The Wanderers by Permuted Press

trying to decide if going back for his boat would be the best solution. Perhaps if he navigated a little more towards the west, things would present themselves differently. But then a far-away howl made him start: it came from the tunnels he had been following. The howl reverberated, horrible, bringing sinister echoes to where he was, and he forced himself to stand up and continue moving.
    Plunged into sad thoughts, Aranda moved forward for longer than he could say. He found a wide tunnel with roads on each side of the poisonous waters and walked them at a good pace, using his hands to avoid losing the reference of the tunnel wall.
    A long time later, he found himself in what seemed to be a hazy chamber. The walls were lost in every direction, plunged into the darkness. Only one vertical ray of light entered through a small hole in one of the ceiling covers.
    He climbed up the deteriorated ladder and lifted the manhole cover scarcely a few inches, enough to take a look. He saw a completely empty plain: there was not even a trace of living dead, nor any of the other things he’d seen each time he looked outside. Far away, he could see a tall fence made up of a metallic grille. He looked to the other side and saw some white cement bleachers, and recognized the place instantly: it was the Carranque sports center, an extension of several kilometers with two soccer fields, one athletics track, gardens and several buildings with indoor pools and multi-use rooms.
    Juan experienced an unexpected feeling of euphoria; he slid the cover to one side and showed his head a little more to have a complete view of the area. In that very moment, a small object touched the nape of his neck, and from behind a deep voice said:
    “ You had better say something, anything, or I’ll blow your brains out right now.”
     

Chapter 12
    “My name is Juan Aranda and I’m alive,” said Juan calmly.
    “ So it seems, but stay calm and don’t move,” said the voice. “You can’t see me but I’m pointing at you with a Heckler & Koch G36 . Do you know what a Heckler & Koch is, son?
    “ No.”
    “ It’s a damn good rifle, that’s what it is. I could reach up to 800 meters with this beauty. The projectiles fly out of this lovely thing at 920 meters per second. Maybe these things interest you, or maybe not, but I’d like you to clearly know that if you dare to even turn around, I’ll scatter your brains nine feet away from here before you can blink an eye. Is that clear enough for you?”
    “ Crystal clear,” said Aranda slowly, perfectly pronouncing each word.
    “ Good. I can see you’re calm, I like that, because that way I’ll be calm as well. Everyone’s calm. Now tell me. Is there someone else with you down there? Think well before answering, because if I even hear just a fart coming from that fucking sewer you came from, I’ll shoot.”
    “ No, I’m alone, although it’s possible that there might be some zombies in the tunnels.”
    There was a short silence, before the voice spoke again.
    “ Good. We can solve that. I’ve never seen one of those things climb up a ladder. Now tell me, do you have any weapons? Any knives?”
    “ I have a few tools in my backpack, but I have it on my back, see the straps? I couldn’t get anything from here.”
    “ And that’s the way I want it to be,” answered the voice. “Are you hurt? Do you have any wounds? I don’t care if they’ve ripped off your whole leg or if it’s hardly a wimpy fucking scab on your elbow, if you have any wounds I want to know about it and you had better not lie.”
    “ No, I’m not injured,” answered Juan, sighing.
    “ That’s very good,” said the voice. “But I still have another question. Where the hell did you come from and where the hell were you going?”
    Juan sighed again. “Do you think that I could at least climb up? I don’t want one of those dead people to grab me by the legs. I’ll lay down on the ground, if you want, and answer your