Gabriel Castle:
After the hospital pretty much collapsed due to the Hive's massive body smashing through the structure, Gabriel and Rickson made their way back to his RV, got inside, and drove away from the rubble as quickly as they could due to the possibility of the Hive emerging from the debris again, which was a risk Gabriel certainly wasn't willing to take.
Removing his balaclava, Gabriel took a deep breath and drove back the way they had come. On the bright side, he had gotten his hands on an M4A1, replacing his G36K, which had been destroyed by the Hive Baby. On the other hand, he hadn't found any medical supplies to replace the ones he had wasted on those people, but he could solve that by not wasting any more supplies on them and simply moving on.
"Hmm..." Rickson grunted in pain as he sat down on the couch. He was experiencing pain, shaking, and heavy fatigue after the adrenaline rush had ended, which he would have to put up with since Gabriel had already done more than enough patching him up back at the hospital and was in no mood to do anything else. "Stop the car where Andreas's body is."
"Why?" Gabriel asked, because he wasn't stopping for no good reason.
"He... had a radio on him," Rickson explained while panting heavily. "A handheld radio that we were using to try to communicate with the others." He rested his head back, trying to regain his breath.
"Okay." Gabriel was already planning on taking the radio for himself, since a military radio would have some uses for him. While concentrating on the road, he reached for the stereo and put on some music. Pressing the button, the song "Off the Wall" began to play.
"When the world is on your shoulder."
He began to sing along in a low voice.
"Gotta straighten up your act and boogie down."
The song didn't fit the atmosphere or the vibe of that monster-infested city, but Gabriel didn't care.
"If you can't hang with the feeling."
Truth be told, nothing really fit it other than dreadful silence.
"Then there ain't no room for you in this part of town."
"Turn that shit off!" Rickson yelled in annoyance, clearly bothered by the song.
"The alternative is being stuck hearing you moaning in pain back there, so I don't think so," Gabriel replied sarcastically. Then a question came to mind, so he turned the volume down a bit. "I saw the spot where you people left the cars, including the military ones." He had one thing on his mind. "Are there any supplies there?"
"Mmm... Just some shit we were able to gather before ditching the shelter," Rickson replied while clutching his shoulder in pain.
"Any medical supplies?" Gabriel asked. "Because this little trip to the hospital was mostly to gather some, but that's pretty much impossible now, and you're probably going to need some painkillers to put up with that pain."
Despite the fact that Gabriel had a considerable amount of painkillers stashed with his medical supplies, he certainly wasn't in the mood to share any more of them.
"Fuck..." Rickson heard him loud and clear. "Just a small stash that Phil put in one of the Humvees."
"Okay." A small stash was good enough. "Any ammo or maybe canned goods? Because scavenging this city with those things roaming around isn't exactly a good idea, as you just experienced yourself."
"We got a crate or two of ammunition, but I don't know about food." Rickson leaned forward in deep discomfort to inspect his M249. It was visibly in good condition, but he wasn't going to be shooting it properly with that arm.
It didn't take long for Gabriel to reach the spot where Andreas's body lay. Gabriel stopped the RV as close as he could since all he wanted to do was grab the radio and leave. He turned off the RV and removed the key from the ignition since he didn't trust Rickson one bit.
Standing up from the driver's seat, Gabriel grabbed his USP Tactical from its holster and slowly made his way to the door.
"Hmm..." Rickson tried to get up, but the fatigue was too much, and he ended up sitting back down.
Gabriel ignored him and slowly opened the door, peeking outside carefully before opening it fully and stepping out with his handgun ready in a Center Axis Relock stance. Looking both ways, the street seemed empty, but he had learned the hard way, multiple times, that things lurking in the shadows only made their presence known when they had you exactly where they wanted you.
So he slowly stepped outside and carefully approached the wrecked SUV.
Andreas's body was still there, so Gabriel slowly opened the car door and carefully pulled his body out, laying it on the ground. He then carefully opened his vest to check.
