by Travis Tufo
“Hey…cool.” Eli said looking out of the room down the hallway.
“Just put it on, already. I’m sick of looking at those damn cuts and bruises,” Aurora said with a grin.
“I…uh…yeah, alright.” Eli pulled on the grey t-shirt. It had white writing on it that read: “Just do it.”
“I guess this fits as much as anything else.” He sank back into his seat.
“Eli, what are you having Kyle help you with tomorrow?” a curious Niva asked from her bed.
“Ohh, I just wanted him to take me into town tomorrow to take care of some unfinished business.” He was keeping to himself on the subject. Niva laughed.
“What are you—some kind of secret agent or something? Or perhaps you have some groceries to get?” she said with a smile. Eli, however, didn’t respond.
“Eli? Are you alright?” she asked again, staring at his blank face.
“Niva, I think we’ll know whatever it is soon enough, but for now, let’s just relax,” Aurora cut in.
“Ohh, okay! I’m too nosey anyway,” she smiled, sharing it with Eli.
“Kyle knows something we don’t know,” Aurora broke the brief silence that followed Eli not answering Niva. Eli looked to her questioningly.
“What do you mean?” Niva asked.
“Well, you’ve heard him. He knows about some safe place to go and he doesn’t want to tell us.”
“That’s right! Why is he keeping it a secret from us?” Niva got upset.
“We need to make him tell us! That could be a place that would keep us alive,” Aurora said.
“Yeah, who is he to keep something like that from us?” Niva answered. The girls went back and forth, getting more and more upset at the thought of Kyle keeping this utopia from them.
“He’s allowed a secret,” Eli finally stepped in. His response shocked both of the girls.
“Eli, you can’t be serious!” Aurora said aggressively.
“What? This man’s done so much for us already,” he replied.
“Eli, don’t go getting soft on us now. We need you to be a leader! Sure, he took us in for the night and gave us a good meal, but what will that equate to when he leaves us for dead going to the only place that might possibly matter? Eli, I can’t handle it anymore, suck up your good-guy complex and toughen the fuck up!” Aurora was borderline lashing out at Eli, who just sat there and took it in. Niva was too frightened to say anything.
“Say something!” she roared at him, but to no avail. He just continued to sit there, staring right through her. She was getting furious to the point where she stood up and walked over to him. Now, face to face, she let out more hateful comments and demands. She closed her mouth and clenched her jaw tight. She was moments away from opening her mouth one last time when Eli very quickly kissed her square on the lips. She was so surprised by the act that she didn’t even have time to kiss back. The anger melted from her face and she stood straight up. Her entire face blushed crimson.
“Uh…what…,” Aurora said as Niva was giggling in the corner.
“I knew it,” Niva whispered under her breath.
“What…what the hell was that?” She yelled at him, pretending to be angry, but it was clear that was the last emotion she was experiencing. Eli merely replied with a smile. The next thing he knew she threw her lips into his and returned the kiss, this time it was a mutual experience. Her soft lips pressing against his was the greatest feeling he’d had since before he could remember. Their momentary kiss felt like an eternity and Eli hated it when she finally pulled away. They stood there staring into each other’s eyes. There was a real connection made, but they weren’t taking it any further with Niva there.
“You guys are literally too cute,” Niva laughed, feeling giddy.
“Shut up or I’ll literally kill you,” Aurora snapped back. Eli laughed and Niva laughed, but deep down they knew she was partly serious. Aurora just radiated killer vibes. The rest of the day went on with Eli and Aurora cuddled up on the nice chair and Niva relaxing on her own bed. They all talked together and at one point Eli got up and cleaned the guns the best he could with what was around. Nothing but relaxing happened that night. Hours flew by in this seemingly perfect escape from the reality outside. When it finally became late enough, the three of them slept. Kameron, and even Kyle, after his long nap, slept through the night quietly in their rooms. Eli was the first to awaken from his group, but when he made it downstairs, he saw that Kyle was already wide awake, and had been for at least a few hours.
