Chapter 3: A Special Occasion

Glass exploded into the room as Mathew rolled through the window and rose to his feet in one fluid motion. His shotgun, firm in his shoulder, swung it’s business end briskly toward each corner while machine gun fire rang loudly from outside. Glass shards thrown from his clothing fell glittering to the floor as he cleared what he discovered was a childrens bedroom. Once satisfied, he turned to the window, slung the shotgun on his back and leaned through the opening. “Let’s move!” He said, putting his arm forward to help pull in the others.
Mackenzie and Tim hung precariously from a pipe housing electrical wiring as Alain remained on the ground, firing into the oncoming crowd of infected.
Mackenzie extended his arm. As they locked their forearms in each others grasp Mackenzie could see Mathew’s eyes squint through the gasmask lenses. Even though his face was hidden, Mackenzie knew the exact expression Mathew bore at that moment; one of physical strain and mental stress. He could almost hear the curse words that Mathew was no doubt reciting in his mind at this very moment.
Mathew fell backward into the room as Mackenzie rolled awkwardly in, both of them grunting in deep labored breaths from the strain of their recent activity. “Fuck man!” Mackenzie complained to himself as he returned to the window to help Timothy. “Take hold!”
Tim knocked the shards of glass off the bottom of the window frame and pulled himself up with Mackenzies help. He then sat, straddling the window frame. “Al, move your ass!” He yelled, reaching down with his free arm, his other being held by Mackenzie so that he could reach as far as possible without falling.
Alain fired one last burst before rising to his feet. He threw the machine gun up to Timothy’s waiting hands.
Tim’s eyes widened. “Ugh! Fuck!” He yelled, as he caught the machine gun by the red hot barrel. He quickly grabbed it by the carrying handle and ignored the pain for the moment. He pulled the stock into his shoulder and fired a bust but the stream of bullets ended abruptly. “Stoppage!” Tim yelled, flipping the feed cover over and ripping away the belt.
Alain had climbed up the electric meter and was halfway up the pole when the firing stopped. He turned his attention to the infected racing toward him, now unabated. “Fuck man, hurry the fuck up!” He yelled, struggling to climb the last bit of the pole that had no real leverage. “Give me a hand!” Alain said as the infected reached the base of the pole and began scratching at his feet. “Fuck!” He yelled fearfully.
Mackenzie leaned over window frame, Tim taking this opportunity to use his back as a rest for the bipod. “Take my hand.”
Alain reached up for Mackenzie and grasped his forearm. Just as he did so he lost grip of the pole and swung from it, hanging freely just below the window sill. His eyes were wide open, and he held his breath in fear as the infected fumbled with their fingertips at his feet.
Tim fired rounds into the ever growing mass of infected and hot brass fell into the room and down the back of Mackenzies pants. “Someone, help!” Mackenzie yelled, pulling as hard as he could on Alains arm.
Mathew turned from his watch on the door and latched on to Mackenzies legs just as he dipped forward and began to fall.
Alain dropped almost a whole foot. “Oh shit oh shit!” he exclaimed as the infected could finally grasp on to his feet with a full hand. “Pull damn it pull!” he screamed, while giving strong kicks to the heads of the infected in his range.
Mathew fell backward until he was sitting on the ground and then braced his legs against the wall. He pulled backward with both his arms and his legs, yelling from the sheer strain as he did so.
Alain began to rise, but just as he moved further than their reach, his shoes was ripped violently from his right foot.
Timothy stopped firing and was pulled into the room when Mackenzie and Alain were dragged past him.
All four lay on the glass littered carpet, gasping frantically for air.
“Again.” Alain said shaking his head. “Why am...” he said between deep breaths. “Why am I the only one who always loses footwear. Where’s that grenade we’ve been saving, I want to fucking drop it on them.”
“No.” Matty said. “I’m keeping that for special occasion.”
“Really, you got that occasion planned?”
“Maybe.” he replied, looking at him from the ground.
The crashing sound of a window breaking was heard below and as if it were a queue, all four of them rose quickly to their feet.
“Alright.” Mackenzie announced. “This isn’t going to be easy.”
“Is it ever?” Mathew said, walking past him.
Alain took his machine gun back from Timothy who reluctantly gave up the extra firepower and brandished his rifle. “Let’s try and keep quiet.” Alain said as he automatically took up his position near the door.
The four had cleared multiple buildings in the past, and although Mathew had not been in the military, it took him a very short time to learn his place in the equation that was fighting in built up areas.
Mackenzie stacked up behind Alain and Timothy behind him. Mathew moved to the rear with his shotgun and squeezed Tim’s tricep. The motion follwed forward and once it reached Alain, the door flung open and the four rushed into the next room.
Within the span of seconds Alain had already communicated lowly that the next room was a hall way and the other three adjusted their movement accordingly, each taking one side of the hallway to ensure no backs were turned to a potential threat. Once the movement had stopped, there was a moment of silence and all four knew it was safe to move forward. To the right was a staircase and they moved toward it in the previous order, “big gun in the front.”
They made their way down the stairwell cautiously and found themselves into an open concept ground floor. This posed a serious problem as there was no real cover, however it also made it very easy to find the steel door that most likely lead to the attached garage.
Alain stopped and signaled to the others that they were moving in its directly. They automatically changed their formation to a makeshift diamond, Alain still in the front, while Mackenzie and Timothy took the sides and Mathew in the rear with the shotgun.
They crossed a dining area and made their way perpendicular to the kitchen. They dropped down a single step where the hardwood turned to ceramic tiles and Alain took sight of a shoe rack.
“Cover me.” He said as he put the machine gun down and took off his one sneaker. He rummaged through the shoes before finding a suitable pair of construction boots that looked like they would fit well enough. He slipped his left foot into a boot first, as the right was bleeding from having stepped on broken glass in the bedroom. “Tim, take the C9, I need to check my foot.”
“Not the best time Al.” Tim said as he took the machine gun back once again.
“Better time then any.” Mackenzie said as he slung his rifle and moved to Mathews back.
Mathew stood watch and stared intensely forward, his posture shifting to and from as Mackenzie dug into the bag.
By the time he had the first aid kit out and was kneeling beside him, Alain had already removed the majority of the glass that had embedded itself into his foot. He took a few moments to inspect the rest by flashlight before removing a few more shards with a pair of tweezers.
He took a small piece of bandage and turned to Alain, “Tell me if you feel a pull.”, he began lightly gliding the bandage over his foot. Although he picked up a lot of blood, Alain didn’t complain of any other shards of glass protruding from his foot. He took a larger piece afterward, cleaned and bandaged it as quickly as he could before helping Alain fit his now swelling foot into the boot. “You’ll be hurting for a while, but it’s better than losing it right?”
Alain frowned, “Any longer and I’m sure they would have torn it off.” he said, disgruntled, as he rose to his feet with a limp. “Alright.” he said, extending his hand toward Tim.
Tim looked at his hand with a pitiful stare and then returned his gaze to the machine gun. “Aww, man. Can’t I carry it for a while.”
“No.” Alain said, with bit of anger as he grabbed on to the carrying handle and pulled it out of Tims arms.
“Well you don’t have to be a dick about it.” Tim said, returning his rifle to the high ready once again.
“Stack up.” Alain said, ignoring Tim. He placed himself beside the steel door and got ready as the others fell into place. He reached for the knob and tugged at it to no avail. “Breacher up.” he whispered.
Mathew made his way to the door, cocking the shotgun as he went, taking out two of the buckshot shells. When he got to the door he loaded two slugs and then turned to Alain and nodded his head.
“Your show man.” he replied.
