Wasteland and Revolution

Chapter Two - Zombies? Zombies where!

I left Spike fumbling after me with a confused Niko. I didn't even use the ladder, i just grabbed the rope that was hanging from the rail and swung down and landed in the dry grass with a soft crunch as the brown grass crumpled under my feet.

I was beyond mad, i was seething with rage. Cameron and Tyler had gone and snuck behind my back to enter the damn tournament! The tournaments were held once a month, and they took place in an old stadium that had once been used for sports.

The " Goal " of the game was to kill the infected (zombies) for money and fame. humans were pitted against hoards of infected and ranked on how many they were able to kill. Not only were they pitted against infected, they were also put head to head with other humans, in a fight that could lead to death. On rare...Rare occasions were the contestants pitted against rouge vampires that were caught in blood traps.

Vampires were considered to be the top species in this crumbling world. They were smart, fast, strong and almost immortal. They appeared out of the dark months after the epidemic struck the world, they claimed they had been here for centuries....waiting for the perfect time to take back the world and rein over the weak......the weak being the humans. It was a taboo to do ant thing to the vampires, hell they could wipe out the human race if our blood wasn't so important.

the vampires were a serious threat in our death filled world, they constantly hung a heavy weight over our thoughts... we never knew when they would grow tired of us and attack.

A vampire being in the tournaments was a treat to the people.....because the hardly ever lost, they slaughtered ever human who was pitted against them, unless the human happened to be a trained vampire hunter, but vampire hunters were very rare do to the fact the vampire clans sent assassins out to kill the hunters.

The worst part of the tournament was the fights that were against animals. Sometimes they were normal animals like lions, hyenas, tigers and wolves from the zoo that they caught. But most times they were dogs......directly infected by the Zypher virus, the virus that started the end of the world.

The tournaments were cruel and unfair, watched by the cities richest citizens. The ruling Monarch did not ban the games , in fact they had cameras set up for the wealthy who had electricity and a TV to watch the blood and gore from the comfort of their very own homes.....for a price of course.

I dragged my bike out and jumped on, kicking up dirt as as i tore out of the yard and out to the empty road. The main section of the city, the walls were only a twenty minute drive from out store.And due to the lovely traffic around home, it took me, who was driving angry to reach the walls within thirteen minutes.

The city came into view and the walls made stretching shadow onto the dusty ground....it was already getting dark. The dark was never a good thing, never.

I jerked my bike to a halt and shoved it into some bushes by the wall and ground my teeth together, Tyler's bike was hidden there as well!

I rushed through the gates and saw Marcus, the night guardsmen of the north gate....what was he doing at the west gate during the day...? He gave me a feral glare and my skin chilled, i didn't understand this mans hate for me at all. He moved away from the gates entrance and let me pass but not before shoulder checking me roughly when i passed him. Prick, Marcus was always like this, he was barely older then me, maybe eighteen, nineteen, but he acted as if i was scum that was in the bottom of his shoe. What a charming guy, right?

The city of Vega was large, but i knew every inch of it and i knew were i was going to find Cameron and Tyler. They were in the center of the city, at a place called the " Palace " it once was a casino. It was the center of every thing that went bad in Vega, were drugs were sold, murders took place and were given a blind eye too, it was the core of every nightmare. I hated this place with a passion...because i used to work for the main man, the boss, as his personal guard dog. But that was my past, this was now and i need to find Cameron and Tyler.

I rushed trough the crowd not caring as they shouted obscene things to me as i passed, pushing people down if i needed, they weren't a threat to me, so i didn't worry as i raced through them, Sure enough, as soon as i was close enough to the registration table i saw Tyler's flaming red hair and Cameron's golden locks. Tyler was steadily filling out a form and handing it to the balding man behind the table, shit! Cameron was holding the pen nervously and began to lower her hand!

I shoved roughly past the last few people, ignoring their shouts of protest and snatched the pen out of Cameron's hand and did the only thing i could do at the moment and hurriedly signed my name in her place, I angrily handed them to the games inspector, Cameron gasped and covered her mouth, complete shock and embarrassment showed on her pale face.

" GO " i growled. she nodded and took off down the hall and out the palaces doors.

The man at the table was giving me a funny look, but took the paper i handed him and added it to the contestant stack. Shit. He handed me an envelope and sent me away so he could talk to another possible fighter.

My rage was at its max. I turned on Tyler so fast he almost tripped over the side walk when we got out side.

" What the hell were you thinking! wait no, you weren't thinking! Bringing Cameron here! Tyler she has Niko to worry about, not some damn fight! " i yelled and grabbed the front of his dusty black shirt and dragged him away from from the growing crowd of people who were watching me yell at Tyler.

Tyler was sputtering excuses and fighting my hold on him, but i had a very firm grip.

" LET GO " he yelled...so i did, and he fell backwards onto the ground.

" i just wanted to prove i was strong enough! i was going stir crazy staying at home all the time, only leaving to find food was driving me crazy. i need to kill zombies " he huffed, and his whole face flamed red. " That sounded wrong, what i meant was that i wanted to be able to buy food, not have to steal it. and the money i earned from the fights was going to be the money i spent on keeping us from starving "

I blew his response off and walked away from him, and left him there, sprawled in the dirt. I heard him scramble to his feet and chase after me

" We will talk about this when we get home " i said coldly and looked around, and jumped when the church bells began to chime. The bells signaled it was time. Time to get home, grab your family and lock up for the long night. The time when the gates would be closed and locked.

I saw mothers rounding up there children and ushering them inside, saw fathers shutting and locking the shutters and hurriedly getting their families within the safety of their homes. I felt envious of there simple lives, living within the walls thinking they were safe. The bells chimed again. Out here the desert gets dark. Quick.

The sun sets around 6:18, and from the looks of it, it was about six now. We had to get moveing! The zombies only came out at night, the reason behind it was that they were highly sensitive to light. it threw them off, affected their vision and seemed to physically hurt them and make them weak.

We hurriedly made our way through the city and to the west wall. Cameron was already outside the gates and was frantically waving her hands at us....that's when i saw what she was panicking about. The gates were already starting to close. I lunged at Tyler and shoved him through and rolled underneath it was as it banged closed against the pavement.

" Cutting it close freak " Marcus spat and slammed the locks on the gate home.

" jerk " Tyler growled and pulled up his bike and started it up with a mechanical roar.

" Ever..." Cameron started, but i silenced her with a glare and got onto my bike. I was not in the mood to listen to her excuses right now, i just wanted to get these idiots home first. She nodded and got on the back of Tyler's bike and hugged him around the waist.

" lets get going. The shadows are growing " Tyler mumbled and inched his bike forward.

" We will see you at home " Cameron whispered, clearly still ashamed.

Tyler pulled his goggles down over his glasses and took off without a second glance back at me. I sighed and sped off after him, and kept a constant watch for the infected on the horizon.