The pair didn't spend much time together on the way to the police station. The street had rows of houses on one side and shops on the other. Charlotte would either be running ahead to kill a zombie that had strayed onto the street from someone's back yard or rummaging through a building. Dennis began to wonder how many of these houses had 'normal' people in them. He imagined a door swinging open at any moment and a flood of zombies would sweep over them in an instant. The painkillers were starting to wear off and the stinging in his chest was worsening. It made walking uncomfortable, but not difficult. While Charlotte used her axe, Dennis would shoot any that she didn't notice or that came out of building while she was ahead. He was impressed with his accuracy, with nearly every shot hitting. He had put a little time at the range when he was young, but he never even got close to how good he was now.
Dennis jumped when Charlotte appeared, walking next to him. He had thought she was ahead of him, but he must have passed her while she was looting a shop. With her bloodied axe in one had, resting on her shoulder, she was drinking from a juice box with a straw in her other. She turned to him and offered him some, but Dennis waved it away. She shrugged and continued drinking until there was the familiar slurping sound of an empty box. Dropping the empty juice box on the road, they continued together for a few minutes before Dennis finally broke the silence.
"So…" he started awkwardly. "Why are you here in Riverside?"
"I'm just passing through on my way to the city, sweetie." She gave Dennis the biggest smile he had ever seen. "I'm glad I did," she said, grabbing his arm and holding him close.
He wasn't sure what was going on, but he let her continue to hold his arm as they walked. She held him until they reached the end of the street, and the police station was visible around the corner. They could see over a dozen zombies surrounding the station, banging on doors and windows. A team of three well-armed cops were patrolling around the station, killing any zombie they could see. They were all using military automatic rifles and appeared very proficient with them; firing in short, controlled bursts. A few zombies that were still approaching the station had their heads explode in a shower of blood and brain from sniper fire. Dennis could see two people on the roof with rifles, picking off any zombies that they could see. When the station was mostly clear of zombies, Dennis and Charlotte began to approach the station. Charlotte was walking right behind Dennis, as if hiding behind him. She was only a few inches shorter than him, and he could feel her breath on the back of his neck. Dennis saw one of the snipers aim at them, watching through the scope for a moment before standing and waving to them. Reassured, the pair approached the police station with more haste, walking right up to the front door. As they took the steps up to the entrance, Dennis felt Charlotte grab his sleeve and pulled him back. Pulling out her pistol, she aimed at someone standing in the doorway.
"Don't fucking move!" said Kate, the menacing figure of the sheriff's wife who had her shotgun pointed at Dennis and Charlotte.
The two women stood against each other, each had their weapon aimed at the other, both with fingers on the trigger. They stood motionless; the cop with her long black ponytail against the blonde with her free flowing hair dancing in the breeze.
"Put down the gun," snarled Kate.
"Age before beauty, hon," Charlotte retorted.
From the expression on Kate's face, she did not appreciate Charlotte's remark.
"Just give me a reason bitch and I'll drop you,"
Michael burst out of the front doors, grabbing the shotgun from his wife's hands, luckily not setting it off. Kate's surprise quickly turned to rage.
"What the hell are you doing Kate?" the sheriff looked at his wife with disbelief
"She's being a rude bitch. That's what she's doing," Charlotte said, lowering her handgun, but not holstering it.
"Shut up you little…" Kate screamed.
"Enough!" the sheriff's booming voice echoed in the darkness. "Kate, we spoke about this. You can't keep doing this to every stranger we meet."
"How can you trust them Michael?" Kate's voice began to quiver. "They could turn at any time and it will be the end for us! Look!" she said, pointing at Dennis. "He's been injured, how do we know they're not infected?"
"Neither of us has been bitten," Dennis said, but he was ignored.
"That doesn't mean you can just shoot them Kate!"
"And you can't let in every stray person that turns up!" Kate attempted to remove her pistol from her holster, but Michael grabbed her arm.
"That's enough Kate! I'm in charge and I'll decide who stays and who goes. Got that?"
Kate glared at him, her eyes full of fury. She glanced at both Dennis and Charlotte, before turning back to her husband.
