Might be a couple day. Running a 103 fever and can barely focus. Thanks for reading and I'll ad more asap.

hope you feel better, keep up the good work.

Just wanted to say I am absolutely loving the story!! Great job!!

Shit man.....Don't go all infected on us and disappear!!  get well soon, love the story!

# Chapter 17 - Bliss and doubt.

I woke to the smell of food cooking and the sound of the shower running upstairs. It reminded me of oversleeping as a kid. Then I realized I was naked. Then I remembered I hooked up with Sarah. Then I remembered my wound. Fuck. I think I have a hangover.

I got dressed as fast as I could hoping some how impossibly Farmer wasn't aware of what happened with Sarah and I. Eventually I made my way to the dining room and Farmer came out with a steaming pot of grits. He had a smirk on his face.

Farmer: "How you felling today there buddy?"

Me: "I don't know yet."

Farmer: "Well I'm glad you took my advice. Now that things are clear between you two we shouldn't have any teenage tension going on."

Me: "What are you talking about?"

Farmer: "Boy, I woke up just in time to see her walk of shame to the bathroom, and come down and see your little frank and beans hanging out from under the blanket. Good job getting it, but I swear on everything if I have to see that again we're going to have problems."

I couldn't help but laugh. At about that time Sarah rounded the corner and made an akward eye contact with me. She looked down then went and sat on the opposite side of the table. Ouch.

Sarah: "I'm having second doubts about Montana. I don't think we'll have the supplies to make it and the weather on the way up is brutal. For all we know we could be driving into a blizzard."

Me: "Do you think we should stay here?"

Farmer: "We can't. We're almost out of gas and the weather is getting worse by the day. Maybe we should head south, otherwise we might freeze to death."

Me: "I hate to say it, but we need to get closer to a populated area. We won't make it through the winter with out supplies. Eventually the gas is going to go bad so we need an end game and somewhere to settle."

Sarah: "Agreed. What do we do for now though? Between the infected and the desperate uninfected, I can't imagine many places are safe. We don't even know what it's like out there."

Me: "We need people. Friendly people."

Farmer: "The only way we'll find that is if we go looking for them. There's a town called Major about 200 miles south of here. I used to do feed runs out there."

Sarah: "Do we really want to do this?"

Me: "I don't think we have much choice. We need to get away from the cold and if we can skip from town to town we might be able to make it down to Texas or somewhere safer. Maybe we can find somewhere permanent."

Farmer: We need to head out as soon as possible then. I don't want to arrive in an unknown town at night."

Me: "Let me clean up and let's head out."

I started up the stairs when I realized Sarah was following me. I turned to ask her what was up and she stood up on her tip toes from the next stair down and kissed me. I smiled and said "I'll be back down in a minute".

Once done with my shower, I walked in to the room we had been sleeping in and Sarah and Farmer had already collected all of their stuff. I looked out the back window and the two of them were loading supplies up. We still had a significant amount of food from both our own supplies and the farm's. One thing I had noticed was that we were starting to run low on was bottled water. We had been boiling the well water, but we still only had about 100 or so bottles left. I started to think it might be a good idea to check the gas station in the wrecked town on the way out.

By the time we got downstairs Farmer and Sarah had gotten everything loaded. We had our food, water, and bulk of our ammo inside the Tahoe, and the clothing, blankets, and mechanical supplies in the trailer. Farmer had also cut up a significant amount of the remaining beef and placed it in tupperware containers. One check and there was no doubt it would freeze solid inside the pull along trailer. Hopefully we would be able to create fires to actually eat it in the future though.

There was a light snow on the ground and I had to drive slowly on the gravel road leaving the farm. The road was even rougher now that the ground was frozen and our little trailer wasn't exactly made for this. It made me feel kind of sad looking back in the mirror though. It would have been a great place to call home.

We came upon the town and instantly the infected started taking notice. I was glad the Tahoe had a push bar but didn't want to test it's sturdiness here. Sarah rolled down her window and started pumping out buckshot while Farmer slipped his newly acquired SP1 out the back window on my side and started firing. It's not like the movies where anything but a headshot is pointless. A little girl maybe 8 years old made a break straight at us from behind a car and Farmer caught her right in the gut. She screamed out and fell to the ground moaning and crying. Sometimes I wish they were zombies. It would be a lot easier on the conscience. Fuck it all, how sad.

We continued through town laying down fire. Only about half of the people attacked, and they were all young, old, or terribly skinny. My hypothesis was there was a chain of superiority here and only the weak ones risked charging us as they were the hungriest. We were doing great at keeping them away from us until one managed to jump on our trailer. Farmer couldn't get a clear shot of the little enclosed trailer, so I told him and Sarah to hold on. I blipped the brakes just a bit and the man tumbled forward crashing into the back window. Luckily it didn't break, but I did worry for a moment as the tire on the trailer rolled over his legs. He quickly got back up to chase after us but only made it a few steps before his legs gave out and he fell to the pavement.

As we pulled up to the gas station we could see all of the windows were busted out. Sarah elected Farmer to stay on watch while her and I cleared the large convenience store. As soon as we walked in there was a mutilated corpse of a sheriff on the ground. Well, I don't know about it being mutilated as much as it was eaten. Surprisingly the store was well stocked. I didn't have high hopes for bottled water though since the windows were busted out and it was colder than shit outside.

The stench got worse as I approached the cooler. There were drinks exploded everywhere from the cold, but to my surprise there were some non carbonated items we might be able to salvage. I figured I'd see what they had in cases so I opened the stocking door. I about had a heart attack when the frozen corpse of another deputy fell on to my leg. The frozen cranium was victim to a self inflicted gunshot wound. The Smith and Wesson stainless steel auto pistol was frozen into his hand. I may have grabbed it had I not noticed Farmer's gunshots were now rapidly increasing.

I grabbed a couple cases of water and tomatoe juice, and one case of some fruit splash bullshit. They all had a few blown up containers, but the majority still looked good. Sarah had obtained a trash bag from behind the counter and was loading up on toilet paper, toothpaste, soap, beef jerky, pastry snacks, potato chips, and high proof alcohol. I grabbed a carton of smokes even though I was down to about four a day.

We came out just in time. We were getting surrounded fast. Sarah and I loaded our loot in the back seat. She grabbed her M4 carbine and I had my shorty as always. They were getting with in 100 feet, but now that all three of us were shooting they were getting thinned out pretty quick. Red eyes were everywhere and after putting about 30 of them down I noticed they seemed to be falling back. That was until I noticed a pack of them sneaking between homes a ways down the block.

Me: "We have to go now."

Farmer: "We're kicking ass kid."

Sarah: "He's right, something is wrong. Where'd they all go."

Farmer then saw what I had and nodded his head.

Farmer: "Well I'll be dipped in shit, they're flanking us."

We finished off the infected immediately near us and got in the truck. We pulled out just in time to see at least 50 infected come running out from the side of the store.

Me: "They were hunting us."

Sarah: "We never observed intelligence like that with the virus. This doesn't make sense."

Me: "Think about it. We get through a town over ran by infected with minimal interaction? They were herding us. Then the destination is the last perfectly stocked gas station in Nebraska? Fuck me."

Farmer: "No thanks sugar tits. Next time we're more careful. Now why don't you throw this on the dash to thaw."

He handed me a bag of Duke's Spicy BBQ jerky and I obliged. How in the fuck could humanity continue without this stuff. Thinking about it almost brought a tear to my eye.

Me: "Sarah, you have got the best taste ever."

Sarah: "Thanks hun."

I've heard her call me hun before, but the smile she gave me this time was different. I was smiling back when I saw her eyes light up at something approaching. As we neared the highway we all sat up high in our seats as a convoy of vehicles headed our direction. There was no hiding from them now. Do we run?

Fuck yeah.  Now it's getting really good.

Glad your feeling good enough to update the story! Great chapter!!

Just a short chapter. The next one may be a bit lengthy.

# Chapter 18 - Coming to terms.

The convoy had five vehicles. Three trucks, one SUV, and a commercial van. Every last one of them looked as if it had been through hell and back. Fenders folded up, bumpers missing, cracked windshields, and lot's of blood. We readied our weapons as they approached but it was clear we were outnumbered. That doesn't take much with just the three of us though. The three of us sat there like stones, almost like we thought if we were still enough they wouldn't notice us.

Four of the vehicles stopped while the lead vehicle continued. They pulled up right beside us which relieved me. It's the people who want to talk from a distance that I worry about now. The window rolled down and it was a late 30's clean cut looking big guy with a huge dumb smile on his face.

Man: "Name's Jack. What's yours?"

Me: "My name's Doug. Where are you from?"

Jack: "Well I guess it used to be called Omaha. You?"

Me: "Same here. How long ago did you leave?"

Jack: "Five days ago. The Army quarantined the city and up til then they would cut down anyone who approached."

Me: "Did they leave?"

Jack: "Yup, and they left at light speed too. It made sense once they bombed the place. Rumor has it that's the same for every major city though."

Me: "Did they nuke it?"

Jack: "Omaha, no. The east coast was another story though. New York is gone. Pretty much all the big cities on the east coast got turned to radioactive ash. Apparently they didn't care about the fallout carrying from there."

