[AN] I'm really glad I started writing this series. For those of you who are still with me at this point, thanks.
This is the first chapter that contains spoilers. They are minor, early game spoilers, but spoilers nonetheless. Please keep in mind, that 99% of what I'm writing is not cannon. Of you haven't seen it in the game, I made it up.
This chapter is gong to be based on Kathryn's third person POV.
From now on, I'm going to keep track of time in the story. It will all make sense soon enough. This story started on day 10, just for reference.
Quick shout out to Luciferine, author of "Straight on 'Til Morning", "Hell Bound", and "Where the Heart is" for giving me suggestions on how to make this series better. I highly recommend those stories.
Now I'll shut up and let you get reading.
Chapter 5:
[Day eleven, around 2:00PM Mountain Time Zone]
Kathryn walked down the stairs, surprisingly well rested in spite of being woken up so early. As soon as she saw Marcus asleep on the couch, she burst out laughing. He was face down, with one arm hanging off the couch. He looked like he had passed out, which wasn't far from the truth.
"Isn't it about time someone woke him up?" She said to Jason, who was heading up the stairs.
"Trust me we've tried. You've been in the same bed with him for almost 2 years now, yo should know there is no waking him up."
"Oh, I know how to get him up." said a voice she didn't recognize.
That must be Tony, Marcus was waiting for him last night. She thought to herself.
"Hello Kathryn." Tony said, walking into the room with his wife.
"You must be Tony." She said, smiling, and offering her hand. He shook it. "And you are..." She stopped for a moment.
"My name is Anna. Pleased to meet you." They shook hands.
"A pleasure to meet you both." She replied. "So, Tony, what were you saying about getting my husband awake? I've tried everything before, but nothing seems to work."
Tony had a mischievous grin on his face. "Hey, Mr. Barrett!" He called up the stairs to Jason. "Do you have any Red Bull in the fridge I can borrow?"
"Sure, help yourself." Jason replied chuckling. "So that's how you do it."
"I'm confused. What's with the red bull?" Kathryn asked.
"You'll see." Tony replied while pulling a can out of the fridge. Jason walked down the steps, clearly expecting something interesting to happen.
Kathryn watched curiously as Tony walked over to Marcus and said, "Hey Marcus, drink this now! Quickly!" while he was shaking Marcus awake. Marcus was clearly not happy about getting up, but Tony managed to put the can into his gently pushed it to his lips, and tilted it back. A split second after it entered his mouth, his eyes flew open and he violently spit it out.
"You son of" Marcus coughed, "a bitch." He managed to get that last part out between gags.
By this point everyone in the room was laughing. After a few seconds of coughing, Marcus started laughing too.
"Screw all of you. And fuck red bull."
"Now that his majesty is awake," Anna said pointing at Marcus, " we can start planing on what we're going to do for the next few days."
"Give me a second." Marcus said, walking to the kitchen sink.
After a few minutes of him trying to remove any taste of the red bull from his mouth, he walked into the dining room, where Kathryn, along with all the others, were sitting.
"Please tell me you don't know how to wake me up now Kathryn." Marcus said to Kathryn.
"Don't you wish." Kathryn said smiling at her husband.
Tony started speaking, "Getting to business now, Anna and I agree that we should wait until Boise is secure before we move in."
"Then we all agree," Kathryn said. "In that case we need to figure out what to do until we head to the city." She thought for a moment. "We should have at least one person be a guard, I volunteer."
"To be honest, there isn't much else to do other then to wait.," Jason said. "It would be the best for all of us if we remained armed at all times."
Kathryn nodded her head in agreement, along with everyone else."
"Oh, Marcus, before you do anything else, get a change of clothing." Kathryn said to her husband. Marcus looked down at his still bloody uniform. "Oh shit. I'll put this in for a wash, then get some new clothing on." He said, and walked to the basement.
"Let's wait for him." Kathryn said. Nobody objected.
Marcus came back up the stairs a few minutes later, now in a blue t-shirt and jeans. "I'm back." He said as he walked up the stairs.
"Captain obvious strikes again." Kathryn said.
"No need to thank me," Marcus replied with a smirk on his face. "Tony, where did you put the Kevlar vests?" He asked.
"In the living room." Kathryn watched him walk into the other room, and come back with 5 vests. "We should all put these on. They aren't comfortable, but bullets are much worse."
Kathryn took one from him, and put it on. "It's a bit lighter then I expected it to be."
"That's the exact opposite of what everyone else says." Marcus said, somewhat surprised at his wife's response.
After everyone had a vest on, Anna commented, "After we get armed, we should check the news. It might have some sort of information on the situation in Boise."
"Good thinking. "Jason remarked. "Follow me, I'll show you were the guns are." They all followed him downstairs.
He handed Kathryn a large, bolt action hunting rifle with a scope. "I know for a fact that you should be the one with this." Kathryn slung it over her shoulder.
