Destroyer.

Lost Souls.

     There hasn't been any movement in a week since the explosions, the silence is unbearable.I sit in bed most nights,fully clothed, surrounded by explosives and guns, waiting for the sound of non-life. I know I have done away with a lot of them, but there were so many when I first started that it's hard to imagine I'm almost done here.

     I woke today with a start, not that I don't always wake that way but usually silence greets me, today there was a car. I raced upstairs to my bedroom window in time to see a red minivan zoom down my street. I haven't seen any zombies since the explosions and the last time I checked zombies can't drive cars, so I assume they, whoever they are, are human. The last thing I need is a bunch of people poking their noses where they don't belong. I need to keep an eye on them, so I quickly gather my guns and head to the motorcycle. My watch clearly reads 7:15 am, so what the hell are these people doing in Hartford so damn early in the morning?

     By the time I get to the top of the hill I can see the minivan parked in the middle of the road. There are two men, a woman and a small girl. A traveling group maybe? Moving from place to place looking for food. There is no way directly through downtown since I destroyed most of the buildings, and so they're going to have to drive through the side streets. They obviously have no idea how to get to where they're going and I watch the driver get out of the car to survey the scene, the woman sliding out of the back to follow. I can tell by how her shoulders shake she's crying. She throws her arms around him revealing the tiniest hint of a bandage on her arm. I switch my goggles to infrared and they confirm her temperature above normal, she's infected. Their bodies are hugged so close together it takes me a minute to realize his temperature is above normal as well. I watch them climb into the car and head towards the south end of Hartford, it only takes me a few minutes to show up in their rear view. I get off my motorcycle and stand next to it as the four of them get out of the car, the infected man pointing a gun at my head.

"Who are you!" He yells at me, motioning the rest behind him.

"My name is Christian," memories flood back to me, running down this street with my friends, stopping for food at Las Palmas after school. The restaurant sits ugly and empty not 100 feet away, "This is my town and I would think seeing as how you are so obviously not from here that you would tell me who you are and what you are doing here before I shoot all four of you." Both glocks point in their direction, lasers marking the middle of the man and womans' foreheads. I mean every word I say, and he knows it. I sense his body stiffen, more protective since the words left my lips.

"I'm Mark," he nods at the woman, "That's my girlfriend Darcy, her brother Tim, and the little one," he hesitates. The little girl is about five, give or take a year, she's crying behind Tim. I don't blame her, she's going to die, she knows it, she just has no clue when.

"Listen," Darcy speaks up stepping completely from behind Mark, "We just want to find somewhere to camp for a couple of days, maybe find some food? Jamie's really hungry, we haven't eaten in two days," she takes a step towards me, "Maybe you could help us out? Just a little?" Her palms open towards me, pleading for help.

"Take another step towards me and I blow both your heads off before you can tighten your finger 'round that trigger, tell her to step back Mark." And he does, tears start streaming down her cheeks.

"Just let us get back in our car, and we'll be on our way, we can find another town, right Mark?" Tim pleads with him, but Marks eyes won't leave mine.

"If you leave it'll be about a day before Mark and Darcy eat you two alive." Tim looks puzzled, Mark and Darcy are in shock.

"Mark won't do that you're lying! He promised to keep us safe, right Mark?" The little girl pipes up in their defense.

"I made the same promise once Mark, how you gonna keep them safe when you're infected?" As soon as the words hit his ears Tim steps far back, pulling the little girl with him away from his sister and her boyfriend.

"What the fuck?! What the fuck did you just say? What the fuck Mark man, what the fuck is that supposed to mean? Darce? What's that supposed to mean?" He's panicked, the little girl wriggling from his strong grip.

"Shut the fuck up, you don't know what you're saying." Mark cocks his gun.

"You see my guns? You see me? I'm trained for this, I will take you down. I dare you to try something stupid." Eyes still on Mark I direct my voice at Tim. "Darcy's got a bandage on her arm, her temperature's rising steady, so is his. They'll be zombies in a matter of days. They're both infected and you two aren't. Add to the fact that you didn't know about it and I'd say all four of you are fucked." Tim begins pacing, ten feet from Mark who's still got his gun pointed at me.

"How could you do this to us!" He yells at at his sister.

"I was scared! We were both scared! What are we supposed to do? What do you want me to do? You're my little brother Timmy, I can't leave you..." Darcy slumps to the ground, crying into Mark's pant leg.

"Mark?" the little girl sobs near Tim, "Mark are you sick too?"

"You weren't going to tell us! You fucking asshole you were just going to let us die! Or kill us yourself!"

     I feel like I'm in the middle of a movie, watching the little girl break away from Tim's grip and run towards Mark, her voice calling out to him causing him to break our stare as she collides with his frame tugging at his shirt, asking if it's true. Everything slows down as he turns to say something to her, lowering his gun just a little, Tim in the background yelling at Mark to get away from Jamie, giving Darcy a chance to hop up and run at me, knife in hand.

     I blink and Darcy is sprawled on the floor, a shot to the head stopped her in her tracks and brings Mark spinning his attention back to where Darcy lays dead. By the time he realizes what's happened, and then by the time he raises the gun at me Tim is tackling him from behind, pushing Mark straight into my bullet, ending the mayhem.

     Tim jumps up from the dead man and spins around checking to make sure he's still alive, quickly scooping Jamie up who sat plastered to the side of the mini van, wide eyed and silent, into his arms and turns to face me. Both guns are locked on his head waiting for his next move.

"They were infected and there was no way I would have let either of them leave here alive." It feels like an eternity of silence and I've almost made up my mind to shoot the last two when he finally speaks.

"Thank you."