"LUAN!"
Benny took out his katana and prepared to exit the RV. Sherry fumbled through her magazines, struggling to reload her pistol. John, his UZI held by his gloved hands, and the trigger pulled by his naked finger, fought off the roamers that were closing in on the group. A roamer approached Sherry, who responded by kicking the roamer away from her and towards a bleeding Tad.
"Benny!" cried out Vonda. "Stay inside!"
Benny refused to listen. He kicked the door open and sliced the head of a roamer who was scratching on the RV door. The roamer with Sherry's shoe print quickly picked itself up half-way before smelling the odor of live flesh. Tad gasped as he held his hand up in an attempt to push the roamer away. However, the roamer bit his hands and clawed at his shoulder. John aimed at Benny, but he quickly turned around and shot his UZI at a roamer that would've had a snack in a second, had John not heard its growl. Benny approached Tad and the roamer and sliced the roamer's head off, only to witness Tad's deformed hand and bleeding shoulders. Tad either passed out from the pain or had bled out, both which would lead to an untimely fate.
"No! Stay, Lori!" hissed David.
"I gotta save my sister!"
"You'll alert Sherry of our location! Just stay! Benny is saving your sister!"
"Lori, if go out there you risk getting shot. Your no good to your sister dead, she'll be okay," reassured Jason.
Lori clenched her jaws and watched as Sherry reloaded her gun. Benny quickly ran towards Luan and decapitated a roamer that lunged itself towards the helpless teenage girl.
"Woah, woah, woah! Hold on, buster!" exclaimed Sherry as she held Benny at gunpoint. "Look at YOU! Decapitating roamers and shit! Trying to save your girlfriend over there? It's too bad she's dead."
"I'm going to kill you."
"I doubt it. Drop your sword and get inside the RV! Now! Or else I will slaughter everyone inside!"
Benny sheathed his katana reluctantly and glared at Sherry as he entered the RV. Sherry and John quickly entered the RV and closed the door. Jason and Lori ran towards Luan and dragged her near a wrecked car. David and followed and moved away from the RV when he witnessed the grotesque corpse of Tad laid next to a couple headless roamers. Jason wished he told Tad to wear a bulletproof vest or at least warned him about this, he couldn't believe he forgot about Tad. Slightly emotionally affected, he turned around and took cover behind the wrecked car that sheltered Lori, Lola, Lana, and Luan.
"Luan! What happened to her?" cried out Lana.
"Is she dead!?" cried Lola.
Lori started sobbing as she lifted Luan's head and rubbed her chin. She leaned towards her face and felt her lifeless and pale face. David scanned the puddle of blood that was poured into the sidewalk. Strangely, the trail of blood was very difficult to see as there were only a few drops of blood here and there. Jason was angry at himself for not preparing for this.
"Please no! Please no. Please no..." sobbed Lori.
Lori, feeling a pulse from Luan's neck, gasped and signaled David to come closer. David saw Carol hiding behind Sergei's vehicle, and motioned her to come. The Piranhas were still fighting off the roamers as nothing had changed in the past minute. Carol used this distraction to run from behind Sergei's vehicle to the wrecked car.
"Oh my god!" gasped Carol as she noticed Luan's pale face and bleeding temple.
Carol inspected Luan's pulse and breathing. She tilted her head towards her and opened her mouth. She sucked air and shoved her mouth into Luan's mouth, blowing the air into her lungs. After five seconds, she tried it once more and filled Luan's lungs again.
"Did it work?" asked Lana, tearing up.
"I don't know. We'll see."
Carol's face was a little rosy as she continued to suck in air for Luan. She tried it again and again and once more. Her face was flushing after inhaling and exhaling too many times. Lori's and Lana's tears did not discourage Carol; in fact, she didn't give up on Luan. Soon enough, her determination to save a life paid off as Luan started breathing normally on her own.
"She's breathing! Thank you, Carol! Oh my god, I literally don't know how to thank you enough!"
"No problem… Lori."
The RV lights flashed on as Sherry turned on the switch, still holding Benny at gunpoint. She smiled as she saw the other passengers. John inspected the windows and smiled as he noticed that they were bulletproof given the small cracks from bullets that failed to penetrate through the glass.
"Look at what we have here! There's Lynn. And there's that woman that I shot weeks ago. How's that neck doing by the way?"
