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Edited & Co-Witten by Averis

Infection 4

I remembered the entire layout of the city, even with the destruction that had been wrought. I decided to stop around the outer city gun shops since undoubtedly the inner city had been drained dry by now. After a little back-ally shop that most people wouldn't have known about I had a few semi-automatic rifles and a couple hundred boxes of ammo. Pulling the cycle out into the road and checking the intersection I took a shortcut up a ramp and across a few roofs and parked right outside one of the roof top garage doors, One of the guards opened the door and I showed him the outline of the old gang tattoo.

Parking the cycle in the garage I was escorted to Darius's room, the walk seemed shorter than I remembered, perhaps it was the army pace or the inches I had gained since leaving. When we got to a steel door with no handle there was a couple of seconds of silence before the door opened and I walked into a posh room, exactly as he always liked, all colors that blood either wasn't noticed on or things that blood came off of easily. He motioned from behind his polished African wood desk for me to sit down, while taking my seat I saw that he had added more gun ports in the walls since I had left, a doorway opened in the back left corner of the room and Second walked in.

"So, the stray has finally come home," he said.

"Hello Darius, glad you remember me," I said.

"Oh, the runaway still remembers me, tell me, what makes you think I won't shoot you for coming crawling back," he replied.

"I'm not crawling back, I came to rejoin you, I have more experience and in the state of the world you need all the experienced guns you can get," I said.

Hey nodded to Second who stepped to the side before Darius said "The Pit, you'll provide entertainment or you'll take your opponent's rank."

Nodding I finished the conversation with "Fine," before walking through the open doorway.

The Pit, only the worst and those that had 'disgraced' Tefwal were sent to the broken, bloodstained, dirt floor with the twenty foot walls. He would send his best, someone young in their mid to late twenties that had been featured on Ultimate Fighter, but in the end anyone that was a challanger for the Pit was simply a thug. A trim bear walked out of the other doorway and I knew this wouldn't go as quickly as I was hoping. After ten minutes we had both gotten in enough glancing blows that we knew it would be determined by the next move. Whoever won got to live, the other was left to bleed.

We circled around three times before he lunged forward, it was his mistake because it gave me an opening at his left hamstring. He turned on his right and narrowly missed my jugular vein when I pulled back. Growling he propelled himself forward with his right leg and left arm, grabbing me by the chest fur with his left paw he shoved his the knife in his right paw and almost hit my left kidney and broke the blade off inside, it was all the opening that I needed to use his own weight to leverage the blade and decapitate him. It reminded me of my conversation with El, even though I had no choice I still regretted the kill.

I was proclaimed the winner and given his lodging. After the anouncement I removed the blade and very briefly winced at the pain, but it was nothing I hadn't felt before. After that I gathered information and realized that the most dangerous members had all left with me, the only ones left were a few hundred decently trained thugs, it would be tough due to the numbers, but once you cut off the head the chicken runs around for a short time before dying, then gets plucked and roasted.

Leaving my room with only my knife was foolish but I knew I needed to get back to the cycle to get the other guns. Stepping outside I heard something and ducked while thrusting up with my knife right where the small of my back had been, exactly as El had showed us, and caught someone who obviously wasn't part of Tefwal holding a shotgun right over my head.

He spoke first with a gruff voice, "You should head back inside, you lot need your sleep."

Shaking my head but keeping my eyes on him I said "You've got the wrong guy, I've come back to kill them, every single one of these pieces of shit from my past, I hate them so much it burns to think about."

"Is that so, answer me then why don't I believe you," he asked.

"Believe me or not, trust me when I say that I know this area like the back of my hand. I was part of the problem, now I'll solve it, even if the world is ending, with the knowledge I gained from being a marine," I answered him with the same steely passion that El had instilled in us, once you start a mission you finish it no matter the cost.

After a moment he pulled his gun back and said "Those who served can always tell when someone else has."

Standing up I said "I'm one hardcore motherfucker."

Looking me over he said "Fine, I'll let you help me, one wrong move and my next shell casing will be emptied into your ass."

Looking him over I could see that he had seen his share of combat, surprising for a Serval, there were two distinctive scars running parallel to each other from the left side of his jaw along his check, the tip of his right ear was also blown off, from a high caliber round based on the half circle still there. Nodding to him I said "I have guns on my cycle, we should head for the garage first." As we reached the first door I put my ear against it to gauge the opposition inside, 5 guys from the sound of it.

Opening the door slowly I gestured for him to go right while I headed left. Using the boxes to hide I waited for the right moment and signaled the seconds with my paw before we both broke cover and headed into action, he shot the first enemy in the face with his machine pistol before I lost sight of him, I threw my knife at my first target's head while sprinting towards the other two. Grabbing the dead man's pistol from his hand and my knife from his head I pulled the trigger while turning and put a bullet in the second guy's gut before ripping the third guy's throat out with the knife. Turning back to the wolf with the stomach wound I performed a mercy killing and shot him in the head, three more deaths on my conscience.

