Survival or Struggle?

The guys managed to run to where the gunshots were without slowing each other down. CC looked around and spotted what looked to be a small horde. But CC snarled in a very animal-like fashion. It made all the guys look at him with concern. CC shook his head, not about to explain himself. He moved forward quickly, the others following. The horde converged on them quicker than expected. CC shot off his shotgun and dispatched the two closest zombies quickly. Jinxx's crossbow(Ashley would have to ask him where he got the freaking thing), dispatched another three. Andy's twin pistols managed to cut down quite a few. Ashley didn't think Andy had that good of aim, he was proud to see he was wrong though.

Jake used an AK-47 to dispatch some as the walked slowly closer to the group that needed help. Ashley had managed to grab a weapon leaning on the wall before they had rounded the corner. An enhanced handgun(armor piercing ammo is apparently enhancing a weapon nowadays). As they all moved closer, they realized why CC had snarled the way he had. It was in frustration. The horde was a lot bigger than they thought. The people caught up in this didn't stand a chance without help. And neither did they if more people didn't show up. Ashley's aim was a bit off, what with his injuries and no rest. Though, to be fair, the others didn't look that much better off. They stayed together, covering anyone that needed to reload their weapon.

As Ashley reloaded for a third time, a group of eight people came around with various guns and started to help. It helped a little, but Ashley wasn't sure where all the zombies were coming from. They all seemed to filter out of the wooded areas around the complex without stopping. Almost like a river had flooded over, but replace that with zombies. The group of eight had to run ahead to deal with a bigger problem in an area close to them. But that didn't make any of them feel any safer. CC started backing up, Jinxx looked at CC with a look of confusion.

"There's too many of them. We have to fall back a bit." CC said, loud enough for the rest of them to hear. Ashley had to agree with CC. It was like a freaking army of these things were coming around.

Jinxx didn't question CC and nodded, falling back. The others did the same. But screaming from their end, that they were facing away from, was facing a similar issue. They had all of them surrounded. And it didn't look good for them at all. Ashley's whole body was shaking with adrenaline. It had just occurred to him that he hadn't gone into shock at all yet. Or maybe he his body was used to the abuse it suffered by now. Either way, he hoped he could keep it together long enough to stick this out.

"Shit!" Jake screamed, firing off his AK-47 rapidly. Andy was firing off his twin pistols, facing the direction Jake was in.

CC growled and turned to see the way they came was beginning to swarm as well. Andy and Jake were taking care of that end. Jinxx was alternating between the two with his crossbow. That left CC and Ashley to do the horde in front of them. CC and Ashley looked at each other and nodded. No turning back now, not even if they had a choice. CC started firing his shotgun, making sure there were some zombies in close range to actually take them out as well. Ashley, with his shaking hands, managed to take aim and shoot a little bit better than he had expected. It was gunshots and screams all around them. Human and zombie screams mixed in.

Once they got enough leeway to fall back, they did just that. Calling to anyone else close to them to fall back as well. Once they heard hurried footsteps, they rushed to the front of the complex. Various people were fighting hordes big and small. Some with guns, others with close-range weapons. There was a girl about twelve that actually cut off the head of a zombie with one machete while impaling the head of another with one swift motion. Jake was actually impressed by that. And he saw others giving the zombies the same treatment in various other bloody ways. The guys managed to stay together and fight off hordes together after that. They thought after being able to fall back it would be easier. That it would be over shortly.

Fights like these were never short. There was another burst of zombies. But this time they were tougher. Dare they say mutated? These zombies were harder to shoot down and harder to run away from. CC grunted in obvious frustration, Jinxx just looked about as done as CC was. But Andy, Jake and Ashley stood silently by as they tried to decide what to do with these ones. Andy had an idea: a crazy one.

"Those things are weak against fire." Andy said.

"And?" Jake barked at him.

"We have a flamethrower." Andy shrugged nonchalantly.

Jinxx raised a brow in an obvious 'What-the-hell's-wrong-with-you?' look. Andy growled and rolled his eyes.

