“CrossFit zombies. CrossFit dudes that turned into zombies. Scary shit.” Fred thought as this
zombie sprinted toward him. This zombie looked like an undead god, muscles bulging with every step he took. Fred spread
his feet and prepared to swing his lead pipe. Once the zombie got within 10
feet it leapt toward him with a powerful stomp of his right foot, knocking something off a shelf behind the zombie. Fred swung with
everything he had, connecting with the right side of the skull, caving it in. The zombie’s lifeless body tackled him to the floor. This one easily weighed
around 190. As he rolled the body off of him he briefly thought about what
might have happened had he missed, or didn’t hit the right spot. After a
shudder he pushed it to the back of his head and focused on his current
objective, to recon the other side of the bridge that connected the east side
of the city to the west. After grabbing some nutrition bars from the back of
the gym, he made his way for the exit. As he reached for the handle a survivor
sprinted past the door in a panic, pistol in one hand and a bag in the other. 2
seconds later 3 zombie’s ran by. As Fred pushed open the door 7 quick shots
popped off, shattering the glass door he had just opened. He stumbled backward,
covering his face with his arms. Those gun shots just let every zombie in the area know
where lunch can be found. He shouted “FUCKIN’ ASSHOLE!” as he sprinted for the
back door. He took out his 1911 and pushed through the door into the alley
behind the gym. Once his eyes fully adjusted he made his way down the alley in
the same general direction the survivor went. Fred was making his way towards
the bridge but he was also keeping an eye out for this guy. Natural curiosity poked at him, urging him to
search for the runner.
Reaching the end of the alley he caught a glimmer of a glass
door being shut across the street. The 3 zombies pursuing him slammed into the
door. Fred knew the walkers could probably still see the guy so he ran for the
alley across the street while they were distracted. Once reaching the alley he
began looking for a door into the building the survivor was in. Fred began to
think “what the fuck am I doing looking for this kid”. The survivor had to be
no more than 18 years old. Kind of skinny looking too. Maybe it was this
strange urge to protect your fellow human. Either way he felt he had to find
this kid for what ever reason. Just as he spotted a door leading in the
building it began to rain. The skies had been looking like shit all day, but
just 5 minutes ago some heavy looking storm had rolled in, turning the sky
black. Fred barely made it inside before it began to thunderstorm. After making
sure the door was locked fred took out his silenced 22. Cal 1911 and began to
sweep the storage room for anything. After silently making his way to the other
side of the room and finding a door he stopped, crouched against the wall he
listened to what must have been the kid on the other side. fred paused just
before he opened the door, thinking to himself “how should I confront this guy.
I have no idea if he’s going to be hostile or not. I guess I should treat him
as a threat just to be safe. Hopefully I don’t have to kill this one too.” Fred
pushes through the door to a rather surprising sight.
Standing completely frozen, weapon trained on the head of
this kid, Fred found himself unable to move out of shear confusion. This 18
year old survivor is crouching in front of this Chihuahua, feeding it some dog
food. The kid began to look like he might shit his pants so Fred says “stay
quiet and I won’t kill you. Understand?”.
The frightened teenager nodded very carefully. Fred asked “what’s your
name?”.
The survivor answered, “Charles.” With a slight crack of
terror in his voice. “what the fuck are
you doing?” Fred asked. Charles looked scared and broken. “I don’t know. I got
separated from my group two day’s ago. We got surprised by like twenty of them.
There wasn’t much we could do but run. There were only 8 of us. I know 3 are
dead. I saw it happen.” It looked as if he was going to start crying. He took a deep breath and continued “so I’m
here. I guess I’m just looking for supplies. I’m not really sure what I’m
looking for though.” Fred thought to himself “this kid is going to die without
my help but I can’t just become his guardian. “ As Fred tried to figure out what to do he heard the glass doors up front begin to break. He couldn't just let this kid die. Fred wrenched him to his feet and said "We're moving. Grab your shit.". After making their way to the back door Fred turned to Charles and asked "do you have any weapons?" Charles shook his head. "well where's that pistol you had earlier?". "I dropped it outside" replied Charles.Fred handed him an iron pipe and added "swing for the head. Try to make every swing count. Understand?". The kid looked like he understood. But his shaking knee's might say otherwise.
