12 Hours Later

June 21, 2075

1910 CDT

Near Nebraska City, Nebraska

Luke Miller's Point of View

“Of course, we are!” Ruby complains in frustration.

“I’m not surprised either, Ruby,” Rachel says as she chews on her bubblegum.

Huh. Her newly dyed strawberry-pink hair suits her personality well.

“Yup. We’re in Bravo Battalion,” Sonya assures as she examines her handgun.

The tarp is sealed tight over the cargo truck, but it’s still cold in here. Two, large, woody benches attached to the two walls will be our uncomfortable, makeshift beds for the next few days.

Ok, do a quick visual check of the equipment before bed. Duy, Ruby, Teresa, Drew, and I are equipped with assault rifles containing thirty rounds of ammo in the magazine, three extra clips of spare ammo, and a sharp bayonet attached beneath the barrel. Sonya and Billy are outfitted with a submachine gun, and Rachel is naturally armed with a sniper rifle. A pistol for a sidearm and a small survival knife except for Billy and Sonya, who have their preferred types of blades.

There’s been zero casualties so far and only minimal encounters with the undead. Cities are dangerous and should only be explored when low on supplies, which is why we’re here. Everyone appears to be as stressed out as me.

Drew is reading a book, but I can’t see the title. I should ask him about it later. Teresa is enjoying an energy bar. Ruby is examining something in her backpack, and I think I’m better off not knowing what it is. Billy is sharpening his machete, and Duy is recounting our ammo.

“Sooo guys. What does a, uh zombie look like?” Ruby asks us with a curious look on her face. “I don’t think all of us have seen one, and they never brought one out during boot camp.”

“Show of hands, how many of you have had an encounter with a zombie?” Duy inquiries.

Me, Sonya, Duy, and the twins. Huh. Ruby, Teresa, and Drew are lucky, I think?

“Gasp!” Teresa exclaims in sarcasm. “The amazing Ruby Redheart has never seen a zombie?” She questions with a fake shocked look on her face.

“Ugh! Yeah, so what Teresa? You’ve never seen one either,” Ruby answers in frustration.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

My arm. It’s… itchy.

“We’ve had all of this training to fight zombies, but have never seen one,” Drew ponders in a curious tone.

“How fucking lucky,” Sonya says. “I’m going to bed. Squad Apollo will wake us up when it’s time to change shifts again,” she discloses in a sharp tone as the truck goes over several bumps.

Damn truck. Just another thing to sleep to, I guess.

“I’m gonna go to sleep,” Billy states as he stretches.

“Ditto,” Rachel quickly agrees.

Don’t look at me, Duy. You tell them, Captain.

“Just make sure to kill them before they kill us. I’m going to bed!” Duy rudely explains.

Knowing something and not having a clear physical description can be frustrating, so I understand your frustrations. We’ll do our best to protect each other, but we’re all aware that it won’t be easy.

“Wow!” Ruby emits in disbelief.

“I expected more from everyone. Don’t you guys understand? We’re all friends! I can understand why you guys don’t want to open up, but we don’t even know what they look like! Boot camp and tales don’t count. We want to hear it from one of our friends!” Teresa pleads.

“We’re not obligated to say anything! The only thing we have to do is give and follow orders, Teresa!” Duy snaps.

“We’re humans, not robots Duy! Our squad is named after an ancient badass god, and yet we’re acting like chickens!” Teresa responds in defeat. “Our emotions and imperfections are what make us humans. If all we did was take and give orders, then we’d be just as lifeless as the undead,” she continues in tears.

“We’ll be alive, though, and that’s all that matters,” Duy firmly responds.

“Being alive and living are two separate things. We breathe, laugh, cry, and share our pain because it’s what humans do! It’s what families do!” She pleads as she wipes off her tears.

Silence.

“You guys disappoint me. I just… thought we were closer than this, especially after all these years. Even more so on our march to hell.” Teresa shakes her head in defeat.

Bringing up bad memories’ hurts.

“Just drop it, Teresa. They clearly don’t wanna open up or give us details. I thought we were family as well, a very dysfunctional one, but they don’t see it that way apparently. Maybe they’ll remember this conversation when the zombies are chewing on our faces and ripping out our guts,” Ruby states with attitude.

“If you wanna know more ‘bout them then I’ll tell you, but not now!” Rachel surprisingly steps in. “WE have to sleep. I love y’all as well, but nobody has to reveal their traumatic encounter with a zombie. I’m sure the others will share when they’re ready and be lucky I’m the one tellin’ you this because Duy was gonna chew your heads off for talkin’ like that. Don’t forget that he’s our captain, so don’t ever disrespect him again!” she calmly explains with self-assurance.

“Whatever!” Ruby disregards as she brings out her MP3 player and earbuds.

How in the world did she smuggle that past our superiors?

“Fine!” Duy surrenders. “I was born and raised in Port Arthur, Texas. Long story short, everyone was massacred and I was the only survivor. You wanted a description of them? Imagine staring into certain death, knowing that you and everyone else will end up like that someday. They’re mobile corpses. You’ll be able to see their lifeless devil-red eyes pierce deep, straight into your soul if you stare at them for too long. The sudden shock of seeing their rotten, decaying bodies will make your heart skip a beat. Seeing the inside of their rotten organs, and the decaying bones will make you nauseous. They make you tremble in fear, whether you’re faced against one or 1000. They eat the people you love and turn them into lifeless monsters!!!”

Duy… this is the first time you’ve ever opened up man.