It’s A Wonderful Life - Volume 4 Chapter 35 4.4

They had tanks.

It was worth emphasizing. They had actual military tanks. Ira almost drooled as he climbed into one of them together with Amanda, sitting down next to her. Granted, they only had two tanks they had to leave one behind because they were understaffed but it was still cool. Ira’s eyes were practically sparkling where he sat, trying to take in as much of the vehicle as possible.

He watched on as the tanks rolled down the road on the outside, crushing dirt, twigs and the occasional zombie in its path.

He wanted one.

Slowly but surely, they drove through the countryside, the soldiers sitting in tense silence, probably still thinking about the horror show the world had somehow turned into. Their heads were down and the looked like they couldn’t believe what the world had come to.

The only one that managed to get any respect from Ira at all was Amanda, who seemed like she actually had her priorities in check and a handle on her own emotions.

Being as they were stuck in a small vehicle and there wasn’t anything to do, Ira took the opportunity to do his job and checked up on his Host. His physical eyes were closed and his breathing slow, giving the illusion that he was sleeping.

His Host was currently hiding out in a bathroom stall in a mall.

Ira couldn’t resist quirking his lips in amus.e.m.e.nt and he watched on as she sat on the toilet seat, both her feet pressing against the door to keep it from being broken down by a really persistent zombie. Her eyes were blown wide with fear and the only reason that she wasn’t screaming was because she was in severe shock. It seemed like she still hadn’t adjusted to being in a zombie apocalypse world.

The group she was still running with were all over the mall, separated into smaller groups. Most likely, they had approached the mall in search of supplies, and failed to take into account how many people visited such a place daily.

The mall was overrun with zombies.

Screams were rising from different parts of the mall, as multiple members of the surviving group got mauled and eaten to death by zombies. Not a fun way to go.

Really, Ira couldn’t understand what would make them think that it was a good idea to go to such a place. Even from outside, they must have seen all the cars in the parking lot, and the zombies through the windows, but somehow they still got it into their heads to go inside. What were they even hoping to accomplish?

Rolling his eyes, Ira continued his observing. It was still amusing, seeing them trying desperately to get out of the mall and survive, when it was a tragedy entirely out of their own making. Whoever got the idea of raiding a mall was essentially guilty of murder.

Eventually, after his Host had started crying and actually screaming in fear, another member of her group came by and bashed the zombie’s skull in.

Ira watched on as the man stared with cold eyes at his Host, before he finally offered her a hand and pulled her out of the stall. She stared at him with uncomprehending eyes, but followed after him obediently, tears still falling over her cheeks.

She was sniffling all the way out of the mall, while the large man killed zombie after zombie.

Yeah, she wasn’t going to last long.

Over the following hours, his Host and her group fled desperately from the horde of zombies that followed after them from the mall. Only a handful of people had survived and managed to get out of the mall in the first place, and now even more were killed by the horde. In the end, the only reason his Host survived was because the man that had saved her in the bathroom knew how to ride a motorcycle and gave her a ride.

That man also happened to be the protagonist of the story.

When his Host and the male protagonist got back to their camp, she got severely yelled at. Apparently, she had been the one to convince them that raiding the mall was a good idea, and she had gotten some other, softer people on board. Now everyone blamed her, rightfully, for the many, many deaths.

Over half of their group had died as a result of her plan.

Ira was recording everything.

“Hey, Ira, wake up!”

Ira blinked his eyes open and removed his attention from his Host, finding Amanda standing in front of him, shaking his shoulder ever so slightly.

“Change of plans.” she said. “Headquarters wants us back at base, so we’ll be making camp here and continuing tomorrow.”

Ira hummed and asked, “What happened to the scouting party?”

“They attacked another troop. The whole party had been turned.” Amanda stated and walked out of the tank, gesturing for Ira to follow.

He followed after her and took a bowl of soup from another soldier.

Sitting down on a conveniently placed log, Ira practically devoured the whole bowl, finding himself surprisingly hungry. Thankfully, Amanda glared at the soldier until he handed Ira a second helping of the meal, and Ira absentmindedly mumbled a thanks.

With all of the fighting and killing, he had been getting much more exercise in this world then he usually did on missions.

After eating, he found a nice comfortable piece of grass-covered ground to sleep on and settled down to do just that. He yawned, more tired than he thought he was, and watched on with half of his attention as his current group of comrades human shields moved around the camp to set up a proper perimeter.

He got quite a lot of stinking looks for his perceived uncaring attitude but he didn’t care. He was tired, so he was going to sleep. If a zombie got too close, his map would alert him and he would automatically wake up.

The next morning, they set off to continue their journey.

Ira yawned through the first over in the tank, having gotten up way to early thanks to the shooting of the soldiers as the zombies got close, which just attracted more of them.

