Despite Troy's push to make things right with Blake and stop ignoring him, Cristine wasn't going to focus on that right now. She was going to give herself time. Hell, she could barely look her father, the mastermind, properly in the eye. No. She was going to focus on teaching the new recruits as much as she could. Bulldozing their way through the re-animated corpses swarming towards them, the group of four cut a tactical pathway as they moved. The very air they fought through hung heavy, dry and noisy. Wanting to clear this is as fast as she could, most of Cristine's swings were on target the very first time, machete in her left and a free right hand to push back bodies if needed. The heat was so thick that sweating had become obsolete, it ran warmly into her clothes, only achieving further dehydration. She didn't shudder like she did at the start when the inhuman groans from their drying and stiffened flesh was in range. The reanimated swarmed toward anything that was different from their hivemind. The rotting smell that permeated the air everywhere, like the very oxygen they breathed was an unrefrigerated meat locker, the nausea constant and never adaptable. The groping hands and gnashing jaws of the infected were a true horror story. Now? Clearing the dead had become as much as a routine as waking up, sharpening your blade and loading a gun.
"Hey, how long was that?" Troy asked Blake, panting and wiped the light sheen coating his face away. He took the lead in cutting down the infected. For him, it was a blessing to put his lifelong taught skills to good use while still having fun. The thrill left him craving for more, but he had to stay focused.
"Two minutes." Blake announced, smirking at the achievement of actually dealing with a small horde in such a small amount of time with just four people.
"A new record huh." He muttered more to himself, pleased with the length of action it took and rolled his improvised weapon in a forward swing. "Ah, it's a wonderful thing." He sighed blissfully. This was his calling. His purpose in life and the thing that leveled out whatever stress or other dark urges he had. The best thing was that there were no real consequences for whatever he did now, not from his father, Jake or anyone. The atmosphere was strangely... pacific and the quartet sheathed their weapons and strolled back in the direction of the recruits. Half of them were in awe, while the others didn't show their expression or were as excited as their fearless leader. Troy briefly analyzed the crowd's demeanor and was more than happy with their reactions. "Now, who can tell me why we didn't just take 'em out guns blazing? It would be quicker and less of hassle."
"To save the bullets." One of the recruits answered.
"Not necessarily, we have enough bullets here to last us a lifetime. Anyone else?" Troy looked around and waited for someone else to blurt out anything really.
"Too much sound." Cole said and casually planted his hands inside his pockets. "Not enough sport too." He said jokingly.
Troy smiled and tipped his head down, "what else?"
"Noise attracts them and if we're outside scouting or doing runs, we can't risk attracting a larger group of dead or the living for that matter. This needs to be done quietly and I guess it'll help us to kill a real life infected up close."
Troy took over the explanation from there on and confirmed most of Cole's answer. "That's right. It's no secret that the only way to kill an Infected is through the head." He tapped at the side of his head with and clarified, "aim for the temple, eye or brainstem. Anywhere that's soft and is able to penetrate the brain. If you hit the skull, your blade will skip off."
"Now everyone grab your silent weapon. We're going to do a little game to really put what you practiced to the test. We split up in groups of three so everyone gets a feel what you're working with before we move onto the real stuff." Troy split up the teams with each their respective captains and vice-captains. Troy was in charge of team 1 with Cristine as his vice-captain. Then followed team 2 under Blake's command with Jimmy as his vice-captain, and Coop commanded team 3 with Joe as his vice-captain. "We start from zero, the team with the most killed infected wins."
-
"It's Jake! Jake's back!" Madison, Nick, and Hailey jogged towards the gate. In the distance, under the merciless sun that all but bleached the rocks from decades of erosion, two figures in hiking gears moved along foot. Hailey squinted her eyes, trying to shield the sun to clear her vision and hoped that it was indeed Alicia that returned with Jake. When Hailey was about to take her shift over Alicia asked her a favor, a really dangerous favor, which she swore she wouldn't tell anyone.
~
"What?!"
"Keep your voice down!" Alicia whispered harshly to her friend before pulling her with her to a more secluded area, away from the infirmary and nosy ears. Hailey's brows scrunched together deeply and she jerked her arm aside, before crossing it under her chest, open confusion and disbelief on her face.
"I'm going after Jake. He doesn't know what he's gotten himself into," Alicia repeated, tone non-negotiable. After the news of the Trimbols... of Mike and Gretchen, tensions and emotions ran high. Hailey hadn't cried since the bodies were shown. She was just angry. Alicia could only listen to her friend's sobbing rants and furious vows of vengeance against Walker. It changed everything for Alicia too, who couldn't shake the feeling that something had happened to Jake.
"Jake didn't want anyone to know or stop him, I sure as hell couldn't convince him to let it go." Alicia brushed some loose strand behind her ears and sighed. "This changes things, Hailey. I'm worried about him."
"You don't think Walker's done something to him?" Hailey
"Maybe. Maybe not. We'd know. Just like we got to know with the Trimbols."
"But why now? Why wait?" Hailey asked, asking the right question that couldn't be answered but by the man who hade made their community's way of life hell.
Alicia shook her head. She knew one thing for sure and that was that this Walker was a dangerous man. A man who didn't mind killing families. "He killed Travis; my stepdad... I don't know Hailey. I'm tired of losing people. And we haven't heard back from Jake in a while."
"What about you?" Hailey interjected, trying to trickle reason into this insane plan. She shook her head, disagreeing with her friend and pointing out the clear risks involved. "You can't just go out alone like that. It's not safe out there. Walker will kill you."
"It's not safe if we wait like this either, not knowing anything." Alicia pressed on, unnaturally calm and sure of her decision. "I've seen worse out there."
"What about your mom? Nick? I'm not going to lie to them if they ask-"
"What if it was Mike?"
Hailey froze, surprised by Alicia's bold question that struck a nerve. A deep and shaky exhale later and the blonde twisted her lips into a scowl of suppressed anger. "That's not fair and you know it."
"You'd do the same," Alicia said.
"If he was alive, yeah, probably. Cristine would beat my ass, but I would... even if we weren't together anymore." Hailey sniffed and glanced at the dirt, shoulders slumping down and expression forlorn. "We talked... before he left. Said he was sorry and we made up. I wished him well and-" her voice shook and Hailey puffed out some air between her pouty lips, finding it hard to squeeze the words out. "I cared about him a lot. He didn't deserve it. Neither did Gretchen or their parents. They were good people."
"I know. I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that." Alicia planted her hands on her shoulders and rubbed her palms over their curves, comforting her and Hailey pulled her into a hug.
After the embrace, Hailey nodded and agree much to her friend's relief. "I'll cover for you, but I'm giving it two days tops and then I'll tell your family and the others."
~
"Where's Alicia?" Was Hailey's first question when realizing the woman next to Jake wasn't her friend, but a total and complete stranger.
This is a quite short chapter, but the events are moving with the training of the new recruits and surprise! Jake's back ;).
I'm also starting to like the Hailey x Alicia friendship. Don't quite know where I want to go with it, but just two girls around the same age being able to bond is really fun to write.
My mind is bursting with inspiration and since I'll be going on a break next week, I'm going to try to post another chapter today and hopefully one more tomorrow to compensate.