Dead World Rising (Book 1): Staying Human

by Petrova, Katerina

  We rode with Dave in his big blue pick up truck to the outskirts of Greenfield, we left the car by the side of the road as we went to explore it. It was a quaint little village that oozed charm, there were few dead about which we were thankful of. The group had given us a week to gather supplies, if we were not back in that time they would assume we had been stupid and come for us. As we searched the supermarket we found it still had plenty of food in, we couldn't take it all but Dave said we would make multiple trips to come back and get more.

  Some of the others would join us as well, once we got back. We searched the area and found no other survivor's, though I had checked a little row of houses and knew there were people inside but went back and told Dave that it was clear and nothing inside. I would do anything to stop others from having to endure mine and Hayley's fate, I had to be careful not put Hayley in danger.

  The Christmas with Dave's group was by far the worst one I'd ever endured, we were paraded round like meat on a cattle market for the other slavers that had come from afar. Turns out every so often they would come to trade women, I was thankful that neither me or Hayley were on their wish list that year.

  During the Christmas period I spoke with a young woman called Amber, she'd been with Dave's group a little while longer than I had but unlike me and Hayley she refused to give in. I'd overheard Dave and some of the others talking about how she was getting to be too much trouble, they were even talking about letting her loose but not before making sure she couldn't survive out there.

  'Hey Amber,' I whispered into the other hole in my wall.

  'What's up?' She whispered back.

  'I heard them talking about you,' I told her urgently.

  'Oh yeah, what did they say?' She asked calmly.

  'If you don't stop being trouble, their going to cut you loose,' I replied fearfully.

  'Don't you worry about me, I can take care of myself,' she said strongly. 'Please listen to me, I don't want to see you get hurt or worse,' I pleaded with her. 'Thanks for the warning Izzy, but I'd rather die than let them get there slimy hands of me,' she told me fiercely.

  No amount of begging or pleading could convince her to listen, I could do nothing myself to save her. All the women here tried to look after each other, but some of them had proved to be too much trouble for the men. I'd seen some women be stabbed in the stomach or chest and thrown outside, they'd had no choice but to wonder the roads until they either died from their wounds or were taken by the dead.

  I didn't want Amber to suffer the same fate but knew that if she wouldn't listen then it was pointless, it would not be long until they came for her. Tonight however it was Cammi's turn to be tormented and raped, I put the pillow over my ears to distort her screams but I still heard everything. She screamed and cried but they did not stop, I heard the man's moaning as enjoyed every sickening moment of it. Once he was finished he ordered her to get dressed and serve his dinner, that was one of the ways they like to torment us.

  After raping us they would make us serve their dinner so the other men could see what damage had been done to us, they would sit together laughing as we walked through dining hall with cuts and bruises to our face. They would grab at us as we walked by, and make comments about our bodies.

  As each day passed my hope of ever getting me and Hayley out of here grew dimmer, I would give my life to see her be free but what would either of us be without the other? I would rather suffer in here with Hayley by my side than be without her on the outside, I knew that she felt the same but knowing that did not help us escape. Our only hope getting out was for someone on the outside to save us, but our chances of that were very slim indeed.

  Chapter 9

  Jensen

  It had been just over three weeks since Frankie had arrived, Jade and Tom were wary of her at first but after Frankie saving their butts a few times they warmed to her. I had never really looked at a woman before Frankie came along, at 5'11 she was much taller than me, her eyes were as blue as a mountain lake on a hot summers day, they seemed to glisten when she smiled. Her long golden hair fell past her shoulders, her skin was as pale as the moon, making her look almost Goddess-like. She was stunning to look at and so far she seemed to have the personality to match, I had been in awe of her since she arrived, me and my sister Maggie had been starving when Frankie arrived but she had kindly given us all food.

  It was strange how she'd only been here three weeks, but in apocalypse time that felt like six months. She had told Jade what happened to Cameron, at first Jade couldn't accept it but as Frankie told her what Cameron had said to her before he died, Jade knew that those words could have only come from him.

