Chapter 5:Friends and Foes

A month passed as the view of the city changed.Michael looked on the city from the concrete road,the sun beating down on him and Callie,who was wearing a sombrero.From a distance,he could see the heat coming up the city,and remembered what had happened there.It was that same city where he bashed the man's head in a bar,and he could still remember his uncle's smile when they showed him his truck.Michael had intended to go the other way,to the west,but the road was covered with rocks and mud,probably from a landslide,it rained for days at that time.He was going to give up when he saw a map in an abandoned car.There's actually a safe zone miles in the east,and to get there,they need to go through the road they came from,but fortunately,there were two paths.One was the one they took that night as they were chased by Deo,Michael remembered the moment his uncle threw the bottle on the main road,so he planned to take that path,while hoping that they wouldn't find him and Callie.

An hour passed when Callie told him she was hungry,and so they made camp inside a school bus in the middle of the highway,it was surrounded by other vehicles,but a van was beside it,they were side by side,but the van was facing the other way.He brought out two small bowls,and a pair of spoons,and opened a can of tuna.He divided it equally in their cups and they ate facing each other.He made jokes as they sat after eating,and she would laugh while holding her stomach.He was about to stand when he heard a voice from behind the bus.

"Hey you smell that?"asked the voice.

"Yeah,smells like fish,you think somebody's there in the bus?"replied the other voice.

Shit,there's two of them.

"Get underneath the seat and don't make a sound Callie,"he whispered to her.

"What bus,I bet it's in the van,"said the second voice,and they argued for a few seconds.

"How about this,you go check the van,I go check the bus,hmm?"asked the other,as Michael peeked from the side of the bus.

"I don't know,I think that's a bad idea,"said the second voice.

"You scared?You have a shotgun,and all I have is a pistol and a hatchet!"

"Fine,but approach it slowly."

The first man went to the left of the bus,while the other went to the right of the van,both were wary and clenching on their guns.The first man kept on turning back to see if something was behind him,and leaned on the side of the bus. Michael grabbed the opportunity,literally,as he wrapped his arm around the man's neck through the window.The man tried to aim his gun at him,but Michael pulled his arm in the window and pushed on it,breaking his elbow.He screamed for help,Michael quickly grabbed the pistol from his hand and shot him at his right ear.The other man showed up infront of the bus,and started to shoot.Michael quickly ducked and gave the knife from the bag to Callie,underneath the seat.The man got in the bus and aimed the pump-action shotgun at Michael,who was already standing,arms raised.

"You little shit!I'm gonna feed you to them fuckers under the bridge!"the man told him,as he drew close to him,and ordered Michael to throw the pistol at his feet,which he did.

The man got closer until the muzzle was only a few inches away from Michael's face.

"You're gonna pay for what you did with Adam,you hear me?You're gonna scream as I watch you get torn apart under this fucking bridge of a highway,"he mocked him.

Suddenly,Callie stabbed the back of his left hip and Michael quickly grabbed the barrel of the gun,it pointed up and shot a pellet.The man got the knife out of his hip as Michael took the shotgun from his hand.The man managed to stab Michael's left shoulder before he could shoot.Michael shot the gun with only a hand,so it flew behind him,but the pellet went through the man's right hip,and fell to the floor.Michael took the pistol that fell on a seat and shot a few bullets.

Moments passed and Michael was looking down the highway,there was a horde of infected just below them.He had the gun strapped on his right shoulder,a bandage on the other,he looked behind,the man had both hands on his hip,he was bleeding in his feet and hands,he was barely breathing,and beside him lay his dead friend.Michael walked infront of him,and pulled the body.He carried it with all his might over the three foot wall,it dropped and like a bomb,the head exploded when it hit the concrete floor,some infected began to feast on the corpse.Michael then glared at the man,who saw his cold stare.Callie was behind the bus,she closed her eyes and covered her ears when she heard a horrifying scream right after a crash.

"Big brother,what about your shoulder?"Callie asked as they reached the end of the highway bridge.

"The bandage I fixed seems to be doing its job well,"he answered,holding the hatchet from the man he shot dead earlier.

They were continuing their journey when Michael spotted a few infected in the middle of the road,mindlessly walking among the cars and trucks scattered in the road.They found a trail on their right and followed it until it led then to a bunch of houses situated in the mountain.The house they tried to get in was locked.Michael tried pushing it when he heard a crash from the inside.

"Stay behind me Callie,"he told her.

Right after he said this,a hand broke through the wooden door,then an infected got out the house,and fell to his feet.Michael stepped on its skull,crept to the front door,and saw a pair of infected,they looked like a mother and a daughter,they both wore long skirts,Michael gripped the hatchet.Moments later,Michael was upstairs,after inspecting the first floor,Callie was behind him,marveling at the only clean room in the house.

