NiGHTMARE-Z full book posted here FREE

[223shooteresc]

good chapter, like it

[NiGHTMARE-Z]

thanks man. there more to the chapter that I will post later.

you got any suggestions so far? would appreciate some opinions.

[raggeldy]

IM not quite caught back up yet but had to throw you A thanks out for continuing this great read. Really enjoying it.

[NiGHTMARE-Z]

I am glad you enjoy the story. Means a lot to me. I'll post more soon.

[Laager]

It's interesting and so far so good.....looking forward to reading more.

[NiGHTMARE-Z]

"Don't you ever do that to me again. I was worried sick, thought I lost you," Tabatha says to Lance as she wraps her arms around him.

Lance calms her down by stroking her hair gently and tells her everything will be alright.

"Nothing can kill me, except you babe," Lance boasts as he stares into her eyes and gives her a kiss.

Tabatha seems happy again and decides to forget about the close call in the parking lot.

As the bus moves along, Riggs pulls out his Atlas maps and moves to the front of the bus beside Dwayne. Riggs decides to open up the map and plot a course through Georgia to Alabama. Before he gets into deeper discussion regarding the routes they will take, he asks Andrew if he can inventory the weapons and ammunition. Andrew agrees and begins pulling the shotguns and rifles out of the bags. He lays them along the floor of the bus and begins counting boxes of ammunition by type.

Some time on the road passes as Riggs and Dwayne figure out the best and safest possible route to take. After long deliberation, they finally come to a mutual conclusion.

Both of them agree on the safest and most time effecient way to get there. Upon agreement, Riggs informs the group and asks if any of them have any objections to it. Nobody does.

As Andrew continues inventorying the weapons and ammunition, he decides that he will go for the other supplies as well. He is in deep thought right now, wondering and worrying about his brother along with his nieces and nephew. He hopes that Joanne is doing alright and that everything will hold up and be stable enough in time for him to get there so he can protect Trevor's family. He realizes that the situation looks very grim for his brother and he doesn't know if he will ever see him again. All he hopes is that he puts that military backup and fire power to good use over there to some how make it home, by any means necessary.

Right then and there he realized something. Andrew recalls the flights which were leaving out of FOB Basrah when he was there. The emptiness of the base along with the missing gaps in his leadership. He now realizes that they all must of known about this or got fair warning and decided to high tail it out of there before the going got bad. It boils his blood to believe his brother was abandoned like that. As Andrew sits there, becoming lost in count, he realizes how lucky he was to leave while things were still decent. His brother's fate weighs on him heavily. Almost to the point now, where he wants to begin crying. However, he stops himself short.

He knows he has to be hard in front of the group for his sake and theirs. Wouldn't do anyone any good if he were to collapse and break down. Where ever Trevor is or whatever has happened to him, Andrew tells himself he will never forget him. He will die trying to protect his family just like he promised. All he has to do is get there and secure them. He realizes that Riggs and this group is his best shot.

Lance glares at Riggs in contempt. What makes this man so special and all mighty, he asks himself as he continues to study him. When Lance was always on campus, he was the center of attention. Women flocked to him along with men trying to be his buddy. He was also the captain of defense for three running years on his high school football team. He was pretty much always in control regarding any matters. Especially in his relationships.

There was never someone there to put him in check or question his authority. Now it seems like the world is ending and all barriers are crashing down. Lance is having trouble accepting this. He is also afraid that his fiance will look at him in a different light if he doesn't take better control of this situation which plagues the group. Who is the man in charge here? Who will establish themselves as the De Facto Leader? Lance feels he is up to the challenge and he doesn't intend on letting anyone get in his way.

He wants his fiance to look up to him like she used to. He feels challenged by Andrew as well. This bothers him to no end as he fears his fiance will begin to hold them in higher regards. As Lance sits there, he ponders ways to take control of this group and filter out the other two. Tabatha now lies asleep with her head on his lap as he continues to stare on at Riggs without him even knowing.

Tammy rests her face up against the glass of the bus window and continues to keep her eyes closed. She is awake, however, she wants to appear sleeping so nobody bothers her. She wants to be lost in her own world where she is holding her fiance's hand down the streets of Paris or having lunch by the base of the Eiffel Tower where he took her on a date so many years ago. She attempts to drown out all of the horrors of this new world and the defying laws of nature she witnessed over the past couple of hours so she can bring herself back to a sense of normalcy.

She wonders if she will ever get to see the one she loves again so dearly and if he will be alright. She fully knows of the chaos which was reported over the news regarding major European cities coming under attack by 'The Dead'. This thought she tries to ignore way too often, however, always seemingly creeping up on her like a Mesquito at night.

She doesn't want to be alone for the rest of her life, especially what little life she has left now. Coming to this realization, she now begins thinking of Riggs. His demeanor, his character and his bravery are all qualities she loves for a man to possess. This is something her fiance doesn't have for he isn't very sure of himself and always tries to avoid conflict due to being afraid. However, she loves him anyway for his ability to be so sweet to her and the other unique qualities he possesses.

However, with Riggs, his qualities are too over bearing to ignore. She feels drawn to him like a magnet. In time, she intends to show it to him if he opens up to her. For now, she won't even try.

Linda is worried for the group. She notices there is a lot of animosity between some of the members of the group and fear that it will lead to something worse later on down the line. She also realizes that Lance's actions and attitude towards his fiance Tabatha is seemingly dangerous. She fears that Lance may have beaten her at one point and will intend on doing it again.

She knows Randall, who is practically useless, will turn his back on them the moment it doesn't serve his purpose. She will have to keep a close eye on him she decides. She stares at young Andrew as he looks out the window and counts the abandoned cars he sees on the side of the road.

So far, he is up to one hundred and twenty three cars and sixty-five bodies the bus has so far passed since he began counting. What is in store for this child in a world like this she wonders as she compares his counting of bodies and cars to a an official math class back when the world was some how sane.

Is this how this new generation is going to learn? To learn nothing but survival? They will learn math through round count and geography through a map of where the safest locations are to live? The thought freightens her as she orders young Andrew to quit counting and take a much needed nap. Young Andrew reluctantly disagrees. However, a persistant Linda orders him away from the window out of fear of what else he may see. Young Andrew complies and leans back in his seat in order to make an attempt on closing his eyes.

A now bored Dwayne, apparently lost in his own thought, attempts to stray away from his mind by flicking on the radio once again. The emergency broadcast station which they had tuned into earlier, is no longer broadcasting. All which is heard now is static. Dwayne begins changing stations looking for any FM channel broadcasting. After a few minutes, he comes across a working station.

"Again, this is the emergency broadcast station. New developments regarding the mass hysteria which has engulfed the nation and the rest of the world. Blood borne bites by the infected will lead to certain infection. Symptoms include excessive sweating, coughing, dialated pupils, muscular aches and vomiting. Late phase of the process leads to self induced seizure which is 100% fatal. All victims whom have fell ill and gone into a seizure will produce a 100% mortality rate.

Do not attempt by any means, to prevent the victim from swallowing his or her own tounge with your own hands. Infectious bites passed by saliva into the blood stream will increase the effects on your system. Once the victim passes on after seizure, reanimination is certain. Time for specific individuals to reanimate can occur anywhere between thirty seconds to twenty four hours. Scientists believe this varies depending upon the victim's previous metabolic rate, weight and size.

I say again, do not attempt to prevent the victim from swallowing his or her own tounge with your own hand. Other cases are pouring in of victims of this virus contracting the symptoms earlier described through passing of saliva whether it is shared drinks or contact with the infected's sweat. The process regarding this matter is prolonged and much more indirect. The victim may experience symptoms ranging from days to weeks which ultimately leads to self induced seizure. Whether the victim contracts this via blood borne bite or through indirect bodily fluids, all is permanent and will lead to certain death. Any person contracting any of these symptoms must be isolated immediately. Do not attempt to go near these people by any means necessary."

Dwayne places his head down for a moment and begins scratching it while trying to soak in all of the information he has just heard. He looks behind him and realizes everyone on the bus has now stopped what they were doing to pay attention to the broadcast.

"Wow. This is unbelievable. Knowing is half the battle I guess," Riggs states with a sense of acceptance in his voice.

Everyone else on the bus, wide eyed, begins looking at eachother as if they were inspecting one another for symptoms.

"Doesn't look like anyone here has those symptoms. Thats the good news," Andrew states.

At that moment, Audrey butts in and asks him what the bad news was in a sarcastic, yet playful voice.

"Bad news is getting bit or coming into contact with one of those sons of a bitches. If anyone is bitten by those things, you need to let the group know immediately. This applies to everybody, got it?" Riggs interrupts with a sense of urgency.

Everyone on the bus stays silent as if they were doubting what he had to say.

Andrew agrees.

"If you choose to withhold this information, you could be putting us all at risk. We need to establish this now as the number one rule. The infected comes clean so none of it spreads to all of us. We need to agree on this," Andrew adds in addition to Rigg's comment.

Everyone on the bus warily agrees.

"Hell, I'll be the first to blow your brains out," Dwayne threatens as a general statement to all the members of the group.

After the meeting, Andrew reports to Riggs the round and supply count. There are enough weapons to go around for everybody. The only one who doesn't receive one is the child. Old Andrew promises young Andrew he will some day properly train him on a weapon so he can defend himself. Once he tells him this, young Andrew asks about the where abouts of his mother. Everyone in the group stays silent and decides to pass the leg work over to Linda as she established the closest connection to the young boy.

Linda decides to bring Young Andrew to the back to have the discussion with him in private. The rest go about their business. Riggs tells the rest of the group they will be good for awhile on food and supplies as they push closer to the border of Alabama. Riggs and Andrew begins passing out weapons to the rest of the survivors. Andrew walks down to the end of the bus and hands Linda a pump action shotgun.

She takes it from him immediately while thanking him, then proceeds to re-engage in conversation with Young Andrew as he begins crying. Andrew decides to sit down next to the boy in order to comfort him.

Time passes on as they are on the road avoiding populated areas and bypassing traffic jams. Most of the route planning has been done by Riggs and Andrew as they displayed a natural knack for pre-planning which served in the group's favor regarding safety matters.

They have crossed into the border of Alabama late into the night and realize they are now low on fuel once again. Riggs awakes after being tapped by Andrew, who took over on the wheel so Dwayne could get some much needed rest. Andrew informs him of the fuel situation. Riggs quickly goes to his Atlas map to see if there will be another fueling station up ahead at some point. He could only identify the general area of where the bus is located and says, according to the map, there will be some built up areas another twenty to thirty minutes down the road. There the bus will pull off at the nearest exit and fill up on fuel along with the cans they have in their possession. Riggs and Andrew come to the agreement without incident. They realize that everyone on the bus is asleep. They decide not to wake them.

Some time goes by. Now driving down the dark and empty roads of Alabama, they come across a small town which connected them from the freeway. It brings them right down the main street of the town. Riggs grows nervous as he did not intend to drive through this area, he wanted to stick to the plan like before and go around it. However, fuel at this point is the priority so they really have no choice at this point.

As Andrew drives through the dark town, he notices some of the light poles are out. There are some remnants of the recent events which have been plauging the country due to some abandoned vehicles in the center of the road and shattered windows of shops along side the road where looting took place. However, there are no bodies visibilly present in the street, which is a good thing Andrew tells himself as he slows the bus's pace down to study the new enviroment they have just recently driven into.

Riggs decides to make Randall earn his keep within the group by wakeing him up. Riggs explains the situation to Randall and tells him once they stop that he will be pumping gas as he keeps watch. Andrew will remain at the wheel. Randall, awakening from his sleep startled, rolls his eyes.

"Get someone else to do it, i'm busy!" he tells Riggs with contempt.

This angers Riggs as he hits Randall across his shoulder.

"Earn your damn keep here or else i'll drag you outside of this bus and leave you here to die, got it girl?" a furious Riggs whisphers into his ear while trying not to wake the others.

A reluctant Randall decides to not make it an issue any further and caves into Rigg's reasonable demands for help. As the bus rolls along the dark strip of road deeper into the center of the town, he notices a lone police vehicle off into the distance in the middle of a four way intersection with it's flashers still spinning illuminating red and blue light. This vehicle is right next to a local gas station which still appears to be lit up. Riggs tells Andrew to push up to the squad car so he can inspect the inside of it from the bus. Andrew complies.

As they approach, Riggs carefully looks on to inspect the vehicle. He doesn't notice anyone in the front of the vehicle because the doors are wide open. The back doors however, are closed. Once Andrew pulls the bus up close enough, Riggs gives him the signal to stop. Riggs brings his pump action shotgun with him and walks off the bus alone, realizing he is better off alone than having Randall on the ground watching his back.

As he approaches the cab of the police vehicle, he looks into it to inspect for any sign of life or weapons. Neither are there. He proceeds over to the passenger side of the vehicle and takes the seat adjacened to the glove compartment. He opens that up and begins searching for anything useful.

Right as he does this, someone from the back of the vehicle begins banging histerically on the plexi glass which is seperating the front of the cab from the back while trying to get to Riggs. The screams and moans grow louder as the thumping of the glass becomes more intense. This startles Riggs as he gets up from his seat and draws his shotgun to the back of the vehicle.

What he sees, is a woman bound by hand cuffs to her front, covered in blood with missing pupils as she kicks and screams and attempts to break through the glass unsuccessfully in order to get to Riggs. Riggs realizes she is infected and must have turned while in custody in the back of the vehicle. He quickly realizes that she is not a threat, seeing as how she has no way of getting to him. Andrew hops out of the vehicle and asks him if he is alright. Riggs orders Andrew to get back behind the wheel as he looks back towards the squad car as he walks back onto the bus.

