We Are The Survivors

by Vanessa Marie

  I thank her for the help. I walk to the house where Kay is living. She knows Blake’s attitude and what he is capable of. I open the door.

  Dave and Kay are kissing on the couch. I’m pissed by the sight. I slam the door to get their attention. They pull apart jumping back, surprised by me being there.

  “That psycho is holding my girlfriend hostage and he is stalking us and you two are making out?” I scream at them

  “We’re in a relationship,” he says.

  “He kidnapped Kay. He is not going to be pleased with this. It’s going to make his anger even worse. You know he is watching us,” I say.

  “He isn’t going to know,” Dave says.

  I cross my arms. “You better hope he doesn’t. I saw a leader and a guy with a code in you. Now the person standing here is selfish. I said we would have to find Rain and you’re in here…” I grip the door handle going to leave.

  “Wait, I’m not selfish I don’t want that girl to get hurt. We need to stick together if you want to find her,” he says.

  I turn to him with my hand on the doorknob. “Any other secrets?” I ask. He looks down at his shoes not responding.

  I open the door. “That’s what I thought. Don’t answer then.”

  I don’t trust Dave. Getting involved with her is a bad idea. Blake might lash out at that fact. He is hiding more. I’m convinced there is another secret. Secrets aren’t what we need now. That’s what the diary in the crystal ball meant.

  How is he stalking us anyway? Does he send people to do it for him or does he do it himself? Where would he spy on us from?

  Sierra walks past me with a sheet in her hand. I stop her. “What is that for?” I ask.

  “It’s a makeshift banner. I have more serum for bites. I want a sign out there telling people we have a cure. We could save people’s lives,” she says.

  “Helping people is good. I don’t know if advertising a cure is such a good idea,” I say.

  She shrugs. “We have MR. Gatekeeper to keep us safe.”

  She opens the banner to show me. She lets me read what it says. It says that we offer a cure for people who were bit. Oakland opens the gate and lets Sierra out. She comes in and as Oakland locks the gate (we found a new lock in one of the houses) a guy runs up.

  The rain has stopped since I started talking to her.

  He is a very overweight man with long brown hair and a dark brown beard. He is holding a small woman in his arms. He has her left cheeks against his chest covering most of her face. He is wearing a grey hoodie and jeans covered in blood. The woman is wearing a pink hoodie and jeans that are also covered in blood.

  “My wife was bit. Your sign says you can help her. Please help her,” he says.

  “Yeah, come inside,” Oakland says.

  “Thank you, thank you. I thought my wife was going to be like this forever,” he says.

  Oakland opens the gate. The man comes in and sets the woman on the ground. She has duct tape on her mouth. Sierra doesn’t notice and goes to get the serum. Oakland and I exchange worried glances.

  The woman’s face is pale and her skin is hanging off her right cheek showing the muscles underneath. That’s where she was bit. She is growling through the tape. Her hands are duct taped together too. Her eyes are blue with a little purple in them. The disease does that, changes your eye color. Maybe Sierra can find out why.

  Sierra runs out with the shot then stops when she notices what the woman is. She drops the shot. She is oblivious to the sound of it shattering. The guy furrows his eyebrows. Sierra shakes her head.

  “I meant we have the cure for a living person that was bit, we can’t heal the already dead,” she says it slowly and carefully. Oakland hides his pistol behind his back afraid the guy might attack.

  “You said you could cure people that were bit,” he says.

  “Not the ones that are dead already. You must kill her, you need to end her. She’s not a person,” she says gently.

  “No, I came here for a cure! I won’t leave until you fix her!” he yells. Oakland’s grip tightens on his pistol.

  “There is nothing that can bring her back. I’m sorry, the only thing you can do is kill her,” she says.

  “No, no. Do it!” He takes out his pistol and raises it to Oakland’s chest. Oakland drops his pistol. He puts his hands up in surrender.

  “Don’t kill him, please. It’s my fault for putting that sign out there. I can’t help you, I’m sorry,” Sierra says.