Missy glared at Sherry and puffed as she looked away from her. Sherry lowered her gun and continued walking around the RV.
"There's the guy I shot in the leg. Using a cane now, eh? And there's a gloomy girl. And there's another redheaded girl who I would say, looks very beautiful! However, she's nothing compared to my lovely daughter, Vonda!"
"Is this what you do?" questioned Vonda. "Hold people hostage and terrorize them?"
"No. We have so much catching up to do, Vonda. And just for the record, I'm not going to harm you or Lynn in any way. I can't say the same for the others though."
"Hand over your weapons!" yelled John.
"Burn in hell!" hissed Becky, who had trouble controlling her breathing. "All of you! Especially you—!"
Sherry raised an eyebrow before Missy held Becky back. Becky then took out her Glock and a knife and tossed it over to the brother of Sherry's right-hand man. Missy took her knife out and tossed it at John, who let it fall to the ground. Benny shook his head, letting John know that his katana WAS the main weapon of his choice. John took the katana forcefully, but Benny was too distraught to even care. D shook his head, letting the Piranha know that he didn't have any weapons. Lucy only carried a black shovel with blood on it, to which John took away. John took Lynn's bow and removed the quiver from her back forcefully, messing up her shirt and revealing her stomach. She flushed as she pulled her shirt down and hissed at John who demanded she hand over her bat.
"Who do you think you are, grabbing my shit like that?" hissed Lynn.
Vonda placed her hands on Lynn's shoulder and softly shook her head. Lynn growled as she shoved her baseball bat at John's hands. John continued to demand weapons from the rebellious girl. She gave up her pocket knife and pouted as Vonda gave up her arrows.
"Keep the bow," said Sherry as she got on the driver's seat. "John! Hotwire this shit! Fucking David took the keys with him like a smart asshole."
"You have a lot of nerve... talking like you own the place," sniffled Becky. "What the hell are you gonna do to us now?"
"You'll see."
"No! I don't want to wait and see! Tell me now!"
Sherry got up from her chair and grabbed one of the arrows from the quiver that John placed in the passenger seat. She walked up to Becky, who was backing up slowly but clumsily. Sherry lifted the arrow slightly which caused Becky to stumble back to D's lap, where he caught Becky with his hands. Sherry lunged the arrow towards Becky before stopping the arrowhead from piercing Becky's throat.
"Want to see? Are you sure you want to see? ARE YOU?"
Becky shivered at Sherry's threat and cowered behind D's arms. Sherry leaned the arrow closer to Becky's chest which caused the heart of both women to race, one out of fear for her life, and the other for being close to achieving her bloodthirsty desires. However, Sherry sensed her innocent daughter nearby and held her breath. She barely pierced Becky's chest and moved the arrow downwards, making a small cut at Becky's tank top. The area above the heart and below her shoulder was exposed from the cut, though it was only slightly more harmful than a papercut. Becky cringed as Sherry halted the arrow and lifted the tip of the arrow from Becky's skin, barely bleeding. At this point, Becky was left speechless as she cried softly to herself. The pain of her grief could be felt by Sherry.
"Don't worry about what I'm going to do. You will see."
Sherry took a quick glance at Vonda, who was wide-eyed and shivering. John lifted himself upright as he coughed into his elbow. The engine roared and the RV was ready to take the unlucky passengers wherever Sherry wished to take them.
"Watch the kids and the woman, John. It's gonna take some time before we reach our old headquarters."
Sherry sat in the driver's seat and started driving the RV. She honked the horn, alerting the Piranhas to move out of her way. She rammed through the burning vehicles and dented the front bumper of the RV, although the kids weren't aware of what they were hitting.
"My wife's in there," gasped Richard.
"There goes the RV!" shouted Luna.
"Shit. Where are they going with it?" asked George.
"Well? Let's go after them!" yelled Richard.
George grasped onto Richard's shirt and held him in one spot behind Chunk's car.
"We got bigger problems."
The roamers were closing in on the group. On the Piranhas' side, the roamers were dealt with, and now, they only needed to take care of David's group.
-May 27, 2016-
The monster fit its hand inside the cage, trying to grab the two prisoners. The monster appeared to be a human being with a pale face and golden eyes. The blood from his mouth and hands were dark. Its mouth was gross and filled with unpleasant liquids. George and Cassandra leaned back against the stone wall. The room was lit with an orange glow coming from a lantern as if they were in a cave with a fire burning inside.
