Drew almost shit his pants, then realized anyone who frequently killed his online friends in military deathmatches was likely to recognize just about anything you put in front of him. He handed the gun to Max, searching in the pack for a magazine. There were four, all of them full. He gave one to Max.
“I’ve never actually fired a real weapon like this,” Max said. “But I’m sure I could get used to it.”
Max took the magazine, slapping it into the gun and pulling back the charging handle. It made a satisfying metallic clank. Max smiled crookedly.
“I am highly anxious to fire this bad boy,” he said.
“Save it for the baddies,” Drew said. “We’ll probably have to go on a run soon, so you can go with us. Maybe you can get some practice.”
“Oh,” Max said, stammering. “I’m afraid I’m no good in a fight. I am not the gung-ho personality type in real life, much to the contrary of my online persona.”
“You’ll be alright,” Drew said.
“I do have a small list of items that I need to get a few things working around here,” Max said.
“What are you working on?”
“That cell tower in the distance only requires a small power source to broadcast; about 5000 watts at the most. With a few high-powered generators, I should be able to get it up and working. Then perhaps we could try and use a cell phone or a laptop to communicate with the outside world.”
“We should be able to get a few out there,” Drew said. “There was a Rural King in Columbus, from what I remember. Other places to along the main drag before you get into town.”
Max nodded. “That’s assuming you go north to 46 and then east into town.”
“Right,” Drew said. “That’s probably the best idea anyway.”
“What was the primary purpose for going out?”
“Travis wants some antibiotics,” Drew said. “Cold season and all. Plus, you never know when you’ll need them.”
Max nodded. “Alright then,” he said. “I suppose I could muster the courage to tag along. Just don’t expect any Rambo shit.”
Dan and Eric crept through the underbrush in the nearby forest. Having hunted before, Eric led the way, watching the forest floor for signs of passing deer. They had found nothing so far, but Dan was confident that the big man could lead them to dinner.
The cold was biting, just enough to make Dan’s teeth chatter and sting his fingers. Eric seemed to shrug off the cold like a polar bear, which wasn’t surprising considering he was just about the same size. Dan watched him intently. Despite the big man’s silence, his focus while out here on the trail was impressive.
“You don’t like violence, but you’ve hunted before?” he asked.
Eric nodded. “Killing for food is a little different,” he replied. “I just dislike killing people. I don’t know if I could do it, even if my life depended on it.”
“How many infected have you killed?” Dan asked.
“A few. Not many.”
Dan looked down at the M4A1 he carried. It was not quite ideal for deer hunting as it was only 5.56, but it was the only thing they had with enough range and a suppressor. The sniper rifles were way too loud, and there was no telling what was wandering out here in the scrub. Eric carried the other M4A1, and was apparently familiar with its workings. But then, semi-autos were semi-autos.
Pretty much, anyway.
“Have you ever hunted with one of these?” Dan asked.
Eric smiled, holding up his rifle. “No,” he said. “I wouldn’t hunt anything bigger than a badger with an AR. But I guess it’s all we got.”
“We have bigger things,” Dan said. “Maybe Drew and Max can find some suppressors for the bigger rifles.”
“I don’t know of anywhere they could find any,” Eric said, squatting down near a fallen tree. “But I bet Max could figure something out.”
“He’s a smart guy, huh?”
Eric grinned. “Yeah.”
He ran his fingers across a small divot in the trunk in front of him. “Looks like something stepped on this recently,” he said. “We may have something soon.”
A snap caught their attention. Dan crouched, readying his rifle. Eric was poised, looking off in the distance. The snapping became louder, and Eric raised his rifle. Dan did the same, sweeping back and forth to find a target.
“I don’t see anything,” he whispered.
Eric shook his head. “Me neither.”
A moan sounded, and Eric looked back at him with a disappointed look. “Just a rotter,” he said.
Dan stood, looking down the ravine ahead. Below, a single infected was stumbling around, having a difficult time negotiating a maze of falling trees. He aimed for its head, putting a round through it without a second thought.
“That was disappointing,” he said.
Eric nodded. “If there were any deer,” he said, “that stupid thing probably scared them off.”
“I wanna check it out,” Dan said.
“Why?”
Dan began walking toward it. “I just wanna see if it’s a shuffler or something different.”
He heard Eric fall in step behind him as he went down into the gully. The thing had been trapped between a bunch of fallen trees, and wasn’t smart enough to go out the same way it came in—or step over one of them, for that matter. Dan found it somewhat amusing.
