by D, Hannah
“I can’t believe we’ve made” Zoe said happily.
“Well we need to get down to the bottom of the hill first but yeah, we made it” Michael said, a big grin also on his face.
“So what are we waiting for? Lets get down there” Lewis said as he started to go down the hill.
It didn’t take long for everyone else to follow suit and they were practically running down the hill. Zoe felt her legs take over and she couldn’t stop herself from running down. Luckily there were no skin eaters hanging around at the bottom of the hill.
Jeff was already at the bottom of the hill and he had his arms stretch open, ready to catch Zoe who came barrelling into him. They both let out a slight laugh as they nearly both fell to the ground.
Zoe knew that they still had a lot more travelling to do and that they still had to find somewhere safe but for just this moment she let herself be happy and revelled in the moment.
“Does anyone know this area well?” Alice asked.
“I done a placement at the hospital here in Livingston but I don’t really know were we are at the moment” Simone said.
“I’m sure we can all manage to read signs that’ll point us to a town at least” Michael said.
“I can get us to a town. Everyone follow me” Arthur said.
Zoe was a little shocked that Arthur had offered up his service to become the leader. Zoe guessed that Arthur just wanted to be as far away from the Pentland Hills as he could get. The Pentland Hills now only gave him bad memories.
“Ready to go start somewhere new?” Jeff asked Zoe.
“I’ve never felt more ready” Zoe grinned.
*
Arthur was leading them in and out of roads and forests and small housing schemes at times. The skin eaters still populated West Lothian so far and it was just about to the same extent as what they inhabited in the small Edinburgh towns.
So far they had avoided having to get into a fight with the skin eaters and managed to keep themselves hidden and in the shadows. The skin eaters had been none the wiser to them sneaking past.
Zoe glanced up at the sky and guessed that within the next hour it would probably be dark and they had already snuck around on the Pentland Hills once in the dark before, they didn’t want to sneak around in the dark again, even if it was on flat ground.
“We need to try and find somewhere to settle for the night soon” Zoe whispered to Arthur.
“I think there’s meant to be a small housing scheme up on our left somewhere soon. We can probably sneak into a house there and hole up for the night” Arthur whispered back.
“Sounds like a plan” Zoe agreed.
Arthur wasn’t wrong about there being a small housing scheme. It wasn’t massive but there was still quite a lot of skin eaters roaming around, still too many for Zoe and her group to handle. They all stopped in the small collection of trees as they looked out at the housing scheme.
“Looks like we’ll need to find somewhere else” Zoe said to Arthur.
“Nah, see that house right in front of us, the front door and windows haven’t been smashed in and it looks all boarded up. We can go into that house” Arthur said.
“How do you know there aren’t people still living inside?” Zoe asked him.
“Well I can see them in the back garden roaming around and they’re unfortunately now skin eaters” Arthur said as he pointed them out to Zoe.
Zoe looked at the back garden and saw that Arthur was right, they were no longer human and living in the house. Zoe knew that they had taken their own lives inside the house, too afraid to live in a world full of skin eaters. It had to be the only option as there was no forced entry to the front of the house from the skin eaters.
“Okay. Lets sneak into that house” Zoe said.
“We won’t all go at once. Three of us go over first and take out the skin eaters hovering there and then everyone follows in two’s” Michael said.
“Who goes first?” Mandy asked.
“Me” Zoe, Michael and Jeff said at the same time.
“Alright then. We go first and then the rest of you follow in twos’ okay?” Michael said to everyone.
“You got it boss” Mark joked.
Zoe, Jeff and Michael made their way as silently as the could across the small gap that separated the small forest to the house they were going to stay in for the night. They were running like they were surrounded by mouse traps, trying to avoid even the smallest of stones as the ran across. Zoe could hear the moans and groans coming from the skin eaters not far away from them but refused to look in case she tripped over something or kicked against something loud, ending up in attention being directed to them.
They made it to the fence and pulled themselves up and over it, landing with a small thud on the pavement in the back garden.
The noise from their feet hitting the pavement made the skin eaters in the garden take notice of them. What used to be a man and a woman turned around and start coming toward them, their arms stretched out to try and grab them. Zoe made out marks on both of their wrists and came to the conclusion that they had bled to death.
‘No way would I have been able to do that’ Zoe thought.
Jeff and Michael went up and took care of both the skin eaters, ending the poor man and woman’s torment and setting them free from being stuck like that. Zoe didn’t know if they had been living alone and suggested that she would go and scope out the house to see if there were anymore skin eaters hiding inside.
“I’ll come with you” Jeff said.
“I’ll start waving everyone over here” Michael said as he walked back over to the fence.
Zoe and Jeff walked through the back doors, weapons raised in case a skin eater came shuffling out. Zoe was back to using her knives instead of her gun for this one. They didn’t want the noise to attract anymore skin eaters towards them.
Zoe and Jeff completely looked through the whole downstairs, checked in cupboards and closest and found no sign of anymore skin eaters there.
“We should check upstairs” Zoe whispered.
“You think more could be up there? Not think they would’ve came down here at some point?” Jeff asked her.
“You can never be too sure” Zoe told him.