On his belt, Andreas had a Beretta M9 in a holster and an AN/PRC-152 Multiband Handheld Radio.
Gabriel took both without hesitation, placing them inside his coat pockets before taking one last look at Andreas's face.
"Semper Paratus... But very few are truly ready for when the Reaper comes to claim them."
Gabriel stood up and walked back to his RV.
Stephanie Gotts:
"That's them," Mr. Shelby spoke up.
Stephanie immediately lifted her head the second she heard that. She had been curled up on the floor with a blanket covering her, trying to keep herself warm as she waited. The wind had died down a little, but a very cold breeze was still making everyone extremely uncomfortable.
Catherine, Jonas, and Mr. Shelby immediately made their way to the stairs to greet them. Stephanie sighed and did the same, following behind them as they slowly made their way downstairs. To say that she hated that place was an understatement. The whole building made her uneasy because it looked like it could collapse at any moment, and a monster could just sneak up on them at any second since there were no walls to protect them.
When they reached the first floor, they saw the RV stop right after the entrance and park in the same spot as before. They slowly approached, and it didn't take long for Gabriel to open the door.
Thankfully, he was okay, but then he pointed toward the inside with his thumb. "Could you help him?"
Jonas, Catherine, and Mr. Shelby seemed confused.
Jonas then approached it and saw who was inside. "Shit." Walking inside right away.
Catherine was the next one to see who it was, and Mr. Shelby was next.
Stephanie also approached and saw that it was Rickson, who was sitting on the couch looking exhausted.
"Wait?" Catherine noticed something. "Where's Garner?"
"Dead," Gabriel declared casually.
"What?!" Mr. Shelby asked in visible anger.
"The other guy that went to the hospital is also dead, and so is the other Marine that was with that one."
Stephanie knew he was referring to Cooper and Andreas.
"You gotta be kidding me." Catherine rubbed her eyes in deep frustration after hearing that.
"Look, Garner said that he was one of the two who had the coordinates of this community that you people mentioned." Gabriel reminded them. "I'm gonna need those coordinates so I'll know that this isn't some bullshit that you people either invented or fell for."
"Why the fuck would we invent that?" Jonas asked defensively after hearing what he said.
"I'm not talking about you, roid head," Gabriel replied without even looking at Jonas, earning a small snort from Mr. Shelby. "I'm talking about him and the other military guys."
"What?" Rickson finally spoke up.
"This might as well be some bullshit that you guys made up to keep morale up, since the idea that you were being relocated rather than being directionless would keep the civilians from falling into a state of despair," Gabriel proposed.
Hearing that caused everyone to wonder because Gabriel's words made perfect sense. It could have been a lie the soldiers made up to keep them from worrying too much, and that idea deeply frightened Stephanie since it meant they had nowhere to go now.
"Ah shit, now that he mentioned—" Mr. Shelby seemed to agree with the possibility, but Rickson interrupted him.
"It is not bullshit," Rickson said in a very tired voice. "We did get a frequency from a supposed community, but I don't really know the details of any of it."
"But you got the coordinates?" Gabriel asked as he stepped into the RV, folding his arms as he stood in front of him while Jonas stood beside the couch.
Rickson reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a piece of paper.
Gabriel snatched it from his hand right away to look at it before turning around and walking toward his backpack, pulling something out from inside.
"What is that?" Catherine asked.
"A GPS," he replied as he checked a handheld GPS.
Gabriel quietly used the GPS, probably entering the coordinates to see where they led. Everyone simply looked at him in anticipation to find out where they led.
"Does that thing even still work?" Mr. Shelby asked in confusion.
"It worked well enough before," Gabriel replied.
After a few seconds, Gabriel took a good look at the device and finally spoke up. "It's about five thousand miles from here."
Everyone remained quiet for a moment after hearing what Gabriel had just said.
Catherine grabbed the GPS to see it for herself, and Mr. Shelby looked at it with her.
Jonas rubbed his forehead after hearing that, and Rickson leaned back on the couch.
