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"I doubt it. His kind are rare, but we were able to study a few of them before the fit hit the shan and the outbreaks got out of control. Zombies are wired much simpler than Living. It's easy on him to control and read them, but not us. Still, I'm not about to let innocent people die just because he told me to."

"How can we snipe him when he sits in a room with no windows, concrete walls, and zombies standing guard?" Russ spat in frustration. "What we can do is get our supplies and make it look like the survivors were turned away and tell them to leave when actually they'll sneak to the train and hide on board and when we come with the supplies then we'll bolt as fast as possible." Rus had whispered this just in case a zombie in the area may hear and therefore Gravemind hear it.

Gravemind sat eating his steak with a fork and knife. For sides he had mash potatoes and asparagus. "Hmmm. I wonder what they'll do. Will they take our food with them or leave them to ruin? Oh well either way their not reaching the train they came in." Gravemind opened his rotten lips and put the piece of steak in his mouth.

"We're all pretty well armed, and we're even pretty good shots. The zombies standing guard are inconsequencial. We'll just kill them and clear the area, like we were going to originally. Whatever he is, he can only influence the ghouls. We've got nothing to worry about from him, except more of his troops. But let's put all that aside for a moment. Priority one is gathering supplies. We can't help anyone if we're dead. Once we've stocked the train, and made arrangements for guests, then I'm coming back for survivors. Who's going with me?"

"Oh, I love it when you talk dirty." Tyler grinned and changed out the dwindling ammo drum of the SAW. He clicked off the safety and shouldered the weapon. "Well, let's do it. Those zombie's ain't gonna shoot themselves."

With or without the consent of the group, Tyler marched boldly into the store, and began firing upon the hordes of undead. They were attacking in waves, no doubt coordinated by Gravemind. That was fine; Tyler didn't need to kill them all, he only needed to clear the room enough for survivors to escape. He was no longer able to see Ellie, but he wasn't worried. He assumed vampirism had granted her speed. He craned his neck quickly to see where the others were.

Tyler eventually caught sight of the innermost circle. Some of the mutated zombies Russ described were guarding the survivors. There were about six of them, looking completely terrified. Tyler radioed to see if the supplies were locked up, and the train was ready. They were. "Bar the doors, and don't open them, no matter what. Rotten human fingernails can't tear through steel. We'll be coming in from the top." A lone zombie that had escaped Tyler's notice lunged at him. He saw it just barely with enough time to move out of the way and grab a fistful of its greasy hair as it passed. He used its own momentum to thrust it out into the open floor. A single shot went into its head, and it was motionless. Tyler lifted the heavy gun to fire upon the mob, but heard the most frustrating sound in the world-a hollow click-instead. The ammo was out.

Tyler dropped the now-useless SAW and grabbed the fallen katana instead. He chopped through the tentacles, and the blade made a satisfying spark upon impact with the floor. The severed ends shrivelled and curled into little heaps of flesh, falling to the floor. He helped Ellie to her feet and tossed her the sword. He raised his fists, calling upon the experience of his boxing days. "Well, s**t. Now what?" he said as the shuffling mob closed in.

Feeling a little dazed, Tyler smiled and said "Alright, then." He kicked over a zombie corpse to retreive the SAW. He had more ammo in the living car, but this gun was the only one he had that could shoot the stockpiled ammo.