Fred and his group had a safe house near the entrance of the bridge. It was a corner store with strong doors and bars over the windows, and inside was everything you may need if shit went sideways during a run in that area. The 2 of them stopped and crouched near the end of the alley way that lead to the street they needed to cross. Fred slowly made his way to the edge and took a quick look. 4 walkers, all between them and the safe house. Fred turned back to Charles, "ok there's only four of them, just stay close, I'll try to take all of them out." He paused for a moment and just looked at the kid. He looked almost broken. Which is good. Because once you break, killing geeks almost becomes fun. "You ready?" asked Fred. "Guess we'll find out" replied Charles.
Once out of the alley, Fred proceeded to move to the closest car on the opposite side of the street. Once both of them were behind cover he drew his silenced pistol and dropped the closest geek. They begin moving down the side walk in a low crouch when that little dog in a bag starts to bark. Fred had completely forgotten about it. He turns to the kid, "shut that fucking thing up". The geeks hear it and begin running towards them, clambering over cars for their next meal. "Run!" shouts Fred as he breaks from cover, picking them off with his side arm, shooting left to right. Fred and Charles are about 15 feet from the door when 5 zombies come sprinting out of an alley way 30 feet past the safe house. Fred shuves his hands into his pockets for the keys and rips them out before skidding to a halt in front of the door. Fred unlocks the door and opens it. As Charles runs inside, he unloads the rest of his mag toward the 5 zombies, taking out all but one, then steps inside and locks the door. 3 seconds later the walker slams into the metal door, and starts to make a lot of noise, banging and scratching at the door. Once inside Fred begins turning on an old radio on a desk in the corner of the room. He pulls the standing mic and pushes the button, "Home base this is Fred, I repeat, this is Fred, come in."
Back at the home base Ryan and Mike are outside on street sweeping duty when Jacob rings the bell for them to come in. They immediately knew something was wrong because they were only half way down the street. As they walk inside Jacob points them to a table covered in "E Gear" or Extraction Gear. "Is he alright?" asked Mike as he switched out empty mags for fresh ones and grabbed a bag full of guns and ammo for Fred. "He's fine. Just stuck at safe house c. He apparently found someone. Says he's not a threat though." said Jacob as he threw Mike a silenced M4 with an acog sight. Jacob added "Gotta clean off the porch before you can get him. Grab some extra mag's. He said it sounds like atleast 20 of them.". Ryan and Mike exchange looks then head for the door. Ryan says just before leaving "We'll be back before dark." and they step out into the pouring rain.
Safe house c is about 2 miles south of their home base. Ryan and Mike double time it down alley's, stopping at street's to make sure they cross without drawing attention. On the way there they had taken out 17 zombie's, all silent, efficient kills. They stop 1 block away from the safe house and count 23 zombie's all trying to gain access. They quickly assess that they have to take them all out before safely extracting Fred and this unknown survivor. They stealthily get within 30 feet of the crowd and ready themselves for the assault. Ryan looks to Mike and says " You start on the right and I'll start on the left. Work our way toward the middle as quick as we can. Try not to miss, I don't want to throw any rounds inside the house. Ok on my mark." They both grip their silenced assault rifle's and focus, leaning forward to diminish recoil as much as possible. Ryan whispers "mark!" Flicking their safeties off simultaneously, they begin dropping bodies, working from the outside towards the center of the group. 23 quick shots later the front door is clear. Ryan holds out his fist and says "good shit man. Lets get our boy." They bump fists and start moving towards the door. They crouch on either side of the door and tap a rhythm to let Fred know it's them. Fred opens the door, pistol at the ready. They hold their hands up, palms forward. "we come baring gifts." says Mike and they both walk inside.
