Dead Ones

Chapter 11: Treason

The next day, after some well needed rest, I was assigned another scavenging mission with Mack and William. William's boyfriend came along with us this time, making us a party of four. Cyrus sent out parties of four and five people now, to prevent conflict with the Hive people. William's boyfriend was of a similar build to him. He carried a short barreled and stock sub machine gun. Light weight, yet deadly. We walked to our designated area of interest, which was an old weaponry shop in a town not too far away. I made conversation as we traveled. "So I was thinking. I need people who are willing to help me," I began. "Would all of you be willing to help me fight the Hive?" I asked. Mack, William, and his partner all agreed. "I need a number of people to join the fight. Do any of you know anyone who is of able condition and willingness to fight?" I asked them. Mack spoke. "I know a few, yeah," he said. "Who?" I asked him. "I don't know everyone in the Refuge, but I can list a few," he said. Thankfully, Will had a pad and pen with him. I planned on finding the people when we return and recruit them to join my forces. Mack began to list people. "Dom, the creepy history geek. Juggernaut and Jerald, the heavy weapons guy. David, who you already know, is the blacksmith. Wolf, a sniper. Tasha, mid range expert. And finally, Stray, the flamethrower operator," he. said. This gave me a decent number of recruits, but I would need a lot more. Possibly these individuals could rally others they knew to join the cause. I knew already that my four friends were willing and able to join the fight. Besides that, I also had these three I was with now. Slowly but surely, I would have a force so great that not even the heavily armed and armored community would stand a chance.  The four of us approached our target in the town. Since it was in a decently populated area, we would need to move quickly. The moment our presence was made known, the dead would be all over our position. We rushed the building in formation. Mack blasted the lock on the door with his shotgun at an angle. I moved around to face the door. I leaned back and drove my foot hard into the building. The door swung wide open. I was met with the sight of a man pointing a shotgun right back at me. He did not hesitate to pull the trigger. The load of the gun collided with my vest. Sparks flew everywhere. I was sent vaulting backwards. I slid a couple of feet on my back on the ground. I sat up and witnessed my group bursting into the building, aiming their weapons at the man and disarming him. I sat up from my place on the ground, groaning in pain. That was going to  badly bruise tomorrow.  I stood and walked towards the building. I stepped inside. "So you shoot the first thing you see before thinking?" I asked the man. "You were trying to rob my store!" he said. "In case you haven't noticed, I don't think you'll be getting any business any time soon," I told him. "Grab rifles, handguns, and ammo for all caliber weapons," I told my group members. They went around the room filling their bags. "On the ground," I told the man, jabbing my rifle into his side. He cooperated reluctantly. When my group members had finished grabbing weapons and supplies, I told them to leave the building and secure our exit. I picked up the man's shotgun. It was a double barrel. I pointed it with one hand at his leg and fired. Clothing, skin, and muscle blew away to expose bone. He shouted in agony. "What did you do that for?!" he yelled. "You shot me first," I said simply. "And I'm keeping the gun," I added, opening the breach and popping out the spent shells. "You can't do this! I'm human too!" he yelled. I walked out of the building and closed the door behind me loudly. My comrades had been fighting with the dead. They cleared a path to the wooded area and were holding off the masses until I had arrived. I rushed to their side and helped fight. We were doing relatively well until the dead began to flank us. They no longer were coming head on, but were also migrating to our left and to our right. We would soon be surrounded if we did not cut them off...

I dropped the useless shotgun in my hands. I flipped my rifle from semi automatic to fully automatic. Instead of taking singular precise shots at the skulls of the living dead, I would let out short bursts of fire, sometimes hitting head shots, other times tearing up the bodies of the dead, slowing down their advance. The roars of automatic gunfire rang out from William's partner and I. Loud singular shots came from Mack and William's weapons. The dead were no longer enclosing us. They began their closure inward. My rifle ran out of ammunition. I moved it to the side of my body, since it was on a sling. I drew my machete with my right hand and began to engage in close quarters combat. I brought the blade up to my left side and brought it down hard and diagonally to the right. It obliterated a dead one's face. I rushed another and grabbed the back of its head, plunging the long blade tip first into its forehead. "Y'all good?" I shouted. "For now, until I gotta reload," said Mack. "I'm already outta ammo," I said. "Goin' hands on," I added. I brought the machete over my head and brought it down hard like an axe splitting a log. It tore the dead one's head in half down to its neck. I ripped the blade from its place. I swung hard to the right connecting with another dead one that was on its way to biting William. He shot a quick grateful glance at me. "We need to clear a path and make a break for it," I said. I heard a shout from behind me. I turned, completely disregarding the horde, now behind me. William's significant other's gun had run out of ammo and a dead one got too close for comfort. He tried blocking the dead one from getting to him as it slashed about with its hands. He put up his arms. The dead one fell into him, knocking him down. He shouted, whether in surprise or pain, I did not know. William put the rifle to the skull of the dead one and fired. I kicked the lifeless corpse off of my fellow survivor and helped him to stand. "You alright?" I asked. "Y-yeah.. Just a little shaken up, is all. Thanks," he said. We got back into formation after making sure he was alright and had reloaded his weapon. I re-sheathed my machete and drew my knife and pistol. I braced my pistol arm on the arm that held the knife. The knife was in a downward position, meaning that when braced under the pistol arm, the knife was constantly facing outward. I fired a single shot, nailing a dead one in the head. It dropped to the floor, tripping two other ones behind it. I knelt down and rammed the knife into the left one while putting a bullet in the one on the right. I stood back in a fighting position. "Clear a path. Now!" I shouted. We broke from our back to back formation and focused on one area of the dead horde, applying intense force to break the numbers surrounding us. I dumped the other five rounds in my handgun into the crowd, dropping some of the dead and slowing others. I holstered my pistol and continued to push the crowd. Combined with my close ranged knife shots and the gun fire of the others, we managed to break a path in the group of the dead. We made a break for the wooded area. After running steadily for a while, we took a moment to go over one another, checking for any injuries not felt because of the adrenaline. Everyone was fine it appeared. I walked up to William's boyfriend and offered medical assistance. "No, I'm fine, really. I'm just a little shaken up, that's all," he said. He spoke with his hands clasped behind his back. I thought this was just a part of his demeanor, but then again, I could be wrong. We headed back to the community after composing ourselves. I liked going on scouting trips. The longer time spent away from Cyrus, the better...