Jason came back with water, but he stopped in front of her. Drew stood back and stared at Faith with hatred in his eyes.
“You shouldn’t die right now. I need you for later.”
She looked at Jason as he placed the glass near her mouth and waited. She tried to deny the water, but her dry tongue and chapped lips were telling her otherwise. She frowns and drinks from the glass while Jason laughs.
“I thought you were going to spit at me. You learn quickly.”
“Fuck you.”
“Nice mouth. After she’s done, keep an eye on her.”
“Will do.” Drew replies.
“Sam, we have to stop. We’ve been walking for miles now.” Dexter suggests.
Sam ignores him and continued walking, but Dexter smacks his lips and walks towards the curb to sit down. David sighs and does the same thing, but Jess just stops. Sam didn’t hear any more moving and turned around. He walked up to them and drops his backpack.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Dexter asked.
“Pushing you too much. All of you, but you should understand…I don’t want Faith to die. Hell, I don’t even know if she’s alive or not, but I must try. We’ll sit for just a moment, but we should keep going. Before it’s too late.”
“We’ll find her Sam. We’re almost there.” David said.
Sam nodded his head as he began to sit down, but he noticed someone in the store behind them. He pulled out his gun and walked towards the door and the others followed behind him.
“Sam, what is it?” Jess asked.
Sam continued to walk up to the store, but he looked at the others, “Stay here.”
Sam opened the door slowly and looked around, but there was debris everywhere. Sam pointed the gun outwards and watched for any movement, but suddenly a young kid with a stick hits Sam’s gun out of his hand and hits him in the face, instantly knocking him down. Jess and the others came in, but they paused when they saw how young he was.
“Oh my…I’m sorry!” the boy said as he smiles and stood in front of them.
Sam stood up and held his hands up, “We don’t want any harm man. We thought you were someone else.”
“Me too. I’m looking for my people. I saw them get taken by a group of men and I hid. I heard them mention a name: Jason?”
“Jason! That son of a bitch. We’re looking for him too. He got one of ours.”
“I’m coming with you!”
“Look kid-”
“I’m not asking. If he has my people, I’m coming.”
The kid walked out of the store, but Sam didn’t follow him.
“Are we supposed to just trust him?” David asked.
“He’s just a kid. He has no weapons. He can’t handle all of us. Even if he’s dangerous, it’s not him.”
“He did just place you on your ass.” David laughed.
“Which we won’t talk about.”
The others walk outside and approached the boy outside, but Sam stopped. He noticed he was in a jewelry store and smiled. He walked around hoping to find something for him and Jess and stumbled upon two rings in the display glass untouched. Jess found out Sam was missing and followed him inside the store. Sam smiled as he approached her with a ring. It was a beautiful silver ring. Jess chuckled as he tried to put it on her finger, but it was too big. She laughed as Sam turned around and went back behind the desk.
“I found something.”
Sam brought a gold, thin necklace as he put it through the ring and tied it around her neck. Jess chuckled and looked at the ring with delight.
“We never could officially call it, but you are my wife.” Sam said to her.
Jess cried lightly as she laughed while putting Sam’s ring on his finger. It fit perfectly as Sam gazed up at her and kissed her.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“You guys!” David yelled.
Sam grabbed her hand and led her outside as everyone saw the necklace and ring around Jess’s neck. They all smiled and spoke of how happy they were for them, except the boy. He was young, but cold. Sam saw it.
“Can we go now?”
He knew somehow the boy was telling the truth, but he just saw something in him. Something that immediately told Sam that he’d been through and did just as much as him.
“So, where are they?” the boy asked.
“What’s your name?” David interrupted.
“Steven. Now answer me.”
“Look kid-” David walked up to the boy, but Sam stopped him.
“No David.” Sam turned around to Steven, “They’re supposed to be at a building just a couple more miles away. That’s where they have her. Maybe your people too.”
“Good.”
Steven started walking and Sam didn’t ask any more questions and walked alongside him.
“I don’t trust him.” David whispered.
“Yeah, but you never know who you can trust nowadays.” Dexter replied.
“True that.”
Faith was asleep. For once she could get rest, but it was also a risky one. She wasn’t in a safe environment for her to just relax. Everything was quiet until Jason brought two people out with him, “I want you to meet Nicole and Chris!”
Jason throws them to the ground and his men picked them up and put them in a chair. They were nearly unconscious by the little movement they gave Jason’s men. Faith saw them trying to fight back, but they were weak.
“Nicole.” Chris weakly moaned.
The men slammed them on the chairs and tied them up as Faith started breathing heavily as she watched them cry in their chairs and Jason circling around them laughing. The chairs were in the form of a circle and a small table was centered in front of them.
