Love and Decay, Episode One

by Rachel Higginson

  For us.

  Or them.

  While Hendrix and I cleaned up, Vaughan and his brothers set up weapons strategically throughout this room, with the hope that the dim candlelight would keep them hidden. We were all strapped with guns, ammo and knives. And Gage had men nearby that could hear us and come to our aid easily enough.

  The thing was Matthias had men too.

  And weapons.

  And motive.

  We were playing defense to his aggressive, at-times-confusing offensive.

  “He’s going to demand you go back with him,” Gage reminded us in low tones that wouldn’t carry out into the hallway. “He has no legal grounds, obviously. But he sees you as his prisoners and my cooperation with keeping you here as a breach of our contract. Honestly, I don’t know what he’ll do about that though. His pride will demand that he get his way, but alienating his Colony has its own consequences. It’s important that we stay together, stick to your decision to stay here.”

  “We’re clear on that,” Vaughan answered gruffly. “Nobody’s going anywhere.”

  “I would like to keep trade open, if it’s possibly,” Gage admitted regretfully. “I know what kind of guy he is and if I had other options I would take my business almost anywhere else. But there aren’t options. I’m sure we could survive without the supplies he brings in, but life would be harder. And it already feels impossible. Anyway, the point is that even though I want to, it’s not a deal-breaker to me. I’ll keep y’all safe before I put Matthias’s interests ahead of anyone’s safety. You have my word.”

  “We appreciate that,” Hendrix said sincerely. He put a possessive hand on my back, his body heat spreading out in a comforting flush of heart-aching goodness across my body.

  “We’ll find a way to pay you back for this,” Vaughan offered.

  Gage let out a huff of laughter, “I know you will. If we make it out of this alive, you’re going to train the people living here. If push comes to shove we’re at Matthias’s mercy and after today, I never want to be in this place again.”

  “That sounds like a plan,” Vaughan agreed just in time for Matthias and Kane to walk in.

  Their men followed them- about thirty guys all dressed in black, blending in with the darkness. Kane and I had somewhat bonded during our time in the bunker. I felt the connection to him as soon as he walked through the door. I could hardly make him out with only candlelight to illuminate his figure, but I felt his eyes on me immediately. And I hated that I could.

  Hendrix leaned down and whispered into my ear, “I love you, Reagan.”

  I looked up at him. I took in his handsome face, his bright, depthless eyes and the way he stared down at me with truth and adoration rolling over me in waves. “I love you, too, Hendrix.” And I did. And I would do anything to stay with him, to keep his family together and safe, and to stay away from Kane.

  “Quite the welcome you laid out for us,” Matthias greet coolly, with arms spread wide and an evil smile painted across his face. “Very lucky for you that we got here when we did.”

  “Convenient,” Gage answered. “But we would have handled the situation either way. I’m sure you’re grateful to have been a part of your son’s rescue though.”

  “Disappointed that it was necessary to begin with,” Matthias argued politely. “But yes, I’m glad I could save Kane and Reagan.”

  Gage stood in front of me, as tall as any of the Parkers and just as intimidating. Matthias wasn’t exactly taller, but somehow his presence demanded the most attention, evoked the most fear and anxiety. And I decided it all had to do with what he was willing to do. The Parkers and Gage had a limit to what they would kill, or who they would kill. They did what it took to survive and keep those they loved safe; but even that conviction had limits- the depths of their desperation came paired with a moral compass. Matthias on the other hand, wasn’t afraid to cross boundaries or operate without a moral code. He went beyond what it took to survive and simply lived however he wanted to. There was no higher standard or Hippocratic Oath to guide him. He took what he wanted, he killed what he wanted. He did what he wanted.

  And Kane was well on his way to proudly following his father’s footsteps.

  “Have you talked to Kane about why he needed to be rescued in the first place?” Gage shot back. “He endangered Reagan’s life and got five of my men killed by the end of it.”

