The former Dominion of King Edward, Vermont, Post Great Collapse

Archie and Marco huddle closer together in the bushes, watching with bated breath as the Herd leisurely approaches Xir, laughing uproariously with each step. The remnants of Marco's pursuit team begin moving cautiously to the sidelines, all the while avoiding the Immune woman and her baby as if they were lepers. Xir snorts with rage, an almost animal sound, infuriated at the sudden intervention of this new enemy.

"GrEAt XIr, LaId lOw By tHe LaMb goD," the Herd taunts as one, "RuN bAcK tO tHe SHadoWs aNd hIDe."

The discordant noise coming from the Herd thoroughly rattles the remaining survivors, causing them to shudder involuntarily. But despite the words spoken by the pack, their eyes remain bloodshot and vacant, a window into a house with no occupants. It was like talking to a badly functioning answering machine. No matter what words came from the Herd's multitude of mouths, there was no human intelligence behind it. Whatever they said was nothing more than a paper thin justification for the instinct driven carnage the virus had imparted to each individual that made up the pack. The Herd ultimately did not care about the whys and wherefores of their rampage. The only satisfaction their failing brains could experience came from fulfilling the virus's primal desire. Archie could almost smell the smoke coming from the metaphorical sparks those damaged craniums had to be emitting.

Xir casts its eyes urgently about, taking in the unexpected situation it had found itself in, but all the beast finds are more and more Herd packs emerging from the shadows, slowly penning their prey in. The Herd had reacted faster than Xir expected. They must have gotten the scent of the Immune woman and her baby the moment the pair of them had exited from the tunnel. Each member of the Herd may have had their senses overwhelmed in a near constant state of torment, but they had also grown to be hyper aware of any threat posed to their new god. It was how the thousands of individuals had managed to congregate and lay siege to the settlement without any form of advance planning or communication.

The Herd just instinctively knew what they needed to do. Just like how a pack of wolves knows how to use their senses in a hunt. Xir had underestimated its opponents. And it was now paying the price.

"They're going to fight." Marco whispers to Archie, his voice quavering.

"Its our chance to escape." Archie agrees, "Right when Xir and the Herd go at each other."

"Where's Claire?" Marco asks as he goes back to peeking through the foliage, "I don't see her anywhere."

"Must have gotten left behind when the fog hit us." Archie mutters as he keeps an eye out on the Herd, waiting for the right moment, "I don't see her body among the dead."

"We can't escape, Archie!" Marco hisses back as he suddenly realized something, "The fight between that ... that ... thing and the Herd will block off the tunnel's exit. The rest of the settlement can't evacuate and join us!"

And if the rest of the settlement can't link up with what's left of the pursuit team, that would leave Archie and Marco without the supplies they were counting on to survive their trek through the virus waste. Archie would be forced to make the journey with only the clothes on his back. As Archie curses the cruel fate inflicted on him, he briefly considers just shooting himself with the gun his henchmen had provided him with. It would be the faster and probably less painful option, all things considered.

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"We need to return to the settlement." Marco insists, "Abort the evacuation and think up another plan."

"We would die." Archie groans in distress, "The Herd would eventually overrun us, even with the protection of the walls."

"Maybe. Maybe the Herd would overrun us." Marco attempts to calm Archie down, "But escaping now is a guaranteed death sentence. We would not survive more than a few days without PPE."

"I don't need PPE." Archie frowns, "I'm immune."

"Do you need water? How about food?" Marco rolls his eyes, "Wake up man. Retreating is the only way we're getting out of this."

"Retreating just traps us with the Herd." Archie mutters unhappily.

"Might trap us." Marco asserts, "The Herd might leave once they take out that woman and her baby. Look, we really have no better option here."

Archie tiredly rubs his temples, the sense of incoming doom pressing heavily upon them both. No matter where he turned, he was going to get screwed. Blast Marco and the day he brought back the Immune woman and her baby. This was all the so called Knight Commander's fault. But splitting hairs about blame was the last thing anyone needed right now. No, what both Marco and Archie required at this moment was a clear plan of action. No matter how unpalatable it may be.

"So we make a break back to the tunnel, OK?" Marco keeps talking, ignoring the turmoil all over Archie's face, "Then we seal the tunnel off. With luck, the Herd will be distracted long enough for us to charge out with the trucks."

"We no longer have the men to mount a breakout." Archie rebuts, "Not after this disaster."

"Its just another option on the table." Marco says, "The point is, are you down with the plan? Or do you have another idea?"

"No." Archie admits unhappily. It really was Marco's plan or nothing. Things had become truly bleak.

The Herd suddenly stops laughing and an ominous silence breaks out across the battlefield. As Xir and the Herd begin staring each other down, daring their respective opponent's nerve to break, Archie and Marco tense, knowing that their opening was rapidly approaching.

And as if a switch had been flipped, the Herd charges towards Xir with an enormous howl, a tsunami made out of diseased, stinking bodies. The beast is taken completely by surprise by the fury displayed by what it had originally considered meat and is quickly bowled over to the ground, buried underneath a heap of gnashing teeth and tearing fingers. The pursuit team's survivors take flight like frightened birds, scattering in every direction, running as fast as their legs can carry them.

"Now!" Marco commands and the two men burst out from the foliage, legs pumping like pistons.