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This little Mexican stand-off was something that I didn't feel like dealing with. People these days only wanted to take what wasn't there's, normally guns, food and ammo. Anyone who had these were fair game in their eyes, hand it over or get killed. Most just killed and took them.

~

Michael held his shotgun steady at the three who returned the favor with guns aimed back at him, the thoughts of the Dogs just down the alley gnawed at the back of his mind as he stared down the barrel of his gun. The long haired man quickly glanced back and forth from left to right before sighting in on Michael who stood firm with unwavering eyes.

The man looked firmly at Michael, his eyes were those of someone who has seen his fair share of Dogs and aliens, it was just something that could be seen in those green hues. The two behind him however looked to be a couple of green horns when it came to this kind of situation, panicked eyes shifting about, quivering hands on their guns that they probably took off some dead cops or stole out of a shop.

The first man appeared to be a biker, one you would expect to find an a bar all day with a hog waiting for him outside, the leather vest, blue jeans and boots kind of gave him the look however. The black man looked to be just some guy, slightly over-weight, low cut hair, shorts, shirt and some sneakers, nothing remarkable there. The woman looked to be some kind of business lady, once fixed blond hair matted and let free, button shirt dirty and pulled free from her wore out jeans that had to have been picked up somewhere else.

These three were something that one would have to expect in this day and age, though Michael clearly held displeasure at meeting them.

"Hey boy. M'gonna ask you to hand that gun over nice and easy, ya hear?" the biker stated calmly, his Glock firmly sighted in on Michaels head.

The answer only made the biker narrow his eyes, Michael lowered the sawed off to waist level and holding it firmly.

"Buck shot, point blank range...know what that'll do to you?" came Michael's voice as he stared back at the biker, "Then again, could just let you shoot me, have those three aliens down the way hear and come runnin...wonder what they'll do to you?"

This statement caused the two behind the biker to quickly glance around in fear, the biker even showed an unwanted glance toward the right where the spikes were held firm to the buildings. Licking his lips before glancing down at Michael's shot gun.

"You got this wrong kid, I don't want to hurt you..."

Being cut off by Michael as he took a step back and glanced out the corner of his eye toward the end of the alley, the echoing sound of the three Dogs could be heard now as they hit cars and stepped on random objects such as glass.

~

Sad to say this wasn't my first run in with idiots like this. I've met four groups so far, first one was a small Military group who I ran with for some time. Learned a bit here and there about how to survive on my own, made some friends and even got a radio that I can use if I run into trouble. No guarantee that it'll work but it gives me some comfort when I feel trapt.

The other three were people like this, untrustworthy and quick to prey on others. Try to intimidate to get what they want and if that doesn't work, brute force.

The first one I was able to run from, the second robbed me blind when they found me sleeping in a house beat me up pretty good too. The third...killed two of them before I jumped out the front window of the bar and made my escape down an alley, some bikers just like this guy, worked me over good but I still managed to get away. Didn't think a kid like me could wrestle that gun away from them like I did...

Now onto these three...tow panicked and one steady, he's the leader and they follow out of desperation, in the normal world they would never be seen with this guy but when things get bad they come crawling to anyone willing to offer leadership...pathetic.

~

The biker licked his lips before nodding a bit, tilting his gun up to show he wasn't willing to shoot before slowly pushing his arms out to his sides to let the other two to know to lower their guns. Michael did not return the favor as he watched the three carefully.

"Now, let's just cool off and get out of here, huh?" the biker suggested as he slowly continued to back away, the other two glancing between Michael and the biker.

Michael had to glance down the alley when a Dog suddenly appeared in his peripheral vision, the large white creature had its back to him and he quickly moved to get into the gate, the biker moving out of the way as the black man quickly pulled the gate closed.

The four people quickly moved to get into the back of the pawn shop. Panting was all that were heard aloud while the beating of their own hearts rang out in their ears. The four people were still on edge, it was clear as they stared at the door; the woman hunched over on her knees, the black man staring at the door with his weapon ready. The biker and Michael however stared at one another, hands still on their guns.

The bikers right arm shifted slightly and Michael was quick to raise his gun and aim it right at the biker who quickly moved to raise his hands in surrender.

