The Depot
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So here's where we put the story from the bus depot to the next major checkpoint.

Crashr here. Ima kick off the new page. this isn't posted anywhere else
(Section by Crashr)
November 16, 2008

This time it is Heather that poses the question. She really is a very bright girl, and I can see how easily it could be for men (and women) to fall for her. If nothing else, I hope she survives. Back to the question at hand. After thinking for a good five minutes, I narrow our options down to two possibilities. I see that Calvin has done the same. He speaks first.
“We can sneak in and rescue them without letting the others know we were ever there, or…” I finish his thought.
“We present ourselves to them and hope they don’t kill us.” No one respond to these options immediately, instead weighing the options in their minds. This time it is Martha that speaks.
“I don’t think sneaking in is our best bet. If we get caught, we’re dead.” Heather speaks up next.
“But just approaching them could get us killed too.” Even though Heather opposes Martha, I don’t hear any challenge in her voice. She is merely stating the situation. Well that’s good. She seems to have made her peace with the soldier. Calvin speaks again.
“We can’t sit here all day thinking about this. Those things might show up any minute now, and I don’t know about you guys, but I’m hungry.” We all nod in agreement. Even I feel hungry, especially after the encounter from earlier. To all of our surprise, Mr. Anderson is next to speak.
“I’ll go out and talk to them.” We all stare at him. Heather’s worry is clear in her voice.
“You can’t do that! What if they shoot you?” Mr. Anderson speaks without any trace of fear.
“Then we know that we must find another way in. Please, let me do this.” I nod in agreement.
“He is right. This is the best way. However, I must insist that I go with you.” He starts to protest, but I raise my hand. He stops.
“While you talk to them, I will put myself in a position to sneak in. If you are killed, I will not let those who did this escape without punishment.” Calvin looks back at both of us.
“Fine. But let me get into a position where I can cover you.” We both nod in agreement. As we step out of the car, Heather jumps out and hugs Mr. Anderson. At first he doesn’t seem to know how to react, but then he places his hand on her head and strokes her hair. I have a new appreciation for the sensitivity of this man. First, we wait for Calvin to break into a nearby building and himself up in a window. He signals us when he is in position. Mr. Anderson approaches the depot, and I skirt around the edges and press myself up against the building. I place myself under a window that I could easily access should the need arise. I watch Mr. Anderson walking. Suddenly, as he gets within 100 yards of the depot, a shot rings out from the window above me. I quickly look out to Mr. Anderson to see if he has been injured, but see that the bullet hit the ground in front of him. He stops moving, and I hear a voice call out through a megaphone.
“You! Stop moving and drop your gun, or we will kill you!” Mr. Anderson accordingly drops his gun and puts his hands in the air.
“Please! I don’t mean any harm! I’m just looking for my friends, who I think you have inside!” I can hear whispering going on inside the window, as it sounds like two people, a man and a woman arguing over what to do next. I hear the voices stop, and the voice comes back on the megaphone. I can tell it is the voice of a woman this time.
“Are there any more people in your group?” Mr. Anderson, after thinking for a second, responds.
“Yes. There are four others.” Another pause from the megaphone, and more whispering. The woman comes on again.
“Get your group and bring them here. Hurry.” I can clearly see the relief on Mr. Anderson’s face. He picks up his gun and runs back to where the car is. He returns a few seconds later with everyone. As I hear the steel shutters open, I place myself in front of them, my hand on my machete. As the gate opens, I see two men, both with rifles raised and pointed at me. They look surprised to see me, but make no movement to lower their guns. I smile at them.
“My friends and I would like to come inside. Please, lower your weapons.” They look from me to my machete. They warily lower their guns. After we are all inside, the shutters close, and I see the other survivors. My group is quick to ask where their friends are, and they are pointed over to the large semi. We walk over to it, and I see three people standing together, discussing something quietly. Calvin is the first to call out to them.
“Hey! Where’ve you been?” They all look over at us, and with a cry of joy, two girls come running over and begin hugging Calvin, Heather, and Mr. Anderson. The man walks over slowly, and I can see that he has a very grievous wound on his shoulder. After sizing me up, he extends his good hand to me. I take it. His first words to me are, “I’m Frank. Why did you come here?"

(Alright. I got us into the Depot. Same rule as always)
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(This part by cj002)

Nov.16th 2008

We sat around the table sipping Gatorade, we had all agreed not to touch the beer as being tipsy tended to throw off your aim, and discussing how we were gonna get out of this god forsaken town. I leaned over the map and pointed to several roads leading out of town "all roads will be heavily guarded any sort of highway or major road is out of the question, were talking tanks, 60 cals, the whole deal the smaller the road the smaller the force. This road here" I said pointing to a small access road "probably between 15 and 20 men, a light machine gun nest, and maybe an ACP."
"All that for an access road?" asked Audrey.
"Yeah" said Calvin "Would they really have an ACP?"
"Well judging by the transmissions they're hardly keeping this under raps, they've been running constant blitzes across the country side trying to stop those things but there's no telling how many have slipped past. This is spreading and the military might decide to take drastic action to stop it." Then as if on queue Delgato ran forward.
"Sir, priority transmission base is requesting an i.d. check." he said.
I took the field phone "This is Alpha team i.d. check confirmed codeword; foxtrot." I said.
"Roger Alpha transmission incoming standby." the operator said.
Delgato leaned over his code book and scribbled as an encoded message was sent he repeated it out loud. "Executive order...all units are to....fallback to...position three...use of nuk-" he stooped "Uhh use of nuclear weapons has been authorized...operation hammer down will commence...o'900 tomorrow." he finished.
We all sat in silence, shocked by what we had heard "Jesus" Heather finally said "Did they just say they're gonna nuke us?"
"What are we gonna do?" asked Audrey.
I breathed heavily considering the situation "We have to move tonight." I finally said.