Me: "Fuck."

Jack: "The first day we got out you could still see the outline of the city and the skyscrapers. We were woken up that night by the explosions in the distance. They dropped bombs on it for about five hours straight. When the smoke started clearing a couple days later there was was no skyline left."

Me: "Shit."

Jack: "Yeah."

Both of us just sat there for a few minutes staringly blankly off in the distance. After a moment Jack lifted a walkie talkie and told the caravan to go ahead and approach.

Jack: "Are you guys headed to the FEMA refuge in Boulder too?"

Me: "No, we're heading south. I'm more scared of a winter with no electricity than I am of the infected."

Jack: "I fucking knew it. These assholes think I'm nuts for wanting to get away from the snow."

The convoy pulled up behind Jack and the man driving the van got out and came up to his passenger window. They spoke breifly but I couldn't hear what they were saying. The man in the van turned and went to each individual vehicle and they all pulled slightly off the road. I started to get worried until I saw a woman and maybe a four year old girl get out of one of the trucks and start stretching.

Jack: "Is it safe to stop here for a few minutes?"

Me: "Safer than it would be a few miles away in Brand. The city was completely taken by the virus."

Jack: "Well, this may sound a bit weird, but would your group be interested in possibly trading with ours?"

Me: "I don't know. Don't take it offensively, but we'd like to talk it over first really quick."

Jack: "That's fine with me. Just let me know when you're done."

I rolled the window up just to be safe.

Me: "So what do you guys think? I'm interested in what they have, but do we want to negotiate any trades?"

Farmer: "You know I never would have imagined it, but it seems like the only things we have excessive amounts of are guns and ammo. I don't know if we should trade that though."

Sarah: "This is your doing, so I'm okay with whatever you decide I guess."

We mutually agreed we would do an inventory really quick off the top of our heads. We came up with a guess of 6,000 rounds of 5.56, around 800 rounds of buckshot, 500 or so 9mm, and only a couple hundred of 308. Anything else was too small of numbers. We had lots of guns though. A couple spare M4's, and two commercial AR15's for combat rifles. We had two bolt guns, a few shotguns, and about ten various handguns.

Sarah: What about beef? We've got so much but realistically one random nice day will spoil it. Not to mention we're heading to warmer weather the next couple of days too."

Me: "Good point."

Farmer: "All I need is a cow and a bullet and I can get us more steaks anyways."

We talked to Jack and the last thing he wanted was guns or ammo. He told us stories of literally picking them up off the street in the chaos, and they had done just as we did and left the rare and less useful stuff. When Farmer mentioned the steaks every person in their group that heard dropped their jaws and looked like they were going to cry. It was clear we had our trading material.

Jack led us right over to their supply van. Just like us they had guns and ammo stacked deep, as well as canned food. We had a pretty solid tool collection but right off the bat I noticed two things I wanted. Some hefty bolt cutters, and a hefty pry bar. They also had a huge bag of various batteries ranging from watch size to 9 volt. We negotiated about 8 pounds of various cuts of meat for the two tools as well as batteries for our headsets, and we also traded 100 rounds of buckshot for 300 rounds of 9mm ammo. I think we were both happy with the trades, and I felt even better about it when they offered to set up a grill and burn some of the meat we just gave them for us too. We declined as we needed to keep our line south to get to town before dark.

As we started packing up and saying our goodbyes Jack had an uneasy look on his face. He came walking up with a look on his face that was all business.

Jack: "Doug, how far south are you heading?"

Me: "Truth be told, we're going to keep going until we find a safe and warm place. Why?"

Jack: "Outside of Oklahoma City, there's a girl. There's been lot's of girls and most of them I wouldn't bother with, but this one is only seven years old and I've only ever seen pictures of her. So, I...... Well, I was wondering if I could follow your group for awhile until I can go find my daughter and my ex."

Me: "I'll have to run it by my people. I need to know some things first though."

I decided I wanted to know more about him and what he was bringing to the table.

"We're tight for room. Is that truck you have yours?"

"Yes."

"Do you have your own guns?"

"An M4 and a 45."

"What did you do before this?"

"I was a freelance electrician."

"Do you have food and water?"

"Enough for the trip three times over."

Me :"Okay, let me run it by my people. Are your people going to be okay with you taking your share of the supplies?"

Jack: "They're family now. Chances are I'm gonna have to fight them out of giving it all to me. Bunch of idiots."

We went to our separate groups and Farmer and Sarah were both perfectly fine with it. Farmer seemed downright enthused about it, likely because of the stuff going on between Sarah and I. Jack's crew had the opposite reaction. They all hugged and the little girl that was with the group started crying. It was just as he said though, as the group was sending him off like an over protective parent does for their child's first day of school. It was cheesy to watch but after a quick thought I realized I'd feel the same way if Sarah or Farmer decided to split. That would suck some hardcore horse genitals. If his group reacted this way, Jack had to be a good dude despite having the demeanor of a frat boy. He had just insulted these people to me but was visibly having a hard time saying his farewells.

After a few moments they started carrying his supplies out from the work van. The only things I could really make out were a pair of jumper cables, and a bag of tools that I'm guessing were the same ones he carried at work every day. As he threw that bag in the back of his truck a younger woman walked up with a bag of food and water. She planted a sloppy enough kiss on him I felt dirty having witnessed it. After a few more second goodbyes from his group, he turned around and pulled up behind us ready to go.

Farmer: "You got your coms on?"

Me: "Always. You want some short range communication device sex or something?"

Farmer: "Nope, but I might ride with him for a ways so I don't have to constantly smell budussy."

Me: "What the fuck is budussy?"

Farmer: "Butt, dick, and pussy."

Sarah: "Fuck yourself leather nuts."

Farmer and I both looked at eachother amazed for a moment at the surprise of Sarah talking shit so fluently to Farmer.

Sarah: "Oh come on, all the trash talk you guys do and suddenly what I said was too much?"

Me: "It wasn't that, but I'm amazed because I think you just gave Farmer an official nick name."

Farmer: "I've never had a woman call me something that bad before. Doug, you're a lucky man."

He closed the door and ran back to Jack's Dodge Ram. Both vehicles were ready to roll out but I waved them up next to us. I rolled down my window and Farmer did the same from Jack's passenger seat. I looked back in my rear view and couldn't help but notice my eye from when Sarah blastied me in the face with a stapler. I realized I was staring at myself in the mirror like an idiot when Farmer spoke.

Farmer: "Yeah?"

Me: "You guys lead the way since you know where you're going. We're only going to scout the town tonight, so don't go blasting in there until we reconvene, ok?"

Jack: "10-4 boss."

Sarah almost instantly started napping once we got on the road. My mind went rampant with thoughts. East coast nukes, Sarah, kids, Jack, our group as a whole, life in the future, and so forth. One thing I couldn't shake though was my lack of injuries. Less than two weeks ago I got shot. I had broken ribs and a perforated lung. My eye was healed and the stitches were gone with out Sarah ever taking them out. They literally disappeared so maybe they fell out while I was sleeping. I guess nothing makes sense anymore, but this issue specifically creeped me out more than anything. So much so I was scared to bring it up at this point. "Who the fuck am I kidding" I lightly mumbled out loud. I know exactly what's going on.......





I'm infected.

Noooooooooooo!!!!!!

DUH!  didn't you see that coming when the character mentioned he was healing fast a few chapters ago?  Not so hidden fore shadowing....

WDS

Kind of.  I was hoping the redhead was working on some kind of antidote and thats what they used on him when he got shot.

Well that will just all kinds of suck

Semi spoiler...............

































Please refer back to chapter 6 for a refresher.  

Did Sarah treat him with some kind of bioengineered thingie?

And then she screwed him!!  prequel to aliens right here!!

this is damn good

# Chapter 19 - Spike Strips.

We had been driving for about an hour and I was freaking out. I couldn't take it. I reached over and gave Sarah's leg a quick shake.

Me: "Sarah, wake up."

She instantly popped up and reached for her Glock.

Sarah: "What the fuck is going on?"

Me: "I can't take it anymore. You have to tell me what the fuck is going on with me? Did you infect me with that AE68 shit?"

She looked down at the floorboard, with a guilty and sad look. She didn't say a word.

Me: "Sarah!"

Sarah: "I had to! AE68 has a shelf life in it's pure form, and you were going to die. If I didn't inject you, the last samples would have been lost. You would have been lost."

Me: "So you saved me to preserve your work?"

Sarah: "No, I saved you because you gave your life for me."

Me: "How do I know that? You were little miss ice princess, and now that you infected me, you....."

I stopped when I realized it. I was worried I was just her lab rat, but we had swapped body fluids and that would mean she's infected too.

Sarah: "You aren't the only one AE68 saved. Edward Thompkins wasn't my boss, he was my father. I had melanoma that I never knew about. By the time I caught it, the cancer had spread to my ovaries. My father and I worked on a viral cure, but I never thought our efforts would pay out. One day in the lab he asked to draw some blood and I thought nothing of it. A week and a half later it was gone.