"Woah! Easy there kid, I'm not looking to start a fight, you just startled us is all. Kimmy here said she saw someone on the street. You just surprised us is all, didn't know there were any other survivors."

The biker stated as he slowly slipped the Glock into the front of his pants before his hands returned to their position in the air, the man giving a smile and a shake of his head as if saying 'See, nothing suspicious here.'

Slowly Michael's gun was lowered before he stepped to the left, keeping his attention on the three around him as he moved toward the front window. He knew they wouldn't start a shoot-out at least, it would let the Dogs know someone was around and they would be on the hunt, and they would find them.

"What's yer name?" the biker would ask as he moved toward the counter of the pawn shop. The glass had all been shattered with jewelry spread about. Looters took whatever they could, especially the weapons in the later dates, there were no guns or knives anywhere.

Michael would glance out the window, looking down both sides of the street, the glass having been covered in ash and dirt making it difficult to see in or out, he would say nothing in response to the biker's question. The other two slowly moving to finally relax, though they remained near the back door as they slumped against the wall and stacking shelf in the back.

"No name. Well, I'm Berry though most people call me Bear. I'm the leader of this little band of misfits, the girl back there is Kim and the guy is Earren. So what dare I ask brings you here Mr. No Name?"

~

This is how it worked; I was warned against this by the man who ran the Military group I first ran with. People will try to buddy up with you, get you to drop your guard and then they'll bleed you dry for all your worth.

That mistake was made with the third group, seemed like a group of nice people till they smashed the right side of my face into a wall and started kicking me when I hit the ground. Because of that little dance there I've become a bit weary of bikers, they can seem to be friendly as hell and even make you laugh your ass off, but that's what makes them dangerous I guess.

~

Slowly Michael turned toward Berry with narrowed eyes, "No reason, just happened to be in the direction I was walking."

Surprised was the look on Berry's face before he gave a shrug and a nod, "Well can't say I see a problem in that. Not much else to do but wander around. Did it myself before I ran into these two...damn poor shape they were when I found them, hiding in this very pawn shop when I wandered in looking for some guns. Damn near killed Earren there when I first saw him."

Berry produced a beer bottle from behind the counter, holding it out to Michael who simply shook his head, giving a shrug he popped it open as Earren and Kim slowly made their way into the main part of the pawn shop.

"Where did you come from?" would be Kim's first question, looking rather distrusting of Michael who returned the favor by placing his back against the main glass of the pawn shop.

"Originally was in Texas, went to Fort Worth, biggest army base around. Had to get the hell out of there fast, figured might as well start walking, try to avoid all the major cities and evacuation centers that were broadcasted. In every movie I've seen those places get hit first...and I was right."

He explained this with his thumb tapping against the side of his sawed off, Berry nodding in the background and pointing toward Michael in agreement to his statement about the evacuation centers, Earren simply standing back and listening while Kim shook her head.

"So how did you end up here?" Earren would speak up as he leaned forward onto the smashed show case.

"The boy walked!" Berry would exclaim before coming around the from of the show case to stand a bit closer to Michael.

"Gotta say, I really didn't expect to see anyone alive and now I find there's there just wandering around. Might be fate that brought us together, ya think?"

Michael would remain silent at that statement as Berry took another drink from the bottle and offered a smile toward him before turning to look at Kim who showed the disbelief on his features while Earren remained indifferent.

~

Well, these people didn't seem the whole 'give us your shit or die' deal that was the feeling I was getting. Just Berry randomly finding these two seemed like a legitimate story though that didn't mean I trusted any of them in the least. But I was able to at least feel that I could lower my gun for the time being.

That was until...

~

The sudden sound of automatic gun fire rang out through the city like a stampede and Berry's gun was quickly drawn and pointed at Michael who returned the favor with interest. His left hand pulled that 45 once more and pointed in in Earren and Kim's direction, both jumping at the sound of gun fire and then staring at Michael with concern.

"Thought were you alone boy?" Berry would say as his right hand held the Glock firmly at Michael,

"I am, haven't traveled with anyone in months. Must be one of yours!" would come his retort as he glanced toward Kim and Earren.