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This part By Nexus Oblivion
November 16th 2008

‘My end
It justifies my means
All I ever do is delay
My every attempt to evade
The end of the road and my end
It justifies my means
All I ever do is delay
My every attempt to evade
THE END OF THE ROAD!’

"Your finally awake..."
"...I’m going to get the commander, you have a few questions to answer."


I hear a voice before the sound of footsteps brushing against the floor move further away. I slowly flutter open my eyes...the pain in my abdomen is still there, I clutch it but I feel some sort of bandage wrapped around it. As my vision clears I feel a slight breeze on my face. I slowly raise my head and get a look at my surroundings.

"It appears we’re in some sort of tent..." my brain comments "...and judging from that red cross on the wall, it must a medical tent."
The white tent and the bright floodlight coming from outside makes me feel like I’m in heaven. I look across the other beds and notice that no-one else is here. I try sitting up but the pain from the wound intensifies, none the less I manage to sit up. I look at my body and realize I am half naked. The jeans I was wearing before have been replaced by black SWAT like pants, whoever patched me up must’ve changed my clothes.
"Ah your awake..." a man standing at the tent entrance gently says "...how are you feeling Michael?"
"Who are you?..." I ask wearily "...where am I?"

I take a good look at the guy, he’s wearing what I think to be Black SWAT like armor, his pants match mine and he has what looks like a futuristic assault rifle hung in front of him and a vest with a lot of things in it. He looks Caucasian and I can tell he knows I’m observing him.
"What are you? SWAT?" I ask
"Haha SWAT?" he grimaces "...no I’m not SWAT, this is much bigger then that. I’m Chief Commander Shepherd, I run this whole operation"
He steps towards me, I want to back away but in the state I’m in, I’m not in any condition to fight back or move. He is now so close to me I can see a scar across his eyebrow and little dents he has on his face, he might be in his late 40s.

Another person, a female steps into the tent. She salutes Shepherd and he does the same.
"What is it Captain Williams?"
"Sir..." she nervously looks at me then back at Shepherd "...I’ve delivered the message to all units within the town, Operation Faux Hammer Down is commencing. They should be appearing around the borders trying to escape before 0900 tomorrow.
"Faux?...." I think to myself "...doesn’t that mean fake?"
"Excellent..." Shepherd exclaims "...we’ll flush out any traitors and survivors, I want patrols increased in all major roads leading out of this town."
"Sir what about the small roads that lead out of town? Should we increase patrol on those as well?" She asks
"Excellent Captain, increase border security and patrols in all exits of this town. I want no survivors." he smiles menacingly.
"Yes sir" they exchange salutes and she runs out the tent and once again it is just me and Shepherd.
He picks up a watch next to my bed and he grasps my shoulder and looks me firmly in the eye.

"You’ve been resting for about 21hours now..." he says in a serious voice "...and I have some questions for you"

He presses hard against my shoulder and I can tell I’ll have to answer them one way or another.

(do not make any reference to this story, as far as the other characters know, operation hammer down is real)
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(This part by matt_will)

November 16th

“You! Stop moving and drop your gun, or we will kill you!” I hear coming from outside. I see a man standing outside and as the first speaker asked he accordingly drops his gun and puts his hands in the air.
“Please! I don’t mean any harm! I’m just looking for my friends, who I think you have inside!” I hear him say. I was about to go upstairs to tell Mak, Will and Sherly about what’s happening, but decide to hear (and see) the end of it.
“Are there any more people in your group?” The man, after thinking for a second, responds.
“Yes. There are four others.” I think I can make out the shapes of two of them, but not four . Another pause from the megaphone. A woman says.
“Get your group and bring them here. Hurry.” I see a third one kick the door open of the building next to ours and the fourth one is under one of the depot’s windows. I see the four of them meet up and walk to one of the shutters. Some muffled conversation and they enter. I decide to wake the others, yes I know it’s just after midday but we were tiered from observing the survivors when they arrived at the depot. “Thanks for telling us.” Mak says. Everyone has been ill at ease since the survivors arrived last night, the situation has been made worse by more of them arriving and now by us knowing that they took other survivors, who could possibly be hostages. “Okay here is what we are going to do.” I quickly explain my plan, which is: two of us are going to knock on the shutters of the depot, while the others provide covering fire and if we can go in the roles reverse and the two still in the hotel will run across the street. “Ok that sounds like a good plan.” Sherly says. The other two agree so we are down to choosing who is going. In the end Mak and I are told to go so we stock up on ammo, grab our weapons and prepare to go.

