'Frankie, you're with me, Finn help Marcel and Eli,' I told them quietly. They nodded, taking their places. I snuck up behind one of the corpses, taking it out before it could alert the others. They'd noticed us, but it was alright as we knew we could handle them. Frankie stayed by my side, helping me take out the three that were coming after us. I lunged forward to kill the nearest one, Frankie stabbed the other one, leaving only one left. She swiftly sliced it's head off. I turned to see that Eli and the others had dealt with the ones that had gone after them. I wiped the blood off my face and went back to the shop entrance.
'I think that's all of them, from in here at least,' I said.
'We need to make sure this floor is clear, before bringing the others inside,' Eli replied. We got to work clearing out the ground floor, it didn't take too long as there wasn't many walkers. I went back outside to get the others, they were sat on the floor drinking their water, Violet looked about ready to collapse. Poor kid, she was exhausted.
'Ground floors clear, come on in,' I told them. We split up into groups, to check the rest of the shops. Finn barricaded the exit, making sure no corpses could get in. Unless we found a huge horde on the other floors, we'd be safe enough covering our exit. Jade, Jensen and Violet stayed downstairs, Eli, Trudy and Audrey stayed together. Kyle, Rowena, and Finn took one floor, while Marcel, Frankie and I took the top floor.
'I'm glad I'm not paired up with Kyle,' I said to Frankie as we reached the last floor.
'Same here,' Marcel agreed.
'He sure knows how to push people's buttons, I wonder if he was like this back in the hospital?' Frankie wondered.
'No, he wasn't. He was always a little weird, but he mostly kept to himself. He always volunteered to go on runs, and he always proved useful,' Marcel told us.
'What changed?' I asked.
'I've no idea, but it's only since we've been out here that he's been a prick,' he replied.
'Well, if he puts one more foot wrong, I swear I'll snap his neck,' Frankie said angrily.
We searched the top floor, it was lucky for us that the floor was pretty clear. There was only a handful of walkers on the whole floor.
'I missed this place. I used to come here all the time before all of this, Nikkita and I loved it, I feel a little sad being here without her,' Frankie told me.
'I could imagine she was into all the weird and wonderful stuff,' I smiled.
'What you laughing at?' I asked smiling.
'Back in the day, this was Nikkita's favourite shop,' Frankie beamed. I looked around, this shop was a vintage shop that had clothes from the 60's, 70's and 80's. There were tie die t-shirts, denim jackets, flowy skirts and plenty of those white Madonna dresses that were so popular in the 80's.
'Really, I never would have pegged her for a hippy,' I laughed.
'Oh yeah, she loved this kind of stuff, I was more into alternative clothing. You know skater stuff,' she told me.
'Now that I can see.'
She stood for a moment looking thoughtful, I put my hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently.
'She'd be glad that your happy,' I said gently.
'I know, and I love Jensen so much I just wish she could've lived a little longer,' she replied sadly.
'So do I, but I take comfort in the fact that she's at peace now,' I smiled.
'You sound like Jade,' she laughed.
'I guess she really does rub off on you.' We went back to the ground floor, everyone else was there. A few of us were covered in blood, but none of us were injured. We decided to just drag the bodies down to the ground floor, we would take them out tomorrow. For now, we all just wanted to sleep. We split off into small groups and found a shop to sleep in, I slept in the same shop as Frankie and Jensen, as it was Nikkita's favourite shop. I felt strangely at home here, almost like she was here with me. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
Chapter 22
Marcel
It had been almost three weeks since he'd been killed, and everyday I lived with the guy responsible. How I did it without killing him was beyond me, a part of me thought that it was because Kyle was only fourteen. He was just a kid, a very opinionated and reckless kid but still a kid. None of us could stand him, the day after the incident Frankie had beat the living hell out of him which I had to admit gave me more satisfaction than it should. Delilah had a pop at him as well, just before we found this place. He'd said something that just made her flip, and she really went to town on him. Again I took too much enjoyment in watching him get his arse kicked, it was more entertaining because twice he got beaten up by a girl.
Ever since then we had all kept a close eye on Kyle and hadn't let him go on runs, even in this world where people died all too often it was still painful to lose someone you loved. My brother had been among the people that we'd lost that day, we also lost Dom and Tessa. Poor Violet had taken it harder than the rest of us, she had barely spoken a word since. I wished that I could help her but she wouldn't leave Jade's side, she was just a little girl who had seen too much horror than anyone her age should have.
One of the reasons we'd stayed here was because of Jensen, the others had been worried about him going on a long journey so soon after the accident. It had taken him a little while, but he seemed back to normal now thankfully.
The shopping centre that we now lived in, was once a palace to those who loved alternative or vintage clothes. I remember bringing Lex here not long after we first moved to the city, he loved all that weird stuff. He was into crystals and anything unusual, it felt strange being here without him. Though in a way it was like he was here with me, I could often hear his voice and as I walked the various floors I could just see him running around looking excited.
It didn't take us long to settle into this place, I kinda liked being here. We used buckets we found in a café for the toilet, we threw them out the back window on the third floor once a day. It was pretty gross but it had to be done, we had yet to find any survivor's but for now we had found a safe place.
