Beside the Dying Fire

Kai's POV

I picked the mold off of the white wall of the gas station when Savannah returned from her run, but she wasn't alone. She brought someone our age. A boy named Payson. He Desert Eagle much different than the one Sarah wielded and his eyes showed that he was emotionally destroyed. He may have seemed like a wreck, but I was sure that he could bounce back from this. I interrogated him into telling me about his assassinations, his stash of ammo, and his friend dying just a few hours before then.

Even though it may be exciting that there's someone else here, I needed to get something done. This shack was not habitable, so I gathered Sarah, Savannah, Hailey, Swetha, and Gavin to come up with ideas of where to go. I even let Payson observe to see how we function.

"We need a place to stay before walkers tear this place down," I stated. "Any thoughts?"

"Well," Sarah started, "The snow seems to slow the dead, so I say that we should go north, like Canada or something."

We all nodded in agreement.

"Wait," Payson interrupted. "I heard of this place in Virginia. It's like a bunch of sanctuaries. They grow food and even create their own ammo."

"There's no way that we'll all survive a trip to Virginia," Hailey shut down the idea.

"I've got an idea," Swetha said. "Within the first few days of meeting you, Kai and Sarah were talking to those people at the military base. Why don't we just go down there?"

"We have no idea where to find that base!" Savannah yelled.

"Oh, we have no idea? Just like we can't write? You. You have no idea. You can't write," Gavin muttered to Savannah.

"What are you talking about?" Savannah asked.

"It's so simple!" Gavin exclaimed. "Air Force bases are known as Areas, and... uhh, what was the number?"

"51," Sarah replied.

"Thanks. So Area 51. In Nevada."

"Everyone knows that place isn't real," Payson said.

"That alien trash isn't real, but it is an actual base. My dad worked there... before he died."

And there we had it. We set out for Area 51.

That day, Savannah, Sarah, and I went searching for a way to transport all 11 of us. After an hour of searching, we came across a Lincoln Navigator SUV with a U-Haul trailer connected to it's rear. We drove it back to our temporary home. I remained in the driver's seat while Gavin would direct me via map in the passenger seat. The next row belonged to Sarah, Savannah, and Gabe while the very back row of seats were taken by Macie, Swetha, and Hailey. Riding in the trailer along with the ammo, guns, and food was Alyson, Samuel, and Payson. We spared no time and immediately hit the road.

Gavin must have been taught a lot in his old community, for he seemed a lot smarter than the rest of us. He offered me top notch directions, and that the fact that he figured out where this was located was amazing. After hours of Nevada desert in front of us, a complex of building lay in the distance. The sign before the base proudly read 'Area 51' as we passed it. We slowed to a halt in front of the gate, where a guard in camouflage clothing stood with an M16 rifle in his hand. He waltzed up to my window and gestured for me to roll it down. I did as he said.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Please, sir. We heard of a sanctuary here and we can't stay out in the open anymore."

The soldier spoke into a transmitter on his suit, "Charlie, open the gate. We've got new survivors here."

I smiled as the chain-link gate equipped with barbed wire slides open. I slowly accelerated inside. All 11 of us exited our vehicle and we were greeted by a tall man weary a very different outfit from the other guards.

"Welcome! Here, you will be protected by military to live your days long," he said with glee.

"Thank you so much for allowing us in here," Sarah said.

"Wait, I know that voice. Did I talk to you on the radio sometime?"

"That was you?!" she exclaimed as if she had known him for a long time.

"Remind me, which are you?"

"Uhh, you sent Sergeant Ripley to get Kai, but the chopper went down."

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry about your friend."

I thought that it would be cool to say, "Why don't you tell me yourself?"

Gabe mocked me, but the man continued on.

"You survived?! Well now that your here, keep an eye out for a the Sergeant's brothers Robert, Tim, and John. He was Jordan's brother and he vowed vengeance on the people who Ripley had to pick up. Anyway, let me show you to your home. We took some unused hangars and placed a load of tents in each one. Each of you may have to share with another person, but the hangar is free roam for you all. I just ask that you not carry your weapons with you."

This last rule would not work with me. I saw everyone except Sarah and Payson turned in their guns. The three of us just tried to hide the pistols. After that only I didn't give away my melee, being that I needed it to walk. He showed us to our new home and we made ourselves comfortable. The rooming arrangements come as followed: Hailey and Macie, Sarah and Savannah, Gabe and I, Gavin and Swetha, Samuel and Alyson, and Payson had a tent to himself. The sun went down and we all went our separate ways.

Midnight came around and a noise brought me to consciousness.

"Gabe," I whispered. "Stop kicking my cane."

He was sound asleep. A figure stood outside the tent. The moonlight showing through the skylights allowed to see that the figure held a knife. Sure enough, a blade cut open the walls of the tent. A strange looking man stood there looking like he would kill me. I threw my glasses on and picked up my gun. I aimed at his shoulder so that he wouldn't immediately die.

Bang!

The man fell backwards as Gabe jolted upwards. Soon enough, everyone else unzipped their tents to see what the commotion was.

"He shot Robert!" one of the three unknown men present yelled. "Kill them!"

Robert. That was one of Jordan's brothers, so I assumed that the other two were, too. The two who were standing pulled out machetes and raced towards us.

Bang!

Bang!

The two men crippled to the ground with blood leaking from their brains. I turned around and found smoke trailing out of Sarah's and Payson's guns. I walked up to the man I had shot with my M9 poised at his face.

"You kill my brother in the helicopter, and now you kill my other two?! You'll rot in Hell! YOU WILL BURN!!! YOU HAVE UNLEASHED-"

Bang!

The man who we met earlier came running to us.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?!?"

"They attacked me!" I defended.

"BUT YOU KILLED THEM, AND EVEN AFTER I TOLD YOU TO GIVE ME YOUR GUNS!!!"

I had no rebuttal this time. The man caught his breath.

"I want all of you to leave at this instant."

He led us to the gate of which we arrived and individually let us out. Sarah, Payson, and I lagged behind to talk about what had just happened. We were about to leave the base, the man stopped us.

"Not you three."

We looked at him confused.

"You three not only broke the rule, but also killed great people. In the military, we have a tradition for those who kill our people."

He reached for his radio and spoke these exact words into it: "Gather the firing squad at dawn."