“Activate *static* Hammer *static*. *Static* Nuclear *static* authorized. *Static* 0900 hours tomorrow.” We hear this on the radio as we are about to leave. I think its about the army going nuclear. I decide that its time to leave and that we shouldn’t take the back alley. We jumped onto the top of the van and sprinted across the deserted streets.
SHRIEK
We hear a massive shriek and see at least a dozen zombies running after us.
POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW
We down six of them, they keep coming so I chuck a high explosive grenade I found in the gun store when I went looting there earlier today (who would have thought that a gun store would have grenades in-stock).
BOOM
It explodes killing three of them and knocking the rest off their feet.
POW POW POW
The last three stop wriggling. Wait those shots came from behind us.
“Put down your weapons and turn around.” It sounds like the voice that was on the megaphone before. Two people stepped out, one man and one woman. I recognise the man as the one who went into the building.
“Okay but you have to let my group come in and you won’t kill us.” I say as I drop my guns, my grenades and my trench knife.
“How many people are with you?” The woman asks us. She must not have seen us when we on look out.
“There are four of us.” I respond and signal for Will and Sherly to come. They run across the street. There are no zombies here. Yet.
"Well come on in and you will need your weapons. Do you have a vehicle?" She asks while I bend down to grab my weapons.
"Yes. And we modified it so that its suitable for a zombie world." Will responds, still panting from the run.

(This part happens just after either Crashr's part or probably more appropriately, cj002's part. Use these characters if you want, if you want to kill them ask me first.)
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(This part by cj002)

Nov.16th 2008

I looked at the clock, 8:27, "Okay we only have twelve hours to get as far away from here as we can. This road is our best-" I was cut off by gunfire from outside. I signaled for my team to take up defensive positions around the depot and leveled my weapon at the door, Audrey went over to one of the small windows and picked up the megaphone. "Turn around and drop your weapons." she said "Now come to the door." She opened the door and Mr.Anderson stood behind her while they talked with the new arrivals they were let inside and everyone introduced themselves. They began to explain who they were and how they cot there but I spoke up "I don't know about you guys but I wanna be a long way away from here when that nuke goes off and we've got twelve hours to make a plan so if we can save the stories for later..." I said gesturing towards the map. Audrey told them who to see about a hot meal and we all reconvened around the table. "Okay so this road will take us east to Melborn there we will stock up on supplies and continue north on highway one-eleven until we reach the Kentucky border. Our biggest threat will be the roadblock around the first access road out but once were past that its no guarantee that there wont be more this thing is spreading and they wont be able to contain it for long. The military doesn't know that were...that we deserted so we can use that to our advantage in taking the first barricade. well dispatch as many as we can from the back while your men provide support." I said.
"And if they have an APC?" asked Mr.Anderson
"As long as its only light armor Simon has a stinger that can take care of it." I replied.
"Okay so when do we move?" asked Calvin.
"In a few hours, we should begin preparing now I want all military ordinance on this table and 10 of your best shooters front and center, then were gonna need 15 more to lead a flanking charge all fighting men will need a primary and side arm with at least 90 rounds. All others need at least a side arm, get it done." I ordered.
Several minutes later I stood over the table surveying our ordinance thirteen XM8's, nine M16's, three MP5's, a SAW, one MP7, several frags, three flash bangs, two M24 sniper rifles, twelve standard issue .45's, several pounds of C4, four shaped charges, and one stinger anti-tank missile with launcher. There were also several military weapons brought by civilians one Remington 870 marine shotgun, two M14 rifles ,and one SKS. "Alright I want each one of those ten to have a scoped rifle." I said gathering the M24's,M14's,and SKS "Issue these then find rifles for the rest." I then turned to the other fifteen pointed to the table and asked "You guys know how to us any of this?" They all nodded "Alright then gear up take everything you think you'll need but remember not to weigh yourself down too much."
Audrey ran up "There's something you should see captain." she said
We walked to the back door and she peaked out looking around then went out leading me to a white van. When we arrived she opened the back door and I flipped on my flashlight then stopped shocked by what was there. It was a tow mounted anti-tank missile, "Where did you get this?" I asked stunned
"We raided a roadblock that the military was setting up and we packed this up before reinforcements arrived, figured we could use it." she replied
I smiled "Looks like we might just make it out of this alive."

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(This part by Kuthiani)

