Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Living the Life ❯ The Problem ( Chapter 6 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

By: Smortz

Disclaimer: This story belongs to Smortz. Characters and plot created by me as well

“You said she was taking us back to the impenetrable fortress,” Ryan grumbled as she set up her rifle on the edge of the roof and pushed the first cartridge into place. “Shut it, I need concentration,” she whispered as she looked through her scope.

She felt the eyes of Barb's men on her as she shook her bangs out of her face and looked through the scope again. “Your call,” she said to Barb as she pushed her earphones tighter against her ear.

“Shoot,” Barb's voice came in and Quinn did, right through the woman's head as she dropped to the floor.

“Holy shit,” Mike whispered as she aimed for another man, pulling the trigger. The inside of the gates was completely cleared before she gave one more look around the area. “Wait, there's one hidden under the tree.”

“Shit Quinn how'd you see that?” Barb's lieutenant asked.

“Magical vision,” she muttered, finished it with a grunt as she pulled the trigger and the tree ruffled. “Got him.”

The helicopter wet itself on the roof and Barb handed her the assault riffle. “Ready?'

Ryan sighed, “You're really going to drag her into that hell hole Barb?”

“She's got the best shot,” her lieutenant cut in.

“Yea,” Barb agreed.

“I feel kind of bad being flattered by that,” Quinn mumbled before handing Ryan her Berretta, “Take care of it.”

Ryan watched in dissatisfaction as she left.

That's when he was barraged with questions. Mike was the first, “What the hell is she?”

“Her aunt's reincarnation,” the pilot mumbled. Ryan couldn't help but agree, “Since her dad's usually at work, Barb raised her after she got back from the war. From seven years old to now. She first started the sniper rifle when she was eleven, beat the lieutenant in a game of it. Barb's always bee proud of her, her dad's not, not really.”

Mike snorted before the pilot ruffled Ryan's hair, “You've grown up, Yan.”

The helmet came off and Ryan grumbled, “Hello Peter.”

“Yan?” Mike asked, barely able to control his laughter.

“Yan, whenever he came out on the range you'd here lil Quinn come running out `Yan I shot a bird come look!' or `Yan come play with me',” Peter explained.

“Is this true?” Mike asked Ryan, “Yan?”

“Shut it!” Ryan snapped, cheeks pinking in embarrassment.

“So,” Peter broke in, lighting a cigarette for Ryan and himself, “have you guys been treating her good?” He asked with a threatening glare.

Ryan and Mike both gulped and nodded, “Yea, o'course.”

“Good, good,” Peter muttered before looking at the three kids behind Ryan and Mike. They were sneaking closer to the rifle when Peter cleared his throat. They all jumped back. “Ryan, you remember how to disable a rifle don't you?”

“No,” Ryan snorted, “I still remember what happened when I almost killed my vocal cords `cause Barb forgot to mention the rebound on those things.”

Peter broke into heavy laughter at the memory. The one time they had gone to the range and he'd finally gotten permission to shoot from his parents, four years ago. He had lined up his shot with Quinn's help, but they'd all forgotten to mention the rebound. The end of the rifle had popped up and sank into his throat.

It'd been on the top ten of his most embarrassing moments. Peter crouched down next to the rifle, lifting it up carefully before he turned off the safety. “I don't know if Quinn'll need her baby again. Here, you guys can look through the scope,” he muttered and Branson didn't waste time looking through it.

“How does she aim through that?” He asked in amazement.

“Years of training,” Peter murmured, “She's had more training then me being in Iraq and training put together.”

“That's not very comforting,” Mike whispered to Ryan who in turn sniggered. A loud series of gunshots began to go off. The automatic rifles going quiet. Peter pulled his radio up, “Everything alright?'

It was quiet before static entered it, “Everything's fine, I count seven of us, that makes you eight, so full squad right?”

It was Quinn and she sounded fine as more gun shots went off. They echoed from the radio and building. “There fucking everywhere,” Quinn gasped out. “I'm in the vents, covering Barb, but they're fuck- shit.”

“Hey! Quinn,” Peter shouted.

“I can't believe I just did that,” she whispered.

Ryan felt like a mother hen with all his worry. “She's fine right?'

”Report, you're fine?”

“Still human, I lost my hair tie,” she pouted before more gun shots went off.

Ryan rolled his eyes, “Pete, tell her to concentrate.”

“Yan says to concentrate-“

“Barb run! Fu-“

The radio and scream went out and they all went quiet, nothing but the sounds of multiple guns going off at once.

“What the hell do you think just happened?” Mike asked.

“I highly doubt anything bad happened,” Peter assured them before the door to the roof opened.

Ryan gapped seeing the new Quinn being helped through the door. Blood littered her skin and he didn't know if it was hers or not. “What happened?” He asked running up to Barb.

“She's fine, Ryan,” Barb warned as Ryan moved Quinn's arm around his neck, helping her limp to the helicopter. “They're running now!” Barb shouted. “We have to get back, now.”

Peter gasped as Quinn was loaded into the helicopter, a guard pushing the kids in along with the sniper rifle.

Peter pushed the helicopter into the air. “What do you mean?” Ryan asked as he watched Barb.

“Quinn, tell us what happened,” Mike muttered as Quinn fought gasps of pain out.

“I-I was hiding in the vents, cover fire from a protected area, fine, nothing but pipes blocking some of my views, a-and then they ran at a dead sprint, and I shouted to run and looked and there was one without a body, just dangling there and they pushed me off, I fell to the ground and one came on top of me. Barb shot him and I hurt my back bad on the fall,” she explained, “but they were running, not walking like Night of the Living Dead, this was like fucking Twenty-Eight Weeks Later.”

Mike rolled his eyes at her before she hissed, shifting in her seat. “Barb you got the controls right?”

Barb nodded instantly, “Yea, we were taking our time cause we had you but we got them, sorry we didn't get out fast enough.”

Quinn chuckled as she felt behind her for her back, “Dude,it's gotta crack so bad!”

Barb laughed, “Don't! Not until we get to the base, I'll get the doctor to check it out.”

“Doctor?” Quinn asked. “I thought it was just your squad.”

“We've let a lot of people in, I've got a small camp running, we don't let any infected in though, they're quarantined first then tested and then let out, none of them can step foot inside my personal quarters and the rest of my unit is there guarding the weapons,” Barb explained and Ryan sighed.

“You haven't changed one bit,” he mumbled in shock.

“Nope,” Barb murmured, “but I've heard you have.”

Ryan went quiet and Quinn laughed quietly. “Yan,” she whispered, her eyes looking at the starry night sky, “I haven't thought about that in a while.”

Ryan groaned, causing her, Peter and Barb to break into laughter before she twisted around before anyone could stop her. A loud crack, heard even over the helicopter noise, sounded through it. “Better,” Quinn murmured in delight, slumping against the seat.

Peter snorted, “She really is your niece.”

Barb and Quinn both let out the same laugh and Ryan and Mike both felt scared.

“You should get some sleep,” Quinn muttered to Izzie, only to see her and Alex clutching on to each other for dear life. “Never mind,” she murmured as she shifted in her seat to lean her head against Barb's shoulder. “Wake me up when we get there.”

Barb gave a nod before looking over the edge. “T-They really did learn how to run.”

Ryan looked over and his eyes widened, seeing the zombies running behind them. “Peter, go higher, lose them,” Barb ordered into the headset and the helicopter jerked right.

Quinn remained asleep as Barb held on to her and Peter did a large loop around the area before disappearing higher into the clouds and turning off the lights. “Okay, we'll get there quicker now too,” he promised.