6: Savior

        It was early afternoon by the time Kings Island could be seen up ahead. We had a little difficulty finding the amusement park. My memory of where it was located wasn't too good since I haven't been up this way in a few years, and it wasn't any better for Lori, so it took longer than what it would have originally, but we were able to find it nonetheless. My hopes grew as we got closer and closer to our destination. We would finally be saved, and hopefully be taken to somewhere where we wouldn't have to deal with a single infected ever again, or at least not for a very long while. But my hopes began to crumble when the large parking lot came into view. So far, not a single vehicle could be found.

        “Told you they wouldn't be here,” muttered David.

        “No, wait,” began Lori. “I see something up there.”

        The rest of us saw it too, but it wasn't until we got closer when we could make out that it was a truck. I pulled the car into the parking lot and drove towards it, the camouflage design becoming clearer as we got closer, but it didn't look like there was anyone in it. I stopped the car and cut the engine a few yards away from the truck.

        “Well, there's a truck, but I don't see anyone,” I murmured.

        “They're probably dead,” said David.

        “Or they might be in the park,” Lori said.

        All four of us looked towards the entrance of Kings Island, which was only about ten yards away. There wasn't anyone around it, but I thought Lori could've been right. I didn't know if I liked the idea of going in and trying to look for them, though, especially since we didn't know for a fact that we would find anyone.

        But then we had another problem coming our way. Out of the entrance came a large Special Infected like the one we had encountered in the nature trail the previous night—the one that David had saved all of us from. And it was charging right at us, its shriveled arm flapping behind it.

        “S**t!” I cursed. The Charger reached us before we had a chance to react, its large arm slamming into the passenger's side of the car. Our screams filled the air as the car was sent rolling a couple times until it stopped so that it was upside down. I felt air going over fresh cuts that had formed on my left arm from the broken glass that had rained down on me. I looked through the passenger window to see large feet coming right towards us.

        “It's coming again!” yelled David.

        I tried reaching for my firearm, but it was pointless. The car was rammed again before I could grab the gun, sending the vehicle into two more rolls, this time making it end up with the driver's side on the pavement. But the Charger still wasn't about to let up. I saw it towering over the tipped over car from the passenger window and braced myself, but only to end up hearing a couple bangs followed by a loud thud.

        “It's official,” said Lori. “You're my idol.”

        “Yeah, I am awesome,” admitted Jake.

        “Let's get out of here before anything else decides to attack us,” I murmured.

        We climbed out of the car and out into the silent parking lot.

        “So what should we do now?” asked Lori.

        I looked back at the car, seeing that one of the wheels had been knocked off from the charger attacking it.

        “Well, this car won't do us any good anymore,” I replied, “and it might be safe to assume whoever owned that truck is dead. I guess we could take it and go somewhere else.”

        We walked over to the camouflage vehicle and I opened up the door on the driver's side.

        “Hey! Hey, what the hell are you doing with our truck!?”

        I looked behind me and towards the entrance of Kings Island to see two young men in camouflage running toward us. A smile cracked onto my face. The military was here after all—or at least two guys from it anyway. But they didn't seem all that happy to see us. My smile faded when I saw the one with shaved brown hair aiming his submachine gun at us. The one with shaved black hair emulated him.

        “Step away from the truck!” yelled the brown-haired male.

        “But –” I began.

        “Move it!” he snapped.

        The four of us quietly stepped away from the vehicle.

        “Now drop your guns and put your hands in the air!”

        None of us argued and we did what we were told. The brown-haired male told the other one, whose name was apparently Josh, to get the guns. Josh collected them and walked over to the truck.

        “I thought they were supposed to help us, not kill us,” mumbled David.

        “Hey, did I tell you you could talk!” the brown-haired male yelled.

        “No, but you didn't say we had to be qui—”

        “Shut up!”

        “The guns are in the back seat,” Josh told his comrade.

        The other soldier nodded before he looked back at us and walked over.

        “I take it you heard the message,” he said to David.

        David didn't answer.

        “Talk when I speak to you,” the soldier said coldly.

