The Protagonist System

148 This Old House

We spent several hours making our way through the ruined city until we reached a spot with a recently collapsed building. It used to be tower apartments and now it had fallen over and crushed several other buildings in a row. Joan sighed at the sight of it and looked at Ted.

“You know we only have two choices here. We go the short way through what this thing doesn't block off and we'll probably die, or we go the long way and we might find another way around after we cross the overpass half a mile that way.” Ted told us and waved to the right.

“I vote the short way.” I said and they both looked at me with wide eyes. “It's better to go the way you know crosses this shit.” I said and pointed at the massive amount of rubble blocking off several streets. “Instead of walking for another few hours to find out we can't get by because of all the fungal growths and infected.”

Joan didn't respond and looked at the rubble, at the buildings on either side of it. “Ted?”

“I vote for the long way. It's time consuming and we might have to come back; but, it's a much easier path.” Ted answered and then shrugged. “We're slowed down significantly either way.”

“We have guns.” I reminded them and they both glared at me. “What?”

“Come with me.” Ted said and led us off towards the left.

I followed him and we made our way up to a kind of balcony that overlooked a nearby street. “Well, fuck.”

Most the the street was bodies. They weren't quite dead, though. Most of them were covered in little vines and a few of them twitched and sat up when another one moved and hit a piece of gravel that rolled. It indicated they reacted as soon as they felt or heard something and it didn't have to be us that made the noise.

“You realize it now, huh?” Ted asked and motioned us back from the edge.

“You know a nice grenade or two would handle most of them.” I commented and they stared at me. “What? Throw one to make noise in the middle, they rush in, and you throw another one. Bang bang, most of them are dead.”

Joan looked thoughtful and Ted looked angry.

“You'd bring every one of them within several blocks if you made that much noise.” Ted hissed at me.

I gave him a blank look back. “I'm not seeing a downside here. Massive distraction, misdirection, and we can slip through whatever short way you're scared to go through.”

Ted opened his mouth and Joan reached over me and put a hand on his shoulder. He shut up and she took her hand back.

“I don't suppose you have a grenade or two hidden in your backpack with your sandwiches and water bottles?” Joan asked.

I could tell by her expression that she didn't really expect me to have any and I was quite happy to surprise her. “I have two frag grenades, a flash-bang, and a phosphorous round.” I said and both of their mouths dropped open from shock. “I don't mind using them, since we can get more of them at the Old State House.”

Both Joan and Ted kept staring at me and didn't move or speak.

“Should I get started?” I asked and dug out the flash-bang to hold it up.

Joan's hands darted out and caught both my hand and the grenade. “I think Ted can throw it farther than you can.”

“I doubt that.” I said and she tugged on the grenade. When I didn't let it go, she glared at me. We had a silent argument over who was in the right and then she let my hand go and reached out to caress my face tenderly. I shivered slightly and relaxed a little, which was exactly what she wanted to happen.

Joan pulled the grenade out of my relaxed grip and tossed it to Ted. “We need both frag grenades, too.”

I frowned at her and she gave me a smug smile as her hand slid up and she ran her fingers through my short hair. Again, I shivered, because it felt awesome and was close enough to what Amy usually did that I didn't resist at all.

“Eli.” Joan whispered huskily. “The grenades, please. We need them to keep you alive.”

I sighed at the blatant manipulation that totally worked and I dug them out of two different side pockets to give to her.

“Thank you.” Joan whispered and slid her hand down the back of my head and let me go. Her demeanor changed to stern and she held both grenades out for Ted to grab when needed. “Whenever you're ready, Ted.”

Ted braced himself and armed the flash-bang before he flung it as far as he could. The thing arced through the air and didn't even reach the ground before it went off. The reaction was instantaneous despite that, though.

Every single person leapt to their feet and ran right towards the sound. The flash hadn't done anything to them, since they all had their eyes either closed or grown over with fungus. That was good information to know.

Ted grabbed one of the frag grenades and pulled the pin. He hefted it, judging the weight, and nodded before he threw it just as hard as the larger flash-bang. This time, it actually reached the ground and bounced right into the middle of the mass of zombies.

The explosion worked great, because they were so packed together, and it caused a lot more sound to perpetuate through the area. The noises they made increased as well and more and more of the things came out of the surrounding buildings to fight.

“Dear god.” Joan whispered at seeing the massive horde of creatures that we had no idea we had been so close to. There were so many that Ted whispered that he was reluctant to use the second frag grenade because it wouldn't do much with them all pressed together like that.