Once on the bus, Randall is seen looking out the window with a frieghtened look on his face as he observed the situation unfold from afar. Riggs and Andrew inspect the gas station up ahead and notices no sign of life inside or outside the station. Andrew takes off and pulls the bus up to the pump closest to the entrance of the store. Riggs orders Randall outside to check the pump as he gathers up some last minute equipment. Right when this happens, Tabatha awakes and notices what's going on. She slips out of Lance's arms as he remains asleep and walks up to Riggs.

"I am going with you," Tabatha tells Riggs.

Riggs just gives her a blank stare.

"Into the store that is. I am going into the store with you to help turn on the pump. I also need to grab a few things," she adds.

Riggs, still unsure, nods his head in agreement. Randall marches off the bus in disgust due to the fact his sleep being disturbed and walks up to the pump as he sets the four fuel cans down. He turns it on and notices nothing coming out of it. Riggs and Tabatha sees this and proceeds into the store with their weapons ready. On his way out, Riggs tells Andrew to stay sharp and remain on the wheel. Andrew nods in agreement.

Once inside the store, the pair notice music still playing which is similiar to that of something you would hear on an elevator. Riggs hops over the counter and begins looking for the right switches to hit in order to activate the pump while Tabatha goes into the hygeine section and begins throwing some items in her pocket.

Riggs doesn't pay her any mind. Once he turns on the pumps, he rises up and gives Randall a thumbs up from a distance through the window. Randall begins filling up the cans before he fills the bus, which aggravates Riggs immensely seeing as how Randall obviously has his priorities messed up. If something were to suddenly attack them with a quickness, they obviously would have to escape in the bus. What good is it if they have a bunch of filled fuel cans but an empty tank to escape on. Made no sense to Riggs as he walks over to the cooler in search of a refreshing NOS energy drink.

Some time passes by as the pair scavenge up what they need in the store. Randall completed the fuel cans and is now lastly finishing up fueling the tank on the bus. Riggs walks up to Tabatha and asks her if she is ready. She complies. As they begin to walk out of the store, they hear something being knocked over in the back room.

Riggs, realizing he forgot to inspect the back room and the bathrooms, beats himself up mentally over it. Tabatha turns away from the door and curiously walks up to the door of the back room to inspect whats on the other side. Riggs warns her of drifting too far and tells her to ignore it and come back. A stubborn Tabatha does not listen.

"It could be another survivor. Let's check it out," she stubbornly states while ignoring Rigg's wise advice.

His advice now turns into orders as he is demanding her to leave the store with him and to leave it alone.

She ignores him. As she approaches the backroom door with her weapon, she attempts to place her hand on the door knob to open it. Right as she does this, the door flies wide open into her face immediately knocking her back first onto the floor. She loses her weapon as it seperates from the control of her body and slides up against the wall. Riggs comes running to her rescue as Tabatha notices what is standing in the door way in front of her looking down upon her.

An old man, with milky white pale skin, hissing and moaning at her as his left arm is strapped by an apparent pants belt to his walker. He goes to emit a terrifying scream of hunger and pain as he attempts to move forward inch by inch with assistance from the walker while staring wide eyed towards Tabatha's direction. He begins converging on her closer and closer. Tabatha freezes at the sight in front of her and doesn't move at all until Riggs picks her up and grabs her weapon.

Instead of engaging the infected older man in the walker with his fire arm, he decides to just walk out the door with Tabatha and head back to the bus. The elderly man can not move that fast as the walker is obstructing most of his movement. As they quickly approach the vehicle in the dead of night, Randall is already back on the bus with the filled up fuel cans. Andrew still remains behind the wheel impatiently waiting for the pair's return. Once they hop back on the bus with the bag of items they took, Lance is standing there in the center of the bus appearing infuriated as he glares over at Tabatha.

Andrew immediately takes off and gets back on the road he is supposed to be on.

Tabatha, looking like a scared child about to be scolded by her father, places her head down in shame as she walks up to Lance. Lance begins yelling at her in anger as to why she left without letting him knowing. Riggs tells him to calm down as all of the passengers begin waking up to the commotion inside the bus. As the bus pushes down the road, Lance directs his anger towards Riggs.

"Who the hell are you to take her in there?" Lance yells to Riggs as he walks up to him and stares Riggs right into his eyes.

Riggs warns him to back off, Lance does not listen. Tabatha runs up and tries to break it up when Lance turns around and accidently backhands Tabatha across the face. She instantly falls to the ground once again. After seeing what just happened, Riggs immediately grabs Lance by his jacket collar and throws him face first onto the floor in his direction. Once Lance is on the ground face first, Riggs mounts him from behind and commences to pummeling the back of his head with left and right jabs until Lance passes out after screaming profanities and attempting to stand up.

Once Lance is asleep, Riggs displays a sense of regret. Him and Dwayne attempt to help Lance up. They drag him over to his seat and place him down. Riggs immediately walks up to Tabatha, whom was on the floor holding her face crying after she was begging Riggs to stop hurting her fiance and asks her if she was okay. She calls him a horrible person and runs to Lance crying on his shoulder asking him to wake up. She begins apologizing as well.

Riggs realizes what he has done. He might have taken it too far, however, the way he was brought up, striking a woman is crossing the line. There is no reasoning with that. Riggs personally apologizes to Tabatha then walks off into his dark corner of the bus. He pulls out a pack of cigerettes and lights one up while blowing the smoke out the window. Andrew continues to drive and now relieved that the situation has been resolved.

While the fight was taken place, he was trying to keep the bus on the road while looking back to witness the action. Andrew always loves a good knock out. However, his need to watch the brawl did not coincide with his driving ability.

Cynthia looks back at Riggs with contempt as the passing light poles on the road shine onto her eyes. Riggs notices her looking at him with disgust. A now even more worried Linda, tells Young Andrew to go back to sleep as she walks up to Tabatha. Linda, with a concerned look on her face, sits down across the aisleway from Tabatha.

"Hunny, are you alright?" Linda asks.

Tabatha, still appearing teary eyed, tells her no.

She then goes on to explain how she always messes up and makes Lance mad at her. She also tells Linda that she deserved what she got from him even if he did do it on accident. Linda quickly shakes her head in disagreement.

"You did not deserve any of that. This man obviously loves you, however, the way he goes about it is wrong. You should not be afraid of him like that. Has he ever striked you down before?" an even more concerned Linda asks.

Tabatha quickly shakes her head meaning no.

"Lance has never hit me before. He isn't like that. He does has a very bad temper though and is extremely jealous, but he would never hurt me." Tabatha explained.

A now slightly relieved Linda nods her head up and down in agreement, however, some doubt regarding Lance's good nature is still in question with her. Linda tells Tabatha she can talk to her any time about it if she needs a helping hand.

"Look, if the both of you want to talk about it later and if you two want someone there to mediate, I will be glad to help. I am just worried about you hunny and don't want to see you cry like this. I can understand where Lance is coming from, he obviously loves you very much. However, you need to let him know striking you like that, whether it was an accident or no accident has to stop. It definately will not be tolerated here," she goes on to explain.

Tabatha thanks her for the help assuming Linda was done. Linda then goes on to tell about her prior marriage.

"You know society's view of these type of things change with the times. Back forty years ago myself and my husband just graduated college. We were going through some tough times with money issues. We also did not trust eachother at first and made some mistakes on both sides. Once he found out about my affair which only lasted for two weeks, he beat on me a little bit. He then decided to cheat on me for a little while too until I found out about. When I did, I attacked him with a frying pan and got arrested," Linda now with an evil grin on her face.

"What I am trying to tell you is, when two people love eachother enough, they will get through anything. Recognize each other's faults and mistakes and fix them. I don't think I ever forgave him even on the day he died in that hospital for hitting on me. However, to be honest, I don't think he ever forgave me for what I did to him either. Regardless, we still loved each other dearly," Linda preaches with an apparent sadness growing on her face.

Tabatha asks her if she ever had any children with him. Linda shakes her head and tells her she was never able to bear a child. They never adopted either. However, she always wanted a child. Some how now, she feels fulfilled through Young Andrew even as this 'nightmare' unfolds, she says.

Her only regret is her husband not being able there to share it with her. Tabatha now has a worried look on her face, hoping Linda's would have a story about a child and some how adapt it to her situation. Linda realizes at this moment, Tabatha has more to say.

"Can you keep a secret?" Tabatha whisphers to Linda as if she was trying to avoid Lance from over hearing it, even though he is knocked out.

Linda slowly nods her head.

"I am pregnant with Lance's child. It has only been almost a month. I just don't know how to tell him. Especially now," Tabatha concludes.

Linda stares at her in disbelief.

"Hunny you have to tell him. He has a right to know," Linda responds.

Tabatha shakes her head in disagreement and tells Linda she isn't ready. She needs to wait for the right time to do so and right here is neither the place or time. She goes on to tell Linda that she plans on telling him once the group reaches the safe zone established at Fort Hood Texas where they will be safe and medical teams are in place. She does not want him to worry about her anymore than he has to already.

Linda disagrees with her, however, honors her promise not to tell him. Tabatha hugs her in return and thanks her for the concern.

Many uneventful hours pass by while on the road. Andrew ends up changing out his shift with Dwayne again once he is fully rested. Dwayne drives along a lone and peaceful strip of road in the Alabama country side while the rest of the group is beginning to wake up as day break hits. As they move down the road, Dwayne begins noticing home made spray painted cardboard signs erected on the side of the road as he passes them.

The first one reads, "Survivors near."

Dwayne informs the group of what he is seeing. Riggs and Andrew push up to the front to identify the next upcoming sign a hundred meters down the road from the last one. As they drive by, Riggs identifies it.

"Food, water, shelter, security. Next exit, Right turn, Straight for two miles, complex on the right." another makeshift sign reads.

Riggs and the group ponders the decision whether or not to check it out. Riggs tells them there would be no reason to check it out if they weren't so low on food as they are. However, at this point, the incident earlier requireing them to high tail it out of Wal-Mart due to the premature shooting, as he quickly stares at Audrey, hampered their ability to gather adequate enough supplies for the trip. Audrey puts her hands up as if she wasn't willing to accept criticism.

Andrew and a few others agree with him. A now concious Lance, seperates himself from the group with Tabatha close by his side as he glances a few times over to Riggs while trying to avoid looking at him. Dwayne and Randall got on board quickly as well.

Randall likes the idea of the word 'shelter' he says.

That may include a shower and a nice bed he goes on to add.

Moments later, as Dwayne approaches the turn, he slows down to get final word from the group before committing to the exit. Riggs gets everyone's confirmation and gives Dwayne the go ahead to turn off. Once he does this, the bus enters a long strip of deserted road with thick woodlines surrounding both sides of the road. The bus continues to drive further down the road as they notice there not to be any abandoned vehicles or signs of the apocalypse for miles in the area. Everything looks normal as if the world was the way it used to be.

Some time passes as they drive down the road. Most of them, at this point, seem to be expecting the worse. The group grows nervous as to what they might find. It could be anything they tell eachother as they pass the very last makeshift spray painted sign which reads "Next Right."

Once they clear the sign, the woodline turns into an open grassy field. Beyond the field, lies a gigantic walled and fenced off complex with strains of C-wire wire around it. It appears to be a prison. As the bus approaches, they notice the turn off road leading to the front gate. Multiple watch towers are noticed from a distance. Andrew notices people up in there wearing civilian attire and holding rifles. One of the men is looking through binoculars staring right at them. Seconds later one of the men in the watch tower begins talking into his radio, obviously reporting the approaching vehicle he has spotted.

"Wow, a prison. Great idea. Why didn't we think of that?" Riggs jokes as he turns around looking at the people around him seeing if they are laughing with him.

No one is.

"What happened to all the signs along the road? Normally there would be signs warning drivers of nearby facilities such as these," Linda wonders.

"Could be a trap," Randall declares.

Everyone brushes his statement off.

At this point, however, everyone on the bus appears to be nervous as to what type of people they will meet inside as Dwayne makes the turn and pushes closer to the gate. As the bus pushes forward, he notices that part of the concrete in the road up ahead has been removed and a drop off follows.

However, it doesn't appear to be that deep or wide as he decides to punch it through anyway. As the vehicle approaches, the bus decends a few inches below into the dip. Once he accelerates and pushes the bus back up on to the pavement, loud popping sounds can be heard along with air escaping at a loud and high rate of speed.

"What the hell man! Did our tires just go out! You gotta be freaking kidding me!" yells Dwayne as he continues to move forward while the steering wheel becomes harder to control and begins drifting in different directions indicating multiple flat tires.

He immediately halts the bus. Riggs tells the group to leave their weapons inside in order to not demonstrate hostility towards the men in the watch towers whom are armed. Everyone hops off the bus. Dwayne goes to inspect the tires as Riggs and Andrew waves to the men in the guard tower. One of the guards, puts his finger up indicating them to hold on. Riggs waits patiently along with the others.

As Dwayne walks around the vehicle, he informs the group that all four tires have been blown. He proceeds to back track his path and walks back to the dip he just went through in the concrete. What he sees inside are multiple strips of tire spikes angled perfectly to knock out the wheels of any intruding vehicle fast approaching the gate. Dwayne quickly swings his arms up in frustration and reports it back to the group.

Once Riggs and Andrew learn of their now disabled vehicle, Andrew shakes his head in disapointment. Riggs shrugs it off and begins to laugh.

"What the hell is so funny? We are screwed now!" yells Dwayne.

Riggs turns around and addresses Dwayne and the group.

"Calm down man. Just relax. We broke down in front of a prison with a bunch of humans who aren't trying to eat us. Plus, that's also a good idea. These cats are smart. Can't wait to meet them," he explains with ease.

Dwayne raises his eyebrow as the gates open.

Andrew now attempts to wipe the smurk off his face which is a result of Rigg's last comment. He fails miserably.

