Day 36

“Slow down, I can’t keep up”, Will said excitingly as his bare feet sunk slightly into the soft sand. “Then learn how to keep up William”, she said as a giggle escaped her lips and reached back for his hand. Will smiled and reached for hers and as soon as their fingers touched, Will heard the sound of a shotgun being cocked. It echoed through the sky like thunder. Will turned around to try to find the cause of the sound but, to only fail in his efforts. He turned back around to continue his walk.The sky had turned a dark gre, clouds were rolling through the sky at incredible speeds.Lighting flickered through the clouds and a strong wind begain to blow. Will looked around for her but she was nowhere to be seen and in an instant, a bolt of lightning came crashing down into the sand right in front of Will blinding him.

Will woke up in a panic from his dream only to find a man standing over him with a flashlight pointed at him and 2 barrels that belong to a shot gun. “Just what the hell do you think y’all are doing”, The stranger said as he raised his gun. “We found this tower because we heard music and decided to follow it. We don’t want any trouble.” The man looked over at Jeff as he lay asleep on the floor then back at Will. “What happened to your shoulder”, The man asked. Will removed his hand to reveal a bullet hole; the stranger raised an eyebrow “Did you get that yesterday?” Will shook his head, “Yes sir. We thought we were being shot at, so we took off into the woods and that’s when we heard the music”.

The stranger lowered his shotgun and released a deep sigh, “You weren’t being shot at, and it was a misfire on my part. I fell over a log while being chased by some of them undead bastards and when it hit the ground, well, you have the results”. The stranger nodded at Jeff, “Wake him up and we’ll get your shoulder fixed.” Will stood up and then walked over to kick the bottom of Jeff’s boot, “Wake up you lazy bastard, you feel asleep on watch”. Jeff rolled over and looked at Will, “Yeah, I’m sorry, I just got sleepy with all the food that we ate” Jeff said with a smile on his face. The shadow of the stranger fell over Jeff’s eye as he took a step towards the window.

Jeff scrambled to his feet, “Who the hell are you?!” The stranger turned around, “My real name is Nicholas, but you may call me Hunter” Hunter then motioned to Will and Jeff to follow him, “Well, how do we know you aren’t going to try to kill us?” Jeff questioned. Hunter turned back around and looked Jeff in the eyes, “If I was going to kill you two, I would have done it while you slept.” Hunter turned his back and started to walk down the stairs. Jeff and Will looked at each other, picked up their packs and followed.

The three of them made it to the bottom of the stairs, “Are you the one who is playing the music? Will asked. Hunter stuck his head out of the door and looked both ways, “Yep, I am using it as a distraction so that the zombies don’t bother me while I’m working.” “And what kind of work do you do?” Jeff asked, “I’m working on a helicopter so that I can fly out of this hell hole” Hunter turned back around and faced Will and Jeff, “Do you two want to see it?”

Hunter, Will and Jeff started walking over to the north end of the runway to a little utility shed. As Hunter took out his keys and began looking for the right one, a zombie came walking around the corner of the shed. “I’ve got him” Jeff said as he unsheathed his blade and walked up to it and used the end of his machete to pierce the rotten flesh of the zombie and pushed it through the back of its occiput. As a few small droplets of blood clots fell from the freshly made hole, the zombie took its last breath and collapsed to the ground.

Jeff ripped off a piece of clothing and wiped the blood from his machete and placed it back in his holster.  Hunter unlocked the door after Jeff rejoined the group.Behind the door was a stairwell leading underground. Suddenly there was a small buzzer noise, the door closed behind the three and a small light appeared at the bottom of the tunnel. “It’s down here with the rest of the group” Hunter explained as he started walking down, “Uh; there is more than you here?” Will asked.  “Just a few more, they are helping with the work. They found the place kind of like y’all did, they heard the music, they followed the music” Hunter turned around, “they ate my food” Jeff put a smile on his face. Hunter turned back around “The only thing we’re missing for the helicopter is a pilot”.

As the three of them made their way down the stairs, sounds of grinding metal fill the air. “This reminds me of my time in the military” Jeff said. “What did you do?” Hunter asked, “He was a test pilot” Will answered. Jeff looked over at Will with a shut the hell up look, “Yeah, after our team finished repairs, I was the guinea pig.” Jeff responded. Hunter let out a small laugh, “Good, then you can be our guinea pig too then”. Hunter turned back around and continued down the stairs.

As the three of them reached the bottom, Hunter turned around. “This is our little base of operations. We have about 8 diesel generators that are powering all of this.” Hunter points up, “The music however, is being powered by a small little solar panel” Hunter turned around. “Hey guys! I got some new recruits!” Hunter said as he pushed a button that made a buzzer sound throughout the underground bunker. As the buzzer finished, the sound of grinding metal halted and three figures came out from behind the chassis of the helicopter.

“Allow me to introduce the crew” Hunter said as the three walked up, Hunter pointed to one of the guys, “That’s Gage, anything that deals with computers, he can fix it.” Hunter pointed to the next person, “That tree stump there is Max. The man is so strong he can bench press a small car, oddly enough, he is also our medical staff, go figure.” Hunter put a smile on his face as he pointed to the last member, “Last but surely not least, this little number; her name is Rogue, she use to be a Robotics Engineer”. Hunter placed his hand on Jeff’s shoulder and smiled to the others, “This man here is going to be our test pilot.”

The three all looked at Jeff with eyes of relief Max then walked up to Jeff and stuck out his hand, “Glad to meet you.” Gage and Rogue then followed suite, “Max, I need you to look at Will’s shoulder, I accidently shot him yesterday” Max, Gage and Rogue looked at Hunter with brows raised, “Don’t look at me like that, it was a complete accident. It happened when I fell down running from those zombie bastards.” Max turned back to Will and waived him to follow. As Max and Will got out of sight, Rogue suggested that it was time to eat some breakfast.