Necrocide

Chapter 4

Aaron found himself back in the bus. His head ached and stung. He wiped the area around his brow and brushed off small bits of dry blood. He looked around and noticed that everyone stared at him with anger. The only ones who seemed to be fine with his presence were Jonah and Kat.

"You were out for an hour," Kat said from the seat behind him.

"What happened?" Aaron asked, still rubbing his head.

"Kept exploring," Jonah replied. "Good news is Longridge is now our territory and no one else died."

"What's the bad news?" Aaron said. He tried sitting up but slumped back down into his seat as sharp pains exploded through his gut and back. He could tell most of them were bruises, but something felt broken.

"Bad news is Shaw tallied up all the casualties and continued beating you even after he knocked your lights out. Fourteen times, he kicked and punched."

Aaron covered his mouth with his arm and coughed, tiny specks of blood spraying on his sleeve. He looked down at his left hand. A long cut traveled across the palm of his hand, already scabbed over.

"What happened there?" Jonah asked.

"That undead son of a bitch launched one of our own soldiers at me," Aaron replied, still looking at his cut. "Took me down like a cannon. I think it was Errol."

The bus slowly approached the gates of Matheson. Gears cranked and shifted as the gates opened up, and the bus drove forward to approach its destination. The second bus entered the garage and the gates slowly cranked shut.

The doors of the bus opened up and the surviving DZI silently and somberly stepped out, with Aaron and his two friends the last to exit. It took Aaron even longer given the fact he was limping, and he had to lean on Kat to move anywhere. All of them gathered together in a group, with Shaw and some of the higher ranking soldiers at the front. Shaw grabbed a crate and stood on top of it, preparing for a speech.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the Dead Zone Infantry," Shaw began. "Today we have reclaimed a small part of the outer world, a little town known as Longridge. In an hour we'll be asking for volunteers to journey back to Longridge to make sure it stays under our control. However, like most missions, we've come back with fewer men than when we left. Those men sacrificed their lives to save not only the rest of their squad, but what remains of humanity."

The soldiers bowed their heads down in respect. Agonizing guilt filled Aaron from head to toe. Even if he didn't do it himself, he was indirectly responsible for these deaths.

"In honor of these men, we will engrave their names into the concrete wall of this tower along with every accolade they've received and every Deadman they've slain. A memorial shall be held tomorrow." Shaw pointed toward Aaron. "O'Connor, for being the young man responsible for the separation of our squad ultimately leading these fallen soldiers to their deaths, you are banned from the memorial service."

Aaron hung his head down. "Yes, sir."

"I've also discussed it with Colonel Schaefer and the rest of Matheson's officers, and we've decided to relieve you of your duties."

"WHAT?!"

"You've been officially discharged."

"No! You can't!"

"We can. And we already have."

"But..."

Two DZI soldiers, both of them way stronger than Aaron, approached him and grabbed him by his arms. The rest of the soldiers parted ways to form a path for them to drag him out.