“Follow me!”
Eddy ran ahead of Steven as they all ran alongside him. A few Runners appeared from the horde and ran after them at a fast pace, but they didn’t look back. When they ran onto the street, Eddy noticed another supermarket in the distance and cracked a smile.
“Eddy!” Hank yelled.
Hank kicked one Runner down while Steven stabbed it and Marcus killed another. Eddy ran up to the last Runner and pushed the machete through its skull and pulled it out quickly.
“Let’s get inside!”
─
Jess and Faith reached the other supermarket and looked inside to make sure it was safe. Other survivors watched around the area while Jess led the rest inside. There were no zombies in sight. The plan had worked. For the moment they thought.
“We should be safe here,” Jess told Faith.
“We will. Eddy and the others led the zombies away from us. We just need to wait for them.”
“Speaking of which,” Jess mumbled as she grabbed the radio, “Eddy, we made it to the next supermarket about 2 blocks down. Can you hear me?”
Jess heard no noise coming from the radio, so she clipped it back on her waist and groaned with pain as blood began to stream down her leg from her injury. Faith saw Jess struggling and rushed over to her.
“Jess, are you alright?”
“My leg. I think I opened the wound again. I didn’t let it heal. I couldn’t.”
“Well, now you can. I’ll get Dr. Drake over here. Just sit down.”
Faith helped Jess on the floor and went to Dr. Drake. Jess slowly moved her leg for comfort, but it hurt too bad for her to handle. Running from the zombies made her forget about the pain that Drew inflicted on her. She saw the survivors sitting around holding on to each other, thankful that they are still alive. However, she didn’t see Maria. She quickly glanced over every person and couldn’t spot Maria. She saw someone walk up to her, but it wasn’t her.
“Hey, Lisa.”
“Hey. How are you?”
“My leg is killing me, but other than that, I’m fine.”
“I just can’t believe what I did.” Lisa sighed as she sat next to her.
“What you did…no one your age shouldn’t have to do, but you did it for my safety. For that, I’ll never be able to express how thankful I am. I just wish you didn’t have to do that. I wish I could have done better.”
“Are you kidding? You lost Sam and manage to lead an entire group after that. That takes a lot of bravery and strength to do something like that. I still remember that promise we all made that day a few years ago.”
Jess smiled with grief, “You still remember that?”
“Always. Sam told us no matter what we go through, no matter who we lose, we were never going to change who we were before the apocalypse. It wasn’t easy, especially after everything, but I learned how to keep myself together because of you and Faith. We’re all that’s left. We’re family.”
“Yes, we are, but we have more family now, like Eddy and Steven.”
“What made you guys trust him so easily? Especially Sam?”
“He was a young kid looking for his group, but Jason had already killed them. We didn’t automatically trust him though. We watched his every move, but we didn’t tell anyone. He showed us which side he was on when he fought with us against Jason. It’s okay to trust people, but always have a contingency plan. Just in case.”
“Okay.”
─
Eddy and the others arrived in the neighborhood, but the zombies were not far behind. Most of the houses were destroyed. Debris spread everywhere, but there was a house nearby that wasn’t as damaged as the others. Part of its roof was missing, but it was enough to hide in until the zombies passed.
“That house will do!” Eddy yelled.
As they ran for the house, Hank stopped, turned around, and shot at the zombies. Eddy kept running along with Marcus, but Steven stopped and yelled for Hank. Hank pretended not to hear him and tried to kill as many as he could.
Steven approached him and snatched his arm, “We don’t have time for this!”
“I got this!”
“Then what?”
Amid arguing, Steven and Hank’s focus had transitioned from the zombies to each other. While Hank listened to Steven yell, he saw the Runner appear out of nowhere and pushed Steven to the side to tackle it to the ground. Steven tried balancing himself from falling but twisted his ankle and fell to the ground screaming. Eddy and Marcus turned around when they heard Steven scream.
“What are you doing? Hank!” Marcus shouted.
He watched as Hank killed the Runner and the zombies getting closer, but he tried to fight the pain and stand. With blood covering his face, Hank looked over to Steven struggling and helped him up. Steven stood up and noticed how insanely close the zombies were, but Marcus and Eddy shot them, so Steven and Hank could get a head start. Hank tried putting Steven’s arm around him, but he snatched away and limped to Eddy.
“What happened?” Marcus asked.
“He fell. That’s all.” Hank replied.
Marcus looked at Hank with confusion and ran ahead to the house. When they finally arrived, Hank and Marcus looked on the sides of the house while Eddy and Steven rushed inside. Steven had his gun in his left hand as he and Eddy scanned the house. The house looked as if it had barely been touched over the years. The only damage it had was the broken windows and the half-opened roof. Hank and Marcus rushed in and closed the door.
“We can go upstairs, but we can’t block the stairs!” Marcus suggested.
