New post

look this upcoming monday for more to the story thank you for waiting.

# 66

I fell to the ground holding my neck, dammit , dammit, dammit she friggin bit me. How the hell could I get sucked into that poor little girl shtick. Damn you Leeya you bit me. I leaned back and aimed my gun at the top of her head. Anger was flowing through me so badly I wanted to squeeze the trigger and end her so much it burned. I fell for her and now I'm food for her , I should just take her head off. I aimed the gun and my hand started to shake, I pulled it down with my other hand. I can't give up on her, it wasn't Leeya that bit me it was the other version that did. If I squeeze the trigger I am no better than the "thing" that bit her. I couldn't give up it was my promise to her , in this world there wasn't much to hang on to or many people to either. My word was all that was left, if I kill her or let the "thing" inside of her win her over I will lose everything that I have left. Everything worth living for. I started to feel so depressed that I contemplated turning the gun on my damn self. Maybe that would be better, I wouldn't kill her I would take myself out of the equation. I thought a long time on it looking down the barrel. I can't say if it was a change of heart or chickening out, at this point it was a blur. I started to see double and then heard branches snapping behind me. I turned to look and the man in the blue robe was standing over me looking down. "I see the snake has bitten you! My friend you will have to see the darkness now before any chance of light". I looked back to Leeya and she was gone. I tried to find her but blacked out.

I started to come to with a buzzing in my ears, my head was hurting me so bad that I wanted to just put my hands on it and squeeze. I tried to pick up my hands but found out rather quickly they were tied to my sides outstretched. I started to open my eyes and it was so bright I had to squint for a minute and let my eyes get used to the brightness. When I finally got them somewhat adjusted I could see the man in the blue robe leaning over me with a huge spotlight beaming into my face. Behind him and the light I could see the silhouettes of people presumably tied in the same position as me. I could see they had themselves tied with their arms outstretched and legs as well and come to think of it I could feel my right leg like that too , my left leg I haven't felt for a while now. The man was leaned over next to my side and then I felt a sharp pain and yelled out. He got up and looked at me "Oh I see you have woken up, well then allow me to show you some of my work" he said in a very easy going voice. I said "what have you done to me? why am I tied up? where are my friends?" He smiled " Ah yes the rebels, no need to fret they will join you shortly, however whether or not your still alive to see them is entirely up to you now". I started to get confused "How is it up to me? you have me tied up what is it you want?" I asked in as nice a way as I could in my present predicament.

"Do you know where your girlfriend is? the half thing? do you know where she ran off to?" He asked in a very quizzical sort of way. "No we had fought just before you found me, I don't know where she went". He started a cocky laugh "Oh it is going to be a long night with those particular answers, tell me something? do you like pain?" He asked in a way that was obvious had no fair answer. "Well I am listening to you so ...yeah I must" I said and I almost regretting being such a smart ass as soon as it rolled off my lips. "I will test your bounds my good man, you will know after this session what you can and cannot handle, I will touch all of your thresholds and you will give me the answers I so desire" he said in a creepy , I know more than I want you to know sort of way. "Wait " I begged off for a moment trying to buy some time before the coming torture. "Why do you want her so bad whats the deal?" I asked in a half ass way of seeming like maybe I knew something I could make a deal with. "You know something?" he asked me in a strange way. " I think anything you say now is to save your own skin, and I don't want to hear lies. I think that the only way you'll be honest is if you believe me so let me show you what Father Whitecross has in store for you".

I heard the humming , buzzing sound again and then could now see what was making the noise. He had a large bone saw in his hand. Wait a damn minute what was he sawing when I woke up I thought. Then he leaned into my side again and started to saw at my ribs right through the skin. The pain was so intense I screamed an unholy hell of a scream and yet I felt it was too soft, and damn near passed out. He then leaned up and said to me "Now you see I can continue sawing at this one rib until i get to the heart of the matter or... I can stop." he said in such a calm manner it was almost like two pieces of footage pasted together. "Now I would rather keep going because the human anatomy has always interested me so, however if you wish me to stop a simple answer gets the machines shut off and the medication applied". I gasped for a breath and looked at the light once more. "Ill never give up on you baby" I whispered. The man leaned in and asked "What was that? are you telling me what I need to hear or what you need to say?" I leaned down to my chest as far as the ropes allowed then murmured again " Ill never give up on you baby". He said with a smile in his voice "We shall see how big your heart really is in a moment so don't say another word, I will let you have one request and it shall be done as for honor" the man looked at me and made sure I had him eye to eye. "What would you like for a last request? hmm? " I leaned over and said "give her my heart and go to hell". He turned the saw on and started to lean in, I felt sick to my stomach and just the light breeze from the saw next to the previous area he cut was more pain than my leg had ever been. I was thinking passing out was a good plan but didn't get the chance.

