We Are The Survivors

by Vanessa Marie

  “Yeah,” he says.

  Kay tells everyone she is going to a book store. Nya tells her to meet us at the car when she’s done.

  Melissa is looking at the clothes in the rack on the other side of me. Nya is checking outside the windows for zombies. I go over to her. “Any?” I ask.

  “Nothing, we’re good,” she says.

  There is a blur of black clothing that moves in front of the window. A gun is on the outside of the glass. I tackle Nya to the floor to save her from being shot. The person shoots the window; it shatters in a shower of glass on us. Nya grabs her gun out of her holster and shoots the person in the head.

  She gets to her feet. She extends a hand and I hold on to her to pull myself up. “Thank you,” she says.

  “What the hell was that!?!” Oliver yells.

  “Get your stuff we’re leaving now,” Nya yells back. “Why can’t we just get clothes to wear? Is it too much to ask.”

  Two teenage boys come in to view in the glassless window with pistols in their hands. We both run to the back where Oliver is. Bullets hit the shelves knocking shoes off them. I cringe at the bullets. Oliver fires rounds from his AK-47. We duck behind shelves.

  Oliver provides cover fire. I hear the doors open. Shots are ringing out. My ears hurt from the noise. I wish I had a gun. I hear a sound behind me. The back door closes with a screech. I tell Oliver to watch the back door. Nya moves away telling us she is going to flank them.

  Oliver walks to the back door. Teenage boys surround us from left and right. Sierra yells for help. One of the boys knocks her out with the end of their rifles. Oliver runs back and aims at them. The boys are armed too.

  “Leave them alone,” Oliver says.

  “No. We won’t kill you if you give us Rain,” a boy with brown hair says.

  Melissa jumps up and the boys shoots at the floor. “I favor killing you instead but I can’t. Give us Rain or I kill these two,” he says.

  Nya walks up behind the boy, she aims the gun without them noticing. The boy turns with no warning swinging the rifle and hitting her in the head with it. She drops to the floor. Oliver puts his gun on the floor slowly. He kneels on the ground with his hands up.

  “I’m so sorry,” he says to me.

  “Blake! We got her let’s go,” the boy calls.

  Blake walks out from behind a shelf. He walks to me. He is bigger than me since I am kneeling on the ground which makes him even more menacing.

  “You son of a bitch,” I say. The words slip out of my mouth.

  “Smart plan. Tell your people I’m coming to the community when I’m hunting you on a shopping trip. They won’t know until we are long gone,” he says.

  Blake takes out a pistol and hits me in the head. My vision goes black. I’m dragged on the floor. I’m conscious then unconscious. I hear gun shots and I see a boy shoot. I hear Oliver scream. He’s been shot.

  I completely black out after Blake says, “We can be brother and sister now like we are supposed to be.”

  I open my eyes and I’m in a bedroom. My head hurts from being hit. I remember Blake taking me.

  I stand up and go for the door. It’s locked from the outside. I bang on the door. “Unlock this door. I want to talk with Blake,” I yell. I hear the door unlock.

  A boy about sixteen years old opens the door. He is the same one who held me at gunpoint. “Stop yelling you can come out,” he opens the door completely. I walk out.

  I travel through a long, narrow hallway. There are three doors on both walls and a door at the end of the hall behind me. You can tell the hallway was an add on to the house. Beyond the hallway is a living room with no windows. In the middle of the room is a metal table that could seat eight people. The kitchen is in the middle of the room and has an open floor plan with the living room. In front of the living room is a mudroom filled with shelves of food and water.

  There are two boys counting the food supplies, two on the couch talking, three in the kitchen making food and Blake eating at the table. That makes nine boys including the one who let me out of the room. None of them are over eighteen.

  “Why did you do this? Why did you take me here? What do you want from us?” I ask. Blake is eating not saying a word. I throw his plate across the room. The boys on the couch stare. “Answer me!” I yell in his face. He stands up.

  “I want a sister but you gave me no respect. You are ungrateful,” he says.

