Apocolyptisphere - Chapter 1
Apocolyptisphere
Chapter 1
I walked down the sidewalk, avoiding floating embers from the burning buildings next to me. The city was a flaming wreck; the buildings were crushed, destroyed, charred. Multiple corpses, blackened by the fire, littered the ground. The sky was red and dark, due to the smoke and fires. I looked around for a gun; I had to drop mine when it ran out of ammo. I waved some of the smoke out of my face, and I soon found a pulverized Abrams Tank that had crashed into the side of a large concrete support beam of a collapsed tower. The tank itself was damaged beyond repair, and looked like it had been a while since it had been used, as dead vines decorated the front.
"Let's see what you've got," I mumbled as I headed for the battered vehicle. I found multiple bodies of soldiers, all looked like they had died either from the crash or the war. I also found their guns. "Damn," I said, "Empty." I tossed the empty cartridges behind me and continued to search the wreckage for any sort of weapon. I found a military knife under an abandoned helmet, about six inches long, painted with forest camouflage. And it was still surprisingly sharp. I grinned, something I hadn't done for a long while. That knife meant I might make it out of the city. I picked it up and slid it through one of my belt loops that was still intact. Standing up, I let out a sigh. I should've kept that one cheetah with me, instead of going off on my own. That only made things harder. 'I wonder where she is now. Meh, I could care less. Fucking bitch...' I began walking again, maneuvering through the cars that once held furs, trying to escape the cataclysm; however, most died in the process. I felt bad for them. Looking in some of the cars, it was clear that some had kids. I could see the blood-spattered toys, the small torn up car seats. Such a sight hurt me. Or it would have, if I cared. People who died, well, died. That was how it was. No one could afford to make emotional attachments; no one could afford to care, at least, if they wanted to survive. I shrugged and kept moving. My indifference was what kept me alive, and killed those kids and their parents. Oh well, time to move on.
I had to tread lightly, for fear of alerting anything of my presence. The less fighting I had to do, meant the more energy I had to make it to a safer area. Those things could've been anywhere. I kept a keen eye out for movement and had a tight grip on the knife. I was still surrounded by broken skyscrapers, where they tended to be numerous, and could come out of nowhere. I turned, and just in time to see a piece of a metal support rod fell behind me with a big clash. "Shit," I mumbled. They would surely hear that and be there in no time. I checked my shoes, tightening the laces, and ran. I was quiet skilled at parkour, so I knew I had a good shot at escaping. But still, those things were fast. I began to vault over the cars, and sure enough, one of them came running out from behind a crashed truck. It let out a screech and started chasing after me. More of them came out, drawn by the wail, and began following the first. I ran faster.
"You've gotta be faster than that if you want me," I yelled at one of the things, knowing it couldn't possibly catch me. I laughed and continued working my way through the street. I had a sure shot of escape, until I saw a wave of them coming my way. I was surrounded on all sides, two by burning buildings and two by ravenous creatures. I ran into a building directly to my left that looked like an office. Inside was clear of them, but was still burning. The fire had simmered down, but was still forcing me to run up some stairs. I opened the door to the emergency stairwell, only to find more furs who failed to make it out alive. I sighed, and started running over their bodies, killing the occasional one that didn't stay dead. I paced myself, slowly jogging up the stairs, trying not to use too much energy. At the top of the stairs was a door, blocked by about five of them. I kicked one in the head, tipping it over the stairs, onto a wave of more of them coming up. Two of them had their heads lopped off, and the last ones got hit with the door when I swung it open.
I pulled the door shut, hoping that it might slow them down, before searching for a way off the roof. It didn't take much searching before I found a dead body with something on its back. It was the body of a fighter jet pilot. From the looks of it, he fell strait to the roof and died on impact. I flipped him over and took a look at what was on his back. "I'll be damned. Today must be my lucky day." On his back was a shotgun with extra rounds, a radio, and a parachute. I picked up the shotgun and slid the unopened parachute on my back. I put the radio in my pocket and prepared for a base jump. I found that I was hesitating, however. 'Wait...That pilot must've tried to open this thing.' I thought, examining the straps of the parachute. 'I don't want to end up like him...' I pondered the situation for a bit. Was I even high enough for a base jump? I soon found that it didn't matter. When those things burst through the door, I ran and jumped off the edge of the roof.
Luckily, the chute worked for me. I pulled the cord, and a white sheet flew out of the pack. I let out a sigh of relief. I looked around, and found a spot to land, but it was a ways away, so I looked down upon the city. Those things were crawling all over the dead city. The red sky gave the place, and those freaks, an even more eerie glow. I looked the city over. Cars, trash, and corpses littered the street. Broken street lamps sat on every corner of the roads, and old tanks sat everywhere, lifeless. Helicopter parts were scattered everywhere, though occasionally a whole one sat on the street, charred and broken. Pieces of buildings sat on crushed cars, covered in some red organic material that the things seemed to spread wherever they were. It was an overall mess. I made a face of disgust as I saw one of them begin to tear into the flesh of a dead fur. I put my attention back on the parachute. I veered left with my parachute, catching more wind and gaining speed.
