As she turned and started to walk back from the way she came, Casper stepped up.
"Wait!"
She turned around slowly, her eyes meeting his. She was scared. Casper sensed it, and tried to put on a calming smile on his face.
"If you go that way, any of those things managed to track you down here, will get you. It's better if we stick together. You can come with us if you want."
"I... don't know..." she said trembling.
Anna walked closer to her, and tried to confort her by placing her left hand on Beverly's shoulder. She shurgged it off as fast as she could and walked a bit backwards, almost falling into the putrid waters of the sewers.
"You don't need to fear us. Our only intent is to help." said Anna.
"We are making our way to the Quarantine zone. The army will help us then, keep it safe. If you come with us, they will certainly welcome you as well."
Tierman stared at Casper. That boy was really hard to read. Back then, in the top of the building he agreed without a second tough to leave that whole family to die, in order to escape. He agreed to use other people's lives that were in no way more or less important than theirs, in a calculistic and cold manner. But now, he was smiling, and cautiously trying to earn Beverly's trust. Instead of being rational he was being emotional. Wether he was shaken from the surprise encounter, and how she was scared, or wether he simply could not take another harsh decision was beyond him. But one thing was certain, and Tierman knew it already. Casper was unpredictable. Despite his intelligence, that got them all alive so far, his unprectability could cause great harm to the group.
"Would you... let me go with you?" Beverly asked to the group, anxiously waiting for a positive response.
"Of course." said Casper.
Anna noticed that Beverly was shaking and had a gun in her hand. She asked calmly for Beverly to hand it over to her, and so she did. She promised to give it back as soon as Beverly was calmer.
Casper turned around to the group. "Alright guys, we have a new member. But she is unable to do anything right now. We keep the same plan. Erik, you go up front. Anna, you stay in the middle with me. And you David, cover our flank."
Everyone agreed and went to their posts, and started walking again. In an hour, they were at the manhole to the surface.
"Nothing so far..." said Erik, with his machete in hand. "I'll go up first, se if it's all clear."
Casper and the rest nodded. Erik sheated his blade and climbed the ladder. As soon as he reached for the surface an infected jumped on him, screaming like a maniac. Erik sidestepped, dodgind the infected. He immediately recomposed himself, unsheating his machete. As the infected came for him again, he sidestepped once more, and witha precise slice, he cut it's head off. The body fall to the ground, a blood pool forming just as fast as the life drained from that body.
He then turned around rapidly to make sure one of them would surprise him again. But there was nothing. He went back to the manhole, and signalized for them to come up. One by one, they made their way uptop.
Casper had saw what Erik could do. Out of everyone in the group it was clear he was the best at survival tactics and close-quarter combat. He smiled as he saw the decapitated body on the ground. But his smile soon turned into sadness as he remembered it once used to be human.
Erik came closer to it examining its body. "It seems he was infected trough a bite on his left arm." he said pointing at it. "It also seems that he tried to chop it off, but the pain was to much, and he inevitably turned. He could just had killed himself but... He probably didn't had the necessary strenght..." He turned his eyes to Casper. "Don't be sad. These things are not human anymore. And if the person is still inside, you are doing it a favor."
Casper remained there for a few more seconds staring at the bite mark. He then got up nodding positively and turned to the group. "All right, let's go."
They walked for half an hour torwards the designated QZ. It was really easy to navigate to the destination, as countless plaques all around pointed to it, or even improvised grafitti on the walls. However it was all just to easy.
"No infected... That's odd." said Tierman.
As they walked, Erik suddenly stopped, pointing his machete to his left. "That's probably the answer."
A dead body. No. In fact, as soon as they all noticed that single body a putrified smell invaded their senses, making the more sensitive ones of the group almost vomit. There were bodies all around. They were just so intent into reaching the QZ, and into listening to any sound, that they forgot to look around them.
Erik went closer examining the dead body. "All shots to the head or vital organs. It seems the military is keeping the surrounding areas clear to make sure a giant horde does not attack them head on."
After closer examination that showed the same results they all once again, resumed their march to their so sought after heaven.