Fred grabbed the bag and began gearing up. There was only about an hour of sunlight left so they had to make their trip back to base quick and easy. Fred turned to Charles and asked "you ever use a rifle before?" as he handed him a semi automatic 22. cal. rifle. "no" replied Charles. He almost looked afraid to hold it. Fred sat down in front of him, "this is a semi automatic rifle, which means you have to pull the trigger every time you want to shoot. It's only a 22 so it wont have much kick at all. It's also not silenced, so only use this when we tell you. And aim for the head, shooting them anywhere else with this won't do anything. Won't even slow them down. But don't worry, we've been doing this for a long time. We'll get you to our base safely. All we need from you is to keep up and listen to everything we tell you. Can you handle that?". Charles looked up, a little less scared this time,"I think so". Mike said from near the door "no. There's no thinking you can. You just have to do it. Thinking takes time. Time that will get you killed. When we say stop, you stop, run, you run. If we tell you to hide under a car, you better be under there before i finish that sentence, understood?". Charles nodded. Ryan added "No talking either. Do not question anything we tell you. If you see a zombie all you say is what direction to look. That's it.". Charles nodded hesitantly. Fred finished gearing up and handed Charles 10 mag's for the rifle. He held out his hand and lifted Charles to his feet and looked him right in the eye's. "This is where you show us you can be valuable to us. show us you can grow and you'll have a spot in our family. Other wise we'll be forced to put you back out with the zombie's. It may seem cruel but it's how this new world work's." Fred looked to Mike and Ryan, "Ready?". Mike and Ryan both nod. Mike grabs the door handle and Ryan steadies himself to exit and open fire if needed. Fred turns back to Charles, "Ok. We are going to be moving fast. Remember to listen to us and keep as close as possible. We are not going to hold your hand through this. And I'm sorry but you have to lose the dog. Zombie's don't go for animal's so he'll be fine. We just can't afford to have attention drawn to us when that thing starts barking again. So go ahead an say your goodbyes real quick. We gotta start moving.". Charles didn't look surprised. He took the Chihuahua out of his bag and began to pet him. "I'm sorry pebbles, but we have to go our seperate ways now. You'll be okay. And don't worry about me. When we leave you have to run. ok? just run. I'm sure you'll find someone." Charles began to tear up. Mike said, "ok thats enough. Lets get this show on the road". Charles stood up and look at them "ok. I'm ready. Let's go". Fred then nodded to Mike "let's move". Mike opened the door and Ryan moved forward, weapon at the ready, sweeping left to right.
As Ryan walked through the doorway he fired off two quick shots with his silenced carbine, dropping a walker 10 feet from the door. Everybody paused, Fred and Charles still inside, Ryan scanning the street to the left of the door and Mike scanning to the right. "Clear" said Ryan, giving Fred the go-ahead to exit and lock the door. All four of them proceed down the street in a line to the left, Ryan taking point, Charles and Fred behind him, and Mike at the rear. The street was dirty and humid, baking in the dying sun light, causing the group begin sweating almost as soon as they got outside. They walk 4 blocks in silence, weapons up and scanning for zombie's, each man checking every open door, window and alley way that they pass. They pass an alley with 2 zombie's munching on a dead man's carcass. Ryan and Fred pass without giving it a second glance. Charles however, gasped at the sight of it and stopped dead in his tracks. The zombie's turned and began to close the gap of 15 feet, tripping over a stack of milk crates that had fallen over. They barely got back to their feet before Mike lunged forward and shoved Charles past the alley, knocking him down and firing 3 silenced rounds, hitting the first zombie in the head with the first shot, missing the second and connecting with the third shot on the second zombie. That second shot slammed into a metal door at the end of the alley, creating a loud ping that echoed down the adjacent alley's. 5 more came sprinting toward the sound, stopping at the door then began to sprint down the alley toward Mike . "Incoming" said Mike as he dragged Charles to his feet. The four of them sprint 30 feet down the street to the next alley. Ryan and Fred dart left, weapon's aimed down the alley to make sure it's clear. Mike and Charles turn the corner just as the 5 zombie's sprint out into the street and keep going, in no particular direction. Charles says "oh my go-". Fred turns and slams his palm across his mouth, knocking the back of Charles' head against the mossy bricks. "shut up" whispers Fred, eye's wide and intense. "That was the only fuck up you get. Freeze up like that again and we will just keep moving. Understood?". Charles struggled to nod. Fred removed his hand from Charles' mouth and stood behind Ryan. Charles turned to Mike, "Thank you". Mike looked at him with an ice cold glare, "I wasn't pushing you to safety. You were simply in my way. And the only reason I picked you up is because if I hadn't, Fred would have turned around to do so. Which would have wasted time, time that could have gotten us killed. I'm not fully on board with his decision to save you. He's never let us down though, so he must see something in you.". "We're clear, let's go" says Ryan. Mike shoved Charles forward, "Move. And this time don't stop."
