Pt Four-Seven

7

The traveler and Marcus headed North starting a journey towards a place neither one of them knew about. They were being pulled there by some force and all they did was walk. The traveler was use to this sort of thing since he had been doing it for the past three years. This time traveling together gave the two men some time to get to know each other better. Marcus had been a soldier before the degradation of the country had hit. He had been in the USMC for over ten years and had been on base for drills the week it had happened.

Marcus had awoke in the middle of the night to men screaming all over the place. He had entered the main barracks and had tried to settle everyone down but it was to no avail. And then they came from the outside out of nowhere. One marine had opened fire on the first one emptying a whole clip from his M-16 into the body and it continued to walk towards them. Marcus had froze at first, realizing that the monsters out of tv and movies was standing right here in front of him. He lost over half of his group that night and many more over the next week. Him and the survivors that were left got away from the base and walked for months living off the land and fending off the zombies that tried to get them.

After three months of surviving on their own they came to a church that was looked abandoned but on the inside their was a group of people led by an older gentleman named Eli. They were defenseless in the building choosing instead to pray for protection instead of defending themselves even though they were losing people on a daily business. Though Marcus did notice that when one of them was bitten that they stayed dead or just didn’t turn if it was a small bite. He guarded one of the members for several days after an incident had occurred and there were no signs of any transformation taking place.

Marcus had no idea what was going on at the time. He had watched several different men that had been under him transform in mere minutes and here these people were, not affected whatsoever. Marcus came to Eli one evening and asked what it was that made these people not affected by the poison of the zombies bites. Eli explained the gospel message to him for the very first time that night and from that day forward Marcus was a believer. He had been the security and protector of the group ever since and had personally trained Luke over the last three years.

“That is quite a story Marcus,” the traveler said, “You have been through a lot. It is always good to hear other peoples stories because it makes me realize that I am not the only one that has had a hard time.”

On the third day of their travels at the end of the day, after they settled and made camp the traveler told Marcus his story while the two of them were sitting around the fire. He told Marcus everything that he had told Eli from beginning to finish and after he was done Marcus was looking at him in awe.

“Wow,” Marcus stated, “That is intense man. So you have just been walking ever since?”

“Yes. I feel like I have been just walking with the wind. The one who saved us has been leading me all this time and now we know our purpose. Hopefully soon it will be fulfilled and we can maybe focus on more important things.”

The two men talked late into the night and eventually the traveler fell asleep while Marcus took the watch. The two of them had been alternating on different nights. On one night the traveler would stay up the whole night and keep watch and then the next night they would switch. It was a lot easier then taking shifts and keep waking each other up. The traveler got up with the dawn the next morning and after a short breakfast they set out again.

Later that day after they came to the edge of a field that they had been walking through they came upon a set of railroad tracks. Marcus continued to walk, crossing them to the other side the traveler put his arm out to stop him and motioned in a direction along the tracks.

“We should follow these,” the traveler said. “I am really feeling led to follow these.”

Marcus nodded in agreement as they walked north along the tracks. After a couple hours it looked like the tracks led up into a structure of some sort. The traveler motioned for Marcus to walk along the side and to hide themselves in some brush that was along the tracks. They got closer and they realized that there were people standing outside of this complex. Two men both holding automatic rifles the traveler thought they looked like AK-47’s but he wasn’t sure.

The traveler reached into his bag and removed a silencer for his MP5 and motioned for Marcus to do the same.

“I’ll take the left,” the traveler whispered, “You take the right. We go on three.”

The traveler and Marcus put their guns up and put their targets in their sights.

“One,” the traveler whispered. “Two.”

The two men were talking to each other having a casual conversation.

“Three.”

Both men at the gate dropped as the bullets struck them in the skull. Blood splattered into the air as they fell, both unmoving. The traveler and Marcus waited for a few moments to see if they had been undetected and after several minutes it seemed as if they had. No alarms were raised and everything was quiet. The traveler motioned for Marcus to follow him as the two men went to the side of the entrance of the complex. The traveler barely moved his head to the edge so he could get a look into the complex without exposing himself.

The entrance entered into a courtyard area that looked was used for unloading trains that came in with shipments. Or shipping out shipments from whatever kind of facility that this was. The courtyard was empty and it looked like their was no one guarding the main complex. But looks could be deceiving.

“I am going to go first,” the traveler said. “Off to the right there are some crates I am going to go behind them. Wait for me to get there and then follow me, we are going to take our time to get there no need to rush just in case this is a trap of some kind.”

Marcus nodded in agreement as the traveler checked again for any sign of enemies and then proceeded to the crate. He crouched as he walked making sure to keep his eyes on the ground to spot for landmines or any other kind of explosives. He got to the crate with no problem. He looked back towards Marcus and motioned for him to come towards him and Marcus mimicked the travelers journey step for step until he joined him behind the crate.

“All right,” the traveler said as Marcus joined him. “I am going to the door next. If anything happens, stay hidden. I don’t want you to get excited and make yourself a martyr for no reason there would be no purpose in me. Promise me.”

“Okay I won’t do anything stupid.” Marcus said sarcastically.

The traveler once again checked the area around him and seeing that it was clear he made his way towards the door of the complex. He kept his eyes moving all around to see if their were any intruders anywhere in the area around him. He got to the door with no problems. There was little miniature glass window in the door which the traveler looked into and seeing nothing opened the door. There was nothing inside as far as he could see and he turned to give Marcus the go ahead signal.

A sharp pain suddenly filled his body which felt like it was coming from his abdomen. He looked down and saw a shiny blade being pulled from his stomach, crimson red decorating the blade, a hand holding it. The traveler looked up and into the eyes of a familiar face straight from the past as he put his hands to his stomach and fell to his knees. The man had an evil smile on his face held the blood stained knife in a pose of victory.

“Well hello Dave,” the man said as he looked down at the traveler. “Long time no see.”