6 Act: 2 Part: 2

The sun's rays glisten through the trees, the morning dew falls from the long grass the covers the forest floor before it is trampled by a fawn that trots close to it's mother, carefully moving hoof by hoof trying to follow its mother, she lowers her head to search for food...

*Crack*

The mothers head suddenly jerks up and she calls to her fawn and hurrily leaps into the brush, her child following right behind her. "Ughhhhhhh! Damnit David!" AJ comes out of the foliage, David on her tracks. AJ starts to punch David in the arm, "I told you to watch where you step damnit!" David takes the punches, not really being affected by them, "I'm sorry! I didn't notice that one!" AJ stops, taking a deep breath, "Sorry, I'm just tired on missing out on meals...let's get back to camp." Both start to make there way back to town, not caring to watch their step as they did before.

David and AJ make it back to the town the group had been staying in, both are tired of seeing the same scenery when it comes to these small towns, stores broken into, rotting bodies in the streets, decaying cars, it never changes. They walk into a broken down general store where the group camps, they rest at every town they stop at, hoping to rest and resupply.

As they walk in, they see Ryan in the corner talking to Gideon as he works on his crossbow, looking it over for any problems. "Any luck?" AJ asks. Ryan looks at her and shakes his head, "Unless you feel like eating trees, then no, not a damn thing." AJ sighs and goes to where she sleeps for some much needed relaxation. David walks over to Ryan and Gideon, "So, where are we again?" Ryan pulls out a map and point to a location, "Concord, capital of New Hampshire." David nods, "Alright, and the distance to Hawaii?" Ryan gives an awkward smile, "Oh y'know....about 5,000 miles." David rubs his temples, "Oh that's just perfect..."

David walks away, finding anything else to do, he eventually sees Murphy sitting at a table with a book that he had found in the store, David walks up, "Hey Murphy, so I got a question if you don't mind, so how do you think you're immune and how did the CDC find out?" Murphy puts a book mark into the book and looks to David, "I was a prisoner turned lab rat, once the outbreak started, the government decided to take action on the souls of prisoners who had no family who would miss them, aka me. Out of around 20 prisoners, I was the lucky one." David scratches his neck, he wasn't expecting Murphy to be a prisoner. "But did they really need 32 bites?" Murphy stares blankly at the book, scratching his thick beard, "They wanted to be thorough..." David sits down with him, even more questions on his mind. "Well I'll tell you one thing, I never thought I'd be escorting the savior of humanity..."

Gideon moves through the aisles of the store, looking for anything that could be of value, once he turns into an aisle and sees Jay looking through a section of withered plants. Gideon walks up behind him, "So, Ryan tells me you were military?" Jay is a bit startled but turns to Gideon, "You heard right, served as a combat medic, then shit hit the fan, and here I am now." Gideon nods, paying close attention to what Jay is saying. "The government contacted me when they had found a man who was immune, I've never drove so fast in all my days. If it wasn't for those damned bandits we would have a cure by now..." Jay crosses his arms and looks Gideon in the eyes, "Don't worry about it, these people are strong and loyal, they won't fail us." Jay turns around and looks back through the withered flowers, he finds a perfect rose, only to grab it an discover it's plastic. He shrugs and looks over to where Ginny is sitting, petting Dewey at the foot of her chair, "And neither will I." Jay walks off, leaving Gideon to think to himself.

Ryan claps his hand to get everyone's attention, "Everyone be prepared to move out, we need to make it to the next down before dark." Everyone groans and gets to packing, moving sleeping bags, small items, and miscellaneous things into there packs, ready to move. Ryan nods and leaves the store, everyone else behind him, not noticing in the distance a man watching them through his binoculars...

They walk for as long as their legs take them, the forests around them chirp from the birds hiding inside them, every so often they pass by a crashed vehicle or a stray zombie. Ryan is pleased to know that nothing wants challenge them. Eventually the sun begins to lower, causing a beautiful orange hue to cover the horizon.

Ginny speaks up, "I think it's time for rest Ryan." Ryan takes another look at his map, the town their aiming for isn't too far away, but when he looks back to tell them, that's when he notices how tired everyone looks, he sighs, "You're right, we'll set up camp here, whoever isn't to tired has guard duty."