  “Respect? You didn’t show Avian that when you beat his face in,” I say.

  “None of those people are your family, I am. You are all I have left of my family,” he says.

  “What really happened to your mom and sister?” I ask.

  He is angry, “I was diagnosed with mental illness when I was younger. My sister would make fun of me for having to take medication. She got on my nerves so I would beat her from time to time. She stopped picking on me. One day I caught her trying to tell Mom about the abuse. I couldn’t go to jail, I freaked, so I killed both. Dad walked in on it. He framed me for it that part was true.

  “I took you because I need a sister who is going to stick by me, do what I tell you. You live with me from now on. You will never see your family again,” he says.

  I glace at the front door. There is a pair of keys hanging off a thumbtack by it. I run to it and grab them. I try to unlock the door. My hands are shaking and I drop the keys. The boy who let me out grabs me from behind. I elbow him in the stomach knocking him down. I pick up the keys and put them in the door lock.

  Blake grabs my wrist yanking me to the left and throwing me on the floor. He pulls the keys out of the door. He puts him in his pocket.

  “You have to earn freedom now. You don’t leave the room until you behave,” Blake says.

  The boy on the floor gets up and Blake points to the hallway. He grabs my wrist, pointing his pistol at my head with the other hand. He forces me down the hallway. He locks me in the room I was previously in leaving me here alone.

  I pound on the door until I’m too exhausted to. I sink to my knees.

  I will get back to my people. I will see them again. I’ll try to escape. I’ve got to conjure up a plan fast. I need a weapon. I search the room for anything I can use. There is just a bed with two antique nightstands on each side of it. I go to the left nightstand. I pull on the handle which is chevron shaped. I unscrew the screws from the inside and run my finger over the point. It cuts my finger it’s so sharp. I wipe the blood on my jeans. I hold the handle in my hand ready to strike.

  I’ll stab the boy who put me in here. Or anyone else who opens the door. I get a gun shoot them then I get the keys. I get the hell away from this place. I’ll walk even crawl if I have to back to those Mirabella gates. I don’t care how far away I am. The only question is: Where exactly am I?

  CHAPTER EIGHT-ZANE’S GROUP

  Apocalypse: Present Day

  We drove searching for shelter or any sign of where Rain and Gavin must have gone. The munchers made them leave the house is my guess.

  Mostly the stores’ windows are broken in from looting or have zombies in them. There are people walking in the street that are wearing hoods, they have their backs to the car. Kevin parks in the middle of the road.

  “Honk the horn,” I say.

  He honks the horn twice. The people turn to our car. They have black leather hooded jackets and jeans on. They have motorcycle face masks on. The only facial feature showing is their eyes. Some masks have skeleton faces painted on them. The few that don’t have skeleton masks have pink and purple flowers painted on them.

  A guy takes his mask off. He has black hair and blue eyes. His features are young. He is wearing two sheaths, on both hips, with machetes in them. A rifle is hung from its strap on his shoulder. He motions for the people to part a path. He motions for us to pull up. Kevin parks next to him. He rolls the window down.

  “Hi, my name is Zane. We have a bulk food store. You people lost or something?” he asks.

  “No. We are looking f
or family.” I show him a photo of my son and niece. “Have you seen these people?” I ask.

  He shakes his head. “No, sorry.”

  “We’ll be moving on I guess,” Kevin says.

  Wilson pokes his head in between our seats so Zane can see him. “How far are you guys from here?”

  “A mile away.”

  “Really?” he asks.

  “Yes, a mile away. We are busy right now. We will meet you there. Tell Alyssa I sent you, she’s my sister,” he says.

  “Thank you,” I say.

  Kevin drives in that direction. Wilson buckles his seatbelt.

  Zane’s hospitality is refreshing considering the week I have had. The week the three of us have had.

  Kevin drives up to a chain link fence with barbed wire spiraled on the top. A young girl who looks a little older than Rain is by the gate. She has honey blonde hair. She is wearing a green sweater, jeans and grey converse shoes. She opens the gate inward. She motions for us to come in. She locks the gate behind the car. We get out.

