The Risen

Chapter Eighteen

Certain Death
Jayce

I kicked down the gate and we walked into madness.
Hundreds of zombies swarmed the gate trying to knock it down.
"What do we do?" James Yelled.
I held my pickaxe at the ready.
"We fight!" I yelled.
Maya, Ryder, Bobby and Max opened fire on the zombies trying to brake the gate down.
While Dante, Kiera, James and I tried our best to reinforce it.
The wall was leaning in, as the zombies were overpowering it.
"We aren't killing them fast enough!" Ryder yelled.
The front gate gave way as the zombies came pouring into the yard.
"Shit!" Dante yelled and he ran back inside the Tank, he stood by the doorway shooting the nearest zombies.
"Everyone back inside let's go!" I yelled, as I turned and ran.
Dante and I held the door open, ready to shut it, we watched as bodies ran into the Tank.
"Jayce, close it!" I heard Maya yell.
Dante and I slammed the door shut, and reinforced it with a steel bar.
"That should hold them!" I said, turning to face everyone.
Only there wasn't as many faces as I hoped.
Maya and Ryder stood in the clearing both panting and checking there ammo.
Dante stood next to me, whispering to his axe again.
And Kiera was walking around the room in panic.
I turned back to the door.
"Oh shit" I whispered.
"Where's my brother!" Kiera yelled. None of us answered.
"James" Dante whispered.
"And Max" Ryder mumbled.
After a few moments of slience, I felt the tank shake.
"What was that?" I asked.
The shake was like a earthquake, but it keep getting faster and more intense.
"Guys what's going on?" Dante yelled, over the loud rumbling noises the Tank was making.
"Shit! They broke the brake!" Kiera yelled turning and trying to run up the stairs behind her, she fell multiple times trying to get up. The Tank was shaking really fast now it was hard to stand.
"Brakes?" Ryder asked out loud.
We all tried our best to follow Kiera upstairs.
"What is happening?" I yelled over the rumbling and sounds of the undead.
"The brakes are broken, we're slowly increasing speed. But also the Zombies are trying to tear there way in, and I guess Majors helicopter attracted another herd, cause there shaking this tank alot." Kiera yelled in front of us.
She led us up another set of stairs, to a room none of us have been before.
"This is the cockpit" she says trying to grab the handle on the door.
After a few attempts she grabbed the handle and opened the door, she was nearly forced into a chair by the shaking of the Tank.
She grabbed a set of controls, giant levers, buttons and a steering wheel.
"Let's drive this bitch!" She yelled.
I felt the tank jolt forward as the four of us we're sent flying out of the cockpit and down into the main room.
The rumbling was more like a bouncing sensation, as none of us could even stay on the ground.
Kiera, was still somehow in the cockpit, yelling and screaming. "WOO WHO!" I heard Kiera yell.
I bounced up to the ceiling of the first floor and landed hard on the tile.
"Fuc—" I mumbled.
"Make it stop!" Dante yelled being bounced again.
Maya, in one of her bounces, managed to grab the handrail on the stairs going to the second floor.
She grabbed Ryder's hand.
They still bounced, but weren't slammed 8 feet more like 3.
Ryder reached out for my hand.
"Jayce!" Ryder yelled.
I reached for his hand, but was bounced away from it, and into Dante.
We both landed on one of the far walls, "sorry man!" I yelled.
I didn't try to look to Dante, I was far to focused to make it to the handrail.
"Shut up, and listen!" Dante yelled back.
Another bounce.
"Christ!" He yelled.
"That's your plan?" I yelled back.
Another bounce
"Motherfuck!" He yelled again.
"Ok, my plan is, on the next bounce we jump towards them, this way, we're higher in the air" he yelled.
Another bounce
"Fuck!" He screamed.
"Ok, this bounce, ready?"
I felt the bounce begin, as we slowly floated in the air by the tank moving down, and we forced our feet off if the wall behind us and towards Ryder and Maya.
They both had a hand reached out for us, and both Ryder and Maya had a hand on the rail.
I knew the bounce was about to slam us down, but we we're at least closer to them.
Then I felt myself falling back towards the wall.
Bang!
I felt the wind get knocked out of me. "Holy—" I choked.
Both Dante and I were lying on the floor of the Tank, both with the wind knocked out of us.
On the plus side, the Tank stopped moving.
"You guys good?" Ryder asked walking over to us, helping us up off the floor.
Maya started walking upstairs trying to find our scattered weapons.
"No, I'm not good" I smlied.
Maya came back with her sniper and Ryder's ppsh.
I still had my pickaxe, it was tucked under my belt, and I turned to see Dante picking up his crossbow and reloading it.
"What's the play?" He asked, checking the tips of his arrows.
Nobody answered him, as we heard Kiera running down the stairs.
She stood at the top of the stairs looking down at us, we all must have looked beat up cause she gave a face of guilt.
"What happened to you guys?" She asked.
I shook my head, Dante just finished checking his arrows. Maya turned to face her.
"You forgot to tell us how bad this thing is on hills" Maya answered.
Kiera stopped and answered.
"Ya, wasnt to sure how that was gonna go, sorry" she walked down the steps and opened the front door of the Tank wide.
There was no gate, no ocean view, we were somewhere else entirely.
She turned back around and started walking towards the supply room.
"Where are you going?" Maya asked.
After a few moments of slience, Kiera came back with a backpack, full of goods. And she was armed to the teeth.
"We have to go back to look for any suriviors" she said walking out of the Tank.
The rest of us packed up and headed up the hill.
"If something goes wrong, we meet back at the Tank ok?" I asked.
The others agreed.
When we reached the top of the hill, it was a slaughter fest, zombies were swarming the Forest, as the smoke from Majors chopper was attracting more. I heard gunfire from the downed chopper, which was not a good sign.
CLASH!
We all jumped a little when we heard the bolt of lighting hit nearby, we all looked in the direction where the bolt hit, the lightning struck near where the Tank was parked.
In the clearing was a tired man, with messy blonde hair and a dark gold tuxedo covered in blood.
Max.
Ryder, Kiera and I ran over to him as Dante and Maya guarded us from the few straggler zombies that weren't in the woods, and to keep watch for any other suriviors.
"Max, you ok?" Ryder asked.
Max looked up to us and smlied.
"Good, you surived. We need to leave" Max panted.
Kiera grabbed Max's shoulder.
"Did you see anyone else?"
Max nodded.
"James and I were together at first, but we got separated when the Tank nearly killed us, thanks for that by the way. Your brother I didn't see, but I think he was trying to climb on top of the Tank." Max panted again.
Kiera looked around in almost a crazy way.
Then she turned and looked down towards the Tank.
"He must of been on the roof!" She yelled.
Kiera started booking it down the hill.
I turned to the others. "Let me help Max back to the tank, you three keep looking for James? Ok?" I asked.
Grabbing Max's arm and carrying him down the hill.

...

"Creator....mission.....rift....." Max mumbled.
I felt Max go limb, he must have been passing out.
I was so close to the Tank I could hear Kiera running up and down it.
"The brothers......the hunter...." Max mumbled in almost unrecognizable speech.
I told myself that I have heard those same words before....then I realized I have, The Majors letters, Max was in the truck when Maya and I read them, it's possible he just heard them. But how does he remember them when he's passing out? Dante did say he didn't fully trust Max, I'm starting to believe that there's more to this man then meets the eye.