Using the stairs we got to the roof garage and I handed him one of the automatic rifles I had picked up while strapping my M1 Garand and an AK-108 I had picked up earlier to my back. Holstering my silenced .45 under my right arm and my service knife at my waist I nodded to him that I was ready.

Heading down the hallway to the Darius's room we readied our guns, a pair of AK-108s set to burst, and took a door to the left, releasing a controlled rain of bullets upon his guards that normally were posted at the gun slots in his room. After the initial shock of us coming in we ducked down and threw a couple tables over, for once Darius's stupid steel tables were useful. The Serval dropped his AK-108 and pulled his shotgun, a monster modified 10 gauge pump shotgun with a drum magazine. Jumping over the table he pumped out three shots before hitting the wall of the room, three heads were torn from their shoulders before landing with a splat.

Using his distraction I steadied my M1 on the top edge of the table, held my breath, lined up the sights, and placed a shot that went through one thug's head and through another's chest, after that I pulled two more head shots to clear the room, it seemed to last half an hour, but all of it occurred within 20 seconds. Walking out of the room we nodded and split up, he took the door directly opposite while I headed into Darius's room.

Shooting where the lock should be with my .45 I sheared the outer protective shell of metal hiding the lock, grabbing my knife and pulling the bottom out to reveal a lockpick set I unlocked the door and gently opened the door. Apparently the room was sound proof because there he was, sleeping in his pull down bed hanging from its cords to the hole in the ceiling. Walking up to the side of it I held my .45 an inch away from his head and pulled the trigger. Turning around I walked out the door and nodded to the Serval that I was finished, following me out he quickly gave me a series of directions to where he was staying before he headed back in the direction of where we met.

I pulled up to the address, a semi rundown pale blue two story house, and parked my bike before walking slowly up the stone stairs. Knocking once on the door I saw it open and immediately my vision was filled with what was undoubtedly a Smith & Wesson custom 460XVR, I knew if she shot that the left side of my skull would be deformed simply from the heat generated, and what was left would end up almost a hundred feet away.

"Daddy, there is someone I don't know at the door!" she yelled over her shoulder.

The Serval I had met before said "A friend I found earlier on patrol, I almost killed him before he convinced me otherwise."

"Well, if we are going to be working with each other we might as well make introductions, I'm Marcus," I said.

"Well simply call me Bradly," he said.

"Jennifer, call me Jenny," the girl said, now that she wasn't holding a gun in my face I noticed she was a clouded Leopard, late teens to early twenties with deep red hair, she was probably getting ready for college before all of this happened.

"So, I assume you take after your mother considering you're a clouded leopard and your dad is a serval," I said.

"She does, but I fail to see where that has anything to do with you. I'd like to know why you have a vendetta with those thugs," he asked.

Nodding I said "I need to settle the score, and I feel a need to prove I am who I think I am, I came to kill every single one of those despicable thugs for starting my descent into being a monster myself. I need to redeem myself in her eyes, I'm a slave to her love, and without it I honestly might go mad."

The conversation drifted at that point onto less emotional topics, it wasn't long before we locked up and went to sleep. Over the next week we hunted the remaining Tefwal members until everyone seemed to be gone or dead, it was almost pitiful how simple their own defenses made it. They were trapped thanks to their zombie barricades , we took shifts watching the only door that we didn't blow up or seal shut, any time one of them tried to leave they soon fell, until we had to clear the bodies for the last hunt. Whatever society emerged would be better off without them, the deaths and rapes and drug overdoses committed by them.

As I was taking a walk around the town in a minor celebration of sorts I noticed a building, it seemed so familiar. As I approached it I would have sworn that I heard children laughing, beginning up the steps I instinctively knew to avoid third step because it would squeak, and as I stepped on it squeak it did. I remembered every single detail of these steps and this doorway, but it wasn't until I reached the top and saw a plaque at eye level that I knew where I was, "We take in those who can't take care of themselves. M.J.Hermschell," the home I came from. Shaking my head I pounded on the upper left part of the frame as I opened the door, I remembered one of the adults doing it to make the door open easily, and the trick still worked despite the time gap.

Walking in I looked around and remembered the times I would sit on the front step and read books and magazines about car repair, lock picking, guns, every topic under the sun so long as I was allowed to sit on the step and read about it, to get away from the other kids. Everything looked perfectly preserved, the antique grandfather clock on the far wall was still ticking even, as a self winding clock it would work for eternity if it had proper gravity. Continuing I saw that the main room was even more impressive, there was so much wax on the floor that the hard-wood was still in astonishingly good condition. It was then that I remembered one of the most important days here.

