Chapter 19

“Well, I have got to hand it to you, cous. I thought you were going to kill him,” said DJ, as he and Joe looked at Decker.

In the event of what the man had put Amanda through, DJ allowed Joe to beat Decker to a bloody pulp until he couldn’t take anymore. Joe looked up at his cousin, and he smirked at him, as he wiped his hands off with a damp cloth.

“Nah, you are going to live with what you did to her, aren’t you?” Joe asked, as he looked Decker in the eye.

“Please, no more,” whispered Decker.

Joe nodded, as he looked over at DJ, and he noticed something strange about his dear, old cousin. DJ looked at Decker, as his face twitched, and then his face contorted, as he looked at Decker. Angrily, he sneered at Decker.

“Did you stop when she begged you to stop? Did you stop when you realized that she didn’t have any information for you, because she wasn’t the bomber, but one of our own people?” he snarled, and Joe looked at him in surprise.

He had never seen his cousin this outraged before in their whole existence, and it scared him a little bit. Decker hung his head, and he sniffed.

“I was only doing my job. The job you gave me to do,” cried Decker, and DJ looked at Joe.

“I think we are done here. Let’s go check on Mand,” he said, and Joe only nodded.

****************

“You don’t know what those men put me through,” cried Amanda, and Megan held her friend in her arms.

“It’s alright. It’s over now,” Megan said softly, as she rubbed Amanda’s head.

“I am pretty sure Joe and DJ took care of those men,” stated Christie, and Josh nodded in agreement.

He had seen the look in his cousin’s eyes when he handed Amanda to him. He had seen that look before when one of their cousins had gotten himself in a little trouble with a known gang back in their city. That look meant he was going to mess someone up. Hopefully, his cousins had not taken things too far.

“I am pretty sure Christie is right, Mand. You have a family that is willing to do anything for you, and now we need you to do something for us. You need to rest and heal up,” said Josh, and Amanda laughed, as she wiped her tears from her face.

“Yeah, but this is the apocalypse. Rest and time to heal does not exist in this world,” she said, and Megan and Christie chuckled.

“Mand?”

They all looked at the doorway, and they saw DJ and Joe standing there looking sadly at Amanda.

“It’s okay,” she said, hoarsely, and she smiled, as she looked up at them.

At that moment, she turned her head away from them, and she sighed heavily.

“Don’t stare at me, I am hideous,” she whispered, and Joe walked toward the couch.

“Mand, do you remember what I did for a living?” asked Joe, as he chuckled and sat on the couch next to her.

She looked over at him.

“Yeah, but that was pretty much acting,” she said, as she rolled her eyes.

“Ouch,” said Josh, and DJ smirked.

“Oh, that hurts. You did not believe in me,” Joe said, dramatically, and Megan giggled.

“Come on. I wasn’t a die hard fan, I mean I watched a couple of times here and there, but I didn’t even know you back then,” Amanda mumbled, and he chuckled, as he raised one of his eyebrows at her.

“But, you have heard of me,” he said, frankly, as he smirked, and Amanda shook her head.

“Oh, here. I got these off of one of the men,” he said, as he pulled her pack of cigarettes and pack of joints out of his pocket.

He handed them to her, and that is when she noticed the stained blood on his hands and t-shirt. She looked up at him with wide eyes, and wondered if he had killed the men that had tortured her.

Was he really capable of killing living men? She wondered, as she searched his eyes.

“What happened?” she asked, as she kept her eyes with his.

Seemingly, Joe looked down at his hands, and then he looked back up at her. He wondered if he should tell her or not. She needed to rest, and not worry about those men ever again. At that moment, he decided it was best just to keep what happened between him and DJ.

“Oh, that. I am okay. I’m not hurt,” he said, as he softly chuckled, and he shot a look at DJ.

Amanda looked up at DJ with a questioning look, and he only shook his head. She looked at them both oddly for a moment, but then she dismissed her thoughts, and thought maybe it was best if she didn’t know.

“Nothing to worry about. You are home safe and sound,” he said, and that is when Amanda noticed that there was something strange about her chief commander.

“DJ, are you alright?” she asked, and he looked at her.

“Never been better, why?”

“No reason. Maybe I just need to get some rest,” she whispered, and they all nodded in agreement.

******************

Slowly, Amanda opened her eyes, and she smiled, as she saw that Joe was sleeping next to her.

“Hey,” he whispered, as he smiled back at her and touched her arm.

“Hey,” she said, as she stretched.

Softly, Joe looked over her body, and then he noticed the deep purple scratches on the back of her arm. Immediately, he sat up, and looked at her, as his hair fell over his shoulders. He touched her arm, as he examined the scratches, and then he looked at her with concern in his eyes.

“What happened?” he asked, and she looked at what he was looking at.

“Oh, some mutant scratched me back at the supermarket after the bombing,” she explained, and he looked at her in question.

Surprisingly, Amanda didn’t feel achy or in pain from the torture she went through, and her eye was just bruised now. The swelling had completely gone away, and she also had a few bruises around her wrists and on her arms. Joe had noticed, but he didn’t want to say anything.

“Are you alright?” he asked, concerned, and she nodded as she brought her arms down to her sides.

“Yeah, I’m fine. The infection didn’t affect me like it did the other creatures,” she said frankly, and he nodded.

“Are you sure you feel fine?” he asked, again, as he took her face into his palms and searched her eyes.

As she held his gaze, she wanted to tell him about the mutants not attacking her after she had been scratched, but she wanted to figure out what was happening to her first, before she said anything.

“Yes, besides, feeling like I was hit by a bus. I am fine,” she said, and he sighed in relief.