Mr. Shelby then sighed. "Realistically, if we drive non-stop, it would take about eight to ten days."
"What about sleep, food, and fuel?" Catherine spoke up since it was a pretty valid concern.
"Not to mention the fucking monsters," Jonas reminded them.
Gabriel walked to the kitchen sink and reached for the coffee pot before filling the same mug he had used that morning. Then he picked up the sugar and added two spoonfuls.
"Is that coffee?" Mr. Shelby asked.
"Yeah..." Gabriel confirmed as he stirred the sugar into his coffee.
"Do you have another cup?" Mr. Shelby asked.
Gabriel didn't respond right away. He first took a very small sip of his coffee before opening the cabinets and pulling out another mug with Brooklyn Nets written on it.
Mr. Shelby took the mug and looked at it before asking, "New Yorker?"
Gabriel didn't respond. He simply kept sipping his coffee.
Stephanie immediately considered the possibility that he was from New York City, another small detail about him that she wanted to know. She stood there watching as he continued to drink his coffee quietly while everyone else silently stood there thinking about the distance between them and the community.
Mr. Shelby filled his mug with coffee and took a sip, appreciating the taste since it had probably been a while since he'd had a cup of coffee.
Catherine stood there in silence, looking at the GPS, probably memorizing the routes or other paths they could take.
Jonas stood there looking out the windshield with an uneasy look on his face.
Rickson sat there visibly in pain but trying to ignore it.
Stephanie awkwardly stood there, not really understanding the deep silence.
So she did something to break it.
"We..."
She spoke to Gabriel, who simply shifted his green eyes toward her.
"We saw... that monster doing something at the city entrance where... that..."
She had trouble describing it.
Gabriel looked at her for a second before speaking.
"The Hive laid another egg."
That caught everyone's attention since it obviously meant that more monsters like the one that killed Catherine's brother were about to be born, which was terrifying in every way possible. Stephanie's hands actually began shaking in response, but she did her best to hide them beneath the blanket she had wrapped around herself.
Catherine then took a deep breath and asked, "How long until this egg hatches?"
"It depends on the state of the symbiotic mass, but if I had to make an educated guess..." He finished his coffee before responding. "Four days."
"Four days?!" Jonas couldn't believe what he had just heard.
"Like I said, it's an educated guess." Gabriel made that part clear. "I only saw the mass once. It could have gotten bigger."
"Fuck..." Jonas rubbed his eyes in response.
Gabriel then put his cup down and decided to speak up. "Okay... Lucky for you people, the Hive is currently buried under the rubble of the hospital right now."
Everyone looked at Gabriel in slight confusion.
"Which means that the street where you ditched the cars is empty."
Everyone then realized where he was going with this.
"Also, that one over there said that he saw some people running into a movie theater, so if you want to check it out, be my guest, but count me out." He revealed this while pointing at Rickson.
Everyone looked at one another in response, with Mr. Shelby finishing his coffee and placing the cup in the kitchen sink.
"Alright." He rested his rifle on his shoulder and moved toward the door. "I'm gonna get Dacotah, and we'll get as many cars as we can and prepare to leave."
"Wait, what about the people in the movie theater?" Jonas asked.
"Mrr..." Rickson grunted in pain. "I saw some people from the bus entering the movie theater, but that was a while ago."
Hearing that caused Stephanie to involuntarily shudder as it brought back the possibility that her parents and her sister might actually be found. A part of her felt bad for wishing never to see them again, but that feeling was quickly overshadowed by her desire for things to stay as they were now.
"Like I said, count me out because I ain't looking for anyone else." Gabriel made that part abundantly clear for the second time. "And someone help his ass upstairs to rest because he isn't going to be of any use with a busted arm."
He then took a few steps toward the driver's seat of his RV and turned up the stereo.
So tonight, gotta leave that nine-to-five upon the shelf.
"So tonight, gotta leave that nine-to-five upon the shelf."
