"You're pardoned by the State of California, see that pretty girl with the blonde hair? Her name is Sophia. Go talk to her, she'll tell you the score 'n shit." Marshall said, talking to him through the opened window. He stepped back, opening the door for Conell to step out.

Conell couldn't contain his laughter when he heard Marshall's words, the coincidence was a hilarious one. Though he did hope it was just a coincidence. Still, it was pretty damn funny.

“Damn straight.” Conell smiled, stepping out of the truck. “Thank you good sir.” Conell spoke in a mock posh accent as he closed the vehicles door behind him.

Sliding his MP5 around to his back Conell made his way over to the young lady of whom he had been directed, doing his best to ignore the emotion and general trauma everyone else there seemed to be suffering through. Trauma and pain had been his life. Somehow though that made him even less comfortable with it. Now he just brushed it off. It seemed like that was all there was to do with it. Pain was just something to get through and often times it was quite fun to be honest, at least if the fight was a good one. Trauma though... Trauma was almost completely foreign. Something other people went through sometimes. Maybe during the process of becoming so emotionally disconnected over the years he had slowly lost the ability to acknowledge such mental pain. Who the hell knew. He certainly fucking didn't, and neither did the shrink pricks he had to see every now and then all throughout his young life... Young life. He was only twenty. He was still young.

Reaching the girl who was indeed pretty and did indeed have blonde hair Conell stopped, raising an eyebrow as he looked into her still pain filled eyes. Great, more emotion. Now probably wasn't the greatest time for her to be making choices. Or maybe it was. They had just lost manpower after all, maybe they needed a kid with a couple of psychopathic traits right about now.

“Ello darling, you must be Sophia. I'm Conell. So, what is, how did he put it, “the score 'n shit?”.” Conell spoke, smirking.

"No god damn it!"

Leonardo stood upon the brink of Camp Pendleton, he had been too damn late to make it back, his recon his want to protect this base, everything was now going to hell and there was nothing he could do. Leonardo slowly removed the Hitachi from his back and took it in his hand, there was not much he could do now but he was not going to turn tail and run not if he could help some of these people to survive at least another ten minutes. Leonardo took off in a full sprint, the entire base was being overrun from almost every side, he needed and entry point and he needed it now. He scanned each section of fence for any holes he could slip in, but it seemed like there were barely any he would ever make it too, the horde of infected were everywhere. As Leonardo neared the section of fence the infected were pouring through like a damn wave of water, he could hear the screams from inside the base, and could see the soldiers were abandoning their posts trying desperately to escape the turmoil that was erupting all over the Camp.

"Come on I just need and entry point..."

Leonardo kept scanning until he finally spotted a weak section of fence that was trampled, the infected were slim pickings around the section and that would be his way in now. Leonardo changed his direction and ran straight for the weak section of fence. Reaching down he pulled the Beretta from its holster at his side, pulling off a couple shots the bullets quickly found their marks as the nearest infected fell in a cascade of blood and brain matter. Leonardo heightened his speed as a couple infected tried to reach for him, he pulled away hard as he reached the section of fence and in one hard leap he jumped the broken down peice of fence and got himself into the Camp, swinging the sword he quickly sliced an infected woman straight in the neck, her head slowly fell to the ground as he body followed with it. Leonardo was breathing hard, he was not used to that kind of running anymore and he damn well knew it. All around him the entire place was in turmoil, he had to find the Major, he had to know his old friend was okay.

"John!"

Leonardo screamed but it would be fruitless, the hell that was taking Pendleton would quickly stifle any attempts he made to find his friend. Leonardo caught a couple more breaths of air and took off in the direction of Johns tent. As Leonardo ran bodies littered the ground on both sides of his, people on top of people, eating each other, it was the same as the other camps, the only difference was that Leonardo had someone to lose at this one. Leonardo ran past many infected who were feasting on corpses too busy eating to pay him any attention, upon reaching Johns tent Leonardo quickly came to the flap and came in quickly looking around the small area. It was empty, damn it the tent was empty... Leonardo had been stupid to think John would be here it was obvious he would not be hiding in his tent. Leonardo cursed under his breath and ran back outside the tent, he was surprised when he ran into a young boy knocking him down to the ground hard. The boy tumbled back in fright almost immediately and tried to back away unknowing that he was backing right into a infected man.

"Look out boy!"

Leonardo pulled the Beretta up and pulled off a shot striking the infected in the head splattering blood all over the young boys back. The boy yelped in fright as he quickly turned and back away he was trying desperately just to get away from the hell that was all over the place. Leonardo quickly came over to him and pulled him up to his feet, a group of infected were coming towards them now hearing the gun shot.

"Come on kid we gotta move now!"

The kid was scared out of his mind, that was obvious but he quickly looked back and then back at Leonardo with a look of desperation, for the man before him to help him to survive. Leonardo took the kids hand and quickly pulled him off in the opposite direction, they quickly put the infected behind... for now but they were far from being safe and Leonardo knew that all to well. As Leonardo changed direction he could see the airstrip in the distance and he could see large crowd of people that were still alive struggling and trying to escape the doomed camp on the last air craft leaving, in the background Leonardo could see the infected making their way from the back fence. There was no way John would be over there he was smarter then that. Leonardo pulled the kids hand to get him moving but he felt the tug and quickly looked back, the boy was breathing hard now, the small amount of running had been too much for him at such a quick pace.

"Come on kid we gotta keep moving."

"I can't.... can't breath... Asthma..."

Leonardo instantly caught on now, the boy had a lung condition which did not bode well, the stress alone was going to kill him, Leonardo had to do something to get this boy to calm down enough to fight his closing wind pipe. Leonardo quickly holstered his Beretta and bent forward picking the boy up with a grunt and quickly put him over his back.

"Wrap your arms around my neck kid, I don't want you to worry I am gonna keep you safe, just hold on and try to calm down its gonna be all right."

Leonardo took the sword in one hand and put his free hand on the boys leg that was now wrapped around his waist and took off in a sprint, the boy was not light weight for sure but Leonardo would stifle it for now. Leonardo ran onto the small strip of the base and turned his back away from the many civilians struggling to board the air craft, going over there would mean certain death, he would regret not trying to help, but he knew that no one was going to listen their fear would out win the day now... Leonardo knew this well he had seen it more then once. Leonardo quickly ran to a more abandoned part of the base to get away from the mass turmoil slowing down he breathed hard, catching his breath, that was when he heard the weak call out of his name, slowly turning Leonardo saw John laying on the ground in the distance, he was laying against and over turned humvee, quickly Leonardo turned and went to him. Slowly setting the boy down beside him Leonardo quickly looked over his friends, and saw the bite mark on his neck and his heart quickly sank.

