Chapter 2: Ruined Cities and Minds

"Can I ask something?"

Fiehl asks the sergeant who was with them in the tent,they've arrived at the safe zone an hour ago.Barbed wire fences were made to stand creating a semi-circle,with the entrance up front,and connects to a two story building at the back.Soldiers and cops were positioned everywhere.Like the other survivors who made it there,they were inspected from head to toe.Then,they were assigned to a tent with food and water.

"I'm sorry but it's classified."

"Why?You know it's suspicious that you know what are the proper protocols.Come on Nathan,tell me something."

"Fiehl,Iook,it's hard to explain."

"For old time's sake?Please!?Atleast tell me something.Anything."

The sergeant nods and takes Fiehl inside the 2 story building.Fiehl signaled Michael to stay put with Callie.There,Fiehl saw a few military personnel and police officers with their computers and guns.A big radio was positioned at the very corner of the room.A black man in his uniform,with his hat that says Lt. Col. meets them at the entrance.

"Lieutenant James,this is the--"

The lieutenant cuts him off...

"Ex Captain of the Special Forces Regiment,retired 6 years ago."

"Oh,someone I don't know knows me."

"If he has questions,give 'em the answers sarge."

The lieutenant left when someone asked for him in his desk.The sergeant gave a sigh and breathes heavily,then exhaled.

"We're in a pandemic."

"Uh yeah,I can see that."

"You see about one and a half weeks ago,a United Nations project accidentally made a new disease in China.They were experimenting on newly found pathogens from all over the world,as well as doctors and scientists from everywhere too."

"Humans never really learn their lesson.Didn't they try the same thing years ago,and they accidentally found a new disease,which they kept secret from the public and the media?"

"We received orders of protocols and about its infectivity and how lethal it is.Of course we didn't believe it at first.I mean,pathogens combined to make a disease that transfers through wounds and biting?Who would believe that at first?But then they showed us footages of victims of this disease from around the world.And while we were understanding it,we received reports of multiple identical cases from around the country.And so,we were all divided in small groups,to go to destined mass populated areas,join with the local police department,then save as much as we can.In other words,we're scattered"

"So you didn't alert the masses because they might have panicked that could cause problems but by not alerting them,the virus started to spread like wild fire among the countries.But that's too fast."

"Like I said,it's infectivity rate is through the roof.The only piece of information we got from the president was that the virus is at its first phase,or what they call,the spreading phase.At first,for people infected with it would actually take about 6 hours for them to change.They would lose control of their minds,or in another sense,their humanity,but now,it just takes a matter of seconds for them to lose themselves.One minute theyre sick,the next,they see other people as their next meal."

"A parasitic disease then,literally."

The sergeant replied with a sigh.Not long after,they hear music from the camp.They walked their way through a crowd,and saw what looks like a couple in the middle,the man playing his guitar while the woman sang a popular song and soon,most of the people joined in.

The sound of gunfire then accompanied the singing,they all stopped as they turned to look at the front of the camp,the people positioned there were shooting their guns.Some of the people started praying while the others looked on,in their eyes,hoping that those guns and bullets would keep them away from those things.All of a sudden,a few of the infected bursts through the hail of bullets,followed by others,they were outnumbered,the soldiers then initiated plan b.

The soldiers yelled at the panicking people to head to the top floor of the building.Fiehl looked for Michael and Callie,who were fixing their bag back at the tent.He found them and rushed them inside.It was too late to lock the gate entrance of the first floor,so everyone rushed to the second and locked the door.

They told the people to stay put,three helicopters were on their way.The helicopters arrived and as soon as the people heard them,they rushed to the top floor only to find two helicopters.They all raced to get into one,a man with a guitar pushed on Michael and stepped on him.

"The charges are gonna defuse in five seconds,let's go!"

Yelled one of the pilots and Nathan heard this,tried to stop them but failed.

"Wait! There's still survivors down there!"

"Too late!"

BOOM!

Michael,Fiehl and Callie,and a few more survivors were still down there when the helicopters took off.The charges went off and the ground started to crack,a horde of infected were climbing up.Fiehl was carrying Callie when he spotted his truck and yelled at Michael to follow him.They ran and jumped at the edge,and lands at the back of the pick-up truck.

They moaned in pain for a little while,but came back to their senses.Fiehl took Callie in the car and yelled.

"Make sure not a single one of them gets close and in the truck,not a single one!"

Fiehl put the key in and the engine roared to life.Michael held on as the truck drove pass through some infected,cracking skulls and breaking bones.An infected with missing legs managed to hold onto the back of the truck,it was pulling itself in when Michael kicked its head,breaking its neck,facing up.

They drove a mile away,smoke,houses on fire,broken cars and streetlights decorated the place.It was already night when the truck ran out of gas.Fiehl carried a sleeping Callie while Michael held the bag,luckily,they were in a neighborhood,safely crossed the street,and they got in an unlocked house long before a horde of infected surrounded the car.

