The Orphans (Book 3): Strangers

by Evans, Mike

  Shaun pushed off of him leaving them behind yet again and ran pulling the shouldered backup rifle. He sprinted faster than any of them could keep up with except for Greg. The two disappeared over the hill both of them ignoring the screams of the other three. Greg yelled at Shaun, “Hey slow down man, I get the point we need to find Ellie but you’re going to get yourself killed or worse!”

  Shaun ignored him but Greg finally caught up gripping his shoulder and the two went down on the ground hard. Shaun pushed up to his feet but Greg caught his foot. “We need to take them out, there arne’t more than twenty of them. Keep the distance, keep our lives. You gotta think Shaun.”

  Shaun wanted to say something but knew that he was right and that if he didn’t think that he wouldn’t be any better off to Ellie if he was dead or one of the turned himself. The idea of gong after Ellie as one of them was sickening. He held up a hand letting Greg know that he was thinking again. He said, “I’m thinking, I get it, its just the idea of losing her is-”

  Greg cut him off, “Yeah I get it, it is probably how I felt when they took Kristy yesterday.”

  “I get it, everytime I think i’m losing her is worse than anything I can think of. So your with me? We can do this right?”

  Greg looked at the field of turned and didn’t point out in the field the one lone leg with a sneaker on it that he wasn’t sure who its owner was to Shaun. He wasn’t going to be the one to break his best friends heart. Greg nodded and they lay flat until the turned were no longer. Aslin and Clary watched from the hill seeing the two working in unison and both of them stared at each other nodding. Clary yelled over the gunfire, “I don’t have a worry about those two at all.”

  Tina came up behind the two of them watching the boys. She was pretty sure she knew that Shaun would not only risk his life for Ellie but give it and felt a bit of pain about it. She said, “You guys aren't giving them enough credit. They aren’t quitters.”

  Aslin leaned over towards Clary, “You think the old man got out of that house before-before it went up in flames?”

  Clary pointed to the side of it shaking his head, “Are you kidding me look at the side of the house, this wasn’t set on fire, this damn thing was blown up look at the side of it. I would say tht someone set something off inside and who knows if he did or not. I don’t see any of the kids anywhere. I wonder where the hell they went?”

  When Shaun and Greg had finished clearing those that could be seen they moved closer to the house. Greg didn’t have to point it out Shaun Saw Jenn not knowing it was her laying in the field. For a second he was sure that it was Ellie making the worst assumptions immediately. The feeling again pouring over him about her not being there to go through this with him. Shaun ran to her stopping when he got close enough to realize that it wasn’t her that it must have been one of the other two girls. Aslin and Clary came up behind them. Clary said, “Do you know who it is? Is it Ellie Shaun?”

  Shaun shook his head no and Clary asked, “Are you sure that it isn’t Ellie?”

  Shaun was relieved, not happy about the fact that someone died but at the least hopeful that it wasn’t Ellie. “It isn’t Ellie I’m sure of that.”

  Greg said, “Yeah as much time as Shaun has spent staring at her i’m sure he knows every inch of her.”

  They moved through the property seeing leftovers from Jenn. They didn’t miss the fact that there were turned everywhere. Even more so than there had been taken out by Shaun and Greg. They saw that they were everywhere but there was a good deal of them close to the house. Greg said, “It looks like they might have been taking them out from the house or something.”

  Aslin said, “We can check the barn and look around but we need to get moving, we don’t know how many of them there are around here. There could be more making their way here as we speak.”

  Shaun started walking for the barn screaming out Ellie’s name repeatedly. He didn’t know why he was so hopeful given the scene around them but he couldn’t think of that thought any longer or he was going to make himself sick. Aslin yelled after them, “You boys we gotta go, we need to get moving, we don’t haave a choice!”

  The boys kept walking without looking back. They weren’t about to leave this place without looking at every last pace they could be hiding. Tina said, “They aren’t going to leave until they’ve looked everywhere, there’s no way he’s going to leave anyone behind especially Ellie.”

  The three ran to catch up to the boys and they made their way around the property. When they made it to the barn Tina opened the door and inside was a turned that was bloated and still eating nonstop regardless that there was no where left to put it. There was a cow long since gone laying beneath it. When Clary walked in and put one in its head they heard the low murmur of growling. It sounded like a dog being challenged or threatened. When he took the light across the top of the rafters dead eyes glistened back at them. They tried to count the eyes but there was no time there appeared to be to many of them and they leapt off of the rafters of the second level. They crouched near the cow apparently trying to decide if they should try and get what was in front of them, or if the cow itself was still a great enough bounty that they would be satisifed and that they could ignore the imposing threat in front of them. None of them were that lucky though they raced through the doors each of them trying to be the first to make it out.

  Clary screamed, “Fall back! Run back now!”

  Everyone complied knowing what the result would be if they didn’t. They turned to run and the turned flew out of the doors. Shaun grabbed Tina by the hand puling him behind her the two of them running for everything they could. Shaun felt her grip slip from his instanatly and when he turned one of them was throwing her to the ground, three of them jumped on top of her ripping viciously into her neck, her stomach, and her thigh. Shaun screamed, shooting the three of them as quickly as he could. But knowing that it was useless because she was gone and there was no hope left for her.