As the journey went more and more, and they all got even more tired, Casper noticed how Erik went in the front, scanning the area for any of those things the military may have missed. He went closer to him until he was at his side. Erik stared at him.
"What?" he asked.
"Nothing. I just wanted to thank you for anything you've done for us." Casper stopped smiling a bit. "It's just nice to know there is someone I can count on."
Erik muffled before turning to Casper again. "Buddy listen. We're no friends, and I've done nothing for you or any of the group. I merely cooperated to make sure I could survive. And I'll keep it that way as long as it needs. After that, we part ways."
Casper smile dissapeared and his calculistic and emotionless side could be seen deep in his eyes. Erik himself was surprised in the quick change of personalities and behavior. Casper simply slowed his pace down, gathering with the rest of the group.
They kept walking until they saw a metal fence, covered with some sort of black cloth. "That is the improvised QZ." said Erik.
As they went closer a light turned on blinding them all. All they could do was hear a grave voice demanding them to drop their weapons. As soon as their vision adjusted they could see armed soldiers aiming at them. They were all aiming for their heads, the safety of the gun out.
"Hey listen..." said Erik, but he was quickly interrupted by a soldier, as he tried to get closer.
"If you walk a single centimeter, I'll put a bullet in your head." said the soldier.
The group remained silent in fear, and the soldiers remained in their posts aiming at them. Casper however, broke thr silence.
"Listen, we just came from hell. We deserve some peace after all this. Just let us in!" he pleaded.
"No can do. I am sorry."
"What!!?" shouted David.
"We are not accepting new refugees at the time. Turn back now and go back to where you came."
"Are you nuts!!?" he screamed. "There is no turning back. The place from where we came is no more!!"
"We can't allow you to jeopardize the safety of the quarantine and the citizens within. If you try, we will kill you before you succed." said the soldier in a cold and monotone voice.
"What the--" he said, but being quickly interupted by Anna.
"You're the military!! You're supposed to save us!!" she screamed clearly panicking.
The soldiers remained silent. A few of them looked at one another. But nothing changed.
"We are not infected. We can assure you of it." said Casper.
"You are not bitten, you mean. But we know very little of this parasite. From what we know, bites are only one way to get infected. Therefore, trough order of our superiors, and to protect the ones that are completely safe and clean, we cannot let you inside."
"You are letting me inside now!!!" said David screaming and walking torwards them.
"If you cross this light in the ground we will fire at will!!! Stay back!" said one of the soldiers.
"David stop!!!" screamed Erik as he reached for him holding him up. Casper came to help, as Beverly and Anna stayed behind not sure of what was going on, and Tierman simply watched the scene unfold with his arms crossed.
"We are citizens of America!!! We have rights!!" screamed David, as tears rolled trough his face, his irrational fear taking control over his body.
The soldiers started giving orders for everyone to step back, while Casper and Erik tried to calm David down but to no avail. Voices could be heard from both sides as chaos spread, panicking everyone.
"David stop!! Think for once!!" said both Erik and Casper in a desperate attempt to not get dragged down with David to the enormous hole he was digging for all of them.
"Step back or we will shoot to kill!! That is an order!!" the soldiers said, the voices of both the groups, the military, and the survivors mixing in a horrifying tone of melancholy and desperation.
As much as Casper and Erik tried, they couldn't calm David down. He broke free, being stronger than both of them, pushing Erik to the side, and punching Casper on his face, which made him fall to the ground. He ran desperately for the fence.
"Let me in!!! LET ME IN!!!"
The soldiers readied their weapons. "FIRE!!!"
Countless shots were fired at David's body and head, blood splattering all over the ground, as both Erik watched the scene in shock and Casper'sd eyes widened as he cleaned the blood from his mouth. Beverly was shaking again, and Anna screamed in desperation as Tierman simply watched it all, unfazed.
As soon as his body fell to the ground, it's sound echoing trough the aream silence swept in. All their journey, all their attempts of saving themselves were in vain. After all the military wasn't their savior. At least, not anymore.
RPG
