Apocalypse: Branch Chapter two
#4 of Apocalypse #1 Branch
Apocalypse: Branch Chapter Two
I grabbed my AR-15 and slammed a clip into it as Jen did the same. She stood back and took aim as I yanked the door open. The felines body jerked back as the rounds tore through her torso. She regained her balance and started rushing toward Jen. She fell back onto the ground as a final round blew the contents of her skull out into the hallway.
"Lets get the hell out of here." Jen said as she slung her rifle over her shoulder and picked up our bag.
I grabbed the ammo crates and we headed downstairs. We got to my jeep without running into anyone else and threw our stuff in the back seat. I started it up and the radio came on. Instead of the normal banter and advertising the DJ was reading the same instructions as the news anchor.
"I repeat you must sever the head or destroy the brain. Holy shit I cant believe this is real. Look folks grab your guns lock your doors and hunker down for the haul. This is isolated. We found reports of rioting and violence in almost every major city. There are rumors that Chinese bombers entered U.S. airspace before this all started but nobody knows what to make of it. I'm going to sign off now. Good luck to you all and I hope you enjoy some shooting music. I put our entire library on shuffle so you will have fresh music till the station goes dead."
Down with the sickness started playing as we pulled out of the lot. The streets where in chaos. Furs where getting mauled everyway you looked. I floored it dodging burned out cars and running over several zombies. I was about to pull onto the highway when I got a good view of the traffic. It was a bloodbath. The bumper to bumper traffic was packed so tight some people couldn't even get out of their cars as a large group of zombies swarmed over them.
We watched in horror as hundred of people where eaten alive. The highway was soon a river of corpses flowing toward the fresh meat ahead. I turned around and headed to the edge of the city taking only the side roads.
After driving for around half an hour we finally found a rode that headed out into the countryside. The only problem was that the army had found it first. There was an APC sitting in the middle of the road with several heavily armed soldiers guarding it. One of them motioned us to pull up to their barricade. As we did several zombies came running around the corner of a nearby building. The soldiers opened fire on them. They barely flinched and kept going strait for the soldiers. Me and Jen grabbed our rifles and took careful shots. The soldiers caught on and the group of fifteen was soon dead.
"what the hell are you doing out here? Your supposed to be barricaded in your homes.
"Screw that shit we're getting the hell out here."
"and going where? This shit is everywhere."
A voice crackled from their radio. "All units regroup at position alpha. Abandon your positions and leave immediately."
"You guys can follow us if you want." He then turned to his unit. "you heard em lets get the fuck out of here." The soldiers grabbed their packs and loaded up into the APC. They took off down the road leaving a mounted gun and several crates of ammo behind.
I looked at the .50 cal turret and back at Jen who was smiling happily. I knew she had the same idea as me. "Well if we're gonna do it lets be quick." We hopped out grabbed the huge gun struggling to lift it into the back of the jeep. Next we grabbed all the ammo we could. We got five belts for the .50 and several boxes of 5.56 rounds.
Just as we finished loading our loot a huge bear came into view along with several smaller zombies. Jen jumped behind the wheel and I jumped in the back taking aim at the bear as he started sprinting toward us.
"GET US THE FUCK OUT OF HERE THEY CAN RUN!" I shouted as I fired my first round at his head. Jen finally got the jeep started and floored it nearly throwing me out. I looked back and saw in horror that the smaller zombies where catching up to us. I fired frantically hitting several in the head. There where still two left as I slammed a fresh mag into the reciever.
One of the zombies leapt through the air landing on one of the crates next to me. It looked down at me and screamed. Taking the opportunity a shoved my barrel into its gaping maw and pulled the trigger. The back of it head exploded outward and it fell off landing on the other zombie.
I crawled up into the front seat and switched the radio on. When the man comes around by Johnny cash came on.
"Hey lets go to the mall." Jen joked
I Chuckled and relaxed back into my seat. Jen woke me up an hour later. "We need to stop for gas."
"Okay lets grab some food when we do."
We followed the road signs to a small deserted town. We pulled into the gas station and Jen Started pumping the gas. I went inside carefully checking for any sign of movement. I finished checking for zombies and grabbed a few bags. I filled the first one with jerky and bottled water. I filled the other two with whatever canned food I could find making sure to throw in a can opener. I tossed the food into the floorboard and headed back inside. I grabbed a plain silver zippo and several bottles of fuel and stuffed them into my pocket.
I saw a stack of gas cans and grabbed four of them. Once we had topped off the tank and the jugs we headed out. Jen pulled to a stop outside a small gun store.
"can we go shopping?" She asked as her tail wagged excitedly.
"Women will never change." I said as I grabbed my rifle and hopped out.
Jen hopped out of the jeep and ran into the store. I heard her scream almost immediately after the door shut behind her. I ran inside scanning the room. There were several zombies chained to the far wall trying their best to break free and maul me or Jen.
