by Alice Carina
Milly only laughed at my bright red face as Jake looked between us, a cute confused expression on his face.
Chapter seventeen
Chapter seventeen: Matt
Jake's POV
I knew they were weird, but honestly, Matt and Milly were acting like complete freaks. All I wanted was to get some sleep, but instead I get woken up by them talking WAY too loud at this evil hour. Didn't they know how to whisper, like normal people???
"Who's a twerp?" I wasn't surprised that Milly was insulting me, but I would at least get a little bit of amusement out of her blunder.
To my surprise and annoyance, Milly seemed to find the whole thing funny, and it was Matt that looked uncomfortable. He was blushing bright red, as if he was the one who had been caught red handed insulting me behind my back. But Matt would never do that, so why exactly was he the one that was embarrassed.
"J-Jake?!" he stuttered, eyes wide.
"Do you see anyone else standing here? Besides her?" I said, my voice filled with venom as I glared at Milly.
I swear, I thought he was going to have an aneurism he was thinking so hard. He looked like he was trying to speak a few times, but all he could manage was a squeak as both Milly and I stared at him, waiting expectantly for him to come up with an answer. We waited, but it was really beginning to look like we would die of old age before he answered.
"Cut him some slack," Milly intervened before something really did happen to Matt's brain. "Why don't we all have a nice meal and focus on the plan?"
I could... but where would the fun be in that? "I've already finished my preparations."
"Ah, well... Umm... Is there anything you want to talk about before we risk our lives for a bunch of psychopaths?" Milly asked.
"I guess we could talk about ourselves," Matt said, speaking for the first time. "I mean, since we don't know too much about each other." He began to blush again, and he looked down, embarrassed. "Or something."
"Great idea," Milly said, a wicked grin on her face. How did she manage to look so evil while saying something so innocent.
"What exactly do we want to know about each other?" I asked skeptically. I definitely didn't care about the past, but I suppose it did prove insight into how exactly these two ended up the way they did.
"Well," Milly began. "I'm nineteen, I lived with my parents before all this... Hmm, I was working at an ice cream store when this whole thing started. After that, I hid in the broken refrigerator out back until I couldn't hear anything anymore. I got picked up by five other people when they passed by. I stayed with them until they joined the religious nuts. After that, I moved on my own, then I met you guys."
"Wow, you weren't kidding when you said you were lucky to survive this long," Matt said.
Milly snorted. "I doubt either of you did any better."
"I'm eighteen, I was at home when it started, and I hid under my bed when the zombies swarmed my house. The moment they were distracted, I made a run for it. I locked myself in the car and waited there for two days. After that, I went to the hospital. And the police station. The mall, my friends' houses... Anywhere I could think of. The first survivors I came across in a chemist when I was looking for adrenaline; you know, to keep awake," I told them.
"And your parents?" Milly asked.
"Zombies. I watched when they joined the rest of them in eating my sister. In fact, I used that opportunity to escape. After that, I avoided other survivors and moved every three weeks. I met Matt when I was restocking my supplies cache. I saved his life when I went to check on the idiots gathering a horde. Anything else?"
Milly and Matt had identical looks of guilt and remorse. Well, I might have deliberately pointed out exactly what would make them feel bad about asking. I figured the conversation was probably over, so I turned away. Instead of an awkward silence, I was grabbed from behind and pulled into a bear hug. I struggled, but it was no use. I was stuck.
"I'm so sorry!" Matt said. "If I had known, I never would have said anything!"
"Um..." I said, incredibly uncomfortable. "It's okay? It was a long time ago; I've seen worse, I've gotten over it."
"Okay," Matt said, taking a step back. "My turn? I am twenty two, and I was at university. I was in my dorm room with two of my friends when zombies started attacking the other students. We managed to get out before there was any real danger... But... After that, we didn't know what to do."
"What happened to those friends of yours?" Milly asked. "Why didn't you stay with them?"
"I would've, but I couldn't find them after we split up. We didn't realize it was going to be as bad as it was. I suppose we were in shock, but all we could think about was finding our families and making sure they were alright. We promised to meet back at the university, or at least leave a message if we couldn't stay."
"Of course that wouldn't work," I interrupted. "If they did find their family, they probably wouldn't even consider going back out into the danger on the off chance that some of their friends might show up."
"Just because we know that now doesn't mean we knew it back then," Milly snapped. "Even I left signs wherever I went, to make sure that any survivors that came across it knew where I had gone."
"I checked home, but it was empty and the car was gone. After that I went to the police station; my dad was a cop, so I was pretty familiar with the place and the people there. I thought it was a good place to go, even if my family wasn't there..."
"But it was empty?" I asked.
"Why do you think that?" Milly asked curiously.
"Ah, because hospitals and police stations were the first places that the infected were taken to. It meant they were the first places to get hit. And back at the start, no one knew what to do to stop the zombies from getting up. Even all the people who watched zombie movies didn't really think about it until later."
