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  Now that they were down two men, Bryce decided to return Alejandro’s firearms and rotate him back into the watch schedules, which the other man reluctantly agreed to. He had even congratulated Bryce on putting down the two leeches of men. Byark and Alejandro had dumped the two bodies in the woods about a mile away and didn’t bother to bury them.

  Lauren avoided Bryce and he would even see and overhear her fighting with Byark about what he had done. “That’s not who I thought he was.” She would say. Catori helped fix up Grunt and had been consistently checking on him, giving him different medicines and cleaning his wounds, but she didn’t really bother talking to Bryce unless he asked her specific questions about the dog. Sarah and Tara were now terrified of him and seemed to have real trouble hiding that fact, they avoided him like the plague. Matt avoided him as well, even though Bryce could tell that the younger man didn’t feel the same way that the girls did.

  ***

  Flash images of his fellow survivors screaming and crying played out in front of him, shadows of infected and violent, evil men torturing and killing them. Their bodies littered the ground as fire engulfed the forest around them. Grunt barked frantically at the shadows that surrounded them and closed in on him and the dog. Matt walked out of the flames, the only one of his companions still alive but not unscathed. His left arm was missing for some reason, not recently taken but a long existing wound, now fully healed. “You have to save us you know. I mean, you can’t save all of us, but we all die without you.” Matt said cryptically as the flames push outward from the tree line and engulfed his shadowy form. “What a burden you have, being the one who fights the darkness both outward and within.” He continued as the lights of the flames danced off his skin and seemed to recoil from the touch of him. His skin started blackening and cracking. The flames entered the cracks in his flesh, seeming to be sucked inside of him by some unknown force. The fire inside of him caused his entire body to glow before erupting forth from his mouth, and ears, bursting through his eye sockets last. Matt screamed, not a scream of pain, but an unexplainable outburst of raw power. His body exploded from the pressure building inside of him and the flames quickly engulfed Bryce.

  ***

  Bryce shot out of bed, breathing panicked, rapid breaths. He was drenched in sweat and his throat burned, as if he had actually breathed in the fire from his dream. He found the chain for the light above him and pulled it to reveal Grunt standing at full attention. Bryce had startled him awake. Without putting his shirt on, Bryce grabbed his H&K from the nightstand and crept out of his room, heading to the front of the cabin with Grunt in tow. As he quietly stepped out of the front door, he spotted Alejandro sitting in a folding chair on the porch, looking up from the glass of tequila at his lips as he stared at Bryce questioningly.

  ​After a few moments of awkward eye contact, Alejandro decided to speak first. “Couldn’t sleep?”

  ​“Bad nightmares.” Bryce responded, eyeing the glass of tequila. “How’s watch going?”

  ​“Fine.” Alejandro said, noticing that Bryce’s gaze was fixed on the glass of alcohol.

  ​“I can take over if you want and finish up your shift, don’t think I’ll be able to get any more sleep tonight anyway.” Bryce said, worried about his nightmare and about the other man’s PTSD and drinking problem, but also just being honest about not being able to sleep.

  ​“Look, I’m fine alright? You let those two, drunken fucking idiots stand watch and then ended up killing them. Really, I’m okay, barely even buzzed.” Alejandro said, referring to Randy and Nathan as he took another swig of the clear tequila.

  ​Bryce stood in silence for a few seconds, staring out into the dark of the night, or early morning rather. “Alright, I meant nothing by it. Just thought I’d be doing you a solid. Enjoy the rest of your shift.” Bryce said as he decided to take the friendly and trusting route of doing things. He slapped Alejandro on the shoulder before turning and walking back inside.

  ​“Have a good rest of your night.” Alejandro said with a half salute in-between sips of alcohol.

  ​Bryce sat on the edge of his bed and stared at his pistol, stroking the back of Grunt’s neck. He knew that he would get no more sleep before morning came, and that the group’s troubles and hardships had only just begun.

  ***

  ​Alejandro tried to ignore Sam’s voice, the dead man continually trying to get his attention. He continued to drink, attempting to quiet the awful buzzing in his head. “Just leave me the fuck alone, you’ve caused enough problems for me.” Alejandro spat angrily, keeping his voice down to a whisper.