A click.
The cage bars were slowly lifted upwards. The barely deceased human being crawled under the cage and slowly stood up. George and Cassandra crawled their way out of the cage and stood up in the larger room. The bars completely lifted itself into the roof so that the zombie did not have to crawl a second time to get an attempt to eat the two prisoners. George and Cassandra looked around the room for something to ward off the zombie.
"Having trouble?" asked Sherry. "Yeah. I know you are."
"Sherry?" gasped George.George turned his head towards the direction of Sherry's voice and found her behind the sealed door that kept him and the teenage girl inside the hellish room.
"Sherry!"
George pushed the zombie away from him. The zombie stumbled down. George and Cassandra quickly dashed behind a table to create a barrier between both prisoners and the monster.
"Sherry, what the hell is this? What kinda drugs did you hook this guy with? Why is he acting like a damn zombie?"
"He's my test subject, Gert. And he's not a zombie. He's an infected person who happens to roam around like a zombie."
"Infected with what?"
George kept Cassandra behind him as Gert attempted to bite her. George kicked him to the ground.
"One of your drugs made in a lab or shit?"
"Well, you could say that. Except it was not my lab. Come on, let Gert bite you already. Stop struggling."
George grabbed a wooden chair and slammed it on Gert's head. Gert went towards the ground, with his head oozing of dark-red blood, although he stood up.
"How is he still standing?" asked Cassandra.
"Answer that question, Sherry!"
"Well, because, you gotta destroy its brain in order to kill him."
"So Gert is basically a zombie!"
"Infected. And he's not coming back to a normal human, unfortunately."
George looked around the room and found a bloody hatchet.
"Cassandra! Grab that chair, and swing it as hard as you can at Gert!"
"Okay!"
Cassandra grabbed the chair and slammed it against Gert. Gert fell to the ground, and before he could get back up, George dropped to the ground and swung the hatchet as hard as he could on Gert's skull. The hatchet pierced through the front skull and attached itself to the brain, which caused blood from Gert's brain to start oozing out of its head. George lied on the ground, exhausted yet horrified with what he just encountered.
-Present Day-
The roamers clumsily stumbled over the guardrails and walked towards David's group. Tabby, Liam, Zach, and Rusty ran towards Vanzilla. However, Tabby convinced the other boys to not run inside yet and to fight for once.
"Okay…. But I'm telling you, I'm a bad shot," commented Liam.
"Then don't shoot," grumbled Tabby.Tabby grabbed a combat knife and prepared to stab the roamers without mercy. The boys also grabbed a knife and followed Tabby. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne fought off the roamers from the other side of Vanzilla, faced towards the city of Albany.
Bobby, Darcy, and Dana hid behind a wrecked car and were shocked to see what happened to Tad. Dana broke down into tears and Bobby held her while looking around themselves. Bobby wondered where Becky was and sighed as his anxious thoughts started thinking about the worst possible scenario about what happened to his friend. Darcy held onto Bobby's arm as he softly stood up.
"It's not safe in here. Let's move inside the van."
A destroyed brain was sent flying off into the pavement. Luna shot once more. She looked back at Lori and Luan and sighed. She then looked at Sergei's car and found Sam hiding behind it. Sam and Sergei were shooting at the groups of roamers that were crawling towards them. Luna aimed her gun at those roamers and ignored the roamers that walked towards her. George and Richard shot their pistols, not only protecting themselves but also protecting Luna.
"Come on, let's go," muttered one of the Piranhas.
"Yeah, one of them bitches got Gus!" shouted another Piranha.
"We kill some of them and then we head out, alright?" ordered another Piranha.
"Alright, Bruna."
The Piranhas walked closer to the group hiding behind the vehicles. With their guns raised and their minds alert, they looked out warily for their enemies and the roamers. While eight of the Piranhas decided to stay and eliminate the group members, the others decided to drive away and head back to their base.
"Alright, Lori, the Piranhas are coming and we need to hide somewhere further back if we want to protect Luan," said David.
"How do we move her? We'll become a large target!"
"You guys stay," blurted out Carol, "I'm going to move her."
"Are you sure, Carol?"
"Yes, David."
"Take Lana and Lola as well," said Lori.
"Alright, just cover me. Let's go, Lola, Lana."
