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

by Lavati, Taylor

  I sat down hard on the floor and cried. My entire body ached, preparation for the torture that was no doubt going to come. I couldn’t let this happen. I had been a slave to the system for most of my life. I wouldn’t allow it again. I just wouldn’t. I had to do something. And crying wasn’t helping in the slightest.

  I wiped the tears off my face hard, letting my anger materialize. The uneasiness in my stomach just wouldn’t fade away. As I stumbled out of the room, I vomited into a corner. It was too dark to see it, and we’d be long gone before the smell bothered us. My head was fuzzy, random memories and thoughts zipping around, torturing me.

  We had to run. I had no doubt John was still going to kill them. Probably Marcus would be murdered, same as Gavin. Jim might be able to convince them to keep Gabe since he was strong and educated. They’d fuck with Scarlet and Sandra, just like they’d fuck with me.

  We might as well die at the hands of eaters. Hell, I’d rather go out that way. I ran down the stairs, trying not to make too much noise. I couldn’t alert the men down the road of what was happening.

  I woke Gabe first. I shook his shoulder until he darted up with a knife in his hands. His eyes softened when he saw it was me, but then taking in my appearance, he glanced around, worried.

  “What’s going on?” he whispered as he stood up from the love seat beneath the front window.

  “We don’t have much time.” I was unable to hide the panic in my voice. “The men we saw last night know Jim. It’s his brother. I don’t know if Jim’s with them or not. They’re going to take the women and rape them, and kill anyone else. I just listened to them talking. Jim’s down the road with them having a drink. We have to leave.”

  Gabe put his hands on my shoulders to settle me down. I shook my head since he wasn’t understanding the severity of the situation. We literally didn’t have time to waste. We had to get the fuck out of there.

  “Explain it again,” Gabe said very slowly, like I was stupid or slow.

  “We’re going to be raped and killed if we don’t get the fuck out of here. Now!” I widened my eyes, the tears spilling again. Marcus was going to lose it. Same as Scarlet. “The men who raped Scarlet are coming for us in the morning. We’re dead if we don’t leave.”

  “Where are we going to go?” He ran his hand down his face and let out an exasperated sigh. He let go of me and walked to the front door, peeking through the cardboard to make sure it was clear.

  “Anywhere. We just need to leave now.”

  “There’s a fire station two miles, maybe more, up the road. It’s the opposite way as the guys’ house. We could get there and then down to the boat. Does that work?”

  “Anything away from here at least gives us a chance.”

  “Okay.” Gabe kissed my forehead and ran into the living room. Gavin had already woke, most likely because of our hushed whispers. He looked at me behind Gabe with curious eyes.

  “We are in danger,” Gabe said loud enough for the entire crew to hear. I bit the inside of my cheek as I clasped my hands in front of me, picking at my cuticles. I stood in the background like a scared scorned child. Gavin woke Scarlet and Sandra.

  “The men that hurt Scarlet are here. We don’t have much time. But we can make it out alive if we hurry. We’re going to a fire station a few miles up the road. We’ll break into two groups so we’re not as loud. Does everyone understand?” A beat of pure silence was all it took to understand how horrible this night had become. And to think we had just started talking about staying here for good. I made these people hope, and I crushed it by trusting Jim. I shook my head.

  “I know where the fire station is,” Sandra said as she rolled her sleeping bag. She didn’t look scared like Scarlet, who already began crying off to the side. She was stronger, more mature. She did well under pressure, and maybe it was because of her past.

  “Perfect,” Gabe said as he fastened his backpack over his shoulders, clasping the lock over his chest. “Sandra, you take Scarlet and Gavin. We’ll take Marcus. We’ll go the street way, you all through the woods. It’ll be safer.”

  With my sleeping bag and backpack, I ran into the kitchen and shoved cans and bottles into whatever empty space I could find. I knew it was a bad idea to unpack like this. Scarlet soon joined me, and in two minutes flat, the food was packed.

  “We’ll be okay,” Scarlet said as she placed her hand on my forearm. I nodded despite the fact that I strongly believed her to be wrong. She herself had sensed the danger that had come. I ran to the living room and woke Marcus, who was sleeping as soundly as the dead.

