The truck comes to a sputtering halt as we reach our destination.We reach the purification point after traveling the roads for half an hour. In the middle of the road, the armored vehicle is surrounded by rows of houses. On both sides of the truck, there are houses of varying colors and sizes. Almost all of them have their colors faded and extensive exterior damage. Several trees line the sides of the streets, all of them in full bloom. In front of us, there is a house. It is empty of trees, its lawn already overgrown with weeds and grass. There is a single path in the center of the lawn that connects the front porch to the sidewalk..

         After the silence settles, Captain Diller clears his throat and calls out to us. His stocky figure matches his voice. He is a man with brown eyes, no hair, just completely bald.  I am sitting right next to him, so his voice is blaring in my ear as he speaks.

         “Alright, everyone, listen up! You all heard what Command said. Just one body today, there should be nothing else. Any questions?"

         He always asks that, even after Command already briefed us about the assignment. I assume it is his way of ending his sentences. The sun still shines, huh . . .? I thought to myself as he waited for the rest of the crew to speak out. Seconds pass. Then minutes, and just as he is about to leave the truck, Keenan speaks out.

         “Teacher, is it okay if I pee?” he snickered.

         I didn’t like Keenan that much. Even at the academy, he was always joking and never taking the missions and our duty seriously. I have never told him, but I knew it would get him killed one day. Before I could open my mouth, Akina flicks him hard in the head and scolds him. She is a gorgeous girl with flowing black hair in a ponytail. Her pale complexion matches her eyes, crimson and at the moment, piercing into Keenan.

         “Stop it. You’re a grown adult.”

         “Ow! I’m just trying to answer the teacher! You know,” he pauses, before eyeing Akina up and down, “You’d be perfect if it wasn’t for your attitude. We should… you know, get together. The world is ending and all, and you’re too pretty for anyone else.” He smirks again and tries to run his arm around the beautiful Akina. I close my eyes and breathe in deep. I already know what’s going to happen. He never stops with his games. Just as his hands pass over her shoulders, she grabs his fingers and begins to bend them back.

         “Keenan, get your dirty ass hands off of her.” I said. “Focus on the mission ahead. Let’s get this purification completed, then you can go relieve yourself.” I look right into his eyes and do not let up until he clicks his tongue and returns his hands to himself. He flips his long blonde hair as composes himself. Like a kid who’s just been scolded, he lowers his blue eyes into the ground, and  Akina lets him go without hurting him.

         I open the iron door of the truck, and step outside. The soft, but firm dirt pads my footing as I move closer to the house outside. Behind me, the backdoors of our truck slam open and the rest of the Collects valley out. I examine the old, twig covered house for all the entrances, and see that there are only two. The front door, and one back door I saw from the drive. Being two stories, the house was average among the neighboring buildings. The color has faded, leaving the house with a nasty, brown hue. Tapping on my holstered pistol, I turn around and address the crew.

         “We’re changing the formation a bit today. Captain, Keenan, Akina, and myself will enter the front. Kouz and Irene standby until we call for purification.”

They all nod their heads, and get into position. Kouz, who is larger than the rest of us, heads to the back of the truck and stands by. Irene, sits in the front passenger seat of the vehicle, holds her necklace and starts reciting holy words. Her blonde, short hair complements her small frame as she prays.

          “O, merciful god, please…”

          Her soft, light voice carries in the wind, it shadows us as we walk away. The four of us advance to the front door and stand loosely on the porch. Our black tactical uniform sticks out among the brown, urban porch. Now outside the door, we knock.

         “Hello! This is the Collectors, we received a repo---” As Captain knocks, the door opens. We exchange glances and draw our weapons out.

         “Try again” I said, using my pistol to scan around the interior.

         “Hello? Is there anyone here? We’re here to help!”

         Nothing. There is only the creaking of wood. Taking a deep breath, I move in first into the room. There is old furniture everywhere. Ancient chairs with their stuffing all pulled out, broken table legs and papers scattered around. There is almost no room to walk. I bring my left hand to my nose and cover it. The whole place reeks of death and decay.

         “We gotta move in.” I said, still covering my face with my hand. Captain nods and moves ahead of me, and to the door a few feet down. To our right, there are stairs that go upstairs and to another closed door.

         “Akina, you stay here and keep your eyes on that door.” I say, as I move to Captain, and stand on the other side of the door. I gesture my head to the door. “Keenan, kick it down.”

         “Yes, yes, Vice-Captain.”

         Akina nods her head, stands behind the railing of the stairs, and aims her weapon at the door above. Meanwhile, Keenan jogs over to us and stands right in front of the door, his blonde hair flopping intensely then stopping suddenly. With one quick, but heavy motion, Keenan slams his foot into the door, and it swings open. Inside, we can’t see anything. There is only scattered sunlight illuminating the room, and it’s not enough light to make anything out.

“Maglites out!” Captain's voice rings throughout the space.

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         We all pull our lights from our belts and click them on. Inside, it is just as messy as the first room. There are a few couches, and there are numerous junks stacked on top of them. Everywhere our lights shine upon, there are piles of junk. Junk, junk, and more junk. At one corner of the room, there is a faint light from a tv. I sprain my eyes closer, and in front of the television, a figure is rocking back and forth. A figure that did not answer us when we kicked down the door. I aim my pistol at the thing, and Captain moves closer while calling out to it.

