The First 400 Days (Book 1): We Are What Remain

by Taja Kartio

  Toby poked his head over the wall's edge and laughed, pointing his finger, "Ugh! Look at that one!"

  A male Infected, all gored from the toes up. Blood literally soaked it's gray shirt, "That looks relatively fresh,” I cringed. I wondered what poor soul this ugly thing had attacked recently.

  "Ick," Ben muttered, with more disdain at the mindless creature than Toby seemed to have.

  We watched the Infected slowly shuffle closer to the wall, eventually sticking the front of it's calf straight through a metal rod. The lower half the of the entire outer wall had different odds and ends salvaged, sticking out like a bunch of medieval pikes and waiting for any clueless Infected to walk straight into them. If the piercing was right, or the Infected struggled to much to free itself, it bled to death and saved us, or whoever happens to be on watch, the trouble of killing it. This one didn't seem to really mind it's stuck leg.

  "Do you think it feels anything?" Toby asked, peering down at the helpless thing.

  The Infected never appeared to be in any pain, no matter what damage had been inflicted upon them. They didn't know what pain was, not since becoming what they are now. At least I was guessing that was the case.

  "I don't think so," Ben answered, "Zombies can't feel anything," He looked back at me for confirmation, "Right?"

  I only shrugged, "How should I know?"

  Toby looked back at me and pointed at the pole-saw, "Can I try the spear again?"

  I glanced back at the Infected. That leg was skewered all the way. It wasn't going anywhere. I then set eyes on the surrounding area where no other signs of life seemed to be visible.

  I exhaled heavily, "You sure you got it?"

  Toby nodded firmly and I handed him the pole. At first, he struggled. His arms shook under the weight and the sheer length. He swung around, the back end nearly clocking Ben and I.

  Ben quickly dropped to his knees in a cry, "Watch it!"

  "Sorry! It's big!"

  I grabbed the backend in a mean to steady it, "Dude, relax! I thought you said you had it?"

  "Well, that was your first mistake." A voice behind us spoke curtly.

  My lips bent distastefully. It was the first time I'd heard that goddamn voice in a month. She glared up at me from the bottom of the catwalk steps, I could see she had her wrists balled up. The hell was she so pissy about?

  "What do you want, Hollie?"

  Hollie made an insolent frown with her lips and tilted her head as if she was confused with my question, "What do you mean? Is there something wrong with me helping Ben, Toby, and you on watch?"

  I almost had to laugh, "Kind of, ya. Don't you have some moping around to do in that juvenile detention center of a home?"

  Holly shook her head, "Nah. I'm over it."

  "You're over it? Just over getting Alex killed?"

  She stepped up and raised her pointing finger at me, "Maybe it's you who should get over it! He's dead Dani, and he ain't coming back! And whether you like it or not, I'm staying. I'm not going anywhere! You better start dealing with it!"

  "I'm not going to deal with you trying to get someone else killed. The only reason you're still here is because your father is some sort of an asset to this group, even if he's just as big of a prick as you are."

  Hollie took another step up and looked up at me with her piercing blue eyes, brows scrunched together tightly, "Don't talk about my Dad like that! And I am an asset!"

  "You're only off by two letters," I tried to make myself look taller than I was, trying to tower over her in some sort of intimidating way even though I knew Holly wasn't so easily scared by others.

  She paused to think of what I meant but didn't get a chance to answer as we both heard a loud clatter. Behind me, Toby and Ben were looking over the top of the wall. Toby no longer had the pole-saw in his hands. I followed their cringed stares at the cement below and saw the pole lying far out of our reach.

  "Oops," Toby huffed a single laugh behind his gritted teeth.

  "Should have known he couldn't handle that, Dani," Hollie muttered smugly as she stepped around me to look at the dropped weapon on the ground.

  "Shut up, Hollie," I burned my eyes at the back of her blonde head. I really wanted to push her over the wall. Unfortunately, that would make me no better than her.

  Damn.

  "Way to go Toby," Ben peered at his brother.

