Chapter 16

The building stood silent and clouded with dust after the explosion. Evidently, the mutants from the surrounding areas heard the blast, and began staggering towards the store. DJ coughed and groaned, as he opened his eyes. He gritted his teeth, as he moved his legs under the rubble that had fallen on top of him, and he was able to pull his legs free.

Slowly, he got to his feet, and moved his joints. Seemingly, he didn’t feel anything broken, and he seemed to be okay. Deeply, he sighed a sigh of relief, and then Christie popped in his mind.

“Christie?” he called, as he coughed, and then he heard her groan.

“Christie?” he whispered, and then he saw her lying on her side.

Quickly, he ran to her side, and he was thankful to see that none of the rubble had fallen on her.

“Christie, are you alright? Can you get up?” he asked, as she coughed, and then she nodded.

Gently, DJ helped her to her feet, and they looked around in confusion.

“What happened?” she asked, as she looked around at the destroyed store around them.

“A bomb,” he breathed, and then he looked at her frantically.

“The others! We have to find them!” he said with wild eyes, and she only nodded.

Frantically, they scrambled over the rubble calling DJ’s family’s names, but there was no response.

“I hope they got out in time.” he said, sadly, and Christie put her hand on his arm, as she looked at him with tears in her eyes.

“Me,too,” she choked out.

At that moment, they heard the snarls of the mutants that had made their way towards the store, and DJ and Christie reached for their guns, as they turned toward the creatures. Surprisingly, their weapons were gone. They had lost them during the explosion.

“Run!” he yelled, as a mutant approached him.

Swiftly, he put his arm up to block the creature from attacking, but the mutant bit down hard on his arm. Painfully, he pushed the creature off of him, and then he ran toward Christie. At that moment, she didn’t see the mutation that was behind her, and she screamed as the creature bit her in the neck. Angrily, DJ grabbed the disgusting mutant, and he pulled it off of her.

“Come on!” he yelled, as he grabbed her hand, and they ran out of the store, into the parking lot.

Horrified, they stared at Amanda’s truck. The blast from the bomb had flipped the truck onto its side, and the front end was demolished. The plow and the engine were gone. Nervously, they looked at each other, and DJ swallowed hard. Cautiously, they made their way around the truck, and braced themselves for what they believed they were about to see.

As they made their way closer to the cab, they saw that their friends weren’t in there. Relieved, they both sighed, but then Christie looked at DJ with frantic eyes.

“Then that means…”

“We don’t know that,” said DJ, as he cut her off.

“Let me see your neck,” he said, and she bent her head down.

Noticeably, the wound was deep, but the infection wasn’t spreading like it did on others when they had been bitten. Oddly, he looked at the bite on his arm, and then, all of a sudden, he felt very angry.

“This is all Maverick’s fault,” he sneered, angrily, and Christie looked at him in question.

“How so?” she asked, and he gave her a knowing look.

“Obviously, there are still survivors out here, and once we had shown up to Maverick’s camp, he stopped the broadcasts. These people are angry because he closed the doors on them,” DJ said, and then, suddenly, Christie felt her anger rise, as she nodded.

“We are going back to Overwatch, and I am going to take over,” he sneered, and Christie grinned at him, but then she searched his eyes.

“Wait, what about Amanda, Megan, Joe, and Josh?”

“We will find them,” he said, reassuringly, as he put his hand on her shoulder.

She only nodded, and she and DJ started making their way back to their camp.

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It only took a few hours for them to make it back to Overwatch. Weirdly, when they had run into stray mutants, and ran past them, the creatures ignored them. It didn’t matter if they had made noise or not. The creatures just continued to stagger around, aimlessly. Seemingly, DJ and Christie felt stronger, and they didn’t feel any soreness from being in the blast.

DJ had thought about the blast, and everything that had just happened. Not everyone had the equipment to cause an explosion like that. Maybe this wasn’t someone else's doing, maybe this was the handy work of their main guy in the community. He let his thoughts roll around in his head, as they continued to walk home.

As soon as they walked up to the first gate of the community, it opened and they ran inside. Quickly, they ran to the second gate, and the guards opened it for them. Swiftly, DJ and Christie ran through the gate, and they went straight for Maverick’s office.

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“What is the meaning of this?” asked Maverick, startled, as DJ and Christie barged into his office.

“Why would you send another team to come after us, and try to kill us? We do supply runs to help everyone in this place!” DJ accused, and Maverick stared at him in shock.

“DJ, why would I try to have my best people killed?” he asked, as he put his hands up defensively.

Angrily, DJ scoffed, and he sneered at the man.

“You are the only one who is capable of creating a bomb with that much power!” DJ yelled, as he quickly snatched the handgun off of the desk, and pointed it at Maverick’s head.

“Please, DJ. Calm down!” Maverick said, frantically, as he noticed the bite on DJ’s arm.

“You have been bitten! Please, calm down. We can help you,” Maverick added.

