Tristan:
I watch with the rock ready in hand. The shadow in the red mist is huge, and it seems to be growling. It moves fast, running and disappearing before somehow reappearing behind us.
"What is that," the kid shouts.
I look around, trying to keep my eyes on the shadow but, somehow, it's like it knows it's being watched and is disappearing into the mist on purpose.
"Wait for it," I say, holding out my hand.
"Wait for what," Rebecca asks, her shaking body turning left and right as the growls come from all over.
"Wait for it," I repeat. "Wait for it!"
I hear the sound of squashing mud from the side and turn. I see the shadow emerges from the red mist. A large, grey wolf with bloody cuts and open wounds leaps out. The wolf shows off its sharp yellow teeth as it growls.
I scream as I charge toward the infected wolf. I slam the rock against the side of the infected wolf's face, knocking it to the forest f
Marcus Fellow: As I run, I look down the sight on the top of my assault rifle. The second the infected wolves are in my sight, I squeeze the trigger and shoot it. The wolf whines as it falls to the side. "Get him to his feet," I yell, pointing at the man as I run past him. Two of my soldiers help the man to his feet while the rest of my squad follow after me. As the wolves charge and jump at the mother and her child, I wave my fingers, giving the order. "Engage! Engage! Engage!" My soldiers and I light up the sky with flashes of light. Our rifles scream louder than any thunderstorm. By the time we're done, the forest is a mess of dead infected wolves. However, despite how many dead dogs there are, I know we're still not safe. I keep an eye out as I approach the two. "Easy," the mother says as I walk up to them, pointing my rifle at them. "Easy." "Are you friendly," I ask. "Are you friendly? Answer the question!" "We're friendly," the kid replies, holding up both her hands. "We'
Bailey: "Wow," I say after walking through the steel door and seeing the bunker. "This isn't much." The bunker is smaller than the one in Boston and with fewer lights. All of the buildings I can see aren't much more than makeshift tents, put mostly together with what looks like rope and sheet metals. It doesn't have metal walls. In fact, it doesn't have any walls at all. I can see the exposed dirt. As soon as I said those words, I feel a slap on the back of my head. While rubbing my head, I turn around to see Rebecca glaring at me with red eyes. "Sorry," I say, lowering my head. Tristan, Rebecca, and I turn around when we hear a grinding sound. We see two of the soldiers closing the steel door. With the door close, the soldiers around us take off their gas masks, revealing their sweaty, dirt-covered faces. "So now what," I ask, taking off my own mask. "You three will have to come with us," Marcus answers. He shakes his
Rebecca: "Hey," I shout, running after the little son of a bitch. The second the kid hears me, he starts to run. "You! Give me back those ration cards!" The kid speeds up as we run through the marketplace. For once, I'm glad it's a slow day. It means there aren't any people to block me as I chase after the little thief. "Get back here," I shout as I pick up speed and close the distance between the two of us. "Get back here now!' Reaching out, about to grab the damn kid, he takes a sudden, sharp left turn. As he's turning, I lunge for him but miss and end up rolling onto the floor. "Rebecca," Bailey says as she runs to help me up. "Are you okay?" "I'm fine," I answer, shaking some dirt from my hair. I look at the pathway the kid disappears down. I push myself up and run to it. "Must be my lucky day," I say as I look down a narrow alleyway. The narrow alleyway leads to a trash-covered dead-end, and there, at the
Tristan: “What do infected wolves have to do with low supplies,” Bailey asks. “About six months ago,” Marcus starts, “The infected wolves got into the bunker. They somehow dug a way down until they found a pipeline. Breaking through the pipelines, the infected wolves found their way into the bunker.” “Damn,” I say. “That’s taking it lightly,” Jacob comments from the side with crossed arms. “It was late at night when those fucking wolves attacked. Half of us were asleep when they did. They slaughter dozens of us before the first shot was even fired. By the time all of us were awake, they had taken over most of the bunkers. To save what few of us were still alive, the military used explosives to seal off whole sections of the bunker.” "I guess that’s why this bunker is smaller than the other ones I’ve seen." I look toward the tiny city. “A few of the sections we had to give up were the cafeteria, the water filtering plant, and the first motor pool," Marcus says. He looks toward t
Tristan: "I can't believe this bunker had a garden," Bailey says. "I mean, an actual garden. Even we Rebels didn't have a garden." "I know," Rebecca says. "A garden. Fresh vegetables. Like, actual fresh vegetable carrots and potatoes. It's a dream." "Too much trouble," I say. I stop when I come to the end of the tunnel. Seeing the rusted ladder in front of me, I look up and see the manhole cover. "I don't hear any scratching. The wolves must have left." "Hopefully they're on the other side of the park," Rebecca says. I hold out my hand, about to grab the ladder but stop. There's still blood on the ladder. It's still dripping. Pulling my hand back, I reach into my pack and pull out an old rag. I wipe the blood on the ladder before throwing the bloody rag back into my pack. With the ladder cleaned, I grab and climb it up. Rebecca and Bailey follow me up the ladder. Once I reach the top, I place my ear against the manhole cover. I still don't hear anything. I look down at the two a
