'Well all the same, thank you for helping get her back.'
We finished checking the house, we ventured downstairs to find the others. My mum, Jensen and Dom were in the lounge, taking out the dead.
'Finn has asked that we bury them, I told him we would,' my mum said sadly.
'We'll give you a hand,' I replied. It took the better part of the day to get them all buried, luckily there was a good few shovels outside, so we all pitched in. Finn asked that we bury Terry last, so that Leon could say goodbye. As we lowered him into the ground, covered in the white sheet we'd got from one of the beds, Leon let his tears flow. Finn had picked some flowers from the garden and handed them to Leon, he placed them on his cousins body as we piled on the dirt.
'Thank you, for taking care of me,' he cried. The little boy clung to Finn as we covered Terry's body, we had to save the world, we just had to. I wanted to stop kids like Leon from losing his family, it was at that moment, I swore, no matter what I'd help save humanity.
We all piled in the cars, Leon sat in the car with Finn, he sat in the front seat. Leon already looked better after a bite to eat, once we got back we'd have Morgan take a look at him. He seemed alright physically but none of us were doctors, and while Morgan wasn't a medical doctor, she'd still know more than us. I could only hope and pray that the rest of our mission was far easier than today had been.
Chapter 14
Finn
We'd been back at the lab barely a day, but it was time to go, I didn't want to leave Leon here but I knew I couldn't take him with us. It was far too dangerous, I didn't know what to do. Since being back he'd clung to me, he cried when I left him. I felt so guilty, but it was bad enough that Dom had convinced us to take Violet with us, we couldn't take another child.
'Please don't go Finn,' he begged me. I was sixteen years old and I was having to be a parent to an eight year old, I looked to the others for advice but even they could not help. It was Leon that insisted on coming with us, or wanting me to stay. Jade, Brooke, Tessa my mum and Faye wanted me to stay with him. Frankie and Jensen said bring him along, Dom, Delilah and Rowena told me to leave him here and join them. I took Leon into the bedroom and sat him down, I braced myself for a difficult talk.
'You know I care about you, right?' I asked him.
'Yes, but you want to leave me here,' he pouted.
I thought I knew how to get through to him, I just hoped it worked.
'Do you remember what happened to Terry and everyone back home?' I asked him seriously.
'They got bitten by the sick people, and they got sick too,' he told me sadly.
'Yes they did, if you could stop that from happening to other people, what would you do?'
'I would help stop it,' he said strongly.
'And that's exactly why I have to go, my mum found a way to stop people from getting sick. But the rest of us, have to go and make sure everyone gets the medicine.'
He sat on the bed, thinking for a minute. He seemed to understand what I was saying, though his face remained sad.
'But why do you have to go?'
'Because all of us have skills, and I'm the only with the skills to sneak into places and find the danger before it gets us,' I replied.
'I still don't want you to go though.'
'I know, but look. I'm giving this radio to you, so that everyday I can talk to you. That way, you'll know I'm safe and I'll know your safe,' I smiled.
'You promise you won't die,' he pleaded.
'I promise, when it's safe again, I'll come back for you.'
'Alright, I don't like it, but I know you need to go.'
I rubbed the top of his head, messing up his hair. I smiled as I got up, Leon went back to colouring. I returned to the others, who looked at me hopefully.
'He's going to stay,' I told them.
My mum looked sad, the others glad.
'I want us to do one last sweep of the places nearby, just to make sure we've got absolutely everything that we need,' Jade informed us.
'I think we're about as ready as we're going to be mum,' Rowena replied.
'I know, but I just want to make sure.'
We all agreed, though I think it had more to do with our nerves about leaving the lab than anything else. I for one, was fearful about it. By the time we were ready to leave things in our group were very different, Tessa had finally returned to normal, Brooke had become a little less neurotic, my mum had made three-hundred doses of the vaccine. We felt that it was more than enough to start with, assuming that there was even that many people left in the country. I had noticed that Frankie and Jensen seemed to be a little distant with each other, they'd been arguing a lot more recently. I'd kept my nose out of it but I couldn't help but overhear their fights, Jensen had become increasingly worried about her and wanted Frankie to stop going on the dangerous missions.