Everyone breaks up and starts a fire to cook their meals, mostly canned goods. Everyone sits around the fire and takes in the welcoming heat, Ben suggests and idea, he reaches into his pack and pulls out a case, he pops it open and inside is a silver harmonica with engravings covering the top. Ben puts it to his mouth and begins to play surprisingly well taking most of the camp by surprise. "I didn't know you could play the harmonica Ben." Ben takes the instrument from his mouth, "My dad taught me before he left home, said music should always be shared, no matter the circumstances." David nods, "He sounds like a smart man, mind teaching me sometime?" Ben smirks, "I'd be happy to! But I'd recommend getting your own harmonica, it can't get a little messy." Ben says with an awkward smirk.

Ryan lays on his bedroll with Lily on his arm, both look out into the endless void of stars. Lily fidgets and looks to Ryan, "Do you think we're gonna make it?" Ryan gives her a confused look, "Of course we will, we'll all go down in history as the group who saved humanity." Lily turns away from him, "This just seems so impossible, it's so far, and we don't know what were gonna face, for all we know-" Ryan cuts her off, pulling her around and pulling her close, her head resting against his neck. "We can do this. I won't let anything happen to this group. I won't let anything happen to you." He holds Lily close, kissing her forehead as they lay there.

Ron sits in his tent, holding a revolver in his hands, looking at the single bullet, he loads it into the cylinder and spinning it, he looks to the photos of them, his little angels, the lights of his life, his creations, his daughters. "I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you...Daddy's coming home." He sobs, the memories of his children blinking through his mind, he spins the cylinder...

*Click*

Nothing, he spins the cylinder again.

*Click*

Nothing, he spins it again but as he puts the gun to his head he quickly puts the gun under his sleeping bag, along with the photos of his family, he lays down, pulling a small book from his pocket, pretending to read. The flap of his tent opens, revealing Connors face, "Hey Ron, do you have a minute?" Ron slaps a smile onto his face, "Yeah, what do you need?" Connor notices that Ron's face is a little red, but thinks nothing of it, "Do you have a water bottle that we can fill up? AJ said it'd be a good idea to head out and get some fresh water for the trip." Ron shakes his head, "No, I don't." Connor nods, "Well do you wanna come anyway? It'll be a relaxing walk...probably." Ron thinks, he feels the revolver under the bag, "Y'know what? Why not?" Ron begins to exit his tent, making sure Connor doesn't see the content inside, and both regroup with AJ and go along on their hike.

Morning comes, for once the smell of rotting flesh is replaced by nature, the morning dew wets the ground as the birds sing a song as they flap by. Jay crawls out of his tent to hear grunting a few feet away from, he walks in the direction of the noise, his shotgun at the ready, eventually coming across the disturbance. In his field of view he sees a zombie with it's foot missing, the foot of said zombie releasing a pungent smell over the area, and Ginny, disarming a bear trap covered in dry blood. He smirks and leans against a tree, "And what do we have here?" Ginny grunts, not in the mood for Jays games. She continues to pry it apart, "As you can see, a zombie invited himself on our precious welcome mat..." She continues to pry, only for it to fall right back into its fixed position. Jay walks over, "Lemme help you with that." Both Ginny and Jay begin to pry into the trap, with both of their strength they set the old trap back into its armed position. Jay looks to Ginny, "Wasn't David supposed to be on watch?" David jogs up to them, M4 strapped against him, "Follow me." He continues to jog toward the camp, Jay and Ginny look at eachothers confused, but follow anyway.

Ryan wakes up, seeing Lily is no longer in the tent, he crawls out and stretches, he sits down to put on his boots when he sees David jogging up, Jay and Ginny in tow. "What's wrong?" Asks Ryan confused. David looks at him, "Get your boots on and follow me, quickly." Ryan hurrys and sloppily ties his boots and follows David from where he came.

