gone, part one

two years. it took two years for a new society to rise. they were however, very unregulated. but apparently even the beginning of a new society first needed a prison. that was where i found her, after three months of searching, and... killing. Paige  she was performing menial labor. she was under arrest for three years for stealing supplies from a caravan.  that was also were i met someone who would become my best friend, despite us fighting for different flags. the " new social state order of the Americas". they were another group of people trying to rebuild the old world of america. regardless of who captured her, i had no intention of letting them keep her. but... i was one man against at least one hundred, surely i could not attack them head on, so, i tried what was at the time a horrible idea. bargaining for her release. i walked over to the prison, looking like someone who just survived a zombie apocalypse, oh wait... i was.  i walked over to the main gate, and immediately was greeted by the gun barrel of a guard. " you have no business here, stranger. leave." the guard said roughly. "but sir, i assure you, i DO have business here." i responded back to him. "fine, let me get the warden". he ordered another guard over to tell their warden, Alex, that a "out lander"  had to speak to him. the guard came back telling me he would take me to him. after a short walk to a rather well taken care of office, he invited me to sit with him. he was a beast of a man, with a beard greying around the edges. he poured me a cup of water, while saying " so, my men tell me you have business with me and the state, what would that be?" i was almost afraid of him, but i said with no hesitation, " i am here to negotiate the release of one of your prisoners, i believe she is #44."

"ah, yes, but... we don't accept bail on our prisoners. there are very few exceptions." he responded back with a strange sound to his voice, something i had not heard in a long time. kindness. "well, i believe you might need to make a exception in this case. i noticed your men are poorly armed...." i could tell he was interested already. "surely you don't think im dumb enough to fall for a trap like this." he responded, reaching for what i assumed was i gun.  "im entirely serious. her freedom for a army base." he looked at me with a strange look in his eyes. he sighed, then said "your lucky your desire to get the one you love back has touched my heart. i will get a squad ready, but you will have to come with us to assure me this isn't a trap." i almost didn't believe this. i couldn't believe what i had just offered. not only am i risking my life, but i was giving a insane amount of military firepower to a country i had never even heard of until a few minutes ago. "I have some business to attend to, so wait by the docking yards for us. if you need something for your nerves, we have a bar near there. just tell them i sent you." he laughed. 

as i walked to the docking yard, i was hit by a wave of uneasiness, but i was dismissed this as being nervous, after all i didn't even know what to expect at a military base no one had heard from for two years. but before i could think of anyway to deal with this, Alex had come with about thirty men. he was dressed in a neat suit of combat gear, which looked even neater by comparison to my rag tag mix of gear. and his gun.... it put my AR to shambles. i didn't even recognize what it was, all i knew was i didn't want to be on the business end of it. " hey, i don't even know your name, stranger." the question caught me off guard, so i hastily blurt out "my friends call me Matt ghost" he stared at me for a minute, then  laughed " lets hope you live up to that name! OK  time for seriousness, we are moving out as soon as we get this gear loaded, we could use your hand." he patted me on the back, while lifting a heavy duffle bag with rifle barrels poking out of it. After about ten minutes we finally moved out in some form of modified buses, when the driver asked for the map. i handed him the picture i took of the map. he looked puzzled for a few seconds, but realized where to go after turning the camera i handed him. "from the looks of this, its going to be a few hours ride." "guess ill just-"
Alex cut me off before i managed to finish my sentence, asking "hey, have you met my wife?" again, i was caught off guard, and only managed to say "uh, why did you let your wife come?" he laughed and that's when i saw the women sitting next to him, a plain women in a ponytail with a rather dangerous looking shotgun in her lap. " what, you don't think i can handle myself? i should be saying that to you! you don't look like you could kill a single one of those things! oh and my names Natalie  by the way." she was still laughing while trying to balance the gun in her lap. i could only respond "you'll see what i can do soon enough." Alex chimed in again "actually, i also want to see what you can do, no offense but you don't look like much..."  before i could respond Natalie poked him on the shoulder playfully saying "Hey Alex  hes probably some amazing ninja bad ass who just downplays his ability." neither of us knew how to respond to that, only Alex broke the silence by bursting out laughing. 

we passed the time that way, just joking and laughing, it was the first time iv had a good time for a long time. when we came to the entrance to the base, i stopped laughing and remembered why i was here. "Alex, i need you and your best sniper, im going to show you a trick...." i said, not realizing how strange that sounded. "o....k then, Paul  get your rifle, its killin time!" Alex was in a rather good mood for murder. i got to the roof of the bus, and scouted out what must have been the biggest swarm of infected i had ever seen. i was nervous, but i couldn't stop just because i was afraid.  found what i was looking for just when Paul had set up a sniper rifle. "OK, kid, you had something to show us?" Paul said, clicking his safety off. "ok, you see the guy in that blue jumpsuit? hes the pack leader. he dies, you have a good         two hours before the zeds know what to do." i was expecting a laugh out of them. instead Paul simply took the shot like told. for a moment, i lost track of what happened next. i remember shots being fired and pushing forward into the military complex. i remember the undead trapped inside pushing back. after only twenty minutes we had to retreat, they just.... they were not normal undead. we were about to drive away, when i noticed someone was still there fighting, it was Natalie. i ran to the door of the bus and was braced to push it open when i realized Alex had beat me to it. we rushed to her aid, trying to kill as many as we could, my AR jammed and i tried to duel wield the .38 and .44 i had as back ups, but there's a reason i never tried again. i was in melee distance now, and low on ammo, so when a zombie came towards me, i reached for my crowbar and quickly bashed its skull in, at this point the bus was gone and we were all out of ammo. "Alex! take Natalie, ill cover you! ill meet you back at the prison!" was what i screamed after rushing into a  small horde of zombies. i was so tired, but the only thought in my mind was "if i kill them all, i can get paige back...." but even with adrenaline pumping through my system, i couldnt kill them all with a crowbar. i had to run. it took two days to walk back to the prison where the worse news was to be heard, Alex, decided to cancel all support for the mission, "Its just too dangerous there, im sorry but i cant allow more to die. the offers on the table still though...." after getting so close, i realized that if i wanted to get paige  i would have to capture a military base. by myself.