by I. J. Smith
“Zarina!” he shouted out.
The man ran to her and hugged her, “Zack, you made it,” she replied.
A woman joined them, “You made it,” she said. She looked at Frank, “You must be Jack’s friend,” she smiled. “I cannot believe he did it, where is he?” she asked.
The expression on Franks face told her everything she needed to know. Her eyes filled with tears, “It’s not fair,” she spoke out.
“No, it’s not, but he wanted me to make sure you were all safe. You should all come with me to my team, and then we can get out of this damn city,” he told her.
She simply nodded, taking hold of Zack’s hand. Together they walked away to tell the others, Frank took one last look back at the car park, in hope that a miracle had happened. However, the only thing in sight was corpses, and smoke.
All together, they walked away towards the others, at the store waiting for them.
Back, at the furniture store the area was now clear, not a zombie in sight. The sun was beginning to rise; Ryan was working on the engine of the bus with Zoe standing guard. Elle was patching Brays re-opened shoulder wound up on the bus; Eddie sat at the back of the bus with Paige. He was stroking her repeatedly and looked like the happiest person in the world because of it. They had removed what they needed from the store and now stayed on the bus, waiting for their friends to return.
Suddenly the engine roared, “Way to go Ryan!” Bray shouted out.
“Do you think he is OK?” he asked Elle.
“Who Jack, he will be fine. He is too crazy not to be,” she joked.
“No, I mean Ryan. He went a little crazy back there,” he replied.
Elle looked through the window at him and Zoe, “We can only take so much before we snap, perhaps he finally had enough,” she told him softly.
“We should keep an eye on him,” he told her.
Elle smiled, “Once we get out of this city, things will get easier,” he replied. She finished bandaging him up, when Zoe shouted out, “Out here!” she told them.
An excited Elle ran from the bus to see a group of people walking towards them, she smiled as she recognized Frank in front leading them. She looked for Jack in the group, but thought to herself, he will be guarding them from behind, as Frank came into view she could see his battered face.
Bray joined Elle, Zoe and Ryan. Frank walked towards them, he had been beaten badly, Zoe noticed his hand with two fingers missing.
Elle hugged him, “you made it,” she smiled.
Frank showed no expression, she looked around the survivors, “You and Jack saved all these people,” she spoke with excitement. She looked around more and more, the expression on her face began to change from excitement to fear.
Bray walked to them, he noticed the look on Frank’s face. Bray looked at the survivors and then back to Frank, “Great you made it, where is Jack?” he asked directly.
Frank raised his head, looking at the sky, he struggled to speak, emotion took over. He locked eyes with Elle, he wanted to say something, but the words would not come. He shook his head as his eyes glazed over.
Elle stepped back, shaking her head, everyone knew, she tried to hold it in. Zoe tried to put her arms around her, but Elle pushed her away. She walked towards the bus, before she reached the door; she collapsed to her knees crying.
Bray could not believe it, “How?” he asked.
Alice spoke out, “He saved us, all of us.”
“We should go,” Bray spoke out.
A few hours had passed, Ryan was driving the bus, Bray approached him, “You OK driving?” he asked.
Ryan did not reply, “Ryan,” Bray spoke again.
He glanced to Bray, “Yeah, I’m good,” he barely spoke. The truth was Ryan was feeling the loss of Jack. Since he beginning he had been the spine of the group and now feared without him they were condemned.
Zoe was tending to Frank, wrapping his hand up. “I can’t believe the bitch did this to you,” she told him.
Frank simply replied, “At least I got away.”
He looked over his shoulder to see Elle sitting at the back of the bus alone, her head resting on the glass and her eyes red raw from crying. “I don’t think she will ever forgive me,” Frank spoke to Zoe.
She finished wrapping his hand up, “It wasn’t your fault, so don’t go blaming yourself. Jack would not want that,” she told him firmly.
“He should have left me, and never come looking,” he told her.
Zoe got angry, “Stop the self-pity, the truth is Jack saved all of us, the least we can do is make sure we honor his memory and not give up,” she snapped at him.
Before he could reply Bray approached them, “We are out the city and the road is pretty clear, there are some stores around here and I think we should look for some supplies,” he told them.
“Good idea, you and Zoe go and scout, I will look around the other side,” he told them.
“We shouldn’t split up,” Bray quickly replied.
Frank stood up, “Elle is in no frame of mind to help and it is our duty to look after these people. So we will do what I said and that is an order,” he told Bray straight.
There was no response.
Ryan stopped the bus, Bray and Zoe went across to look at nearby buildings. Frank started to leave the bus and spoke to Ryan, “Shut these doors behind me and if there are any problems just leave,” he told him. He walked away before Ryan could reply, he disappeared from sight.
Frank walked towards some buildings, he looked to make sure he was not being watched; he walked past them and walked in behind a wall. He opened the backpack he had and pulled out the radio he found at the MI6 building. He tuned it to a set frequency, pressing the button he spoke.
“THIS IS CORPORAL FRANK ADAMS, THIS IS A MESSAGE FOR CAPTIAN JENKINS,” he paused for a moment looking around again. “LANCE-CORPORAL JACK MASON IS DEAD, WE NEED TO TALK, I WILL GO LIVE AGAIN AT 2300 HOURS.”
He placed the radio in his bag and walked back towards the bus.
COMING SOON
DEAD & ALIVE
BROKEN
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Table of Contents
COPYRIGHT
DEDICATION
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE