State of Decay✔️

Chapter 39: Exit Strategy

They took Karen and Dan, the cop, with them.

They made sure to grab extra guns and ammunition, and took a blue four-door that didn't really have much in the way of room for spare cargo. It was only really good for driving a few people around. They headed out of Marshall and drove as quickly as they could up the road, past more and more zombies. There seemed to be a lot of them out. Marcus didn't like it. It felt ominous, almost like the valley knew that they were getting ready to leave and wanted to stop them. He tried to keep his mind focused, but thoughts like that kept slipping in.

He drove past the Grange, seeing the group loading everything they could into a pair of trucks, one of them being Jack's big vehicle. Fears and worries of failure kept harassing him. What if he was leading them all to their death? What if there was nothing out there? But no, he had to do this. They were committed, and besides, there very well could be a few million zombies on their way to the valley right now or at some time in the near future.

He reached the area where they'd blown the hole and drove carefully through it. As he made his way through town, he ran down a few zombies. After what seemed like far too long, the tension being drawn out, he finally rolled up on the Army camp. The four of them got out after he killed the engine and checked their guns.

"This way," Marcus said, leading them through the open gate and into the Army encampment. As they stepped inside, he felt cold fear shoot through him. There seemed to be nothing and nobody around. What if Eric was dead? What they all were?

What if-

"Marcus."

He jerked, turning to the left, and saw Eric emerge from one of the tents. He looked like hell. Pale, gaunt, fatigued, his eyes bloodshot and sunken. He was sweating a lot.

"So, what happened?" he asked.

Eric coughed for a moment, then spat. "I fucked it up," he muttered. "Sent my men out to check for survivors...got three of them fucking killed. There's just four of us left now. Listen, this is my plan. The only way out of this fucking valley has been blocked off by one grade-A road block. Ten feet of solid concrete. We need to blast through it. Now, the materials we need to do said blasting is inside that warehouse," he said, pointing. "Unfortunately, it's fucking packed with undead bastards. We need more help. That's why I called you. How's your little round-up going?"

"I've got everyone that I know about in this whole valley packing up. They should be ready to go within the hour," Marcus replied.

"Good. Here's the plan: we go in there, clear out the undead, get the bombs, have everyone start heading up and then you all watch Murphy's ass while he hardwires them to the roadblock. I did a little recon...there's a lot of undead around the roadblock, too. And I'm sure the process of getting the bomb is going to create a hell of a racket, so it'll draw more in. Got it?"

"Yeah. We're ready when you are," Maya said.

"No point in waiting. Let's go now."

He heft his weapon, an assault rifle, and turned towards the warehouse. His three remaining soldiers followed him. Marcus led Maya, Karen and Dan off towards it. Marcus felt his pulse begin to pick up. They were close, so very close. They just had to push through this. He had his shotgun on him and his pistol in its holster on his belt.

He was ready for this.

He hoped.

They came to the warehouse and moved around to the side of it.

"All right," Eric said, moving up to a garage-style door. "I'm going to hit the open button. All the bastards, I imagine, are gonna pour out. I want you guys to get ready, just mow these fuckers down fast as they come out, got it?!" he snapped.