Chapter 11: Chuck to the Rescue
"Back into the fire I go," Chuck told himself as he rode the elevator down to the warehouse's ground floor.
He was armed to the teeth and carrying some food on him as well, ready to distribute it to any survivors he made encounter along the way.
He remembered seeing those two figures barricading themselves in the women's clothing shop and knew it was only a matter of time before the zombies would likely catch onto their scent. He couldn't afford to dawdle. Every second he wasted meant they were drawn closer to an inevitable demise.
Still, Chuck was determined to do what he could to help.
"I've seen enough death and destruction to last a hundred lifetimes in this town and there's no reason anybody else needs to fall prey to it," he thought to himself as the elevator doors opened with a cheery 'ding' and he stepped into the warehouse, nearly bowled over by the combined stench of all the headless bodies still littering the floor.
On the other hand he knew he would have to be cautious.
He remembered his encounter with Wade Coopwood and Skylar Ali from earlier in the day, recalling how jumpy they had been and how Wade was ready to fire upon anything that stepped into his cross-hairs. He had gotten lucky when one of them turned out to be an old fan of his and the situation was peacefully defused.
However, his thoughts would then drift to the cynical gun shop owner and how quick his trigger finger had been the second someone entered his domain. One man would die and Chuck himself would be dead if it weren't for his quick thinking and equally quick reflexes.
These people spotted in the clothing store would be grateful to see him or they would be ready to attack on sight. Either way he would need to be on guard.
Chuck exited the warehouse as quietly as he could and looked around to see several zombies still milling about aimlessly. Eventually a bald zombie in an open Hawaiian shirt took notice of him and let out a loud snarl to alert his nearby brethren, who then stopped everything they were doing to lunge after the former champ.
He saw them approaching with instinct-driven abandon and climbed onto the nearest flower bed to give himself some space against the hungry horde as they reached after him with bloodied hands, some stumbling onto the elevated platform in their quest for fresh meat.
Chuck approached the end where a horde roughly five layers deep waited for him. He looked to his left and to his right finding himself completely surrounded.
Then he looked beyond the horde where he spotted one zombie in particular rooted in place where he stood, reaching upwards as if trying to grab something. Chuck was able to make out the glowing red spot on the back of his neck and swore he could hear the buzzing of wings over the chorus of undead moans.
"Jackpot," he exclaimed and in a risky move pulled himself atop the shoulders of the closest zombie before carefully walking along the shoulders of those beneath him, an unsteady surface that left him extending his arms like he was trying to steady himself on a surfboard.
With a final hard stomp to the head of the last zombie he launched himself back to the floor and bolted after the stationary zombie and brought up his newly-crafted claw gloves to slice his head clean from his shoulders.
With its host eliminated, the Queen wasp detached and flew about setting its sights on Chuck.
"No thanks," he said to the wasp before catching it in a small glass jar.
The animal-like snarls came from behind and Chuck turned to see the horde rapidly charging after him.
"If this worked once before, it damn sure can work again," he said before tossing the jar to the floor.
It shattered upon impact and less than a second later, all of the zombies were frozen in place and violently convulsing until their heads exploded in a large display of gory brutality and one by one their headless corpses hit the floor.
There was no time to breathe a sigh of relief when he looked down to see numerous glowing green slug-like organisms emerging from the fallen corpses. He stared at them in morbid interest for a second, that is until they started throwing themselves at him.
Not wanting to know what happens if they do latch onto him Chuck made his way for the double doors and back into Leisure Park.
As it had been earlier, numerous zombies still moved about, a little more frenzied by the nighttime. However, it seemed as if the number had grown drastically within the span of a few hours and right away the ex-champ found himself on the move rolling away from the bony arms of a once hillbilly in a soiled wife beater with a mullet that reminded him of this Elrod guy he used to race against. He still had his guns on him, but not enough ammo to take on all comers.
"You'll have to wait until later," Chuck said to the encroaching horde before forcefully shoving an emaciated woman aside and making his way towards the food court entrance, relying upon more of his fancy footwork before finally reaching the glass doors and pulling himself through.
Chuck looked around for any threats but saw nothing right away. He could hear the moans of more zombies in the distance and knew he would have to make his way towards the Al Fresca Plaza before he could attract their attention.