My specialist was amazed. Not just that the cancer was gone, but that I had become so incredibly healthy too. Her enthusiasm brought attention though. Next thing we knew we were tasked by the CDC and the government to make it a production item. My father knew how to recreate it but initially refused because he knew they wanted to weaponize it. They threw me in confinement and used me as leverage, and Gizmo was one of the rotational guards and the only one that would talk to me.

Eventually they got it out of him. They pulled me back out of containment to help with stabilization and my first day back was the last day I saw my father. I assumed my father was killed but continued on while I weighed my options to escape. In his initial stalling, my father created AE72 just to slow things down. His assistant that temporarily replaced me was the one responsible for this. All of this. He was the one who stole the virus and sold it. Needless to say I'm not a big fan of the government or the idiots who released this."

Sarah was crying at this point.

Me: "How long ago were you infected?"

Sarah: "19 months ago."

Me: "Well what are the...."

Sarah: "Doug!!!"

In looking at Sarah during the conversation I hadn't realized Jack had come to a complete stop. I slammed on the brakes and skidded to a stop just inches short of his rear bumper. There was a truck stop on the right side of the road with some light fire damage. Just then Farmer came over our communicators.

Farmer: "Jack says sorry for the sudden stop, but there's a spike strip laid out on the road. Something tells me we need to back up and regroup."

Just as he said that a wall of gunfire hit Jack's Dodge. I tossed the Tahoe in reverse and backed up about 20 feet and Sarah and I jumped out locked and loaded. Farmer and Jack were both alive and had made their way out the driver side door. They were both readying their weapons when I saw movement from the ditch on the left side down by the spike strip. The flannel wearing man popped up to take a shot on them just in time to eat a bullet from my 11.5" barrel. His friend's took notice.

We were about 60 yards from the truck stop and the place erupted with gunfire. They seemed to only focus on Jack's truck. It appeared backing up was good as they didn't seem to have a shot on my position. I told Sarah to stay and lay down covering fire and I went straight right. There were still trucks in the massive parking lot I could use for cover, but for all I knew these assholes were doing that too. I ran a few trucks down and broke left towards the building. I looked around and wondered how fucking dumb these guys were. Robbing supplies from the healthy but I couldn't see a single fucking truck this side of the lot that was cracked. Fucking idiots!

As I approached the building walking between two trucks, what looked to be a state patrol officer and a large cliche redneck came out the side of the building. I decided what the hell.

Me: "What the fuck are you shooting at us for?"

They both ran back inside. That sure didn't work very well. After a few moments the shots from inside stopped. I got over the coms and asked if everyone was alright. Farmer didn't say anything. Sarah came back on and let me know Farmer was hit. Just then the redneck opened the door and walked out with his hands up. Mother fuckers!

Redneck: "Sorry mister, we don't want no troubles but didn't know if ya'll were bandits. We're not looking for a fight."

I slung my rifle behind my back and cautiously showed myself. Just then Sarah came back over my frequency.

Sarah: "He's unconscious and I can't get a fix on how bad his wound actually is."

I walked towards the redneck with my hands slightly raised in the air. A man popped up with a rifle in the window and I knew it was a set up. I was planning this for Farmer anyways so I actually felt relieved they wanted to kill me. I drew my Sig as fast as I could and pulled the trigger. The weird thing about a head shot is sometime it's instant lights out, sometimes it's not. I've seen times where they fall back and tense up and gurgle first, but the redneck guy fell straight into a vertical fetal position. The window of the truck stop crashed as gunfire erupted from it and I ran back behind a semi trailer. I found out quick they don't provide very good cover as I took a bullet straight in the calf. I instantly felt the burn and what felt like the worst cramp ever. I thought to myself I can't go down now, and the pain stopped. I hobbled my way down to the actual truck part of the semi to regain my thoughts when flames burst out on the side of the diner. I looked back towards the road just in time to see Jack lob another molotav cocktail at the front of the building too. That one did some damage as I instantly heard screams from inside. The shooting from my side stopped for a minute, and I peaked from under the trailer through my ACOG. I made out a silouhette in the window they previously fired at me from and rattled off a controlled burst. My aim was true as the target dropped. I got Sarah back on my frequency to see how Farmer was doing.

Sarah: "He's hurt but I can't see any signs of internal bleeding. It looks like the bullet passed straight through but broke his clavicle on in the process. I was worried it hit his lung but I think he just passed out from pain."

Me: "Okay. Is Jack's truck working?"

Sarah: " No, the first wave of bullets took it out."

Me: "Well the building is burning pretty good up front, but there's quite a few vehicles out back. Most of them are shot to hell and have flat tires though. Let me see what I can do."

I came around the back of the truck stop to see the state patrol guy jogging for a Jeep from the back door. He had a duffel bag in each hand and as soon as he saw me he went still. I just looked him right in the eye through my ACOG as we both stood there frozen. He dropped both of the bags and reached for his holster. I wouldn't have shot him, but apparently he insisted. He was fast enough on his draw I may have been screwed if I wasn't at ready.

The truck stop seemed to slow in it's burning which I liked. It might have good supplies, but most importantly I didn't want the fuel tanks to erupt while I was here. What I didn't like was the fact someone was putting it out. That meant there were people who still thought this place was worth fighting for. Fuck it.

I slowly opened the back door the trooper had came from. It was about 20 degrees outside so I welcomed the instant warmth, but not the smoke. To my left was the diner I had the windowed gunfight with, and straight ahead was the store section. I could hear talking ahead in the store, but broke left for the diner. If I went this route I could clear the diner and come back around on them from the side, rather than behind where they'd expect it. The diner was clear minus one corpse with two gunshots to the head and an AK on the ground. I guess that was my doing. I circled around the diner to find an older man, an older lady, and an early teenage boy scrambling around to put out the small fires near the window. There was a charred corpse still smoking in the middle of an aisle just feet from where the fires were. The odd thing was that the legs were completely unscathed. The top half of the body was pretty charred. Luckily the smell of burning plastic over powered the smell of burning flesh. Well, maybe luckily as the smoke was pretty thick.

I coughed and all three of them turned. The old man was standing just feet from what looked to be an M1 carbine. I also noticed the store was stocked with lots more than what it should be. The apparent loot from multiple people unlucky enough to take this route.

Me: "If you go for it, you'll die. If not, I want to know exactly what the fuck you stupid mother fuckers were trying to do here!!"

Old man: "It was all the trooper and his redneck brother. My name...."

Me: "Shut the fuck up! If I wanted to know your name I would have asked. Now what the fuck were you doing?"

Old man: "They trapped us too, but let us live because, well, I don't know why. All I know is they trapped people using those tire popping strips to take their supplies. But they promised we'd be safe."

Me: "And what happened to the people?"

Old man: "I don't know. They told us not to ask."

Me: "Pathetic."

Old lady: "How dare you judge us after what you just did!"

I try my best to be a decent guy, but I walked right up to the mid 50's lady and cocked my hand back. I couldn't do it though.

Old lady: "You're no man. You're a coward! Fuck you!"

At just that time Sarah walked in. She walked up to the woman and bitch slapped the lady so hard she fell on her ass. Maybe I'm losing my morals, but I regretted not doing it myself. The old man scrambled to the lady and I grabbed his carbine.

Old man: "What could we do? We couldn't survive out there!"

Me: "What you've done, you're worse than the infected."

As I finished my sentence I heard a hammer cock. The young boy was pointing a revolver straight at me. I turned towards him and gave him a look that said he was going to be eating his teeth real soon.

Me: "Boy, put that gun down now. You and these people will be leaving here alive, but if you pull that trigger I guarantee that won't happen."

The boy was crying and shaking so bad it was just a matter of moments. He had the revolver pointed right at my head. Suddenly it was like slow motion. His breathing sped up and when he closed his eyes I knew our negotiations were over. I dodged as quickly to the right as I could while reaching for my knife attached to the strap of my chest rig. I was too late. PING!!!!! My ear drums burst in pain, and then the left side of my head felt like someone tried to cut the top of my head off with a dull red hot sword. I kept pushing towards him and swung my knife at his hand, which was as close as I could get before he could adjust and fire another round at me.

Me: "Fuck!!!!!"

The kid had dropped the gun and was now crying as he held his bleeding hand that was now short a couple fingers. I ran right up to him and lifted him in the air by his neck with my left hand. He instantly started choking as I put my Busse knife right up to his face. The older couple started screaming for me not to kill him, and I honestly debated killing them all.

When I realized my injury was only a very light throb and that the boy was near being strengled to death, I dropped him. He instantly gasped for air, seemingly forgetting about the damage to his hand. I put my knife away and lifted my hand to my head. Yep, I was bleeding like a stuck pig alright. I looked over at Sarah and she looked back at me like she was baffled I was alive. I guess I had forgotten I had been shot twice in the past 20 minutes.

Me: "All three of you in the bathroom, right fucking now!!!! If you so much as peek out that door I swear on my fucking life I will beat you to death with your own limbs. Fucking morons!"

The couple grabbed the boy and took off to the men's bathroom that was closest as I demanded. I headed to the women's to look at the damage. Sarah started to follow.

Me: "No, we both know I'll be fine. Go help Farmer."

I said it like the pissed off smart ass I was and she knew it was a pun. She looked down and turned to walk away.