  The man squeezes the trigger a little tighter. If he tightens anymore the gun will go off. “Do it!” he screams.

  Sierra starts crying. “I can’t, I’m sorry. Don’t kill him. Please, don’t kill him.”

  The man pulls the trigger. Oakland’s body hits the floor. Bloods spills out of him. Sierra screams and drops to the ground. The man waves the gun at both of us. He screams at us to stay still. I hear a pop, blood sprays on my face and the man falls. I see a bloody hole in his head. Dave walks up to Oakland. Dave killed him. I kneel near Oakland. He is coughing up blood. I can see the bullet hole is in his chest. He pulls a key from his pocket and puts it in my hand. It is a gold key stained red from his blood.

  “Go into the house four from the left of…the middle house. Something I didn’t do…don’t be sad, I wanted this,” Oakland says in between coughing up blood.

  I stand up. Oakland’s eyes close. He’s gone. Sierra sobs and rocks back and forth. Everyone walks out of their houses asking questions. They are too shocked to care that a torrential downpour has started up again. The kids cling to Sarah with tear filled eyes. The witch family is staring at Oakland’s body. The woman zombie growls. Dave shoots her in the head. Sierra holds Oakland’s lifeless hand, telling him she’s sorry for putting the banner up. She walks out the gate returning with the banner that is smeared from the rain.

  I walk away to the house that Oakland told me to go to, ignoring everyone’s questions. I turn the key in the lock. The house has the living room where you walk in. The kitchen is mostly on the right and the dining room on the left. The hallway is down the right side of the wall.

  There is a picture on the breakfast bar in the kitchen. I get closer to it. It’s a picture of Oakland and a brunette woman. The woman is holding a toddler in her arms. Next to the picture is a note. It reads:

  Oakland, we are going to be evacuated. The military said they are taking us away. They said that Las Vegas has been contaminated. They are taking us to a better place. They wouldn’t let me wait for you to come home. I’m sorry. I know you will find us, I know it. I love you. Stay here. The military said that they will send a transport here to get you. I’ll see you again.

  Love, Anna.

  They weren’t evacuated, they were taken to the end of the street. Rain told me about that. Oakland got rid of them. He drove them away in a truck not too long ago. He left their bodies in an abandoned store.

  He could have buried his family here. There is a dirt mound outside the wall where the back gate is, I speculate an add on to the community was going to be built. That’s why there is a dirt mound there. He could have buried them here.

  There is another note on the counter with it. I read that too:

  Today I have decided to take my own life. I wrote this in the morning which means that I will be dead the night you don’t see me on watch. I’m doing it when everyone is asleep so no one stops me. I didn’t want to tell anyone that I lived here. I was too embarrassed that I couldn’t save my family. I’m so ashamed of not being able to protect them. I should have protected them. I feel so guilty and lost without them. They were my whole life. I make sure every day I protect you. How can I when I couldn’t save my family? I didn’t bury them here because I didn’t want to think about their deaths. I don’t want to see anyone die. I don’t want to leave and wonder if you found that little girl or if you are still alive. I want to end it. I love those two little kids that live here. One night I played hide and seek with the girl. It made me think of my little boy so
much. I can’t stick around and watch them or anyone get killed by cold blooded people or by brainless monsters. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect Rain either. I’m sorry I can’t be here anymore. I just want to see my family again in the Lord’s afterlife of peace and contentment. I just hope you all don’t meet me here before it’s your time too. Stay safe.

  -Oakland the gatekeeper

  I sink to my knees with the note in my hand. I start crying. He was just a guy with a family. He didn’t deserve all this.

  I never knew he felt like this. He hid it from all of us which I would expect. He didn’t want to be stopped. I don’t know if I should feel bad for him or be happy that he is with his family.

  Why tell me to find this note? Maybe he wanted to tell me that his death was okay. That he was okay with dying. He accepted it. It wasn’t the way he wanted to die but he is in a better place now.

