Chapter 25 They Stalk Us
Washington, D.C. is being looted by hundreds of minions, supermarkets, shopping malls, and large fuel trucks moving through the streets emptying the gas tanks of the vehicles. We will leave nothing to anyone, we will take everything for ourselves.
We do not lack resources, however, we prefer to take it ourselves before other people do and can use it against us. The streets surrounding the White House are all crammed with crashed vehicles with some walkers trapped inside them.
Due to these inconveniences I decided that it was better to continue on foot, we parked at a safe distance and waited for reinforcements to arrive, I do not intend to explore unknown terrain without meat shields.
"Okay Mike, lead the way, you know this area best." I say as I pat him on the back, at this, he just nods his head.
"Everyone be aware of your surroundings and stay clear of vehicles." Mike says advancing at the front of the group with his rifle ready to fire at any moment. In the middle of the group, I am walking calmly while the men form a kind of protective circle around me. This feels so good.
My current objective is the White House, there may still be many interesting things inside the facility, however, Mike told me that the White House did not resist and fell the same day of the collapse. But that will not discourage me, there should still be many useful things waiting to be looted.
We walk for a few meters until some noises catch our attention, most likely some walker trapped inside a vehicle with a seat belt on, poor bastards. However, as we get closer to eliminating the walker, the sound gets louder and they are not moans, they are growls.
There are many mangled corpses on the ground, and many missing limbs, the strange thing is that they don't appear to have been eaten by walkers.
"Don't you have a feeling that something bad is about to happen?" I ask with a smile on my face without receiving any answer. "Just me?" I say pointing to myself tilting my head. Then I move closer to Mike as he stops and looks in all directions.
"They are stalking us." It's all Mike says making all the men go on high alert pointing their guns in all directions. We are in the middle of the street, we are easy targets.
"Who is stalking us? You can see them? How many are there? I ask quickly drawing my pistol.
"They are not people." Mike says narrowing his eyes as if he is seeing something in the distance. "They are wolves." Did he just say wolves? "Due to the decrease in walkers they came out of hiding, they are hungry and we are their prey." Mike says quietly.
"You guys are armed men." I exclaimed with his hands in the air pointing to the weapons. "Armed." I say snorting. "Just shoot them and they'll run away." I say pointing my gun in the direction of some vehicles and firing a warning shot. "See? Easy." I say with a proud smirk, however, Mike is looking at me with daggers in his eyes. At that dozens of howls are heard all around us along with more growls. "Oops." I say with an innocent nervous smile.
[…]
[…]
[…]
"Shit!" I hear a scream behind me when one of my minions is hit by a wolf biting him in the neck, where did he come from? Mike quickly takes a shot at the wolf before switching to another target. The men quickly follow his lead and shoot anything that comes near. However, I must admit that wolves are quite fast.
Another of the men is bitten in the leg and falls to the ground, so the wolves begin to drag him away from us. The noise of the gunshots attracted a small number of straggling walkers who rushed us and the wolves.
"This is amazing Hahaha!" I exclaim with a laugh as I start shooting at some walkers. Due to panic one of my minions ran towards the door of a building and entered it, it should be noted that a few seconds later, their screams were heard and dozens of walkers began to leave the building. Ok, what was missing.
I shoot some walkers in the head that get close enough to me to make me uncomfortable, I start looking in all directions looking for Mike and I can't see him anywhere, while some of my minions are hit by walkers or wolves. However, the wolves also begin to be eaten by the walkers.
I snort a little seeing all this mess and start running in the opposite direction towards a bus since I'm currently surrounded, I guess I'll just hide and wait for the backup group to finish off all these walkers. The door is unfortunately closed and I can see some walkers inside the bus.
"There's no other way, what a nuisance." I snort as I begin to climb onto the roof of the bus, leaning on the tire, then the capo, and then lie on the roof waiting for rescue.
As some walkers surround the bus, I watch as a wolf quickly approaches my direction, jumping from the roofs of the vehicles, squeezing the fur of a baby wolf with its mouth while the walkers chase them. However, they fall to the ground due to the wolf being injured and are surrounded by several walkers. I watch with fascination as the wolf stands between his calf who just curls up on the ground.
