Infestation: Outbreak

Chapter 3

I looked around the camp still, seeing all of the happy faces, hearing all of the laughing. The man that brought us approached and said "Come on, I'll get you settled in. Take you to meet the mayor and everything." And he started walking as Vanessa and I followed.

"So how long have you all been here?" I asked him.

"About a day now." He said looking over his shoulder. This guy was sketchy but I couldn't find anything else out yet. "Here. This tent, it's the mayors place."

I nodded at him and opened the flap on the door, ducking my head as I walked in. "Ah, then you're Alex?" He said looking at me, grinning creepily. "And you are Vanessa I presume?" he said with the same creepy face to Vanessa.

"Yeah that's us. Now listen, I hear you need me. Why?" I said with a demanding tone.

"These people are in danger. We are rationing the food and water as best we can but we need more supplies. In order to get a supply team out an about they need a bodyguard."

"So wait, you called me out here to try and get me to do guard detail?! I have to babysit a stupid supply team?" I asked. I was mad. I'm not a bodyguard, in fact I'm a soldier, and I work best alone.

"I'm asking you to at least keep an eye on them from a distance here. They don't know how to fight let alone shoot a gun." He was convincing. I couldn't let innocent people die at the hands of infected or hunters, but I also didn't want them jeopardizing my life.

"Alright, just give me a day or two to think about it." I actually am not sure if I should help them. They have a team of trained killers at their fingertips but they still want my help? Does he think I'm that good of a soldier?

Another man walked in and looked at me and Vanessa. "I'll show you to your tent. Right this way." This guy was a kid, I could tell by the lack of facial hair after being away from a razor for almost 24 hours.

"Kid, how old are you?" I asked. Still walking behind him.

"I'm fifteen, my dad's the mayor. I'm just trying to help him out as much as I can." The kid is strong I can tell you that much. He is calm and relaxed in a situation like this. "Here you go. This is your stop" he said turning to us, smiling. "Sorry about there only being one sleeping bag, we only had one left."

"It's fine kid, we can live with it." Vanessa said smiling and in a happy tone. The boy walked off and I looked at Vanessa. She was kind hearted, and she was still shaken up about the man she had killed. "Alright Alex lets get settled in." She said nodding for me to follow her.

I walked into the tent and it was comfortable. I felt comfortable for once. "Alright Vanessa, you take the sleeping bag, I'll take the floor." I said putting my gun and bag on the floor.

"Alright Alex, thanks. Thanks for everything." What was she talking about. She didn't need to thank me. She is my only friend in this strange place.

"Yeah, no problem." I said taking off my jacket and cargo pants. I undressed to my basketball shorts and a white tee shirt. I laid down and used my pack as a pillow. "Goodnight Vanessa." I said looking up at her still laying out the sleeping bag.

"Goodnight Alex." She said looking back at me and smiling. I shut my eyes and laid there. I haven't slept in over a day, I'm exhausted. But for some reason I can't sleep. I don't know why but I still don't feel completely safe. I don't want to get too comfortable here, just in case we have to up and leave.

-The next morning-
I wake up suddenly. I hear a gun shot, followed by a scream. I frantically throw my jacket and pants on telling Vanessa to get up and get dressed. I zip up my jacket and grab my gun. I throw my bag over my shoulder and run out of the tent.

I run through the maze of tents to see seven or eight of the infected by one of the tents. Two of them sitting over a woman's remains, feasting on her. People are screaming all around me. I hear the soldiers coming around getting everyone out of panic. I take aim at the first infected and fire. My gun has a suppressor so the shots aren't loud. I kill two more in fast succession.

The fourth infected is one of the ones that was devouring that poor woman. It stumbles towards me while trying to get up off of its knees. I quickly shoot it and kill the other one, that is still eating the woman. The bullet sprays blood all over the door of the tent behind it. There are only two infected left, I aim my gun at one that is still at the edge of the camp. I fire and then throw my gun over my shoulder. I walk towards the final of the dead while I pull knife out. I get within arms reach of the dead and I thrust my knife into the back of its skull. The body turned motionless and fell to the ground.

"Alright everyone, they're all dead." I yell to all the people in the camp. "We need to burn the bodies before they start to rot even more."

"He's right, the bodies need to be burned." I heard a voice from the crowd. The lead soldier in their task force walked out from the group of people. "Come on we are gonna need some help carrying them." He said waving for people to come and help us.

I nodded at him as he looked towards me. He walked over and helped me carry the body. "You killed all seven of these things alone?" He said with a surprised tone. "I've only killed 20 infected so far, and you kill almost half of that in one your first encounters."

"Yeah they're not too hard to kill. Especially in small groups. When this all hit there was a horde of over 100 of them on my street."

"So how'd you meet the girl then?" He said looking at Vanessa.

"I picked her up when she was being chased. She needed help and I was there." As much as I hated to admit it, Vanessa was all I had left. I saved her because I needed someone else with me. I can't be alone in this, I need someone to keep me human.

We put the body down in the pile that everyone else had started. The mayor approached the pile and lured lighter fluid on the bodies. He struck a match and threw it onto the pile. The flames lit and I was watching the bodies be engulfed by the flames. "This fire isn't gonna produce any smoke is it?" I said towards the mayor.

"It shouldn't, but if it does well put it out." He said to assure me.

"Alright look, I'll help you all with the whole supply stuff. I'll take a team in and get food and water." I said walking over to him.

"Who do you want on your team? I'll try and get you anyone you could use." He really needed these supplies, but I don't know anything about anyone in this camp.

"Give me your fastest runners. And I need to see if they can shoot too. We can't be out there without any form of defense." He nodded and walked away. These test will be done tomorrow. I need a strong team that I can rely on, and this is how I find them.