"Ok, lets start from the top, again..." the voice behind the white light repeated

"I'm beginning to wonder if you guys think i like the sound of my voice" Oan replied

"Just repeat your story so we can make sure we have this right" the voice said

"Lets make this easy, you tell me what you've gotten and i'll tell you if it correct, kay?" Oan said clearly annoyed

"You, a lone child, survived for 143 days in the wastes with the infected." another voice said still hidden by the light

"Sank my battleship" Oan said playing with the cuffs around his wrists

"Wanna tell us how you survived, without being bitten?" the original voice asked

"Well i became a self taught expert" Oan said still looking at the cuffs

*light laughter from behind the light*

"We've had plenty of them before havn't we boys?" the voice said letting its laughter spill out

"You may of had plenty, but which one is still alive before you?" Oan said

"Ok, before the -infection- spread i was in a MCJROTC unit in Hendersonville, TN, you guys know what and where that was right?" Oan began

"Yes we do, mind tell us what you did in the program?" the voice asked

"Cadet Staff Sergeant Barber, Charlie Company 2nd Squad leader reporting, sir" Oan said snarkly

"Mhmm...and?" they continued

"Well thats it, one tour of raider, two of drill, and reservist for marksman" Oan said placing his hand on the desk

"Security!" one of the voices yelled noticing the prisoners hands

Oan flipped the table into the man on the other side of it, before hurdling over it and slamming into the other voice.
He didn't let the man regain his composure, he grabbed the mans dress collar and shoved him into the other voice.
Oan knew the gaurds would be in here at any moment and decided to make it fast, he sat back down in the chair.
And on cue the security force came in seconds after, moved around Oan and re-cuffed him before taking him back
to the cell.

*Medical Lab*

"The boy was telling the truth, not an ounce of infection in his blood, and by the look of your face, he's in better shape than most
of out men" Doctor Herth commented

"Is he a liability though, can we use him?" The voice said

"Oh, he can be used but most likely not voluntarily, and the way you handle him isn't helping." Herth complied

"Way we handle him? its the same as how we handled you" The voice said

"That may be George, but remember i was 21 when you guys found me i understood why the precausions, he's only 17" Herth said downing coffee

"Al-right i'll arrange for him some accomondation in the town, but he will be under surveilance" George said leaving the room

Oan really didn't like this town, it was full of mostly adults whose common sense should have told them to stay alert but instead they lived normal lives within this fortress of a city, as if the infection never existed. The trooper opened his apartment door and turned the lights on, to Oan's surprise the room already had a tenant. It was a girl, and just by looking at her she'd taken care of herself this far and wouldn't be much of a talker or so he hoped.

"Back against the wall!" the trooper disclaimed

Oan was only partially shocked by the retort, but then again, the world around them had been turned upside down and people could have gotten infected while out searching.

"Your room is above hers, climb the rope and fill out the paperwork, when your done give it to us and we'll be on our way" the soldier said before shoving Oan inside.

Oan grabbed hold of the rope and ascended it. The room was spartan, except for the pull up bar hanging from the ceiling. Paperwork was an over estimation of the amount, it was one sheet that was a list of occupancies you'd like to apply for and gear you wished to request. That part made him laugh, he doubted they'd give him the equipment he wanted. He filled out his occupationaly wants as a "Hunter" or "Scout" and requested he old gear back. He slid down the rope and hand the trooper his paper and had the door slammed in his face.

"Not a friendly bunch are they?" the girl behind him asked

Here it comes he thought "not to us" Oan said heading back to his rope

"Its ok, i get it your a loner, you prefer only to look after yourself because then you'd always do what you want" she said

Here this girl, who knew nothing about him was judging him
"look, i'm the way i am because its kept me alive, i'm not bout to kill myself to become social" Oan said grabbing the rope

"Wo, don't get testy, you'll come around humans always need company no matter how much your a loner" She said sitting down for her dinner

"Your right, i need company, just not you" Oan said ascending the rope

*42 hours later*

The door exploded inwards as the Defense Troopers came rushing in. Oan lept from his bed and looked through the hole in his floor, in doing so he willingly invited the rifle butt that slammed into his face turning his world black.

He awoke in a grassy field, to his right he could see a small town a few hundred yards away, and to his left was a small wooded area. The second thing he noticed was that he wasn't alone, around him were 4 adult males, each on in semi-decent shape. And the last thing he noticed was the light moaning noise he could hear. The adults began talking.

