Admire (DJ x Commander)

Chapter 5 : COMMANDER

Accelerator, huh?

Commander had only heard stories of him. 

"The man who could kill a horde alone." "Accelerator is a great example for us all." 

"You should be more like Accelerator, Commander." 

Commander had heard most of this from his general while he was still in training. It pained him to go back to these memories, but sometimes it was necessary. 

The sky was a deep orange, and the sun took its time rising in the distance. 

The team had left the ruins earlier in the morning. 

Everyone had grabbed as many supplies as they could and hauled them along. Everyone was tired. Some almost collapsed, but the group pushed on. 

DJ could still barely walk, so Commander took it upon himself to carry him (Medic had insisted, what more could he do?). Sniper and Mortar could walk, with some help from others. 

Commander knew it would be a while until somewhere with proper supplies would show up. They had passed farms, but most, if not all, were completely barren. 

Everyone tried talking amongst themselves to try and pass the time, but it was proven difficult. Commander could only imagine what they were thinking. He felt sorry for all of this. 

DJ woke occasionally, asking simple questions before drifting off to sleep again. Commander worried sometimes when his breathing was shallow, but always breathed a sigh of relief when he spoke again. 

It was kind of embarrassing for Commander, but he was worried for everyone. 

Commander almost tripped on a rock, and DJ woke up again. "Yikes, be careful." He clutched his chest. "Ouch." 

"Apologies. I didn't see it." Commander felt especially bad now. He didn't want to wake up DJ.

"It's alright." DJ rubbed his face. "Anything new?" 

"Not really. Fields, more fields.." 

"No, no, with you." 

"Huh?"

"Yeah, y'know, we left now." DJ let a small smile spread across his face. "No need to be worried, right?"

Commander cleared his throat. Not many people asked about his feelings. "I suppose not." He sighed. "I don't know what I'm going to do if we can't find anything."

"You don't have to do anything, it's out of your control, isn't it?" 

"I am technically respons- wait." Commander paused.

The land in the distance became rocky and flat. "I think there's a cliff up ahead." The smell of water filled the air suddenly. 

Commander reached the edge of the cliff, and a large harbor stood underneath it, fit snugly in a cove. Large cranes towered above the stacked shipping containers. They were all rusty and mute in color, but graffiti littered most sides of them. 

It wasn't much, but there could be some supplies there. There were a few buildings, probably used for command centers. 

Commander turned around to face the group. "I'm gonna scout ahead and check this place out." He looked at DJ. "I'm gonna put you down now."

"Alright, good luck!" DJ grinned and gave Commander a peace sign as he was laid in the grass.

"Hey wait that's MY- job..." Scout yelled, but he was already headed to a large enclosed staircase. 

It was quite rusty, and you could tell the supports were failing. The stairs spiraled down, until finally meeting the ground. With every step, the stairs creaked under Commander's feet.

He pushed the door at the bottom of the staircase open. Something quick hit the wall right next to him. The dirt on the wall hissed as the toxic goop seemed to almost burn through it. Commander yelled and quickly grabbed a piece of rusty sheet metal off the ground.

"I'm friendly, no need to attack." Commander announced before whoever was firing decided to shoot again.

"Who are you... exactly?" 

"You can call me Commander. I command a small army that helps with the zombies who overrun all these towns." Commander was trying to look around to find where the voice was coming from but he wasn't sure.

"Why are you here?"

"My troops and I were attacked by a zombie that had impenetrable metal armor. All of our things are gone, we have wounded, and we're just looking for supplies."

"Drop any weapons that you have."

Commander complied, and dropped his pistol. 

"Where are these troops of yours?"

"You can probably see them from here... wherever you are." He pointed to the cliff. "There's thirteen of us. Three wounded, the others are in decent health." 

"What do you need?"

"Anything, really." 

The voice was quiet for a moment. A figure jumped down from one of the shipping containers. He wore a ventilation mask, a helmet, and elbow pads- all in blue. He was carrying a paintball gun. "You can put down that piece of rusty metal. I trust you."

Commander dropped the metal with a clank.

"Welcome to Desolation Harbor, friend. You can call me Paintballer."

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Sorry for the long wait. Gonna try and get the next one out as soon as possible!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!