November 16, 2008

The first thing I saw was a light grey ceiling.
I barely remembered what just happened. I felt rested, as if I had been sleeping for an entire day.
My sight shifted until I could spot a door. Beneath me I felt a matress. Next to that, a backpack.
Mike... Where's Mike?
Quickly, I jumped up and tried to open the door. It was locked.
What happened? How did I get here?
"Mike! Hello? Mike!" I called out as I slammed my hands onto the metal door.
Wait... The screams... The... Zombies... Police station. Am I in the police station?
I began to think without beating on the door.
The only thing I could recall was seeing all of those things coming through those double doors. Then, I had run down another hall and tripped.
Did I faint? Was I knocked out? ...Am I in heaven?
This wasn't at all heaven. There were no windows, and I was terrified.
I sat back down on the matress, causing me to realize how hungry I was.
Opening my backpack, I found a small plastic bag of peanuts.
I also found a walkie-talkie.
I don't remember packing this. This looks like it belongs to Mike...
I had no idea how it got there, but I didn't wait another second before calling out on it. "Mike? Mike? Hello?"
Releasing the button, I waited for an answer.
"Mike?"
It was several seconds later before I heard a reply. "Hello?"
My hope was coming back to me now.
"Are you OK Mike?" I said quickly.
chhzzzch "This Isn't Mike. I'm Keith. I just found this walkie."
Then the hope was gone again. I feared the worst. Maybe this guy had stolen Mike. Maybe he killed him. Maybe he was holding him for ransom. Maybe he was a cannibal and ate him.
"Are you there?" The voice returned.
"Where's Mike?" I asked
"I don't know. I don't even know where I am."
I didn't trust this guy at all.
His voice filled the hollow little room again. "Are you in a building that looks like a hospital?"
If this is what I have to do to get out of here...
I decided to tell him.
"I don't know. I'm in a room and the door is locked. There are no windows."
"How did you get there?" He asked.
"I was in the police station and- I don't remember what happened. I woke up in here."
"I think you might be in the same building I'm in."
Yeah... If you're a looter trying to trick me. How else would you have gotten Mike's walkie?
I decided not to speak again, as I tried to think of a plan to avoid being killed by looters.
"Is there a slot under the door there?"
Why would he ask that? Aren't there slots under all doors?
"Uh...Yeah..." I said. That didn't seem too dangerous to tell him.
"I need you to stick something down under there. If I get to that door, I'll be able to see it and try to get you out."
I really did want to get out.
"Oh...OK..."
"I'm gonna turn this off now since I don't want to be heard."
A little chzzch came then I tried to call out again. "Uh...Ky..Kam..."
I already forgot his name.
"Dude! Hey! Are you there?"
He didn't answer.
Now it was time for me to come up with a plan. I looked in my backpack for something useful. Nothing came to mind.
Where's my knife?
I must have dropped my pocket knife when running from the zombies.
"And I thought zombies would be awesome..."
I looked under the matress in case there was some secret door or something like that.
Nothing.
I guess the only way out of here is to trust that guy.
I finished the bag of peanuts and stuck the package down under the slit of the door. As I tried to look around all I could see was a hallway and the beginning of some stairs. When looking further, I saw another door. I watched until suddenly I saw black boots walking further down the hall. I was about to call out for them, but noticed that the feet were shuffling.
Like a zombie.
I just kept silent and continued to watch.
Several minutes passed until I heard more footsteps. They approached, and I was sure it was the guy from the walkie, but all I saw was a black hand place a card on the ground.
I didn't know whether to yell out for the person, or just stay quiet. I was confused and frightened at the same time.
Why did they do that?
I gave up.
I guess nobody's coming.
Walking back to the bed, I sat down and placed my elbows on my knees, holding my head in my palms.
I must have been sitting there for ten minutes.
Finally I heard one more set of footsteps. Click Clack Click
It sounded strange. I was sure it was another zombie.
Then it stopped.
I just watched the door and waited.
Beep.
The door handle turned and I had no idea what I was going to do in order to defend myself. I put my head down slightly in fear. The door slowly opened and I was sure that I would be zombie chow.
Raising my head, I saw that it was the front of a gun.
Behind the gun, a guy stepped out. He looked like he might be in college.
Behing him, a taller black man silently appeared. The white one had no idea that the black one was behind him.
Neither were zombies.
"I'm not here to hurt you." Said the white one.
I just looked at the black guy, slightly confused. He was making hand gestures as if the white guy's voice belonged to his hands. It was like watching a kindergardener.
"I'll help you find Mike, but you have to help me find people too, alright?"
The black guy just continued to do it.
Suddenly, the white guy began to realize that I wasn't looking at him at all.
He turned around as fast as he could, and the black guy said, "Boo!"
Now that the white guy had fallen backwards, I could see a really long beard on the black guy.
The white guy scrambled around to try to put his hands back on the trigger of the gun, and looked pretty dumb doing it. He then pointed it at the black guy and picked himself up.
"Sorry mon' I din' mean ta sca' ya." He said while smiling. The black guy was jamaican!
I found that to be awesome, but I was still scared of the situation.
"Wh-Who are you?" asked the white guy.
"Dat seem to be da firs' words I be hearin' lately." the black guy said as he leaned one shoulder on the door framing, and crossed his legs casually.
"But I migh' tell ya, if joo' tell me who joo two be."
I waited for the white guy to answer first.
"Keith." he said
Ah, I remember now.
"Leon." I said.
"Did you...You brought me here, didn't you?" Keith asked.
"Aye mon."
"What about him?" He was pointing at me now. "Did you bring him too?"
He nodded.
"Why?" I asked.
"Imma e'splain all o' dat later jah? Righ' now joo' wanna be seein' da womens and da chubby one?"
"Mike's here too?" I instantly knew who he was talking about.
"Joo' two can follow me." said the black guy. "Come jah?"
I was following him close now. I just wanted to find Mike..
"Where are we?" I asked.
"I be tellin' joo' later mon."
"Why later?"
"Why now?"
I couldn't answer before he began to speak to Keith again.
"I see 'joo fin' da wooki-tooki, Keit?
"Yeah... You placed it there? You knew I would find it?"
He laughed to himself. "No, I did'n know whedda joo' would or no."
"I told you my name... What's yours?"
"Joo' can call me Mr. Friend."
What's up with this guy? He's like a child...
"Is that really your name?" Keith asked.
I could have answered that.
"No. But Joo' need'n be remin'ed now dat I be joor' frien'."
They continued to speak for a while until we finally got to a door. I now realized that Keith was wearing two different shoes. The black guy asked Keith for a key and he gave it to him, then used a different one to open the door.
Why did he do that?
This guy was starting to give me the creeps.
When he opened the door, I saw Mike asleep on a matress and instantly began to run that way, but "Mr. Friend" stopped me with his hand.
"Da Chubby one need res' mon. He spen' all o' his ene'gy to help me carry joo' here."
I just looked at Mike.
"Joo' can stay here an' wait fo' him to wake, jah?"
"Yeah. I will. Thanks."
The smile got bigger. " 'Joor welcome mon'."
He then shut the door and left with Keith.
I bet you would like it if I didn't wake him, wouldn't you?
I rushed to the bed and shook Mike by the shoulder.
"Hmm? Huh?" He began to mumble.
"Shhh! Hey, it's me!"
"Leon?"
"Yeah... Mike... I think we've been kidnapped."
"What?"
"This black guy... with a beard. And a white guy with two different shoes..."