  “What’s wrong?” Marcus muttered as he awakened.

  “We’re leaving. I have all your things. Just put on your shoes, buddy.” He rubbed his eyes, moving too slowly for my liking. But he did what he was told. He pulled his way-too-big jacket over his shoulders and grabbed my hand.

  We stood, waiting for Gavin and Gabriel and Sandra to be ready. I didn’t know how much time had passed, but I knew we were running out of it. Gabe was last to be ready, but finally he nodded, and we all dispersed.

  Scarlet, Sandra, and Gavin went out the back door. It shut with a quiet whisper, and I nodded to Gabe. We were going out the front and walking between houses, closer to the road. If we were caught, we were screwed. But at least it wouldn’t be all of us.

  “Be super quiet, okay, buddy? We need you for just a few more minutes.” Marcus looked up with his emerald green eyes and nodded. The look on his face made me want to cry it was so innocent. But Gabe opened the door, and the race began. I couldn’t worry about how terrible a life this was for Marcus or how he’d never see his family.

  Gabe held up his hand in a stop position and peeked out the front door. The road sounded and felt deserted. There was no yellow light or loud yelling. Nothing like when I saw the men dancing in the street. It felt safe. But I knew that wasn’t true.

  Gabe nodded at Marcus and me. I smiled down at Marcus, squeezed his hand, and stepped out into the dark night. We immediately took a right and jogged in the opposite direction of the water, and the men’s house. I refused to look over my shoulder, focusing on the future instead of what was happening in the past.

  Voices shouted from behind us. The whisper of their breath brushed my back and send shivers up and down my body. I didn’t know who was yelling or why, only that we needed to put as much space between us and them as possible. We rounded the corner of a house six up from Sandra’s. The backyard covered us so my heart slowed just a tiny bit. I held Marcus’s hand tight.

  “It’s just two blocks more,” Gabe said as he broke into a jog. I nodded to Marcus, and we picked up our pace, following right on Gabe’s heels. I could tell from the sweat on Marcus’s palm that he was nervous, but he didn’t make a peep, his lips pressed into a thin line.

  As we took what Gabe said was the last turn, a loud explosion sounded off behind us. Immediately my mind went back to the bombs that dropped at the beginning of the war, flashbacks of being in my house, alone and scared. I wasn’t that girl anymore. I refused to act like her. Not giving Marcus a second to think, I pressed forward, tugging his hand.

  I figured it was a station similar to the one three blocks down from my house in Hartford, but I was wrong. It had two garage doors and was two levels high, not too deep either. It didn’t look safe—on the end of a road, no fence surrounding it, no covering on the windows. But it was our rendezvous point.

  Gabe walked around the back with his gun raised and called us over. We filed in—me first, then Marcus—and then Gabe shut the door. I couldn’t see anything past my fingers, the entire room cast in thick blackness.

  “They’re not here yet,” Gabe said as he pointed his flashlight on the ground. I glanced around us. We were in a small kitchen, stove and microwave and not much more. There was a table with chairs in the corner, and I walked over, sitting Marcus down beside me. I didn’t want him out of my sight.

  “We wait until they get here.” I steepled my hands, my elbows on the woo
d table, and breathed in and out through my nose, trying to calm down. My mind still hadn’t wrapped itself around what was going on, the betrayal, our fate.

  Someone knocked on the door not more than two minutes later. My heart slammed against my chest. Gabe ran to the door, although I couldn’t see him. The handle jiggled, and the wood of the door creaked. Marcus’s breath exhaled loud as his chair scraped against the cement floor.

  “It’s us.” Scarlet’s annoying whiny voice had never sounded better. Gabe flicked his flashlight on and pointed it to the ceiling, the yellow beam lighting the room slightly.

  I jumped up from the table and wrapped my arms around her. She hugged me back, nodding her head. She moved past me when I let her go. Gavin limped over to Marcus and whispered to him.

  “Guys, look at this,” Sandra said from the front of the station. Gabe grabbed the flashlight and pointed it to her. She was against the garage door, looking out the small rectangle window in the front door.