# 65

We started out the doorway and headed down the hall with the desk we had already dealt with. I had Leeya leaning against me and with my leg and her it was all I could do to keep upright. Fish was leading us and I had faith he wouldn't lead us into a trap or group of bad folks. We reached the end of the hallway and Rusty peered out the doorway and could see it was clear. He turned to us and whispered his findings and we all got ready. "As soon as the door opens everyone run straight ahead fast and stay low, no looking back for anything just haul ass" Rusty had a good plan I just hoped it wouldn't be for nothing.

He opened the door and we all started running as fast as we could. The air was full of the scent of burning wood and the darkness in front of us had a strange glow from behind us that made shadows of us all as we ran to the trees. Despite what I heard from Rusty I managed to peek behind us while helping Leeya run. The building we were inside of was what appeared to be an old hunting lodge in the woods and just past it was a bonfire surrounded by people. I honestly wish I never looked back because in the crowd of people was a man in a long blue robe next to the fire with white long hair and a beard, and he was staring directly at us. I could hear him say something and then point, the entire crowd of people with him started running in our direction. "Move everyone we've been spotted" I yelled.

The rush into the tree line was quick yet once I could see the crowd after us I felt like we had our feet in molasses. I was running past the pain and Leeya was leaning so bad that I stopped and threw her over my shoulder caveman style and continued running. She was swinging around on my bag murmuring something but with my adrenaline screaming and my heart rate through the roof I wasn't able to decipher what it was. Rusty and Fish were what seemed like a mile ahead of me and Deb who was probably the fastest of all of us was out of my sight already Linda was just ahead of me and as much as I wished I could see how far behind us the group was I couldn't take another second to look with Leeya on me. My chest started to get heavy and my leg was in so much pain I could barely feel it , to the best of my knowledge I was going into a weird form of shock. I knew it was in bad shape but to go numb to the point of me feeling like I was running on a foot that was asleep was just brutal.

I could start to hear something behind us and it wasn't anything I was going to stop and check out. I kicked it into overdrive and started to haul even more ass. Behind me the trees limbs making cracking sounds and the snow and ice that was remaining over the leaves was making a crunching noise, I knew we were losing ground on the crowd behind us. I was starting to run out of steam and with all of my injuries and Leeya on my shoulder I knew we weren't going to be able to outrun them. I started to see a glow to the trees in front of me and it was a wake up call that they were even closer than I suspected. I started looking around while running and spotted an old tree that was rotted and leaning over quite a bit. I headed that was and darted behind it and collapsed to the ground and then put Leeya down on me so the leaning tree hid us. I watched in horror as a group of about twenty people with flames on torches ran past the tree and they were in full sprint. They were wearing next to nothing and appeared fine in the cold and snow it was very odd.

I wondered if the rest of the group I had lost view of would be able to get away or if they would start slowing down but I wasn't going to dare and move just yet.We waited a good half our and when I was sure no one was coming and the flames had long vanished I tried to wake Leeya. She was in rough shape the guys that had caught her worked her over pretty rough. I got her to come to a bit and she went right back to a kind of sleep if you will. I did my best to get her back on my shoulder and whispered to her " I'm not gonna give up on you" and I started to go in the direction heading to my left figuring behind me was the bonfire and in front of me was the group of people but to my left and right were unknown and to my best ability the left of me led to the area that we ditched the RV and the "things" were.

I started to get a bit of a sprint and the numbness in my leg was now heading to the hip and waist area. I also started to feel a sting in my neck and that was when I realized I was being bitten by Leeya. I stopped and put her down and she went into full attack mode on me. "Leeya what the hell you were biting me? Why would you bite me?" I asked her in a panic. She didn't even acknowledge me and started trying to jump on me and bite me again. "Baby this isn't kinky it's just bad , I don't want to hurt you" I pleaded but she continued to try and bite my and she was snapping like a dog trying to get the mailman. I leaned back and knocked her to the ground with a left hook and she started to cry. "Why did you hit me baby" she said while crying. I leaned down " I'm sorry Leeya you were biting me I didn't want to" I said and she turned and bit me on the neck hard. I hauled off and knocked her out. Dammit she bit me am I going to turn now?

# 64

We started climbing up the hill and being about as quiet as a group of people running for their lives in the cold could be when they were all equally out of breath, Linda was having a full blown asthma attack it seemed and Deb was redder than an Irish man on St. Patricks day. I was hobbling up behind everyone with my leg leaving a nice bread crumb like trail of blood. Leeya was just in front of me and was walking up the hill with such a relaxed posture it appeared she had just joined the group. We were all completeley wasted physically and she looked like she just started walking. Rusty was at the top of the hill now ahead of all of us and Fish was right behind him. They both stopped and stared at something as if they were in shock, I could hardly wait to see what it could be. Leeya stopped moving and I bumped into her while staring at my footing climbing up. "What's the matter baby you tired already?" I said to her as I regained my footing. She didn't say anything and started moving backwards brushing against me in the other direction this time. "What are you doing?" I asked "were going this way!" She looked at me for a moment then right back at the top of the hill. I wheeled my head around to see what was at the top of the hill and watched as Rusty , Fish and the girls were putting their guns down and their hands in the air. What the hell was up there?

