by Lake, D. K.
"It's actually only been ten minutes."
"Well, it feels like ten hours."
"Where's he going now?" I whined, watching Drew dart off in a different direction.
"Alex?"
"Hmm, what is it?"
"When we get there..."
"Yeah?"
When he didn't reply I turned to look at him. His brows were scrunched together and he looked unsure of what to say.
"Josh, what's wrong?"
"Sometimes we have to do things we don't want to."
"Ok?" I still didn't know what he was getting at.
"There are bad people and there are good people. I like to think we're more good than bad."
"Josh, what are you talking about?"
"I don't want to kill people. I don't like killing people, but sometimes we don't have a choice."
I let out a long breath, finally understanding. We came to a stop and I placed my hand on his arm.
"Sometimes we have to kill to stay alive. I understand. You have to do what you need to, and there are bad people out there that want to hurt us."
He nodded and grimly smiled. "I don't think you're a bad person, Josh."
"You promise to do what I tell you?"
"Of course."
"Psst!"
We both looked up and saw Drew waving us over. We quickly hurried over to him trying to be as quiet as possible. When we reached Drew he pressed his finger to his own lips to silence us and led us over to some trees by a patch of shrubs and ducked down and we both copied his movements and he pointed to something through the leaves. I carefully moved the leaves aside and peeked through and saw two men in the distance. One was skinny and looked older than us, his greasy dark hair tied back into a knot, wearing baggy jeans and a black hoodie with the sleeves rolled up. He was sat on the log and had a can of bins in his hand with a rifle propped against the log next to him. The other one was crouched down, poking the fire with a stick, he was a lot older with grayish hair and a beer belly, wearing jeans, cowboy boots, a red checkered shirt and a navy body warmer. I surveyed the area and saw two large backpacks, the type hikers use, and one had a little fluffy dog keychain attached to it and I knew it didn't belong to either of those men, and I guessed the trash bag beside the log belonged to them. They must travel light and just steal whatever they want from whomever they find along the way. I hated those types of people, careless drifters that had no problem killing other humans. There was a pile of deadbies at the side of the camp, and a few items of clothing strewn across the ground, and I could see a baseball bat and a machete on the ground near the log, and that's when I noticed the other pair of legs sprawled out just behind the log. I couldn't see the top half of the person but I guessed it was Tobias. He wasn't moving and I didn't hold out much hope that he was still alive. The older one stood up and walked back to the log and sat down next to his companion, and I spotted a handgun on his waist belt. This wasn't good, they both had guns. The older one glared at his friend and smacked the can of beans out of his hand and it went flying across the fire.
"What ya do that for?" the younger one whined.
"I told ya to bring her back." the older one growled.
"I said I was sorry. She was just too quick!"
"You're useless, Curtis. I might as well get rid of ya."
"Now don't be like that, Pops."
Pops? Looking at them again I could see a slight resemblance.
"I ain't had me a woman in two months. Then you go and lose the first girl we see." the old man groaned. Ugh.
"We could have used her to carry this shit." he continued, kicking one of the backpacks. "You'll have to carry them both. I'm not puttin' my back out again."
"We'll just take one. We don't need all this crap anyway." Curtis said, digging into the backpack and chucking a girlie deodorant over his shoulder.
"What do you think?" Josh asked.
"I think we would be doing the world a favor." Drew responded.
"You should wait over there." Josh nodded this head for me to hide somewhere else.
"No way. I want a front row seat."
"Alex, you promised you'd do as I told you."
"I'm not going anywhere. If something goes wrong you can use me as a distraction or something."
"Are you insane?"
"Will you both shut up!" Drew whisper-shouted and Josh scowled at me like it was my fault we were getting into trouble.
"Do you think you can take one of them down from here?" Josh whispered.
"The question is, can you?" Drew said, raising his crossbow and positioning it between the leaves ready to shoot.
Josh gulped and pulled out my gun from its holster. His hand was shaking and he looked nervous.
