The End of Us

by D, Hannah

  “I’m sorry, I had no choice. He has my sister wrapped around his finger and she won’t leave him. She’s in love with him. I can’t leave her alone” Colleen told them.

  “Did he make you come here to us the first time we met?” Zoe asked.

  “Yes.”

  “How long had he known we were here?” Jeff asked her.

  “He knew people were here before your group joined.”

  “So you were acting as his spy?” Jeff asked.

  “Yes, I’m so sorry!”

  “And then you nearly got us killed going to get Michael and everyone? Was that part of the plan as well? Hoping to kill some of us off?” Zoe asked.

  “He wanted Michael, Mark and everyone here to get his payback but I never wanted anyone to die, you have to believe me!”

  “I don’t know if I do Colleen” Zoe told her.

  “Did Brian set the skin eaters on us when we went out to get supplies?” Mark asked angrily.

  “He did.”

  “Son of a bitch and so are you for fighting alongside him and being his little spy! I can’t believe I ever trusted you! You are one evil little bitch and I hope Brian turns on you one day and you get what you deserve!” Mark spat at Colleen.

  “Mark, please forgive me, you don’t understand..”

  “Oh I understand fine. You’re done, we will have nothing to do with you. Brian wants to take this place then tell that son of a bitch to come and try and take it from us. We’ll give him a fight all right. Now fuck off and go running back to Brian like the little puppy dog you are” Mark spat at Colleen again before storming off.

  Zoe and Jeff were stood there stunned for a few seconds, unsure of what to say to Colleen. Zoe knew they had to leave today and get out of here before the fighting started but they would now have to convince Mark, Michael, Lewis, Mandy and Kirsty to not fight and Zoe knew that would be difficult because they would all be too angry not to get their own payback.

  “You all have to leave. Brian is smart with the skin eaters. He can round them up and make them attack places and people. I don’t know what his plan is but I do know it involves the skin eaters. I seen some of the others bringing skin eaters back still alive to the zoo” Colleen told them.

  “We’re not going to tell you what we’re going to do and we’re not going to thank you either. Goodbye Colleen” Jeff said to her.

  “Zoe? Please forgive me?” Colleen pleaded with her.

  “Goodbye Colleen” Zoe sighed.

  Zoe and Jeff turned their backs on Colleen and made their way back to the depot building. Mark and Mandy had went back inside. There was no point in keeping watch now, Brian had sent his message to them.

  When Jeff and Zoe went back inside they could hear Mark swearing and telling Michael about what had happened outside with Colleen. Zoe could tell how angry Michael was by his voice, it was louder and he sounded like he was speaking through his teeth.

  “I’ll kill him” Zoe heard Michael say.

  “Not if I kill him first” Mark had replied.

  They started to murmur between them all and even Kirsty was wanting to stay and fight Brian and his group. They all really hated him that much.

  “I never knew Colleen had a sister” Michael said.

  “Well now we do but she never should’ve betrayed us” Mark spat out.

  Zoe and Jeff were now standing outside their door and Jeff reached up and knocked.

  “Come in” Michael said.

  Jeff and Zoe walked in and there was so much tension and anger in the room that you could cut it with a knife. Zoe felt suffocated by all the anger.

  “We’re fighting” Michael told them.

  “Look, I know you’re all angry but do you really think that’s the best idea? It’s fifteen against fifty!” Jeff said.

  “He doesn’t get way with this” Mark said.

  “He has a plan with the skin eaters, we can’t fight him and the skin eaters at the same time” Zoe tried to reason.

  “Try me. We have guns, it’ll be easy enough to take out the skin eaters and kill all those bastards as well” Michael said.

  “You’re not thinking clearly. We’re not all pro gun users, there’ll be a lot of missed shots” Jeff said.

  “Oh I am thinking clearly, we all are and we want to take this bastard down. You think he won’t stop looking for us? You’re wrong. We leave and he’ll still come looking for us” Michael said.

  “He won’t b e able to find us” Zoe said.