Sarah: "Okay."

I looked in the mirror and had a healthy gash down the side of my head. I went for the sink to wash it out but no water came. Maybe it was the rush from having just been shot in the head, but I chalked it up to me being thrown off by the place having electricity and forgetting civilization is gone. With all of the fuel tanks around, a solid generator could power this place for as long as the fuel would still ignite. Deep down I knew I was just stalling because I was worried about Farmer though. It wasn't like I could stop the bleeding in here anyways. I just didn't want to see him injured. I may as well grab the Jeep since Jack's truck is fucked.

I got the keys from the trooper's pocket and grabbed his bags too. He had an FDE M&P 45 with a threaded barrel that was laying on the ground I had no issue taking either. His badge had a last name of Chavez on it, and this guy definitely wasn't Mexican. It looked like he had been planning to bug out as the jeep was already packed with only enough room for three people. There were five shooters plus the three still inside and I wondered where everyone else had planned to go. In the passenger seat sat a Bushmaster AR15 with a heavy barrel.

I decided to check the bags as I could hear ammo inside of them. The first bag was packed with all 5.56 and M1 carbine cartridges. What the fuck? This vehicle was set for three people, and only one person had an M1 carbine. Come to think of it, the lady was the only one unarmed too. Shit!!! I turned just in time to see the lady approaching the door with the AK from the diner shooter. Just as I prepared to plug her my heart dropped when I heard shots ring out from the front of the store.

Im liken this story

Awesome!

Sorry if there are any mistakes. I've been a bit short on time lately and haven't been chapter bouncing during proof reading.



# Chapter 20 - Grazed.

The woman walked right out. Judging by her surprise and that there were two people shooting out front, they had no idea I was actually out back. As soon as she saw me she dropped the rifle and put her hands up. I know the only reason the cunt did was because I had the jump on her.

Me: "Oh, sorry to fuck up your escape."

Her: "So you think you're on to us huh?"

Me: "You guys are behind all of this aren't you."

Her: "Well my idiot husband almost gave it away by telling you his name anyways. He's Patrick, hence the name of the place "Pat Stop". We could use you here, and if we come to an agreement you might have time to save your friends out there."

THUMP! I shot the bitch in the knee. The gun fire out front didn't skip a beat so apparently my suppressor and the wind kept them from hearing the shot, and apparently her screams too. I picked up the AK and gave her a tap to the head with the butt stock to keep her quiet. The damage to her leg was drastic. I've shot a lot of people lately and seen some melons split open, but her knee looked like a bomb went off inside of it and I kind of felt bad. Oh well. I tossed the AK in a bush on my way around to the front of the store.

The older man and his teenage son were kneeled behind a car at a gas pump laying down heavy fire from the M1 carbine and an obviously full auto AR of some kind. How fucking dumb was I too toss the M1 back on the ground when the kid tried to kill me, and where the fuck did they get the M16? Luckily the kid had the automatic and wasn't hitting shit left handed since his right was missing a trigger finger. What a pycho. I got on my comm to tell Sarah to shoot in the air. I didn't want her to hit me but figured the two assholes might get spooked if they stopped shooting. I knew the kid was trouble so I snuck up behind them and pulled my Sig. I kicked the kid in the head, causing his chin to bounce off the car. He was out cold. As soon as "Pat" realized it I had my pistol pointed right at his head. He dropped the M1 and pleaded "Don't shoot". I got on my comm and told Sarah things were clear and to bring wire ties over. Her and Jack came up and Sarah and I secured the two out front while Jack went around back and bound the woman with a healthy chain of zip ties.

They had moved Farmer to the back seat of the Tahoe and let it run. I had Sarah and Jack stay in position to wait for the knocked out agressors to wake up, and I planned on pulling around back to have Jack help me carry Farmer inside. It seemed like a good idea as I ran down the highway until I realized there was someone standing at the now open back door on the Tahoe where Farmer rested.

Me: "Freeze right fucking now!"

I got no reaction from them and realized they were likely infected since they were bare foot in this weather. Realizing the longer they had the larger the chance bad things were happening to farmer, I lifted my rifle and shot the person in the leg. A mid 30's man fell backwards on the ground and instantly looked at me with bright red eyes and started growling. I shot him right in the mouth for an incredibly messy kill. I ran up to the vehicle expecting to see a gnawed on Farmer, but was met with surprise. This fucker was stealing his shoes! I looked him over for bites on his legs and feet but didn't see any injury except from the bullet wound to his shoulder and chest area. Sarah had gauze over it, so unless the infected took a bite and put the bandages back on, it didn't look like he was compromised.

Sarah came back on the line to let me know the teenager had come to and that she was moving them back to the bathroom. I told her to be careful and keep an eye on them as they were actually the ones in charge and responsible for all of this.

I pulled around back and Jack was standing over the woman with his gun pointed at her head. She had not woken up yet so we carried her to the bathroom where the others were. Jack and Sarah covered me while I chained zip ties together to secure them to the grab handle screwed into the wall in the handicap stall. They were lucky I even did that as the bathroom was the warmest place in the entire facility right now due to the windows that got busted out in the fight. Sarah tossed some gauze on the ladies leg but said it might have to be amputated. The teenage boy seemed to take his anger out on the man known as Pat who appeared to be his father, cussing and blaming him before I finally told him to shut the fuck up. I had more important things to do so I headed out back.

Jack and I were carrying Farmer to the men's bathroom when he started to come to.

Farmer: "Son, what the fuck happened to the side of your head. It looks like my ex wife's vagina."

Me: "Same thing that happed to your chest you old goat."

Farmer: "Well set me down, I'll walk it off."

Me: "You aren't walking this one off old buddy."

I quit talking when I looked back down and saw he had passed back out. We set him on the floor for a moment while Jack and I went and collected a long table from the diner. We put it against the wall and tossed a couple Nebraska blankets over it so it was a little bit softer and set him on it. Sarah came back in and had some tools to get the remaining bullet fragments out. After awhile she said she had done all that we could and redressed the wound.

Sarah: "Now it's your turn to get patched up. You're going to need some more stitches."

Jack: "While you guys do that I'm going to grab some nails and a hammer from my truck so I can try to board up some of the windows with tables from the diner."

Me: "Good idea, but be careful. I ran into an infected out there. The gun fire probably drew them in so one of us should get some sleep as soon as possible so we can get a watch rotation going. Lock all the doors on your way back in too. Better safe than sorry."

Jack nodded his head and was off. Sarah had to run out to the truck to get Farmer's hair clippers. It looks like I had to lose some hair on the left side of my head for her to put in the stitches. I looked in the mirror at the wound and it was already dried out and in all honesty, the tissue swelling did make it look like a nasty vagina as Farmer had cracked. My leg on the other hand looked weird. At this point it only looked like a couple of ragged holes on each side of my swollen calf. I expected the yaw of an AK47 round to do a bit more damage, but on the other hand it did only have a few shallow inches to work with. I was so intrigued I jumped when Sarah threw the door open. She saw my leg and looked at me like she was unimpressed as she turned on the clippers and started buzzing away my hair.

Sarah: "AE68 needs a couple weeks to go into full effect. One thing we didn't expect it to be capable of is prioritizing. It's the reason your calf muscle has already healed so much, yet we're still having to stitch the wounds. Just like when your perforated lung healed in just days but your broken ribs took almost two weeks. Your body still hasn't fully accepted the virus, so your healing is still a bit slower. Do you still feel pain?"

I winced as she poured alcohol on the gash and started wiping it out with gauze.

Me: "Just for a couple moments. It seems like once I tell myself not to feel it the pain stops."

Sarah: "Yep. As the virus takes over the immune system it will start working on the nervous system as well. "

Me: "Stupid question, are we immortal?"

Sarah laughed.

Sarah: "No. A severe and sudden loss of blood will kill us. Same for any severe damage to the brain. Or any injury that will stop the heart from beating. The virus still has to be circulated through our blood, and it routes based on response of our immune system and the signals through our nervous system. Also keep in mind I'm the only living example on long term effects. To be honest it's a miracle that you're still alive, virus or not."

Me: "Want to do the other side too?"

Sarah: "What?"

Me: "My hair. I figure I'll look like a bigger idiot with half of mohawk than a full one. So Chuck Liddell me but leave the beard. Or is it just going to grow back in a day anyways?"

Sarah: "No, hair is dead skin. The only normal balance the virus impacts is adrenaline production. So you're not going to grow a third eye or anything."

Me: "So when do I get super strength?"

Sarah: "You don't. It doesn't just work like that. Technically you don't gain strength. The mind normally keeps the body from using it's full strength because it causes damage when we do. The virus adds the ability to rapidly repair that damage, off setting the stress of adrenaline dumps. Technically the more you use it, the stronger you would get though. That's the scary thing about the infected too. Luckily the loss of intelligence in their case slows down the capabilities of the virus. That's not to say they're not evolving like you and I are though."

Me: "So, if I worked out, I could get stronger really fast then?"

Before she had a chance to answer the lights flickered and the power went out. The sun would be going down soon and we were pretty much stuck until Farmer could recover a little bit. The biggest problem was the heat stopping.