The moaning gained tone slightly. Oan moved amongst the adults.

"Shut the hell up now" Oan whispered

"Who the hell are you to tell us what to do" one adult said loudly, a few "yehs" backed him up

"There are infected around us, so if you want to live, i'd shut your mouth" Oan said sliding off into the tall grass

*Hidden Bunker*

"He's good" a voice said

"And fast" Herth said

"Do we want him?" the voice responded

"Of course, who else would we take, your lazy men over there?" Herth said

"We need a more extensive test of his survival wants, release them" the voice said

"As you wish, but you sure you want me to, there are already the normal infected wandering around?" Herth asked

"Yes, whoever is still alive we'll take" the voice said before leaving

Oan enjoyed being back in the wastes, even though he had to be constantly alert and looking over his shoulder it gave him an odd sense of pleasure
being back. He watched as the adults stuck together as they headed for the woods, poor fools he thought, it wasn't as if the city would be better, but it'd have equipment he could use. He turned around and was face to face with a hunter variation of the infection.

They were the equivilant of a ninja in infected form, stealthy, cunning, and exceptionally agile. They were any loners worst nightmare, and being unarmed as he was was the same as commiting a violent suicide. Without thinking he swung his fist in a tight arc, the hunter just simply evaded by leaping over him. This was the moment he had be training for, he spun and swept a low kick taking the hunters legs out just as they had touched the ground, while still spinning he pushed down with his hand so his body lifted almost going handstandish, he brought his boot back down onto the base off the spine. The quick snap told him the job was done, all the hunter could do now was moan.

A grueling scream came from the woods, he really didn't want to but something inside of him made him sprint across the field towards the woods. He came running through the brush at a full sprint and what he saw turned his inside upside down. One of the adults was so badly beaten his bones were pretruding from his flesh making him look like a pincushion. All the blood splatters on the trees showed how he became that way. Oan turned in the direction of the next scream.

Oan ran again towards it, this time seeing the cause of the beatings. A lone breserker stood pummeling one of the male adults into a pulp. Oan could do nothing for the man, or the rest of them. Without a gun the breserker my as well have been a tank, immune to all forms of melee thanks to its over active adrenal glands. And the worst part about them was that they could learn, from just watching a man with a gun the infected breserker could pick up the weapon and fire it, and that they hid in crowds of large normal infected made them impossible to distinguish till they were sprinting at 30 mph towards you.

So doing the only possible action Oan turned a began to run back out of the woods, he made the mistake of running. All the brush he smashed through alerted the berserker that there was more prey. It let out a howlish yelping sound and took off on the chase. Great Oan thought, now your playing tag with a killing machine that can out run you. Oan felt a hand grab the back of his jacket and lift him off the ground, the next thing he felt was the wind rushing by his body while he was hurled through the air. He landed 12 meters from the charging berserker. He pulled his knees up to his chest and lunged out with his feet in time to meet the charging infected. A loud crack told him he connected with it, but the momentum transferred into him sending him sliding across the open terrain. In his slide Oan leaned back and placed his hand on the ground and started doing backward flips.
He always knew taking gymnastics in school would help eventually.

The berserker was just standing there 10 feet away, panting. It look bewildered, even stunned. Oan took this moment to begin limping away, he got no more than 30 feet when he felt another hand grab his back. It turned him around and Oan was face to face with a man in a white trench coat.

"You pass, now lets get you looked at and back on your feet" the doctor said

Oan let the doctor lead him off, he noticed troops moving in from the treeline and finishing off the infected. Oan sat on the metallic bed awaiting the doctors return for his check up. The kick he planted onto the berserker might have caused a broken bone or just some serious bruising, but whatever it was they sure seemed to take every precaution inspecting him.

"Got good news, and then not so good news" the doctor said opening the door

"I'll take good news any day" Oan said massaging his calf

"Well your not infected nor seriously hurt, more superstitious injury" The doctor complied

"And the bad news?" Oan said flinching as he hit a sore spot

"We have a program here, that we use to gather supplies and other survivors, like yourself" the doctor said

"And they want me to help them?" Oan asked

"In a way, they want you to teach the candidates in your ways" The doctor said "whatever supplies you need will be granted" he added

"Deal, just give me awhile for this" Oan said tapping his leg "to heal"

"You have one week" The doctor said

Oan grabbed his crutches that had been issued and proceeded to head back to his apartment. The girl was still inside but was busy disassembling a rifle. He hurled his first crutch up through the hole and tossed the second quickly, to fast. The crutch bounced off the ceiling and smacked into his head, the acute sense of pain caused him to close his eyes. The girl began to laugh.