  We all went to her. I stood on my tiptoes, peeking over her shoulder. Dark gray smoke tainted the previously clear night. Far off in the distance was an orange glow—flames licking towards the stars.

  “Is that the—”

  “My house.” Sandra turned and ducked around us. Scarlet chased after her. I ran my hand down my face in a gesture that reminded me of Jim. I sighed and shook my head, trying to throw away his memory. We had nowhere to go. We wouldn’t survive.

  “Lana, can I speak to you?” Gabe asked, his hand on my elbow. I nodded and followed him back into the kitchen. He pulled me into a corner and whispered so no-one else could hear. “We need to come up with a plan, but first I think I need to know what we’re in for.”

  He was right. “I originally met Jim when they kidnapped me. It was eight days after the breakout of the eaters. They came into my house, stole all of my things. Jim tried to save me, but now that I think about it, I think that was a crock of shit, too.

  “Jim’s brother, John, tried to rape me, but Jim stopped him. We fled the safe house they were staying at, just the two of us, and walked until we found a town. We found Scarlet there. And you know the rest, mostly.”

  “I just can’t believe Jim would betray us.” Gabe frowned shaking his head.

  “Me either.” My voice cracked, my emotions bubbling to the surface. “But I heard him out there with his brother. He literally said John could have me and he’d watch. I heard it, Gabe.” I dropped my head in my hands as my body shook. I didn’t know what to believe.

  “We’re out of there. You’re not in danger anymore.” Gabe pulled me against his chest and held my head against him. I was embarrassed that he saw me break down. Tears streamed down my hot face, my entire body shaking with fear. The only person I opened myself up to was Jim, and that had proved a major mistake. I couldn’t let my guard down again.

  “We have nowhere to go.”

  “We can walk again. We did fine before.”

  “Gavin can hardly walk. We don’t have all our food. Sandra is so malnourished her bones almost poke through her skin. Jim was right: we’re worthless. We can’t run.” My words only made me more depressed.

  “The boat,” Sandra said. I couldn’t see her until Gabe spotlighted her in the flashlight’s beam. Her pale face nodded. “My parents’ boat is down at the marina. We can take it. I’ll figure out how to drive it.”

  “Have you ever driven it before?” Gabe asked her as he put his arm over my shoulder, holding me against his side.

  “With my father there. I can start it and get it to move. It’s better than any other plan. I know where the key is, too.”

  “How far is the marina from here?” Gabe asked. I wiped my tears with the back of my hand and sniffed, composing myself. Marcus entered the room and ran to my side, hugging me around the waist. While Marcus clung to me, I clutched Gabe in a linked line.

  “From here? A mile straight up to the water. It’s right off the highway.”

  “Are you guys okay to do it right now? I worry that if we wait until it’s bright, we’ll be sitting ducks.”

  “We go now,” Gavin said with steely resolve.

  “I’m good with going now. The more space we put between Jim and us, the better.” I looked down at Marcus. “Are you too tired to walk?” I asked him as he yawned big.

  “No. I can do it,” he promised, giving me a thumbs up. I smiled down at him. He was so brave and strong.

  “I’ll give you a secret chocolate bar.”

  “Really?” His eyes widened.

  “Promise.” We pinky swore, and when I looked around the dark room, everyone gathered their bags, readying themselves. Gabe and I went first, Marcus with Gavin, Scarlet and Sandra taking up the back. We exited the front of the fire station and ran across the street like field mice.

  To my left, the blaze at the bottom of the hill lit the sky vibrant and brought a lot of attention to that area. I wasn’t sure who started the fire or why. It didn’t make sense for it to be Jim or John, unless they wanted to kill us or trap us. Maybe it was our fault for leaving the low fire in the fireplace. It didn’t matter.

  Gabe and I hid in the brush on the other side of the road and called over the next pair. Marcus was a hero as he helped Gavin skip over. Sandra and Scarlet both ran.

  We all glanced between each other and nodded. Onto the next leg. We’d have to travel through the woods to get back to the highway we came in on. It was too dark to see much, so we were forced to walk, each of our steps precise to avoid tripping. The gash on my forehead throbbed.

