We Are The Survivors

by Vanessa Marie

  We walk to the door.

  “I need back up guys,” I hear Blake say in the kitchen.

  We walk faster. I see Xavier in the car. He gets out smiling wide. He runs to me.

  A guy aims a gun at his head before we hug. He has long black hair. He has a beard. He has a leather jacket on. I see the edge of a red letter on his jacket.

  No, no this can’t be right. There’s more of them. How is there more?

  Kay gets shot in the arm by the man and I’m pulled back by my hair. I’m pulled into the restaurant. Blake slams the door. He tries to duct tape my hands and feet together. I hit him the whole time while he tries to. He finally ties my hands.

  He drags Kay in the restaurant by her feet. She is holding her arm with her left hand. Her arm is bleeding profusely. She groans and clenches her teeth in pain.

  Blake pauses holding the door open a crack. “You really thought I didn’t have people other than adolescents? These guys were friends of my father, the ones that weren’t caught when my dad was. They are relatives of the adolescent group that you killed and they are very pissed. Surprise,” he says.

  “I’ll kill you!” I yell.

  He slams the door. I grab a cloth napkin from the table. I tie it tight around her Kay’s arm where the bullet hit her. She is sweating and her face is red.

  “Hey, I’m staying here,” I say.

  “You take this,” she takes a gun from the back of the waist band of her pants. “Help them don’t worry about me. Shit, we should have brought Sierra,” she says.

  I take it. I open the back door. The car is empty. No one is in sight. I glance over my shoulder at Kay.

  “You bring him back here when it’s done. Make him pay for what he did to Alex,” she says staring at his lifeless body.

  I nod slowly. I close the door. I point the gun in front of me while making it around the building. Xavier and a woman with brown hair are behind a car in the parking lot. I crouch next to Xavier.

  I hug him, “I’m so happy to see you.”

  He pulls back from me “You’ll be even happier when you see who is behind you,” he says.

  My aunt is behind me. I start crying and hugging her and then we’re both crying. The rear window shatters. We both duck. Xavier gets down with us.

  “Do you know where Alyssa and Pam are?” she asks.

  “Yeah I can show you where they are. There is another girl too,” I say.

  Craven, Nya, Sarah, Gavin and Dave are behind a car parallel to us. The hood of the car is facing us. They get shot at too. The sound of the bullets hitting metal scares me. I peek out of the side of the car. There are two guys I can see behind a car parked in front of us.

  I shoot an overweight guy in the head. The window he is in front of shatters when he falls. There is a guy with glasses and grey hair that stands up and Dave shoots him.

  There are no people in sight. Dave has a confused expression on his face. There is movement on top of the roof. I think it’s birds on the roof. I look again, there are guys shooting from the roof.

  A guy shoots our car’s headlight. Dave tries to get his attention. He fires a few rounds. Dave leans out from the car a little too much. He gets grazed by a bullet in the shoulder. He ducks behind cover quickly. The bullet just ripped his jacket which is good for everybody’s sake.

  I forgot that I was grazed. The blood dried creating a scab. My arm is still sore from it.

  Dave fires a few shots. He hits one guy who falls off the roof once he dies. I shoot a few rounds. I hit one guy on the roof. He falls on top of a car. The windows shatter at the impact.

  I don’t see Blake anywhere. He must have ran leaving these people to fight for him. I would never lower myself so much that I would do dirty work for someone. At least Colt understood that, even though he was messed up in the head.

  I shoot a guy with a rifle and he topples to the ground. There are three more guys on the roof. Dave shoots one and May does. There is one left. Nya stands in the middle of the cars and hits him in the head with a rifle.

  There is no movement. I’m not convinced that they are all gone. The rest must be hiding somewhere.

  Two guys are walking through the parking lot with guns raised. I can’t tell if they are from Blake’s group or not. They are getting closer to us. May cocks the slide of her gun back. I aim my gun at the end of the car waiting for them to come closer.

  Dave mouths Blake’s people. I mouth I don’t know.

  The taller one walks past the trunk of the car and I aim the gun at his head. Sarah aims her pistol at the other man.

  “Put your weapons down now!” she shouts at them.

  They both put their guns on the pavement and put their hands up slowly.

  The taller one smiles nervously. “I heard the shots, I was curious to see what was going on.”

  Sarah isn’t convinced. Neither am I. After what we’ve been through I wouldn’t doubt another surprise.

  He brushes his blonde hair from his blue eyes. The other guy runs his fingers through his brown hair, an action that makes Sarah tighten her grip on the gun. He puts his hands up fast sensing her distrust.

  The guy with brown hair is shaking. “Come on. We’ll help you. You guys are the good people, right?” he asks.

  “It depends on who you ask. I’m telling you yes,” I say.

  He turns to me and gets closer to me. I put distance between us. He holds his hands in front of me.

  “Give me the gun,” he says.

  “You’re not getting the gun. Tell me your name,” I say.

  “Jimmy Grits, my friends called me Sketchy,” he says.

  “That doesn’t make me feel very safe,” I say.

