Friends Against The World (Book 1): Bite Me

by Walters, Geneva

  I look to where the other two bodies are and recognize them, thinking to myself. "Oh god, poor Dainan. His parents are dead too..."

  Dainan slides down into a sitting position and I follow, rubbing his shoulder in a comforting gesture.

  "Dainan, I am so sorry..." I mumble, and he shakes his head.

  "It hasn't hit me yet, what the hell am I going to do now." He answers and looks to me with a shell-shocked glance. "Thank god you guys showed up when you did, where the hell have you been? And I am so sorry for not talking to you sooner, Timothy was blackmailing me!"

  "It's water under the bridge Dainan, and we were up at Idris's cabin when it all went to hell, we just got back now. We met my dad in Brantford and were planning on holing up at the school. Is your truck working?"

  "Yea, it is. I just filled up the gas the other day. I suppose I have nothing left here, if you guys will have me to join your little band?" He looks to me, and the rest of our group have gathered to where we are sitting besides Violet and Idris.

  "Of course." Liam holds out his hand and Dainan takes it to get up, and Xavier helps me up.

  We all move to where Violet and Idris are and stand, looking to each other with questions left unsaid, wondering what the hell we do now.

  Chapter 23

  We do a burial much like the one at Idris's, allowing Dainan to say goodbye to his parents. The raiders get the decency of a burial as well, Idris storming off to the house as we do so. Violet follows, as well as Liam. We finish up and then toss the shovels in the back of Dainan's truck.

  "This truck is going to be so helpful, thank god you kept her running." Xavier comments to Dainan, who is clearing out his shed of any useful tools and piling them in the back. The rest of the group have wandering into the house and someone periodically comes out to load up one of the cars with bags or boxes of preserved food.

  "I am going to be so sick of canned food in about a week." I comment, and the two boys chuckle, watching Liam bring out two bags of it.

  "I am so glad you guys stopped, I owe you my life." Dainan mentions to me and I clap him on the back.

  "No drastic measures now, just do your part when we get there, and all is good." Xavier says, and we finish clearing out the shed. "Anything else outside you can think of?"

  "Not unless you think the infected are afraid of water guns." Dainan holds two brightly coloured guns off the ground with a smirk.

  "You know, they might be. Maybe they are like the Wicked Witch of the West?" Xavier laughs. "We have never tested it."

  I smile and then grab one, looking it over. "Might not be useful on zombies but where we are going we are going to need to set up a farm, bet these could actually be helpful."

  "We were laughing but that is actually a smart idea." Dainan ponders, and then tosses the water guns at me, I catch them with a smile.

  Dainan opens the passenger door and gestures for me to toss them in, both plastic guns knocking against each other as I toss them in the middle. Xavier takes my hand and the three of us walk into the house where the rest of the group are taking a break or scavenging.

  "We left your room and your family's room alone, Dainan, let us know if you need a friend to come with you to look through those, we are happy too." Lee patted him on the back and I smiled at the kindness.

  "Xavier, mind if I can borrow your girlfriend for this?" Dainan asks with a teasing tone, and Xavier smirks.

  "How did you know? We hadn't told you we were a thing yet."

  "The heart eyes you have been trading for the last few years in school and the looks you give each other now and the constant touching. It's about freaking time." Dainan teases, and both Xavier and I blush. "No offence to the rest of you, but Geneva can probably give me the low down the fastest without any of Lee's antics or Idris's whining about being away from Violet."

  "Burn! We just started talking again and you insult us. I am hurt!" Lee dramatically wails, and Dainan gives me a look and we slip away as Quiyl deals with her boyfriend.

  His door comes into view at the end of the hall leading off the kitchen, posters plastering it from various video games and movies. He stops in front of it and gives a large sigh, before pushing it open. I follow and move to sit in the computer chair in front of his desk, and He grabs a backpack and begins to pack the important stuff. He grabs his laptop and clothes and begins to stuff the backpack full.