David leads everyone to a cliffs edge, in the distance past the edge, smoke rises from a small clearing, he hands Ryan a pair of binoculars. Ryan looks through and sees what the smoke is originating from, "Its military, or atleast looks like it." From what he see is, there are multiple tents covering the clearing, around them are sharpened poles keeping the undead at bay. At the gate are armed guards, watching for any intruders trying to get inside, including a few watchtowers. "Lets head back and talk to Gideon, he might know something about these guys." Everyone nods and heads back to camp. They find Gideon talking to Murphy, Gideon notices them and turns. Ryan waves him over, "We need to talk."

Gideon removes the binoculars from his eyes and turns to Ryan, "That's one of ours alright, but I don't know how they'll act, we have a few military outposts still standing, but a small few went rogue. Whether they are or not, I don't know, but if they aren't, they could help us a hell of a lot." Ryan nods and looks to Jay, "Go tell everyone to pack up, we're moving out." Jay nod and turns back towards camp. Ryan looks back at the military outposts, wondering what it could hold.

They travel on, they all make it to the edge of the clearing, Ryan tells everyone, but Gideon, Jay, and Murphy, to stay hidden, since they're the only somewhat military personnel they have. The guards notice them approaching and prepare their weapons. "Stop right there!" All of them put their hands up, showing that they have no weapons at the ready. Ryan notices that one guard is considerably more masculine than the other. Ryan speaks up, "Just hold on, we don't need anyone to get shot today!" The thinner guard moves toward, "What's it you want?" Gideon steps forward, "My name is Gideon Garnett, I was a staff sergeant at the CDC that went down a few days ago, before we went down, we found a person who has a cure to the outbreak!" The guards look to each other not knowing what to do, the bigger guard speaks first, "Oh really? And how do we know you're even telling the truth?" Gideon backs up and pulls Murphy closer, "Because we have him." Gideon pulls up his shirt, revealing the multitude of bites covering Murphy's body, the guards eyes widen, the thinner guard aims his weapon, "Get away from him, he's infected!" Gideon jumps infront of him, "Wait, these bites are weeks old! He's not affected by the disease!" The guard keeps his gun aimed, "You're lying! He's bitten and you're going to get all of us killed!"

Suddenly a voice booms, causing the guard to jump out of his skin, "Private! What is your malfunction?!" Behind the thin guard stands a very tall, well built man, his outfit is extremely neat and tidy, he's a picture perfect soldier, "What are you gawking at toothpick! Get that God damn gate open! Is that how you treat guests, especially the cure of humanity!?" The private is shaking in his boots, "Yes sir, Captain sir!" He quickly opens the gate as the Captain moves down the watch tower, greeting them at the gate, "Anyone else or is it just you?" Ryan explains that everyone else is in the forest hiding, the Captain looks to the bigger guard, "Jones, go get the their friends and get them over here. You all follow me, Jones can handle it..." The Captain stops, looking over to the thinner guard, "...And don't think I haven't forgotten about you toothpick, I'll be back for you." The Captain smirks and walks away, if Ryan didn't know any better, he'd day the private pissed himself.

Eventually, Jones returns to the outpost with everyone else in tow. The Captain shows everyone where to stay, where to eat, and where to relieve themselves. While everyone is getting situated, the Captain pulls Ryan aside, "I can tell you're the leader of this little troop, follow me." Ryan is a little caught off guard but follows him. The Captain takes him to a large tent, he opens the flap and inside it's about as large as a normal bedroom with a table and chairs, cot, and dresser with various small items on top, he motions Ryan to the table. As they take a seat, the Captain speaks up, "Excuse my poor manners, I'm Captain Reed, I've run this little outpost ever this shit went belly up, I noticed you had Gideon with you." Ryan gives him a surprised look, "You know Gideon?" Captain Reed strokes his chin, "Well not personally, but I've heard reports and I'd hear how he'd give those scientists hell." Ryan nods and continues the conversation.

While everyone is happy behind the spiked poles and watch towers, they don't see the people in the forest, watching, waiting. The man leading the people steps forward, "My brothers and sisters...we will condemn the resurrected at the military outposts for our savior..." He waves his hand slowly at the people, stopping at 3 of them, "You shall complete the task..."

