Heroes never die

Ch.6 Ride On!

Nic's POV

It was gonna be a long drive to Florida. A lot of the main roads were either overrun with abandoned cars or with zombies. We would have to conserve our ammo if we wanted to make it there safely. I thought to myself, "I'm on my way Brielle. I'll be there soon, love." While we were driving we found Brisbois, Guardian 19. We asked him where the rest of Charlie squad was he answered by simply raising a fist full of dog tags. He had a civilian with him. A civilian one of his men had sacrificed himself to save. Her name was Jaycie.
"Hop in the backseat of the Silverado. Jaycie hop back here I'll teach you how to shoot, we are gonna need every shooter we can." We continued driving. We still couldn't contact any other Guardians or anyone else. We were limited to short range radio. The zombies must have took out all the radio towers and destroyed our connection. We decided during the trip to do some recon work try to find supplies and survivors and let HQ know the zombie population when we return.
We had been on the road for a few days now and I could tell Shania was holding back. I knew she wanted to yell at me her and Brielle used to be best friends before I left. She didn't know the whole story. She didn't even know who I was just that I was the guy who left her best friend for the military. I told Kelly I would take care of Shania's wound today.
I started cleaning her wound and I said, "its okay you don't have to hold your tongue. My men won't hurt you for yelling at me."
She flipped out and started yelling, "How could you leave her you were supposed to be there for her and keep her safe."
"There are about five reasons I fight this war. Number one I love to fight. Two, I'm good at it. Three, for my brothers and sisters to my left and right counting on me. Four, who else would stand up to save the human race besides us. Finally number five, to keep Brielle safe."
"How could one of your reasons be to keep Brielle safe when you left her?"
"I had no choice I knew she would make it. She's strong, she's smart, and I always keep an eye out for her."
"Well she wasn't. She cried all the time and she never stopped trying to find you. She was calling everyone. She was still searching for you two years after everyone else gave up. She never gave up hope that you were out there and that you were gonna come back to her. She wasn't safe, I visited her house. It was destroyed, the zombies had gotten to it."
I said, "did you find her body?"
"No" I smiled. "You shouldn't be smiling. This isn't funny. She is out there possibly dead."
"You didn't find her body because she is still alive."
"How could you possibly know that?"
"I saved her. That's why I was home. I stayed back to give her helicopter enough time to take off and get to Florida safely. That's why I'm so hurt I didn't plan on making it out alive. My men were just in the right place at the right time."
She said, "so you never gave up on her either. You still always thought she was the one you're still crazy about her aren't you? Always out there being her Guardian Angel."
"If I wasn't do you think I'd be here now. No, I'd be out there doing what me and my men were made for. Going down one of those hell holes the zombies come from and blowing their home sky high. But I want Brielle to know she has a Marine who can come home no matter the obstacle."
"What do you mean made for? I know the Marines are badass but how could they expect any ordinary human to go to hell and come back."
"I'm not ordinary, you said I was her Guardian Angel. Well you weren't totally wrong about Guardian but I promise you the things I've done with Destroyer squad I'm no angel."
She got excited, "No way you guys are part of Destroyer squad. There are so many rumors going around about you guys, nobody knows if you actually exist. You guys are considered legends. I hear your squad leader ,Guardian 7, is an all-out badass. Where is he I wanna meet him?"
"I'll introduce you to him later. Everyone says he is the reason we are winning all these battles, but honestly I like to think I'm the reason."
She laughed, "Nic you are such an air head. There is no way you are as good as everyone says the Master Guardian is."
I said, "Okay whatever you say, I'll show you."

~Days later~

We were almost at Florida's gates. I had given Jaycie, Shania, and Kaylee earpieces so they could communicate with us. I had intercepted some Russian transmissions on the close range radio. I ran them through my translator. Apparently the Russians had formed some alliance with the zombies to try to ensure their survival. The zombies were planning a mass assault on the Great Florida Wall. The Russians had taught the elites how to operate their tanks and supplied them with tanks, heavy weaponry, and ammo. As far as i could tell the army should be just over the hill from us and the gates weren't too far past them we just needed to get past them. However that wouldn't be enough we needed to stop them. While we stopped to prepare . I sent Cody ahead to scout over the hill.
I started talking to Shania, "so are you gonna fight?"
"Yeah but when am I gonna meet the True Guardian?"
"Yeah about that...."
"He died in Creve Coeur didn't he? I had this feeling but I didn't wanna say anything."
"No no that's not it....."
Cody returned and said, "Sir, permission to speak?"
I turned to Shania and told her to hold on a second.
"Report. And cut the sir shit Cody your my brother. You've earned my respect. I don't expect that outta you."
He laughed, "whatever you say bro. So there is about 2,000 zombies out there. It's an assortment of about ten Berserkers, five tanks, and the other zombies. I've never seen a force this large. If it weren't for you being the True Guardian and my brother, I'd turn tail and run. But Nic you better have one hell of a plan to pull this off."
"Don't worry Cody, you know I always do."
Shania's jaw dropped. She started stuttering from shock, "Y-y-y-your the True Guardian?"
I smiled, "I told you I'm the reason we win. That's why Brielle didn't die. Her protector is the deadliest Guardian that's ever lived."
She seemed to collect herself, "so you think you can do this?"
"I don't think, I know." I turned to my men. "Okay boys. We are almost home. Florida's walls are just over this hill. We just have one little obstacle there are 2,000 zombies between us and home. Right now, they don't know what is about to hit them. It's up to us to do what we do best. What we are on this god given earth for, save the lives of the innocents and kick zombie ass. Some of the men standing next to you wont make it home, I might not make it home. Yeah I see some of you laughing, rolling your eyes, and saying yeah right. Well it's true most of you know about my serious injury. Well I will probably never fully heal and I'm definitely not at 100% now. My job is to do everything in my power to get everyone home and god damn me if I dont do my job. You all know just how good I am at my job. I'm not gonna lie to you we will lose men today. But we are Guardians we welcome death. We are afraid of nothing. We are what nightmares are made of, we are the darkness in the night, we are the Defenders of the human race, people will tell stories of us for decades. We are legends. WE ARE THE GUARDIANS!!!"
Everyone was pumped. So we loaded up in the trucks and started heading to a good vantage point to attack from. As we were driving I was using my armor headset to try to get ahold of the guards along the wall. I finally hear, "This is Captain Coronel of the Wall Guard. This is a secure military channel. May I ask who I am speaking to?"
I said, "this is Guardian 7, the True Guardian. I need you to prepare for the fight of your lives. Prepare to defend yourself against the largest zombie invasion force I have ever seen. Summon all Guardians you can contact. And get General Pressman on the line. He will know what to do. Let them know Destroyer and Finisher squads will be leading an assault on the rear of the enemy army."
I heard one thing in response
"Ooh rah!"