Chapter 3: A Man's Pride

A year has passed...

Fiehl went through the wooden door,and looked back to see if anything followed him before locking it.It was a shack in the woods,made from logs,not far from the main road.Fiehl was holding a wild chicken he caught with a trap.

"Last one?"asks Michael,who headed to the kitchen to grab a knife and a pair of bowls.

"Yeah,the other chickens must have wandered away from the poultry.It's empty now,"he replied.

"I wonder,does the virus only target humans?"

"Hmm,well,so far we haven't seen any of them take a bite out of animals.Anyways,what did you get for her?"

"I found two clean pair of pajamas for her,you?"

"I got her running shoes."Fiehl replied as he took out from his bag a box with a pair of blue shoes.

With that,they prepared and dressed the chicken,then cooked it.Callie woke up to to be surprised by the meal,later on,they gave her their gifts,it was her eight birthday,suddenly, tears flowed on her cheeks,surprising the two.

"Uh Callie,why are you crying?You don't like your gifts?"Michael asked.

Slowly,Callie wipes off her tears and spoke.

"No it's just that,I remembered mommy and daddy wouldn't celebrate my birthday together."

Michael turns to look at their uncle who explains.

"Her parents may have looked sweet together around people, but they're as sour as sugar apples when they're alone."

Callie wore a pair of orange pajamas,she thanked them,and greeted them goodnight,she slept on the matress in the other room.Fiehl went outside,sat on stairs on the porch,and lit a cigar.Michael showed up on the window after taking a shower.

"Glad this place had drums of water at the back,"he said.

"Yeah,but I'm afraid we have to move tomorrow,"his uncle replied.

"Why so soon?"

"Infected are showing up on the maid road a few miles from here."

"They must be from the city nearby.Damn things actually found their way out."

Fiehl let out smoke from his mouth then sighed.

"Maybe if we can find that poultry farm,maybe we can stay there."

"Take care of chickens?Not a bad idea I guess,but what if it's near the city?"

"Hmmm,now that I think about it,with some infected coming out of the city,what if we find a place in there?"Fiehl rubs his head as he asked.

"That's possible,but we have a kid with us,there's a lot of risks you know."

Fiehl gives out a sigh,then threw the cigar.

"I'll go tomorrow and try to scout the area.You stay with her with here."

Fiehl enters the shack and lays on the sofa.

"Aren't you going to sleep?"he asks Michael.

"Not yet,the full moon is out,"he replies.

"Suit yourself."

"Say uncle,where have you been these last few years,we haven't heard from you ever since your wife died in an accident."

Fiehl opens his eyes.

"There was no accident,I just told the others that."

"Oh,care to share?"asked Michael without looking back.

"Say please."

"Not happening."

"Why does it sound like you're accustomed to stuff like this?"

"I don't know,I guess it's just that every piece of news back then are related to death and violence."

"That so?Well I guess it won't hurt anybody if I told you.You see,six years ago,me and my team was tasked to capture a bomb expert from a group of rebels,deep in the mountains,he's been supplying them with explosives you see. We failed,but I managed to shoot his wife's head as they ran through the dense jungle.I was going to shoot another round when an rpg came flying behind us,shot our truck and nearly killed a few of us.They then received reinforcements so we had to retreat.We were going to try and capture for the second time but we had to wait for someone to locate him.I went home a week later after waiting for those injured in my team to atleast heal up and walk.I got home and found our house burned,and at the mailbox,I found an envelope with a dvd on it and I played it at the camp.I-I---the next part,is pretty hard for me to explain."

"They killed her?"Michael asks.

"He shot her at her head,then burned the house with her dead body in it.The firemen found her burnt corpse and we held a funeral.At the funeral,her parents were so mad at me,their eyes glared blood-red and wouldn't even speak to me,."Fiehl says with a weak smile,then it faded.

"I knew I had to get my revenge.Luckily,they pinpointed his locations.That bastard still had the guts to hide in the previous mountains.We went back for round two,this time to kill him.I caught him and shot his legs with my pistol,then shot him with a full mag using his own ak.I went back to where our house were and sold the lot.I then went back to her parents and apologized,luckily,their hearts soften and even embraced me.From then on,for four years,I had lived my life in military offices and in bars."

"What about your home?Grandpa and grandma's place?"

"Well,they didn't want me to be in the military when I was still at high school,they were afraid that I'll die you see.And I just felt like I didn't' want to see anyone at that time."

