Chapter Text
"C'mon, guys! We gotta hurry an' get tuh that dang whirlybird!"
"Jesus fuck, what do you think we're doing, Ellis?!" Came the angry reply from a tall man, dressed in a once-white-now-covered-in-who-knows-what suit, as he used a magnum to shoot another infected in between the eyes.
The survivors were currently half-way across the mostly destroyed bridge that they'd - finally - reached after almost a week. Traveling through suburbs, swamps, hell even a damn carnival had all but taken a toll on the team of four.
"Well I know that, Nick," came the reply from the youngest group member once more. "But I mean, c'mon man! We're almost there!"
"Can we please cut the chit-chat until we're safe, boys?" Spoke a petite, dark skinned woman who looked more worse-for-ware than the two men, if the blood soaked bandages on her left thigh were any indication.
"Gotta agree," came the grunted reply of their fourth team member. He was more broad than the others, dark skinned as well. "We best keep movin', else Ro's leg might give out on her from the blood loss."
"Pretty sure the only leg we got to worry about giving out, is yours, Coach." Nick shot back, voice gruff from being out of breath.
"Watch yo'self there, Nick."
All four survivors soon became a bit too preoccupied with the infected that were coming at them from both front and back along the bridge. Loud shots from multiple guns rang out, along with the occasional bonk of Ellis' baseball bat. How the thing had held up as long as it had for the kid was beyond anyone's knowledge.
They all continued their way down the bridge, trying to avoid the sides as well as the large gaps that they'd easily be able to get thrown from if a Jockey or Charger would decide to target one of them. There were even points they had to climb over vehicles to get to other parts of the bridge that had become non-accessible by normal means.
Everything was going fine, all four shooting down infected -or in Ellis' case, smashing their heads in- and soon enough they could see the last stretch of the bridge that dropped down off an overhang from where it had collapsed down. Even further beyond that was a turn leading off the bridge towards the right where a helicopter was waiting for them.
"HOO-WEE!" Ellis let out a loud hoot, fist pumping into the air. "We're almost home free, baby!"
The other survivors did not express their joy as loudly, but Coach and Rochelle did let out small chuckles at the youngest of the four. How he managed to keep his optimism in the midst of all this was unknown to any of the older survivors. But it was infectious, especially since it finally seemed like things were going their way.
Suddenly, a loud roar followed by thunderous shaking across the bridge told otherwise.
"Ah tits, we got us a tank!" Nick called out, raising his combat rifle to begin shooting at it.
The other three followed suit, Ro' with her SMG and Coach with his shotgun. Ellis however, took to keeping the regular infected around them off his fellow teammates so they could focus solely on the huge monster lumbering towards them along the bridge. They had no choice but to backpedal, or else one of it's huge fists would undoubtedly swing them straight off the edge.
Eventually they got a good ways back from it, as it had to pull itself up over the edge from the part of bridge that sat lower than the half they were on. Having the time to do so, everyone began to reload their guns to continue shooting at the monstrous infected.
Ellis' foot suddenly bumped something on the ground as he continued to backup a bit more. He looked down to see a jar full of green, chunky fluid with a biohazard symbol on it. A grin cut across his features as he scooped it up into his hand.
"Oh, HELL yeah! Come get some, baby!" He suddenly hollered out, sprinting forward past his fellow team members.
"Ellis-!" Rochelle reached out as though she could grasp hold of him, shock going across her features.
"Boy! The hell'er ya doin', son?!" Coach called at the same time as Nick called out, "The fuck, Ellis?!"
The young Georgian continued to ignore them, sprinting a bit further ahead before drawing his arm back, hopping on one foot as he aimed before taking a step to swing it forward. The bottle of boomer bile sailed through the air in a deep arch, so much that it almost looked as if it was going to miss the target.
It hit it's mark.
Suddenly, as if someone hit a switch, all the common infected that were once trying to ravage the team of survivors turned with a new fevered frenzy. Screams and snarls carried out all around them, but the zombies ran for the huge infected almost as if they couldn't control themselves. All they cared about was the stench from the puke that now coated the Tank's shoulders and upper back.
They began to lunge for it, piling onto the huge beast. It bellowed out in rage, trying desperately to fight through the seemingly endless infected that scrambled towards it. They tore at it, chunks of flesh beginning to tear from it as they scratched and bit. Some of them even climbed up its back onto the shoulders.
All four team members scrambled to dodge past, going to the far left side to do so.
"Nice going there, fireball," Nick called out.
Said survivor couldn't help the huge grin that took up his face just then, a slight flush building up across the bridge of his scarred nose. He didn't say anything however, as they all continued to run past the Tank and infected that were thoroughly focused on each other for the moment.