  "It still hasn't hit me that I just buried my parents." Dainan mentions to me as he turns to grab more clothes. "We were just getting ready to grab all of our things and head north to our cabins and ride it out there. My brother already left thank god, but I have no idea if he is still alive. He wanted to make sure his girlfriend came with us along with her parents."

  "I can't imagine it is going to hit you for a little while. My mom is not going to be alive when we get to my place." I say with a dull tone, and Dainan looks to me with a questioning look. "I talked to her two days ago, before the cell towers quit, and she had been bitten at the parent teacher conference. My step-dad was going to 'deal' with her before I got there, hopefully he survived."

  Dainan wraps me into a hug and we both grieve in silence for a moment, and then Dainan breaks down crying. I rub his back and he let it all out, and I mumble comforting words. I grab a picture I see off his desk of him and his family smiling in front of a lake and toss it towards his backpack.

  A little while later, after Dainan had recovered he finished packing. He snaps his fingers and kneels into the carpet, reaching under his bed for something. A knife glints in the artificial light as he pulls it from under the bed. He hands it to me and stands back up, and I admire it. A crash sounds from outside with a muffled apology after and I roll my eyes.

  "Shall we see what they are breaking?" I joke, and Dainan smirks.

  The door swings open just as I move to open it and Lee comes in with a scared look on his face.

  "Can I hide in here?" He quickly mutters, closing the door.

  "What did you do?" Dainan asked as Lee frantically looks around the room for a hiding spot.

  "I might have dropped a vase on Liam’s foot, that was the crashing sound, sorry by the way, and now Liam wants to insert said foot into my ass." Lee quickly says before ducking in the closet. "I am not here."

  Liam comes limping in the room and I notice he is without shoes or socks, and some blood is trailing behind him from a gash on his foot.

  "I hope that isn't deep." Dainan mumbles as him and I slip out the door, leaving Liam to his own devices and following the trail of blood back to the living room.

  "He should be fine after he takes it out on Lee." I giggle, and round the doorway to see Violet and Quiyl sweeping up the broken glass. "So, what really happened? Other than a bad recreation of Ouran High School Host Club?"

  "Lee fell into the side table while roughhousing with Idris and knocked the vase on Liam's foot." Violet sighs and drops the rest of the shattered glass into a plastic bin.

  "Oh boy." Dainan mumbles and then looks to Idris. "Want to help me clean Brandon's room?"

  Idris nods and the two set out back down the hall, Dainan leaving the bag he gathered from his room in the hall. I sit down on the couch just as a manly squeal happens from the direction of Dainan's room, and Quiyl sighs.

  "Anybody notice if Liam needs medical attention or was he just going to walk it off and attract all the infected to us?" I ask, and Violet shrugs.

  "He wouldn't let us look at it, so I have no clue. But that is a good point about the infected..." Violet ponders, and another scream happens from where Liam and Lee are.

  "Should we rescue them?" Quiyl asks us, and Violet and I look to each other and laugh.

  "It's your boyfriend so I mean, go for it." I answer, just as Xavier walks into the room, pointing towards the sounds of the screams with questions in his eyes.

  "I'll let Lee explain after we remove the foot out of his ass." I laugh, and Xavier chuckles. "Also watch for glass."

  Xavier moves to sit beside me, th
rowing his arm around my shoulders. I snuggle into his chest and he threads his fingers through my hair. Violet sits in the armchair in Dainan's living room, and Quiyl disappears down the hall. A few moments pass and Violet, Xavier and I make some conversation, and then Quiyl drags Lee back into the room and Liam limps after. I get up and force Liam to sit down at a dining room chair and Xavier goes to look for a first aid kit.

  "It isn't that bad." Liam mutters, and I push my finger into one side of his foot and he winces.

  "You are lucky I took a CPR course for my resume. There's some glass still in your foot, don't hate me for hurting you." I say, holding his foot in one hand and grabbing the tweezers Xavier presented to me, he had returned with the first aid kit.

  Xavier helps me lay an old towel on my lap and I lay Liam's foot on it, occasionally dabbing the wound and slowly picking out glass, dropping the bits into the bin with the rest of the vase. Liam occasionally curses, and Lee comes over to help, repeatedly apologizing and Liam waving it off.

