A Tail Tale

Chapter-05 A Change of Plans

        Chapter-05
       Racing down the highway like a Gazelle darting away from a hunting Cheetah, the average sized Red Pickup truck  drove away from the overpass. Looking back, Tyler could observe the pitch black smoke still soaring high into the clear, light blue sky. The truck ride is seemingly long, but as silent as a still night. Only the humming of the truck's large engine over the subtle gliding sound of rubber grinding against pavement could be heard. Tyler looked back down at his feet, and contemplates on what the group's options are
"The road is barricaded by Ferals up ahead...so getting to the city fast isn't an option....maybe there are other roads that lead into the city..though what if they are the same...?"
He continues to contemplate an endless amount of possibilities that they could proceed with. Losing track of his surroundings, Tyler felt the truck slowly grind to a halt, and the sudden movement of machinery, a clunk sound, coming from within the truck's axis, as if the gear had been changed again. Even with a stop, the group sat silently. Tyler looked up and saw a few group members counting party members, while others either loaded bullets into magazines, or checked people for Feral wounds. He looked towards the front of the truck and realized that they were in a familiar place, with a small campfire burning as if it had never been extinguished. They had returned to the rest stop, the camp they had called home, and left. Having a few moments to observe, Tyler found Musan and four others gathered around the campfire cooking a small chicken. Looking to his right, he found that most of the tents, including his were being set up by the woman, and two others. Looking back to his left, he found three others, one brown coat Lupman with black tinted shades, blue jeans, and an orange vest stood looking towards the campfire. The other two were loading bullets into the group's magazines slowly, but with a small, faint smile on their faces. Looking back at the truck, Tyler started to sut down before his new Fox-like ears twitched at the sound of something distant. A subtle, low pitched, constant thudding could be heard, as if someone were hitting a hanging piece of fabric constantly, with a steady beat, and somewhat fast swings. Looking towards the noise, Tyler saw the sun setting I the distance ever quicker as every minute past. Blinded by looking into the sunlight, Tyler shifts his head towards his left rear. Another thumping could be heard now, out of sync with the older one, with a faster, slightly higher pitched thud. Then another thudding of the same caliber had started, still out of sync with the others. Looking to his left as he moved his head out of view of he sun, he noticed the Lupman standing, starring at the sun with great intensity. As the thudding became louder and louder, the Lupman dropped his rifle, and bolted for the truck's driver's side passenger door. Opening it swiftly, the Lupman searched through the truck for something frantically, as if he were going to miss something. The thudding was loud enough for even the non-infected to  hear now, and the entire camp froze, looking towards the source. The dark yellow-red sum had dipped half way beyond the horizon, and it was not as intense as before. Looking back at the sun, Tyler saw three black dots with their tops protruding with a line, then retracting. Looking back down at the Lupman for a second, Tyler's mind raced thinking what the three dots could be
"Three dots hovering over the horizon...? Could it be..."
Tyler's train of thought is interrupted as the camp become incredibly lively. Group members ran trying to find equipment of some kind. At that moment, three military helicopters flew over the campsite heading towards the city. Watching them fly over head, Tyler could see the lead and rear most helicopters were dark green painted black hawks with green camouflage pattern soldiers hanging out the sides, and fifty caliber machine guns protruding from their forward gunning positions. He noticed the middle most helicopter was a dual bladed, dark green painted Chinook helicopter with a large red cross bound in a white square on it's side. The helicopters flew faster than their truck could ever drive, and the entire group were scrambling to find something to signal them with. Tyler simply stood on the bed of the truck, knowing their may have been nothing he could have done but observe.

