"Six and eight," Ethan said.  He wasn't sure himself if it would be them, as nothing he saw could justify it, but he followed through the trees on path anyway.  

The large, thick smoke they had seen from the farm earlier was just beyond the nearest trees now.  The brush was thick, so Ethan dismounted and tied his horse's reigns to a low branch.  He pushed forward, and on the other side of the brush he saw a crashed helicopter.  Smoke still rising from it, he raised his shirt over his mouth and approached.

"You!  Hands up!" yelled a voice.

Three men in military fatigues came seemingly out of nowhere.  They rushed the two and brought them to the dirt, spreading there arms and legs.  It happened so fast, Ethan had no time to think.

"Where's all the gear you stole?" the man asked.

"They have horses!" the furthest one said.

"Check 'em."

"Gear?" Ethan was confused.  "We're just looking for my family.  We-"

"Shut up!" the man stepped on one of his hands, bringing Ethan to silence.  He cringed from the pain.

"Nothing," the man called out.  "They're clean.  What do we do with them?"

"Kill them."

"Wait!" Ethan suddenly found his voice again.  "He's just a kid!  Let him go, please!"

The man aimed his AR-15 at James and laughed.

"It's a new world stranger," the man said.  "There are no kids anymore.  No women, children...it's just us and them.  It's nothing personal, it's just survival."

A crackle of gunfire rang out through the trees.  Ethan buried his face in the dirt and tensed up his body, expecting the worst.  When the gunfire stopped, he looked up and saw all three men lying on the ground.  Two were instantly dead, but the third was gurgling up blood as he stared up to the sky.  A man in a black suit walked by, coming out from the trees.  He stood over the dying man and aimed his rifle down at him.  He fired off a single shot to the downed man's head.

"Get up," Dallen said.  

Dallen began collecting the weapons, handing a rifle to Ethan and one to James as they stood.  The last weapon he slung over himself.

"They're coming," Dallen told them.  "You have a place to hide?"

"We're...we're looking for my family," Ethan stuttered, accepting the rifle.  "They might be near."

"They're dead," Dallen said bluntly.  "You will be to if you don't listen to me.  We need to find shelter for now.  There's to many of them coming this way."

"The military?"

"The dead," Dallen said.

----------------------------------------------------------------------


Johnny huffed, smelling himself in the process.  

"I picked this biker jacket up on the way," he informed her, pulling out a small bag of weed from one of the pockets.  "How'd that get in there!"

He laughed a bit when she told him she was a nerd.

"You didn't have to tell me that, I figured as much," he joked.

He followed her to the point of interest, staying near the back and taking as many supplies as he could while trying to avoid any confrontations.  He loaded the horses up a first time when he heard the commotion going on inside.  He went in to see Reena on the floor, a guy standing over her.  He raised his glock and aimed it at the man.

"Move and you're dead," Johnny said.  "Time to go, Reena."

Another guy came from the side isle and tackled Johnny.  The handgun went sliding across the floor as the man started punching him on his sides.  When the attacker raised a fist into the air, Johnny quickly brought his legs up and wrapped them around the arm and his head.  His right hand controlled the man's other arm as he squeezed with his hips, pulling tighter and tighter until the guy was beginning to black out.

"Goodnight," Johnny said, as the man went limp.  

He tossed his body aside and stood, only now being faced with the same guy from before.  This time, he had picked up Johnny's gun and aimed it at him.  

"Shit."