And then his transceiver began ringing again.
"Perfect timing Otis," the ex-racer muttered bitterly before taking cover behind the wooden partition in front of Chris' Fine Foods and hitting the button, "What is it?"
"I found a woman in the jewelry shop in Al Fresca Plaza. She's movin' around an awful lot. It looks like she's lookin' for somebody," Otis replied.
"Well I'm heading there right now. Anything else I should know?" Chuck asked, still listening for the moans in the distance.
"I found a couple of survivors in the bookstore in Wonderland Plaza. They look Japanese. Probably tourists," the janitor replied.
"Great. They just had to be spread out," Chuck thought to himself before replying, "Alright. I'm on it."
"I'm gonna need an extra long vacation after this mess is over with," he told himself rising to his feet and rounding the partition, only to find himself standing face to face with a wall of red-eyed ghouls.
"Not cool!" Chuck blurted out and quickly leaping backwards before they could shoot their rotting arms out after him.
With a mighty heave, the former champ forcefully pulled himself over the nearby partition, feeling numerous pairs of fingers brushing against the soles of his boots before he cleared the barrier and landed with a hard shoulder roll and pressed onward towards the Al Fresca entrance.
As it was with the park and food court, the outdoor plaza was teeming with more zombies, all of whom took notice of the exhausted ex-racer the second they heard the creak of the blood-spattered doors.
"Since when did my life get so fucked up?" Chuck asked himself with a shrug before pulling out his Defiler and swinging towards the group, taking out two creepers in one swoop before ramming another in the gut and swinging around rapidly to run past them.
It wasn't long before he was able to hear the sobs of a woman in distress and he came upon Riverfield Jewelry, where he found a young brown-haired woman in a green zip-up sweatshirt behind the counter with her back to him, hugging herself tightly. There were numerous zombies surrounding the counter reaching out to her, yet she just stood there completely oblivious to their presence. She just didn't seem to care anymore.
Making his way into the jewelry store he pulled out the Defiler and swung into the crowd, splattering blood and brains all over the glass display case, the wall and the woman herself, yet again she stood frozen in place, not caring what was going on around her. Chuck still needed to get to her and delivered three more swings that left the small group a broken pile at his feet. His temporary mission complete he carefully pulled himself over the counter and stepped up behind the distraught lady.
"What's the matter? Are you OK?" Chuck asked reaching towards the woman, but to his surprise she spun around and latched onto him.
"Grace!?" she screamed in his face "Where's Grace!?"
"Ma'am!" Chuck shouted back as the woman shook him violently.
"My baby! I want my baby back!" she screamed even louder, "Grace! Grace! Answer me! Where's Grace!?"
Chuck had had about enough and struggled against the woman's grip before managing to shove her to the floor. It was then he looked down and saw the bloody gash on her right ankle.
"Grace..." she muttered weakly.
"You got separated from your kid?" Chuck asked.
"Grace is my baby..." she replied staring down at the carpeted floor.
"I'll find your baby for you lady! First, let's get you someplace safe," he said reaching down, only for her to forcefully shrug him off.
"Just leave me alone!" she screamed tucking into a fetal position.
"They ate her. Those damn zombies ate my baby! Right in front of me...oh god, I've never heard her cry like that!" she shouted back before her voice retreated into a pitiful whimper, "Please...just leave me alone..."
Chuck's heart ached for the grieving mother, knowing the pain of losing a loved one all too well.
He found himself taken back to the night of Pam's death, remembering every vivid little detail: the bright lights, the thunderous crash, blood everywhere, the scar above his brow, his wife's lifeless body lying next to him...
The ravenous snarls of more approaching zombies snapped him out of his trance and he looked over to see more shambling in after him. Fresh waves of anger washed through his system.
"What, you wanna stick around with them? With the ones that ate your little girl?" he asked before pulling out his Defiler and with his free hand reached down to haul the woman to her feet, "Come on! I'm not gonna let you die here!"
He the swung the Defiler over the counter and knocked down several of the undead menaces in one swoop before bringing it down onto the head of an obese man and driving his skull down into his considerable gut.
Looking behind he noticed some small orange chairs in the back corner and he quickly climbed over the counter, running over to them and lifting one up. With a mighty heave he tossed it into the mass of rotting flesh, a prominent splash of congealed blood decorating the surrounding walls. His action had created a large enough gap and he ran over to help the injured Leah over the counter.