I turned to look to Leeya and caught her in full sprint mode going down the hill. "Baby where the hell are you going?" I asked loudly so she could hear. Then I felt a sharp pain in my back and the feeling like I was hit with a stray foul ball. "What the hell?" I said out loud. In front of me Leeya looked back to me for a second then mouthed the words "I'm sorry" and disappeared behind a tree. I tried to turn around and see what the hell hit me and got kicked right in the face. That was all I remembered until I woke up.

I started to come to and looked around me. My knee was hurting so bad now I was probably awakened by it. The only thing that hurt as bad was my back in the right kidney area where the baseball type of pain was that slowed me down. I started to try and rub my head and realized my hands were behind me tied to whatever I was leaning against. I started to take a better look around and get my bearings. In front of me was what looked like fencing , almost like a dog kennel at the pound and to my side was another area where I could see Fish and Rusty. Across from us in the makeshift hall were Deb and Linda. I asked " Is everyone OK?" Fish cleared his throat and said "Yeah but any idea where your girl ran off to?" I thought for a minute then just muttered "NO" and started trying to move my wrists. "It's no use man I been trying for an hour we got tied up in cables, you'll just end up cutting yourself." I tried a bit more until I started cutting myself, shoot Fish was right. Deb called out"Why are we here ?why are you doing this to us? what do you want?" Her questions were unnoticed and I could here people talking just out of the doorway next to my "pen' I was tied up in. We were captured by someone and why is a better question. I yelled out " What the hell is going on give us some answers you dumb son of a bitches" I figured subtlety was best. It worked too , at the end of the room in the doorway a man appeared. He was dressed like someone who raided a camouflage store and wanted to look like Rambo only he wasn't pulling it off.

"Why don't you degenerates shut the hell up before I start putting my foot in your asses one by one". I looked to him and said " Sorry no disrespect intended sir, I was trying to just get someones attention I...." The man cut me off and said "Shut the hell up, do you think I don't know what blowing smoke up my ass feels like? Well I do. You people are trespassing on our land in the middle of world war 3 and want us to honor your every request? I will say it like this and only once , The next time you get my attention I will take a chunk out of your ass and hand it to you got it?" I looked to Fish and he was shaking his head no, so was Rusty but I had to try something, sitting in here waiting for whatever this moron was trying to do was no plan at all. "So what your highly educated camo wearing ass is saying is if I get your attention even one more time  that you will come in here and attempt to make me impressed with your lack of physical ability to even make me notice you throwing a stiff breeze at me?"

The man headed instantly for my cage and started to fish out the key to the lock. While he was doing this I was still trying to get my hands untied and managed with a great degree of pain to myself and fear as my motivation to get my right hand out and as soon as I did that my left hand with what tied them together still around it slipped out from the fence links behind me. The man came in and spit on my foot then kicked me in the knee that was dark and wet with blood. I said in a pained voice "you lean down to me and so much as smile I will rip it off your face". He looked astonished and then removed his hat and leaned down and said "you mean like this dead man?" I leaned in as if I was going to kiss him and said " yes just like that dummy" I swung my hands from behind me and grabbed his ears then pulled them down to my uplifting knee giving him what I always referred to as a stop sign. The crack of his mouth on my knee hurt me as well as some of his teeth dug in. He fell back almost instantly and I leaned into the fence behind me to help me get up to my feet.

"Now what was it you were gonna do to me again? What was it deadman?" I said as I skulked over to him . He held his hand out in a wait or no movement but I buried my good leg steel toe boot first right into his groin while he had his other hand holding his mouth together. The sheer force of it made him gurgle and cough and then proceed to throw up. From the looks of it he was eating well in this little area we were trapped in. Fish said loudly "Holy crap man get the keys quick." I reached down and the man made some effort to stop me. I grabbed his hair and did a wrestling version of the "bulldog" and rammed his head face first into the concrete. Instantly the fight was over as the man stopped moving all together. He was either knocked out or dead, either way I won and had the keys and looky here a new gun too. I made my way to the cages of the girls and unlocked them then untied them and then they helped me with the guys.