Leonardo quickly pressed his hand against Johns neck to try and keep the blood pressure from dropping anymore, but even if he could stop it he knew that it was too late. As the pain in Leonardos chest started to rise he looked at John who looked back weakly.

"You... made it... back... was hoping... to see that ugly... mug one...one more time."

"Your gonna be ok John, your ex wife has bitten you worse then this out of anger, you remember... when you had that girl at your house and she walked in and bit you in the neck to try and kill you..."

John weakly smiled as he no doubt recounted the memory, slowly raising his hand he put it on Leonardos shoulder and squeezed it gently as he coughed hard and blood spurted from his mouth.

"I'm dieing Leo I tried... but I couldn't stop it from...couldnt stop it... I failed."

Leonardo put his hand on Johns hand and squeezed it tightly, Leonardo was fighting back the tears that were stemming at the base of his eye's the sinking feeling in his stomach was putting knots everywhere.

"You didn't fail John, you didn't fail, don't say that to yourself... it was an impossible situation and you gave your all..."

Leonardo choked up a bit and stopped speaking, he didn't know what to say, he felt the pain piercing his heart and it hurt so bad, a pain he had not felt since his wife died, he tried so hard to keep it at bay but he was no longer able too. Feeling Johns grip slightly weaken Leonardo looked in his eyes trying to find any words to say but none were coming too him as tears fell down his cheeks now.

"Leo... do me a favor... I don't want to be one of those things... an i can't... take my own life...i'm scared..."

"John... I can't... I can't do that your my only friend in the world, I can't..."

"Leo do you remember when we were in that POW camp together, how they tortured us day in and day out? An we made a pact that if we could never escape those walls together then the other would... would... end the others life out of.... respect? I don't wanna die... but I... don't wanna be one of them... things out there... please Leo... please..."

Leonardo closed his eyes hard as the tears dripped from his cheeks, the situation was almost surreal to him, in his head he just wanted this to be a bad dream, and he would wake up in a bed somewhere and life would be the way it was before. But Leonardo could not trick himself into believing that, he wanted so much to believe it, but he could not do it not even now that his best friend was going to die. Slowly Leonardo pulled the Colt 45 from Johns holster, looking at the metal in his hand he wanted to throw it as far away as possible... but he would respect John's wishes... he would not let John die in vain.

"I love you my brother, you saved me from that POW camp, you didn't leave me, and because of that I will respect your final wishes. It was an honor to be your friend and your brother in arms, and I swear to you I won't let your death be in vain... I swear it my friend."

"Good bye Leo, I hope we meet again in a better place... some day..."

As John closed his eye's Leonardo slowly raised the gun and pointed it at Johns head, slowly pulling the trigger back the hammer slowly went back and in one flash of the barrel... John and the man he was... was gone. Leonardo let the gun fall to the ground, he wanted to scream as loud as he could. to pound the ground, to just die right then and there. But he woudn't do it, he had to live on if not for himself then for the people he lost and cared about. Slowly turning his head the young boy was near by, tears were rolling down his cheeks, even in his fright the scene that had just unfolded had saddened him. Slowly Leonardo pulled the boy to him and slowly stood up.

"Come on we gotta go, the infected will have heard that shot, there is no more reason for me to be here..."

With that Leonardo turned and picked the boy back up and placed him on his back, turned back he slowly saluted his old friend and then took off in the opposite direction.

A few feet away, A woman could be seen fighting off two of the walkers with a backpack. She defensively shuffled to the side, as to not get backed into a corner. Lt. John Hartstock saw that it was his wife’s friend Tracy, but his son was not with her.
John took aim and fired two carefully aimed shots into the heads of the two walkers attacking the woman. Pink mist filled the air and the walkers fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Tracy looked up and met John’s stern gaze.

“Where’s my son!” John growled.
Tracy’s eyes were wide with excitement. “The Marines took him and put him the helicopter. I knew he would be safer with them.”
John shifted his gaze to the last remaining Super Stallion. Its rotors were already spinning violently, and the last of the Marines could be seen running up the loading ramp. John shot out at a full-on sprint towards the aircraft, frantically waving his hands in the air as he ran.

“Hey! Wait! My son’s in there!” John screamed, but his voice was drowned out by the deafening WUP WUP WUP of the rotors. Before he could get any closer, the Stallion took off and lifted up into the night sky. John’s heart sank. He lowered his hands and dropped to his knees in absolute frustration and anguish. Gunnery Sergeant Shull caught up and knelt down beside him. Screams of the remaining civilians could be heard from behind them, in addition to the mad howls and roars of the walkers.

“Sir, we need to move. Come on, get up.” The Gunny helped John to his feet and placed his arm around him. “We’ll find your boy. I promise we will.”
John and Shull made their way back to their Humvee, which wasn’t very hard to find. Private Barns had been busy creating a symphony of destruction with the .50 caliber machine gun mounted on top of the vehicle. The Humvee rocked back and forth to the recoil of the gun. Barns was having a good time.

BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM!

“Yeah! Get some! Motherfu---“ BLAM “…ckers!” BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM! “Woooo!” Barns exclaimed. This was the most John had ever heard him speak.
Upon their return, John and the Gunny jumped back in the Humvee and hurriedly slammed the doors behind them. Sykes hit the gas and the Humvee started to move. As their Humvee coasted forward, a woman darted in front of the vehicle and desperately held her hands out to try to stop them. It was Tracy. She was so bruised and bloodied, it was obvious that she had been infected.

“Get out of the way!” John yelled from inside the vehicle.

“Please!” Tracy cried, “Let me come with you!”

“There’s no room!” John hollered back.

