What do we do? If we stay quiet will it just leave? Surely it knows... it knows where here.
"Ejay look." Lici whispered to me.
She pointed over to one of the hunters that I haven't met before.
"He's using sign language." She added.
"But to who?"
As soon as I said that the heavy turned its attention towards us. It stared us down for a few seconds before slowly beginning to creep in our direction. Lici had her hand on my arm the whole time and now she was starting to squeeze it. We need to move. My heart was slamming against the inside of my chest to the point where I couldn't think straight.
CRASH!
A piece of glass shattered on the ground behind the heavy, grabbing its attention away from us. Right after I felt a rock bounce off the back of my shoulder. Looking back I found Captain Nash signaling to us "come here". I grabbed Lici's arm and pulled her over to where the Captain was hiding.
"Never thought you would be one to freeze up." Captain Nash whispered to me.
"I didn't freeze."
"Sure kid, I hope your ready for what's next though. We need both of your help."
"What's the plan?" I asked.
"The plan is to kill it. Simple enough right?"
"How? It's hardly even phased by bullets." I stated.
"That's why we'll blow it to hell. You two know the game 'marco polo' right?"
"Your insane." I replied.
"Thank you!" He yelled running through the hole in the building that the heavy had created.
The heavy immediately sprinted in the direction of the captain, but then once again it was distracted. This time by a whistle that came from the same boy that was doing the sign language.
"Lici do you know that kid?" I asked.
"That's Nico, he's a hunter." She replied.
What's he thinking. He came out from behind the bush where he was hiding, empty handed. He stared down the heavy for a few seconds before whistling again. He stood there with both hands in his pockets, watching the heavy creep closer to him. There's no way he isn't phased by this at all. The heavy closed the gap between them to about five yards before he stopped whistling. The heavy continued moving forward however but at a slower pace. Nico stood his ground though, never taking his hands out of his pockets and never budging out of his nonchalant stance.
SNAP!
Me and the heavy both directed our gaze to the immediate right of me. Lici stood there with a broken branch in her hands.
"We just have to keep diverting its attention around until Captain gets back." Lici said looking over at me. "You never played marco polo before?"
She smiled when she said that but I could tell it was forced. She was still scared, but she wasn't about to let that fear control her.
"I thought it was a water game." I said smiling back.
CLAP!
I struck my hands together while standing up next to Lici. It took just one step towards us before pausing.
CLAP! CLAP!
Twice more I clapped attempting to draw its attention to me. It inched forward way slower in response to my clapping than it did with that guy's whistling.
"Come on you big freak." I mumbled under my breath.
CLAP!
In direct response to that last clap the heavy charged at us without hesitation. I pushed Lici out of the way and tried to move away myself, but I tripped and fell only a few feet away. Before I could move, the heavy slammed into the tree beside us and nearly rooted up the entire thing. Leaves and branches fell over me as I tried to steady my breathing. If I had reacted any slower both me and Lici would've gotten caught. Why did it charge me and not the other guy? The sound of rustling in a bush across the field then took the attention of the heavy. The sound resembled bushes rustling on a slightly windy day, but just like before the heavy crept towards it the same way it crept toward that Nico kid.
"You were too loud kid."
"What the-" I blurted out before my mouth was covered by a hand.
The heavy turned toward us for a moment before focusing back towards the bush.
"You really like to test your luck don't ya."
He moved his hand from my mouth and I looked up to find that Nico guy. How'd did he get over here so quick?
"Loud and sudden noises trigger those guys to charge, as if they don't like being startled. However a lower, more constant noise would send them into a stealth like action as if they were trying to uncover what's the cause of the noise." He whispered to me.
"How do you know that?" I asked.
"It's good to know things." He replied.
"That doesn't really answer my question."
"Captain's back." Lici stated for the two of us.
I turned and saw Captain Nash watching us from a second story window of the broken building. When the three of us looked up towards him he started using sign language.
"Wait, so it was the Captain you were talking to earlier?" I asked Nico.
"Time to get out of dodge." He said.
"Don't you know how to answer questions?"
He grabbed me and Lici and began running away from the building.
"Everyone run away!" Nico yelled.