  "That's not my fault!"

  "Yes, it is. You were the one holding it."

  "I wouldn't have dropped it if you hadn't tried to take it from me."

  "That isn't going to make it my fault if that's what you're trying to say!"

  "Okay. Knock it off you two," I sighed. I felt my eyes twitch, "Nothing we can do about it now."

  "Maybe Dani should go get it," Hollie held a simper as she looked at me from the corner of her eyes.

  "If you're not going to leave, then why don't you go make yourself an asset to this watch and go stand over there,” I pointed down the wall.

  "You can't tell me what to do!" She turned her head to fully face me. In front of me, at the same time, both Toby and Ben continued bickering over the fallen pole.

  I really wanted to find a pillow, bury my face in it, and just scream. I kind of wanted to be in bed like Hayden, I didn't want to be in charge of anybody tonight.

  "Everybody needs to shut up and bring their fucking voices down a notch!" I hissed, waving my hands downwards repeatedly. Toby and Ben went quiet immediately, but of course, Hollie wasn't going to take any sort of order from me.

  "Try and make me! You're not my mom!" Before I could even make up a reply, her hand swung behind her and dug into the backside of her jeans. A gun and she pointed the barrel straight at my head, "How about I tell you what to do instead?"

  I wasn't entirely sure what to do. I'd had guns pointed in my direction before but not quite like this, not aimed directly between my eyes, and not by a fourteen year old psychopath. My hands slowly raised in front of me, "Where did you get that?"

  "Does it really matter? You should be more worried about yourself. I'm so... so sick of you! I hate you!"

  "For what exactly? I do not understand your unnecessary hate for me! I literally don't get it! Everything that's happened around here, is your fault! Not mine! Not anyone! Just you!" I just didn't get it. The first time she got a good look at me, she gave me a disgusted look like I was a piece of rotten garbage. She pushed me into a pile of guts and then she threw a temper which ultimately killed Alex and now she was pointing a gun at me.

  "I could kill you right now."

  I suddenly wondered if she really could kill me. A sort of accidental, kind of man-slaughter chain reaction leading to Alex's demise was one thing, but to completely take somebody's head off? To pull a trigger and downright murder someone? That was completely different. Could Hollie really pull something like that off? I supposed if she was pissy enough she could but even for someone as unstable as her, I really couldn't imagine her going through with it. Did she even know how to shoot a gun?

  In one quick motion, she locked both hands on the gun and moved the barrel six inches to my right. After the shot went off, I felt my ears ring and my head begin to throb.

  Well, she didn't shoot me directly but she uh... she still shoot the gun. Oh my freaking god. I was going to die at the hands of a psycho. I didn't even get the pleasure of knowing why I was going to die either.

  My hands covered my ears and I ducked. Toby and Ben were just as starstruck as I was, "What the fuck, Hollie?"

  Hollie stared at the gun like she couldn't believe what she'd just done, she had the look of a grand prize winner still registering that they'd actually won, "Woah!"

  "No, not woah, no!" I tried to take the gun from her but she took a step back, swinging the barrel off.

  "Try to take it from me!" She pointed it up towards the dark sky and pulled the trigger again, "You can't stop me! I got all the power!"

  "Hollie! Stop shooting that! You're going to attract every Infected in th
e neighborhood!"

  "Good! I hope they tear this entire place apart! Then things can go back to the way they were before! The way it's all supposed to be! When it was just Dad and I!" She fired again, and then again.

  When it was just Dad and I? No... No way. Was all this because she wasn't a spoiled little bitch anymore?

  By this time, which in my head I thought was a bit delayed considering no one except the adults had access to the firearms, everyone huddled up in Everett's place had rushed through the front door and outside.

  "What the hell is going on out here?" Kale yelled as he and just about everyone else sprinted toward us four on the wall.

  With Hollie looking away, I ushered Toby and Ben to get off the catwalk by flicking my hand behind my back. My other hand was used to point at the girl in front of me, "Ask the trigger happy idiot here!"