"Black guy... Elijah?"
"Huh?"
"The Jamaican guy?"
Apparantly, Mike had already met him. Maybe the guy wasn't lying.
"You know him?"
Mike took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "Yeah, I helped him carry you." He began to yawn.
"Where are we, Mike?"
"Oh, dude... You'll never believe this..." He began to smile.
"What?" I asked impatiently.
"We're in a lab. Underground. A secret one right under Bowman."
That was also very cool.
"Are you serious?"
"Dude...yes. It's awesome."
"What kind of lab?" I asked.
Mike's smile faded. "I didn't ask. He wouldn't answer a lot of other stuff... And he's... you know..."
"Crazy?"
"Yeah... I didn't want to get on his bad side."
I thought about it for a while.
"So how do we get out?" I finally asked.
"What? Leon... Why would you want to leave? Eli is awesome... and we're definately safe with him. He killed all of the zombies that broke into the cop station."
Mike obviously trusted the black dude.
"Mike... I don't trust him."
"Why?"
"He's just... I don't know. I don't wanna stay."
"Leon! That makes no sense! We're SAFE with him."
"That's probably what he wants you to think!" I retaliated. "I bet he's some sort of looter, or killer."
Mike wasn't listening despite my argument. This made me angry. He was angry too. We just didn't understand eachother at the time I suppose.
We continued to argue until I just said, "I'm gonna go find out what they're up to. I'm sneaking out and spying on them."
"Leon-" He said while shaking his head.
"Are you coming with me? Are you gonna come and find out if they're worth trusting or not?"
He just shook his head. "No. Go ahead. Spy around and find out. I know Eli is trustworthy. Go ahead and get proof for yourself."
I opened the unlocked door and closed it behind me. I didn't want to speak to him at that moment.
Now I was faced with a situation.
Which way did they go?
I snuck around the hallways as stealthily as I possibly could. I figured I would eventually find them by just wandering around. My head would stick around a corner before I would go down any hall, and I would look under random doors. Most of what I saw was just empty rooms. But once, I recall seeing two matresses and a woman's skirt and feet sitting on top of it.
Looks like he stole more than just us...
I continued.
Finally, I heard footsteps around the corner ahead of me. I peeked my head around and saw black boots under some sort of orange suit with an attached helmet. My heart jumped in fear. Slowly, I backed up and began to walk the other way, keeping my ayes peeled for trouble. I was right next to the door where I saw the woman's feet, when a voice came from the same room.
"Elijah?"
"SHRIEEEEEEEK!"
I knew what that meant:
Run.
I bolted down the way I came and heard the zombie begin to chase me. I might not have been in good shape, but I felt like the Flash with my adrenaline rushing. Through one hallway to another, I looked for any open doors. Nothing was coming up, and that thing was getting closer than I was comfortable with. Finally, I came to a hallway with a door at the very end.
Now's my chance.
The door was opened, and I rushed inside.
I realized how lucky I was that it was opened but when I tried to close it, I realized why.
It wouldn't close. There was something wrong with the latch, but I didn't wait. I ducked down behind a rack full of something (but I couldn't tell what it was). I now tried to control my breathing.
It was all silent for a while.
Did I lose it?
I then heard the footsteps again. It must have slowed down and started shuffling around again.
I closed my eyes tightly.
Please don't come in. Please don't come in. Please don't come...
The door slowly creeked open just a little bit.
..in.
The footsteps came inside and I realized that it wasn't the zombie.
Click Clack Click Clack Click
"SHRIEEEEEEK!" My eyes closed tighter as I heard the thing enter the room. Keith was struggling against it, by the sound of things. I was about to make a run for it but I heard something come into contact with a body, then POW!
"Well dat be great fun, jah?" I heard the black guy.
"Yeah. And I've had enough for one lifetime." Replied Keith. "How did she get in here? There might be more if she was here..."
I was beginning to believe that they were working together, until Keith began to ask other questions.
"Nah, mon. She be da last one I been tryin' to fin'd."
"You knew she was here... You know she's the last one... You know your way around these halls... You know the way inside of this place... You have key cards... Elijah... Did you work here?"
Maybe he's not working with this dude...
A moment of silence passed.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"You didn' need knowin' yet, mon'."
"Where are we? Is this a lab? Elijah was she in an orange sui- Elijah. What is this place?"
Keith was asking A LOT of questions.
"Dis' be a lab mon'."
"Where is it? I mean... We are still in Bowman?"
"Jah, mon. We unda de groun'."
So Mike was telling the truth- I mean... Of course Mike was telling the truth... what about this guy? What's he up to?
"What do you do here? I mean... Why is there a big rock in that room... Why did people need chemical suits...What did you study?"
Big rock?
Another moment of silence came up.
"Mr. Keit... I need you to trus' me."
"I do." replied Keith.
"I be revealin' all dat jah wanna kno' soon enough."
I heard both sets of feet begin to walk out of the room.
I gotta follow them... Find out what's going on.
When I got up slowly, I saw a woman in the orange suit. There was a bullet hole in the center of the helmet, and she had been shot in the center of the face.
I peeked out of the door when I saw the black dude pull a syringe from out of his pocket.
What? He's gonna kill him!
My eyes got wide as I looked through the small crack of the door.
Elijah grabbed Keith by the shoulder and stuck the syringe in his neck.
Keith's body fell limp but "Mr. Friend" caught him.
Some friend.
"I be sorry Mr. Keit." He said.
Now, I felt like Keith was the one I should have trusted in the first place. This was all crazy. I felt bad for the guy.
I gotta help him.
The thought terrified me, since I didn't want to face the black guy. There was no telling what he was capable of. But, I felt like I should do something about the situation. I waited for a while, then snuck out of the room. I didn't want Elijah to hear me. I would follow the distant sound of footsteps, keeping my own quiet.
This went on for a while, until I heard a door close.
My pace increased as I followed the sound. It took me to another room at another end of another hall. As I approached the door, I knew that it would be dangerous to try and open it. I would either be seen or heard. I decided it would be best to just look under this door as well.
I can't see anything...
There was no use.
I figured I could remember the steps I took to get there. My sense of direction was good enough. Now, the only thing I needed to do was tell Mike about what I saw. I got up and was about to head back to the room where Mike was, but when I turned, Eli was standing right in front of me.
That must not have be the right room.
His smile wasn't there. He just looked at me with his hands behind his back.
I was terrified.
"Joo don' trus' me do yah?"
"Uh, yeah... Why wouldn't I?"
His eyes never moved. Mine were all over the place, struggling to make contact.
He opened the door next to him.
"Come in hea' Mr. Leon. I wan' to show yah, some'ting."
You're crazy...
His hand was gesturing for me to enter. I knew he had a gun since he killed the zombie earlier. like Mike said, I didn't want to get on his bad side.
It seemed like that was the one side he had left.
I slowly entered the room. He closed the door behind him, filling me with more fear.
The room ahead of me had five tables. Four of them had zombies shackled onto them. Each of them had their mouths sewn shut, and a gash in their throat.
One of them had Keith shackled onto it.
I stood there in fear.
"Do joo' kno' what dis be, mon?"
"...N-No..."
I looked back at him, expecting him to have a pistol to my head.
Instead, I saw that his smile had returned.