As he reached the body, he realized that his fears were true. This was not a shuffler. There were no tell-tale signs of fungus, just standard rot. The thing’s skin was brownish, leathery, and shiny in places. Its left cheek was missing, exposing the teeth on that side, and the thing’s eyes were without lids for the most part. The key thing, however, was the smell.
No fungal smell, just rotting flesh.
“Looks like it’s been dead for a while,” Dan said. “Probably since the beginning.”
Eric was quiet. Dan could sense his fear, and even a little bit of his revulsion. The big guy was not the person one would think he was upon first inspection. Though large, tough, and seemingly impervious to emotions, Eric was just a big softie. Without his dad, Dan guessed, Eric would not have survived. He would likely be unable to kill if need be. Maybe a rotter, or a shuffler, but not another man.
And from Dan and Drew’s experience, other men were often more dangerous than the creatures.
“There’s another one,” Eric said, looking off to Dan’s left.
Dan eyed the creature. It was female, with a filthy pair of jeans and a blue shirt that was bloodied and torn. Her dirty blond hair flapped against her face as she stumbled along toward them. Dan stood, raising his rifle to finish her off, but then paused.
“Your turn,” he said.
Eric gave him a pleading look, but Dan stepped back. “Go on,” he said.
Hesitantly, Eric raised his rifle. He sighted the creature in, his bottom lip quivering. Dan silently encouraged him. After what seemed like minutes, the man fired, dropping the rotter with a splattering headshot. Eric lowered the rifle, looking down at the ground with a guilty expression.
“Nice shot,” Dan said.
“Jesus,” Eric whispered. “That woman…”
“That wasn’t a woman,” Dan said. “Not anymore.”
Cliff scanned the surrounding hills through the scope of his new rifle. He had picked an M4A1 with a thermal scope. It was much like the one he had used in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and for that reason it gave him a little comfort.
From atop the makeshift observation tower—which was nothing more than some scaffolding—he diligently watched for any stragglers, hoping that none of the massive horde had torn away and come in this direction. However, being a crack shot, anything wandering in his vision would be doomed.
He could see Dan and Eric in the distance, their heat signatures visible through the scope even in daylight. They were heading in a southern direction, slowly stalking among the trees for deer or whatever else they could find. They stopped once, he noticed, and stayed in one place for a minute. He guessed that they had run across something interesting—or something rotting.
Having made a full visual sweep and finding nothing, he lowered his rifle and looked back at the camp. Travis and Toby were throwing more logs on the fire, Drew and Max were having some type of dramatic conversation near the Hummer, and Lena appeared to be trying to talk to Melanie through the boarded up window of her office.
Cliff turned back to Drew and Max’s direction, grinning as he realized that the two were probably discussing some action flick, or the latest video game. Drew’s wild arm gestures told it all. He was glad, though. Seeing Max opening up made him smile. He guessed that Drew was somewhat of another gamer or sci-fi freak. Max now had someone to talk to, someone who could actually blend in with just about any crowd.
Cliff was glad that Dan and Drew had shown up. They were a much needed addition to their chaotic group. Hell, since they came, Melanie had even stepped foot out of her sulking place. That was a refreshing change from her usual “rule the village” routine, where she constantly observed, berated, and put down everyone on a constant schedule. It was her thing.
He hated her.
“Cliff,” Toby called from below.
He looked down, seeing the boy standing there with a smile.
“Travis says we need to get more wood,” Toby said.
“Alright, little man,” Cliff said. “I can get some, or we can wait a few minutes for Dan and Eric to get back.”
“I could go outside the fence and grab some little stuff.”
“No,” Cliff said. “It’s too dangerous. Just wait and we’ll figure something out. Maybe Drew and Max could grab some if we need it right away.”
“But I wanna help,” Toby pleaded.
Cliff smiled. “Come up here, then,” he said.
Toby climbed up the scaffolding with a helping hand. When he reached the top, Cliff waved his arm toward the north.
“Help me keep watch,” he said. “It’s a big world, and I can’t watch it all.”
Toby smiled and stood firm, holding his hand above his brow and looking out over the forest. Cliff raised his rifle again and peered through his scope. He swept from side to side slowly, watching every movement; every swaying of the trees, every small animal that moved through the brush, and the strange, white shape that seemed to be moving toward Dan and Eric.