Earren hand his hands up while Kim took a step back while shaking her head quickly, Berry also shaking his head slowly as Michael looked back at him.

The gun shots would be sporadic, possibly untrained or multiple people shooting at something, and it was clearly outside though it was hard to tell where they were coming form from inside a building but with this stand-off once again in full blaze the four didn't seem to be paying much attention.

"Well if it ain't yours and it ain't ours..." Berry would tilt his gun back once again before lowering it to his side, "Let's go find out who it is before they bring the whole damn party of such heads down on us, eh?"

~

I didn't really enjoy the thought of working with people again, the Military group was one thing but these people were different. Untrained and could easily get me killed or leave me bleed as bait.

It was a risk but I couldn't help but want to see who was out there, the sound of automatic fire normally meant military. Normally. My thoughts were more on the group I was first with, Alpha Squad D Platoon, otherwise known as Hells Hornets. Not sure where they got the name, the man in charge said it was mainly do to their 'killing them with bug bites' tactics, hit and run kind of war fare.

Either way, I doubt it was them, they avoided all cities no matter how small but this was the very edge, they might have become desperate as they had nearly thirty people when I left them. I had to find out.

~

Giving a nod in agreement Michael lowered his shot gun and Berry nodded back before looking toward Kim and Earren, motioning with his head toward the back door which caused both to quickly move toward the back. Neither was overly joyed at having to go outside once again, clearly two that didn't want any part of what was happening to the world.

Everyone filed out into the back of the pawn shop, the privacy fence in the back was still closed, and the Dogs didn't seem to even wander down the alley which meant that Michael hadn't been spotted a while ago. Back through the alley and around all of those pulsing spikes Berry would peek around the corner onto the street seeing nothing, Michael who was right behind him peered back and forth as well.

The gun shots continued to fire out randomly over and over again though were now joined in by the unmistakable sound of Dogs returning fire. Their weapons made several different but distinct noised and each meant bad news for whoever was on the receiving end of them.

Down the street the group of four wandered quickly before cutting across the street before peering down a side street, the appearance of the three Dogs were clear as the three aliens fired toward the roof tops and down the alleys, each of them were back to back as if they were surrounded.

The quick appearance of humans were clear here and there from over the corners of the buildings and out from behind cover. The Dogs appeared to be surrounded, the few sights of the humans showed black clothing with automatic weapons.

Berry and Michael would be watching from the cover of a car while Earren held himself back the furthest in the middle of the street to keep their escape route open back to the pawn shop, Kim however held herself in the door way to one of the buildings, looking back and forth quickly as if expecting death to jump around the corner at any moment.

Berry would glance toward Michael as if trying to ask for help to make sense of this, Michael however stared firmly at the scene in front of him, seeming to understand what was going on.

~

This was a tactic developed by one of the people in Alpha, since Dogs only worked in small landing parties it would be easy to pushed them back or have them group up. Use small arms fire to get them on the offensive and then use hit and run tactics to send bullets at them from all directions to get them focused in all different points so they remained confused.

It was a good strategy, hitting from ground level and from roof tops at any height made for more targets and the Dogs weapons were unable to hit everywhere at once. The three main once that were used were each distinct in their design and what they did when they were fired.

The First was similar to a human assault rifle only it was pear shaped and a Dog was able to carry it in both of their 'paws' or have one in each, fully automatic and the 'bullets' that were fired out of it seemed to be heated making body armor useless as it would simply burn right through them.

Second was that needle like gun, I call it a 'Needler' since I'm a bit of a Halo fan, these things I believe are what make the pulsing spikes that you find around the cities. They are large black spikes about a foot in length, a Dog takes one and shoves it into the top of a device on their wrist, the spike then seems to be broken up and fed through large hoses that are connected to smaller devices that are located on the Dogs 'fingers.' Then it's just point and needles! They go flying out, hundreds of smaller needles shoot out, they are weak and don't penetrate though metal but I've seen several bodies covered in them. Possibly poisonous to humans, I don't know.

