The Integration (Part I): Still Myself, Still Surviving Page 3

  “You should've reminded us, Gary. How could you forget a crucial detail like that to share with the group?” Will tells me over Janice and Lissie's heads, both of them illuminated by his flashlight which is aimed at me.

  “I'm... sorry. It escaped my mind, but now we all are aware.”

  “Show us how far you've gotten guys.” Janice says to Ashton and me.

  We begin back down the trail, with myself continuously scanning my left and right sides of vision to ensure we catch any sight of undead. The tall trees above us dim the night sky tremendously, making it look as though we are in a very enclosed room, imposing the sense of claustrophobia on me, but I won't let that stop us from moving.

  All-of-a-sudden, when nothing has come our way, the rustling and snapping of leaves and twigs begins. “Ashton, shine your light on the right, and Will, give your light to Janice, and have it be shined to your left.” I say with adrenaline rushing in my lungs.

  There are 3 undead that I roughly count, with 1 next to my left, 1 to Will's left behind me, and 1 next to Ashton's right. I leap forward a bit, as to not hurt Janice or Lissie behind me, for then I grab my sword with my right hand, twirling it off my back to get momentum, and then I stab the one closest to me, beginning in their lower jaw and ending the blade behind their skull. I then palm their sternum, and force their lifeless corpse off.

  Simultaneously, Ashton takes his knife, carrying it with his offensive hand, and shoves it into the temple of his undead adversary.

  Will grabs his knife, reverses his grip of the handle for the blade to be below his fingers, clasps the side of the last undead's head with his open left, then hammers in his weapon into the opposite side free from his grasp.

  No sign of an incubating undead was noticed by anyone.

  Fortunately, even in the dark, a haze-incubating undead's eyes will still be visible, so we don't take as much of a gamble when it comes to killing them.

  “That's all, for now! If any more come, then slash and stab the ones that are closest to you, and keep moving! Don't let them stop our movement!” I assert to everyone.

  I see a few undead in my peripheral vision, getting halted in their tracks by trees, though still reaching their arms around intently to get us.

  I suppose it's a good thing that their intelligence doesn't increase at all.

  I hear Janice and Lissie behind me, huffing more than the other 3 of us are, and I quickly look to ask if they're okay.

  “I forgot to tell you, Gary, we got supplies!” Janice says, with an exerted chuckle along her panting breaths.

  “I saw.” I respond, and I give a finger-curving motion with my free hand, gesturing she let me take the bag off her.

  “Oh, I'm fine.” She says, flapping a hand to indicate she is not being strained. “Lissie might like the help though.”

  I swiftly move my head to look at Lissie, who's immediate to look back at me, though without actually 'looking'. “Here, let me help, Lissie.” I say as gentle as I can, while we all rush from the danger around us.

  She doesn't say anything, but she raises her shoulders to her neck, ducking her head under the bag's strap, and hands it over to me. I then turn my attention back ahead, and while still in motion of slipping the bag onto my shoulder, I can see the plains Ashton and I found. “Just ahead!” I announce with energy. “There's a small patch of forest on top of the hill bump—little ways to the right of our vision at the moment. Ashton was looking through his binoculars and thinks he found something unique!”

  Ashton slashes and pushes 1 undead that strained its way to get in front, moving it to his far right, and we all get out of the forest—now entering onto these clear plains. We seem almost circled by all of the woodlands we just came out of. “Okay, let's get out of the open as quick as we can, so the undead can't distract and trap us out here!” I declare.

  Just then, some of these 'followers' of ours come from various directions—now no longer tripped up from the trees. They are not sprinters, but certainly can they get up to a slow jogging speed.

  Everyone naturally gets aside one another to eradicate the tight space we had back on the path. Will, to the very left of us, begins putting on a signature weapon of his, which are black knuckle brasses.

  “Let's take care of them and get back to being hidden!” I shout.