"Stay here,I'll go check the rooms upstairs,in case there are any of those things."

Fiehl whispered.

He gave Callie to Michael and he crept upstairs,with a crowbar at hand.He came back down a few minutes later,they locked the doors and windows,and found a turkey in the oven,reheated it,and ate it when Callie woke up.

After eating,they taking a rest at the living room sofa,only the sound of beeping cars and groaning infected was heard.

"What are those things?Are we going to be okay?Where's mommy and daddy?"

Camille asked Michael.

"Whisper when you have something to say okay?We'll find your parents tomorrow,I promise.Those things outside are monsters,but me and uncle Fiehl will protect you."

Michael smiled at her,then hugged,she fell asleep moments later.

"You have a gift with kids."

Fiehl chuckled.

"I don't know about that,she's just obedient.What now?There's no internet,we can't call for help,my phone is useless.Atleast there's still electricity.What the hell are we supposed to do?"

Fiehl took out a map he got from his truck.

"Let's rest here tonight.Tomorrow morning,we'll head north,there's a city there,and there might be another safe zone there as well.That is,if it didn't end up like the one we were at."

While they were talking,they had a black out. Fiehl put a pillow on Callie,and took a few blankets for them to use,and they slept.Michael woke up to the sound of someone trying to open the door.He was about to stand when Fiehl covered his mouth and whispered for him to step back.He took the crowbar and waited for the door to open.It opened and as he was about to swing,a man showed up with his hands up,he was wearing a hoodie and long pants.

"Wait,wait,wait.Im not one of them."

"You're not infected?"

"I'm not what?"

The man was confused.

"Were you bitten?"

"No."

Fiehl lowered his weapon,and told the man to get in.He got in and closed the door.The man began to talk.

"Okay,hear me out I'm Richard,me and my friends are headed to the next city.We have two vans and we stopped here to get food and water,then regroup in half an hour.Would you like to come with us?The more people there are,the safer it is."

I'm not sure about that.

Fiehl thought to himself.

"That would be nice,I'm Fiehl, thus is my nephew,Michael and niece,Camille.You and your friends got weapons?"

"We ransacked a house yesterday and slept there.We got what we can hold,anything will do to get those things away from us.By the way,it sounds like you have an idea of what's going on here."

"I'll explain that when we get to your friends."

"Okay then,pack up,we'll head to the van."

They followed the man as they went through a chaotic street,filled with fire and smoke,but no infected,making Fiehl curious.

"There's not a single of of 'em here."

"Oh about that,we learned that they were attracted to sound,you know like one of those zombie movies.Don't believe them,until you see them."

"What did you do?"

"Oh, we had a radio,and one of us put it inside a house at the corner.It's pretty much flooded with with those things."

All of a sudden,they heard a crash,and something rolled infront of them,it was a head!Fiehl quickly covered Camille's eyes and the three moved their eyes to see a pair of infected eating away a corpse infront of the house to their left,the door was open,the windows were shattered,and the walls were bloody,much like most of the houses around them.They were fixed at their meal and didn't pay attention to the survivors.They were going to walk past them when a person at the other side of the street saw them and shouted.

"Hey!Over here!"Oh man,you can't believe how lucky--"

He was cut short when a few infected showed up from behind him and lunged at him,pinned him to the ground,then devoured him as he was still alive and screaming,one of them was even biting his face off.Callie saw this and screamed,the infected heard this,saw them,and rushed to them.They ran and followed Richard as they passed through cars and made quick turns.

"Almost there,"Richard said when he saw a white van at a distance.

Michael then tripped when a hand grabbed his foot,stumbling to the ground.He turned to see someone who was stuck inside a flipped car. Michael quickly set his foot free by shaking it,then made a run for it.A few infected stopped to where the guy was,then devoured him,while the others continued to give chase.

Michael was running when he heard a shout."

"Duck!"

Michael quickly ducked when a shovel went pass over his head,breaking a chasing infected's face.More were coming but a small group of people stood infront of him,they were holding their weapons,one had an axe,a few had bats,and a few had crowbars.They swung their weapons at the incoming infected, targeting their heads.In the midst of it all, a woman reached a hand to help Michael.It finally looked like they took care of all of them when they heard roars and footsteps getting closer.

"Maybe the radio ran out of batteries!"shouted the man with a white shirt,holding the axe.

"Everyone in the cars!We'll get outnumbered!"

Richard responded.

Fiehl grabbed Michael to the second van and the driver followed the first.The vans zigzag their way through the road with crashed and bloody cars blocking them.They saw three people waving their hands and yelling for help from a roof of a house,but they couldn't affor to stop because of the chasing horde that piled up from the neigborhood.They saw the three on the roof and climbed up the house.The three tried their best to push the infected and fall,but they were outnumbered.They were like a deer cornered by wolves,then consumed.