  “Hey, Zane sent you, right?” she asks.

  “Yes,” I say. Have you seen either of these people?” I ask holding up a picture for her.

  “No, I’m sorry. They your kids?”

  “My son and niece,” I say.

  She rests one hand on her hip “We can search for them. I can help you.”

  “That would be great. We came from New Jersey, it’s crazy there. We’ll find them and leave maybe, stay where they are. We can help out,” I say.

  She nods “Okay follow me we have food inside, plenty of food, we have generators too,” she says.

  The sky overhead is gray and cloudy. It’s going to rain. It’s good we got shelter beforehand. We would freeze to death otherwise.

  The store is huge. The shelves go from the floor to the ceiling. Huge boxes of food are on pallets are wrapped in saran wrap, there are shelves beyond shelves of them. There are people on top of the shelves talking to each other. “Why are people up there?” I ask.

  “They put mattresses on them and sleep there. We sleep up there in case the dead come in or intruders do. We have a bell on both doors so we know when someone comes in. A person stays up listening, we take shifts,

  “Eat whatever. Get comfortable. We can search in the morning. With the storm, we won’t cover much ground. We can send multiple search groups in the morning.”

  “Thank you very much,” I say.

  “You’re welcome. I know the feeling of someone being missing. My sister is lost out there. We don’t know if she ran or was taken,” she walks away.

  I come across a tub of REMs. I pick a fettucine alfredo packet and let the guys pick for themselves. Kevin takes his packet. Wilson stands there. He shakes his head.

  “You need to eat,” I say.

  “No.”

  “Eat, take care of yourself,” I push the tub towards him.

  He knocks it out of my hand, “I said no!” he yells. The REMs slide on the floor.

  Kevin gets between us, “Don’t you talk to her like that.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  He sits on the floor. I stand next to him. “I’m sorry about your daughter,” is all I can say.

  His eyes have rings around them. Tears are running down his cheeks. “My wife was killed in a robbery in New Jersey. I was at work on that first day of hell. They came in and my Daisy was hiding in the closet. My wife told me to come home. She was begging me over the phone. They killed her mother in front of her. They took everything. I came home to that. She got bit when we tried to leave. I got a flat tire and she had her window down. A zombie came and bit her,” he says.

  “I’m sorry,” I say.

  He nods.

  I hear motorcycles outside. Two girls walk in the doors. They are wearing pink and black motorcycle jackets and pants. The one on the left has brown hair and the one on the right has blonde hair. Alyssa walks up to them.

  “Is Zane back?” I hear her ask.

  “Yeah, no trace of her, sorry,” the brunette says.

  “Oh shit, where is she?” she asks.

  They talk to her. Zane comes in with his small scavenging group. Zane and Alyssa talk. I can’t hear what they are saying but they are clearly arguing. A young man gets in between them while the biker girls discreetly slip away. The man tries to calm Alyssa down.

  “This is your fault! You weren’t watching her!” Alyssa yells at Zane.

  He says something to her and she slaps him. She walks away.

  When someone goes, missing relatives blame each other.

  I would never blame Kevin and he doesn’t blame me. We wouldn’t blame each other like that.

  The sound of thunder makes me jump. The sound of rain falling is everywhere. People look outside.

  Kids rush in the store squealing and covering their heads. Alyssa talks to them. She walks with them up to us. There are three kids with her.

  “This is my brother and two sisters. Skylar is eight, Quinn is six and Vivian is seven. My parents had Zane and I. When Zane moved away my parents adopted these three,”

  Skylar looks at her, “You mean four Pamela, Quinn and Vivian were adopted from the same parents,” he says.

  “Yeah, she is.” She has an expression of disappointment on her face or shamefulness. She probably blames herself for her sister’s disappearance.

  “How did your parents handle you guys?” I ask trying to change the subject.

  “We are very well behaved,” Skylar says while nodding his head.