The third is the equaliviant to a plasma gun, not sure if it is plasma or not but the gun is long like a shot gun and is normally connected to a small pack that is located on the Dogs lower back. The Dog uses it like a shot gun, holding it to their shoulder unlike the 'assault rifle' and the gun fires out a shifting black and white ball of energy that blows holes through nearly anything.

These are the three main guns I've seen, most of the time however they also carry large sword like weapons, gauntlet blades and the like. Wicked looking blades that you wouldn't want swung anywhere near you.

These three however were loaded up with nothing more than blades and assault rifles, good for the soldiers which is probably why they attacked them.

The plan of hitting in all directions was a success, now it was time for the main event.

~

Michael would suddenly begin scanning the edges of the roofs, Berry narrowing his eyes as if trying to understand what he was looking forward, even looking around as well to see if he could spot whatever Michael was looking forward.

It was only a few more moments when Michael lowered his head with narrowed eyes, seeing one of the black clad humans moving to stand on the edge of a building, a large device on his shoulder. A damn RPG mounted firmly on his shoulder.

Michael quickly lowered himself and covered his ears, yelling out for the others to do the same, Berry having to take a few more moments to look around before finally seeing the person on the roof before quickly getting down on his stomach and covering his head.

The explosion that followed shattered the glass out of many of the surrounding stores, dust and smoke sent in all directions as Michael and the other three attempted to compose themselves. The ringing in his ears was distant but he slowly began to push himself up using the car he was hiding behind with Berry as leverage. Berry appeared to still be shielding his head, Kim was curled up in a corner still clutching her ears and Earren was on one knee looking around, seeming to be alright.

Michael slowly stood up to look over the success of the attack, seeing that the Dogs were no longer fighting or standing. Each had been thrown a great distance, it also appeared that they were missing quite a few pieces, or one was and the others were just covered in that one's remains.

The 'soldiers' were slowly moving out into the street, a few were at least while the others remained on the roof tops to make sure nothing was still living after that. Michael narrowed his eyes to try and see through what smoke there still was, making out the figures of humans wandering around with weapons at the ready as they searched over the bodies of the three Dogs.

Michael slowly ducked back down and made sure to keep himself as hidden as he could, Berry having now got himself up began to dust himself off,

"When they blow shit up they do a damn good job!" laughing a bit toward Michael who glanced at him before nodding.

"Probably just alerted every damn Dog for six blocks though" he stated as he peered through the back seat windows of the car in front of him.

The 'soldiers' began to relax and shout out orders, telling everyone to "regroup" and call in their "evac" it would be during this that Michael would make out the figure of a much larger silhouette moving toward the soldiers. The dust had cleared enough to see a Dog, covered in red and missing half of its chest plate quickly moving in behind a soldier with a large knife drawn.

~

I've made it my code not to involve myself in others business and to try and keep myself uninvolved with others. Just being with Berry, Kim and Earren was already pushing the code to it's limit.

I'm not really sure why I did it, maybe it was because I felt I owed a favor to any military, or maybe just felt like I could let someone be killed without even seeing their attacker. I don't know, but when I did it, I kind of regretted it.

~

Michael quickly stood up, "On your six!" he would yell out while pulling out his 45, his shot gun had been set on the ground when he moved to cover his ears during the RPG attack. With both hands firmly on the grip of the pistol, the soldier who had heard his scream looking up to see Michael aiming a gun at them.

It wasn't till Michael fired the first round and the clear sound of metal hitting metal did the man turn around to see the Dog shaking its head after Michael's round hit it's face mask. All soldiers quickly moved and began firing at the creature who reeled back, what armor it did have was damaged and there were visible holes and that's where everyone aimed.

It wasn't but a few seconds before the creature fell to the ground with a massive thud, Berry looking up at Michael with a 'Ok...now what' look, his eye browns raised showing a bit of impressed awe yet curiosity as to why Michael had let those people know they were there.

The people, once satisfied with the creature's unmoving corpse also took an interest in Michael who simply put his 45 in the back of his pants before leaning down and picking up his shot gun, glancing to Berry who shook his head and stood up with him. Kim and Earren slowly walked toward Berry while Michael moved around the car and toward the armed group of people who now ranged in the number of ten to twelve.