They were losing light fast. With just under a mile to go they begin to jog. As they come up to a major road about a half mile from base they stop at the corner. Ryan sweeps his weapon from right to left, looking down the street then peering around the corner to the left. Ryan turns back to Fred, "Ok we got 2 to our right and 9 to our left around this corner. How would you like to proceed?". Fred grips his rifle and says "We clear of course." He turns to Charles and hands him his 1911, "We'll drop what you miss. This is where you make up for that mistake back there, show us what you got. Just stay calm, breath slow and squeeze the trigger slowly, ok?". Charles took the 1911, holding it awkwardly. Fred took the pistol back and showed him the proper way to hold it, " Put your left hand over your right, with your left thumb under the other. Your thumbs will help, point them at the target and squeeze the trigger slowly, do not pull it. Line up the sights correctly and you should hit your mark. When we tell you I want you to take out the 2 to our right, ok?" Charles took the pistol and held it the way Fred told him to, "Like this?" Fred nodded, "Ok now bring it to your chest and punch it forward toward your target, line up the sights and fire when your ready." Charles did exactly what he was told. He squeezed the trigger and the pistol jumped. To everyone's surprise the zombie dropped and fell backwards onto the hood of a car it was standing in front of, then sliding off, leaving a brownish red streak. Fred turned to Charles, "That was very good. You just got a bulls eye at about 25 yards. Now grip it tighter to reduce recoil, but don't grip it to tight. You don't want to compromise your accuracy." Charles once again brought the pistol to his chest and punched it forward, gripping it a little tighter this time. He squeezed this trigger once more and dropped the second zombie. "Wow. I can't believe I hit him. That felt good." Charles said with a smile. Fred turned to Ryan and Mike, "He can shoot. Looks like we can use him after all." Ryan turns back to the corner, ready to engage the rest, "Cool, now let's get home. I'm getting hungry." Fred nod's, "Ok lets move." He turns to Mike and Charles, "You guys get to the alley and clear it, me and Ryan will clean the street. On my mark." Ryan and Fred brace themselves to turn the corner and open up. "Mark!". Ryan hugs the corner and begins firing to the left side of the street and Fred swings wide to clear the right side. Mike covers the four lanes in 4 seconds flat and begins to clear the alley way with Charles trailing behind. 10 seconds later Ryan and Fred are right behind them. They begin moving through the alley ways that lead to the base. With each corner they turn they are encountering more and more zombie's. Ryan stops just before the last alley that leads to their street, "Something is wrong. There shouldn't be this many around here. Lock in fresh mag's. We may have to open up when we hit the street. This alley comes out 2 blocks from the base." Fred turns to Charles, "Ok, if Ryan is right, we need you to do the same thing you did before, only this time we will be moving. Remember what I told you. Stay close and aim for the head." Fred turns to Mike and Ryan, "Ya'll ready?" Mike replies with out turning away from the corner, "Got ice in my veins, bro." Ryan leads them to the end of the alley leading to the street. They line up on the right side, ready to break cover and get back to base. Fred places his hand on Mike's shoulder, and Mike does the same to Ryan, signaling to turn the corner and engage.