We both got up and turned on our weapon lights so we could see. As we headed towards the door, I had to ask.

Me: "What would happen if we infected Farmer?"

Sarah: "I don't know. His age leaves a lot of questions. It's too big of a risk. Aside from that, we would have to infect him with the evolved virus, meaning any bad side effects would show up a lot sooner. He would heal faster, but still no where near that of us. It's just too risky though."

I wasn't sure where the generator or their fuel source were, so I had to ask them. I walked into the other bathroom and the woman I shot was now awake and lightly sobbing.

Me: "Where's the generator and fuel?"

The father and son looked at eachother like they were afraid to tell me.

Pat: "And just why should I tell you?"

Me: "Freeze to death, or tell me. Your choice."

Pat: "You're going to kill us anyways."

Me: "If I was going to kill you, I wouldn't have brought you inside. I don't want to freeze to death, and I'm sure your injured family doesn't either. Tell me what I want to know, and you'll stay warm and I'll have my doc patch your family up as best as possible."

Pat: "In the gas station stock room behind the counter, there's a large shelf with a bunch of Pat Stop shirts on it. Give it a good tug and it will slide straight out and it has wheels on it. Follow the stairs down and all you have to do is keep going straight until you hit the sub basement and swap out the 55 gallon drums."

Kid: "Dad!! What are you thinking?"

Pat: "Kyle, shut up."

I turned and left. The stock room door was locked. I kicked it open with ease but instantly felt my calf burning. Once again, I simply thought I wanted the pain to go away and it did. Fucking awesome and creepy as shit at the same time. The stock room was an aresenal. It looked to be mostly older equipment but with out full lighting I couldn't really tell much. I found the shelf and just as he said a good tug pulled it out of a track. It was on wheels so all I had to do was slide it. As I came down the stairs and opened a thick steel door I was baffled to see what appeared to be an underground apartment. The door opened to a living room which had a big screen and three couches. Apparently they had a back up battery for it too as the lights were on but incredibly dim. The couches had pillows and blankets on them from where people had obviously slept. They even had a wood burning stove to the left, followed by a decent sized open kitchen. Straight ahead was a hallway that had seven doors, three on each side and one straight ahead. I had my rifle at ready and planned to clear the place anyways, but suddenly jumped when I heard a loud thud down the hall.

Thanks for the story so far. I have become addicted to this story. Keep it up.

Holy crap, I love this story!  keep it coming my friend!!

Great tale.

Can't wait for the next chapter

Nice keep them coming.

this story is pretty fucking good

WE NEED MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Best story I have read on here for a long time. Keep it coming. I hope by the time I hit submit there are two more chapters waiting to be read,

I had to rewrite an entire chapter due to me being a dumbass and deleting it by accident.

# Chapter 21 - No name, no pain.


I inched down the hallway to clear the rooms. I probably should have had someone else here with me, but I think the people in the bathroom and possible infected outside required more attention. The first room I cleared was an office. It had a desk, a computer, some filing cabinets, and some stupid ass "Pat Stop" gear. The second room was a bathroom, and a damn nice one at that. The thing that made me the most pleased was seeing water in the toilet. This place was pretty remote so I knew the chances of them having a well were pretty high, but wasn't going to get emotionally invested in that possibility just yet. The third and fourth room were typical bedrooms, one of which obviously belonging to a very disturbed teenage boy. The fifth room was the master bedroom and was considerably larger than the others and had it's own bathroom as well. I found where I'm sleeping. The sixth room was a steel door with a thick glass window and had a padlock on it. As I looked in the lights flickered, and when they came back on I jumped back quickly as a face had suddenly appeared on the other side. It looked to be a late teenage girl with brown hair, obviously a bit malnourished. I was still a bit creeped out and knew she wasn't getting out, so I decided to clear the rest of the place reluctantly.

I walked into the sub basement which was pretty decent sized. There were about 20 barrels of diesel fuel and a massive generator. I'm talking a steel box about twelve feet long and five feet tall and wide. I opened up one of the steel doors and it looked like a tractor engine was stuffed inside. As I suspected there was a good sized blue tank and a well pump, as well as a normal sized electric water heater too. In the corner was also a washer and drier, and there was a work shelf with a good amount of tools. Holy fuck these people were set! There were switches for both the elctricity and water to the upstairs as well and I suddenly felt like an unprepared jackass. These people had enough to last a very long time and it was all ruined by greed. Fucking idiots.

I unscrewed the fitting to the empty 55 gallon barrel and transferred it over to a fresh one. Luckily the generator started by simply turning a key and pressing a button because I didn't know shit about them. If it was anything complicated I would have had to bring Pat down which could have gone bad really quick. After just a couple minutes of running the electricity flickered and came back on in full power. Nature was calling and I had a turtle head popping out for the past hour, so I figured I'd see if the water worked. Worst case scenario I leave an epic dump stuck in a band of shithead's toilet. The girl was still looking out the window when I came back by, but she was going to have to wait. I played a game of solitaire on my phone while I fired out a loaf that felt like it was the size of my leg. Now what the fuck was I going to do about the girl?

I walked up to the door and when I made eye contact she walked back to a cot in the corner and curled up. I went and grabbed a pair of bolt cutters from the work bench in the sub basement which cut the lock off like butter. I slowly opened the door and to my surprise the girl's eyes started tearing up and she took off the sweatpants she was wearing. I didn't know what to think until I saw the little trash can in the corner littered with used condoms and wrappers. I walked towards the bed and don't get me wrong because this girl was pretty, but it pained my soul when such a seemingly young girl spread her legs open and wiped her tears away at the same time. I bent down and picked her sweatpants up off the floor and tossed them to her. I kept eye contact with her while she put them back on. I wanted to turn around but for all I knew that would get me killed. Once she was dressed I sat on the bed.

Me: "I'm Doug. What's your name?"

She just looked at me kind of confused and leaned forward like she was going to kiss me. I put my hands up to hold her back.

Me: "Whoa, I'm not here for that, I'm here to help you. Do you have a name?"

This time she smiled. I came to the conclusion she was mute, and based on the fact she was obviously not well fed and had some bruises, it was my assumption she had things happen to her that would make me go mute in her place too.

Me: "Are you hungry? We have food upstairs."

She shook her head quickly and smiled even bigger. Before I could even react she had wrapped her arms around my shoulders and was crying happily. When she leaned forward I saw blood on her pillow and me being "soft serve" in Farmer's words, I hugged her back.

Me: "Come on. Let's go eat."

As we walked out of the room she stopped at the doorway and looked up and down the hallway with a scared look on her face. I motioned for her to follow me and she started to tear up again with a look of terror on her face.

Me: "It's okay. There's no one here that will hurt you anymore."

She slowly crept out of the room and then kept a normal pace after that. We came out of the storage room to find Sarah and Jack sealing off the gaps between the table and window frame with expanding foam spray.

Me: "Guys, great idea but we won't need that. And we have a guest."

They both turned with a look of surprise.

Me: "Sarah, can you take a look at her? I don't think she's had much to eat."

Sarah: "What's your name?"

Sarah reached out her hand and the girl rounded back behind me and started shivering, clinging to my multicam jacket.

Me: "Hey, it's okay. This is my very good friend Sarah and she just wants to make sure you're alright okay?"

She looked up at me with a timid look on her face and then slowly made her way to Sarah. As she walked towards her I motioned to Sarah a zipper over my lips and shook my head to let her know the girl appeared to be mute. I decided now was a good time to go check on the evil fucks in the bathroom.

Sarah had dressed their wounds but the wife wasn't doing too good. Maybe it was the leg, maybe it was the head injury. At this point I felt no sympathy for any of them though.

Me: "That's a nice set up you got down there. Beds, running water, a generator, a young girl to rape at your will. What more could you ask for?"

I gritted my teeth with my last question and grabbed the old man by his hair and twisted.

Me: "You fucking pieces of shit! I should fucking kill you where you sit."

I still had a hold on his hair and pushed his head away when I let go. His head bounced off the handicap grab bar and I noticed it moved when he did it. These motherfuckers had this thing loose somehow.

Me: "Heh, pretty slick family aren't you. Well I got a surprise for you."

After a few minutes and a healthy amount of zip ties I left the bathroom with all three of them laying reverse hog tied to a different stall support beam. Bitches. Problem was I didn't want to execute a teenage boy and his parents. I honestly had no clue what to do. Killing a family just seems fucking terrible, even in this shit storm. Damn.

I knew we needed to get Farmer downstairs. A bathroom wasn't a healthy place to begin with, but a real bed and some running water would do him good. Jack and I went in to the bathroom to move him and much to our surprise he was conscious. We went to pick him up but he insisted on walking. I didn't oppose seeing as us carrying him left his injury more prone to damage. He moved slow, but he was one tough old bastard for sure. We put him in the cleanest of the bedrooms and brought him a can of soup and some water. He grubbed it down quickly and then asked for some whiskey. I told him to get bent but tossed him a bottle of pain relievers. He popped a few and laid back down and was back off to sleep. This time he was snoring so I wasn't that worried.

Jack: "Holy shit, that store room is packed."