Mathew raised his weapon to the top hinge of the door and fired. Even before the first pieces of the top hinge hit the floor, he had already dispatched the second one and was in the process of forcing his boot into the center of the door. As it flew backward Alain followed, stepping on it before it had completed its fall. Mackenzie and Tim were directly behind him, taking up their positions in the room as the dust settled from the shotgun blasts. Mathew came in last, walking nonchalantly as the silence of their weapons already told him the room was clear. Timothy and Alain turned and watched the doorway behind them. As they made their way inside, the garage door began to shake, the banging of an unknown number of infected tracking the noise they made when Mathew “unlocked” the door.
In the center of the garage was a maroon Expedition. Mathew made his way toward it and pulled on the handle. “Locked” He said. “Look for keys.”
“No time.” Mackenzie said, walking up to the window and thrusting the but of his rifle though it. He opened the door and sat in the driver seat. He used the but of his rifle again to break apart the housing around the steering column and then crouched down and got to work with the wires. “Looks like this might take some time.” he said.
Alain shook his head, just beside the door where he was watching for more infected, there was a set of keys laying on a shelf. He took them and made his way toward the passenger side of the S.U.V. He unlocked the door and sat in the passenger seat as Mackenzie ignored his presence and continued working with the housing of the steering column. Alain put the key in the ignition and looked down. “Hey Mack, why don’t you just hold down the break there so I can get this thing started.”
Mackenzie looked up at him and through the lenses of the gasmask he could see that Alain was smiling wryly. “Smart ass.” he said, moving out of the driver seat.
“Ugh. Guys?” Tim inquired before popping off a round. “We’ve got company.”
Mackenzie moved up beside Tim and took aim with his M14, firing as soon as a dark humanoid shape darted across the living room floor.
The shape dropped to the floor and wailed from the gunshot wound.
“These ones are pretty fresh if they can still feel pain.” Tim said, firing a few more rounds as the shadowy figures darted in and out of their line of sight.
Mathew was on the other side of the door with his shotgun, waiting patiently for one to get near the “fatal funnel” of the doorway.
Alain had started the Expedition and was waving the others in. “Let’s get moving!” He closed the driver side door and put the transmission in to revers.
The other three piled in, Timothy and Mathew in the rear and Mackenzie riding shotgun.
Alain took the machine gun by the carrying handle and dropped it in Mackenzies lap. “Reload me co-pilot.” He said, with a hidden grin.”
“Cheers.” Mackenzie said, turning back to Mathews bag and digging into it for the last box of ammunition they had for the M249.
Alain looked up at the sun visor and noticed a garage door remote. He jokingly pressed the button.
Mackenzie looked up at him from reloading the weapon and gave him a stern stare.
Alain laughed, “Whatever, you never know. Alright hang on to something.” He looked back and hit the gas as far as it would go. The Expedition moved backward the few feet it had before smashing into the garage door. The Expedition stopped abruptly. “Well that didn’t quite work.” Alain said, driving forward as far as he could.
As he reached the farthest point of the garage he heard a yell come from the inside of the home and he turned his attention to the garage door. A flood shadows lumbered through the home and came into view. Alain grabbed the machine gun from the center console with one hand and dropped it against the window sill of the drivers side and opened fire. Brass flew into the steering wheel and all over the dash as the flash of the muzzle dominated the dark garage. Each shot froze a frame of vision for the four of them. The infected fell at the doorway, and Alain couldn’t help but imagine the scene as a strobe light flashing at the most wild mosh pit he would ever witness. Once the fallen had become a large enough hindrance for those still rushing in, he stopped firing and pulled the machine gun in. “Here Tim, bust out the back window. Watch the barrel this time.”
“Jee thanks, ass.” He said as he took the machine gun and rested it on the backseat, it’s steaming barrel facing the back window. Tim fired a short burst to weaken the window.
Mathew also turned and got ready with his shotgun.
“Alirght, here’s take two.” Alain said, hitting the gas.
The Expedition slammed into the garage door a lot harder this time and the door began to buckle. Alain moved the vehicle forward once again.
He struggled with the selector for a moment and had to look down to see if it was in reverse. Mackenzies hand slammed into his chest and pushed him against the seat before his rifle thrust out the driver side window and fired off a round. The deformed corpse of an infected plunged forward and smashed into the hood of the car as it fell from a full sprint. “Alright Al, get us out of here.” Mackenzie said, sitting back into his chair once again.
Alain drove the vehicle backward into the door once again and it fell from its hinges onto the roof of the car. He moved forward once again to free the vehicle from the garage door, and in doing so the door fell to the ground, letting in the sea of infected which awaited them.
The machine gun burped to life as Tim thinned out the crowd with the periodic help of Mathews shotgun blasts.
Alain reversed again and smashed into the crowd but was slowed by the thickness of them. One infected rushed the driver side door and its arm slashed into him, ripping at his clothes and gasmask. Alain pulled the hatchet swiftly from its holster and lodged it into the deranged face that yelled and sprayed fungus filled spittle at him. He used the door as leverage to remove the hatchet from its skull as it fell to the ground. He moved the vehicle forward again into the garage and quickly returned to reverse with a few extra feet. The vehicle plunged through the crowd that had been thinned from Mahew and Tims efforts.
A moment later they were barreling down the concession with nothing but the wind at their ears, although they probably couldn’t hear it over the ringing.
Al turned to Mackenzie “So isn’t this where we weren’t supposed to end up? Rushing down a narrow rural highway?”
“Well it wasn’t the ideal situation to end up in, but I suppose nothing’s really ideal at this point.”
“At least we’ll get there faster” Tim added, “Hey, I still don’t see why we don’t just go straight to St-Catherines and look for clues of what happened to my parents, we’re like half an hour away by car.”
Mathew turned to Tim. “The thing is, all big cities are cluttered with infected and stopped vehicles. We’d never get there with the car, we’d have to stop and start on foot and then we’d be vulnerable again. These people that want to meet us have an Osprey. If we’re lucky we can ask them to drop us off on a rooftop near your parents place and we’ll be that much better off.”
Mackenzie laughed. “They’re going to think we’re insane. Wanting to be dropped into the middle of a city.”
Alain started, “Well, whatever, everyone but Tim’s found out what’s happened to his family so we owe it to him.”
“Mind you, he is the only one who’s family happens to live in a major urban center. We haven’t dealt with something that big since Ottawa and Toronto, and if I remember correctly, those weren’t exactly the best experiences we’ve had.”
Mathew sighed. “Honestly since I’ve met up with you three I haven’t had any good experiences.”
“You’re still alive aren’t you?” Tim asked.
“I’m starting to wonder if that’s a good thing.” Mathew said.
“Now come on Matty, don’t start that talk.”
Mathew laughed. “I guess blowing disfigured people to pieces just isn’t what I thought my college education was going to lead to.”
The four of them laughed for a moment and then once again silence came. It seemed as though anytime something funny or lighthearted came along they were almost forced to remind themselves of the harshness of their situation. Every laugh was priced with the unavoidable drop into reality, and the inevitable pull of depression that quickly followed. But Mathew was spared; just as that pull came, his sprits were once again lifted as the smiling face of the woman on the Osprey shunted into his mind. “How far are we from that school?”
“Not far” Mackenzie said as he looked at the map.
“Left here right?” Alain asked.
Mackenzie looked at him. “That was just confusing. Yes, turn left.”
The Expedition shifted to the right and the sound of broken glass tumbling across the pavement accompanied by the squealing of tires echoed through the countryside.
“Welcome to Jeddo.” Alain said, looking at the deserted cars on the side of the road near the sign. “Welcome... I somehow doubt that.”
“Yeah, let’s keep an eye out. Try and avoid the -”
“You want to fucking drive?” Alain said to Mackenzie, cutting him off. “Cause I’ll pull over right now.”
“That would be a bad idea Al.” Tim said, pointing to a small crowd of infected that seemed to just be standing in the middle of the street.
“Um.. There’s not enough room to go around them.”
“Speed up a bit and brace yourself.”
“That’s a dumb idea, a body can do a lot of damage to a car.”
“Not as much damage as I’ll do to your face if you don’t get us the fuck out of here.”