Ryan rip's around the corner and begins picking off zombie's. Mike and Fred are right behind him, fanning out to the left to cover the entire street with accurate gunfire. Charles follows, covering the rear, but holding fire so they don't draw attention. Moving fast and shooting faster, they make their way towards their base. After 1 block they stop just before the intersection to change out mag's. 5 second's later they continue, clearing the street to the right, dropping 3 zombie's. With just 20 feet to go they slow down to take out the rest of the zombie's. 10 full seconds of constant fire, making sure they drop every last one. Just as they drop the last one they reach the base and tap a rhythm onto the door. Before the door is opened a horde turns the corner 3 blocks away and begins making their way towards them. The door open's and Ryan shouts "Get inside!", as he unloads the rest of his mag towards the horde. With only 1 block between him and the horde Ryan steps inside and locks the door. He turns to the group, "There's like 50 of them out there". As Ryan finished that sentence the horde reached the base and began to bang on the walls and door. Fred begins to grab more mags from the weapons table and says "Let's get up top and clear the front before they break something." Ryan and Mike immediately begin to do the same.
Once on the roof they look over the edge. "God damn it. Either it's just a migration or they are crowding into our part of town for a reason. When me and Mike got the call to get you, we were on the street. It was almost empty." John turns to Ryan and Mike, "They could be pushed this way by someone or something. I'm not sure but that kid may have something to do with it. He told me he was with a small group a few days before I came across him. Said most are dead but didn't confirm if the others were. They could have gotten captured by who ever keeps popping off shots at night just north of us." Mike leans over the edge and looks at the walkers on the street, "I don't know man. I haven't heard any gunfire for a few days now. It just stopped all together. Been real quite lately." Ryan looks to John, "Did that kid say where he was when he lost his group?" John Thought about it for a second, "No. He didn't talk about it much. Seemed like it still bothered him. It's like this is new to him. As if he had a safe place to stay up until a few days ago." With a startle, Mike grabs both of them and drags them to the floor, leaning against the 3 foot high wall that crowned the roof of the 2 story building. "I just seen someone peeking around a corner 4 blocks to our right. We locked eye's and he ducked back behind the corner. I think we are being watched." John points to the door leading back into the building, "Ok lets get back inside and set off the decoys to get them off our front door. We are gonna have to get on a taller building and recon our immediate area when morning come's." Before they get back to the first floor Ryan asks "What about the kid? He may know something we need to know." John stops. He turns around, "I'm not sure. We'll ask him about it, but if he doesn't want to cooperate. Then I guess we'll just have to make him tell us."
Fred and his group had a safe house near the entrance of the bridge. It was a corner store with strong doors and bars over the windows, and inside was everything you may need if shit went sideways during a run in that area. The 2 of them stopped and crouched near the end of the alley way that lead to the street they needed to cross. Fred slowly made his way to the edge and took a quick look. 4 walkers, all between them and the safe house. Fred turned back to Charles, "ok there's only four of them, just stay close, I'll try to take all of them out." He paused for a moment and just looked at the kid. He looked almost broken. Which is good. Because once you break, killing geeks almost becomes fun. "You ready?" asked Fred. "Guess we'll find out" replied Charles.
Once out of the alley, Fred proceeded to move to the closest car on the opposite side of the street. Once both of them were behind cover he drew his silenced pistol and dropped the closest geek. They begin moving down the side walk in a low crouch when that little dog in a bag starts to bark. Fred had completely forgotten about it. He turns to the kid, "shut that fucking thing up". The geeks hear it and begin running towards them, clambering over cars for their next meal. "Run!" shouts Fred as he breaks from cover, picking them off with his side arm, shooting left to right. Fred and Charles are about 15 feet from the door when 5 zombies come sprinting out of an alley way 30 feet past the safe house. Fred shuves his hands into his pockets for the keys and rips them out before skidding to a halt in front of the door. Fred unlocks the door and opens it. As Charles runs inside, he unloads the rest of his mag toward the 5 zombies, taking out all but one, then steps inside and locks the door. 3 seconds later the walker slams into the metal door, and starts to make a lot of noise, banging and scratching at the door. Once inside Fred begins turning on an old radio on a desk in the corner of the room. He pulls the standing mic and pushes the button, "Home base this is Fred, I repeat, this is Fred, come in."