"It's either try that or we get stomped on." Andy said, looking around at the creatures as he shot one dead after using two magazines worth of ammo.

The others looked at each other and shrugged. If it killed these things faster, then the flamethrower would be best. Jake was wise not to ask where the hell they got a flamethrower though. Andy was tasked to get in and Andy was off in a flash and was in an out of the building in less than a minute. Once with the flamethrower, he looked at the others, shrugging.

"Who wants to use it first?" Andy asked.

Ashley would have said yes, but his injuries clearly stated he wasn't up to carrying something that heavy. The others looked at each other and Jake volunteered. Oh, the flamethrower worked. It worked like a charm. The only downside: while these things burned to death, they became angry. So they became twice as dangerous until they were burnt to a crisp. Jake helped out in problem areas while CC and Andy covered him. Jinxx and Ashley went around and made sure to get other areas as well. But once the zombies were in flames, they only ran into more of their zombie friends and set them ablaze. So the job was really minimal by the time they were done. At least, that's what they thought.

It turned into round three when another horde came around and these big things as tall as the streetlights slithered through the woods, leaving black sludge in their wake. The big things could catch on fire, but took a lot longer to die; about a ten minute time frame. Meanwhile, the guys all met up and converged on the horde. They didn't notice they were separated from Jinxx until they heard a strangled yell from their friend. They whirled around and Jinxx was caught by the throat by one of those big zombies. They all instantly went into action, shooting it in the legs to let their friend go. The goal was to anger it enough to let Jinxx go. And it took almost ten minutes of doing. But doing so made the creature throw Jinxx bodily threw the air and landed in a heap about twenty feet away.

Jake immediately took the flamethrower and torched the thing. They had no choice but to run after that. But they made sure not to stray too far. The horde was becoming too much with these big things making an issue. A lot of the people just barricaded the complex in hopes that the things would lose interest. So there was about two dozen fighters with many more of these things. And each one of them was almost entirely out of ammo. That was, until an arrow went through one of the big zombie's skulls and it crashed to the floor. Ashely, Jake, Andy and CC wheeled around to find a bruised and limping Jinxx firing his crossbow exactly into every one of those giant zombie's heads. After that, Jinxx had bodily removed a zombie from on top of a young girl who had been trying to eat her.

He had simply taken an arrow from his collection and stabbed it into the back of the skull. He let the girl roll out from under the now dead-dead zombie and Jinxx let it fall to the ground unapologetically. He wrenched the arrow from the zombie's head and rejoined the fray. The others shook their heads in amazement and went to work on the rest of the horde. By the time they had all but finished the job, the other fights came out and set about burning the bodies littering the ground. Jinxx helped with that too, each one of them splitting up and doing their share. By the time that had been done with, the guys all but sank to their knees. Except for Jinxx and CC. Andy and Jake looked at Jinxx wide-eyed.

"Dude..that was...amazing." Andy said, out of breath.

Jake and Ashley echoed those thoughts with a nod in agreement. CC put his hand on Ashley's shoulder, who was shaking far harder than the rest. It was shock and CC wordlessly went and got some food and some water for him. Jake lent his leather jacket to help keep Ashley warm. Ashley looked at Jinxx, who had a slightly pained look on his face, but tried to hide it.

"What about you Jinxx?" Ashley asked. Jinxx smiled a little, shaking his head.

"Just some bruises and a sprain. I'll be fine." Jinxx said a little hoarsely.

Ashley chose not to comment, seeing as Jinxx was nearly strangled and didn't need to be reminded of it. CC came back with the food and water and Ashley made quick work of them, feeling a little bit better after that. Now all he needed was some rest. In fact, they all did. After today, they all deserved to sleep for a year. But Ashley looked around at the other survivors, relishing in their victory. Ashley couldn't allow himself to darken to occasion of a victory. They didn't have many of those. So, he sat quietly, as the other fighters congratulated them and they soaked up some much needed peace as the night rolled in. Tomorrow would be a new day and a new fight.

Notes