  The moonlight has taken control of the sky, even as dirtied-up as the sky is. It is lighting up the yellow and green grass below our feet, and, conveniently, makes the undead much more visible to spot. I put Janice closer to Will's back, and Lissie to mine, wanting them to not be the first line of defense. We box in, not letting one of the undead slip in undetected, and we strike fast and diligent.

  The routine killing of the undead lasted only a minute, which came faster thanks to us letting them come to us.

  It was always said fights felt like they lasted longer than they did. To me, these battles no longer live up to that opinion. The undead are not unpredictable anymore, and they've become more of a nuisance because of that.

  I instantly point my finger at the hilltop, Northeast in our omnidirectional perspective. “There! Where the mountain stones are!” I yell.

  The group of undead now dwindle in comparison to our numbers, and we clear ourselves of them. We hurriedly move up the hill, with me skipping over some of the stones sorely sticking out from the ground. “A couple are chasing us!” Janice announces.

  Rather than one of us up front having to turn around and deal with the undead, she and Lissie pull out their blades and time their executions right when those couple lurch forward for them.

  We get on the hill-bump, getting through its small width of forest, until we get to the edge of the hill itself. “Ashton, find the spot you saw. I'll take the flashlight and watch your side.” I tell him, while swaying my head at every spec of this hill's land.

  We smoothly trade our standing positions, and he acquires his binoculars—usually tucked in his jacket that is too small to hide entirely. He aligns the lenses with his eyes, and we all wait—patient, but anxious to hear he has a visual.

  “What is it?” Will asks, sounding more engaged with what I had been telling him over our radio chatter.

  “I think I see it… there!” Ashton exclaims. “From here, you can see the top of those 2 trees!” He then draws his index finger at the point of interest to help the rest of us triangulate on what he sees. “Likely, because there on a downward slope of the mountain we're on, you can see the tops of the woods, and, looking at them closer, you can see what appears to be 2 trees adjacent, but completely separate in distance from one another. In fact, the land's radius seems to not have any grown trees, which is unusual, compared to the other trees all around that radius. There may be some structure we can't see from here that caused them to not grow in that area!”

  First checking behind himself, Will then looks intensely at the distant location, arguing, “That could be nothing of importance to us! And, besides, even if it is a place, who's to say it doesn't already have others in it?”

  Janice comes into the argument Will has brought about. “It looks like an easy mile from here. We could just go and sneak our way into the area, and if we don't like what we see, then we keep moving. We can't just setup here for the night, so I think we should give it a try.”

  Regardless if Will doesn't agree, I do not think we should split up anymore, and if we do split up, then now is too heated to do so.

  “If there are any living around the area, they will likely be unaware of our presence outside, considering its past dark, but we'll remain as quiet as possible.” I state, looking at Will, even as he doesn't look back at me.

  I go ahead and look for acknowledgment from everyone.

  Everyone, except Will, quickly nod towards me, for he remains hesitant to provide a response.

  I then bring up my sincerity, confidently staring at him and his glaring eyes. His head is slightly tilted, and is directed downward at the grass below him. “Will… I won't force you to be w
ith this group any longer than you want, and if you want to now, then you can leave, but if you stay, then I need you to have a little trust in me. That goes for all of you here.”

  His eyes go to the grass, after several uneasy seconds. “… Okay, Gary, but if this goes all bad, just know it will all be on you.”

  I look back to Ashton, seeing an undead getting up close to him. I grasp his shoulder, and firmly push him behind me, as I then raise my sword up to impale its head.

  I take no satisfaction in killing them, but it savors me to know I reduce one more undead from tainting the life I work to sustain, and now I work to offer my group as well.

  “Okay, get in formation like we were before, and watch your rears on the way down this hill.” I advise, while slipping the flesh off of my sword.

  I keep a mental image of where the location was all the way down the hill, and we go into the woods once more. The rustling is faint from behind us, making it known more undead are coming.