  “He will, trust us when we say that. He always finds you” Mandy said.

  Zoe knew she was fighting a losing battle with them. They weren’t going to leave now, they were going to fight. Zoe knew that everyone else wouldn’t leave them here alone and would fight with them.

  “All right, we fight then. Now we need to make a plan before Brian comes knocking tonight. We need to think of a strategy to take them out” Jeff said.

  “We can’t go in guns blazing and we’re all over the place. I don’t want any of us to get killed” Zoe told them.

  “All right, lets think” Michael said.

  They all made up a plan to be able to try and fight off Brian and his group. It wasn’t an amazing plan that everyone gushed over but it was good enough and the best idea they could come up with to be able to fight without being killed themselves.

  Zoe had told everyone else in the group that they were fighting and what Colleen had told them. The group was a bit sceptical of what Colleen had said but they were ready to fight after hearing that Brian would maybe never leave them alone, even if they left according to Michael. Zoe did believe that part of what Michel said. Since Brian had been planning this takeover before Zoe and the others even got there then he probably had people positioned to follow them if they did flee. Zoe knew they had transport hidden in that zoo, easy to follow them.

  “Is everyone ready to go take their positions?” Zoe asked.

  “Yeah, we’re all ready!” Michael answered.

  “Let’s show these bastards exactly what we’re made of!” Jeff said excitedly.

  Everyone made their way to their fighting positions. Zoe was to go on top of the depot building roof with Sophia and John. They were to help shoot any of Brian’s group from their position and to protect everyone on the ground since you could only see who was coming for you and weren’t to focused on everything around you.

  “I’ll see you when it’s all over. Be safe” Jeff said to Zoe as he kissed her before heading outside.

  “You be safe as well, I’ll be watching your back” Zoe told him.

  “Then I’ll be perfectly fine with you there” Jeff said back to her.

  Jeff gave Zoe another quick kiss on the lips and a wink and headed outside.

  Zoe hoped that they wouldn’t lose anyone. She hoped that they would all make it out alive even if they did have to leave the depot. They had planned to meet at the co-op where Zoe, Colleen, Jeff and Sophia had went past on their way to meet Michael and his group. They had cleared the skin eaters from that area on their way back to the depot so it should be safe enough for everyone to meet there.

  “Shall we head on up?” John asked.

  “Yeah, lets go” Zoe replied.

  It was easy enough for Zoe, John and Sophia to get onto the roof. There was a hatch in the ceiling with ladders dropped down for them to climb up. They made sure to block the hatch when they were on the roof so that no one from Brians group could get up to them.

  Zoe, John and Sophia lay on their stomach at the edge of the roof, John watching the back, their eyes trained on everyone below. Zoe spotted Jeff and felt the sick feeling of worry creep up in her stomach. She prayed for Jeff to not be hurt or killed during this.

  Everyone was all set up below. Sarah was stood beside the campervan and car, ready to get people in and drive off if they began to be overpowered from Brian and his group.

  It was all silent for a while, there was no noise or movement coming from anywhere. Zoe felt like her breathi
ng was very loud and you could hear it from miles away. It was then that they heard the roar of engines coming up from in front of them and soon they seen the motorbikes heading up to the gate followed by vans and then everyone else in Brians group walking on foot behind them.

  ‘I knew they had vehicles’ Zoe thought.

  All the motorbikes and vans came to a stop at the fence and Brian soon appeared walking in front up to the gate. Zoe could tell it was him before he even spoke with his annoying arrogant swagger of a walk.

  “Well, well, well looks like you all came to fight” Brian laughed which made the rest of his followers laugh as well.

  “You’re not taking this place!” Jeff shouted.

  “Hah! Fifty of us against your small pathetic excuse for a group? I think we can take it pretty easily” Brian yelled.

  “Well, come and try and take it then!” Zoe heard Michael growl out.

  “With pleasure” Brian yelled.

