Night in the Iron Trenches was always dark even with the very few street lights on that were scattered to and down the streets. The night time was usually much louder than the day time in the trenches, so it comes to no surprise that those that have lived here their whole lives were put off by the morbid tranquility. The caravan passed old mom and pop owned stores, family owned farmers markets, and many different dilapidated apartment buildings that once housed 100s of families. Now they stand baren and filled with the dead as the ominous violet tumors make themselves at home on their surfaces.

  Alexandre and Haunani, led by Maeve, headed the front of the convoy of scared civilians while the rest of her team and The Centipede’s armed guards covered the middle and rear.

  The path Maeve led them spilled out to a roundabout street with multiple roads branching off of it leading deeper in or out to the main city with the roads leading to the city center being much longer than the rest. Maeve pointed past the quickly crumbling buildings to a long road leading out and a set of stairs left by construction workers on the side that would lead them up to a bridge.

  She instructed, “Up those stairs and across the bridge, that’ll get us to the city center and keep us off the main roads.”

  Alexandre shouldered past them both, “Then let’s get on with it.”

  Haunani reached up and grabbed his shoulder. She said, “Wait! Do you hear that?”

  From down the road, She and Alexandre could hear the sound of metallic stomping. Haunani recognized it well as one of the Military grade Automatons that roamed the streets with soldier convoys. But something was off, she could hear metal grating across the ground as it shambled. When it rounded the corner, its heavy steel machine gun flashed under the dingy street lights followed by what functional ocular devices it had left. Its body was battered and scarred as it dragged its other arm across the ground sending sparks flying haphazardly in all directions. Something had nearly ripped it off, rendering it unusable. The entire mech was covered in violet spores that invaded its heavy body and grew from the inside out. The breaches in its armor sparked and smoked from the Violet growths writhing inside that cast the entire street in a menacing violet. The machine gun twitched and spun then stopped constantly, its revving could be heard by them all as it continued its limp down the street.

  One of the citizens called out, “Its an Automaton. They’re programmed to protect us! We’re saved!” The man ran out in the middle of the street as he called to get its attention. That’s when Haunani began to remember Rowan’s warning, “Don’t trust the Automatons.”

  Her skin grew cold as she looked down then back up at the man still waving down the street. Before she could call the man back and tell him to hide, the sound of a machine gun revving echoed off of the hollow buildings. The man realized very quickly that the machine was not here to save them. He began to slowly back away from the bulking machine that was slowly raising its weapon at him. Haunani could only watch as within an instant the Automaton let loose a rain of bullets that sent chunks of the man's body scattering in all directions. The Automaton made strange noises similar to what the infected made but in its own digitized version as it continued to drag its metal husk down the street while nearby infected emerged from the shadows to feast on the fresh snack it so graciously provided for them.

  The group sat speechless. Leilani clutched onto Alexandre who sat mouth agape at what he’d just seen while Tori made his way over to Haunani and asked, “So that’s what Rowan meant?”

  Eyes still widened and fixed on the bloodied paste that used to be a person, Haunani answered, “Yeah. What the fuck was that?”

  Tori wiped the sweat from his face, “I don’t know. But I don't think we should stick around to find out.”

  Above them, something landed and was clicking its sharp teeth. They looked to the crowd frozen in fear then slowly above them at the violet spore covered Infected standing over them with its bone blade raised overhead.

  Alexandre acts fast and rushes forward, stabbing it right in the chest and sending blood splattering all over the abandoned car it was standing on top of. Its death screams were enough to signal not just the nearby creatures, but the Hijacked murder machine that was steadily getting closer. Its remaining eyes shone light in their direction as its gun began spinning up again.

  Haunani yelled, “Shit! Run for the bridge!”

  They all broke from their hiding spots and ran like hell across the long street. Some tripped over the bodies of the dead or straight trampled each other in their hasty escape.

  The Automaton’s last functional eyes glitched and tweaked as it focused on the fleeing soldiers and civilians before it then to the swarm of infected that were now crawling from their nest that woke from their idle state. With so many targets overloading its sensors and the tumors pushing its chassis to the brink, it chose to let loose everything it had and started firing at everything that moved.

  A Bulletstorm was sent flying through the air at the group fleeing for their lives. Some pulverized infected that were chasing them and fleeing innocents alike while others struck the sides of buildings or ricochet off of abandoned cars.

  Haunani ducked from a bullet whizzing by her head while she ran. Shooting back would only cause their situation to become worse than what it already was. Plus, the chassis of the automatons were entirely too thick for even one of her sniper rounds to pierce. She had to save what bullets she had left for the infected. She was the first to make it across the street followed by Leina and Brick.