  I know, for certain, this will be the undeads' major frustrations with us, since we keep heading in tricky terrain for them.

  The ground below us is riddled with stone platforms that descends with each sight of one following the other, making me have to watch my footing more sensitively. After a few minutes of silence, and huffing for air, the noises of animalistic snarls from the undead seam in with the distant silence, making them less and less a worry for us.

  The whole time, I've kept my head aimed in the direction of where this supposed sight could be, even when looking downward to catch myself on the mountain stones. The travel has ended a few minutes later. Ahead of us, beyond the trees we are latched to, a reflective, shiny, surface sunbathes to the moon—on top of a dark, solid, structure, hidden from brightness of the night. It strongly suggests it being the tease of a metallic roof.

  Chapter IV

  The structure is impressive, with it about 8 or 9 feet in height. No visible windows appear to the side we're on, so we don't have to worry about anyone seeing us from within. The main focus I have, after confirming it is a structure that can be shelter to us, is evaluating its harboring of any organic life.

  I whisper the plan that's fluently coming into my head, “All right, let's check the other walls, clear any threats around the area, and meet back here. Ashton, you, Janice, and Lissie counter-clock your way around, while Will and I shall circle the opposite direction. We'll meet up on the wall opposite to this one. Stay crouched, unless you have to take care of any undead.”

  We split up, and I get in front of Will, crouched to the ground of the left corner of this wall, and I discreetly peak around to see what, if any, signs of people around I can find. Will is behind, who I can tell, with my quick glance-overs at him, is not comfortable being squatted to the ground. I then look to my far left.

  No sign of supplies, weapons, or people.

  I then look up and down to ensure we don't activate traps of any sort. My view to the right is compacted, because it is in the direction of the wall perpendicular to the one we're currently hugged to. There seems to be appendages of metal sticking out, with what looks to be a lock hooked onto the wall I'm scanning at. “Let's go.” I say to Will, also cuing with my free hand.

  Still crouching, we turn to the other side, and now, curious to feel the physical material I noticed, I softly place 2 fingers to skid across the surface, which feels unique to me. I continue sliding across this surface, while we slowly move across the wall, and what I feel of it is like that of a storage door at a storage facility. It has bumpy groves, with trench-like curves.

  This repeats on my fingers, until it transitions to a completely smooth, but tough, cold surface like steel. It has little bolts on the outline of its differentiating surface, and what also feels like little blemishes of rust stringing along its exterior. About midway through the wall's length, I accidentally smack onto the lock I thought I noticed when looking over here, which rattles and makes noise.

  Gary! This could compromise us!

  “Careful! There might be people inside who could hear you!” Will advises in a whispering voice.

  I recognize my mistake, and I signal we hurry along to the other side, where we'll meet up with the others. When reaching the corner, I put my fingers on the grass in front of me, feeling as though I'm a cat ready to pounce, but, fortunately, what I see is Ashton, putting a lone undead to rest. He sees me, and we all reunite. “Did you find anything?” I ask him.

  “Nothing, except what looked to be an electrical box mounted onto the wall—probably useless now. What about you?”

  “I think we found the front entrance. Someone might open it up though, because I accidentally smacked into a lock with my hand. Will, check around and see if anyone opens it up.”

  He turns back to peak his head around the corner, slowly pulling out his Walther P99 pistol.

  “We didn't hear anything, so if anyone's inside, then they might not have heard it too.” Janice comments, staying positive in her attitude.

  “Maybe.” I respond, sounding discouraged as I say it.

  It was an honest mistake, Gary. Don't let it get to you.

  A minute of silence passes, with me watching Will deeply concentrate.

  “Gary, why don't you go and check for yourself if the lock is actually locked?” Will says.

  I put us in this risky zone, so I'll be the first to take the possible consequences. Of this magnitude, I'd figure that's what a good leader does.

  “Okay,” I respond. I gesture he hand me his flashlight. Now, I move back out in the open, on my own. Though only a handful of feet away from the others, I do feel the danger that comes with moving to the front with no backup.