When we'd gone back to Halifax, Jensen had scolded Frankie for being one of the first people to go into the shopping centre. He'd bit her head off when she saved him from a few walkers and managed to fall over in the process. I didn't know what had gotten into him but I could tell Frankie was at her wits end.
It was the 27th May, and after months of work were we finally ready to start our mission. Leon didn't cry as I left, I knew he was just trying to be being brave. As I waved goodbye to my mum and sister, I wondered if I'd ever see them again. I felt certain that I would, but you could never be sure any more.
'You alright?' Jensen as me as we walked in the blazing heat.
'Yeah, I'm just scared,' I replied.
'It's not too late to go back, if you've changed your mind,' he told me.
'Thanks, but I'm in this for the long haul,' I smiled. We walked along in silence, we all seemed to be lost in our own thoughts. I looked around at everyone, I felt proud to have these people by my side. Though I was worried about Frankie and Jensen, they weren't walking together and he seemed too quiet. Frankie looked annoyed and frustrated.
I wasn't one for getting involved in people's private lives but I was good friends with them both, and I didn't want them to keep fighting like this. As I was walking in the back with Jensen, I thought it was a good time to talk to him about it.
'What's going on with you two?' I asked him outright.
He sighed, thinking of something to say.
'I can't really explain it,' he said frustrated. 'Dude listen, I don't normally get involved in people's relationships, but I care about the both of you. I don't want you to split up, or be angry at each other like this. So please, not just for your sakes, but for the group sort it out,' I replied.
'When did you get so blunt?' He asked almost laughing.
'I have no idea,' I laughed with him.
'I appreciate your concern, but I don't really know how to get through to her,' he told me sadly.
'Why what had she done?'
'It's nothing she's done, it's just- I don't know if I should say anything, Frankie might not want me to,' he said trying to get his words out.
'You can tell me, I swear no matter what it is, I won't tell anyone,' I smiled gently.
He took a deep breath, pulled me back a little to make sure the others wouldn't hear.
'I think Frankie's pregnant,' he blurted out.
'Whoa, damn that's heavy. If she's pregnant, why isn't she staying at the lab?' I asked quietly.
'I don't know, and for some reason she doesn't want to tell me she's pregnant yet.'
'Are you sure? I mean have you seen a pregnancy test or anything?' I asked worryingly.
'No, but I do know the symptoms. She's always tired, constantly hungry, she's put on weight and well, then there's the mood swings,' he said nervously.
'I'm no expert, but I'd talk to her about it. You need to make sure,' was all I could say.
'I know, and I will do. But right now, she needs some space. I know I've royally pissed her off,' he confessed.
'I think that's probably best for now,' I smirked. He shook his head smiling, I was glad
I'd talked to him. Even though I hadn't solved anything, at least he'd spoken to someone about it. I really hoped that Jensen was just being paranoid, the last thing we needed was a baby in our group, when we were travelling and trying to save the world. Though if she was pregnant, we'd make it work somehow.
Turning my thoughts back to the task at hand, our first stop on our mission was Jade's old house in Greenfield. I'd never been there before, but I was kinda looking forward to seeing where she had lived. We were going to stop on the way, Jade wanted to take Rowena to Tom and Amber's grave. I'd never met Amber, but I'd known Tom for a short time. He was a gruff old man, but I liked him. I walked a little faster, I had fallen behind and didn't to lose track of everyone.
'Hey, you alright back there?' Rowena asked.
'Yeah, I'm just lost in thought,' I replied smiling.
'I think we all are,' she laughed. I liked Rowena, she was nice. I didn't know her very well though, I hadn't really spent much time with her. Even though she'd been at the lab with my family for a while before the others came, I was always busy going on runs.
