The Last Legacy (Season 1): Episodes 1-10

by Lavati, Taylor

  I got up and paced. I watched the door and waited for Jim to return. I ran my hand through my knotted hair and tried to think this through in a rational manner. How dare he raise his hand at me? I kicked the bed and fell face first into it. He was my last hope. I had absolutely nothing now. I had to get out of here. I couldn’t trust Jim anymore.

  I ran to the window and undid the latch. We were still on the first floor so I could easily jump and make it out in one piece. I had only a few minutes. I had to make the choice now, or else I’d be stuck.

  I ran to the dresser and grabbed the lantern from the corner. I needed better shoes than my slippers. I tugged open a random door and found a pair of boots on the floor. They were too big, but they’d have to work. My breath came faster as I moved frantically. I grabbed a jacket off the hanger and ran to the window. I turned.

  Did I really want to go? Would I be better off alone or with Jim? I didn’t know the answer to those questions. But I’d rather take my chances than be stuck, raped, and killed. I had to look out for myself. I had one leg out the window when the door swung open. I quickly put down the lantern and acted casual.

  “Where do you think you’re going, sweets?” The voice was immediately recognizable. Jim’s brother. My entire body tensed, my stomach bottomed out. He shut the door and pushed his way into the room. I stepped backwards until the backs of my knees hit the bed. My heart leapt into my chest as scenarios ran through my mind. Did he know I was leaving? Did he want me dead? Was he going to rape me?

  “Were you trying to escape?” He grabbed my arm and held it in the air. His fingers enclosed my wrist as he held so hard the blood cut off. My fingers started to go numb. I tried to pull my arm back, but this only prompted him to grab my other hand and hold me in place.

  “I wasn’t leaving. Just looking for Jim.” I yanked my arm back again, using my body weight to pull, but he countered it. I didn’t want to upset him, afraid it would send him off the edge, but I wanted my damn arm back. I needed to maintain control of the situation. I couldn’t get emotional. If I could manipulate him long enough, Jim could come back and save me. He had to.

  “Jim’s busy. And we will be too in a second.” John shoved me down on the bed and quickly followed me down, pressing his heavy weight against my stomach. His acid breath bit at my nose, and I gagged.

  “Jim!” I screamed.

  John clamped his hand over my mouth and with the other hand slapped me across the face. I sucked in a pained breath. His hand roamed down my body. His glassed-over aqua eyes met mine and narrowed. I quickly turned my head to the side, searching for a weapon or exit, but it was getting darker and I didn’t know where to look. I hadn’t had enough time to explore, too focused on escaping.

  “Now, listen,” he said as he reached between my legs. He grunted as he tugged at something. Only he wasn’t reaching for me. My stomach twisted as fear grew within me. I squirmed but his strength overpowered me. He started to undo his belt, the buckle clicking as he flipped it. His zipper zipped downwards, the metal grating. I kicked my legs and used my free arm to punch him on the chest.

  “Oh, you’re a feisty one. I can see why Jim was keeping you all for himself.” He leaned down and licked the side of my face, leaving a trail of slime down my cheek. His pointer finger found my lips and started rubbing my lower one, pinching it, too. I sucked the disgusting finger into my mouth and bit down hard until I tasted metallic blood.

  “You stupid bitch!” he yelled. He pulled backwards and I used the opening to roll of the side of the bed. I didn’t have time to think. Only react.

  “Jim!” I screamed again, this time louder. I ran straight for the door, but the asshole beat me there. John grabbed the back of my head and spun me around by my long brown hair. He shoved me against the door with a bang and used his hips to pin me as I tried to free my hair from his grasp. My head slammed against the wood, my vision spotting. I cried out as my body slumped, held up by him alone. Pain ricocheted from my temples down to my toes.

  His hand pulled my shirt up and over my head in one motion. I was left in just my black bra. I fought with my hands and legs to get free so I could cover myself, but this man had a good seventy pounds on me. I was completely vulnerable and useless. No matter how much I wriggled, nothing worked. I cried again, the flicker of hope inside me dying. My body shook as I admitted defeat.

