Dying Light - Tennessee Gays Edition 1

Before midday, the utility truck stops at a marked Franklin Road intersection. Evan’s map matches a weather-stained landmark note tucked beneath the route sign.

Fresh disturbances mark the roadside mud: narrow shoe prints, a dragged branch, and a recently opened gate leading toward a modest residence. The truck remains running.

Maya keeps the UV lamp ready while Evan studies the yard through the windshield. Priya’s radio remains open, her quiet presence linking them to the defended dorm.

The handgun case remains sealed in the truck’s cargo space. No controlled test occurred before departure, and the improvised attachment has never been fired.

A sharp metallic clatter comes from the cargo area as the truck idles. The case has shifted against the jack, and its latch is no longer fully closed.

Beyond the trees, a branch snaps near the residence. The truck’s engine masks smaller sounds, but the open gate and fresh tracks now feel less like evidence of safety.

Charlie reaches into the cargo area, steadies the shifted case against the jack, and closes the latch until it clicks firmly shut.

He removes the handgun, confirms the chamber is empty, checks that the safety is engaged, and slides it carefully into his waistband.

The branch beyond the split fence shifts again. A figure moves between the trees, partly hidden by leaves, while the utility truck continues idling between the group and the house.

Charlie watches through the windshield, tracking the figure’s movement between overlapping branches. Leaves and glare break its outline before he can make out clothing, posture, or face.

The figure pauses as if noticing the truck’s attention, then slips sideways behind the split fence. A moment later, only the disturbed leaves remain visible.

Thomas’s answer carries through the idling cab and into the open yard. The figure beyond the fence pauses again, and a bird bursts noisily from the branches.

Charlie grabs the reinforced hammer and steps out beside the truck, keeping its broad body between himself and the split fence. The door clicks loudly as it closes.

The metallic sound carries across the yard. Leaves tremble beyond the fence, and the hidden figure shifts deeper into the trees, now clearly aware of Charlie’s position.

Charlie plants his feet beside the front wheel and fixes his eyes on the moving branches. The hammer rests in both hands, ready without being raised.

A faint scrape sounds against the fence, followed by a low voice from the cover. The words are indistinct, but the speaker is close enough to answer if called.

Charlie nods once toward Thomas, keeping the truck between himself and the split fence. The reinforced hammer stays ready at his side.

His voice carries across the yard and into the trees. The scrape at the fence stops, but the call also gives away their exact position.

A smaller shape shifts behind the branches, followed by a second movement close to the fence. The voices are young, frightened, and unmistakably human.

Thomas eases the utility truck forward, its tires crunching over gravel. Charlie advances beside the passenger side as the vehicle reaches the split fence and gives the boys cover.

The truck’s undercarriage scrapes a buried ridge with a harsh metallic grind. The engine temperature stays normal, but the sound rolls across the yard and into the trees.

The truck stops alongside the fence, placing its broad side between the survivors and the residence. The first aid kit is within reach, while Maya keeps the UV lamp trained on the yard.

Charlie reaches through the fence opening and braces Miguel beneath the arms. Daniel guides his brother forward while Thomas and Maya watch the residence and tree line.

Miguel is light but unsteady. Charlie lifts him over the lowest rail and carries him to the truck’s sheltered side, completing the transfer as gravel shifts loudly beneath his shoes.

A jagged fence edge tears Charlie’s shirt and scratches his forearm as he clears it. The wound is shallow, but the metal clatter echoes toward the house.

Daniel helps himself through the opening and crouches beside Miguel. Thomas keeps the vehicle between them and the residence while Maya’s UV lamp holds on the fence line.

Charlie carefully rolls up Miguel’s pant leg and examines the ankle, checking the skin, sock, and shoe for punctures, torn flesh, or fresh blood.

There is no bite. The ankle is swollen and bruised, with a scrape from the fence or a hard landing, but the skin remains intact.