"Yes... sheriff," she said coldly, before storming back inside.
"You'd better come inside," said Sheriff Michael as he ran a hand over his face in exhaustion.
Charlotte put her handgun and grabbed Dennis's hand, pulling him inside. She gave Michael a smile as they passed each other. Michael returned a forced smile before following behind them.
Dennis didn't see Kate or Michael again that night. It was three in the morning by the time Dennis fell asleep on the staffroom couch once again. Charlotte had disappeared, so Dennis was alone in the staff room. Sleep was difficult because his wounds still ached, but they were significantly better than earlier in the night. He slept soundly, exhausted from the night's efforts. He thought about his family, and wondering if they were even alive. He had resigned himself to believing they were dead; or worse. He tried not to think about them and all the possible ways they could have escaped alive, he felt it only gave false hope.
Dennis was awoken by a familiar voice. Officer Coleman was standing over him, only much more dishevelled than last time they met. His hair was scruffy and his uniform was covered and dirt and dried blood. He was carrying an assault rifle, like the ones he had seen the patrol using the night before.
"Hey Tim," Dennis said wearily.
"Time to get up. The sheriff wants to see you," Officer Coleman said, his voice cold and emotionless. He had lost all the pleasantness from the night before.
"Sure. Where is he?"
"In the garage, follow me."
It was just after three in the afternoon as Officer Coleman led Dennis through the offices and out a back door to an undercover garage. There were two armoured vans for SWAT teams parked there, as well as a dozen officers in full SWAT gear. Alongside them were half a dozen local police as well as the sheriff and his wife, who glared at Dennis as he walked in. There was no sign of Charlotte. Michael watched as the two entered and waited for them to find a place in the line-up.
"Where's the other girl?" he asked.
Tim piped up before Dennis could. "I don't know sheriff; I couldn't find her anywhere in the station."
Kate sniggered, for which she received a harsh glare from her husband.
"Doesn't matter, we'll get started," Sheriff Michael walked out in front of everyone and cleared his throat. "Afternoon everyone. I'm sure everyone is quite aware of what's going on by now, especially these men and women from the city who have come down to help reinforce our position. Word is that the city is overrun and all local and military units have been pulled out. That means Riverside is going to bear the brunt of anything that makes it's way out of the city, survivors and infected alike. Unfortunately, we weren't able to secure the perimeter before the shit hit the fan here and we lost several good men in the process. Wes, Mark, Simon, Leon and Jeff all died performing their duties in protecting this town. It's our job to make sure we follow through and don't let their efforts be in vain. Our priority tonight is to establish control of the river. As far as we can tell, those things aren't able to swim, so the river is an ideal escape route out of the area if we need. I've been in contact with a couple of guys who are anchored out on the river. They're willing to let us use their boats if we secure a place to dock and the only suitable place is the Patterson's boathouse on the west side of town. The last we heard, the area is overrun, so we're going to need to be on our guard. Sergeant Felix will be in charge of the operation and he'll give you some instructions now."
One of the SWAT officers stepped forward and stood next to the sheriff. His face was still obscured by his fall face helmet.
"There's not much to tell you," he said in a deep, surly voice. "You shoot them and they die. None of that headshot only bullshit from the movies. They aren't zombies, they're people infected with a particularly nasty virus. They don't mind a bit of pain either and glancing shots will only piss them off. Headshots will drop them, but a few shots in the torso will do the trick as well. We are aware that some of the infected are becoming mutated, but we don't know much. Stick together and watch each other's back," he turned to the Sheriff. "I think that's pretty much it."
"Alright then!" the sheriff boomed. "Carpool up and we'll head out."