  “Please,” I begged as he fumbled around my stomach. His stubby fingers poked at my belly button as he tried to undo my pants with one hand. He struggled to get them down over my hips.

  “Now you want to play nice?” The man smiled, and I could smell his vodka-tainted breath again. He leaned forward and kissed me on the lips. I pulled my head backwards and tilted my face to the side to get out of range of his lips, but this only made him use his hand to pin my head in place by my forehead. I squeezed my eyes shut so I didn’t have to see him.

  I cried Jim’s name as his brother’s hand explored me. Salty tears trickled down my hot cheeks. My body shook with my sobs. He had my neck in one hand and held me against the hard wood door. He pressed hard, cutting off my air supply.

  I couldn’t do a damn thing except hope that Jim would come save me. It was like Jim was my own version of God, and my last dying breaths were wishing and praying on his return. I sobbed his name again and saw anger flash before his brother’s eyes. I knew I’d made a mistake.

  “Shut the hell up.” John slapped me in the face, hitting me right at the corner of my mouth. I tasted blood and spit it in the man’s face. I smiled as the speckles dripped off his nose. “You think we haven’t done this before? Stop fucking saying his name.” He wiped his face, spreading my blood all over.

  “Jim is nothing like you.”

  “Jim is exactly like me.”

  “He’s way better than you,” I taunted as my face pressed against the wood door. I knew I wouldn’t get out alive. But I had to play all of my cards before giving up. If I could get this guy angry, he would slip up, make a mistake. And I’d use that to my advantage.

  “My baby brother is half the man I am. And I’ll prove it. Now, shut the hell up so I can finish this.” With a hand on my neck, he bent down and started to drag my jeans down my legs. I wanted to knee him in the gut, or even the face. But I knew that if I did, I’d only get it worse. I sobbed as my pants landed at my ankles.

  A knock sounded at the door. I pulled my head back, hopeful that it was Jim coming back for me. My heart raced as the man above me huffed, his breath making my hair flip out of my eyes. He stood up straight, his grip on me loosening.

  He tugged me backwards, gripping me against his chest. His hand covered my mouth. He dragged me backwards away from the door and cracked it open. He peeked through, leaving me stuck behind the door, wriggling. I wanted to scream for Jim, but the man’s salty hand blocked me from ear to ear.

  “What the fuck do you want?” Jim’s brother ground out.

  “There’s Infected by the outer wall. What do you want us to do?”

  I didn’t recognize the voice. It was probably one of the men from the living room. He had an oddly plain voice—typical male with nothing unique about it. But he sounded scared, unlike the other men so far, who were confident. I tried to peek through the door, but John’s grip around my waist tightened, digging into my lower ribs.

  “Kill them. What else?”

  “It’s just…there’s more than we’ve ever seen before. Like almost a herd of them, all walking together.”

  “Kill them,” the man said very slowly, enunciating every last letter for us. My skin prickled. The person behind the door retreated, his footsteps getting quieter by the second. My heart sank knowing that we’d be alone again in a few seconds. Panic set in, my breathing picking up. Jim wasn’t coming back for me. The truth digging in my bones, and I gave up trying.

  “Dumb asses.” He shut the door and locked it, mumbling under his breath. The click of the lock rang with finality, the severity of my situation strong, my hopes bleak. He grabbed
the back of my neck and shoved me against the door. I groaned as my vision blurred, blackening around the edges. He looked down at me with a wrinkled brow, like I wasn’t good enough for him.

  “Your tears have gone and ruined your face.” He cocked his head to the side and ran his finger down the side of my jaw. He stuck his pointer in his mouth, dramatizing his disgustingness as his tongue poked out to lick the wetness around his near-black nail. He smiled, flashing those perfect teeth again.

  “Lay face down,” he said as his face transformed into what could only be described as pure evil. He spun me around so my back was to the window and shoved me forward. I yelped as the jeans around my ankles tripped me, my ass completely exposed as I face planted into the mattress. I pulled my knees to my chest and reached down for my pants, but before I could do anything, he slapped my lower back. With hands around my waist, he pinned me down, and no matter how hard I kicked, he wouldn’t budge.