  'Death is not the end for us,' Frankie quoted sombrely.

  'That's what he always used to tell me,' Jade said tearfully.

  'He asked me to give you this,' Frankie said as she handed the ring to Jade.

  Jade looked at the ring and smiled, she and Cameron had been together for so long that I knew it would take a long time for Jade to deal with his death. Since Frankie had been with us, we had been well fed. She, Jade and Tom had gone on a couple of runs, Frankie had told us about Dave and the girls that she had met. She also told us her suspicions, while she hadn't been able to prove it, from what she said I agreed with her about Dave being part of a slave group. We had all agreed to not go anywhere alone and only go out when absolutely necessary, it was fortunate that we had enough food to last a while so we would have no need to go out.

  It wasn't until a few days ago that Frankie opened up to us about her life, I could tell that she had been hiding a lot of pain. She told us how she'd lost her girlfriend, I could tell by her shaking voice that Frankie was still having trouble dealing with her loss. I had not let on to her that I liked her, given that she had been in love with a woman I doubted that she even liked men in that way.

  Still she had been an asset to our little group, it still amazed me that we had been able to stay here for so long. We had little defences around the house, the only upside was that we were in the country and biters tended to stick the city, as there was more food there. We had still had our troubles though, we had lost people since all of this began. Maggie an I had been here for over three years, we had both originally been from Liverpool. We had lived with our parents until of this began, but when everything went to hell we lost more than just our way of life. I could still remember what happened as if it were yesterday.

  Our parents had been normal, hard working and loving, we'd lived on the outskirts of the city centre. My mum and dad had the same idea that countless other people had, when the city became overrun they headed to the docks.

  'We need to hurry,' my mum said urgently.

  'I'm driving as fast as I can dear,' my father replied.

  'Where are we going?' Maggie asked innocently.

  'We're going to get on boat and get out of the city,' my mum replied trying to sound cheerful. I was all too aware of the danger, I'd overheard my parents listening to the news. I told them I understood what was happening, though in truth I didn't know just how bad things were at the time. We pulled up near the docks to find the place was overrun with people as well as the dead.

  Even now I could remember the fear and panic, the look on other peoples faces only made me more afraid. I was thirteen at the time, my poor sister was only eleven. As my mum dragged me along the docks, I clung to my sister's pale, sweaty hand as we forced our way through the crowd.

  'Come Maggie you need to keep up,' I told her gently.

  'I'm trying big brother,' she squealed. There were thousands of people, all of whom thought nothing of pushing little kids out of the way. We walked over the dead bodies that were strewn across the street, but as the number of dead began to out weigh the living I knew getting out of there alive was going to be nearly impossible.

  My dad only turned his head for a moment, but it was long enough for a corpse to get hold of him, my mum let go of my hand to try and help him but it was too late.

 
; 'Get out here, take your sister and go!' My mum screamed.

  'No mummy, no,' Maggie cried.

  I cradled my sister to stop her from seeing as he was torn apart, my mum tried to kill the biters that had got hold of him.

  'Maggie we have to go, now,' I told her.

  I held back the tears as I dragged my sister away as she tried tirelessly to pull me back towards our parents.

  'We can't go without them,' she wailed, tears streaming down her eyes.

  I had no idea what to do, my only thought was getting my sister out of there alive. I looked back to see that my mother had been overwhelmed by the corpses, I looked just long enough to see the walkers tear her to shreds. I covered Maggie's eyes so that she would not see the horror. The sight of her bloody arm flailing about still haunted me to this day.

  'Listen to me Maggie, mum and dad would want us to get out of here. They are going to try and meet us later okay,' I knelt down to look her in the eyes, I hated lying to her but I had to get her to move.

  'Okay,' she said quietly.

  I really didn't know how we managed it, but somehow we got out alive. I sometimes got so lost in my memories that they threatened to overwhelm me, but some memories of the last five years I cherished. Like how Jade came into our lives, I smiled as I let those images pass through my mind.