"What happened while I was out?" I asked the group. "They searched us all and started to talk about testing something on us." Deb said to me, "I could hear everything real good from where they had me tied up so I heard a lot of the plan". I looked at everyone "what plan?" Linda looked at me " They want to inject us with something and have a zombie bite us to see if we become one or were fine". "Are you kidding me ? What the hell is this redneck science lab time?" We needed to get out of their and fast. Rusty said there were about thirty of them and that the place was set up like a military base. Only he had not seen anyone who looked military. His thought was they took this place over when the military ditched it. I took the gun and started to move slowly to the end of the hall where the doorway was the man came from. "Shhhhh everyone stay back and be silent" I whispered. We made it to the door jam and I could see that from one side it was the end of the hall with nothing to it, I peeked to the other side and could see someone at the table just to the side of our hall and they were reading something. I swung around the doorway and aimed the gun at the mans face. "Move and I will end you" I said sternly. "Hands where I can see them and real slow" I ordered as I signaled for the group to follow me.

We took the man and I had Fish and Rusty tie him back to back to the man i had beat down and then gag them both. We locked them in the pen and started making our way down the hallway to see if we could get out of here. Fish had the new gun from the guard at the desk and I was already feeling better about our situation. We got to the end of the hall and the only place to go was through the door in front of us. I did my usual lean into the door as I pulled it to control its movement as slow as possible. At the first crack of it being open I could feel the air hit me, it was outside and that was OK by me. I looked into the distance and could see two men heading this way and they were carrying Leeya. I shut the door and yelled "everyone back in you cells and act like you tied up fast". We all ran back and I went into the cell I was in that now housed the two men and took the beret and coat from the man we got at the desk. I turned them so the man I knocked out or killed was in the corner and then ran back to the desk and acted like I was the man we had grabbed and faced my back to the door the men would be coming in from.

I heard the door open behind me and the cold air blast in. The men came behind me and I could hear Leeya's feet dragging. "Hey Jim got the last one and boy is she a fighter." I nodded and kept my face down. They moved past me and I got up behind them and followed them inside. One man turned to open Debs cage and said "Hey why is this one unlocked Jim?" He turned as he asked and looked at my gun. "You boys put her down gently and get in that cage right there  after putting your guns on the floor using only your index finger and thumbs, fist one to disobey me gets to look like the big dude with Jimbo over there" I pointed to the cage I was in. The men did what I asked and everyone got up and came over to help tie and gag them. "You wont survive out there" one of the men said. "Father Whitecross will find you and then youll wish you were bitten". I looked at Fish and we both smirked " Father Whitecross will get you and give you a wedgie" Fish said mimicking the mans voice. I smiled and said "they make too much noise" and slapped the guy in the face with the gun. We got up and I said to everyone "We have to get out of here and fast and not look back, whatever this father crap is lets be gone before it gets to us". Rusty helped me get Leeya up who was sporting a blackeye and split over the bridge of her nose.

"Which one of you hit her" I said to the men that dragged Leeya in. One man with his eyes signaled the other one was the culprit. I said "OK it was you hey tough guy ? well hitting a woman is about as bad as you can get so here is my response" I leaned back and kicked him in the face so hard with my steel toes that his nose was into the back of his head. He started to wiggle and spaz out like he was seizing. "Lets go" I said and walked to the door way.

# 63

The idea of going back to the RV was tempting but not a solution. Windows had been blown out of it and we were in the middle of no where here with a few miles to go in either direction. Each side of the highway was wood lined and no matter what I thought of running into the woods, not knowing what was in the woods was stopping me from heading in that direction. "Back to the RV everyone!" I yelled to the group and we all started to run back to the motor home. I trailed behind the crowd and and had my eyes and gun aimed at the oncoming demons. We had a huge head start and would make it back no problem but I wasn't going to take any chances. We got to the RV and I climbed in behind the wheel. I flipped the dual tank switch and turned it over a few times. It finally caught and the gauge read almost empty. I figured it ran out on one tank but never on the other so maybe it can go far enough to not leave us in hell.

Throwing it in gear it started to chug along, and we started moving to the crowd of "things". I bared down on the wheel and buried the pedal accelerating into the small group. The "things" did what they always do and ran right into the front of the RV trying to get at the people inside. The thud and bang were stomach churning but necessary. I looked over to each side checking the mirrors and could see the beasts trying to get to their feet and turn to come after us. Leeya was standing to the back of me holding on to the CB above my head for balance. I glanced at her for a quick second and she looked back with a glimmer of her old self. I was suddenly in the RV with just her and we were on our way to a southern plane. It was a nice moment but the thudding in the front of the RV made me turn back to the roadway. My eyes widened when I looked ahead of the RV. Hundreds if not a thousand of the "things" everywhere you looked and an airplane,  a large one like a 747 broken apart across the highway. It must have brought them all out to feed with the noise of the impact whenever that was. I yelled out to everyone "Hang on it's about to get real bumpy!" I shoved the throttle down and started cutting through the massive crowd.