“I’m sure you’ll have other things to worry about if I don’t get us out of here.”
Tim and Mathew looked at each other in silence as the two up front continued their banter.
“No, go left, there’s a weak spot.”
“I swear to god Mack, I’m going to pull over.”
“Just go left.”
“I’m not going left, there’s a car right behind that guy.”
“That’s not a guy, it’s an old woman.”
“Looks like a guy to me.”
“Well let’s find out, plow into the bitch and I bet you it’ll be a woman.”
“Seriously man, it’s better on this side.”
Mathew shook his head.
“Yeah tell me about it.” Tim sympathized.
“Fine do whatever the fuck you want.”
“I fucking will!” Alain said, hitting the gas and veering slightly to the right as they reached the small crowd.
The Expedition jolted from the impact as the bodies were thrown into the air, none of them made an effort to avoid being hit. Their bodies simply smashed against the vehicle, leaving each a mark of their own on the aluminum body. One of them smashed the passenger side windshield and left a heavy stain of blood.
“Great, now I can’t even fucking see.”
Alain laughed out loud and in exaggeration, “Ah Hahahah! Sucker!” his laughter stopped abruptly and they kept driving, navigating through the abandoned vehicles. “You think I can squeeze through that?” Alain asked.
“I don’t know Al, I can’t see shit!” Mackenzie complained. “You fucking jackass.”
“Hehe, you’re so bitter.” Alain said as they scraped both sides of the Expedition fitting through a narrow space between two vehicles.
“Alright, Scott free, now we just have to get to Medina.” Alain said, smiling beneath his gasmask.
The four continued unchallenged down the small country highway before reaching a traffic jam of abandoned vehicles near the edge Medina.
“Looks like we’re going on foot from here.” Alain said, slowing the vehicle to as stop.
“Fun.” Mathew said, turning to Tim who had fallen asleep. “Wake up, we’re walking.”
“Wha? Huh?” Tim looked about, disoriented, adjusting his gas mask that had slid a little in his sleep. “What’s going on?”
“We’re walking.” Alain said, stepping out of the vehicle and curiously inspecting the damage that the infected had left behind. “Man, I really smacked those fuckers eh?”
“I’m not going to forgive you for missing that fat lady.”
“It was a man, get over it.”
“Want to walk back and take a look?”
“Be my guest Mack, you’re welcome to go check. I on the other hand want to make it to this god forsaken track and field place and get a lift to someplace where I don’t have to have eyes out the back of my ass every second of the day.”
“You have eyes out the back of your ass?”
“Guys.” Mathew interjected, walking between them. “Could I please ask for a moment of silence?”
“Sure man.” Alain replied.
Mackenzie nodded, “Yeah, sorry.”
“Thank you.” Mathew walked off.
“Jerk.” Alain whispered beneath his mask to Mackenzie who laughed and punched him in the shoulder jokingly.
The four walked between the vehicles, periodically checking for anything of use. The highway was littered , many of the vehicles had been pushed off the side of the road, perhaps by people attempting to make their way in, or out of the city with their own vehicles. Others were obviously driven off the road by accident, and were stuck in the ditch. Without anyone to retrieve them they were abandoned by their previous owners, who, unfortunately for Mathew and the others, were probably still wandering around near bye. Whether alive or dead didn’t really matter, the fact that they could pose a threat was the only concern for the four who carefully continued forward.
Mackenzie and Alain continued their banter once Mathew was far enough ahead, while Timothy walked between Mathew and the other two, taking quick glances into vehicles at the dead or at potential supplies or equipment. He had just picked up what he thought was a can of food that turned out to be empty when he noticed that Mathew had stopped and was kneeling. He turned quickly to Mackenzie and Alain who were being rather loud and threw the can at them.
“What in the world would make you believe that- Hey? What gives?” Mackenzie turned to see Tim giving them the hand signal to drop.
Both of them dropped to a knee and raised their weapons. It only took them a few seconds to consolidate on Mathew, who was silent and still, staring like a hawk down a small gradient at the vehicles below.
“What’s up big guy?” Tim asked, coming up behind him.
“Movement, I think it’s just scavengers.”
“That’s no good, armed?”
“I don’t think so.” Mathew added, “Can you take the binoculars out of my pack?”
“Yeah sure, here.” Tim agreed, digging through the bag for a few seconds before pulling them out.
“Thanks.” Mathew peered through them, leaning against the car to his left to steady his arms. “There’s definitely someone there, we’re going to have to move up to get a better look.”
“Do you think we should stay on the road or hit the tree line?” Mackenzie asked.
“The bush will be louder, we can move up more silently between the cars.” Alain interjected.
“I agree with Al.” Mathew said, returning the binoculars to Tim who put them back into the bag.
“Alright, I’ll take point.” Mackenzie said, “Matty, you stay in the middle with Tim, Al in the back. Any objections?”
“Nope, sounds good to me.” Al said, moving back slightly to give the other three more room to maneuver. “I’ve only got about half a belt left though, and it’s our last box, so if shit hits the fan you’ll only have me for a short moment.”
“I’ll make the best of it.” Mackenzie said, smiling.
Mackenzie moved up, remaining crouched and behind vehicles as he did so. The others followed suit in the organization they had agreed upon, and slowly but surely they made their way toward the unknown once again.
Mackenzies back came up against the sliding door of a blue van and he peeked through the window very slowly. After being satisfied that he hadn’t seen anything suspicious he waved Tim forward.
Tim came up beside him and knelt. “Nothing?” He whispered.
“No, I’m not seeing anything. I’m moving up.” Mackenzie dropped to his stomach and looked beneath the cars to see if there was anyone near bye hidden behind a vehicle. He saw nothing, so he returned to his feet and continued forward, slowly and with his weapon at the ready. He came up to an overturned car that had been burned to ashes and slowly peeked around the corner. A charred human arm hung from the back window at his eye level, he crouched slightly to see past it. Timothy came up behind him. “Nothing.” He said to him, moving around the corner and walking up to the trailer of a semi. He crouched and walked along the semi, keeping an eye out from beneath it as he made his way toward a hatchback Volkswagen. He noticed a few shotgun shells sitting on the dash, so he reached in cautiously through the window and picked them up. When Tim came up to his position he handed them to him, knowing he’d know to pass them to Mathew when they had their turn to meet up. “Alright, I’m out.” he said, squeezing between the Volkswagen and a truck before making his way up to another vehicle.
Timothy waited for Mathew to make his way up to him and handed him the shells. “Here, Mack found them in a car.”
“Sweet.” Matty said, looking at the date on the back, “They’re lead, good for long distances compared to the newer shells. I’ll keep them for a special occasion.” he said, sliding the four shells into the breast pocket of his jacket.
Tim nodded and took his turn to meet up with Mackenzie.
Mathew sat, waiting for Alain who was walking forward with the machine gun up in his shoulder. “Do you see someone?” Mathew asked.
“No, just checking my range to that other car.” Alain said.
“Alright, see you in a bit.” Mathew moved out.
Mackenzie stopped and knelt, thinking for a moment that he had seen movement. But when he lowered his weapon to get a better view there was nothing. He moved cautiously toward the closest vehicle and waited for Tim. It didn’t take long for him to arrive. “It think I saw someone up by that blue cavalier, but I’m not sure.”
“I don’t like this not sure shit man, it reminds me of bad horror movies.”
“Well, we’ve got guns and we’re not separated so even if it is a bad horror movie we’ve already got the slip right?”
“Sure.” Tim said, unsure of how to answer the question.
“Point is I think we’re getting close, I’ve got the range with the M14, either you take point, or we swap weapons here.”
“Hmm. Let me think. Yeah I’ll swap.”
“Ok.”
“Shit man I’m just kidding, I’ll take point.” Tim said laughing, you think I’d leave you hanging like that? Man I can’t even shoot that thing worth a damn, she’s yours.”
“Heh, alright, get moving and stay quiet.”
“Yes boss.” Tim said jokingly into Mackenzies ear.
Tim moved forward slowly, his weapon at the ready.
Mackenzie moved up to a near bye vehicle and took up a supported firing position, waiting for anything that might pop out. He watched Tim with his peripheral vision, and when he stopped moving he turned to see where Matt was.
Suddenly a shot rang out and the mirror directly beside Mackenzie shattered into pieces, plastic and glass shards everywhere. Mackenzie dropped to the pavement and searched for feet beneath the cars but couldn’t see anything. He heard Timothy return fire, although he wasn’t sure if Tim knew where the enemy was, or if he was simply firing to keep their heads down. Footsteps alerted him and he spun around to see Mathew racing toward him. “Jesus you scared me.”
“Really? I thought that mirror blowing up would have scared you more.” He said peering through the window as he spoke. “See em?”
“No, not yet, but I’ve got to get to Tim.”
“Alright, I’ll keep an eye open.”
“Tell Al to wait, don’t let him waste that belt until we know where they are, we’ve got enough cover here anyway.”
“Sounds good.”
Mackenzie leapt forward and ran at top speed toward Tim.
Tim turned back and was startled, “Jesus where’d you come from?”
“Nice to see you too.” Mackenzie quipped as a round bounced off the car.
“What do you think it is?” Asked Tim.
“Sounds like high powered rifle, probably a hunting rifle, a .308 or something.” Another shot bounced off the pavement beneath the car and whizzed passed them with that stereotypical ricochet sound. “Good thing he’s a bad shot.”
“See, I don’t get why they just started shooting, Why not talk?”
“Do we usually talk?”
Tim was silent for a short moment. “Good point.”

“Alright, I told Al not to fire the LMG yet, because we just don’t have the ammo. We’ll wait until we get a GRI on this guy and then we’ll pummel him with about a hundred or so rounds in a second.”
“I like the way you think mister.”
“Ok, I’m moving up.”
“Covering.”
Mackenzie darted forward, swaying from right to left and then left to right in random fashion to make it that much more difficult for the shooter to hit home. A shot was fired, but Mackenzie was too concentrated on his running to pay attention to where the round splashed. He smashed his shoulder against a white Sedan and popped his rifle over the edge to fire a few shots for the sake of scaring the shooter. As they went off he saw Tim make his run. He then realized he may have a chance and took up a proper firing position, waiting for the shooter to take a shot at Tim. He spotted movement to the right, in the tree line, and a muzzle flash. The round skimmed the hood directly to his left and sparks flashed into his eyes.
“Ugh!” he grunted, taking cover behind the car, temporarily blind. “Tim, three hundred meters on the right in the tree line. There’s a bright blue van at around the same distance.”
Tim took a peek. “Man I see a white van, but no blue.”
“Well maybe that’s the one, I got flashed by the ricochet, the colors may be off.”
“Alright, let me take a look.”
“I’ll cover you.” Mackenzie yelled, dropping to the prone and taking aim at the person in the tree line. They were particularly well hidden, the muzzle flash had given them away the last time but now he couldn’t locate the person anymore. It’s then that it came to him. “They’re flanking” He thought to himself. “Tim!”
“What?” Tim yelled.
“Watch your sides man I think there may be more than just this one guy.”
“No shit sherlock. I kind of had that idea going a while ago. But nice try.”
“Jee, way to make a guy feel useless.” Mackenzie said, firing a pot shot at the tree line.
“Got him?”
“No I think he moved.”
Mathew came running up behind Mackenzie. “Saw one on the right.” he said, huffing air. There’s more though.”
“See I figured.” Tim said from the car ahead.”
“What?” Mathew asked confusedly.
“Never mind him, Where’s Al?”
“He’s on top of a van further back, watching.”
“Good, that’s perfect.... do you hear that?”
There was a strange whining sound in the distance and it was getting louder by the second.
“That sounds like a -”
“Ugh guys, we’ve got motorcycles.”Tim yelled,
“Yeah we know.” Mackenzie yelled to Tim, “Damnit I was just about to say that.”
A short burst from the machine gun burped in the distance and a splash of rounds came up on the right side of the tree line.
“We’re in business!” Mackenzie said as he made his way to the right side of the highway to find the lone sniper.
Mathew turned to get up and realized that one of the bikers was much closer than anticipated. He raced by, between the cars, wielding a Molotov cocktail which he threw toward Mathew.
Mathew fired a shot at him but missed as the bottle passed just by his head and erupted on the ground behind him. He ran to avoid the splash and growth of the flames.
“Holy fuck! Tim said, holding his fire in fear that he would hit Alain who was in the prone on the top of a van somewhere in the rear.
The second biker whizzed by on the opposite side of the highway and Tim was about to fire on him when shots came from the left Tree line. Tim rolled backward as the rounds splashed up against the pavement in front of him.
Mathew turned. “This is starting to piss me off. Tim, take care of the left tree line, Mack’s got the right one, I’ll deal with the bikers.”
“Gotcha.” Tim said, making a run for the tree line as Alains machine gun fire splashed up against the ditch near the enemy on that side.
Mathew got up and walked slowly forward while loading his shotgun. The bikers had turned around to avoid exposing themselves to Alains machine gun fire and were on their way back to Mathews position.
Mackenzie dropped into the ditch and ran up the side of the hill toward where the machine gun fire had splashed. He ran round a tree on the left side of a truck and stopped, listening for movement. He heard the machine gun fire and peered to the left to see it splashing against the other ditch. Just then he heard rustling to his right, the shooter was trying to get a glimpse of Alains flash. Mackenzie turned the corner and aimed his rifle at the person behind the stump.
“Stop.” He said, squeezing the trigger slightly, knowing that he may only have milliseconds to react.
The person swung about, surely enough holding a bolt action hunting rifle. But something was not right.
Mackenzies eyes widened.
She wore a painters breathing mask, her hair was brown and long but tied into a bun, she seemed thin but the loose clothes she wore hid her frame. Her eyes were a dark piercing brown, nearly black, and as she stared at him in fear he lost all will to fight. His rifle dropped from his shoulder and he stood there, silently as gunshots rang out in the distance.
Tim ran up the side of the slope as Alain fired him in, the machine gun fire splashing only a few feet ahead of his footsteps. As he reached the top he could hear the person crying. He crested the hill to find a distraught young man. He had dropped the rifle on his side and was cradled in a fetal position beside it, hands covering his ears. Tim stopped, dropped the rifle from his shoulder and made his way slowly to the boy as Alains machine gun fire still splashed accurately against the hillside, making sure that the kids head was down as Tim came in for what he thought was a killing blow. Tim knelt beside him, pushing the rifle away, dirt rained on them as he reached out with his arm. “Hey kid.” He said, touching him on the shoulder. The boy looked up, staring at him in fear, half his face covered with a breathing mask. “I’m not gonna hurt you.”
Mathew walked down the highway, the bikers making their way back to him in haste. They both had newly lit Molotovs. He had time. He dropped the pack on his back and dug into a special pocket, pulling from it the grenade they had saved for several months. “Today’s a special occasion” Mathew thought to himself.
The bikes came screaming by and he dodged the first Molotov, throwing the backpack to safety behind another vehicle as the flames engulfed the position he had been standing in previously.
Alain watched as Mathew took the grenade out. “That mother fucker.” he said, his weapon only had a few rounds left and he wanted to hold on to them in case someone desperately needed assistance, but he couldn’t fire on the bikers in fear of hitting Matt.
Mathew slammed his back against the van and waited for the second bike to pass. He pulled the pin on the grenade and rolled it past a few of the vehicles as the bike that just passed turned and began to make his way toward him. He stepped forward and out from cover, firing a shot at the biker who hadn’t passed yet. The shot shattered the bottle in his hand and he lit up into flames. Mathew aimed a second shot at the front wheel and destroyed it as the bike flipped forward flying past him. The second biker had sped up when he saw his fellow biker being lit into flames and Mathew turned to face him just as he drove past the grenade. Mathew was still loading new shells into his shotgun when the grenade exploded. The bike was torn into two pieces and the debris bounced across the pavement, toward him. The biker slid on the asphalt just before the debris, his unconscious body grinded to a halt beside Mathew who took a slow step to his left as a large portion of the bike flew past him and smashed into the van behind him, exploding into a ball of flames.
“Jesus christ!”Alain screamed, leaping from the van and running toward the smokey remains of the bike. He ran past them and into the haze that surrounded the van Matt had been standing near. “Matty?” he yelled, “You alright?” He turned the corner to find Mathew loading his last shell and pumping the shotgun’s action.
“I’m fine.” Mathew said, “These guys on the other hand.”
“How the hell do you pull that shit off? That’s like the third time you’ve nearly been taken out by some flaming object.”
“I don’t know.” Mathew said nonchalantly. “Where’s Tim and Mack?”
Alain turned to his right and left, but saw no one. “ I don’t know. Let’s check up on them.”
“I’m not going to shoot you.” Mackenzie said, lowering his rifle.
She screamed as an explosion erupted behind him.
Mackenzie turned to see a bellowing flame and the silence of the motorcycles. “Ah shit Matty, did you use the grenade?”
“Why are you here?” she said, crying.
Mackenzie turned back to her. “We’re here to look for a friends family, we’re trying to get to Medina to meet up with an organization that dropped these flyers.” He said, revealing a folded copy of the flyer. “Do you know who they are?”
“They tried to kill us.” She said, sitting up now.
“Why?” Mackenzie asked.
She looked at him, and then raised the sleeve of her shirt to reveal a series of Cordyceps spikes leading up her arm.
Mackenzie fell backward against the tree. “Oh no.” he said, sighing. “You’re infected.”
“You don’t understand.”
“No, you’re right. I don’t. I’m not infected.”
“No, it’s not that simple. I’ve been infected since the beginning.”
Mackenzie looked at her inquisitively. “That’s not possible, you’d have become a host by now.”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Me and the people I am with have been infected since the beginning and we haven’t changed.”
“Why are you wearing those masks then?” He asked, “If you’re infected, you have no reason to fear the fungus.”
“We’re still afraid of the fungus, it could make things worse if we keep breathing it. But the planes dropping gas bombs are what we’re really afraid of. When we die, that’s when the change occurs.”
Mackenzie remembered the pellets that had fallen on him in the washout a day earlier. “I’ve seen these gas bombs, they’re nerve agents. I was affected by some of it the other day but I had help.”
“When we die, the fungus continues to grow, but so long as we’re alive it can’t continue.” She said, “But everyone still wants to kill us as though we were already changed.”
“That’s because most people lose their minds only a day or so after being infected”
“Well we’re not like that.”
“You’re probably still contagious though.”
“Only if the spines break.”
“That’s reason enough to want to kill you for most people.”
“Are you most people?”
“Obviously not.”
“What will you do?”
Mackenzie thought for a moment. “Firstly, come with me to the street, your friends on the bikes will need your help, if they’re not already dead. I hope Tim didn’t kill the other shooter, I understand your predicament, but I don’t know if I can help you.”
“I don’t know if I want to go with you.”
“Well, where will you go if you don’t come with me?”
She looked about the woods. “I don’t know, there are a few more of us down the road, they want to stage a blockade to Medina, I was recruited because I can shoot, but I don’t want to kill people for that reason.”
“So you’re telling me those weren’t misses?”
“If I wanted to kill you, you’d have been dead before you started sneaking around.”
“I see. Do you trust me?”
“You’re uninfected and I just met you, no I don’t. But I really have no other choice. I’ll go with you.”
“Alright.”
Mackenzie extended his hand, and she took it nervously. He helped her up and she stumbled into him.
“Sorry.” she said, her mask pressed against his.
“It’s alright.” He said, backing away.
Tim held the boy by the shoulder and sat him up. “What’re you doing out here man?”
The boy simply looked at him in fear.
“Come on kid, I’m not gonna hurt you, why were you shooting at us?”
The boy looked down at his arm. Tims grasp had lifted his sleeve and the effects of infection were visible. Tim followed his eyes and saw them.
“Oh boy.” he said, slowly releasing the boy and walking backward, his hand instinctually went for the pistol grip of his rifle and as he did the child cringed looking away. “Oh, no, no. Don’t worry man I’m not gonna shoot you, I’m just... well you’re infected. I don’t know what to say.”
Tim saw movement to his left and noticed Mackenzie coming out of the tree line with the other shooter. “Alright kid, let’s get going. Your friends are down there waiting for you... well at least one is.”
Alain lowered the burnt biker to the ground as he groaned in pain. “Yeah well, that’s what you get for throwing Molotovs at this freaking guy.”
“Ugh..” he grunted. “You killed my brother.”
Mathew looked at the biker who slid up to him. “No he’s not dead, but he will be if we don’t get him some help soon.” Mathew had put him in the recovery position and had noticed the shrapnel wounds that littered his body. “If we can get to a hospital I can probably take out most of the shrapnel, but I don’t have the tools to help him now.”
“Why the fuck didn’t you just kill us.” he asked.
“Well, we usually don’t shoot people unless there’s good reason. Being shot at is good reason, but now that the threat’s gone, I really don’t have any reason to shoot you do I?”
“Matty, I saw an ambulance up ahead, I’m not sure if there’s still anything in it, but we might be able to help them there.” Alain said, pointing down the highway.
“Tim and Mackenzie are on their way, once they’re here we’ll make our way toward the ambulance.”
“Why are you doing this?” The biker asked.
“Because we can, and because you may be able to help us. We aren’t here to kill anyone, but we’ll defend ourselves when needed. I’m sure there are more of you, and if we take care of you here, then we may be lucky enough to ensure you treat us the same way if your men win the next firefight.”
The biker sat there for a moment, looking into Mathews eyes, wondering what could possibly drive a man to care so much about honor in a world like the one they now inhabited. What could possibly drive a man to care for his enemy’s wounds and give quarter after they threatened his life. He did not know what it was that drove the man who stood before him, all he knew is that at this moment he wanted nothing more than everyone in the world to have that drive, that will to be honorable and just. If only.

Chapter 2: You are not alone!

A thin haze of smoke filled the top of the leanto as Tim nursed the embers of their fire to keep it alive, but not let it grow too large and give away their position.
“Don’t blow on it, you’ll put it out.” Al said, crawling toward it in the darkness to place his hands centimeters from its warmth. “Ah, that feels good.”
“Don’t muffle it, you’ll put it out.” Tim quipped
“Hah.” Al smiled and laughed mockingly. Then his face, highlighted in red from the embers, turned serious “Shut up.” he said, returning his gaze to the miniature flames that periodically billowed from the embers.

Twenty or so meters from the washout, Mathew and Mackenzie sat in a hasty observation post that looked out toward where they had crash landed the Cessna that brought them over Lake Ontario. This was the only position they could see clearly east and west, and there was also the possibility that Russian soldiers could come from an amphibious vehicle to the north of their position. Somehow they both doubted to see any Russians, they hadn’t yet, other than the jets.
“The night is coldest before the dawn.” Mackenzie stated, putting his weapon back together before cleaning the inside of his gasmask. He took a deep breath of fresh air and satisfyingly watching the steam of his breath float out before him.
“It’s actually coldest an hour or so after sunrise.” Matty said, as he too was cleaning his gasmask.
Mackenzie smiled. “Whatever, so long as it’s cold I’m happy.”
