7: Delayed Flight

Warning: a tiny hint of homosexuality near the end, although for comical purposes.

        The first couple minutes of the ride down the road were silent. It was clear that the other three I had originally been traveling with weren't too happy with me saving the military guy and pulling him along. I wasn't exactly too happy with it either, at first, but then I realized that Josh hadn't done anything wrong to begin with. It was the other soldier, not him. All he did was do what he was told, and I could definitely understand why. I'm not sure if the others eventually came to this conclusion or not, but Jake was the first one to break the silence.

        “Yo, military person,” he said. “Your name's Josh, right?”

        “Yeah,” the soldier replied.

        We all took the time to introduce ourselves to the man, although it was clear David and Lori were a little reluctant to do so.

        “So, where are we supposed to be going?” asked Jake.

        “Oh, right,” began Josh, realizing that we had no idea where him and his comrade had originally planned to take us. “We're going to the airport up in Columbus. We'll get you guys on a plane up there that'll take you to a safe place away from all of the infected.”

        “Sounds great,” said Jake, “but I don't know the directions up there.”

        “Alright, then let me drive.”

        Jake parked the truck and him and Josh got out to switch places. Once Josh was behind the wheel and Jake was in the back seat, the driving resumed.

        “So is there more military people up there?” Lori asked.

        “Yeah,” replied Josh.

        “Great,” mumbled David.

        “Hey, all we're trying to do is help,” Josh told him. “No one else wanted to do it, so we did. Why don't you try to be a little thankful?” Well, at least he was a lot nicer asking it than his comrade.

        “Yeah, well that's what we thought when we went up there to . . . whatever that place was called,” said David, “but all we pretty much got was your friend being a prick to us.”

        “Jim wasn't usually that bad of a guy,” Josh defended. “We were in Kings Island looking around for anyone who wasn't infected and he was put in a grouchy mood after dealing with all of those zombies when there wasn't a single survivor around, and it didn't help when it looked like you guys were trying to steal our truck.”

        “We weren't trying to steal anything,” I said. “Well, not really anyway. We didn't see anyone else around, so we thought whoever owned it might've been dead. We needed some other form of transportation because our car was ruined, so we thought it wouldn't hurt to take the truck.”

        “Yeah, I thought as much,” said Josh, “but hey, I'm just trying to show you our point of view when we came walking out and saw a bunch of people trying to take our only way out of that hellhole.”

        We dropped the topic after that. The rest of the ride was mostly spent in silence aside from the short, intermittent conversation that we held on the trip to our destination. It took a couple hours or so to reach the airport, partly because of the fact that we had to take detours a couple times due to some roads being blocked by cars. Josh parked the truck several feet away before we grabbed our guns and headed on out of the vehicle and towards the airport. When we neared the entrance, I noticed that there was a big hole where I assumed the doors were originally located, rubble littering the ground around it.

        “S**t,” Josh cursed under his breath.

        “What is it?” I asked.

        “There used to be doors there,” he stated, a hint of concern in his voice. “This might not be good. You guys better stay out here while I make sure its safe in there.”

        “Oh snap, he's right guys,” agreed Jake, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “We can't be going in there because it's obviously too dangerous for us.”

        “Yeah, 'cause, you know, we obviously can't handle any danger even if we've already been in it many times already,” said David sarcastically. “And we're obviously going to be safe out here, 'cause nothing is going to attack us, not at all.”

        “Alright, I get the point,” muttered Josh. “If you want to come in, fine. Just try not to get yourselves killed.”

        We followed Josh into the airport. Fortunately, enough light was let in from the windows, so we didn't have to worry about turning on our flashlights.

        “So where's the rest of the military?” I asked.

        “I don't know,” replied Josh. “There was supposed to be a couple guys out here in the front to keep any infected from coming in.”

        “Oh, is that them over there?” asked Jake.

        We looked off to the right to see two men in uniform laying there, limp. One guy's neck was turned in an awkward position and the other one had a head that looked as flat as a pancake.

        “Damn, this isn't good,” cursed Josh.

        He sped up the pace and the rest of us kept up with him, following him around a corner, but we froze in our tracks right afterward. We saw an infected sitting there with a straitjacket wrapped around it, its back turned on us, but it turned its head. Upon seeing us, it hopped onto its feet and took off. We sent a couple bullets at it, but it was too quick on its feet. Before we could kill it, it leaped behind a trashcan and let out an ear-splitting scream.

        “Goddammit not again!” yelled David.