I knew she could take care of herself in a fight, and rarely needed help. I smiled as I caught sight of Violet riding on Dom's shoulders, I couldn't help but laugh. Even after losing her mum, she still found happiness and joy. She didn't call Dom dad, but I could tell she wanted to.
'I can see all over the hills,' she squealed happily.
'Can you see any corpses?' Dom asked smiling.
'Nope, it's all clear up here,' she giggled.
'I'm glad someone's having fun,' Frankie muttered.
She was clearly still pissed off, I wanted to talk to her but there was no way to have a private conversation without the others seeing. It was a good thing we'd set off in the morning, we made it to Jade's house by late afternoon and without any problems. I had to admit I liked her house, I could see how before all of this it would have been a nice place to live. There wasn't much there but they had left a few weapons and some medical supplies that Jade had hidden, I had never seen Jade look so relaxed.
We were only staying here for a day before we moved on but it was nice to be somewhere pleasant. Rowena had loved being back in her childhood home, I would have thought that it would've been hard for her but she talked about the happy memories in this house with ease. I wondered how this home had once housed three children plus Jade and her husband, given that it only had two bedrooms. Jade told me that when the kids were younger she had turned the basement into a bedroom for her and Cameron. When they got older and her son left home, they used the basement as storage and just had the two bedrooms.
We settled down for the night, all spreading out throughout the house. Dom and Violet took one bedroom, Rowena, Jade, Tessa and Brooke took the other bedroom. Tessa and Brooke slept on the floor, they didn't seem to mind though. Delilah and I took the large corner sofa downstairs, while Frankie and Jensen had the basement to themselves. I had hoped they would talk and work things out, but judging by the angry bickering I heard halfway through the night, things had only gotten worse. I sighed as I fell asleep, I just hoped tomorrow would be better for them. In the morning we sat around Jade's living room talking about where our next stop would be on the road to distributing the vaccine, given that we were near to where Frankie was from Jade wanted to head back to her end of town to search for people. It seemed like a good plan, we needed to search all the small towns in a hope of finding people.
'Frankie can you show me what route you used to get here?' I was glad that Jade took charge, I didn't know how she did it though.
'Sure thing,' Frankie replied cheerfully. As she showed us on the map what route she took when she first arrived at this house, Jade had said that we should take the route that Frankie took. It would take us past a few areas that were still left standing, hopefully we would find some people left although Frankie didn't seem very optimistic about it.
'In the weeks before I got here aside from Dave and the girls, I had only seen three people and two of them were headed down south and the other died. I'm telling you that there were no people left near here otherwise I would have found them,' her voice was strong and she seemed so sure of herself.
'I know but we have to check everywhere,' said Jade looking at her sympathetically. Though Frankie didn't say it I'm sure she felt nervous about going back to where she was from, from what she had told me there were very few good memories after the outbreak. I knew that Frankie had been alone for a long while before she found Jade and everyone, I couldn't imagine being alone for months on end. I think I'd go crazy, well more crazy than I already am, I thought amusingly.
Just being alone with Faye all those years, in the bunker was hard enough. At least I'd had my sister though, I thought smiling.
'So when do you want to set off?' Rowena asked the group as they talked about what route to take.
'Now. I want us to find somewhere to sleep before it gets dark,' Jade said.
'Okay then, everyone pack up and move out,' Frankie commanded smiling.
'Aye aye boss lady,' I joked. It didn't take us long to get ready, Dom gave Violet a little extra food to get her energy levels up. Again the sun was blazing hot, damn, I felt so warm as we walked along the deserted streets. There were no corpses, no animals, no life of any kind.
'Let's check the houses along this road,' Jade said. We split up into groups, Jensen, Dom, Violet and I would check the first three houses on the row. Jade, Rowena and Delilah would check the three after that, while Frankie, Tessa and Brooke looked in the others.
'Dom, I want you and Violet to stay here and knock on the doors and windows. Jensen and I will go in through the back of the house,' I told him.