Back at the home base Ryan and Mike are outside on street sweeping duty when Jacob rings the bell for them to come in. They immediately knew something was wrong because they were only half way down the street. As they walk inside Jacob points them to a table covered in "E Gear" or Extraction Gear. "Is he alright?" asked Mike as he switched out empty mags for fresh ones and grabbed a bag full of guns and ammo for Fred. "He's fine. Just stuck at safe house c. He apparently found someone. Says he's not a threat though." said Jacob as he threw Mike a silenced M4 with an acog sight. Jacob added "Gotta clean off the porch before you can get him. Grab some extra mag's. He said it sounds like atleast 20 of them.". Ryan and Mike exchange looks then head for the door. Ryan says just before leaving "We'll be back before dark." and they step out into the pouring rain.
Safe house c is about 2 miles south of their home base. Ryan and Mike double time it down alley's, stopping at street's to make sure they cross without drawing attention. On the way there they had taken out 17 zombie's, all silent, efficient kills. They stop 1 block away from the safe house and count 23 zombie's all trying to gain access. They quickly assess that they have to take them all out before safely extracting Fred and this unknown survivor. They stealthily get within 30 feet of the crowd and ready themselves for the assault. Ryan looks to Mike and says " You start on the right and I'll start on the left. Work our way toward the middle as quick as we can. Try not to miss, I don't want to throw any rounds inside the house. Ok on my mark." They both grip their silenced assault rifle's and focus, leaning forward to diminish recoil as much as possible. Ryan whispers "mark!" Flicking their safeties off simultaneously, they begin dropping bodies, working from the outside towards the center of the group. 23 quick shots later the front door is clear. Ryan holds out his fist and says "good shit man. Lets get our boy." They bump fists and start moving towards the door. They crouch on either side of the door and tap a rhythm to let Fred know it's them. Fred opens the door, pistol at the ready. They hold their hands up, palms forward. "we come baring gifts." says Mike and they both walk inside.
Fred grabbed the bag and began gearing up. There was only about an hour of sunlight left so they had to make their trip back to base quick and easy. Fred turned to Charles and asked "you ever use a rifle before?" as he handed him a semi automatic 22. cal. rifle. "no" replied Charles. He almost looked afraid to hold it. Fred sat down in front of him, "this is a semi automatic rifle, which means you have to pull the trigger every time you want to shoot. It's only a 22 so it wont have much kick at all. It's also not silenced, so only use this when we tell you. And aim for the head, shooting them anywhere else with this won't do anything. Won't even slow them down. But don't worry, we've been doing this for a long time. We'll get you to our base safely. All we need from you is to keep up and listen to everything we tell you. Can you handle that?". Charles looked up, a little less scared this time,"I think so". Mike said from near the door "no. There's no thinking you can. You just have to do it. Thinking takes time. Time that will get you killed. When we say stop, you stop, run, you run. If we tell you to hide under a car, you better be under there before i finish that sentence, understood?". Charles nodded. Ryan added "No talking either. Do not question anything we tell you. If you see a zombie all you say is what direction to look. That's it.". Charles nodded hesitantly. Fred finished gearing up and handed Charles 10 mag's for the rifle. He held out his hand and lifted Charles to his feet and looked him right in the eye's. "This is where you show us you can be valuable to us. show us you can grow and you'll have a spot in our family. Other wise we'll be forced to put you back out with the zombie's. It may seem cruel but it's how this new world work's." Fred looked to Mike and Ryan, "Ready?". Mike and Ryan both nod. Mike grabs the door handle and Ryan steadies himself to exit and open fire if needed. Fred turns back to Charles, "Ok. We are going to be moving fast. Remember to listen to us and keep as close as possible. We are not going to hold your hand through this. And I'm sorry but you have to lose the dog. Zombie's don't go for animal's so he'll be fine. We just can't afford to have attention drawn to us when that thing starts barking again. So go ahead an say your goodbyes real quick. We gotta start moving.". Charles didn't look surprised. He took the Chihuahua out of his bag and began to pet him. "I'm sorry pebbles, but we have to go our seperate ways now. You'll be okay. And don't worry about me. When we leave you have to run. ok? just run. I'm sure you'll find someone." Charles began to tear up. Mike said, "ok thats enough. Lets get this show on the road". Charles stood up and look at them "ok. I'm ready. Let's go". Fred then nodded to Mike "let's move". Mike opened the door and Ryan moved forward, weapon at the ready, sweeping left to right.