“Please John!” Tracy limped forward.
At this point the walkers that surrounded them were approaching and getting closer. John looked over to his driver and made eye contact. Sykes tightly gripped the steering wheel and looked back at him anxiously. “Punch it, Sykes!” John ordered. The Humvee bolted forward and rolled over Tracy where she stood. Blood splattered the windshield and her agonizing scream was silenced by the bump of the second wheel.
It was at that moment that John realized something inside of him had changed. The sound of the wheels crushing the body of poor Tracy led John to admit one irrefutable fact about himself. He was going to stop at nothing to find his son and keep him safe.

Zachary walked along the road, towards the overturned bus, his baseball bat resting on his shoulder. There was a distinct stench of death and decay floating about the air as he got closer. Then, the first body became visible. The bus driver. He had bite marks all over his body and one single gunshot wound to his right temple. Zachary grimaced at the sight and readied himself with the bat, holding it with both hands just in case any walkers were lurking nearby. He rounded the bus and a horrid sight met his eyes. Corpses were sprawled about all over the place. Some had bite wounds, some had gunshot wounds and some had both. Blood ran through the cracks on the floor, and the ground around the bus was more blood than tarmac.

He sighed as he crouched down to the nearest dead body. A woman, no older than thirty. She had a bite wound in her throat, and it was pretty deep. Zachary bit his tongue before running his hands through her pockets. He kept telling himself that it was survival of the fittest and she wouldn't need to use anything in her current state. He punched the floor lightly since he didn't find anything and decided to move onto the next one. That's when he heard the growling coming from behind him.

Zachary span around, bat raised, to see three walkers shuffling their way towards him. There was about two and a half metres between them. That's when he noticed that more were crawling out from the wreckage of the bus, all the while groaning and moaning. Zachary turned to run, but tripped over another corpse that was just awaking. He decided it was time to go loud as he retrieved the pistol from his waist. Zachary levelled the barrel with the head of the walker who's lap he'd fallen into and pulled the trigger once.

BLAM.

The walker's head jerked backwards with as the bullet entered through it's right eye and out the back of it's head. It's body fell back against the bus, like it was leaning against it, although it's brain was hanging out the back of it's head and was lopsided. Zachary scrambled up to his feet and saw the walker group was growing as it numbered around nine or ten from it's original three. Zachary panicked, aimed the firearm at the walkers and fired off a further three rounds.

BLAM. BLAM. BLAM.

One hit a walker straight in the middle of it's forehead, killing it instantly, whereas the other two went stray and hit two other walker's in their arm and chest respectively. Zachary rounded the bus yet again and made a beeline for his car. He yanked the door open and dived straight in as a walker reached him and banged on the front of the vehicle. Zachary slammed his door and fumbled to get the engine on before putting the car in reverse and pulling away right as the rest of the walker group reached his car. His heart was beating so he thought of the only thing to calm him down. The radio. He switched it on and was met with a different message. "All residents of Los Angeles are instructed to make their way to Camp Pendleton for immediate evacuation. If you can not make the journey, barricade your homes and military forces will rescue you within the coming weeks." Zachary grinned as he switched the radio off, knowing he had a new plan.

Leonardo was livid when he reached the Humvee he opened the door silently as he looked inside back and front, there was no one in it motioning for the boy to get in the kid followed instructions and quickly jumped in through the passenger door and got in the passenger seat buckling himself in. Smart kid.... that was all that ran through Leonardo's mind as he pulled down the visor of the vehicle and the keys plopped out, he caught them in his hand as he started the vehicle, the vehicle had a good 3/4s tank of gas, more then enough to get the hell out of this place. Looking around Leonardo saw no infected around, they were all concentrating on the air strip where all the people had flocked too, fools all of them, this is what happened when people panicked, they didn't think they just.... did things and Leonardo could do nothing about it. Pulling back the throttle Leonardo put the humvee into drive and pulled out of the spot. Pulling off in a screech and a bunch of smoke Leonardo gunned the vehicle and went straight for the front entrance. Slowly looking in the rear view mirror he could see the infected in the distance, they had already infected most of the people who tried to escape, wiping his forehead Leonardo looked at the young boy and spoke.

"Hang on tight kid"

Leonardo then turned the wheel hard and made a complete half turn with a loud squeal of the tires and then pressed the gas pedal to the floor and went straight in the direction of the large horde of infected. As Leonardo speed forward for a split second he saw another Humvee pass him by, the people inside he did not know but he caught an old mans eye for a split second before they passed each other and he was out of sight, putting his eye's back ahead of him Leonardo came up on the large group of infected quickly and then with a quick turn of the wheel he turned the Humvee in another loud squeal of the tires, the back of the Humvee now in front of the infected Leonardo quickly climbed up and opened the panel to the 50. cal on top of the Humvee and put his body through. Leonardo slowly put his finger to the trigger as he checked the ammo feed and then with no remorse he pulled the trigger back full throttle and began to fire into the crowd of infected.

"This is for John you mother fuckers!!!!!!"

The 50. cal tore through the infected like a hot knife tore through butter, infected were cut in half in mere seconds as the stream of bullets ripped through their bodies and hit more infected behind them. Leonardo kept his finger on the trigger as seconds turned to minutes he never let up as he kept shooting more an more infected down, he was pissed that was obvious, this went on for minutes before the 50. cal ran out of bullets. Leonardo was breathing hard as he saw the bodies on the ground and the strip now looked like the blood pool of hell. Leonardo just sneered as more infected were already taking the place of the dead ones, slipping down back into the drivers seat Leonardo put on his own seat belt and gunned the vehicle once more and in a squeal and cloud of smoke he left the infected behind him. In moments Leonardo smashed through what remained of the front fence and hit the main road out of Camp Pendleton. The Camp quickly became small and soon enough it was out of sight as Leonardo looked in the mirror one last time before tearing it off the windshield in frustration and throwing it in the back. Looking over the young boy was sitting silently looking between Leonardo and the middle of the seats, sighing Leonardo put his hand on the boys shoulder.

"We will be all right kid, we will make it, don't worry..."

Leonardo spoke to the boy reassuringly even though at that point he did not believe his own words. In fact at that point he did not even care if the world was ever the same again. There was nothing left for him now and that was a fact he could not deny.

Katelyn looked up at Autumn and listened to his speech and smiled softly making it slightly better, she looked back at Ashley again and lightly ruffled her hair. "I'll take care of you alright?" She said softly, Katelyn looked at her older sister as Marshall directed the newer guys towards her and wondered if she was okay with making the decisions for the group. Maria's eyes looked a Conell as he got out of the pickup truck just the look of him made her not trust him at all but she didn't say anything then her eyes went to look at Bryan in the LAPD police cruiser wondering what he had planned either joining the group.