They had discovered early on that the spores in the atmosphere floated higher depending on how hot the day was. They also discovered that on a cold enough night, and particularly nearing dawn on such a night, the spores would drop to the surface and latch to it, forming a layer of mold. This mold would, in the morning heat, spew more spores into the air and the cycle would continue. However, for now, the air was near freezing and safe to breath. The group took the time to clean as much of the spores off of their apparel as possible. If it were light enough, they would have expected to see the pink layer of growth on everything around them. It was particularly depressing when the nights were warm, and they were forced to keep their masks adorned, such as last night.
“I miss music.” Mathew said, forcing the cloth deep into the tight creases of his gasmask.
“When’s the last time we heard music?” Mackenzie asked.
“Well, there’s that time you played the guitar in that abandoned music store in Peterborough, although I wouldn’t call that music.” Mathew said, smiling.
Mackenzie laughed. “Heh, if I recall that well, you were singing along to A Horse With No Name pretty passionately.”
“Yes, I was.” Mathew admitted in a sigh as he looked to the stars above. “I have to agree, it was a pretty moving moment considering we hadn’t heard music for quite a while until then. I never thought it could be so powerful.”
Mackenzie peered up with him. “We took it for granted. We took a lot for granted before the Cordyceps came.”
“No interference.” Mathew said, staring at the glistening sky.
“Yeah, the sky is perfect.”
As they peered up, the rumbling of an engine became audible in the distance.
Mackenzie looked in the direction it came from. “Ah shit.”
“Hurry, let’s get back to the leanto.” Mathew said, picking up his gear and moving back in a quick jog, followed closely by Mackenzie.

“We hear it.” Tim said,
Al was putting his gasmask on but was nodding at the same time to confirm that he too had heard the sound.
Mathew got on to his stomach. “Let’s just lay still and hope whatever they’re dropping doesn’t kill us.”
“We’re relatively safe in the washout. I think.” Mackenzie added.
“Let’s hope so.” Tim said, his hands over his head.
The roaring of the engine became louder, and that’s when Mathew made the realization. “Those are propellers, not jets.”
“Helicopter?” Tim asked.
“No, Helicopters make a chopping sound.” Al said.
“Exactly, this is a buzzing, and listen, there’s an oscillation.”
“A what?” Al asked.
“It means there’s two or more engines.” Mathew said, getting up.
Mackenzie got up too. “They wouldn’t be bombing or dropping anything from prop plane, let’s go check this out.”
As they four made their way into the washout, the early morning rays just began to slice across the landscape. The roaring engines of the mystery aircraft had become increasingly loud and were nearly upon them.
“Low flying.” Tim remarked.
“There it is.” Alain pointed.
“Holy fuck, it’s an Osprey.” Mathew exclaimed, “Wave damnit it’s either survivors or the military.” He said as he threw his arms up.
Mackenzie climbed out of the washout and ran into the field, “Come on spread out.”
They were all standing in the field, thrashing about when they noticed the door slide open.
Mathew stopped waving. “That might not be good.” He said. Looking more closely he saw a figure lean from the side of the sliding door and empty the contents of some kind of drum.
Mackenzie cocked an eyebrow, “What the hell is that?” he said as he looked up at the cloud of objects that tumbled out of the drum and danced in the air.
“Papers.” Tim said, waiting impatiently for them to float down to him as the Osprey screamed overhead, passing them by.
Mathew watched as it passed, it was close enough now for him to make out that the person in the doorway was a woman, wearing a flight suit and a harness. Her long hair swirled in the wash of the engines. An MP5 slung on her shoulder dangled over the edge of the aircraft as she waved at him,. He could barely make out her face but Mathew could have sworn he saw her smiling. “I think I’m in love.” He muttered, waving back. The papers she had dropped finally made it to him and fell past him as he stood still waving, caught in a slight trance. She was still waving back at him before the Osprey dipped behind a tree line. “Wow.” He said, his heart swelling with an uncontrollable energy.
“Hey man, wake up! Did you see this?” Tim said, running over to him with one of the flyers. “Check it out.”
The flyers were all similar, although the smeared ink and offset print made it obvious that they were printed individually by an old press printer. There was a graphic in the top left hand corner of a persons fist in the air. Centered to the right of the fist, the words “You are not alone!” crossed the page in oversized bold lettering. The next word addressed all four of them “Survivors!” Beneath this there was a paragraph:

Do you seek shelter from the horrors of disease?
Do you seek protection from the fires of war?
Then Join US! Come to GENESSE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
TRACK FIELD in MEDINA NY
to fulfill your destiny in the construction of a NEW NATION!
Our community can provide for all basic needs.
We are waiting for you!

A WARNING TO INFECTED!

All infected persons will be shot on sight!
If you do not end your own life we will do it for you.

It looked a lot like an old world war two flyer, perhaps it was a template from that time and all they did was change the words. However it seemed as though it was simply the style of the artist. The location names had been stamped in by hand and centered at the bottom of the page, a circular crest. The crest had the words “Necessitas non habet legem” encircling it. Within the crest was the same fist as at the top of the page, but it was placed within a shield.

“What should we do?” Tim asked.
“I think we should go.” Mathew said, already turning to make his way toward the camp.
“Where’s Median.” Mackenzie asked, frantically searching through his pocket for a map they had found in a home the day they crashed in the woods near the shores of Lake Ontario
“Let me see.” Mathew said turning back around to reach for the map.
Mackenzie pulled it away from him, staring at him with angry eyes though the gasmask. “Give me a fucking second why don’t you.” He said, putting the map down on the ground and opening it up. “Medina.” he repeated.
“Where are we exactly?” Al said.
“We tried to figure that out two days ago didn’t we?” Tim asked.
“Yeah, but we didn’t have much to work off of, now we know we crashed in a park of some sorts.”
“Right there.” Mathew said, I remember seeing that delta on our way in, and it’s right next to a Golden Hill state park, that’s where we crashed yesterday.”
“Jesus that was just yesterday?” Al said.
Tim nodded, “Yeah... yesterday felt like a long day.”
“Well, we crashed early morning yesterday.” Mackenzie said.
Mathew shook his head. “Would you three stop calling it a crash? We made an emergency landing in a very short forest clearing.”
“Seemed like a crash to me.” Al said.
Mackenzie looked up to Mathew, “I think a crash is when you hit things. We hit many things.”
“I mean, I’m pretty sure we lost both wings.” Al added.
Tim took his turn. “I think if there were fuel in them we’d have died a fiery painful death. Luckily we were completely out of fuel.”
“We didn’t crash! What do you not understand about an emergency landing?”
Alain thought for a moment before talking, “I think an emergency landing is a landing that you do quickly because of some kind of problem, and that after rectifying the problem, you take off again.”
“Yeah.” Tim said. “ I totally agree with that, and since we had no wings, no landing gear, no fuel and were thrown from the aircraft.”
Mathew pointed his finger at Tim. “Hey, I wasn’t thrown from the aircraft, you bastards never wear your seatbelts.”
Tim stared at Matty with wide eyes. “Well I was thrown from the aircraft Matty, and it was painful. I think I still have leaves up my ass.”
“Ok, we don’t need to hear that.” Al said, looking back from the map.
“Here.” Mackenzie said, pointing to the map. “This is where Medina is, and we should be somewhere around here, if that’s the case there’s a road just a few hundred meters past the tents and we should be able to figure out exactly where we are once we know the name of that road.
Tim turned his attention to Mackenzie. “The name of that road Mac, might be at the very end of it, and look how long that road is.” Tim said. “I just said I still have leaves in my ass, I don’t care what the name of the road is and I definitely don’t intend to walk any further than I already have to. If it’s there we’re pretty much where you said we were.”
Al nodded. “ You know, he’s got a point. We really don’t have to walk all the way down that road just to know if we’re on it. It’s a road, that’s indication enough that we’re pretty close to where you think we are.”
“I hate being unsure when it’s just a few hundred meters to prove something.” Mackenzie said, looking at the map still.
