a delicate dance of death. I looked around and noticed the Tanks were dead. Now it was just all out war between the originals and the new Infected. The Chargers and Spitters were being swarmed by smaller Infected and covered in Boomer bile; Hunters and Jockeys wrestling and clawing at one another, and Smokers hanging the Sirens one by one. The Spikers began to grasp the situation and reign it in, while I turned back to Myra in time to see Maverick drive his claws through her abdomen and decapitate her with his other claw. I screamed, a primal Hunter scream that silenced all the fighting as I dove at Maverick. I hit him full-force and began to shred him with my claws as he tried to force me off and attack me. The fighting resumed and the Spikers tried to get to me, but my brethren barred the path and held it with extreme vigor. I continued to tear and shred until he forced me off. He was bloody and scratched, and I had taken out one of his kidneys. He glared at me and I threw it back to him. It hit him in the chest and he snapped, running at me claws extended. I grabbed the closest thing to me, a rusty shard of tin, and swung it at him severing his left arm. He recoiled in pain and I went in for the kill before explosions rocked the camp. Pipe bombs and Molotov's rained over the walls and exploded. Gunfire and the sounds of melee drew my attention to the gate where Becca and Seth led the assault to free me. April guarded them as the other newer Outsiders helped barrel their way into the camp. Becca singlehandedly fought her way up to me and when she saw Maverick about to attack she riddled him with bullets from her pistol until he fell over in a pool of blood. Swan turned to look at us and ran, sounding the retreat for the Infected that were with her. The remaining Hunters and Smokers looked to me and my group and submitted. I gestured for them to get up, and I limped off with Becca, with a whole tow of new followers.

We arrived back at the compound, and I immediately set the new Infected to work expanding our borders for them and fortifying it. We used supplies from the construction site to set up cement barriers and a fence coated with razor wire. Becca tended my wounds as Seth directed everyone on the construction. Pulled out the spikes and used a combination of alcohol and a formula Newton whipped up to treat the burns and bile. I looked at the floor as she worked in silence. "You're an idiot you know that."

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"I try to show you affection, I tell you how spectacular you are and you run off to play martyr leaving me here all alone! SO what if I'm the 'leader' of this group, admit just this once that you are really in charge here…that everyone would be lost without you!"

"What do you want me to say Becca, that I'm the leader? That's not true…I don't want to be the leader…I just want to keep everyone safe."

"Oh really? Because by handing yourself over to Maverick you put all of us at risk, you're the only one who can fight him. He would've come in and slaughtered us. Don't you get it!?"

"Goddammit Becca I can only do so much!" She drew back and I took a breath, "I'm scared okay…scared of losing you, scared of seeing everyone around me die…I don't want to lose you…you're what triggered my change…until you came along I just sat back and watched, but you were alone and scared like I was…I wanted to help…you changed my world Becca and I can't stand the thought of losing you…what…what I'm trying to say is…" I didn't get to finish my thought before she slammed her lips into mine and kissed me, her tongue pressing inside my mouth searching it's every space…to be honest I was a little weirded out having someone else's tongue in my mouth, but she tasted so sweet. We held the kiss for a good minute before we came up for air.

"Wow…are you sure about that? What if you get Infected?"

"Immune remember…we've just gotta be careful about how much you dose me with…maybe I will build an immunity."

"I hope so…just don't build an immunity to me."

"Ray…you are a funny, charming, stupid optimist who loves to paint the sunrise and enjoy the view. Every day with you is something new…how can I build an immunity to someone who's always changing."

I smiled, "Good…because you are the best thing that ever happened to me." And again we kissed.

Swan re-entered the encampment with the Infected so that they could scrounge up whatever there was to be had and move on. She walked over to Maverick and saw his severed arm…it would make a nice trophy and a story to any other Infected they met. She reached down to take it, and his other hand grabbed her wrist. She was about to scream with terror when she saw his eyes full of hate. "Gather the others and get ready…we're going to feast."