It was then I could see a young wolf run out of a building on street level. She had multiple infected following her. I could hear her screaming for help, desperately crying out for someone to save her. I sighed. I could see my target area; it was no more than a minute away. Plus, it was against my code to go after someone in a situation like that. Yet, against better judgment, I turned and went straight down to her position. I pulled out my shotgun and prepared to get busy. As soon as my feet hit the ground, I started shooting.
"Here," I yelled towards her, throwing her the knife. She was almost hit with the blade due to her bad timing, but she managed to catch it by the handle, and started hacking away. She did pretty well, almost got bitten a few times, but still did better than I though. I continued pumping rounds into the approaching attackers, watching them fall, one by one. But they kept coming, seemingly infinite. I only had a few more shells. I glanced over at the wolf. She seemed to be succumbing to fatigue.
"Hey," I shouted to her, "We need to get out of here! NOW!" She nodded, and we began running. She was having a hard time; it was obvious she had no experience in parkour. I, however, was much further ahead, and decided to keep going. If she couldn't make it, oh well. I wasn't risking my life again.
I managed to make it to an old military blockade, on the outskirts of the city highway. She, much to my surprise, managed to do a somewhat good job of keeping up. I could see a Gatling gun mounted on the back of a damaged jeep. Oddly, it still had plenty of bullets. I quickly jumped on it, and began mowing down the things following her. They fell pretty fast, but there was always more. I concentrated, and slowly turned the gun from one side to the other, making sure they all got a bullet to the head. Some of them even exploded, clearing a small area out. I made short work of them, but ran out of bullets on the turret.
"Oh thank god! I thought for sure I was dead," she said, panting heavily.
"We'll both be dead soon if we don't keep moving. Go look for some ammo, food, or water. I'm going to get a vehicle," I said jumping off the gun.
"I, uh, alright. I'll just be over there," she gestured towards a small building that looked like a supply room. I nodded and began searching for a working truck, or possibly a jeep. It didn't matter; we just needed something to get us out of the area before more of those undead things came back. I walked over to the first place anyone would expect to find a car; a garage. It was full of military vehicles. Most looked dead, but I did find one troop transport truck that was in working condition and still had its cover on the back. After some inspecting, I found that its battery was still fully charged, it was in fairly good condition, and it still had working brakes and gas pedals. I filled it up with gas that I syphoned from the others, and stored some extra gas in a few tanks I found in the back. I strapped the gas tanks in, and found a couple of guns that were still loaded next to them. I put them in some weapon racks and crawled out of the back, closing the cover behind me. I picked up my shotgun and walked over to the storage area that the wolf had gone into.
"Hey," she said as I walked in. "The place looks like it was picked clean, but I did manage to find some small ammo crates and some cans of food. I think they're still edible." I looked over in a corner she pointed at, and saw three small rectangular ammo crates, and the cans she was talking about.
"Is that all you could find," I asked.
"Well, no. I also found this," she said, holding up an RPG with two rockets next to it.
"Bravo! Look, I found a working truck in the compound, so we need to get this stuff in there and get moving," I said as I picked up the cans. She stood up and followed me out to the truck, the rockets in her paws. "Carefully put them in the back. See if you can't fit it in one of those racks. I'll go get the crates," I said, putting down the cans in the front seat.
"I'll see what I can do," she said, crawling in the back. I retrieved the ammo and slid it by the weapons. I noticed that she had managed to fit the launcher into the racks, and she also put the extra rockets beside it, strapped down.
"Good job, I thought I would have to come and do it myself. Now, let's take one last look around before more of them show up," I said as I hopped out of the back.
We walked out of the depot and scanned the area for anything of use. I looked in the gas canisters, only to find most of them empty. She managed to find a few shells for my shotgun, but still nothing too impressive. Well, until she found a belt for the turret.
"Hey, over here," she called to me, "I found some more ammo."
"Yeah, to a Gatling gun," I said, kicking the belt. 'Wait, I've got an idea...' "Hey, help me out over there," I said, pointing to the mounted gun.
"Why, it's mounted?" She gave me a confused look.
"Yes, but not very well. When I was shooting it, I noticed that it's tripod that is standing on was oddly loose. We might be able to mount it on the truck," I said, grabbing the tripod and pulling.
"Humph. Okay, sure. Let's move a bolted down gun onto the bed of a truck," she said sarcastically. She shut up though, when the turret was yanked from the ground.
"Are you gonna help me or just bitch all day," I asked, trying to steady the gun. She stood speechless for a second, then ran over to me and picked up half of the weight. We waddled over to the truck and set it in the bed, looking out behind the truck.
