"There's rarely a time when we go into the city and, I don't know, we go for Ice cream. Always ends with one of us getting badly injured." Lisa added in agreement before taking a bite from the burger she'd put together.
"I don't know Adries, I think you could hold onto your tracker. I mean if anything bad happens again, at least that way you'd be a lot easier to find." She said with a short laugh.

"Where is this tracker now that I think about it? Is it a little chip in my arm or something?" Adries asked, checking her arms for any bumps or any weird bumps.

"Well seems like you've guys survived a lot if you guys always end up badly injured on each excursion," Albert said, munching on his burger, "It's been dull here. I mean, once in awhile a zombie will come, but they're just so easy to deal with. I usually let a horde build up just so it's more of a challenge."

"Only you Uncle Al," Adries said.

"It's anything but dull once you get into the city. The mutations have gotten a lot worse in some cases and they definitely pack a punch." She replied, finishing her burger, choosing not to go too far into what they'd been fighting unless he wanted to know more.
"Don't they put trackers in people's heads in the movies? Just a thought." Lisa asked Adries before getting up and taking her plate to the kitchen then returning.

"Oh mutations? I think I fought one of those...it was like a monster right? A lot more powerful than just the normal undead. Smart too. Tough sons'a bitches," Albert said, pointing over to a big mound of dirt thirty feet away. "Buried 'im there. Took a lot of bullets but it finally died. Thought it ruined the way the property looked, so I buried him."

"Jeez Uncle Al. You single-handedly took on a monster and we barely survived fighting any of them," Adries said, throwing away her plate, "I hope the tracker isn't in my head. Unless I could use it to listen to music or something. That'd be cool."

Lisa gave an impressed whistle when she saw the mound.
"That's actually amazing. You really know what you're doing. We managed to stick to plans that we made up on the spot, but it wasn't ever easy." She continued before to turning to Adries.
"We could test that music idea out at some point, see if it picks up radio signals. If we ever have music back on the air that is."

"Yeah, well it wasn't that hard to kill 'em. The best thing was that there was only one of 'em. If there were more, I might've had a big problem. I'm surprised there aren't more out here in the woods. You'd think there would be a lot, but there hasn't been anything for days," he told Lisa and Adries, taking a sip from his beer.

"We'll have to try it. Knowing my luck, it will only play really bad music that I hate," Adries replied.

"I don't know. You could plug your Ipod into the tower somehow and broadcast that over the city." She considered slightly before remembering the situation in the city.
"Well, the military are trying to make a dent on things in the city, so i suppose all of the smart ones are flocking over there to take them down or something like that. In fact i wouldn't be surprised by that."

Christie winced as she sat up more. She'd carefully removed the bullet using a swiss army knife that she'd taken from Lisa's bag not too long before. It was hers in the first place. She was thankful that the armor had slowed the bullet and it hadn't gotten in too deep and done damage. She'd crawled to the cabinet in the far corner remembering the rations that had been left there by the cleanup team. She took the bottle of water besides some staleish crackers. She tore a strip of bloody fabric from her shirt and dabbed the wound with the clean water to wash away the blood. She groaned but continued to crawl. She considered which was worse before untying the bandage from her scorch mark and wrapping it around her bleeding stomach.
This is incredibly shoddy. but i've got work with what I have until i can stitch myself up. Now move.
Following her own advice she forced herself to stand, pulling the Bowie knife from her holder before heading out. She walked slowly still wincing, she realized that she had the still bloody bullet held in her gloved hand. She stared for a moment before placing it in her pocket.

"Well, you guys are welcomed here as long as you need. Everything here works, else I wouldn't be here. So make yourselfs comfortable," Albert told them as he got up and went inside, "Going to watch for anything comin' up on the roof. See ya."

"Bye Uncle Al," Adries said, getting up herself and heading back in. "So, what now? Plan ahead? Take a nap? Shower? I think I'll just go with a nap."

Lisa gave a short wave to the man as he left and she followed Adries.
"I'm going to have a shower, then probably rest up myself. Who knows when I'm going to get a chance for a decent shower again anyway. Which way to the bathroom?" She asked realizing how blood stained she was.
Weird. I've actually become even more desensitized than i was before.

"Well, you can go to the upstairs bathroom. Just head upstairs and take a right. Take the first door and inside should be the bathroom. I don't think there are any clothes here, but I might still have some from the last time I was here. I'll check," Adries told her, taking a seat on a rocking chair.

"Thanks a lot Adries. If you do manage to find a spare set of clothes, that'd be awesome but don't stress over it." She replied to her before heading towards the bathroom and closing the door behind her.

Christie cursed angrily under breath with each step alongside the road. She had tried her phone but it was disconnected again. Most of the curses were aimed at the searing pain.
Things aren't looking good. In the least, I need a car, something to kill the pain and a needle and thread. I need to get back on task, the minute i'm reconnected I'm going to call in some favors. Fuck that extraction team.
She gulped down some of the water before bringing out her devise to find coordinates. She scanned the area around her. To the East there was a small town but she was assured that there wasn't anything for her there. She remembered seeing some wrecked cars just coming off the high way to the South, that was her best bet to head back the way she came...