"Right again. But still, I knew where the armory was, so I was able to stock up on ammo and it's where I picked up my rifle. Everything was a lot easier when I had a weapon, and it was most of the reason why I'm alive now. I did go back to the university, but Jake's right. There was no one there. It was too dangerous to go close after a while... I did leave a message, but I never saw them again."
"So," Milly said awkwardly. "You never did say why you were there to help Jake when you first met."
That was a good point. I turned to Matt, but instead of an explanation, he blushed bright red and stared at his feet. What was wrong with this boy?
Chapter eighteen
Chapter eighteen: question
Today was the day we implemented our plan and saved the other survivors, who probably didn't really need saving. A thankless job, I had no doubt, but even taking this risk was so much better than having to deal with the horde of the living dead that would gather if we left it alone. It was the lesser of two evils, and zombies were so much more troublesome than a bunch of panicked survivors.
I was busy looking through my bag, which consisted of a bottle of water, some dodgy-looking power bars and the map. I probably didn't need any of this, since we weren't going to be long and I had already memorized every escape route that we might need to get ourselves and the other survivors out of there.
"Here," Milly said, passing me one of the Kevlar vests Matt had found.
I would have mentioned the fact that the only thing it would protect me from was a person trying to shoot me, but that was a bit cynical. Of course, with the survivors we were dealing with, there was actually a very high probability of them shooting us, the only people that could get them out of their situation. I wouldn't be too surprised if they did shoot at us.
I was tying my shoelaces - very important when you might be chased by zombies any second (it'd be pretty embarrassing for your life as a human to end because you tripped over because you didn't tie your shoelaces) - when Matt came up to me, a worried look on his face. He looked like he was thinking really hard about something, but knowing him it could be anything from worrying about the plan to whether he
remembered to zip up his bag.
"What?" I asked as he just stood over me. Really, when we are about to go save people, couldn't he be more professional.
"Ah," he said, as if he hadn't realized he had just been standing there, staring. "I... Umm... I just wanted to check if you were alright."
"Alright with what?" This boy really wasn't making a lot of sense.
"Err... Anything?" he asked uncertainly.
I stared at him for a while, waiting for him to realize how stupid he sounded, or for him to say something that made him look even dumber. Matt was silent as he waited for an answer, and that troubled look he got started to appear the longer he waited. I glanced at Milly, and she was looking at Matt with a knowing expression, as if she knew what was going through his head even if it seemed like he didn't.
"Don't worry. Everything will be fine; we will save them, no one will die, then we can go our separate ways and never see each other again."
For some reason, that seemed to upset him a lot. "Never see each other again?" he whispered, horror leaking into his voice.
"Why? Do you want to go with them?" Nothing was stopping him if he wanted.
"Go with who?" he asked, losing his horrified look and instead looking perplexed.
"The other survivors. Who did you think I meant?" Really, what was up with this guy? He was acting even weirder than usual.
"Nothing. Never mind. It doesn't matter."
"Okaaay... So, anything else you want to talk about?"
"How long do you think I can stay with you?" he asked suddenly.
"Huh?" What was THAT supposed to mean?
"If I wanted to keep traveling with you... How long do you think you would let me?"
"What brought this on? Why are you suddenly thinking about the future? We could get eaten today and you want to know whether you can keep following me around?"
Matt blushed, then nodded. What was with his priorities?!
"I want to know."
"What for? Who cares what the answer is? It could change at any time, just on a whim. Why exactly does it matter?" I demanded.
"I... I need to know."
"Why?" I repeated.
Matt took a deep breath. "Because whenever I think about what's going to happen after today, all that seems to matter is that you're with me. I just need to know if you're going to leave me after all this... I just want to know if you'll let me follow you. I don't care if you just let me check up on you every now and then. I just don't want you to leave and never come back."
Oh.
Huh?
"I'll tell you later."
I have never seen Matt look so distraught as he did in that moment. "When? You ARE going to tell me, aren't you?"
"If we make it out of this alive, I'll tell you. Then you'll have your answer."
"So you'll tell me after we save them?"
I nodded. "Yep. If we survive..."
Matt grinned. "Of course we'll survive! I'm not dying today. Although... I still want to know, even if something happens to me."
"Wait, wait, wait. You want me to answer this question even if you're on the ground, dying. THAT's what you want me to say?"
"No, I want you to tell me even if I'm a zombie walking around in the streets. No way am I dying without knowing!" he yelled, startling Lucky and making Milly jump.
"Okay. It's a deal."
"Ah, before I forget, take this with you, just in case." He held out a 9mm handgun, with a filled magazine in his other hand.
"Why do I need a gun?" I asked. They were loud, and their only real use was killing yourself or one or two zombies that were too close for you to get enough leverage to hit them.
"Like I said; just in case," he said, looking much more at ease. "Zombies only, if possible," he added.
"And Milly isn't a zombie?" I just had to make sure.
"Not yet."
Hehehe. Yet. "Okay, zombies only. Got it. Now, let's go save those idiots that got themselves trapped."
Chapter nineteen
Chapter nineteen: horde
I wasn't exactly sure how there could be someone stupid enough to get into this kind of situation, but honestly I was impressed. It wasn't just that they had successfully managed to corner themselves in one of the easiest places for the zombies to hunt, oh no, it was because they had managed to draw even more attention to themselves than they should have.