“What time is it?” Eli asked still rubbing the crusts from his barely open eyes.
“Time to go out and have some fun, I reckon,” Kyle said steadily. Eli gave him a cold, exhausted stare.
“Seriously?”
“Seriously indeed, friend. Who’s going to pass these poor souls on if not for us? And plus, we still have your task to do.” Eli wasn’t awake enough to hide his resentment at being asked to join Kyle’s holy cause.
“Oh, I’ll tell you what, you baby,” Kyle continued, trying to reason with Eli.
“What? We don’t go after all?” Eli asked.
“No!” Kyle chuckled.
“It’s too early for jokes, Eli. But I say we do your little project first, and that way I can probably pass a few forsaken along the way. Deal?” Kyle, with his seemingly always smiling mug, extended out his large hand. Eli paused and really thought about what was about to happen, to the best of his ability that early in the morning. He hated the thought of leaving already, but what the hell?
“Deal.” Eli embraced the strong handshake.
“Good! Let me go grab some things from the basement. And hey, who knows, maybe those forsaken are as bad at mornings as you.” Kyle trotted downstairs and was back before Eli fully comprehended the sentence. Kyle returned with a heavy bag, much like a rucksack that a military man might carry.
“What’s in there?” Eli was curious.
“You’ll just have to wait and see, you nosey one,” Kyle ribbed. Eli rolled his eyes.
“Fine, let me go grab my gun.” Eli ran upstairs and grabbed his bag full of bullets and put his handgun in his pocket. He was at the doorway when he stopped and looked back to Aurora. She was sound asleep. Who would believe such an intense badass could look so sweet and innocent in her sleep? A warm grin crept onto his face. He slowly walked up to her and placed a small kiss on her forehead. In his head he whispered, “Just in case,” then he left the room and met up with Kyle in the living room.
“All ready, I see.” Kyle seemed eager.
“As ready as I’ll ever be for what’s out there.”
“I think I’ll drive, you know, since you could still use a bit of waking up.” Eli grinned at the joke.
“Well, I can’t complain about that.” Eli liked the idea of riding shotgun.
“Oh, and Eli…” Kyle left his sentence unfinished.
“What is it?”
“Just do it.” A wink found its way to Kyle’s eye. Eli at first just stared blankly at Kyle, not understanding what the hell he was talking about. It actually took Kyle pointing to Eli’s shirt for him to get it. Eli looked down and read the message on his shirt.
“Ohhh, funny guy,” Eli grumbled. They headed to the reinforced truck.
“So you’ve never have any attacks on this land, huh?” Eli said as he stepped out into the beautiful, yet chilly, outside world. He glanced at the cloud of smoke lingering from Kyle’s bonfire.
“None thus far, and I intend on keeping it that way. I’d like to believe the constant fire over there keeps them at bay, but who knows really.” Kyle started the engine.
“Wow, that’s amazing. I feel like nothing has been untouched by this plague.”
“Some things just weren’t meant to be abused by the rapture,” Kyle said as he started to drive through the dense woods to get back to the main road.
“So where are we heading anyway there, Captain?” Kyle asked. Eli watched to see if Kyle’s expression would change.
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“Walmart.” Kyle’s expression did in fact switch. It nearly dropped, but it quickly switched back into a grin.
“I hope this isn’t a shopping trip I’m taking you on, because that’s a pretty dangerous store to just run in and grab some snacks.”
“No, no. I…” Eli choked up a little, not near crying, but he just had a hard time talking about Shaun.
“…I lost a friend here and I left the body.”
“I see. And what exactly would you like to do with said body?”
“Well, I’ve been thinking long and hard about it, and I want to put it into your fire. You know, if you think that’d be alright?” Eli asked. Kyle smiled a great big smile.
“Eli, I think that is a great idea. But, let me now ask you a question.”
“What?”
“What made you come to that decision? I mean, when I talk to you about my beliefs I can see it deep within you that you disagree, or at least you’re skeptical.” Eli smirked.