****

Thirty four years ago, Christmas Morning...

As I opened my eyes I saw the snow building up on the windows around the room. I sat up rubbing the sleep from my eyes, not remember the day until I saw the calendar on the wall with the days marked off and today circled in bright red. I couldn't believe that I had forgotten! I looked around and saw that everyone else was already gone, it didn't matter to me since I didn't fit in with the other kids. They usually made me feel like an outcast, making fun of me, telling me my parents died to get away from me, and how obviously no one wanted to adopt me.

I walked down the stairs and saw Sister Arianna standing in the middle of the main room with a giant tree completely overtaking the space where the front window normally was. She turned and smiled at me when she heard my footsteps. Her smile could have made Hitler say he was sorry and make a bear charging stop dead in its tracks.

She slowly walked over to me and knelt down saying "Morning sleepyhead, your presents are in the corner, but before that remember that the Bowerbonds are coming to see you. They will be here soon too, so you better get ready."

I did as she said without a thought otherwise, I was too nervous to worry about my presents. I took a shower and put on a suit that the owner had gotten me as a birthday present. They seemed happy until I walked in, one look at me and the cheer left their eyes and their smiles were gone as if they had never existed. They seemed like good parents, they were kind to me like the owner. After I left they stayed, but I waited outside the door and heard them call me a runt, Sister Arianna told them that is a vile term, she got very upset and told them to look elsewhere, because they were not welcome back here ever again.

I remember how crushingly sad I was, I knew that no one wanted me, and soon I would be too old to adopt. I stopped caring for several weeks, my Christmas presents remained unopened, and for weeks Sister Arianna tried to cheer me up. One day I eventually decided that I'd had enough, I jumped out of the window on the second floor, all the happened from that was I broke my arm and got sent to a state funded therapist. From then on I decided not to celebrate Christmas ever again. I pried up a few loose floor boards and hid them away forever.

****

Present

I walked up the stairs, I still knew where I hid them. I was a kid at the time and I was completely furious at the world. I Knew why I never remembered, as soon as I forgot about that I loved Christmas again. I found the loose floorboards easily and when I pulled them up I accidentally pulled them completely out. Inside were a few brightly wrapped packages, just a little faded from dust. I saw a note on top of one of them, yellowed with age from the years, I decided to read it after all these years.

It was from Sister Arianna, telling me that if I hadn't been adopted by a good family when I turned thirteen and a half she would leave the sisterhood and adopt me herself. I left not long after I turned thirteen, even with all the horrible things said about me and the people constantly saying that I was a runt that didn't deserve a chance she would have taken me. I started to tear up, I had been such an idiot, If I had only stayed five or six more months my life would have been so very different. But if I hadn't been in the service I might not have survived apocalypse.

From behind me a voice said "Put your hands up."

Standing up I turned and looked my attacker in the face, "Well, it would seem that I missed one, shame about that."

Snarling he yelled "You bastard!" and pulled out a gold plated Kimber .45 that proved he was obviously Second.

Stopping his arm before it straightened I pressed the release on the clip and before the clip hit the floor I forced his hand back and made him shoot himself in the left shoulder. I pried the gun from his hand and threw it through a broken window. Pulling free his right paw he reached for a hand axe on a snap clip on his belt, as he tried to swing it at me I took advantage of his hurt arm and yanked it, causing him to cry out and collapse onto the floor.

Reaching for my combat knife I saw he had managed to pull it off as he fell and was already back on his feet. He used his weight to knock me over before sitting on top of me. Not bothering to try and unsheathe my knife he raised his arm to beat me to death with the handle of it. Right as his arm was level with his head both were blown to my left. Pushing his corpse off me I saw El standing on the side the bullet had come from.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

Shrugging she said "I don't know."

Glaring at her I said "So you still don't know how you feel how."

Her facial expression didn't change at all, she simply said "No."

"No? No what," I asked.

Her head tilted down slightly, she said "No, I don't know how I feel, I'm still mad for what you did, but I can't stand being without you."

Growling I yelled "Sometimes I wish I never met you, all I do is try to make this thing we have work! I decided to tell you the truth, and all you do is get upset with me over something I did years ago! Yes, I lied because I didn't want you to hate me, yes, I was a terrible person before I met you. But you made me even worse and now I know I was wrong to want you to like me. You are a complete and utter psycho, I actually regret what I've done and came here to amend some of my wrongs."Stopping for a moment I noticed she was crying, but I wasn't done, I said in a level tone "You don't care what you've done, you never will care for all the lives that you've taken and you know it." As I finished she fell to her knees crying, she had saved me and now she was rewarded with a heart that hurt even more than when I left. I wasn't sure what brought that out, but it was her fault, she makes my life difficult...

But I need her too.