They locked themselves in!

Michael removed the nailed planks from the window and the sunlight entered the dusty room.From the window,Michael could see the same scenarios in the houses,locked doors and windows,reinforced with planks within the houses.He had to see,and he also had to find them food to eat.So they entered every house in the afternoon,and got back in the first house before it got dark.The sun was still setting,so he decided to check if there was water from the faucets,and to his surprise,there was.

The water could be from a river in the mountain.

So he took a bath,and Callie followed after.They used clothes they found that could fit them. Michael decided to eat early before it got dark then move early the next day.Night soon came and Michael kindled candles he collected from the houses,and surrounded the room with their little flames.He was sitting on a chair right infront of the window,looking at the map.Callie showed behind him,holding a flashlight.

"Where'd you get that?"he asked.

"I found it in under the bed in the next room,"she said as she drew closer to the map.

Michael turned the map to see words written on it "Capture and collect."

What the hell is that supposed to mean.

"Hey look,there's light on that one!"a voice yelled.

Michael quickly pulled the man inside,and told Callie to get away from the window.

"Hey anybody there!?"the voice yelled,their footsteps getting closer to the house.

Michael was to take a peek when a flashlight went through the window.

"Of course there's somebody there,can a zombie make light?"a deep voice said.

They argued for a bit as Michael took Callie to downstairs.She slipped on the stairs and screamed but Michael caught her,this attracted the people outside,then a lady bashed through the door.Seeing a guy holding a kid who was at the point of crying made her point her gun at him.Michael drew the shotgun at her as well.Soon,her friends came inside,and aimed their guns at him as well.Callie ran behind Michael and held at the back of his shirt.A man suddenly got in the house,wearing an oil stained white suit,he was also wearing an army pair of pants and boots,and he was also holding a shotgun,unlike the others who only had pistols.

"Calm down,are you alone?"he asked Michael,who said a quick yes.

"Put those things down,even you,there's only one of you,and eight of us,"he said.

Michael slowly lowered his gun and those infront of him did the same.

"The shells kid,drop them all,"he said to Michael.

Michael aimed the shotgun to his left,then pulls the slide back and fro until four shells dropped to the ground.

"The last one?"the man said.

Michael was surprised but didn't show any expression,instead he shot the live round to his left,the others were surprised.The man approached Michael and raised his hand for a handshake.

"Karl,"he intruduced him self.

"Michael,"as he shook his hand,then took the four shells and loaded them back to the gun,and got one from his pocket.

"This is my cousin Callie,"he said as he reaches for her,only to turn her back at them.

"She's been through a lot,so she's scared of other people.Our uncle died because of them,"he explained

"Must be Valentin and his gang,"Karl said.

Michael was only confused.

"I'll explain it when we get back to camp."

"Camp?"Michael asked.

"A city of refuge,possibly the only last place standing,"a guy said,who looked like the same age with Michael.

Michael looked at them closely.

"Why does it look like we're all of the same age?"he asked.

"Oh,I'm on scavenging duty and I'm stuck with these brats,they're all highschoolers,"he said.

"Hey,we're only here just to accompany your lonely ***,"a lad said.

"Well,I guess I should introduce them to you too,"Karl said with a worn out smile as he looked back at them.

Belle,with sharp black eyes and a mean looking face and it looks like she just got her hair cut short,was the one who bashed through the door. Samie,her best friend,the pale looking girl behind her,her hand was shaking with the pistol on her hand.Jimmy,he had a dark green beanie,was the last one to lower his pistol,and probably the last one to trust him,and his cousin Jack,the loud mouthed fella,always had a smile on his face.Chenny,Jimmy's girlfriend,she had a somewhat cute face and a sweet smile,and finally the twins Ian and Ivan,smiling cheerfully behind the others.They were the first to befriend Michael as they led him outside.

"Hey you should teach us that,"Ian said,he was right handed while his twin brother was a lefty.

"Yeah,give us price,anything,"Ivan said as they placed their arms on his shoulders.

"Ow!"he muttered as Ian took his arm off his shoulder and they saw that it was bleeding.

Minutes later,Samie and Chenny were tending to his shoulder wound,they were sitting on logs,the others sat not farm from them forming a circle,with a campfire at the center.

"You know we should've already went,"Belle told Karl.

"It's already dark,and the truck doesn't have any lights remember?And besides,I'm interested in what they've been through,"he replied as he looked at Callie who was narrating their journey.

"And then he-"Callie paused.

Michael and the two showed up at behind them.

"Hey Michael,what did you do with the man in the bus?"asked Jack.

"Oh we left him,"he replied with a weak smile.

Callie looked at him with a pout.