“I knew you’d ask that. I don’t know, man, really. I just see that what you’re doing has a good reason behind it, and if it does turn out to be the truth, I know that no one deserves to have their ashes spread more than Shaun.”
“I will make it my goal to obtain and deliver your friend’s body.” Kyle pulled a fast and sharp U-turn and gunned it straight for Walmart. The reckless driving really woke Eli up. The hour long trip was cut down to half an hour with Kyle’s driving. He nearly spun off the road, took out signs, broke mirrors off the side of cars, and even almost drove right into a large pack of infected. It was one of the more frightening things Eli had ever experienced in life. When they pulled into the parking lot, Eli was hit with flashbacks of that night.
“You said I saved you from this Walmart, correct?” Kyle asked, stopping the car at the end of the parking lot and surveying the area for infected who might have seen the truck. He didn’t see anything coming for them, but there was sure to be a trail of them following soon after.
“Yeah, that night you came flying by honking your horn! We were in there, didn’t you realize someone needed help?”
“Oh no, I mean, I had an idea something was going on since it was so busy here, but really, I just saw a horde and wanted to get their attention. I guess I’m pretty glad I came by when I did.”
“Yeah! You and me both.”
“I really have been a hero for you guys, huh?” Kyle meant that to be nothing more than a joke, though it was nothing less than the truth.
“Alright, Batman let’s just get this over with,” Eli teased back as he jumped out of the truck and got into a crouch.
“Batman? I like that.” Kyle too, got out and followed behind Eli. There were plenty of infected still there from that night, some shambling around and others standing straight up, almost in a type of stasis.
“I hate to ask,” Kyle said softly, “because I know the answer already, but where might his body be located?” Kyle looked ahead to the large group of infected circled around the front of the store. Eli was less than excited to get to them.
“The front of the store, you know, inside, past these nice shoppers,” he replied.
“Ahh, perhaps next time I’ll keep my mouth shut.” They jumped from car to car avoiding all confrontation, until they reached the last row of parked cars before the entrance.
“I assume one of us should make a distraction,” Kyle said as he looked to the horde just a few yards away. Eli shrugged.
“We have to do something.” Eli never took his eyes off the infected pact, but he could hear some shuffling behind him. It was Kyle messing with something in his backpack. Kyle pulled out some type of cooking device and started to adjust the settings.
“Kyle! This is hardly the time for a damned sandwich!” Eli had never whisper-yelled so loudly yet so quietly in his life. Kyle simply gave Eli a dumb look. Then he went back to his machine. After a few more seconds he stood up and threw what looked to be a pot with a lid on it to the left of the entrance about twenty feet away. One infected was interested and decided to go see what it was, hoping it was something to feast on.
“Good job, you got one!” Eli rolled his eyes in sarcasm. Then Kyle reached back into his bag of goodies and pulled out an old metal alarm clock.
“I assume that will tell us when your sandwich is done?” Eli was on a roll.
“If you shut your lips I’ll show you firsthand what I’m doing,” Kyle replied briskly. Eli shushed up and sat back watching, expecting the worst. Kyle twisted the alarm to go off in only a few seconds. He pulled back and aimed at the pot he’d tossed earlier, then he threw the set alarm and crouched back down so that he could watch it land. The alarm landed right next to the pot. Kyle turned his hands to fists in excitement, then proceeded to crouch down beside Eli and cover his ears. Eli was beyond confused at this point as another two infected left the crowd to go see what all the noise was.
“I see, we just keep throwing random objects till they all leave the front door. Brilliant!” Eli was about to smile but the alarm started going off, scaring him half to death. Just the sound left his chest tight in fear. Kyle saw this and chuckled. Next thing Eli knew, he was watching the entire horde march towards the cooking device and the ringing alarm.
“I finally get it!” Eli roared, almost loud enough for the infected to hear.
“You do?” Kyle was surprised.