I held in my groan at having to use up the best grenade I had. I pulled it out and armed it before I set the timer without Joan and Ted noticing because they were busy looking at the horde of zombies. I aimed for the center of the mass of bodies and threw it, relying on my skills to hit true.

“Eli!” Joan gasped and grabbed my outstretched had much too late.

The closest ones in the horde turned to look at us, even the ones without eyes. It would have been comical to see their reactions if the phosphorous grenade hadn't just reached the spot I threw it.

“Duck!” I shouted and pulled them down to the balcony's floor.

*BOOOM-FWWOOOSH!*

Even ducked down like we were, we saw the white flash and felt a wash of heat.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Ted cursed and huddled in closer to us.

I may have miscalculated how volatile and flammable the fungus and slightly dried vines and roots were. Slightly. Okay, maybe a whole heck of a lot. The heat actually increased as the things started to burn, the individual bodies acting more like an accelerant instead of a dampener. The white fire spread through them and jumped to any of them that were close by, making them into fire spreaders, too.

It didn't take long before they were all on fire, as were the supporting roots and things buried in the ground. Joan led us off of the balcony and back inside the ruined building. The three of us relaxed when we were away from the heat and then the two adults gave me an intense glare that I completely ignored.

“At least now we know to never use phosphorous grenades around friendlies if there's any fungus or infected around.” I said and their glare increased. “What? It was a good lesson to learn before we made a huge mistake.”

Joan looked surprised by my words. “You don't think this was a mistake?”

“Why would I? It worked, didn't it?” I asked her and she only stared at me. “I bet your short passage is free and clear by now. The screaming alone should bring everything within a few blocks here at a run. With the fire burning so well with all the added material, it shouldn't take long for the whole area to be cleared of zombies.”

Joan gave me an incredulous look for several second before she shook her head and started walking back the way we came. “Let's just go and get to the passage.”

We went back down to street level and worked our way over to an old museum. It took some work to make our way up to the top floor and then onto the roof. I pointed at the signs of the zombies hastily leaving and Joan pointedly didn't look at them, which was a little childish of her. When I glanced at Ted, he wasn't looking, either.

Once we were on the roof, we crossed a fairly stable bit of scaffolding to the roof of a building across the street that wasn't blocked off by the recent collapse. It was much easier to go down the stairs because the building was mostly intact and there were no signs of infected or active fungus.

Back on the street, it was relatively empty. That didn't surprise me, because I was sure the fire was still burning. The phosphorous was extremely effective against both dried fungal growths and even more recent damp examples that the stalkers and clickers provided. It was sad that there was nothing to be done to save the infected people, since they were little more than puppets for the fungus. It made them easily tricked, though.

We travelled for several hours and only had to avoid a few smaller spots with a zombie or two wandering around. I listened to Joan's advice, though. Just one finding us and making noise would bring another horde of them down on us.

It wasn't until we reached the area near the Massachusetts State House and the resistance camp that I realized what the whole situation reminded me of. An immune system response. The humans were an invading disease that the fungus would actively fight against when it was discovered within the places it lived.

I did not tell Joan and Ted my thoughts, mostly because I didn't want to earn another glare from Joan for calling them viruses. At least, not until we were in a safe location. I had to find some amusement somewhere, right?

We reached the street where the main building was and crept over to a wrecked parked car to crouch behind. Joan spent several minutes looking at things from behind cover.

“Where are they?” Ted whispered and kept his gun aimed at the large truck in front of the building.

“I don't know.” Joan whispered back and broke cover and kept in a low crouch as she crab-walked across the street to the truck. She stayed there for a moment and there was no movement, so she reached up and opened the passenger door.

Even from this far away, I could see the driver's side door was open on the other side and there was no one in the cab of the truck. It was a solid frame flat cab and had a half-size reinforced shipping container mounted on the back instead of the smaller moving van back like it was supposed to have.

Joan waved us over as she moved to the back of the truck and waited for us to join her. She nodded at Ted and they each took a side and unlocked the back doors. They swung them open together and inside was pristine and also completely empty.

“So much for the supplies.” Ted whispered, angrily.

I didn't sigh at him being so shortsighted. “They're inside.” I said with a flat tone and didn't call him an idiot. It sure was implied, though.

Both Joan and Ted knew it too, if their expressions were any indication. Joan let out a sigh and kept her handgun at the ready, clearly trying to think about how to approach the resistance group inside the building.

“Just fucking do it.” Ted said and grabbed my arm with his left hand and held his gun in his right, ready yo raise it to shoot me. He walked over to the building's steps with purpose and I didn't fight against hin almost dragging me along.