  Brian lifted his gun, pointed it at Kirsty and shot her. Kirsty went down clutching her stomach, screaming out in pain. Lewis crouched down over her, an angry scream erupting from his lungs.

  That was when the fight started.

  Chapter 14

  Brian shooting Kirsty was the signal for them all to start climbing the fence. A few those of the group on the ground managed to shoot down but some made their way over. Mandy and Simone were there ready to take out those who first made it over the fence and onto the ground. Lewis was shooting and fighting anyone who made it past them. Zoe could see how angry everyone was over Brian shooting Kirsty. After he had done that he had disappeared behind the rest of his group making their way over the fence.

  Two people from his group had bolt cutters and were trying to cut open the gate, it looked like it wouldn’t be long until they were through. Zoe had tried to aim her gun at them and tried to shoot but she kept missing them. Sophia was busy shooting anyone who was on the ground, trying not to hit anyone in their own group.

  “They’re beginning to get over the back fence, a few have gotten stuck in the barbed wire and spikes but the others are using them to walk over!” John yelled.

  “Can you handle shooting them all?” Zoe yelled to him.

  “I can for now, don’t know about later” John said.

  Zoe turned her focus back to the front. She had managed to shoot a few in the legs or arms, enough from someone down there to notice and finish them off.

  Zoe tried to keep an eye on Jeff. He was a good fighter and pretty good with a gun. He was handling his own and hadn’t came into any trouble yet. Zoe felt a little relived at this.

  There was so much chaos happening below and so much noise that Zoe hadn’t noticed the vans had turned around with the backs of them facing the main gate. The two people who were trying to open the gate had succeeded and had opened the gates. No one had ran straight through. They were all standing as far back as they could. The motorbikes were blocking the sides on the vans.

  “What is going on?” Sophia asked.

  Everyone on the ground were too busy fighting Brians group off that they hadn’t noticed what was happening at the gate. They didn’t even know that the gate was open.

  Then two people stood on either side of the doors of all three vans, pulled the handles down and opened them.

  “No fucking way” Sophia said.

  Zoe turned her attention to the vans and felt her stomach drop and fear start to rise from her stomach and up into her chest.

  Skin eaters began shuffling out of the vans. Loads of them.

  ‘This was why Brian was gathering skin eaters. He wanted to use them in the fight’ Zoe thought.

  “Everyone look out for the skin eaters!” Zoe had yelled.

  Nobody made any sign that they had heard her. There was far too much noise going on for anyone to hear her shouting from the roof.

  “Start shooting the skin eaters” Zoe said to Sophia.

  They both started shooting the skin eaters and managed to take a few down but not all of them and they were moving into the depot lot. The group below began to notice them and Zoe saw the fear stretching across their faces. Zoe saw Sue use the skin eaters to her advantage and shoved the person who was fighting her into a skin eaters arms. This wouldn’t be manageable for all of them to do to Brians group.

  “John, I need you over this way” Zoe yelled over the gunshots.

  “What about the people coming over from the back?” He yelled.

  “Forget about them, we need you more over here!” Zoe yelled.

  Two seconds later John was lying down beside Zoe and shooting at the oncoming herd of skin eaters. They still weren’t managing to shoot down nearly enough skin eaters and people from Brians group. There were just far too many of them.

  “We should get down there. It’s not working us being up here!” Zoe yelled to John and Sophia.

  “True! Lets get down!” John shouted.

  John and Sophia stood up to move the pipes they’d used to block the door leading to the roof. Zoe was about to turn and help when she saw Jeff in a horrible position. He was fighting of two people from Brians group and a skin eater was approaching him from behind as his back was towards the gate. Then skin eater had it’s arms out ready to grab Jeff.

  “Oh no you fucking don’t” Zoe said to herself.

  Zoe lined up her gun towards the skin eater and released her finger on the trigger and shot the gun. The bullet hit the ground in front of the skin eaters feet. Zoe lined up her gun again and went to take another shot when she realised the gun chamber was empty and she had to reload.