Me: "Yeah, I think it's safe to say they were preparing for the worst. With all of the supplies they have and all of those unopened trucks outside, I just can't figure out why the fuck they would risk it all by killing people for more supplies."

Jack: "I'm not a very deep guy, but trust me when I say the infection has changed people. I can deal with the infected, but it seems like you guys were the first group of people we had ran into that weren't trying to kill us. People have lost it man."

Me: "I agree. It's a different world out there now. Now let's go see what they have."

Holy shit. Two pallets of MRE's, four AR pattern rifles, four M1 Carbines, two AK47's, two SKS rifles, one M&P 45 pistol and two AAC suppressors, one clone but full auto MP5SD, six 1911 pistols, one M1 Garand, and an M79 launcher. That didn't include the guns we had already taken either. I was impressed by the historic value, but Jack mumbled about how you could find better on the streets of Omaha. I guess he was technically right and I shouldn't be too surprised. 300 million guns not even including the military, and the majority of 300 million people infected left some pretty optimistic firepower ratios for those not infected. Not that I really felt that good about our chances regardless though.

I was excited for three things in particular. MRE's, replacing my Sig with the M&P 45 with the suppressor, and the M79. They had a few thousand rounds of 45ACP so not only did I have something that hit a little harder, but Sarah had twice as much ammo for her M9 too. Something told me I'd end up sharing the 45ACP with Farmer as one of the 1911's was a custom and looked to be just his style. As for the M79 grenade launcher, I don't need to say a fucking thing. I'm smiling ear to ear for this beauty. There were three different kinds of shells, and 20 of each. The only ones I could identify were the HE rounds. I wish my phone had internet so I could download the Team America theme just for this.

We made sure the store was all locked up. Most everything in the store was still good, so we kept the electricity flowing upstairs but made sure to turn off all the lights. The last thing I want to wake up to is a store full of crazies, infected or not. Now I was wishing I hadn't kicked in the stockroom door, but a pallett of windshield wiper fluid was enough to keep out the infected. Sarah and Jack headed down the stairs and I was following when I realized the girl wasn't moving. Instead she was standing by the stockroom door with a terrified look on her face. I guess I couldn't blame her for not wanting to go back down there, but it was much safer.

Me: "Come on. I promise you'll be safe down here tonight. I won't let anyone hurt you, okay."

I put my hand out and she reluctantly inched forward. Sarah popped her head up from the stairwell and eventually the girl followed me in. The shelf had straps on the bottom so you could pull it back over to cover the stairs. Truth be told, I had never seen anything like this place in real life. I thought about staying out the winter, but problem is the fuel will go bad. No fuel means no heat, which is why we need to head south as soon as we can.

Sarah was going through the cabinets and the refridgerator. At first, I figured there would be human meat knowing these twisted fucks, but instead we found some frozen boneless chicken breasts. We all agreed some chicken alfredo pasta would hit the spot, and be easy enough for Farmer to eat. Jack was checking on him now, and I noticed the girl was sitting on the couch petrified. I felt bad dragging her back down here, so I went to go sit with her and see if I could find a DVD she'd like. As soon as I got near she stood up and grabbed my hand, leading me off down the hall. She pulled me into the little office set up and started going through the file cabinet. She finally pulled out a bag filled with men's and women's wallets. She opened up a bright blue one and pulled the driver's license out and handed it to me. It was her own. Her name was Tiffany Reed and she had turned 19 back in September, and apparently lived in Fremont, Nebraska.

Me: "Tiffany huh? Well Tiffany I'm Doug Ripley and it's nice to put a name to a face."

She shook her head no, and I struggled to understand what she was trying to convey. She placed her finger over her name, leaving only "Tiff" exposed.

Me: "So you go by Tiff?"

She shook her head and smiled in a way that a young child would. I would have guessed her as being 16 as she was pretty tiny and looked young as well. She handed me the rest of the bag and then looked down sadly. I looked in the bag and saw a bloody white women's wallet and realized these must have belonged to their victims.

Me: "Tiff, can you go help Sarah cook? I'd like a few minutes."

She shook her head yes and off she went. All together there were 23 wallets. The first notable was Michael Chavez, who appeared to be where they got the state trooper gear from. I also found the ID of a Norma Reed ftom Fremont. Based on the pictures in the wallet I'm guessing this was Tiff's grandmother. I contemplated sneaking upstairs to end the motherfuckers once I considered that she was possibly killed right in front of Tiff. How the fuck anyone can do this kind of stuff amazes me. I sat there for a moment staring off into space when Jack walked in and snapped me out of it. I explained it to him and what they had been doing to Tiff. The rape, the beating, the malnourishment, and her grandmother. His face instantly went red to the point I asked him if he was okay. He just replied "I'm fine" with a cheesy fake smile.

Eventually we all made our way to the couches. The movie of the night while we ate was "Old School". I figured that was a better selection than "Mad Max" or "Zombieland". It was surreal sitting on an expensive leather couch in a nice heated apartment watching TV on a big screen laughing our asses off. We even heard Tiff's voice when she erupted into laughter a couple times. It was really nice. Well, except for Will Ferrell's ass. I only wish our group could stay like this.

Eventually we all started yawning. Jack said he was going to take a shower and then it was lights out for him. Farmer was already sleeping, and that only left one bedroom.

Me: "Tiff, you can have the master bedroom if you'd like. Sarah and I will sleep on the couches."

She just shook her head no and pointed down at the couch. It seemed she actually wanted to stay out here which was fine with me. Sarah stood up and stretched.

Sarah: "Okay, well I'm going to bed."

Sarah took off down the hall and I grabbed the folded up blankets and a pillow from the corner and laid them out for Tiff. She reacted by latching on to me and giving me yet another hug rape. After we surpassed the time of it being weird, I started pushing her away and said "Well I've got to get to sleep". She just looked down sadly.

Sarah was changing the sheets when I got to the bedroom. I completely bitched out and turned the lights off to undress. I had only had sex with Sarah once and we were drunk when it happened so I felt a little uneasy. As soon as we were both in bed she pretty much attacked me though. Before I knew it we were bumping uglies yet again. This time I lasted quite a bit longer atleast! Twenty pump chump!

We had been laying there with eachother for about fifteen minutes when the door opened. I instantly grabbed for my M&P out of instinct, but Sarah grabbed my shoulder. It was Tiff and she was crying. Sarah turned the lamp next to the bed on and asked her what was wrong, but to no surprise she didn't say anything. Tiff walked to the foot of the large bed and threw her pillow and blanket at our feet. I started to speak up to tell her no, but Sarah stopped me. I guess I should be a bit more thoughtful as the girl was being forced to sleep in what was probably the last place in the world she wanted to be. I was just weirded out since Sarah and I were both butt naked, but if she was on the edge of the bed I guess it was fine for the night. Eventually both Sarah and Tiff were asleep and I was left in my thoughts once again. The last thing I remebered thinking before I dozed off was wondering what to do with the people upstairs. Tomorrow I had to do something.......

good stuff

nice chapter

With any luck Jack will keep Doug from having to make that decision.  Another great chapter.  Thanks for all your hard work.

Awesome story bro. Looking forward to more chapters.

as for a book title how about "The strong will survive"

I like the story so far man. You are doing great.

I decided to rename it "Humanity's Will". It's kind of a dual name that's open to speculation. Is it our will power, or is it the will for our demise?

Next chapter should be out tonight. I'm really liking what I have down for it so far, so I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I am.

Yep, Liking it alot! I stumbled in here to see what that tard 'Zerker was doing...but I gotta admit, very entertaining. The biggest point I find a bit intriguing is the fact you're treating the "infected" as still retaining reasoning skills, and that they're not out and out Zombs...

When you're done, are you going to go back and flesh some parts out more? A non-black rifle reader will stumble hard over a lot of the weapon references, a casual explination might benefit the "read-ability" for the masses.

Past that there are some circumstances that need a bit more defining, an example is that I had a hard time with Doug accepting responsibility for the 3 dead in the HUMMVEE chase where he obtained the supressors. They chased HIM and were intent on killing HIM, and HE feels bad?

Also, as pointed out earlier, military units have what's called an M-TOE, military table of organization and equipment that details just what vehicles, troops, equipment and weaponry are assigned. I know you framed these guys as Army, and as some sort of presidential detail, but the randomness isn't ringing true.Offut is an AF base, I'm jus' sayin'.

Suspending Posse Comitatus, and the enactment of Martial Law...a News snippet in some form regarding this would explain the military action a lot better as well.

The run-in with the clueless vegan was priceless, consider bulking up the back and forth with more libtarded protests?

Yeah, I know it sounds like I piled a lot of dislikes, but I did the same to/for Halfstaff when he was writing LO, & I freakin' love that story!

As I read his last sentence, it tells me the decision is already made.  Doesn't say 'have to figure out something'....  says 'had to do something'

I see that as decision made and had to carry it out.

Playing the what if game and if I were in that situation, all three would be dead before we went downstairs for the night....  
If another party came along during the night, the hog tied people would try to buy their freedom by telling anyone and everyone where we were.....

WDS

Double tap.

