[AN] This is the part where things get exciting. If you have gotten this far in the story, I want to say thank you, things (hopefully) get better from here (quality wise, that is. The people in the story are still screwed.)
Chapter 3:
"Damn, that was a good meal." Tony said to Marcus as they were walking back to the barracks in the early evening light.
"That's the first time I have ever heard you say that. You always complain about how the food here sucks. Why the change of heart?"
"My wife and I just learned we're having a child." Tony replied with a smile beaming on his face.
Marcus mocked horror and said, "That poor soul. No human being should have to live with you for 18 years."
They both laughed. "Well, congratulations Tony. You're in for quite the adventure. I speak from experience here."
"Ain't nothing I can't handle." Tony replied, still beaming.
"Try saying that when you can only manage 3 hours of sleep a night."
Tony's face got more serious, "Well, we don't get much more right now, with the cordyceps fungus keeping us on high alert. To be honest, this is one of the longest periods of time I have had outside of a cockpit for the past couple of days." He shook his head, "I picked up the same scan results you did, absolutely no signs of the fungus. Its hard to believe it, but I'm not complaining."
"Same here. Boise just might we the first whole city in the country to be turned into a QZ zone. Most other cities only have small parts that are remotely safe. I recon that within another 4 days, a fully working quarantine zone will be set up there. If our luck holds out."
"That sounds about right." They stopped just outside the barracks , "Thank God military families get priority for admittance, if it ever comes to that. It can't though, not here. This is fucking Idaho, there are more cattle in this state then people."
They both laughed. "Tony, give your wife a call, then get some sleep. It's going to be a hectic day tomorrow."
"Is that an order sir?" Tony faked trembling in fear. As an Airman First Class, Marcus slightly outranked Tony.
"Do I have to make it one, Airman Hernandez?" Tony replied with mock severity.
They both laughed. "Well, I'll see you in the morning. 'Night Tony"
"'Night Marcus." They went to their separate barracks.
Marcus flopped into his bed, and tried to get some sleep. Since there was no one else inside, due to almost everyone being on duty trying to ensure Boise was clear of the infection, he fell asleep within seconds of lying down.
[A few hours later]
Marcus woke up to Tony shaking him.
"Wake up, wake up now damn it!"
"Tony... What the fuck. Let me sleep." He tried to fall asleep again, but Tony persisted.
"Wake up! There's been an outbreak here, and wee need to leave now!"
That got his attention. He sat up, tony handed him a red bull, "I know your a heavy sleeper, drink this. It'll help."
Marcus drank it, then immediately wished he hadn't, "Shit, did you have to get me red bull? You know I hate that crap." He stopped, and noticed the blood on Tony's shirt. "Oh Fuck. You have blood everywhere. Were you bitten? Tell me this isn't happening."
"I'm clean, but it was a close call. Come on, get up, we need to get to the armory. We need weapons."
Marcus felt like someone had stuck an axe in his skull. He was exhausted, but he realized Tony was serious. He forced himself to stand up, and stretched. "Just give me a minute for the Red Bull to kick in."
Tony nodded. "Ok, but no more then that. Things have gone to shit out there, we have to leave." Marcus found a cold water bottle, and pored it over his head. He was wide wide awake now. "Lets go." They walked out of the barracks.
"Almost forgot, take this Marcus," he handed Marcus a nine millimeter pistol, "I know you're the better shot."
"Just wait until you see my wife, she puts me to shame when it comes to marksmanship. Where the hell did you get this?"
"One of the officers had turned, and he had this on him. The entire HQ is swarmed with infected now." He paused for a second. "The armory is this way. Hopefully, it is still held by people who are still human."
They ran towards the armory in the dead of night, relying on the faint moonlight to guide them. After a minute of running, they heard a scream.
"What the fuck was that?"
"I don't know, but stay close to me, you have the gun. And keep quiet!"
They crept towards the armory. Right in front of the armory, they saw a soldier hunched over, with his face to the wall.
"That poor son of a bitch." Marcus whispered "It looks like he turned."
"We can't sneak in there, he's too close to the door."
"If I shoot the gun, every infected within a mile would hear it. Shit."
Marcus thought for a moment, then whispered, "Do you have a knife?"
"Tell me you aren't thinking about-"
"We don't have another choice. We can't shoot the gun, and we aren't going to make it out of here with just this pistol. We have to get in there."
"Well fuck us." Tony paused for a moment. "I'll do it."
"No. You have a pregnant wife to look after. My wife can survive without me. If anything happens to me, find your family, then find mine. You know where my father's house is, right?"
"Yeah, I know."
"You deserve to be a father." Marcus smiled. "Have fun with waking up at this hour every day."
Tony let out a small chuckle, and handed him a bloody knife. "Well good luck out there. Take the gun with you too, in case something goes wrong."
Marcus stopped when he saw the blood on the knife. "Man up Marcus, if Tony could knife an infected to death, so can you."
He slowly crept up to the weeping guard. He thought he could make out something to the effect of , "Oh God, oh God, help me. Let me die." Mixed into the tears. He was having small spasms, but was still standing.
"Don't think about it, don't think about it." Marcus thought over and over. This, of course, made him think about it.
Marcus was just in range of the guard when he turned around. Marcus froze, and so did the guard. A split second later, Marcus pounced on the guard, tackled him to the ground, and stuck the already bloody knife into his neck.
"Fuck fuck fuck." Marcus thought aloud as he got up. He saw the man bleeding out on the pavement, next to the door to the armory door. As he went down to pick up the keys on the guard, he thought he heard him say, "Thank you." Marcus lost the red bull he had drank a few minutes ago. He felt awful.
Tony quietly walked up to him. "That poor bastard." He saw the look on Marcus's face. "Oh fuck, you look like shit. You okay?"
"I'm an awful lier. No, I feel awful."
"Did he bite you?" Tony said, worried as he picked up the keys.
"No. But he almost did. He turned around just as I was in range, but then stooped. It was as if -" he paused for a moment, " he still had some control of his body. But if I had waited a second longer-"
Tony put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't think about it. He's dead now, and there was nothing else you could do. Lets get inside."
"Ok, lets get ourselves arm - Aw fuck." Tony said as he entered the armory.
Marcus looked at the mostly empty weapon racks. "We should have known. Most of the weapons are probably down in Boise, with soldiers guarding the city."
Tony walked over to the nearest weapon, an M16. He saw 4 full mags next to it. "This will do well enough, I hope." He looked over to Marcus, what are you getting?"
"Kevlar vests."
"Good idea. Toss me one. Actually, make that two."
"How are you going to carry two of them with the M16?"
"You saw the Jeep next to the armory?" He showed Marcus the dead guard's keys, "I think these will start it up. This is our lucky day."
"I'd rather not have a lucky day ever again if this is 'luck' ".
"No shit. What you find?"
"All I have is this shotgun with 2 boxes of ammo, and another nine millimeter, with 2 clips. You can have yours back now."
"Much obliged." Tony said, taking back the pistol.
Marcus looked at the wall. He saw 6 gas masks hanging there. "The fungus can be airborne. We should take these."
"Agreed. How many kevlar vests are left?"
"Just 3. You have one for you and your wife, the rest are for me, my wife, and my dad." He looked to Tony, "Anyone else you know in the area that might need one of these?"
"Nope. No family here except my wife."
"Ok then, lets get the fuck out of here."
Tony walked out of the armory, and walked to the jeep, with Marcus right behind him, with what little equipment they managed to scrounge from the armory.
[AN] If you have gotten this far, I want to say thank you. If you could take a moment to leave a review, that would be awesome, and would encourage me to keep writing.