*
****Click to see image****
*
The wolf growls and lunges at a walker, smashing his face, but is caught by other walkers who lunge at the wolf. The cub is ignored for a few moments as attention is drawn to the larger wolf, but this doesn't last long.
"Damn, I hope I don't regret this." I say through clenched teeth jumping from the safety of the roof of the bus as I shoot at the walkers who approach the wolf cub who is on the ground curled up hiding his head between his little paws.
I fire until I run out of ammo, then draw my knife and shove a walker causing him to fall to the ground, then stab him in the eye and start running towards the pup. Ignoring the walkers feeding on his mother, I quickly pick him up from the ground, placing him against my chest.
The pup squirms a bit and tries to snap at me failing miserably until he gives up and snuggles up against me.
My heart is pounding as I dodge some walkers trying to reach me in vain I grip my knife tight, ready to take those bastards down and run.
"To the ground!" I hear a scream, and without much thought, I throw myself to the ground while a great burst of shots flew over me killing the walkers who were chasing me and those who were in the surroundings. A big sigh escapes from my body as the puppy begins to lick my face, at this I began to laugh out loud.
Once the shots stopped I stand up and watch Mike looking at me with concern, while behind him are several of the minions securing the area. "Are you OK? Any injuries?" He asks me professionally. At this, I just shook my head with a smile on my face and showed the wolf cub making his eyes widen.
"Look at my new pet. Isn't that adorable? I will train him to rip my enemies' necks off and fight a tiger." I say proudly as the pup licks my face.
"A tiger?" Mike asks me confused. Faced with his question, I decided to ignore him.
"Gather the men, we still have to go to the White House." I say with an innocent smile. "I also need more ammo for my pistol."
"I know I should be impressed, but at this point, the bar is set very high." Mike whispers as he walks away.
Soon after, we headed for the White House avoiding the streets, with a new addition to the team resting on my head.
*
****Click to see image****
*
We arrived at the White House minutes later, however to my disappointment several of the walls were destroyed in ways that are almost impossible to repair along with the security fences. Mike picked up on my annoyance. "I told you, the White House did not resist, there were too many people." Says Mike shooting at several walkers who were approaching.
The place is full of straggler walkers so it took us some time to clear some areas. On the plus side, Mike had access to the weapons arsenal, where we loaded as many weapons and ammo as we could into backpacks, plus a few things that caught our eye.
At the end of one of the corridors, there was a big door, I'm about to open it when the puppy started to growl in the direction of the door, so I quickly move away from the door and call the others. Soon after, Mike bangs on the door and hundreds of moans are heard from the other side. "There are too many." Mike says pulling out a can of graffiti and putting an X all over the door. This area will be cleared on another occasion.
"Who is a good boy?" I tell the puppy as I pet him. "You are it."
"It's not a dog, Justin." Mike protests.
"Don't listen to him, Mike is just jealous that he doesn't have a wolf." I say with a fucking smile in Mike's direction. At this, he just snorts.
_______________________________________
POV Beta
On the outskirts of Washington, I find myself inside the modified military vehicle along with 3 crew members, as we advance along the wagon followed by tens of thousands of walkers that we take from the city. However, my vision wanders to the bushes in the distance, to the bridge, and to the trees.
"They are here." I whisper as I get to my feet, it's just like Justin said.
"Who's here sir?" One of the drivers asks with uncertainty.
"The enemy stalks us, watches us, and evaluates our every move. Prepare the weapon system immediately." I say with my hands behind my back.
"Not only do we take the walkers out of the city to loot it, but the main reason is also so that our enemies fear and respect us. They must understand that confronting us is not the solution. This is a warning to them." I say with my thick voice.
"Weapon system ready sir." Says the artilleryman attentive to my orders. "Forgive my intrusion sir, who exactly are we up against?" The gunner asked with his hand on the trigger.
*
****Click to see image****
*
"To all the world."
A large wolf is roaring in front of you with a chain around his neck. "Rate my story, otherwise…" Justin says letting go of the wolf's chain with a smile on his face.