“Shit,” he whispered.
He increased the magnification of the scope, trying to zoom in on whatever was moving toward his friends. Though he lost sight of it for a second, he found it again when it was about a hundred yards away. It was one of the strange, slow-moving humanoid creatures, staggering through the trees with its head lolling in every direction.
And it wasn’t alone.
He saw another, a short ways behind the first, moving in the same direction. He went back to the first, moving his hand to the trigger. It was quite a long distance, and he wasn’t sure he could hit it, but he had to try. Kneeling down, he steadied the rifle on the top of the fence, just under the first layer of barbed wire. He took a few deep breaths, keeping the creature in his sights, then took the shot.
He could see the puff of debris explode out from a tree near the creature’s head. He had missed, but he was close. Damn close.
“Damn it,” he whispered.
“Do you see something?” Toby asked.
“Yeah, buddy,” Cliff said. “I think I can hit it though.”
He leveled his scope at the creature again, taking comfort in the fact that Dan and Eric were going in the opposite direction. He held his breath, waiting a few heartbeats, then fired again. The creature’s head exploded in a cloud of brains and glop, and it pitched to the side as it tumbled down. Cliff moved the rifle to the left, trying to find the other creature. It wasn’t visible anymore. It had probably moved behind a ridge.
He searched right, finding Dan and Eric facing the creature’s direction. Dan held his rifle up, as if lining up a shot. Cliff swung to the left again. He saw the creature just as its head was sheared off by Dan’s shot. It fell straight down, disappearing into the brush. Cliff sighed.
“Good shot,” he whispered.
Evidently, Dan had skills. Though he realized the man had issues, particularly with drugs—and taking things seriously—Dan seemed like he knew his way around a rifle. Cliff wondered if he had any military experience, or if he was just “one of those guys” who shot things in his back yard.
Either way, he was confident that Dan was a good addition to their group. He wasn’t afraid of anything that Cliff could see, and had no qualms about killing. Drew was the same way. He doubted either one of them had any experience before the shit hit the fan; they didn’t seem like that type. They just adapted quickly, he supposed.
That was a good trait.
Dan looked down at the odd creature that had been shot from a distance. He knew it was probably Cliff who had fired the shot. Very impressive from such a long range. It was identical to the pale white creature from the highway that he had dispatched with Drew’s crossbow. He didn’t have to look at the other corpse to know that it would be the same.
“This is something new,” he said as Eric walked up behind him. “Not quite a full mutant, but not a shuffler, either.”
“I’m not sure of the difference between your shufflers and shamblers,” Eric said, “but this thing gives me the creeps.”
“The shufflers are mostly wanderers,” Dan explained. “The shamblers are the aggressive ones that run. I don’t know what this is.”
“It’s almost alien looking,” Eric noted.
The big man was right. Though the thing’s head was mostly gone, Dan could see how it resembled the Robert creature; just not to the same degree of mutation. It was also quite obviously not sentient; at least to the point of speaking or reasoning. It just seemed to stumble around, much like the shufflers, or the newly discovered dead.
He poked at the creature’s skin with his rifle’s silencer. The flesh was tough and sinewy, with a ghostly white pallor. It was somewhat glossy, as if made of plastic. Veins showed through it faintly. Whatever this creature was, it had definitely been a fully functioning lifeform.
“It was coming from that direction,” Dan said, pointing toward a trail that led upward and to the west. It was narrow and worn, but a trail nonetheless. “Let’s find out what’s up there.”
Eric nodded, falling in step behind him. They passed the other creature, and the two wandering corpses, eyeing them nervously as they went by. The trail wound upward in a gentle incline, surrounded and shrouded by leafless trees that formed an archway above.
“This reminds me of the state forest by my old house,” Dan said. “Fall was always the best time to go hiking, I thought. I don’t like it so much anymore.”
“No,” Eric said. “Me neither. Not with those things wandering around.”
As they continued on, Dan saw a corpse lying on the side of the trail. They approached cautiously, keeping their rifles aimed at its head. As they neared, the body began to stir. It rolled over toward them, leaving a slimy patch of putrefied flesh behind. Its rotting mouth opened as its gnarled hand reached out. Dan put a single round in its forehead, and it slumped to the ground lifeless once more.
Dan glanced at Eric, whose expression was a look of nausea. “Another rotter,” Dan said. “I wonder what the hell is up here.”