"So Hawaii huh?" Ryan nods his head, "You got it, anything would help, vehicles, supplies, men, anything." Captain Reed nods and stands up, "Well, you've got a hell of a way to go, we can talk about finalizing this tonight but don't worry, you'll be out of here and saving the world in no time." Ryan shakes his hand, "Thank you Captain Reed, this means alot." Reed waves him away, "Don't mention it, just enjoy your time here while you have it." Ryan nods and heads for the exit.

Everyone settles in quite nicely. Connor talks to the younger soldiers there, mostly talking about life before the outbreak and what their homes used to be, he even notices that one guy is very attractive. AJ and Lily talk to the scouts of the troop, seeing how they hunt and gather food around the area. David, Ben, and Ron start to play cards with the other soldiers, enjoying their company. Ryan, Gideon, and Murphy sit at a table with a map, making a plan of where to go next and how. Ginny is showing Dewey around hoping to find a K9 unit, but is sadly disappointed. Lastly, Jay is talking with some of the medics on station, that's where he goes wrong.

"Jay?" Jay could recognize that voice anywhere, he turns to see a younger man, half of his face is covered in burn marks, he gives Jay a cold glare. "Shawn..." Suddenly the man rushes Jay, he tackles him to the ground, they wrestle, Jay tries to get out of his grip but Shawn refuses to let him get away. Spectators begin to create a circle around them, David and Ginny eventually move up to stop the fight but Captain Reed stops them, "Don't you dare stop this..." David and Ginny hesitate, they maybe could both take on the Captain, but his men would then easily over power them, they have no choice but to watch. Shawn goes for Jay's neck but he slips in a quick punch to Shawn's jaw and slips from his grip. They both stand up, fists raised, stepping in circles. Around them the soldiers have no care who they are or why they're fighting, but they crave the entertainment, they even resort to placing bets on who wins by using rations, or exchanging chores. Jay slows down, it's not that he's tired, but he's emotionally drained, "Shawn...please don't do this, let me explain-" Shawn cuts him off, throwing an overhand that Jay side steps, "Don't you dare talk to me like that! Did you stop to explain why you left the outpost? Why you didn't stay and fight like I did?!" Shawn throws another overhand which Jay side steps again. David steps forward, "Just hurry up and kick is ass Jay!" Jay looks Shawn in the eyes, "I can't talk you out of this, can I?" Shawn shakes his head. "Have it your way then..."

Jay leaps forward with a jab, Shawn isn't fast enough to dodge it and it connects to his face, Jay immediately backs up, preparing for Shawn's next attack. Just as Jay expected, Shawn throws a jab with his right hand, Jay catches it, and grips his arm, and uses his leg to buckle Shawn's, taking him down, it was sloppy as all hell, but effective. Before Shawn can react, Jay removes a knife from Shawn's vest using his other hand and puts it to his throat. "Yield." Shawn face is red, he wants nothing more than to get up and pummel Jay. "I said yield damnit!" Yells Jay and he puts more stress onto Shawn's arm. Shawn gasps and taps the ground, yielding the fight. Certain spectators cheer knowing they've won plenty of rations and have less chores to worry about. Jay turns around ready to return to his group, but instead of finding Ginny with a smile and David cheering his name, a big fist slams against his temple, knocking him unconscious.

Everyone looks at Captain Reed as he stand over Jays unconscious body, "You saw who won, get back to your duties!" Everyone averts their eyes and returns to what they were doing before, the captain grabs Jay with one hand and hoists him onto his shoulders, carrying him to the small cells by the edge of the base, David and Ginny right on his tracks, "Captain can you please explain what's going on?" David asks, Ginny right behind him "Yeah, plus it was your guy who attacked him, shouldn't he be in the cell?" The Captain tosses Jay into the cell, chuckling, "You want answers? You ask this bastard yourself." He spits on the ground and walks away.

Eventually Jay wakes up with a pain splitting headache, the sun is about 2 hours from setting, he notices David standing beside the cage, "You've got alot of explaining to do..." Jay laughs at that. "You want me to explain why that kid jumped me?" David nods. Jay looks around, "You remember how I told you I left that outpost a long time ago when it was being overrun?" David nods, "Well, Shawn was there with me, he wanted to saved the last of the patients, where I wanted to live to fight another day. "So what's he to you?" David looks between the two, Jay chuckles, "You haven't figured it out yet? We're brothers..."