  “Jim!” I screamed his name again like a prayer—a dying hope. He’d taken too long. I now doubted he was coming for me. The fact that this could be a game was becoming a real possibility. I was stupid to believe that he’d leave this safe house and his brother for some random girl like me. I knew better from years of self-preservation. Yet that naive, want-to-believe-in-good part of me prevailed.

  The man’s hands grabbed my wrists. Something plastic wrapped around them, digging into where my pulse thumped. He yanked them together behind my back. I cried as he tugged tight. My wrists burned as I was bound by more zip ties.

  “Shut up or I’ll stuff your dirty mouth, too.”

  My face dug into the mattress, my breathing clipped. His hairy legs pressed at the back of my butt. My entire body trembled with repulsion. He grabbed my ass and squeezed it hard. I tried to roll over, but his hands on my hips pushed me down. He leaned forward, his breath hot on my lower back.

  “Stop, please,” I begged. I wasn’t strong. I wouldn’t be able to survive something like this. He kissed my butt cheek, and I cried out harder. He pulled back, coolness hitting my back, and I widened my eyes. Maybe he would take pity on me.

  But then his open hand slapped over my ass making my entire body ignite in shivers and bumps. My butt lit up with heat, a stinging extending down to my toes. He stuck his face between my cheeks and inhaled. I fought the urge to vomit and swallowed the knot in my throat.

  Someone knocked at the door. I twisted my head to the side and tried to look through the tears clouding my vision. The familiar click of the lock sounded. The man jumped off of me, the pressure of his body vanishing. I heard him yank his pants back up, the belt jingling with each movement. Something hit the wall, maybe the door. I prayed it was the fucking door. He stomped away from me, muttering something I couldn’t hear under his breath.

  “Shit,” he said. There was a loud bang behind me that I couldn’t see. I brought my knees to my chest and despite the fact that it made me more vulnerable, I was able to maneuver onto my back so I could see them.

  “I said she was mine, and I fucking meant it.”

  I exhaled in pure elation at the sound of his voice. My entire being relaxed and released. The tension inside of me disappeared. He came back for me. I fought more tears from expelling.

  “Quit being a pussy. She’s the bitch, and in this house, we share.”

  “I’m not sharing her. I made that clear.”

  Jim growled—a sound that I was convinced wasn’t human. Jim’s closed fist flew towards his brother. Something touched my bare foot from near the window. I yelled and rolled off the bed. My head banged against the hard floor. I flipped myself over and scooted backwards until my back hit the door of the bathroom.

  Lit up by the candles alone, I watched Jim and his brother fight. His brother had him by the neck, larger in muscles and height. John shoved Jim backwards into the desk. Candles went flying, some fell on the floor while others tipped onto their sides, immediately igniting the papers in red flames.

  Jim bent down and grabbed the desk chair from where it had toppled to the floor. I saw the eaters first. They came in through the hallway door, the pair barely fitting together.

  “Look out!” I screamed. My eyes darted to the entry way where Jim’s brother stabbed an eater in the face with the back of his gun.

  Jim swung the chair in a circle and dropped it over the head of the eater closest to him. He stomped the leg of the chair, dismantling it. With the jagged end of the chair leg, he stabbed it right between the eater’s eyes. The crack rang through the room.

  My heart raced in my chest as the smell of smoke made me cough. The flames grew, the smoke in the room heavy. Candles fell off the desk as Jim was shoved backwards by the other eater. He grabbed the rest of the chair from the ground and dropped it over the head of an Infected person.

  I was too busy watching Jim take out the eater to notice the others in the room. I had no idea where they were coming from, but I didn’t have a chance to think more. My stomach fell.

  An eater lunged for me, palms out. His growl was more of a scream. I kicked my legs and pushed the infected man away from me. But he refused to quit. His eyes glowed neon red where the white was supposed to be and black in the middle. Blood coated his face and fingers, dripping down his chin like drool. My stomach twisted and spun, making me nauseous.

  His teeth chomped with a loud cracking sound as he crawled along the floor. Black smoke clouded his face, the room lit up in oranges from the flames near the desk.

