Death is only the Beginning (EDITING)

Chapter XVII

Bright light hit Rebecca in the face as she slowly got up, grunting. Next to her, her sister hugged the blanket and let out a mumbling groan as she turned the other direction. Upset that she's too awake to go back to sleep, she decided to go to the kitchen. After quickly getting dressed she opened the door to the sound of sizzling food and the smell of bacon. Her stomach growled as she approached the kitchen to a whistling Mike flipping strips of bacon on a small pan.

"Where did you have bacon?" Rebecca asked as she stood beside him, eyeing the wondrous slices of meat.

"Found the freezer full of them. It's almost done. Sleep well?"

"Fantastic. You?"

"Not so good. I kept dreaming of Jenkins' death. I wish I..."

"Hey I miss him too" Rebecca said wrapping her arms around Mike and comforting him.

"Anyways" Mike said, "It's almost 8. Could you wake your sister? Breakfast is ready"

After a wondrous breakfast and a baby wipe wash the three left to the apartment building to a quite welcoming empty street.

"So we're coming back here right?" Stacy asked as the truck roared to life.

"Of course. But first we need to refuel. The truck is almost running dry"

"Alright let's do this" Rebecca says as the truck left the apartment complex.

The streets were heavily crowded with infected and littered with fallen corpses and bullet shells that crunched as the truck drove over them. More than once they had to move sandbags and heavy turret mounds out of the way to pass fallen barricades. Finally they came across a gas station. It was completely empty with just a couple dozen killed corpses littering the pumps and station itself.

"I'll check the tanks for gas, you two go inside and find anything of value. I'd kill for a Blue Bull right now."

"The sisters nodded and entered the store only to appear a few moments later empty handed.

"Nothing?" Mike asked after checking the third pump.

"The whole place is picked clean"

"Dammit. Was hoping for at least some beef jerky or a bag of chips"

"Any luck with fuel?"

"Nope" Mike said shaking his head. "I spotted another gas station not too far away let's check it out."

After killing a few infected men inside and a couple wandering by the pumps they too find the gas station to be completely raided.

"Dammit. We have to keep trying. I'm not leaving behind such a treasured vehicle" Mike angrily said.

The third and fourth gas station too proofed to be fruitless. Mike was about to give up when he spots a smaller gas station by the edge of the city. After looking at his watch and gasping that they wasted 3 hours looking for fuel, his heart almost skipped a beat when the pumps still contained fuel.

"Finally. Anything in the store?" Mike asked as he saw Rebecca and Stacy leave the store.

"Just a few candy bars. The rest of the store has been picked clean"

"Ok good. I'm almost done with filling the truck. Hopefully we'll find that strike team"

"Hopefully."

40 minutes later, the truck entered the drop off zone of the airport. Signs of resistance was everywhere with fallen corpses, bullet shells, and overrun barricades. A few walkers were wandering here and there but for the most part the outside of the airport was deserted. After grinding the truck to a grinding halt, the three got out and stared at the entrance. Swarms of flies covered dozens of fallen men, women, and children that litter the sidewalk. Suitcases lay scattered, some with their contents spilled. The glass doors have most been smashed with a trail of bullet shells to follow. From the looks of the corpses inside the airport, it seems it happened the day of the outbreak.

Quietly, and with weapons drawn, they stepped over the shattered entrance and into the airport. Two large escalators led to another floor and hundreds of counters from dozens of airlines lined up stretching on and on. The smell made it difficult for the sisters to bare as they slowly made their way up the escalators.

"This place is huge. Where the hell would we look?" Stacy asked as they approached the start of Gate A. A long corridor of stores seemed to go on and on.

"Well it looks like military was here. If I were to set up a FOB here, I would set up HQ by the security station. Couldn't hurt to try"

"And where would that be?" Stacy asked as they stopped at a map of the airport.

"There, in between Gate D and A" Mike pointed out as he saw the police symbol on the map.

"Ah jeez that far?" Rebecca moaned as she noticed that they were at the beginning of Gate A.

"Do you girls still have the radios I gave you?"

"Yep" Stacy said, she and Rebecca pulling out a rather large black radio the size of a brick.

"Set at 33000? Channel 2?" "Mhm" Rebecca said, showing Mike what her and Stacy's radio is set at.

"Good. In case we get split up this will be our emergency communication. Check check, can you hear me?" Mike said, his voice coming from each radio.

They both gave him a thumbs up and stepped through the empty Gate weapons raised.

The large Gate wasn't in such a bad shape as the drop off point. Not that many bodies litter the ground and the amount of empty magazines and bullet shells seem to get less and less. They stopped as Gate B intersected a quarter of the way through Gate A when Mike raised his hand and turned it to a fist signaling the sisters to stop and freeze.

They listened and heard gurgling moaning. Mike peaked towards Gate B and saw hundreds of infected standing motionlessly like at Targets. They stared off into the ground or straight ahead but didn't move a muscle except for a soft twitch from their heads. Some lied dead on the ground but their soft twitch of their head gave away that they are far from dead.

With a motion to be silent, the three tiptoed by Gate B, carefully stepping over rotting corpses and ignoring the swarms of flies and maggots. Suddenly a lone infected trotted in from a Oklahoma Road House and right affront of Mike, Stacy and Rebecca. Rebecca was about to scream when it was muffled by Mike's hand. He turned around and sighed with relief as the hundreds of infected still stood motionless. Quietly he approached the gurgling infected, wrapped his arm around its neck silencing it, and pressed the blade of his knife into its skull. The infected immediately stopped moving as Mike quietly lowered its lifeless corpse to the ground.

Slowly, the tiptoed deeper down the gate. Heavier signs of battle came across the three as they entered the intersection of Gate C and A. Corpses were everywhere, the flies buzzing louder than the moaning from a couple nearby infected. The infected, in similar military clothing as in Fenway, looked up at the three, but immediately fell after two suppressed went off from Mike's Scar-L. More infected soldiers approached them from Gate A, stepping over a fallen barricade. Grunting, Mike opened fired. The loud moaning got the attention of the hundreds of motionless infected, snapping them back.

From behind, extremely loud moaning made the three turn around to a sea of infected approaching them. "Fuck we don't have the ammo to take them all down. Quick to the intersection of Gate D and A!" Mike shouted as he quickly put down the infected soldiers and started to run, Stacy and Rebecca close behind. More and more infected approached them from restrooms, shops, and restaurants. Quickly, Gate A got very crowded and loud. Mike pulled out his machete and slashed at any infected that got too close. Finally the intersection of Gate D and A appeared frantically, the three searched for the entrance to the airport security only to find the door smashed down and a couple infected in airport security uniforms greeting them.

"Hey over here" a man in similar clothing shouted, waving at them from far down Gate D. Despite already out of breath, the three ran. Their lungs felt like fire, their legs hurting. The door slammed shut and the shelf pushed against it after the three ran inside, catching their breath as heavy pounding echoed from the door.