He sang along with the song.
And just enjoy yourself (c'mon, and).
"And just enjoy yourself..."
Everyone looked at each other awkwardly as Gabriel ignored them and kept singing.
Groove, let the madness in the music get to you.
"Groove, let the madness in the music get to you."
Jonas then grabbed Rickson and helped him out of the RV since he was clearly too hurt to do anything else.
Life ain't so bad at all if you live it off the wall.
"Life ain't so bad at all if you live it off the wall."
Catherine simply sighed in response to what he was doing, with Mr. Shelby following Jonas outside.
Life ain't so bad at all.
"Life ain't so bad at all."
Stephanie giggled in response because his singing was really cute.
"If you live it off the wall."
"If you live it off the wall."
Gabriel kept singing without caring who was watching him.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It only took about ten to fifteen minutes for Mr. Shelby, Jonas, and Dacotah to return to the RV so they could drive to the street where all of the cars were.
Stephanie was inside the RV as well, mostly because she had asked to go since she didn't feel comfortable staying behind without any of them there, which was the truth.
Stephanie took the passenger seat.
Jonas sat on the couch with his automatic shotgun resting in his lap.
Catherine stood near the window, watching the street attentively.
Mr. Shelby stood near the kitchen sink, drinking another cup of coffee since it would probably be a long while before he had another one.
Dacotah was using the bathroom, shocked that Gabriel actually had running water inside the RV.
The ride was so quick that they barely noticed it, and the second they reached the spot, Gabriel stopped the RV and said, "And... here we are."
He then stood up and signaled for Jonas to get off the couch.
Jonas stood, holding his weapon with both hands.
The moment he did, Gabriel took his seat, removed his boots, placed his feet on top of the coffee table, and said,
"Good luck."
Then he reached for the TV remote and turned it on.
Jonas frowned in response.
"Are you seriously just going to sit here while we do all the work?"
It wasn't a serious question, but Gabriel answered anyway. "I already drove your asses here." Gabriel didn't even look at Jonas as he replied. He simply raised his index finger. "The only reason why you people know where to go in the first fucking place was because I alone had to drag that deadweight out of a collapsing hospital while the Hive and the Hive Zombies chased us." He raised his middle finger. "While you were most likely annoying the crap out of your ex-girlfriend, who clearly had just about enough of your roided-up ass."
"Fuck y—" Jonas was about to yell in response.
"Enough!" Catherine stopped the argument before it could continue.
Suddenly, Dacotah came out of the bathroom. "Cut it out, Jonas."
"He—" Jonas tried to defend himself, but she wasn't having any of it.
"He didn't have to help us, but he did, and we should be grateful for that. And we can handle the cars ourselves, so you have no reason for this nonsense."
Jonas stopped talking, clearly hurt by Dacotah's words despite them being true.
Gabriel then reached under the couch and grabbed what appeared to be a laptop. He opened it and connected it to the TV, where he clicked on an icon on the screen.
Then he reached underneath again and grabbed what appeared to be a video game controller.
He unceremoniously started a game on the TV called Banjo-Kazooie and began playing it while ignoring everyone around him.
"Let's just go," Mr. Shelby finally spoke up. "We're wasting time here."
He was the first to leave the RV with his rifle in hand, with his daughter following behind him.
Jonas gave Gabriel a frown before following them while carrying his shotgun with both hands.
Catherine simply sighed before making her way to the door with her rifle slung across her back. "Stay in the RV, okay..." She told Stephanie before stepping outside.
Stephanie simply nodded as Catherine left, leaving her alone in the RV with Gabriel as he silently played the game on his couch.
An awkward silence settled between them, broken only by the goofy sounds coming from the game. Not that Stephanie was complaining. She simply sat there staring at Gabriel, studying his features once again and enjoying the peace and quiet of his company
Scott Shelby:
"You guys heard what Rickson said," Jonas said as they approached the cars in the empty street. "There are people hiding inside a movie theater."
