All the inhabitants of the bunker assembled in base control. Even Shelia was there, waiting for instructions from Zack. A constant chatter echoed through the room.
Joe had already handed out packs and weapons. Even Neil had a weapon.
Tammy was watching Shelia, a frown on her face, her blue eyes squinted in anger. She didn't want Shelia to come with them.
"Attention, everyone!" Zack called. "We are about to leave the safety of the bunker. You all voted to leave, so we plan to do that. We must get through three towns to get to the entrance the map shows. As you now know, Shelia will be coming with us. She can help decipher code images on the way if we encounter any. There will be no buildings to hide in, making us out in the open the entire time. Does anyone have anything to say before we head out?" he asked everyone, scanning the room.
"Why is she coming?" Tammy spat, emphasizing 'she' and giving Shelia a dirty look, disgust on her face.
Joe crossed his arms, looking at Tammy evenly. "She's coming because she asked to come, and Zack and I think it's a good idea. They will give her a truth serum if she returns to find out where we went. She also wants to help us," he explained to Tammy, his eyebrows raised, waiting for a challenge.
"She hasn't even seen the map!" Tammy shot back.
"She doesn't want to see it in case she gets injected with truth serum," Zack told her.
Neil timidly raised his hand like he was in school.
Zack looked over at him. "Yeah, Neil?" he asked.
"What do we do if we run out of food?" he asked.
"We don't know," Joe answered for him. "We don't know what's out there right now. We've been in here since the day we were invaded. The last time we left was when we found you," he told Neil. "If you remember, there were no buildings left. Nothing is out there except danger."
Tracy and Alice; Joe and Jamie's girlfriends, walked over to them, tears streaming down their faces. The fear was getting to them, but they didn't want to stay either.
Zack's twin, Carrie, stood beside her brother, watching their friends. She kept glancing at Tammy, the only one hostile toward Shelia.
Carrie was in full support of her brother's decision. He had enlisted Joe as a co-leader of the group, and both men trusted Shelia.
Zack scanned his friends. "This is your last opportunity to revote if you have changed your mind. Do we need to revote?" he asked.
Everyone shook their heads.
"Then grab your gear and let's start heading out," he ordered.
Zack went around turning off lights and ensuring everything was shut off that needed it, and everything that needed to stay on did.
He was the last one, ensuring everything was locked up tight and secured.
They walked slowly through the tunnel and up through the ruins of their former home.
Everyone who hadn't seen the town after the attack gasped in shock when they saw the entire town flat. There wasn't even movement in the distance like the last time they were out. It was like they were thrown into a post-apocalyptic world, which in a way, it was.
Joe led the way, following the map, snaking his way through the ruins of nearby houses and other buildings heading to the edge of town. The highway toward the next town they needed to go through was clear on the opposite side of town from where they were currently located.
Shelia stuck close to either Zack or Joe, the two who were the least hostile.
They didn't run into anyone or anything the entire way toward the outskirts of the ruins of their town. But, once they crossed the outskirts of town and the fallen sign declaring the town's welcome and the population, they felt like they were being followed.
Jamie was in the back of the group and was the first one to notice. Slowly, making his way to the front of the group where Zack and Joe were, he whispered to each of his friends to discreetly have the weapons ready; they were being followed.
They all complied as he passed them. Then, reaching their two leaders, he walked between them. "We're being followed," he whispered.
"Did you see by who?" Zack asked him, scanning the surrounding area discreetly. He didn't want their tail to know they knew they were there.
Zack looked at Joe. "You stay in the lead. I'll head to the back with Jamie. Keep Neil and the girls in the middle," he ordered.
Joe nodded in agreement, still walking forward, following the path the map was leading them.
Zack walked back to the end of the line with Jaime, preparing for battle. Once he was at the tail of the group, he scanned as they walked.
Suddenly, he noticed Sheila sniff the air, fear radiating off her features. She became tense, then rushed toward him, her green-tinted skin paler than normal.
"Zack, I smell tainted humans," she said, scanning the area nervously.
Zack looked up at her. "Any chance you can tell how many?" he asked, hopeful.
Shelia shook her head, still scanning the area herself. Worried they would be ambushed by the zombies who were stocking them.
"Walk up front, tell everyone quietly to prepare for zombies to attack. Tell them to be ready for an ambush," he ordered her quietly.
Nodding, she turned around, making her way back up to the front of the line of friends, telling them what Zack wanted her to do as she went.
Hours passed, and their trackers weren't showing themselves. Then suddenly, as if they came out of nowhere, they were surrounded by a dozen of them. All humans with green-tinted skin and sharp pointy, green-tinted teeth. Their eyes were dark green, like tea-fermented eggs. They were all grinning, saliva dripping from their sharp teeth.
As a unit, the eight friends and Shelia unholstered their blasters and aimed for the face and necks of the zombies. Their green-tinted attackers sped forward. They were much faster than they had realized. Their transformation was making their movements enhanced.
Joe, Zack, Carrie, and Shelia, the only ones hitting their targets, shot in rapid-fire, trying to make up for the others' lack of skill. Every once in a while, one of them would hit their target but not very often.
Their blasts hit the zombies in the face and neck, blowing heads off of their green-tinted shoulders. The decapitated heads fell to the ground with a soft thud.
One of the zombies made it past the group, attacking Tammy as she tried to fight him off. It took a bite out of her shoulder, blood pouring to the dirt below, the zombie grinning, Tammy's blood dripping from his green-tinted mouth.
Shelia seeing the attack, shot her blaster at the zombie, aiming for the neck to sever its head. Hitting the mark, his head blew away from his body, both head and body falling in separate directions.
They continued shooting until the last zombie was dead.
Everyone scanned themselves, looking for scratches or bites. The only one who had any was Tammy, who was turning pale from blood loss.
Tammy suddenly moaned, falling to the ground, taking her last breath. Zack walked over, lips tight felt for a pulse. He didn't feel one. He made sure everyone felt her for one, also, just to be sure she was really dead. When they were satisfied there was none, Zack aimed his blaster and shot, severing her head to make sure she didn't turn into a zombie.
Straight-faced and exhausted, they took Tammy's pack and weapons and continued on the road leading to the first town they needed to get through. None of them said a word as they continued to their destination.
They hadn't even spent one night outside, and they had already lost one of their group.