Carol, Lola, and Lana dashed away as Lori, Jason, and David stayed behind the wrecked cars, loading their weapons. Lori loaded a full magazine on her AK-47 and pulled the charging handle back before letting out a deep breath. Jason loaded his M4A1 and held it tight. David held his shotgun and was ready to fire it. He then heard the voice of a Piranha gangster.
"There's someone moving over there! Three blond girls!"
"Come on, don't let them except!"
The gangster moved ahead of the others, pointing his pistol at Carol and getting ready to fire it. The other gangster behind him aimed her submachine gun at the twins. He then walked in front of David's sight as he passed the wrecked car without turning his head to the right. David fired the shotgun at his head, splattering the man's head and dropping his body to the ground. The other gangster heard the shot but didn't get the chance to react, Jason fired his assualt rifle at the woman hitting her in the back. She tried to aimed her gun, but Jason shoot her head, splattering her brains on the ground.
"Bruna! There's someone behind–"
"I know! I know!"
Bruna and the other five Piranhas took cover in front of the wrecked car. The car was flipped sideways in the way that the roof of the car faced the Piranhas and the underbody faced David's group. Bruna motioned the Piranhas to surround the people behind the car. One person moved to the spot where the recently killed Piranha lies. Another gangster climbed the guardrail and proceeded to attack from the other side. Lori and David faced away from each other in opposite directions. As the Piranha moved closer to Lori, his gun was exposed to Lori's sight, and with her finger on the trigger, she nervously fired her rifle too early and ended up hitting no one.
"Luna? Do you think you can nab that guy over there?" asked Richard.
Luna aimed her pistol at the Piranha and shot it. She missed and ended up causing the Piranha to stumble down from the guardrails. Richard raised his Python.
"Thanks, Luna. My Colt Python will finish the job."
Now that the Piranha was caught off-guard by the bullet, Richard was able to get a clear sight of him. He shot his Python once, with the bullet flying and hitting his chest.
"Now!" yelled Bruna.
The Piranha popped out from the side of the car, only to be blasted by David's shotgun. This time, however, the pellets smacked the gangster's chest and torso, knocking him to the ground immediately.
"Fuck!" yelled Bruna.
Bruna motioned the other Piranhas to move back. They quickly dashed behind wrecked cars, but not before David, Jason, and Lori quickly popped out of their wrecked car and fired their weapons at them.
Carol placed Luan down as she struggled to run to Chunk's van. As Lana wiped her scraped knee caused by the quick evasion of Sherry's trigger finger, a groan was heard from Luan. Carol fixed Luan's hair by removing it from her face and she noticed that her eyelids were opening up. Suddenly, her eyelids widened and she panted heavily.
"Carol? What's going on? Oh my god, Benny! Ow! Something hurts!"
"Luan, just relax! Relax."
"Benny? Where is he? Is he alright?"
"Yes, he's alright. He's… umm… preoccupied at the moment."
"I'm bleeding! Oh my god! Wait, was I shot? I remember Sherry raising her–"
"Yes, you were shot. And you're okay for now! But I still need to treat you!"
"I was shot?"
"Yes! Can you please hold this towel above your head? I need to get you somewhere safe!"
"What's happening? Is Lori alright?"
"Yes! Luan, you gotta come with me!"
"This towel hurts. Lana, what are you doing here? Ouch, what happened to your knee…?"
George and Richard rushed ahead of the others, running while crouching. They caught up to David, Jason, and Lori, who quietly walked towards the wrecked car that the Piranhas were hiding in. David noticed a body rising and he tapped on Jason and Lori's shoulders.
"Lori, Jason, on my count, run in front of the wrecked car and start shooting your guns near the Piranhas! Richard and George, watch our backs!"
"Alright!" said George.
"Three… two… one… go!"
Jason, Lori, and David quickly dashed in front of the wrecked car and fired their weapons in the air. The Piranhas ducked and kept their weapons raised, staring upwards and to their sides for any potential surprises. And a surprise is what they received when a turned-Gus growled and grabbed one of the gangsters. The gangster cried out as the turned-Gus sunk his teeth into her back shoulder. Lori then popped from the side of the vehicle and quickly shot a Piranha. His collared shirt filled up with blood as he groaned and passed out. Jason popped from the top of the vehicle and shot a Piranha. His shirt was drenched in blood as it became hard for him to breathe, he choked on his own blood and passed out.
"Drop it!" yelled David.