        “Make up your mind. First you tell me to be quiet, then you tell me—”

        A swift fist was delivered to David's stomach. The teen lurched forward, his hands clutching where he had been hit before he fell to his knees. The soldier crouched down so that he was level with the gasping boy before grabbing him by his hair and pulling so that their eyes met.

        “Don't use that kind of tone with me,” he said grimly. “Don't forget that I'm here to get your scrawny a*s to safety. You better show at least a little appreciation, boy.” There was a pause as the two stared each other down. “Now, answer my question.”

        “Yeah, we got it,” David replied.

        “That's better.” The brown-haired man stood up. “So let's see who we got.” He looked down at David. “A little s**t who needs to learn his place.” He started to walk along the line we had formed, passing Jake first while saying, “an Indian –”

        “Native American,” Jake corrected.

        “Indian,” insisted the soldier.

        Jake was about to try to correct him again, but David tapped him, getting his attention, before shaking his head to let it go. Either way, the soldier moved on to the next person in line: me. He paused in his tracks and eyed my glasses.

        “A queer,” he mumbled, giving me the evil eye before going over to my cousin. He stopped in front of her, looked her up and down, and then smirked. “And a chick. I know what I'll be doing tonight.”

        He reached out a hand towards Lori, but she smacked it away and called him a pervert. This only enraged him and he grabbed her by the front of her dolphin T-shirt. Older cousin mode kicked in for me, so I stepped out of line and over to them.

        “Leave her alone,” I said coldly, reaching a hand out to push him away, but he knocked it away before letting go of Lori's shirt so he could sock me in the face.

        “Don't touch me!” he barked before eying the glasses once more. He reached up, removed them from my face, and threw them behind him. After giving me another death stare, he turned around and walked towards the truck. “Josh, get in the back with them.”

        “Yes sir,” the dark-haired soldier replied.

        We all got in the truck bed, David, Lori, Jake, and me sitting on the left side while Josh sat on the opposite side, holding his AK-47. The car sprang to life a couple seconds later and we left the parking lot. We spent the ride there in silence. None of us even knew where these two were taking us, but we didn't bother to ask. I didn't feel like getting slugged in the face again, if not worse, so I kept my mouth shut. I was beginning to wonder if it was even worth being saved by these guys. What if the other soldiers were like this?

        After about twenty minutes of driving, though, the car coasted to a stop. I looked around, not seeing anything but houses, and there wasn't anything in the road. Then I looked over at Josh to see that he was also puzzled by this. But the answer came when the shattering of glass came from right next to me. The brown-haired soldier, who was now an infected, reached out from the back window, trying to claw at me, but I moved my leg out of its range. Then I heard a startled yell and looked over to see Josh being pulled out of the truck bed by a Smoker's tongue, the Special Infected standing several yards away from the street. But the other three ignored him. Jake got up and walked over to the back window, bringing a foot down on one of the outstretched arms, a sickening crack sounding as the arm was forced out of its socket. The Native American picked it up and used it to smack the infected soldier across the head, which was followed by another sound of bones cracking. The zombie didn't move after that.

        “Help me!” shouted Josh.

        I looked over at him to see that he had been stopped by a tree that was in his path. The other three continued to ignore him as they hopped out of the back of the truck.

        “Come on, let's go,” David told me as they all walked to the vehicle's doors.

        I watched them for a moment before looking back at Josh, then back at my companions, and then back at Josh again, seeing the pleading and desperate look on his face. I sighed.

        “Damn it all,” I muttered.

        I jumped out of the truck's bed and jogged over to him. When I got to him, I reached a hand behind him to unsheathe his dagger. With a couple hacks I cut the tongue, blood spraying out as it withdrew. I yanked on the slimy tongue that was still around the dark-haired male before I felt him falling against me, his arms wrapping around me.

        “Thank you,” he said, apparently more than glad that I decided to save him.

        I pushed him away. “We don't have time for this,” I mumbled. “Get your a*s in the truck.”

        He nodded and we went over to the truck, climbing into the back seat before Jake drove us away from the area.

Reviews

[Eidolon Michael]

Haha that's what that mean guy gets! Loved this chapter. It was very exciting ^_^