  "Hollie! Where did you get that?" Scott eyed the gun, then redirected his gaze to his daughter, who seemed to lose all of her belligerence the second she saw the fury in her father's glare.

  "Well... you just left it lying out on the kitchen counter and I thought I-"

  It's been a long time since we all heard an Infected scream like the one that cut Hollie off, but it was distinctly right outside the wall. Looking out, a single dark, shuffling figure was followed by another, and another. It was like they'd come in a pack. Despite the way they dragged themselves along the concrete, they all gathered at the wall quickly. Below there were actually more than I expected. Some must have gathered between the time Toby dropped the pole and now. None of us even noticed with all the bullets flying through the damn air.

  "Dani!" Kale stepped by the stairs of the catwalk and I promptly met him at the bottom. He took a quick hand in some effort to make sure I was unharmed and then he nodded off behind him, "Get in the house."

  "But what about-"

  "Get to the house and stay there."

  I took a second longer than he wanted and he lightly nudged me aside and joined the scramble of the rest of the group on the catwalk. Beckett followed close behind but not without giving my shoulder a tight squeeze.

  "Go. You're in charge of Hayden."

  I nodded after another moment and coursed for the front door. Upstairs, Hayden was out of bed and standing by the window by the time I made it up to his room. His eyes were tired and bags drooped low, but there was still a sense of urgency and confusion, "Dani? What's going on?"

  "There's a lot of Infected outside the wall."

  Hayden was quiet for a second as he looked back out the window, almost like a double take, "But... they're inside the wall?"

  I stopped fiddling with the backpack on the floor and looked up at him. I didn't think I heard him right, "What?"

  Hayden replied by pressing his pointer finger against the glass. I stood and surely, I heard Hayden right. More bodies than what our group consisted of were straggling along in the cul-de-sac.

  The Infected were inside the wall.

  Forty Four

  The Infected were inside the walls. Inside. How? How was that even remotely possible? The wall towered a few feet over their head and the top was out of their arms reach. The wall completely surrounded the cul-de-sac other than the river behind it, and Infected couldn't swim, we'd seen them attempt it before and they did nothing but sink beneath the surface. It made no sense and yet here we were, our little safe zone, breached and no longer a place of relative sanctuary from the outside world.

  I turned from the window and quickly jogged to the bedroom door. I closed and locked it. For now, Hayden and I were just going to hole up in this room until either the mess outside was contained, or my brothers came back here to tell us we were getting the hell out of dodge. There were no lights on up here, no sources that could leave loud noises, we should be just fine. The Infected wouldn't even know we were here and they weren't just going to try and break down the front door without some kind of probable cause. We were safe for the time being.

  "Get back into bed."

  "But-"

  "Do as I say, Hayden."

  He lingered by the window a moment longer and exhaled a short sigh-like huff. In reality, it didn't really matter if he was watching or not, at least I didn't think there was. Hayden had seen brutal things. Maybe it was instinctual, a so-called big sister act, but I guess there was the chance he could watch one of our members get torn to shreds and in the back of my mind I thought that that may bring back some startling memories of his mom's death. He was just so young. The less he saw, the more innocence he could preserve. It was a theory, probably dumb as hell, but it was going to be my theory for sending him away from the window.

  I was about to do the same since there was really no point in me watching other than to count the endless Infected shambling after the living, but I stopped when Everett's van flew in reverse from out of nowhere. It spun around quickly and in a matter of seconds, Scott's truck was up beside it. Infected were slammed and thrown across the pavement. The doors of both vehicle doors opened quickly and guns lit up. The sound rattled off continuously and from the corner of my eye, several figures zigged-zagged between outstretched arms and motionless bodies. Val, Ben, Toby, and... Kale. Val led the four of them while Kale had the tale end, boosting Toby in front of him, constantly shouting orders. Val and both the boys almost dived into the open door of the van and after they did, my brother faced the house.

  "Hayden, get up."

  "But you said to get into bed," His confused voice rasped.

