So the tale continues. There is a part that may have some confusion, but I'll put the answer as to why it happened in the FAQ. Enjoy the chapter.

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Blood of the Damned
Part 13

A sharp wind cut across the island, and the three humans hugged their bodies as they moved, trying to stave off the cold that cut through the skin and down to the bone. Jay gritted his teeth and kept moving, Carbine hanging from his chest as he set foot before the other. The others, not used to such hardship, shivered, their teeth clacking.

Haley didn't seem to notice. Hands holding her own M4 as she moved ahead of the group, her eyes scanning behind for any traces of the undead, while using her nose to smell for anything coming from down wind.

"This fucking sucks," Joey whined.

"Keep your voice down," Jay said with an angry glance as he kept moving behind the vampire, his own senses searching for any hostiles. He couldn't help but admit to himself that finding the enemy was easier here than Iraq. It was much easier to tell who was trying to kill you here than it was over there.

"How far to the cottages anyway?" Jay asked. During his stay on the island as the virus ravaged the world, he had only stayed in the city trying to keep order.

"At this rate, we'll reach it a few hours before morning. However, we may have to stop again else we could get hypothermia," Lila said from the rear.

Haley looked back at the still living companions she had gathered. It was easy for her to forget the weaknesses of being human. She sighed; she missed living.

"We'll stop whenever we find shelter. Sleep together to keep warm," Haley told them.

At the words, Joey raised an eyebrow, and despite himself grinned a little. Haley rolled her eyes, and the other two had missed the expression.

Still, they continued forward, hoping to find shelter before they froze.

~~~~

John was leaving the city finally. He had a few zombies following him, but for the most part he ignored them as he moved towards the forest outside the city.

He had come to realize his own death, and that he was like these creatures that ate the flesh of man. John was above them though. He knew this, but didn't know in what ways. Was he a God amongst them? Was he a messenger of God? Perhaps that was his truth.

As he moved through the first bushes, feeling the thorns and sticks scratching at his dead skin, but not feeling the pain, he turned to his followers. Out of instinct he pointed at one, then pointed further into the forest.

The ghoul rasped out some kind of response as it tore through the woods. It followed John's direction.

The knowledge filled his mind with wonder. What else could he do with this legion at his fingertips.

John soon found his experimental scout in a manmade clearing. The helicopter that had smashed the trees down twisted and torn, still smouldering from whatever device had pulled it from the sky. Dead zombies lay scattered about the broken trees, and a few dead soldiers in the back, one of whom was decapitated.

The two pilots still sat in their seats. One was impaled to his seat by a large tree branch the other was slumped across the controls, his neck broken.

John moved into the cockpit and broke the tree branch, before pulling it from the pilot's chest cavity. Frowning, John leaned forward and pulled away the pilot's jaw, letting the dead man's tongue flop down across his neck like a twisted necklace.

This dead man deserved to be salvaged, and John would give him this gift. He grabbed a knife and began to cut through flesh and force his way through bone up from the mouth, until the bottom of the brain was exposed.

He didn't know how he knew this. Perhaps God had given him the knowledge, and so he would deliver the message. Cutting open his own finger to let blood seep out, John gently cut the man's brain, and stood back.

It took only a few moments before his eyes opened, milky white like his brothers already embraced by salvation.

~~~~~

Haley thought she saw another farm house ahead. A car was smashed into a telephone pole on the road that ran in front of it, but other than that there was no sign of life.

"Maybe its got heat?" Joey said hopefully.

"Maybe," Lila said starting to move faster.

Haley led the group, but suddenly stopped, sniffing at the air. Jay watched her, and was relieved by the smile on her face.

"What is it?" he asked.

"A friend," Haley said, but then the smile faded almost instantly.

"Or perhaps not," was all she said.

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