POV: Major Andrew "Wolf" Davis, 1st person

"Alright," I said. I was attempting to show the new people how to use rifles. "Look down this right here, make sure that what you're trying to hit is in the middle of it, then pull this." I indicated the trigger. "That's how you shoot. To get yourself able to shoot, you to push this to the other side" I indicated the safety. It was currently on. "Every gun is the same in this regard: If the safety is on the side it's currently on, then you can't shoot. Now, let's go over loading the gun."

1 hour later

"Alright, you're catching on quick!" I said, impressed with how fast they were learning everything. So far most of them didn't need more than 1 or 2 reminders. "I think you're set for the run!" They all smiled, glad they did well, and happy to finally be useful.

In 2 minutes, Hector had everyone ready to be given their assignments.

"Alright. Teams of 4." He said. "Snake, Tiger, Panther, and Cricket will stay here to defend the place." He indicated positions on the map of the building where they'd be. Then he moved the rest of us to a map of the city while they went to their positions.

"Hey, Jakester?" I asked.

"Yeah, Wolf?" Hector replied.

"I really hope you aren't planning on having a team of just newbies."

"No need to worry." Hector said.

"Okay. I want Sparky, Fire Guy, Dashster, and Sanchez to go to the diner we passed through on the way back here." He indicated where it was on the map, though we didn't need it.

"Then I want Jackery, Macaroo, Mage, and Pinks at the warehouse over here." He pointed to a warehouse about 3 blocks from here. I started studying the area around it.

"Huh?" said Applejack.

"You, your bro, Wolf, and Pinkie, go to the warehouse," he replied "and Twilight, Firestar, Rainbow, and Sanchez go to the diner."

POV: Captain Jacob Hector, 1st person

"And finally," I said, "I want Flutters, Rare, and Briggy with me at the route to Stronghold 21." I heard Badger suck in some air.

"Sir?" He asked. "Are you-"

"Yes I'm sure" I interrupted. "I know the way's crawling with those things, but it's gotta be full of supplies. 19 was the least loaded, and the only one not locked. Only we know the codes, and those doors won't budge under anything less than a fu**ing Jackhammer. We're running out of supplies, and even if we can't grab everything, we can grab a bunch of whatever we need, get out, and lock it behind us."

I gave him a look that I hoped said "We're doing this, and you can either help us, or grumble about it and help anyways." It must've worked, because he nodded.

I looked at the ragtag group that was us, And smiled. We could do this. Even with only an hour of training, the new people were showing promise. He**, the new people alone could probably take all of the route to 21 just themselves.

I did a quick check to make sure we were ready.

"Okay! Let's move out!"

POV: Firestar, 1st person

"So, what are we looking for?" I asked.

"Anything we can take with us," Sanchez replied, "But especially food, medicine and ammo. I want you three covering my back while i gather stuff up. I know what to look out for. Just tell me if you see one of those things, and if it gets close enough, try to take it out yourself. If there's more than 3 zeds, get me over to you." I nodded.

We went in to the diner, and he pointed at 3 spots all around.

"Get to those spots, and keep looking around. This'll take a few minutes" I nodded, and went to one of the spots he indicated. I looked around, but didn't see anything moving. I prepared for a boring wait.

A loud boom sounded behind me. I whipped around and brought my gun up, just in time to see guts fly away from a zombie's head.
I went white. My stomach rumbled. I felt horrible. I shook my head to get rid of the nausea, and turned back to the outside.

POV: Sanchez, 1st person

"Whew" I sighed with relief. I didn't expect a zombie to be inside a locked storage room. I wonder how long he's been in there?
I turned around to see Twilight staring at the zombie's decapitated body, looking disgusted. Dash was looking at me, checking to see if I was OK. Firestar was already looking back outside -good man- and ready. I gave Dash a thumbs up, and she turned back around.
Even at first glance I could tell Firestar was still fighting nausea. But that's to be expected. Only a few hours ago he was in a world where apparently violence alone was practically nonexistent. Now he gets to see a head blown open.

I turned back to the storage room and walked in carefully. If there's one, there's likely to be more.

Okay, no zeds. Let's search the place... Aha! Food! And... What's an SMG doing here? I picked up the SMG and examined it.
MP5, Holographic laser dot sight, extended 45 round magazine, fire mode set to fully automatic... And it feels almost empty. Of course.

"What do we have here?" I heard a smug tone say. I whipped around, but didn't see anyone.

"Who are you?" I heard Firestar ask. I took cover at the doorway to the storage room, holding a rifle in each hand. Da** it! I thought the back door was sealed shut!

"Moi? I'm just somebody who's trying to get by. And something tells me that it'd help me if I took what you have on ya."

"What do you mean by that?"

"He means," I stepped out of the storage room and locked my M16 onto the closest newcomer. "That he wants us to take him down the hard way, if he doesn't fu** off." I glared at him. He just chuckled.

"Oh, I don't think that's what I mean. What I mean, is that if you don't take off your gear and give us all of your supplies right now, my guys over there will blast a hole in your skull." He indicated to a spot where 4 guys with pistols and shotguns had us in their sights.

I quickly sized up the situation.

I had a fully automatic SMG, that may or may not contain enough bullets to take down the 4 guys.

I have my rifle trained on the 5th guy, who's by himself.

The 4 guys are aiming at all of us.

I decided not to risk it.

"What do-why would- we're not zombies!" Dash exclaimed, confused and frightened.

"What are you, an idiotic bit**?" The man turned on her. I took a step forward.

"Don't you DARE call her that!" I yelled. He looked back at me.

"What, did I offend your girlfriend?" I blinked. Girlfriend? really? There is no way I would think of her like that!

"You will tell your buddies over there to stand down, or go**ammit I will blast your head open before I go down! GET THE FU** OUT OF HERE!" I was about to think of something else to say, but then I remembered something...

half an hour ago

I grabbed my gun and headed for the door. I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned.

"Hey," said Cricket "If you need a hand, just send up a flare. I'll be on the roof with a sniper rifle."

I smiled. "Thanks, man. Hopefully I won't need it, though.

Present

I aimed my gun at the ceiling and fired off a delayed flare round.

"And what purpose did that serve, other than wasting your ammunition and alerting every zed within half a mile?" He asked.

"Well, for one thing, it lets my buddies know that they need to kick you a**es!" I smiled smugly.

The man looked around, but, seeing no one, started to turn back around.

Suddenly, her jerked. I whipped towards the 4 other guys and used both guns to take them down.

After taking care of business in that direction, I looked back at my would-be thug. Well, he has a new air-hole for his brain.

"Well, that was interesting, but now I should gather what I can, and we should get the he** out of here. All these gunshots will have attracted every zombie within half a mile from here." I went back into the storage room and left the others to figure out what just happened and process it.

Author's Note

Just saying, for anyone that doesn't know how strong a Jackhammer is, think about this: Ever heard the phrase "Hot knife through butter?" Well, the cement of, say, a driveway, is your already warm butter, and the Jackhammer is your molten knife. That's how powerful a Jackhammer is.