  The man with blonde hair laughs. “Give him a break. His friends called him that because he likes to draw. My name is Drew,” he says.

  I hear a shot accompanied by glass shattering and a car alarm. Dave’s car alarm is going crazy. A small herd of zombies is coming from the street and behind the gas station.

  The men grab their guns. They get down with me behind the car. They shoot a few zombies.

  Dave taps me on the shoulder “Where’s Kay?” he asks.

  “In the café. She’s hurt bad,” I say.

  He runs to the back door. Xavier kisses me. He gives me a blue pendant that has glitter in it. I put it on.

  “I forgot to give you this. I just want you to know I love you,” he says.

  Shots come from inside the restaurant. I run around the building into the back door. Blake hits Dave in the head with his gun. There are two bullet holes in the left wall. Dave is on the floor next to Kay his hands are covering his face. Blake has his back to me.

  I grab a plate from a table and hit him over the head with it. Blake falls face first on the floor. I drag him into the kitchen. I open the door and pull him in the freezer. I grab a chair and put it in the kitchen. He opens his eyes. He is confused.

  “I want you to watch your whole group die then I kill you,” I say.

  I close the door and put the chair’s back under the handle. I feel a little guilty.

  I think of all the things he’s done and I’m a little less sorry. He pounds on the door yelling for me to let him go. The chair’s back shakes with each pound on the door.

  The first day I was held in Blake’s house I pounded on the door asking for help. Now he is doing the same thing. He sounds scared.

  Should it scare me that a murderer is scared to die or should it scare me that I might kill him?

  I snap out of the daze I’m in. I walk in the café. I hear more shots firing. Dave is on the floor still. I help him to his feet. He is dazed.

  “Are you okay?” I ask.

  “Yeah.” He runs to Kay.

  He holds her in his arms. Beads of sweat are trailing down her forehead.

  “Are you okay?” he asks.

  “Yeah. I think it went clean through,” she says.

  He peels the makeshift tourniquet back revealing her wound. “It’s not bleeding
anymore. You need to get to Sierra. I’ll drive you there.”

  He gets her to her feet and pauses. “Thank you. When will you… do it?”

  “Once the rest are gone. I have something to say to him,” I say.

  “You’re not wrong in this. He was wrong to do this, all of it. You are protecting us.”

  I scrape my shoes against the floor. “I know. Why didn’t he shoot you?” I ask.

  “He has hatred especially for me. We’re together.” He motions towards Kay.

  “Oh.”

  They head to the car. I lead the way to provide cover. They stop at the edge of the building. About five guys are behind a car across from the car May and Xavier are at. I shoot a few rounds into the hood of the car as a distraction. Dave leans Kay in a sitting position against the car.

  May’s car is six cars away from us. This is going to take a bigger distraction. May shoots a man with a sniper rifle. I get an idea. “May, how good are you with snipers?” I ask her.

  She shakes her head. “I shot a couple of times with Kevin when we were hunting.”

  I shoot two rounds into the car windows missing the guys. “We need to get this girl back to the community. Can you make it to the roof with a sniper rifle over there?”

  “Yeah,” she says.

  “We all get up and shoot them point blank. Move up,” I say.

  Sarah makes it to the car ahead of her. I step out of cover. A guy aims his gun from the other side of the car. Sarah shoots him in the head, I slide into cover. Blood splatter is on the hood of the car.

  Sarah kills another guy who pops his head up. I beckon for her to move in on them. She aims her shotgun in the direction of the car. I stand on the hood of the car. I jump on the ground and start shooting. Sarah has her back to me and is shooting the people behind the car at the rear.

  “Clear,” she says.

  Dave helps Kay to his car behind the building. He sits her in the passenger’s seat and sits in the driver’s seat. They drive away.

  The sun is setting. Yellow and orange light look like they are painted on the horizon I a few brush strokes.

  There are some zombies coming toward us. There are a few here and there dead on the pavement. The more shots they hear the more they will come. It will be worse if there are more of Blake’s people.

  How many people does he have? Shooting these people could only make a dent. I’ll have to ask him about it.

  A man with long dirty blonde hair steps from behind the tailgate with a shotgun in my face. He pulls the slide back to reload. A shot rings out and he drops to the ground. I look up to see May is on the roof with the sniper rifle.

  Gavin and Sarah kill the zombies. Black blood splatters on the pavement. The zombies fall in piles on the ground. A group of guys comes from inside the gas station. They must have been hiding. I grab a few guns and get behind a car. Sarah and Gavin get behind a car with the others.

  May kills a few of them. Eight of them split up going behind two cars. Two go behind the side of the building.

  “We don’t have to do this. Just walk away,” I say.

  “No!” one of them shouts.

  He shoots my car. Gas leaks from underneath it. Xavier and I move three cars down quickly. The group follows. Sarah ducks two seconds before the car explodes. Shrapnel rains down. The flames set the guys’ car on fire and that car explodes. The men are on fire running and screaming.

  “We have to get their guns,” I say to Sarah.

  “Dave took ours. Shit,” she says.

