January 10, A little later than "Bright and Early"
Harlan frowned as he watched the trees whiz past. His nerves were on fire after the previous night's conversation with the Governor. He looked around the interior of the Franklin All-Terrain to try and keep his mind on the mission. He peered at his watch.
6AM.
They had the new guy driving, Alex. He blew in from somewhere a week or two ago and made little effort to get to know people. His short brown hair and thin wire-frame glasses only contributed to his overall inconspicuousness.
Meghan rode shotgun, chugging from her water bottle like either of the men were fooled by its contents. She handed it to Harlan, who waved her away. "Too much yesterday," he placated.
The car rocked as Alex ran over a body in the road, sending vodka all over the center console.
"Jesus Christ Meg." Alex muttered.
"Don't hit the fuckin' thing then next time, four-eyes."
"Hey!" Harlan said, fixing his own spectacles. "You're outnumbered here."
"Psh, whatever Sober Sally."
Much of the ride continued in silence until they rolled into West Point proper. Though it was hard to tell which town it was, its iconic train car out front was splattered with enough blood to obscure the welcome message.
"What's the plan?" Alex asked as the car rolled to a stop in front of the Giga Mart.
"Giga Mart." Harlan stated as he hopped out of the vehicle and held up his TEC-9. Meghan unslung her rifle and Alex held onto his shotgun as they waited for company.
Sure enough, glass shattered across the street and a zombie crawled through the broken window, shredding flesh and cloth as it wrestled through. It scrambled to its feet and ran full tilt towards the group before Meghan put it down from across the lot. More came out of the woodwork as the team methodically moved around the parking lot, drawing in more and more with gunfire.
Harlan snuck behind a truck to reload when a hand grabbed his boot. He raised it and stomped hard before bolting back out of cover. Not like it was needed, zombies can't shoot.
He linked back up with Meghan as she fed another round into her rifle. She managed to blow the brains out of a sprinter fighting its way through the crowd.
"These fuckers are hungry today!"
"Me too, I skipped breakfast!" Harlan unloaded on the crowd in single-fire mode, popping a few skulls and peppering a few others' torsos. Alex ran over, his face splattered with blood.
"WE'VE GOT COMPANY!" A gunshot rang out, but not from the trio. Alex fell to the ground, clutching his shoulder. "SOME FUCKER'S SNIPING AT US!"
"WHAT?!" Harlan shouted as he pulled the other man off the ground. He tried dragging him away from the horde and into the safety of the store, but more were coming from inside the supermarket.
Another gunshot. Harlan felt the heat of the bullet as it flew past his head. He dropped Alex and screamed in pain.
"FUCK. DUCKING FUCKING FUCK." Now it was Meghan's turn to play hero, she grabbed both men and pulled them back towards the car. The horde was starting to thin, but they couldn't mop it up while under fire. Meghan threw the car into drive and sped off past the construction site.
They came to a stop at a self-storage lot that looked relatively empty. Alex was bleeding profusely, Harlan's heart was beating in his ears, Meghan just committed DWI, they had seen better days.
"Where's the bullet?!" Meghan shouted as she tried to look over Alex in the passenger's seat.
"I think I popped a lung, oh god, oh my god." Alex mumbled, still clutching his shoulder.
"C'mon now ya big baby, you've never been shot before?"
"I DIDN'T PLAN ON IT YOU STUPID CUNT!" He screamed. Meghan held her hands up.
"Call me that one more time and I'm pushin' it in deeper!"
While this was going on, Harlan fumbled for the emergency first aid kit they kept in the back. Inside he found tweezers, bandages, some rubbing alcohol, everything he needed but not enough for him and Alex.
"Here," he chucked the whole thing at Meghan and reached into his fanny pack, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it.
"Is now really the right time for a smoke?"
"Is now the right time to be blitzed on bottom-shelf liquor?"
Meghan grunted and turned to Alex, who wouldn't stop writhing. Harlan peered outside, it looks like they didn't draw any of them to the south side of town. He stepped outside, blood dripping from his head. The cool air provided a little relief.
The self-storage lot was a mess, hastily built walls, burnt out cars, it looks like someone made a sloppy last stand here as long time ago. Harlan guessed maybe there was some loot left behind.
He pushed some planks aside and went inside the lot. Every storage unit was wide open, some had been converted into bedrooms, others communal spaces, one was full of garbage bags. He went inside one of them and found a body, but something was off.
This was a fresh body. Still blue from the winter cold, not rotten like the rest of them. He kicked the body to see if it was truly a body, it didn't react. He gently turned it over and inhaled sharply.
It was the girl from yesterday, with a clean bullet hole in her head. He turned around and checked the other units, most of them were empty, but others had similarly fresh bodies. In another, he found Tex's corpse still clutching their rifle. Their torso was riddled with bullets, but none in the skull. Then Harlan approached the main building, it looked empty, it sounded empty, but the dead weren't keen on telegraphing their location.
He rapped his fist on the door, nothing.
He did it again, nothing.
"Hey!" Meghan caught up with him. "What're you doing?"
"Looking for a bandage."
"Shit, right." She looked uneasy. "Do we go inside?"
"I think we have to. The people from yesterday were here."
"What?"
"They're dead. The girl and that guy who said nothing."
"What about the old man?"
"He must be in here."
Harlan held his TEC-9 up as they entered the darkened halls. His flashlight clicked to life, and he wished it hadn't. Inside was a bloodbath, the walls, the ceiling, the floor, a disgusting malaise of crimson and corpses. Some of them were young, children even.
