"No mistake is a minor or major one until it costs someone their life."
The group ran into the second bases yard. Anthony set Kaylie down. Travis found the keys and unlocked the door. They stepped inside and ditched the bags immediately.
"Okay. We should probably do a roll call to make sure we didn't lose anyone," Darcie said to Travis.
"You're right. Darcie, can you deal with that?"
"Yup."
She counted everyone in the room and noticed they were one short. She checked names and realized Levi wasn't there.
"Hey. Did Levi ever come out of the basement?" Darcie asked her brother.
"I counted him beforehand."
"The door to the basement was shut. Levi was never with us," Kaylie said.
"Travis? Are you sure you counted Levi or did you count Leo twice in a panic?" Darcie asked.
Travis dropped the bag he was holding.
"Fuck," he muttered.
Darcie's jaw dropped.
"You fucking idiot!" Leo yelled. "We don't even look the same!"
"Black hair and light eyes, your blue tints from your eyes in his hair, pale skin, and your names are almost the same," Dawson pointed out.
"For fuck's sake. We have to go back!" Kaylie yelled.
Everyone looked at the small child.
"What? I spend too much time with Hunter, Levi, and Darcie. I know all of the swears."
"What about-"
Anthony put his hand over Darcie's mouth before she taught the child a new swear word.
"She already knows it so you don't need to repeat it."
Darcie sent her elbow into Anthony's ribs and he removed his hand.
"But we should go back," Dawson said.
"Probably. If the door's shut, he might have a few minutes. Besides, the walkers will fall down the stairs which will give him even more of a fighting chance," Travis reasoned.
"You sound like you don't want to go back," Darcie pointed out to her brother.
"Let's go damn it!" Kaylie yelled.
She was standing over by the door.
"Follow the pissed off child!" Leo said.
"Leo," Darcie warned.
Kaylie started running off the yard.
"Shit. Get the kid!" Dawson yelled.
He started running and was soon followed by Anthony and Leo.
"Ladies first." Darcie joked.
Travis rolled his eyes and ran after the others, Darcie close behind.
"Anyone catch Kaylie yet?" Darcie yelled at the males leading the pact.
At the lack of an answer, she picked up her pace and plucked Kaylie right off of her feet. Once the child was in her arms, she stopped running. The boys kept running towards the base though.
"Kid, you can't run off like that. The last time you did something like this, you got badly hurt and almost died. If we lose you, Levi will have our heads."
Kaylie crossed her arms and glared at a tree.
"Can we just go and find Levi?" the child asked.
Darcie headed toward the base.
When the girls got there, they saw the guys standing on the deck, staring at the open door.
"Either we were raided the moment we left, or Levi got out," Travis said.
Darcie set Kaylie down. The child went over to the door and listened.
"Or something else got in," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Walkers?"
Kaylie backed up, fear on her face. When her back came in contact with Darcie, she stopped and the older girl wrapped her arms around the child to protect her. A tall military walker walked through the door.
"It's Will," Kaylie said.
Darcie released the child and was about to shoot, but Kaylie put her hand up to tell her not to.
"You can't shoot him. He's got a helmet on. That makes them almost impossible to kill with a gun," Kaylie said.
"Then what do we do?" Dawson asked.
Kaylie took out her handgun. She aimed up at Will's head.
"He's not Will anymore. Will went to Heaven," Kaylie mumbled before she shot him in the head, from in between the chinstrap of the helmet and his neck.
The walker crumpled and even more sounds came from inside. Three other military walkers came out. None of them with a helmet on so the others shot those ones.
"Let's go see if Levi was able to hide," Travis said.
The group filed into the base and called Levi's name.
"Levi! Where are you?" Leo yelled.
"He's not in the basement!" Dawson said when he came back up the stairs.
"Levi!" Anthony yelled.
"Holy fucking shit!" Darcie yelled.
"What is it Darcie?" Travis yelled.
"I think I found Levi," Darcie said. "Keyword there is think."
The group came into the room Darcie was. They saw something standing on the other side of the room. It turned around.
"Shit," Anthony said.
Levi stood at the other side of the room. His torso was torn to shreds, his arms and legs were torn, and he was missing one arm. Kaylie saw it lying to the far left of the room.
"He was torn to shreds," Dawson muttered.
Levi's zombie seemed to know something.
"He knows he can't walk because of those legs," Kaylie said.
"He's a walker! How does he know anything?" Travis asked.
"Because he's Levi's walker! Levi was smarter than you think," Kaylie said.
"Look at his eyes. They are different from the other walkers," Darcie said.
The walkers eyes had been glowing red. Levi's were glowing grey.
"Will's had been blue green," Kaylie said.
"Are new walkers eyes like that?" Anthony asked.
"Screamer eyes are usually brown," Darcie said, remembering the glowing eyes of the screamers in the infestation.
"Crawlers have black eyes," Dawson said.
"Special walkers? Special walkers have different coloured eyes?" Leo asked.
Levi's walker roared. It wasn't loud but it spooked the group. It tried to come forward but the legs gave out and he collapsed. Darcie looked over to Kaylie.
"Hey Kiddo. We should go make sure there are no walkers anywhere else in the house," Darcie suggested.
Travis gave his sister a look but she nodded towards Levi then pointed at Kaylie. She knew it would be tragic for the little girl to see her brother die, human or walker form. She lead the little girl out of the room and look back at the boys, giving them a nod.
"Who's going to do it?" Travis asked.
"If only Hunter was still alive. That would make all of this a whole lot easier," Dawson sighed. "Fucking heartless bastard."
"If Hunter were still alive, I'm sure all of us would be alive," Leo said, motioning to Levi's walker trying to get to them.
"I'll do it," Anthony volunteered. "I have the least connection with him. It wouldn't be as personal."
Anthony pulled out a handgun. He cocked the gun and aimed at Levi's head. He shot. The walker went still.
"We should go bury him," Leo said.
Dawson went over and picked up their dead teammate. He carried Levi out of the room. Kaylie came running over and hid on the other side of Dawson.
"Levi said he wanted to be buried in his hometown. He wouldn't like it if we buried him here," she said.
"Kid, we just need to get the walker body out of the base," Dawson explained.
"But he isn't a walker," Kaylie argued.
"Kaylie Michelle Ackermen!" Darcie yelled.
"She's in here," Leo called.
Kaylie sent a death glare to the older male as Darcie came into the room.
"Well people need to go back and grab the shit from the backup base. Darcie, Dawson, Leo, can you three handle that?" Travis asked.
The three nodded. Kaylie ran and hid behind Travis as Darcie, Leo, and Dawson grabbed guns before leaving the base.
"Dawson! You forgot the dead body!" Anthony called after the blonde.
"Someone else can deal with it!"
Anthony shook his head at the blonde's running form.
A huge bull elk stood in a small clearing. He grazed on the low shrubs. He raised his head and sniffed.
Death was in the air.
The bull gave a cry and took off at full speeds. A zombie with a blood stained hoodie and glowing blue eyes ran right behind it. The elk called again. The sprinter roared. It was a loud roar that echoed through the forest. The elk tried to pick up speed, but the sprinter was only a few steps behind it, not running at its full speed. The elks herd was up ahead. It cried again and the herd all scattered. The sprinter jumped onto the Bull's back. It started to tear apart the back. The elk collapsed, screaming in terror.
The sprinter snapped the elk's neck, and let out a loud roar.