"Here, let me." I offered, trying to take the gun but he shook his head and pushed my hand away.
"I got this."
I simply nodded and moved out of the way. I really hoped he did have this because if he missed then we'd be in big trouble. Josh raised the gun and took a deep breath.
"Count of three." Drew started to count. "One...two-"
Bang!
"Oww. My fuckin' foot!" the older one shouted and dived to the ground.
"I said three, Josh!" Drew groaned but kept his eyes on Curtis, but he was helping his father to get to safety behind a tree and Drew couldn't get a clear shot at him.
"Now what? Great job, Josh." I shook my head.
"It was an accident, the gun just went off."
"Yes, because you pulled the trigger, genius. I told you to let me do it."
We all peeked through the bushes and saw Curtis peering around the tree. We were still hidden in the bushes and they couldn't see us but that didn't stop Curtis from firing off a few rounds in our direction.
"Shit, run!" Josh yelled and pushed me into Drew and we took off running and managed to dive behind a tree without getting shot.
"This is just great." Drew mumbled.
"What? You didn't get shot, did you?"
"No. I was being sarcastic."
"Oh...well, Josh is a terrible shot. I mean how did he manage to hit him in the foot? That's not even helpful. The face would have been better." I peered around the side of the tree but couldn't see Josh anywhere, I hoped he was all right.
"Oi! Who's out there?" Curtis shouted. "Is it you, you little bitch?"
"Stay here." Drew said and tried to stand up but I grabbed his arm and pulled him back down.
"Don't you dare leave me." I warned.
"You'll be fine. Just stay here!" Drew tried to pull away again.
"I wasn't worried about me." I said quickly and he stopped pulling against me and knelt back down next to me.
"Pretty,"
"Drew...they have guns!"
"I know, that's why I want you to stay here. I'm going to sneak up and surprise them."
"I hate it. Terrible idea."
I saw a tiny crinkle of a smile on his lips.
"Stay here." he ordered and I grabbed his hand.
I didn't want him to go.
"Drew, no-" He surprised me with a kiss and I forgot about stopping him and telling him not to go. His hand disappeared from mine and found its way to the back of my neck and he pulled me closer for the briefest of seconds before he let go and pushed me back against the tree and left me. I watched him dart off into the trees, my mouth agape, and my breathing uneven.
Dammit, Drew! Kissing me to distract me so he could run off and leave me. And it worked!
I heard another round of gunfire and squeezed in as close as I could against the tree, keeping out of sight. I had no idea what was happening or where everyone had gone. I dared a peek around the side of the tree and saw Tobias moving around, trying to crawl to safety, then all of a sudden I saw a pair of legs running over to him. Curtis got down on the ground and lugged Tobias into his arms and used him as a shield to hide behind, holding the handgun to his head.
"You come out or I'm gonna shoot your boyfriend in the head!"
To
bias looked terrible. Curtis had really gone to town on his face. His ebony skin looked bruised and swollen, and his left eye was sealed shut, and there was blood dripping down from his forehead and his nose was bleeding. I could see he was in a lot of pain but he still managed to struggle against Curtis.
"Run, Rosie!" Tobias croaked, thinking maybe it was Rosie who had come back to save him.
"Shut up!" Curtis snarled. "Rosie! Show yourself, you little bitch!"
"No, don't-" Curtis smacked Tobias on the back of the head to shut him up.
This was a nightmare, we came back to rescue him, not to let those bullies finish him off. Out of nowhere, I saw Josh creeping up on them. I wanted to help but I had no gun and if I showed myself Curtis would no doubt just shoot me after what had happened with his father's foot. Josh crept closer and I held my breath and crawled through the bushes to get a better look. He hid behind a tree, holding the gun in both hands.
"You come out right now or I'm gonna shoot him in the head!" Curtis yelled.
Josh needed a distraction, there was no way he was going to get any closer without one of them noticing him, and if his shooting was anything to go on he wouldn't manage to hit either of them from behind that tree. I looked around for Drew but couldn't see him. It was now or never or Tobias was going to end up with a bullet in his brain.