Adries decided it was best to check for clothes now and walked upstairs to the room she usually stayed in. She searched around the drawers and found a few sweaters and some old jeans. She picked them up and put them in the guest room before heading upstairs to talk to her uncle.

"Hey Uncle Al. What are the nearest...buildings I guess?" she asked him when she got up to the roof.
"Well, over southwest there are some office buildings. And there is a small town directly south of here. That's about it. You don't remember heading to those?"
"Hah, it's been awhile. Thanks though."
"No problem dear."

It took about 30 minutes before Lisa left the bathroom, cleaning up before she left. She went down the hall looking through the bedrooms until she found the guest room with the clothes on the bed. She put her note on the bed stand before she hastily changed and they seemed to fit okay. She let out a yawn before heading back downstairs to thank Adries and get a glass of water. The living room was deserted aside from Alan who was still sleeping on the sofa. She went into the kitchen and made herself the drink. Lisa caught sight of the sky outside and frowned. The sky was still dark but no rain had fallen.

Jack had searched the mainframe for a good twenty minutes before he found a bio-technician named Julia Bixler. She was the only Bixler working for the government in the field so he made the obvious decision to head there. He made it to the building with some trouble from the infected citizens, he wasn't willing to call them zombies anymore after what he had learned, and made it inside the building. Corpses littered the floor, human and zombie alike, he followed bloody bootprints to a laboratory. The name next to the door read Biotechnology Lab with the under-heading of infectious diseases. Jack opened the door to find a body lying on the floor face down in a pool of blood. The shot was execution style like the police in the headquartes.

Jack flipped the body over to reveal a face matching the personnel picture of Julia Bixler, and he searched the room for a notebook or binder of some kind, but found no bound materials at all. He only found a handwritten note with To: Alan scrawled on the back. He placed the not in his pocket and heard something rustling down the hall, he decided to investigate hiding the conversation between Alan and Julia and the note written in code deep enough in his pockets so that it wouldn't be found. He moved down the hall...

Adries headed back downstairs after talking to Albert for a little bit longer. She took a seat back down in the rocking chair. She shut her eyes, deciding to rest after all she's been through. She wondered what they would do, they certainly couldn't stay here forever.

"All in due time," she muttered to herself.

She stared at the skies for another few moments, sipping the water. Lisa felt safe for now, she closed her eyes, her breathing becoming calm.

Taking a deep breath, she shivered, she must've lost a lot more blood than she thought. A moan was heard from across the road as a zombie shambled towards her.
I. am. in. no. mood.
She didn't turn as the zombie got a few feet away, extending her arm and slashing it's neck before carrying on. It was going to be a long day. Christie checked the coordinates again just to keep her busy, she tried to calculate how many miles it was before she'd get to the beginning of the highway. She noticed a singular road about a mile away from her destination that led to a residential area.
That would work.

Alan awoke with a start, having just died in a horrible nightmare. He looked around the room, noticing the now sleeping Adries immediately.
'Well, at least everyone is still here,' he thought, slowly getting up. His body was still aching, but he was feeling better after the nap and the pills. He stretched slightly before heading into the kitchen to get some food.

"Oh, hello Lisa," he said, opening the fridge, "Hope I didn't startle you much."

Her eyes clicked open after hearing Alan. She turned with a tired smile.
"Hey there. Oh, not really, just daydreaming. How are you feeling?"

"Better though still a bit worse for wear," he replied back, grabbing an apple from the crisper and taking a bite. "Thanks for giving me the pills. They've really helped a lot. So, has anything major happened since my nap?"

"Glad they helped. Nothing really major, we had burgers. We also decided to deal with necessities like shower and sleep. Your Uncle is on the roof, keeping watch. I suppose when Adries' has gotten some rest, we're gonna have to decide where to go." She explained, taking another sip.

"Sounds good. I would have no problem staying here though. Safe, and no people showing up," he said, "No one here torturing me which seems to be the new hip thing to do lately. Argh, well. Whatever. Can't change anything now can I? I just hope things will get better; knowing our luck though...yep. "

"Kinda makes you miss when Yo-yo's were the hip new things to do, huh?" She joked, sitting up on the counter.
"Well things can't get worse, can they? Anyway, It seems that Christie and Jack are long gone for now. And well, if they come back..."

"Indeed. And, no offense for this, I'm happy that both of them are. They've put me through more than I've ever wanted to go through," he relied back, leaning against the fridge. "Hey, what happened to the folks back at school? We going to go back to get them or what? Oh, crap I also forgot my hard drives there. Shit."

