Rebecca:Stepping over a fallen tree trunk, I land on the ground and watch as dust kick up. The dust gets all over my mask, and I have to wipe the lens."Hey Drifter," I say as soon as I can see again. "Where the hell are we going?""To Lincoln's Town," Drifter replies, stopping to look back at Bailey and me."Lincoln's Town," Bailey repeats. "What's that, and why are we heading there?""Lincoln's Town is where someone I know lived," Drifter answers while walking."You have a friend," I ask."I never said Lincoln is a friend," Drifter says. "Lincoln is someone I know who lived in Lincoln's Town.""Lincoln lived in Lincoln's Town," Bailey asks."It's not the actual name of the town," Drifter yells, "I don't know what the hell the town's real name is. I only called it Lincoln's Town because that's where Lincoln lived. We ran into each other when I was scavenging around his town. He almost shot me, and he told me if he ever saw me again, he would shoot me.""And we're heading back there,
Tristan:"Up and at them," I say, pushing the package up through the hole in the ceiling."Here," Rebecca says, offering me her hand."Not yet," I say, looking around. Seeing a seat, I grab and push it until it's underneath the hole. Climbing onto it, I then grab Rebecca's hand but even with standing on the chair instead of jumping, I'm still too heavy. The package joins in and together, the two pull me up."How much do you weigh," the package asks, panting."It's not me," I answer, "It's the pack. I have a lot of canned foods. I have to consider there aren't any cafeterias out here.""Hey," Rebecca says, nudging her head. Immediately, the package and I hide behind some covers with Rebecca."So where exactly is this sniper nest," Rebecca asks."It's on the third floor," I answer, "Right outside the middle room.""Of course. The top floor. That means two more floors to go through.""How," the package asks, "I mean, I don't think we can take the stairs, and what the chances there's goin
Bailey:Drifter scream as he falls through the top floor and back on the third."Holy shit," I yell as I step back. Watching as more of the floor breaks apart and falls, I have to jump through a window and into one of the rooms. Meanwhile, Rebecca runs back down the walkway."Are you okay," I ask from the window, waving away some sawdust."I'm fine," Rebecca yells, "But where's Drifter?"Hearing some groaning from below, I look down and see a silhouette in the dust cloud."Hey. Are you okay?"The dust cloud fading, and I can see the Drifter on his arms and knees. It takes a while but eventually, he's able to reply."Do I look okay," he replies, groaning like an old man as he pushes himself up. Back on his feet, he turns his head when he hears snarling. Looking down the walkway, we see a bunch of infected walking up the stairs and out of the rooms. They open their mouths and charge the second they see Drifter."Damn it," Drifter yells, pulling out a pistol."Run," I yell, "Don't fight,
Tristan: "Get up now," the man screams, grabbing my arm and pulling me to my feet. Stumbling before I steady myself, I look back up to see Rebecca and Bailey still trapped on the second floor. "Jump," I yell, cupping my mouth. "Jump!" "You heard the man," Rebecca yells. She grabs Bailey's hand and together, the two jump from the second floor. The second they hit the ground, the man and I help them up, and altogether, the four of us run from the crumbling apartment. "This way," he yells, stopping and turning into a narrow alleyway. Running down the alleyway, we hear infected close behind us. As we exit the alleyway, the man stops suddenly. "What the hell are you doing," Bailey yells, "Why are we stopping?" "Because I don't want infected banging against my front door," the man replies. He digs through some vines growing on one of the alley's walls. As he digs around, I see some infected at the end. They stop for only a second before seeing us and charging. Raising my gun, looking
Chuck:"I'm Tristan," the old guy says. He nudges his head toward the woman with long black hair. "This is Rebecca. The girl you cuffed is named Bailey."I look at the kid with brown hair as she still struggles to break the handcuff."We came here looking for Lincoln," the old guy goes on, "We were hoping he could help us with something.""Help you with what exactly," I ask."Help us in getting a car," the kid answers.I couldn't help but laugh the second I hear that."No seriously," I say while laughing. "Why the hell are you people here?""We're serious," the woman says, "We need a car.""That's not funny a second time," I say. "Besides, even if I did have a car, which I don't by the way, why, oh why, in this god-abandoned world would I just hand it over to you three?""Because if you don't," the old guy says, "You'll be the one with the opened head."He looks toward the gun still in my hand."Go nuts," I say, letting go of the gun. "Blow my head off. I've already used two of my big
Tristan: "This is your base," I say, looking at all the weapons lined up on the walls behind stacks and stacks of books and magazines, the stacks begin surrounded by dozens and dozens of boxes. "Well, more or less," Chuck says. "There are three safe houses scattered throughout this town. This is the one I used the most, hence why it's the most stocked." As I examine the shotgun, I hear Bailey gasping and turn to her. I see her pointing at Chuck and now turn to him. "Hey," I say, running to try and stop him. We all watch as Chuck takes his mask off. Running to stop him, I fail and watch as he places his mask down on the table. "What," he says, revealing a rather young man's face with a little bit of a beard. He did looks older than Bailey but younger than Rebecca. Looking up and seeing our faces, he shakes his head. "Calm down, and don't go pulling out your guns. As I said, this is the safe house I used the most." He points past our head at something hooked up to a wall. "No wa
Tristan:"Welcome to the mall," Chuck says as the four of us approach the ruined shopping center. Surrounded by empty parking lots and dead trees, the mall is nothing more than a bunch of broken store windows and torn posters everywhere."So the battery and the spark plugs are in there," Rebecca says, looking at Chuck."Yup," Chuck replies, his shotgun resting over his shoulder."Hmm," I say, holding my shotgun. "I'll admit, I haven't been to a lot of malls, before or after the chimera's invasion, but malls don't usually have car shops. Do they?""They don't," Chuck says as he walks toward the front door. I look at Rebecca and Bailey. The two of them look at me. I shake my head and shrug my shoulder before following Chuck."Hey," Bailey says as she too follows after Chuck. "Wait. I don't get it. If this mall doesn't have a car shop, then how do you know there's a battery and spark plugs in here?""Because a few months ago, Lincoln and I saw a military helicopter crash through the mall
Tristan:"What do you mean by you don't know where the hell the stairs are," I ask. "How the hell can you not know if there are stairs or not?""Did you not hear the part where I said this part of town is filled with infected," Chucks says, "Because it's filled with infected, I don't come here a lot whole. So excuse me if I have no darn idea where the stupid stairs are."I roll my eyes."I saw that," Chuck says."I wasn't hiding it," I reply. I get up and look around. "Stairs. Stairs. Where the hell are the stairs?"I keep on looking and looking until I see a sign. There, flat on the floor, covered in trash, is a sign with the words "stairs" printed on it. It seems to be pointing toward the right hallway."There's a sign on the floor," I whisper, pointing it out. "Assuming it just fell and no infected kicked it around, the stairs are to our right.""That's a big if," Chuck says before he shrugs his shoulders. "Then again, what the hell?"Chuck is the first to make a move. He silently