Once the gate is fully open, around five males in BDU( battle dress uniform or woodland camoflauge) coats and dark pants armed with various different assault rifles come walking out the gate over to their position. Riggs tells everyone to stay put as he walks over to the man in the center who is obviously the leader.

The two converse for a few minutes in private until Riggs gives Andrew and the group a wave signaling them to come on in through the gate.


end chapter 4

[Nancy1340]

Oh, this could be a good thing or a very bad thing.

Thanks

[NiGHTMARE-Z]

Haha yeah that's what I thought. These people held up in the prison are really messed up and armed to the teeth. You'll find that out in Chapter 6 if you decide to stick with it. This next chapter which I will be posting over a period of the next few days will describe Trevor and his squad's attempt to escape the blood stained sands of Kuwait.

They will also come across the former highway of death where the Republican Guard was wiped out in 91. There will be a twist though.

However, unfortunately, I will only be posting one more chapter. Hopefully viewers of my postings liked the story enough so far to want to buy my book. The last two chapters will be in the full purchased version provided on Amazon and Xlibris websites. The last two chapters are very long and will bring the story full circle.

Those bastards fixed the price for me so I can't really change it. However, the electronic version will be posted on amazon soon in the coming weeks which will be a lot cheaper.

Just want to thank you all for taking the time to read my book.

[NiGHTMARE-Z]

CHAPTER 5
Sweet Tooth

The drive seems endless. Trevor and his men have been driving for what seems like almost a full day through the endless desert. Most of them think Trevor is lost, however, two break downs and three times back tracking later, Trevor still insists he knows where he is taking them. He does not possess a GPS nor a map.

All he has is his instinct and whatever looks familiar from the previous times he has deployed to Iraq while sitting on the bus in Kuwait being bused to these various different bases. However, in the desert, it is difficult to adapt terrain association. Also, many of the times he stayed on these buses being transported during his previous tours, he stayed asleep in the back with his assault pack always propped up on his lap while using it as a pillow as so many soldiers have done before.

Trevor is some how convinced that they are about to come up on the the former highway of death( the road which Republican Guard and Iraqi Army vehicles were congregrated, backed up and destroyed by the US Air Force trying to escape Kuwait during the first Gulf War, thousands of Iraqi invaders met their fates there ) which connects three main American military bases in Kuwait.

Camp Buehring being the furthest, then Camp Virginia in the center and ultiminately ending in Ali Asaleem which leads straight to the main highway of Kuwait.

Trevor believes, they will come up some where on the side or the backside of Camp Buehring. From there, once they arrive into the base, they will inform senior leadership about what has happened to them up north and hopefully receive sanctuary. This is the hope Trevor and his men are clinging onto in order to maintain themselves for the time being. Hunter informs his leader that the truck they are driving will be low on fuel soon if they don't get to a fuel point in time. As it stands right now, the truck is on half a tank. Christopher leans over and tells the guys to get ready to walk if need be. Trevor reassures them that it will not have to come to that.

Ringo and Price seemed to be knocked out dead asleep at this point as the vehicle moves along down the bumpy desert road. Nothing to pull security at Trevor decided a ways down the road as he told them to get some rest. Price brought his M240 Bravo into the cab of the vehicle earlier and passed it to the back so Christopher could lay it down flat. Ringo decided to sleep behind his M249 SAW as it stayed pointed outside the window. He secured the weapon to the vehicle ensuring it wouldn't fall out by deploying the bipod legs on the outside of the door as he rests on the buttstock inside the vehicle.

Gilroy, whom remains in between the two is seen resting on Ringo's arm as he sleeps. Back a ways, Trevor switched out with Hunter so he could get some sleep. Once Hunter awakened from his nap, he went back to the driver's seat. Reagal and Christopher remain passed out in the very back as well even in their seemingly uncomfortable positioning due to the lack of room.

"Damn bro. It sucks being thirsty in the desert," Trevor exclaims to Hunter, refering to the group's lack of water.

Hunter smiles.

"Yeah it also sucks being smokeless and dipless in the desert too," Hunter jokingly adds.

"I second that motion," Trevor concludes as he leans closer to the front of the windshield as if he spotted something.

Hunter asks him if he sees anything. Trevor remains silent for a moment as the vehicle races forward. Moments later, Trevor asks Hunter if he sees what he sees.

Hunter does not.

Trevor tells him to look closer.

Hunter now appearing annoyed thinking Trevor is some how messing with him, leans closer to the windshield like Trevor previously did. Now Hunter himself, can see what Trevor was talking about. It appears to be the outline of an apparent base off into the distance. Hunter now realizes how it could be easily over looked because all of the buildings are a brownish tan color, which blended in with the color of the sand and also the high sand berms built to erect a perimeter for the base.

Trevor and Hunter aren't sure whether or not it is Camp Buehring, however, at this point it doesn't matter.

Trevor begins waking up the rest of his guys with excitement and joy.

"Wake the hell up shit bags! We're here, whatever it is. It's definately one of ours. I can see the DFAC from here. Hot chow assholes! I said wake the hell up!" Trevor yells as he smacks Gilroy on his helmet and begins tapping the other's legs as they sleep.

They begin to reluctantly awake in a cranky mood.

"There better be broads in bikinis waiting for us when we get there," Reagal says as he stretches out his legs while placing one of them in Christopher's face. Christopher grabs his ankle and throws his foot in the other direction so he can have his own space.

"Alright, alright geez, they can wear t-shirts," Reagal takes it a step further.

Price awakes laughing at Reagal's morning joke.

Christopher tells them they joke too damn much.

Reagal counters and tells him he doesn't joke enough.

Trevor yells again and orders them to stop the bickering.

"We are almost there, damnit," he adds.

Gilroy awakes and asks Trevor if they are approaching the base. Trevor tells him yes as Hunter looks back with an angry look and begins shaking his head at Gilroy's comment.

"You didn't hear him the first ten times he said it you deuscher?" Hunter sarcastically asks Gilroy.

As a result, Gilroy throws up his middle finger directed towards Hunter.

Hunter notices it through the rear view mirror and returns the favor.

Upon waking up, Price reaches for his bottom ACU leg pocket for a can of dip. Once he opens up the can, he is shocked to find out he has none left. Price begins cursing out loud and throws the empty can out the moving window.

Reagal then proceeds to ask him what his problem was.

An angered Price responds.

"I'm all out of dip man. Those pogs better not have cleaned out the PX," a frustrated Price exclaims.

Reagal agrees.

Ringo shakes his head.

Christopher calls him a dumb ass.

The vehicle is fast approaching the side of the base.

Some time goes by.

Eventually, the vehicle turns off the main road leading to the access road which brings them directly to the front gate.

A big giant white sign reads, "Welcome to Camp Buehring".

Everyone in the vehicle cheers for joy once again as they push closer up to the ECP(entry control point) expecting to see security forces there giving them the single to halt. However, on the contrary, they do not. The gate is empty and left wide open. Nobody is manning the watch towers as well.

As Hunter slowly drives the vehicle through the serpentine and over the Bradley Fighting Vehicle tracks used as speed bumps, Hunter looks around the empty ECP and begins to talk to himself.

"What the fu.....," he begins to say as he is cut off by Trevor yelling at him to speed up through the gate as Trevor notices one of the security guards in a bloodied OD tan uniform stumbling towards the vehicle's direction while moaning as he exits a portable bathroom.

"Great. Those bastards are here too. There's nobody left!" Trevor declares out of anger.

Everyone in the back are now shaking their heads in disbelief.

Only one who seems not to be effected by this is Reagal, who tells Price that nobody could have taken his dip at the PX if they are all dead. Nobody laughs. Christopher gives Reagal an angry stare.

Trevor tells his soldiers to hold their fire unless they have no other choice. He does not want to attract attention.

"Let that one be. He ain't harming nobody," Trevor adds as Hunter speeds up through the checkpoint.

Price makes the suggestion to hit up the PX after the fuel point. Trevor agrees. Moments later, Trevor tells Hunter to follow the perimeter inside the base and circle it around until they see a fuel point. Trevor knows he saw a fuel point some where on the perimeter the last three or four times he has been here.

Hunter obliges.

As the vehicle skirts the perimeter, the group looks into the base and notices trash flying around everywhere from the heavy winds the Kuwaiti desert produces. It's a bit ironic to Trevor and Christopher because all military bases usually uphold a high standard of cleanliness regarding matters such as trash on the premises. Obviously this place has been abandoned for awhile.

As they drive along, Hunter thinks he spotted a fuel point. Trevor tells him it looks good as they decide to enter in order to hopefully load up on fuel. Hunter avoids the JP-8 line and proceeds to the MOGAS section. Trevor tells his men to keep their fingers crossed as he hops out of the vehicle to check the pump. The hose leads into the ground then disappears. Upon lifting it up from a lone drip pan, he depresses down upon the handle.

To his surprise, gas comes flowing out. He quickly proceeds to place the pump into the fuel tank and begins fueling up the vehicle as Hunter turns off the engine. After about thirty seconds or so of pumping fuel, to Trevor's dismay, he notices the pump has stopped. He quickly pulls out the hose and inspects the end for anymore flowing fuel. Nothing.

"Hey, shot in the dark, but does anyone know anything about these fuel points?" Trevor asks his guys who are inside the vehicle as he pokes his head into Price's window.

Everyone shakes their heads.

"Fueler, is not my MOS," Reagal says.

Trevor calls him a smart ass and informs him of the pump refusing to dispense anymore fuel. Everyone gets out the vehicle and begins walking around to see if they can turn on any machine or flick any switch which is needed to keep the fuel flowing. None of them can figure it out as they appear to be monkeys trying to turn a wrench.

Upon realizing that they may just be royally screwed, Trevor walks over to the driver's side and turns on the vehicle.

He inspects the fuel gauge thoroughly. Moments later, he calculates the final reading as it stops at half a tank. A now concerned Trevor tells his soldiers to take off their 'damned' vests and helmets if they want to.

"Just attach your mission essential equipment to your flick( throw over rack system which carries ammo and other equipment ) if you decide to down grade," Trevor orders.

Some take Trevor up on his offer as ballistic vests are seen flying into the back with a quickness. On the other hand, the others decide to stay in their full equipment as if they were clinging onto to it in a desperate attempt for a sense of safety.

Once the soldiers are finished changing their load out, they hop back in the truck. Trevor tells Hunter to get back on the main road outside the gate. They will be heading to Camp Virginia next. Upon hearing this, Price quickly reminds Trevor of hitting up the PX before they leave for food, water and of course, nicotine. Trevor thinks for a minute in silence, then grants Price his wish.

Trevor tells Hunter to cut through tent city and take the quickest route to the shoppette or PX area, which ever one he chooses.

Hunter hops in the drivers seat as everyone piles in. Price has Christopher and Reagal pass up the M240 Bravo to him where he props it in his window shortly after. Ringo takes up the opposite position as well. Once everyone is inside the vehicle, Hunter takes off and cuts across the sand.

At this point he isn't even driving on a road anymore. He barrells through the sand as dust picks up shooting into the air behind him. Eventually, the group makes it to the area where all the holding tents are adjacened to eachother. Hunter continues to drive through them at a high rate of speed until Trevor tells him to stop for a moment. Hunter immediately brings the vehicle to a screeching halt dead smack in the middle of dozens of tents where soldiers are quartered while waiting for their chance to push north to Iraq. Trevor can be heard by his soldiers talking to himself once again in confusion.

"What the hell is that. Man it looks bad," Trevor tells himself as the rest of the group attempt to stare in the direction he is looking at.

What they see, is a connex setup on the back of a flat bed trailer truck which is left wide open with soldier's duffle bags and ruck sacks in plain view. Some bags can be seen still inside while others are scattered around the general area. The closer the group looks, they notice the bags forming a trail to the inside of a nearby tent.

The bodies of a few soldiers, including one still inside the connex surrounded by the bags, are seen laying lifeless with apparent bite marks all over them. Some are missing limbs as it appears that something has been eating away at them for awhile. Some of the soldiers are so badly eaten to the point where they do not even look like they were human at one point. The grizzly find is startling to the group, affirming they were not alone regarding their recent plight in Iraq, However, how long it had been going on for still remains a mystery to them.

Trevor orders Hunter to stop the vehicle just short of the open trailer with the bags in it. He tells them to stay inside while he takes a look around. Christopher on the other hand, doesn't agree to this and decides to get out on his own accord. Reagal follows him. Trevor says nothing. The remaining soldiers stay in the vehicle while keeping watch.

"Take your time sergeant, no rush," Hunter sarcastically calls out.

Ringo emits a worried grin.

Trevor sarcastically gives Hunter a frown as he turns back towards the vehicle in response.

"I just want some damn dip," Reagal exclaims as he reluctantly hops off the back of the SUV while following Christopher's lead.

Trevor walks into the tent where the trail of bags lead all by his lonesome while Reagal and Christopher walk into the tent directly across from the one Trevor walked into.

As Reagal cautiously walks behind Christopher at the high ready with his rifle pulling security, Christopher slowly opens up the door to the tent. He places his hand up in the air signaling Reagal to follow. Once inside, Christopher notices an extremely foul odor along with a room full of cots, soldier's bags and equipment neatly dressed up as well stacked in front of their bunks.

All of the bunks appear to have their bags neatly placed on the ground in front of them in a dress right dress fashion. Ruck sacks along with a single duffle bag, vest and helmet all neatly stacked in order. Everyone's is the same. As Christopher and Reagal push deeper into the room, they notice the cots have what appears to be ACU digital pattern poncho liners over them. Some have the woodland camoflauge as well. Nearly all of the cots, appear to have something laying in them hiding below the poncho liners.