One thing to consider is the moral dilemma the character faces. He despises killing the living, and that's multiplied by the fact humanity is being wiped out by the infection. Between killing the living and being infected by AE68, he constantly worries about losing his own humanity.

The story was written specifically for ArfCom, so that's why there's so much gun detail. Should I ever want to have anything published that aspect would definitely be dumbed down. I'm avoiding politics because I honestly don't think anyone would be throwing around political philosophy during a disaster that has already wiped out the majority of the human race.

The military part was meant to show disorganization. With the President hiding at Offut, it was meant to show that the government had essentialky collapsed. This was further backed up by the blatant slaughter of innocent civilians. Picture a president lost and scared, worried primarily about his own survival. In control.of what military remains, he's now a man driven by fear and his own preservation. Hence the nuking and bombing of cities as well.

Thank you for the feedback though. It's a good amount of chapters away but I already have a scene laid out that will give a bit more explanation as to what's going on with the military and the government in general. Just to give you guys an idea of how many ideas I have, I expect just what I have planned to run at least 300 chapters. That's a minimum. And that's only about six months of story so things will be picking up for Doug and his gang.

rockin'

Can't wait for the next chapter

# Chapter 22 - Dire Explanations.

I woke up only to realize Tiff was now between Sarah and I in bed. She may be 19, but her mental state made me feel pretty terrible when I realized she was naked just like me and Sarah, and that I was technically spooning her. Like wise, she was spooning Sarah. I quickly hopped out of bed and put my clothes on and luckily didn't wake either of them up. I did find amusement in wondering how hardass Sarah would react when she woke up though. I smirked as I made my way to the bathroom to shower. I took a look in the mirror and my head was almost healed all the way. My calf looked like I never even got shot. As cool of an idea as it sounds, just knowing how unatural it is freaked me out for a minute.

By the time I got out of the shower Sarah was sitting up in bed and Tiff was gone.

Me: "Good morning babe. Any surprises?"

Sarah: "If you're talking about Tiff, no. I woke up when she got in bed with us, granted she had clothes on at that point, but oh well. Being a man I'm sure you had no complaints anyways."

Me: "Well next time how about a little heads up?"

Sarah: "She was crying and kept edging her way up so I just let her under the covers. I think you're the only person she trusts."

Me: "Poor thing, that's how you know she has it bad."

We both chuckled and she headed off to the bathroom to get cleaned up. I opened the bedroom door to be hit with the smell of bacon. Fuck yes. I made my way to the kitchen to find Farmer sitting in a chair right in the middle of the room, giving instructions to Jack on how to cook. I heard the hallway bathroom door open and Tiff came running up to me and gave me a hug. I heard Farmer mumble "Soft mother fucker" to which I gave him the finger. I was smirking mostly because I was happy to see him up and active. I lit up a cigarette and realized Jack was staring at my head. I guess I forgot he wasn't clued in, but was relieved that at least he wasn't asking about how quickly I was healing.

Sarah made her way out and we had bacon and mashed potatoes. I didn't want to do it, but I had to bring gloom to the table. I asked the group what they think we should do with the captives upstairs. Everyone responded the same, pretty much saying what ever choice I make they'll support. That's no fucking help. We finished grubbing down our food like we had just been released from prison. Holy shit was the OJ good, but I figured I better go check on the assholes. Maybe they would do something to give me my answer. Jack volunteered to go with me and I didn't mind him having my back. Deep down I knew what I had to do, and I really appreciated not having to put in that kind of work alone.

After cracking the cover shelving into the store room, I instantly heard it. Grunting and yelling. Grunting and yelling only the infected do. The store room door I had kicked open was still blocked off by the hundreds of pounds worth of windshield wiper fluid. It had gotten pushed back just a bit though. Just enough for a bloody and dirty hand to find it's way through the crack, clawing at the air as if it might get lucky and latch on to something.

I slowly approached and I could see it was a chubby and pastey white man in his 30's. His eyes were the typical red from bursted blood vessels, but I saw something new too. It appeared his face was red too, but as I got closer it was clearly the blood vessels in his face having swollen or expanded. I don't know what he was reaching for, but when he saw me he went ballistic. His screams were loud and violent sounding, and almost instantly the pallet of fluid started moving from every lunge he made. I raised the suppressed M&P 45 and put one right in his head. As soon as he fell back I could see about four others out in the store.

BOOM! A hand struck the door and scared the hell out of me. A completely naked large infected man peered into the door. His mouth dropped and he hissed, leading to stringy blood mixed drool dripping from his mouth to the floor. He moved back to beat on the door and I lost my opportunity for a head shot. I fired three rounds into his upper left chest, the only thing I had a clear shot for. He fell back for a moment, screamed, and then picked right back up where he left off.

Jack: "Holy fucking shit."

Jack was spooked. Fuck, so was I. Sarah popped her head out from the stairwell and I instantly barked for her to go back down.

Me: "Jack, you can go back down and pull the door shut if you want. They need protected right now anyways."

Jack: "No fucking way dude. I'm rolling with you."

I nodded my head at him. I double checked my M16 shorty, and Jack took my lead to do the same. I poked the M16 out of the door and this time connected with a burst to the face that turned the man's head into ground beef. I looked out and the infected I could see were rummaging through the store and none appeared to be behind the counter. After locking in a fresh mag, I gave the pallet jack a few pumps and slid it away from the door as Jack held it shut.

Me: "You ready?"

Jack: "As I'll ever be!"

Jack pulled the door open and I instantly started tapping controlled bursts into the infected in the store. Jack came out from behind me and started laying down fire too. After putting down about six infected in the store, we headed straight towards the diner section. Unfortunately the first thing I saw was an infected little boy munching on his own fingers. As soon as he looked up at us Jack put a round in his head.

We continued through the diner and I had turned towards the back when I heard a crash behind me. I turned and saw a woman on top of Jack and his rifle sliding to a stop a few feet away from him. He was holding her neck with his left hand to keep her from biting him, and reached for his pistol. As soon as he put the muzzle under her chin I yelled "Nooo!". He turned and looked at me in confusion and I ran up and kicked her in the head as hard as I could. The kick violently forced her off Jack, and she fell a few feet to his side with an obviously broken neck. Just as I extended my arm to help him up he raised his pistol and fired. I got pretty sharp hearing but somehow missed the infected man sneaking up on me from behind.

Jack: "You owe me one. I had her under control and I just saved your ass."

Me: "You were going to blow her face off, right?"

Jack: "Fuck yeah."

Me: "Where do you think her face and all of that infected blood would end up? You would have bought yourself another couple hours, but you'd have been a freak just like her after washing your mouth and eyes out with her infected blood."

Jack: "Damn, I never thought of that."

Me: "Well thanks for saving my ass, but technically we're even."

We both chuckled and I tossed him his rifle. As we continued on I could see the infected came in the back door. I was confused though as the window wasn't busted out. Upon closer inspection, there were keys hanging out of the lock. Keys none of us had, and this place was locked up solid. Where the fuck did they come from anyways? I knew one place we might find answers. I bet our friends in the bathroom were gone.

The first bathroom was clear, so we moved to the second one our "friends" were in. As soon as I opened the door it was a blood bath. Jack and I easily finished off the four infected who were too busy feasting on the hogtied remains to even notice us. The bodies of the family were no where near recognizable. The infected had even ripped their shoes off to munch on their feet. There was still muscle and tendon, but the only skin left was their scalps. Jack instantly threw up in the sink. I decided to go do some further investigating while he wasted his breakfast.

Looking out back there were obvious tracks of occasional blood leading across the side of the parking lot opposite from the direction we came. I still couldn't help but wonder what the fuck was up with the keys though. I waited for a bit and finally Jack came out of the bathroom. He lifted a container to his mouth and gave a few sprays.

Jack: "Binaca! I didn't even know they still made this shit."

I just looked at him and laughed. The big dumb shit had a way of keeping in high spirits, and I admired that. I pointed out to the light trail of blood and he just responded "Let's do this". We both headed out with our rifles at ready and our game faces on. Moving through a parking lot full of view obstructing semi trucks and who knows how many infected around was not my idea of fun. Especially when it's this cold out. I pied around a truck and was right smack dab only a few feet away from an infected old man. Had he not been slow as shit, I probably would have been in trouble. I had wanted to test something out for awhile, so I took the opportunity. I popped the man in the jaw as hard as I could. He instantly started bleeding significantly from his mouth, but my test results were good. The old man was knocked out cold and snoring on the ground. I was glad to know they could be knocked out if it came down to it. I pulled my Busse from it's sheath and finished him off by driving it into his temple. We then immediately got back on our path.

Jack: "You see that?"

Now that we were towards the back of the lot we could see there was a big rig service garage. It was well hidden in the parking lot full of trucks and I wondered what we might find inside. I debated heading over now, but I heard something thay sounded like a high school cheerleader dramatizing her gum chewing.

Me: "Shhhhh......"

I could hear movement in the distance, and at the edge of the parking lot was a ravine. As we approached the smell of death was still obvious even though it was well below freezing. The light bloody foot prints were now frozen and thick with a mixture of blood and sediment. I raised my rifle and edged forward. What I saw chilled me to the bone and put the pieces of the puzzle known as "Pat Stop" together.