"Want me to help?" she offered

"No, i can do this" Oan replied gently lifting it up

"Look if your going to be living above me, were going to have to get along" she said agitated

"Fine you can play nice i'll just ignore you, hows that sound?" Oan said grabbing the rope

"What the hell is your problem? she asked but he had already climbed up

Oan rescanned his room, was still empty except for his old duffel bag and uniform which had been cleaned. He pulled the duffel bag over to the bed and pulled out his equipment. His handgun was still there, along with the 20 rounds he had left, his radio and batteries were still in their pouch. He smiled as his necklaces were still wrapped up and hidden, his dog tags were next out. The roll of electrical tape that he had stashed was there along with his forearm and shin guards. He pulled out his elbow pads and knee pads next, both of them were scrapped, dented and chipped in some way, he'd have to replace them. Last out was his tinted ballistic goggles and blacvaca.

His uniform wasn't in much better shape, multiple gouge lines that he'd had to sew back together. His patrol cap was still had the ranks of Cadet Lieutenant Colonel, Cadet Major, Cadet Captain twice, Cadet Sergeant twice. Against his will a single tear ran down his face, he let it run and drip off his chin. Pulling himself up to the pull-up bar he proceeded to hook his legs through it, which he accomplish with a little perseverance and by ignoring the pain in his leg. Now completely upside down he began doing his sit-ups, He ended up getting to 94 before his anger boosted energy ran out and he fell to the floor. The girl clambered up the rope to check out the noise.

She saw the boy laying on the floor eyes shut and panting heavily. She looked around his room, other than his cap nothing seemed to stick out. She walked over and picked it up looking at the symbols that were pinned to it. Two diamonds followed by a separate diamond followed by two groups of two circles and two sets of 3 black stripes. Suddenly a hand flashed over her mouth and another pushed forward on her spine.

"This is the only warning you will get from me, stay the hell out of my stuff" Oan said releasing her

"I only came to check on you, jeez" she replied

"Then why touch my stuff?" Oan said packing all his stuff up.

"It caught my eye" she said rubbing her back

"Then leave before i remove them" Oan replied while laying on his bed

"Fine, i'm good at picking out hostility when i see it" she said heading back to the rope

"No, in fact your awful at it or else you would of've known from the moment we met" Oan replied before going to bed

Dawn arrived without delay, and Oan soon found himself in the same old room he had been 6 hours ago. Just everything was neatly packed and a box was on his desk. Cautiously he approached the box and opened it, inside was a black beret with a metallic Defense insignia pinned to its front. Under that was a clear box containing what looked to be pills of some kind, a note was attached to this.

Dear Oan Barber,

Thank you for complying withour program, whe hope the beret fits and suits your tastes.
The inclosed medicine is a series of vitamins that are ment to fight of any bacteria
or parasite you may have pick up while traversing the wastes. The rest of it is a basic
set of vitamins ment to boost your daily intake of following:
Vitamin A
Vitamin C
Vitamin E
Vitamin B3
Vitamin B5
Vitamin B6
Vitamin B12
Calcium
Iron
Zinc
Floric Acid
Magnesium

report to the medical lab if you experience any side effects not listed:
Sense of vertigo
Loss of direction
Loss of Hunger
Loss of Memory
Skin irritation
Dehydration
Drowsyness

"Thats just great" Oan mumbled "now they're trying to make me the hulk"

"Actually they give those to everyone they rescue" Came a familiar voice from behind

Oan turned slowly, and broke down into tears upon his sight.

"Tona is-is it really you?" Oan said not bothering with the tears or attempting to fix his studdering

"Why of course you silly wolf" She said running over to him and embracing him

"You still remember those days?" He asked holding her close

"They kept me sane during this whole *waving her arms around* thing" She pulled away ever so gently

"Your the first face i've seen since i, ran, that i knew, and loved" He said standing up

"We never found out where you went, after that incident you just left, we couldn't let anyone go searching for you, because if you didn't
want to be found we wouldn't find you" Tona said "so...what they got you doing around here?"