Christopher walks up to the nearest one holding his nose to keep the stinch at bay while Reagal keeps a beat on it with his barrel. Christopher slowly pulls down the poncho liner, to reveal in horror the pale face corpse of a dead soldier with his eyes widened. His lifeless body is cold and seizes to respond to Christopher removing the poncho liner. Christopher places his head down in sadness as Reagal stands there in awe. Reagal walks down the line of cots and undues all of the covers to reveal even more dead soldiers laid out in their cots.

"Poor bastards. They just completely got left behind," Reagal states in despair.

Christopher remains silent for a few more minutes.

"Nothing we can do here now. Lets go back outside and see what Wilcott is doing," Christopher adds.

Reagal follows.

As they walk outside, they avoid eye contact with the remaining members of the squad inside the truck whom are now glaring at the pair while trying to figure out what they just saw inside the tent.

"Reagal looks like he is about to puke," Hunter tells Ring from his driver's seat as he stares outside his window..

Ringo, Gilroy, Price and Hunter watch on as they try to make sense of the situation. Reagal and Christopher decide to walk over to the tent Trevor is in to see how he is doing and to inform him of what they just discovered. As they approach, they notice Trevor standing by the doorway staring into the room silently.

"Hey Sergeant you won't believe what we just found back there," Reagal states with a sense of urgency only to be met by Trevor's hand being placed up in the air demanding silence.

Christopher and Reagal both halt dead in their tracks behind Trevor to direct attention to what he is gazing at. Once the two soldiers take their first step into the room, the unbearable stinch of dead corpses hit them like a brick wall.

Reagal and Christopher look around in horror as they notice a pile of dead soldiers stacked up on top of eachother in the center of the room. All of them appear to have been dead for some time as their flesh have already changed color and the flies pick away at them. All of them seem to be wearing the PT uniform with summer shorts and t-shirt indictating they were recently identified by TMC personnell to be sick and treated. Trevor shakes his head in disgust as he covers his nose and mouth with his sleeve in order to block out the unbearable stinch.

"This must have been the overflow room. When they ran out of storage for bodies at the morgue and the TMC. They must have started stacking these poor boys like cord wood," Trevor explains with a sense of pity.

"This ain't right boss man. We need to get the hell out of here," Reagal exclaims.

Christopher goes on to add what they saw in the other tent. Trevor shakes his head as Hunter begins honking the horn outside to grab their attention. The three of them quickly rush outside to confront the commotion.

"Are we staying here or what? I really need a smoke!" cries Hunter from the driver's seat.

Trevor shakes his head once again as he approaches the vehicle. Reagal and Christopher hop in the back shortly after. Once Trevor enters his seat and places his rifle between his legs, Hunter asks Trevor what he saw. Trevor closes his eyes for a second and tells him not to worry about it.

Ringo, Price and Gilroy look back to Christopher and Reagal for an answer only to be met by unresponsiveness and cold stares. Everyone decides to drop the issue as Hunter takes off and races towards the PX on base. As the truck barrels through the sand once more, silence and concern consumes the cab. Nobody really feels like talking at this point as Trevor is still in shock at what he just recently fell witness to.

The members of his squad who did not catch a glimpse of the grim sight ponder in their heads what the three might have seen. However, they figure whatever it is the men saw it was horrible and wasn't worth mentioning. Hunter blows it off and sets his eyes on the prize which is cigerettes.

Once the truck approaches the mini shopping plaza which holds a McCdonalds, barber shop and pizza joint, he parks the truck beside the mini PX out of sight from anything which may stumble across the center of the plaza. Trevor reminds his men to stick together and move with a purpose.

"In and out," Trevor reiterates.

Everyone heeds his instructions.

As everyone dismounts the truck, the seven of them cautiously move around the side of the building to the front in a file formation while each soldier pulls security and watches their sectors. Christopher is on point as everyone follows behind him. Price left his machine gun in the vehicle and downgraded to his M4 Carbine so he could be more mobile. Ringo and a few others slung their assault packs over their backs in order to grab more items as the others just intend to stuff their pockets.

As the squad enters the front of the building, Christopher slowly ascends the stairs to the entrance of the store. Once near the door, he instantly notices the door cracked opened and unlocked. He gives the signal to the members of his squad of his intentions to enter. Once he does this, he quickly moves the door out of the way with his non-firing hand and pushes deep into the store to make room for the rest of his soldiers to enter. They quickly break up into smaller teams once inside and clear all of the aisles along with the backrooms and latrines.

"Looks all clear," Trevor states as he places his weapon down in a relaxed position slung in front of his chest.

The rest of the men begin looking around noticing the store in disarray. Various items knocked over into the aisles. Collapsed shelves. Emptied out registers and energy drinks falling out of the coolers spilt into the aisles. The soldiers quickly begin stuffing their bags with whatever items are left. Hunter quickly approaches the nicotine aisle, to realize in despair, that the only cigerettes left in cartons were Marlboro Ultra Lights.

This greatly upset him, however, did not stop him from grabbing it anyway. Price and Reagal began tossing loggs of Apple Skoal dip into their pockets reluctantly for that is all that was left while Trevor obtained a few cartons of Ultra Lights. Gilroy went for the energy drinks. Upon grabbing a few, he walks up to the ice cream cooler which he finds empty.

Right as he does this, Hunter walks by and comments.

"The world just ended and you're worried about ice cream? The hell man," Hunter taunts as he walks by.

Gilroy snaps back and tells him to mind his own business.

Ringo and Christopher mainly focused on the bare essentials such as beef jerky, food and water. Once the group finished gathering what they needed, they quickly high tailed it back to the truck with hopes of not drawing any attention. They were able to exit without incident and quickly took off towards the gate headed back to the main freeway. Upon driving into the gate to leave the base, Trevor reminds the gunners in the back to keep a look out for one of the gate guards they stumbled across earlier.

"Take us on to Camp Virginia Hunter. This road will lead us to it," Trevor exclaims as he lights up an Ultra Light.

Hunter nods his head as he does the same as they stare off into the distance of open flat desert.

"My god, I hate Ultra Lights," Trevor admits as he continues to smoke it anyway while watching the road from his seat.

"I second that motion," Hunter adds.

[NiGHTMARE-Z]

"It's going to be awhile," Christopher calls out from the back.

"Don't worry, I acquired something that will help pass the time," Price adds as he reaches into his cargo pocket.

He then proceeds to pull out a Marilyn Manson CD with an akward look on his face.

Trevor shakes his head once more.

"Great, way to set the mood," Trevor adds as an excited Hunter quickly grabs it from Price's hand and proceeds to pop the disc into the CD player.

Hunter begins flipping through the songs to find what he calls his all time favorite song, "We're from America".

While the music is blasting loudly as they roll down the desert road, Gilroy attempts to make a comment over the sound of record. Hunter turns up the volume in defiance of Gilroy.

"What's that? You didn't get your ice cream?" Sarcastically exclaims Hunter over the music.

An annoyed Trevor turns the volume down so Gilroy can say his peace.

"Your music only confirms how much of a queer you are Hunter," insults Gilroy.

Everyone in the truck shouts out loud instigating the conflict.

Hunter stays silent while he glares at Gilroy through his rear view mirror. Gilroy knows Hunter is watching him and makes an attempt to ignore him. Gilroy feels unappreciated and singled out these days. He grows more defiant as time goes by, especially to his enemy, Hunter.

"You all whine too much. Sit back and enjoy the ride," Calmy states Ringo as he leans over to the center console and grabs a cigerette from Hunter's pack.

Everyone in the vehicle stares at him in silence. Ringo smiles as he lights up then decides to look back outside the window with his barrel pointed out.

That is when Reagal decides to chime in, "Hey, not sure if you all noticed, but the PX finally had some N.O. Xplode," Reagal sarcastically states.

Price begins to bust out laughing, soon followed by everyone in the vehicle with the exception of Gilroy who did not understand the joke.

Some time goes by on the road. Around forty minutes later, Trevor notices the skyline of Camp Virginia off into the distance. Still seeming optimistic, Trevor tries to cheer up the group by sounding off with more jokes.

"Check it out ladies. Old Virginia, there she is. Finally made it," Trevor exclaims with enthusiasm.

Gilroy shakes his head.

"Doesn't matter Sergeant. Everybody probably dead there too," a pessimestic Gilroy adds.

Hunter shys with contempt.

"Nobody said you can talk," he adds.

"Now, now, got to stay positive. Like Magic Johnson," adds Trevor.

Reagal bursts out laughing in the back. Price follows. Nobody else seemed amused. As Hunter fastly approaches the entry way to Camp Virginia, in shock, Trevor notices something off in the distance on the main road past the front gate of the base.

"You got to be kidding me," Hunter exclaims.

Everyone in the back raises their heads up to the front of the vehicle to see what the problem is.

Trevor sits there in silence.

"What is it?" Christopher asks with a sense of dread in his voice unable to see what everyone in front is looking at.

"Hate to be the bearer of bad news. I think this place is tainted too," Trevor concludes in response to Christopher's question.

What they bear witness to, are what appears to be an endless sea of abandoned American military vehicles backed up along the road as far as the eye can see. It appeared to be a traffic jam pushing just past the gate in the direction of Ali Asaleem. There is no end in sight. In addition, there are no apparent room for any vehicle to pass through this vehicle graveyard. Maneaverability is at a bare minimum to none at all.

"Only way we are going to pass through this is to drive into the moondust. We all know what that entails," Hunter suggests.

Trevor tells him to pull into the gates of Camp Virginia.

"Keep your fingers crossed guys," Reagal hopelessly states while obviously expecting the worst.

"Keep your eyes open guys. We need to find the fuel point here then possibily the DFAC. We need to gather up some more food and drinking water. There wasn't enough at that PX back the other way to sustain us for long. Are you all in?" Trevor asks as he props his rifle up to his shoulder bracing himself for whatever lies ahead.

Everyone agrees as they rise up from their seats and secure their weapons in preperation.

Hunter slows the vehicle down to ten miles per hour as he turns into the direction of the gate. The abandoned military vehicles appear to form a man made barrier adjacened to the front gate. Only where to go without getting on foot is straight into the front entrance of the Camp.

Ringo, who resides in the backseat just behind Hunter, notices the bodies of soldiers still lying dead inside the cab as the vehicle makes it's final turn into the gate. He decides not to say anything. As the vehicle weaves around the serpentine barriers and tire spikes, they realize the gate guards are no where to be found as well which was expected considering what they just observed on the road. Trevor tells Hunter to comb the perimeter of the base once again like before because that is where military fuel points are normally located. Hunter obliges.

Once their vehicle passes the ECP, Hunter immediately swings the vehicle left onto a perimeter access road and begins to pickup speed again. Trevor has already counted twelve bodies lying on the ground lifelessly just at the gate alone. Bullet holes in the T-walls were also notices which tells him there was a mock battle here. Bullet casings could also be found scattered around the bodies.

"Check it out guys," informs Price as he looks down the iron sights of his machine gun which is still propped outside the window from his seat in a defensive posture as he takes aim. Trevor looks in the direction Price called out.

"Let them be. Don't want to draw any attention. I don't think those guys are alive," Trevor coaches.

Price noticed a group of three soldiers not too far off from their location stumbling across a parking lot in their direction. They are wearing ACU's, however, one of them is only in a tan T-shirt, nothing else. They are bloodied as well and begin emitting loud moans and screams as they place their hands up in a reaching fashion towards Trevor's vehicle as they pass by.

Dead silence lingers in the cab of the vehicle. A sense of dread has bestowed Trevor's men. Trevor is feeling it's effects as well.

"Need to find this damn fuel point," Trevor reiterates as he lights up a cigerette trying to calm himself down as his hand which holds his lighter begins shaking uncontrollably.

Some time goes by as Hunter is fast approaching the start point. They are almost about to complete a full loop of the base and in the process, have witnessed many of those "things" out there stumbling and scattered all through out the base. However, none of them were riled up because the majority of them failed to notice the black SUV driving around. Some stopped and stared but went on about their business once it passed by.

Just before Hunter is about to complete his loop, the fuel point is finally spotted just short of the start point.

"Son of a bitch. Should of went right," Hunter states in frustration.

Trevor tells him to shake it off.

As the vehicle pulls into the fuel point, they notice a large white spray painted sign which reads "NO FUEL, EMPTY".

Trevor tells Hunter to try the pumps anyway. Once they get parked, Trevor anxiously exits the vehicle and tries to fill up only to realize that the desperate attempt was futile. Everyone else stays in the vehicle with their heads down expecting the worse. Once Trevor breaks the expected news to his soldiers, their usual reactions follow by a sigh and rolling of the eyes. This was expected, so none of them were too shocked. Trevor quickly hops back in the vehicle and tells Hunter to head for the dining facility.

Once back on the road, Christopher asks Trevor from the back of the vehicle what they are going to do next. As the vehicle is rolling along and passing a few of those "things" out there without drawing much attention, Trevor contemplates their next move. Once he gathers his thoughts and makes his final decision, he goes on to fill in the rest of the squad.

"We load up on food and water. Then head back out to the main road and find us a nice Army vehicle courtesy of Uncle Sam. Once we acquire our new ride, we head for the next and last base. If it's the same situation over there, which I am sure it is, we have no choice but to head for the Air Force Base in Kuwait city. This vehicle we're in now won't make it. Y'all agree?" a jittery Trevor proclaims in the form of a question.

Price and Ringo stare at eachother for a moment. An apparent fear in Price's eyes linger as Ringo noticed.

Ringo, being his usual stoic self, adds a comment.

"What choice do we have? Sounds like a plan Sergeant," Ringo sounds off with fearlessness and confidence.

Everyone else agrees with the exception of Gilroy, who sits there wide eyed apparently holding back his tears. Ringo tightens up his smacking hand as he keeps it on standby in the event Gilroy proceeds with the water works. However, to his surprise, it does not happen.