Zoe and Jeff walked upstairs, careful to check their footing on the stairs to make sure they didn’t squeak. There could be a group of skin eaters up there and one squeak could alert them all to come barrelling down towards them and Zoe wasn’t prepared for that.
The house was dark thanks to all the wooden boards that had been placed over all of the windows. The people who had lived here before had went all out to try and make sure no skin eaters could get to them. It was a shame that they ended up killing themselves in the end.
The first two bedrooms that Zoe and Jeff looked into were empty with no sign that anyone stayed in them. They checked the bathroom next and found that that was empty too with no sign of blood or gore. That only left the last bedroom at the opposite end of the corridor.
As Zoe and Jeff got closer to it they could hear soft moans and groans coming from behind it. They were the noises of a skin eater. It only sounded like it was one skin eater but they both prepared themselves as Zoe grabbed the doorknob and yanked it open.
Zoe and Jeff had to blink their eyes against the brightness that came pouring through the door towards them. After walking through a dark house fo a while, the brightness from outside blinded them for a few seconds.
Once Zoe got her vision back clearly she looked into the room and saw that there was only the one skin eater in here but that he was bed bound anyway.
Turns out the only other skin eater in the house was what used to be an old man.
Zoe lowered her knife and felt that she was back to where she was at the beginning of this epidemic. She felt her mind drift back to when she walked into Catherine’s room and found her as a skin eater and the shock Zoe felt.
Zoe walked into the room, keeping her eyes on the old man and felt her
heart go out to him. There were no visible marks on him that he had been bitten from what Zoe could see and he did look painfully thin. Zoe guessed that the couple had taken their own live but let their relative starve to death. Zoe felt her eyes fill up with tears.
“Hey, you okay?” Jeff asked her.
“It’s just so cruel how he had to die” Zoe said as a tear slid down her cheek.
“I know. At least we can put him out of his misery now” Jeff told her.
“Can you do it?” Zoe asked him.
“Yeah, sure” Jeff said.
Zoe didn’t have it in her to have to kill another elderly person. Having to kill Catherine had been enough for her and seeing the old man now in front of her just brought back a pretty painful memory.
Jeff walked over to the old man, said he was sorry this had had to happen to him and stuck his knife through the top of the mans head, slowly plunging it downwards until the old man stopped moving. It was the slowest kill they had done on a skin eater but Jeff had thought it better that way than a brutal killing.
“Thank you” Zoe said to Jeff.
“Don’t mention it” Jeff said.
“We should take him downstairs and put him with the other two” Zoe told him.
“We don’t have anywhere to bury them” Jeff told her.
“I know but once we leave, we’ll burn the bodies. It’s better than nothing” Zoe said.
“I suppose you’re right. We’ll wrap him up in the sheet and carry him down” Jeff told her.
Zoe nodded her head as she undid the sheet at the right side and Jeff done the same on the left side. Jeff tucked his side of the sheet under the old man and rolled him towards Zoe, the old man getting wrapped up in the sheet. Once Jeff reached Zoe, they tucked her side of the sheet into the top and bottom gaps at the old mans head and feet.
“There. Lets get him downstairs” Jeff said.
Zoe took the end where the old mans head was and Jeff took the feet end. They slowly walked back downstairs, carrying the old man between them. Zoe tried not to gag at the smell as she done this as it was very strong. The sheet has also been marked with the fluid and faeces that had came out of the old man when he died but it was the best and easiest way for Zoe and Jeff to get him downstairs and outside.
As they got to the back door they seen that everyone in their group had made it across to the house and were obviously waiting on Zoe and Jeff to tell them it was safe to go inside.
“Only the one skin eater in there?” Mark asked.
“Yep. It’s safe to go inside” Jeff told them.
“We’ll burn the bodies when we leave” Zoe told them.
“That’s not a problem” Michael agreed.
Zoe and Jeff put the old mans body down beside the couple they had already killed. It was a horrible sight to see and Zoe was just glad that there were no kids turned skin eaters inside the house that they would’ve had to care of.
“Lets get inside and get settled shall we?” Jeff asked Zoe.
“Yeah” Zoe agreed.
As they went back inside they could Alice and John ransacking the kitchen and spotted a few tines and packages sitting out on top of the kitchen bunker.
“We’ll be having Spaghetti in a tomato and garlic sauce for dinner tonight” Alice said.
“Sounds great. Can’t wait to eat it” Zoe said
“Does that mean that this place has running water?” Jeff asked.
“Sure does. There’s already a queue for the shower” John laughed.
“Thank god” Zoe sighed.
Zoe had been so long without a shower that her own smell was making her want to throw up. She hadn’t changed her clothes in days and they were covered in sweat and mud stains. Zoe also hoped that it would help to relax her muscles that were painful from all the exertion that she had put them through the past few days.
Since there was already a massive queue for the shower Zoe went and sat in the living room on one of the couches and stretched herself out on it. There was no point in going to stand in the line behind everyone in her group right now and she was just as well getting herself comfortable whilst she waited.
“I hope there’ll be enough hot water for us after everyone” Jeff said.
“There better be or I won’t be happy” Zoe laughed.