 I continued through the group and at first it was smiling each time I made eye contact with one of the "things" and then ran it down but a funny thing started to happen. The more I ran them down the more the sound and feeling of the RV rolling over them made my stomach turn. I was thinking one of these "things" was in the same boat as Leeya. Would I run her down this easily, do any of them deserve this? Then I started to think about all of the people who have been killed , bitten, or eaten by them. Memories of my mothers house went through my mind, and then memories of Leeya biting Brent a few times did as well. I started to wonder if Leeya was Leeya at all or if the "thing" she looked like was using parts of what she was and who she was to fool me, and all of us. What if Leeya really was gone and the chemo I had given her only kept part of her alive for it to use and I hadn't really saved her at all. I had only cursed her with a life of being half trapped in the hell of the "thing" and not being able to be free to move on to whatever was next , if anything. I was never much of a religious man but with everything that was happening in the world it was hard to think "god only gives you what you can handle". If that were true the world was pretty weak.

"Thump, Thump, Thump", the bodies across the front end of the RV went flying as I continued through them. I felt an ice cold pair of lips on my neck as Leeya reached down and kissed me and then whispered in my ear, "Kill them all baby , kill them all". I smirked and kept on trucking through the crowd more and more of the thudding started to roll off me like water on a duck's ass. You can push yourself through a lot in this world when you have a woman behind you, even if shes only half alive. The RV started to surge a bit and I realized we were going to run out again but this time in the middle of a crowd of the things. I cut the wheel to the RV sending everyone in the back flying around and shot into the woods towards the side road we were almost to the exit for. "Were going to either run out or get stuck in here so get ready with the guns and legs, we need to run and start shooting!" I yelled to the back. The RV was chugging when I hit the water run off culvert and it sent us airborne for what can only be said is way too long for an RV of this size. We crashed down so hard I thought I may have broken my tailbone and the RV pummeled through a large grouping of trees before getting hung up on the last few.

"Everyone get you stuff and run come one quickly their on their way" I yelled as I got Leeya back to her feet. I glanced out the door as everyone started coming up behind me and could see a sea of "things" coming towards us. They mostly were moving very slowly and not running this time and I felt a bit better despite the fact that it looked like a concert just let out and we had free T shirts. I grabbed Leeya's hand and started out of the RV with everyone right behind us. "We have to get moving and find somewhere to either hide or better transportation". Leeya said to me in a regular voice like she wasn't scared at all "No baby we need to just keep running". I looked back at her and could see she was serious as a heart attack. We continued running with Leeya's words on my mind, she knew something and maybe she was right but it was getting dark and colder by the minute. We could run until we were out of energy and then what? I started in gasping breaths to talk with Leeya about what she said and she just insisted we keep running.

We ran until I had heard enough bitching and moaning from the rest of the group and trust me they did a lot of it. I didn't want to run at all my leg was screaming at me and my boot was feeling warm with the blood starting to fill it. We were in big trouble if those "things" had any of the runners in the pack with them. "Hang on a second man, let's just wait and listen are they still behind us?" Rusty asked in a panting voice. We listened and I couldn't hear anything. I looked around and we had run pretty far into the woods not, we ran right past the side road and into the woods on the other side of it and deep in. I could see a pretty decent size hill off to the left of us. "Come one lets get up top and see if they are still back there" I said to everyone. We climbed up the hill and I hoped there would either be nothing in the distance chasing us or something in the distance to head for that was safe.

# 62

Fish ran to the kitchens of all of the rooms they had all been staying in and started filling a couple of pillow cases with any food that could stay fresh and whatever we could try and stuff in the refrigerator. Rusty went around and rounded up any and all weapons the dead intruders had left behind and ammo that they had on hand. Deb and Linda took off for the clothing they had and Jenn and Leeya went to help with the rest of the blankets. I started getting everyone of the guns Rusty started dropping on the table in front of me ready with fresh ammo as we had it and having them lined up to grab. The entire time I had my eyes stuck on the entrance to the parking lot just in case we took too long. Rusty came by with  few more clips of ammo and handed me a vest. "Here man you need this with your damn luck." he said handing me the bullet proof vest he had pry ed off of one of the dead men. I guess it only helps bullets but when a missile enters the room your done as done. Leeya headed to the RV and started helping get everything inside of the mobile house we had been using the past few days. Fish came back by me and said "It's good having you back man, we all missed you. Specially when Brent freaked out on the rest of us and started trying to hold us hostage. If Rusty hadn't of done what he did we would all be dead probably." I looked at Rusty doing whatever needed to be done and said to Fish " guys who just get the shit done seem to be the ones you can always trust huh?" Fish smiled "yeah buddy no shit huh".

We got everything we could from the Hotel and climbed aboard the RV. I turned the key and just as I started the RV down the road a bit you could see an old school bus heading towards us with enough heads in it to look like a football team heading to an away game. "That's our cue" I said out loud. Fish looked over and said out loud "O man were dead". I looked back" that was positive , everyone listen to Fish he will lead us in prayer". Fish called out asshole and punched my shoulder. I jammed the pedal down and the RV lurched forward. "We're bigger than they are so we will win if it comes down to it" I called out as we started hammering on to the roadway. The side of the bus had a few windows drop down the way they do on the old bus's and I watched several machine guns and another arm cannon start aiming out of the bus and in our direction. "Everyone get the hell down to the floor immediately!" I yelled and then told Fish "Get that arm cannon and line it up man, It's us or them". He looked more concerned then ever and grabbed for the missile launcher.