Hunter lights up another cigerette. Trevor follows. The pair are already almost finished with their first pack that they have "acquired" earlier in the day. Trevor now spotting the DFAC off into the distance, decides to reiterate something that is worrying him.

"Now ya'll listen up. We all go in and grab what we need. Ringo and Christopher, ya'll going to be my security element. Watch the damn avenues of approach while we bring those supplies back to the vehicle. Keep quiet and don't draw any damned attention. Last thing we need is this whole damn base to converge on us. Hunter, you stay with the vehicle and be look out. If you see anything of value or danger don't yell. Sprint back to our location so we can high tail it out of here quietly. Everyone tracking?" Trevor aggresively orders with a combination of anger and aggresiveness in his voice.

Everyone nervously agrees.

As they approach the dining facility, Hunter asks Trevor where he wants to park. Trevor tells him to pull up to the closest barrier that brings them to the front entrance. The vehicle can not push up to the very front of the door because of the blocking T-wall barrier emplacements. Hunter is only able to get as close as fifty yards to the front entrance. Once he parks, without thinking, he turns off the vehicle. Nobody else gives it a second thought because of the task at hand and the pending fear of what they may find inside.

Prior to entering these bases in Kuwait, once Trevor's squad pushed into the Kuwaiti border, they made it a rule not to turn off the vehicle because of the constant technical issues they have been experiencing. However, this time, nobody gave it a second thought.

Once the vehicle is turned off Hunter reaches for his weapon and hops out. He climbs up on the hood and takes a seat on the top of the vehicle assuming his look out duties. The rest of the squad quickly dismount off the truck with their weapons slung and ready. Christopher leaves the back hatch open to throw in the supplies when they come back. The area that the truck is located in, seems pretty quiet and nothing dangerous in sight. Various alteration shops and smoking areas can be seen along with volleyball courts. The area is pretty well spaced out as Kuwaiti moondust consumes the area. If anything was coming, Hunter would be able to see it as it approaches.

Trevor takes point as the rest of the members of the squad follow behind him in a file as they approach the front entrance of the dining facility at a slow but steady pace as they maintain their weapons at the high ready. Trevor cautiously moves up the stairs leading to the front door as his nervous squad behind him also keeps their weapons up scanning for any potential threats.

[Nancy1340]

Thanks

[NiGHTMARE-Z]

Once Trevor is positioned in front of the door way to the DFAC, he routinely throws up the hand and arm signal for the men behind him to halt. Once he does this, Trevor instantly tries to open up the front door by turning on the knob. To his disgust, the door is locked and will not open. He lets everyone in the back know of the situation. He tells them he will not do a door breach because the noise will draw attention to anything that may be waiting inside for them.

Ringo decides to instantly chime in at that point, he tells Trevor that along the way to the entrance he noticed a window left wide open. Trevor likes the plan and signals the squad to back track.

Shortly after, everyone proceeds to back track to the open window Ringo spotted. Once there, Trevor tells Reagal and Gilroy to give him and Christopher a boost up to the window. Once Trevor and Christopher are hoisted up the wall and into the facility, Trevor pokes his head out the window and gives his men awaiting outside follow on instructions.

Reagal and Gilroy quickly take up positions below the window to the facility and combine their hands to form a human step. Trevor goes first as he gets hoisted up into the window. Christopher quickly follows behind. Once Trevor and Christopher are hoisted up the wall and into the facility, Trevor pokes his head out the window and gives his men awaiting outside follow on instructions.

"Y'all head back to the door now and wait for us to open it. Go on, get!" Trevor loudly whisphers as he appears to be letting his nerves get the best of him

The wary soldiers now nod their heads in compliance of Trevor's order and quickly move back to the front of the facility. A few minutes go by as they wait impatiently. Some of the soldiers begin to grow paranoid while wondering if their Sergeants are okay on the other side. Gilroy nervously begins pacing back and fourth. Ringo instantly tells him to calm down and pull security. Gilroy does not listen.

Moments later, the door swings open with Trevor and Christopher standing there on the other side. To the rest of the squad's relief, they immediately enter the facility. Trevor splits them up into two teams. One team led by Christopher and the other by himself. Both teams proceed to clear the facility before taking out what they need from the kitchen and storage rooms. Some time goes by once the two teams link back up by the soft drink section.

No threats were found. Trevor kicks Ringo to the front door entrance and Christopher to the back door entrance for security while the rest of them go into the back to scoop up whatever boxed foods and water they can find.

After a few trips back and fourth to the vehicle, the squad's SUV at this point is loaded up with a few cases of MRE's(Meals Ready to Eat) and a few cases of bottled gatorades. Also, some assorted chips and pop tarts as well as ottis spunkmeyer muffin cases could also be found in the back piled near the MRE's. Trevor tells his men they need to do one more load of MRE's and water before they can leave.

After hearing this, the squad quickly hurries back into the dining facility to grab the last run of supplies. That is when Gilroy decides to veer off from the group and make his way into a different section of the back kitchen. Still upset from his earlier failure to acquire an ice cream to satisfy his craving, he anxiously searches around for any signs of where ice cream or popsicles may be present. He can hear the other members of his squad in another room tossing cases of MRE's and water back to eachother so he figures he has some time.

Along the way, he notices a large metal door which is dead bolted into the wall. He figures this might be the freezer room. If they can store meats and other foods here, ice cream would definately be present. After a second of contemplating in front of the dead bolted freezer door, he decides to act on his craving.

Gilroy immediately unlocks the bolt keeping the freezer door shut. Instantly, the large metallic door creeps open. He decides to step in while feeling the enormous drop in tempature.

"Jackpot" he tells himself as he decides to look around for ice cream. That is when he shockingly notices a human corpse laid out in the center of the room. In addition, he bears witness to an overly obese individual in shiney black dress shoes with white pants and a white dress collared T shirt on his knees leaning into the corpse manically feasting on his intestines from where his torso should be.

The overweight man also appears to have a signature dining facility cap over his head. Gilroy freezes in place still in shock and not able to move at this point as he witnesses this man frantically eating his meal. Gilroy continues to remain immobile for an additional short period of time as he observes the gruesome sight. It wasn't too long until the cannibal on the ground looks up at Gilroy and notices his presence.

The fat man places some of the victim's guts back in the hole of the stomach to which he ripped open earlier and begins gazing at Gilroy while slowly rising up to become erect on two legs. This sends Gilroy into an instant panic. Instead of backing out and locking the freezer door like he should have, he decides to take aim with his weapon. A second or two goes by before the assailant charges Gilroy with a loud and thunderous scream of hunger. That is when Gilroy opens fire on him. A total of six rounds are fired until Gilroy can drop the attacker for good. The sixth round finally entering the man's cranium.

Gilroy places his weapon back to it's original position slung across his chest proud of himself for achieving his "first kill". He figured the members of his squad would now respect him a bit more. Once Gilroy killed the attacker, he continues about his business looking for the ice cream he so desperately craved. While he was in the process of continueing his search inside the freezer, Trevor along with Reagal and Price come running up to the entrance of the freezer room to see if Gilroy was okay. Gilroy explains the situation with a sense of pride and excitement at achieving his first kill.

Trevor stares at him for a second in disbelief. Reagal, standing beside Trevor, calls Gilroy an idiot.

Price also adds an additional comment in anger.

"What the hell did Sergeant Wilcott tell you!" angrily yells Price.

Gilroy goes to explain when Trevor, out of anger and frustration, punches him across the face with a right hook.

Gilroy instantly falls to the ground.

"Are you trying to get us killed you dumb bastard! All you had to do was close this damned door! Now we're going to have all those things on us! I told y'all to not attract no damned attention!" Trevor yells as he stands over Gilroy who is dazed and confused as he lies on the ground.

Hunter quickly turns his head back to stare at the dining facility behind him as he sits up on top of his SUV. Multiple shots ring out as his eyes grow wide to the pending result of the loud noise. Without even thinking, he quickly rolls off the top of the vehicle and into the cab.

He attempts to start up the vehicle, however, failing miserably. It just donged on Hunter that he wasn't supposed to turn off the engine because of what happened before with it being unreliable at certain times. As he continues to try, he notices mobs of soldiers and some civilians running out of the various different AAFES shops in the general area in the direction of the dining facility. They are obviously one of those things Hunter concludes as the mobs begin screaming and moaning.

There seems to be dozens of them coming out of the shops in all direction and out of some of the bunkers used for indirect fire. This puts Hunter into an instant state of panic as he gives up on trying to start the vehicle and hops out. He runs through the crack of the T-Walls to his Squad's location. Upon approaching the entrance, he runs into Ringo who is guarding the front door.

"We need to get the hell out of here man! They are coming right now! Dozens if them! Let everyone know!" Hunter yells with terror in his eyes.

Ringo quickly rises up from his kneeling position and runs to the back rooms to inform Trevor and the rest of the squad. Hunter assumes security of the doorway.

A few seconds later, Trevor along with the rest of the squad emerge from the back room panically trying to run out with the supplies in their hands. Hunter yells back as they approach and tells them to drop it because the vehicle will not start.

"You got to be kidding me!" Trevor yells as he tosses a box of MRE's down in anger.

Other members of the squad begin yelling and swearing at Gilroy. Hunter asks what happened as they run up to him. Reagal tells Hunter as he runs by him that Gilroy shot one of those things while trying to grab an ice cream in the freezer instead of just closing the door and locking it on him.

Hunter's jaw drops as he picks up to follow the rest of his squad. Once the group of soldiers are outside sprinting back to the vehicle, they notice close to twenty assailants now surrounding their black SUV. Trevor and his men stop dead in their tracks as they are only a few feet outside of the front entrance to the dining facility.

Everyone in the squad with the exception of Trevor places their weapons up in the direction of the mob. Right before they attempt to open fire, Trevor orders them to hold it.

"Screw that. Save your ammo. We're high tailing it back to the road, lets go!" Yells Trevor as he takes off on foot in the other direction of the mob.

Right when he does this, the mob notices the men standing in front of them.

"Nice going dumb ass!" Hunter panically screams to Gilroy as he follows Trevor.

Everyone else picks up behind Trevor as the screaming frenzied mob takes off after them. As the mob picks up it's pace, more assailants begin coming out of the woodwork joining their ranks. A seven man group is now being chased by dozens. The squad breaks through the DFAC perimeter T-walls into the open spread out moondust. Trevor decides to cross the road with a quickness and cut through the tent area. Everyone continues to follow him.

"Damn we left everything back there. Ammo, food, water and our gear!" a winded Reagal cries as he struggles to keep up the pace.

"That's the least of our worries right now. Keep moving!", Christopher shouts back.

The mob behind them appeared to have emerged through the cracks of the T-walls Trevor and his men just came out of. They are pursueing the group in a quick running pace as their moans and screams grow louder. Once the squad has entered an area surrounded by tents used as living quarters, they continue to push through in order to find a hard ball road to run on all the way back to the gate.

As the mob approaches closer, the noise draws more attackers out of the tents around them who remained dorment just minutes prior. Many more flood out of the tents to converge on Trevor and his squad. Ringo begins opening fire with his M249 SAW at the most immediate threats as they approach. Trevor and Price also engage multiple attackers who charge them out of corners and door ways as they tiredly continue to move. As a result, the combination of gunfire and mob screams and rants, draw even more attackers from far ends of the base who begin running towards the source of the noise only to run into the frenzied mob to join them. The group has a very big problem on their hands now.

As they struggle to push across the Kuwaiti moondust, they finally reach the end of the living pad and hop onto a hard ball road. After narrowly escaping for the time being, They slow down their pace a bit to catch their breathes. An eager Price reluctantly looks back to see how many attackers are now following. For the time being however, the assailants seem to be far enough behind for them to take a quick breather. That is when Hunter notices off into the distance in the direction of where the front gate is supposed to be, even more individuals heading in their direction. They are only minutes apart. Hunter quickly points this out to the rest of the group.

Shortly after coming to this realization, Trevor orders them to pick up again.

"We have to beat those bastards to the front gate before they cut us off!" a frantic Trevor orders.

Everyone now begins running with a sense of urgency as if their lives depended on it. At this point, everyone in the group is moving in a dead sprint while some attempt to reshuffle their equipment attached their chests and reposition their weapons so their muzzles do not jab into their legs. A few of the soldiers even unslung their rifles and proceeded to sprint with it in one hand so the pace could be kept. That is when Gilroy begins to fall behind.

He is already apparently winded and uncomfortably attempting to move around his rack system so he can keep up. Failing miserably in the process. Christopher and Hunter notice this as they holler back to him encouraging him to catch up with them.

The frenzied mob behind them now appears to be on the same road with them after shortly reacquiring their meal. They begin gaining some ground. In addition, the other blood thirsty mob of soldiers and security forces across the way from them on perimeter road, are fast approaching the gate Trevor and his men need clear in order to escape. Trevor yells back to his soldiers with an ever growing sense of urgency to beat the mob to the punch.

Once the group is only around twenty-five meters off the exit of the gate, they are greeted by a few of the gate guards emerging from their watch towers, guard shacks and porto-johns. Trevor, whom is in the lead followed by Christopher and Ringo, begin opening fire on them to clear a path. The attackers are quickly dropped due to the precision accuracy of the professional soldiers. Trevor takes a moment to look back when he notices Gilroy even further back than he had anticipated. As a result, Trevor takes quick action to ensure all of his soldiers make it.

He urgently grabs Ringo by the back of his MOLLE vest and shrugs him over to a sand bag dug out position overwatching the intersection the approaching mobs are converging on. He orders Ringo to lay down suppressive fire on the mob approaching their flank. Once a sweaty Hunter come storming up to their position with Reagal and Price, Trevor orders Hunter to stay with Ringo and start engaging the mob which is high tailing a slow approaching Gilroy from the rear.