I jumped out of the bush and started running like crazy to the nearest tree to attract Curtis's attention and fingers crossed I would be too quick for him to shoot me. I heard Curtis's gun go off but I also heard Josh's gun go off. I dived behind the tree and rolled to a stop and saw Drew crouched down nearby. I scrambled over to him. I could see Curtis on the ground with an arrow sticking out of his head. Josh was crouched near him, looking a tad bit confused. I think he thought he had killed Curtis but the arrow was a bit of a giveaway that he didn't kill him.
"Told you to stay where you were." Drew growled.
"Josh needed a distraction."
"Doesn't matter. He missed anyway."
"What? He was so close as well. Where's the old man?"
"Still behind the tree."
"Curtis! Where are you boy?" the old man called but no one replied. "Curtis, you better not be messin' with me boy!" I could see him hopping around behind the tree.
Josh crouched down low and crept closer to the tree and Drew took off running and left me in the dirt. I sprang to my feet and followed him. Drew and Josh both crept up on different sides of the tree. The old man fired the rifle in Josh's direction when he heard footsteps and Josh dove behind a tree. Drew used it as an opportunity to ambush the old man, dropping his crossbow on the ground by my feet and diving at the old man, tackling him down to the ground. The rifle went off again but shot up straight into the sky as Drew struggled to get the gun off of him. I dropped my hockey stick and picked up the crossbow and aimed the thing at the old man, not overthinking it too much, and praying I wouldn't hit Drew, and shot the man in the leg and he squealed out in pain and Drew managed to disarm him and quickly got back on his feet and pointed the rifle at him.
The man grunted and pinched his lips together as he held onto his leg.
"Where's Curtis?" he gritted out. "Useless Fuck."
Drew and I looked at each other but didn't say anything.
Up close, I could see that the man was a lot older than I first thought he was, possibly even in his seventies.
Josh finally showed himself.
"You okay?" I asked.
"Yeah, he missed me." he replied.
The old man tried to spit on the ground near Drew's feet and I moved back a step but Drew kicked him down again and ordered Josh to search his pockets but all he had was an empty pack of cigarettes.
"Where's my son?" the old man asked again, holding onto the arrow that was sticking out of his leg still.
"Dead. But don't worry you'll soon be joining him." I said and reloaded the crossbow the way Drew had taught me just as Josh held up the gun to shoot him.
"Don't waste a bullet on him." I snapped, eyeing Josh and he lowered the gun again.
"Hold up." Drew held up his arm and I looked up and saw a lone deadbie shuffling this way.
"My mom always said we should do what we can for the less fortunate, and he looks like he could do with a good meal inside of him." I said with a grim smile.
Drew yanked the arrow out of the man's leg and the man howled in pain, enticing the deadbie to move a little faster.
"You can't just leave me here!" the old man cried.
We both ignored him and walked back to the camp and Josh reluctantly followed us.
"You're not just gonna leave him to get eaten, are you?" Josh asked with a weird look on his face, watching us both carefully.
I glanced back at the old man who was trying to stand up but with a bad leg and a bullet hole in his foot he was having a hard job.
"Josh, they're killers and rapists. Think about it." I said evenly.
"It's still inhuman."
"Fine, you go and put him out of his misery." I waved my hand in the old man's direction.
Josh thought about it, looking back at the man. The deadbie had almost caught up with the old man but Josh didn't move. I hurried over to Tobias who was just waking up from being knocked out by Curtis.
"Ro-Rosie?"
"She's fine. She's with our friends." I said, helping him to sit up.
"What about the two-" The deep screams coming from the old man was all Tobias needed to hear.
"Dead." I simply said.
"We need to leave. He's gonna attract a whole village." Drew muttered.
Josh looked really uncomfortable as the old man's howls and screams filled the air.
"Where is she?" Tobias asked.
