Fatal | The Second Life I [COMPLETED]

Chapter 17: To Brooklyn

     Not this shit again.

     I get out of bed in this all too familiar dream world. I had escaped these for a while, at least until Shaun's death. That reignited this with a horrible twist.

     I stay away from the basement of the house this time. That was where I was always forced to watch Shaun's death over and over. Everyone at Battery had Nightmares.. but this one was its own kind of twisted.

     It was almost like a puzzle. The same recurring shots of the shadow figure, the map in the backyard, and the spilled monopoly pieces. I had no clue what to do in this other than wander around. I had tried everything I could think of. Attacking the shadow, walking off the edge of the grounds.. nothing had worked.

     "WHAT DO YOU WANT!" I scream at the shadow. I'm launched onto the back wall.

     I rocket forward in bed, covered in sweat. I look around and see Tori and a totally dark room. I had woken up in the middle of the night.

     Oh well, I should get more sleep. I had a big da- I hear my door creak open and I see Adam lean in.

     "You about ready?" He asks with a yawn.

     "It's time?" I ask drearily.

     "Yup." He says.

     "God Damnit." I mutter, getting to my feet and stretching. "Yeah, we'll be out."

     "We go in 20." He says, shutting the door. I nudge Tori, and grab my shoes.

     "Hmm?" She stirs, clearly sleepy. "Ronnie?"

     "Yeah, it's almost time." I say quietly. "Here, I'll light a candle."

     Electricity was something sparse since the apocalypse. Batteries were really the only power sources we could find, and they had become a powerful item to posses. Not for their ability to kill or drive away Z's, but for their trading power. We would likely bring some with us to trade with whoever this Brooklyn Front is.

"Oh, already?" She asks groggily, sitting up and yawning.

"Yeah, I didn't expect it either." I say. "But I guess the sooner we go, the sooner we arrive."

Night had given us a sort of trade. The Z's were certainly more active in the dark, but they could still kill in the day. However, at night, we could move stealthily and see them from farther away. Their eyes gave themselves away.

I finish getting my gear and we eventually head out to Adam and Catey waiting a floor below. Blake follows us down, and we walk down to the first floor.

"So, we all ready?" Catey asks, tightening her bow's string.

"I guess so." Blake says. "Let's goooo!!!"

We head out, waving at Kjrsten and Riko before stepping out of the park and onto the street. We hopped over some cars that were placed there. Originally, there was no boundary between us and the city, so we used something there was a lot of - useless cars. Low gas and no keys led to abandonment, and mass panic led to them being in almost every street. We were lucky driving as far as we did 3 months ago.

I dash along with the others to the shoreline, following the railing. The morning sun was finally coming up, and it cast a reddish glow on the City. The journey was about 2 miles. Before this, that was nothing. But now, especially with having to hug the sides, that could get as high as an hour to reach the destination.

I'm pretty sure Riko was working on a sort of car restoration project so we'd have some sort of fleet. That would be interesting. He had taken an '02 Tacoma as his first truck to work on. He was smart as hell, but wasn't the first choice in battle. He was really scatterbrained and uncoordinated. He was still cool, though.

Another thing that came up a lot was getting out of the city. Many people had left the settlement, only to never be heard from again. Even when they had a walker talkie on them to say they got out safely. Maybe I didn't want to leave because of that. Or maybe the Z's has the same problems.

I thought that the country would be just as bad as the city. At least here there is easy accessibility to supplies. But when the Z's food (us) ran out, then they'd have to go to the countryside to find their fill.

It could be even worse. Maybe there were even more of them outside the cities. This had to be a worldwide disease, right?

     That thought scared me.

     We duck down behind a car as we see 3 Z's walk out onto the road in front of us. Catey readies her bow, and we all get our swords out. Blake screws on his suppressor for his rifle.

     "How you wanna do this?" I whisper.

     "You and I.." Adam begins. "Sneak up with our swords. Catey shoots the middle one and we hit the other two."

     "Sounds solid." I say, before getting ready to ambush them. Catey Let's an arrow go, and it plants itself into the middle one's heart. The other two look at it surprised, and that's when me and Adam charge it.

     I sink my sword into one of them and Adam does the same to the other one. The middle one tries to attack me, which was unexpected. I rip my sword out of the first one. Then, I plant my foot onto the arrowed one and swing my sword through the first one's neck. Its head flies off, and the body falls over.

     Adam lays the dead body that he killed down, and the other 3 advance. Catey rips her arrow out of the Z's heart, and wipes the blood off with an old rag.

     "Let's go before we get any unwanted attention." Tori suggests.

     "Yeah." Blake says, cringing at the decapitated head. "Good ide-"

     He is interrupted by a group of 10 Z's that are rushing towards us.

     "Too late." Catey mutters, loafing another arrow.