David appeared from the other side of the wrecked car and pointed his shotgun at Bruna's head. Lori lowered her rifle and pulled out Bobby's Luger. She shot the turned-Gus through its skull. The bitten Piranha wheezed as her shoulder was torn apart and struggled to lift herself up.
"I said drop your gun!"
"I need to take Joan out of her misery!"
"Lori will do it."
Lori looked down at Joan, who was rolling herself to her own back and sniffling. Joan's tears were real as she knew her fate in the hellish world was sealed. Lori continued to hesitate and lost her connection to reality until Bruna snapped her out of it.
"Well? Lori, right? What are you waiting for?"
Bruna raised her pistol when suddenly, Lori shot her pistol at Joan's skull, destroying her brain and sending her to the afterlife, if there was one for poor Joan.
"Well? What are you waiting for? Shoot me already."
"Drop the gun. And we won't kill you."
Bruna dropped her pistol and raised her hands up in the air. George and Richard approached Bruna and lowered their guns. George took out his handcuffs and cuffed Bruna's wrists, while Lori placed Bobby's pistol into her holster. Jason lowered his assualt rifle and walked over to Lori placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. David checked his surroundings and lowered his shotgun.
"Why are you guys keeping me alive?" asked Bruna.
"We need information from you," answered Lori, in a soft voice that was triggered by her own fright.
"So I give you the information and then what? You guys kill me?"
"That's not how justice works," replied George. "You guys might have killed people who ratted out your organization of shitbags, but we don't. We're not savages, Bruna."
"And look who's talking. Cane. If I remember correctly, YOU are the one who murdered my people, even before the apocalypse."
"I was defending myself. You guys were in my way. I was just going for Sherry."
"Hmm. Who are you going after right now?"
"He isn't going after anyone, he's just trying to survive like everyone else. So if you care about your survival then you will corroborated us, and we'll let you go," replied Jason.
The headlights dimmed as Sherry stopped the RV. The light from the lanterns inside a small sightseeing boat revealed the mode of transportation that the hostages were now going to enter. Two Piranhas opened the passenger doors behind the driver's seat and entered inside.
"Andrew! Gina! Nice to see you guys! Is the boat ready?"
"It's ready, Sherry," replied Andrew, as he turned towards the hostages. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Alright, everyone has to leave the vehicle now."
Sherry whispered into Andrew's left ear and then walked over to Vonda's side. Missy, Lynn, Benny, Becky, and Lucy stood up quickly. D grabbed onto his wooden cane that the group found days earlier in a supermarket, and stood up slowly. He started sweating intensely as Andrew and Gina glared at him judgmentally. As soon as he left the RV, Sherry grabbed onto Vonda's hands. Right away, Vonda felt uncomfortable, but she was too frightened to remove her hands as she walked past guns and gangsters.
"This way, my daughter."
Andrew grabbed the black recurve bow and the leather quiver of arrows. He exited the RV and caught up to Sherry and Gina. John turned off the lights as he was the last one to exit the RV, and closed the door.
"Get on the boat," ordered Andrew.
The 50-feet long sightseeing boat had a large cabin with dark-tinted windows. Near the bow of the boat stood an armed Piranha gangster, holding a bright lantern. The docks led to the starboard of the boat, and Missy was the first to step foot on it. The boat gently moved as the river tugged on its skeg. However, a rope tied to a pole in the docks kept the boat from drifting away. Benny looked at the hull of the boat before entering it, which was labeled 'TWELVE HUNDRED'. Gina held her gun behind D as he was the last to step foot on the ship starboard.
"Isn't it nice, Vonda? We can finally catch up on each other's lives."
"We didn't have to catch up on each other's lives if you didn't leave Dad and I."
Sherry allowed Vonda to walk over to the boat first without any of the Piranhas pointing their guns at her. She kept quiet and only smugly smiled at Vonda. The redheaded girl grew annoyed and stomped her way inside the boat, pouting as she stood next to Sherry's new prisoners. Sherry took out her binoculars and inspected the road that the RV was on. She then entered the boat along with Andrew and John.
"Where are we going?" asked Vonda.
"Somewhere far away from here," answered Sherry. "Now, all of you, enter the cabin. We have a lot of talking to do."
The headlights from another car beamed brightly in the distance and dimmed when it came to a stop. The car was followed by other cars, all which took a stop. A Piranha exited the vehicle and walked to the docks where he called Sherry.
