Unfortunately, cutting down the length was required for me to make deadlines.

It was good to start writing again though.

Chapter 10: Rain

"Cindy!" It was already too late. As caution was thrown into the wind, the witch simply sprinted off the boat and towards her friend who needed help. There was nothing Louis could have done in this situation but to keep his finger on the trigger, as bullets and blood flown out at an impossible velocity. It was a suicide move alright, as there could simply be no one incensed enough to run towards a moving killer truck with opposable thumbs and hope to get something out of it.

There was nothing quite like the sight of an enraged witch, however, especially this one.

Zoey simply felt nothing. Her body was rather light at that moment, as the teenager could not exactly do anything to resist whatever came her way. She felt as if every single bone in her body was broken, and she would be quite close. That was why when the bloodied pulp of her figure was lifted up and carried away, no reaction was forced. She could feel those arms though, slim yet strong, brutal yet loving, wrapping around her. Her hair loosed to the wind, as she stopped being aware of the pain.

…

Four hundred eighty rounds per minute.

Eight rounds per second.

Fifty percent accuracy.

Forty seconds.

Why was this thing not dead yet?

Now the damn gun overheated.

Grabbing a rifle to his side, Louis wasted no time opening fire upon the flesh monstrosity rampaging towards the boat. He could not believe what he just witnessed however, but that was for another day. As his two comrades positioned themselves firmly on the boat, he signaled Francis to flip the switch. The engine's roars ripped through the night, even as the atmosphere was full of death and gun power. Either way, the transport fired up just as they hoped it would, and it was soon too far for any of the infected to reach them. Sighing, Louis dropped the gun and slumped back down on the stern seat. He looked to his side, to see the biker nodding at him. They were safe, at least for the moment.

"Cindy..." The witch looked at him. Her eyes were full of tears, and it tore him up inside. He did not want to have to ask this. However, whatever the truth was, they would have to face it regardless. "Is she still alive?"

The witch nodded lightly, but her expression did not change. The two men took that as saying Zoey was in critical condition. They went through a lot of hectic confrontations in their few months traversing the land of the infected, but except for Bill's death, none of them had actually been this heavily injured. Even when they were forced to play dead, so that they could crawl into rescue closets, nothing was ever this bad. Then again, they have been punched around, but none had really been smashed into the ground before.

"Go and take care of her." Francis groaned. As gentle as possible, the teenager's body was lifted up. Louis slumped his way towards the hatch and opened it, letting the two inside. Cindy looked back at them. "If you need, don't hesitate to call alright?"

"This sucks." Louis gritted his teeth as he closed after the witch. Moving towards the steer, he signaled Francis to give up the controls, which the biker complied without a word. He had been through a lot, after all, and he did feel like he needed a bit of a rest. As Louis took back the wheel, they were actually steering in a definitive direction again. "Zoey is dying in there and we cannot do a thing."

"So this is what they meant when they said 'don't live your day job'." Francis had nothing left to complain about. The joke was made in good intention, unfortunately both of the men had nothing up their sleeves. It was rather impractical of them to know anything medical or even remote useful, given their track records. "Then again, Cindy probably would not know anything either."

"At least, if we were going to lose Zoey…"

"We won't."

"I'm just saying… she would probably want to be with Cindy right now."

Francis sighed. He knew what the black man said was true. Zoey had always been the glue in their team. He could be flying off his mouth and exchange insults with Bill every other minute, but they would never talk shit to her. He could mock Louis at any given opportunity, but he would serious up whenever she needed him to. He would bet everyone else felt the same way, and for sure he would win that bet. However, they were not so blind as to not see behind her relationship with Cindy. Whether it was an extremely close friendship or anything else, there was no way they could match the compatibility that those two shared. They were men. They could take it.

Apparently.

"Hey Louis."

"Yeah?"

"What do you reckon Cindy is trying to do right now?"

"I don't know, honestly." Louis simply tried to put all of his attention towards controlling the boat. It helped him get his minds off the grim possibilities. No one here had any family left, and they had become each other's. This whole infection had gotten them spiraled into the point of emotional numbness. The constant battles, the injuries, the adrenaline all contributed in sterilizing the possibility of a depression at any given time. However, now that they are seemingly home free, he had to face reality sooner or later. "I have no idea what to do right now."

"We aren't done yet, though." Francis spoke, a heavy tone filling up his voice. They were not exactly done yet, but the rest should be quite mundane. Originally there was some worries of an infected ambush in his path, but the carnage had undoubtedly drawn away enough infected in his way that everything should be fine. "We still need to move that damn boat."

"I actually forgot about that." Louis chuckled a slight bit. After all the horrible things these people have endured today; it would not come as a surprise they did not want to deal with whatever was ahead inside that death pit. Then again despite someone having to do it; it would probably not him. He hated it. It was because of his wound that he was forced to stay back. They were a squad for a reason: fluid, effective, deadly and ethical. Unfortunately with Bill's death and his temporary disability, there seemed to be no way they could ever get that squad together again. "Then again, I don't think anyone's in shape to do this kind of stuff right now."

"Agreed." Francis stood up slowly. He was sore; there was no question about that. He knew the hatch was basically off limits though, and what he needed was not a shower right now. What the both of them needed was good news, and despite him trying to act optimistic, deep down he knew there was nothing sort of a miracle that could save her. He wanted to assist Zoey in some way, but it did not help by being a brute. Swallowing his pride, he was reminded of something else. "Hey."

"Yeah man?" Louis had given up on steering the boat for now, as that giant cruise ship from before was still blocking their advancement path. They would have to move it out of the way sooner or later, but probably later.

"During that last minute, did you see…?"

"Yeah, I did." His mind raced back to that one moment. He remembered feeling gutted as he saw Zoey being flayed around nearly stomped to the ground. As Cindy dashed off onto the harbor, Louis wanted to stop her because it was irrational, but a part of him knew that he did not want to leave Zoey behind and Cindy was the only one with the physique at that moment to do anything of the sort. Imagine his surprise seeing the Tank stopping its attack on the victim as it saw the witch picked her up. Cindy did not seem to be able to explain it either, as she stood there, dumbfounded, for a good second or two before realizing that her mission was just to bring Zoey back.

And brought Zoey back she did.

"Why do you think that is?" Francis honestly could not believe his eyes either, but of course he had more dire matters to attend to at the time, compared to standing there perplexed like an idiot. Still, now that they were relatively off shore, his mind was demanding explanations and rationales, something he would never thought he would ever yearn for. "Tanks have never shown any kind of remorse, even to fellow infected, have they?"

"As far as we could see, yes." Louis was trying to think of a decent answer himself. He did not quite expect to find any though. If he could not fix someone up off a serious injury; it was rather doubtful he could be creating any breakthroughs in biological science. Then again with the way things were going right now, his guess was as good as anyone else's. "I don't know, basically."

"Yeah well, I think I've been standing around enough." Know there was simply no way of obtaining a clear and thoughtful response from anywhere, the biker decided he needed something to do. A snack bar or something right now would probably be best. Leaving the aft, he went in search of something to eat. A diversion was always helpful.

If you're feeling like this is only worth half a chapter, that would be because it is.