Sophia shrugged slightly it was Marshall's decision to bury Luke's body either way he would like it. "Yeah I've dealt with fans before to be honest I don't think i'd be a good leader but I guess we can for now." Sophia said watching Marshall walking back towards the pickup and Conell approaching her and smiled softly wiping the tears away from her face quickly regaining her composure. "Your allowed to stay with us, regardless of whatever your past is I don't care." Sophia then gestured towards her sister Ash Autumn and Marshall. "However if you betray us then we will kick you out on the spot." Sophia then pointed to Katelyn. "And my sister over there she is the closest person I have left, so if you do hurt her or do anything funny I will shoot you personally." Sophia said in a serious tone and then leaned herself up against the hood of the pilot. "Other then that pull your own weight in the group and that's it." Sophia said and looked towards the others again.

"Grab what you guys can from the cars and whatever gas is left in the tanks try and take it out if its not empty, we will leave in thirty minutes then we are going to go to Marshall's place." Sophia said looking back at Conell again. "Welcome to the group."

"Your allowed to stay with us, regardless of whatever your past is I don't care."

“Thank you.” Conell spoke, smiling. That was rather easy. Maybe these people were still trusting after all. Though it was definitely debatable on whether or not that was a good thing. For now it was though, for him at least. He wondered briefly whether the latter part was genuine. Did she really not care? Or did she just think she wouldn't care. Either way the words “I melted a pedo with sugar water, beat a bloke to death in prison and then killed another argumentative asshole escaping” weren't coming out of his mouth any time soon, that was for damn sure.

Sophia then gestured towards her sister, Ash, Autumn and Marshall. "However if you betray us then we will kick you out on the spot." She then gestured to another girl. She looked rather like Sophia, but didn't seem to hold the same confidence despite being just as beautiful. Different lifestyles he guessed. "And my sister over there she is the closest person I have left, so if you do hurt her or do anything funny I will shoot you personally." Sophia said in a serious tone and then leaned herself up against the hood of the pilot.

“Don't worry Sunshine, I'll be on my best behaviour, promise.” Conell smirked, giving the young woman as innocent a smile as he could muster. He had made a promise, and he kept his word whenever he could, but of course his best behaviour wasn't all that great so it wasn't exactly an enormous commitment.

"Other then that pull your own weight in the group and that's it." Sophia said and looked towards the others again.

“I will.” Conell spoke, giving her a friendly nod and joining her in turning to face everyone else. He wondered whether he should speak to anyone else but now probably wasn't the best time. They had shit to do, and more importantly shit to get through. He'd make friends later.

“Grab what you guys can from the cars and whatever gas is left in the tanks try and take it out if its not empty, we will leave in thirty minutes then we are going to go to Marshall's place." Sophia said looking back at Conell again. "Welcome to the group."

“Cheers Sunshine, speak to you later.” Conell smiled, walking off to check out some of the cars. He needed some more supplies and maybe he could find something to score points with some of the group, if he had any luck.

John’s Humvee sped down Pendleton’s residential area. Quaint, charming base housing stretched all the way down the avenue. The sight looked like something straight out of a nightmare, beautiful little homes coupled with a scene of death, violence, and horror in the rearview mirror. John’s watch read 23:50, it was getting late. John felt exhausted, helpless, and worried and knew his team probably felt the same. He knew they would need to find a place to camp out for the night and get some rest before they start to make stupid decisions.

“Sykes, how are we on gas?” John asked.

Lance Corporal Sykes looked down at the Fuel meter and sighed. “It says we are on E. I guess in all the excitement I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Whatever.” John replied. “My house isn’t too far from here, take the next right and it’s the third house on the left.”

“Roger.”

The blood-stained Humvee pulled into the driveway at exactly midnight. The bright moonlight cast an ominous shadow on the Oak tree that firmly stood in John’s front yard. John got out of the truck and gently shut the door. He observed the full moon that hung over him and remembered how he used to hate horror movies. Never in a million years did he ever expect everything to go so terribly wrong. John unslung his M4 Carbine from around his shoulder and clutched it tight. He refused to let his emotions get the better of him now, he had to keep his sanity. He knew his son’s life depended on it.

The five Marines walked up the steps to the porch and walked through the front door, wiping their boots on the welcome mat before they went along. Gunny Shull shrugged, he figured there was nothing wrong in keeping up appearances. John walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. He grabbed a case of Budweiser and set it on the kitchen table. The five men each opened up a bottle of beer and took several big gulps. As they drank their beers, they were silent for a moment or two.
Finally, John spoke up. “Barns, how many rounds do you have left in the .50 cal?”
Barns put down his drink for a second. “I don’t know…a hundred maybe? I know I only have one pill-box left. So yeah, about a hundred.”

“Alright. Gunny and I will take the first shift. You three get some rest.” John said, motioning to Barns, Williams, and Sykes. “One of you can take the couch in the living room or there are two bedrooms upstairs. We have extra pillows and blankets in the closet.”

We? John caught himself. He was still getting used to Candice being gone and now with his son God knows where, he was a host to an empty home. "Gunny and I will be outside by the Humvee. Obviously if you wake up and hear gunshots you know where to find us.”
The three Marines chuckled, and continued to drink their beers.

“Goodnight, gentlemen.” John said as he and Gunny Shull headed for the front door.

“He really liked you.” Ash smiled sadly in response to Katelyn and nodded slowly before she stood up, watching as Marshall walked over to the back of the pickup truck and began talking to himself. Curiously she walked over close enough that she could hear him. It sounded like he was speaking to Luke, or at least what would have been Luke if he was still alive she supposed. She waited for him to walk away before approaching the car and climbing up, looking into the back seat. In the tray she could see a human sized figure wrapped in a sheet, one end soaked in blood.

Ash knew instantly it was Luke. She reached out and gently laid a hand on the sheet, holding it tightly. “You weren’t supposed to die yet.” She said softly, just looking at the sheet as if he could still hear her. “I still needed you… everyone still needed you I think…” She took a shuddering breath and shook her head slightly. There would be time to cry later, if what the adults said was true. Right now she just… had to hold things together. With the new people things were going to be hard enough without her being useless.

