**CHAPTER XVII**

Besides the sound of the flames blazing all around, the night was deathly calm. Not a single Infected, besides the occasional common, were to be seen. The group of survivors continued their mission in torching the place, the fires still raged. Tensions were high among their ranks, the Special Infected shouldn't have been so inactive, there was no way they had vacated the area, for the military had locked down the borders and snipers were at every corner.

They could all feel eyes on them; it was enough to make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. The leader of the group commanded them to keep heading straight; the only sign that even he could feel the tension in the air, like the string on an instrument pulled too taut, was that he kept compulsively glancing up at the rooftops.

Hours had passed and they were nearly a third of the way through setting the entire city ablaze, the smoke in the air was so thick it was difficult to see through, like a heavy fog that hung over everything. To keep morale up, the leader of the group of survivors theorized that all the other Infected had suffocated, and thus their job was going to be much easier from now on.

Suddenly, a single, dark shadow leaped from a building and landed before them, its features concealed behind the smoke. The leader survivor aimed his gun, and fired immediately. The shadowy form, however, was already gone, leaping up to climb quickly to the top of the next building. The group of survivors slowed, as most of them turned their gazes up to look for that mysterious thing that had gotten away.

A sudden chorus of loud, inhuman screams filled the air, and a few of the survivors turned just in time to be taken down, their hazmat suits torn into with ease by the claws of the Infected upon them. Those with guns turned and began shooting, panic already starting to spread through their ranks.

A Hunter was shot five times, but the survivor he'd tackled was already fatally torn. Five more Hunters leaped from the obscurity of the smoke, one shot in mid-air while one caught one of the flamethrower wielding survivors by the shoulder, claws ripping through, and the other landed directly on him.

One of the remaining three tried to go for the leader of the group, but this particular survivor was too quick. He dodged, the claws of the Infected raking his arm just before he was able to turn and shoot the Hunter in the head. He turned just in time to watch one of his comrades get dragged off by a Smoker, and then leaped on by three Hunters. He turned his gun on them, but again by the time he managed to get the Infected away from their victim, it was too late.

He watched as more of his group was taken down, and he was snared by a Smoker before he could help any of them. He was pulled backward so fast he lost his balance and dropped his gun. Before he could get his bearings he grabbed for his hunting knife that was sheathed at his side, and sliced the offending tentacle in half. He fell backward onto the street, only to be jumped on by a Hunter. With only his knife to work with, he thrust it into the Infected's stomach, and sliced upward violently.

With one strong shove, he pushed the dying Hunter off of himself and went to retrieve his gun. He ignored the carnage all around him, until his hand landed upon his weapon. He looked up, just in time to see yet another Hunter staring back at him. He quickly picked up his gun, and aimed just as the Infected leaped at him, firing a good six times.

Far above a lone Hunter sat upon one of the few buildings not yet ablaze, though behind him fires raged high into the night sky. Jake watched what he'd started; he'd managed to round up a lot more Hunters than he expected for a synchronized attack, but even now with so many survivors taken down he could see that the Infected were slowly being bested, for now. Soon the commotion would draw in more, though, and Jake had seen plenty new, and very dangerous looking Infected around these parts. They had been drawn toward this area, the only part of the city that wasn't engulfed in flames, and they would come.

As if on cue, a loud, enraged roar sounded from down the street, a sound that far exceeded the cries of the Hunters and Commons. An abandoned vehicle would be the first sign of the Infected, as it soared through the air and landed among the ranks of survivors and Hunters. A truly massive beast came then, barreling down the street, and it paid little mind to who it attacked.

Hunters had to leap out of its wake, but the survivors weren't so fast. They fired at the monsterous Infected, but their bullets did little to hinder it. One daring survivor aimed his flamethrower at the Infected, and Jake watched with morbid fascination as the Infected was set ablaze, a towering inferno, but even that did not stop it.

The Infected took a man down, slamming him to the pavement beneath its fist, crushing him. It would be almost a minute before the Infected finally fell upon the street in a smoldering heap, and by then the survivors had suffered great casualties just from that attack. Many Hunters and other Infected had taken the chance to attack, and only now were the survivors trying desperately to save their ranks from those opportunists.