Harlan covered his nose and started slowly clearing the area. Room after room offered nothing but more death. One of the units had been converted into a medical center, Harlan quickly disinfected and wrapped his head wound while Meghan stood watch.
The two moved on, sweeping through the rooms and finding little else worth salvaging. They stepped outside to find Alex in the middle of the parking lot with his hands raised about halfway.
"Guys, just stay right there."
Martin appeared from behind him, his rifle trained on Alex's head.
"You fuckers think you're so fucking bold?" Martin shouted. He was caked with blood. "You take our gas, you kill our people, and you come back for MORE?!"
"What?" Harlan kept his palms parallel with the ground, Meghan followed suit.
"I recognize you!" He pointed the gun at Harlan, "And you!" He waved it to Meghan.
"Martin, tell us what happened."
"Don't you dare use my fucking name like you know me! We aren't friends!"
"Just tell us what happened, how did these people die?"
"YOU PEOPLE! YOU PEOPLE KILLED US! YOU KILLED ME!" Martin swung his gun behind Alex and pulled the trigger. His head erupted into a fountain of blood as his lifeless body collapsed to the floor. The blood splashed into Martin's eyes.
As he fumbled to clean himself, Harlan sprinted and pushed him to the ground, training his TEC-9 in the older man's face.
"WHO KILLED YOU MARTIN? WHO?! YOU WANT ME TO DO IT? HUH?"
Martin started chuckling, slowly growing into a full-chested laugh as he lay on the ground covered in the blood of more people than Harlan wanted to think about. Meghan walked up behind him.
"Leave him be, Harley. He's gone."
"No, he killed Alex. I didn't know him that well but he's still a human being who deserves justice."
"Fat lot of good that did when your MURDERERS came through harrrrr-leeeee." Martin resumed laughing, and laughing, and laughing. Slowly, the laughs choked into sobs.
"You get one more chance old man," Harlan racked his gun and kept it in Martin's face, "What the fuck are you talking about?"
Martin stopped crying and took a deep breath. "After… after you left with our gas, a minibus showed up full of people with guns. I saw the bus said Cross Roads. Before I could greet them they opened fire." He sobbed. "They opened fire on the farmers, on the scavvers, then they went inside and… ended our sick and wounded. They shot kids. Kids. We had babies in there." He lost his composure and resumed crying.
Harlan was dumbstruck. Meghan finished what was left of her water bottle.
He stepped away from the man on the ground and looked to Meghan, then at Alex's corpse on the ground. He didn't know what to do. A crowd of undead were in the distance, attracted by the gunshot.
"We need to leave, now." Harlan gently grabbed Meghan and pulled her to the SUV, leaving Martin writhing in the street as they swerved around pockets of the dead and returned to the mall.
The questioning began as soon as they pulled in.
"Where's that guy?" George asked.
"Dead. Alex was… he got bit and took himself out." Harlan answered as he slammed the SUV's door closed.
"No loot?"
"Not a damn thing in that town but death and destruction." Meghan spat.
The two strutted through the halls until they found the main atrium, there they split up. Harlan had one thing on his mind, Anthony was right.
Harlan meandered in the atrium, walking by pretty much every store and display window looking for his partner, but came up empty. He found Harold, whose name he couldn't remember.
"Hey! Uh, have you seen Anthony around?"
Harold emptied a trash can into his cart. "Can't say that I have. He was complaining about not feeling right yesterday, might be at the barracks."
"I'll check over there, thank you uh…"
"Don't mention it." Harold winked.
Harlan walked a bit faster than he intended to the barracks, where he found Laureen sorting clothes.
"Laureen! Hey! Have you seen Anthony around?"
"Can't say I have, Harley." She left it at that.
"Nowhere?"
"No, not that I recall." She paused. "Could you help me make sense of all these clothes? We finally cataloged the baby store and, well, we don't have any babies here at Cross Roads." She laughed gently.
"I'll help you in a sec, I just need to find Anthony."
"Okay hon, I'll be here damn near all day when you're ready."
Hon?
Harlan checked the back room, that was the last place he saw Anthony. He walked through the door and immediately their last argument flooded back into his consciousness. His face felt hot, his heart beat fast, he felt like the world's largest ass.
He sat down, defeated. Was Anthony hiding from him? Or, maybe…
Harlan stood up and marched right to the Governor. He blew past the mousy secretary and stormed into his office.
"What the fuck is going on?"
The Governor turned in his chair, smoking as cigarette.
"Have a seat, Harlan."
"No, tell me right now where the fuck Anthony is." Harlan's face was contorted into a snarl.
"You should be seated for this."
Still snarling, Harlan relented and took a seat. The Governor remained behind his desk.
"Anthony was… unhappy with his job. I'm sure you were aware."
Harlan said nothing.
"He volunteered to go with the B Team today, out in the field. He said he wanted 'a big kid job' or something or other. Always with the humor, that one." The Governor steepled his fingers. "Either way, similarly to how Alex didn't make it back… your Anthony didn't return from his excursion."
Harlan kept his eyes narrowed, but inside he felt himself melt. His heart liquefied and poured into this stomach, which erupted and spewed acid all throughout his body. His skin flushed, his brain baked, his voice felt trapped in an alternate dimension, but he kept his face straight.
"I'm not sure how it all happened, but I've been told he didn't suffer." The Governor stood up and walked to Harlan, who stared straight ahead at an empty seat. The Governor patted him on the shoulder. "I'm sorry, son."
Harlan got up and left without another word. He returned to the storage room, crawled into a ball, and started to cry.