  He reminded me of an animal, crying and screaming at me. Nothing in the eater’s eyes made me think he was human. They were empty, emotionless. They saw nothing. I kicked the eater in the face, his jaw dangling from the rest of his head. But he wasn’t deterred at all. He spun back towards me and moaned. He was unstoppable.

  “Jim!” I screamed as I kicked again. I couldn’t even get up, my tied hands like an anchor to the floor. My eyes darted around the room, looking for a weapon I could utilize, but there were none.

  My rapist smiled from the doorway, standing there with his arms crossed over his chest, a dead eater at his feet. He didn’t move to help me. He wanted me to die right here. He wanted this eater to eat me alive. Our eyes clicked, and I held him, glaring. If I was going to die, he didn’t deserve to see my fear.

  A sound from beside me made me cut my connection with Jim’s brother. Jim landed in front of me after bouncing over the bed. He grabbed the eater by the back of its neck and pushed his face into the stained carpet. Jim dug his boot into the eater’s face, stomping it over and over. The skull collapsed in on itself, squishing. Blood seeped from the broken head onto my bare feet, making my insides squirm.

  “Are you all right?” Jim lifted me into his arms and hugged me. He pushed me back away from him and spun me around. In a beat, my hands were unbound. He gazed down at me for one second and faced his brother.

  I coughed as the air in my lungs filled with smoke. Half of the room was now engulfed in flames. My heart leaped in my chest. We had to get out of here or we’d burn alive.

  “Look what you’ve done.” Jim’s brother shook his head with disgust as he leaned against the door frame. “You’ve fucked up the one thing we had going for us. We can’t make it a day without a shelter!” He laughed manically, gesturing around the room. Jim stepped backwards, his hand on my forearm.

  “We can find another.” Jim raised his hands in surrender, speaking to his brother like he was a wounded animal. I hung onto the back of Jim’s shirt. I glanced to the side, inching towards the front of the room. We had to leave. Now. There wasn’t time to waste.

  “It’s not over, John. We can fix this. Don’t do anything rash. Eaters are all over the front gate.” Jim’s tone was melodic, soothing even—like a lullaby.

  “I hope you burn before the eaters finish you.” John held out a key, smiled, and ran. He slammed the door shut. My breath caught, the smoke making my throat scratchy. Something banged on the other side of the wall. Jim ran to the door and jiggled the handle.


  “What the fuck?” he yelled as he kicked and punched it. He ran into it with his shoulder, trying to pry it open, but with each attempt, I knew we were trapped. I covered my mouth with my hand and tried to breathe, but the air was too thick. I coughed again, my lungs struggling to hold clean air.

  “God damn it!” Jim ran past me into the bathroom. He shouted something I couldn’t understand. Drawers opened and slammed as I stood with my hands over my face, trying to come up with a plan. He exited the bathroom with his arms full of random things. I glanced at the opposite side of the bed, where the fire now spread onto the sheets. He grabbed a bag from his closet and pulled out clothes from his dresser.

  “Jim?” I touched his back, not knowing what to do. He whipped around, staring at me with wild eyes. I jumped back, turning my head in case he hit me.

  “We’re going to have to jump out the window and run. If we don’t, we’ll burn or be eaten alive. There was a hoard of over twenty eaters by the front gate. Luckily, this room faces southeast.” His words were clipped as he filled the bag.

  “What can I do?” I had nothing to my name. I looked down at myself and realized that in all the scramble I hadn’t even put my shirt back on or buttoned my pants. I quickly fixed myself and took a long black shirt from the dresser.

  The room felt a hundred degrees, my entire back covered in a pool of sweat. My body shook as I tried to bite back my sobs. It was life or death. I tucked the too-big shirt into my pants as I ran to the window.

  “Here,” he said as he shoved a mask in my hand. I looked down at the thing and wondered how I’d even be able to breathe through it. It was black with two bug eyes. The mouth had a breathing vent with two circles on each side. I’d never seen something like it in person, only movies.

  “Is the virus airborne?” I asked as I positioned the mask over my face. It took me a few seconds to get used to the weight pressing against my face. The mask was too big for me, but Jim reached over and tightened it so it wouldn’t fall off. He shoved me towards the window when it was on correctly.