"Well, how do you suppose we get it to stay," she asked.
"Here," I tossed her a hammer and some nails that were lying beside the truck. "Get to work." She scowled at me, but picked up the hammer and started nailing the gun down nonetheless. I walked out and picked up the belt. I slung it over my shoulder and looked out into the city. I could see more of them, slowly coming towards us. I ran back inside and told the wolf, "Look, we've got more of 'em headed this way. Hurry up!" I tossed the belt into the truck bed.
"Come help me then," she yelled.
"Calm down. Look, you go start the truck up, I'll finish this," I said, noticing that she was starting to freak out. She nodded and ran to the front. I bent down, and quickly bolted the turret down. I could hear the engine come to life as I jumped out of the back and headed to the cab.
"Alright, let's roll," I said, sitting in the front seat. I gripped the steering wheel and started backing up. She was breathing heavily now, sweat rolling down her fur. "Don't worry, we'll be out of here soon," I said in an attempt to calm her down. If someone panics, it could lead to everyone's death. Dying wasn't on my to-do list, but escaping successfully was.
I shifted the vehicle into drive, and sped out of the depot. I made a sharp turn onto the highway, almost flipping. This really scared the poor girl. She burst into tears and started screaming how she didn't want to die. I, on the other hand, began laughing. I was having fun. The truck eventually righted itself, and we were off on the highway. I looked in the rear view mirror, and saw what looked like hundreds of the freaks running behind us. Then I looked over at the wolf. She had fainted. I laughed again, and sped up. I ran over anything in my way, making sure to hit them with the grate at the front of the vehicle. I turned the windshield wipers on to clear off the blood that occasionally splattered on it, and kept driving.
After about three hours, the wolf woke up with a yelp, which startled me. I almost lost control of the truck, but managed to keep it on the road. "Geez, what was that for," I said, feeling my heart rate slowing back down.
"Sorry," she said quietly. We sat there, silent, for a little while. I sighed, and eventually asked, "So, what's your name?"
"I'm, um, Kate. What's yours," she replied. "I'm Seth. So, Kate, where are you from," I asked. "I'm from up north. Ya know, around Virginia. You? I assume you're not from around here either." I looked at the clock. It was six; we would need to stop soon.
"I'm from, well, I don't exactly remember. We're going to stop soon, it's getting dark. I think there's a rest stop up here," I motioned towards an exit off the highway.
"Oh, okay," she said. I turned the truck onto the off ramp and drove it down a hill and into a parking lot of the rest stop. I stopped the truck, picked up my shotgun, and got out.
"Stay here," I said to Kate as I shut my door. Looking around, I noticed that there was no one here. No infected, no humans, and surprisingly, no corpses. The place was clean. "What the fuck..." my voice trailed off as I saw that the front door was heavily barricaded. This made no sense to me. If there was someone still alive here, then the infected would have been crawling all over the place. And there would be corpses of individuals who couldn't make it in. But there was nothing. There weren't even cars in the lot. I walked up to the door to see if I could get through. The door swung open just fine, but the wall of furniture and other heavy objects prevented me from entering. I walked around to the secondary entrance, where I found a small opening, just big enough for one fur to fit through. I walked back around to the truck to tell Kate. I got there and opened my door, and found the cab empty. I ran around to the back of the vehicle, thinking maybe she went there. I lifted the cover and found nothing. The food cans were gone and so were the weapons.
"Shit. She jacked my stuff," I mumbled to myself. 'This is a perfect example of why I should've let her die. Look where it's gotten me.' I kicked the side of the truck and swore some more. I kicked it again, then went back around the building, to the hole. I had to see if I could restock.
Upon crawling in it, I found the station to be rather bloody. I searched around, but still found no bodies. I also found no supplies. I sighed and ran a paw through my hair. Things were going to be ten times harder without supplies. "Fuck," I said, looking down at the blood. It was everywhere, but it seemed to be somewhat concentrated in one area. I followed it and found a steel door. I grabbed the handle and pulled, to no avail. I tried again, but got the same results. It wouldn't budge. I decided to try one more time. I grabbed the handle, put my foot against the wall, and pulled as hard as I could. This time, the door flew open, sending me falling on my ass. I stood up and walked into the room. It had a foul odor, and was as dark as night. I reached around and found a light switch. I flicked it on, and I was amazed at what I saw. There were about fifty infected corpses, all stacked on top of one another, creating a large pile of rot.
"Aw, what the... That's just wrong," I muttered. I turned the light off and exited the room, shutting the door firmly behind me. I turned around, and saw an otter holding a pistol, aiming strait at my face. "Whoa, put the gun down. Don't want to waste my ammo," I said, pointing my shotgun at him. We each kept pointing the guns at each other for a while, but when I cocked my gun, he knew I was serious. He grunted and lowered his pistol.