Hoping down from the truck Ash walked back over to the group, looking at the others as they began taking things out of the cars. She quickly hurried over and grabbed her own bag and paused for a moment as she saw Luke’s on the floor. Thinking it over for a few seconds Ash grabbed his bag as well, keeping both close to her as she waited to see which cars they would be taking and who she’d be sitting with, though she suspected it would be Sophia and Katelyn. Not that she minded that in the least.

"Exscuse me Sir can I ask you a question?"

Leonardo turned his head silently and looked at the young boy, slowly he nodded his head and turned his attention back to the road, it had grown terribly dark by now and the road became increasingly dangerous at night.

"How long have you been a part of the Army?"

"I have not been a part of the army in over fifteen years kid."

"But you came in on a chopper, I saw you when you arrived, and your wearing military clothing?"

The kid asked the question innocently enough, Leonardo did not feel much like talking, the events from before still fresh on his mind, however the kid was probably trying to forget who own memories for awhile. Leonardo sighed lowly to himself before he spoke.

"I was re-instated when all this began, the initial start of this whole thing took a lot of lives, especially the lives of soldiers, it happened so quick that most were sent in with little to no knowledge of what they would be facing. I was brought back because of my experience in the Army and because of my experience with other things as well. I was assigned at first to try and prepare new soldiers being trained for action, however because of what was happening I was sent to military operated Refugee camps to help with protection, which in the end was a useless gesture as you now know."

"I see... I'm sorry..."

"For what kid?"

"About your friend..."

Leonardo slowly put his hand on the boys shoulder and squeezed it a little bit, he had to commemorate a boy who held it together this good, probably a lot better then Leonardo had held it together back at Pendleton.

"Its okay... when we become soldiers we assume a certain risk, losing a brother and friend is hard, but that is merely one of the risks we must take and pain we must face for what we believe in.... protecting the innocent from those who would harm them."

"My dad was in the army too, he died not all that long ago my mother too, they died within the first week this started, I don't know how it happened but the soldiers who knew my dad and mother told me so. Ever since then the soldier brought me to the main camp to watch over me, we lived on the base in the part with lots of people who were not military."

"I'm sorry for your lose, the way you keep yourself together would make me think it wasn't that recent. I was a kid too when my parents passed away, seems so long ago now but some wounds never do truly close."

"What did you do?"

Leonardo sighed as he looked at the boy again before he spoke some more, he quickly changed the subject to something else to avoid talking about his past, that was a wound he did not need to open anymore then it was right now.

"So you got asthma you said before, do you have an inhaler for it? If not we should find you one in case you have another attack."

"I had some at my house and back in the camp but I couldnt grab any of them when things got scary. I was running, that's when you knocked me down."

"Well why don't we go to your house and grab them, I am positive that it should be safe at least for now and perhaps we can both get some rest, its been a long day on both of us. An by the way my name is Leonardo but you can call me Leo if you want whats your name kid?"

"Chris... Chris Enfield"

"Nice to meet you Chris lets get back to the civilian quarters and find your house huh?"

20 minutes past...

Leonardo turned off the lights on the Humvee as he slowly came up the street, he did not see anyone or anything but he couldn't be too careful, he did not want to draw attention to them if he could help it.

"Its just a little farther Leo, its the house with the red car in the drive way, the door might be locked dad was like that and I don't have a key..."

"No worries kid we will get in."

Leonardo kept his eye's peeled as he rolled down the road, the place was silent and quiet however, it seemed to no one had gotten out of Pendleton camp at all, not even the soldiers and if they did none of them came this way. When Leonardo spotted the red car, he knew that had to be the place seeming it was the only car he could even spot within the sector. Slowly he pulled up in front of the house and put the vehicle in park as he looked around but saw nothing, he happened to spot a Humvee up the street a small ways away but he payed not much heed to it as he hopped out of the vehicle and let his feet hit the rocky gravel underneath.

"Come on Chris, stay close to me."

As Chris hopped out Leonardo walked to the back of the vehicle an opened the door, pulling out his flashlight he clicked it on inside the vehicle and clicked open an compartment in the back of the seat. Inside it was and M4 Rifle with two spare clips, he removed the weapon silently and inserted on of the clips pocketing the other. Slinging the rifle over his back he shut the door and continued on slowly making his way into the yard.

"How did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Find that weapon?"

"Its an emergency weapon, you can find them in most military vehicles, in case of surprise attacks or what not, unarmed escorts, the list goes on kid. Its usually well hidden because of those reasons, but I am an old army man, so I knew about it of course, spent half my life in a Humvee. Now lets be quiet until were inside and secure Chris."

Chris nodded silently as Leonardo took the flashlight and slowly inserted it into the under barrel of the weapon in the slot and secured it, clicking it on he approached the house, nothing seemed out of order, nothing broken, just a calmness that was... just too calm for what was going on. Years of war had made Leonardo paranoid, so he was not so quickly to let his guard down. Walking up the porch of the clean cut house Leonardo looked through the window, nothing was disturbed inside, he went to the front door trying the knob but it was locked, looking around silently and spotting nothing he removed his cap and put it on the glass above where the lock should be and punched it knocking the glass in, reaching in he unlocked the door and slowly went inside, quickly pointing the flashlight in all directions he secured the front room. One by one Leonardo secured the kitchen, the bathroom and the small rec room in the back, the house was clear. The only place left was the upstairs now, but before that Leonardo walked over to the nearby cough and started to push it, getting close to the door he closed it, relocked it, then put the couch in front of it, putting the edge of the couch under the knob securing the door from intrusion. Turning he then closed the blinds on each window so no one or nothing could see inside.

"Stay here a minute Chris while I secure the upstairs, don't worry there is nothing down here iv made sure of it."

Chris nodded again and quickly got behind the second couch to hide, Leonardo turned and silently ascended the stair case, reaching the top there was a small hallways with three doors one on the left one on the right and a center door which looked to be a small bathroom. Going forward Leonardo checked out the bathroom first, but there nothing inside it. Closing the door he silently went to the door on the right and opened it slowly until it hit the wall behind, pointing the flashlight around he saw nothing, it looked like the master bedroom. Walking in Leonardo went to the door inside the room and slowly knocked on it, however he received no answer so he opened it to reveal a small empty closet. Looking inside he found some clothing and some candles inside, removing the candles he let the door remain open as he pocketed them and then went across the hall to the room on the right and did the same procedure as before, inside he knew this was Chris's room from the scattered toys and books. Shining the light around he finally centered it on a nightstand with a lamp on it plus an inhaler, taking the inhaler Leonardo grabbed the blanket off the bed with a pillow and returned down stairs.

