Food For Thought Ch. 005

Lilith pressed a button on the wall and the shutter began to rise revealing a door. The door slid into the wall with another button press and the sounds of the world outside flowed across them.

A strong breeze pushed past Logan as he quickly checked the wide alley beyond the door, it was empty save for two dumpsters and a tall chain fence.

"We should drop him here and go get the other two, then figure out where to dump them." Logan suggested.

Two silent nods were all he got in response. With a quiet sigh Logan led the way back down the ramp and they managed to move the other two bodies without issue.

"Let's grab some bags from the pile now so we don't have to head back down after dealing with these three." Gesturing to the bodies Logan could see that the two women were still silently cooperating.

The trio each took a sturdy looking backpack from the assortment of bags that Steepler had stockpiled. No doubt that they could probably pass through a scanner without setting off a contraband alarm.

On the way back up the ramp Logan bumped Lilith gently with his hip and gave her a smile. She looked at him and perked up a little, returning his gesture. Giving him a quick nod of reassurance, Logan felt more at ease as they entered the alley again.

Logan quickly used his terminal to override the lock on the shutter so they could open it when they got back. Hitting the command to close it, he turned and walked over to the fence.

The chain fence had a gate in it that wasn't locked, the alley beyond continued for another thirty feet before turning ninety degrees and letting out onto the street. Perfect for privacy Logan thought to himself.

It was late afternoon and from what he could see peeking around the corner, the street was empty. Lilith joined him and looked up and down the street for a place to put the dead guards.

"How about there?" Lilith pointed across the street to a much smaller alley that had a single dumpster in it. It was only ten feet or so deep.

"Should be good enough." Logan didn't like the feeling that they were wasting time doing this out in the open. Dragging bodies around wasn't a good use of time, even if moving them away from where they were staying was a good idea.

Working together they moved the bodies across the street and into the dumpster, taking turns keeping a lookout as they went.

About a block and a half up Logan could see smoke rising from the side of a building where a hover car was half sticking out into the sidewalk. A roll of thunder overhead had Logan hoping for heavy rain.

"I'm already tired, why are men so heavy?" Effy asked plainly.

Lilith suppressed a laugh and the two women shared a slightly softer look between them.

Turning to Lilith, Logan asked "Which way now?"

Remembering what they were out here to do Lilith's demeanor became more serious and she pointed to the right.

"The small market is three blocks that way and over one. After that there's a few restaurants as well that could have supplies as long as the power lasts." Lilith was keeping her head on a swivel as she spoke.

"I think there's also a clothing store in that direction, I'm going to grab whatever I can quickly. I think the others and I need some more clothes." Effy added, she also had a duffle bag with her.

"If anything happens I'll try to take care of it with the J7 since it's quieter than your handguns. We should try and avoid drawing attention to ourselves." Logan was worried about fighting large numbers of infected if noise attracted them.

***

The three headed down the street in the direction Lilith had indicated doing their best to stay quiet. The city still sounded alive, machines hummed since the power was still on, there were noises in the distance that could have been gunshots, and an occasional yell that stopped them in their tracks as they waited.

They passed a few bodies, but none of them moved as they crept by. All of them were on edge waiting for the other shoe to drop.

It came as Logan leaned around the corner to look down the street that would take them over a block. There was another makeshift looking checkpoint like the one he had passed by when he was searching for Lilith. This time however Logan counted six people standing around it, there were two marines and four civilians. As Logan watched them the people just stood there, one would occasionally shuffle a little but did little else.

"I'm pretty sure there's six infected people up ahead, do we want to backtrack and cross somewhere behind us?" Logan asked.

"With the spacing of the city's grids It's probably ten or fifteen minutes back the way we came past the office to the next cross street. We'd waste almost half an hour. I don't think we should stay out after it gets dark." Looking up and down the street Lilith was visibly anxious about sitting still.

Logan was feeling it as well, that feeling of being out of your depth in a situation that's totally abnormal. They didn't have much of a choice.