Jake growled with excitement, scanning the remaining survivors, and he was only mildly surprised when he saw the leader survivor was still very much alive, and he was climbing up a building via a fire escape. Perhaps he was trying to get a better vantage point to defend his brethren, or perhaps he was just trying to flee. Either way, the Hunter saw his opportunity now.

He took a step back, and then, propelled himself forward. He landed upon the building at the same time the survivor pulled himself onto the roof. The survivor paused, their gazes met, and Jake bared his fangs in a snarl just before he lunged.

The leader survivor aimed his gun, and was able to fire four times before Jake collided with him and they both went toppling off the side of the building into the alley below. They hit the pavement hard, Jake heard and felt something snap upon impact, but he was quick to realize the sound came from the survivor beneath him. The man's ribs and shoulder had cracked under the pressure, his bones far more fragile than the Hunter's. He cried out in agony, the sound quickly cut off when Jake sank his teeth into the man's fragile throat.

Somewhere in the street an earth shaking roar sounded; another monstrous Infected was here. Jake was unable to see it this time, his eyes closed as he savored the taste of the human flesh and blood, a flavor he had already begun to miss. Violently, he tore upward, and blood squirted out from the torn carotid artery to rapidly pool upon the warm pavement.

He had no time to eat now, as appetizing as this survivor looked, there was a war raging too close for him to relax just yet. With a growl, he crawled off of his fallen foe and looked up at the fire escape. He leaped forth, and a sudden agonizing pain tore through his nerves, causing him to miss his hold. His claws scraped the metal and he cried out sharply as he fell back down, landing hard enough to cause another spike of agony to shoot through his nervous system.

Panting, he rolled onto his back to run both his hands gingerly over his torso. He hissed with alarm and pain when he felt the hot blood around his left side; one of the bullets had hit home, and he hadn't even noticed until now. There was another deep burning cut on his shoulder where a bullet had grazed him, but that was much less a concern.

Painfully, he got back up, and turned his gaze in the direction he knew the fight was happening. He heard the death cry of the huge Infected, and the screams of other Hunters as they lunged. Should he join the fight and risk death, or flee? Logic told him to flee, but that thought quickly left his mind the moment he saw what was blocking his path out.

It was an Infected, he guessed, but it was unlike anything he'd seen before. From far off he could see its silhouette, how grossly obese this person must have been before they were infected. Jake watched with growing concern as the thing hobbled closer, and he could clearly hear the gurgling, sick noises it was making even over the sound of battle all around.

The moment it got too close, Jake turned tail and ran, right into the fight. He nearly got run into by a survivor who was backing up about five feet from the alley, and before the guy could realize his mistake, Jake had screamed and began viciously slashing at the man with his claws.

The survivor tried to get away, but the one-eyed Hunter knocked him to the ground. Before Jake could even think to continue his attack, he heard gunshots, and felt pain erupt in his leg. He managed to propel himself away and into the next alley, and he heard a loud explosion somewhere behind him followed by something splattering over the street.

He turned to look, seeing a strange green slime smeared all over the entrance to the alley he'd just left, and the strange fat Infected was gone. He turned his gaze forward once more, and what he saw gave him pause. There, before him was a Hunter, but it wasn't any Hunter, it was the one he'd lost his eye to.

Quickly, Jake moved to press himself against the wall, but because of his injury he ended up stumbling and half-running into the rough brick. Now with something covering his flank, he growled, baring his sharp teeth. The other Hunter did not return the display, he only approached, slowly, and Jake was utterly bewildered by his lack of aggression.

Jake calmed down slowly as the other Hunter came up beside him, looking at him before he took off out into the street. There was a screech, and Jake whipped around to watch. The Hunter was on a survivor, and Jake watched as he tore out the man's intestines. Another survivor was aiming his gun at the attacker, but Jake felt his fight instinct kick in and he propelled himself out there as well.