Jason looked over to Anna, "Do you know how to use a gun?"
Anna said, "Yeah, well enough. I'm a decent shot." He handed her a pump action, 12 gauge shotgun.
Marcus said, "Me and Tony are the only ones with experience with the M16, and, no offense," he looked over to Tony, "but I'm the better shot."
"None taken, it's a law of nature. You are scientifically proven to be a better shot then me. And your wife is scientifically proven to make sure your pride doesn't increase too much." Tony replied.
Kathryn smiled while taking ammo for the hunting rifle.
"Well then, Tony gets the shotgun you two brought here, and I'll take this." Jason said, pulling out a revolver.
"Great. Lets go check on the news, see what's happening in the world." Kathryn sshe's as she headed out of the basement
They all went upstairs and found places to sit in the living room. Tony turned on the TV. It was on CNN. A general was holding a press conference in the Pentagon.
"... with the bureaucrats out of power we can finally take the necessary steps to keep this nation intact. We cannot afford to go through red tape at a time like this. Any minute we wait, we are inadvertently causing the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands of people. People with families, hopes, dreams, and aspirations."
What the fuck? Kathryn thought to herself out loud.
"I do not take this action lightly. This goes against everything we believe as Americans. This goes against everything my parents raised me to believe how our nation works. But they also told me if I had a choice between following the law, or doing what was right, to always choose what was right."
"I cannot simply stand in the sidelines and watch as innocent men and women turn into rabid beasts, ripping apart people they would die for only days before. I had to act. "
"I have no desire to be in charge of this country, especially not like this. I have no desire to destroy what our nation has spent over two decades building up. This is why I brought this."
He pulled out a bible, and placed it on the podium, in plain view of the camera. He placed his right hand on it, and said, "I swear, that I will do everything in my power to save this country, and everything it stands for. Because of this, I also swear that the constitution will be restored within four years time. So help me God."
He took the Bible off the podium, and walked off the stage, ignoring the barrage of questions thrown at him.
"Marcus, Tony," Jason said, " do you know anything about this man? Is he good for his word, or did we just become a military dictatorship?"
"If anyone is trustworthy, it's him." Tony said. "If it was anyone else, I'd be very worried right now, but I havent heard a single bad thing about him."
"He was raised as a strict evangelical Christian." Marcus told his father. "And from what I heard, he isn't the type to swear on the bible unless he is telling the whole fucking truth."
"Well that's reassuring, I guess." Kathryn said.
She heard Cory crying upstairs. "He probably needs a diaper change right now. I got it." She hurried up the stairs.
Just as she finished with Cory's diaper, she heard someone call for help outside. She took the gun off her shoulder, and ran to the nearest window.
She saw a young, African American woman running for her life on the road. Two people were chancing her.
Kathryn put the gun to her shoulder, and aimed at her chasers. Just like she expected, they were infected.
She held her breath in. Then, she pulled the trigger. The closest infected to the woman fell over dead.
The report of the rifle made her ears ring. Cory started crying again, and she heard Marcus say, "Holy Shit!", and heard him running up the stairs.
All of that was blocked out. Kathryn was focused on her next target. She chambered a new round, held her breath, took aim, and fired again.
The second infected man's head blew open, and he fell dead.
Marcus was right behind her, "What the fuck just happened!? Are you ok!?."
Kathryn put the rifle back over her shoulder. "I'm fine, but we need to help that woman out there." She pointed out he window and ran downstairs. Marcus ran after her.
Anna and Tony were already outside, helping to get her inside. She looked exhausted and dehydrated.
"Thank you. You saved my life." She looked up at them.
"Think nothing of it." Said Kathryn.
"Please, if you have any water-".
"On it." Jason had heard the woman just as he got outside, and ran back inside.
They reached the porch when Jason can back outside with the water. The woman took the water and drank it as fast as she could.
"Thank you. God, you must be angles."
"Nope, I'm just one hell of a marksman." Said Kathryn.
Once they had gotten inside, Tony and Anna helped her to the couch. She sat down.
"I can't thank you enough." She looked at Kathryn. "Thanks for taking those infected out. "
"No problem. What happened to you?"
I was driving to Boise, that's were the quarantine zone is." She was breathing heavily. "My car ran out of gas. I saw a man standing next to his car, asked him if he could give me some gas, and then he started chasing me. I figured he was infected, so I ran for my life."
"Where did the second one come from?"
"No idea. He probably heard the noise from the first, and just came along." She took another gulp from the water bottle. "I was running for about 15 minutes when you got them." She looked up at Kathryn. "I was about to pass out any minute. I would be dead right now, if not for you."
"Don't sweat it. What's your name?" Kathryn asked her.
"Marlene." She said, still breathing heavily. "And I don't know how I will ever manage to repay you."