"Now, Glenn! Go, go, go!" Ethan yelled, kicking aside the splintered remains of the convenience store's door barricade. They burst from the acrid, billowing smoke just as the Winnebago, a lumbering angel of mercy, rolled past the front of the gas station. Rick and Shane were leaning out of windows, Rick's Python barking and Shane's shotgun booming, creating a chaotic, temporary corridor through the shrieking, disoriented Runner Variants.
The scene was a maelstrom. Runners, momentarily confused by the smoke and the sudden onslaught of noise and gunfire from the RV, were everywhere. Some pawed at the smoke, others turned towards the new, larger threat of the Winnebago.
[ESCAPE ROUTE TO RV SIDE DOOR HIGHLIGHTED. MULTIPLE RUNNER VARIANTS IN PERIPHERAL VISION. EVASION SUBROUTINES ACTIVE. MAINTAIN MAXIMUM SPEED AND AGILITY.]
"This way!" Ethan shouted, grabbing Glenn's arm and pulling him hard to the left, narrowly avoiding a lunging runner that emerged from the thinning smoke. The System was painting a path only he could see, a desperate thread through a tapestry of death. His bat became a blur, not always aiming to kill, but to deflect, to create space, to keep them moving.
Glenn, despite the terror of the situation, matched his pace, his tire iron a flashing arc as he parried a clawing hand. They sprinted across the cracked asphalt, the RV a tantalizingly close, yet terrifyingly distant, target. The side door of the Winnebago was open, T-Dog and Morales leaning out, hands outstretched, their faces grim.
A runner, faster than the others, its movements sickeningly fluid, intercepted Glenn, its momentum carrying it onto his back, teeth snapping inches from his neck. Glenn screamed, stumbling.
[COMPANION (GLENN RHEE) IN CRITICAL DANGER!]
Ethan didn't think. He reversed his momentum, spinning, and brought his baseball bat down with all his force onto the runner's skull. There was a sickening crunch, and the creature spasmed, its grip loosening. Ethan grabbed Glenn's pack, hauling him upright. "Come on!"
They were almost there. Ten feet. Five.
A runner lunged from behind a gas pump, tackling Ethan around the legs. He went down hard, the wind knocked out of him, his bat flying from his grip. The creature's fetid breath washed over his face, its yellowed teeth snapping.
[HOST UNDER DIRECT ATTACK! EVASIVE MANEUVER RECOMMENDED! SYSTEM ASSISTING TARGETING OF VULNERABLE POINTS!]
Before Ethan could fully react, a shotgun blast erupted beside his head, deafening him momentarily. The runner's head exploded in a shower of gore. Shane stood over him, shotgun smoking, his face a mask of fury. "Get your ass in the damn RV, Miller!"
T-Dog and Morales grabbed Ethan, hauling him bodily through the door. Glenn was already inside, pale and shaken, but alive. The moment Ethan was clear, the door slammed shut, and Dale floored the accelerator. The Winnebago lurched forward, its engine roaring in protest as it sped away from the chaotic, walker-infested gas station.
Runners slammed against its sides, their horrible, contorted faces pressed momentarily against the windows before falling away as the RV gained speed. The sounds of their shrieks and the thudding of their bodies against the metal skin of the vehicle were terrifying.
Inside, the air was thick with the smell of gunpowder, sweat, and fear. Lily, who had been shielded by Carol and Lori, rushed to Ethan the moment he stumbled to his feet, burying her face in his legs, sobbing.
"It's okay, Lily-bug," he managed, his voice hoarse, his body aching. "We're okay. We're out."
Glenn was checking a deep scratch on his arm where the runner had clawed him. "Damn thing nearly took a chunk out of me," he panted.
Ethan, remembering his discreet purchases, reached into his backpack. "Here," he said, pulling out the antiseptic wipes and a sterile gauze roll. "Got these from that first-aid kit I found earlier. Let's get that cleaned up before it gets nasty."
Glenn looked at him with surprise and gratitude. "Man, Ethan, you think of everything."
[RESOURCES PROVIDED. KARMA POINTS +2 (GOOD).]
Rick did a quick, anxious headcount from the front. "Everyone accounted for? Anyone bitten?"
A chorus of "no's" and shaken heads. Miraculously, apart from Glenn's arm and a few bruises, they seemed to have escaped relatively unscathed.
Dale, however, delivered the grim news, his voice strained over the protesting roar of the RV's engine. "That's about all she wrote for the fuel! We're running on fumes now. Maybe five miles left in her, if we don't hit any hills and if these things don't make us speed up again!"
The brief elation of their escape evaporated. They had failed to get fuel. They were deeper in unfamiliar territory. And the runners…
"Those things," Ethan said, his voice low but carrying in the sudden quiet as Dale eased off the accelerator to conserve fuel, "they weren't just mindless. At the store, before the smoke, it was like they were testing the doors, the windows. Looking for a way in. They were smart." He didn't mention the System's specific analysis of pack hunting, but the implication of coordinated intelligence was there.
Rick and Dale exchanged a deeply worried glance. The world had just thrown them another horrifying curveball.
A few miles later, true to Dale's prediction, the Winnebago's engine began to sputter. It coughed, lurched violently, then with a final, dying groan, went silent. They coasted to a halt on a lonely, tree-lined stretch of county road, miles from any recognizable landmark, the sudden silence deafening and ominous.
They were stranded. The entire group, on foot, with dwindling supplies, low morale, and hunted by a new, terrifyingly intelligent breed of walker.
As the reality of their predicament began to sink in, and Rick started to organize them to exit the now-useless RV, Ethan's System, ever vigilant, flashed a silent, chilling alert.
[MULTIPLE 'RUNNER VARIANT' SIGNATURES DETECTED. DISTANCE: APPROXIMATELY 1 MILE, SOUTH (DIRECTION OF GAS STATION). MOVEMENT PATTERN: METHODICAL SEARCH, PARALLELING THIS ROAD. HYPOTHESIS CONFIRMED: THEY ARE ACTIVELY TRACKING YOUR GROUP'S SCENT/TRAIL. ESTIMATED TIME TO CURRENT POSITION IF TRAIL IS MAINTAINED: 20-30 MINUTES.]
Their reprieve had been even shorter than he'd feared. The hunt was still on.