"Hold on tight," he said to the young mother, lifting her up and piggybacking her into the open corridor where he could see they were right across from Weber's Garments, its barricade still intact. It left him feeling some hope for those inside.
"Watch yourself," he said setting the woman down and proceeding to tear apart the crude blockade, having to stop halfway through to lift up the chair and crack a few zombies' skulls open before resuming his duty. It took a few more heaves before there was an entry wide enough for Chuck and the woman to make their way through.
"Dammit! Just what I needed! Another crazy person harassing me!" a voice called out and Chuck looked ahead to see a young man wearing a red Hawaiian shirt and black beanie charging toward him armed with a baseball bat.
Chuck barely had time to dodge the swing directed at his head and came roaring back with a hard punch to the man's gut and following up with three punches that knocked him on his ass.
"Shit!" he blurted out, "Just leave me alone you son of a bitch!"
"Knock it off ya' little punk! I'm not here for a fight. Just listen to me!" Chuck shouted back.
"You win! Do whatever you want to me...kill me, whatever!" the man sighed in defeat.
"Listen to me. I came to help you guys," Chuck said now taking notice of the other young man cowering in the back corner, around his attacker's age with short brown hair and wearing a black t-shirt and dark brown slacks. "I can take you to someplace safe."
"Shit! Why the hell didn't you just say that first!" the young man perked up rising back to his feet, albeit with some struggle, "Get me the hell out of here already!"
"C'mon Burt! I wanna go too!" the other man called out.
"Aaron, get the munchies. We're getting out of here!" the young man, Burt, called out overjoyed.
"Well we're not out of the woods yet. There's more people out there," Chuck replied in reference to the Japanese tourists Otis had spotted. Lifting the wounded lady back up he began charging towards the food court with both men hot on his heels.
"Over there!" he shouted rushing towards the food court entrance, only to be halted as one of the men called out for help.
"Help me! Dammit!" Aaron cried as a zombified woman latched onto him and was preparing to bite into his crotch, but Burt was quickly there to help his friend. Unfortunately for him, a cop lying on his belly was there to grab onto his ankle and just inches away from sinking his teeth into it.
Quickly setting the mother down, Chuck ran over and leaped into the air, coming down with an elbow drop that struck the zombie hard enough to send its head popping off like a cork on a champagne bottle.
"Wow! That was close. Thanks man!" Burt called back.
"Don't be thanking me just yet!" Chuck shouted before swinging the Defiler into the face of another large man, only to be met by a resounding snap as the weapon broke in two across the man's forehead.
"Dammit!" Chuck spat, only to look over and find himself standing next to McHandy's Hardware.
"In here!" he ordered his companions scooping up sledgehammer and handing it to Aaron and then a sickle for Burt, knowing his baseball bat was probably almost broken by this point. He noticed a bunch of propane tanks on a nearby shelf and grabbed two of them, tossing them into the open.
"Go!" he ordered the trio while pointing near the food court entrance.
"But-" Aaron tried to protest.
"Do it!" Chuck shouted tossing both tanks into the open and drawing his handgun, "That's right! Come to me you bastards!" he shouted to the zombies.
A small horde had amassed and he took aim on the closest tank, firing a round that pierced its surface and caused an explosion that sent charred body parts flying in all directions and then taking aim on the other tank, the same affect following before he scooped up the wounded mother and led his group to the food court doors.
The quartet bolted through the food court and did what they could to dodge the zombies along their short trek, more worried about reaching the end than splattering undead brains all over the walls. They soon reached the Wonderland Plaza, where the wide open space offered some much needed breathing room.
"Alright, Otis said they were located in the bookstore. The only one here is Sir Book-a-Lot and that's on the second floor," he thought to himself mentally recalling the map the kindly janitor had offered him earlier in the day. It was time to move.
"This way!" he called to Burt and Aaron and the duo and proceeded up the nearby stairs, weaving around a few zombies that had stumbled down after him and the woman, all of them quickly dispatched by Aaron and Burt (the latter doing most of the work while the former mostly dealt with the leftovers).