  Sierra walks in the house. Her cheeks are red. She is still crying. She asks me what I have in my hand. I tell her what Oakland was planning on doing. She covers her mouth in shock.

  “I didn’t know him but I still…feel bad. He had a family. He…was sick of this. I’m sick of it too,” I say.

  “Me too.” She kneels to hug me.

  I hold on tight to her. “I want Rain back. I want to see her again. I want to be normal again, to live like we used to.”

  We sit here in the house until it’s nighttime. The rain pounds against the houses. The thunder shakes the walls. Lightning strikes flash blue light into the room. We can’t go looking tonight in weather like this.

  My clock starts ticking again. She only has twenty-four hours, after that she probably won’t be alive.

  The rain has turned into a light drizzle. It’s surprising since the rain was so bad just a little while ago. I couldn’t say if it was an hour ago or five minutes ago.

  My concept of time is completely messed up since we don’t have a clock in the main house. I know that it’s too late to be looking for Rain. It got dark five hours ago. It usually gets dark at seven, so that would make it midnight now.

  I told Dave about Oakland’s note. He decided to bury him in the dirt mound. He was going through Oakland’s stuff and he found a shovel in one of the closets. Coincidence? I didn’t think it was. He put it there on purpose. He wanted us to bury him.

  Dave also buried the man and his wife here. I didn’t agree with it. He just did it.

  After he was buried I told everyone I would take watch. Dave insisted that he watch with me. I didn’t like the idea but since someone died on watch so I let it go. We’re standing here not speaking to each other. We probably never will.

  “I’m surprised that no dead people have shown up yet. You would think they heard the shooting,” he says.

  I stay silent. He stares at me waiting for an answer. I look through the bars of the gate not making eye contact with him. He slams his shotgun against the gate in frustration. I ignore him. He walks away only to turn and come back.

  He gets in my face. “I’m sick of this. I know you’re mad at me and Kay. Just because I’m with her doesn’t mean I don’t care. Blake screwed with all of us. It’s all our business now. I know how bad it will look if he finds out. He won’t,” he says.

  “I don’t want him to snap. He has snapped before and he was watching us the day they went shopping. I just don’t want to mess this up. She’s all I have now.”

  His expression changes from mad into sympathetic. “How do you think I feel about Kay?”

  I bow my head. “The same.”

  “The same. You, me, them, we’re all on the same team. Are you sticking by me?”

  I nod.

  Zombies are walking to the gate. There are six of them. I point my revolver at one. Dave lowers my weapon with his hand. He tells me gunshots will attract more. That I should leave them.

  He’s right. It would be better to leave them. They would ward off unwanted people. That’s what we need.

  I wonder if the lookout for Blake can see this from where he is. I know there is one. Where could he be hiding?

  CHAPTER TEN-A NEW FRIEND

  I have counted the seconds as they pass by. They locked me in here for an hour. I pounded on the door the whole time, begging to be let go. No one answers. They won’t talk to me.

  I hear a knock on the wall to my right. I press my ear against it. I knock. There is a response.

  “Who is this?” I ask louder than I mean too.

  “My name is Alyssa,” a girl says through the wall.

  “My name is Rain,” I say. “I have a plan to ask to go to the bathroom to see if I can escape. I will come back for you,” I say.

  “Thank you,” she says. “I have to get my sister, Pamela, first.”

  I hear footsteps come down the hall. “Their coming don’t talk.”

  The door opens and the boy I elbowed in the stomach holds it open. “The girls are invited to dinner tonight, you are too. Let’s go. We have water if you want to shower by the way,” he says.

  “No,” I say. I don’t care if they have water. I’m not showering with these weirdos in the same place.

  “Let’s go then,” he says.

  I walk out with him gripping my elbow. I glance over my shoulder and see the other two girls being escorted by two boys. They lead us to the table in the living room. We sit across from Blake. A tall boy about sixteen years old serves us what can only be stew. It smells awful.