"Sherry! Sherry! Glad I caught up with you! Are we meeting at Castleton or Catskill?"
"Neither! Tell the others to head back to base! Oh, and Boomer, can you release our anchor-rope?"
"Sure thing!"
Boomer lifted the heavy rope from the wooden pole and dropped it on the water, allowing the boat to move away from the docks. Boomer ran back to his car and waved at Sherry before he departed along with the other Piranhas.
"Stop stalling, go inside," grumbled John as he pushed Benny into the cabin.
Vonda stared at the docks as it went further away until she was finally able to get a good look at the city. She then stared down at the flowing water where the moonlight was reflected. She saw herself, distorted and alone until Sherry appeared in the reflection.
"Careful. You don't want to slip out of the boat."
"I can swim well."
"Since you're the daughter of a former Coast Guard and leader of an aquatic-based organization, I can't say that I'm surprised. But I am proud."
Sherry then nudged Vonda with a bow and a quiver on her hands. Vonda looked surprised as Sherry handed her one of the few items that she valued the most in the world. Still, she reluctantly took it, and let her mother know that she wasn't grateful for this seemingly sincere action. The docks left the sight of Vonda as she and the other hostages were taken into unknown waters.
-May 27, 2016-
Footsteps shuffled through the room as Sherry and a few other Piranhas entered the room. They gasped as they saw Gert lying dead on the floor. George was dragged upright by Andrew and John grabbed Cassandra's arms and held them on her back. Sherry grabbed George's suit and spit on his face.
"Well… do you feel proud of yourself?"
"Was I just supposed to let Gert chomp me?"
"Yes. Just one bite!"
"Ha, you could bite my ass. I'm not going to turn into–"
Sherry punched George in the face and dragged him into the ground. Andrew was caught off-guard by Sherry's sudden burst of anger, but not surprised. George blocked his face using his arms, but by the time he did this, Sherry punched his stomach and chest over and over.
"No, stop! Stop hurting him!" cried Cassandra.
Sherry quickly stood up and stomped on George's chest. George gasped in pain, and he held his chest as he struggled to catch his breath. Sherry then dragged George like a dog to the end of the room where he stood as a prisoner.
"Stop! Please!"
"Shut up, bitch!"
Andrew slapped Cassandra's face with his leather gloves. Sherry walked over to Cassandra and grabbed her neck, choking her. The beautiful teenage girl grabbed Sherry's hand as she struggled to breathe.
"Don't fucking help George again. Just because you're a woman, doesn't mean I won't treat you like him. Understand?"
Cassandra nodded her head as she started tearing up and turning blue. Sherry released her grip and allowed her to breathe. Cassandra kneeled and caught her breath, while the metal bars for the jail cell started descending. Sherry lifted Cassandra upright and dragged her to where George was sitting and shoved her to the floor. The metal bars descended completely and latched itself into a magnetic bar on the floor. Cassandra was crying softly as she wiped off the dirt from her white long sleeve shirt.
"Now, I need to get another test subject," sighed Sherry.
In the FBI field office in Albany, Special Agent May Hannas and Agent Martin Briggs were watching the activities in the Piranhas Headquarters through the eyes of a hidden camera. They were also hearing the conversations going on between the gangsters.
"Hey, Briggs. Here comes Sherry."
Both agents watched as she spoke to her henchmen. She had blood on her knuckles and was wiping them off with a towel.
"Get another test subject. Gert has been eliminated. Try getting Burner instead."
"Aye, Sherry."
May and Martin looked visibly confused when they heard the phrase, 'test subject'.
"Test subject? We gotta keep listening," said May.
"Oh, look, Sherry left."
"Okay, so here's the list. Multiple counts of murder, conspiracy to commit murder on many different occasions, kidnapping, grand larceny, arson, drug manufacturing, money laundering, extortion, human trafficking–"
"Special Agent Hannas? We tracked down Agent Cane's last position before his tracker went down," said an agent that walked inside of May's office.
"Yeah, I know, he's in the Piranha headquarters."
"Are you spying inside the headquarters?"
"Yeah. Look, I want you to gather all the other agents in an hour. I need to make an announcement."
"Sure thing, Special Agent Hannas."
-Present Day-
"Hey, are you alright?" asked Lincoln.
"Yeah," replied Clyde.