He and Violet both nodded, she had been given her own knife since leaving the lab. It wasn't a big knife, but it would do the trick against the biters. We went round the back and found a lone walker in the garden, I snuck up on it, stabbing it before it could even see me. I wiped the blood on my knife on to the grass. Jensen went to look in the kitchen window, while checked the back living room window. We saw nothing, heard nothing, but that didn't mean there wasn't any trapped inside.
'I'm going in,' I whispered. He nodded and stood next to the back door, looking ready to fight. I opened the door just a crack, so I could see inside. There didn't appear to be anything in there, but I kept vigilant. I went inside, the house was in complete disarray. Furniture was strewn across the floor, old pots and pans were in pieces, I could see the fine layer of dust that had set in on everything. I checked the living room, but found nothing in there, Jensen and I then told Dom and Violet to come with us and check the upstairs. I took one room, Jensen took another bedroom while Dom and Violet checked the bathroom. I found nothing inside, aside from a few energy bars which I took. I waited in the hallway for the others, I was just about to put the energy bars in my bag when I heard Violet scream. I rushed in to find Dom had fallen over and hit his head, Violet killed a lone child walker. She stood triumphantly smiling, good on her, I thought.
'You alright Dom?' I asked as he started to get up.
'Yeah, my head hurts a little but I'll be fine,' he replied looking at Violet proudly.
'Did I do good?' Violet asked innocently.
'Yes, you did really good,' he smiled.
'Come on then, we've got two more houses to check,' I told them. We checked the house over once more, we found only a few bottles of water and a couple of tins of vegetables. As we ventured outside I could see the others going into their second house, Frankie had blood all over her top. I turned to see the worry and annoyance on Jensen's face.
'Don't worry, she'll be fine,' I said to him quietly.
'I hope so,' he mumbled. We did the same routine with the next two houses as we did with the first one, there was only a handful of walkers in each house. Taking care of them was easy, Violet proved to be pretty useful. I was starting to feel glad that we'd brought her along, I felt bad about leaving Leon behind but he was no Violet. There hadn't be
en enough time to train him, and I doubted he would survive out here. We collected a few bits of food but it wasn't much, luckily we had plenty any way. I waited out front for the others to finish, Frankie seemed to have dealt with the most walkers, she was covered in the most blood. One look at Jensen and I knew he was ready to flip, I couldn't blame him really. If my girlfriend was pregnant I wouldn't want her out on a dangerous mission like this.
'What did you find?' Jade asked.
'Some water, a few tins of veg and some energy bars,' I replied smiling.
'Good work, we found the same,' Jade told me. 'Where's our next stop?' Frankie asked tiredly.
'Can you take us to the farm house?' Jade replied.
'Sure, it's not far.' The next day passed in a blur of sleeping and searching the area, we didn't find much and like Frankie predicted we found no people. Before we left I'd made my own calender, so we could keep track of the days and weeks as they went by. It might seem stupid but there was something that felt normal about knowing what day it was, it was Sunday 29th May when we left the farm house. Our night there, was eventful.
'I've got something for you,' Dom said to Violet.
'A present, for me?' She exclaimed.
'Here, I thought you'd like this,' he replied smiling.
He handed her a pack of butterfly bobbles, there were six in total. Two pink ones, two lilac ones and two red ones, each with their own sparkly butterfly attached.
'Thank you!' Violet flung her arms round Dom.
'That girl sure has you wrapped around her finger,' Jade laughed.
'I couldn't help it, I saw it and just wanted to get it for her,' Dom replied looking a little embarrassed.
'I wasn't telling you off, I think it's sweet,' Jade told him happily.
'It's nice to see a little girl be happy in this world,' Frankie beamed. In the morning we set off again, though we hadn't been away from the lab for that long, I found myself wondering if we were actually going to find any people. I hoped my mum's work hadn't all been for nothing, but then we couldn't be the only people alive, could we?
Dead World Rising (Book 3): The Cure Page 14