"Wait how the hell do I use this thing???" He asked frantically. "Grab the wheel Ill do it Fish". He grabbed the wheel and I jumped into the back and started getting the last missile we had into the launcher. Just as I started to get ready the side of the RV was getting riddled with bullets. They were already firing at us trying to hit Fish. I jumped back up and leaned out the side window they had just blown out with their bullets. " Hold her steady man for just a second!" I yelled to Fish and then checked to make sure no one was behind me. "FWOOOOSH" it was off like...well a rocket and it was a direct hit to the side of the oncoming bus. "BOOM" the bus shuddered in the explosion and even the RV did as well and everyone on the floor screamed. "YEAH YOU DID IT MAN YOU GOT EM" Fish yelled out excitedly. "Good driving man WE got em" I called out to him. I watched as we drove by the burning wreckage of the bus as people were flopping around inside of it on fire screaming. That was gonna leave a mark I thought.

"Everyone OK in here come on now call out when I yell your name, Jenn?" I started doing a check on everyone. "Jenn? " I yelled out again. I turned and looked back and saw everyone huddled around Jenn who was laying still with her eyes open and a hole in the center of her chest. "Shit Jenn? Jenn you OK?" Leeya looked back to me and shook her head no. We all had to have a quick gut check on it. Jenn was gone , she was unfortunate enough to have been too close to the side of the RV when they fired on us and caught one in the oddest place. Deb was crying and Linda too but Leeya just sort of moved past her and leaned over to kiss my neck. It was a bit surreal and I think had Rusty giving us a weird look. "Fish just keep going man anywhere just get us away from here fast." I yelled over to him. He nodded and kept on moving through the blocked intersection. I looked back at the bus that was burning and thought to myself that maybe this was the group that had a hard on for me and Leeya with the woman we had hit. They had a lot of people in the group it was odd and they seemed so hell bent on getting to us. I felt mixed about Jenn. She was gone and it was a hard one to take, especially when she died hiding from the thing that got her. But in a way she was free. She would never be a thing and she didn't suffer. Hell I don't think she even yelled when she was shot, maybe that was the way to go.


We moved down the road and I told Fish to keep making some distance since we didn't know where those freaks had come from and would hate to stop near the home base of these freaks. We had to get a big distance between us and the Hotel and then find somewhere to bury Jenn. To leave her out would be letting the "things" have a free dinner and I couldn't do that. I was more concerned right now with the chance that Leeya would go and take a bite out of her old pal right in front of everyone, then what do I do? No way that was going to end well. I had my gun at the ready for any unsuspecting "things" and pirates while constantly eyeballing Leeya to make sure she wasn't getting any evil thoughts towards Jenn's body. She caught me watching her and gave me this knowingly yet sexy look with a slight squint. It made the entire situation crazier than before after everything we had been through in the past few hours.


I was nervous about stopping to bury or attempt to bury Jenn. Although I never got to know her too well she was one of the original group me and Fish hooked up with and her friends here had known her for a lot longer. She deserved a little more respect than being tossed out of the RV and left for the "things" to feed on. I know if it was me I would appreciate a little respect hell, find a bridge and toss me off and send me down the river. But don't leave me for dinner. We didn't get very far down the road when Fish started asking me for a hand and when I went in the front he pointed to the fuel gauge which was empty. I told him about the switch and when he hit it the other tank read even lower. The attackers at the Hotel had drained the tank on me when we were sleeping more than likely, dammit. I looked around and we were in the middle of no where on the highway heading towards where the rural area was located out this way. I knew if we choked out on this stretch we were in trouble and then as I tried to think of a back up plan the RV died.

We coasted to a stop and Let it sit right in the middle of the lane. I rounded up the guns and told everyone to dress as warm as possible. We got out of the RV and carried Jenn to the side of the road next to the tree line. Then with the ground frozen up from the frost I had everyone hunt for rocks and we would give her a rock grave, basically covering her with rocks and leaving her there. It took quite a while to round up the rocks but we had nothing but time on our hands. After we covered her the girls thought the "things" would still be able to smell her and just dig her out. Fish came up with a great idea but no one else would bite. We could cover her with urine. Maybe like with hunters it would keep them away for a while. No one would go for it so I did the next best thing and headed to the RV and took out some gas from the back for the generator. Covering the rocks with it I said a little prayer for her as best I could not being a religious person and we lit her a blaze much like I did at my mothers house.

