"But I checked all those crates. There's nothing in them."
"That's what I'm trying to say. We abandoned the firebase when we had nearly used up all the ammunition. What we are carrying right now is all that we have."
Dave looked over the four army men. He saw two magazines on their vests, so with a magazine in their rifles that was a total twelve magazines. "How many rounds go in a magazine."
Trevor looked confused for a moment before slapping his chest. "These are all empty. The only rounds we have is what is in our rifles, and none of us have full mags. I doubt that we have twenty rounds in total. If there's a hundred of the dead coming this way then a dozen kills won't help. We might as well just save what little we have."
"Shit," said Dave succinctly.
"We can't fight here," said Trevor. "It will be impossible to hold this campsite."
"Then we run," said Dave firmly.
Josh and the Army men looked askance at Dave.
"You said something about a hall?" asked Dave.
Trevor nodded and pointed in the opposite direction. "We walked right by it when we got here."
"I remember it," said Josh.
"Good," said Dave. "Is there a way onto its roof?"
"I'm not sure," said Trevor.
Dave looked to Holden and Jordan who both shrugged their shoulders. Dave turned to Josh and said, "Go right there and check it out. Find a way to get onto the roof. We'll be sending people your way so give them directions when they arrive."
"I'm there," said Josh running off towards the hall.
Dave turned to the Army men. "Spread out through the camp. Tell people to run to the hall. Don't try to fight the dead. It's still daylight so we should be okay if we move quickly."
"There's a lot of people here who aren't in any shape to listen," said Trevor.
"I've seen that type before," said Dave. "But we can't be compassionate right now. Tell people where they can go and if they don't respond then hit them until they do respond."
"Shit," said Holden.
"We need to save lives before we can save feelings."
No one looked too happy, yet they all silently agreed with Dave's plan and promptly scattered about the camp to do what they could. The agonising truth was that that whatever was done would be far too little. A disaster was coming and there was nothing they could do to stop it. Dave was left alone and about him the camp had become chaos as word had spread about the coming walkers.
Dave stumbled as a man ran into him.
"We're going to die," said the man panicking.
"Not if you go to the dance hall," said Dave.
"What?" said the man finally noticing Dave.
"We're retreating to the dance hall."
"What's the point of that?"
"We can defend that place better than this," said Dave gesturing about them.
The man look dubiously at Dave before looking about the camp. The man seemed to make a decision before running off in the direction of the hall. Dave sighed. He didn't want to know what it would mean if it took this long to convince people to move.
Dave spotting an alarmed woman standing near a tent while holding a young child in her arms. He ran over to her and shouted, "We're retreating to the dance hall. Get moving."
Something in Dave's voice froze the area around him.
"This camp is too exposed," yelled Dave. "It's easier to defend the dance hall."
The woman nodded and began walking towards the hall. Dave would have preferred that she at least jogged but at least she was going in the direction that he wanted. Luckily a few people had heard Dave and were looking at him.
One young man looked at Dave. "How will we defend the hall?"
"These dead can't climb. If we get up on the roof then we should be safe."
The young man nodded. "Makes sense."
"I've sent a friend to prepare the place. Could you help him out?"
"Sure," said the young man looking at the others who were listening to this conversation. "Hey guys, looks like there's a plan. Let's get there and help out."
Dave just nodded his thanks towards the young man. After seeing so many minds shattered by recent events it was almost a shock to see people who still seem to display a clarity of mind. As the small, impromptu group ran off towards the dance hall, Dave turned towards the hills where the walkers were coming from. That was the side of the camp that would encounter danger first so Dave decided that is where he should focus his evacuation efforts.
* * *
Dave couldn't believe his eyes when he reached the southern end of the football field. An agitated crowd of about twenty people had gathered and were reenacting a scene from a socialist revolution. Beyond the crowd, he could see a forested hill and from that forest emerged numerous walkers.
"We have long suffered oppression!" screamed a woman standing on a wooden box.
Dave recognised her from the meeting in the tent where he had tried to describe his observations. The nearby crowd looked up at the woman, listening to her as she unleashed her rant. Although some people were looking at the woman with bemusement, Dave was stunned to see that most were looking at the woman with rapture on their faces. Revolutionary socialists are always one fart joke away from being a delusional evangelist for a crazy religious cult.
"Look upon them," said the woman pointing to the first walkers that had exited the forest. "They are just like us. They are people of colour. To hate their grey skin is to be racist. Don't listen to the white, male patriarchy!"
From the crowd, an old man with white hair and a wrinkled face called out, "You tell us, Karen!"
Back at the tent, Dave hadn't been introduced to the woman. Thus he didn't know her name,