"I tell yah' what it be."

That sentance rang in my head.
I was sure it would be the last words I would ever hear.

(To be continued)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

---------------------------------------------------------------
This part by Xombiez (Section by Crashr)

November 17, 2008


As I look around, I realize that all of this activity would appear to an ignorant onlooker as a mass of disorganized mess. However, to me, everyone moves with a thought or purpose. The depot is a hive of activity, and not without good reason. If I understand the radio broadcast correctly, then our group has until 9 o’clock this morning to evacuate this town before it is destroyed. I can see from the clock hanging on the wall that it is 1:45 a.m., which means we have under eight hours to escape. As I sit cross-legged on the floor, I attempt to put everything that I have experienced and heard since yesterday morning into perspective. When I broke into the town through the barricade, I remember overhearing the two guards talking. One had said that the town is to be preserved by the government for testing. This information is the opposite of all that I have heard since then, and creates two interesting options. Either the guard is miss-informed, or we are. No matter which one is correct, however, it is still imperative that we get away from this town. It is only a matter of time before we are killed, and I would rather die escaping hell than surrendering to it. On top of this, we had several new arrivals last night. First, there was a group of soldiers. There are four soldiers, all male, and an attractive female who appears to have been rescued. It is clear through two of the soldiers constant bickering that they are enemies, which I find odd. Aren’t soldiers supposed to treat each-other like family? What has happened between these two? Should we find ourselves in a tight situation, I’m not sure both of them will make it out alive. Their personalities are just too different. He second group consists of another four survivors, but these are different. Most of the other survivors either look scared or have hardened themselves to the atrocities they have witnessed. These four are neither. They have the appearance of veterans in this war against the dead. They are distant and collected, as if killing no longer bothers them. Even many of the soldiers I have encountered do not have this indifference to life. In this case, though, it may not be a bad thing. They consist of three men and one woman. A sudden voice brings me back to my surroundings.
“Watch how you handle that stuff, dumbass! There’s enough explosives in that box to blow us all to hell and back!”
“Aw, quit your bitchin’. I know what I’m doin’.”
“You fuckin’ better. I ain’t gonna get killed because of your butterfingers.” I watch the men walk away, still bickering like an old couple. My attention is then brought to Martha as she storms across the room. It is obvious that she is in a bad mood. I decide that I will leave her to work this out alone. I sigh to myself. We don’t need attitudes now. Cooperation is going to be essential if our plan is to work. Tensions are running high. Everyone can feel the anxiety in the air. As I sit alone, watching people run back and forth, I cannot help but feel useless. I don’t know enough about guns to help the attack, and I will just get in the way of preparations. I drive these depressing thoughts from my mind. We WILL escape. We must. These people have too much in front of them to be killed here. They will survive. Even if I don’t.

(Just wanted to put everyone on the same page as far as who's in the Depot and what we're gona do. Same rule as always.)


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(This Part by Nexus Oblivion)

November 18th 2008
Time: 4:53am

‘I! am a world before I am a man
I was a creature before I could stand
I will remember before I forget
BEFORE I FORGET THAT!’


