March of The Pigs: PART I

The sun was setting when Mac looked up at Jude, who was covering him from the scaffolding with the other Riflemen. The Crazies had yet to attack The Compound, which had sent mixed feelings throughout entire camp. No one was excited for the assault, but the fact that it hadn’t happened yet made everyone a little edgy.

“What the fuck, man!?” Mac cried up to Jude.

Jude smiled slightly and checked his scope again. In the distance, on a pile of debris, sat a coyote. The beast stared at him for a few seconds, then stood and scampered away, as if something nearby had spooked it.

“Hold on… Might have something!” Jude cried, still peering through his scope.

Across the dead environment, darkened forms began to appear. Slowly, the shape leading the pack came into focus, allowing Jude to get a good look. Cable stopped to survey the area, wanting to get a good look at The Compound one last time before he erased it from existence.

“It is time… Go…” He whispered to the other Family members.

The Crazies, armed with clubs and sawn-off shotguns, charged towards The Compound. Jude, who was still watching in amazement, snapped himself back into the moment and shouted down to Mac.

“Here they come!” The young man cried.

“I see em!” Mac answered, readying his AR-15. “Get ready up there! Those bastards won’t stop until their hearts do!” Mac yelled, firing a bullet.

The metal projectile spun towards the target – A tall Raider sporting a top hat. It entered his left eye, passed through his skull, exited the back and struck another attacker, a female in pigtails, in the shoulder. She flailed about violently, screaming at the top of her lungs.

“Got that motherfucker!” Shouted Mac.

Jude took aim with The 56 and blasted another Family member in the throat. The savage choked for a moment, trying to continue, but eventually succumb to the wound and collapsed.

On the hill, Cable watched as his first few troops fell. He smiled, and adjusted the hood masking his face. It was a small price to pay for victory. The Family knew the risks, so Cable thought nothing of the deaths. Mac pointed to one of the groups of Crazies making their way towards the fence. A Riflemen took notice and fired a slug into the IED, which exploded into hellfire, killing at least seven of the assailants. Mac howled at the site of charred remains, his bloodlust at its peek.

The leader of The Crazies was surprised by the merchant’s ingenuity. He had assumed there would be a short scuffle and that’d be that, but these Cro-Magnons had planned ahead – This would be an interesting battle. More Family members were signaled to attack, and even with the IEDs in place, the advancing army seemed to be gaining on The Guerillas. Mac watched the first raider begin the climb to the top of the fence and hurried to the switch that supplied the power, but when he pulled down on the large control, nothing happened.

“Shit! The fucking fence is out!” Cried Mac with dread in his voice.

Jude heard the commotion and poked his head over the metal walkway to look down at Mac.

“What’s up?” Jude called.

“The Gene isn’t workin!” Mac returned, flipping the switch again.

“Well, go see if you can get it up and running! I’ll cover you from here!” Jude fired back, aiming at The Crazies about to hurdle the chain link and firing.

The raider’s body went limp as the bullet passed through her torso, and toppled to the group in a heap. Mac bolted for The Generator Shed, the sound of impending doom echoing behind him. He neared the large metal door and began rolling it to one side. Inside, The Titan was running at full power, but somewhere in between the generator and the fence, they had missed a step.

Cable laughed and watched one of his soldiers, Walker, reach the other side of the defenses. It was only a matter of time before they engulfed the merchant camp. Victory was sweet on the tip of his tongue. Tonight, The Family would feast.

Jude could see a small horde of Crazies advancing towards The Generator Shed and called out for Mac, only to realize he couldn’t hear him over the roar of The Titan. He quickly began to decent the ladder next to him, and as soon as his feet touched the ground below, he raced straight at the crowd outside the shack. Jude continued to cry out, all the way up until a lone attacker, waiting in the shadows nearby, struck him over the head. The world went squiggly for a moment, bouncing around like a ball and then sank into a pitch black slumber.