  “Shit, shit, shit. Come On!” Zoe yelled to herself as she reloaded the gun.

  Once it was reloaded she stood up, aimed the gun and managed to shoot the skin eater right in the stomach and made it fall to the ground, centimetres away from where Jeff was. Jeff had just managed to knock out the last person attacking him when he spun round and shot the skin eater in the head. Jeff turned around and gave Zoe a thumbs up. Zoe breathed a sigh of relief.

  ‘That was close’ Zoe thought.

  “Oh shit!” Zoe heard coming from behind her.

  Zoe turned and saw John getting punched in the face and the body of a man appearing. John went staggering back, clutching his nose. The man turned and gave Sophia a backhanded slap across the face before she could raise her gun. The man then turned his attention on Zoe and started to make a lunge for her but Zoe was quicker. She shot the man squarely in the head and he went down with a thump.

  “Stu!” A voice boomed out.

  Zoe hadn’t even noticed the second man come up and out the roof door. He raced toward Zoe and tackled her to the ground, winning Zoe on the fall down.

  “You little bitch!” The man spat as he punched Zoe in the face.

  Zoe felt instant pain and throbbing in her head. She also felt dizzy and saw spots cloud her vision. She managed to turn her head back to her attacker and began to claw at his arms and face.

  “Fucking little bitch! Kill my friend will you?” He said to her.

  That was when Zoe felt his hand close around her neck.

  Zoe thrashed her body around from under him and tried to pry his hands off from around her neck but he was too strong for her. Zoe felt her lungs struggling and her eyes felt like they were about to pop out from her skull. She felt her brain begin to want to shut down.

  ‘No, this can’t be it!’ Zoe thought.

  “Now you die for him. Eye for an eye” The man growled at her.

  Zoe felt her eyes begin to close before a rush of air managed to get into her lungs when the man was pulled off of her. Zoe crawled over onto her hand and knees and began to cough and splutter, feeling the air rush back into her lungs and her brain begin to function again.

  Zoe heard a thud from behind her and turned around to find John standing over the body of the man who had attacked her. A knife sticking out from his chest. Zoe saw the man take his final breaths before dying, looking up at her with a defeated look in his eyes
.

  “Better get that knife put through his skull before he comes back and tries to eat us” Sophia said to John.

  John went and grabbed the knife from the mans chest and done just what Sophia had told him to do and put it through his skull.

  Zoe noticed that there two other bodies lying on the roof alongside the first two men that had appeared through the roof door. Sophia and John had taken them out whilst Zoe was about to be chocked to death.

  “Thank you” Zoe chocked out to John, her throat sore from being chocked.

  “Don’t mention it. You okay with going down to fight?” John asked her.

  “Yes” Zoe chocked out again.

  Zoe felt a new sense of urgency and anger to get rid of Brian and his posey and the skin eaters. She wasn’t going to let another one of them grab her by the throat again. They made their way down to the ground from the roof and were already running into trouble with people from Brians group. They were making their way through the back door of the depot building. They had managed to break the lock on it.

  John and Sophia went straight from them using their guns to shoot and to swing against their heads to ty and knock them when their gun chambers became empty. Zoe managed to run outside and began to help Sarah take on the skin eaters that had made their way up to her. She was managing not too bad on her own, swinging her rake and managing to hit the skin eaters square on the head. It was like Sarah was taking out her anger over losing Chris and being bombarded by Brian trying to take over the place where Chris was buried and putting it all into killing the skin eaters.

  Zoe had her knife tucked into her back pocket and began taking out the skin eaters using this. She didn’t want to waste a lot of her bullets and wanted to save them for the living instead of the knife. She wanted a big enough distance from the people from Brians group to kill them because if they were close enough then they could also kill her and she was not going to let that happen.

  Soon there were a pile of skin eaters surrounding Zoe and Sarah. Both of them puffing and out of breath.

  “You managing okay?” Zoe croaked to Sarah.

  “Yeah I’m fine. You go on and help the others. I’ve got the area covered” Sarah told her.