As Ryan walked through the doorway he fired off two quick shots with his silenced carbine, dropping a walker 10 feet from the door. Everybody paused, Fred and Charles still inside, Ryan scanning the street to the left of the door and Mike scanning to the right. "Clear" said Ryan, giving Fred the go-ahead to exit and lock the door. All four of them proceed down the street in a line to the left, Ryan taking point, Charles and Fred behind him, and Mike at the rear. The street was dirty and humid, baking in the dying sun light, causing the group begin sweating almost as soon as they got outside. They walk 4 blocks in silence, weapons up and scanning for zombie's, each man checking every open door, window and alley way that they pass. They pass an alley with 2 zombie's munching on a dead man's carcass. Ryan and Fred pass without giving it a second glance. Charles however, gasped at the sight of it and stopped dead in his tracks. The zombie's turned and began to close the gap of 15 feet, tripping over a stack of milk crates that had fallen over. They barely got back to their feet before Mike lunged forward and shoved Charles past the alley, knocking him down and firing 3 silenced rounds, hitting the first zombie in the head with the first shot, missing the second and connecting with the third shot on the second zombie. That second shot slammed into a metal door at the end of the alley, creating a loud ping that echoed down the adjacent alley's. 5 more came sprinting toward the sound, stopping at the door then began to sprint down the alley toward Mike . "Incoming" said Mike as he dragged Charles to his feet. The four of them sprint 30 feet down the street to the next alley. Ryan and Fred dart left, weapon's aimed down the alley to make sure it's clear. Mike and Charles turn the corner just as the 5 zombie's sprint out into the street and keep going, in no particular direction. Charles says "oh my go-". Fred turns and slams his palm across his mouth, knocking the back of Charles' head against the mossy bricks. "shut up" whispers Fred, eye's wide and intense. "That was the only fuck up you get. Freeze up like that again and we will just keep moving. Understood?". Charles struggled to nod. Fred removed his hand from Charles' mouth and stood behind Ryan. Charles turned to Mike, "Thank you". Mike looked at him with an ice cold glare, "I wasn't pushing you to safety. You were simply in my way. And the only reason I picked you up is because if I hadn't, Fred would have turned around to do so. Which would have wasted time, time that could have gotten us killed. I'm not fully on board with his decision to save you. He's never let us down though, so he must see something in you.". "We're clear, let's go" says Ryan. Mike shoved Charles forward, "Move. And this time don't stop."
They were losing light fast. With just under a mile to go they begin to jog. As they come up to a major road about a half mile from base they stop at the corner. Ryan sweeps his weapon from right to left, looking down the street then peering around the corner to the left. Ryan turns back to Fred, "Ok we got 2 to our right and 9 to our left around this corner. How would you like to proceed?". Fred grips his rifle and says "We clear of course." He turns to Charles and hands him his 1911, "We'll drop what you miss. This is where you make up for that mistake back there, show us what you got. Just stay calm, breath slow and squeeze the trigger slowly, ok?". Charles took the 1911, holding it awkwardly. Fred took the pistol back and showed him the proper way to hold it, " Put your left hand over your right, with your left thumb under the other. Your thumbs will help, point them at the target and squeeze the trigger slowly, do not pull it. Line up the sights correctly and you should hit your mark. When we tell you I want you to take out the 2 to our right, ok?" Charles took the pistol and held it the way Fred told him to, "Like this?" Fred nodded, "Ok now bring it to your chest and punch it forward toward your target, line up the sights and fire when your ready." Charles did exactly what he was told. He squeezed the trigger and the pistol jumped. To everyone's surprise the zombie dropped and fell backwards onto the hood of a car it was standing in front of, then sliding off, leaving a brownish red streak. Fred turned to Charles, "That was very good. You just got a bulls eye at about 25 yards. Now grip it tighter to reduce recoil, but don't grip it to tight. You don't want to compromise your accuracy." Charles once again brought the pistol to his chest and punched it forward, gripping it a little tighter this time. He squeezed this trigger once more and dropped the second zombie. "Wow. I can't believe I hit him. That felt good." Charles said with a smile. Fred turned to Ryan and Mike, "He can shoot. Looks like we can use him after all." Ryan turns back to the corner, ready to engage the rest, "Cool, now let's get home. I'm getting hungry." Fred nod's, "Ok lets move." He turns to Mike and Charles, "You guys get to the alley and clear it, me and Ryan will clean the street. On my mark." Ryan and Fred brace themselves to turn the corner and open up. "Mark!". Ryan hugs the corner and begins firing to the left side of the street and Fred swings wide to clear the right side. Mike covers the four lanes in 4 seconds flat and begins to clear the alley way with Charles trailing behind. 