Chapter 22 - The Haze

I awake to the sound of dogs howling in the distance. It's the first time I've ever heard them in the city.

"Psst, hey you up." Lj says peering into my room.

"Yeah, what time is it?"

"Around 3:30. Those dogs woke me up and I didn't feel like going back to bed." He replied.

"The dogs woke me up, but your preventing me from catching half an hour more of sleep."

"I feel uneasy about today."

"That's unlike you." I reply while sitting up in my bed. "What's going on?"

"I've been having unsettling dreams lately. For the most part in the dreams all I could see is white, but not like pure white it's more...misty. It's almost like I'm sitting inside of a cloud. And then after a while I start to hear these distorted voices, screaming at me. Actually I shouldn't say that, it's more like they're screaming out to me. For me to help them."

"I don't know how to respond to that." I replied staring at the floor. "Dreams could have a very vast amount of meanings and that one was pretty, interesting."

"I could've make out who's voices I heard." He stated.

"Who did you hear?"

"Regine, Lici, Victor, and you."

"That's kind of a random group." I replied.

"All four of you will be on this mission this morning. That's why I feel uneasy."

"All I could tell you right now is don't think about it that much. Let's focus on keeping each other safe today and getting this mission done as quick as possible."

"Alright." He responded after letting out a sigh. "I might not be there as often to watch your back like before. Watch yourself."

Right after he left my room. I'm not one to believe that dreams hold any significance in the real world, but he made me uneasy after listening to him. It wasn't really what he was saying that had me that way, rather it was the fact that it was bothering him to the extent where he had to talk to me about it. Lj rarely gets unsettled about anything, so why was this holding so much weight on him. Maybe I should ask him? I'll think about it. There's no way that I could've went back to sleep after that so instead I started preparing myself for the day ahead. We didn't have to meet by the office today, instead we joined the guard group at a gas station directly up the road from my house.

"It's kind of cold out here this morning." Lyssa pointed out while breathing into her hands.

"The temperature will probably rise as the sun rises." Dameer replied.

"I'm glad I chose to wear my hoodie today." I stated.

"How nice, care to lend me that?" Alyssa asked smiling at me.

"Nah I'm good, thanks for asking though." I replied smiling back at her.

"Boy I should whap you with my bow!"

"Chill, Zhaire and the others are directly ahead." Lj exclaimed.

"Good morning." The four of us say in unison.

"Morning." Zhaire responded. "We were just waiting on you all so we could get going."

Zhaire was waiting with Lici, Liam and Cory. Along with them was Angie, Regine, Victor and who I'm assuming is their squad leader.

"Guys this is Lieutenant Smith, he'll be leading our operation today." Zhaire stated.

"I remember you two kids." Lt. Smith said to me and Lj. "You crazy kids really went and became searchers. Well, congratulations. You accomplished what you said you were going to do, but just remember this aren't test anymore. Your life is at risk taking on missions like the one we're doing this morning."

"We knew the risks of the job when we signed up, and we didn't take this as a joke in the school so why would we start now?" Lj replied to him without any hesitation.

"Alright Private." Lt. Smith answered. "Prove to me your serious."

He walked over to Zhaire who was watching on with a smirk. I had just noticed the fire power that Angie and the others were carrying.

"An AK-74u?" I asked walking up to her.

"Your a gun expert now?" She responded.

"Not really, I just know models. Keily was the gun expert, his dad worked in a gun store before the world fell into the garbage."

"Miguel knows quite a bit about guns too." Victor added.

"Happy birthday bro, hope you live to see many more." I said to him remembering today is his birthday.

"Thanks dude, I appreciate it." He replied.

"I know your head bursting right now." Lici said quietly to him.

"You don't know how badly I want to go back into my bed right now." He replied holding his head.

"I warned you." Angie stated.

"Fall in everybody it's time for us to head out." Exclaimed Lt. Smith.

"We're moving into an unpopulated part of town which is a very good thing." Zhaire stated. "We want to contain the situation as quickly and quietly as possible. We don't know if there will be 1 or 100 of them so be prepared for anything. Like I said we want to do this as quickly as possible so we wont concern other civilians. So my squad will get first shots with their bows for a silent take down. We are to only use guns if things get out of control. Any questions?"

"No sir." We all answered.

"Alright then let's move."

With the moonlight piercing through the darkness and illuminating our path we began moving north at a quick pace. Everybody was equipped with a flashlight but we only used it if it was highly necessary. After about fifteen minutes we were entering the empty part of the city. We separated into two teams on each side of the street. Me, Zhaire, Lj, Alyssa, Regine and Victor took one side which left Lt. Smith, Angie, Dameer, Liam, Cory and Lici on the other side. A light amount of fog spilled into the street the farther we carried on.

"Movement ahead." Zhaire whispered while giving a signal to stop moving. "Three street lights down, Ejay take it."

"Alright." I replied while drawing an arrow.

I kneeled down and took aim on the shadow that was just standing under a street light. I took aim for its head and waited for the signal. Zhaire flashed his light and the infected immidiatly turned to us. However the very second the light came on and I saw it was an infected, I fired my arrow. One shot one kill.

"Good shot Francis." Zhaire said as he turned off his light.

"This fog is kinda creepy." Said Regine.

"Don't mind it, stay focus." Zhaire replied.

We carried on, taking down three more infected on our path. However we all began to notice that the fog was rising and rolling in very fast. It wasn't just misty anymore, it's become a thick sea of cloud.

"We should turn back Sergeant." Lj suggested. "If the fog gets over us we may be stranded until it fades, because it's too thick to see through."

"Lieutenant." Zhaire calls out as he walks out into the street.

Lt. Smith met him halfway and they began to converse.

"I'm too short to be in this fog, I'll soon be swallowed." Regine exclaimed.

"Ejay, I don't like this." Lj stated.

"I was thinking exactly what your thinking." I replied.

"Are you really though?" He asked.

"This fog scaring yall this this much?" Lyssa asked.

"I"ve never seen this much of it in my life." Victor replied. "We're in a giant cloud right now."

"Try chill out you guys, it's just fog." Lyssa stated.

"Alright guys we're heading back." Zhaire stated. "We don't want to place ourselves into any unnecessary danger."

"What the hell." Said Lt. Smith looking down into the fog. "Something just touched my leg."

We all looked over at him and almost immediatly after.

"AHHHHH!!!"

He got pulled into the fog and dragged down the street.

"Lieutenant!?" Zhaire screamed out.

"Anybody could see him?" Dameer asked.

Just then he started shooting his gun from inside the fog. He shot off probably twenty bullets before springing back up above the cloud.

"What the fuck is that!" He yelled while trying to catch his breathe.

"What did you see?" Zhaire asked.

"Get off the street!" He yelled as began running towards us.

He barely got anywhere before he was pulled back under. More gunshots were fired inside the cloud. We watched the flash from the gun move further and further away from us until it stopped.

"Everyone get on top of a car, now!" Zhaire shouted.

A truck was right next to us so we jumped on the back of it. Angie and the others across the road climbed onto two cars. Me, Zhaire and Cory shined our flashlight into the fog, but we couldn't see anything.

"What grabbed him!?" Dameer asked.

"Was that an infected?" Asked Regine.

While we stood there trying to figure out what just happened, a screech was let off from the direction he was dragged to. We all looked in that direction and right after grunting and howling was heard behind us.

"Infected coming from behind!" Angie yelled.

We could've only seen from their chest up, but that's more than enough. We began picking them off one by one and not to long after, a heavy scream rattled the buildings around us.

"What...the...hell." Said Victor.