  I would imagine this is Will's way of punishing me for making a mistake, and I shouldn't, and won't, hold that against him.

  I slowly get up to the lock, only to see it is in fact unlocked.

  Strange, but still it is an uplifting sign.

  I move my free arm to manipulate where the lock dangles from, and I take it out of its conjoined slide-door holes that keeps them together. I go to open the right sliding door, and I hear commotion from the left, where the group is. “Stay there,” I whisper in a soft, but concrete tone, “because if anything happens, then it is my responsibility to take the full blow first, as to ensure you all have a chance.”

  I notice that everyone is huddled behind Will, all giving me perplexed looks, even Lissie, who, distant with her emotional ties to this moment, also looks uncomfortable of what I am saying and doing.

  This belief of mine, that one has to take responsibility if it beckons to them, comes naturally to me in this time of my life, because in the time before this one as a widely known singer for a widely known rock band, I took full responsibility over my bandmates.

  I knew they counted on the platform we reached, in order to keep their focus going—a focus that didn't involve them being drunk on stage, or drugged on sorrow. If they were responsible for trashing a hotel room, then I took the blame and paid damages, so our manager wouldn't fire them. I knew it wasn't in my priorities to have to watch their physical and emotional health, but I gravitated towards it anyway. I saw them all equally the reason for why our band flourished and survived. They needed direction, and they looked to me to help give it to them.

  When I look at our group now, which might possibly be the last time, I see my necessity to take the full frontal of what gets thrown at us like I used to, but I don't see them incapable of fending for themselves, like part of me used to feel with the group I was with once upon a time.

  I open the right sliding door, with no choice but to make loudness to whomever might be inside. The grinding of the wheels on the rail system, above my head, indicates to me this location has years of existence under its belt. I finish moving it to see the darkness of the place, intimidating me. I let several seconds pass, and then move the left door—now acting fearless by being more physical with this one.

  There is still no sign of movement reacting to
my intrusion.

  I muster the determination to flash my light in here. In the middle, I see nothing, but a weathered concrete floor, with the back wall being plain and equivalent to the same surface as the outside. I sway my light to the left slightly, and notice a bunk of 2 empty beds in the far left corner, and, curving my view further left, another bunk is in front of that one, with it being closest to the corner of this wall. Immediately, I look to the right, only to see dressers, having mirrors built on top of them, with columns of drawers. “No one is here.” I say to my group, relieved.

  It gives them their cue to get up and follow behind me. I am first to get in, still uneasy as to why no one is here. Everyone else follows, all watching the dark spots to make sure nothing, or no one, will catch them off guard. Will goes over to one of the dressers and opens up a drawer, which then he pulls out a map and a pocket knife.

  “It would be one thing if the place was absolutely empty, but there are beds and dressers. This doesn't sit right with me.” He says, tossing the map away from him.

  Suddenly, we hear noises of movement coming from outside. Several feet away is a herd of undead, limping their way over to us.

  “Close the doors!” Will tells Lissie, for she is closest to them.

  Janice then goes to the one next to the bunk, furthest upfront, and they exert much energy to get them closed, before the undead can reach in. I then stride over to grab both the left and right, and I collide them together. We hold them shut, which the undead start bashing their bodies into, fighting our efforts to keep them out.

  I can feel their weakness, but their need to get to us is tireless.

  Will then searches further in the drawer he was fishing in, and sees a lock. “Take the lock!” he says to me, chaotic with it as he struggles to get it in his hands.

  When he does have it in his grasp, I turn—mindful to still be clenching both the built-in door handles with my free hand. I offer my left to catch the toss Will provides. I succeed in catching it, and I look to see where it hooks with the 2 doors. It gets slid in the holes, and I lock it together. The 3 of us take a couple of small steps back, releasing our resistance against the undead outside, in order to see if the lock will do its task of keeping the doors closed.