  ​“Come on man, just come look and I’ll leave your ass alone for the rest of the night, I promise.” Sam waved Alejandro over to the edge of the cabin.

  ​“You fucking better.” Alejandro said as he stood up and walked towards the big man, finally giving in to nearly an hour of Sam’s insistent pestering.

  ​Sam led Alejandro around to the back of the cabin where he pointed to two figures standing in the shadows. Alejandro could hear metal hitting metal coming from the gate and he turned back to find out what the source of the noise was. Sam grabbed his shoulder and turned him back towards the shadows. “Come on, get a closer look. You’re going to fucking love this.” Alejandro slowly stepped closer, hearing faint whispering in the distance and what sounded like someone shushing another person. In his daze, he figured the noise was someone from the group or one of his dead companions, ignoring it as he continued forward. As he got closer and the moon banked over a cloud, shining light on their location, he could finally make out the two shadows in front of him. The two men frowned with faces of mixed sadness and anger as Alejandro chuckled quietly.

  ​“Randy and Nathan, how the hell are you boys?” Alejandro asked sarcastically, bursting out in laughter that was quickly mimicked by Sam.

  CHAPTER 14

  ​After a few weeks of being a glorified janitorial and body disposal crew for the military scientist’s dead and used up test subjects, Jason, McGowan, and Connor were given new orders to pack up and load into a Humvee with Peterson and a few other soldiers.

  ​After about a dozen miles of making their way around wreckage, they finally took an exit onto some deserted back roads. After another few miles they pulled off onto a small, dirt path that led into the woods. They took the path for a few minutes, eventually reaching a large, circular opening in the woods where a white utility van, another Humvee, and a large, military transport vehicle were parked. They stopped, and Peterson ordered everyone out of the vehicle. He then led them down a hiking path that cut through the tree line.

  ​Eventually, they came upon a huge clearing with dozens of tents of varying size. Some of them were large, canvas sheets set up over wooden support beams, while others were more modest tents that you would buy at a store. The tents were set up in neat rows surrounding a large, central point with a fire and what looked to be cases of supplies. Dozens of soldiers, prisoners, and regular civilians alike, walked about the camp, all seeming to have different jobs and tasks that they were working on. Armed guards patrolled the camp’s edges on high alert. “You three, follow me. The boss wants a word. The rest of you, get to your posts and do your fucking jobs.” Peterson ordered and the other soldiers split off from the group. Jason and his two companions continued following the tall, slender man.

  ​They were led to the largest, canvas tarp tent that was set up near the center of the camp. As soon as they stepped inside, Jason instantly recognized the group’s self-proclaimed leader, Riley. Riley was standing behind a rather nice, mahogany desk and talking to three soldiers that stood on the other side next to a blown-up map of this section of northern California secured to a rolling whiteboard. Jason noticed red circles on about a dozen places scattered across the map, including the hospital and the prison. White circles surrounded other locations, and black, X marks were placed on a few others. Riley noticed his new guests and with a wave of his hand, ushered the three soldiers out o
f what appeared to be not only his command center, but his personal tent as well, given the amenities and comfortable, queen sized bed in the room.

  ​After the men exited the tent, Riley held out his arms and his deceitful smile opened up through new, red stubble. “My boys! Please, come in.” Riley called out with a wave. McGowan and Jason stepped forward while Peterson pushed a more hesitant Connor towards them. “Can I offer any of you a drink?” Riley asked politely as he turned his back to the men and walked over to a makeshift bar, pouring himself a glass of rather expensive scotch.

  ​Jason looked to McGowan, seeing that they shared the same look on their faces. Get to the point already. Connor looked around at the others, and upon seeing that no one else was accepting the offer, spoke up. “Fuck it, I’ll take one if you’re really offering.”