"Who are you," he asked, in a more girlish voice than I expected.
"You first," I motioned to him with my gun.
"I'm Nibiru," he said, sliding his gun in a holster on his belt.
"Like the doomsday planet? Heh, I'm Seth. Now, Nibiru, have you seen a silver wolf around here? About five and a half feet tall, wearing jeans and a blue shirt. Blond hair? She stole my shit and I want it back," I told him.
"Yeah, I know where she is. Hit her with my pistol. She's knocked out in my room," he said, waving his hand for me to follow him.
"Your room? Meh, whatever. Look, are you the one with my stuff or not," I asked, trying not to shoot him.
"Yep. It's in here," he said, opening a steel door. The inside of the room was pretty unexpected. It had some furniture, a fireplace, and even some pictures. It also had my weapons and my wolf.
"I'll take her back," I picked up Kate. "Now, instead of being a douche, help me with the weapons an food you stole."
"Wait, you're not leaving, are you? Why are you here in the first place? Isn't it to rest," he asked as I began trying to pick up our weapons.
"It was at first. But then you attempted to steal our stuff, and her," I nodded towards Kate. "So, I'll just take her and these and go."
"Wait. I'm sorry about that stuff. I didn't know what to think. A lot of times, people try to take my stuff; I just thought I'd get you before you got me. Please, stay a while," Nibiru said. It was obvious he was lonely. Not that I cared. I just needed a comfortable place to sleep.
"Fine. We do need a place to sleep," I said, putting Kate back down on the couch. I put my shotgun down on the table in front of the couch, and sat down on a red chair Nibiru had by the fireplace. "So, Nibiru, where ya from," I asked.
"Well, I think California, but I'm not sure. What about you," he said, offering me a can of fruit.
"I don't know either. I'm Seth, by the way," I said, taking the can and opening it with my teeth. The otter smiled.
We sat there in silence for a while, me eating the fruit, and Nibiru eating some kind of meat. It was oddly serene, until Kate woke up with another yelp. "Are you gonna do that EVERY TIME!?" I yelled, almost dropping my fruit.
"Sorry! I can't help that," she said, looking down. Nibiru looked softly at her.
"Hey, I'm sure he didn't mean it," Nibiru said, sitting next to her. I huffed and looked away. I meant it alright. She couldn't be doing that if we were trying to avoid the infected. I slipped another slice of canned fruit into my mouth. It tasted like peaches, but there was no way to tell.
"So, how'd you two meet," I heard the otter say.
I turned and said, "Well, I was in the city, trying to get away from those things, when I found a parachute atop a building. I grabbed it, saw her, and landed to stop her from being eaten." I ate another fruit slice.
"Well," Kate said, "I had accidentally stumbled into the city, trying to get away from the zombies." 'Why does everyone call them zombies?' "When I saw him flying in on a parachute. It was perfect timing; any later and I would be one of them."
"Well, there went your reputation as a badass," Nibiru said with a chuckle.
"And you funnyman. How did you end up here," I said, a hand lying on my gun.
"I was ditched on the side of the highway by a group I was with. They were running low on supplies, so they dropped me and another off on the side of the road. We eventually made it here, where we cleared everything out, and barricaded every possible entrance. Well, one night, he disappeared. Just, vanished. I searched for him, but never found him. So, I gave up, and settled here," he said, going to sit on another chair by the fireplace. "Ya know, you guys are the first two alive furs I've seen in months."
"Oh, I feel bad for you," Kate said, pulling up a third chair to the fireplace. I rolled my eyes.
"Thanks... So, what's your story? I mean, where did you come from. What happened to you to get you here," Nibiru asked.
"Well, I came from up in Virginia. It was my twentieth birthday, and I was celebrating it with my boyfriend. We went out to eat at a fancy restaurant. I was having a blast, until the side of the restaurant received a blast from a tank. I was scared. Strange furs started rushing in and killing everyone, including my boyfriend. I hid under a table, but I could still see what was happening. They killed men and kids, and raped the women before killing them. They laughed and set fire to the building. I barely escaped. When I managed to get out of the burning building, I found the whole town on fire. I could see planes dropping paratroops in, and soldiers fighting other soldiers. I was terrified, so I ran. I ran as fast as I could. I ended up somewhere in the countryside, in a small town. It was abandoned and desolate. Pretty creepy, if you ask me. I walked in to see if I could find help, but instead I was attacked by some crazed mutant fox thing. I didn't know what it was, but it had some kind of organic stuff growing on its face. It was disgusting! I soon found the whole town was just like him. I managed to find a motorcycle and hightail it out of there. I was on the run for about a year. Everywhere was either under attack or swarming with those things. After a few more months though, after the fighting had died and the dead had risen, I found myself in that city. You can trace everything else back up to here." When Kate had finished her story, I tossed her a can containing what I think was fruit. "Thanks," she said. I didn't respond.