"Tell me where they are!"

"I don’t know where they a-" *thud*

"I’m tired of hearing that...tell me where they are, it’ll be so much easier for you..."


I once again cringe in pain as another blow is sent into my stomach, my hands are chained above me but at least I can reach the floor with my toes. After Commander Shepherd left the medical tent, he came back with another man, an interrogator who took me into a warehouse. He chained me in the middle of one of the rooms, no-one else seems to be here except this guy. His been going at it for a while now. My bandages around my abdomen have turned cinnabar red from soaking all the blood from my ruptured wound.
"Stay alive Michael..." my brain tells me "...let me think of a way out"
"I can’t..." I reply out loud "...it’s too much"
"Trust me..." my brain pleads "...I know we can get out of this"
The interrogator looks at me with a sinister smile.
"Talking to yourself again?" he asks
He walks to the only table in the room and picks up one of the files on it.
"Michael..." my brain says "...when he gets closer try kicking him in the jaw, I should be able to think of something then."

The interrogator flicks through a file
"Michael Rivera..." the interrogator calls out while walking back to me "...says here you, displayed abnormal behaviour as a child..." he pauses before continuing "...according to parents he talked to his "brain"possibly an alter ego manifesting itself. This appeared to have ceased by the time of late childhood as he no longer claimed to talk to it."
The interrogator’s face is so close to mine now, I look down
"Tell me Michael..." he says slowly "...are you talking to it now?"
Something inside me stirs, I look up at him, cock my head back and quickly headbutt his nose. He doesn’t back away and I use this opportunity to lift myself up with all the strength I can muster...and knee him in the jaw. He collapses on the floor, I clench my teeth as the pain from the punches and the gunshot wound intensify when I relax my body.
"What’s the plan now?" I say to my brain out loud
Just then I hear the metal door rustily open.
A figure appears at the door with its gun raised, the same futuristic style gun Commander Shepherd had. This figure wore the same clothing as him except this person has a balaclava on with dark goggles concealing its identity. It also has a duffel bag slung across its shoulder but what distinguished its gender was when it walked towards me, it had...a feminine way of moving.

As it stepped into the room I see it eyeing the downed interrogator and then back at me. I expect it to radio in what happened but to my surprise it doesn’t, instead it drops the duffel bag and unzips it, pulling out bolt cutters. It walks towards me and cuts the chain suspending me. I slump to the floor unexpectedly as my legs weren’t ready my weight. It looks at me through those scuba looking dark goggles, I shakily stand up.
"Who are you?" I ask wearily.
A mature female voice, sounding familiar yet unknown comes from it
"I’ll tell you later, best thank your dad for talking to me, I would have been here earlier but Shepherd wanted me to increase patrols in town."
"My father?..." I ask stunned "...but his dead he went MIA in Iraq!"
"That’s what you think" she says with a hint of happiness
"Wait a second? Your Captain Williams aren’t you? Ho-"
"Come on we have to get out of here..." she interrupts "...their commencing Faux Hammer Down in less then 4 hours. It’ll be more easier to leave the town now then later."
"What is operation Faux Hammer Down?" I ask
She sighs "...Operation Faux Hammer Down is an operation that flushes out any civilians and military traitors by misleading them that the government is going to drop a nuke on Bowman at 9am today. A majority of squads who were sent to Bowman defied orders to kill every civilian still alive. We believed that those who know about the ‘nuclear bomb’ being dropped will make one last ditch attempt to leave the town possibly with the civilians. By making them believe we’re going to bomb this place, will give the military an easier job of wiping out the town and those who deserted the military, in a way...the civilians and deserters come to them instead of the other way around. The only people who know about it are the personnel on patrol around the perimeter of the town."

She walks back to the duffel bag and tosses it to me. I move to the table and empty out the bag. They’re the same clothing and armor as Captain Williams and Commander Shepherd as well as a bottle of pain killers and bandages.
"I’m gues-"
Before I can even say another word she interrupts
"Michael come on we have to go, I’ll answer your questions when were out of here, take one of these"
She walks to me and opens the bottle of pain killers and gives me one tablet.
"Can we trust her?" my brain remarks
"For now we can..." I think to it "...because she knows something about dad, I have to trust her."
I dry swallow the pill and instantly no longer feel the pain from the brutal bashing and from my gunshot wound. Captain Williams pulls out a knife from her sheath and cuts the bloody bandages off me. She then proceeds to wrap the new bandage from the bag around my abdomen. I quickly get dressed with help from Captain Williams and in no time look like her.
"Okay good..." she says "...I didn’t bring any other weapons so you’ll have to do with nothing for now...here use my headgear, We don’t want to arouse suspicion."
She removes her goggles and the Balaclava and passes it to me. Getting a good look at her now she has dark brown hair and dark brown eyes, she doesn’t appear to look old but her voice makes her likely to be around 35 to 38 years old. I put on the balaclava and the goggles.
Just then the interrogator begins to stir, Captain Williams rushes to him, bends down and slits his throat. I hear the sound of him gasping before silence.
"I didn’t want to do that..." she exclaims "...but now lets get out of here."
She walks out the door, I pick up the bag and then realize the files on the table. I look at them and notice a connection. There all my friends...at least the ones who are still alive, along with a couple of other files of people I don't recognise.