  “Can I go to the bathroom?” I ask.

  Blake nods to the boy I elbowed. The boy escorts me to the bathroom in the hallway. The fluorescent lighting is blinding in the hall. I open the door, when I go to close it the boy puts his foot in the door. He pushes it open.

  “Wait,” he punches me in the stomach. “We’re even now.”

  He closes the door. I sink to the floor. The pain is blinding. After the pain goes away I stand up.

  There is a sink on the left and a toilet in the middle of the wall. The shower is on the right. A window big enough for me to fit through is up high above the toilet. I stand on the toilet and try to open it. The window won’t open.

  Outside it’s raining. My parents gave me this name because it was raining the day I was born.

  I jump on the floor. I put the faucet on. Water comes out. They do have water.

  I grab the shower curtain rod off the wall. I throw the curtain on the floor. I leave the sink on full blast to cover the sound of what I’m doing. I ram it into the window quietly. I’m scared that the boy is going to barge in and catch me at any moment.

  The window is intact. I hit it harder this time. It is still the same. I hit it four times in a row. With more force each time. The window doesn’t break. It has to be Plexiglas.

  “Hurry up. The food is getting cold,” the boy says.

  I put the curtain rod back. I flush the toilet and walk out with my escort. We sit at the table. Pamela and her sister are hugging. Alyssa whispers in her ear. Blake bangs his fist on the table. It makes them pull apart at the sound.

  “No talking,” he says.

  They play with their food like me. They give us forks, no knives. Blake pushes away the plate. He stands up and goes in the kitchen. He yells at the boy to make better food. Blake sits at the table. Fifteen minutes later the boy comes back with chicken and rice. He gives us the food.

  I debate on eating it. They could have poisoned it. Blake notices we’re all not eating. He takes a forkful of all our dishes. He eats each forkful.

  “The food isn’t poisoned,” he says after swallowing.

  I eat a little of mine. We get sent back to our rooms after eating. I ask the boy how we have water and he tells me not to worry about it. I tell the girl that I couldn’t break the window in the bathroom and that they have running water.

  She tells me that casing the house and seeing who has weapons is a good idea. She tells me to go along with them for a week then when they aren’t expecting anything we escape. I agree with her.

  I hope I can take a week of
these people.

  Hours pass by. I get tired and I lay on the bed. I struggle to stay awake. I doze off eventually.

  I wake up to thunder. Lightning flashes and it shines light on a figure standing by the door. I sit up in bed. It’s the boy that punched me in the stomach.

  “What are you doing in here?” I ask.

  “Watching you sleep,” he replies.

  “Get away from me!” I yell at him. He leaves shutting and locking the door. He has keys to the rooms. I have to get them from him.

  I won’t be sleeping tonight after that.

  They let us eat breakfast in the morning. It consists of eggs and bacon and toast.

  Blake sits across from us wearing that stupid leather jacket. On the back, it has Thrill Killers stitched in red thread. The boys have the same red phrase stitched in their jackets.

  Stupid. They think they are so cool. A bunch of deranged freaks is what they are. This group is ridiculous. I bet the name is what made them want to join. The boys thought it would be cool to be a part of a gang, be with people who made them feel like they belonged. How could they be so stupid? How could they be so cruel?

  The house is cleaner than I would expect with boys living here. The boys do all the housework while Blake sits on his ass. Can’t they see that they are being used?

  My father used to say that people who make other people do their dirty work are cowards. It doesn’t matter how cruel they are; they are still cowards. Maybe I can use Blake’s weakness to an advantage. What is he scared of? He appears to have no fear of anything.

  He wants me to be his sister. To stay with him. What if I can’t? I start forming a plan.

  The boy who was in my room last night, I learn his name is Colt, locks us in the rooms. I speak with Alyssa through the wall. I tell her I’m going to bite myself and say I was bitten when they caught me. She says she isn’t sure if it will work. I tell her it’s worth something. She agrees.