"We go through them then?" Looking around the corner as she asked, Effy watched the infected for a moment before turning back to them.

"I'll pick them off as they come at us, hopefully they are all slow and not the fast kind. Stay ready and open fire if you have to but I'd prefer we didn't go guns blazing." Logan tried his best to speak calmly but his nerves were definitely acting up, he wasn't a battle hardened soldier. In the last few days he had fired his weapon more times than he had in the past few years combined.

Centering himself as best he could with a few deep breaths, he had been taking a lot of deep breaths lately. It was one tool he learned during his time at the ISD school for advanced training after graduating the basic academy.

The Information Specialist Division was a catch all for people entering a variety of jobs including communications, data gathering, data analysis, and information specialists. Essentially a very good centralized location to recruit spies.

Overwhelmed analysts make mistakes, those mistakes lead to bad information. They found it was cost effective to teach everyone techniques to calm down and refocus on the task at hand rather than constantly having to train new people.

That's exactly what Logan did, focusing on the task at hand he looked to his companions and nodded. They both nodded back.

"If they get too close or more appear, open fire and make sure you aim for the head." With a final look Logan walked from the corner and took a few steps forward.

Logan had always had decent vision, but things seemed sharper now. Standing facing the group of infected he could see smaller details clearly. Dried blood, bite marks, scratches, torn clothing, dead vacant eyes, and the shift as they noticed his presence.

Readying his trusty Vertec J7 Logan stood ready as the closest infected started to turn and faced him. He felt Lilith at his side watching behind them and saw Effy out of the corner of his eye watching the group in front.

Sighting in his first target Logan fired, the thrum of energy leaving his weapon filled his ears as the red pulse flew through the air.

His aim was a little off, striking the target high on the shoulder staggering it and leaving its shoulder charred. All the infected had noticed them now and started shambling in their direction. The closest one was now 20 or 25 yards away.

Logan adjusted his aim and fired again, this time striking his infected target in the head causing it to drop to the ground and stop moving.

His accuracy was much better as well, Logan was an average shot at best normally. One of the infected marines was moving faster than the others and was starting to close quickly.

Shifting his aim Logan felt the gentle buzz of energy inside him again but it was quite faint, nowhere near what he had felt when he had shot the infected leaping at Lilith in the cells.

Focusing again he felt sharp and ready. Pulling the trigger sent another pulse flying, it struck the marine square in the helmet knocking it backwards onto the ground, still moving.

Unable to see the head anymore he swapped targets, shooting again and being mindful to space his shots a little farther apart to counter the damage to his weapon.

The infected woman he shot at fell to the ground unmoving, two down. The first marine he had shot at was now stumbling to its feet and Logan took another shot catching it on the side of its face sending it sprawling again.

Watching for a second it was still moving but seemed unable to function anymore. Logan ignored it and took aim at another, the red energy pulse seared the side of its face but didn't stop it.

It had to be the brain.

A tiny adjustment and another shot had it on the ground joining the others. Only two left and they had almost started to jog, closing the remaining distance quickly now. As other infected died around them, the remaining ones got faster. That thought was troubling.

Another pull of the trigger sent the last marine crumpling to the ground, it didn't have a helmet on. No sooner had it struck the ground, the last infected person bolted at him. The same light red glow and feral look he had seen before.

It didn't matter, the closer it was the easier it was to hit and it was running straight at him.

With a final thrum of energy Logan fired, the pulse of red energy hit exactly where he was aiming leaving its head partially melted.

All was quiet save for the uncoordinated movement of the infected marine who appeared to be unable to do much of anything anymore.

Making sure the street was clear, Logan slowly approached the struggling infected man and lined up the finishing shot. Putting it out of its misery with a gentle squeeze of the trigger seemed simple enough, he had done it once before.

The repeated violence was starting to catch up with him, even if it had been necessary. Logan wondered how people got used to this, or maybe you never did.