“Why upstairs? We could get trapped.” Steven mentioned.
“Not if they see us!”
“Then hurry upstairs before they do!” Eddy interrupted.
Eddy helped Steven upstairs while Hank and Marcus made sure no zombies came inside. They were getting closer, but they all managed to get upstairs before they arrived.
─
“He hasn’t responded yet. I’m getting worried.” Jess said to Faith.
“They’re okay. Trust me. He might be out of range right now.” Faith reassured.
“I hate this. Not knowing. They could all be dead, and we’re here smiling because we think they’re alive.”
“I know why you think that, but I feel like they’re okay.”
“Yeah. We should go find them. Just in case. We have to check. Or at least get into range to contact them.”
“Okay. I’ll get a group and go.”
“Wait, I’m going too.”
“No way Jess. You’re not going anywhere with an injury like that. It’s bad enough that the zombies came in the first place and prevented you from healing properly. You can’t go this time.”
Jess sadly gasped and nodded her head, “I understand. Just please be careful Faith. I honestly can’t lose you too.”
“I’m coming back. I promise.”
“Where’s Maria? I’ve meaning to ask where she was.”
“I honestly don’t know. I can go look for her.”
“Alright.”
Faith glanced around the store in hopes of seeing Maria, but she didn’t see her. She walked over to a man sitting with his family and smiled.
“Hi, have you seen Maria?”
“Last I saw she was in the back with your daughter. I haven’t seen her since.”
“How long ago was this?”
“Uh…about 5 minutes ago. Why?”
“Nothing. Thank you.”
Faith rushed to the back of the store and looked around while she ran. Her heart began beating rapidly as she wondered where Maria could be with Lisa. Different scenarios ran through her head—her finding them both safe or dead—and ran faster. She ran into the back room and searched the room quickly.
“Lisa! Maria!” she yelled.
She went into the employee room and ran into a room where Lisa was shaking with bloody hands and Maria on the ground with her throat slit open. Faith instantly pushed herself against the wall and cov
ered her mouth in shock. Shivering from fear, Lisa couldn’t do anything but cry.
“It’s not what it looks like!”
─
Eddy sat Steven on the floor in an empty bedroom and ran to the window. The zombies kept walking, but some stayed behind. Marcus kept watching downstairs while Hank slowly walked into the room. Steven grabbed his ankle in pain and stared at Hank.
“Alright, we should be good for now.” Eddy said as he pulled the radio off his waist, “Jess, can you hear me?”
The radio remained silent, so Eddy left it on his waist, “We must be out of range. Or the signal is just bad. Fuck!”
Eddy stepped in the corner of the room, but the floor creaked loudly, and the floor cracked. He quickly stepped away from the corner and sighed in relief, “Guys, don’t come in this corner. The floor’s not stable.”
“So, we’ll just wait. We’re fine now.” Hank said.
“Would’ve been better,” Steven mumbled.
“Look, I’m sorry.”
“No, I’m sorry for coming back to your stupid ass!”
“Who do you think you’re talking to?”
“You could’ve gotten us killed with your dumb idea! What are you trying to prove?”
“I don’t have to prove anything. Not to you or anyone else!”
Eddy tried calming them down, “Guys-”
“Then stop trying to pull these heroic acts of so-called ‘bravery’!”
“Fuck you, man!”
“We don’t have time for this right now. Hash it out later, but we have to stay alive right now and the yelling is not helping! So please, shut the hell up!” Eddy yelled.
Eddy looked outside again and saw some zombies had come to the house trying to enter. Eddy sighed with frustration while Steven looked away from Hank.
“Hey, they’re at the door. What do we do?” Marcus said.
“Well, that’s just perfect. Okay, we should make sure they don’t get inside. We can sneak out back and meet the others at the store across the way.”
“Ok, but how will we do that?” Hank asked.
“I don’t know, but we’ll have to do something very soon. If we don’t, they’ll just flood around the house and we’ll be in deep shit then.” Eddy sighed.
Marcus heard glass break downstairs and held his hand up to the others, signaling them to be quiet as he peeked out of the door. He didn’t see anything downstairs, but he knew zombies were there. Suddenly, a Runner stepped in front of the staircase and stared upwards. Almost making contact, Marcus ducked and quickly snuck back into the room and closed the door quietly.
“What?” Steven asked.
“It’s a Runner.”
“Just don’t make a sound. It’ll go away.” Eddy suggested.
Steven remained on the ground while the others continued to stand but froze their bodies as if they were a statue. The sound of the Runner and more zombies flowed to the front of the door. Everyone figured they were safe if they kept quiet. Hank, however, was too close to the door. His heart raced with the possibility of the zombies bursting in and making their plan more difficult. He slowly began to back away from the door, but Eddy noticed he was walking towards the corner.