"Should be at the end," he called over his shoulder to the guys while running past some of the second floor shops and coming to the entrance of the aforementioned bookstore.
"They should be in here," he whispered to the two men before making his way over to the front counter and setting the wounded woman down behind it. "Both of you, guard the entrance."
The two men nodded and Chuck cautiously approached the back of the store and surely enough found two men cowering in the back.
(A/N: Any italicized dialogue you see right now will be both Yuu and Shinji speaking in Japanese. I did go onto Google Translate in an effort to translate their dialogue into their native Japanese while putting the English translations next to it in italics, but I've decided not to figuring that it would look too clunky and would probably be too difficult for some to follow.)
"Shinji! Shinji!" called out a man wearing a tan vest over a red t-shirt.
"Oh no! Here comes another one!" cried the other man, a bespectacled fellow wearing a puffy purple zip-up sweater.
"Tourists. They look Japanese. This has to be them,"Chuck whispered to himself looking down to the floor in front of them and finding a brightly colored book simply titled 'Japanese.'
He cautiously knelt down and reached for the book before leafing through its pages for anything he could use to expedite a conversation with the two men.
"Shinji! Shinji!" called out a man wearing a tan vest over a red t-shirt.
"Wait! I different! No one of them!" Chuck shouted back in broken Japanese.
"Who are you?" the glasses wearing man demanded.
"I Chuck! I racer!" he replied, pantomiming revving an imaginary dirt bike's engine. "If you go safe place together," he said motioning towards the direction of Paradise Plaza.
The two tourists looked warily to each other before murmuring amongst themselves.
"Looks like this man wants us to go with him. What do you think?" Shinji asked his friend.
"What do I think? I think we have no choice but to trust him!" his companion replied looking towards Chuck.
"Think seriously first, friend," Shinji replied before looking back to Chuck and then his buddy, "What kind of racer would come here for a competition? There's clearly something wrong with this man."
"Shhh! He'll hear you!" his friend shushed him, looking fearfully toward Chuck.
"Don't worry! His Japanese sucks. He won't understand," Shinji replied in a nonchalant manner, inviting a confused stare from Chuck.
"We can't very well stay here by ourselves, can we? Let's just follow him for now but remain suspicious of his tricks," the other man replied.
"This is all your fault! Of all the places to go on vacation, why were you so keen on this dump?" Shinji asked, his tone becoming hostile.
"What!? You're the one who said it would be a good time!" the other man incredulously replied.
"Come. No come. Decide quickly, please," Chuck spoke up, hoping to defuse a possible altercation. He looked warily towards the entrance knowing time was getting thin and he didn't have the time to listen to these two men fighting amongst themselves.
"Pardon our rudeness. We shall go. My apologies. I am Yuu, this is my friend Shinji," the vest-wearing man spoke.
"I'm sorry. Please trust me with kindness, sir!" Shinji spoke as both men bowed honorably to him.
Chuck heard the moans of the zombies drawing closer and readied his gun, "We go now."
The ex-motocross champ and the Japanese tourists joined the rest of his companions at the front of the store where he readied to speak.
"Alright, I know of another way to get back to the-" he was in the middle of speaking when the transceiver began ringing, "Dammit! Of all the times, Otis!" he growled before picking up and pushing the button.
"I saw somebody in the North Plaza. He was leaving the supermarket. He was in a real panic too. Somethin' must be after the poor guy," Otis spoke.
"Alright, I'm on it," Chuck sighed before looking to his motley crew of survivors, "There's been a change of plans. We're going to the North Plaza."
A slew of groans came from the exhausted survivors.
"I thought you said we were going to safety!" Burt exclaimed.
"We are. Someone else is out there and he doesn't have much time left. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not one to sit around and argue. Now come on!" Chuck said drawing one of the mini chainsaws he had taken earlier.
Chuck stepped out into the open where the zombies had closed in and were about to come piling into the bookstore. He raised the chainsaw and sliced through one of the walking corpses before delivering a haymaker that sent another stumbling backwards over the railing and onto the floor below. He then grabbed a skinny man and lifted him above his head before tossing him into another group before turning back to the others, "C'mon!"
Lifting the frightened woman back onto him he made his way for the stairs as Burt and Aaron continued to cover him while the two unarmed Japanese tourists kept close by and the group descended the stairs and were about to head for the North Plaza entrance when another zombie got too close for comfort.