"I'm supposed to be training the new foragers and their bodygaurds" Oan said pulling her down next to him

"Hey then i'll get to see you, i'm going to be one of them" She said staring at him

"Your going to what?!" Oan exclaimed

"Well this city will need food, and i have basic knoweldge of the area and Jrotc training, they like that" She said bewildered to his outburst

"You know now that you've found me, i'm not going to let you go out there again" Oan said

"Why, your going back out, it'd be just as bad if you died on me as if i died on you" She said still staring

"Thats why i don't plan on getting killed, couldn't stand to harm you in anyway" he replied

"Well neither do I" she said

"Well I don't really know this city, want to give me a tour?" Oan asked

"Gladly" Tona said kissing him

He followed her out of the apartments and into the maze like streets. He was still bewildered that she was even here, they were more than a thousand miles from Hendersonville, let alone friendly human towns were not easy to come by. The streets opened up into a massive town square where the market was located, it was of course full of the hustle and bustle of everyday life in an apocalyptic world. There were churches everywhere for every religion and a few new ones that he didn't recognize. He could tell the city had seen fighting wether it had been from zombies, marauders or even just civil uprest there were scores of damage on the walls.

They stopped at a market stall and grabbed a quick breakfast, on the outside it lookd like an apple but when Oan bit into he could taste nearly everyother fruit inside. It was good he had to admit, thought it could do without the lemon taste. The next place they walked past looked to be a gym or arena of sorts, I guess in a world of brutality the human mind can't live without it he thought as they passed by.

"That is where the put the criminals againt captured zombies, or each other" Tona said sourly

"You serious? What do they do if the criminal wins?" Oan asked

"They make sure they don't" Tona replied and as if to prove her words gun shots rang out of the arena

"Mindless brutatlity, why not use them as conscripts or foragers, just make fake promises about freedom" Oan said

"Yes, we could use with more armed killers protecting us" Tona said

"I didn't meen it that way, just let them loose and tell them to find stuff, they get it they win their freedom" Oan replied

"Its not that easy, even in day an age we have laws, and one is: no one goes out unarmed" She said

"Well laws were meant to be broken" He said dragging her back as a speed transport rumbled by

"Thank you" she said squeezing his hand

They wandered around enjoying each others company till they came upon the military base. The MP's who were dressed to be more menacing to the populace that actuallt be a fighting force made their way up to the couple. Oan laughed at their get up, they wore kevlar helmets with a grey cover over them along with a grey trenchcoat and gasmask with a homade tinted visor. The almost looked like something out of star wars. They brought up the Weapons as one of them patted them down.

"Move along" one of the gaurds said, his voice sound robotic

Tona led him through the outer defense wall and into the secondary defense wall, it wasn't accually a wall, just a series of trenches with barbwire 100 yards away. They entered the first building and we seperated momentarily to be questioned and searched again. The gaurds fanned them inwards as they were escorted to the armory.

"You sure you don't want any new gear?" Tona ask browsing the selection

"Only thing i need to replace are my elbow pads and knee pads, possible get me a pair of padded gloved" Oan said looking over the weapons

"Well i'm sure that handgun of yours could use a cleaning" she said

"I kept that clean in the field, didn't need it jamming on me at the worst moment" Oan said "can i see this one" he asked the quartermaster

"Fine choice, decent stopping power, excellent range, compact and high rate of fire" the quartermaster said handing him the rifle

"What type of ammunition does it take?" Oan asked

"Takes the standard 5.56 NATO round, plus it had a plathora of add-ons possible" he responded

"Like what?" Oan said

"Well the tactical rail system allows for a 40mm underslug grenade launcher, a forward hand grip, a red dot scop on the back or and 4x ACOG attachment" The quarter master said

"How much for it?" Oan said practically in love

"Well the FS2000 runs for about...oh 1.2 grand but i will make you a deal" He said

"And that is?" Oan asked

"My son is wanting to be a hunter, and i know your going to be teacher them, pass him and its yours free of charge" he said

"You know full well i can't do that, if he is a liability i won't pass him" Oan said handing the rifle back

"Then look here, promise me that you will look after him, and the rifle is yours" the quartermaster said

"Deal, whats his name?" Oan asked

"Luke" The quartermaster said