DJ looked down at his arm, and then he smirked as he looked back up at the man.

“Actually, no, you won’t. Being bitten is the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I will not let you take that away from me. I hereby relieve you of your duties,” said DJ, as his face twitched, and then he pulled the trigger, shooting Maverick in the head.

Christie smiled an evil smile at him, and he nodded as he grinned at her.

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DJ declared that he was left in charge, and that Maverick had taken his own life. He told the community that Maverick said it was too much for him to handle, and that he just couldn’t live like this any longer. Seemingly, the community seemed to accept DJ as their new leader, and mourned over the loss of Maverick.

Evidently, the infection had bonded with DJ and Christie’s blood, and seeped into their brains, using them as puppets to infect as many as they could. The infection seemed to have a mind of its own, and the only thing that it wanted was to infect all the life on planet earth, and take it for themselves. Seemingly, DJ and Christie could function as normal human beings, but the infection was eating them from the inside out. Their skin began to deteriorate slowly, and turned a yellowish-green color.

DJ’s first order of business was to find his family. He hand picked a group of men to go in search for the bomber and his family. They were told they were not to return until they had found them. DJ believed that his cousins, Megan, and Amanda were still alive, and he was going to do everything in his power to bring them home.

Christie stood by his side, and the infection had coaxed them into a new plan. To save as many mutants as they could, and let the infection spread across the land. The infection felt that it was its time to rule the planet, and now it had found a way to control humans. However, the infection failed in many humans, and neither the infection or the human gene would stay dominant. The infected would just deteriorate and feed on the living in a zombie-like state. The human species seemed to be just as foreign to the infection, as the infection was to them.

Seemingly, DJ sent out the broadcasts again, offering food, shelter, and safety from infection. Because of the infection living inside DJ, the more survivors they brought in, the more humans it could feed on, and the easier it would be to continue to take over the plant.

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Uncomfortably, Amanda groaned, as she came to, and coughed. She felt a sharp pain in her arm, and when she tried to move it, she screamed out in pain. Horrified, she stared at the wall support sticking out of her arm, and she noticed that she was lying against a cement chunk of the wall. Frantically, she looked around, and she didn’t see anyone.

Amanda threw her head back against the cement in frustration, and she heavily sighed, as she began to cry. After a few moments, she wiped her tears with her good arm and then she looked down at her injured arm. As she looked down at her arm, she gritted her teeth, and she began to lift herself to pull the support rod out.

Loudly, she cried out, as she pulled her arm free, and she stomped her foot on the ground, as the pain shot through her whole body. Unsteadily, she got to her feet, and that is when she heard the snarling and growling of the mutants. Slowly, she turned her head, as she held her bleeding arm, and she saw a half smashed mutant growling at her.

Swiftly, she reached for her handgun, and felt that there was nothing resting in her holster.

“Shit!” she breathed, and then she saw one of the supports lying on the ground.

Courageously, Amanda looked at the creature, and then as soon as it started running for her, she ran for the support bar. Quickly, she grabbed the rod just as the disgusting creature tackled her to the ground, and it scratched the back of her arm. Angrily, Amanda yelled as she drove the steel rod straight through the mutant’s head, and the creature went limp.

With as much effort as she could muster up, she pushed the mutant off of her, and then she let out a breath. Painfully, she scrambled to her feet, and she noticed her gun and rifle lying on the ground a few feet away from her. She walked over to them, and picked them up, as she decided to go look for the others.

“Joe! Megan! Josh!” she whispered, loudly, as she cautiously walked over the rubble, but there was no reply to her calls.

How long was I out for? she wondered, as she made her way out into the parking lot.

Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks when she saw her destroyed, overturned truck.

“Come on,” she yelled, angrily, as she ran around to the cab.

She blew out a breath when she saw that the cab was empty. Quickly, she crawled inside of the cab, and she grabbed the first aid kit. Painfully, she gritted her teeth, and silently cried, as she poured peroxide over her wounded arm, and then she wrapped her arm in a gauze bandage. Heavily, she sighed as she dragged her duffle bag out of the vehicle, and she loaded everything she found salvageable into it.

At that moment, she heard growling and snarling noises, and she pulled her gun, as she turned around. There was a mutant staring at her, but for some reason it started acting strangely. The creature growled at her one last time, and then it staggered away. Oddly, she stared after it, and then she shook her head in disbelief.

She continued to fill the duffle bag, grabbed the remaining half pack of cigarettes, and the five joints that were left. When she was all set, she threw the duffle bag over her good shoulder, and then she heard more growling and snarling. Heavily, she sighed, as she turned around, and oddly they did the same thing as the other mutant did. They just stared at her.

This is new, she thought, as she pulled her handgun, and aimed it at them, but the mutants just stared.

Cautiously, she put the handgun back in its holster, and then she turned. Seemingly, she began to head in the direction of Overwatch.

They must have made their way back to camp, she thought, as she walked out of the parking lot, and turned down the country highway.