“Yes! The infected hate mornings!” Kyle only rolled his eyes and tightened his fingers in his ears. In moments the group of more than thirty infected crowded around the two devices, so close they were all touching. The alarm stopped and this seemed to anger them. They started to roar and hiss, but not for long. Just a few seconds after the alarm had finished, the cooking device exploded. A loud crack could be heard echoing in the sky and Eli watched as nearly every part of every infected was shredded into little bits of blood, gore, and fungus. The explosion caught him off guard, sending him tumbling to the ground and leaving a ringing in his ears. That side of Walmart had just gotten a fresh new paint job.
“What the hell!” Eli yelled.
“Let’s go! Now!” Kyle yelled as he jumped up and grabbed Eli. Together they ran through the smoke that was still settling. Kyle had acted so fast that he was also running through a bloody mist that still lingered in the air. Tiny droplets of blood and organs attached to their clothing as they ran through the mayhem.
“Kyle, what the hell was that?” Eli was in shock. He was still yelling, partly because he was scared, but also because the ringing in his ears gave him no idea how loud he was.
“Later, Eli! Where’s the body?” Kyle was rushing to get away before the rest of the surrounding infected outside and in the store came to them. Together they stood like ducks in the entry way, Eli trying to get a grip. Kyle grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him.
“Eli! Now!” Eli snapped out of it and began running to where he thought he would find Shaun. Stumbling over bodies, Eli suddenly got tunnel vision and instantly locked his gaze on Shaun’s corpse.
“There he is!” Eli threw out a pointing finger. Kyle pulled a bat from his backpack. It wasn’t an ordinary bat; it had very large screws drilled into it. He also pulled out a large bottle filled with a brownish liquid and put it in his pocket.
“Get his body and I’ll deal with these lost ones.” Kyle referred to the three infected coming towards them from the side. Eli sprinted towards Shaun, who was far past his sell by date. Kyle charged head first towards the three infected, meeting them in a hard clash. His tremendous strength could be seen in each step he landed on the tiled Walmart flooring. He sent one of the three tumbling onto the ground with the butt of his bat. Before finishing off the fungal infected man, he diverted his attention to the second one, once a shapely woman. She seemed to be far more infected than the others, showing much less skin and having other types of mushrooms and vegetation growing on her. He lifted his spiked bat high into the air and sent it crashing down towards the ground with mighty force, letting out
a roar of his own to counter the screeching from infected woman. The wide end of the bat, the sweet spot to a baseball player, made forceful contact with the top of her skull. The strength of his swing looked like it would have dented the earth itself, and the only thing standing in its way was her head. The second they collided, her cranium split apart and flung out pink goop in every direction. It was like someone had lit dynamite in her skull. She immediately collapsed, spilling her own viscera and spores all over the infected that was previously knocked to the floor, and pinning him straight to the ground. Kyle looked up to the last infected which was closing in on him fast. He took his hand and ran it through his beard, pulling out a grotesque amount of brains. He then locked eyes with the last infected, a young boy. Kyle was hesitant at first.
“May this rest your wiry soul, my child.” Kyle cocked the bat back like he was about to swing at a fastball in a Major League game.
“Bottom of the ninth!” he yelled into the air, catching Eli’s attention. The infected boy crept closer.
“Bases loaded!” he roared. Eli was no longer paying attention, but the infected boy was nearly there.
“Two outs, and down by three,” Kyle whispered as he took one step in the direction of the infected child, and with a tremendous amount of force he threw his whole body into the swing. There was enough power in that move to score a home run with a bowling ball. The bat, once again with its sweet spot, cracked right across the boy’s temple. His entire head exploded, much like the woman before him. What happened next to his head could be compared to dropping a pumpkin from a skyscraper. Bits flew everywhere and Kyle even managed to send half of the kid’s skull across the store to land in the cosmetics aisle.
“Grand slam,” he whispered under his breath. He cocked his head to see Eli quaking over his fallen friend. Shaun’s lifeless corpse was lying right where he had been slaughtered, but it seemed that he had been drained of most of the blood from his body.