“Well Faith, until Sam and the rest arrive, we’re going to go ahead and start.” Jason brings a bottle from behind him, “I think you know what game we’re going to play.”
Jason placed the bottle in the center of the table and stared at all of them. Faith instantly started crying while Chris kept yelling at Jason. Nicole, however, just remained silent.
“You’re not scared?” Jason asked.
“You don’t have the balls!” Nicole screamed.
Jason smiled and spun the bottle. As it kept spinning, Faith kept screaming trying to break free and Chris kept yelling. Faith pictured everything she’s been through over the past five years and cried because she couldn’t think about what was happening now.
“Don’t do this! Please!”
Nicole continued to be silent, but she started to shake and cry softly. The bottle slowed down and the top of the bottle pointed towards a person.
“Congratulations Nicole! You’re the lucky contestant!” James laughed.
“No! No, no, no, no! Please! Take me! Take me!” Chris shouted.
Faith kept crying, but she just looked at Nicole and knew this was her end. Nicole instantly started crying and shaking in the chair. Jason creeped behind her and held the knife in front of her face.
“Well, do I have ‘the balls’ now?”
“So, where are your parents?” Sam asked.
“Dead. I’ve been on my on for four years. They died around a year after the outbreak.” Steven explained.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’m alive, so they are too.”
“Well, here we are!”
“This isn’t the building.”
“I meant the area. We need to find the building David.” Sam chuckles.
“Well, let’s get going!” Steven says.
They continued walking down the street and observed their surroundings. The buildings were still intact, but acted as tall objects for nature’s vines. The streets: empty. Cars were rusted and dead people marked themselves on the streets. It was a true nightmare, but it seemed to scare no one. Not even Steven. This made Sam even more sure that Steven had to be telling the truth. He just watched him walk over the bodies and not care for a slight second what h
appened.
“So, what are we looking for?”
“Red on a building. Apparently, they love marking things with red paint.”
“Or blood.” Dexter added.
“No, it’s paint.” Jess corrected.
Steven noticed a building close to them, “Like that?”
“Exactly like that!”
They walked up to the building, but they couldn’t see anyone inside. It was in the process of being built, so the top of the building was open to the world. Sam signaled everyone to stay cautious as he approached the building slowly, but Steven grew anxious.
“Oh, come on!” he whispered.
Steven walked up to the door, but Sam tried to stop him. Steven snatched away from Sam and walked in, but he tripped on a wire. The wire opened a door to a group of zombies inside of the building on many floors.
“What the fuck Steven!” Sam yelled.
“Look, I’m not trying to sit around and wait for my people to die!”
“That doesn’t give you the right to just do anything you want and risk other people’s lives!”
“What the hell is this?” Jess asked the group.
Pick up the radio Sam.
“Where are you?”
I’m somewhere on the top floors. You have to find me. We’ll talk then.
The radio shuts off and Sam angrily clips the radio to his waist, “Let’s go.”
“Where are the zombies? I saw the wire.”
“He said to find him, so they must be somewhere on the upper floors.”
Sam and the group walked towards the stairs and continued walking. The closer they got to the second floor, the more nervous they got to face what lies ahead. When they arrived on the second floor, there were zombies filling the halls. Simple. At least for now.
“Okay, we’ll clear the hall and search the rooms. Go it?”
“Yeah. Let’s go!” Steven yelled as he charged after the zombies.
Sam grunted and ran behind Steven as they attacked the zombies. Steven hit one zombie in the knee, forcing it to fall and knocks another zombie across the head. The zombie on the ground grabbed Steven’s leg, but Sam slices its head down the middle and yanks Steven back.
“Stay close.” Sam suggested.
Jess pushes the zombie behind her and let David kill it while Dexter kicks another one to the ground and stabs it in the head. After they were done, Sam opened the first door, but no one was in there.
“Damn it! Search around!”
Jess and the others spread out and searched the rooms, but they didn’t see anyone there. They walked back in the hallway and thought to themselves how they would react if Faith was dead. Steven saw their faces and knew they were determined just as much as he was to find his people. It almost made him regret bursting inside the building and letting the zombies out.
“Come on. We still have more floors to check.”
Sam led them to the third floor, but as they approached the floor, there were no zombies. The whole floor was empty. They quietly walked around and searched the rooms. Still no sign of faith. Jess sighed and looked down at a trail of blood. It was fresh and a lot of it. Jess waved her hands and followed the trail with Sam and the others behind her. She creeped upon the door handled and grabbed it gently. When she opened it, there was a body lying in the middle of the room.
“Oh, my God!” Jess groaned.