Tristan: Chris's body, at least what the infected wolves didn't chew off, is sitting against one of the walls of the ranger station. His chest is ripped open and so is his head. His left arm is missing and both his legs are nothing but bones. "Holy shit," Bailey says when she sees Chris's body herself. "The wolves really went crazy on Chris." "Poor bastard," Rebecca says. "That's not right," I say. "Yeah," Bailey goes on. "That's not right. I hope Chris was at least dead before they dug into him." "Not that," I say. Looking around some more, I then approach the front door of the ranger station. With the wooden plank ready in my hands, I peek in. "Son of a bitch," I say, lowering the plank. "I was right. Fuck. I hope I wasn't but I was right." "What," Rebecca asks. She and Bailey walk up to my side. I step aside to show them what I've found. There, in the ranger's station, is a blood-covered floo
Rebecca: Wiping the blood from Bailey, looking for the bite mark, I look up when I hear growling. "Go," Tristan says, pushing me and Bailey. "Go. Go!" Holding Bailey in my arms, I run toward the sewer. Reaching the hole, I hold her with one hand while climbing down. Tristan covers us while I climb down. The second he can, he jumps down the hole and pulls the cover over us. It's not even a full second before we hear scratching and sniffing from the other side. "Son of a bitch," Tristan says as we climb down. My foot hitting solid ground, I step back and listen as Tristan jumps down himself. I listen to Tristan as he fumbles around for his lighter. It takes him a minute or two but finally, we have light. "Hey," I say, snapping my fingers. "Bring that light down here. Come on. Come on!" Tristan drops to his knee and shines the light in front of me. It's a small light but it's better than nothing. Digging through my pack,
Marcus Fellow: "Hello," I say, shooting a civilian a quick wave. The civilian nods his head back as I continue my daily patrol. Walking through the marketplace, and then through the housing section, I finally stop at the motor pool. The same two guards from before see and immediately drop their weapons. They open the gate for me and I walk right through. "Thank you," I say with a salute. Once through, they close the gate and go back to guarding. I walk through the mostly empty motor pool before finding Jacob. At least, half of him. "Hey," I say, tapping the side of the military jeep. "You busy?" "Yeah," Jacob says, pulling himself out from underneath the jeep's hood. "Kind of. We have three jeeps but only one of them barely worked. This one is close but I'm still missing a few parts." "Too bad you couldn't have talked to that Tristan guy before he and his family left," I say. "What? They're gone? Wonderful." "Not exactly. They've gone to the other sections of the bunker." "Th
Tristan Harlow:"Get out of here," Marcus screams before swinging his hand. Looking right at me, I stop sneaking toward the soldiers and look closer at Marcus. He's holding up his hand, and I can see something small and silver hanging from his finger.Just as I realize the thing hanging from his finger is a pin, an explosive kicks me into the air and knocks me back. Screaming as I hit the ground, a loud ringing sound pierces my ears."Ahhh," I say, slamming my hands against my ears. "Fuck."Despite the ringing sound in my ears, the overwhelming headache, and the aching chest, I still push myself up."Marcus, what the...hell?"As I push myself up and look, I don't see Marcus anywhere. Instead, I see three dead soldiers lying on the ground near me."These are the three soldiers that surrounded Marcus," I think, "But where the hell is Marcus?"About to run to where I last saw him standing, I stop
Rebecca:"What the hell are you talking about," I ask. "Marcus, come on! Get over here.""How," Marcus asks. He lifts his camouflage shirt and shows me his bloody chest."Son of a bitch," I say, covering my mouth as I step back. Marcus's stab wound is worse than I expected. Even though it's wrapped, there is still blood flowing out of it. The area around the wound is black. Looking at Marcus, I finally notice him. He is barely standing straight. His body and face are drenched in sweat and he's as pale as a ghost.Biting his tongue as he pulls down his shirt, Marcus looks to the right."There," Marcus says, pointing at one of the bunker's walls. "That, over there, is the maintenance tunnel I mentioned earlier. 20 years ago, when the bunker was being built, the construction workers used it to move supplies and vehicles in and out of here. Afterward, the bunker was constructed and they sealed the entrance.""They sealed the ent
Marcus Fellow: "Get down," I yell, jumping over Rebecca and shielding us. A second later, gunfire destroys the wooden pallets, and wood chips are raining down on us. Staying on top of Rebecca, doing my best to protect her, I look behind when the wood chips stop raining. Pushing myself up, I look through the wooden pallets and see the soldier who was shooting at Rebecca dead on the floor. As I look at his dead body, I see his weapon, an assault rifle, lying beside him. "Rebecca," I shout, "There's an assault rifle! Grab it now!" Rebecca nods her head and hands me her double-barrel shotgun. "Cover me," Rebecca says. Running directly into the line of fire between the bunker people and the traitorous soldiers, I do my best to cover Rebecca. Runni