  We made our way out of the city and avoided other people at all costs, there had been so many near misses and so many times when I thought we weren't going to make it. By the time we came to Greenfield we were dirty, hungry and tired of all the running. Maggie and I were so very lucky that Jade found us, we had been holed up in a house without food for over a week. We sat in the living room of a house we'd boarded up, holding each other as the icy chill of winter set in, I could see her breath in front of me and feel Maggie's skin growing colder.

  I seemed to be able to handle the cold better than my sister, by the time night fell she was so cold that I feared for her life. Even though we had some covers, it did not seem to be enough. I laid the thick quilt on the floor and wrapped her up inside it, I could see her pale face turning blue. That year was the first time it had snowed since the world ended, given that we were in the countryside the snow was far thicker and seemingly colder than in other places.

  'Maggie, are you alright?' I asked. Maggie never wanted me to worry about her, it was a trait of hers I both loved and hated. At the time I needed her to be truthful, but I knew she wouldn't.

  'I'm just a little cold, but I'll be alright,' she said quietly as she tried to smile. I felt so useless, I could not leave her to search for help, and there was nothing inside the house to help us. I gave her water but it did nothing to help her, I sat in my thin jumper refusing her offer of giving me some of the covers. I wrapped my arms around her tightly; I had never prayed before but that night, I prayed to God to save my sister. The cough she'd had for weeks got worse, her breathing began to slow and she found it hard to take breaths.

  'You can't leave me Maggie, I need you,' I begged feeling the icy tears fall.

  'I love you,' she said so very quietly.

  'Please, just stay awake,' I pleaded. If my sister was dying then there was nothing left in this world, I could not be without her. In the midst of my sorrow I did not care who overheard me, I wailed like a baby crying for its mother. It was then that I heard someone at the front door, I laid my sister down on the floor as I grabbed my knife. I jumped up and stood ready to fight, as the door squeaked open I felt my hands shake with fear. Who was the intruder, were they friend or foe?

  'I'm not here to hurt you, I just heard you crying,' said the woman who appeared.

  'What do you want?' I asked suspiciously.

  'I just want to help,' she told me kindly. As I looked into her hazel eyes, I felt not fear or unease. Something inside said that I could trust her, she was a woman in her mid-forties with shoulder length blue and black plaited hair, her olive skin made her look almost foreign. She had a warm comforting voice, she was well dressed in a thick purple jumper with dark blue jeans and thick leather hiking boots.

  'My name is Jensen, it's my sister, she's sick,' I told her fearfully.

  'My name is Jade, I have a house not ten minutes from here, I have food and medicine. Come with me and I'll do my best to help her,' she promised.

  'Alright,' was all I could say. I was so grateful to Jade and the others for saving my sister, it turned out that she had pneumonia but luckily Jade had stock piled medication for years before the outbreak. It took Maggie a few weeks to recover from her illness but after a little while she was herself again, we had stayed here ever since. Jade and the others had become like our family, we all looked out for each other and took care of one another. I knew that me and Maggie had been incredibly lucky to have been found by Jade, I dreaded to think what would have happened if one of those slave groups had found us.

  Today we were rehashing the same argument we'd been having for months, I had previously voted to stay but having Frankie here made me feel braver. I had always agreed with the option of leaving but I felt too afraid, Jade was right we had been safe here for many years but it would not stay this way forever.

  Especially with Dave and the girls being nearby, they would bring their group at some point, and when they did we would be screwed.

  'Come on Jade, we need to leave now more than ever. How long do you think it's going to be before Dave and his group find us? Do you want us to be slaves!?' Tamara shouted angrily. Ever since Frankie had told them her suspicions, Tamara had insisted that we leave but Jade was still insistent that we could remain here safely. I noticed Frankie sat in the corner, she wasn't joining in on the conversation.