  Greg saw this and screamed to Shaun, “Shaun you gotta keep moving, we can’t stop moving, we gotta keep going, come on man!”

  Shaun ran sideways for a second still trying to make his decisions and broken hearted he ran after Greg. Clary and Asln tried to give the two boys some cover fire but it just wasn’t enough there were to many and they were to fast. They watched as Tina had been taken down Aslin thinking instantly had they just stayed at the base that she’d be around the next day still. The sight of Tina being ripped apart before Shaun took out the turned was to much. Tina tried screaming but the blood only gurgled from her mouth, she choked on it and tears came from her eyes. Her outstretched hand towards Aslin might as well have ripped his heart from his chest. He pointed his rifle at her and she nodded his head, but no matter how hard he tried to pull the trigger he simply couldn’t do it. He felt his cheeks growing warm as well. Clary looked back at him seeing him frozen and screamed to snap him out of it. “Aslin snap out of it bro, we need to get moving, or you’ll be next!”

  Clary gripped him and pulled him behind him. Aslin ran behind him looking back at Tina her eyes were still open but there was nothing left. Small streaks of blood ran down her face from her eyes and she started to twitch on the ground. They ran back up the hill, Shaun knew that if the others were here, or if the others were alive that they’d have come out by now, or they would have said something, anything to let them know not to leave them behind. When they got to the top of the hill Shaun and Greg took a fighting position again and Clary and Aslin who were sprinting but not keeping enough distance between them and the turned could count the seconds they had left in life if these things weren’t taken out. Neither of the two were able to get a good shot at them as they were running. Just as Clary could feel their hot breath on the back of his neck it disappeared. The action happened before the sound could travel the distance. He looked ahead seeing Shaun and Greg laying down and firing repeatedly the threat that was behind them was dissipating with every second. Clary yelled to Aslin, “You know th
ose two are really really starting to grow on me man.”

  When the two got up to the top of the hill they dropped down to their knees trying to catch their breath. Clary patted at his chest for a smoke and Greg cleared his throat trying to remind him of the talk they had and how it very mcuh pertained to the current circumstances. Clary said, “I just about got taken out by zombies kid, I don’t think cold turkey is going to work under the current circumstances. You give me a few months and I think that i’ll be ok.”

  Greg stared down at Shaun still looking through his rifle. He looked into the distance seeing that there was just one of them walking towards them. He brought up his scope and peered down the field knowing the answer before he looked. It was Tina and she was staggering around in the field trying to walk. With the pieces missing from her legs she was not walking well and she had her mouth attached to her arm and was pulling at it with everything she had until a piece of skin from her thin arm pulled itself off. He watched as it dangled from her mouth, she chewed it savoring the first bite, and what would be her last bite. Shaun stared at her for a second longer before squeezing the trigger and sending her to a place that he prayed was full of peace. He whispered, “I’m sorry Tina, i’m so so sorry Tina.”

  The bullet whistled across the distance her head snapped violently back when the bullet entered her sending her backwards and knocking her off of her feet. She landed arms out to the side and smashed her head against the hard ground. Greg leaned down gripping his shoulder, “Man we gotta go, if there was anyone here, they’d have came out by now. We need to head back to that damn base there isn’t a thing here for us. Andy’s place is gone, fuck i’m sick of seeing houses burnt down. I mean i’m really sick of it.”

  Shaun pushed up off the ground still staring at the smoldering house, and the turned laying everywhere in the field and across the property. In a matter of hours again he had came back to see that there was nothing left for him. He had to start over again with less people than the day before and now there was nothing again. He stared at GReg and said, “I can’t believe that we lost them Greg. Tina, Ellie, Jenn for sure or it was Kya, one of the two, I don’t know which though.”

  Greg said, “She might have made it, Ellie might be out there, Patrick to, they could be on the loose, but how the hell are we going to find them?”

  Shaun stared and when he didn’t respond he shook Shaun’s shoulder and said, “Are you alright man? I should have been the one who had to do it. You can’t keep being the one every time you aren’t going to be able to handle it. You are going to fry your brain if you do.”

  Shaun stared and said, “It’s ok, as long as it means keeping them from hurting others its what needs done. I don’t care if its tina, Patrick.” Shaun stared at Greg, “Or you, we can’t let each other be one of those, i don’t care how much it hurts, how bad its going to mess you up, there isn’t a choice to it. It must be done.”

  Greg nodded and said, “so where do we want to look? You do want to look right?”

  Aslin and Clary came the rest of the distance. Clary picked up both boys in one bear ug and said, “Jesus christ you two saved our asses. Thank you, thank you my god thank you. You are deadly with those damn rifles, thank god for that.”

  Shaun stepped back pointing to the barn and said, “You see we lost another right? We’ve lost two just today and we don’t even kow where the rest are, we don’t know if they are alive. What the hell are we going to do? We need to find them, but they could’ve gone anywhere. They could have went any directions and we don’t have the first clue which way they might have started heading.”

