By that motto, they were overly cautious; Kenji and Nobuto were ahead of the group, checking each building, alley, and intersection before the others got to it. Hardly enough to cause worry they found a few infected, which they quickly took care of, in the buildings, alleys, and at the intersections. The group grew into a comfortable pace, every block they came closer to their goal. The day quickly became noon, the sun high in the sky, and the temperature had warmed up.
As if a sign from the gods, they found a building that was intact. The reason why was simply because it was a toy shop, which most people didn’t find themselves needing toys at the end of the world. The only sign that the end of the world had touched the toy shop was giant letters were spray painted on the walls. The group stopped alongside the building, staring at the haunting message.
Knight asked breathing heavily, “What’s it say?”
Kenji walked up to the sign and ran his fingers over the message, as if to make sure it was real, “It says there is no solace beyond the city, only death.”
“Well, some vandalism isn’t going to keep me from making it out of the city,” Knight grumbled.
Ramirez chimed in, “Since we are here I think it would be a good time to take a break, get some more food in us. We can’t be running through the countryside on empty stomachs.”
The rest of the group mumbled in agreement, but Ramirez and Knight didn’t wait for the rest of them. Ramirez leaned Knight against the wall and Kenji moved into the store with him. The group waited outside the door, listening for noise inside. Ramirez and Kenji came back out five minutes later, waving the rest of them inside. With the door closed, the group unslung their packs and enjoyed being out of the sun’s glare, and in the cool interior of the store.
Most of the group sat down, rubbing their muscles, and drinking water. Nobuto wandered around the store grabbing the toys on display, inspecting them all, Ren wasn’t far behind. Ramirez was eating the candy from his MRE, enjoying the moment of the pleasure it brought to his taste buds, knowing that later he would have to eat the rest of the MRE and wasn’t looking forward to it. Knight had managed to doze off, and the pilots had taken watch at the windows, looking eager to be back in the safety of the skies.
Forty minutes later they were packing up their gear, refreshed for their journey ahead. They would be out of the city official in the next few hours, and from there the hard part was over.
✽ ✽ ✽
Houses with small yards lined the streets now and left the group feeling even more disturbed by the lack of people. They came across the occasional infected but otherwise had no trouble. Every house they walked past had some damage to it. Most houses the doors were busted inwards, along with the windows, shattered, drapes flew in the breeze that went through the houses.
Blood adorned the sidewalk, and driveways of many houses as well, showing that life outside the city wasn’t any less different during the outbreak. Many it seemed, were trapped in their homes, waiting for the infected to bust down their door eventually. Several times they found grim scenes where the uninfected had tried to make their way to their cars, only to be swarmed and attacked. One block of houses had been completely burnt to the ground, still smoking ever so slightly.
These signs all pointed to the fate they would find at their final destination; the overrun of infected chasing the fleeing citizens led the majority of the infected out of the city. Pushing onwards, they came to a school, where it seemed the military had attempted to set up a camp, even going as far as putting a fence around the perimeter, complete with watchtowers. Like every other instance, they found where the military had attempted to set up, this too was overrun, and much of the camp destroyed.
Bullet holes riddled the front of the school, showing the magnitude of the horde that attacked the camp. Several of the infected looked fresher than the others, less rotted. Kenji let out a short whistle, getting the attention of Ramirez and Knight. They both moved as quickly as Knight's leg would allow, he grimaced through the uncomfortable pain but knew something wasn't right.
“What is it Kenji?” Asked Knight.
“Something doesn't feel right about this. Some of these bodies are less rotted than the others; I'm fairly certain someone is in the school,” Kenji replied softly as if making sure no one from the school could hear him.
Knight stared at the school inspecting everything he could see, hoping to find a clue as to whether the person would be friendly or not.
“I would hate to lose time going back and around, but yeah I don't like the look of this-”
Knight was cut short by a loud crack. Before they knew what had happened Daniels who had been standing behind a waist-high barrier staring at the school, head exploded leaving a fine pink mist. In the time, it took everyone to look at where he had been standing, he hit the ground dead. Ren let out a soft scream as everyone ducked behind cover, rifles were unsung and brought to the ready.
“Where did that come from?” Ramirez asked.
Muller yelled back, “I saw the flash. It came from the top of the school. Top left. “
Knight looked around facing away from the school, looking back to see if they had the cover to retreat. There were many cars they could use to take shelter but to withdraw they would have to make sure that they laid a suppressive fire for each group to make it. The sound would attract infected for miles since they would have to detach any silencers on their weapons to hit the target range. Their only other option would be to try to move forward towards the school, which would mean running towards gunfire.
Deciding the first option would be better, and acting before infected started to show up, Knight gave the order, “Get suppressive fire on that roof! Form two groups and move quickly. We are going back down the street.”
Ramirez and Cooper, who were following Knight, opened fire to give the others time to group up and move. Muller moved to group nearby, grabbing Evans, Nobuto, Ren, and the other two pilots who took the lead. Muller stayed until they were all clear and moved to where they had taken cover. Muller and the other two pilots set themselves up and opened fire on the roof.