~

Now I had gone from three people to watch to about fifteen. Just fucking dandy!

Sometimes I hate myself. I tell myself constantly, 'Don't get involved. Not your problem.' 'You fucking idiot shut the hell up!' and here I am, doing something stupid like calling out, letting everyone know I was there as well as wasting bullets on a damn Dog.

I didn't even know if I could trust these guys, I damn near killed Berry, Kim and Earren damn near a half hour ago and here I am trying to save someone I've just 'seen.' Haven't even met the guy yet.

I could only hope now that they wouldn't blow me away with all those automatic weapons.

I hate myself sometimes...

~

The group of twelve watched Michael cautiously, made up of men and women, all dressed and armed similarly which either made them military or people who shared the same fashion sense. Michael stopped about ten feet from the group, his shot gun held by the middle of the barrel while Berry and the others stayed back, keeping their distance which didn't bother Michael. If this new group decided to kill him, they might be able to get away.

"You saved my ass...gotta thank you for that." A man stated, his short brown hair was cut in a high and tight military style. He stepped forward, his M-16 held in front of him as he approached Michael who slowly slipped his hand to the stock of his shot gun. This motion put everyone on edge, Michael would make damn sure that he wouldn't die by himself should this turn ugly.

The approaching soldier would lift his left hand, "Easy now, don't want any trouble. Who are you?" Michael would shake his head letting the man know he wasn't going to answer that question.

Giving a nod in response the man asked another question, "Well, we got a base set up about five miles out of town. Food, shelter. You seem to know how to handle that gun...got some people with you too..." motioning with his head toward Berry and the others.

Michael narrowed his eyes before taking the middle of his shot gun with his left hand, turning the barrel the other direction before opening his satchel, keeping his eyes on the soldiers who readied their weapons as his hand disappeared into the bag. Pulling that military radio from his bag before turning it on and placing it to his ear, the chatter on the short wave was that of an a small vehicle on route to evac some soldiers in town.

~

'Never take a person at face value of being with the military.' That's what I was told before I left Alpha, anyone can take a uniform and a gun and pretend they are military and want to help. Always use that radio when you can to check the radio waves to try and pick up any kind of chatter and it has helped me a few times when signs we placed around telling people that military was around and where they should go.

Don't know how many people wandered into that trap but I knew it was far too many. Lit the sign of fire after I took a peek at where the military was 'supposed' to be. Turned out to be nothing but a large bandit group using some uniforms to lure in people who wanted protection, took the women and killed the men, anything they had when they wandered into the trap was taken as well.

These people seemed legitimate however, the vehicle was on its way and though this radio wouldn't reach out far enough it could pick up some chatter a few blocks away. Enough to warn you if your head was about to be taken off by a short range sniper.

~

Placing the radio back in his satchel he would tilt his head and peer to the right for a few moments, thinking it over in his head three military Hummers turned onto the street. The large group began to dispersed and move to the vehicles as they approached, the man who had been talking to Michael still waiting for his answer.

"Not with them..." pointing over his shoulder at Berry and them, "You'll have to talk to them about that...but I'll go, for a little while..." he stated as he started toward the man who nodded giving a friendly smile before lifting his hand and waving Berry and the others over.

It didn't take much convincing for Kim and Earren to quickly move toward the Hummers, wanting protection and some kind of security, Berry however proved to be a bit more hesitant but eventually walked back with the only remaining military man whose name turned out to be Jason.

The three vehicles quickly moved out, circling back around, Earren and Kim in the second, Michael in the first with Berry in the third. Much too small for everyone to fit in several of the soldiers ended up holding onto the top of the vehicles though didn't seem to give much argument over it, seeming to be used to riding on the tops of the vehicles.

Jason sat next to Michael on the ride back, making some small talk though Michael kept most of his own information to himself, not giving his name or too much of where he came from, no more than he gave Berry.

"Gotta tell you, you're the first living people we've seen in weeks. You're lucky you showed up when you did, that was the last of the raids on that sector, and we're going to be moving on to the next town over in a few days." Jason stated with a cheerful smile before looking out the window, pointing with his finger,

"That's where were based out of at the moment." Michael taking a moment to lean forward and look out the front window at an amusement park that had been set up just out of town, just outside of the suburban area and in some farmland. Seeming to have been situated there for some time, all the fields that the park was resting on had been harvested to make room just for the park.