"Chuck!" Yuu shouted as a big man grabbed him from behind, locking the Japanese tourist into a life and death struggle as he wrestled the rotting fellow back and forth to prevent him from biting into his neck.
Without a word Chuck grabbed the zombie off the ground and pressed his boot to its back, applying pressure until he managed to rip its arms away, freeing the frightened tourist.
"Arigato!" the man called out to which Chuck only nodded and ordered the group forth.
It wasn't long before the group was making its way into the plaza under heavy construction, Yuu and Shinji both picking up a lead pipe and pipe wrench respectively along the way, and stepped onto the moving walkway where they wasted no time swinging into any undead Willamette residents that had again gotten too close, eventually spotting another rotting resident rooted in place, the glowing spot readily visible on the back of his neck.
"Damn straight," Chuck said walking up and striking the zombie in the back of its neck, quickly pulling out a glass jar to catch the newly liberated queen. "You'll come in handy later."
As it was with anywhere else, there were always ten zombies to take the place of every one zombie they managed to kill and they found themselves boxed in further as they came to the end and found themselves outside of Seon's Food & Stuff, where more fell on top of them from the structure overhead.
"What are we doing here?" Aaron whimpered as five zombies closed in on him at once, only to be hushed as Chuck drew his pistol and fired upon another zombie pushing a propane tank on a dolly, swallowing up the would-be attackers in a brilliant explosion that sent the timid young man skittering for cover behind his best friend.
"Hey, don't be scaring my buddy like that!" Burt shouted getting in Chuck's face.
Chuck raised a hand to silence the young man, hearing the sounds of struggle in the distance.
"Come get some zombies!" a woman's voice called out.
"That's coming from over there!" Chuck said to the others before realizing he was in front of Ripper's Blades and ran in to grab a few swords, one for himself and ones for the guys, leaving them ready to literally cut their way through the hordes.
"Follow me," he shouted to the others leading them towards another congested corridor, where his companions would prove their worth in battle cutting through most of the monsters and continued forth until they came to a For Your Leisure clothing store being remodeled.
"I'll take you all down, come on!" the woman called out again.
Chuck ran to the back of the store where he found a rather provocatively dressed construction worker fighting off a swarm of zombies with nothing more than a lead pipe.
"You want some more? Come on you sons of bitches!" the woman screamed, her jeans and knotted top covered in gore.
Chuck pulled out his newly-acquired sword and began hacking through another group of zombies sneaking up on the woman.
"Lady! If you come with me, I can take you to a safe place," the former champ shouted to the woman as he continued hacking through the ravenous newcomers.
The woman did not respond right away, continuing to bash her way through the remaining zombies until the last one fell and she collapsed against the nearby counter.
"Thanks for saving my bacon," the woman huffed while wiping the thick layer of sweat away from her forehead, "I thought I'd hammered my last nail, if you know what I'm saying."
"No problem. Let's just get out of here. I know a safe place," Chuck said motioning for her to follow.
"Okay, let's go," the lady replied and they rejoined the others in the corridor, all of the guys still slashing their way through any oncoming zombies while forming a protective circle around the wounded woman.
"Come on. We shouldn't be too far away from that guy," he shouted to the others, hearing a man's frightened whimpers coming from another empty store, "This way!"
Chuck eventually led the way to the empty store and peered through the entrance to find a balding middle-aged man in a seated position, blood pooling around his leg from a few bullet wound. When he noticed the ex-motocross champ he gasped in fear.
"Aaaah! No! Please! Leave me alone!" the man cried scurrying backwards until he came to the unfinished wall behind him. He threw his hands over his head, cowering as he waited for what was to come.
"Take a good look at me man. Do I look like a zombie to you?" Chuck said holding his hands to his sides.
The man stopped himself and blinked his eyes rapidly before sizing him up, "Are you one of the good guys?"
"Maybe," Chuck replied, trying to remain calm. He had been called spur of the moment too many times within the span of half an hour and his patience was wearing thin, yet the humanitarian within him refused to just leave the man for zombie bait.
"I'll take you to a safe place. You'll be better off there," he said extending his hand.
"I'd love to go but I will not make it far on this leg!" the man said gesturing towards his bleeding wound.
