FOUR

THE "HUMBLE" BEGINNING

The world has been consumed by an apocalypse, dangers still lurk at every corner of this post apocalyptic hell. Four human survivors have taken shelter in an old Costco's superstore, they are only known as The Ranger, The Sniper, The Gatherer and The Healer, they have lived together for years in this world. Infected humans and a destroyed environment loom over everything, mother nature has taken charge of the broken world, flooding old, abandoned cities with a forest of trees and bushes, vines creep up the sides of every old building that still stands. Broken roads and houses polka dot the stony forest that has been created.

It's daybreak and The Sniper and The Gatherer's shift, to protect their makeshift fortress has ended, now they trade positions with The Ranger and The Healer and rest their constantly heavy eyes. "time to get up!" The Sniper shouted in a somewhat friendly manner. The Ranger peeled his bloodshot eyes open, smiled and sarcastically asked "five more minutes mom?", The Sniper simply put his head down and smiled holding back a slight chuckle, "Get up asshole, I'm tired" The Sniper replied through a slight chuckle.

"Well I'm tired too, what do I get?"

"You get to take your turn and hold down the fort again"

The Sniper then tossed The Rangers armor onto him as a final sign to get up.

The Ranger got up and executed his usual routine, thinking to himself as he does so: 'Get up, shower, water's cold again, get out, get dressed, mmmm coffee, make coffee' he sluggishly continued to make his coffee. When he finally finished he mindlessly took a sip.

'Forgot sugar, too bitter, more sugar, too bitter, more sugar, too bitter, a little more sugar...too sweet...'

The Ranger accepted the coffee how it was and continued preparing for the day, he grabbed his bow, one of fourteen quivers of arrows, his sword and finally four knives, he wrapped the quiver of arrows around his shoulder letting it rest along his back along with his bow, sheathed his sword on his hip, he sheathed the four knives in pouches on his legs, two on each leg and finally he holstered one single pistol on his thigh. His armor wasn't anything flashy, it was simple and slim dark green clothing with patches of thick brown leather padding in usual places, wrists, thighs and one shoulder pauldron that covered most of his chest, he had tall brown leather boots and brown leather fingerless gloves, and a green hood that pulled over his head, he looked like a more serious and intimidating Robin Hood.

He sits down at one of many tables they had set up, along with the healer, and sips his coffee, 'cold', he thinks to himself as the cold coffee touches his lips. Without making eye contact, The Healer, who was sitting on the other side of him, said "G'morning sunshine"

The Ranger grumpily replied "I hate mornings"

"I know" she replied back.

"Why can't I have the night shift?".

"Because you didn't ask for it".

"Mornings suck".

"Stop whining".

"No".

"Yes".

"You first".

"I'm not whining!".

"Now you are".

The Ranger smiled at his quick witted replies, The Healer simply rolled her eyes and continued to sip her coffee and read. The Ranger glanced at The Healer, who was too indulged in her book to notice, and he reminded himself of how beautiful she was. She had long brown hair which seemed to have hints of red near the ends, her face was soft and her green eyes complimented the red in her hair, her skin seemed flawless besides a few scratches, she was medium height and thin and in his eyes she was the most beautiful out of all four of them. The Ranger had always thought this of her, in his eyes she was perfect, he had never felt this way for anyone else so he didn't know how to handle it, so he did as he usually did and defended himself with sarcasm.

"Anything outside?" The Ranger asked her "Just a couple slow pokes" she replied

"Should I take care of them?" he asked

"if you want, they haven't been a problem yet"

"Okay, I'll get them in a minute, I think they attract worse things" he replied.

He stood up and went to what they had made a kitchen and rinsed out his cup. He went to the bathroom, where he had previously taken a shower, to piss, he did what he needed and then went to the mirror and stared at himself thinking about the beginning. When the end of the world he knew began. He stared into his own light blue eyes which were darkened by the shadow of the hood, "I need to shave" he thought to himself interrupting his thoughts of the gruesome beginning.

He walked out of the bathroom and went to the roof to inspect the premises. He walked around the roof scanning the outside of their makeshift wall, 'three slow pokes and a clicker' he thought.

Slow pokes were slow zombie like infected humans, they mindlessly walked around with no soul, murdering and feeding on anything with a pulse. Clickers were just the same except for they had been blind and made clicking noises to see their surroundings and detect life.

"let's get this over with" he mumbled to himself. He then grabbed an arrow and drew his bow and released hitting the clicker in the chest first, then he took out one of the two slow pokes with an arrow to the throat. He aimed at the last one, he hesitated before he shot and thought to himself for a moment, 'this used to be a person, they probably had a family, maybe children, even if they are an empty shell is it right to kill them? Should we be doing something different?'. The walkers blood red eyes met with The Rangers and just as it happened, in a frightened hurry, he relaxed his fingers, releasing the arrow, and closed his eyes with some regret. He retreated back into their fortress and back where he had been sitting earlier. The Healer however had not been where she was before which sort of upset him because he was looking forward to a conversation.

Instead now The Ranger was stuck with the maddening thoughts that had constantly bothered him, he thought of the day he walked out of his apartment and the world around him had been falling apart, the whole city seemed to be engulfed in flames, helicopters and jets had swarmed the dark red sky, infected humans and soldiers had flooded the street. He remembered just standing there, studying everything that had been happening so fast, wondering how in the hell it happened. 'government fuck up maybe?' he thought.

His thoughts were interrupted when The Sniper ran into the room with a worried expression on his face. He abruptly stopped in the doorway and shot his worried eyes towards The Ranger and huffed "We've gotta problem". The Ranger immediately stood up and fiercely asked "What is it?". The Sniper stepped further into the room and said "It's The Gatherer, she's trapped further into the city", "How did this happen?" The Ranger asked with a relative calmness, "She went out to gather some food and supplies, as usual I told her to check in on the walkie talkie, she just patched in and said that a wall came down on top of her and that-", He was cut off by The Gatherers voice coming through the walkie talkie, he held it up to listen to what she was trying to say, "'cough' my leg 'cough' , it's stuck, I think I hear some 'cough' infected as well...Hurry up and get me fuck out of here! it's really fucking smokey! 'cough' 'cough'".

"I'll go" The Ranger immediately spit out, "You stay here and hold down the fort, keep the gates locked until I come back". Just as The Ranger was about to leave The Healer blurted out from behind him, "What?" He asked

"I said I wanna come with you".

"Unacceptable".

"Undeniable".

"You're not going".

"You don't have a choice".

"But-".

"Conversation over".

She sheathed a clean, beautiful katana, and marched past The Ranger and out the door, "Fine!" He yelled in defeat.