  "You were joking around, you didn't mean it. I am not mad, just in pain." He laughs then cringes as I dig for the rest of the glass.

  "Almost done, only a few more pieces." I finish quickly and then put some rubbing alcohol on the towel, then look up to Liam. "I would grab onto something."

  His eyes widen as he realizes my intent, and he grabs the chair arms with both hands.

  "I will try to make this quick." I press the towel to his foot with the rubbing alcohol on it to cleanse it and he hisses as it makes contact.

  I pull the towel off and rub some healing cream on his foot, the bleeding finally clotting. "You won't need stitches, we will just have to clean this often, and I would say you stay off that foot for about a day, we don't need it opening back up again."

  I finish wrapping his foot in bandages and Xavier helps him up, and I wash my hands in the sink.

  "Shall we hit the road?" Dainan speaks up from where he is walking in, and the rest of us nod.

  "As long as you feel ready to leave, I don't know when we are going to be able to come back to any of our houses." Idris answers, and Dainan nods with a tired look.

  "It's fine, I got what I needed. I only need to write a note to Brandon where we are going, Idris caught me up on the plans. I just suggest we siphon the gas out of my parents two cars that way we have backup. We can throw the containers in my truck, and maybe if we have the time stop at some abandoned cars and do the same. We will need as much as we can get."

  "Sounds like a game plan." Liam agrees, and we move to the car, some of us grabbing the bags Dainan left in the hallway.

  Xavier helps Liam to Idris car, and then makes sure he is in the passenger seat. He heads off to the backyard without a word as the rest of us pack the cars.

  A short time later as we are waiting to leave Xavier comes bag with a large stick, and without a word hands it to Liam.

  "A walking stick might make things a bit easier to keep weight off that foot." He explains, and Liam tucks it beside him then closes the car doors. "I vote that we make a slight change and go to Lee and Quiyl's next, it makes more sense to me."

  All of us jump in our designated cars after agreeing with the change of plans, and I watch out the side mirror as James gets into Dainan's, and I smile.

  "At least he won't be alone." I mention as the rest see what happened, and they nod in agreement.

  "I didn't say thank you, Nurse Eva." Liam says, and I wave it off.

  "No problem, I only expect you to return the favor if I get hurt."

  As the sun begins to slip into a late afternoon position we clear out the next few houses. Lee and Quiyl's go better than the previous two as there were no dead bodies, but there was also no sign of their parents. We cleaned out the provisions and the occasional gas tank.

  Chapter 24

  The gravel crunches as the three of us pull into Violet's driveway, and the cars shut off one by one. A fluffy gray cat runs out yowling and Violet jumps out of the car smiling from ear to ear, and the cat leaps into her arms.

  "Smokey, babe, I am so glad you are okay!" Violet's voice is muffled as she cuddles her cat.

  "Well we are going to have a cat pack at the end of this." I laugh, and Idris checks on Midnight who's sleeping away.

  "I hope I remember where your carrier is!" Violet announces happily well heading towards the house, and Liam leans his chair back in the car.

  "I'll just wait out here. Let me know if you guys have any issues." He says, and we follow Violet up to the front door.

  The metallic sounds of blades being drawn is heard, and Violet let herself be in the back. Idris and Anthony push the door open and the smell of rot leaks out the door as we step in some of us must hold back on gagging from the stench. I sheathe my blade and put a comforting arm around Violet's shoulders, her leaning into it as worry crosses her face.

  "Hello?" Idris calls out, and a loud banging and shuffling sound from the basement.

  "That does not sound good..." Lee commented, and Anthony walks ahead and stands at the wall at the top of the stairs, back to the wall.

  A hush falls over the room as the banging continues, and then starts up the stairs. The stairs went five down until a landing and then five more facing the other way. I walk over to stand on the other side of the stairs to see what's going on. A thud sounds, and Anthony looks down and a disgusted look comes over his face. A wet thud hits the stairs as a rotted hand slams down, and a male face looks up with a hungry growl.