Re-entering the living room he layed the blanket and pillow on the second couch and then set the candles on the coffee table, slowly he lite them up to give them a little light. Chris slowly emerged from behind the couch as Leonardo slowly pulled out the inhaler and handed it too him. Leonardo then sat on the edge of the arm chair and lay the rifle across lap.

"I brought you a blanket and a pillow, we can rest here for now Chris, try to sleep I will keep watch nothing will hurt you I promise."

Leonardo watched as Chris just nodded and silently got on the couch and pulled the blanket over himself saying nothing. It was only a short time before Leonardo heard soft sniffling. Slowly getting up from the chair he set the M4 beside the couch.

"You okay Chris?"

Leonardo silently put his hand on Chris's shoulder and turned him, tears were streaming down his face.

"Hey hey come on Chris."

Leonardo slowly moved Chris's feet and sat down beside him, the young boy quickly changed directions and pushed his head into Leonardo's shoulder as it stifled the crying. Leonardo put and hand on the boys backed and rubbed soothingly to try and calm him. He had finally broken, and Leonardo did not blame Chris at all, he was a tough little boy but even the toughest broke sooner or later.

"Its okay Chris, get it out, its okay"

"Daddy... daddy never cried... he was tough.. I don't understand how he died..."

Chris was crying fully now, Leonardo pulled the young boy in close.

"Chris... sometimes people die, there is no reason that we are prepared to understand. Even tough men die, it doesn't mean they were weak or that they deserved it."

"I miss my dad and my mom, I miss her cooking and her smile, it was always like the angels they told me about..."

"I know Chris I know, its okay that you miss them, you need to cherish those memories, keep them close to your heart, my mother used to tell me as a kid that no one truly dies as long as you keep them close to your heart and always keep your memories of them."

Leonardo raised Chris's head as he put his hand on his chest.

"Right here Chris, always keep them right here and they will always be with you, do you understand?"

Chris shook his head as he buried it deep in Leonardos side, he cried for a little while before he finally fell to sleep. Leonardo stayed beside him as he kept watch over him. Reaching into his pocket he removed a photograph of his wife and son and looked at it in the flame that was licking the walls with light, putting the picture to his chest Leonardo repeated the words he told Chris lowly.

"Keep them close to your heart..."

Zachary Ince

Zachary pushed his foot down harder on the accelerator, wanting to put as much ground between himself and the walker herd. His mind was racing, his head was spinning. He was having suicidal thoughts after his life-or-death brush with a group of ten plus infected. Zachary assumed if it was that bad there, how bad it must be in more populated areas of the country. But he pushed the thoughts out of his mind and decided to carry on surviving. After hearing the radio broadcast about the supposed 'safe zone' where survivors were being evacuated, it had given him a new lease on life.

He passed a sign with 'Camp Pendleton - 40 miles' etched onto it and grinned. He was going to survive the apocalypse, even if it was just for another day. Zachary's mind darted back to the opening stages of the outbreak. He was in college, in a lesson, when the teacher died and reanimated and proceeded to feast on his students. Zachary had leapt out the window and sprinted all the way home, just to find the walkers had already gotten to his family. That's when a supposed psychotic episode took over Zachary's body and he proceeded to grab his baseball bat and beat the nearest walker to a pulp before grabbing other essentials and taking his dad's car and getting out of the chaos.

The car turned onto the highway that was littered with burnt out vehicles, some with charred corpses in. There were other bodies just strewn about the road. A few were twitching but they'd been damaged so much that they couldn't move too fast. Zachary slowed his car down so he could easily manoeuvre the debris without causing harm to the car or himself. Then he spotted something that brought a smile to his face. More walkers to kill. Avenge his family. As he got closer though, he saw that they weren't moving around slowly, or groaning. In fact, a couple were holding weapons. They were human! Maybe they had food. God knew Zachary couldn't survive off the meagre two bottles of water and a packet of chips. He stopped the car about five meters from the group before getting out, with his pistol hidden behind his back incase they weren't friendly, and calling out to them.

"Hey! Guys!"

Dustin Phelps

Dustin gripped his M16A4 assault rifle tighter as the massive group of men, women and children were forcing themselves against the barrier of Marines that stood between them and a couple of helicopters that could evacuate them to safer areas. It pained Dustin to deny them their freedom, but he had his orders and he was going to follow them. The infected had broken through the first line of defence into Camp Pendleton, and were now roaming the base, devouring any poor human in their way. They weren't that far from the flightline, not that far from quite possibly the largest set of humans that most of the walkers would ever encounter.

It was then the first couple of Marines noticed the overwhelming horde and began to abandon their positions, saving themselves. As the walkers reached the survivors and began their feast, everybody, the Marines included, panicked. People were running in every direction, and some were headed for the Super Stallions, but they took off before anybody reached them. Dustin raised his assault rifle, looked down the sights at the nearest walker and fired off four rounds. The first three hit it in the chest, but the fourth found it's target and embedded itself in the walker's brain, killing it instantly.

Dustin then decided that standing his ground and fighting was a lost cause. Most of the Marines he was stationed with were either walker food or were too scared to fight the horde. The ones who did stay however, were quickly overrun and devoured. Dustin didn't intend on becoming one of them and ran for his life, passing many corpses and running through what seemed to be rivers of blood. He kept a hold of his M16A4 and managed to keep at full sprint, before reaching the residential area of the base. He found a Humvee outside with what seemed to be two fellow Marines. One looked like a First Lieutenant and the other a Gunnery Sergeant, or at least that's what Dustin could see from their insignias. They both outranked him, so Dustin made himself known by saluting both men.

"You aren't infected, are you, sir?"

“Do we have any more redbulls left?” John asked, trying very hard not to fall asleep standing up.

Gunny Shull shrugged. “I don’t know, let me check.” He knelt down from his position behind the .50 cal and down into the cab of the Humvee. He reached into the ice-filled cooler that was sitting in the back and pulled out the last two remaining energy drinks. “It’s your lucky day.” Gunny shull chuckled as he threw John a redbull.

