Day 24: Red-Handed

Group 4: Matthew, Josh, Liz, Jeremiah, Edward, Nicole
Location: Barn/Farmhouse

“I’m telling you, we need to run! We need to get out of here while we still have a chance,” Edward bemoaned, backing away from the door and deeper into the barn.

The door to the outside stood open and Josh took careful aim above Matthew’s head before firing off a shot, sending an approaching zombie to the ground. Matthew immediately got to his feet and shut the door. “No,” he said sternly, eyeing the room as he searched for handy items with which to bar the door. “We’re not going anywhere. It’ll be dark soon and there is no way I’m putting anyone in this group in more danger out there. We’re going to stay and fight. We can defend this place; all of us.”

“That’s suicide!” Edward said, pushing himself once more into the corner.

“Do you ever shut up?” Liz yelled, turning to face Edward. “I’m so sick of your whining! Get up and help or we’ll throw your ass outside as bait while we run!”  

His face turned ashen and he nodded as Liz gave him something to do. With Josh’s arm not at a hundred percent, he, Matthew, and Jeremiah were tasked with rebuilding the barricade. Large crates from inside the barn were once again placed in front of the door. This time, however, they took the extra step of nailing broken boards across the windows and doors, leaving just one area for escape and one, they’d hoped, would be where their visitors would enter.

“I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m hungry,” Jeremiah said once everything was in place. It was almost a simultaneous realization that it had been a while since any of them had eaten. He dropped his bag beside Nicole and started into the kitchen. The place was a health hazard at best. Blood soaked into the linoleum floors as well as stained the walls. Someone had been brutally murdered in this room and the smell was enough to put him off of food for a month.

Jeremiah started to leave when something in the corner of the room caught his eye. Someone else was in the kitchen. They were lying on their back beside the refrigerator. The only visible part of them were their two, booted feet sticking out from near the wall. “Hello?” he called as he slowly approached. The man didn’t move. He just lay there, staring blankly at the ceiling and Jeremiah quickly assumed he had been the source of the bloodshed.

Slowly, Jeremiah leaned closer, lowering his head to get a better look. It didn’t appear as though he was breathing. Blood dripped from his forehead and he was suffering from an apparent bullet wound to the stomach. A gurgling sound emerged from the man’s mouth. Startled, Jeremiah fell backwards—just as the man sputtered blood all over himself. His eyes darted around the room before he lifted his arms, reaching for Jeremiah. “Matt! Liz!” he yelled, quickly scrambling towards the other side of the room.

Matthew was the first to enter, gun at the ready as he moved around the corner. “Are you hurt? Did he touch you?”

“No,” Jeremiah’s swift response made Matthew turn to look at him.

“You sure?”

“Positive. But I don’t think he’s dead…not yet.”

Matthew redirected his attention and called over to the man who was now sitting against the countertop, resting his head on the wall. “Who are you?”

“Help me, please.”

“Who are you?” Matthew repeated, ignoring the man’s plea for help.

“Jason McMann,” he angrily replied. He grabbed hold of a stool nearby and tried to lift himself up, glaring at Matthew as he continued grilling him. Groaning in pain, he placed himself in a seated position, applying pressure to his bleeding abdomen.

“You were with them, weren’t you? Who are they and why are they after us?”

The man laughed, the motion causing him to choke in pain and another mouthful of blood to spill from between his lips. “We were hired for a job. You and everyone in the area were on the list.”

“Start explaining or I will stand here and watch you bleed to death!” Matthew shouted, outwardly frustrated at the man’s half answers.

“BioCore hired us to assassinate anyone we found outside the safe zones.”

“What? The sons of bitches that started this shit is trying to take everyone out? What about the ones who aren’t hurt? Like us. We’re not infected.”

“Doesn’t matter,” the man shrugged, again choking on blood. “We have orders. Anyone in the red zone has to be exterminated.”

Matthew thought for a moment, taking stock of the group and their reaction. Exterminated. The word bounced around his head. The idea that someone would hire a group of mercenaries in a time like this to kill living, breathing humans trying to survive outraged him. He took in a deep breath and transferred that energy back to the man in the kitchen. “Where are these safe zones?” The man smiled but didn’t speak. “WHERE?” Matthew shouted aiming his weapon at his head.

“Go ahead. I’m as good as dead anyway,” he coughed, no longer afraid by the threat of death. A loud crash made them all jump. It took a moment to realize it was the outer barn door. Once again, they were in for a fight.  

Continue---->
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