Chapter 22
Nick, Brandon, Malachi, and Tyrese carried all of the dead bodies and buried them outside of the base. They removed everyone’s wallets and I.D’s and neatly piled them up in the middle of the base. Malachi placed a handwritten sign in front of the pile of licenses, dog tags, wallets, and other memorabilia. The sign was written:
Fort Worth Shrine
Jake carried Cassandra to a small garden just outside of the base. He dug a small hole and laid her in it. He gently grabbed her left hand and slowly removed the gold band that was once snuggled on warm fingers. He undid his dog tags and slipped the chain though that ring and the one that Jake had on his finger.
Jake just sat there looking over Cassandra’s body, as if he was hoping for her to wake up living.
“I am so sorry,” Jake whispered. “I tried coming to you as fast as I could, but I...”
Jake was holding back the tears to the best of his abilities.
“I just wanted to hear your voice... at least once more, and tell you that I loved you, and that everything was going to be okay.”
“Somebody out there?!” a voice called out. “Help!”
“Don’t move!” Tyrese was calling from a distance.
Jake ran to the voice in distress and saw Tyrese, Malachi, Nick, and Brandon, with their guns aiming at a young man. He appeared to have a large scratch on his arm, with a dried crimson paste reaching down to the tip of his fingers. The scratch was patched up with some rags and clothing.
“State your name now,” Jake ordered as he pointed his sidearm to the man’s head.
“Officer Trystan Xavier,” the man answered. “Z-Corps. Please don’t shoot. I’m not infected.”
“How long have you had that injury, Officer?”
“About ten hours. I covered it up the best I could.”
Jake lowered his pistol, then everyone else followed.
“What happened here,” Jake asked.
“Undead snuck in and got to us as we were still getting set up,” Trystan answered. “We fought back the best we could, but there were so many of them. Since the choppers weren’t working, nobody was able to evacuate, and we were surrounded by hundreds of them. I tried to protect as many of the survivors as I could, but I was trapped under some debris and got my arm cut on some of the metal. I was able to move a little bit, enough to stop the bleeding, but not enough to break free. May I ask who you guys are? You look like one of ours.”
“We were in contact with each other,” Malachi answered. “Dallas.”
“Man, you came all this way for..”
Before he finished his sentence, he turned to Jake.
“Chief,” Trystan replied. “Sir, I... I am so sorry you had to come to this wasteland. When the onslaught started.... I saw your wife... and....”
“It doesn’t really matter now,” Jake finished. “You did the best you could. We all lost a lot, the six of us.”
“So what now?” Malachi asked. “Fort Worth was the only safe place left. Now that it’s gone, there’s nothing left.”
“I made a promise to someone saying that I would find a safe place, or make one. That was the Z-Corps prior mission. Still is. There are survivors out there, and they need help. They need refuge. Our mission is still to rescue them and rebuild civilization, and drive this infection off of the face of the earth... or die trying. We’re still alive, so that is our mission.”
Jake, Tyrese, Nick, Brandon, Malachi, and Trystan searched for weapons, food, water, and other supplies, killing whatever zombies were left in the base. Tyrese found a large truck to place all the supplies in. He hot wired the truck and waited on the rest to pile up in the Hummer. Once everyone was set up, they left the base and drove back on the interstate, leaving Forth Worth for good.
As the two vehicles drove through Dallas, Trystan pointed at a flare in the sky northeast of their position.
“Distress?” Trystan asked.
“You know it is,” Jake answered as he cocked his rifle. “Let’s lock and load.”