"What? What's wrong with your leg?" Chuck asked. He could see it plain as day, but still wanted to hear how it had happened, images of the cynical gun shop owner still fresh in his mind.
"I wanted to get some food from the market, but this crazy guy tried to kill me! He said I was shoplifting and he was gonna punish me. He was totally nuts man. Just insane!" the wounded fellow replied.
"I cannot just let you stay here pal. If you cannot walk, I'll support you," Chuck said inching closer to the man.
"Seriously? You'd do that for me? What a nice guy. Thanks!" the man piped merrily.
Chuck looked out to see the construction worker standing near the entrance. She looked pretty strong and he called out to her, "Hey, ma'am. Can you help me in here? This guy can't move alone."
"Terri," the woman replied, "and sure," she said running over and helping Chuck lift the wounded man to his feet.
"Here, I found one of these too," Aaron called out pushing a wheelchair towards the injured man.
The wounded man took one look at the chair and then over to the wounded woman now being supported by Burt, "I'll live. Let her have it. She needs it more than I do."
"Leah. My name is Leah," the grieving mother weakly replied.
"Chuck! Help me!" Shinji suddenly called out as another large group advanced upon him and his sword was doing too little to make a dent in the edacious throng.
"Coming!" the ex-racer shouted back reaching into a side pouch and pulling out the jar containing the queen, tossing it to the floor and sending a shock wave through the horde, all of them convulsing in place before their heads exploded like a string of firecrackers being detonated. Luckily Shinji had managed to escape without being bitten.
"Let's move!" Chuck shouted to his followers, lending his shoulder to David while Aaron pushed Leah in the wheelchair with the others forming a defensive perimeter around them.
He led the group to the main entrance of the North Plaza that would take them to Leisure Park. It wouldn't be as safe as taking the secret passage between Wonderland and Paradise Plazas, but they were left with little choice given the endless stream of undead clogging the corridors.
"Through there!" Chuck shouted to his group before drop kicking an undead trucker hard enough against the nearby wall to produce a sickly splat.
The group of eight made their way back into the dangerous night (the entrance stairwell thankfully having a handicap access ramp for Aaron to push Leah down) and continued slicing through any zombie who crossed their path like a tornado of steel.
Unfortunately for them, the group was making too much noise and continued to draw more zombies to their location, Chuck wishing he had more melee weapons on his physical being as his guns were getting dangerously low on ammo.
"God, how I miss my Defiler now," he muttered to himself before drawing back and delivering a swing into the face of a portly man in denim overalls before leading his group through a pavilion he hoped would create some space between his group and the aggressive zombies. He would leap backward to avoid an emaciated woman lunging towards him just as he exited, sending her falling face first into the grass only to be finished off by a hard soccer kick to the skull.
It was then Chuck's transceiver once again started to ring, leaving him to shout out a string of curses that even frightened his companions before he finally caught himself and pushed the button.
"What!?" he harshly called out.
"Chuck...I'm glad you're still alive. Jessie is really worried about you. Maybe you oughta stop by the security room to see her," Otis spoke sounding slightly taken aback by the ex-champ's abrasiveness.
"Alright! I'll be there!" Chuck called back, having to shout over the snarls of more lunging zombies.
"Follow me!" he shouted to his followers as he led them towards the Paradise Plaza, holding the door open as they piled in one by one.
"We're getting closer. Just stick close!" Chuck shouted to the others
"Gah! Get away from me you bastards!" another man's voice called out.
"That came from over there," Terri said, pointing to the Cantonbury's apparel store.
"Right, I'm on it," Chuck called back as he ran over and made his way inside, where he spotted a grubby looking younger man with his brown hair styled into short dreadlocks, trying to fight off a zombie with just a frying pan. Another one of the ghoul's already down on the floor and rising back to its feet. He needed to act fast, or else the man risked being overrun.
"Hang tight!" Chuck shouted to the man as he grabbed the mini chainsaw and sliced through the rising zombie, before taking another swing that took the second ghoul's head off.
"Holy shit! Thanks dude!" the young man blurted out, his green long-sleeved shirt and brown slacks covered in fresh gore, before looking down at his trembling hands.
"Hey buddy, you OK?" Chuck asked.