  ​Peterson slapped the back of Connor’s head and Riley let out a small chuckle, eyeing them from his peripheral vision. “Now that’s alright Peterson, the boy’s just being honest. I respect that.” Riley said, pouring a second glass and walking back towards the four men. “Now, I wouldn’t normally share a drink with a nigger, but given as how you’ve been such a good boy and all, what the hell, why not?” Riley baited as he approached Connor, holding out the glass. Connor’s facial expression changed from anticipation of his first sip of alcohol in a very long time, to utter disgust and hatred. Jason worried for a moment that the young man was going to lash out and get himself killed, but Connor did the smart thing and excepted the glass with a nod, downing its contents. Riley paused for a few seconds and stared at the younger man with a devious smile on his face. He took a gulp from his own glass and approached the map. “How do you boys like my new camp?” Riley asked rhetorically before continuing. “Only took two days to set all of this up, can you believe that? As you may have guessed, I have a little job for you boys. If you do it right, you’ll be staying here for a while, getting your own tents and some extra… privileges. If you do it wrong… well, I think you boys know what happens then.” Riley smiled as a laugh escaped Peterson. “As you may have guessed, we’ve been expanding. Both in number of people and in the land and bases that we own. If you look at this here map, you’ll see our base camps marked in red. Locations marked in white are those that we deem suitable to set up operations at, and the X markings here are locations with groups of survivors. Some that have established a new life for themselves already, and others that are just small, ragtag groups. There’s a camp very close to us just right here…” Riley pointed to a X marking just below the red circle that indicated the camp they were in. “Now, according to reports from my scout, this small group seems to be holding up pretty well and to have a decently defensible location. I can’t have that. They are right in my back yard and could be a nuisance if not a viable threat to us, and from what my man tells me, they aren’t the type who are going to welcome us trying to bring them into the fold here. Before we go in and deal with them permanently, I want to weaken them a bit, frighten them, maybe injure or kill some of them, and hopefully scatter them. That’s where you boys come in. The plan is already all laid out and in motion, we just need a few grunts such as yourselves to go in tonight, under Peterson’s stern supervision of course, and execute the plan for me.”

  ​“The last so-called mission you sent us on was a suicide mission.” McGowan spoke out, causing every muscle in Jason’s body to tense. He was sure that Riley’s violent nature was about to show its ugly head.

  ​Instead, Riley just smiled. “Yes, it was, and you three survived anyway. Tonight, will be nothing like your ordeal at the hospital. You men, especially Jason here, have proven yourselves quite valuable. This task will be much safer and easier than the previous and when you return, I promise every task from here on out is only going to get easier and the rewards sweeter. Any objections?” Riley said, clearly baiting them now, and Jason knew one more outburst would cost the objector their life. When none of the men spoke, Riley finished. “Good. Peterson, escort these boys out and get them ready for tonight.” He downed the rest of his glass and turned back to the bar to pour another measure.

  ​Peterson motioned the three of them out of the tent and Jason realized for the first time that he was beginning to feel a numbness inside of him that not even a decade in prison could have caused. He didn’t worry or wonder what the night had in store for them, he didn’t really much care what happened to him anymore, but still, he would do what he had to do to survive, until he didn’t feel like surviving anymore.

  ***

  ​Long after the sun had set, and probably well into the a.m., Peterson ordered the three of them into the white utility van. He made Jason drive, sitting behind him with his pistol drawn but not actually pointing it at him, the threat of death being a clear enough deterrent from trying anything on its own. Peterson gave the older man instructions on where to go for what seemed like an hour, but what was probably much quicker. In the back of the van, behind the group of four, Jason could hear something banging against the inside of the walls and muffled breathing. As whatever was back there cried out, his gut sank, staying there the rest of the trip. We’re transporting infected.

  ​Eventually, they pulled onto a thin, dirt road and Peterson instructed Jason to cut the lights and drive slowly. After a few minutes of the slow and steady advance through the pitch black, Jason was ordered to turn around, stop, and kill the engine. He did what he was told, and they all exited the vehicle.

  ​Peterson handed a small knap sack to Connor that wreaked and was stained red at the bottom from the fresh, bloody meat that sat inside. He then handed a rather large pair of bolt cutters to Jason. “Get moving, you know what to do. Get any ideas and I’ll shoot your knees out and watch as the infected have their way with you sorry bastards.” Knowing the man would make good on his promise, and not seeing anything to gain from challenging him either way, Jason started down the dirt road, the others following closely behind him.

  ​They walked for quite a while in the pitch black. Even when their eyes fully adjusted to the darkness, Jason could still barely make out the others, let alone their surroundings. Eventually, he could see a few, dim lights up ahead, and as he got closer to them, he could make out a chain link fence. Two RV’s, a trailer, a cabin, and a large tower were all surrounded by the fence.