Pulling into the park proved that it was far more secure than it was originally believed, there were guards posted everywhere; make shift watch towers having been erected nearly fifty feet away from each other around the entire park.

~

I forgot what it was like to be surrounded by soldiers, I actually felt safer as soon as we pulled into the park. Seeing all the soldiers, most armed and ready for action, those guard towers and even all the military vehicles. Guess I never thought about it, when I first started to wander around I was really clueless as to what to do. I didn't even have a pocket knife on me, if I hadn't ran into Alpha I would have probably died long ago.

~

When the vehicles came to a stop Michael opened the door and stepped out, taking a few steps from the vehicles as the soldiers slid off of the top of it and onto the ground. Looking around seeing all the soldiers made Michael take a deep breath, seeming to actually relax before turning to look at Kim and Earren as they were quickly escorted away, Berry being less than complying as he told a soldier off and moved toward Michael.

"Look what you got us into kid, locked in a base full of soldiers" Michael simply stared at Berry in return to that comment, Berry placing his hands on his hips as he glanced around before giving a sigh.

"So what do you reckon will happen now that we're all safe and sound?" he would asked, Michael's brow raising in response before shaking his head and looking around, a female soldier stepping up to both of them suddenly caught both of their attention.

"You're never safe, don't matter where you are. I'll need you to hand over your weapons." She held out her hands with an indifferent gaze, shifting her eyes between Berry and Michael.

Berry laughed before he pulled his Glock from the front of his pants, "Why don't you come find me when you're off duty, I'll show you my 'real' weapon baby" Michael glanced toward the woman as if expecting the woman to knock Berry on his ass for that comment.

She merely took his gun giving a 'Heh' before turning to gaze at Michael with her other hand out, it took a moment before Michael finally surrendered his shot gun, keeping his 45 in his pants however. The woman simply stared at both of them as if saying, 'And?'

Berry giving a sigh and reaching around his back and pulling out a large 357 revolver while Michael just stared back at her,

"Look, I've already been informed you have a side arm. Either give it up or I'll have it taken from you." She stated while looking at Michael who slowly reached around.

Pulling the 45 from the back of his pants he ejected the clip from the hand gun before pushing the slide back, the bullet landing in the palm of his hand. Placing the clip and round in her hand before slipping the gun into the back of his pants again.

"This was given to me by another soldier, told me to get it back to him when we met up again."

This didn't really please the woman but she took all the guns and placed them into a green cloth bag before pulling it over her shoulder, "Thank you for your cooperation."

Berry looked down at Michael before kneeling down, making it seem like he was tying his shoe, though he merely lifted his pant leg to remove a 38. from the ankle holster, slipping it into the back of his pants. Michael watching Berry with a raised brown, Berry winking at him as if he were clever.

Michael in return pulled the 45 back around, his left hand reaching into his back pocket and pulling a spare clip free before slipping it into the 45. Berry giving a small laugh as Michael nodded, slipping the gun back into the back of his pants before both him and Berry glanced around making sure no one had witnessed this.

"Damn soldiers; always want to be in control." Berry complained while Michael wiped his palms together,

"I can agree, until you make yourself worth something you might as well be in the way. Treat you like you're a problem but won't offer you to do something helpful. Most won't at least, not unless they cut the chain of command and reverted back to everyone has to do something, no matter what it is." Michael sighed before he started to walk, Berry moving along with him as they began to wander the amusement park.

Berry and Michael had wandered most of the park, some of the tents that were set up were 'Military Only' and they were turned away, others were medical tents or supplies such as food and the mess hall. Most of the amusement parks buildings were used for storage, the main rides were shut down but some were still going, a lot of the soldiers rode them, the few civilians that they had there did as well.