        Then came the ambient cry of the Common Infected. They came running from just about every direction, surrounding us and quickly closing in the distance. We started firing, letting the zombies drop like flies, but the numbers weren't letting up, more and more were coming by the second. Somehow, all five us got separated in the disarray, but I was too busy fighting off the infected to worry about trying to rejoin with everyone else. I shot down many, and occasionally I had to use my gun to smack away the ones that were getting too close for comfort, but it still didn't seem like they would be letting up anytime soon.

        And this problem wasn't made any better when a roar came our way from not too far away. I glanced over in the direction from which it came to see a Tank charging toward us, smacking away its smaller counterparts that were in its way so that it could get to us. I mentally cursed as I looked back at my current problem, shooting more infected and letting them drop to the floor, but I didn't completely ignore the Tank, not wanting to get a surprise attack from it.

        But it looked like I didn't have to worry because I wasn't its first target. It was Josh. The soldier had noticed it, so he tried shooting it, but a few bullets was nowhere near enough to slay the large infected. And then it seemed like he was out of ammo after that. Above the millions of cries of gibberish I could hear him yelling a couple curse words as he smacked a couple Common Infected away before dashing away from the Tank, but only to have it give pursuit, and it was gaining on him. I cursed under my breath at this. I was the closest to the soldier and the Tank, so I figured I would try to help out our comrade. After shooting a couple more infected and shoving the ones that were getting too close to me, I chased after the Tank, leaving the rest of the Common Infected to David, Jake, and Lori.

        I followed the two to a dead end, watching Josh spin around on his heels, horror-stricken as the large infected closed in on him. After shooting a couple infected that came rushing at me, I lifted my gun and started firing at the Tank. Several grunts of pain came from the infected, but it wasn't enough to bring it to its knees. Regardless, I continued until there were no more bullets left in my firearm. I cursed before beginning to reload the weapon, but I paused halfway when I heard the loud roar and saw the Tank coming at me. Apparently the lead I had unloaded in it was enough to make it change targets. I felt the color drain from my face as I stared up at the large creature in terror. Finally, my legs enabled me to move, so I turned around and ran as fast as I could, but I could hear the Tanks' large feet and hands hit the floor as it chased me, sending minor shockwaves through the ground. I tried to pick up the pace, but it was no good. I could feel it closing in on me, quickly catching up to me to punish me for shooting it so many times. Fortunately, with shaking hands, I finally got my AK-47 reloaded. I turned around halfway and, while continuing to run forward, I let a couple bullets fly out from the barrel, letting them hit the large infected.

        But next thing I knew, I was flat on my face on the floor. I quickly turned around, seeing the fallen trashcan that had tripped me and the Tank that was towering above me. I stared at it through wide eyes, my arms trying to pull me up to my feet, but it felt like all strength had left them. All they could do was pull me away from the giant infected as it raised its large fists into the air, about to pound my bones into dust. But then a couple gunfires could be heard from somewhere behind the Tank. It let out a defeated cry filled with pain, standing there for a moment, before falling to his knees and then the rest of the way down, a thud emitting from the area. Josh was by my side in the next second, pulling me up on my feet.

        “You okay?” he asked.

        “Yeah,” I said. “A little shaken up, but yeah, I'm fine.”

        He laughed, clapping me on the back. I looked up at him, just now realizing how much taller he was than me.

        “Thanks for saving me,” I said.

        “Hey, don't think me, thank him,” he replied, using his head to motion somewhere off to my right.

        I looked over to see a soldier standing there. He gave a smile and waved at me. I waved back before looking off to the side, realizing how quiet it had gotten. Jake, David, and Lori were walking towards us, a redhead woman in camouflage with them.

        “So you're alive after all,” the woman said to Josh.

        “Yeah,” he replied with a small laugh. “You didn't think I was going to be killed by those things that easily, did you?”

        “I don't know, you looked like you would've been a goner if he didn't save you,” said the man that had killed the Tank.

        “Hey, I ran out of ammo,” he defended. “How was I supposed to kill that thing without a gun?” He shook his head, forgetting about it. “Anyways, what about the planes? Are there any here that we can stick these guys on?”

        The soldier that had killed the Tank shook his head. “Nope. According to the other airport, most of the pilots crashed the planes into the city. Apparently they turned into infected mid flight.”

        “So you mean that we came all this way up here for nothing?” David mumbled, clearly disappointed by this news.

        “No, there's still one pilot left,” said the woman, “but he won't be here until sometime tomorrow morning.”

        “Which means there's no point in staying in this airport any longer,” said the third soldier, “so why don't we all head to the hotel nearby? We can get something to eat and get some sleep until then.”