“TED!” Joan hissed and quickly followed us.

Ted briefly let me go to open the door and then grabbed me again to pull me inside. He walked faster for a few seconds, then slowed down as Joan entered behind us. It was quiet inside. Too quiet. He let me go as we walked down the hallway and I was the first to see the bodies. I moved out of Joan's way and she let out a rare curse as she entered the main room with us.

Bodies were spread out around the room and some of them were shot in the head. There were crates of supplies stacked around the place and I moved off to inspect them as Ted started freaking out a little.

“Okay.” He said, a slightly panicked look on his face. “I mean, there's gotta be a fucking radio or something, right?” He asked and started searching the crates on that side of the room.

“By the looks of it, someone was bitten.” Joan said and kicked over one of the bodies, showing partial growths on their face and a bullet wound. Her eyes darted around the room. “The healthy ones fought the sick ones and everybody lost.” She said and turned away from me. “Ted? What are you doing?”

I started storing everything I could see, even the generators and emergency lights. I could worry about sorting it later.

Ted ignored her and kept searching. “Where did Merle say he was taking you?” He asked and kicked over a container of flares. “Eli!”

“He didn't say, just that there was a resistance facility out west that I had to get to.” I answered.

“Fuck.” Ted said and went over to one of the closest bodies. “Well, one of them has to have a map or something on them, right?” He asked and rummaged through one body's pockets and moved on to another. “Joan? Don't just stand there! Help me!”

“Ted...” Joan said with a sigh. “It's over. There's nothing here.”

I don't agree with that. I thought and moved around to the other side and picked up everything I could get my hands on. I even looted the bodies of everything they had.

Guns, ammo, ration tickets, MREs, spare magazines, body armor, a girly magazine, two lighters, and... my mind stuttered to a stop and I mentally rewound and went back to the magazine.

I couldn't resist taking it out and looking at it. Hello there, Miss January 2002. I thought and flipped to the centerfold. Nicole Narain was a tasty bit of dark chocolate, yes she was. Damn, those were some nice perky tits. I wonder if they're real?

The magazine was snatched out of my hands and Joan glared at me. “What the hell are you doing?”

My mind had to take a few seconds to try and get out of the dirty rut it had been wallowing in. It wasn't in time, because my eyes dropped to her chest to stare at her breasts. They were pretty much the same size and shape as Amy's and my mind dropped right back into that dirty rut. I think I drooled a little, too.

The rolled up girly magazine suddenly smacked me on the side of the head and I jerked slightly. It didn't hurt and just brought me back to my senses. My mind mostly clearing up from the lust I was still feeling and I brought my gaze up to her face. There was a mix of amusement and exasperation there, which kind of matched my own feelings, actually.

“Fix yourself and let's go.” Joan said and looked at the girly magazine on her hand, then she tossed it at my feet. “We're going back home.”

“Why?” I asked before Ted could say anything. I also blatantly reached down and adjusted my rock hard erection and didn't try to hide it.

“We need to head back and keep searching for a car battery.” Joan said and her eyes fought to not look down.

I dropped a fresh car battery out of my inventory behind my feet. “You mean like this one?” I asked and stepped aside and pointed down.

Both Ted and Joan gasped in shock. I was shoved further aside and they both knelt by the thing and inspected it.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” Ted whispered without mauling it too much. “This thing is like brand new. How the fuck did they keep it in such good condition?”

“I don't know.” Joan said, her hands lightly caressing the thing.

I went around and stored the rest of the supplies, the barrels of fuel, and finished looting the bodies while they were lost in the awe of a simple battery that I had a bunch of in my inventory. As an errant thought, I also grabbed the girly magazine. It never once occurred to me that I hadn't raided a corner store or a magazine stand in the last world and that seemed very shortsighted on my part.

“We... we have one. We really have one.” Joan whispered.

“We also have a reinforced FEDRA supply truck with large oversized tires for all terrain.” I said and both of them lift their eyes from the battery to look at me. “Whatever truck you have set aside, I'm sure a truck designed for survival is much better.”

Joan nodded and stood up. “Ted, grab that and let's go. We need to go visit Bill and Frank to see if they know anything about what Tammy's doing.”

“And about a resistance facility out west.” I added and they ignored me.

Ted stood up and carried the battery outside with Joan right behind him. I followed them just because I had no other choice. I didn't know where to go or how to get there, so all I could do was bide my time and wait for the right moment to strike. Neither Joan nor Ted were good people. Their actions had condemned them in my eyes and I was only going to put up with them for so long before I removed them.