10 seconds later Ryan and Fred are right behind them. They begin moving through the alley ways that lead to the base. With each corner they turn they are encountering more and more zombie's. Ryan stops just before the last alley that leads to their street, "Something is wrong. There shouldn't be this many around here. Lock in fresh mag's. We may have to open up when we hit the street. This alley comes out 2 blocks from the base." Fred turns to Charles, "Ok, if Ryan is right, we need you to do the same thing you did before, only this time we will be moving. Remember what I told you. Stay close and aim for the head." Fred turns to Mike and Ryan, "Ya'll ready?" Mike replies with out turning away from the corner, "Got ice in my veins, bro." Ryan leads them to the end of the alley leading to the street. They line up on the right side, ready to break cover and get back to base. Fred places his hand on Mike's shoulder, and Mike does the same to Ryan, signaling to turn the corner and engage.
Ryan rip's around the corner and begins picking off zombie's. Mike and Fred are right behind him, fanning out to the left to cover the entire street with accurate gunfire. Charles follows, covering the rear, but holding fire so they don't draw attention. Moving fast and shooting faster, they make their way towards their base. After 1 block they stop just before the intersection to change out mag's. 5 second's later they continue, clearing the street to the right, dropping 3 zombie's. With just 20 feet to go they slow down to take out the rest of the zombie's. 10 full seconds of constant fire, making sure they drop every last one. Just as they drop the last one they reach the base and tap a rhythm onto the door. Before the door is opened a horde turns the corner 3 blocks away and begins making their way towards them. The door open's and Ryan shouts "Get inside!", as he unloads the rest of his mag towards the horde. With only 1 block between him and the horde Ryan steps inside and locks the door. He turns to the group, "There's like 50 of them out there". As Ryan finished that sentence the horde reached the base and began to bang on the walls and door. Fred begins to grab more mags from the weapons table and says "Let's get up top and clear the front before they break something." Ryan and Mike immediately begin to do the same.
Once on the roof they look over the edge. "God damn it. Either it's just a migration or they are crowding into our part of town for a reason. When me and Mike got the call to get you, we were on the street. It was almost empty." John turns to Ryan and Mike, "They could be pushed this way by someone or something. I'm not sure but that kid may have something to do with it. He told me he was with a small group a few days before I came across him. Said most are dead but didn't confirm if the others were. They could have gotten captured by who ever keeps popping off shots at night just north of us." Mike leans over the edge and looks at the walkers on the street, "I don't know man. I haven't heard any gunfire for a few days now. It just stopped all together. Been real quite lately." Ryan looks to John, "Did that kid say where he was when he lost his group?" John Thought about it for a second, "No. He didn't talk about it much. Seemed like it still bothered him. It's like this is new to him. As if he had a safe place to stay up until a few days ago." With a startle, Mike grabs both of them and drags them to the floor, leaning against the 3 foot high wall that crowned the roof of the 2 story building. "I just seen someone peeking around a corner 4 blocks to our right. We locked eye's and he ducked back behind the corner. I think we are being watched." John points to the door leading back into the building, "Ok lets get back inside and set off the decoys to get them off our front door. We are gonna have to get on a taller building and recon our immediate area when morning come's." Before they get back to the first floor Ryan asks "What about the kid? He may know something we need to know." John stops. He turns around, "I'm not sure. We'll ask him about it, but if he doesn't want to cooperate. Then I guess we'll just have to make him tell us."