"I suppose I'll find out." Steeling himself, Logan pulled the trigger.

Lilith was by his side again, she squeezed his arm reassuringly unsure of what else to do.

"You seem like a natural zombie killer." Effy was walking up to them slowly looking at the bodies as she went.

Logan looked at her for a moment before replying "Before arriving on Skye a few days ago I had never shot a... wait are you calling them zombies?"

"They are though, aren't they? You said you saw them eating people and they look pretty dead to me. If it looks like a duck..." She trailed off as she gestured to the bodies.

"She does have a point." Lilith added.

"I've never shot zombies before. Does that mean we are in a horror movie?" Giving Effy a quizzical look, Logan wasn't quite sure what to make of the slightly absurd line of conversation.

"Certainly looks like it." Tapping one of the bodies with her foot Effy snorted quietly and stifled a laugh.

The attempt at humor helped ease the tension slightly and Logan glanced around the street.

"We should see if the checkpoint has anything helpful and keep moving." Logan looked to the two marines and made sure to collect their tags.

They were not wearing combat armor, rather they were wearing a light variant that really only covered the basics. A chest piece with separate forearm and thigh pieces made up the armor in addition to the helmet. It wasn't terribly suitable for the current situation.

Right as he was about to step away Logan took another glance at the forearm pieces. They only really covered the top and a little of the sides with straps to keep them in place. The wrists seemed to him to be an easy place to get bitten and despite being immune he didn't want to chance it.

Logan pulled a pair of them off and was surprised to find micro hooks on the inside allowing them to hold firmly onto clothing, much like his terminal used when he attached it to himself.

Shrugging, he placed them on his forearms and pressed down firmly to get the micro hooks to engage, Logan felt a slight tug on his jacket as the material was held firmly by the armor. 'The straps must be for looks' he thought as he tightened them so they weren't dangling.

With his forearms and wrists now a little better protected he grabbed the other pair from the second dead marine and joined Lilith and Effy at the checkpoint. The two hadn't found much, between them they had three rifle magazines, a flashlight, and one emergency ration pack.

"The ammunition might come in handy if we can find a rifle." Effy offered. "It's been a while since I've handled one, but I can probably make it work."

"I've only ever trained with handguns, I wouldn't know where to start with a rifle." Lilith said as she started to look around again.

"Curious." Glancing at her, Effy tilted her head slightly.

"I used to do corporate security before Steepler." Smiling softly Lilith approached Logan and examined his new armor.

Effy let the line of conversation drop, but Logan could see she was growing more curious and opening up a little. Some people from the Outer Sphere had misgivings about those born in the Inner Sphere. Despite how connected everything was, it was odd to Logan that there was so much misinformation.

"I have another set if either of you want them." Logan held the pair of slightly scuffed armor pieces out.

"We could share. Left arm for blocking and the right hand for shooting." Striking an action pose Lilith held her left arm out like she had a shield in front of her.

"That could work. Would have been nice if mister fancy pistol had shared first." Smirking Effy took one of the armor pieces and fixed it to her left arm.

"There's more armor over there if you want it." Logan pointed to the dead marines.

Considering it for a moment Effy eyed the remaining armor but decided against it.

"We should keep moving. First stop is just ahead." Gesturing up the street Lilith looked at Logan nervously.

Nodding in agreement Logan started to move in the direction Lilith had indicated. Most of the buildings they were walking past looked like offices, homes, or miscellaneous places of business. All devoid of life, but it was clear that some fights had happened judging by the broken windows and other damaged elements.

Another three minutes of walking had them crouched outside of a small market that used to have fruit on display next to the doors. The tables were knocked over and a large amount of fruit was now strewn across the sidewalk and into the street.

Much of the fruit was squashed or ruined, but Effy had found a dozen or so pieces still in good condition. Taking a slightly squashed halta fruit Logan tossed it into the market and waited.