The soldiers quickly get into their positions without question. Trevor takes the rest of his men and clear the way up ahead for any more attackers. He quickly yells back to Hunter as he takes off with his men in a wedge formation that once they link up with Gilroy, join back up with the rest of the squad on the main road outside the gate. The pair acknowledge as they commence engaging within their sectors of fire. The pair begins to make their guns talk, to ensure none of them go "black" on ammo at the same time. Hunter quickly unloads a magazine of thirty rounds into the crowd behind Gilroy without hitting him. He drops around twelve assailants with ease. Gilroy can be seen twitching and placing his head down as Hunter's rounds weeze by him.

On Ringo's side of the fighting position, he appears to be laying down effective fire on the fast approaching mob from the flank. He maintains a rapid firing rate with an occasional sustained firing pace to inflict more accurate headshots. The entire time he avoids going cyclic and wasting rounds. Shortly later, Gilroy comes charging up. His demeanor is sloppy as he appears tired and disoriented from the heat and the running. Once he passes Hunter he begins walking on foot.

"You almost shot me you bastard!" Gilroy yells back to Hunter.

Hunter commences to swearing back at him and orders him to "move his ass".

Gilroy ignores Hunter's instructions and continues to walk as he lets the exhaustion get the best of him.

Once Ringo looks back and realizes they just made the link up, he quickly picks up as he drops an empty two hundred round drum on the ground and quickly reaches for another one from his tactical vest. Hunter picks up as well and begins moving back to the main road like instructed. As they do this, they can hear a volley of gunfire come from the main road indicating their squad is still alive and clearing ahead for them.

"I said move your ass shitbag!" Hunter yells into Gilroy's ear as he passes from behind him and smacks him in the back of the head.

Hunter does not look back to see Gilroy's reaction.

He just notices Gilroy out of his periphal vision begin to pick up his pace reluctantly like a child at gym class. The sheer anger and frustration with Gilroy seems to overwhelm Hunter at this point.

As the three of them desperately try to push through the serpentine and hop T barriers along the way through the gate, they notice the build up of new bodies just recently shot along the way. Ringo decided to follow the trail of bodies back to the squad. Once the three of them turn a corner of high twelve foot tall concrete T-wall emplacements, the rest of their squad becomes visible in plain sight about a hundred meters down the road from them in open desert. They are seen looking back into the base waiting for the rest of the group to see if they made it out alive.

Trevor and Christopher can be seen waving their arms back to Ringo, whom is in the lead of Hunter and Gilroy.

Ringo and the rest sprint down the lonley strip of desert road leading from the gate to the highway of death. As they approach, Trevor and Reagal can be seen greeting them with wide smiles.

"Man we thought you assholes were done for. Good to see you all!" an excited but relieved Reagal states.

The three of them come to a dead halt once linking back up with the rest of the squad and place their heads down as if they were attempting to catch their breathes. Ringo does not respond and begins shaking his head in disgust. Hunter on the other hand, feels the need to comment on Gilroy's lack of team play.

"Not only is Gilroy a stupid bastard. He is also lazy and out of shape. He almost got us killed back there," Hunter states with emmence anger in his voice.

Gilroy just gives a stupid stare and turns his head to avoid eye contact with Hunter.

"No time for that! Staggered formation on me through this graveyard. Spread the hell out and stay away from the doors if you don't know whats in it. We got to keep moving, those bastards are just coming out of the gate. We need to find us a vehicle ASAP!" Yells Trevor as he begins jogging to the left shoulder of the road.

The rest of the squad follows in behind him and staggers off-set to one another on both sides of the road. Trevor is the first to push past the first burnt down vehicle. Once he does this, the grim sight of military vehicles as far as the eye can see is in plain view. Some are burnt down as some are left fully intact. A few of the vehicles have weapon systems still attached in the turrets with dead gunners leaning over them. A combination of military vehicles are scattered everywhere through the road. There is no end in sight. Big rig trucks to LMTV's. M1126 Hummers to abandoned Bradley Fighting Vehicles all left for the taking.

As the squad pushes down the lone dreary strip of road, evidence of what occured on this strip of death is ever present. The cautious soldiers move down the road with impunity as they warily look into windows of the cabs for evidence of a working vehicle. Some even hop into empty cabs which show no evidence of bodies or blood and attempt to start up one of the vehicles desperately only to fail in the end to a struggling engine or nothing at all.

Bullet casing can be found scattered everywhere to include shattered glass and random equipment torn apart and spread across the road. Ruck sacks and duffle bags which have been strapped to the sides of the vehicles for the crews of that vehicle are also noticed ripped apart to the ground and bloodied with the remnents of the owner's flesh.

"Smells like burnt hair in here," a disgusted Price yells back to Reagal as he attempts to start up a humvee.

Price hops out of the drivers seat and slams the armored door shut in dissapointment. Reagal looks back into the distance and notices the crowd of whom was chasing them earlier starting to get wind of their escape route. A few straddlers begin stumbling in between the vehicles looking and sniffing around for food.

"It's going to smell like ours too if we don't find a damn vehicle soon," a scared Reagal responds.

A concerned Reagal has no more jokes to counter with at this point as he yells back to Trevor and the rest of the men of what he just observed. As a result, the soldiers begin checking more vehicles for function with a sense of urgency. Hunter and Gilroy still remain in the rear of the formation.

Christopher, who is up a ways ahead near Trevor's point position, notices a white transport bus which is commonly used for American forces being transported from Kuwait City to the bases along the border. These buses are civilian in nature and can carry many passengers. As a last ditch effort, he attempts to board it and check it out.

However, he can not see what may lie inside because there are curtains which conceals all the windows from the inside of the bus so American troops can not be seen in the open while being transported.

He slowly approaches the front of the bus while trying to peak in. He can not see anything. As a result, Christopher walks around to the front entrance of the bus and boards it cautiously while looking down the sight of his rifle. Once he ascends the short staircase of the bus, with the aisle of the bus and the seats now in plain view, he discovers in horror what lies behind the curtains of the bus. Every two man seat from front to back of the bus lies a dead soldier. Some with their eyes wide open, others leaning forward into their bags which dwells on top of their laps in a sort of resting position. The smell which lingers inside the bus, is so intense he begins instantly puking onto the center aisle of the floor. The wet flopping and choking sounds of Christopher, apparently become loud enough to give away his presence.

Once he is finished throwing up his snack from earlier, he spits out the remaining remnants of chunks which was stuck down his throat and in his mouth. Once he is able to gather himself, he looks up and wipes the tears away from his eyes. What he notices at that point, is every single supposed "dead" passenger on the bus now staring at him with widened, pupiless eyes glaring in his direction.

The soldiers whom were leaned forward on their bags, are now erect in their seats staring at him. Now in sheer panic mode, Christopher slowly takes a few steps back as all of the passengers begin rising up from their seats to eagerly pursue Christopher. He quickly hops off the bus and closes the door behind him to hear instant banging and thumping noises from the windows. Screams soon follow. He doesn't know how long that door will hold. As a result, he runs up to Trevor to inform him of the find as Trevor is desperately attempting to start up another vehicle without success as a half eaten corpse lies next to him on the passenger side propped up in the seat with his seatbelt on. Trevor orders him to get the rest of the boys past that bus with a quickness.

Christopher instantly picks up sprinting up and down the line ordering his soldiers to move up quickly. The mob all the way in the back are now slowly gaining ground on them as well. The rest of the soldiers sprint up to Trevor's position as he now moves on to the next vehicle. As they push up, the rest of the squad can hear the loud moans, screams and banging on the glass come from the lone white transport bus. None of them ask questions as to what is in it.

A few minutes go by as the rest of the squad continue searching vehicles up ahead. Shattering glass can now be heard from the bus Christopher was on as Gilroy, whom is still taking up the rear of the formation with Hunter, noticing pale, sick like soldiers crawl through the shattered windows out of the bus and slamming onto the pavement in order to pursue them. Their loud moans and screams at the sight of Gilroy and Hunter attract more commotion and attention from afar.

It now appears to Hunter, that the mob whom they escaped earlier down the way are now becoming attracted to the sounds which are being emitted by this new group of undead they encountered on the bus. As a result, the mob back the way begins picking up their pace in the direction of Trevor and his men.

"Keep searching man! Hurry up!" Hunter yells back to Gilroy and everyone else.

Now in a state of panic at their possible pending doom, the soldiers begin hopping into vehicles without even checking them for corpses. Reagal, makes this mistake inside one of the humvees he identified near his location. As he ran up to the driver's seat, he didn't even bother to look inside prior to opening the door. Once he does this, he quickly takes a seat on the driver's side and begins turning the switch back to start the engine. As he does this, he tries to make room for his weapon by canting it off to the right side to place on the gunner's platform when he rifle goes right into the mouth of a bloodied soldier whom is laying down face first on the gunner's platform.

Reagal instantly notices this when he feels teeth clamp down upon his receiver as he attempts to place it down. He quickly turns back in shock and backs away as he notices a half eaten soldier reaching for him and chopping away at the air in his direction. The soldier is missing his legs and only has one arm to grab. A reluctant Reagal reaches back inside the cab and grabs the sling of his weapon and pulls it back towards him escaping the jaw of the assailant. Reagal quickly closes the door and moves on to the next awaiting truck up ahead.

As Hunter and Gilroy hop vehicle to vehicle from the rear, Hunter figures out how dangerous this can be. Especially after seeing Reagal up the way quickly escape the last vehicle he was just in. He decides to play it safe and pull security for Gilroy as he checks the engines of the vehicles they pass. As Gilroy does this, he notices the bus passengers starting to pursue him ever closer. A few of them stumble along and as they get closer to Hunter and Gilroy, their screams and moans grow louder. So loud in matter of fact, as they pass by a flat bed truck with a canvass erected in the back, the noises disturbs something lurking inside.

Hunter bears witness to this as Gilroy continues to go about his dangerous job for the rest of the group.

It appears, one of the tailgates were left down on one of the downed vehicles with the flatbad and canvass on it. As the noise around it grows louder, Hunter notices a pile of bodies begin rolling off the back and out of the darkness of the truck and onto the ground as if they were ducks in a row. Many of them, appeared to be in bloodied summer PT shorts and T shirts. An endless trail of bodies commence to smacking the pavement and then shortly rising up to look around and notice Hunter. They begin their pursuit.

Many of the bodies which have fallen out of this vehicle, appears to be more energetic and can actually sprint much faster than the others. This was horrorifying to Hunter as he instinctively opens fire on them as they charge him. Gilroy quickly hops out of one of the driver's seats to help Hunter fend off the flesh eating cannibals. The loud popping sounds of gunfire startle the rest of the men up ahead as they look back to make sense of the situation. They all figured that now the mob has caught up to them as Trevor orders them all to run.

"Run as fast as you can!" he orders.

Hunter and Gilroy notice this and begin picking up their pace as well to catch up with their squad as they constantly look back and drop the pursuers who are now matching them with their run time. Hunter and Gilroy have no choice but to turn around and shoot back more often because of the fierce running pace these newly met cannibals are performing. A few magazine changes later and more rounds sent, Hunter and Gilroy appear to be doing a good job of keeping the attackers at bay.

A three hundred meter dash soon ensues as there is no end to the vehicle graveyard in sight. American military vehicles still continue to remain backed up along the road in an apparent traffic jam of death. As the squad frantically moves and narrowly continues to escape and open fire, assailants drawn by the noise begin coming out of the cabs of the vehicles all around them. Some opening up the passenger and driver's side doors on a momen't notice as the soldiers run by them in order to reach out and grab them. All of them narrowly miss. Gunners propped up lieing dead in their turrets can also be seen coming awake and reaching for them as they scream and hiss at the passing soldiers.

Once the squad narrowly breaks three hundred meters, an anxious and worried Ringo, has a hunch. He notices a lone M1151 humvee, clean as a whistle with a .50 caliber machine gun mounted up top, sitting at a 45 degree angle alongside the middle of the road. He is drawn to it for some reason and decides to give it a shot.

[Nancy1340]

Well.....very exciting chapter.

They need to let Gilroy become zombie chow.

Thanks

[NiGHTMARE-Z]

Appreciate it. There's still a lot more left tho! lol

[Nancy1340]

Well thats good to hear!

[bad_karma00]

Niiiice. Keeps me on my toes. Great stuff, and never a dull moment. Looking for more!

[NiGHTMARE-Z]

Before entering, he quickly looks through the glass to see if it is clear.

Nothing, he tells himself as he quickly opens the door to start the truck. To his excitement and much needed joy, the moment he turns the engine switch clockwise the engine fires up in the loudest roaring sound he has ever heard come out of a military vehicle. He quickly pokes his head out and yells to everyone for the good news. Trevor quickly turns his head around and shys for relief.

He sprints back to Ringo's location and orders everyone to "hop the hell on now!"

Christopher takes up a fighting position on the hood facing down the rear of the formation. Trevor follows suit. Ringo stays in the driver's seat ready to take off on a moment's notice. Price quickly sprints up to the backside passenger door and tosses his rifle and equipment into the cab and struggles to crawl in to the gunner's platform and ultimately the turret in order to man the M2 Browning .50 caliber machine gun.

Reagal comes sprinting up just behind Price and runs to the backside driver's passenger seat. He throws his gear down and takes a seat trying to catch his breath as he appears winded.

Gilroy and Hunter are still back a ways trying to catch up to the vehicle as Trevor and Christopher begin waving their arms in the air and shouting to inform them of their new ride.

Hunter notices it with a quickness as he constantly turns back to engage threats as they get closer with his rifle.

Price quickly wiggles up to the turret and engages the turret ring hand crank with his non firing hand in order to spin the barrell of the machine gun in the direction of Hunter and Gilroy's attackers. Once Price does this, he gets a quick beat on the mob quickly advancing on Hunter and Gilroy from the rear. He places his thumbs on the butterfly trigger and attempts to fire.