  “My son was being held prisoner here, by you,” Matthias growled. “You were the one that let him rot here in filth and blood, with his fresh injuries. You’re the one who sent him outside your protective walls unarmed and without capable men to protect him.”

  “He had protection! And those injuries were inflicted by his own stubborn stupidity before he even got here! And we treated them!” Gage’s voice rose with his anger. “I kept him contained because he stalked one of my guests through Oklahoma and I wanted her to feel safe.”

  “Your guests, my prisoners, funny how those words are interchangeable.” Matthias’s tone had dropped to an arctic degree and he took several steps across the room until he stood just inches from Gage’s face. “The point is, my son was mistreated and nearly killed because of it. You are harboring fugitives from my Colony. And there is strong evidence that points to you hiding my daughter and son. These are not grounds for a peaceful union, Gage. You need us and our services, so I would think everything through before you start talking again.”

  “What we have here is a difference in opinion.” Gage sounded a smidge more controlled, but hardly. His voice had dropped too, inciting an icy stillness in the divided room. We stood on one side, Gage in front and the Parker brothers surrounding me from every other side, while Kane and Matthias stood side by side on the other, flanked by their small army of equally psychotic killers.

  Ok, that was probably unfair. I didn’t know if any of these men were psychotic, or if they were technically killers outside of the Zombie species. But I did not they worked for Matthias and had pledged their loyalty in some way or another to him. That made them untrustworthy to me. And I had no doubt in my mind, that even if they hadn’t killed anything but Zombie yet, they would not hesitate on Matthias’s command.

  Gage continued, “You classify these people as prisoners because they wandered into a town that happened to consider them as a threat. If they would have taken a left instead of a right that day, or gone north instead of south, they would never have stumbled into your Children of the Corn-esqu Colony, Matthias. They did nothing wrong to incite your wrath, nor did they have any wish to stay with you or in this part of what remains of the once great United States of America. Furthermore, your son was detained because of his questionable intentions. You lock people up for just showing up. At least I had proof that Kane was bent to no good. And I fully intended to release him to you once you arrived. I took preventative measures to ensure our precarious treaty didn’t end in disaster. That Kane and Reagan were attacked and three more of my men killed in one afternoon were part of unforeseeable and unfortunate events. Three more men, two of mine and one of yours would die before the conflict resolved. Your son walked out alive and free, while I have had to deliver heart-breaking news to four different families and one woman who lost both her husband and her oldest child. But, if I had to go back and change something, the only thing that I would do differently would be to put more men guarding your son.”

  Gage finished with a firm, unmovable stance and I had to restrain my urge to cheer for him. Although, I knew I wasn’t the only on that noticed he forgot to address the whole Tyler/Miller situation.

  “And my youngest son and daughter?” Matthias pressed.

  “I don’t know where Tyler and Miller are,” Gage answered evenly. “But my guess is as far from you as humanly possible.”

  Matthias took a step back and cocked his chin in the air like he was pulling back the chamber of a gun. Shadows floated over his face, fast and flickering. He looked like a silent film standing like this, dark, confusing and needing subtitles
.

  “We had an arrangement, Gage. You would leave my Colony without my daughter. Those were the terms I agreed to. Those are the terms I currently abide by.”

  A chill slithered down my back, fast and abrasive. Part of me was happy that we had moved on from the whole prisoner issue. But the other part of me recognized that this was the worst place this discussion could possibly go.

  But where was Matthias headed? The fact that I didn’t know was the scariest thing of all. Would this culminate in an ear-splitting shouting match that would end in two grown men punching each other out? Or would this escalate to something like war, that we would be forced to fight our way out of?

  Could I just leave now? And take everyone I loved with me?

  Humanity sucked these days.

  “Matthias, accusing me of breaking our agreement is a personal and serious insult to me,” Gage snarled with so much menace I almost believed he was truly offended.

  “Hiding my daughter, after you gave me your word you would have nothing to do with her, is not only a personal insult to me, but an unforgivable offense. One that would force me into action.”