         “Hello? We are from the Collectors, we’re here for the corpse?”

         No answer, just the figure rocking back and forth. Captain reaches his hand out to it, while keeping his gun trained on it.

         “Miss? Are you alri—” Captain stops talking and pulls his arm away, “Fuck! It’s a corpse!”

         From the darkness, an arm reaches out and attempts to grab Captain, but he pulls away too quickly. The corpse in front of the tv jolts up and screams a high pitched shrill. Suddenly, another figure lunges out from the couch near me. I step backwards just in time to avoid the attack. Raising my pistol up, I pull the trigger twice and the corpse sulks down. One of my shots struck it in its head, ending its second life. I shine my light on it and see the monster in full. This one is in late stages of decomposition, and there is almost no skin left, only bones. 

         Captain screams from the darkness, and I hear the unmistakable sound of flesh departing from body. Captain has been bitten. I hurriedly shine my light over to him and see two corpses hovering over him. I shoot my gun at the corpse who screamed earlier. Bang! The bullet strikes her right in the head. Her body goes limp and I train my gun on the other one.

No clear shot.

I hoister my firearm and jump over obstacles to reach Captain. As soon as I am in range, I stomp hard onto the floor and swing my maglite into the face of the corpse. Crack! There is a sickening sound as the corpse falls backwards and off my companion.

         “Captain!” I say, as I holster my pistol and lean him onto the couch. “I’m going to pressurize your wound.” Along his neck, there is blood oozing out. It is a deep wound and needs to be treated quickly. Looking towards the door we came from, I see that Keenan has slain a corpse too, and is now resting against the wall and breathing hard.

         “Akina! Get Irene in here! We need medical attention!” I shouted out to the door.

         There was something wrong. Akina is not answering. Suddenly, I hear it. In the other room where Akina is, I hear the growling of corpses. Even further outside, I hear Irene screaming. Shit! I take Captain’s hand and shove it down onto his wound. His huge, building arms are heavy as I move them around. The blood has trickled down, soaking his patch that displays his captain’s rank on his arm.

         “Sir, keep pressure on it.”  I say to him. His eyes are unfocused and glazed, not sharp like how they usually are. I need Irene to purify him too now, and without delay.

“Keenan, watch Captain… Keenen?”. Nothing but silence. Peering over to Keenen, I see him in the same position but unmoving. I make my way over to him and shine my bloody maglite onto him. He too, has been bit, and is bleeding more than Captain is. Blood is seeping through his black shirt and vest. Shit. I needed to get to Irene.

         I draw my pistol and bolt out the door. In the room, Akina is kicking one corpse away and is pinned against a wall, barely holding another corpse by the neck. The corpse she is holding is snarling, and moving too unpredictably; there is no clean shot. I run next to the corpse on the ground and fire my gun point-blank. A spray of blood gushes out and the being goes limp. I place my leg behind the remaining corpse attacking Akina, reach under its arms onto its chest, and I yank him backwards onto my leg. It trips backwards and falls right next to the dead corpse I dispatched of earlier. Before it can stand again, I shoot three times and the slide on top of my pistol jerks backwards, displaying an empty chamber. I slump onto the wall next to Akina when I don’t see it move anymore.

         “Zay! There are more outside!” Akina tells me before coughing endlessly.

         My whole body is shaking, and my hands are so tired, I don’t think they can grip anything anymore. My throat feels endlessly dry. But if those two out there die, it’s on me. It’ll be because I was too tired to save them, too tired to do my job. I take one more breath and get up again.

“Stage 3, and stage 4.” I point to each of the corpses. “Check on the other two when you can.”

         Mustering the last of my strength, I drag myself up and limp to the door. I’m so tired… I thought as I wobbled to the entrance. In what seems like five hundred miles, I reach the door and peer outside. Near the truck, I see one corpse clawing at the passenger window where Irene had locked herself in. Kouz is on top of the truck, while another corpse is circling him, trying to find the best angle of attack.

         While the monsters are distracted, I reload my weapon and make my way over to them. The soft grass of the front lawn and open path make it silent for me. Now behind the corpse attacking the window, I pull it away and plunge my knife into its head. Around the trunk, I hear the footsteps of the last corpse and aim my pistol. As soon as it turns the corner and comes into view, I shoot my gun and dispatch of it.

         “Kouz, Irene, are you two okay?” I speak out to them, under my labored breathing.

         “Vice-Captain! Thank goodness you’re okay!” Kouz said. I nod to him.

         “Irene? You okay?”

         Before she could answer, the radio inside the truck suddenly sprang to life. The static from the other side clears up, and we can hear what is being said.

         “Attention! All units! Return to base! The ---broke! There is a ---- coming!” A lot of it is garbled static, but that’s all we could make from it. There is a stirring silence before any of us could talk.

         From the west, black smoke starts spewing out. The darkness of the puff was a terrible contrast to the graceful blue sky. Then, that portion of the sky was no longer blue, but black.

         “Come on, we need to treat the others. They’re injured and infected” I say to them, as I jog away.

         Irene’s voice begins to shake as she calls out to me, “Hey Zay, isn’t that where Command is?”

         She was absolutely right. Base is that way, and so was the smoke.