Fragmented Zombie

Tanks, Jockeys, and Spitters

 The survivors looked out the window one last time to make sure there weren't any infected in the way. The street looked clear enough. Although, it couldn't be confirmed that there weren't any stragglers lingering on either end of the street. Turning away from the window, Jaren and Vere moved the table away from the door. The group took the first-aid kits even though they hadn't used the ones they brought with them. Though, it was better safe than sorry. After all, just because none of them had gotten hurt yet doesn't mean that they won't get hurt later. On top of that, it was better to have the extra first-aid kits and not need them than to need them and not have them.

Apart from Becker, the survivors made sure they had their weapons out. Ayden even switched back over to his prosthetic leg to make it easier to use his silenced submachine gun. Even though it didn't look like they needed their weapons, the survivors wanted them out in the off chance that there were infected lurking around. Becker approached the door, put their hand on the handle and turned to the others. After gathering their stuff, the other five stood up and nodded at Becker.

Becker swung the door open in one swift motion and stepped out, leading the others back out into the street. Becker then took around and pointed to their left. "That way," Becker said. "We may be able to take a shortcut that way so we don't have to go back the way we came. I don't know about y'all but I don't want to risk running into the horde we saw earlier."

"Not to speak for the others, but I second that," Ayden stated, seemingly in agreement with Becker. "However, the only problem I have with that is that we'll be headed towards the direction of where the horde came from. And even then, I'm not really seeing any other option."

"While I do see where you're coming from Ayden, I'm gonna have to respectfully disagree with how it's a problem," Kandace chimed in. "After all, even if we do run into something, it's not like we can't defend ourselves. I mean, Becker does seem to know what it's doing. But again I do see where you're coming from."

"I mean, can you blame Ayden though? To be fair he IS missing half a leg," Charli stated.

"That's true. However, I don't see how where the horde came from is the problem when we're already stuck in some kind of apocalypse."

"I don't mean to speak out of turn, but can we please get going? I don't want to get stuck in the middle of another horde," Jaren asked sheepishly.

Kandace and Charli snapped out of their conversation. The two looked over at Jaren before looking over at Becker and Vere, who had already started to walk away. The four started following Becker and Vere after realizing they were almost left behind. Aside from Becker, the group found it a bit odd that Vere hadn't said anything in what felt like hours. After all, xe did seem to be the most talkative. Even though it felt out of character for Vere to be quiet, no one questioned xem on it.

The group fanned out enough to lower the risk of friendly fire. The group slowly made their way to the end of the street. They knew they were in a hurry but at the same time they wanted to be cautious. After all, they were in a situation where getting separated could be fatal. And there was no way in hell Becker was going to leave any of the survivors behind.

Before the group could reach the end of the street, they stopped in their tracks. Right around the corner was the distant sound of cackling. The closer it got, the more unhinged it sounded. The one thing that made it more unsettling was that most of it sounded forced. Becker gestured for the group to take a few steps back in the off chance it was what they thought it was.

"What the hell is that?" Vere murmured.

"That's what most people call a jockey," Ayden replied. It was astonishing that Ayden knew what it was without seeing it.