"She's safe. We're going to take you to her." Drew answered and picked up the handgun I had almost forgotten about that was lying beside Curtis. Then, he emptied the trash bag next to the log while I quickly gathered up the clothes that had been tossed on the ground. Drew walked over to me with a water bottle and some ammo, it was all the two men had been carrying. Josh lifted one of the backpacks onto his back and I carried the other one and both boys helped Tobias to stand up and we quickly left the area.
Chapter 18
We made it back to the store just before the light faded. Josh knocked on the back door and a second later Lane swung the door open. He gripped the door, looking relieved to see all of us and especially me unhurt, and he let out a deep breath he must have been holding in.
"Quick get it." he said, moving aside.
Josh and Drew carried Tobias through to the store and Rosie jumped up from behind the desk and ran to him, and threw her arms around his neck. He winced and looked like the impact had hurt him but he still wrapped an arm around her and stroked the back of her head.
"Hey, baby." Tobias said, squeezing her tightly.
"I thought you were dead." Rosie sobbed and we all gave them a few minutes alone and returned to the storeroom. Nick squeezed in behind me and briefly smiled at me and I could tell he was glad to see me.
"So everything went ok?" Lane asked while looking us over.
"Everything went swimmingly. Bonnie and Clyde here took care of everything and left a man to be eaten alive." Josh blurted out.
"What?" Lane looked at me with a quizzical look.
"It's because you missed!" I retorted.
"Twice." Drew added and Josh shot him a look.
"That's not the point, you just left him there."
"Are we still having this conversation?" I sighed.
"Left who?" Nick interrupted.
"One of those lowlifes. Josh messed up and Alex and I took care of it. The guy was a murderer and you're worried about leaving him to get eaten?" Drew said and left the room.
"The guy deserved what he got. I mean look at what he did to Tobias." I whispered and followed Drew into the store.
Rosie was still all over Tobias, smiling, sobbing, kissing his face. Drew was sitting on the step in the display window, looki
ng outside. Rosie saw me from the corner of her eye and smiled my way.
"Thank you." she sobbed.
"It's no problem. I'm Alex by the way." I introduced myself properly to Tobias because the boys had told him their names on the way back but they had forgotten to mention mine.
"Thank you for what you did. Not many would have helped." Tobias said.
"Well, we had nothing to do." I said and Lane walked back into the store with Josh.
Nick came over and said hello to Tobias and looked at his cuts.
"Why don't we try and get you cleaned up." Nick suggested and Tobias tried to return his smile but his lip oozed and blood trickled down his chin. Ouch.
Rosie and Nick helped Tobias into one of the foldout chairs and I brought over all the First-Aid supplies and laid them out next to Nick and left him to fix Tobias while Rosie watched on, holding Tobias's hand in hers.
"So where are you two heading, anywhere in particular?" Josh asked, pulling a foldout stool closer to Tobias and Rosie. Lane perched himself on the bear and I sat on the desk, watching Nick's fancy needlework as he stitched up the side of Tobias's face. Rosie kissed Tobias on the cheek and turned to talk to Josh.
"We're actually on our way to Eden." she replied with a twinkle in her eyes.
"Eden?" Josh looked confused.
"It's a safe area, a community of people all living together. They live off the land and grow their own food, and it's all enclosed so the zombats can't get in." Rosie sounded so sure, and I was interested to hear more but Nick got hung up on the whole zombat thing.
"Err...zom-what?" Nick said, pushing his glasses up his nose and carefully pushing the needle in.
Ugh. I hate needles. I reached up and touched the dressing that was still on my head, it itched and I wanted to take it off already.
"Oh, a zombat. You know, 'cause the first people that went crazy and turned into zombies were bitten by bats in Mexico, so zombats." Rosie clarified.
"Actually-" Nick started.
"Here we go." I muttered and let out a breath.
"It hasn't been proven if that's how the disease first started. There are many other theories. I'm still not a hundred percent sure myself anymore...it just happened at the same time that there were reports in the news of frenzied bats biting people and it was around the same time the virus started. But it could have been any number of things-"