~

It was a bit strange to see people still having fun, the soldiers had drawn the main power from the larger rides to power up their own systems, radios, television and the like. There was no cable but DVD's still worked, they even turned on some of the smaller rides for the civilians as well as the soldiers to help ease the stress of what was going on. The rides however were cut off during the night however, nothing but complete darkness fall on the amusement park when sun set hit.

It seemed that the Dogs didn't search this far out of the cities, some soldiers claimed that they have seen ships passing by but non ever stopped or really paid them much attention but that didn't mean they wouldn't. The base had only been here just under a month and was planning to move.

There were nearly eighty soldiers and forty civilians, the most humans I have seen since the invasion first hit. Most were just remnants of other squads who gathered together and worked with one another to survive. They started small and slowly worked their way into becoming this large military unit, probably the largest in the world anymore.

~

The sun had begun to set when Berry and Michael stopped at the parking lot where all the military vehicles rested, Michael had finally told Berry his name. Having walked with the man for several hours he appeared to have grown to trust the man enough to be able to tell him his name.

"Mike man, this is some strange shit ya know." Berry stated as he sat on the hood of the military supply truck, Michael nodded in agreement as he watched some soldiers pass by.

It would then be when Michael heard his name called out, he turned to the right to see a soldier looking slightly shocked at seeing him before a large smile came over the man's face. The soldier quickly ran over, Michael pushed himself from the truck and quickly met the man half way, both reaching out and grabbing one another's hand, pulling the other in to wrap their free arm around their back. The soldier was a taller black man, dressed in the military urban camo with an AR-15 slung over his shoulder.

Michael and the man pulled back from one another still holding their hands together with large smiles, "Michael you som'bitch, still kicking!" the man exclaimed excitedly,

"Good to see you to D, how'd you end up here!?" Michael said back, giving a just as broad smile while patting the taller man's shoulder,

~

I hadn't seen a familiar face in a long time, D or Dwayne was actually the soldier that found me and was one of the members of Alpha team that I learned from. Alpha was similar to this large group now, just collecting soldiers that they ran across, they weren't this big but had a mixed group of soldiers from all branches and several different units.

I had to admit, it had been some time since I smiled like that. Actually seeing an old friend alive was something I didn't really plan for but it was a good surprise. A small pleasure. Who would have thought about something like that a few months ago. 'Hey I know you, how great is it that we're both still living!?'

Never thought I'd say that...

~

Dwayne took a step back from Michael before looking over at Berry, Michael turned to the biker who had now approached the two, "This is Berry, met him in town today."

Dwayne reached out and shook Berry's hand, "Ah yeah, I heard that we found some civilians in town today. Didn't know that was you though, thought you were headed North, what are you doing out here?"

Michael shook his head in response, "North proved to be too dangerous at the time, so I changed direction. Didn't expect to run into you. The rest of Alpha here too?" he asked, a bit of eagerness in his voice.

Dwayne shook his head a bit, "Naw, most of Alpha headed further East, we ran into this group headin West and we traded needed troops. This group needed soldiers and Alpha needed medics and engineers. Oh, Bomb, Ghost and Norm are here too!" he said excitedly.

Michael and Dwayne quickly began to walk, Berry followed close behind as they all made their way to a tent near the parking lot. Once inside the large tent the first sight would be a short hair blonde woman hunched over a table, white muscle shirt on her upper body while camo pants and boots adorn her lower frame.

"Bomb!" Dwayne would call out getting the woman's attention as well as a rather displeased glare,

"Damn it Dwayne!" a heavy Russian accent would flow from the woman's lips as she snapped at Dwayne, "You want me to blow up this entire base!?" she yelled out before her blue eyes shifted onto Michael who was standing behind Dwayne letting forth a small chuckle.

'Bomb' stood quickly with a smile, "Well look at this! Little Michael (Me-Ki-Al) still alive and kicking!" she exclaimed while moving around the table, showing herself to be a taller and muscular female as she moved to Michael, wrapping an arm around his neck.

All the excitement however caught the attention of another woman in the back of the tent who was resting on one of the cots. She stood up and walked toward the front of the tent, she was American with brown hair that had been let down, brown eyes looking to Michael who tilted his head back slightly in her direction after Bomb let him go.

