Dead But Not Gone

Complications

Derek

My memory of Midtown was limited due to the fact that its been ages since I've been there. I navigated through tight streets to avoid any disruptions and found myself familiarized with the various settings.

I hopped onto Route 32 and saw a sign that read: "Midtown/Abaqueal 6 miles ahead" and looked at the fuel meter. We burned through most of it and had a quarter left. The others passed time by singing popular songs and playing I Spy.

"Is this Rodney guy really that bad?" Stella asked Star at the end of their game.

"He's terrible. We didn't know how bad he was until it was too late. After the attack, Angelo explained how Machton would want power over other communities but destroyed ours because it 'didn't fit the bill'. I'd give anything to kill that bitch." Star answered with hatred towards the end.

Stella looked taken aback and bit her lip in nervousness. I ignored it and kept one hand on the leather steering wheel as my other arm was out the window. The cool breeze calmed me down a bit and for a split second, I almost forgot the dead were rising. I looked into the rear view mirror and saw a sign that told people to turn back. I softly chuckled because other people didn't realize that no where was truly safe. The whole state was infected and shit, maybe the rest of the country. The only hope we have is that ship. If it weren't for that, I'd probably be at the tool shop right now.

Xander looked through the glove compartment and found some spare ammo along with a watch and military gloves. I looked at the gloves and nudged him.

"You get the watch, I'll take the gloves. Deal?" I proposed.

"Hell yeah man sounds like a plan." He handed me the gloves and then put on his new watch. He loaded the bullets into his pistol, a K100.

I finally drove out of Parkton, the city we were in, and Midtown was visible. The tall buildings touched the sky and I saw the large military-esque ship stationed by the docks.

"You see that?" I announced. "It's our new home."

"God I can't wait to sleep in an actual bed." Alessandra commented.

"Yeah and I can't wait for food. Real food! I'm so over this canned shit." Stella added.

I noticed that the tank was basically empty so I had to stop driving. I put the car in park and grabbed a small propane tank we had found in the back of this vehicle.

"We need gas so let's siphon some from the empty cars on this highway. There's bound to be some leftovers around." I said as I started to transfer drops of gas from the small van next to us.

"What's the point in doing this when we can easily walk the rest of the way?" Hazel stated.

"Well I'd rather be safe in a good ass military Humvee than be out in the open where a rotter can sneak up on me." I replied with a playful grin.

Hazel shook her head and started to assist me with the extraction. As we finished up this car, Star screamed and we all rushed to her location. A rotter was laying on top of her, its rotten teeth desperately trying to sink into her brown skin. Alessandra grabbed the rotter by its hair and threw its backwards. It landed on its back and before it could get up, she slammed her foot down onto its skull. The sound of crunching bones invaded my ears and a pile of flesh and blood stained the cement. Xander helped Star up to her feet and she was visibly shaken up.

"You okay?" He asked her.

"The thing came out of nowhere." She started dusting herself off. "But yeah, I'm fine. Let's just hurry up and get out of here."