  "I know!" I looked at him quickly, "But now I want you to get up. We're getting out of here."

  I turned back to the window but could hardly take a step back for the door. Kale was still. The horde of Infected were circling close. From up two stories up, the monsters were staggered evenly and looked easy enough to hurdle through but from down there on ground level, I was sure it seemed like a thick crowd with no clear path.

  An arm from inside the van grabbed him and kept a grip when Kale finally tried to surge forward. Halfway out of the door, it was Everett holding him back. I couldn't comprehend what he was saying, but it wasn't in my favor. Kale's eyes moved up the house and spotted me in the window. There was an emotion that I couldn't quite explain. A terror that no sibling wants to ever experience. His free arm was suddenly extended in front of him and his hand was an open palm that faced me. I could read what his lips said next and my heart dropped,

  "Stay".

  Surely he wasn't going to just leave us behind, right?

  Everett pulled Kale into the car just as the hobbling Infected reached them. Both vehicles surged forward to the wide open gate at the front of the cul-de-sac and turned down the end of the street without slowing down.

  "We're not getting out of here, are we?" Hayden whispered after a minute.

  Under the circumstances, I understood every possible reason to leave us behind. The Infected outnumbered us. Hayden and I had been out of reach and if Kale had tried to comb through that crowd, he would probably by a half-eaten pile of guts right now. But here I was, feeling slightly betrayed and unconditionally hurt. I was glad he, and hopefully Beckett as well, were both safe, but what about us? Kale said to stay but for how long would that be? When would he come back for us? For me?

  I turned away from the window, fighting back the salty tears welling in my eyes, "Not today, we're not."

  Forty Five

  I camped out in Hayden's room that night and while having his presence there with me was comforting, it wasn't the same comfort I found with both my brothers- Kale on the living room couch above, snoring softly with a pillow halfway across his face, and Beckett on the floor beside me with his stretched above his head in what Kale always says is a very scandalous position. I didn't know how much sleep I actually managed to get but I wouldn't have been surprised if a timer told me it was less than twenty minutes, and by the bedroom slowly getting lighter, I knew I had been tossing and turning all night.

  I carefully stood and noted a peaceful Hayden curling up
in the bedspread. At least one of us got some sleep, but maybe his fever meds helped knock him out too. Either way, I left the room quietly and let him stay in his state of utter tranquility.

  The entire house seemed more quiet than usual. A gaping void that needed to be filled with sounds, noises, words, anything. It was almost painful. I would have loved to hear even Kale's wheezy snoring rather than absolutely nothing at all. I led myself to the living room and felt a tinge of deja vu as I peeked through the curtains. Dead Infected sprawled across the pavement, several of them. Their blood pooled around their carcasses and their wide, open eyes stared off into the unknown. Still a gory scene, but a bit like the display back in my home neighborhood. Infected that still breathed wandered, as usual. Some stood in place as there was nowhere to particularly go. There weren't as many as there were last night. In fact, there less than half as far as I could tell, but they still greatly outnumbered the people in our group. Getting out of here was going to be difficult.

  I turned away and ended up in the kitchen. I was hungry but wasn't really into finding myself anything. Instead, I began packing up the medicine that covered the countertop and kitchen table, not necessarily being neat about it. I managed to clean it all up in a record time. I wasn't sure what my hurry was, it wasn't like the rescue squad was rolling into the cul-de-sac at this very moment.

  Right?

  Against any better judgment, I sprinted to the living room and peeped through the curtains again. Nothing had changed. Nothing other than maybe a few of the stationary Infected had begun to wander.

  What of my brothers didn't come back for me at all? What if I was just a lost cause?

  No, no. Knock it off. Get yourself together, Dani. You're acting so paranoid.

  My eyes look back toward the outside and I watch an Infected turn its head. Its body followed the same movement and it slowly began to shamble off. I watched it go and then caught sight of one a few feet behind, heading in the same direction. And then another, and another. In fact, most of the Infected in the cul-de-sac were migrating towards the same area.