Deb and Linda wanted to stay and watch but Rusty had the right idea and we got moving. If they could smell a body covered in stones in the middle of no where they sure as hell could smell one burning. We got moving and fast the next exit was a good six miles up and we had to get to stepping. We started walking down the side of the highway towards the next exit. It was starting to head to sunset at this time of year it gets dark all too early. With the sun going down the temperature was plummeting as well and we all had to get somewhere warm and safe fast or we were in big trouble out here. Down the highway a piece a man came running out of the woods. He stopped in the low speed lane and looked back and forth. Once he spotted us he started heading our way and he wasn't walking he was running. "Holy crap I never seen one run before have you?" Fish said aloud to me. "Yeah I have" I responded as I got my gun ready. Suddenly about four or five more came out behind him and joined in on the run. "Maybe we should go the other way" Linda said in a shaky voice. If she was getting nervous we may be in for some big trouble here.

# 61

We were in a room that was safe and yet I felt trapped with them waiting patiently for someone to materialize in a hallway  on one of the floors. I knew it wouldn't be us and they better have some time on their hands if they want to wait us out. I had hoped they would be looking in the woods if they thought we had actually gotten off the roof. I still had to wonder what they had seemingly been waiting for at the pool. They acted like they were in wait for something but what? Was whatever they had been waiting for sitting in the room with them? What or who could it be? Why even wait? The questions were in my head right along side the questions like how the hell did this all happen and so damn fast? And why did it seem like no one was running or trying to escape? None of this made any sense. I wanted someone on a radio or television to just appear and hand me the information like CNN always did so badly. Maybe a newspaper that stated what happened just before the lights went out everywhere.

There were no answers and being just a regular guy I had no idea where to go to get any. I remember movies with this type of situation where they go to military bases, but they always ended badly. I also remembered people running to the CDC and having the same end, a bad one. I wondered if going to the state capital building or city hall would be anything of consequence. Where do you go when nothing is left? The military was straight sticking people like me and Fish in the line of fire, I still don't know if they were running out of men or if they were running out of options. Fish, Fish, I wonder where he is right now? The note in the room said be back in a while does that mean that Fish and the rest of the gang could come rolling in here any minute and be ambushed? If these guys are looking for a girl Fish will have three of them with him and Rusty, and that wouldn't be good. I was making myself ill with all of these thoughts. I should just stop thinking and start reacting , but that keeps getting me shot.

Leeya found some food in the cupboards and we were having a feast of a can of tuna a tube of pringles and a pack of hostess mini muffins. I know your thinking that thanksgiving came early but it was what we had on hand. We were at the table when I heard someone walking down the hallway outside the door/painting. Leeya stopped chewing her food and slowly put her hand down to grab at the gun next to her. I put down the water and listened carefully. I got up and slowly and I mean slowly moved to the floor in front of the T.V. and switched it from one channel to another until I found the camera in the hall in front of us to the side a bit. A man with a rocket launcher type of hand cannon was standing in the doorway to the gym next to us staring at it for a moment. Then he slowly walked past the painting and over to the room after us and stood there looking into it as well. I nodded to Leeya and she nodded back, go time was about to happen, we had a fellow here who did some math.

He looked at the wall and I was pretty sure he deduced that the space between one room and another left a pretty big gap for nothing to be in between them. I watched him raise his gun to the wall of the room next door to us. I grabbed Leeya and tugged her with me to the floor then ripped the mattress over us. "BOOM" the explosion was so loud I thought I lost my hearing for a second. Something extremely heavy landed on the mattress pinning us to the floor. Leeya looked to me and with my finger signaled the shh sign. I heard the man walk into the room and look around and I patiently waited. I saw just the hand cannon on him so maybe he had a hand gun on him somewhere to but I needed to know where he was before I so much as flinched. I heard his feet crunching through the rubble as he headed to the bathroom. A loud crumble and crash was to the front of me and I imagined it was chunks of the wall falling. I used the sound to hide the sound of me moving a bit as I got my gun ready. I peered around the edge of the mattress and to his eyes we must have looked like simple rubble. I could see his back looking in the closet now next to the T.V. and he reached for a two way in his pocket. "All clear here I found a room but it's empty". Some static and then a broken up " O.K. we will prepare to make off then." Odd way to say that I thought are they foreigners?

The man walked to the door that was the painting from the side we were on and stopped. He waited a second and then picked up the radio again "Second thought someone is here the safety latch is on from inside". And I hung my head for a second "dammit we had it locked from inside". He turned slowly and said aloud " I know someone is in here somewhere. If i have to get you I will get you"all cockily. I told Leeya to stay put and started to get up. He drew his gun on me almost immediately. He was about seven feet tall and built like a wrestler. I was pretty sure it was going to end badly here for one of us. He smiled and said"You alone?" I nodded yes and he laughed shortly and said "I guess my guys imagined a girl with you huh? Looks like I have to kill you slowly to get some answers". I looked past him like someone was behind him and acted like I was signaling with my eyes. He turned quick and I slipped out from the back of my belt my sawed off shotgun. He turned back and I dropped to my knee and fired hitting him in the throat and chin. For once I had a good line and kept it he went over shooting into the wall behind me.

