Aberrant: Dead Rising - Back to Lawton [complete]

[Dan Hawkins]

He sighs as he nears the outskirts of the boobytrapped Lawton city. This time he simply got out and lifted the Humvee off the ground and carried it onto the main roads. Once there he began his search. It took an hour and a half, but He finally found what he'd been searching for.

Dan had left before sunrise, going back to Lawton on a special mission for his own peice of mind. He smiled as he thought about it. Fox had wanted books, to save something of what the world had once been. The marine in Dan had rebelled at recapturing the past, but then There was the challenge of getting in and out of Lawton again on his own. That had been enough to prompt him to go.

He pulled up in front of the Library and grabbed both his dufflebags and his battle rifle. "Time to take our some books on permanant loan."

He tried the doors but found them locked. "No choice." He shattered the glass with the butt of his rifle and made his way inside. He didn't know what Fox was looking for, and knew that this Library wasn't a big major one. He quickly went to the fictional literature and began filling the bags. He grabbed things he thought would appeal to most people, not just himself, though he grabbed his own favories, Moby Dick, and several others.

He flilled that bag and then moved on, going to the section of reference books and grabbed an entire set of Encyclopedia. History would be important, now that the internet was largely down. He brought the two filled bags out to the Humvee and looked around, noticing a Zombie across the square. "Damn. i don't have alot of time."

He grabbed two large empty ammo crates from the back of the vehicle and went back inside. He filled up one with children's books, for even he could see the point in planning for the future, despite his own bleak outlook.

The second crate he filled with bookfs from the nofiction section. Books on agriculture, purification, solar cell technology, things he knew incorporating into the refuge would prove beneficial.

He carried the books back to the Hummvee and loaded them up, but something didn't feel right. He closed the door and began moving around to the driver's side and he felt something, then a shar pain in his side. He reached down and felt the jagged tears in his clothing, and the warmth of his own blood.

"Goddammit. Reckless." He thought as he healed the worst of the damage and turned bringing his battle rifle back to the attacker.

It was a zombie, but not quite. It looked intelligent, it had to be, waiting till his back was turned and moving so silently. He fired off a three round burst, with only one shot slamming into the zombie's torso, it dodging the others. IT was barely slowed by the attack and lashed out again, knocking the weapon from his hands. "Shit."

It was on him again, pain flairing in his right side this time even as his left was still healing. He moved with blinding speed pulling out the knife in his boot and slamming it home with all his might into the Zombie's neck. It kicked him hard, rocking the Humvee when he impacted it. He was down on the ground, close to out. He still had the knife. "Not like this, not in this hellhole." He took aim and hurled the knife which slammed into the zombie's skull right between the eyes.

It fell over and Dan breathed slightly easier. More zombies were showing up. He concentrated, healing his left side finally. He gathered his knife and rifle and thanked God he was done. He got into the jeep and ran over the zombie that had savaged him several times. He drove through the street watching as more and more zombies appeared. Near the outskirts he took flight once again, the strain of hefting the humvee reopening his right flank wound, illiciting a string of Expletives as he carried it to safety and thenreboarded it.

He made it back late that night, and after a thourough inspection, burned his fatigues outside the compound. That drew the attention of the Sentries. He smiled knowing his cargo would be welcome by some.

Later, after decon and healing his wounds he presented Fox with the start of his own library.

"It isn't much Fox, but it's a start. There's more in Lawton, and more probably in any big city we go to. But something you should know. I got hit pretty bad by one of those special zombies. It snuck up on ME, Fox. Laid in wait like a predator, something I'd prefer to avoid thinking Zombies were smart enough to do. We can go back, but I think we'd best write it off for now."

[Mr Fox]

The books were a welcome sight. "That's some damn good work bringing those in. Appreciated. We'll be needing those. I've already detailed off several of the parents to take turns working on lessons for the kiddos. I'm sure they will be glad of the books as much as I am."

Listening to the rest, Fox nodded at the grim news. "Yeah, there are lots of other towns around and much better libraries to raid. I'll make an announcement to folks to avoid Lawton. After the New Mexico mission we may need to think about getting some flame throwers or whipping up some napalm and raising that town to the ground. The last thing we need is mutant zombies spreading." He looked thoughtful for a moment then, "Dan, you were a marine, you ever participate in mission planning? Do you think you'd be up to planning the destruction of Lawton?"

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan nods once. "I can, but it will take alot of work. I can have a workable plan to you after a week or so along with what's going to be needed to pull it off. It's gonna cost though."