My suspicions were correct, something was watching us, but it's worse than that. It's hunting us now, and it's almost like they're working together, communicating. The one that we saw on the hill was clearly the leader. It just stood on the hill, outside of rifle range watching us.

After a week of walking we made it to Dunedin, and were truly in the heart of infection country. Or so we thought. We had gone almost 72 hours without seeing any zombies, which was strange considering we were approaching a large city. Thinking nothing of it, we pressed onwards to Dunedin. It was just after midday when we reached the city limits, we headed for the port right away. We were due to assist the flotilla in searching for and resupplying them with food and fuel.

An hour later shit hit the fan.

For context, the summer of 5 AZ saw New Zealand struck by a huge earthquake. Buildings everywhere were destroyed, and cities were left in ruins. With no-one left to repair the buildings, they just weathered and rotted away.

Dunedin was in ruins, the stone architecture of the buildings failed the test of time, crumbled, and fell. The main roads are still blocked by the cars of people desperate to escape when it was already too late. The streets were covered in debris too heavy to be washed away by years of storms. Up ahead the road was blocked by a bus that had toppled into its side, there was an open side street just to the right of it. Weapons drawn and ready, we moved forward.

We made our way through blocked street after blocked street, until finally we reached a clearing in the middle of the city. Alarm bells should have been at Defcon 1, but we were too tired to think otherwise. We moved to the center of the clearing and took a quick break. The second I sat down, there was a horrible gurgling howl.

Everyone jumped up and went into action mode in a flash.

"AMBUSH"

"Group up, form a circle, and watch for zombies. Gunners, time your shots. Close range, give each other room to move. Shits about to get real tight." I took over on instinct and started shouting out commands. I did a quick headcount, 10, all of us, good.

"Hold your ground, I'll look for a way out. Be ready to move" I scanned around, looking for where we came in, it was gone. We were trapped. That meant only one thing.

Trappers. These fuckers are relentless, and they knew we were coming. The howl was a signal that the trap had been sprung, all but kill confirmed. I spotted a trapper, took aim, and fired. The howling stopped. But we were far from safe. The zombie we saw earlier was a Tracker. They had been chasing us for days, waiting until we were tired. We just didn't know it.

I'd observed this behavior before. The Hunters would move in next, and we would be torn to pieces.

I'm logging this so you know what to watch out for. I've sent everyone to search for an exit.

What was that?

Shit, they've found us.

OoC: I'm away for the weekend. Let your imaginations run wild...