Ramirez helped Knight, while Cooper let a hail of bullets at the building; Kenji and Muller moved back down the street ducking behind a car as the gunman took a couple of shots that hit the car and the street next to it. The gunman wasn't as scared of the incoming gunfire as they had hoped, and he began returning fire. The gunfire didn't stop them from moving, as they quickly recovered from the gunman, staying out of sight as much as they could.
They took their turn firing at the roof while Muller led the others back again. Three more shots cracked and smashed the windows of the car Ramirez was hiding behind, and for a moment, their gunfire stopped as they took cover. It was all the gunman needed to fire more rounds down upon them, breaking more windows and preventing them from moving.
“Someone get some cover fire on him, we can’t wait for the infected to show up!” shouted Knight, trying to keep them all focused. It was easy to lose focus in a gunfight, and it led to someone making a mistake.
Evans seemed to snap out her shock of seeing Daniels’ head explode next to her, finally raised her rifle, firing sporadically at the roof. It gave them the time they needed to move, Kenji and Muller leading their group further away, stopping behind the last car on the street. Ramirez grabbed Evans pulling her back down, ending her hail of bullets. She momentarily tried to yank free of his grip but realized that he was grabbing her so that they could move back.
Once they moved under Muller’s covering fire, they too were at the end of the cars that were on the street. Their only option left was to make a break for one of the houses that lined the street; cut through the house, out the back and keep doing so until they were several blocks away. The houses on their left had high stone walled fences around the property while ones on the right had waist-high wooden walls. The houses on the left were the safest choice, so Ramirez and Evans laid down fire on the school, while Kenji and Muller lead the grou
p across the street, passing Ramirez, Evans, and Knight.
The gunman fired off a couple of shots, but they did not seem to land anywhere near the group. Nevertheless, Muller and Kenji fired at the roof, while the rest of the group ducked behind the wall of the house. Knight had to be helped across the last little bit of distance so that he could scramble to the cover of the wall. Once they were all safe behind the wall they each did a quick inspection of each other to make sure that no one was injured.
Satisfied that no one had been shot, they moved to the front door of the house, which had been torn open.
“Hello?” asked Kenji loudly.
No one replied, so they slowly entered the house. Knight, Ren, and Nobuto stayed in the front, outside, waiting for the others to give them the ok to come in. Muller and Kenji went to the right, brandishing their melee weapons again. Ramirez and Evans went to the left. Cooper and the other two pilots went straight.
Muller and Kenji found themselves in the master bedroom, which was small and quaint, containing a mattress and a short dresser with a mirror above it. Blood covered a wall, splattered in large pools. Infected had gotten to the residents here in the bedroom, but no trace of infected remained. They walked back into the hallway finding Knight and the others had decided to move inside and close the door.
It only then did Kenji hear the background noise that held their attention. The slow, awkward march of the infected. Muller and Kenji froze in place realizing they needed to be as quiet as possible. Cooper and the other pilots returned, sharing the same face of confusion, quizzically staring at the door. Evans and Ramirez had yet to come back and called out to the others.
“All clear right!” Ramirez called.
Knight who was propped up against the wall looking out through the cracked door whispered, “Quiet! There's a horde out there.”
One of the infected from the swarm marching down the street stopped at the wall, waiting. It paused as if waiting for another sound, but staggered onwards to the door, bring the attention of a few other infected. Soon there was a group that had decided to follow the first infected to break away from the group. The door was already broken inward from its previous siege and wouldn't hold against the infected that were heading towards the house.
Knight motioned them all to move to the back of the house and to stay quiet. Muller helped Knight move down the narrow hallway into the central living space of the home, where they found the back door, which was still intact except for the window that was about waist high to the top of the door; it was shattered. Kenji unlocked it and went first into the small garden that was at the back of the house.
The garden was a small ten-foot area, which held many plants that had once probably had someone to give them tender care but was now growing out of control and everywhere. They were completely walled in by an eight-foot-tall wall, with a slight overhang. Climbing the wall would be their only way to safety and hope there wasn’t a horde of infected waiting for them on the other side of the wall. Getting Knight over would require at least two people to pull him up since he only had one leg to support himself against the wall.
Ramirez boosted up Muller, who climbed up the wall quickly, stopping once he had a clear view over the wall. With no apparent danger he turned himself, so he could lean down and help pull up the next person. Evans was the next person up the wall, and together they both started to help Knight up and over the wall since he would take the longest. The process was going slower than they had hoped for, but Knight only had his upper body strength to help himself up.
Kenji who had stayed close to the back door of the house was watching for the infected to get down the hall and to them. A loud crash at the front of the house indicated that they had breached the inside of the house and had broken something.
“We only have another couple minutes at most before they find us back here!” exclaimed Kenji towards the pair helping Knight.