  ​Peterson tapped Jason’s shoulder and motioned for him and the others to crouch down and approach slowly before waving them on. They did as instructed, and as they got closer to the fence, Jason went full prone and army crawled to the gated portion. His two companions followed closely, but as he looked back, he noticed that Peterson was gone, probably watching them from the darkness.

  ​Jason stared intently at the two men in front of the cabin, one of them sat in a chair on the porch, while the other stood next to him. After a moment, the standing man turned around and went back inside the cabin but the other remained, his view of the fence making any action too risky. Jason waited, knowing, or at least hoping that the right moment would present itself before the sun started to come up. After what seemed like an eternity, the man on the porch started talking and then stood up, walking to the edge of the cabin. As soon as he rounded the corner and his back was turned to them, Jason seized the moment and hastily shot out with the bolt cutters, landing both tips around the metal chain. He moved too quickly and when metal hit metal, it let out a loud, metallic “clang” that caused all three men to freeze in place, watching the man intently. After a few quiet and heart pounding moments, Jason realized that they hadn’t been made and started cutting the thick chain, straining as his muscles bulged with the effort.

  ​“Who’s he talking to?” McGowan not so quietly whispered, staring at the man who seemed to be talking to himself on the other side of the gate.

  ​“Shhhhh…” Connor replied just as loudly, and Jason was very glad that the man keeping watch was so distracted.

  ​Jason compressed with all his strength one, final time and the chain snapped in half. He quickly a
nd quietly pulled the chain loose and set it on the ground, then he slightly opened the gate just enough that the infected would see they could get through and motioned to Connor. Connor reached into the knap sack and grabbed the bloody, dripping hunks of deer meat and plopped them on the ground just inside the gate. The three of them turned and stealthily made their way back down the road.

  ​When they reached the van, Peterson was waiting for them by the back doors and he waved them over. “Alright boys, now comes the really fun part.” Peterson said, and Jason could tell he was smiling even in the dark. The three of them took positions around the back of the van. “You ready?” Peterson asked, and although he couldn’t see it, the three men nodded in turn. Peterson knocked on the door and threw it open. Two infected with their hands cuffed behind their backs and their mouths taped shut fell out onto the dirt road with a hard smack. McGowan and Connor quickly pounced onto their backs, holding them down while Jason used the bolt cutters to brake their hand cuffs. Peterson started the van and slowly pulled away just as the two men let go of the infected and followed Jason’s lead, jumping into the back of the van. Peterson sped up and turned on the headlights as he peeled away. The two infected shot up from the ground and ripped the duct tape from their faces, letting out horrific shrieks.

  CHAPTER 15

  ​Matt had taken over watch for Alejandro just as the sun rose over the tree tops that surrounded their camp. Sarah and Tara walked towards the cabin, waving at him with a smile. A female infected with dried blood on her face shrieked from behind them, sprinting at the two girls. Sarah shoved Tara to the ground and out of the way just as the infected woman crashed into her, they both hit the ground rolling. The woman ended up on top of Sarah and Sarah used all the strength in her arms to push the woman’s chest away from her, keeping her gnashing teeth just inches away from Sarah’s face. The infected woman dug her claws into Sarah’s arms, instantly drawing blood as she stretched out her neck, getting even closer to biting the young woman. Matt could see blood and saliva drizzling out of the infected woman’s mouth, coating his girlfriend’s face as he tried to line up a shot with his revolver. Not willing to take a shot due to the risk of hitting Sarah, Matt rushed the woman. Sarah screamed as the infected woman’s teeth got within centimeters of her nose. Matt reached them, wrapping his left hand around the creature’s face and slamming into it at full speed, pulling the woman off Sarah. The pair smacked the ground with intense momentum and toppled over each other as they rolled a half dozen times. When Matt’s momentum died out and they finally stopped rolling, Matt’s back was to the ground and he had the woman on top of him. Luckily, however, she was facing away from him and towards the sky. Matt brought his .38 revolver up to the side of the woman’s head and pulled the trigger, momentarily deafening himself as blood and gore erupted out onto his face and the surrounding area. The woman went limp.