"So," I turned towards the otter, "What about you?"
"Oh, I don't have much to tell. I ran away from an abusive household at age fifteen, and I'd been living alone for a while. When I was eighteen, the city I was in went under attack. Not by the military, but by some sort of infection. Furs were dying left and right. But they didn't stay dead. They got back up, and began attacking others. I was in the city park when it happened. Luckily, it was mid-day, so I could see where I was going. I ran as fast as I could. But, being a starving runaway teenager, I was severely crippled. One of em' got me, and I was pinned, about to be consumed, until a group of soldiers shot the thing off of me. They escorted me to a rescue transport and we left. The fools didn't screen for infection though. One of us had been bitten. He turned and killed the driver. Our truck crashed. There were only five survivors, me, a tiger, and three coyotes. We ran for fear of infection and found a group of three who gladly took us with them. I traveled with them until a few months ago. From there, you already know what happens," He explained.
"And you? What's your story," Nibiru asked me.
"It's long, cruel and twisted. I'd rather not tell it. C'mon, let's get some sleep. It's already nine o'clock. We need to be up early in the morning," I said. 'Good thing I still have this watch...'
"Alright," Kate said.
"Fine. But one more thing... can I come with you guys? I'm running out of food and ammo here, and I'm so lonely... Please, I'll help in any way I can," pleaded the otter. I gave him an annoyed, yet understanding look.
"Yeah, fine. Just shut up and go to sleep right now," I said, pulling out a folding bed from the couch.
"Really! Oh, thank you so much," he said, a huge smile on his face. I rolled my eyes and laid on the bed. Kate laid next to me, and Nibiru pulled out a sleeping bag, and laid beside the bed. I pulled a blanket off the couch and covered me and Kate in it. I pulled up two pillows, and tucked one under Kate's head, and the other under myself. With that, I rolled on my back and shut my eyes. But only for a second, as I felt Kate snuggle against me. I was about to push her off, but decided not to. 'She's probably just happy that she's safe.' I closed my eyes again, and fell asleep.
I actually slept well that night, for the first time in ages. I don't know what it was, but when I awoke, I felt refreshed for a change, instead of feeling crappy like I normally did. I glanced at my watch. It was five thirty, and I was the only one awake. I also noticed that Kate was still snuggling me. I carefully lifted her off of me and slipped out of the bed. I picked up my shotgun and went out the small hole in the back of the building. I looked around. I breathed in the crisp morning air, and after making sure there were no infected around, I set my gun down to take a piss. When I started, however, I heard something in the bushes. I looked, but couldn't see anything, so shrugged and continued my business. When I finished, I picked it back up and headed out front to check on the truck. Everything seemed normal; the gas cans were still strapped down, and the tires still had air. I checked all the systems, and everything seemed good. I let out a sigh of relief. It was good to know that our ride had survived, and still had the capability to get us to where we needed to go, even though we didn't have a particular destination. I crept back in the room to grab the supplies, and took them out to the truck. I did this with most of the things we could use from the otters safe room; weapons, food, water, supplies, and a few sleeping bags. I put it all in the back, and once I made sure everything was secure, I pulled down the back of the truck and sat on it, staring at the rising sun. A sunrise was a luxury to watch. Normally, my time was consumed by running from or killing those that had already been killed. To just relax was nice. I smiled again. It was a strange sensation, an actual smile. It used muscles in a way that I hadn't used them in months. But it was enjoyable.
Pretty soon I heard voices. It sounded like whoever was talking was freaking out though. "Oh my god, he left," I heard one say. "I knew we shouldn't have trusted that cat," I heard the other one say. They were too far away for me to tell who they were, but I was willing to bet that Nibiru and Kate thought that I left. Pretty soon, I saw the otter come running into the parking lot.
"Well, it's about time," I said. Kate came soon after.
"What? You're still here," she asked, her nervous look slowly going away.
"Why wouldn't I be? I said WE were leaving in the morning. Not I was leaving," I said, closing the truck bed.
"I was so scared," Kate said, giving me a hug. I rolled my eyes and pushed her off. "We need to get moving. Here," I gave Nibiru the radio. "I've changed its frequency to match that of the truck's radio. You're on the turret. If you have any problems, push the red button to contact us. Let's get moving." I tossed the otter a slice of bread. It might have been a little moldy, but he could eat around it. I went and got in the driver's seat, Kate climbed in the passenger's.
"You in the back?" I radioed the otter.
"Yep," he responded.
"Alright, we're rollin," I radioed back. I put the truck into drive, and we started up the on ramp to the highway. Just in time, too. I looked in the side mirror, and saw a wave of infected running behind us.