A large panther walked out from the back room. "What the hell are you doin in here." he asked gruffly.
"Just looking for shotguns and precision rifles."
Jen came out of the other room holding two spaz 12s. "These should work."
"would you like to try it before you buy it?" he said gesturing to the zombies.
Jen looked at me questioningly. "Sure why not."
The panther set a box of shells on the counter and offered her one. She loaded it and took aim at the closest zombie. As she pulled the trigger its head exploded and it fell to the ground. Jen squealed happily.
"I don't suppose you take cash?"
"Sorry barter only. I need to watch out for my future and within a few days money wont be worth burnin."
"How bout a couple belts of .50 cal rounds?"
"If they are military rounds sure."
We led him out to the jeep and opened the back. When he saw the turret his eyes went wide.
"If you let me have that and the ammo I'll give you the shotguns, two .308 rifles, and night scopes with enough ammo to get you where your going."
We agreed and helped him move the gun to the back of the shop where he had at least ten more zombies tied to a fence. As we loaded up our stuff we heard the .50 cal firing and the panther screaming in joy.
"Was it just me or did he act this wasn't the first time this has happened?"
"Yeah he was a little bit weird but who cares we're set now. As we tried to head out of town a large group of zombies blocked our way. These zombies were different. The were bigger and more deformed. The closest one was close to fifteen feet tall. Jen sped down a side street trying to go around them but they were able to keep up with us thanks to all the debris in the road. I grabbed my new spaz and fired into the crowd causing some to trip but the others didn't even flinch.
I grabbed a .308 and prayed it would work as I took aim at the largest zombies head. The round punched a hole clear through killing it instantly. It fell taking several of the smaller ones with it. As we sped around a corner an explosion rocked the jeep. It sent the remaining zombies flying. As I looked around for the source I saw a Dark wolf on a nearby roof motioning us to go to him. I had Jen pull into the ally behind the building.
We hopped out and grabbed our .308s with a couple boxes of ammo. We ran over to the fire escape and climbed to roof quickly. The wolf was waiting for us. His fur was pitch black and he was wearing a marines uniform.
"Nice shot. Anyone else here?"
"Thanks and no I got separated from my unit. Oh and you can call me pyro. I'm a demolitions expert."
"Cool I'm James and this is Jen."
"Not that I don't enjoy talking to you guys but I think we need to leave." He said gesturing to a hoard of zombies shambling through a field towards town.
"Not a bad idea where do you want to go."
"There's a town about an hours drive north of here. Last I heard my units orders were to go there and meet up with a few others. If we hurry we can make it."
"Sounds like a plan."
We headed back down to the street and hopped into the jeep. We heard several large explosions right as we left town and we could see the gun shop in flames along with the gas station. Jen was glaring at Pyro.
"Hey that wasn't me. I actually liked the guy in that shop." he said holding his hands up in surrender.
The road was littered with half eaten corpses and abandoned cars. We made it to the rendezvous in less than thirty minutes. The entire area was abandoned, not even the zombies had stayed behind.
"FUCK! WE"RE TOO LATE!" Pyro screamed throwing his arms into the air.
"Hey calm down if we search these tents we might be able to find out where they went." Jen said trying to comfort him.
"Yeah alright but lets hurry I don't want to miss them again."
We split up and started searching the various tents that had been left behind. After several minutes of searching a heard Jen shout. "Hey I think you guys might want to see this."
As I walked into the tent I could tell it had been the command center. Several maps had been left behind along with a few reports.
"Holy shit it looks like world war three just got started." Jen said pointing to a map on the wall that showed areas where Chinese and Russian troops had dropped in.
"You have any idea what's going on Pyro?" I asked.
"Well this morning we got reports of Chinese bombers disguised as civilian aircraft dropping bio weapons on our major cities. I'm guessing that's what created the zombies. From what I heard the few forces we could get together either got overwhelmed by zombies or forced to retreat from the Chinese. I hadn't heard anything about Russians when I got separated."
"So this is all part of a Chinese invasion?"
"That's what we were told."
He went back to shuffling through the various papers. "ah here it is" he said holing up a piece of paper.
"what is it?"
"Orders from the top. Looks like my unit was sent west to try and dig in and hold off the Chinese till reinforcements get here."
"What reinforcements?"
"The troops stationed overseas are getting recalled."
"All of them?"
"Well not the one in china we lost contact with them the night before all this started."
"When did it start?"
"About a week ago. Lets continue this later its starting to get dark and we should find some shelter."
"alright lets get going."
We found a small two story building that seemed safe. We parked the jeep out back and headed inside. We set up In a small room on the second floor. Me and Jen curled up together while Pyro leaned against the far wall. We all fell asleep fast.