“Ok, we really don’t have to walk to the edge of the road Mac. Look, we crossed one road when we raided those houses right after the crash.”
“Hah! You just called it a crash!”
“Shut up Tim. Now, if we crossed one road and we came straight south from the crash site.” Mathew glared at Tim who was pointing at him victoriously. “We have to be somewhere in this square. That’s about as easy as it gets.”
“He’s got a point you know.” Al said.
Mackenzie punched Al on the shoulder. “Would you stop saying that?”
Al laughed.
“Alright, well I suggest we get moving. We’ve got.” Mathew peered one last time at the map, judging the distance by eye. “We’ve got about twenty kilometers to walk.”
“That’s going to take all day.” Tim said, his expression uneasy.
“Not to mention we probably have to deal with the locals of Medina, who are probably mostly all infected, hopefully not all raging lunatics.” Al said getting up off the ground.
“Yeah well, we’ll burn that bridge when we get there.” Mackenzie said, folding the map and putting it back into his pocket.
Mathew turned and began to make his way back to the washout. “Alright, let’s pack up the leanto and get moving.”
“Wait.” Tim said. “We’re supposed to be going to St-Catharines to see about my family.”
“Yes Tim, I know.” Said Mathew who had stopped and turned around. “But if they’ve got an Osprey they could probably help us out if we barter with them a bit. St-Catharines is not all that far from here by air.” Mathew said, returning to the direction of travel.
“He’s got a point-”
Mackenzie and Tim both turned to Al with coarse stares, even Mathew had stopped and turned around to peer at him in irritation.
“- you... know.” Al said... finishing the line.
Mackenzie broke eye contact and began to walk, “Alright, let’s get a move on.”

They took down the leanto and organized the supplies they had gathered the day before. The majority of the things they had taken from the campsite was canned food and sealed bottled water which was a godsend considering the fear of infection. They traded these safer consumables with less reliable ones for space in the pack. The unwanted goods were left at the shelter as they kicked out the remains of the fire and began their trek toward Medina New York.
The landscape was spotted with farmhouses, and so the group had to remain vigilant incase the occupants had fallen victim to the disease. They took turns to break trail through the farmland that was covered in the seasons first months of unchecked growth. Since the land had not been prepared for harvest, wild grass dominated the landscape. They could take the road, but risked detection by unsavory sorts. They were not only worried about the infected, which were usually easily fooled and dispatched. They were more so concerned about raiders, marauders and all other types of none-infected people who would risk a lot for the quality of equipment the four of them carried.
They took turns navigating as well, making sure that they checked the map periodically, especially when a road was in sight, to ensure that they could find the safest location to cross, one away from houses. There were several occasions where they reached the edge of a tree line and found themselves looking into the backyard of a farmhouse. They would inspect visually to see if there was anything worth scavenging, but avoided entering a danger area for nothing short of a necessity. If there was a case of bottled water sitting outside someone’s door they’d risk it, but for anything else it wasn’t worth the trouble. When they were in Canada they often procured transportation by motor vehicle, however they soon discovered that it attracted the infected, and stopping to syphon gasoline from other vehicles made it very dangerous when a mob was on your trail. Not to mention that getting anywhere near an urban center in a vehicle was nearly impossible. The majority of roadways were littered with abandoned vehicles and navigating them in any vehicle other than a motorcycle became a daunting task. Motorcycles had their own problems as well. Mathew had survived the majority of his time in Sudbury by navigating the dead city streets with his motorcycle. He learned the hard way that the infected had no qualms about using themselves as crash test dummies. Avoiding one was simple, but a wall of them was bad news at any level.
Mackenzie was sitting at the edge of the wood line. “What do you think?” He asked to Al.
“Well, the way I see it. We’ll move a lot faster if we get a vehicle and follow this road here down to Jeddo. It’ll save us hours of walking, and I doubt we’ll run into anybody. This region seems pretty quite.”
“So far yes, it does.” Mathew agreed. “But you don’t want to be driving sixty miles an hour down a dirt road and have a dozen of them scramble out of the ditch to say hello.”
“I don’t want to risk that.” Mackenzie said. “I vote we continue on foot. It’ll take longer but we’ve already been through a lot, I’m still feeling the effects of whatever it is the Russian jets dropped on us. I don’t need a concussion and a steering wheel bruise in my chest to make things worse.”
“If things go the way they have in the past you wouldn’t have to worry about that Mack, you, Al and Tim would be ejected out the windows while the truck rolls over. Then you’d probably all be unconscious as a horde of infected rush into the truck and beat me to death while I’m trapped in the truck by my seatbelt.”
“That’s exactly why I never wear mine.” Tim said, smiling.
“I guess you’ve convinced me.” Said Al, “Let’s get going then. We’ve got to move around this yard.”
“Alright.” Mackenzie said, as he turned around, slapping the map and compass into Tim’s chest. “Your turn.”
Tim rolled his eyes. “Jee thanks Mack.”
Mathew looked at the house more intently for a moment, feeling some unexplainable urge to take a closer look. “Wait.”
Mackenzie stopped and looked at Mathew. He didn’t know what was on his mind but trusted his friend enough to know that if something was up it was worth paying attention. He turned quickly and threw a small stick to Al who was out of reach. He motioned him to come back once he had turned around, irritated at the way he had gotten his attention.
“Alright, what’s up?” Tim said, after the other two had returned.
Mathew pointed to the structure across the barren field. “Look at that hangar type building.” he said.
“Yeah, looks like a garage for large farm equipment.” Tim said.
Mathew shook his head. “Do you see that on the side of it?”
“Something crashed into the side. Yeah I see that.” Al said looking more intently.
“It’s some kind of vehicle.” Mackenzie added, “Where are the binoculars.”
“I don’t need the binoculars Mack, it’s an ambulance.” said Mathew as he knelt.
Mackenzie nodded his head. “Shit that’s good news, we’re low on autoinjectors since that pellet attack. We should check it out.”
“My point exactly.” Mathew got up and started to walk down the edge of the forest that lead toward the roadway that the building faced.
“Alright, let’s go.” Tim said, following him.

They made their way along the side of the yard, staying hidden in the tree line. The only problem was that the protection of the tree line brought them to the opposite side of the structure of where the ambulance had crashed. Once they arrived at the end of the woods they had to stop and plan their advance. They didn’t know how many of the near bye buildings would be able to observe their movement across the open ground, and they wanted to minimize this to avoid any kind of interaction with people, infected or otherwise.
“Alright.” Tim said, looking at the structure. “I’d suggest we take the corner there. I’ll go first since I’m not as stupidly fast as you guys, and I can hold it until you’re there. Give me the machine gun Al, I’ll run just as fast with it as with my rifle, but I’ll have more to put down if something hits the fan.”
“I agree.” said Mathew.
“Alright, here you go.” Al said, switching the M249 for the M16A2.
“Ok, get going, I’ll be right behind you to cover the wall.” Mackenzie said.
“Then we’ll make our way to the far side and move along the wall to the ambulance.” Al added.
Mathew nodded, “That does seem like the safest idea.”
Tim got up, “Ok, I’m going.” he said as he stepped out from behind the tree line and began to run to the corner of the building.
“Alain watched toward the road while Mathew kept an eye in the other direction.
Mackenzie took his turn and burst out of the tree line at full tilt.
Alain got ready and took his turn shortly afterward. The dash reminded him of a moment in his past. It was a fifty meter run. Alain and Mackenzie had been teamed up in the Texas exercise, before they had gone to Afghanistan for their tour. There, during the training, they had been labeled as the fastest runners of their platoon from a comical episode where Mackenzie outran his section to a building they were supposed to be clearing. He was given the signal to make his way to the building, and did so, but when he reached it, he turned to see that his section was not even half of the way. Later in the exercise, Alain and Mackenzie were teamed up to run a several hundred meter distance toward a building where they would provide cover for another element of their attack. Mackenzie went first, and to his surprise, Alain was directly behind him the entire way as they both lunged over tall cacti and deep ditches, keeping a constant quick pace the entire way to the building. This was the same during their tour, where they were forced to run a large distance in open ground to rendezvous with another call signs during a firefight. It was a suicide run, and if they hadn’t made it they would have been considered foolish. However they did make it, and they brought with them the quick clot packs that saved the lives of several people, and so they were not fools, but heroes. Funny how it goes, Alain thought to himself as he slid on his knees into the cover of the structure. “Alright.” he gasped, taking a few breaths before continuing, “Matty’s on his way.”