"Hey Norm, been awhile" Michael stated, 'Norm' giving a smile before moving up and giving Michael a hug, Dwayne also stepped forward to try and get a hug from the woman only to be turned down, Bomb laughing as Norm gave Michael a playful punch in the arm.

"Damn good to see you still kicking. Thought we were letting you walk to your own death when you left us back in Oklahoma" she stated before her eyes turned up to Berry who was kind of resting in the background at the moment.

"Who's that?" she stated, Michael took a step to the side to let Berry step in,

"Ah, you can call me Bear. Met Mike here in town today..." giving a glance toward Michael before his eyes focused on Norm again, "We kind of just hit it off and here I am" giving a shrug of his shoulders with a smile.

Bomb shook her head a bit with a smirk, "If I know Michael, you 'hit it off' at the end of a gun barrel" Norm stated before she turned and stepped back into the tent, everyone moving to follow her.

"Where's Ghost?" Michael would ask as everyone moved into the tent, grabbing chairs as they did.

"She's on tower duty today, she gets off around midnight and will be here. You can go see her in a bit though, she's over in tower thirteen on the Western side of the base." Bomb stated as everyone circled around together, slowly everyone just began to relax and the world slowly started to fade out.

~

Had to stop and say. It's been a hell of a day. In all honesty it's damn strange to suddenly meet up with some old friends again...hell I even made a new one.

Might be someone looking out for me, then again it could be one damn big ass strange coincidence in this series of events. But it was nice seeing my friends again, helped me out a while ago and I finally met up with some of them again.

Norma or Norm as we call her worked in intelligence and is...was, a non-combatant before all this happened. A bit too soft to actually be a soldier, kind of a bleeding heart and was one of those who stood up for me when I was found by Dwayne and even convinced the others to give me some tips on how to survive.

Bomb there, she is a demolition expert who was the daughter of a powerful man over in Russia, she got rank because of her social standing and would never have actually seen action according to her. She was one of the people who were escorting some kind of Military general over here when the Dogs attacked, that's how she ended up here and met me, she was running with Alpha, using her demolition knowledge to make things explode. Thus her name. Bomb!

Ghost, now this girl is strange. A sniper and a damn good one according to anyone that's worked with her before, she was the one that actually taught me how to shoot a gun. She's quiet and doesn't really talk much but she's good at what she does, made me feel like an idiot when I tried to shoot for the first time. Told me "This isn't a video game. Just cause you point your gun in the direction doesn't mean you'll hit shit!" Yeah...but at least I can shoot now. Sorta...

All in all their good people and among the few people I can actually trust, this little bit of rest and relaxation is actually good and I can forget that we have a violent alien invasion just outside the tent going on.

~

In An Unknown Location

~

A human man slowly huffed out, ragged for breath as the bindings on his wrists ate into his flesh. The dim lights of the pulsing spikes illuminated his nude body as he hung in the air, having been stabbed onto the several spikes that protrude from the strange wall. The image of a Dog would appear in front of the man, the sounds of growling and snarls being shifted about between several of the creatures before shining yellow eyes looked over the human.

The pulsing spikes that the human had stabbed into his back glowed from inside his flesh having only been sunk into his back but not completely impaling him, the blood had long since stopped and his body had since fallen numb to the spikes that were inside of his body. The Dog in front of him would take a small device that appeared to be a very small breathing mask, similar to an oxygen mask that one would find in a hospital.

Placing this over the human's mouth and nose the human would continue to huff before coughing and attempting to struggle, fresh blood flowing from his bound wrists, his feet shaking in the air as he tried to gain ground in order to get his face free. Slowly the human would fall limp, his eyes closed as he continued to breathe through the small mask.

The mask would be taken from his face a few moments later and fresh air would reach his lungs, he would then suddenly jolt up, his head jerking back with his mouth wide open giving a long loud groan before his head hung. Spit slowly flowed from his mouth before his eyes began to open, showing a yellow shimmer reflecting off of the pulsing green hue. The Dogs around him growling lowly before moving away from the human as he continued to huff, the pulsing spikes continuing to glow over and over again.

~

An ominous plot begins to unfold while others enjoy the company of old and new friends. What awaits in the near future?