We're Still Alive(Book1)BEING REWRITTEN

Twenty-Four

Tenessee

          The radio station was actually easier to find than Gavin expected. Especially with their 'searching technique', which was just basically wandering around until they found what they were looking for. Simple but effective. Even if it did take almost three hours.

        There were several bodies piled at the front door, and a few zombies trying to claw their way inside. They all collapsed one at a time, most with a splash of blood emerging from the backs of their heads, but Gavin didn't hear anything aside from the cut-off growls and bodies hitting the ground. He looked at Martine, who shrugged. Gavin drove closer, so they were just a few yards from the door, then stepped out of the car. He jumped back in suddenly, and pulled Martine's door shut, reaching across his lap to get it.
       "What the hell, what's wrong with you?" He yelled.
       "They're trying to shoot us." Gavin panted, trying to get a look at someone, anyone, through the window.
       "I didn't hear anything." Martine said and pulled at his door handle.
       Gavin grabbed his arm and pulled it back. "I think they've got silencers. I think one of the bullets almost hit me, but I didn't hear the gun."
       "You think?" Martine also looked out the window. "I guess they don't need as much help as we thought. They seem to be taking care of themselves."
       "Maybe..." Gavin stopped suddenly when he saw someone walk up to the station's dirty and bloody door, holding a gun threateningly in front of him. And it was a big gun, an automatic rifle. Not like a shotgun or hunting rifle or anything. Bud also had his attention on the guy. Another thing he noticed, although it was hard to see through the muck and scratches on the glass door, was that they guy was wearing camouflage and combat boots. "Do you think they're military? He looks like it..." Martine didn't answer, and when Gavin looked over he saw him loading a Deagle. "What are you doing?"
       "We made it this far, I ain't about to get killed now." Martine didn't look up as he said it.
       "If you shoot that gun, you kill us both. We have no idea how many of them there are." Gavin said it in a low voice, barely above a whisper. He knew no one could hear them, but he didn't want to take the chance. Martine hesitated and stared at the gun for what felt like hours, then sighed.
       "I won't shoot at 'em, but I'm not going out unarmed." As he said it, he stuffed  the gun into the side of his jeans and covered it with his shirt. Gavin was watching him carefully, so his heart almost leapt out of his chest when something tapped on his window. The guy was standing right outside his door.
       "Get out with your hands up, I'm not the only one here and if you show any signs of aggression you will be shot." He yelled through the window. He'd backed up some to give Gavin room to open his door. He exchanged a final glance with Martine before opening his door and stepping outside. He heard Martine getting out, but he was paying more attention to the man with the gun.
        "You're with the military, right? We came here because someone over the radio..." The man interrupted before Gavin could finish.
       "Get down, you too." He nodded to Martine as he said it. "Have any of you been bitten by them? Or scratched, bled on, even?" When both replied 'no', he searched both of them. Gavin didn't know if he didn't believe them about the bites or if he was checking for weapons. Probably both. Gavin had left his gun in the car, and all he had was a hunting knife, which the man took, along with Martine's gun. "Okay, we gotta get inside."
       "What about him?" Gavin nodded to Bud, still watching in the backseat.
       "Does he bark a lot?"
       "Not so far."
       The guy sighed. "Fine. Hurry." After they were inside, the man started pushing chairs in front of the door to block it off. Gavin noticed that Martine was staring at the soldier, and following his gaze, his eyes widened. Martine wasn't watching the soldier, he was eyeing the gun in his holster. He stepped forward and Gavin put a hand out in front of him. When Martine glared at him, Gavin shook his head and his eyes flicked to the gun again. With a silent groan, Martine tore his gaze away from the pistol as the soldier turned around and motioned for them to go upstairs. When they got there, they were led into the main room where the news and music was broadcasted. It had a simple rolley chair in the room with all the electronic equipment, and the room next to it was basically a living room, with two small couches and a mini-fridge. What caught Gavin's attention, though, was the two bodies lying on the floor, both with gunshots to the head. It would almost be considered normal at this point to see bodies laying around, but a close look revealed that the two hadn't been zombies; a little bit of color still resided in their eyes. Gavin froze when he saw them, and Buddy shied away, but Martine lost it. He tried to run out of the room and practically attacked the soldier when he blocked him. The second guy in the room, also in the same uniform, look confused, trying to decide whether to watch Gavin or help with Martine.
       "Just wait!" Gavin looked over as the first soldier shoved Martine back into the room. "They were already dead!" That seemed to calm Martine down, but he was still wary, his eyes flicking back and forth between the two soldiers.
       "What happened?" Gavin asked quietly, not taking his eyes off of the bodies.
       The second soldier answered. "We were on leave when it started, but got called back when it got out of hand. Our base got overrun not too long after, but we heard some guys talking about Ohio. You know about that, right?" Gavin nodded and he continued. "We thought we'd make our way there, but then we heard the broadcast."
       The first soldier started talking again. "We thought it couldn't hurt to help some people on the way. When we got here, there weren't as many as we thought, so they were easy to take out. We found these two..." He pointed to the bodies. "We trusted them. They said they weren't infected and we believed them."
       "But they were infected." Gavin finished.
       "Right. They were close to changing. There was no point in letting them suffer like that." He didn't have to say anymore. Martine was still breathing hard, and Gavin patted him on the back.
       "You two have names?" The second soldier asked suddenly.
       "Uh, yeah. I'm Gavin." When Martine didn't answer, he added. "He's Martine. What about you two?"
       "Petty Officer Wes Grine." The  first soldier pointed to himself, then to the other one. "First Lieutenant Max Sander."
       "Uh, nice to meet you." Gavin shook Max's hand awkwardly, then Wes.
       "Where are you coming from?" Max asked.
       "Georgia." Gavin answered. Martine was sitting on the couch with his head on his knees. "At least I am. Not sure about him. You?"
       "Mississippi." Wes said. "Is he all right?"
       "Just give him some time." Gavin patted his back again. "You're okay." He laughed when Martine smacked his hand away and growled something under his breath. "So you're going to Ohio too?"
       "Yeah, we would've been a lot closer by now if it wasn't for these two and a couple of idiots that tried to jump us the other day." Max said the last part with a smirk. "It didn't end well for them."
       Gavin tried to ignore that comment. "Well I'm not sure if we could all fit in the car..."
       "Don't worry about that, we got somethin' better." Wes said with a smile.