Charlie’s examination confirms Miguel is uninfected, and Daniel’s warning gives the team a safer reconnaissance option: the kitchen entrance avoids the exposed front approach.

Charlie supports Miguel beneath the arms and guides him across the sheltered side of the truck, protecting the swollen ankle from further strain. Daniel follows close behind.

Charlie settles both boys in the passenger area, checks Miguel’s injured ankle and Daniel’s position, then shuts the door against the exposed yard. Maya keeps the UV lamp trained across the fence.

With Miguel and Daniel secured, Charlie swings toward the residence. The kitchen’s back door offers the covered approach Daniel described, while Thomas keeps the truck between the boys and the house.

Charlie nods and moves along the truck’s shadow, hammer low in one hand and flashlight covered beneath his palm. Gravel shifts once beneath his shoe.

He reaches the kitchen door without crossing the open yard. The scrape costs him a shallow cut across his palm, but the door and its lock are directly before him.

Charlie angles the flashlight through the glass. A toppled chair blocks part of the kitchen, and dark smears trail toward the hallway. No figure moves inside.

Charlie turns the handle and eases the kitchen door inward. The latch clicks softly, and he slips through with the hammer low, keeping the truck and fence behind him.

He sweeps left across the counters, then right toward the blocked dining passage. The kitchen is empty, though a chair lies overturned and dark smears lead toward the hallway.

Charlie nudges the toppled chair aside and finds a red cooler abandoned beneath the table, its lid cracked open. Beside it, a kitchen phone rests off the hook, emitting a faint open-line hiss.

Charlie advances from the kitchen, sweeping his covered flashlight across the hallway, the dining room, and the stairwell. Dust hangs in the beam, but nothing moves.

The dark smears continue across the floor toward the stairs, passing a fallen picture frame and ending beside a closed utility-room door.

Charlie angles the light beneath the stairwell and across each step. The lower stairs are empty, but the upper landing remains hidden beyond the angle.

Charlie moves to the base of the stairs and raises the covered flashlight, keeping his body angled behind the wall while the beam climbs each step.

The lower flight is clear. At the upper landing, the light reveals a bedroom door standing ajar, fresh smears across the threshold, and a red cooler handle abandoned near the banister.

His shoe nudges a loose stair tread, producing a sharp creak that carries through the house. Charlie freezes, but the information is clear: the trail leads upstairs.

Charlie keeps the flashlight fixed on the open bedroom door. The creaking tread is now a known cost, but the upstairs route and its disturbed threshold are fully identified.

Charlie tightens his grip on the reinforced hammer and taps the stair railing twice. The metal carries a controlled, unmistakable signal through the house.

For a moment, only the loose tread answers. Then something scrapes inside the ajar bedroom, followed by a wet, hurried shuffle toward the landing.

A woman steps into the bedroom doorway with one hand pressed to her bleeding thigh. Her face is pale, but her movements remain coordinated and human.

Charlie raises the covered flashlight, keeping the beam on Rosa’s thigh while the reinforced hammer remains low. He holds his position below the landing, leaving clear distance between them.

Rosa gathers the torn cloth above her knee and turns the injury toward the light. Blood runs from a deep laceration across her thigh, but the surrounding skin shows no puncture marks or torn bite pattern.

Charlie climbs the stairs carefully and stops within Rosa’s reach. He turns his back, lowers his stance, and offers a stable grip for her arms.

Rosa settles onto Charlie’s back, her arms around his shoulders. He rises smoothly, supports her injured leg, and carries her down the stairs without losing his footing.

Charlie carries Rosa through the kitchen and out the back door. Thomas and Maya keep watch as he reaches the utility truck and lowers Rosa carefully beside Miguel.

Charlie lowers Rosa carefully beside the utility truck, keeping her injured leg supported until she is steady against the wheel well. Miguel shifts to make room, while Daniel stays close.

Thomas opens the first aid kit while Maya keeps the UV lamp trained across the yard and kitchen doorway. The residence remains silent behind them, its upstairs rooms unseen.

