Days Of Dust

Chapter 14

Rick walked down the broken escalator to the garage. He had decided to start using some of the military terms he had picked up from his time in the army cadets. He had called his group of friends, who had been with him from the start of this nightmare, Squad Z. He chose this name, not only because the infected reminded him of zombies, but also because Z was the last letter in the alphabet and therefore they were probably the last line of fighters to stand up to the monsters that now roamed their hellish world. He walked through the metal double doors of the garage and saw that everyone had taken a seat on the benches that lined the walls. In the squad were Jack, Butch, Lewis, Matt, Kyle, Ben and two other Hunters, Hayley and Roxy. Lewis and Matt were carrying the modified Nerf guns, Jack had his sniper and his bat, Brett had a long metal bar, fitted with sharp bits of metal and studs, and Butch had his trusty club, which now had a box full of nails decorating the tip. Everyone was wearing dark clothes and was hard to see in the low light.

"Hi everyone, sorry to get you up so early, but the secrecy of this mission is really important. I've decided to start using some military terms when we do things like this. I've named our group, Squad Z."

He paused, allowing the teenagers to take in what he was saying,

"I will now start what the military calls, a mission briefing. The reason this task is so secret is because Percy and his lab rats have discovered that the infected are starting to mutate and change in their nature and the way they behave. They are starting to hunt in packs, and we think that some are developing the ability to think, or at least control certain packs, like what we saw over the other side of town, but on a larger scale. The infected are also starting to change body shape, like the huge one that we saw at the school and the ones that Ethan described as being, dog-like. There may well be many more forms that they are changing into and that's what we have to find out. I didn't want the other children here to become scared, so I want this to be kept secret until we fully know what we're dealing."

Butch yawned, "So why did we have to get up so early?"

Rick laughed, "Because Percy has figured out that they are more active at night and we'll find a larger variety of them at night. It also makes this mission a lot more dangerous. Arthur and Darcy have modified the bus a little more and now we have a caged area on the roof where the skirmishers can pick off infected safely and with a better vantage point."

Jack and Lewis grinned and punched fists together, while the other kids just sat, growing impatient.

"Alright Squad Z," Rick said, dramatically, "Let's roll out."