"Oh,dad never really talked about you.How did it feel though?To lose her?"

"It felt like the world crumbled right before my eyes.We met and became the best of friends when we were at high school."

"And she looked up to soldiers?"

"Her father and grandfather were veterans.It was their family tradition that they'll send atleast one child to the military,she couldn't join because she lacked the height,she was as cute as she was small.It was one of her good points."Fiehl said,closing his eyes,dreaming of her,a smile drawn on his face.

"What about you?Surely you had a girlfriend or something."he asked Michael.

"Oh,no,I made friends,but I never planned of doing anything related to that stuff.I just wanted to graduate so I could finish school,then do whatever I want.But now,looks like all those time in school went to waste,they didn't teach us anything about survival. Man I'm so sorry about her,I'll go sleep now."

Morning came,Callie,still in her pajamas,found Michael sitting on a chair in the porch.

"Morning Callie."

"Morning big brother."she replied with a smile.

Cute

He thought to himself.

She then carried herself up his feet and sat on his lap.

"Where's uncle?"

"Off to find stuff,probably be back in the afternoon.Can I ask something Callie?"

"Okay."she replied with an enthusiastic smile.

"Tell me Callie,how was your life like with your parents?"

The smile disappeared.

"Mmm."she replied with a pout.

"Sorry,don't answer that if you don't want to."

"No it's fine since it's you big brother.Mommy and daddy were like cats and dogs,they were calm when other people were around,but they don't get along when they're alone."

"Oh,so how about you?"

"I guess I'm like the glue that held them together.I heard daddy talk to a friend of his and he said that if I wasn't born,he and mommy could have been divorced."

Looking down,Michael saw the seriousness in her face,felt somewhat of a pity and hugged her tight.

"Don't worry,I'll take care of you,and we'll make out of this alive.No matter what."

She didn't say a word,but she smiled sincerely.

The sun rose completely,Michael took Callie for a walk on the roadside,he had a bat on his back, when they spotted a car from their right,the road coming from the city.He was about to grab their attention when he saw a horde not far behind it,so he took Callie and hid deeper behind the bushes and trees,and told her to keep quiet.The car stopped right infront of them,it was a black sedan,then a man in dusty,oily clothes with a beanie on top of his head came out from the back of the car.The horde was still running at them from far,and faced the driver as he took out a cigar and lighter from his jacket.

"Man,I can't believe we're the ones for this job."he told the driver.

"It's much safer than going undercover in a city filled with soldiers,and besides,if you don't do as he say,the whole gang would hate you,and might even throw you out,or worse,feed you to them."

"Yeah but it's probably gonna take us a whole day and night to meet up with the next pair."he said nervously.

The driver then looked behind the car.

"You might wanna keep those things and get in."

The other man looked back and saw the incoming horde.

"Oh shit,"he said as he put the cigar and lighter back in his pockets,then raced to the back of the car,then shut the door.

The driver accelerated the car then drove off, hunreds upon hundreds of infected flooded the road,leaving a trail of footsteps and blood. Some even dropped parts of their bodies. Michael and Callie came out of the forest,the bat in his right hand,with the left hand holding her.They were looking at where the car went to,and noticed an infected behind them,the flesh on its face was peeling off,growled and ran at them,Michael smashed its head.

It was midday,Michael and Callie showed where they saw the scene to their uncle.

"Do you know where they were headed?"he asked Michael.

"Not a clue,but it looks like they came from the city in the north,"he answered.

The three both turned to look at the mountain road,a few cars were abandoned at the foot of the mountain.

"Where do we go now?"Michael asked.

"To the city,we'll check out what happened and see if we can join them,"he replied.

If they're good people,that is.

Michael thought,he felt a little scared inside.

They began to walk towards the mountain road, the sun beating down on them from the right.They walked for a few hours,then sat at the side of the road,overlooking a valley,a they could see the city they were headed to.

"We'll just have to walk down the slope for atleast two or three hours and reach the city,"their uncle told them.

"The view from here looks amazing,the city is between mountains,"Callie said.

"And that's what they call a valley a valley,"Michael told her.

Their perspective changed when they reached the city,it was as horrid as it was bright from the mountain view,the city reeked both of rotten flesh and gas,it smelled awful that they had to wear cloth masks they found in a small shop at the entrance of the city,along with food and water.

"Remember to stay close to me,we're not sure if they gathered all of them,"Fiehl ordered them.