  Aslin said, “Wait who, what are you talking about guys?”

  Greg said, “We need to go look for the others. They might have made it, we don’t know enough yet we at least need to look.”

  “No, we need to get back to the base before dark.” Aslin said.

  “No we don’t we have hours before dar, we need to find them, if they are alive we can’t leave them out there. The longer we wait the worse it could be for them. We need to get moving, if you want to get back go ahead, we know this place better than you, we will meet back up with you.”

  Aslin said, “We need to stay together, the more times we split up the worse shit that just keeps happening. We need to get out of here. I’m not going to have the loss of two more of you on my conscience. I’m not leaving you two behind.”

  Clary said, “Slow down Aslin, we arent in control of anyone here. We aren’t in charge anymore.”

  Shaun said, “I’m not going anywhere with you if you aren’t going to help us look for the others. You wouldn’t have left one of yours behind if you thought for a second that one of them might still be alive. You would do everything that you could to make sure that they came home with you. Well these are our people, these are our friends, and we are the only ones left who are going to go look for them.”

  “Shaun do you know what the chances are of them being alive?” Aslin said.

  “I have no clue Aslin. I also haven’t found any corpse or any turned running through a field trying to kill me that looks like them, so i’m not giving up. If you want to go and start clearing the base be my guest. It really isn’t that bad of an idea. Just don’t leave us without any bullets or back up gear. If we run into them we want to be able to pass of something to them. I can guarantee we are going to get back because if Patrick is still around he’s going to need to get medicine i’m sure, christ knows we don’t want him getting that bad again as yesterday.” Shaun said.

  Aslin said, “Fine we go ahead, you guys get what you want out of Clary and I’s truck and then we go back and get the base ready. You guys watch your ass and you keep each other safe. You understand?”

  They didn’t answer they just walked to the truck getting extra rifles, magazines and a bag full of mre’s. Clary gripped Aslin before he could head back to their truck. “You really want to leave these two by themselves? They are just kids Aslin.”

  “Those kids just kept us from getting killed a few minutes ago. I think that they’ll do just fine on their own for a hour or two. They aren’t stupid they aren’t going to get close to those things they know what can happen.”

  “It doesn’t matter if they are smart or not, those things are dangerous. We don’t know enough about them. They don’t even know where to start looking, and those woods go on forever. You realize how many of those things could be out there. Just the two of them isn’t enough, they need back up. If you want to go ahead then go for it.”

  “So you’re going to let me go back by myself, but its not ok if those two stay by themselves. Man i’m feeling some brotherly fucking love.”

  “Don’t give me that shit Aslin it isn’t that, but you know that you stand a better chance on your own than the two of them do together. No one is making you go back to the base. You have every right to come with us and we’d happily welcome you but i’m not sure you are using your head. The more of us the better, the more we find the better, and the more shooters can you guess what i’m going to say Aslin?”

  “I get it, the more people the more we can shoot. The better chances of surivival. But if we don’t take care of that base and someone who we don’t want taking it over does so we are royally fucking screwed. If we don’t hear back from them, or they need trouble we can get back here we can help them with whatever it is that they need. But that base needs to be the priority or its going to be a loss resource once that we aren’t able to afford to lose. Tell me you don’t agree with me?”

  Clary went to speak but realized that he was probably right that he knew he was right. But it didn’t make him feel any better about the prospect of leaving the kids behind to go back and secure their own place. That they were going to just do what the greater good for themselves consisted of. He yelled to Greg, “Can you two get around and back on your own? Greg i’ve seen your driving, if you need us to stick around, all you gotta do is say something we aren’t trying to force you to do anything you don’t th
ink that you can.”

  Greg hefted extra rifle after extra rifle and said, “We got everything we need. We aren’t going far, we will be ok. I got one of those radios from earlier so if we need anything we will make sure and let you know. You keep yours on and we will be back before you know it? Oh and as far as the driving I don’t think you got any room to talk man. You do remember being the one who drove into the brick wall with the giant truck right? I mean that was you wasn’t it?”

  Clary didn’t respond he just did a short salute and climbed into their truck. Aslin watched as the two boys climbed into the truck and couldn’t think of anything to say but the obvious which was to just be careful. He followed and the two drove past the boys nodding one last time before the truck disappeared into the distance. The men watched the road ahead of them but both of them felt uneasy about leaving them behind regardless of if it was right or wrong. Clary said, “Yu think that they are going to be ok?”

  Aslin looked over and watched them disappear into the distance, “I hope so man, I can’t say I like the idea of just the two of us, there are two many of those things and there are just to many of them. I don’t think i’d be able to forgive myself if anything -”

  “Nothing is going to happen to them Aslin because I don’t think that I’d be feeling to good about it either. I still hope that at least some of those kids made it out of there. Is it wrong that I feel worse if that Joey kid got taken out? I feel like we should have taken him with us.”

  Aslin thought about it and said, “You don’t feel right about it you let me know we can go back. We can ride around and look for the kids it wouldn’t take that long.”

  “No if we don’t have a place to take them we are just going to be scavenging forever and looking for a place to crash that isn’t going to do anyone any good either.”