"I'm watching him again." A man hidden on the top floor of a building used his rifle to track Alan as he left the place where he had set the trap.
"Is he military?"
"He's in military uniform, but seeing him alone and doing what he's doing, I think he's a deserter."
"When we get the chance, we should kill him. Military or not, what we know is that they're the enemy." This voice seemed deeply resentful of the military.
"Joel, we've talked about this."
Joel, looking at his brother, said: "Tommy, it's just you and me now, like it's always been. Remember, there are no laws to stop us anymore, no orders to follow. All we need to do is use our instincts to survive."
Now that he had nothing left but his brother, Joel would fight for him. He had to survive with his brother. It was the only thing he clung to; there was nothing else.
For that, they needed to do whatever was necessary to survive.
People were selfish; nowadays, there was no way to trust them unless you wanted to be deceived. They had to protect the little they had, and that meant killing.
Tommy, on the other hand, was not happy with his brother's attitude. As a former soldier, he knew the difficulties military personnel faced in these times.
The senseless orders were evident even to the military, but to preserve humanity, sacrifices had to be made, and he had been trained for that.
"We've been here too long. We need to find a way to move on to a safer place." Joel wanted to leave the city; there were too many infected in the streets, and it was nearly impossible to gather supplies.
"Doesn't matter where we go, everywhere we go will be the same as this hell," Tommy knew there was nowhere to run unless they decided to go to one of the military shelters.
But his relationship with the military, after what they had done to Sarah, was too complicated, even to the point of killing soldiers who continued to murder the town.
As a former soldier, Tommy knew that orders couldn't be disobeyed, not when the world was in chaos and no one knew what was going on.
"We need to wait until it's night," Tommy said, but then a loud sound caught their attention.
Crack!
That impact, which sounded distant, alerted all the infected, drawing them to one point. This served to clear the streets of nearly all infected.
"Was that the person?" Joel recalled the guy who had been moving around, so as he moved toward the window, he couldn't help but ask.
Tommy, holding his rifle, looked through the scope and, since it was still daylight, could see clearly who it was. "Captain…"
"What did you say?" Joel looked seriously at his brother, expecting a clearer explanation.
"That's my friend, Alan, Captain of the special forces." Tommy recognized Alan, who at one point had invited him to join the special forces, but the training had been too intense, and he didn't want to take the risk.
"What's he doing here?" Joel would kill anyone who jeopardized their survival.
"He's not military anymore, looks like he's searching for resources…" Tommy gripped his rifle tightly, but before he could see more, Alan was discovered.
"We need to help him."
"Tommy, don't!" Joel couldn't stop Tommy in time, he just saw him fire at the infected from afar.
Bang!
"Do you want to get us killed, idiot?" Joel ran to the apartment door to reinforce it. The infected would probably come to them as soon as they heard the shots.
If he didn't do something now, they would both die for nothing.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Tommy didn't hesitate to shoot the infected near Alan, but before he could think of anything else, a powerful explosion made him pull his view away from the scope.
Boom!
The fuel tanker exploded, causing a loud blast that resonated through the area. Joel, seeing this, muttered, "That son of a bitch is crazy."
"This is our chance to move, brother." Tommy grabbed his backpack, his brother's, and walked toward the exterior fire escape.
"You're not thinking of going to save him, are you?" Joel couldn't believe the stupid behavior Tommy was exhibiting at a time when they should be selfish.
Tommy, however, said, "He's not military. He'll help us get out of the city."
...
When Alan woke up, it was already night. The sun was setting, and the setting sun's rays shone through the window where he was.
Immediately, Alan pulled out the knife from beneath his sleeve, but before he could react to the situation, Joel pointed a weapon at him.
"Don't even think about it."
"Joel!" Tommy, who had returned just in time, looked at his brother aiming a weapon at Alan, who was confused.
"Tommy?" Alan immediately recognized Tommy, so he stood up, leaving the knife on the ground, and walked over to hug him. "It's been a while, what the hell are you doing here?"
"That's what I should be asking you. What were you trying to do, entering this hellhole?" Tommy asked, unusually happy to see an old friend.