  "I hope this isn't anyone you know Vi, because this is not going to be pretty." Anthony mentions, and Violet doesn't move from her spot.

  "It's probably my Dad, Anthony, can you take care of it?" Violet asked in a soft voice, and Anthony regarded her with a sympathetic look.

  He nods and disappears down the stares and the growl turn into a shriek before being suddenly cut off. The banging stops, and Anthony walks back up the stairs, wiping the gore off his blade onto a rag. Idris gazes into Violet's eyes, who has some tears sliding down her cheek. She sniffs, and Avyanna comes to rub her shoulders. Violet steels herself and looks around, then disappears down to her room. Quiyl, Avyanna and I trade looks then follow her, the boys staying to look through the kitchen.

  Avyanna knocks and then enters after a muffled 'come in'. The door swings open and Violet is laying on her bed facing away from us and a cat tail is laying over her side, purring and crying sounds from her trembling figure. Avyanna and Quiyl sit down on one side of the bed and I lay down behind her, she turns over to cry into my shoulders.

  "Violet, darling, you are okay. It will all be okay." I whisper softly and hug her tightly, her hands clenched in fists behind me as she sobs with incoherent words.

  "At least she knows what happened to her parents. Honestly, I might have preferred that to not knowing." Quiyl said sadly, and Avyanna hugged her from the side.

  "But would you have wanted to see your parents that way?" Violet mumbles and I continue to rub her back. "What about my Mom?"

  I catch the eyes of the other two girls and they shrug. Violet suddenly sits up and I follow starting from the sudden position change. Idris pokes his head around the door and motions for Quiyl to join him in the hall, where he quickly whispers something and then they go to their original positions.

  "Violet, lovely, they found your mom..." Quiyl says quietly, and Violet looks at her with a tear-filled gaze. "She was in the basement with your Dad, we think your Dad...killed her."

  Violet shakes her head and mumbles more things as I attempt to comfort her, and Avyanna and Quiyl locate her suitcase and lay it out on the chest at the end of her bed. They quietly leave the room, and then it's just Violet and I.

  A little while later she moves to a sitting position and sighs, and we begin packing with minimal talking. She gives me a backpack and I begin to fill it with things she might need from the bathroom and then some personal items she tosses to me. As we finish she takes one last look around the room and grabs the picture of her and her parents o
ff her desk and the rest of her art supplies and tosses them in her art satchel. She quickly walks out the door and back to the kitchen, where she leaves her stuff near the door and begins to help pack some provisions. Idris sidles up beside her and a quiet conversation begins, and I move to where Xavier is leaning.

  "I felt in the way, only so many cooks in the kitchen, right?" His deep voice rumbles as I press my face into his chest, his warm arms encircling me and making me feel safe. "I think at some point we should consider holing up in someone's house, it's getting too late to travel safely. It's already around six, it's going to get dark in a few hours."

  "I don't think we should stay here though, Violet will be haunted by too many memories, the sooner we get out of here the better." I reply, and he nods.

  "Hey guys?" Xavier addresses everyone, who by now have all gathered in the kitchen to either start taking loads to the car. "I feel like in one of our next few stops we might want to consider holing up for the night. It's getting a little too late to travel safely. I want to get to my house as fast as the rest of you, but it might be too dangerous."

  "He makes a good point." Liam had hobbled in a bit ago just for the company, too quiet outside.

  "My house has a generator in the back room, we might be able to splice it together to quiet run my house for the night. That way we can all have a little electricity, recharge some things and maybe take turns getting a bath done. And no, you couples cannot do so together, we are all going to be in the same house keep in mind." Anthony offers, and the rest pipe in their agreements. "We go to Avyanna's, clear shop and then bunk up at mine. After all, I am a bit in the country, so we shouldn't have to worry about too many infected."

  The rest of the time at Violet's is making plans and finishing packing the cars then we start on the twenty-minute drive to Avyanna's, who's parents died in the first wave and the school.