"Hold fire," I said to Nibiru, "We'll lose them in no time." I sped up, and soon we were on the highway. I turned to Kate when we got on the highway. She had fallen back asleep. I looked back at the road, and silently sighed.
"So, where are we going," I heard Nibiru ask over the radio. I picked up the truck radio.
"I'm not sure. I've been searching for safe zones for a while, but so far, I've had no luck. You know of any areas," I responded.
"Nope. But I do know that I don't want to eat anymore moldy bread. There's a small minimart somewhere up ahead; we should restock," I heard again.
"Agreed. I think I saw a sign for it. Hold on, cause we're about to turn, and I know there's no seat for that gun," I radioed to him.
"Alright," was all he said. I turned onto the off ramp, and after a few minutes of driving, and a few infected splatters, I found the minimart. I parked directly in front of it, and hopped out of the truck, watching carefully, taking note of the odd silence. I walked around to the back to check on the otter.
"You stay here. Make sure nothing happens to the truck, or Kate. I'll find some canned food and a radio for her," I told him.
"No problem," he said, gripping the turret.
"Good," I said as I advanced towards the store, gun in hand. When I got to the door, I checked the top to see if there was a bell or any type of manual alert system. I didn't have to worry about electronic ones; they had no power supply, therefore didn't work. After finding that it was in fact electronic, I opened the door quietly. I checked the isles, and found three corpses, only one of them walking around. I picked up a small knife that was lying on a shelf next to me, crept up behind the thing, and drove it right through its skull. I caught the finally dead corpse and gently lowered it to the ground. With that taken care of, I stated looking around for bags to put the food in. I found a plethora of paper bags by the counter, so I took three and started filling them up with food. I stacked cans in them, as neatly as I could, checking each can for dents of bruises, only taking perfect ones. Food was scarce, but I managed to get enough. When all three bags were full, I took them out to the truck and handed them to Nibiru. I ran back in the store, filled up one more bag, and took a radio set that was unopened and rushed them back to the truck. Nibiru stuffed the bags under the troop seating on the sides to prevent them from moving around too much. Once he was settled, I started looking around for a chair for the turret. I eventually found a quite random driver seat to a car sitting behind the gas station. I dusted it off, and inspected it. I looked clean, so I picked it up and brought it around to the truck. I tossed it up to Nibiru, who gladly took it. "If I were you, I'd take some straps and tie that thing down well. I'm going to go get some bottled water," I said, heading for the store one last time. It took a while, but I eventually found two twenty-four packs of water. I picked them up with slight difficulty, and took them out to the back. Nibiru had already secured the chair by then, so he got down and took one of the packs. He grabbed underneath both sides and set it in the bed, then took mine and did the same. He slid them over to a corner, so that they wouldn't move, and went back to the chair.
Gripping the gun, he said, "Thanks. I know you probably don't care, but thanks."
"You're right," I said to him, "I don't care."
I went back up to the driver's seat and got in. I turned the car on, and we set off. The on ramp was clear of cars, so getting back on the highway was pretty easy. I glanced at Kate again. She looked like she was about to wake up.
"Hey," I whispered to her. "Wake up." I nudged her arm, and she slowly opened her eyes. "Good, you're awake. Take this," I handed her a radio. "Set it to the frequency of the truck. You can do that right?" She yawned and nodded. She sat there for a while before getting to work on the radio, but she wasn't doing anything to annoy me, so I let her be.
We drove for a couple of hours, Nibiru and Kate chatted, and I mostly ignored them. 'Why did I even agree to take them with me?' I sighed and kept driving. Other than those two not shutting up, the drive was mainly uneventful. I got a good hit on an infected every now and then, but nothing other than that happened.
Eventually, though, their curiosity of me surfaced again when Kate asked, "When are you going to tell us your story?"
"Never," I replied.
"Why not," I heard Nibiru say.
"I've already told you why, now stop asking."
"That's not a good enough answer," Kate said teasingly.
"It is if you want to stay in this truck."
"Fine. We just don't see why you won't tell it," Nibiru said.
"Because I won't! Now shut up about it."
Kate emitted a low growl.
"Oh, don't give me that," I said, pointing what was the otters pistol at her. I cocked it and prepared it to fire. If she were to do anything stupid... Instead, she just crossed her arms and pouted. I put the gun down on the dashboard. I shook my head and continued driving. The rest of the day was pretty quiet; Kate kept pouting and Nibiru learned to keep his mouth shut, so I was able to slightly enjoy the ride for a little while.
At around five, I pulled up to a hunting shack that was on an exit. "Nibiru, if you want to be useful, get in there and check for ammo," I said over the radio.
"I'm on it," he said back. He got out of the back and went to the front door. The place was small, but packed full of corpses. He glanced back up at me.
"What's the problem," I asked through the window.
"I, well, are you sure I should go alone," he asked, walking up to the truck.