  Leina yelled, “Hurry!” as more people made it to safety. Tori and Oscar open fired on any infected that were attempting to get too close. One of them scaled a nearby building and managed to sneak its way behind them. Before it even had the chance to attack, its skull and chest cavity were blown to pieces with three shots of a revolver. Maeve stood there with the barrel of her revolver smoking as she finally took the chance to exhale.

  “What? You thought I brought this to just hold it? Now come on!”

  By the time most people had made it across, the automaton had ran out of bullets and was attempting to resupply its bullets from the secondary mag on its back. Because of the growing violet tumors on its back, it was having a hard time reaching up to load the fresh clip. Its joints screeched and moaned as it fought to stretch so it could continue it’s onslaught.

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  The last few in the back were The Centipede, Alexandre, Leilani, and his guards. One of the guards caught three bullets to the back, causing him to stumble and fall to the ground and become easy food for the nearby pack of infected. The other guard soon met the same fate leaving the out of breath mobster alone. One of the infected leaped from a nearby tree and fell on top of him. He grabbed the thing's arms and was fighting to keep the sharp appendages from ripping into him.

  He yelped, “Don’t just stand there with your hands up your asses! Help me!”

  Leilani broke free from Alexandre’s grip and ran up to the infected, then gave it a stab with a knife she took with her from the bar. The thing screeched then turned to her in anger. With its free arm it slashed at her, just to have the attack blocked by Alexandre who severed the arm with his blade then grabbed it by its neck. Alexandre drove his blade into its chest and threw the monster to the side to choke on its own blood, saliva, and black liquid occluding its throat.

  The Centipede stood up exhausted as he inspected his now blood and ick covered clothes with a groan, “Damnit Alexandre, do you know how much this jacket cost?”

  In the background, Alexandre noticed the automaton had finished reloading and began spinning its gun for another flurry of bullets. He snatched the man by the shirt and threw him towards the other end of the street saying, “Fuck your shirt! Move!”

  The Bullets went flying again as Alexandre used his own body to cover Leilani’s. Tori and Oscar continued to lay cover fire for them as they ran. The Centipede made it across and collapsed against the wall while the last two came running. A lunging infected caught Alexandre’s attention for only a fraction of a second, enough for him to twist his body and leave Leilani exposed. One of the bullets hit her right in the stomach. She cried out and fell to the ground clutching her stomach in pain.

  “Oh no.”

  Almost instinctively, Haunani ran out to get her while Alexandre was finishing off the infected that attacked them. While she carried her, Alexandre covered his back to make sure nothing attacked him as the two of them made it back across.

  She handed Leilani off to Alexandre then instructed, “Move. If we make it to the bridge we can get away from the Automaton and the infected.”

  Maeve had already broken the lock on the service gate leading through the construction zone and up to the bridge. Once everyone made it through, Her, Tori, and Oscar used sandbags and anything else that was heavy enough to block the tall gate and then kept running away with the rest. The infected scratched and stabbed at the things blocking them from their meal for a minute before attempting to climb the gate. Not even the barbed wire was stopping them, no matter how much it was cutting their mutilated bodies.

  They all ran until they reached another section of the construction zone directly under the bridge. A set of gates sectioned them off from where they were to the otherside, more than likely to keep arsonists or the homeless out. They had been heavily chained and padlocked, leaving them trapped.

  Maeve kicked the door in frustration and complained, “I can break these but I need time that we don’t have.”

  People began to panic or sob as Maeve frantically began to work the chains and locks. The Centipede passed her some bolt cutters and she went to town breaking the locks off as fast as she could.

  Leilani was still cradled in Alexandre’s arms. She reached up a trembling, blood covered hand and touched his cheek then told him, “Go. They need you. Do something good for someone for once. I’ll be fine.” Alexandre went to object but her grunt in pain stopped his protest.

  Alexandre looked down at her and gently set her down against the wall, “Okay. If we don’t make it out of here then we can’t get you some help.”

  Leina ran over with some gauze pads and hemostatic patches. She looked up and told him, “I’ll do what I can to stop the bleeding. Please, help with the gate.”

  Alexandre nodded then unsheathed his blade as he jammed it in between one of the worn locks and rusted chains. He used all his strength to hold them while Maeve was working on breaking the chains with the rusty bolt cutters.

  Leilani turned to Leina and said, “Thank you. He wouldn’t have left my side otherwise.”

  Leina smiled at her, “We gotta look out for one another, right?”

  The moment of chaos was only made worse when the screams of encroaching infected filled the air. They had climbed over the gate and followed the smell of blood and the commotion People’s cries and pleads had caused.

  Tori looked down at his machine gun, still loaded with the last clip he has, then back at the way they came. He turned to Haunani and Oscar who had pulled out their tactical knives because they had run out of ammo. He moved in front of them then smiled at them both and told them with a bright smile, “I got this. Just get those people to safety, Oh and drink some beers for me when you find Rowan.” Then he shoves his dog tags into Haunani’s palm and runs off.