Charlie steps back and lets Maya and Evan work. Maya cleans Rosa’s thigh while Evan wraps the ankle, consuming gauze, antiseptic, and one elastic bandage from the first aid kit.

Maya tightens Rosa’s bandage and checks the circulation in her foot. Evan secures Miguel’s ankle with a folded splint, while the used supplies leave their medical reserve visibly thinner.

Charlie nods and moves back through the kitchen, keeping low as he collects the bottled water, canned food, and Miguel’s school backpack from beside the stairs.

The backpack’s front pocket still holds an intact tube of glucose tablets. A can shifts inside the food bag and clatters against the kitchen floor, carrying through the silent house.

Charlie gathers the spilled can, secures the bag, and carries everything through the back door to the truck. He adds the food and water beside the medical supplies.

Charlie returns to the truck with a shallow scrape across his knuckles from the fallen can. The wound is minor, but one clean bandage joins the supplies already spent.

Charlie readies the reinforced hammer and moves through the kitchen, keeping his flashlight angled low. He climbs toward the upstairs landing with careful, measured steps.

At the landing, Charlie sweeps the beam across the bedroom doorway, hall closet, banister, and shadowed stairwell. No movement answers, and the landing is clear.

Charlie checks the open bedroom and the floor around the threshold. Rosa’s purse rests beside the broken dresser, while the locked metal box remains visible in the hall closet.

The flashlight finds no infected or person hiding on the landing. Charlie keeps the hammer ready, with both requested items now clearly located for retrieval.

Charlie moves from the landing into the adjacent bedroom, keeping the reinforced hammer low and sweeping his flashlight across the bed, closet, windows, and shadowed corners.

The room is clear. Dust lies undisturbed except for old shoe marks, and nothing hides beneath the bed or behind the open closet door.

On a desk, Charlie finds a working phone charger, two bottled waters, a flashlight with fresh batteries, and a small canvas pouch of spare keys.

He checks the windows and confirms both are latched. The desk drawers contain pens, a folding map of Franklin, and a sealed packet of alcohol wipes.

Charlie gathers the charger, water, flashlight, keys, map, and wipes, then returns them toward the stairs without disturbing the room’s remaining belongings.

Charlie leaves the bedroom and sweeps the remaining upstairs floor, checking the hall closet, bathroom, spare room, and the shadowed space beneath the stairs.

Behind the hall closet door, a Viral crouches among old blankets, its fresh face turned toward the light. It launches forward with a wet snarl.

Charlie pivots into the hallway, keeping the reinforced hammer between them. The Viral strikes the closet frame, giving him the distance to identify its position and route.

The Viral scrambles from the closet and rushes down the hall. Charlie’s sweep reveals no second infected, no hidden survivor, and no other movement upstairs.

Charlie reaches the stair landing with the infected fully exposed behind him. The purse and document box remain located, while the upstairs threat is now confirmed as a single Viral.

Charlie backs toward the stairs, keeping the reinforced hammer between himself and the Viral. He gives ground deliberately, drawing its attention away from the bedrooms and toward the landing.

The Viral lunges, claws scraping the wall as Charlie pivots onto the first step. Its momentum carries it after him, snarling through the narrow stairwell.

Charlie descends steadily, using the railing and stair angles to stay ahead without turning his back completely. The Viral follows, committed to the chase.

At the bottom, Thomas steps from behind the kitchen wall and raises the charged UV lamp. Maya shifts outside, keeping the back door and truck protected.

Charlie clears the final step as Thomas floods the stairwell with violet light. The Viral crosses into the ambush, recoiling violently while the UV beam holds it in the lower hall.

The exposed Volatile or Viral burns and recoils from the UV light.

The Viral recoils beneath Thomas’s violet beam, its exposed skin smoking as it claws blindly at the floor. Charlie steps in from the final stair.

He brings the reinforced hammer down hard against the Viral’s skull, then strikes again until the struggling body goes limp against the kitchen tiles.