"Just go," I said, giving him his pistol. He looked at me, obviously very nervous.
"You don't get around much," I said, getting out of the truck. "Alright, let's move." Nibiru gripped his pistol tighter and walked up to the door. I casually held my gun in my right paw, and checked the door for some sort of alarm. When I found there was none, I opened the door.
The place stunk like old rot, probably because of just that. I took a look around. Everything was gone, all the guns, ammo, and supplies. "Shop's been picked clean," I said to the otter.
He began looking around, and said, "What's with all the bodies? I mean, I know it's the end of the world, but this many in such a small area..."
"I don't know why there here, but it's obvious that we should leave. There's nothing of use here, so let's go," I said. I pulled my radio up to my mouth, clicked the little red button, and said, "Kate, how are things out there? Is everything okay?"
"Everything's fine out here. You," she asked.
"We're coming out. This place is empty," I radioed back, before sliding it onto my belt. I motioned Nibiru over to me. "We're leaving," I said as he approached. I turned for the door, but saw a small, folded map on the floor. I bent down to pick it up, and unfolded it. It was a map showing where a supposed 'Safe Zone' was.
"Ha. I wonder how many fools died trying to reach it," I said, tossing the map over my shoulder.
"Hang on. I think we should give it a shot," Nibiru said, walking over to pick the map up. "Who knows? Maybe it's true. Maybe there is a safe militarized area."
"Yeah, ok, and maybe there's a planet x that's gonna hit the world and destroy it. Just tell me when you get your proof, and I'll tell you when I have mine," I said, kicking the door open. He rolled his eyes and tucked the map into his pocket before following me out to the truck.
"You don't have to be a dick all the time, you know," he said, jumping on the turret.
"Just shut up. Now, we need to stop for the night, and since we have no map, we'll have to wing it," I said to both of them.
"Actually," Nibiru said, "I kept the map that you were just going to leave behind."
"That's of a different state you moron," I radioed back.
"Well," I heard him say, "Let's go there. Who knows, maybe there's safety."
"No," I said harshly.
"Aw, c'mon. He could be right," Kate said, leaning towards me.
I swatted her back and said, "He could be right, but he could be wrong. It could be a safe, militarized zone, that will eventually be overrun anyways, or it could be an infected area, just full of dead soldiers. In both cases, we have a good shot at dying!" Kate let out a sigh of defeat.
I rolled my eyes and glanced at my watch. It was already seven. "Look," I said over the radio, but to the both of them, "We need to stop for the night. So, does anyone know somewhere relatively safe?"
"No," Nibiru called back. "We're out of my area of expertise here." I looked over at Kate, and she just shrugged, still looking a little put down. "Look, I'm... I'm sorry," I forced out. She instantly lit up, and was back to her annoying old self. We drove for another hour, but finally found an open field on the side of the road. I drove the truck to the center of it and grabbed my shotgun. Kate had already fallen asleep, so I let her be. Although, she could probably annoy the infected to death, so I was tempted to wake her.
I jumped out and walked to the back. Nibiru was already out and checking the area out, so I joined him. After making sure it was clear, I went into the truck and woke up the sleeping wolf. Thankfully she didn't yelp this time. "Huh, wah... Oh. Hey," She said sleepily.
"Hey," I said. "Here, let me help." I helped her from the truck and around to the back. The otter had already gotten the sleeping bags up, but unfortunately, there were only two. "Looks like you're sleeping with him," I whispered to the still groggy Kate. She nodded and yawned before crawling over to the sleeping bag that Nibiru was in, and slid in. She fell asleep quickly.
I, on the other hand, got up and placed sticks poking out of the ground all around the truck. Then, I took some string and weaved it through them, before tying it to the trigger of the pistol that used to be on the dashboard. If anything broke the string, the gun would fire, and we would out of there in no time. I finished and crawled into my sleeping bag, before quickly dozing off.
I slept till about midnight, my dreams full of horrible images, before hearing a gunshot. I snapped up and looked around. Kate and Nibiru were still sleeping; in fact, they had huge earmuffs on. 'Where the FUCK did they get those?!' I growled and grabbed my gun and jumped out the back, only to be greeted by a swarm of mutants coming from the forest that surrounded the clearing. I ran over to the pistol and picked it up. I shot any that got too close to me, covering my cloths in blood. Five of them tried to bite me, but I managed to shoot them first. One of them almost got into the back, but I got a good shot at its head with the pistol. I made my way to the cab of the truck and I started it up. They attacked, banging and clawing at the door. It was amazing that I got it closed in time. I floored the gas and ran over quite a few of the freaks, covering my tires in blood.
"What the fuck happened," Nibiru called over the radio.
"You idiots would know if you hadn't put those motherfucking earmuffs on," I snapped at him. I didn't get a response; I assumed he still had them on. I slammed on the brake, then sped back up. I heard a thump in the back.'That'll wake em up!'