  Haunani tried to grab his shirt and Oscar yelled at him to come back and stop being stupid but he had already hustled out of reach. Tori closed the gate behind him and walked slowly down the path until the first of the infected showed their faces around the corner. First thing they saw him and the other survivors, they ran forward at him with hunger in their eyes. Tori let out a war cry that filled the entirety of the underpass as he fired everything he had into the swarm. The bullets mowed down their front line but that did not do much to stop the rest of them. He threw his machine gun at the first ones he seen then pulled his knife out and stabbed another in the skull. The swarm mobbed him just as Maeve and Alexandre managed to get the gate open.

  Alexandre yelled, “Get your asses in gear its time to go!”

  The last view Haunani saw of Tori was his body being consumed by the wave of infected as they all stopped their advance just to attack him. Oscar grabbed her shoulder and started pulling her towards the open door saying, “I know. If it wasn’t for him we wouldn’t have made it. He’s gone.”

  Her ears rang and drowned out all the noises around her as she slowly backed away while giving one last look at where Tori was standing. Haunani fought back tears as she turned around and followed the rest of the group. A sinking feeling chewed at her heart and made it heavy with hatred for the infection that’s spreading.

  The stairs in front of them led them up to the bridge that led into Molina’s center where Rowan should be waiting. It was quiet and empty save for the abandoned cars and marks of war where the army had tried to blow the monsters up with bombs or explosives to cover their tracks.

  Alexandre hung in the middle of the group carrying Leilani. The dressings and bandages were holding but she was still pale and sweating. The bullet went clean through thankfully but she had lost alot of blood because of where she was hit. But she still did her best to chit chat with her husband and brother like normal with what little energy she had.

  The Centipede fussed, “Careful with my sister. Your heavy hands might drop her.”

  Alexandre retorted, “How about I use these heavy hands to pop you in the eye?”

  Leilani gave a weak giggle then said, “Both of you stop. I’ll be fine, thanks to the army doctor.”

  Leina beamed with pride as she moved her dark hair out of her face in a dramatic fashion at the compliment but reminded herself to stay professional, current crisis aside.

  Maeve walked next to Haunani and asked, “Hey. You okay? I’m sorry about your friend.”

  Haunani clutched her sniper rifle even tighter, “He saved us. It hurts that he’s gone. But we can’t disrespect his sacrifice, so I’m going to choose to survive this. For him and any others that died.”

  Maeve nodded, “Cool. All this happening was not on my bingo card today either, but we’re making it work.”

  Haunani sighed, “Mine either. I was ready to get very drunk and go to bed at 2am today. Now, I don’t think that’s happening. Well, the drunk part at least.”

  Oscar had a sick look on his face as if he was going to throw up. He turned to them and said, “I don’t think I want to eat beef anymore after looking at these things.”

  Leina stared down with a sad expression then said, “I’m gonna miss Tori’s burgers.”

  There was silence for a moment before Oscar cut in, “Me too. And the way he never let anyone touch the grill unless it was him. Which was fine because none of us wanted to cook anyways other than the Captain.”

  Leina jokes, “I say have fun with that. My mother never taught me how to cook, so my cooking would probably kill you all.”

  Hearing them all remember Tori helped Haunani alleviate some of that sadness in her chest. It reminded her of his last smile. She turned to her team and told them, “Let’s make sure we eat something good for Tori when all this is over. I’ll be the one cooking. Understood?” They all agreed as the sun set on Molina.

  The long walk mixed with sneaking back into central Molina didn’t take long. The Infected became more active once the sun went down so they had to move even slower than they were if they wanted to keep from having another swarm attack them. After about an hour, they turned the corner to see Rowan already holding the door open for them with his rifle in hand.

  Those that were still alive fell into the building and were guided by the volunteers to get cleaned up while Alexandre rushed his wife to the makeshift hospital upstairs where they and Leina began to change her dressings immediately.

  Rowan embraced Haunani the first thing she walked through the door, relieved that she was alive but also taking notice that her team was down a man. He noticed the long stares of loss in their eyes and held her even tighter then he asked her, “What took you so long?”

  Haunani just shook her head, “Cut me some slack. It’s been a long day.”

  Rowan answered, “Tell me about it. Let’s talk about it over some coffee. I’ll have Brick and Reuben keep an eye on the door.”

  The two of them left for a back room that was well decorated with fresh cream colored paint and ornate paintings scattered on the walls. A dark brown wood desk sat in the middle of the room and tall bookshelves sat on the sides. Across the table, a ring of spare chairs were set up. More than likely Rowan did this himself so he could hold meetings and discuss what to do next once everyone has settled in. He passed her a styrofoam cup of black coffee then sat across from her.

  Rowan took a sip then said, “I’m glad you made it safe. Tell me what you saw out there, so we can find a way to survive this.”