Leeya climbed out from under the mattress and I reached down to help her get up and we dusted each other off. We walked over to the hulking man that was fighting for air and the ability to swallow. I summoned my best Clint Eastwood line and aimed my gun at his face "Why don't you lay there and bleed a while , before you get up and taste some real pain". Leeya looked at me in shock at the line, but I was always good at quotes. He gasped a few more times and I pulled his gun off the floor next to him, as well as the hand cannon. I grabbed another missile from his mini duffel bag he had and loaded it. Leeya leaned over and took aim spitting on his face and making me smile , what can I say it was cooler than my line I thought. We waited and eventually he stopped trying to breath and went still. I grabbed his two way which was constantly being clicked with questions like "should we come up" and "did you get them" but never a hint they had the cameras working. I looked at Leeya and smiled "they cant see from that room they are in". She smiled back and we headed to the stairwell. We went to the first floor and slipped out into the hallway.

I told Leeya that I was going to go room by room down the hall and get close to them with the hand cannon and she said she would be one step behind me. I looked down the hall and then ran over to the small two foot section of privacy wall between room doorways. Leeya peeked out and followed. One room at a time we would dart into rooms that had doors open or behind the privacy walls between them. We were close enough now where we could hear them talking in the hall now, we were about one room away. I placed the two way inside the room we were about to leave and turned it back on full blast and we darted to the room diagonal from it. We made our way to the room across from theirs, if they hadn't kept the door half closed they could have seen us. I waited and then heard it, they said on the two way "Cm on are you OK where are you?" The door started to open as the men heard the two way down the hall and one of them was standing in the door looking down the hall. He glanced in the room we were in for just a moment and could see his final act. It was me with the hand cannon aimed at his doorway. He barely had a second to digest the information his eyes were giving him "Lookout guys" he shrieked.

I squeezed the trigger and watched the man , doorway, and room become a plume of smoke and fire. Leeya ducked down and we instantly were covered in debris again. " That is one bitching gun" I said. Leeya said "Hells yeah" We got up and with my gun drawn headed into the room we removed from the directory. Bodies were everywhere and a few guns, amazing what that gun just did. I counted nine bodies so apparently when we were asleep more people came. The carnage was astounding and I felt a little bad in a small sort of way for doing it this way and not giving these people a fighting chance. It was short lived however as they were looking to kill me and do god knows what with Leeya. The damage to the bodies was even worse, chunks of people missing, and I mean chunks. In the corner I could hear movement and Leeya was on top of it in a heart beat. A guy maybe 20 years old sitting in the corner when the cannon went into the room was now sitting on the floor with no legs or right arm. He was just struggling to move and looked in shock staring at his lack of legs. Leeya aimed her gun at him and asked "Is this all of you?" The man nodded no and mouthed the words "many more coming". Leeya said "Good I haven't killed enough assholes today", and shot him in the head. She put her gun in her belt line and walked away cold like a real warrior, I was impressed.


 Then we heard something out near the RV. I moved to the doorway of the room and peeked around the corner to the hallway. "Hey you guys come back?" A familiar voice called out. We got this issue resolved just in time I thought. Me and Leeya headed down the hallway to the opening to the lobby. Rusty was walking into the Hotel and stopped , dropping the bag he had with him. I thought at first it was because of the pool in front of us with Brent floating in it or the dust and debris coming from the hall we were standing in that made him stop but it was something else that I wasn't even noticing any more. He pulled a gun out and yelled to me "Get down I got her" aiming at Leeya. I moved in front of her "No man shes fine trust me" I said realizing he had not seen her like this yet. Matter of fact I would have done the same thing in his shoes, she did look like a thing a little bit . Leeya looked at Rusty and said "Put that thing away before I get mad". Rusty looked at us confused and slowly put the gun down. "She can talk? " He asked confusingly.

Fish came in behind him with Linda, Deb and Jenn behind him. "You guys are back, I wish you would have stayed Brent freaked again and we had to pollute the pool with him. Lee do you need to do some tanning?" Fish said without missing a beat. I looked at everyone and told them about Fred and Unice and about Leeya and the bite and also about the festivities that had just gone down before they had gotten there. Rusty ran past us to check thinking we had lied to him. "Holy crap man they ain't lying" He said in a weird southern almost accent. Fish looked at me and said " This place is wide open and now under attacks, what do we do now boss". I looked at everyone and I was guessing that Fish was out of plans and I was being stuck in leadership again. "Well one of the guys just before he died had told us there were many more men and they were on their way here so grab whatever you can blankets , clothing, and food and get to the RV, we gotta move and move fast".