Rebecca: I scream as I crouch down and cover my head. "Fuuuccckk," I yell as the soldiers keep shooting at us. They keep Marcus and I pinned down, not giving us a chance to fire back. Among all the gunshots, I can still hear footsteps quickly approaching. "They're advancing," I think, crouching down even further when a piece of the wall comes off and almost hits me. Still hiding behind the wall, I stick out my hand and blind fire. I fire two shots and then pull back my hand. "I'm not even sure if I hit anyone but at the very least, I stop them a little." I look down at the handgun. "I can't waste shots. I only have half a clip left." Listening to the footsteps as they keep advancing, I look at Marcus who had his back slammed against the wall. He keeps trying to fire back but is always forced back into hiding. "Marcus," I yell, cupping my mouth. "Marcus!" Marcus looks at me and I point at the two of us before swinging my hand. Marcus stares at me for a few seconds before finall
Jacob: I scream as I pull back my head. My cry echoes throughout the bunker as I look down and see myself bleeding. "Ahhh," I yell. I slam my hands on the bullet wound and push down. I stop screaming and bite down on my lips as I try to endure the pain. While enduring the pain, I look up and see the barrel of a handgun pointed right at me. "Why were you trying to steal food," Jim yells. I try to answer him but when I open my mouth, all that comes out are screams. Jim shakes his head as he shoots in the leg. I scream even louder as blood pours out from my leg. "Why were you trying to steal food," Jim yells again. He aims his handgun at my head. I can't answer him. I want to answer Jim but I can't. It hurts too much. My body is on fire. Everything burns, and all I can do is shake uncontrollably. "Come on," Jim says, waving his gun in front of me. "Say something! Why were you trying to steal food?" I look around a
Marcus Fellow: Wiping the sweat from my forehead, I then shake my hand clean. From high up, I keep a close watch on the soldiers guarding the motor pool. Looking at the old commander's building, I smile and nod my head when the bunker's bell rings. "Midnight," I say. "Finally." Inhaling through my nose and exhaling through my mouth, I prepare myself and push myself up. Biting my lower lip as my waist burns, I fight through it and walk toward the others. "Hey," I say, lightly kicking Rebecca on her leg. "Hey!" "What," Rebecca says, her eyes snapping open. "It's time," I answer. "Wake up the kids." Rebecca rubs her eyes and cracks her neck before getting up. She walks over to where Nicholas and Bailey are and lightly shakes them awake. "Hey, kid," Rebecca says as she shakes Bailey. Not responding at first, Bailey slowly opens her eyes. She moans as she places some fingers on the bandage around her head. "
Marcus Fellow: Pushing Rebecca and Bailey into the empty apartment room as fast as I can, I turn around and slam the door shut. Grabbing a nearby plank, I place it underneath the doorknob. "Marcus," Rebecca says as soon as I turn around. "What the hell happened here? I mean, we weren't gone for that long! A few hours at most!" "Yeah, well," I say, putting my handgun in my back pocket. "A lot happened in those few hour--" As I walk toward the kitchen, a sharp pain kicks me to my knees. I cry out and slam my hands over my stomach as I drop down. "Marcus," Rebecca yells. She runs to me and helps me back onto my feet. As she helps me up, she must have noticed the bloody bandage around my stomach. "Okay seriously," she says, lifting my shirt up to see the bandage. "What the hell happened here?" "It's that damn soldier's fault," I answer. Taking in many deep breaths, I limp over to an old, rusty table and chair in th
Tristan: As the soldiers open fire on me, I keep running while keeping my head low. "Crap, crap, crap," I shout as I run for my life. Having to jump left and right as bullets hit the ground and throw dirt into my face, I reach the city and turn a corner. Crouching down as the soldiers keep shooting, I cover my head. "Ahhhh," I scream, squeezing my head in between my hands. As the gunfire dies down, I look around the corner and see the soldiers all reloading. They switch the empty magazine for another magazine and run toward me. "Crap," I shout again as I look around. In what looks like a small neighborhood with makeshift houses, I turn around and see myself against a small house, not even half my height, made from sheet metal and broken wooden posts. I look through a nearby window and see
Tristan: As I slowly push the manhole cover up, I look out and scan the surrounding area with my pistol. Thankfully, I don't see any more infected wolves. "It's clear," I say, looking down at Rebecca. Rebecca nods her head and I push the cover off entirely. Throwing it to the side, I climb out first before turning around to help Rebecca up. Wiping her sweaty forehead after climbing out of the damn hole in the ground, Rebecca looks around and sees a very familiar forest with red smoke everywhere. "I can't believe I'm going to say this," Rebecca starts, "But I've missed this place." "You know what? So have I." I take a few seconds to enjoy the peace and forget about the damn sound of howling and gr