Kate got on the radio and said in a frantic voice, "What's happening!?" I growled and ignored her. I drove into the night, the only light I had was the dim headlights and lightning off in the distance. We were lucky; the highway was surprisingly empty. Most highways were crowded with dead cars holding undead furs with the seatbelts. I shrugged; less cars means fewer problems.
"Seth," I eventually heard, "What happened?" It was Kate, still obviously shaken up.
"Shut up and put the otter on," I said harshly.
She handed Nibiru the radio and he quietly said, "What happened?"
"You want to know what happened? You and Kate almost got eaten, that's what happened. Next time you decide to do something stupid like sleep with EARMUFFS ON, I'll let them KILL YOU! I don't need either of you. I could care less if you die, in fact, do something stupid like that again, I'll kill you MYSELF! UNDERSTAND!" I slammed the radio down on the dashboard. I was angry, not because they had almost died, but instead because they offered absolutely no help when we were attacked. They were just dead weight. Well, they'd be dead soon anyways, considering that they'd probably repeat the mistake.
I drove through the rest of the night, silence my best friend. I was still furious, but had calmed down a little. Their being quiet let me think, though, and I found myself wondering if I should actually kill them. I was fine on my own, and with them gone I would have more supplies. I shrugged to myself as the sun peered over the horizon. The sky became a light pink, slowly illuminating the highway. On either side of it was forest, so I was stuck traveling in one direction.
The fresh sunlight was quickly diminished by dark clouds that were coming in from my right. We were headed right for a storm. I reluctantly picked up the radio and told Nibiru to close the flaps in the back of the truck. He did so quickly without a response. I put the radio down, and drove on for a while longer before it began to rain. I didn't dare use the windshield wipers; wasting the battery for something as useless as that was just plain stupid. I pulled over to the side of the road and parked the truck. We would be here until it stopped raining. I looked out the window, which was now blurred with the rain. Then, I looked to the back of the truck. 'I suppose that I ought to go check on them...' I got out and ran to the back, jumping through the flaps. I hadn't gotten too wet, which I was thankful for. A change of clothes would be hard to find. When I got in, Kate and Nibiru averted their eyes. I grinned and looked around for a spare battery. I didn't find a spare, but instead I found a small generator. I checked around, and found some wires, and hooked it up to a small light that was hanging from the top of the cover. How it had gotten there was beyond me, but I honestly didn't care. It came to life, and brightened up the dark area. I could see Kate's face clearly now. She was crying.
It was strange. In the two years of infection I had traveled with three different survival groups, made plenty of people cry, but none of them hit me like this. I felt...bad. Guilt was something that had never plagued me before, but I could feel it now. Another tear ran down her muzzle, and I scooted over to her.
"Look, I'm, um, sorry," I said; I wasn't good at apologies, I hadn't ever found any reason to apologize until now. She kept crying. I put my paw under her chin and forced her eyes to meet mine. I wasn't sure what to do, so I forced a smile. She turned away from me. 'I must've really scared her.' I wiped another tear from her eye, and she gave me a hug. As much as I hated it, I reluctantly hugged her back. I could see Nibiru from the corner of my eye. When he opened his mouth to say something, I pointed the pistol at him, and he shut up.
I broke the hug and slid the pistol onto a gun rack. "Would you really kill us," Kate whimpered, wiping her final tears away. If I had been truthful, I would have said yes. But, this needed to end.
"Of course not," I said back, in a failed attempt at a soothing voice. I turned to Nibiru and flashed an evil smile before saying, "Alright, let's get some sleep. I'm pretty sure were all tired still." The otter still had a confused and scared face as he slipped into a sleeping bag. Kate slipped into the bigger one, and so did I. She snuggled up against me, and I got ready to push her away. But, I was too tired, so I went to sleep, overlooking Kate.
According to my watch, we woke up around noon. Kate and I woke up at about the same time, and Nibiru continued to softly snore. I let out a silent yawn, and Kate stretched out. I got up and poked my head outside the flaps, and found that it was still raining.The sky was black with ominous clouds, and the sun was nowhere in sight. I pulled my head back in, and sat down next to Kate. She had laid back down in her sleeping bag, and was staring at the roof of the truck. I myself was in no mood for talking, so I didn't really notice her when she started to speak.
"Seth, are you okay," I heard. It took me a second to respond.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. What do you want?" I asked.
"Oh, n-nothing I guess," She said softly. She turned away from me, and sighed audibly.
"Whatever," I said.
"Well, it's just... Why are you never happy?" She asked, rolling over to face me. Great she's talking again.
"I can be happy," I sneered.
"Then why aren't you?" she asked.
"Well," I hesitated, "there's nothing to be happy about."
"But, you're still alive. That counts for something, right?" She said.
"No... No, it doesn't."