Just Surviving

Chapter One

The radiation monitor sang as if it was performing its last stadium filled concert while Elyza moved her group ahead. More than ten clicks from their chopper and in dire need of a safe haven from the seemingly never ending wave of infection behind them.

"This is one of the stupidest situations you've landed us in yet, Lex." Marie spits as she fires a few rounds into the oncoming herd. "All we had to do was get a fucking file."

"In a bunker filled with the dead, in an irradiated state, in the middle of an apocalypse." Jarod teases as he fires a few rounds of his own. "Just another Tuesday."

"It's Tuesday?" Lindsey asks before tossing a grenade into the middle of the horde.

"It's the apocalypse. Everyday is a fucking Tuesday," Elyza  curses firing off a few more shots. "What the hell happened here?"

"Some nukes went off, it's not rocket science." Lindsey rolls her eyes, readying more explosives.

"That's literally rocket science." Elyza mumbles giving Lindsey a small frown.

After clearing the first couple rows the group repositions farther ahead.

"Don't you think we should be trying to lose them?" Marie asks after downing a few more

"No." Elyza switches from her long rifle to her pistol. "We can't risk these guys making their way east. We waste as many of the dead as we can."

"We're gonna need a hell of alot more ammo." Jarod states, tossing an empty clip aside.

"We need to dump them somewhere and regroup." The others mumble their agreement to Marie's statement as they empty their clips.

"Let's get moving and find that spot then." Holstering their weapons they begin to walk. "Radar out Lindsey. I don;t feel like being on the radiation barbeque today."

"Aye-aye captain."

After walking with the horde behind them for a few miles, with no sign of any way to dump them, the group decide to hold up in a building as soon as the radiation is clear.

Marie pulls her mask from her face before tossing it against the wall with a frustrated cry. "This is bullshit! Each mission they send us on gets more and more suicidal."

"Can you blame them? It's our fault Izzie got away." Lindsey's voice is calm as she picks up Marie's mask to inspect it for damage.

"Honestly, if anyone was gonna leave us for a chick, I thought it'd be Lex." Jarod jokes digging through his pack to toss waters to everyone.

"Oh, I will, once I meet the right one."

"Please," Lindsey hands Marie's mask back over to her before tossing her long dark ponytail over her shoulder. "Eluza will outlast us all with them. Fighting for something more. Last Hope. Last Light. All that indoctrination bullshit is right up her alley."

"We've helped as much as we hurt. That's gotta count for something." Elyza says before she takes a drink.

"You want it to count for something." Marie sneers, sliding her pack close to her before swinging her body to lay down. "We could bail." she continues, "Blow the chopper, find another way out. It's not like we don;t have our street clothes on us. We;d just disappear. Stop doing their bidding. Make it a little harder for them to keep trying to kill us."

"I'm not leaving Sanchin and the others with them." Jarod makes himself comfortable on the floor like Marie. "They know that, so they keep splitting us into smaller and smaller groups. Making sure we don't risk it."

"Too valuable to let go, too dangerous to keep together. Honestly, we should've seen this coming." Lindsey says.

"We did, and we let her go anyway. It's not like she gave us much choice. It was either that or killing her and for what? Finding someone worth living for? Jackson's right. We can't leave without Miller and Rickey at least." Marie sighs.