“Well considering that I’m such a gentleman I will let you go before me” Jeff said.
“You are so kind” Zoe smiled at him.
Everyone was still keeping quiet inside the house, not wanting to make a single noise for any of the skin eaters outside to hear them. Alice and John had closed the back door and pulled the curtains across it so that no smell or smoke could alert any skin eaters.
“If there wasn’t so many of the skin eaters outside we could’ve stayed here longer than just one night” Jeff said.
“I know but we’ll find somewhere better” Zoe said.
Zoe and Jeff settled down together on the couch. Jeff was lightly stroking Zoe’s leg as she played with his hair and massaged his head. To Zoe this felt as normal as they could be together and it felt like they were a couple in simpler, more normal times. A time were there were no skin eaters in the world and they could’ve had no worries.
Alice and John were heard humming away to themselves in the kitchen. Even though it was only spaghetti they were making they seemed to really be in their element, happy to be making anything other than sandwiches.
As more people in Zoe’s group came down, smelling fresh and looking fresh Zoe started to feel uncomfortable sitting in her own filth.
“Theres still plenty of clothes stored in the wardrobes for us to change into” Sarah said.
“”I can’t wait to get out of these old things” Zoe huffed.
“You’ll feel brand new once you’ve had a shower and changed” Sarah smiled.
As Lewis came back downstairs, the last of their group to have a shower, Zoe went to stand up to go have hers but as she did Alice and John came in with the food. The food smelled so nice that Zoe sat back down, not bothering that she was still filthy as she was too hungry to care at that moment.
“Me and John already ate so we’re going for that shower. You tow don’t mind do you?” Alice asked Zoe and Jeff.
“Not at all, we’ll eat first” Zoe said.
Alice and John practically ran upstairs just as Zoe practically snatched the bowl of spaghetti that Mandy offered her.
“Sorry. I’m just so excited for food” Zoe smiled sheepishly.
“Don’t blame you, I am as well” Mandy laughed.
Zoe had nearly forgotten her manners and went to eat the spaghetti with just her hands but after spotting how dirty her nails were she grudgingly reached for the one of the forks that were set on on the coffee table in front of her.
Zoe decided to eat this meal slower than she had done her sandwiches. The last thing she wanted was to wolf it all down and end being sick as her stomach wasn’t used to having this much food stored. The flavour and the heat from the spaghetti felt so good to Zoe. She felt herself filling up and felt herself warm up as well.
After Zoe had pretty much licked the bowl clean she saw Alice and John coming back downstairs all clean and fresh.
“I think I’ll go have that shower now” Zoe said, standing up.
Jeff didn’t offer to come up with her, probably sensing that she wanted to bathe alone so that she could get herself properly clean. Zoe also wanted that bit of alone time to let herself relax and try to come to terms with all that happened in the past few days.
Zoe walked into the bathroom, loving the fresh clean smell in there and locked the door before immediately undressing. She thought about throwing her dirty clothes in with the skin eaters bodies for when they burned them. There was no point in trying to salvage them. Zoe turned on the shower, leaving it to run for a few minutes to heat up before she stood underneath the water and looked at herself in the mirror.
Zoe noticed how tired she looked and barely recognised the person s
taring back at her. She had black circles underneath her eyes and they were red. She didn’t know if her eyes were red from the crying she’d done over losing Mike and Sue or if it was just exhaustion. Zoe also noticed how skinny her face looked and how dry and lifeless her hair was. She was a completely different girl from what she had been at the beginning of the epidemic.
As Zoe started to notice the mirror going foggy she jumped into the shower and instantly relaxed underneath the cold water as it hit her back. Zoe tilted her face up toward the water and felt her headache ease as the water hit her.
Zoe didn’t start washing herself for a few minutes, relishing in the hot water. As she started to wash herself however she seen all the dirt come off of her that had been gathering on her skin, nails and hair since she left Costco. She almost couldn’t believe that that was the last time she had had a shower.
As Zoe started to wash her stomach she felt the uncomfortableness that hadn’t really left, even after she had cleared her stomach bug. Her stomach did feel a little hard but she put that down to just having a proper meal that she hadn’t been able to have in a while.
Zoe did notice that she had some scratches on her legs as she bent down to wash them and had no idea where they had come from.
‘Well I can put it down to it not being skin eater scratches or else I would’ve become one of them by now’ Zoe thought.
Zoe grabbed the nail brush that was sitting on the shower floor and got to work on her nails. It seemed to take forever until they were clean again. As she was cleaning her nails her mind drifted back to the day the epidemic started and she had taken that shower in Mike and Sue’s house.
Zoe could remember how kind Mike had been at inviting her into his home even though she was nothing but a stranger to them. She remembered Arthur as being a sullen teenager and Sue being scared that Zoe may have brought the skin eaters to their door. Zoe couldn’t believe how much they had all grown in nearly only two months time.
As Zoe thought more about how Mike and Sue were no longer here anymore she started to really let herself cry. No one would be able to see her cry in here and she let her grief pour out for them. She would’ve done anything to have been able to go back in time to try and save them. They had grown into the closest thing that Zoe could’ve called a family.