“Can we keep this just between us for now?” she asked, sincerely, and he looked at her bruised face, as he smiled and nodded.

“Thank you,” she whispered, and he bent his head down and kissed her.

“Anytime,” he said, as he pulled his head back.

****************

For about a month, everything seemed to be going well in the Overwatch community. Everyone that lived there seemed to get along, and their settlement began to thrive. You could almost forget about the dying and mutating world beyond the safety of the protective barriers, except those who fought for their lives to make a safe place for survivors to come.

However, Amanda, Megan, Joe, and Josh suspected something weird was going on with DJ and Christie. They seemed to act weirder and weirder as the days went by. Seemingly, the discolored general was more worried about bringing more survivors in than taking care of the ones that were already there.

Evidently, DJ canceled all supply runs, and no one was to leave the community. Only new survivors were allowed to come through the gates. Also, DJ split the four up, and had them work different shifts, in different parts of the settlement. They didn’t like the new changes at all, and when they would ask him why, they would always get the same answer.

“I need to have at least one of my best sergeants on each shift.”

After a while, Amanda and Megan began to suspect that something wasn’t right. DJ started acting like a different person from the one they knew from out on the field. On the other hand, Christie was always by DJ’s side, and she eerily agreed with everything that he said. It was like they didn’t have a mind of their own at times.

Their skin was turning a darker, sickening yellow-green color, and their eyes now seemed to have a glossy haze over them like the infected did. Even Joe and Josh began to notice that there was something strange going on with their cousin and his wife, but they never said anything about it to Amanda and Megan. First, they wanted to see if they could get answers, before they said anything about it.

*****************

Megan scoffed, as her shift ended. She was getting really sick and tired of being separated from her friends. Happily, she smiled, as she saw Amanda walk up.

“Why, hello, stranger,” she said, and Amanda grinned.

They both chuckled, as Megan looped her arm in Amanda’s, and they began to walk back from where Megan had come.

“What? Are we working a double today?” Amanda asked, and Megan shook her head, as she noticed two of the guards watching them.

“No, silly. Can’t a girl just walk and talk with her best friend that she never gets to see anymore?”

Amanda laughed, and Megan made a face. Silently, they walked down the perimeter of the protective barrier, and when Megan saw that they were finally alone, she turned to her friend.

“Have you noticed that things are getting weirder and weirder by the day?” she asked in a quiet voice, and Amanda peered around, as she nodded.

“When we walk back, take a good look at the other guards. Their skin is starting to change like DJ’s and Christie’s are, and what is wrong with their eyes?” she explained.

“I noticed that a couple of days ago, but since DJ has us relieving each other, we haven’t had a chance to sit down and talk,” Amanda whispered.

“I know. This all seems so crazy,” Megan whispered.

“Look, try and get a message to the guys the next time you see them. I mean I know we see each other every day, but make sure you tell them to be ready for anything,” Amanda whispered, and Megan nodded.

“Come on, let’s head back before the other guards start suspecting something.”

Megan nodded and took Amanda’s arm again, and they giggled, as they walked back towards the gate. Suddenly, the girls heard gunshots and then the people of the community screaming.

“That’s odd. It’s early in the morning. Mutants don’t attack in the daylight, not unless they have reason to,” said Megan, as they both looked at each other, and then they began running toward the gunshots.

“What’s going on?” yelled Megan, as one of the other guards started running with them.

“The mutants have broken through the south gate. They need all available personnel to assist,” he said, and they ran to the southern part of the settlement.

Horrified, Amanda and Megan stopped in their tracks, and stared with wide eyes. There were mutants staggering into the community, as the other guards shot at an enormous green and red caterpillar-looking creature. It wasn’t the cute and cuddly kind either. This one’s head was mutated and it only had one eye.

Immediately, they pulled their guns and began firing at the thing’s ugly eye, and the creature began snarling and thrashing it’s disgusting, mutated head. At that moment, Amanda saw a guard with a grenade belt, and then she looked at Megan with a knowing look. Megan shook her head, but Amanda smirked at her.

“Come on,” she said, and then she started running toward the guard.

Irritated at Amanda, Megan scoffed, as she let her rifle fall to her side, and she ran after her crazy friend. Evidently, she knew that Amanda was about to do something stupid that would probably get her killed.

“Excuse me. I need to borrow this,” she said, as she quickly pulled the grenade belt off of the unsuspecting man.

“Hey!” he yelled, as Amanda kept running towards the ugly beast.

“Sorry!” she yelled back at the guy.

“Amanda!” yelled Megan, but Amanda didn’t turn around.

“What is she doing?” asked Joe, as he and Josh ran up to Megan, as she shrugged her shoulders and tried to catch her breath.

“Uh, something stupid!’ exclaimed Josh, as he pointed at their crazy friend.

Amazed, they watched Amanda, as she dodged the oncoming mutants, and ran towards the larger beast. They thought it was odd that none of the mutants were going after her, but they didn’t question it. Shocked, they watched their friend start scaling the wall that the beast had knocked half of the way down.

Swiftly, Amanda maneuvered up the broken steel wall, and they watched in horror, as she leapt toward the creature, as she pulled the pin for all of the grenades on the belt.

“Amanda, no!” Joe yelled, but he was too late.

Amanda grabbed onto the mutant caterpillar’s slimy antenna, and she chucked the belt into its open mouth. Angrily, the creature snarled at her, as she let go of its antenna.

This is going to hurt, she thought, as she fell to the ground.

Thankfully, she knew how to roll when she landed, and when her feet hit the ground, she rolled, and then she scrambled to her feet. As fast as she could, she ran toward Megan, Joe, and Josh.

“Get down!” she yelled, as she reached them, and they began running for cover together.