"Look heres Heather, Kelly, Calvin, Mr Anderson, Frank, Shelly, all their files are here..." my brain comments "...I wonder how they’re doing?"
I pick up all the files on the table and my file next to the now dead interrogator and place them in the bag
"I’m sure they’re fine..." I say to my brain "...Heather and Kelly have Mr Anderson and Calvin to protect them, Shelly's got her father, no doubt they'll be fine."
I rush out the door and join Captain Williams in the hallway.

"Okay..." she says while she looks at her watch "...it’s 5:11am, the cleanup starts at 0900 exactly we can pretend we’re going to do a routine patrol around the perimeter of the town and make our escape then."
"Sounds good" I reply while stretching my arms
"Hey be careful..." she says "...it may nullify the pain but in reality your still hurt. Don’t do anything you think your body can’t do if it were injured."
"Your right"
"Okay, follow me we're heading for my jeep."
We leave the warehouse and head for her jeep it’s still a little dark but enough light to see the surroundings. Before long we’re following a patrolled road a fair distance from the main part of town, how the military managed to bring me to the camp alive and treat me seems like a miracle. I also see the white medical tent and the lights from the military camp to the left of me, about a couple hundred meters away.
"We wont be passing into the encampment..." Captain Williams remarks upon seeing the military camp "...we’re heading for Little Alpine Road about 30 minutes ahead, there's a dirt road past Little Alpine that leads out of this place, we can take that path during our fake perimeter patrol. There's only a small amount of personnel there even after the operation commencement. That dirt road is one of the smaller ways to leave the town and least likely to get us killed from the reani necrolis and the military if we get caught."
"How do you know my dad?" I ask off topic
"Hrmm...well better tell you now then..." she replies "...okay I met your father during the Iraq war, don’t worry not like that though. He told me he was married, he saved me a lot of times during the war, I owe him my life. Anyway long story short he ended up going MIA for some reason, even I don’t know why. A few years went by and when this incident happened and I was assigned here, I received a call from your dad from out of the blue asking me to watch out for his son, he gave me a description and when I saw you in the Medical tent I knew I had to keep my word."
"Do you know where he is?"
"No sadly I don’t."
We drove in silence from then until we arrived at Little Alpine Road. There were sandbags piled unto the road leading into town. Barbed wire around the sides and at least 12 guards patrolling the area. They seemed to be doing a good job at keeping those reani necrolis from escaping and probably people escaping too. I noticed that some of those soldiers covered their faces with visors, so they wouldn’t be suspicious of me.
"Okay Michael..." Captain Williams spoke "...you’ve just been reassigned here, your name is Private Conner Jones. I’ll see if I can get a weapon from them, I’m sure they’ll give you one."
"Alright..." I say excitedly "...get me one of those futuristic looking ones"
"You mean the XM8 rifle? yeah I think you can get that."
We pull up into the road and 2 soldiers lift up the the barbed wire blocking the way and another soldier walks towards Captain Williams side.
"Good morning Lieutenant Reeve" Captain Williams salutes "...we’re gonna patrol the perimeter of the town, this is private Conner Jones...still a rookie left his weapons at the armory back at camp, can you spare a few?"
"Of course mam..." Lieutenant Reeve replies "...wait a second please"
Reeve shouts at one of blocade men and the soldier runs off and later returns with a duffel bag much like the one Captain Williams has and hands it over to me.
He enthusiastically tells me what he brought me "Now you got yourself a M-16 infantry rifle with 4 spare mags. Just add them mags to your load bearing vest. I know it isn’t like that hip looking assault rifle the Captain’s carrying but for a rookie like you the M-16 should do a better job! I also threw in the Mr 23 pistol with 5 extra mags you can add to your vest as well. I know it may not be what your used to using like the M9 pistol but special forces use it so you know it's good! I even added a Ka-Bar knife as a gift!!! Take care you hear? Good luck kiddo."
I salute him and Captain Williams drives through the Little Alpine Road checkpoint before driving along the perimeter of the town.
"He sure was helpful..." my brain tells me "...hope he lives through this, he seems like a good person."
"This is where we get out of here..." said Captain Williams as she takes a turn through the beaten dirt road away from the town "...there shouldn’t be any other military personnel around and once we reach the end of this road we can head for Falls Creek which is about 3 days away, far enough that they might not suspect me going AWOL. Theres someone waiting for us there."
"Who's waiting for us?" I inquired
"One of my contacts..." she answered
I could tell she wanted to keep the contact a secret so I didn't persist on questioning, although I did have a feeling.
"...Michael you should get some rest, the jeep has enough fuel to last about another 5 hours and this road is long, take a nap for your body to heal."

I close my eyes
"I hope they made it..." I contemplate to myself while listening to the sounds of the tires on the dirt road "...I hope Heather made it"
"Don’t worry..." my brain reassures me "...shes fine she has people to protect her. You told me so yourself."
"Yeah I’m sure shes fine..." I reply to it "...Reakon dad's waiting for us in Falls Creek?"
"Yeah he's waiting for you. Altough he has alot of questions to answer"
"He does doesn't he? Anyway we should get some rest...give the body a chance to heal"

"Good..." my brain says "...but now I guess its time for a new song then huh? what should the next one be?"


"Don’t know...we’ll think of something"


(once again do not make any reference to this story as the other characters belive that Operation hammer down is real. Sorry if its a little incoherent, I just finished my exams and could not wait to continue the story! if theres something you dont understand just message me. BTW i will not write in Heather's perspective yet because I think xombiez is writing a huge story judging by his email message he sent!-----I can't wait to continue the community story)