  I pressed my hand against Gabe’s back to help guide in the general direction. Marcus clung to my hand as he walked beside me, and someone was touching my shoulder, either Scarlet or Gavin, I guessed.

  A twig broke beside us. I whipped my head to see what it was, but without a proper flashlight, I couldn’t see far. The light blue of the rising sun barely glowed through the canopy of trees. “Did you hear that?” I whispered to Gabe. He didn’t answer.

  “Something’s moving towards us,” Gavin said as he stopped. He clung to my shoulder, making me stop as well. I grabbed onto Gabe. Then something snapped from our other side, making me spin around to cover my back.

  “What the fuck is going on?” Scarlet cried. We were circled.

  “I can’t see a thing,” I said, pulling Marcus to my side.

  Another twig, then leaves crunching. My heart catapulted into my throat, and I tried to swallow the lump. But I couldn’t. My breathing picked up, my palms sweating. Another crack. Another pop.

  Then, a groan.

  “Shit. Eaters.” We were sitting ducks for these things. It was still dark and relatively cool—they’d be extra fast. I was shoved from the left and fell onto my butt. I used Marcus’s hand to pull myself us fast, but shoved him behind my back so I could protect him. Gabe flicked on his light, but his movements were so erratic it was hard for me to see more than a strobe-light’s worth.

  I pulled out my knife and waved it in front of me. But it was like trying to find a needle in a hay stack. The darkness blinded me, but I would die trying to protect these people.

  I fell to the left. Fingers jabbed into my forearm, but the long-sleeved shirt I wore prevented them from breaking skin. I yanked my arm out of its grasp and kicked its body backwards. I crawled towards it with the knife up, using my booted foot to feel around. It had the most protection.

  When I thought my foot was right on its neck, I stood and pressed down hard. Its hands clawed at my ankles. With one foot on its neck, I used the other to smash its face in. I kicked at it and stomped until I felt the bones collapse. I stumbled forward a little when I sunk in.

  The groans had picked up in volume. And as I spun around trying to find my group, I realized we were completely surrounded. I couldn’t see, but the noises came from every angle. My head whipped around towards the most recent noises, constantly moving, trying to anticipate the next attack.

  My fight or flight defenses kicked in. Adrenaline coursed thro
ugh my veins. I readied my knife and jabbed forward hoping to connect with something.

  “Lana!” The voice was off in the distance. But I could pinpoint the general direction. I walked right into an eater and bounced backwards. I used my leg to kick it to the ground and I brought down the knife, nailing the decaying eater right between the eyes.

  I ran despite the fact that I couldn’t see a thing. A bright white light appeared as I climbed over a hill. My leg got caught on something. I sat down and reached for my ankle when the fingers began moving against my bare skin. I jiggled my leg, shaking it and kicking it to get the eater off of me.

  My heart pumped hard and fast. My eyes watered. Its teeth chomped so loudly it was audible through the constant growls and yells. I kicked it right in the nose, making it fall backwards and roll down the hill. I jumped up fast, and ran towards the white light.

  The lights along the highway were on. I stood underneath the lamp post, and the severity of our situation dawned on me. Dozens of eaters roamed the woods, and they were headed my way.

  “Lana, up here!” Gabe and the entire group were two lampposts down the road, waving to me. I took a final glance at the eaters and ran to them. Sandra dabbed a cloth over Scarlet’s face, where it bled just under her eyebrow.

  “What are we going to do?” I asked as I stood in front of them. Gavin looked out of breath. He nodded to me as Marcus ducked under his arm and helped support him.

  “We just have to keep moving.”

  “There are so many in there.” I nodded towards the woods. “We’re too exposed to stay on the highway.” Just as the words left my mouth, two eaters grabbed Marcus and tugged him backwards down the shoulder of the highway.

  I screamed. Gavin ran after him, the rest of us behind. Marcus was at the bottom of the hill, kicking and fighting to get away from the eaters. But they were larger, adults. In the veil of the trees, the darkness bathed them, giving them speed and energy. We didn’t stand a chance.