Beside the Dying Fire

Swetha's POV

I reached for the door handle, but Savannah locked it after she got in. The dust trailing behind the vehicle's tire tracks reflected in the moonlight. I looked at Gavin.

"This is your fault."

"Excuse me?" he responded.

"This is your fault! These people have saved us from the sanctuary, from Drew, from Cara, from everything, and you refuse to repay them?!?"

"Woah, woah, relax everyone." The man who invited us in came out of the gate to speak with us. "I saw how they just left you. It must hurt. Join us and we will make sure that you get your revenge! What do you say?"

"Definitely!" Gavin exclaimed.

It was either I join them, or die in the desert.

"Me too... I guess."

"Perfect!" the man said. "If you didn't catch my name, I'm Marcus. I sort of run things down here. Anyways, do either of you have combat experience?"

"I do," I answered honestly. "But he doesn't."

"Great! One of the men that your friends killed was a sniper in that tower up their," Marcus gestured towards a tower. "An M4 with a scope is up there waiting for you. As for, uhh... Gavin, was it? We only have one pilot left, so he will train you to fly, got it?"

We nodded and went to our designated areas. It was a long climb to my watchtower, but I got a great view. I sat up there for hours until the sun started to shine. In the center of the base, three wooden poles were being set up and soon after, Kai, Sarah, and Payson were being tied to them. I thought about shooting the guards near them, but Savannah beat me to it.

The fence burst open in the distance and Savannah rushed to save the three. They started to shoot at other guards. I saw the rest of the group taking fire in the distance. After Samuel was shot for a second time, I lined up my shot with a soldier.

Bang! I continued to do so with others.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

With all of the gunfire, no one would know that I was killing the army. I was double-crossing them without them knowing. The entire squad retreated to the SUV and took off. I saw a herd of walkers trying to get through the fence. I had to make the military thank that I was still on their side, so I started to pick off some shambling corpses.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

I stopped firing because I figured that the dead could help kill these people.

A couple of hours later, Marcus climbed up my tower to have a word with me.

"Swetha, 87 of our men injured. 55 dead. 9 of your friends did this. And to make matters worse, people from beyond the fences started eating more of us."

"That's terrible," I tried to seem sad.

"We are going to follow the trail of sand that they left on the road and kill every last one of them. Care to join us?" he asked.

"No, I need to defend this place in case they come back," I lied.

"Suit yourself. Your friend said the same thing."

Marcus sold down the ladder to the ground and went into the infirmary. The gate opened for 7 camouflage-painted Jeeps and one pickup with a heavy machine gun mounted in the bed. I hoped that the squad would be okay. With only 6 of them who weren't shot, I fear that they won't be.