He landed on the survivor before he could fire, and violently used his claws to tear off the man's helmet. He then grabbed the survivor's head and with a hard twist, snapped his neck. Jake looked up, and saw as five Hunters leaped off of the buildings all around as if in perfect synchrony; for a moment it was perfect, almost beautiful, before the gunshots rang and one was taken out before it could even hit its target.

Jake watched as the Hunter he'd once again saved leaped for his next victim, and for the first time, saw just how the streets were absolutely littered with bodies. He coughed, the smoke in the air so thick it was difficult to breathe or see, what little breeze that had been keeping the air relatively breathable had apparently gone.

Despite that and despite the pain, Jake felt he didn't want to run anymore. He saw the fighting and the blood was thick all around; he lived for this, for the fight and for the kill. He couldn't bring himself to run, despite the horrible danger he knew he was in. Maybe he'd just stopped caring.

He lunged as well, and took down yet another survivor. He felt pain as bullets tore through him, but he only lived to take down the one shooting at him as well. The chorus of screams and enraged cries were the only encouragement he needed, and he would withstand more bullets than any Hunter ever had. He could not feel the pain, but he could feel the weakness, the encroaching heaviness filling his body as the fighting drew on. His mouth was continuously filling with blood, but it was easily enough spit out to join with the other pools and smears of blood already covering the streets.

He leaped at yet another victim, and was shot through the chest, not realizing himself just how much slower he was moving until then. His claws scored through the survivor's hazmat suit, ripping through the protective helmet, just before the Hunter lost his footing and fell to the street below.

Lying on his back, Jake hardly noticed when the survivor he'd attacked dropped his weapon and stumbled off, clawing at his own face and body as he began to turn. Unable to breathe without drowning in his own blood now, Jake felt his consciousness rapidly slipping away as he stared up at the blood red sky. Slowly, everything started to fade away, the screams and the pain, until nothing was left.

Jake stared up at the beautiful blue sky, seeing five starlings take flight from the half-dead tree across the street. He couldn't believe an infection had begun somewhere nearby, the world seemed just as safe and boring as it always had.

He was broken from his thoughts when he felt someone nudge his shoulder sharply. He looked and immediately discovered it was Chris.

"You excited for the road trip?" he asked cheerfully.

Jake shrugged a bit.

"Come on, it's gonna be real fun, I promise," The other kid continued.

"Chris, leave him alone," Came a female voice, and Jake saw it was Laura.

She was leaving the house with a bundled up blanket in her arms, going to put that in the car with the rest of the stuff they were bringing, he supposed. Chris heeded her words, turning to walk after her instead.

"What? I was just trying to make conversation," He said.

Jake looked away back to the sky, and back to his daydreams.

The vision changed and he was back inside the house. They were all sitting around in the living room, drinking and partying for their last night here in this town. Although Jake didn't drink, it was still one of the best nights of his life; he couldn't remember feeling that good.

The radio was playing loudly so that the six friends had to practically yell to talk to each other, but no one seemed to mind. All the neighbors had already evacuated, they didn't need to be quiet tonight. Jake vividly remembered leaning against Laura, he remembered her scent, so vastly different from the blood and the decay that had filled his life for so long now.

"You sure you don't want a beer or something?" asked Chris as he walked by the couch in the process of getting one for himself.

Jake couldn't speak anymore, and the vision would fade before he would even get to answer.

The light faded from his single, remaining eye.

((()))

The morning would come, the sun rising to shine its rays upon the city left smoldering from the night before. Its warm rays would come to touch the dead bodies of both Infected and survivor, shining light upon the carnage where only a few Commons stood, milling about, staring, as if confused.

They would soon be gunned down by the helicopter that had flown in with the sunrise, along with any other person still standing; there were no survivors left. Yet another 'safety zone' turned disastrous, many had come before it, and many would come after. With only four safe spots left along with the base, one could only speculate as to how long it would be before they too, were corrupted.

A/N: ... Nothing more to say except, 'the end'. Hope you enjoyed the story. See ya next time.