Nothing.

He cocks the bolt back with his right hand in the palm up position and attempts to fire again.

Nothing.

"Awe, come on!" desperately yells Price in a frantic tone of voice.

Not sure what to do at this point while time is running out, he makes a last ditch effort to call back to the rest of the group inside and near the truck.

"By any chance, does anyone have a headspace and timing gauge?" Price yells urgently.

"Hello no!"
"Nope"
"NO!"
"I don't work for TRADOC," Reagal yells back up to Price, apparently having some sort of sense of humour now that they have found a working vehicle and aren't completely doomed at this point.

A now panic stricken Price decides to take matters into his own hands while yelling out in frustration and attempting to open the feed tray cover while his hands shake uncontrollably.

"Damn POG's can't get a machine gun up to save their lives. It better be the fucking headspace and not the timing!" a frustrated Price angrily yells after closing the feed tray.

He now attempts to lean forward out of the turret.

He quickly places the charging handle slightly back with his left hand so he can line up the notch of the bolt into the visible hole of the receiver on the right side of the weapon. He then urgently begins unscrewing the barrell with his right hand. Once he has completely unscrewed the barrell of the .50 caliber machine gun off, he re-tightens it into the receiver while keeping the notch visible in the hole of the receiver which is the most important part when screwing on an M2 Browning machine gun barrell.

He continues to turn frantically until he can turn no more. At this point, Trevor and Christopher are opening fire. Once the barell can not be turned anymore, he quickly backs off two clicks or turns the barrell back in the other direction an additional two clicks he feels with his hand. He then quickly proceeds to cock the bolt back once again.

Once he does this, Price takes aim just over a sprinting Hunter and Gilroy's head and begins opening fire into the crowd of cannibals which is just only around ten feet behind them. The sounds of ear bleeding automatic machine gun fire quickly dominates the strip of road. Trevor and Christopher realize Price now has control of the situation and quickly hop into the truck. Christopher takes the backside passenger seat as Trevor takes the front passenger or TC side seat.

Price's heavy volley of fire is so dominant, it begins tearing limbs and heads off the charging attackers. The ones whom are too close to Hunter and Gilroy, are met with.50 caliber fire to the torso center mass instantly ripping them in half and making them fall straight to the ground. Price's heavy volley of fire quickly changes the game for the squad and bides Hunter and Gilroy some time.

A delighted Hunter witnesses Price tearing up the crowd as cracks and super sonic sounds ring through his ear drums. Gilroy and Hunter quickly become disoriented, however, it does not stop Hunter from an early celeberation.

As Hunter moves he begins cheering and swearing for Price's awesome new toy. As he moves, he looks back to check on Gilroy and the devestation Price is leaving behind when he notices Gilroy falling behind once again. Instead of taking off, Hunter takes cover behind a downed vehicle and begins shooting into the crowd as he props his weapon up against the ledge of the driver's side window door in order to cover Gilroy's movement. Hunter experiences a comfortable and stable platform as he engages his targets with lethal accuracy.

Once Hunter sends his fifth round as he looks down his EO tech sight, he wittnesses Gilroy lose his footwork and trip over himself. Gilroy falls face first into the ground.

Hunter picks up his rate of fire on the sides of Gilroy as he quickly rises up and begins running toward Hunter's position. That is when something comes over Hunter, something he can not explain.

Without even thinking about it and as the loud roaring sounds of Price's .50 caliber Machine Gun continue to chop down the crowd like they were tall pieces of grass, Hunter switches his circular EO tech sight from the head of one of the attackers in the mob just behind Gilroy to the center of Gilroy's chest. He waits two or three seconds, then takes one last look at Gilroy's face and fires two rounds into his stomach. Gilroy instantly falls face first into the ground once again and does not move for a moment.

Hunter removes his eye from his sight in shock at what he just did. A few seconds pass by while Hunter stays there in his position still contemplating what he had just done, when Gilroy raises his head up off the pavement. He can not stand up, however, turns over on his back to look at the ever fast approaching crowd of flesh eating fellow soldiers. Gilroy moves his arms back and forth for his weapon only to find it no where near him. He realizes that he dropped it when he hit the ground after being shot in the stomach by his supposed comrade.

It now lays about five feet away from him underneath a disabled military vehicle. He quickly holds his stomach and the wound to prevent further bleeding. Once he sees the mob just a foot away from him staring down upon him ready to consume him, he emits out a loud terrifying last scream. Hunter bears witness to this. His screams begin changing tone and sound as he is eaten alive by dozens of individuals.

One of the cannibals grabbed ahold of his hand and began tearing each finger off with his mouth. Noticable muscle and tendons could be seen hanging out the assailant's mouth as the rest torn into Gilroy like a Thanksgiving Turkey. Others gouged into his eyes with their thumbs with immense pressure as many of those 'things' appeared to do from time to time. Many more shared pieces of his thighs and lower calf muscles as one of the larger ones proceeded to mount a mortified Gilroy and clamp down into his pectoral muscles while tearing apart each fleshy chunk at a time. Gilroy's blood sprinkled into the air as a result and peppered the hungry frantic mob.

The boy did not deserve this, Hunter now realizes at this point.

"What have I done," Hunter whisphers below his breath as he appears to be in a hypnotic state while staring at Gilroy being eaten alive.

Hunter can almost identify his name being called out by Gilroy as he is devoured. Then, the sounds are no more. Hunter quickly picks up and makes his way back to the truck as Price now has stopped firing.

Hunter is now excerting profanities out loud one after another in panic as he pushes out his last sprint to the awaiting truck where the rest of the members of his squad resides

The dead, now seem to ignore Hunter and the rest of the group as they direct attention towards Gilroy, who is now their meal. Hunter dives into the back of the truck from a dead sprint right onto Reagal's lap. Reagal grabs his ACU's and assists thrusting him into the gunner's platform as Hunter slides and wiggles himself in below Price's feet. Trevor instantly looks back as Christopher stares on.

They both ask Hunter where Gilroy is. Hunter stays silent for a second until Christopher begins shaking him demanding the where abouts of their soldier.

"He is gone. The meat heads got him," a tired and winded Hunter exclaims as he struggles to catch his breath.

Trevor's eyes grow glassy as Christopher's jaw drops in shock. Reagal instantly looks back out the window in the direction of the mob gathering around one individual who is unseen. Ringo remains stoic and instantly drives off the road into the moondust without waiting for the order.

Nobody says a word. Still in shock however, Ringo shakes it off and focuses on getting the rest of them out of harm's way as he bypasses the traffic jam of disabled military vehicles and cuts across the sand paralleling the road.

Hunter repositions his uncomfortable posture and opens up the duel slides in the back which leads to the trunk of the humvee. He places his feet in there along with the lower half of his body as he lays flat down on his back and has his shoulders exposed in between Christopher and Reagal's seat. Hunter now stares up into the ceiling of the cab and observes Price as he spins the turret around pulling security.

Hunter lies there continueing to stare up at Price while waiting for a response or reaction out of him. Hunter is now deeply concerned as to whether or not Price witnessed what really happened back there. If Price was to know and told the rest of the squad, the consequances would be dire.

The fear and paranoia sets in as Hunter awaits the inevitable.

Ringo barrells through the sand with impunity as he races to find a break in the road to bypass the jammed up highway.

Ringo knows what to do and doesn't need to ask any questions. He knows now isn't the right time anyway. He looks over at Trevor as he places his head down in sorrow. Trevor appears to want to cry, however, falls short of it. Moments go by as they move. As Price scans and Christopher looks out his window off onto the road they are paralleling, they notice more individuals popping out of the vehicles to pursue them on foot as they pass by. Christopher realizes they never would have made it if Ringo didn't find this vehicle.

Miles go on, endless miles of continued dead military vehicles.

The drive is long and quiet. Ringo maneuvors through the sand and avoids the dunes and dips. At some parts, he has to slow down and back track to avoid decieving drops in the sand which may get their vehicle stuck. He is successful in all aspects of this as he keeps the truck moving. Their hope and their only life line at this point.

Another twenty minutes breeze by. Hunter is looking up at Price from his trunk seat as he watches him scan and spin the turret in the direction of the disabled vehicles along the road. He notices Price look down at him once or twice. This startles Hunter for he doesn't know whether or not Price witnessed what he had done or was too busy looking down his sight engaging their pursuers. One thing is for sure though, he will never mention it to him or anybody unless he is confronted.

"Hey Sergeant, check it out," Ringo states as he slows down to a creeping pace. Trevor raises his head up from being deep in thought about losing Gilroy. He looks in the direction Ringo pointed to.

"Well will you look at that," Price exclaims from the turret barely being heard by the others from inside the cab.

Trevor moves his eyes to where Ringo pointed. What he sees is a military fueler turned over on it's side blocking the entire road. From there, all the traffic formed on down all the way back to Camp Virginia.

"So what. A ten to twenty mile traffic jam? All over a damned fueler! Wow!" states Reagal.

Trevor tells him to go around it and get on the road.

Ringo complies.

Once the truck hits pavement, Ringo increases speed. The ride will be smooth and steady now Ringo tells himself as he presses down on the throttle. The situation inside the cab still seems gloomy as no one commences in conversation. All of them seem to be strung up over Gilroy's fate. Ringo is good at blocking things out, especially tragic events. He pays it no mind or thought.

Some time goes by on the road. As the group fast approaches the last and only base along the Kuwait border, Ali Asaleem, Ringo asks his squad leader what he wants to do. Trevor tells Ringo to pull up to the front and stop short of entering. A few minutes pass by until Ringo positions the vehicle where Trevor wants it and comes to a screeching halt. Trevor opens his door and looks into the ECP of the base.

Smoke clouds can be seen billowing up into the sky from the base. So many in fact, that is seems the entire base is on fire. Trevor notices remnants of the previous bases they were just at evidently just from watching this current gate alone. Abandoned guard towers, bullet casings was too much of an indictator and warning to stay out. Trevor learned his lesson the first two times.

Coming to this realization, there appears to be only one more hope. Trevor decides not to risk it. Especially after losing one of their own. He quickly hops back in his seat and tells Ringo to drive.

"Where to?" Ringo curiously asks.

"Kuwait City my friend. To the Air Force Base. Hopefully we can catch the last freaking flight out of this hell hole," Trevor states with uncertainty as he reaches down into his leg pocket and pulls out an Ultra Light to smoke.

"What other option do we have?" he asks Ringo.

"Nicely put, Sergeant," Ringo responds as he puts the vehicle into drive and takes off.

Reagal looks to Christopher for some type of comment or response. Christopher notices Reagal's eyes on him waiting for reassurance. Christopher glances back and nods his head as a worried Reagal looks on. Hunter carelessly keeps his eyes closed and fails to comment. Price gives Trevor a round count as a result and the truck moves on pushing to the main super highway of Kuwait which runs down to the Air Force Base in Kuwait city which all major flights enter and leave out of.

Some time goes by until the truck is able to merge onto the main freeway from the Highway of Death. Once they find the road, the soldiers go into instant defense mode again and are able to slowly get their heads back in the game. Price begins to pick up his scan with ferocity while Christopher, Reagal and Trevor drop their windows down and prop their barells out for security.

As the truck hits the road, Trevor begins calling out possible threats they pass by such as lone cars along side the road and people walking around on the shoulder. Not knowing whether or not they are human or one of those 'things'.

Ringo picks up his speed even more. There appears to be some vehicles on the road, going higher rates of speed than their vehicle are able to accomplish. As Trevor looks out his window, he notices fires off into the distance of the developed housing areas and commercial buildings. Mass panic and hysteria is alive here too. People can be seen fleeing on foot with their luggages. Burning civilian vehicles are also seen on the shoulder of the roads with bodies laid out beside them which was quite a common sight at this point as they pushed on to their destination.

Kuwaiti Police can be seen with their sirens and flashing lights quickly racing down the side roads. In addition, gunfire and explosions can be heard into the neighborhoods as they pass by them along the freeway. Half hour into the ride, the truck passes a mass crowd of Kuwaiti civilians with their bags, luggages and children in their arms desperately trying to flag down any vehicle that would pick them up. Some desperate hitch hikers also began throwing themselves out into traffic to force somebody to stop for them in a desperate attempt. Ringo just went around them per Trevor's orders.

Christopher stares out his window with his barrell pointed out as he sees women and children kneeling onto the ground with their dead husbands in their hands screaming and pleading in the truck's direction for them to help because they are soldiers and their job is to protect civilians. At least that is how Christopher felt as the guilt grew ever larger in him as he couldn't help any of the people he saw. The deeper into Kuwait they drove, the more built up the areas became along side the freeway. That is when they started noticing less alive people and more dead ones.

Bodies scattered the roads. Some of them stumbling around as well as feasting on the ones still laying there. A few times Ringo had to cross over onto the oncoming lanes to bypass traffic jams and mobs of people consuming the road. Unaware whether or not they are alive or dead.

At one point, after avoiding multiple crowds of people who blocked the road out of desperation and who were only miles apart, Ringo quickly realized that the Kuwaiti civilians in the area grew more desperate the further south they pushed.

At one point, when Ringo decided to swerve lanes in order to avoid an additional crowd later on down the road, another crowd of frantic survivors would appear on the opposite lane blocking Ringo's path to move forward. They refused to move as well when Price decided to fire multiple warning shots into the air with his crew served weapon in an attempt to sway their opinion.

After much deliberation and arguing amongst the group as the pedestrations drew closer to the vehicle, Ringo decided to settle the argument and bickering by taking it upon himself to accelerate the throttle right into the crowds of civilians whom blocked his path.

The desperate men, women and children decided to make a stand in order to secure themselves a ride. However, all of them who stood in the path of Ringo, clearly under estimated his willingness to survive at all costs.