The four of them looked at one another, trying to decide what to do with that piece of information. While they should definitely search for others, things had become too dangerous for them to do anything about it. At the same time, however, leaving people behind wasn't something any of them wanted to do despite the danger.
A sigh escaped the former police officer before he spoke up.
"I'm going to go check while you three deal with the cars."
"Dad—" Dacotah opened her mouth to protest, but Scott didn't let her speak.
"I'm not arguing. I'm going there to take a look while you three get the cars ready to move." Scott declared, leaving no room for argument as he held his Ruger American Rifle. Ironically, he hadn't had to use it a single time since reaching the city, and part of him was hoping to keep it that way.
"Mr. Shelby, with all due respect—" Jonas decided to object anyway.
"Shut the fuck up and start preparing the cars."That was Scott's only response to Jonas.
As he prepared to walk away from them, he gave them one final instruction.
"If the monsters come back, fire a shot to warn me and get the hell out of here." That was an order because any mistake would mean the end of them.
He didn't give them time to reply. He simply went on his way since he remembered seeing the movie theater when they had left the cars. It had only been a brief glance, but he remembered what the street looked like, so all he had to do was retrace their route.
However, simply walking through that place was enough to send chills down his spine, a feeling he was well accustomed to since it was the same one he had always felt whenever he answered an emergency call back during his days on the force.
Scott genuinely thought that part of his life was behind him.
More than two decades in the police force dealing with armed thugs, drug dealers, murderers, crooked officers, and countless shootouts.
Then he finally retired, one of the lucky ones who hadn't been shot before making it that far.
All he wanted was to spend his midlife sitting on his ass, drinking, and enjoying his days with his wife and daughter.
But just like everything else in life, it couldn't be that simple.
A year into his retirement, the apocalypse happened, and now he was doing exactly what he had done before, just without the uniform.
Finding the street again was easy, and he could see the movie theater from afar.
Before making his way there, he used the rifle's scope to watch the place closely and noticed that the front door was open, which was definitely not a good sign.
Reaching inside his jacket, he pulled a revolver from his shoulder holster. It was a Colt King Cobra that a friend had given him after his wife made him give up all of his guns. He had only kept it as a trinket, but now it had its uses.
Placing it back in its holster, he made his way down the street, looking for any sign of monsters.
Truth be told, he had only seen the monsters from afar while they were at the shelter, and he had been terrified even then. Up close, they were much worse, so he silently prayed that he wouldn't come into contact with any of them.
The cold wind kept blowing, and he knew it was only going to get worse, so they really needed to find the community quickly. The trip there, however, was definitely going to be difficult, especially with the number of people they had to transport.
"Huh?" A very faint sound came from his right, immediately causing his gaze to shift from the movie theater to the side of the street.
He waited for any sign of something out of the ordinary—or, in this case, anything even more out of the ordinary than that death trap of a city had already proven itself to be.
His answer came in the form of something emerging from behind a few trash cans.
A small black cat.
It immediately earned a frown from the former police officer since he had never liked cats, especially because there had once been a situation where his wife had nearly died after an allergic reaction triggered an asthma attack.
Scott shook his head.
It wasn't the time to reminisce about the past.
He kept walking until he reached the entrance of the movie theater.
Looking up, he saw the name of the movie on display.
[The Great White Dragon.]
Scott found the title amusing for some reason.
However, his attention quickly returned to the entrance as he noticed the door moving.
Taking aim at it, Scott focused on the doorway and waited for anything that might indicate trouble.
Gabriel Castle:
After the group left his RV, all he did was lean back and enjoy replaying a Nintendo 64 classic on an emulator. This wasn't the time or the place for that, but Gabriel simply didn't care since that day had been an awful one so far, and all he wanted was to forget about it for a bit.
The only thing that was slightly annoying in that situation was the fact that Stephanie was staring at him from the passenger seat. But it didn't annoy him enough to actually say something, so he just ignored her like he had during the weeks she and the others had been stalking him.