He led them through the street,Michael held the bat and watched their back.Only the sound of the wind accompanied them.They spotted a bar, and heard yelling and laughter from inside.

"Go to the back and take her with you"Fiehl whispered to Michael.

"Why?"

"Just go."

Michael grabbed Callie and they slowly walked to the back of the bar.Fiehl got inside and found two men,having the time of their lives,but their smiles disapeared at the sight of him,raised their guns aimed at him,one had a pistol and the other on the right had a shotgun.

"Who are you!?"the one with a pistol asked.

"I'm a survivor,and I'm lost,"he told them as he raised his hand,holding a crowbar.

"What should we do?"asked the man on the right.

"Didn't Deo told us to shoot anyone not from us?"the man on the left replied.

"Hey man,I'm not here looking for trouble,I'm just lost,"Fiehl told them.

The two men looked at each other,debating on what to do,still with their guns aimed at Fiehl,who saw Michael coming in from the backdoor,his hands gripping the wooden bat.

"What if we can recruit him,that way--"

And bonk,Michael whipped the man with the pistol on his head and collapsed,blood coming out from the back of his head.The other man turned to aim at Michael but as he was to pull the trigger,Fiehl pulled him and held the gun up, the shotgun pellet went straight to the chandelier and fell.The two men who fell on the floor,evaded it.The man got up and got his face hit by Fiehl's knee,and punched him in the face and fell on the floor.Fiehl got on top of him and held the man's neck with his left hand,and gave him three heavy punches,his nose bled and a tooth came out.

"Grab the pistol,"he ordered Michael as he took the shotgun and looked for extra ammo from the two dead men.

Suddenly,a voice from a walkie talkie on the table grabbed their attention.

"Gus!Jeff!We're just a few miles from the city,you had better not drank the bottle from the box in I put on the corner of the table!"said the voice.

Fiehl saw an opened box,a red tie on top of it at the corner of the table,the wine bottle was beside the walkie talkie,along with two shot glasses.

"Hey,hey!"the voice yelled.

They then heard the voice order the driver to speed it up.Fiehl then told Michael to get go out to the back,and followed him.Before he left,he took the half bottle of wine.

"Viega sicilia huh?"he asked,then took a sip.

Not bad.

He thought as he got out and found a familiar sight.

Outside,he saw Michael and Callie,and behind them was his pick-up truck from a year ago.

"Found it just at the driver's seat,"said Michael as he threw the keys to Fiehl,who burst into laughter and hugged them.

"It only has blood smears on the side and back,but they added a front bumper."Michael continued.

"Never mind that,get in,"said a laughing Fiehl.

"I think he's drunk,"said Callie.

The men chuckled and Michael put her in at the back and sat beside her.The engine roared to life and Fiehl stepped on the gas.The truck got through the silent streets,and went through the city exit.

In the bar,a group of men parked their cars upfront,and got out,with their guns at hand.They got in to find the two dead bodies lying on the floor.The leader got in,took out his shades and wiped off the grin on his face.

"They're dead Deo,"said the man who got in first and inspected the bodies

He gave him a smack on his face and looked at him dead in the eye,revealing a white colored right eye.

"Of course they're dead,and I can see that!"he yelled at him.

"Your brother's gonna be pissed about this,"said the man on his left,a fat man with a beared reaching the collar on his shirt.

"Should we tell him about this?What if they're from the group we separated from?"the man on his right asked,a thin and timid looking man but having a deep tone.

"No one's saying nothing,you got that!"yelled Deo.

No one spoke a word and just glared at him. One of his men got from the back.

"Looks like they took the pickup truck and headed west,"he told Deo.

"What do you say boys?Wanna go hunting!?"

Those around him yelled as they raised their guns and fists.They headed to their cars and went to the exit.

Michael woke up to see Callie standing outside under the warm morning sun,Fiehl was adding more gas to the tank.

"Morning big brother!"yelled Callie.

He got out and carried her up with both hands and kissed her cheek.

"Morning,where are we?"he asked.

"Middle of nowhere,"answered Fiehl,then closes the hood.

"Well that's reassuring.What about those guys,from the city?Did any of them follow us?"

"If they did,then they could have reached us by now.I hope throwing the bottle of wine yesterday out on the other road worked."

Michael then remembered Fiehl taking the drinking the last of the wine last night,then throwing it at the side of the main road when they reached a fork on the road,it was raining that night.Then the car drove to the secondary route.

"What about tire trucks?"he asked.

"If it made any,then the rain could've washed them off."

"And if they split?"