Thomas keeps the UV lamp trained on the motionless Viral for one final second, then angles it away to preserve the battery.

The stairwell falls quiet except for the lamp’s cooling fan and Charlie’s breathing. No second infected answers from upstairs or the lower hall.

Thomas nudges the Viral’s body away from the stair base and checks the hallway. The route upstairs remains open, while Rosa, Daniel, and Miguel wait under cover outside.

The exposed Volatile or Viral burns and recoils from the UV light.

Charlie climbs to the landing, retrieves Rosa’s purse from beside the broken dresser, then lifts the locked document box from the hall closet shelf.

The metal box catches against the closet frame and crashes onto the floor, sending a sharp echo through the house. Charlie secures both items and starts back down.

Charlie carries the purse and box through the kitchen, stepping around the fallen Viral. The box’s corner has been dented, but its lock and contents remain intact.

Charlie brings both items to the truck and places them beside Rosa’s seat. The noise has spent their quiet advantage, but the requested belongings are recovered.

Charlie moves to the truck’s sheltered side and checks Daniel and Miguel from head to toe. Both are alert, breathing normally, and free of bites or fresh injuries.

Charlie checks Miguel’s toes and circulation, then inspects Daniel’s arms, neck, and face. The examination confirms both boys are stable, though Miguel’s swelling has increased.

As Charlie tightens the splint, his scraped palm opens again against the bandage, leaving a fresh red mark. He replaces it with a clean dressing from the first aid kit.

The exposed Volatile or Viral burns and recoils from the UV light.

Charlie loads Rosa’s purse and dented document box beside the recovered food, water, glucose tablets, charger, flashlight, keys, and Franklin map. He secures everything against the cargo wall.

Thomas helps Rosa into the passenger area while Daniel supports Miguel into the rear seat. The dead Viral remains inside the house, its skin blackened where the UV light drove it back.

The exposed Volatile or Viral burns and recoils from the UV light.

Charlie secures the last cargo strap and checks the boys, Rosa, and the medical supplies once more. The blackened Viral remains behind in the house, driven back by the UV light.

Thomas starts the utility truck and eases away from the residence. The damaged mirror trembles, but the engine stays steady as the team leaves the unsafe house behind.

The utility truck reaches the broad road, carrying Rosa, Daniel, and Miguel toward Belmont. A collapsed sedan blocks one lane ahead, forcing Thomas to slow beside a drainage ditch.

A Viral springs from the sedan and lands on the truck’s hood. Maya thrusts the UV lamp through the windshield, bathing it in violet light.

The exposed Viral burns immediately, recoiling from the beam with a shriek. It scrambles off the hood and collapses behind the sedan as the Biters stumble after it.

Charlie’s warning cuts through the cab. Maya keeps the UV lamp aimed ahead while Thomas turns the truck fully onto the shoulder, clearing the sedan without stopping.

Biters lurch from behind the sedan, drawn by the dying Viral’s shriek. Thomas accelerates, keeping the truck’s body between the infected and the passengers as gravel sprays from the tires.

The truck surges beyond the sedan. Behind them, Biters spill into the lane, but the distance widens quickly as Thomas follows the open shoulder toward Belmont.

Charlie watches through the passenger window as doors burst open up and down the street. Virals spill from dark houses, sprinting toward the truck’s fading engine noise.

He tracks each emerging shape, counting movement at the porches, side yards, and intersections while the truck pulls farther ahead along the shoulder.

Charlie’s watch confirms the threat’s spread across the street, giving the team a clear count and warning. Behind them, the Virals chase, but the truck maintains distance toward Belmont.

Charlie’s warning reaches the cab, but the engine, tires, and radio chatter break apart its details. The urgency lands more clearly than the full scale of his concern.

The warning changes the return plan without stopping the truck. Evan marks the next broad-road junction as a decision point, while Maya watches for shoulders, barriers, and turns.