Everyone that was in hiding immediately ran out in the same direction as us. The heavy responded with a monstrous roar followed by it slamming its foot into the ground. The shockwave from the impact knocked a few people of balance causing them to fall.
"Don't trip people, or you're all gonna miss the fun." Nico exclaimed while laughing.
For some reason this guy scares me.
POW!
A single gunshot rang off from behind us. I stopped and turned to watch the situation. Captain Nash was hanging out of the window, pointing a gun at the heavy infected. He shot at it twice more, but it had the same affect as a mosquito flying into a person. The heavy turned to where Nash was firing from, and again shot another two bullets at it.
"Stop..."
I looked to my right and saw Angie watching on beside me.
"Surely he has more of a plan than to just distract it while we run." Mali said.
He shot at it again and finally the heavy gave a notable reaction. Stomping the ground again and beginning to growl. Upon seeing this Captain Nash went back in through the window, out of our sight.
"Get out..." Angie said.
One final bang echoed it's way down to us that made the heavy charge full steam towards the building. It took barely three seconds before the heavy crashed through the wall of where Captain Nash was just stood, and as soon as it broke through...
BOOM!!!
An intense explosion broke through all walls of the second story of that building. A cloud of fire extended yards out in every direction and the sound of it shook the ground around us. It was as if time slowed down for several seconds as we all stood and watch the damage. The cloud pulled back slowly revealing the heavy's body standing where we last saw it. However the flames soon presented to us that half of the heavy's upper body had been blown off by that blast. It fell backwards exposing to us the gruesome sight of its exposed carcass. Once it hit the ground, majority of the other kids released cheers of celebration. Smiles and cheers controlled this field of people that hasn't had much to smile about recently. Reality hasn't set in for them as of yet. However there was one other that didn't get to enjoy this short escape from reality.
"Angie..." I said glancing over at her.
She was still fixated on the burning building, not moving an inch of her body. The Captain wouldn't have set that up if he didn't had a quick escape right? He wouldn't so nonchalantly sacrifice himself like that. Or would he?
"Anybody there?" Rodney asked into his radio.
A few moments of silence passed.
"This is Rodney, does anybody read me?"
More silence.
"Zhaire, anybody!" Rodney yelled breaking his calm expression.
More silence.
"Does that mean-" I started to say.
"Yeah I copy, and don't yell." Zhaire said through the radio.
"Do you have a visual on the Captain?"
"I'm holding him right here, we're tryna find a way around to you guys right now. Unfortunately there wasn't many of us that survived the initial attack from the heavy."
"You two make your way to the drain, where changing plans."
"Yes sir, we're com-" Zhaire responded before cutting out.
"Zhaire? Zhaire?"
"Are they alright?" I asked.
"Him and the Captain at least are in decent shape. Let's go, we have to meet them."
"Angie you hear that?" I asked turning to her.
"Mhm." She replied.
"Follow behind me everyone." Rodney stated.
"Sergeant..." Lici said.
"Yeah?"
"Now that's interesting." Nico added staring at the fire.
"What's the matter?" I asked turning to look in the same direction.
To our horror we found the second heavy standing amidst the smoke coming from the building. Everyone went quiet as they acknowledged its presence. It stared directly towards us, just in front of the body of the first heavy.
"How are we supposed to deal with a second one." I asked softly.
Before I could think of anything, more of the dog like infected from earlier made their entrance from our left. The heavy sat in front of us while the hounds preyed upon us from the left.
"Lj, Ejay, Liam, you three are our fastest runners." Rodney stated. "On three draw your bows and try to take out three hounds. The others will run with me."
Focus Ejay.
"1..."
Don't miss.
"2..."
It's really that simple.
"3!"
As our arrows flew from our bowstring, everything was then set into motion. Rodney signal not only sent the other kids into a full sprint, but it also startled the heavy. It charged at us following a straight path to where Rodney was stood. The arrows ripped through the air and found their way into two targets. Me and Lj unconsciously aimed for the same infected while Liam's one arrow took down another. We then turned and ran with everyone else, at least that's what I thought until I heard two more arrows being fired. Lj remained there and fired off two more arrows with each successfully taking down two more hounds. He did that faster than I could've reacted and ran pass me right after.
"Let's move!" He yelled.