  'What's your view?' I asked her.

  'I don't think it's my place to comment,' she replied softly.

  'Your just as much a part of this family as the rest of us,' I told her.

  'Thanks, but I don't want to speak out of place,' she replied.

  'You think too much,' I said laughing. She smiled at me, but I could she was just nervous. She told us that it had been a long time since she was with people, she had been so used to losing everyone around her. The fact that after all she had been through, she was still kind and compassionate was amazing.

  'Where would we even go? And what about Nora, she can't travel' shouted Jade, interrupting my thoughts.

  'I'll be fine, if we have to go then I'll manage it,' Nora said fiercely. 'But Nora, you can barely get out the door my yourself,' Jade tried to argue.

  Nora shook her head, 'Your job is to keep them safe, don't let me get in the way of that'

  'Frankie, what do you think?' Jade asked kindly.

  Frankie looked surprised, I didn't think she believed me when I said she was a part of this family. Frankie stood, walked to the bottom of the stairs, and cleared her throat. 'I've met people like Dave before, I was held in one of those compounds. I only survived because of my friend, but let me tell you. None of you will be that lucky, you think the apocalypse is bad, it does not come close to what you will endure at one of those places. The question isn't whether Nora can travel or if we are safe here, you need to ask yourselves if you want to be tortured and raped everyday,' her voice was harsh but I could detect the hidden sorrow.

  Everyone just sat there not saying anything, I could see the looks and Jade and Tamara's face; they didn't know what to say. 'I'm sorry, I don't mean to be blunt; but you need to know what you're dealing with. I've seen too many good people end up dead because of men like Dave, and I don't want to see that happen to any of you,' she said softly.

  'It's alright, I just don't know what to do,' Jade said sadly.

  'I know, and I don't want to tell you what to do but if I were you I'd leave,' Frankie replied calmly.

  'Where would we even go?' Jade asked.

  'To the safe zone,' Tamara piped up.

  'Where's that?' Frankie asked curiously.

  'It's in Scotland lass.' We all talked about the safe zone, it would be a long journey but afte
r Frankie's little speech she had convinced us all to go. Never in a million years did I think anyone could convince Jade to leave, I mean this was her home and she had lost so much in all the years she had lived here. Even going back to her being a child, she had grown up with her mum in this house. I could see it in her face, she couldn't bear to leave but she knew it had to be done.

  After many hours of talking, we each took on jobs that needed to be done.

  'Frankie, Tom and Jensen I want you to head down to the supermarket and make sure we've got enough food for the journey. I also want you three to check out the weapons shop,' Jade said kindly.

  'No problem boss, Tom replied happily.

  Frankie and I nodded in agreement.

  'Tamara, Maggie I'd like you girls to look around to see if you can find a working car,' she told them.

  'Sure thing,' Maggie replied.

  Tamara smiled in agreement.

  'I'm going to stay here with Nora,' Jade said quietly. I knew that Nora couldn't travel, I wondered if they were going to talk and try to find a way for her to join us or if Nora would stay behind. I didn't like the thought of leaving anyone behind, but I also knew that there was no way on earth Nora could go anywhere.

  I had wanted to offer my opinion but knew better than to get involved, my mind was so preoccupied with thoughts about our mission that I found it hard to focus. I thought about how many of us would survive this journey, Scotland was a hell of a long way for us to travel. Yet in my gut I knew it was the right decision, we'd been too lucky here for such a long time. At some point our luck was going to run out. Jade and Frankie would make it, they were built to handle the world as it was. Tom I wasn't so sure of, he wasn't in the best physical shape nor was he great around new people.

  One thing our group lacked, was more people. If we were going to get all the way to Scotland we would need help, Tamara would survive she too was built for this life. As for Maggie and I, I wasn't so sure. She was too innocent and kind, she could easily be manipulated or coerced. It would take a lot for her to toughen up before she could survive, I knew she had to be stronger but I didn't want her to stop being my baby sister.