The 2

Chapter Two: Les Trois Musketeers

WARNING:

THIS BOOK CONTAINS EXTREME VIOLENCE, GORE, SEXUAL CONTENT, DRUG ABUSE, AND LANGUAGE. READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Tyson raised his hands above his head and stood up. Ashton's men had their guns trained on him. "Come over here." Said Ashton. Tyson slowly approached them. As he drew closer, he noticed that Ashton had a swastika tattooed on his neck. "He must be a Neon Nazi." Tyson thought to himself. Ashton put his arm around him and led him out the door. They began walking toward the trucks. "So, what the fuck were you doing here?" Asked Ashton. "Just looking for supplies." Tyson answered. Ashton raised his eyebrows. "So, you must have a group nearby right?" He asked. "Nope. It's just me." Tyson lied. Ashton looked unconvinced. One of Ashton's men opened the truck door and began pushing Tyson inside. Suddenly, they heard what sounded like a glass bottle shattering. Then one of the men started screaming in pain. They turned around to see someone engulfed in flames. "Holy shit!" One of the other men yelled. They aimed their guns forward. Another Molotov cocktail was thrown down from the roof of the store. It hit another one of the men. "Fuck! Get in the truck!" Ashton yelled. All of the men began scrambling into the three trucks parked on the street. A large bald man started pushing Tyson into a truck when an arrow went right through his eye. He fell onto the ground face first. They all drove away. Naona, CJ, and Kennedy ran out from the shrub they were hiding behind. "Who the fuck were those assholes?" Asked CJ urgently. Tyson didn't respond. He was staring up at the roof. The smell of burnt flesh filled his nose. Two girls and a boy climbed down from the store. CJ aimed his shotgun at them cautiously. "Woah. We just saved your friend's life." The boy said. The boy had brown hair that went to his shoulders. He looked sort of like a surfer. One of the girls had long blonde hair. The other had short brown hair. She also had braces which made Tyson nearly throw up. "Who are you guys?" Tyson asked. CJ lowered his shotgun. "I'm Nick." Said the boy. "That's Halle." He said, pointing to the blonde girl. "And that's Ella." He said, pointing to the other girl. "Thanks for saving us!" Kennedy said excitedly. "Yeah, anytime." Nick said. Suddenly, one of the burnt men on the ground started crawling toward Kennedy. It grabbed her leg and bit her ankle. She screamed in a high pitch. "Shit!" Nick exclaimed. The two girl's jaws dropped. CJ shotgunned it in the head. Then he shotgunned the other burnt body to make sure it didn't turn into a cuckster. Kennedy calmed down a little. "Oh my god! We have to amputate her leg!" Halle said urgently. "Nah, she's fine." Said Naona casually. "What do you mean she's fine?" Asked Ella. "She's immune." Tyson responded. "What! She's immune?" Halle said eagerly "We have to get her brain scanned! Do you have any idea what this could mean? We could reverse engineer a cure!" Everyone looked excited but skeptical as well. "Do any of us know how to do that?" Asked CJ. "Well, I was a nurse before the apocalypse. I could probably figure out some way of making a vaccine if we could get her a CT scan." Halle told them. "Well, where do we do that?" Asked Tyson. "There's a hospital about a mile from here. I'm sure it would be full of cucksters but I'll bet we find out what made her immune." Said Halle. The group considered this. For the first time in a long time, they were hopeful.

Tyson, CJ, Naona, Kennedy, and their new friends Nick, Halle, and Ella walked down the road toward the hospital. They had been walking for so long, and it didn't make it any easier that most of them were carrying bags of supplies with them. "I can't believe this. We might actually find a cure!" Ella said excitedly. "Yeah, who knew Kennedy would be the one to save the world?" Naona joked. Kennedy's lip began to quiver violently. "Okay, buddy." She said through tears. Finally, they arrived at the hospital. There was a large parking lot full of empty cars. A few cucksters roamed the area but the group just avoided them. They didn't want to waste any strength, as they knew the real danger would be inside. They stepped through the double glass doors at the front. There were a few cucksters in the waiting room and one behind the receptionist desk. "Alright, let's do this mothafuckas." Tyson said like a badass. They pulled out their knives and began stabbing cucksters in the head. The squishing sound made Tyson cum in his pants. A few cucksters started walking toward them down the hallway. CJ ran forward and tackled them like he was a football player. He stabbed them all in the heads aggressively. "What floor do you think the CT machines will be on?" Asked Tyson. "Probably up one level." Halle answered. They were all covered in blood as they walked down the white hallway. The hospital smelled of rubbing alcohol and vomit. They stabbed a few cucksters along the way as they made their way to the stairs. They walked up the staircase when a cuckster fell down the stairs. "Fuck!" CJ yelled. Nick shit his pants. The cuckster slid down the stairs head first. Kennedy tripped over it. It got on top of her and nearly bit her throat but Naona stabbed it in the head. "Thanks." Said Kennedy, standing up and dusting herself off. They continued up the stairs and through the hall of the second floor. A few cucksters roamed the hallway. Some were wearing doctor coats, some were wearing hospital gowns, some were completely naked which made Tyson cum again. They stabbed them in the heads and then Halle led them into a room with a large machine in it. "Okay, here it is. Let's see if this thing still works." She said. She fumbled around with the machine until she finally got it to turn on. "Epic!" Nick exclaimed. Kennedy laid down inside the machine. Halle pressed a button and it started making a low humming noise. After a little while, Halle said she could get out. They all gathered around the computer as the images of Kennedy's brain downloaded. "Holy shit." Halle whispered. In the pictures, Kennedy's brain had a large mold around it. "What the fuck is that thing?" Asked Naona. Halle looked shocked. "It seems like some kind of fungal plate has grown around her brain." Halle said, staring at the screen. "What does that mean? Like mushrooms?" Asked Tyson. "Yeah. Maybe the virus started with spores of some kind." Halle guessed. "So, you're saying that some kind of poisonous mushroom started the virus?" Asked CJ. "Have you ever heard of the cordyceps brain infection?" Asked Halle. "No." Everyone else in the group said in unison. "Well, there's this fungi called the cordyceps. It essentially possesses insects like ants and such to find a good spot for the fungi to reproduce." Halle told them. "So it's like mind control?" Asked Nick. "Sorta, yeah. But the scary part is that the ant is conscious the whole time. It can't control it's body but it knows what's happening as the fungi rips through it's body and grows into more mushrooms." Said Halle. "Fuck..." Tyson mumbled. "So, I think that virus somehow spread to humans." Halle said. "So do you think you can make a cure?" Asked Kennedy. "I don't know. But I'll try." Said Halle.