“Hank!” Eddy whispered.
Hank looked at Eddy and saw him telling him to stop. Just before Hank stepped on the crack, he stopped and looked back. He closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, but his last step made a creaking noise and attracted everyone’s attention in the room. The sound of the Runner approached the door as they continued to be quiet, but the crackling noise got louder as the floor underneath Hank broke apart and dropped Hank on a wooden table in the living room. Eddy broke his silence and ran to the hole. Hank was seen laying on a broken table barely conscious and Marcus freaked out.
“Hank!”
─
Before the heartbreaking death of Maria, she was wondering if life was worth living anymore. She had killed her husband, lost her community, and now she’s running to survive. Something she hasn’t done in years. She sat in a chair in front of the store and glanced over what was left of her community in the distance. It shamed her that it had come to this moment. She didn’t want to live anymore. She looked over at Jess resting from her injuring and allowed part of her to blame Jess for it all. For a slight second, she had become Eric and it scared her. She knew the innocence of Jess and her group and what needed to be done, but she didn’t know the pain that waited for her in the future. Maria stood up and walked to the back of the store alone. She passed up many people from the community that looked at her and smiled. She just looked away and kept walking. She made up her mind and no one could change that.
─
Lisa finished talking with Jess and went to check on everyone else. She kept herself occupied to keep from worrying about Steven and the others. After the bittersweet moment between her and Steven, she wondered what life could bring them after the news of a cure. Fighting and surviving had become her life for years. Being a child was nothing but a dull memory that latched onto her as if it mattered to who she had become. Even if it felt small, she didn’t want to lose it. That small memory of her mother and brother still flashed in her mind daily and it felt amazing to reminisce the perfect days. As she daydreamed about the past and future, she saw Maria walking to the back, but she was alone. She wondered what she was doing until she saw Maria pulled a knife from her back pocket. Lisa instantly walked to the back to check on Maria, but she didn’t tell anyone. In her mind, she didn’t know what was going to happen in a few minutes.
Maria walked into the employee break room and looked around. The entire room was dusty and quiet. Small traces of blood sprayed onto the walls and the tables were turned. Large lines of blood drew outside the room that indicated people were dragged out. Maria began crying as she held the knife to her arm and closed her eyes.
“Maria?” Lisa said.
Maria quickly turned around and stared into Lisa’s eyes. Maria’s eyes screamed fear and it caught Lisa by surprise. She didn’t know what to do. Her lips kept trying to form words, but her eyes were focused on the knife.
“What are you doing?”
“I can’t do this anymore Lisa. I can live like this anymore.”
“Look, there may be a cure. This can all be over. You don’t have to do this. These people need you. We need you.”
“I can’t be strong for them. I can’t!”
“Look,” Lisa said in a calm voice as she slowly walked towards Maria, “you are strong. You’ve been through so much and continued to fight anyway. I know what it’s like. Trust me I do, but this isn’t the way.”
“I just…I…”
“I’ve thought about it too.” Lisa quickly replied, “I thought about if I should live after what happened to John. I thought after losing him, I had nothing that kept me intact. Here’s the thing, I found out I wasn’t alone. I have Faith. I have Jess. I had Sam. You do too. Killing yourself is never the answer. You’ll always have people who care about you, but you just have to open to us. Don’t keep your fears and stress bundled up inside. Don’t do that to yourself.”
Lisa stood inches away from Maria with tears in her eyes. Maria cried and thought about what Lisa said. Lisa watched Maria slowly lower the knife from her wrists and smiled a little, but she looked into Maria’s eyes and knew she wasn’t fully convinced.
“Can you just come with me?” Lisa asked as she extended her hand out to her.
“Thank you, Lisa.”
Maria grabbed the knife and quickly slashed it across her throat. Lisa cried and dropped next to Maria as she held her hands over her throat trying to breathe. Lisa couldn’t scream because of the pain and sorrow that overfilled her innocent heart. Blood began to flow around her, but she didn’t care. She knew there was no saving her. Maria looked into Lisa’s eyes as her pupils slowly dilated, and she took her last gurgling breath. Lisa continued to cry and stared at her bloody hands before standing up and turning around to Faith rushing in.
“It’s not what it looks like!” Lisa cried.
“What happened?” Faith said as she ran over to her, hugging her and pulling her away from Maria’s body.
“Maria…she killed herself. I tried to stop her Faith! I tried…”
Faith hugged her crying, “It’s okay.”
“I couldn’t save her!”
“She was too far gone Lisa. It’s not your fault.”
─
Hank laid on the ground barely conscious and the zombies were just about to get inside. The Runner strayed away from the door and ran downstairs, but Marcus sat on the edge of the hole and grabbed his knife.
Z Island Series | Book 3 | Survivors of Z Island [Retribution Part 1] Page 2