"Big brother don't lie,I saw what you did,"she told him.

"Wait you did?Didn't I tell you not to look?"

"Oh I was just curious and--"

"Fine,I threw them 20 feet to the ground,the guy survived the fall when he landed on a car roof,but a horde was waiting for him down there."

There was silence for a moment,and the cold air swept through them,making the flames dance and sway.

"I don't know about you guys but I'm sleeping in the house,"Ian said.

"Same here,"said Ivan,following him.

"Come on Callie,it's already late,"Michael told her as she yawned so he carried her to the bedroom and she slowly closed her eyes.

Michael woke up to find Callie was not with him.He got down to see the others going out of the houses,grabbing loot under the morning sun.Karl and the guys pulled the corpses and piled them up to the road.

"You did all this?"Jack asked as he kicked a severed head into the pile.

"Uh,yeah,what are you doing?"he asked.

Without uttering a word,Jack grabbed a gas can and poured it on the rotting corpses,then lighted them up.

"Ain't that a waste of gas?"Michael asked.

"Nah,it's Karl's way of respecting the dead,"he answered.

"So where is this camp you're saying?"he asked them.

"To the city of--"

Belle shushed Jimmy before he could finish his sentence.

"How do we know we can trust you?"she asked Michael.

"Sorry what?"he asked back.

"Come on now Belle,"said Samie.

"How do we know you're not their spy and you're just using a kid as a bait?"she asked,her eyes looked like they were about to pop out.

"They killed uncle Fiehl!"Callie yelled as she went in between them.

"We were running from them!"she continued,tears forming on her little eyes.

Belled backed down,yet a little bit annoyed.She went in one of the houses,followed by the other girls.The guys then went to where a crying Callie was being held by Michael.

"Uhm,how do I put this.You see,when this started,the city was a quarantine zone,Belle and her parents got in there but a fight broke out among the cops and civilians,about not being able to get in because of a bite or something,"Ian told him.

"Her father sided with the police when the fight got more intense,the police shot at the civilians,and they retaliated,shooting back with their own guns.Belle's parents were killed by them,Valentin was the one who started it all,"Ivan continued.

"You can come with us,Belle will calm down, she's just like that,she may be mean at first,but she'll be soft once you get to know her,"Karl said.

Not long the girls came out of the house,and they set off the road.They passed through a silent road,fields of rice and corn on both sides,mountains and hills all around them.Trees provided them shade and cool air as they walked for a few hours until they reached an old military cargo truck hidden behind the trees and covered with leaves and twigs.The paint was a mixture of different shades of green and brown,it had no headlights but it had a cover for the back.Karl sat on the driver's seat,Samie and Callie on the passenger's seat,while the others went to the back.There Michael saw a pile of boxes filled with clothes and cans.There was only two lines of seats on each side,which means they had to face each other,and by some bad omen,Belle sat infront of him.

This is going to be a looong ride.

"So this is the first time you got out of the city?"Michael asked them.

"Pretty much yeah,I never imagined to find someone as young as me surviving in that kind of environment,"Chenny replied.

"And that old cannibal,damn,"Jack said as he closed his eyes as he felt the chill in his spine.

"What about planting?"he asked them.

"Well,the soil isn't good enough,we tried all around the safe zone but there's no good quality soil anywhere,"Karl said.

"So the whole city is a safe zone?"Michael asked.

"No,actually it used to be,until Valentin declared war on us for no reason at all.He would counduct night raids and killed a dozen of our forces,so we decided to retreat behind the newly made concrete walls,with towers on every side,"Karl answered.

"They planned to train us teenagers to go outside those walls and find supplies when we were ready,but we all wanted to see what it looked like outside so we pleaded with Karl,"Samie explained.

They shared stories and experiences.There Michael found out that Valentin had been capturing men from the city who were out looking for supplies,them asking them for weaknesses of the safe zone.Suddenly,the truck halted with a screech,they looked upfront to see a bunch of cars piled infront of them.Michael got out followed by the others. Belle went infront of the car and stepped on a thin cable line,it snapped and a huge crash soon echoed around them,on both sides were cornfields,the plants were withering but still stood.A radio then played from one of the abandoned cars,then a combination of human like sounds echoed on both sides,gruntinf and growling as they passed through the cornfield.

Then an infected showed up from their left, Michael quickly swung the axe to save Karl,the blade went through the infected's neck as it fell to the ground.

"You guys better have something to hit then with other than those pistols right?"he asked them.

But they were silent.

Why the hell don't they atleast have bats?

Soon enough,more showed up,bloody from head to toe,and mud covering their feet.The survivors began firing,Michael didn't dare go for a melee kill because he might get shot.

They're wasting ammo.