Michael couldn't help but feel sorry as he looked at them from the back of the van.Moments later,their van had an engine problem,they called on the first van,and the two parked it at the side of the road,under the shade of the trees,not a house or a person in sight.

Minutes later...

"Well,the engine battery is dead.What now?

The man in white shirt asked as he closes the hood of the van with a thud.The others were surrounding Callie,who was telling them about her dream the other night.

"And then I saw my daddy catch my mommy with his giant hands and then--"the man cut didn't let her finish her sentence.

"Guys,the engine battery is gone,dead!"

"Sheesh Sam,you didn't even let the kid finish her story,"said the girl with a baseball cap.

"Shut it Hailey,as far as I know,you're only fifteen,which makes you a kid as well."

A man intruded their conversation,and looked at Richard.

"Come on guys,settle down.Richard,you have a plan?"

Everyone looked at Richard,who as sweating,so he took off his hoodie,showing his muscles. Fiehl and Michael quickly understood that Richard was the standing leader of their group.

"Give me a minute."

"There's no houses here,we can rest here for a while,"said Fiehl.

They all found themselves their seats around the vans,a few even climbed up.Fiehl was talking to Richard and Hailey joined Michael and Callie.

"Hey there,you're Callie right?"she asked politely.

"Yes ma'am,"said Callie with a salute.

"She's just playing,I'm Michael."

She reached out to Michael and shaked his hand,sat infront of them,and spoke.

"I heard from your uncle that you saw how her parents died."

At this,Michael was shocked,and quickly held Callie's shoulders,she was already crying.He was surprised to know that Callie understood what Hailey had said.

"No!They're waiting for me!"

Michael just embraced her.

"Callie I know this is hard but you have to listen to me."

"No!No!She's lying!"

He hugged her tighty then faced her.

"Your parents were killed by those monsters,but you have me okay?Big brother here will be with you,even uncle Fiehl."

Callie's crying got the whole attention of the group.

"Shut her up!They're gonna hear those screaming,and it's annoying,"yelled Sam.

A few went to where Callie was and heard Hailey apologizing to Michael.

"I'm sorry,I didn't know."

"It's okay.Come on now Callie,people are watching."

Then one of them spoke.

"Why don't you give her to me and we'll go get her a snack?"

They managed to persuade Callie to follow the woman who introduced herself as Anna,to a van,and gave her chocolate chip cookies.Callie managed to calm down,and brought the cookies to a surprised Michael.

"She's a smart and tough one alright,"said Richard to Fiehl.

"Just like her father,"he replied.

They were from a distance,watching them.Michael managed to persuade Callie to share her cookies to Hailey,who gave out a smile and hugged Callie,they all smiled and laughed.Half an hour passed and Richard called everyone to tell them his plan.

"Alright listen up,we only have one van left,now,half of us will go first to the city.They try to locate if there's a safe zone there,if none,they'll look for somewhere else.The other half will walk,and when those who arrived at the city had found a place to stay,the van will come back to pick us up."

"Isn't that a little risky,and unfair?"said the man with beard that ran from his chin to the front of his ears,connecting to his hair,Robert,Michael recalled.

"Yeah,we already lost a dozen just yesterday,"said Anna.

"Well,if anyone has a better plan,feel free to speak,"replied Harley,Hailey's big brother,with a domineering tone.

No one dared to speak,no one even had a clue on what to do.

"It's decided,"said Richard,as he reached the broken van and took a bat.

Richard chose who to go first and who to walk with him,judging from their attitudes.In each group,he put half of those he can trust and half of which he can't.The sun already moved from its postion from earlier,making the walking group battle with the heat.

"Why didn't you let her go with them?"Hailey asked Michael,they were both sweating like crazy,Callie between them,panting like a cheetah after a hunt,Michael picked her up.

"Well,she wouldn't let go of my shirt,and I prefer to travel with my shirt on,"he replied,and they both laughed.

The others shushed them as they moved through a silent road,corn and rice farms at each side,with only a few houses to be seen.They then found a car was bumped below a sign,welcoming them to the city.Inside,was a man and a woman,in their seatbelts,both infected.The survivors left the scene immediately.

They felt the hot temperature become warm,as the sun was nearly setting.

"It's been hours,what if they never came?"Fiehl asked Richard.

"I knew they couldn't be trusted!"yelled one of the women with them,Kathrine,Anna's best friend.

"Relax,I'm sure it's already on its way,"said Richard,panting.