How they hadn’t made that connection yet, Ira didn’t know.

Perhaps they were just naturally stupid.

Even when Amanda used her head and tried to get the others to stop shooting all of the zombies, the captain of the troop intervened and kept the soldiers going. Ira didn’t know why, but that man was getting closer to death each and every day.

Regardless, it didn’t take them much longer to reach the aforementioned base.

Three days of journey over the roads in tanks, and they arrived.

The base was surrounding by high walls, overturned cars and barbwires. Ira admired the efficiency of it through the front window of the tank he was in. Amanda had taken over driving for the last few hours, as the previous driver got rest. They had been driving the whole night at this point, and all of them seemed exhausted. It didn’t help that they all tended to wake up shivering and muttering about monsters every other hour.

They really weren’t handling the whole zombie apocalypse thing well.

Well. It was their loss.

The gigantic gates were opened for them when they arrived. Ira watched on with avid interest as they drove through and he got his first look at a base in a post-apocalyptic world. Well, his first look in a some thousand mortal years or so. Depending on what number base one used.

Anyway, the base was well protected by a couple thousand soldiers, hundreds of them lining the walls and keeping watch, while others ran around outside to kill the zombies that got too close. It was one of the larger bases in this world, though not the largest. That was reserved for a base in New Zealand.

They had done remarkably well, over there.

Humming, Ira sat still on his seat with his eyes wide as the tank bumbled along. They passed quite a lot of people as they drove through what seemed like the beginning of farmland. Plenty of people were walking over the dirt and hauling buckets of water around.

They rolled to a stop and the soldiers in the back of the tank immediately jumped out. Ira and Amanda followed after them slowly.

There was an old woman with a clipboard standing by the side of the road waiting on them.

“Ahem.” she cleared her throat loudly. “Captain Wallace? You’re to debrief the general now.”

The captain stepped out between the people and approached the woman steadily.

After the captain had disappeared, the old woman with a head full of grey hair and glasses turned her disapproving eyes on the rest of the gathered people. She cleared her throat again and ordered, “You are all to report to medical for a full check-up.”

Amanda nodded and grabbed a hold of Ira’s arm to make sure he followed after her. Ira found it a little unnecessary, but he didn’t protest.

At the center of the large base, there was an old house, rising above the other buildings like an ominous sign. Ira liked it, and he liked the dark color of it as well. He followed after the other soldiers into the building, Amanda’s hand still on his arm. Inside, they were greeted by the general chaos of a hospital in the post-apocalyptic era.

Nurses were running to and fro, doctors and scientists were staring at various tablets and discussing depressing topics in somber tones while soldiers guarded every door to make sure that if anyone managed to slip through the screening and turned, they wouldn’t get far.

A nurse spotted them and ran over. She huffed at them and said roughly, “Follow me.”

They followed after her until they got to a room. She opened the door and shoved them inside, and then she said, with a completely serious face, “Get n.a.k.e.d.”

Ira turned to raise an eyebrow at Amanda.

“It’s standard procedure, nothing to worry about, I assure you.” she smiled at him and pointed to a serious of cubicles on the other side of the room. “Just go behind a sheet over there and get undressed. There’s a robe inside you can put on, and then a doctor will come and get you when it’s your turn. I’ll tell them your name and situation and there shouldn’t be any problems.”

“If you say so.” Ira shrugged his shoulders and entered behind one of the sheets to get undressed.

While he was in the middle of pulling off his shirt, Amanda called, “Pull the curtain closed!”

Ira turned around and saw her staring at him while smiling. He sighed, but pulled the curtain sheet closed, figuring that it was probably just another one of those human things that he didn’t understand. What did it matter whether the sheet was closed or not? It was just a sheet. It wasn’t like it would be able to stop anyone from getting in.

Whatever. He didn’t care enough to keep thinking about it.

Once he was undressed and he had pulled on the short robe, tying it around his waist and trying not to wonder who had worn it last, because he could still smell the blood on it, he exited the tiny booth and found a place to sit and wait.

One by one, the soldiers got called out by someone on the other side of the door, until it was just Ira left, sitting alone in the dark.

Because he couldn’t be bothered to turn on the lights once night fell.

Eventually, the voice called, “Ira Smith.”

Ira rose an eyebrow at the uncreative last name, but still rose from his seat and approached the door. He pushed it open and found a doctor in a white lab coat on the other side. It was a man, at least a head taller than his current body, if not more. With scruffy black hair and a pair of smudged square glasses sitting on his nose, he looked like the stereotypical scientist.

The man introduced himself, his voice sounding tired, as, “Doctor Jacob Cornelius.”

Ira blinked in shock, but shook the man’s hand when it was offered dutifully.

So Silas was a doctor in this world? Interesting.