We spread out in the shopping centre in terms of sleeping arrangements, me and Kyle took the right half of the bottom floor. I hated having to be near him but I seemed to be the only one that could be civil to him, well aside from Jade. She had never changed her attitude towards him, even though Dom had been killed she didn't seem to blame Kyle like the rest of us.
Though I had to admit since being here, even Jade was struggling not to smack him one. Eli, Trudy and Audrey took the left half of the bottom floor. It was strange how Kyle had changed since being away from the hospital, it was almost like without all the rules he'd stopped being the quiet boy he'd been there. I had hoped that this was just a phase, as I didn't think he'd last much longer if he carried on like this.
Jade, Violet and Rowena took the left part of the top floor, Violet loved playing in the crystal shop. I was glad that at least one of us could laugh and smile, Violet only seemed to smile when she played with her crystals, or when Finn came to play with her.
Trudy and Audrey took the right half of the top floor, they seemed to spend most of their time looking out the window and watching the dead walk outside.
The second floor was occupied by Finn, Rowena, Jade, Violet and Brooke. Jade, Violet and Brooke took the left half while the others took the right half. That left Frankie, Jensen and Delilah with the top floor.
In the sixteen days we'd been here, we hadn't found any survivor's nearby. Jade was talking about moving on. Some of us agreed and some didn't, I was among those that wanted to leave mostly because I wanted to see if the others would agree to visit my home and see if my family was still alive. Today Jade had called a meeting to discuss it again, I knew we would spend all day talking about it.
I went upstairs to find Jade, she was sat in the café with the others. They were already deep in discussion, Kyle as usual was trying to get what he wanted.
'You have to know that we are safe here, we should stay for a while,' he practically shouted.
&nb
sp; 'Keep your voice down,' Jade barked.
'Don't you ever get tired of telling people what to do?' He asked rudely.
She ignored him and asked the others what they thought.
'You know what I think, my view point hasn't changed,' I chimed in.
'Me and Jensen think we should go, I mean our mission is to give the vaccine to people and that hasn't changed,' Frankie said softly not looking at Kyle. We talked about it and it was still a tie, Jade wouldn't make people do something they didn't want to. Until the majority of us wanted to go we wouldn't go anywhere, her daughter Rowena was among those that wanted to stay much to Jade's annoyance. We weren't getting anywhere, we would keep going round in circles.
Those that wanted to stay, wanted to because they believed there were people here somewhere, after hours of talking it was eventually decided that we would stay for another week and if we hadn't found any people by then we would leave. Everyone seemed to be happy with the choice, well everyone except Kyle but then no one really cared what he had to say.
I was pretty tired so I retired to my room, which just so happened to be an old tattoo shop. I laid down on my sleeping bag ready to get some sleep, when Eli popped his head round the door.
'You got a minute lad?' He asked in his rough voice.
'Yeah sure, what's up?' I replied feeling curious.
'I just wanted to know what you thought about Jade's plan?' He was one of the people that wanted to leave. 'Honestly I think we should leave but I guess it couldn't hurt to stay one more week,' he knew I wanted to go, though I hadn't yet told everyone why I wanted to go.
'I want to leave as well, I think staying here any longer could be dangerous. I mean the cities have been a no go area for years and for good reason,' he seemed nervous and I wondered what was wrong.
'Is something wrong Eli?' I asked wanting to know. 'I'm thinking of leaving, with Kyle here I think its only a matter of time before he does something stupid again and I don't want to be around when that happens. I don't know what's gotten into him, but since we've left home he's become a dangerous liability,' he said while looking out the door to make sure Kyle wasn't around.
'I agree but when we agreed to come it was to help people, I don't think abandoning the mission is a good idea.'
He stood for a moment thinking, I could tell that he was trying to come up with a solution.
'Audrey and Trudy want to leave as well, mostly because of Kyle.'
'What are you going to do?' I wished he hadn't come to me, I didn't want to know this.
'Tomorrow morning we're leaving, if you want to come with us then meet us by the back door,' he told me as he turned to leave the room.
'Do you really think that's such a good idea? Where will you go?' I asked concernedly.
'Back to the hospital, I just know that Kyle is going to get us all killed,' he replied sternly.
'I know how you feel, but I want to help the world.'
'So do I and believe me if I thought I could convince the others to kick him out I'd stay, but you know they won't,' he said calmly.
'I feel the same about him, but don't you want to at least try.'
'I'm not risking my life for a little prick who just wants to rush ahead and get us all killed.'
'I won't say anything but I'm not coming with you,' I told him quietly.
He walked out not looking at me, in the end I felt somewhat glad that he had come to me. I hadn't really spent much time with him at the hospital, he was always a good man though. He helped out with runs and looked after those in need, I could remember when Lex went on a run and got hurt when he fell out of damn tree. Eli carried him back to the hospital and helped him into bed, he even waited with him until I got there.