Still observing, Tyler saw a sudden burst of bright yellow flashes, and a cargo bay operator stood with a pistol drawn in the rear of the opened Chinook cargo bay. The flashes happen quickly, and the helicopter gets knocked slightly to one side, as if something heavy was knocked into the Chinook's wall. As the flashing continued, the men in the black-hawks could be observed in a flurry of confusion. Looking back at the rear of the Chinook again, Tyler saw the operator had gone further into the hull, with the flashes continuing. The flashes stopped suddenly, then the operator was seemingly tossed out of the rear by something larger, hitting the rear most blackhawk's pilot's cabin with crushing force. The rear most helicopter started to drift to one side, then tilting forward as it lost altitude. As the helicopter continued  to flip over, Tyler could see some soldiers despreatly hanging onto the interior, and even the mounted gun, while others had been ejected from the sides, slowly plummeting towards the ground. The entire group grew silent as they watched the chaos unfold before them.
Looking back towards the Chinook, Tyler could see it start to spin out of control as it jerked forward due to a seemingly massive object colliding with the front most wall of the craft. The front most helicopter pulled to the right side of the now spinning Chinook. "Donnn!! Donnn! Donnn!" The fifty caliber machine gun made a loud, steady, deep thunder as it had ripped the other helicopter apart. The Chinook callapsed in on itself as it circled even faster, losing further altitude as every second past. As it did so, Tyler could see a Feral wearing a standard summer grasslands camouflage pattern uniform that was covered considerably with dark red stains. It had leaped out of the rear compartment of the quickly falling Chinook, like a frog junping from lilly pad to lilly pad, only from rear of one helicopter to the main compartment of another. Getting a brief second to look over at the blackhawk, he saw most of the soldiers either moving more inwards, or shielding themselves with their weapons as the mass of fur and infected meat crashes into their crew compartment. The helicopter swings hotizontally, and slightly virtically as more weight is added quickly to it. Some men who were not attached to anything could be seen on the other side falling out onto the road below like a steel ball in water. Hearing a crash of equipment near his lower left, Tyler looks back towards the passenger's left side of the driver's cabin, he could see the Lupan getting out a green flare, and looking towards Tyler with an expression of immense joy. The Lupan's expression of immense joy, his wide smile dropped harder than a 500Lb bomb from an H1-111 bomber. He fell to his knees with the flare still in hand as a massive crashing of metal could be heard in the background. The camp fell into another silence as they starred at another three pitch black smoke plumes mocking them towards the city. The fires continued to burn, the smoke filling the clear dark blue skies as the last of the light had disappeared. The silence was broken by a hasty, younger Lupman woman.
"What...What do we do now...?" A silver fur coated Lupman asked Musan quickly.
The group turned to face Musan, who simply stood silent. Like a colony of fire ants, they huddled around the silent Musan. He starred at the ground, as if contemplating, or stunned at his position.
"What will it be leader?!" A Human male hunter asked.
"Yeah, what will it be Musan?" A male Lupman asked in response.
From where he stood upon the truck, Tyler could observe Musan raising his hand to his chin, as if finally showing a gesture of thinking. The group falls silent again, impatiently awaiting a response. He finally breaks the silence with a stern, loud voice
"From what I can tell...we have few options as it is...we could go now to try and gather those military personnel's gear, but it's dark out currently. We could camp out here, then scout it out in the morning. We could do nothing at all. Though whatever we do, know this one thing, you can leave anytime you feel like it. I won't ask you to do anything I wouldn't do, but know this: I cannot guarantee your safety." Musan said to the entire group that had surrounded him with a stern voice.
The group members that had swarmed Musan spoke amongst themselves, and most of them nodded towards each other.
"I'll follow you through thick and thin Musan!" A short, young non-infected man clad in blue jeans, a dress shirt, and a leather jacket said. Many other group members nodded in  seemingly agreement.
"Thanks. I suppose we'll stay here for the night, all that noise is going to cause a lot of commotion amongst the infected that we met earlier, if we wait, they may leave with their food. Again...thanks for staying with me..." He says before he pauses for a few moments.
"I'm going to need a stronger watch tonight, since those Ferals might know where we are now...or follow us. I want those with rifles to be watching the highway and clearings, while those with shorter ranged weaponry to watch the forests. Everyone else, collect supplies, resupply others around the camp, and help in general." He said as he started for the fire through the crowd.
The group acknowledged his orders with nods, and a few words of agreement. As Musan fled the crowd to the campfire, Tyler sat back down in his original position in the truck bed. He lies with his back against the front of the bed, and rear of the driver's cabin silent. The air is calm, still, and slightly cold. He continues to contemplate about his future
"Maybe staying with this group wasn't such a great idea....maybe I'll be better on my own...we did just lose over half of the group in just under ten minutes...bu-.."
His train of thought is subtly interrupted
"Tyler!"
Hearing his name called by a woman towards his right, he got up and searched for the caller. He slowly scanned the camp towards the left of the truck, which was facing his right. Still searching for the caller, he observes some new changes done to the campsite. Twelve tents varying in size, shape, and color sat in a small clearing away from the campfire. As if no one had lived in the tents for days, they lay dormant, quiet, and life-less with only a few group members sitting idle outside of the tents. Looking deeper into the camp, he spotted a familiar face next to a familiar tent. His camouflage pattern tent was placed in the same place as it had been found before. Standing next to the now set up tent was the woman from before, she stood idle as she watched him from her position. Tyler picked up his backpack, and placed it on his back before proceeding to jump carefully off of the truck's bed. Walking to one side of the Red Truck, he looked back at the campsite. Musan had been cooking a stew of some sort above the blazing campfire, and half of the remaining group members gathered around it, like children at the campfire listening to old stories. Looking back towards his tent, he saw it had collected dust as fast as the rest, looking as if it were abandoned a few days ago. The woman also had fled the area, and few other group members sat infront of their tents. Looking back at the camp fire, Tyler contemplated his future as the orange, yellow sun sat slowly in the background
"Looking around at all of these people...who's left...I have to wonder whether I should leave now...before things get worse. It'd be easier simply scavenging for myself...though, they did take care of me, fed me, nearly gave me a safe place to call home. Maybe there's safety in a group, at least then I won't be shot on sight by wanderers..."
Tyler continues to contemplate as he looks upon the group, who see him in return.
"Hey Tyler! Come join us, we have some food ready!" Frank yelled with a light tone of joy.
Halting for a moment, Tyler looked back at the pitch black columns of smoke that lay in front of the city, then looked back upon the group
"Maybe I will stay..."
He looks back forward, and proceeds down towards the now busy campsite. The campfire itself was large, bright yellow with a faint orange discoloration. Sitting down at the tree he was once tied to, he observed the group further. They had slowly gathered around the campfire, like ants to open food on a warm summer's day. The smell of beans and tomato soup had filled the air. Getting up slowly, Tyler started for the campfire which had most of the idle group members surrounding it now.
"Beans...and tomato soup? Again...?" A Lupman questioned.
"Yeah..but it's all we have right now..." Another Lupman replied.
A line had formed leading towards the soups, where Musan was slowly handing out rations. Tyler moved slowly around the line, as to get a better line of site on what the food may actually be. Walking into a small opening, Tyler could briefly observe what had been prepared on the campfire. On a large rotary oak wood stick which lay supported by a set of larger branches on either side, lay a cooked animal.