The SWAT teams loaded up in their own vans, leaving the rest of the police force to share between three patrol cars. Dennis squeezed in the back seat with two other officers who he didn't know. Sheriff Michael left the garage first, his wife riding with him with her shotgun pointing out the window. The two SWAT vans followed and then the last two patrol cars. The late afternoon sun was blinding and Dennis had to shield his eyes from the glare. The two cops in the front had sunglasses and the sun visors down, so they weren't too bothered. It wasn't long before Dennis heard the first shot. It was unmistakably a shotgun; most likely Kate's. He looked out the window to try and see what was happening ahead, but the sheer size of the SWAT vans made it impossible. Kate continued to pick off some of the infected along the street; those that she missed were gunned down by the automatic fire from the vans. It was clear that most of the town had been infected. There seemed to be infected everywhere, shambling around. The town was clearly not heavily populated, but there were little pockets of infected hiding away, down alleys and even some on the rooftops. It took about fifteen minutes for the convoy to reach a secluded parking area at the edge of the forest. All the vehicles pulled up and as soon as the vans stopped, the doors swung open and half a dozen SWAT officers piled out, guns aimed ready to fire. They picked off a few infected that had noticed their arrival and the area was quickly secured. Everyone left their vehicles, and gathered in the centre of the parking area.
"We're going to head up there," Michael said, pointing at a small path that went over the hill. "The forest gets dense fast, so keep an eye out."
With the SWAT officers forming a perimeter around everyone else, the group moved up the path. The path was narrow in several places, which forced the group to spread out further. There were few infected along the path. One of the cops made a dim-witted comment that it was 'too quiet'. It wasn't until the beach house came into sight that the metaphorical shit hit the fan. The house was just visible through the trees. The tree however, seemed to be moving. Before anyone had a chance to warn them, an infected appeared from behind a nearby boulder. This one was different; it was big and fat and made belching noises. One of the cops fired his weapon at it, just as a SWAT officer tried to stop him. With an almighty pop like an overinflated balloon, the infected exploded, showering green slime in all directions. The slime completely covered the cop and splashed several of the SWAT officers standing nearby.
"What the fuck is this stuff?" the cop exclaimed, trying to wipe the sticky ooze from his face.
Suddenly, the forest started screaming. What was movement in the forest before, was now an audible surge.
"Defensive positions!" Sergeant Felix shouted. "They're attracted to the slime!"
And they were. Infected began to surge out of the forest towards them from all directions. Everyone open fired with excellent proficiency, but it wasn't enough. For every one they killed, another two took its place. Eventually the tide of infected reached them and everything fell apart from there. Everyone became scattered, forced apart by the tide of infected trying to reach those who had been covered in the slime. The SWAT officers had managed to wipe off most of the slime by now, but Dennis watched helplessly as the cop who had been completely covered in the stuff was mobbed by the infected. Then, just as quickly as they had come, the tide of infected ceased. The last few infected that were mobbing the cop were shot by the sheriff, leaving the cop lying motionless under the pile of corpses.
"Nathan?" Sheriff Michael called out to him. He started pulling the bodies away to try and get to him.
Dennis looked around horrified at the sheer number of bodies. Most of the ground around them was covered in blood, but the worst thing was the smell. Rushing over to a nearby tree, Dennis vomited up what little food he had actually eaten in the last few days. Looking down, he realised he had vomited on someone's arm, causing him to vomit again.
Everyone watched as Michael pulled the last body away, revealing Nathan lying still, covered with blood. His face was visibly contorted into one of great pain and his eyes were open and fixed. Michael checked his pulse for what seemed like minutes, perhaps hoping for a flicker of life to return. Sergeant Felix broke the silence first.
"Michael, we need to keep moving."
As if on cue, a distant howl could be heard echoing through the forest.
"Damn it Nathan," Michael muttered. "Alright, come on."
"We can't just leave him here!" one of the other cops protested.
"What are we going to do with him now Harry?" Michael asked abruptly.
"Well… we… I could…" Harry stammered.
"You're welcome to stay behind if you want, but we need to get this job done."
Harry fell silent, clearly shaken by the sight of his dead partner he began to continue walking towards the house. As everyone else also continued on, Coleman came up behind Dennis and up a hand on his shoulder.
"You alright?" he asked.
Clearing his throat, Dennis stood upright, trying to avoid looking at any of the mess again. "Not really, but lets keep going. I don't want to stay here any longer than I have to."
Dennis and Coleman walked quickly to catch up to the rest of the group. Slowly, the house become more visible through the trees, it's bright lights like a beacon compared to the approaching darkness of setting sun. Another howl echoed through the forest, warning the group of their impending doom.