I didn't know to do, a part of me wanted to go with them because he was right about Kyle. I couldn't just give up on finding my family though, I had to know one way or the other. I settled down inside my sleeping bag, I needed to get some shut eye. I woke in the morning to find that Eli, Trudy and Audrey had already gone. Jade was going mad, I had to tell her that he'd told me. After I helped Finn re-barricade the back door I went upstairs to find Jade, she was sat in the café with Frankie, Jensen and Violet.
'I need to talk to you,' I said quietly.
'Do you want to go somewhere and talk?' She asked looking tired.
'No its fine, they can hear it too,' I replied feeling worried.
'What's wrong?' She looked at me with a worried expression. I told her what Eli had said to me the night before, I apologised for not coming to her sooner. I told her the reason why they'd left and that I had considered going with them, she seemed to understand why they'd left but was still annoyed. Fortunately she wasn't too pissed off with me, though she did tell me that in future I was to come to her if anyone else said they were going to leave. I promised her that I would and apologised once more.
'Don't worry about it I understand having a moment of weakness,' she told me softly. Once everyone had come back to the café Jade decided to put the matter of leaving to a vote once more. Now that there were less of us she had hoped that people would want to leave, turns out she was right. It was only Kyle and Rowena that wanted to stay, since we had the majority vote in favour of leaving we decided to head out tomorrow. Jade said that she was going to leave a note for the others just in case they returned.
'Why even bother, if they've gone then they are not a part of us any more,' Kyle said arrogantly.
'Because we are not heartless or cruel, and we do not abandon our own,' Jade replied fiercely. Kyle sat there seething, he hated it when Jade put him in his place. He couldn't really argue too much with her because unlike the rest of us Jade was capable of chastising him and making him feel like the child that he was. Jade told us to split into groups to sort out what supplies we had, given that Eli had taken some with him we needed to see what was left. She asked me and Kyle to sort out the food, Jensen and Frankie to check the medical supplies and Brooke and Rowena to sort through the weapons. She, Violet, Delilah and Finn were going to map out which route to take and what our next stop would be.
Just as I was about to head downstairs Jade pulled me to one side.
'I'm sorry to leave you with Kyle, but can you keep an eye on him and let me know if he's planning on doing anything idiotic?' She whispered to me.
'Sure thing,' I whispered back. Sometimes I really hated being the one that had to put up with him, even though he seemed less arrogant when he was around just me. I sighed as I went downstairs, I wondered if Kyle knew that he was driving us all up the wall or if he was just like this generally. Back in our compound he kept to himself, he didn't really speak much or offer his opinion. I wondered if it was because he knew that he couldn't boss Ester around, if he had even tried she would've given him a smack. Truth be told he always came across as a bit weird, he would look at people as if he were analysing them and looking for their weakness. I had wondered what his next move would be, as it seemed like he always had a plan. It seemed strange that he had suddenly come out of his shell so to speak, I wondered what his real motive was for coming with us. He seemed too selfish and arrogant to want to save the world, he had never been kind or openly friendly.
I went into the old Cyber Goth shop to find that Kyle was already sorting through the food, he was putting them into piles. I sat down next and asked how it was going. 'Its alright thankfully Eli and the others didn't take too much. Personally I think we should hunt them down, any food loss is still a loss and it could be the difference between life and death,' he said huffily.
'There's no point in wasting our time and lives to find them, we have more important things to focus on,' I replied trying to change the subject.
'I guess. I wonder where Jade will have us going next?' There was a steel tone to his voice that told me he wasn't happy with her plans, though he didn't have much choice but to go along with it.
'No idea, I just hope its somewhere more remote,' I replied wanting to talk to Jade. As we sorted through
the food we talked about where Kyle thought we should go next. He thought that if we had to leave, we should head for the country. Something about the way he spoke made me feel uncomfortable, he seemed to be plotting something but I couldn't figure out what.
After an hour of sorting through the food, we discovered that between the nine of us we had enough to last us two weeks providing that we all kept to our rations. Jade had been giving Violet extra food as she thought that as a child she needed more.
'Well the kid had better get used to eating less, we can't afford to keep giving her more,' he said angrily as he put the food in the backpacks.
'She's just a child, you can't blame Jade for looking out for her.'
How could he be so heartless towards a child?
'So because she's younger she deserves more food?' He asked, raising his voice.
'Look if you have an issue with it then take it up with Jade,' I snapped back.
'I think I will do just that.'
He got up and took the backpacks upstairs with him. I went to my room to find that it had already been packed away, not that any of us had much in the way of material things. My sleeping bag was all that was left on the floor, the few pictures that I had of my family were neatly packed away in my bag. Within moments of Kyle going upstairs I could hear shouting, I ran upstairs as fast as I could in a hope of quietening him down. The last thing we needed was to attract walkers, this place couldn't hold for too long if we became overrun and I didn't want to end up being trapped.
As I got to the café the shouting became louder, I rounded the corner to see Violet clutching Jade's leg and looking scared.
'How is it fair that she gets more? How is her life more important than anyone else's?' Kyle shouted furiously. 'She is a child, if she doesn't eat properly then she will die. Do you want to be responsible for another death?'
Dead World Rising (Book 3): The Cure Page 22