“Can see that.” Tim said, as he lay in the prone, the machine gun trained skillfully toward the road. He had seen Mathew burst from the tree line with his peripheral vision. He soon heard the hard footsteps as Mathew bolted past them, making his way to the far end of the garage where Mackenzie was waiting.
“What’s it look like?” Mathew asked as he leaned against the backside of the garage, watching Mackenzie who was leaning slightly around the corner.
“Looks clear, but you never know. There’s a house about forty or so meters to the south, looks abandoned, but you-”
“You never know, yeah I get it.” Mathew interrupted. “Let’s get moving.” He said, turning back and Signaling to Al that they were moving up.
Al nodded, turning to Tim. “They’re headed to the Ambulance.”
“Right.” Tim replied.
Mathew moved forward behind Mackenzie as they made their way toward the ambulance cautiously. They were worried about the house to the south, hoping that it was truly abandoned and that they wouldn’t have to deal with the possibility of its inhabitants ruining their day.
Mackenzie was out of breath, he stopped for a moment and dropped to a knee. “I’m sorry Matty. I don’t think I should have started moving so quickly after that incident yesterday. I’m still feeling pretty lousy. You’ll have to take point, I need a second.”
“Alright.” Mathew said, moving past him slowly, shotgun at the ready. He stopped a few feet forward of Mackenzie and waited, looking back for a moment to see if he was alright. “Good to go?” he asked.
“Yeah.” Mackenzie said, using the wall to support himself as he stood up. “Let’s go.” He was breathing hard.
Mathew simled, “You’ll be alright. It’s the residue of the Atropine that’s causing your discomfort.”
“Yeah, let’s hope so.” Mackenzie said, moving up behind Mathew. “Alright, keep going.”
Mathew began to move forward again, making it to just a few feet from the ambulance. The back end of the ambulance hung out of the hole it had crated in the side of the corrugated steel wall, the doors were open and swung slowly in the light breeze of the morning.
“Which way do you want to go in by?” Mackenzie asked. “The back of the ambulance? Or between the ambulance and the wall?”
“I think the wall is a better choice since going to the back of the ambulance will make us more visible to anyone or anything across the street, we’re already taking a chance by being in view of that house of there.” He said, nodding toward the south.
Mackenzie looked in that direction for a short moment, the lenses of his gasmask having fogged up a little bit from his sharp breaths earlier. “Yeah, I’m really hoping we don’t have to deal with anything but the problem of finding enough space for the shit we’ll want to take from the ambulance.”
“That’s if there’s anything useful in here.” Mathew said, taking a step up on the destroyed corrugated steel wall. He slid himself between the wall and the ambulance, keeping his weapon pointing toward the inside in case he had to blow anything’s head off at short notice. “I’m in.” He said, once he stood on the other side.
“Coming.” Mackenzie answered, taking his turn to climb between the wall and the ambulance. As he made his way through, Mathew was already a few steps ahead and was clearing the driver side of the ambulance. The door was left open, blood was smeared all over the inside of the vehicle, however it was old and coagulated.
“Pretty.” Mathew said mockingly, to the smears that canvassed the windshield. He began to climb into the driver side, “Cover me.” he said, while throwing Mackenzie the shotgun. It would be useless in the tight confines of the ambulance.
Mackenzie caught the shotgun and slung his M14, bringing the shotgun to bear. “Check.” He said, letting Mathew know he was ready.
Mathew drew his pistol and made his way to the rear of the ambulance. There was a lot of blood, enough for more than one person to have bled out, or perhaps blood packs had exploded during the crash. It didn’t matter. Mathew got busy looking for anything of use. He saw some Epinephrine autoinjectors in a case and quickly snatched them up and stuffed them into his bag.
“Matty.” Mackenzie said, from the driver side.
“What?” Mathew said, as he continued to grab other useful things from the stores within the ambulance.
“I’ve got a slow one here.” Mackenzie said, as he watched a corpse wearing a paramedic uniform slowly rise from behind some farm equipment. “Hopefully he’s alone.”
“Well I hope you don’t make any loud noises.” Mathew said taking the last of the useful contents of the ambulance and making his way back out toward the driver seat. As he climbed into the front of the vehicle motion caught his attention and his head shot to the right. Out the passenger window, a woman stood watching him. White spines dangled behind her head, they had grown through her clothing. Her face was swollen on the left side, and partially missing on the right, spherical fungal structures attempted to fill the hole in her face unsatisfactorily. “Got one on the passenger side of the door too Mack, don’t know if she’s slow yet, she’s just standing here.” he said, his pistol trained on her forehead in case she pounced.
“Best thing would be to get rid of them quietly.” Mackenzie said, sliding the Kukri out of its sheath.
“I agree completely.” Mathew said, reaching to Mackenzie to have his shotgun returned to him.
Mackenzie saw his outstretched hand in his peripheral vision and handed it back, without even looking in his direction. “Cover me from the second one, I’ll take this guy out.” Mackenzie began to walk toward the shambling corpse who in tern made its way toward him. He raised an arm and prepared to strike when the hurried footsteps echoed from behind him. He spun around, anticipating the other. Instead he witnessed Mathew strike the woman in the side of the head with the but of his shotgun. She collapsed to the floor. Mackenzies attention returned to the one before him who had only taken half a step in the time that had passed. His arm, already at its apex, fell toward the creature. One strong stroke had the blade cleave cleanly into its skull. The softened tissue split open easily, revealing the intricate sponge like structure of the Cordyceps fungus that had consumed the majority of its brain.
Mathew struck the woman several more times in the skull before it split open, grey matter spewing out on to the concrete floor. He then looked up at Mackenzie, who had already dispatched the slow one. “Ready to go?” he asked.
“Very much so.” Mackenzie replied, wiping the filth from his blade. As he turned to make his way back to Mathew, the familiar burst of a machine gun resonated throughout the garage.
They both looked at each other for a very brief moment before they broke into a sprint toward the hole in the wall.
The machine gun fire continued as they hastily jumped through the way they had come in and ran toward the corner of the building. When they turned the corner they saw both Alain and Timothy firing down the side of the building toward the street.
Mackenzie turned to look behind them, he didn’t even bother verbally warning Mathew, but instead raised his weapon and began to fire into the mass of bodies that flowed toward them along the wall.
The bodies began to fall, but Mackenzie couldn’t stop them all, and the faster ones were closing in.
Just as he ran out of rounds in his M14, one of them raced up toward them.
Mathew turned the corner and opened fire, sending pellets hurtling toward the closest runner. The side of its face exploded into a mist.
“Reloading.” Mackenzie yelled as he dropped the empty magazine and loaded a new one.
“Let’s get moving!” Mathew yelled to the other two. He watched as Alain picked up the fire with the M16A2 while Timothy got up from the prone and began to run in their direction.
“Go go go!” Alain yelled as he stopped firing and sprinted toward them.
“To the house!” Mackenzie yelled, “It’s the only option!”
Mathew fired another sell into the crowed, downing four, of which three returned to their feet. They were too far for the buckshot.
“Run!” Alain yelled, switching weapons with Timothy.
The four ran toward the home, a trail of infected close on their tail.
Somewhere in the distance, the rumbling sound of an aircrafts engines was audible, but for now, all the four could hear was the sucking of air through gas masks, and the explosion of gunpowder.