Survival of the Fittest

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PROLOGUE

POV: NICK

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        As we scoured the ruins of the city, a somewhat unnerving silence hung over us. whist Greg took point, I stayed close to him and kept a watchful eye out,  looking for any form of danger. In an attempt to lighten the mood a bit for myself, I hummed a simple tune. For some odd reason, I felt like we were being watched, by forces unknown, which sent a shiver down my spine.  I then thought about how the old world was, prior to The Fall. The fall is the name we gave to the event that brought humanity to its knees. A deadly virus swept across the world, similar to “zombie plagues” seen in films; only this was real. In an effort to stop the spread of the virus, many cities, like New York City; which we were in, put up walls around their perimeters. This did not last long, as rioters acquired explosives, and blew large holes in the wall, rendering it useless. All of these events caused Greg and I to lose our families. We were now alone, in an inhospitable world, with only what we could find. I guess you could consider Greg my brother, as we’ve known each other since grade school, and treat each other like siblings.

        “Hold up,” whispered Greg. “ I don’t like this… Stay low, move slow. We might run into trouble.”

As we crept through the abandoned streets of New York City, a sense of unease came over me. We rounded a street corner, and found a lone survivor, searching through an abandoned car.

“ Shh…” I heard Greg say. “Let him pass, it looks like he is leaving, get to cover, but be quick and quiet about it.” Following his order, I slowly walked over to a building, and climbed the stairs to the second floor, but I accidentally kicked a can, sending it skittering across the cracked pavement.

“Who’s there,” We heard him say. “Come out where I can see you! I’m armed!” Brandishing a shotgun, he dropped into a combat stance.

“Put the gun down, sir,” Pleaded Greg. “I’m coming out. Just don’t shoot” Greg hid his weapons in the car he was hiding behind, and crept out into the open. I poked my rifle out of a broken window, and trained my scope on the man’s head.

        “Give me everything you’ve got kid,” He shouted, pointing the gun at Greg. “Ammo, weapons, food, meds, EVERYTHING!”

        Seeing this as my cue, I unlocked the bolt, and aimed at the man. Slowly depressing the trigger, a loud *CRACK* was heard and a satisfying kick was felt as the rifle was fired. I cycled the bolt, and looked through the scope to check if I had attracted any zombies, or other survivors, as well as to admire my kill; which was a clean headshot that removed the top portion of his head, leaving it looking like scattered chips and salsa, only the chips were pieces of bone, and the salsa was brain-matter.

        “Are you OK, man?” I asked him from afar.

        “Yeah, thanks to you,” He shouted back to me. “I think he was about to shoot me. Anyway, we should get out of here, ASAP. We probably attracted some walkers.”

        “Good idea,” I said, jogging to him. “Ladies first.” He rolled his eyes at me for that.

“Fuck you, man.” He said, annoyed. “Wait, do you hear that,” I said, fear evident in my voice. “Oh, shit! We’ve got a huge horde incoming! We need to move, NOW!”

As soon as I said that, we were already off in search of a way out, or a car. With pure dumb luck, there was a nearly perfect-condition HUMVEE fully fueled, and it had a lot of supplies in it, including weapons and kevlar armor.

“Greg! You drive!” I shouted, as I climbed into the gunner seat. The transport roared to life, and started to drive away to who-knows-where, just away.

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I climbed into the back of the spacious vehicle, and checked what we had in terms of supplies. We had a few guns, some ammunition boxes, and MRE's. There were a few guns, which consisted of mostly rifles. This was strange, as most Humvee's were looted, and had practically nothing. In addition to this, there was both black and grey Kevlar armor pieces. This was somewhat ominous, and made me feel as if something very bad was going to happen. I shrugged it off, and started to field strip my rifle and pistol. After finishing this, I climbed back into the front of the car.

"Hey Greg, Did you take that guys gun back there?" I asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, I forgot to show you what it was," He replied. "It's over there, next to my backpack. You won't believe what It is."

I crawled over to his backpack, and a demonic grin crept across my face when I saw the guns. It was a pair of military grade shotguns. "You didn't say he had TWO guns!" I shouted with glee. "Oh, I'm gonna have some fun with you guys..."

"Wait, Greg, did you see how much we have back here?!  There must be a dozen guns! When we get to a safe place, we'll decide who uses what."

We kept driving on the strangely clear highway, and headed into the suburbs, wanting to get as far away from the city as possible. We had a conversation about what we wanted to have in this destroyed world. He said he wanted the world to be back to normal. I said I wanted to find a way to go to another world, one of peace, and safety, and he said mine was a better option, as he was sick of this place.

Little did we know, my wish was going to be granted, as a soft, feminine voice greeted us, “Your wish shall be granted, young ones…” A bright white light engulfed us, and we blacked out.