Once at the edge of the broken part of the bridge, the survivors began to hop down. Coach and Nick dropped down first, turning back to help Rochelle down while Ellis covered her from behind. Bat swinging to hit the few infected that came towards them rather than the Tank.
Once the two older men got Rochelle down, the youngest survivor hurriedly jumped down to follow them. However, as his steel toed boots hit the pavement a long, slimy appendage suddenly shot out and wrapped around his upper torso and neck from behind.
"AHK-!" He choked out, hands trying to grip hold of the smokers tongue that now had hold on him, bat clattering to the ground as he did so.
He continued to struggle, unable to call out to his team and due to the sounds of infected all around them, his choking was almost silent in comparison to the screams and snarls. It wasn't until the other three got towards a military jeep parked haphazardly at the turn that anyone noticed he wasn't with them.
"The hell- where is Ellis?!" Ro's voice pitched in concern.
All three turned and saw the young man struggling against the smokers hold on him. They each took a step towards him, calling out to him, but stopped short as they heard the unmistakable sound of the thundering steps. The Tank was no longer distracted by infected, and was now in pursuit of the survivors.
"Fuck!" Nick spit out.
"The hell'er we gon' do?" Coach began, "We ain't got much time. That Tank's comin', and our chopper gon' be leavin' once the pilot sees it!"
"We can't just leave him-" Rochelle started, but was surprised when the conman cut her off.
"We're not! You two cover me, I'm gonna get the kid!"
Before either of his teammates could protest, he sprinted back towards where Ellis was being practically hanged by the smoker. If it wasn't hiding itself almost fully behind a car, Nick would've just popped a shot with his magnum to get it to release the stupid hick, but sadly that wasn't gonna work. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, aware of the thunderous steps and roar of the Tank drawing ever more closer to them.
He could hear the shots from his other two teammates as they kept infected from him, and when they suddenly shouted he knew the huge infected was almost on them. He reached the youngest member as soon as a slab of asphalt from the road sailed overhead and hit a car further down from them.
"Shit!" he spit out, hurriedly trying to get Ellis disentangled from the slimy tongue. When it didn't wanna let up, he pulled up his magnum and aimed up above him and shot the tongue. With an agonized wheeze, the appendage suddenly lost its grip and the Southerner fell to his knees coughing.
"C'mon, overalls, we ain't got time for this," he pressed as he grabbed hold of the kid and helped him to his feet.
"Gah-" the younger man coughed out. "Shit, t-thanks, Nick."
"Sure thing, kid."
The Northerner hurried to help the young man into a quick pace back across the way toward their fellow survivors. Trying not to let the sounds from behind them distract them, they continued on. They just reached their team when a sudden THUD sounded from behind. A quick glance over his shoulder showed the Tank had finally dropped down from the other part of the bridge.
"Fuckin' shit, we gotta go!"
All four members turned to begin sprinting towards the helicopter. Ellis had caught his breath enough to run on his own now, which gave Nick the chance to help Coach shoot at the huge beast as they ran. The sound of the choppers blades suddenly beginning to speed up made them all push on even faster.
"They ain't gon' leave, are they?!" Ellis gasped, blue eyes widening.
"I would, if I were in their place," the gambler replied, a sneer on his face.
Coach grunted as he turned to face forwards then. "Just run, ya'll! Don't look back!"
All four survivors pushed on, running rather than trying to take down the lumbering infected still on their tails. It almost seemed like they weren't gonna make it, but soon enough they were all jumping down into the lower level of the lot and racing towards the open rear hatch of the chopper.
The Tank saw this and slowed, digging massive hands into the ground and lifting up the rubble. It bellowed out as it flung it, almost seeming without aim, through the air. All four group members scrambled to get out of the way, darting for the helicopter. They'd just begun to reach it, when the chunk of asphalt hit the ground.
Chunks of rubble flew in scattered directions, and one just so happened to meet its mark with the back of Nick's head.
His sudden cry of pain had his team turn, both Coach and Ellis scrambling to help the conman stay on his feet. They managed, just barely, and proceeded to pretty much drag the suited man into the chopper. Inside two military personnel were waiting to help them get onto the helicopter and into seats. Upon seeing that their Northern team member had a head injury, they quickly took him from their arms to situate him into a seat.
The other three got into their seats just as the door to the chopper began to close, the whole thing lifting from the ground even before it finished doing so. Soon enough, they were flying up and away from the bridge. The last thing any of them heard was the loud, angry roar of the Tank as it watched them escape.
Then, the bridge exploded.