"Oh me...I'm fine," the man spoke in a raspy voice as he slowly looked up, his green eyes barely visible, "Never better..."
"He must be in shock," Chuck thought to himself before grabbing the man's shoulder, "Hey, come on. It's not safe out here. I'm taking these people somewhere safe and you can come along with."
"Right...right," the young man replied.
"I'm Chuck, just follow me," he said.
"Brandon," the young man answered.
"Well, come along. We're not far away," Chuck said.
"Sure...lead the way, boss," Brandon rasped.
XXXXXX
It didn't take long before Chuck and his motley group of survivors were arriving back in the safety of the security office and both Otis and Greg were shepherding them to any one of the five available rooms in the back, along with handling any other needs they could have had.
Chuck let out a heavy sigh and leaned back against the wall behind him, feeling the toll of everything he had gone through to save all those people.
It had been a bloody endeavor that saw him risking his life and nearly falling on multiple occasions, yet there were people out there caught in the middle of a nightmare who would now live to see another day thanks to his efforts, bringing him the peace of mind he needed.
A loud clunk jarred him from his thoughts and he looked over to see Brad pulling himself out of the duct, "Yo, Chuck! Gimme a hand here!"
Chuck walked over and helped the agent lift a heavy box out filled with food supplies. He stopped when he noticed a 6-pack of his favorite cola inside and pulled one out, but Brad grabbed his arm and yanked the soda out of his hand.
"What gives?" Chuck demanded.
"Considering the helicopter and all, we have to work together. But that doesn't mean we can tell you everything. And everything we do tell you, can't necessarily be printed," Brad finished, turning his attention over to Rebecca, who appeared in the doorway.
"I would expect nothing less from you," she sarcastically muttered, rolling her eyes as she crossed her arms.
Brad shook his head and returned his attention to Chuck, "I know it's hard to say, but I just want you to appreciate the situation."
"Well, we're up to our necks in zombies. Yeah, I think I appreciate the situation just fine," Chuck replied.
"Kind of hard not to," Rebecca piped in from the background.
"Zombies...I still can't believe all this, you know. It seems so unreal..." Brad said shaking his head.
"It's too unreal for all of us," Chuck answered.
Brad tossed the cola back to Chuck and walked over to the monitor room with the box in hand, ignoring Rebecca's presence.
"You alright there?" Chuck called out.
"Yeah, I got it," he called back.
Chuck nodded and took a drink as Rebecca approached and took her place next to him, leaning closer until she was confident she couldn't be heard.
"He thinks he can keep that shit up, but I will find a way to get the truth out. Just you watch," Rebecca whispered.
Chuck sighed and offered her a side eye, "Do what you want once we get out of here, but for now, we have to play along. I have more important priorities."
With that said, Chuck made his way through the monitor room and into the back, where he found Katey sound asleep on the bench, Sparky curled up protectively beneath her.
It was a most welcome sight following everything he had seen on this day, a small miracle if there ever was one.
"She's safe. That's all that matters," he told himself as he took a seat next to her and gently pulled her closer to him.
He let out a heavy sigh, yet in spite of everything he had gone through, he still felt alert and unable to drift off into the heavy slumber he had expected. He needed to find something to help pass the time and staring at the bulletin boards wasn't going to help.
He looked off to his left and noticed a discarded book near his foot and picked it up, a true crime novel entitled "Murder in Cleveland."
"Better than nothing," he thought to himself as he tried to get comfortable and began reading.
He didn't know how long he had been sitting there for, but eventually, the words became a blur...and then darkness.
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Author's Note: This is my first full chapter of original material I've posted for this fic in years by now. I had been working on this chapter back then, but everything just seemed to get so jumbled together and thus I hit a brick wall and before you know it, other projects came along.
This chapter was inspired by the "Tour Guide" achievement, where Frank had to lead 8 survivors back to the security office at once, so I had to throw in a few extra bodies to give him the head count he needed.
For survivors rescued in this chapter:
Leah Stein, 29
Burt Thompson, 20
Aaron Swoop, 20
Yuu Tanaka, 32
Shinji Kitano, 34
Terri Glass, 27
David Bailey, 44
Brandon Whittaker, 22
Until then, read and review! This is Metal Harbinger saying KEEP IT FUCKING METAL!