A dull thud and a light squelch emanated from whatever the oval shaped fruit had struck. The seconds became a minute, but nothing stirred inside the market.

When they had arrived they noticed a trail of blood leading into the store and immediately froze. Now it appeared that whatever had made the trail was either dead, and not moving, or gone.

With his pistol at the ready Logan entered first and found the narrow shop to be empty. It had two rows of shelves running back ten or so feet into the building and a few coolers on the sides for fresh goods.

Following the blood trail quietly he ended up at the back of the store where it looked like there had been a struggle, but there was no body.

"The blood was leading out, not in. It's clear in here." Calling out loud enough for the women by the door to hear him Logan began examining the goods that were left.

Lilith and Effy entered the store and immediately began looking through the shelves. Lilith's approach was a little more reserved, she carefully examined the items and seemed to only be selecting certain ones. Effy on the other hand was trying to cram as much food into her backpack as she could.

Logan opted for something between the two opposites that were on display. Grabbing a little bit of everything, but also being selective for things that might last a little longer Logan filled half his backpack with packaged food items before turning to the coolers along the walls.

He grabbed some items that needed to be kept cool or frozen, they had a fridge and freezer but who knew how long the power would stay on. If it went out, they would just have to eat the food.

Working quietly and reasonably quickly they had settled into a quiet rhythm, the brief encounter at the checkpoint was a bit of a reality check and it was actually sinking in that this was happening. Being sequestered underground even for a night made you feel a little separated from the world outside.

"I'm full." Effy made her way to the front of the store and glanced outside nervously.

Lilith was still picking items as Logan finished and joined Effy at the front.

"Are you doing ok?." Logan asked.

Looking at him silently for a moment Effy turned her gaze back outside.

"Probably. When you and Lilith walked through those doors I thought I had finally caught a break. Only you told me things were going to hell outside. I have some mixed emotions at the moment and trying to cope with everything on top of an actual zombie apocalypse has soured my feeling of freedom." Taking a breath she added "It's fucked. I'm free, but trapped in the place I was held captive for a totally different reason."

Opting to just listen, Logan stood there and took her words in while occasionally searching the street outside for movement. After she had finished, he wasn't sure what to say. Or if there was even anything for him to say.

"It sounds like you've been through a lot. I'm sorry you've had to go through the things you have." Effy eyed Logan for a moment after he spoke and gave him a weak smile before turning her attention to the outside.

Another few minutes passed in silence before Lilith joined them looking quite happy with the food she had stuffed into her backpack.

"There's a small clothes shop across the street about two minutes further along. Nothing fancy but it's better than nothing. Are you two ready?" Her tone was a bit curt as Effy made ready to head back out onto the street.

Both nodding, Logan and Lilith followed her as they made their way a little farther along the street. They passed more bodies strewn across the road and opted to quickly pass by them, the general feeling now was to get back to the relative safety of their shelter sooner rather than later.

Broken glass surrounded the double doors into the store Effy had picked out, two bodies lay heaped on top of eachother in the threshold with wet blood pooled around them.

"This happened recently." Logan stated as he quickly examined the bodies. There were no bite marks that he could see or any wound that could have been caused by an infected. He thought about calling them Zombies but it just felt strange.

A rustle caught their attention and they froze in place listening. Lilith slowly picked up a piece of debris and tossed it underhand farther into the store with a loud thud.

Groaning, an infected man came tumbling out of one of the changing rooms in the back getting tangled in the fabric curtain. The clothing store wasn't terribly big, much like other stores in this area.

Logan made his way around to the back where the still tangled infected man was still struggling with the curtain. He could just make out the head underneath the fabric and fired a shot into it. The body went limp.

"Let's be quick here. There's still one more spot I want to stop at that I think will have some useful items." Lilith looked around the store quickly but wasn't really grabbing anything.

Logan headed back to the storefront and watched the street, he saw Effy start to grab everything she could and stuff it into the duffel bag she brought. There didn't appear to be any plan, just grab as much as she could of everything.