"None taken. Although I didn't expect it from Jack, i was surprised that Christie hadn't done something like that earlier." She muttered with a weary sigh before moving on.
"I think one of our options is to head back and collect the others and bring them here. Although i was a little hesitant about that. But I'm guessing they're confused as to where we went, plus you need your hard drives, so we'll go back eventually."

"Yeah. I'm surprised I didn't die as soon as I met her," Alan replied, tossing the core of the apple away, "So, probably when Adries wakes up we'll head back. Or we can always do it tomorrow morning. We'll figure it out I guess. The good thing is that we'll have a lot of weapons thanks to the lots we have here."

"Tomorrow morning would be good. I don't think I'm up for going back for today. I just hope Adries doesn't mind putting back leaving for a while, I don't know what she had in mind. We're lucky about the weapons actually, when we were looking for you, we were freaking out about needing ammo." Lisa answered rolling up the slightly long sleeves as they started to bother her.

"Hah. I remember I had my Desert Eagle stolen, or at least taken away by Jack. Well then. I guess I'll be going back to bed. I think a few more hours of sleep will do me quite well. Tomorrow we'll show you the gun selection then we'll head off then," he told her, stretching again. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek, saying good night before heading upstairs into his room.

((Probably won't post anymore tonight. My friends and I are going to play a bunch of games.))

She gave a hug, calling goodnight after him before finishing her drink and heading back into the living room. Adries was deep in sleep. Lisa sat in the armchair she had sat in earlier and curled up. She wasn't sure about sleeping or not but she rested her eyes.

(((Night all.)))

Jack found a zombified administrator which he had dispatched with the butt of the rifle. He checked the body finding a password to the computer network, allowing full access to all systems. He immediately went to the administrators former office in the top of the building and changed the password to the system to something that would be hard for others to figure out but easy for him to remember.

Christie was having some serious issues now. It'd been an hour since she'd started down the road. It was dark and the clouds above her were ominous. Her steps were forceful but clumsy. A feeling of consolation finally arrived when she reached the turn to the residential area. She'd stop for a moment and take a breather before starting the 10 mile walk. The wound was pounding, but she ignored it in spite, downing another mouthful of water.
I'm finally here...You think you can hide Jack? You just wait-huh. Wait.
The road was dark, but the surprising sight of oncoming headlights headed towards her. She drew her knife quickly and moved the the side of the road. The unseen car stopped and the sound of doors opening was heard.
"...?"

"Freeze and do not move!" ordered a voice from the car. Three ominous figures arose, all pointing assault rifles at her. The one who yelled out the order stepped into the light, revealing a middle-aged military man. He ordered one of his men to make sure she wasn't carrying anything.
Another man quickly ran over to Christie, gun on her. He was much younger then his colleagues, probably only in his early twenties. He quickly frisked her, saying that he was sorry but that they needed to check anyways. "Nothing sir!" he told his leader, "Injured though sir!"

"Alright, alright. Calm down now Jacobs. Westin, get the med supplies out," the leader told them.

She took a step back, disapproving of the frisk. She kept her knife in her grip but loosened significantly, resting it on her leg holder. Christie looked over the figures with a calculating look, before allowing a smirk to hit her lips.
They're helping me...? Fuck, i must be hallucinating from blood loss.
"Much obliged." She said with a hint of suspicion before folding her arms, and allowing the other man to look her over who held a medical kit in his hands.
"Ranks?"

"M-Me? I'm just a Private," he responded, leading her over to the car. He turned to his superior, "Sir, should we move into one of the houses down the road? It would be easier to attend to, uh, her wounds."

"Sounds good Jacobs. Alright boys, lets get moving," he said, getting back into his seat as they turned around and drove down the highway. "You wanted to know our ranks right? Well, I'm Captain Conroy. The young man sitting next to you is Private Jacobs and in the passenger seat we have Warrant Officer Westin. Now, what would your rank be?" he asked, lighting a cigar as they neared a small town.

"Lieutenant Colonel Bailey. A-" She winced as she tried to sit in a better position then continued, "...pleasure I'm sure."
She was slightly confused about whether or not to trust the men, but hid it, taking slight amusement from the nervous disposition of the Private. She extended her hand to him as he looked at her temporary bandaging.

Jacobs shook her hand nervously, muttering something about now having three superior officers and him having to watch his step. Conroy and Westin laughed as they pulled up into a small driveway near the edge of town. "This is the nicest house that we cleaned out," Westin told Christie as he and Jacobs helped her out. They led her inside, sitting her down.

"Heh, looks like you got into a fight," Westin said, opening up the med-kit and getting out what he'd need.
"Oh, that looks pretty bad," Jacobs said uncomfortably.
"Jacobs here has never actually been injured," Westin told Christie, putting on some gloves. He went to work fixing her up, carefully stitching up her wound.
Captain Conroy walked in with a bottle of scotch. "So, LC Bailey how has your mission been going? Not good from what I can assume," he said with a chuckle, pouring drinks for everyone.