  “What kind of action?” Gage demanded.

  “Matthias,” Vaughan interjected. “None of us are trying to pick a fight here. Tyler and Miller are not here. We separated ways in Tulsa. The rest of us don’t feel obligated to return with you and remain your prisoners. We’re free people. This is still a free country… apart from the Feeders. We didn’t mean to stumble into your camp and we had no intention of staying there, which is why we didn’t feel it necessary to go through your probationary program. We just wanted to be on our way. We still do. We don’t plan to stay with Gage either. We are on a mission of sorts. And as far as Kane goes, nobody intended for him to get hurt. We actually saved him during a pretty bad attack. If it weren’t for us, he’d be dead. It wouldn’t have mattered what Gage did to him or how he treated him because he never would have made it out of Tulsa alive. Those are the facts. Now, you are an intelligent, forward thinking individual. You must understand our side of the story.”

  Matthias cracked a grin, but didn’t look at Vaughan. His hard, unforgiving stare stayed firmly fixed on Gage.

  After several awkward, but intense moments, Matthias turned his evil stare on Vaughan so abruptly there were sound effects that actually went off inside my head. Shwoop- like a cartoon or a scary movie.

  “I don’t understand your side of the story. I don’t understand why you tried to destroy my home in your attempt to escape, why you took things from me, people that were mine, or something that belonged to my son, or why you thought that Gage’s pathetic excuse for civilization would be far enough to run from me.” Matthias swallowed so loud we could all here him, or maybe that was just how quiet the room was. When he continued, the sick, sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach tightened and intensified until I felt certain it would swallow me from the inside out. “And I especially don’t understand why you think it’s alright to lie to me.”

  “Nobody is lying….”

  Movement near the doorway cut Gage off and drew all our attention.

  Shit.

  Shit. Shit. Shit.

  “Oh, shit,” Gage echoed my thoughts exactly.

  Matthias’s armed men pulled Tyler and Miller into the room completely; their hands tied behind their backs, their bodies held still by guns pointed at their heads. Miller was already unconscious; his limp body in some random thug’s arms, his young face purpling and swelling from a struggle that happened before he arrived in this room.

  “These are my children!” Matthias snarled with so much vehemence I expected his head to explode. “You thought you could take my children from me?”

  “Surprise,” Nelson mumbled weakly.

  “No, daddy,” Tyler spit out. “Gage had nothing to do with us leaving. We walked away from you of our own accord.”

  “Well, darlin’, be that as it may, you better understand right now that this will be your last and final time that you try to run away from me.” Matthias was smiling again and that mega-watt grin was aimed directly at his daughter.

  “Not a chance in hell that I’m going back with you, daddy,” Tyler screeched.

  “What you’re lacking my only daughter, my pride and joy, my legacy, is some incentive.” Matthias pulled a gun from the back of his pants and aimed it directly at Gage’s forehead. The room filled with the clicking of safeties being flicked off and the testosterone level skyrocketing. The metal felt cold and solid beneath my fingers, especially since my hands were trembling while my aggressive gun remained substantial and firm. I had pulled it before I once thought to grab for it. Instinct guided me, just like it worked for every else in this room.

  “And you’re going to give me incentive?” Tyler goaded- which was brave of her since she was one of the only people in the room without a weapon.

  “That’s right, Tyler. I’m going to give you incentive.” And then he backhanded her so hard she slumped immediately into unconsciousness.

  Chapter Two

  Ok, this was where my inner bad ass surfaced and I started shooting bad guys before I could reason with myself, before my stubborn morality took back the controls of my brain. Bang. Bang. Bang.

  All head shots- dead center in every single forehead.

  Take that assholes!

  Problem solved.

  No, just kidding.

  This was the part of the story where I envisioned myself doing that, knowing my decision to hesitate and allow the humanity still thriving in my life-filled body would come back to haunt me.

