Anarchy on Earth

~13~

(Above: Jordan Yurow, as of December 25th 2017)

"HELP ME!" Griffin roared, as he ran away from the pack of strangers that were swiftly chasing him. He eyed Miranda as she ran to him.

"MIRANDA! GET AWAY!" He yelled.

Miranda turned around and ran away, just as Jackson, Jordan, Auden, Henry and I began to run to his aid.

"Griffin! Get behind the lines, we'll take it from here!"

"Jack! Henry! Boy, am I glad to see you guys!" Griffin said, punching me softly on the shoulder, as he passed. He was clutching his arm, and wheezing.

"I'm here too." TK squeaked, and pulled out a sort of bayonet thing.

"Oh... yeah." Griffin said, already running towards Greenway.

The strangers came upon us, and the fight began. I kicked one in the kneecap, and unsheathed my sword. Henry and Miranda beat away at strangers using long pieces of metal found in the shop. Jordan threw knives. Jackson picked up the knives thrown, and threw them again. It was like a recycle process... with more death. TK shielded Griffin with his arm as he fought away strangers that got to close to him, with the bayonet with surprising ferocity.

"We have to get Griffin back into the store!" Miranda shouted, dodging an attack from a breakaway stranger.

I swore. This was going to take a lot of time out of our schedule. We can't just stay here. In a couple minutes, as I splintered a stranger's head open, it's black brains spilling onto the concrete, I had an idea.

"Alright!" I yelled. "Jackson, you need to cover Miranda and Griffin as they go into the store. The rest of us, will move through Pinedale collecting supplies!"

"Alright." Jackson said, nodding, and running to Griffin.

"You look like that guy from Murderer's Creed." Griffin pointed out.

"I haven't heard that one before." Jackson said, sarcastically.

The strangers were starting to swarm around Auden, Henry and I. They sensed that Auden and Henry were the weakest, (and the least likely to throw knives) and they exploited this. The thought crossed my mind that they were somewhat intelligent. I quickly forgot this concept, and kept fighting. We wouldn't get anywhere like this.

"Meet me, Auden, and Henry at the Police Station off of Winder Road!" I yelled to TK. 

"Okay!" TK said, motioning for Jordan to follow.

"We have to draw them away from the store!" Henry said, beating down a stranger. There was still almost 20 of them chasing us around the street. "They'll get in!"

"Sounds like a plan. I'll lead them to the end of the road, and you hit them from behind!" I said.

I broke into a sprint, and ran down the road. Half of them followed me, the other half followed Henry down the other side of the road. Auden was trying to draw them away from Henry, and back to me, without success.

"Damn." I muttered, turning around. I guess strangers didn't like to follow plans.

I stabbed through 3 strangers at once, my arm jarring. I twisted the sword to the left, gutting all three to the ground. I spun to the side, mashing others to the ground. I broke the last stranger's kneecaps with my foot, a crack ringing out. The stranger, a fat old lady, without a jaw, looked at me with fierce dead eyes, before I cut the head off. Blood covered my face, and clothes. Henry, meanwhile, was struggling to fight off the strangers on him. I ran towards him, and jumped. I cut down a few strangers nearest to Henry.

Henry kicked one of the last strangers to the ground, and began pounding on it's head with the pipe. A couple seconds later, the metal was simply hitting the road. The pipe had gone entirely through the infected face bursting boils, and human remains. He gasped heavily, leaning down.

"We need to get to the police station." Auden said, running over, sweat beading on his forehead.

I pushed him slightly. "We need to go make sure Griffin's alright. On the way up there, we need answers. You good Henry?"

Henry groaned. "I don't like Griffin."

"Deal with it." I growled, and we jogged back to Greenway. "You think I do?"

I climbed up to the roof, Henry following. We descended down the hatch, where we saw Griffin wrapping his arm with a bandage from one of our first aid kits.

"Did Jackson fill you in?" I asked, tiredly.

"Who?"

"The guy in the hood"

"Ah, okay... he just told me we were going to Riverside North. That's all. How'd you guys show up here?"

"I'd like to know the same thing." I said. "And how the strangers chased you all the way here from Brookevale."

"Who said I came from Brookevale? I might have been in the neighborhood at the time."

"Where did you come from then?"

"Why do you care? You some spy?" He accused, pointing his finger in my face. "You in charge here? Who put it that way? You've never been able to hold up yourself, much less 7, counting me! So back of!"

I shook my head, and stepped off. This was anarchy. Wasn't it supposed to bring enemies together in the long run? Griffin hadn't seemed to change, and he was still getting on my nerves.

"Griffin," Miranda said, walking over. "I'll fill you in."

I gave her a look that said both THANK YOU, and SAVE ME. They walked off, and began talking, as Jackson walked over.

"He's the one, yeah?"

"What?" I asked, puzzled.

"Don't play dumb mate. You know he gets on your nerves. It's all because the lass over there takes a fancy to him."

"Is it just me, or did you just become, like, ninety percent more Welsh when you just said that?"

"Sorry. It's an old habit."

"I can tell."

We talked some more, and eventually made our way back outside, and began to wait for the others to be ready to go. The sun was setting on the sky, and I wanted to be back inside before the night began.

"We should be ready by morning. We'll set out through the low living district, and then up through Riverside South. We'll cut across the bridge, and then head for the safe zone at the military base.

"You never said it was a military base!" I said, surprised.

"What did you think it was?"

"I'm not too sure I trust this plan now." I said, warily.

"Why not?"

"The government is shady when it comes to these things. Did you ever read the 'Path Runner' series?"

"Yeah. It was a good series." Jackson said, nodding.

"So, you know how EVIL started the Sunspot disease?"

"Yeah."

"NANANANANANANANANA IM NOT THERE YET!" Henry screeched.

"Who's to say this isn't the same thing happening right now, or that the government isn't the one setting this all up?"

Jackson considered this for a moment. "Well, I guess we'll find out soon enough."

"True."

We turned around, just as our friends came out of the store, ready to leave for the police station.