        None of us had any qualms about this, so we left the airport and made our way over to the large hotel. According to the military personnel, the building was heavily fortified as soon as the infection started to spread in Ohio to keep the people that were staying in it safe from the zombies. Fortunately, none of the infected had yet infiltrated it, so it was more than safe for us to stay in until the pilot arrived tomorrow.

        When we reached the hotel, I noticed that the original double doors were replaced by two iron ones, doors that resembled what one might see a safehouse have and that the windows had steel bars behind them to keep any of the infected from getting in through them. We made our way inside the well-furnished and decorated lobby, Josh closing the doors behind us before the other two soldiers put heavy-looking dressers in front of them.

        “I thought infected couldn't open doors?” asked David.

        “They can't, but it's better than them staring at us,” said the redhead.

        “And there are some infected that can still attack us from out there,” added Josh.

        “Oh, right,” said David. “I guess that makes sense.”

        We decided to get something to eat. Unfortunately, we couldn't use the stoves, so we were left to things that didn't need to be cooked. I had to admit that I was glad that we were actually able to eat something that was more than just pieces of fruit and candy, and we didn't have to ration ourselves either. I ate to my heart's content before heading back out into the lobby, sitting on one of the comfortable couches out there. Josh joined me a minute later.

        “By the way, I didn't get a chance to thank you for saving me back there in the airport,” he said. “So I wanted to say thanks.”

        I shrugged. “No problem, I guess, but I have to admit that having that thing come charging at me wasn't originally part of the plan.”

        Josh laughed, and then I felt his arm fall around my neck. I could feel my face turning scarlet red.

        “Uh-oh,” said Jake as he came into the room. “Christopher, I think your getting some skin disease. Your face is scarlet red. You better go see a doctor.”

        “N-no, I'm fine,” I replied shyly, my voice soft, very, very soft, as soft as my normally deep voice could possibly allow. I blushed scarlet red again because of this mysterious, sudden change in my voice.

        “Oh snap, what happened to your deep, manly voice Christopher?” asked Jake, no seriousness present in his voice.

        I blushed again, my cheeks turning scarlet red once more.

        “I-I don't know,” I murmured.

        “That's alright, I kinda like it like that,” said Josh.

        Jake laughed as I looked up at my much taller, stronger counterpart, a small smirk on his face from the compliment that he had just given me. I blushed scarlet red again as I bashfully looked down at the floor. I don't know why I was doing all this blushing, or why my voice was so very soft, or even why I was suddenly acting so shy. Maybe it was a hint at that specific role I played in bed? After all, everyone who bottomed shared these same characteristics, because none of us were unique from one another whatsoever.

        “Maybe I am getting sick,” I said. “We were in that freezing river last night after all. I guess I'm finally being punished for it.”

        “That's not good,” replied Jake.

        “I know,” I agreed. “I hope it goes away by tomorrow before we board the plane.”

        The conversation was dropped after that and Josh's arm fell away from my shoulders as the others returned to the lobby. My voice was restored to its usual deepness and my blushing ceased as we began chattering amongst ourselves for the next few hours. When it started to get dark, we started to talk about rooming. Obviously, all the beds were on the upper floors, and there were only two beds per room. The military personnel said that each one of them should room with at least one of us because they felt like it would keep everything more secure if the infected somehow managed to infiltrate the hotel. Of course, there was four of us and only three of them, meaning there would have to be three people in one room.

        “I'll pair up with Lori!” David volunteered without a moment's hesitation.

        “Ew, no!” she exclaimed. “If I'm pairing with anyone, it's going to be my idol!”

        “Alright, so it's settled then,” said the redhead, whose name turned out to be Amy. “Tim, you'll stay in a room with Lori and Jake, I'll stay in a room with David, and you'll stay in a room with Chris, Josh.”

        There were no protests to this plan. I didn't exactly see how having a soldier in each room would help make everything more secure since all of us was going to be asleep, meaning all of our guards would be down, but I didn't complain.

        When it got a little later, I decided to head up to the second floor. On my way to the stairs, since the elevator didn't work, I found several pieces of paper and a pen. Figuring I could do a little writing before going to sleep, I grabbed them before going up to my room.

Author's Note

W00t for making fun of uke stereotypes (or at least the annoying fangirls who use them in roleplays)!

Reviews

[Eidolon Michael]

lol yay stereotyping ^_^ I found that whole JoshxChris thing pretty funny. You don't have to answer this but do you rly have a deep voice? I know it's a random question, but I'm a curious guy lol