Beside the Dying Fire

Sarah's POV

After Hailey freed us, my attention went to Kai. He finally sat up in pain, reacting to the gash on his forehead. He looked around very confused.

"W-where are they?" he asked.

"Payson's dead," I responded.

"Who the hell is Payson? No, where are they? Alyson? Swetha? Macie?"

I couldn't believe it. He had lost his memory.

"What is the last thing that you remember?" I asked.

"Gabe, Hailey, and Savannah saved me from the helicopter crash while you were still injured back at the lodge. Speaking of, how come I'm not at the lodge? Where are we? How come- ERG!" Kai clenched his stomach. "AH! I'M SO HUNGRY! WHERE'S ALL OF THE FOOD?"

"It's all gone," Savannah complained.

While Gavin and Gabe tried to get Kai to remember what had happened, Hailey came up to Savannah and I.

"From the 3rd story," she told us, "I saw a military camp set up down the street. There weren't any soldiers there, but maybe we could get guns, ammo, and even some MRE's."

"Sounds good," Savannah said. "The 2 of us will handle it."

Savannah and I walked out the front door and strolled down the streets while chatting.

"You know," Savannah said, "There's always like a 50% chance that someone that we come across could be bad. If only there was like a way to tell if they were good or not."

"Who knows?" I responded. "Maybe that blow to the head gave Kai mind reading powers."

"I'm serious. Here, look," she told me as she picked up a silver quarter. The side with the tails had looked clean, as if it hadn't been touched. The side with heads had a blood stain on it, looking like George Washington suffered a headshot. "Tails, they live. Heads, I kill them."

"Don't you think that's a bit gruesome?" I laughed.

"I don't think we want another incident like that doctor that killed Samuel. Plus, the people that live will see how frightening we are and not try anything."

"Same, though," I chuckled as we approached the halted military convoy.

A large police van blocked the road, so I figured it might be worth it to check out what was in there. The sliding door slid open to reveal a downed walker wearing a SWAT uniform. To double check, I stabbed the corpse through the brain. I stared at the armor before I finally took it. I slid the kevlar suit on over my Pink Floyd tank top and leggings, followed by a riot vest. The vest not only had a pistil holster, but plenty of pockets were present to hold magazines for the M4A4 that lay next to the corpse.

I hopped out of the van. Savannah was waiting for me with a black backpack full of MRE's.

"Damn, you look badass," she said.

"Thanks, mate," I giggled as I put the backpack on.

Attached to the left side of the pack was a nightstick. The rifle I found was slung on the right side as we started to move back to the orphanage. We started chatting again until Savannah dropped her coin. It rolled for a little while before we noticed. We simultaneously turned back. The coin had rolled up to the feet of the first walker in a herd of about 50.

I took the rifle off of my back and tossed it into Savannah's arms while I used the M9 pistol that Kai had given me back in San Diego. Together, we mowed down heads as if this were a child's game.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!