Lily was crying and Leni was whimpering as she removed a small shard of glass from her right arm. Bobby grabbed a bottle of formula milk and held Lily in his arms. Darcy held on to Bobby's legs as she gazed at the new wave of roamers in the distance.
"Everyone, get inside a vehicle if there is space!" yelled David.
George and Richard dragged a resisting Bruna as she tugged and struggled in the handcuffs. Lori went inside Vanzilla where she was met with a shattered windshield. She bashed the windshield with her assault rifle and started the car. Sergei and Chunk entered their vehicles where they carried passengers who never once entered their vehicles. Luan and Lisa were strangers to Sergei just as Liam, Rusty, and Zach were strangers to Chunk. They drove ahead of George, Richard, David, Jason, Dana, Bobby, Wavehead, Luna, and Sam. Everyone else was inside a vehicle.
"Luan, how do you feel?" asked Carol.
"Confused. And it feels like I have the biggest headache ever on the right side of my head."
"It is a miracle that the bullet only grazed your right temple," said Lisa.
Getting around the wrecked cars was difficult for the drivers and they had to block the runners from getting through the destroyed Piranha vehicles.
"Where do we go?" asked Lori through her walkie-talkie.
David, sweating and panting, took out his walkie-talkie from his belt and turned it on while running alongside Jason and Bobby.
"Take a right turn and head towards that empty neighborhood over there."
"That would lead us downtown! Yes, that's where we want to go!" exclaimed Bobby. "The roads are bumpy and there are many entrances and exits we can go through. Plus I know a place we can go."
"Is it where you live?"
Bobby nodded. He stopped running and released Darcy's and Dana's hands. Bobby and Dana gasped as they saw Tad rise from the ground. The turned-Tad had a dangling hand and blood all over his pale face. His long, wet hair partly covered his golden eyes. He growled at the two teenagers and headed towards them. Bobby took out a knife from his pocket and moved slowly towards the turned-Tad.
"Dana! Cover your eyes! You don't need to see–"
Dana yelled as she swung her machete through turned-Tad's head from the top of his skull. The machete did not completely slice through his head, although it did twist to the left and ended up slicing part of his head off. Turned-Tad dropped to the bloody pavement and was spared the eternal torment that every active roamer faced. Dana groaned as she clutched her abdomen, and she began to cry.
"Dana? Look, we gotta go," warned Bobby, as he stared at the incoming wave of roamers. "Are you alright? Did you hurt yourself?"
"No…. Let's go. I'm okay. I'm okay…"
"Come on, let's go, before more roamers shows up," said Jason in a gentle voice.
Dana didn't say a word, she grabbed Jason's hand and walked away.
Her shoes were scraped from the pavement after constantly rubbing the floor, trying to resist Richard and George. Bruna stood still and spit on George's face.
"Why are you making this difficult? Do you wish to die?" growled George.
"Is that a threat?"
"Lady!" yelled Richard. "Look behind you! There's a herd of roamers chasing our asses! So stop being difficult and haul ass!"
"No! Don't call me lady! My name is Bruna! And I refused to budge! I would rather die than let you kill my friends! So, either you free me or I won't move!"
"George might live according to a code, a code not to kill helpless people, but I live by a different code," exclaimed Richard. "Anything to make sure the woman I love is safe from harm. So, you better start moving or else I will shoot your leg and let you die in the herd!"
Bruna swallowed hard and looked back at the approaching roamers.
"You won't do it. You're bluffing. You have morals as well, army guy."
"Very well."
Richard raised his Python and aimed for her leg. Bruna closed her eyes and started breathing heavily.
"Richard, no!"
Richard quickly turned his revolver around and swung the butt of his Python at Bruna's jaw. Blood came out of Bruna's mouth and she started falling to the ground before Richard caught her. George sighed in relief as Richard picked up an unconscious Bruna around his back, performing a fireman's carry. Her curly ponytail touched Richard's neck, making him feel uncomfortable, just as her diamond earrings did.
"I thought you were actually going to shoot her."
"Hell no. I'm not crazy. I need to know where my wife is."
The group made their way through the burning cars and followed Bobby's directions to his apartment building. The roamers had difficulty navigating through the maze of burning cars and were distracted by the fire in some of the engines rather than the group. As the group ran away, Luna looked back at the destruction and saw one thing that stood out; the corpse of a turned-Gus with a bleeding neck.
"It's alright, Luna. You did what you had to do," reassured Sam as she tugged on Luna's arms.