Michael was thinking when Karl showed up with a sledge hammer.The others turned to look as they ran out of ammo while Michael and Karl took on the incoming infected on their own.The twins quickly got in the truck and came back with a pair of metal baseball bats to help,while the others shot at those that are still coming from the fields as the cornstalks get bent and crushed by the horde.Karl Michael was getting exhausted so they switched to their shotguns.They tool turns shooting, Michael emptied his magazine first then reloaded and Karl took his turn.When they ran out of bullets,they again switched to their melee weapons,the twins beside them,Jimmy and Jack followed suit with shovels.

Fifteen minutes of swinging and finally,the last infected fell to the ground,Karl crushed its head with the hammer as he let it fall on it.They were panting and sweating.

"Do you guys think we should investigate?"Jack asked.

"No,I think we should get out of here now," Jimmy replied.

"What do you think Michael?"asked the twins in unison as they high fived each other.

"Yeah,let's,take the girls with us,or something might happen to them,"he replied.

That was suspicious,a trap maybe?

Callie handed Michael the black pistol and Samie gave hers to Karl as they followed the tracks the horde came from.

"Shouldn't we go and check?"said a man in a passenger's seat.

"Nah,it always works,let's just wait here then go loot their dead bodies whenever we want,"the driver replied as he threw away his cigar.

Their sedan was parked at the side of the road, when turning left was meters away from the trap,it was dirty and missing its side mirrors.The driver grabbed a wine bottle from behind,then a pair of glasses as they laughed as they guessed on what they could find in their next targets.

"Man,I wish I could get my hands on a woman this time,"the man on the passenger seat said.

"They're all around you man,they're just dead haha!Besides,boss doesn't want any of us having relations with anyone,"the driver exclaimed.

"You know I'd really want a-"

He stuck his head out and was about to look back when a colt 45 met his cheek.

"What's wrong?"the other man said, but he too had a white pistol aimed at his head.

They tied them up as Michael and the others guarded them while Karl went to take the truck to where they are.

"What else is Valentin hiding?"Belle asked the two men,kneeling on the hot ground,who wouldn't respond.

"Okay,who's next?"she asked.

Michael got up and took out his gun,aimed it at one of them then shot his leg.He screamed in pain as he fell to the ground.Michael shot his last bullet at his leg,then put on another mag,bumped it to lock the clip in and pulled the slide.

"Answer me and I'll stop,"he said to the man who was still kneeling,his friend was screaming in pain beside him,but he kept quiet.

"Okay then,there's seven of 'em here,two goes in him and five in you,"Michael said as he shot two rounds in his friend's lungs,left then right,then choked on his own blood.

"Kill me,you're gettin nothin from me,"he proudly said.

Michael gave a nod and shot him at his leg,then another on his other leg.He too,dropped on the floor,yelling in pain.

"You've killed more than a dozen people with this trick of yours,I thought you won't scream since you've heard others do the same."

"Michael I think you're going overboard here,"Karl said.

Michael gave out a sigh then shot the man on his shoulder.

"I wonder,what if I tie you up on the truck then let you get chased and then watch you eaten by them piece by piece?"he asked him as he untied the rope from the dead man.

"Okay okay,I'll talk,"he finally muttered.

"Start by saying where his hideout is,"Karl said

"Hideout?He has atleast two or three,he keeps them to himself,no one else,"the man explained.

"Anything else?"Karl asked.

"For the past two years,we've hunted and collected a few hordes of those things,we handed them to him,along with his trusty sidekicks.That's it,that's all I know,"he said.

Karl let out a sigh,and looked at Michael,who nodded at him.

"This is for those you killed,"Karl said as he shot him at his heart,shocking the others.

"What was that for?"Samie asked.

"Didn't he already gave you what you needed?"Belled also asked.

Karl simply put the gun in his waist and headed for the truck,when he saw Michael pull their bodies into their car,he got back out while the others got in.

"What are you doing?"he asked him

Michael simply poured the alcohol on their dead bodies then gav Karl a lighter.

"Respect for the dead,and for your sister"he told Karl as he gave him a picture of him and his sister from the car,then got in the truck.

Karl remembered their conversation last night as the others fell asleep.He remembered telling his Michael the disapearance of his sister,he then ignited the lighter,sighed,then threw it in the car.An explosion occured as soon as he slammed the door,then flipped the key and the engine started.He drove the car through the road until they reached a bridge,a river with strong currents runs below it.On the bridge were a dozen men with guns,and a firetruck behind them at the right.

"It's us!"Karl yelled and the men put down their guns.

"None of you got infected?"one of the men asked.

"If there was,we wouldn't be here,"Karl replied.

"Welcome Michael,Callie,to the safezone,"he uttered.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***