It was like his words physically pulled me to start running. The four remaining hounds began to pursuit after us while the heavy was already closing the distance. We ran out into the street of this ghost town. The thought never occurred to me until now, but where are the people.
"This way!" Rodney yelled running into an alley.
In one swift motion the heavy launched into the air and came crashing down into the street behind us. The impact shook buildings and was more than enough to knock people to the ground.
"Come on!" I said while helping up Khiara and Regine.
The alley way barely allowed two people to funnel through at the same time. Me and Khiara fell to the back of the pack as she stumbled again and I once again helped her up. We made it a few yards down the alley when the heavy slammed into the side of one of the buildings. It stretched its arm down the path and released a deafening roar. The hounds weren't slowed though as they made their way around the heavy and down the alley. They jumped between running on the ground and running along the walls of the alley as they quickly closed the distance between us. One of them made it within inches of us and was about to grab Khiara. Without hesitation I pulled out my knife and turned to swing for its head. I landed my attack but the momentum from the hound's body knocked me over. Not even a second passed and the others were jumping on me trying to tear me apart. I tried to fend them off with my knife, but still got sliced up quite a bit and covered in their disgusting saliva. I guess this is the end for me. Why am I not scared? The only thing I could think of is holding these things off for as long as I can. I guess my motivation to protect the others outweighed my fear of dying in this moment. I guess, dying this way isn't so bad. It... hurts though.
POW! POW!
Two gunshots flew down the alley way and connected with two of the hounds that were standing over me. I looked up to find Regine and Mali pointing there guns at the hounds. They fired two more shots each which took down the remaining infected. Khiara ran over to me with Mali and Regine following right behind her.
"Are you alright?" Khiara asked kneeling down next to me.
"I don't know, do I look alright?"
"We need to catch back up with the others." Regine stated. "Someone will be able to tend to your wounds."
"You'll be fine, every man needs a few scars." Mali added.
Sigh. "Thanks for saving me."
I struggled to get to my feet, but after that the pain wasn't so bad. We ran to catch up with the others and thankfully they stopped not so far away from us. They were standing by a manhole in the street that was right outside the alley way. One by one the other kids were climbing into the manhole.
"Francis, you alright?" Rodney asked as we approached.
"Never better." I replied.
"Where are we going?" Khiara asked.
"This is our evacuation route, it'll direct us outside the city."
"Anything back from Zhaire or the Captain?" I asked.
"Nothing as of yet." He replied. "Don't worry we're not leaving without confirmation on their status."
"Alright."
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Angie smiling at me.
"This is the first time you've smiled all day." I said to her.
At this point I'm so exhausted that none of my words are given off with an expression of emotion.
"You needed a few scars." She said giggling.
"You and Mali need help." I replied.
"Captain's coming." Miguel announced pointing up the road.
Captain Nash was being assisted by Zhaire, but he seemed to be in good condition. There was one major difference with him and it was that he's now sporting a grenade belt around his shoulder.
"Keep up the pace, let's go gu-" Rodney started to say before.
"Dad look out!" Angie yelled.
Like a bolt of lightning, the heavy came crashing down from the sky and landed right behind Zhaire and the Captain.
"It leaped over from the other street." Miguel stated.
The impact from it landing set off car alarms throughout the entire street. It immediately started roaring and swinging its arms in every direction. Captain Nash threw Zhaire off of him and essentially out of harm's way as right after that, the Captain got caught with one of the swings from the heavy. The hit sent him flying into one of the cars parked on the side of the road.
"NOO-" Angie began to shout before Mali grabbed her and covered her mouth.
"Quickly, the rest of you get down there." Rodney ordered.
The heavy proceeded to attack the cars on the street while Captain Nash layed their seemingly unconscious. Zhaire stumbled to his feet and ran behind one of the cars for cover. The enraged heavy then picked up one of the cars and threw it in our direction.
"Move!" Rodney yelled as we all ran and dove to the sidewalk.
The car toppled past us and missed the few of us that were still over ground. The heavy then started to walk over in our direction.
"Why's it ignoring the alarms?" Mali asked.
POW!