Steven pushed everyone out of the way and cried, “Nicole?”
Steven cried over her body, but when he listened closely, he heard beeping. He looked down at her stomach and found a bomb lying inside her stomach. Steven jumped up and ran out of the room.
“Bomb!” Steven yelled.
The bomb exploded, causing everyone to fall in all directions. Sam’s ears were ringing, but when he looked up, he saw a glimpse of Jason’s men knocking everyone out. Sam tried to get up and fight back, but someone stood over him, “Surprise, surprise.”
The man chuckled and hit him across the head with his gun.
V
BODY COUNT
Blurry vision. Head hurting. Body aching. Hearing, however, perfectly fine. Sam couldn’t bear to hear what he was hearing as he tried to figure out where he was. He shakes his hands, but his wrists were hurting. He knew he was hanging from his hands and his feet wasn’t touching the ground. As his vision cleared, the sight of everyone tied in chairs in a circle frightened him. He knew he had no control of what was going to happen to his group, let alone witness it. Jason laughed and walked around Sam and his group. That evil smirk on his face convinced Sam that he was serious about what he said.
“See, Sam! You’re not the only one who can make shit happen! That whole plan to find me was all part of this. Now, I control what happens to you and your group and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Sam looked around and saw the amount of blood that covered the floor. Whatever happened was not good and no one knew except Faith, but they all were about to find out soon just how horrific it could get. Faith looked at Sam fearfully and Jason looked at the both of them.
The bottle stopped spinning and it pointed towards Nicole. Faith had never seen someone so scared for their life like her. Jason creeped behind her and held the knife in front of her smiling. Jason gripped his knife and stabbed her on the left side of her gut. Faith and Chris started screaming, but Jason ignored them and dragged the knife across her stomach, letting all the intestines inside come slithering out and hanging onto the ground. Nicole started gagging on her own blood and began shaking.
“No, Nicole! No!” Chris cried.
Faith looked away and cried, but Jason just smiled and wiped his knife on Nicole’s leg.
“You guys are just crying like little bitches. It’s not even over yet. It’s actually far from over.”
Jason grabbed the bottle and spun it again. Faith and Chris freaked out again and watched the bottle spin around and around. Each spin flashed a memory in both their eyes. This moment literally could cost one of their lives, but who’s? The bottle finally stopped and Jason smiled.
“Well. Your turn Chris!”
“Oh, isn’t that sweet! You thought little Faith was already dead, huh? Lucky her, but not so lucky to him.”
Jason pointed towards Chris’s body lying to the side and Sam gasped when he saw the capabilities of Jason. His body, from his chest to the bottom of his stomach, was split open and his guts streamed across the floor. This wasn’t like any of the men they fought before and Sam couldn’t help them.
“Why not just settle this between the two of us! Not like a little bitch!” Sam shouted.
Jason walked up to Sam and punched him in the face, “You don’t make demands anymore!”
Jason scoffs and walked towards the center of the circle and grabbed the bottle. Faith immediately cried and everyone just observed.
“See, Faith knows this game. She survived round one. Now, round two!”
“Please! Don’t do this!” Faith cried.
“Sam, I’m going to kill you last while you watch me kill everyone here, but I’m having a little fun with it! Here we go!”
Jason spun the bottle and smiled as he watched everyone squirm in their chairs and Sam begging him to stop.
“Don’t! Don’t, please!”
As the bottle kept spinning, Sam couldn’t help but to keep thinking about who was going to meet their end. One of these people weren’t going to see the next day and no one could change what was about to happen. The bottle slowed down, hearts were racing, and eyes were watching it spin around to make sure it wasn’t them. Jason suddenly slammed his hand on the bottle and pointed it towards someone.
“No! No!” Sam shouted as he shook in place, but one of his men punched him in the stomach. Sam coughed heavily and gasps for air while watching Jason walking up to David.
“Please, no.” David cried.
“Sorry, pal.”
“You stopped it! Why?” Sam yelled
“Sam, let me tell you a story. Once upon a time
in a shitty fucking world, there was a man who wanted to make a difference. So, he decided to create a virus and spread it all around the world, but he needed help. He couldn’t do it alone of course! So, he became a great leader and rounded up a group of people and spread them across the world. Among those people was a guy named Jerry. He was sweet as good guys go and I knew he could do it. He was just as determined as anyone, but one day, I sent him and a group of men to a cruise ship to start the new world, but suddenly, he didn’t want to do it anymore. He just…quit. So, the cruise crashed and he survived on an island, but since none of my men made it out alive, he decided to change his name and make himself innocent for five fucking years! Can anyone guess his name?”
Z Island Series (Book 2): War After Z Island Page 8