Ringo slammed his vehicle into the crowd boldly as bodies could be felt smashing the bumper and the sides of the armour. Nobody in the cab said a word to Ringo for doing what had to be done.

As they moved forward after finally clearing the mob, Price looked back from the turret and noticed dozens of innocent civilians laying down on the pavement in pain. Some moving while attending their injures, others not so much as they laid there solid as a rock.

As the drive grows longer and longer, the sun begins to set and nightfall reigns. Still having their helmets in posession, Trevor asks if every still had their PVS-14's(night vision goggles), Rhino and J-Arm(night vision mount accessories). Everyone does. As a result, Trevor orders them to don their Night vision and turn their PEQ-15 infrared lasers on for night time target engagments as he looks down the road and inspects for it's uncertainties. Once night falls and everything goes black, tracer fire and flashes can be seen off into the distance as well. The situation seems to grow worse the further south they push to their destination This fact is apparent now to all of them as chatter is delt to a minimum. Everybody on the truck is so worried at this point not even Reagal himself can crack a joke.

At this point, Trevor struggles to identify the right turn off for the airport. He has been here so many times, yet the route still seems murky in his mind. As the truck stays on the main freeway, the ground begins to rise up indicating they are driving up a hill. As they approach higher, Price notices helicopters off into the distance shooting missiles and vulcan cannons into the city from the air. It is unclear whether or not they are American or Kuwaiti Army.

The night time Kuwait City skyline, as they approach, appears to be engulfed in flames. Not good news for Trevor and his men, however, still one hell of a sight he concludes as he braces himself for what he may encounter once Ringo breaks the top of the hill. Once the vehicle reaches the top, the road begins curving left leading to a bridge which has another highway running beneath it.

Price begins yelling back to Trevor and Ringo that he thinks he spots the base. Also in addition, he sees what appears to be the lights of a Boeing 757 on the runway getting ready to take off as the turbine engines can be heard running from their location. Price looks closer through his night vision and quickly realizes that he can read the big gigantic letters on the side of the plane which reads, "World Airways".

Once he informs the group of this, all of them cheer in excitement. Hunter awakes from his nap in shock screaming asking what happened. Reagal tells him they found a plane.

Trevor orders Ringo to take the turn off after crossing the bridge and to take the off-ramp leading to the road below. Ringo follows suite. Once merging onto the next road, the group notices a straight distance to the fenced off and barbed wire protected perimeter of the Air Force Base. Once Ringo hits this straight away, he floors the gas pedal. Racing and weaving around cars trying to beat him there. Shortly after, he encounters a traffic circle, which he circles around twice awaiting Price to give him the right directions to go down in order to make it to the entrance of the base.

After the second loop, Price goes with his instinct the best he could. The light poles and fires off into the distance rendered his night vision capability useless due to the glare. Once Ringo committs to the road Price put his word behind to the best of his ability, he picks up speed once again.

A few minutes go by until Trevor begins noticing the "warning" signs and "military checkpoint" ahead. These were all good signs for it indicated that they were going in the right direction. The candle of hope which has been slowly burning out has been re-lit for Trevor. His eyes are now widened and unable to blink. He sits propped up in his seat leaning forward waiting to see what lies ahead.

As Ringo continues to push forward, Price notices something between them and the main entrance of the base. Price quickly notices a crowd of hundreds of Kuwaiti civilians trying to break through. He yells at Ringo to halt. The anxious squad members below keep asking Price what he sees, only to get a response from the sound of the turret spinning back and fourth. Most of the glare has gone away. As a result, Price can see further now than Ringo and Trevor whom have the thick dirty plexi glass of the humvee windshield blocking a clear view.

"I see so many people. It's bad. Looks like they are trying to break through the entrance. I'm only seeing a handful of guards keeping them at bay and they aren't doing that great of a job. They won't hold them off for long," Price exclaims in a worried tone of voice.

Right when Trevor was about to say something, the sounds of Price screaming and yelling fills the cab.

"Oh shit. Get back! Get the hell back!" yells Price.

Machine gun fire from Price's weapon soon follows to the vehicle's 12 o'clock. Ringo and Trevor spot multiple people jumping on to the hood of their vehicle and others surrounding their doors trying to open them. Luckily, all of Trevor's squad members engaged the combat locks inside. Price quickly shoots the people off the hood of the truck at point blank with the M2.

"Back up Ringo! Back up!" yells Price.

Ringo quickly throws it in reverse and slams into a vehicle which just positioned itself behind the humvee. This throws Price forward and back inside the turret slightly injuring him. Price continues to curse out in pain. Ringo eventually pushes forward and runs over a few more indivuduals while Price continues to engage with effective automatic fire. Ringo pops a U-turn and heads back in the opposite direction. Price thinks he identified a side road back at the traffic circle they can take that would lead them along the perimeter fenceline. Trevor tells him to take it. Once they clear the traffic circle, they now are the lone vehicle along the perimeter fenceline road. Trevor tells Ringo to speed up so they can get the vehicle lined up with the fencline of the plane, which is a good five to six hundred meters across the tarmac runway from the fenceline.

Once Trevor identifies the piece of fence he wants to smash through, he tells everyone inside the cab to brace themselves. Christopher immediately grabs Price's ACU belt and rips him down into the cab and tells him to hold on.

Ringo picks up speed and banks right, then left. Once he swings it left on the wheel everyone braces for impact into the fenceline.

"Ohhhhhhh Shiitttttttttt!!!!!!" Reagal yells in horror as he sinks into his seat and maintains four points of contact.

That is when the vehicle crashes face first into the perimeter fenceline of the airport. Upon smashing through the fenceline, everyone inside places their heads down and braces for impact, including Ringo who still keeps his hands on the wheel. What they did not expect, however, was the fact that just beyond the fencline lied a six foot drop filled with steel tank traps and strands of barbed wire.

The vehicle punches the fence with ease. Wire scrapping up the gun up top and penetrating through the turret. Their vehicle ended up landing nose first into the drop in between two tank traps. An additional tank trap appeared to be blocking Reagal and Ringo's side door. Also, wire now runs around the vehicle and the tank traps making it almost virtually impossible to move without being cut up.

Trevor and his men inside, all seem to be dazed and confused at the sudden impact and way they landed but quickly come to. Trevor asks if everyone is alright. Once everyone responds, his door puts up a slight struggle before he is able to kick the two hundred and fifty pound up armoured door open. Christopher does the same. Reagal and Ringo try to get out unsuccessfully and decide to crawl through on Trevor and Christopher's side after Price and Hunter got through.

Once Trevor crawls his way out and makes it outside, he is met with the uninviting sounds of gunfire and loud screams from mobs of people not too far off into the distance. It's pure chaos outside as bombs from helicopters are heard thumbing off into the distance of the city. Trevor helps Ringo out as Christopher helps the remaining members of the squad out as well. Once everyone is out of the vehicle, they shimmy their way through the wire which tangles them and begins cutting up their arms and legs. Trevor struggles to make it up from the ditch to the top where the tarmac awaits. Instead of struggling on two legs, he tosses his weapon up and crawls on all fours sinking his fingers into the sand as if they were cargo nets. Eventually, he reaches the top. Once up top, he lies on his stomach and places his hand down for the rest to grab on to him so he can hoist them up.

Once the last man comes out, which is Reagal, he tells him to "hurry that ass up!"

Reagal smiles back with dirt and sand all over his face after being cut dozens of times by the wire and proceeds to make a sarcastic comment.

"You know theres a reason why we always made Hunter drive. Am I the only one who noticed that?" Reagal exclaims with a painful smile.

Christopher tells him to shut his damn mouth and to hurry up while on the tarmac being unseen to Reagal.

"Geez that guy is everywhere!" Reagal adds as Trevor hoists him up.

Once Reagal is to the top, he dusts himself off and gathers himself for a minute while the rest of the squad looks on at the developing situation over by the gate across the way.

"Hey Sergeant, um, we better get rolling," softly states Price as he stares off into the direction of the gate and into the distance as he witnesses the main fenceline which supports the front gate collapse by a mob of hundreds of Kuwaitis.

The gate guards, three of them in all apparently holding rifles, are seen turning around and high tailing it off into the other direction of the gate towards the awaiting aircraft getting ready to take off. Hundreds of people storm across the tarmac towards the plane while apparently pursueing the gate guards as well.

"Lets go! Lets go now sprint!" yells Trevor.

Everyone picks up in a desperate sprint across the long and wide night time tarmac. The soldiers are in a mad dash to beat the rest of the crowd to the steps of the plane, if they are even still there which is unknown to Trevor and his men. It's a long shot, but it will have to do Trevor tells himself as he desperately moves his legs to the best of his ability. The fastest he has ever ran in life he concludes. If it never mattered before, it will tonight. Everyone in the squad continues to run for their life across the runway.

Tarmac cutting across to grass, then vice versa. Over and over again as they look off to their side to witness the crowd growing closer to the plane and the lone gate guardsmen sprinting away from them. Trevor and his men have never been so winded in their lives. A few of the soldiers decide to drop their helmets to gain speed and lessen their load. Some of them already had their helmets and night vision damaged from the fall anyway so it didn't even matter to them. Others pulled the emergency cord of their tactical vests as well as it broke apart into multiple passes and landing on the tarmac as they paid it no mind and continued to sprint.

As they get closer, Trevor witnesses the gate guards run to the side of the plane then disappear, which was a good sign meaning there was stairs still intact. Another minute goes by until they run below the plane and can see the large crowd approaching the tail end of the plane. Trevor and his squad quickly cross below the plane to notice stairs in sight leading to the inside of the plane. They quickly head straight for it in a desperate attempt.

Once they get to the edge of the stairs, a man from the top of the stairwell in tiger stripe camoflauge draws a Beretta 9mm on them and tells them to stop or he will shoot.

"Don't shoot, Don't shoot! We are American soldiers, look!" Trevor desperately cries out as he reaches for his military ID card to flash up in the air. The rest of his squad reach into their pockets to pull out their identification cards as well. The Airman up top, still with his Beretta drawn on them, asks if they had been bitten. Trevor quickly tells him no along with screams of Price and Reagal re-assuring him that they have not. The Airman quickly places his weapon down and tells them to hurry up the stairwell. Trevor and his soldiers quickly sprints up the steps without having to be told twice.

Once the last man hops into the entry way of the plane, the Airman pushes the stairwell away from the plane and watches it roll off into the distance to the center of the tarmac as crowds of people run into it and attempt to climb it.

Screams, cries and pleas of help can be heard in Arabic. Trevor and the rest of his men whom have just entered the plane, collapse to the ground in order to catch their breathes. Immediately the plane begins moving down the runway in order to take off. A few minutes go by as the rest of the members of his squad are still laid out trying to breathe as sweat drips down their faces. Trevor decides to stand up and gather his surroundings inside the plane. The Airman whom drew the Beretta on him earlier walks up to him shortly after and places his hand over his shoulder.

"It's gone. It's all, gone. You boys are lucky. Very lucky. Where'd you all come from anyway?" the Airman curiously asks.

"Iraq," Trevor responds with a wide eyed glare.

The Airman's mouth drops in shock. Trevor decides to take a look around the plane from where he is standing. All he sees is tiger striped camoflauge indicating everyone is Air Force personnell along with a few civilians and older men in suits. Trevor assumed them to be embassy members.

Some of the Airmen are wounded as well with gunshot wounds. Medical staff are attempting to dress their wounds and perform mock surgeries as they try to pry bullet fragments out of their ribs while they scream in horror on the ground. The civilians just retreat to their seats and sink in while trying to stay out of everyone's way and remain unnoticed.

Trevor doesn't know what to make of the sight as the plane takes off and begins ascending into the air. He then turns back to the Airman whom let them on the plane.

"By any chance, you got any food or water?" Trevor hopelessly asks in desperation while breathing heavily.

"My men need it badly," he goes on to add.

The Airman smiles with pity and tells him to sit down with his group. He will bring it out shortly.

"By the way, my name is Arthur. I'm just an air traffic controller. Nice to meet you," the Airman says.

Trevor nods his head then approaches him.

A relieved Trevor thanks the man then hugs him with a tight grip. Arthur obviously felt akward at that point, however, seemingly not to Trevor. Everything about it felt right.



end chapter 5

[Laager]

Another great chapter.......................sorry to see Price go out that way.......

[NiGHTMARE-Z]

Ah well it happens. Gilroy was a deusch anyway lol.

[Laager]

Forgot to add something......I've had this close by for many, many decades, actually two of them, one used and recently a new one that my son-in-law gave me still sealed.

5220-00-535-1217 Packaged at Rock Island Arsenal 24-Aug-09
Cage Code: 19204
P/N: 5351217
Gage, Headspacing&Timing DA Form 3023 Encl
Qty: 1 Ea Lop: A C: A

Not sure why I still have it, or why he gave me another one, especially since I was never in a heavy weapons platoon.......still you never know when you might need one or two.

[NiGHTMARE-Z]

lol nice. i'd hang it on the rear view mirror if i were you.

ask him for the .50 cal to go with it....

[Laager]

lol nice. i'd hang it on the rear view mirror if i were you.

ask him for the .50 cal to go with it....

I have it in my pocket, its sort of like a talisman, I like to run my fingers over the edges.

If I had the money, I'd buy one, but would rather own a M1917A1 Heavy Machine Gun or M1919A4 Light Machine Gun. Why because they both use feed belt that are or used to be Fabric Belts, made of woven fabric with loops, so you could just pop a round in the empty loop. Not like trying to relink the new metal links. Besides unless I hit the lotto belt feed and full auto are way to expensive for me to keep well fed and happy.....if you know what I mean.

[NiGHTMARE-Z]

good idea. that would be cost-effective. i never seen one up close and personal tho only in movies. have you?

[Nancy1340]

Thanks. Exciting chapter.