  Later, much later, maybe even years, I would look back at this moment and wonder why I didn’t end this insane conflict right this very second.

  But I wasn’t far enough gone yet. I still grasped those good, moral pieces of me like life lines to sanity and salvation. I still believed that humanity, in some great, metaphysical way was still connected at the core- that we still looked out for each other, sacrificed for one another and did anything we could to make sure we survived together.

  Sure there was evil in the world, evil people doing evil things. But there had always been those things. The Zombie Apocalypse didn’t perpetuate bad people; it only gave them an excuse to keep doing what they were doing. But they weren’t everything this world was made of. And I believed that. To my core.

  Which would ultimately be my downfall.

  But these were human beings- as evil, deranged and threatening as they were- they were still living creatures with beating hearts and constant brain activity. There were good pieces in them, even if they were buried beneath their malicious intent and imbalanced decisions.

  So, maybe they weren’t much better than the Feeders that hunted us blindly.

  But the reason they were gifted with my respect, the only, naïve, pathetically hopeful reason they were given grace, was because they possessed the ability to change; deep in their tainted, black-inked souls was a chance for redemption. They were living, breathing, thinking mankind. And there weren’t that many of us left.

  If we just started shooting each other, killing in the same cold blooded we struggled to survive in, we were as lost and hopeless as the Zombie-fied world we suffered through.

  And I couldn’t let that happen.

  I promised myself I wouldn’t become a martyr. But in this moment I also made a pact with myself not to become a conduit to the problem either. I would not push the world further off the cliff of insanity. There had to be a light to this darkness, an up to the down, a purely good soul to balance out what remained of a ravaged, vicious world thrown into chaos and mayhem.

  And I didn’t need anyone to tell me that made me the biggest idiot ever- in the history of all idiots- I would go down in future history books as the idiot that thought she could create some kind of positive change in the deepest depths of hell.

  But hey, if they were writing history books in the future then I did something right.

  And yes, I would absolutely
be taking credit for those.

  You’re welcome, World.

  Back in reality, outside of my whirling dervish thoughts, Matthias took a step towards Gage with gun raise and evil glint in his eyes reflecting too much candlelight. He looked like one of those pictures where the eyes were completely white orbs of otherworldly light. In this moment, he wasn’t human; he was an imposter, an alien… a demon.

  I should have taken that moment to end his life. When he seemed more monster than ever, I should have raised my gun and given up on trying to hold onto whatever shards of a soul I had left. This day would irrevocably change me for the worse. I would take giant leaps and bounds down the rabbit hole Kane and his father were blazing, I just hadn’t realized it yet.

  Instead I absorbed the men around me- Gage, so angry and protective of the home he had created he shook with hatred and something stronger- something that didn’t even have a name. Vaughan had gone still when Matthias hit Tyler, so still and tensed I could feel the deadly intentions he was brewing as if they were tangible puzzle pieces he was clicking into place. Nelson and Hendrix had been forced into higher alert. They were probably as surprised as I was that there was a higher alert than what we were already on. It was like we went from Code Orange to Code Neon Orange in HD and 1080p- possibly the IMAX version.

  Matthias hitting Tyler was like the final confirmation that this day was going to end badly. It started out bad with the whole bunker thing- that actually felt like months ago. And then got a little better with the whole rescue thing. Then it got really good as Hendrix and I shared some of the most intimate moments I’d ever experienced. And now people were going to die. That just needed to be a foregone conclusion at this point. Although, I preferred to think it would be Matthias and his henchman over us, the good guys.

  “You made me a promise, son,” Matthias snarled. “I consider this an act of war. Our trade is finished. Or treaty has ended. And I will be leaving with what is mine or I will execute every last living thing occupying this property.”

  While Matthias kept his gun trained on Gage’s head, Gage had his own weapon- drawn and ready- held steady at Matthias’s chest. My own gun moved back and forth between the line of men with pulled weapons and fixed, deadly stances, and Kane, whose gun stayed immovably on Hendrix.