I was actually at a loss as to how exactly they had managed it. By what I knew of zombies, I had guessed they would have filled the entire block by now, but instead the horde was more than double the size it should have been. Even if they had been throwing people into the horde, I was pretty sure the effect wouldn't be this noticeable.
No, the only way it could have turned out as bad as it had was if they had done something really stupid, like set off an alarm... Or, worse, fired a gun into the crowd of zombies. And from the bodies littered around on the ground underneath their feet, it looked an awful lot like a bunch of zombies had been killed, all in front of their hiding spot. Really, I thought no one could be that dumb. Seems I was wrong.
It seemed the situation was worse than I had thought. This was definitely not a good sign. If they had been running around shooting zombies and drawing attention to themselves, it would only make saving them all that much harder. Ironically, killing zombies in this apocalyptic world only brought you to your death quicker than if you left it alone.
Matt and Milly both stood in shock, unable to move in the sight of such a mass of zombies. It was daunting, even I had to admit, but if we had left it any longer, it would have been even worse. At least now the situation was salvageable. We could still use our plan to save all that was left of the survivors holed up in the building, and once they were free we could avoid them like the plague and hopefully never see them ever again.
From where we stood, standing at the edge of one of the buildings overlooking the shopping centre across the street, we could clearly see the increased barricades set up around the windows and doors. Mostly the barricades, as far as I could see, were only there to lessen the strain on the glass. I doubted it would take long at all for the zombies to get through a few shelves and benches once the glass was gone.
So far, it looked like there was nothing too serious to stop the plan, and even looking at the map, one of the sewers I had marked out would take them well away from even the furthest edges of the horde. Everything else was as predicted and would pose a problem. Really, the only real hurdle we were faced with now was convincing the survivors to listen to us.
This was definitely, without a doubt, going to be the hardest part of our plan, and not just because we would be drawing the zombies' attention to us in the process. There was also the problem of the survivors turning against us. And from what Milly had told us, it was looking more and more likely that this was going to be a serious problem.
Worse was that they probably had at least one gun, which meant that they would be able to shoot at us. And we would not only be in range, but in clear sight as well. All it would take was a shooter with a good aim - or a bad one as the case may be - and we would be killed. A quick death, yes, but still pretty harsh. No one really wanted to survive the zombies only to be killed by fellow survivors.
I glanced at Matt, and without so much as a gesture to tell him what I wanted him to do, he nodded and pulled the scope off his rifle. He studied the building opposite us for a few minutes before carefully reattaching the scope.
"They've set up a camp for the shooter. There's no one there at the moment that I can see, but they've been there recently at least..." Matt said, a troubled look on his face.
"So we have to keep an eye out for the shooter?!" Milly demanded, annoyance merely increasing from her bad mood from earlier.
"It's to be expected," I replied, shrugging. Was it really unexpected that survivors would be distrustful to strangers?
"Are you sure we have to save them," she asked. Matt was nodding in agreement beside her.
&nbs
p; "Which would you prefer; zombies or survivors?"
They both grimaced. Matt sighed. "It depends on the survivor," he said simply. He had that look again, a mixture of embarrassment and something else I couldn't quite name. Well, he was a weird one.
"I don't know about you guys, but after this, I plan to never see them again. And personally I prefer the survivors that are just going to avoid us than the zombies that will follow us and never leave us alone. I like my personal space, no matter how nice the person is."
They both fell silent and looked at me with identical looks of disdain and... I would have to call it tolerance. They really looked like they were thinking to themselves 'don't kill him, don't kill him' and possibly counting to ten, and taking deep breaths. Why did everyone always look at me like that? What did I do?
"Zombies aren't nice," Matt explained when he saw my confusion.
"Duh." What was wrong with these people? Did they just suddenly decide to join the rest of us in the apocalypse? "That's why we're going to go save those poor, helpless, crazy people."
Milly rolled her eyes and Matt just shook his head. "Whatever," they said unanimously.
Chapter twenty
Chapter twenty: negotiation
As we had already decided, Milly became our representative for the negotiations over the plan with the survivors. There were some pretty simple reasons for her being chosen as our diplomat, mainly; Matt was our sniper, and I... Well, I was antisocial and rude. Not very good qualities in a diplomat. Milly, although she was not on good terms with the survivors, was very convincing when she wanted to be.
Apparently, she didn't want to be.
We all stood crouched on the building facing theirs, with Matt lying down with his rifle aimed at the roof where they had set up their little sniper campsite. Milly was staring down at the street, and she kept gulping. I assumed it was from the fear of the zombies that were gathered below us. We were fairly close to the horde, so it was completely rational to be scared.
Milly had a set of the biggest speakers she had found - and the highest quality - on either side of her, connected to the microphone she gripped uncertainly in her hand. I wasn't sure exactly why she was uncertain, but I had my suspicions, and they continued to grow as I kept an eye on her while keeping track of the living dead that staggered in the streets.