Two hours passed,but they've already reached the entrance of the city,no sign of the first group,except for the fresh tire tracks.They were going to follow it but lots of infected were all over the place.Fiehl had an idea,he threw a brick as hard as he could and hit a glass window of a mall that displayed manequins. This took the attention of the infected,but not all of them.They were slowly walking at the side walk when a few of them were feasting on a corpse when they made a right turn.They bashed their heads but the commotion alerted the horde behind them.Luckily,Harley spotted a the mall's alley door a few yards infront of them.They ran as fast as they could,with the horde catching up to them,some were stumbling and got trampled by the others,but they kept on going.Harley and the two teenagers with Callie got in first,followed by Richard and Fiehl,the two women were still rushing to them.Anna stumbled,broke her ankle,fell,and called for help.

"Kathrine,help!"

Kathrine paused for a moment but saw the incoming horde.

"I'm sorry,"she replied,and rushed to the door.

"Kathrine!"Harley and Hailey yelled.

Harley wanted to get out to help her but a few infected already reached her.She managed to turn and looked at him,tears falling down.

"Kathrine!"

The horde nearly got to him but Fiehl pulled him in,and Richard locked the door,they were panting,and Kathrine was crying,Harley held her at her shirt's collar,veins were showing.

"You bitch,I'm gonna ki--"

Fiehl and Richard held him,and got in between the two when they pushed him aside.

"Harley,they could've died both,"said Richard.

This made him even mad,but because he respected Richard,he punched the brick wall.The groans outside got even louder,the infected were still punding on the door.

"Everyone,up the stairs,now!"yelled Richard.

They followed him as the stairs led them to a parking lot below the mall.They saw a familiar van,and a pair of legs at the back of the van,they crept behind it and Harley smashed its head couple of times until his anger faded.He stepped aside and were horrified to see a dead Lucas sitting inside,half his face was eaten,his teeth were showing.The corpse the infected was feasting on was Brenda's,she lost her right hand,the other was bitten in hald,her bowels were falling,and a few inches of her intestines were hanging.

"Shit!What the hell happened!?"screamed Richard.

He then spotted blood trails and footsteps going to the elevator.He was going to open it when Fiehl stopped him.They found the stairs leading up the mall,and reached the first floor.Infected were scattered at the groundfloor below them.Anna then pointed her finger to their right,they turned to see a legless Sam.They ducked as they walked slowly towards him.

"Sam,what happened?"Richard whispered.

He opened his left eye,his head was bleeding,the blood flowed on his right eye to his cheeks,like teardrops.

"We were chased from the gate,Lucas and Brenda couldn't make it out.One of them pushed Robert down to the groundfloor.I don't know where Oliver is,I just saw him took the elevator."

All of a sudden,an infected showed up from one of the rooms from their right,and charged at them.Harleg jumped back and nearly got caught by its grasp,but Sam caught it by its legs,and held it down.

"Go now!"he screamed.

No one looked back as they ran,circling bac to the stairs,but a bunch of incfectes got up the stairs.The had no choice but to take the elevator.Fiehl pressed a button,it went down and opene.An infected came out of the elevator and lunged at Anna,biting her elbow when she tried to defend herself,Fiehl whack its head with a crowbar and it fell,but its hands were clinging on Anna's hand,she fell with it.Anna was torn apart by the infected below them,she screamed but it only attracted more.The doors closed before infected from both sides met.Hailey let out a scream when she looked at the back of the elevator,the others looked to see a dead Oliver,his stomach was open and his organs were gone.Harley pulled his sister to him.

The doors opened,they rushed to the exit,and found themselves at the center of the road,surrounded by beeping cars,shattered glass,and infected.They ran until they reached a ladder leadinf to the top of a building,and climbed.Hailey was still climbing up when a few infected got to Harley,and pinned him to the ground,their teeth met his face.

"Hailey!"he screamed before one of them bit his mouth off.

"Harley!"she yelled back.

"She started to cry as she looked down to see him get covered by infected.Suddely,the ladder started to shake,she looked down to see the horde climb up the ladder all at once,the ladder couldn't probably hold them anymore.She jumped to reach Richard's hand but it slipped.

"Nooo!!"Richard screamed.

Suddenly,they heard the door that leads to the rooftop getting pounded,accompanied by groans.Richard looked at the rusty lock,it was loosening,he looked down and rushed to the door,he held it firmly.

"Jump to the other side,then get to the parking lot.Find a car and get the hell out of here!"he yelled.

Michael jumped to the other rooftop,and caught Callie.The door opened and a bunch of infected fell on Richard,who held them off.Fiehl then followed the two,looked back at Richard,and Richard smiled at him,he gave a nod then led the two downstairs.They reached the parking lot,and after a minute,they got in a car with keys inside.Fiehl was starting the car when an infected fell from up the building,landing beside the car,others soon followed,and they got up as fast they they fell,one even landed at the trunk of the car.Callie screamed as Fiehl put it on reverse and the car drove backwards to the right,and went for the road,dodging other cars and running over a few infected.They soon got to the open road again.

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