For such an emotionally-charged evening, the midnight and into the early morning went quite slow for John. The bright, night sky was illuminated with the flames of the buildings burning in the background, which gave off a shade of intense yellow and orange. The screams had died out about an hour before and John could not identify any sign of walkers in the area. It was better to be safe than sorry, John knew, and he would wait until the break of daylight before gathering his team and moving out.

“Our shift is up.” John said.

“Yeah. I’ll go wake the others up.” Gunny replied, and jumped down from the top of the Humvee.

John’s eyes shifted to a figure walking towards them from down the avenue. He couldn’t tell for sure if they were a walker or not, but he kept his M4 at the low-ready just to be sure. John put down his redbull and tapped the Gunny to get his attention.

“Someone’s walking towards us.” John whispered.

“Where?” Shull replied, trying to keep his voice low.

John pointed towards the figure, which he could now distinguish as a man in a Marine uniform, armed with an M16. As the man got closer, he did not appear to
have any visible cuts, scratches, bite marks, or otherwise to obviously show that he was infected. Still, John and the Gunny kept their weapons ready in case this man wished to do them harm. The man was close enough now to be easily recognized as a Corporal, and made eye contact with John as he advanced further and stopped just short of the drive-way.

“"You aren't infected, are you, sir?" The Marine asked.

John stood alert and replied, “No. We are fine. Are you?”

Katelyn heard Ashley's comment she didn't know that he liked her since the short time they have been together and wished she could return the feelings for him, she watched as Ash walked over towards the truck knowing she wanted to spend sometime alone with Luke one last time. She went over towards another car seeing that there was nothing left inside of it, everything seemed to be looted already and walked over towards Sophia looking at Conell once as the two of them finished their conversation. "I don't see anything else in the cars Sophia." Katelyn said softly looking towards Marshall once seeing him drinking some whisky that was in the truck. "Go and check up on Autumn see if hes doing okay, and Katelyn I love you." Sophia said with a soft smile, Katelyn smiled and nodded. "Love you to sis." Katelyn said as she started to walk over towards Autumn and waved at him. "How are you doing?" Katelyn asked softly.

Sophia watched as her little sister went over to talk to Autumn and decided to see if Marshall was alright and started to walk over towards the truck and opened the door to the passenger side pulling herself in Sophia looked at Marshall for a moment. "Are you doing alright?" Sophia asked trying to see if everyone in the group was doing okay.

Autumn smiled back as Katelyn walked over and asked how he was doing. "I'm good. Listen I want to you to help me out with something. We need to convince the others that the best thing for us would be to go up to Hendy Woods. I've been thinking a lot and I have some good ideas, I'm just afraid that the others won't want to go. Wont agree." He looked pleasingly into her eyes. "Please I need your help here, your really one of the only ones here that trusts me."

Leonardo was silent as he looked out the window, when he had seen the movement out of pure luck he thought that the infected had finally made it this far and was getting ready to move. But that thought was soon erased when the one he thought was an infected walked up the street and convened with two other men who appeared near the hummer Leonardo had seen earlier when he pulled up. He didn't know who these men were, or even where they came from, but they had a military vehicle so maybe that meant they were military, or maybe it didn't, maybe they were marauders who scored a lucky break... then again it could have been that Humvee he had passed back at Pendleton, that seemed way more likely and they had looked more military then anything. Perhaps he should go out and talk to them, there was no doubt some allies couldn't hurt in this time, and he had spent so many days alone since this started, then again he did it that way because it was easier to watch people die if you didn't know them or were their friend. Leonardo turned his head as his thoughts went back to John, looking at Chris sleeping on the couch reminded him that if he liked it or not he was not alone anymore no matter what way it went. It was better if Leonardo stopped going solo, if not for himself then for this kid Chris he had some long roads ahead and Leonardo knew they would be harder alone.

Walking over to the couch Leonardo grabbed the M4 rifle and slowly gave it a once over in the dim candle light, if he had to defend himself he didn't need his gun jamming on him in the long run. Leonardo slowly pulled the blanket up to Chris's chin as he gave the kid another look, he would let him sleep, the house was secure he had made sure himself so it would be ok. Walking to the couch in front of the door Leonardo pushed it slowly and quietly aside and unlocked the door, opening it he slowly stepped out into the coldness of the night and closed it behind him, reaching his hand through the broken window he relocked it and slowly made his way down the stairs and then into the street. Leonardo slowly made his way up the street he kept the rifle cradled in his hands ready to fire if he had too but kept it pointed down so he did not immediately appear as a threat, he only walked a short distance before he was near the group of men, he stopped a couple or so or more feet away not wanting to move any closer and spoke.

"Good evening I couldn't help but notice you out here, I am a former Captain of the United States Army, reinstated as of two weeks ago, my name is Leonardo and I mean you no harm."

Leonardo went silent as he took in the men in front of him, they were all clearly military themselves, there was no doubt that they were at Pendleton when it fell, at least the two closest to the Humvee. The older man was the one Leonardo recognized from inside Pendleton, he did not know the others. Keeping the rifle cradled on his arms his finger was on the trigger in case they tried to pulled anything, he didn't think they would but there was no reason to be so trusting especially in times like these.

The three men shifted their attention to the Captain.

“Good morning.” John spoke. He then looked back at the Corporal. “Doesn’t look like you guys are infected. Let’s take this indoors, we were just about to do a shift change with the Marines who are still sleeping. Follow me.”

John and the Gunny turned around and motioned the newcomers inside. They were welcomed by a loud thumping sound coming from up the stairs. John quickly ran up to see what the commotion was. He found a distraught Private Barns sitting up against one of the bedroom doors, his back against it as if he was trying to keep something out.

“What’s going on here…” John demanded, with a bewildered look on his face.

Private Barns grunted as he tried to keep the door shut. “Long story short. PFC Williams is dead, he just kinda died in his sleep. Brain aneurism, heart attack maybe? I don’t know. Anyway, Sykes goes in there and tries to wake him up for his shift and all of a sudden Williams jumps up and eats his face off. Zombie food. Disgusting. Anyway, they are both behind me now trying to come out and eat me.”