A part of him didn't know why he was even still there since he had gotten what he wanted. He could just drive out of that city already and leave them to deal with their own shit. Though, he could probably change his mind at any moment now—but only after he finished the game.
"Umm..." Stephanie finally spoke up, or at least tried to. "C-can I ask you a question?"
"You already did." Gabriel didn't take his eyes off the TV.
Stephanie opened her mouth, not knowing what to say next.
"What is the question?" Gabriel finally asked, just to get it over with.
"It's just, umm..." Stephanie hesitated before asking, "I was wondering how old you are?"
"Twenty-three." Or at least he thought he was, since he didn't really pay attention to the dates anymore.
"Oh..." She seemed pleased by the revelation for some reason, but Gabriel wasn't planning on asking why.
Gabriel was mostly focused on the game since he was fighting Nipper on the beach, which was his favorite boss fight in the game.
However, just as he was about to land the final attack, a strange sound drew his attention away from the TV.
His green eyes immediately shifted toward the trunk where he kept his guns.
He looked at Stephanie, who simply stared back at him with her blue eyes, before setting the controller aside and making his way to the trunk.
Opening it, he quickly discovered where the sound was coming from.
The AN/PRC-152 Multiband Handheld Radio that he had taken from the Marine's corpse was transmitting from beside the M4A1 he had taken from the hospital.
"...Any-...Ple...Answe..." The moment he picked it up, he heard a barely audible voice calling for help, but the interference prevented him from making out the words clearly. "The'..Monster-...Kill..."
"If you can hear me, I need a location, over." Gabriel tried to communicate, though there was only a small chance they could actually hear him.
Stephanie stood up from the passenger seat and approached, trying to listen more closely to the radio.
"...Police...Too... Gray..." Those were the only words they managed to hear before the transmission was lost.
"Police too gray?" Stephanie took the words literally.
"Hmm..."Gabriel turned around and grabbed something that was lying on top of the coffee table.
It was the city map that Garner had left in the RV before being killed by Rickson.
Opening it immediately, Gabriel searched for something specific.
Then he found it. "Maybe they meant the police station?" The city's police station was located only a few blocks away. "Because there isn't much context for the word 'police' anymore."
"They could be hiding there, but we don't know who's talking," Stephanie pointed out.
"Rickson said that he and Andreas were using this to communicate with the others." By "the others," he definitely meant the remaining soldiers. "According to Garner, the only ones left are... JB, Reynolds, and Prekley." If he remembered correctly, those were the names Garner had mentioned.
"Reggie might be with JB," Stephanie reminded him.
A brief silence followed.
Gabriel carefully weighed the possibility in his mind.
More accurately, he was mentally listing every reason not to get involved.
On the other hand, the police station would probably have ammunition and spare firearms he could use.
His hospital visit had originally been for medical supplies, yet he had come away with a wounded soldier instead.
Still, that trip had also gotten him the coordinates to the community, so it hadn't been a complete waste.
In the end, it became a simple risk-versus-reward assessment.
Taking a deep breath, Gabriel stood up and made his way to the driver's seat.
He started the RV and prepared to drive off.
"Umm, shouldn't we warn the others?" Stephanie asked the obvious question.
"You can leave and warn them if you want, but I'm not waiting." Gabriel knew he'd probably change his mind if he delayed, which was exactly why he had to leave now.
"Mmm..." Stephanie looked toward the exit for a moment. Then she returned to the passenger seat.
The second she sat down, Gabriel pressed the accelerator and drove away from the street without even bothering to look back.
Stephanie just sat there nervously, looking out the windshield in search of monsters or any sign of danger like she often did.
Gabriel, on the other hand, was more focused on the other words that they heard on that radio. Monster, kill, too gray. I already have an idea of what is that supposed to mean but I'm hoping I am fucking mistaken. Sadly, I had a painfully unpleasant ability of turning out to be right in every occasion that I was hoping to be wrong. That was the only thing that was going through his mind as he drove around the corner of that street.