There were about 40 infected, gnawing on the corpses of around 30 frozen people. It all made sense. The people before us weren't killing the people for supplies, they were killing them to use as feed for the infected. Maybe to keep them at bay, or maybe they were just that twisted. Many of the bodies were pretty well eaten, with even a few practically bare bones laying around. With the freeze that came in a few days ago it was obvious they were having trouble with their lifeless meals, which would explain them searching out food in the truck stop. That still didn't explain the keys though.

The majority of them looked up when Jack's rifle suddenly went off. There were about 15 infected coming at us from around back of the service garage. As soon as the crazies in the ravine noticed us, it was on. There was no way Jack and I could take all of them out quick enough, so we made our retreat to find a better position. As we I neared the truck stop I had forgotten my increased speed. Jack was about half way back and a large group of infected were about 100 yards behind him. With all of the trucks and him running I really didn't have a clear shot on enough to be effective. I grabbed the M79 launcher off my back to improvise. I didn't even have to warn Jack. As soon as he saw what I was doing he stopped dead in his tracks and dove behind a truck and covered his ears. A ways back where the majority of the infected were heading sat a truck with a long aluminum cylinder tank behind it. It could have been milk for all I knew, but I had high hopes.

THUNK! I was worried it would blow up in my face since it was pretty old, but instead the grenade launcher lobbed the 40mm high explosive round straight at the tanker just like it should.

I didn't even hear the explosion, my ears just instantly got that weird under water feeling. The shock wave blew small debris in my eyes and flames engulfed the immediate area around the truck. It was no where near as big as I had figured, but it did the job none the less. I saw a few infected run from the smoke but they were burning so profusely they only made it about 30 seconds before collapsing. It was evident the ones not taken out by the explosion were being burned alive by the flames. The only thing louder than the roaring flames was the screaming of the infected.

Jack stood up and shook his head side to side. While it was pointless, I was glad to see him pie around the side of the truck with his rifle at ready. He headed back my way as Sarah and Tiff appeared behind me. I wasn't surprised to see Sarah with her M4, but I was amazed to see Tiff with the MP5SD. As child like as she was, she looked all business right now, even demonstrating proper trigger control.

Sarah: "What the fuck is going on?"

Me: "Jack and I decided to have a marshmallow roast."

She looked at me like she was going to kill me. I didn't care though as it was worth it. Now my only fear was what the 400 foot high plume of black smoke was going to attract to us. Sadly, I realized I would rather it be infected than humans. As I sat there looking at the black mushroom cloud in the sky Sarah and Tiff popped off a few partially burned infected that approached. I lit a cigarette and wondered more about the keys. The shop in the back appeared to be pretty well locked up and I wondered if it held the answer. Jack cleared his throat and we all looked ovee at him.

Jack: "So where the hell are the marshmallows? I'm fuckin' hungry!"

Just got caught up. Great story! You got me hooked.

Nice need more

Thanks guys.

I'm hoping after the holidays I'll be able to crank them out a bit faster.

Good chapter, needs more chapter...

# Chapter 23 - White Hell.

Almost two weeks had passed and we had stayed too long. I'm not sure anyone minded though. Our plans to head south were procrastinated by luxury, and mother nature had also punished us for our comforts with two straight days of snowfall. The snow was about a foot and a half deep. The Tahoe would have no problem treading through it, but the issue was navigating. The slight wind had turned the land into a solid flat slab of thick powder as far as the eye could see. This also meant distinguishing roads from vehicle damaging ditches was next to impossible. Fuck I hate snow.

Some genius decided to blow up the only fuel truck we had, and everyone else temporarily panicked we were going to lose power. Luckily my previous occupation paid off for once. They had a measuring stick in the stock room which was cake to do. The pain in the ass was having to shovel 75% of the front lot to find access to the diesel tanks. After a day and a half of shoveling I felt fairly relieved to find out we were sitting on around 7,140 gallons of diesel alone. It was so cold my testicles were trying to rescend, so I didn't bother checking the normal gas. Did I mention I haye the snow yet? It took everything we had for Jack and I to get the fuel barrels back down once we refilled them. The pallet jack worked great but once we hit the stairs it was all a gamble.

We had gotten rid of all the bodies and mopped up what we could. We had plenty of food still between the store and the diner. We had transferred most of it underground and moved one of the portable ice cream freezers from the store down as well. The fridge in the kitchen was decent sized, but we needed to think long term in case we get stuck here. Powering the coolers upstairs was simply burning up way too much power, considering the majority of it didn't need to stay cool.

Tiff was also earning her worth as she figured out the surveillance cameras actually patched directly into the TV downstairs. Pat was using his head ws well as the camera's didn't draw from the store's power supply either. It was nice being able to tell the store and lot were clear before going up. It also cleared up the key incident as the rewind feature showed a guy with glasses and a mullet get out of an Explorer to unlock the back door before taking off down the highway. Apparently he had been staying in the service garage mostly hidden from us by the multiple stored trailers across the lot. We had yet to figure out if there were cameras in the garage.

Tiff still wasn't talking but had started to smile more. She still had to sleep in bed with Sarah and I, but I made it clear she had to wear some form of clothing. She still followed me everywhere but it didn't bother me. She did everything that I asked to help out and seemed to be all business when needed. It was like she had a switch between shy child and battle hardened soldier. I guess it made sense as her fights were probably worse than ours.

Farmer was healing up good but was still pretty wrecked when it came to being mobile. Maybe the snow was a blessing as I'm still not sure he's ready for the world out there. It felt good to have him back in such high spirits though. He was the same old sarcastic ass, but luckily Jack was around to soak up some of it too.

Jack, much like Tiff, did what was needed with out complaints. Him and I actually cleared the service garage out back a couple days before the snow. Aside from only one infected outside, it was a ghost town. Inside we confirmed someone was staying there. I can only assume he was part of the original gang and probably thought they were all dead when he left. If I had the chance I'd like to rub in his face that the only casualties he caused were his own friends. He was being chased by infected when he stopped to unlock the door, but I still can't help but think he was a coward. I would have blown the place up myself, so the cameras were welcomed as I knew it was possible he was coming back.

Sarah was playing housewife. Laundry, dishes, cleaning, and helping Farmer cook. His attempts at teaching Jack went terribly wrong in the form of eggs that somehow turned out looking like ground beef, but Sarah was picking up fast. Any alone time we had was spent fucking like rabbits or talking about the virus. She was enjoying the home life with out a doubt but still couldn't help but go all science nerd on me every once in awhile. She was still a hardass despite that though. In the previous world I do believe she would have made a good parent.

As for myself, the virus was growing strong. I pinched my finger on one of the barrels and was pretty sure it was broken. With just a couple shakes of my hand and an ouch it was fine. I haven't been shot lately but Sarah says the virus should have fully progressed at this point. I weighed in at 215 pounds and my body fat is practically zero. My muscle mass has drastically increased and I feel like a million dollars. The past couple weeks I had been eating like it was my job, so my physical shape was pretty surprising. The only thing that really bothered me was the cold. My entire life anything outside of 50-84 degrees bothered the shit out of me, so I guess old habits die hard.

I had to run the Tahoe for a bit each day. I didn't want the battery to go dead and leaving vehicles sitting is bad all around. Jack and I got bored one day and the result was a matte woodland camo Z71 Tahoe and trailer. I figured Sarah would freak, but she actually said "Well I guess it's practical". Farmer made the trip upstairs to see it and fell in love. I had worked at a body shop in my youth so it was done as good as it could be with rattle cans and what little supplies we had in the service garage. It was Mad Max style but still had class. I'd be dipped in shit before I'd tear the leather seats out and break all the windows. Where had this truck been all my life?

We had enough guns for a small army. Our loadouts were pretty refined now though. I had my M16 shorty and an M&P 45, Sarah had an M4 and a Glock 17, Farmer now had an official M16A1 and a custom 1911, Jack had an M4 and a Beretta 92, and Tiff had an MP5SD and my old Sig 226. We had planned on teaching Tiff how to shoot, but to our surprise it didn't take much. She needed trigger time with the pistol but was a demon with the little MP5. We had thousands upon thousands of rounds of ammo, but while guns were common it was most likely because they ran out of ammo. 15,000 rounds of various ammo may seem like a lot, but there's millions upon millions of infected out there. Eventually the world will run dry.

We were sitting around the table eating tuna macaroni and cheese for dinner. Not the box shit, but real noodles mixed with Velveeta and tuna baked in the oven. As I sat there observing everyone else talk it dawned on me how lucky we are. Hundreds of miles away people are probably fighting for their lives, and here we sit eating baked food, drinking beer, and enjoying our warm cozy hole in the ground. My humble smile quickly turned to concern as Tiff ran over to the TV showing the security feed and stared at it with a look of panic in her face. Seven armed men in military uniforms pulled up on snowmobiles and started approaching the store.

Tiff looked excited, but Sarah, Farmer, and even Jack in addition to myself knew this had bad written all over it.

Excellent, good work. Don't make us wait so long for the next chapter,lol.

Hahaha, yeah I've been a bit busy between the holidays and work. This chapter was pretty much filler to get back on track.