Knight was finally at the top of the wall and was now using the support of Muller and Evans to be lowered down into the next yard. They gently lowered him down until he could touch the ground. Knight leaned down next to the wall taking a breath to let his muscles breathe. He quickly moved from the wall, hopping across the small yard to the back door of the next house. It was still completely intact, which he took as a good sign.
The others were still moving people over the wall, and Knight grabbed the door and pulled on it to see if it would open. Surprisingly it did with ease, opening into the living room. Blood covered one-half of the room, and the stench of rot filled the house; after a small coughing fit, he covered his mouth and nose he entered. He moved along the wall for support, walking towards the front of the house.
He came to a doorway along the wall he was using as support, the door open, the room pitch black. He grabbed his flashlight from his pocket and used it to light the room. It was a bedroom, and with the curtains drawn on the window, but nothing in the room grabbed his attention. He hopped across the doorway and continued along the wall, his shoulder making a soft scraping sound along the wall. He stopped a few feet along the wall where a door was across the hall from where he stood.
Practically jumping at the door, he made his way to it; the door was closed, but he found it unlocked. The stench of the rot was stronger here than anywhere else, and the room was dark, but a sun shaft created a streak across the room. He aimed his light again in the room stopping at the body, mostly devoured sprawled out on the floor, unidentifiable in any way.
“Knight?” a voice from the back door asked.
He turned his head back towards the back of the house, opening his mouth to reply. A pair of decaying hands lunged out at him from the dark corner of the room he hadn’t investigated yet. It took him slightly off guard, and the figure easily pushed him back into the door frame. They both fell back, the infected on top of Knight, his knife flying from his hand. As they hit the ground, he landed on his wounded leg, and pain shot through his body starting from his leg and ending at the base of his spine.
Before he had time to react he felt another pain, the pain of teeth ripping into his flesh, tearing at his muscle; he screamed in anguish. The infected had bitten into his left arm taking a chunk of skin off. Desperate to get the infected off him he shoved with all his might, sending the infected back into the bedroom. Crawling with his good arm, he moved to where his knife landed a few feet away. He could hear the infected getting back up and walking towards him as he grabbed the handle of the blade.
The infected man stared at Knight with his dead black eyes, standing up to come at him again. The infected man lunged down at him, but Knight was prepared this time. Swinging with all the might he had left, he stabbed at the infected. The blade slid right into the infected person’s ear, piercing the brain. The body dropped on top of Knight who quickly shoved it off, pulling the blade out as well. Ramirez and Cooper rushed down the hall to Knight, grabbing him and pulling him up against the wall.
“Are you alright? Did they bite you?” asked Ramirez, fumbling for his pack.
Knight replied weakly, “On the arm…bit me on the arm…”
Holding out his arm, he showed the two men who looked down at the missing flesh. They both knew that Knight was going to turn into one of the infected and it was only a matter of time. The rest of the group had started to make their way into the house moved and down the hall to where they found Ramirez and Cooper surrounding Knight. They all stared at him, knowing that they might have to plunge a blade into his head soon.
“We have to keep moving, the horde might come back around to this side of the street,” said Kenji.
Ramirez looked back, “He’s bitten, he might turn soon, and I’m not going to leave him here until I know for sure he will turn.”
Kenji wanted to argue, but didn’t, “Alright, but we aren’t to be able to carry him around with us, the fever will soon set in, and he will turn. Our only option is to find a vehicle to get out here; we can’t keep carrying Knight across the city any longer. Just k
now we might have to abandon the vehicle if we can’t find a way around the streets.”
“Go search the streets then, find a vehicle. One big enough to hold all of us,” Ramirez said worriedly.
Kenji pushed past them, and Muller moved with him. They reached the front door and opened it slowly. The wall around the house was only up to their chests, and they could see a small portion of the street. It held no infected, but also no vehicles they could see. Now that they were outside again they could hear the gunshots of the shooter from the school still, desperately trying to defend against the horde. Hoping that the gunfire distracted the horde on the other side of the block long enough for them to find a vehicle and grab the rest of the group.
They both looked up and down the street only finding small cars only able to hold two or four people. Muller took off down the road heading to the right while Kenji went down the road to the left. Muller ran all the way down the road to the intersection, stopping to make sure the horde wasn’t heading around towards his side of the block. Luckily the horde was still moving towards the school and away from him.
Looking to his left, Muller saw what they would need, two military cargo trucks. He ran over to the first and closest one, stopping at the truck. It was riddled with bullet holes, indicating that whoever was currently at the school had attacked this military convoy as well. Looking at the front of the truck he could see that there were several bullet holes in the front grill of the truck and that on the ground there was dried pool of oil and other liquids; it would not start.
Moving over to the next truck, he found that it had considerably fewer bullet holes and only a few that pocketed the side of the truck, rather than the front. The glass on the front window was shattered inwards from gunfire as well; Muller grabbed the door handle and pulled to door open. Two dead soldiers, badly decomposed, were leaned against the dashboard. Muller climbed up and pulled the first soldier out apologizing in his head for the desecration, dragging the bodies out and tossing them into the street below.
What Remains: The Outbreak Page 29