We all ducked as a gunshot rang through the air, not knowing where it came from. The heavy turned and faced away from us so immediately assumed it was Zhaire that shot at it. Rising from the ground we found a more amazing sight. As if they were about to face off in a western style shootout, Captain Nash shared the street with the heavy. He barely was standing straight and his right arm which he was holding his gun with was shaking. He said something to Zhaire who was still watching on from the side, but we were to far away to hear what he said. Zhaire began to run over to us and as soon as he passed the heavy Nash fired another shot. The heavy growled in response to the shot and Nash then equipped one of the grenades he had.
"Captain said to get everyone underground." Zhaire said jogging up to us.
"Who's gonna help him?" I asked.
"We're leaving without him." Zhaire answered.
"You're joking right? Leaving him to fight that thing is like leaving him for dead."
"Francis, go down the ladder." Rodney ordered.
"Surely you're not gonna go through with this." I replied in shock.
"This evacuation is for you and the others. Not me or any of the other escorts and that includes the Captain. You all are the future, your safety takes priority."
POW!
Another gunshot followed by an enormous roar from the heavy.
"Let's go Ejay." Zhaire said to me.
The same time he said that the heavy ran towards Captain Nash, and Angie ran towards the conflict.
"Angie!"
"Wait!" Me and Rodney said simultaneously.
I ran after her but the pain from my wounds were starting to bother me.
BOOM!
An explosion went off at the feet of the heavy which made it fall forward. It crashed to the street and released another roar as it held itself up. A small part of its foot was blown off but it that was enough to bring it down off its feet. Captain Nash stood in the exact same position, a few feet in front of it. At that point Angie stopped and watched on along with the rest of us. Nash threw another grenade next to the left arm of the heavy which blew off a decent chunk of its hand. That blast brought it even closer to the ground. At this point Nash was staring straight into the face of the beast. He removed the grenade belt he was wearing and took out only a single grenade from it. He then threw the belt beneath the head of the heavy and took several steps back. I grabbed Angie's arm and did the same. Then with a pull of a pin...
BOOM!
...
"Is it dead?" Miguel asked.
The smoke cleared and revealed the now immobile carcass. Captain Nash gazed upon his defeated enemy with a cold stare. He really just killed two of those things with essentially no help.
"That felt too easy." I stated. "I bet you don't care though."
Angie looked at me and sucked her teeth.
"You don't have to hide your worry, it's cute." I replied with a grin.
"I'll punch you." She replied.
"WATCH OUT!" Rodney yelled.
Heads turned as silence invaded the atmosphere and froze everyone where we were standing. Blood dripped onto the concrete and pooled underneath its origin point. That point was Captain Nash's stomach which was impaled from behind by the claw of a hound. We all hesitated to move which gave the hound the chance to stab him again and bite into his shoulder at the same time.
"NO!" I yelled while running over and pulling out my blade.
Nash's body was tossed to the ground which exposed the lone hound infected, softly growling and dripping blood from its hand and mouth.
POW! POW! POW! POW! POW!
I fell to the ground as several shots were fired from behind me. A few of them made it to their intended target, which was the infected. I looked up and realized Angie had fired those shots. The infected wasn't killed, it was still squirming on the ground where it fell. I ran over and stuck my blade through its head and left it there. Captain was barely moving. Everyone else ran over and gathered around him.
"Tell one of the medics come back!" Angie ordered. "They're right down there, tell them to come back!"
"Those wounds look..." Miguel began to say.
"Look what Miguel? Those wounds look what?!"
"Don't worry... about me." Nash mumbled.
"What do you mean don't worry?" Angie quickly asked.
"Zhaire, Rodney... take good care of those kids. I have... faith in both of you. Angie, I'm sorry. Sorry I couldn't personally keep that secret for you... but I think you'll be alright." He said while slowly glancing over to me. "I have faith in you also Francis... take care of my daughter."
There was an accomplished grin etched into his face during his final moments. It's rather fitting that it was the last face he ever made. Rodney went down on one knee beside Nash's body, and both Zhaire and me followed right after. Mali hugged Angie from behind who surprisingly wasn't crying, but visibly upset. Our silence was broken by another roar rolling in from the distance.
"Not another one." Zhaire stated.
"It's time to go." Rodney said while jumping up.
We all ran over to the manhole and began climbing in one after another. After I climbed in, Rodney followed right after and dragged the cover over us. Blocked off from rising sun we then descended into darkness.