The hooded figure stopped before us, the rifle in his hands. He was about the same age as me. He was wearing a face mask. A girl stood beside him, her light brown hair flowing over her shoulders, navy blue eyes reflecting the flames in the distance.

"I'm Ethan," the boy said, his voice steady despite the chaos around us. "And this is my sister, Marina. We've been tracking the movements of the raiders for some time." Elena eyed them cautiously. The Base Beta emblem on the sleeves of their clothes.

"Why come to us?" she asked, her hand never straying far from her gun.

Ethan's gaze remained cold. "Because we know of a place where the raiders are keeping survivors," he explained. "It's underground, beneath this very base. We've been looking for others who are willing to help us free them but seeing that all the raiders are dead, it's easier to rescue them."

I looked at Elena and she looked back at me.

"We're in," I said, and Elena nodded in agreement.

Ethan and Marina led us through the burning base. We reached the tunnel and descended into the bowels of the earth. The survivors were many, their eyes wide with fear and hope as we cut through their ropes.

"We have to move quickly," Marina urged.

We guided the survivors through the tunnels, emerging into the cool night air. But our relief was short-lived. A low, growl filled the air, and we turned to see a horde of the withered approaching us.

"Run! It's better we help everyone who is injured than fight." Ethan shouted.

We ran, pushing the survivors ahead of us as we made our stand. The withered were relentless, chasing us like starved animals chasing prey. A large, thorned, tentacle flew and at us, hitting one of the survivors like a whip and he fell. I hurried and helped him up and we ran.

"Any plans?", Elena asked, pushing the other survivors forward.

"There's a place right here in the base filled with gas tanks. We can throw them into the fire to trigger an explosion. I'll lead us there.", Marina replied.

We followed Marina to a shed in the base. "Right there!", she led.

We burst open then shed and found 6 gas cylinders. Marina stuck a tube to the gas tanks and opened them to release the gas.

"The fire should catch up to this shed soon. Let's go for now.", Marina instructed.

We continued running. Everyone ran and reached the exit. I tried running faster, carrying the injured survivor to the exit. I pushed the survivor forward and ran through the gate. Ethan and Elena closed it as the raider base exploded. I put the survivor down and gave him water. He coughed a black liquid. A symptom of being infected. Ethan rolled the survivor over and looked at his back. A long black scar was engraved where he was hit.

"He's infected.", Ethan said as he pointed the rifle to the man's head.

"Wait. We can't just kill him. He's still human.", I interrupted.

The survivor groaned in pain as the infection spread throughout his body.

"What do you want us to do? Wait until he fully turns? Don't you think it's better to put him of his misery?", Ethan replied in the same cold tone.

I sighed and looked away. With a single bullet to the head, Ethan ended the man's life. The rest of the survivors separated, returning to their own bases. Samuel and Lily caught up to us and greeted the two new faces.

"Thanks for the help.", Marina said gratefully.

"No problem. I'm glad we were able to save more people.", Elena replied with a smile.

"Raiders are evil. How could they do this to other people? They don't deserve to live. They aren't acting like humans anymore. But like monsters. Monsters need to die.", I mumbled to myself as I clenched my fist in anger, looking at the man's corpse.

"That's how life is. But you should know. Just because you can kill everyone, doesn't mean you can save everyone.", Ethan said to me, his tone warmer than before.

I sighed and agreed.

"We're going to Base Alpha. Is there anywhere you want to stop first?", he asked.

Remembering the address in note I was given, I replied. "Yeah, there is one place."

End of Chapter 4.