John unslung his M-4 as Gunny Shull made his way up the stairs. John made eye contact with Barns and took aim at the door in front of him.

“On the count of three… One. Two. Thr—“, John was cut off as a large arm punched through the door and latched onto Barns’ shoulder. What used to be Lance Corporal Sykes poked through the large hole in the door and sunk his teeth into Barns’ throat as he was crouched down in his seated position.
John quickly squeezed the trigger, and sent a volley of 5.56 rounds through Private Barns and into the room behind him. He kept firing until he could see no more movement. He knew he would have to clear the room to be sure it was safe…

"Allright?" Marshall repeated Sophia's words. "Just blew my best friends brains out an now I'm just layin' here next to his corpse?" He said. "Hell yeah I'm all right, I'm fantastic!" He said in a humorous tone - obviously drunk "Want some?!" He asked loudly, holding out the Whiskey bottle. "I mean... What are we doin'? Goin' to my house and then what? Goin' to the border?! Hell I wonder if the military is there! I wonder if there's any damn military at all... We're lost girl." He said, as he chuckled and took another drink of Whiskey.

"I don't think we're catching the drift that the fuckin' world is sending us! I mean... Surely if the national guard or military was still around they'd be like helpin' us out and doin' stuff. We've been in the dark since Pendleton and I mean, that place fell. Places like that don't fall. Maybe... Maybe it's a sign that the whole world has fell! We can't be the only ones around!" He said as he took a drink. "Or maybe I'm just talking a bunch of shit" He laughed. "Don't you get it? Don't you see it the way I see it? No body gonna' save us. No one ever comin'. Shit... No matter what, death always gonna' be there. Things always gettin' in the way." He said, as he took another drink. "The way I see it...?" He said and then spoke again in a humorous tone:

"WE are FUCKED!"

Leonardo looked back towards where Chris was and then towards the men, he had his doubt but Chris would be safe and he would return soon so he followed the men inside. When Leonardo heard the thumping sound he was quickly on alert as were the rest, following them upstairs quickly he kept his rifle steadied as he rounded the top to see a soldier sitting in front of a door blocking it. As the older man asked what was going on the soldier quickly elaborated his story, which did not bode well not well at all. After that the older man quickly took aim at the door and started a slow count for the soldier to open it, Leonardo pointed his rifle at the door as well, they were all thrown off guard however when the wooden door splintered and the infected soldier came through and bite straight into the soldiers neck, as the skin tore away a spray of blood hit the walls before the older man started firing a volley of shots hitting the soldier in front of the door and then peppered the room behind. The house quickly became quiet after, the scene before them had silenced them all. The older man kept looking at the door and Leonardo knew the room had to be cleared it was common sense, placing the rifle down against the wall Leonardo approached the older man an put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'll clear it..."

Leonardo walked past the older man and approached the door, getting to the side he silently knocked on the wood and listened, he heard a small shuffle of movement from inside but nothing more. Putting his hand on the knob, he slowly removed the Hitachi from his back and swung the door open peeking head inside, the soldier who killed the man on the outside of the door was laying backwards on the floor in a puddle of his own blood, his face was covered in holes, making his way into the room the other soldier was across the room, he was on the ground but very much still moving from first look it seemed that the spray of bullets had damn near taken off his knee caps, he was slowly crawling towards the door and Leonardo, he had a bullet hole in his throat so any sound came out in really soft gasps of air coming from the hole. Leonardo took the sword in hand and crossed the room sword in hand, approaching the down infected, the man reached out his grab his ankle but in one swift movement he brought the sword down and the tip of the blade slammed the soldiers head killing him completely instantly. Removing the sword Leonardo replaced it in the sheath on his back and made his back out of the room slowly closing the door to hide the bodies.

"Its clear.. Listen this is probably a moment for you to deal with given you knew those men not me. I have a young child I rescued from Pendleton in the house I came from I am going to grab him."

With that Leonardo picked up the M4 Rifle and slowly made his way back outside and back across the street.

“No. We are fine. Are you?” Came the reply from the First Lieutenant.

"No, sir."

Dustin tightened the grip around his M16A4 and followed him and the Gunnery Sergeant inside. As Dustin stepped through the door's threshold, the three men heard a loud, thumping sound coming from upstairs. Dustin quietly shut the front door so to not attract any more walkers and stalked up the steps behind the other two. When they reached the top, a fourth soldier was sat against one of the doors, seemingly trying to keep something from escaping. The fourth man told of how there were two other Marines, one of which turned and ate the other, were now banging on the door and trying to get out. The First Lieutenant grabbed his assault rifle and took aim at the door.

Then the Captain, who Dustin didn't even realise was there, pushed past the Corporal, the Gunnery Sergeant and the First Lieutenant into the room. He watched as the Captain took out his blade and finished off the final walker before turning around, saying something about a child and walking straight back out the front door. Dustin looked into the room as the man left. It was a scene of complete carnage. Bullet holes, blood and three corpses of the former Marines.

"Jesus Christ, man. What the fuck happened?"

Sophia looked at Marshall seeing him like he was now was just how he reacted when his wife and son died those few years that passed, she quickly reached over and yanked the bottle of whiskey out of his hands and threw it roughly out the window hearing the glass shatter spilling the whiskey all over the pavement. "Marshall that's not true as long as we are all together in this we will make it out alive and make it through this. And you acting like this isn't what Luke would want, he would want you especially to try and keep this group together." She gestured towards Ashley and stared into his eyes. "Luke also wanted us to keep her safe, we cant have you be drunk there will be time to mourn okay?" Sophia reached out and gently held his hand. "I need you okay." Sophia said softly looking back towards her sister and Autumn as the two of them talked. "I'll drive you are to drunk to okay?" Sophia said softly and got out of the truck and looked at Conelle. "Can you drive?" Sophia asked and waved toward everyone. "We are moving out now everyone!" Sophia called out to everyone and started making her way towards the Honda pilot and got into the driver's seat and started the engine.

"I'll try and talk to my sister about it. But what makes you think it's safer up there?" Katelyn asked as she started to walk over towards her sisters car and gestured towards him to follow her. She went over towards Ashley and reached out towards her and smiled. "We should get going." Katelyn said and started back towards her sister's car and got into the passenger seat. Sophia started to drive forward. "Follow me and stay close." Sophia said as she started to drive down the highway again.