  The girls have the same black hair and hazel eyes. Skylar has blonde hair, green eyes and freckles on his nose. Quinn asks them if they want to play soccer inside. The kids run off with her. Alyssa tells them not to break anything.

  “They’re so cute,” I say.

  “My parents wanted to save them from being in foster care. When Zane moved out they were lonely. They wanted company. I would babysit them sometimes to help. They aren’t adopted in my heart. Them not being blood related to me doesn’t matter. You don’t have to have the same DNA to be family,” she says.

  I agree with her. Even biological relatives aren’t there for you sometimes. Family are the people who care about you, the people that would do anything for you.

  The rain has become a downpour now. Thunder rumbles loudly shaking the whole store. Lighting rips across the sky. Some people have gathered to watch the storm out of the windows. I hear a guy call to Zane. The people start talking to each other.

  I want to see what the fuss is about. The streets are flooded outside. There is a flashflood in the street. Munchers are submerged up to their ankles in water. They are being dragged away by the water. Dead bodies are floating with them. A muncher tries to grab one of the bodies but it floats away from him.

  Alyssa is among the people gathered at the window. The flood waters bleed up the street into the raised parking lot. A car speeds to the gate. Two teenage boys jump out splashing water on their sneakers and the bottom of their jeans.

  “Do you know them?” I ask Alyssa.

  “No. Everyone back up. Get ready to shoot,” she says.

  I back up. Zane aims the rifle at the door. The boys walk in. They are wearing leather jackets. They both have pistols in their holsters on them. They are drenched from the rain. The boy with brown hair steps forward.

  “My name is Mickey. Hear me out, we took Pamela. We will be willing to make a trade. Pamela in exchange for this store,” he says.

  “I’m going to kill you!” Zane says.

  Mickey shakes his head, “I said hear me out,” he takes his pistol out and points it at a guy. “Shoot me and I take this guy with me,” he says.

  Zane lowers his gun. “Okay. We trade now. You move out and we will drop her off nearby,” Mickey says.

  Zane is furious. “You could have killed her already. You bring her here alive and we will talk.

  “Sorry, that’s not how it works. Give us the store or things will get worse,” he says.

  “Tw
o punks can take my store and kidnap my sister and I’m not supposed to complain, is that how it works, asshole?” Zane asks.

  There is a bang and the kid with Mickey holds his chest, blood spills between his fingers. Mickey lowers the gun and watches the kid fall to the ground. He waves the gun around.

  “Who did it? Who shot him?” he yells. His head snaps back and there is a hole in his head. I turn around along with the others and see Kevin lying on his stomach on one of the shelves. He has his rifle in hand.

  “Nice shot man,” Zane says. He digs in Mickey’s pocket. He finds a walkie talkie. It crackles and a voice comes on.

  “Hello? Dayton? Mickey? Are you guys done with the trade?” the voice says.

  Zane talks into the walkie, “Your men got scared. They ran off when my people threatened them. Why don’t we do this, you bring Pamela and you can have half our food supply?” Alyssa mouths what are you doing?

  “Hmm. I need more,” the voice says.

  Zane paces. He is considering a plan. “What do you need?” he asks.

  “A can of kidney beans, a can of string beans…is that what you like to hear. Come on dumbass I want the store. It’s well stocked and would offer an advantage for me. We need to negotiate here. You want the girl or the store? I’ll give you time to deicide. Ask for Blake when you decide. In case you are an idiot, I’m Blake.”

  Zane takes his hand off the button. He shakes his head. The boys blood is pooling out of them.

  “You could’ve traded. That was the best decision,” Alyssa says.

  “He could have killed her then he would have the store. We would lose,” he says. “We play this by ear maybe get him to tell us where she is without him meaning to.”

  “Fine. We can’t say one wrong word or he will kill her. Wait him out. He will get pissed as time goes by. Then he will probably slip,” she says.

  Zane looks at the crowd. “Mind your own business. Go get back to what you were doing,” he says.

  The kids run up to Alyssa. They hang on to her. Alyssa hugs them. She calms them down. Quinn pulls away from her with tear filled eyes.