"You ask too much,go in the store and get yourself something to eat,then we'll follow the road.Don't open the staff room inside,there's a bunch of them in there."

"Why won't we just stay here until we ran out of food.Wait what?What bunch?"

"I'll help you find something to eat big brother."said Callie,pulling Michael into the store.

"Don't go near the door you hear me?"Fiehl asked but the two already reached the door.

They got in and Michael immediately looked for the staff room.There was a glass fixed above the door,Michael got a chair and climbed it to take a peek inside.He saw five infected,pushing on the door.They then slowly walked through every aisle when they heard a car stop by,then a gunshot.

"Get down!"yelled Michael,pulling Callie to the behind the aisle.They saw their uncle ran franctically in the store,and locked the door,gunshots following him,bullets broke through the glass.

"Stay where you are!"shouted Fiehl,who rusehd to the staff room door.

Michael then slowly crept behind the back door,a clother rack covered him,then whispered Callie to do the same.Meanwhile,four men,came in the door,and slowly walked around the store.When three of them was two aisles away from him,Fiehl ran to open the staff room door and out came the five infected.The infected quickly grabbed onto the first two men they saw,and while the three were distracted, Fiehl aimed his shotgun at the fourth man at the entrance of the store.Deo was about to shoot him when an infected lunged at him,he screamed as his face met its teeth,his right cheek got torn open.He pushed it and stood,but a second one grabbed him at his leg and he stumbled.A fifth man came from the back door and tried to shoot Fiehl,but missed all three shots,and quickly shot the five infected.He saw Fiehl ran out through the front door,he aimed but Michael shot him at the back of his head. He then grabbed Callie's farm and went outside.They found Fiehl outside,panting,but no wounds.Then they heard a voice from a walkie talkie.

"Deo the main road is blocked by abandoned cars,should we come to you?"the voice asked.

Fiehl grabbed the walkie talkie and threw it in the store,then remembered the man whose cheek got eaten,they went back in and found him,already am infected and was eating on one of the men's chest.He looked back and his face touched Fiehl's pistol.

Bang!

The three were back on the road,behind their truck was a load of guns and ammunition,not much,but enough to keep them safe.

Back at the bloody gas station,two cars with broken windows just parked beside Deo's car,and slowly got in the store,they were shocked at what they found.Three hours passed when an SUV followed by two vans reached the place,everyone stepped outside,they were all wearing boots,with a few handheld guns at their wists,and lastly,a man wearing white shoes and black pants with white jacket came out of the SUV,he had pale green eyes and long stubble,he looked different from the rest,he looked like a man among wild savages,but he was a savage,even more savage than them.

He stepped in the store and everyone glared at him,waiting for any command.

"Valentin,all five of them are dead,including Deo,your brother.But it seems like they were shot,"said the fat man earlier from the bar.

"What happened before this?"Valentin asked.

"We found two of our men dead yesterday,right inside the bar,one was shot and the other got his head bashed.We tracked them but ended up to find two paths. Deo told us to take the main road while he and the four of them take the other one,he suspected that they didn't take the main road, his intuition was correct,but ended up here,"he explained.

"Could they be from the group we separated from a few months ago?You know,revenge for using his mother as bait for those things,"the thin man asked.

Valentin simply kneeled on his right knee,then stared at his brother's disfigured face,the others looked but couldn't maintain a long eye contact on the corpse.Valentin then stood after a moment.

"No,they wouldn't dare go too far from their den, even if they ran out of food.I'm thingking this is a lost group,probably one or two people.I want the two of you to get get on your cars and follow the main road.The rest of the men and I will prepare,capture them alive,"he ordered then stepped outside.

"What about this place?"the fat man asked.

"Burn it down,I don't care!"he yelled as he got in his car in the driver's seat.

He took out a family photo from the glove compartment.There was him and his brother,along with his sister and parents and takes in a deep breath.

"Mom,dad,looks like I couldn't yet again keep another promise."he whispered

With that,he strengthened his resolve and grabbed a hold of one of his men walking outside his car.

"Go throw this on the fire,"he ordered,then pushed the man,who ran and threw the picture into the flames,it consumed it quick,but it was still consuming half of the store.

A few men got in his car and Valentin turned his car to the right,and headed back to the city,the two van followed a few moments later.The fire took minutes to consume the whole gas station,and exploded.The sign fell when the explosion destroyed the metal that held it.

When the fire died,a corpse still remained intact,then it opened its eyes.

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