Heroes Collide

William Hayes

Hundreds of miles away from Immanuel's main base of operations, Kamryn and Corbin's supply trucks lay smoking and empty, the ground around them was littered with bodies. As the wind whistled through the cracks of the broken caravan, a bulky figure dropped down from the undercarriage covered in oil and soot. He lay under the remains of the truck and scanned his surroundings. After he was sure there was no one there, he cautiously slid out and rose to his feet, unholstering a small knife on his hip, crouching behind the truck and peeking over. All he could see was a barren dusty wilderness with scattered dead trees, limping figures, broken streets, and overturned cars.

He looked down at the bodies and frowned, "I am so sorry, kids." Tons of young soldiers, killed because they were trying to keep him safe. He scanned the bodies looking for a familiar face, and when he didn't find it he sighed in relief.

He took off his pack and sat under the shade of the overturned truck to avoid the radiation. He unzipped his pack and looked through his supplies. He pulled out a trash bag of things; it was completely covered in an oily residue. He ripped through the bag and took out several baggies of food supplies, three bottles of water, a pair of binoculars, a pair of glasses, a roll of bandages, and a copy of a book with a faded cover.

He opened one of the bottles and downed the entire thing in a matter of seconds. He had been under the damn truck for two and a half days, and his throat stung a little as the cool liquid flowed down his throat. He let out a sigh and stared up at the sky.

His whole body felt like it was on fire, but the pain was necessary to keep himself alive. William knew he had killed a lot of people in his day, but the people he was being hunted down for were not on him. They weren't on Cason either. They had both barely escaped with their lives.

Besides, if the bozos with Lord hadn't been able to track either of them down in three years. What was he really running from in the first place? He knew there was something wrong. Something he was running from. He had no clue what he was running from. But it wasn't like he wanted to find out. He knew it wasn't Immanuel Lord. Worst that man would do is shoot him... At least that is what he thought.

He sat in the shade just softly breathing in and out for a few minutes staring at the wasteland before him. He could see some staggering figures a few miles away. Some sort of foreign monster or maybe a zombie. He'd seen some wild creatures on his treks across the country, killed a few too.

He opened the book on the sand and started reading. After a few minutes, he heard a rustling nearby and snapped to the ready. He peeked over the smoldering remains of the car and narrowed his eyes.

The stumbling figures he had seen earlier were now approaching the overturned car. They were disheveled, their skin rotting and sagging off their yellowing bones. Their eyes were bleeding as they aimlessly scanned the horizon.

"Greg, man..." One of the zombies leaned against the other side of the car and sat down. "I am so frickin hungry."

The other zombie ran a hand through her matted hair. "If you say that one more time, I will cut off your arms!"

The other one groaned. "Come on! You can't tell me you aren't hungry too."

Greg rolled her eyes. "Then just start eating one of these bodies and stop whining to me." She opened the car door mumbling to herself. "Why the hell did I get stuck with Veronica today?"

Veronica growled. "I can hear you *sshat!" He grumbled and dragged himself over to one of the bodies and just stared at it. "Poor guy. This was a bloodbath..."

Greg nodded and walked over to the body. "Yeah... Looks like he was only a kid." After a few minutes of silence, she looked up at Veronica. "So I am gonna take his left leg!"

William slowly walked around the car to stand behind them and crossed his arms and cleared his throat.

The two zombies whirled around. "AHHHH!"

Greg regained her composure. "Hello human!"

William chuckled, "Hello fleshbag."

Veronica groaned, "Oh wow! You know we are people too, right *sshat?"

Greg nudged him. "Saying *sshat doesn't make you cool, you know that right?"

Veronica grumbled. "Can we please just focusing on the snack in front of us?"

William laughed, "Okay there are two problems with that statement... One! Clearly I am much better than a snack! And two, you won't make it that far." He raised his gun and waved it.

Veronica gave him the once over. "Yeah... You are."

Greg smacked the zombie on the shoulder causing his arm to fall off.

Veronica let out a shriek. "HOW DARE YOU!"

William sighed and fired a round up into the air causing the zombies to jump. "Listen kiddos. As entertaining as this exchange is to watch, I'd really like to know if there is a place nearby where I can hide from the radiation.

Greg grinned, "We can tell you... For a pri..."

"No."

Veronica rolled his eyes. "See, if he didn't sneak up on us like that, we'd probably have been able to eat in peace."

William shook his head. "Doubt it."

Veronica chuckled, "Yeah, I bet you are pretty rou..."

Greg hissed "Oh my god, Veronica! Stop flirting with the human!" She turned to William. "I am so sorry!" She turned to point off in the direction they had come from. "Off in that direction, there is this huge mall with a gate around it. There's a bunch of people there. But it is also super crowded."

Veronica grinned. "And it's one really long walk... You might get a little tired and you know... weak."

Greg nodded, "True... But there is a closer place if you want to take a bit of a risk. A bunch of raiders are living out of a broken down Best Western."

Veronica grumbled. "Why do we actually have to help him... His strength goes away and we can eat!"

"Mother Mary, Joseph, and Jesus! Veronica! He has ears!"

William scratched his chin. Both options seemed like they could work... But could he trust the rotting bags of flesh before him? Which way would give him a better chance of survival?

HERE COMES YOUR FIRST CHOICE! WHILE MOST CHOICES WILL HAVE MORE PRESSING CONSEQUENCES, THIS ONE DOES NOT. DO YOU GO TO THE MALL? OR DO YOU RISK GOING TO THE BEST WESTERN?

I have made a form with a few questions on it. If you don't feel like answering the questions, you can skip the rest of the form. Just make sure you vote on the choice. The link is below! I will be taking two weeks off to write more and give time for people to read/answer. Thanks for sticking with this, guys! I hope you have enjoyed, and I can't wait to share the next batch of stories!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdee58YSfkcMwtbNKs2-OskpGSX6uIyvwfb-QjA2TO-jXsL8w/viewform?usp=sf_link