  She walks to the men. I grab as many guns that I can carry, which isn’t much. I pry the guns from their dead hands.

  “The restaurant is the best place to be now,” I say.

  They go in the café. “May!” I call. She pokes her head up. “We’re staying inside. Make sure no one gets close to the front or back door,” I say.

  She nods. I run inside. I block the door like I blocked the freezer’s. I don’t hear Blake yelling anymore. The door is still blocked. He didn’t escape. He didn’t.

  The group is blocking the doors by putting huge tables against them. We huddle together, back to back, in the middle of the restaurant, weapons raised, waiting to shoot. It is, what it feels like, a lifetime in silence. Which I’m not convinced is a good sign. They could be waiting to attack. Going to strike at one moment of weakness. Or, on the other hand, they could be all dead.

  Through the windows the sky is black with only the moonlight shedding light in this place. I can barely see my hands or feet. It makes this situation scarier. How am I supposed to shoot if I can’t aim?

  The silence is broken by glass breaking. I’m facing the kitchen and the sound came from the blocked doors. A shot is fired.

  “Got him,” Nya says.

  “Was that Blake’s guy?” I ask.

  “Yes,” she says.

  I’m shivering from the cold.

  The back-door handle rattles. It stops. Someone pounds on the door making me jump. Xavier, who is on my left side turns to the door.

  “Back door,” he says.

  They aim their guns at the back door. The chair shakes along with the door. The rattling stops. There is a moment of eerie silence. The door’s handle splinters, the top of the chair is blown apart.

  A man kicks the door open. I shoot him, the light from the gun firing gives me a glimpse of his face. He had grey hair and blue eyes. Another guy shoots a chair leg very close to Sarah’s leg. The chair falls, unable to support itself. I shoot that guy in the chest. He drops the gun landing on the floor holding his heart.

  When did killing become normal for me? It’s been maybe a month and I have so many people to the list. I’ve never wanted to hurt someone in my life. Should I kill Blake? He’s killed people that I’ve cared about. If I kill him am I better than him? Am I the same? I don’t want to torture him or anything. Just a bullet to the head to protect my family. I am better than him, I’m killing him to protect people. I don’t want to do it but I’m doing it for the right reasons.

  Nya breaks from the group and closes the door. Sarah joins her and helps her push a table against it. They pile chairs on top of it.

  “Everybody separate now! There’s fifty of them,” Gavin yells.

  We turn tables on their sides taking cover. The others crouch in booths. Sarah and Nya duck behind the counter that has a register on it which is across from the kitchen.

  A vase filled with roses on the counter explodes. A man with a handgun is on the other side of the window. Gavin shoots him in the gut.

  The wall gets riddled with bullets. Picture frames of people and scenery on the walls gets knocked off them. They shatter on impact with the floor. I peek out from the table. A group of men walk to the doors. A few shots fire. May kills all of them.

  My feet are hurting. I sit cross-legged. A shot goes through the table next to my shoulder. I move, ducking in the seat of a booth. I peek over the top of it. A group of guys come from the street, they duck behind cars. They shoot the tables blocking the door. The table’s edges splinter and wood flies everywhere.

  May shoots one of them. A guy runs directly up to the doors aiming his PP-2000 which is a submachine gun. It was in a video game I used to play. No video game could have prepared us for this.

  The man shoots the walls, the tables, booths, everywhere. The wood splinters, bits of drywall sprays. Gavin blind fires from a booth hitting the man in the neck. The man drops the gun and holds his neck which is spraying blood. It’s like a soda can was shaken and popped open.

  That submachine gun would be great. “Gavin, you’re a good shot. Get that gun he has,” I say.

  “Yeah, send me to get it,” he says.

  While crouching, he walks to the door. “Cover me.”

  He sits on the table and swings his legs over it. A guy pops up shooting a triangular piece of glass in the broken window to Gavin’s right. Pieces of it scatter the floor. Sketchy kills him with a headshot. Gavin lies on the table and grabs the gun. He swings his
legs over the table. A man with a cowboy hat on aims at his head. I get a clear shot, I aim, I pull the trigger. I have no bullets.

  “Get down!” I yell.

  Gavin gets shot in the arm. He hits the floor. Sarah shoots the cowboy. She drags Gavin behind the counter.

  I hear the backdoor shake. The chairs fall off the table. The table moves a few inches. I have nothing to protect myself. I run to the counter where Sarah is. The back-door busts open. Someone runs and pulls me by my hair. I land on the floor by the kitchen door.

  I get in the kitchen. I grab a clever on a cutting board. The guy aims his gun. I grab it and point it at the ceiling. He shoots the ceiling. Dry wall rains down on us. I shove the clever into his abdomen. Blood soaks through his shirt and he falls face first on the ground.

  I grab his gun, an assault rifle. I kick open the kitchen doors. The back door is wide open. I consider closing it.

  I watch Gavin in pain from the bullet wound. He isn’t looking at Sarah, who is cradling his head in her lap. He is looking at Alex’s body on the floor. He is crying, not just from the pain, it’s grief too. Sarah stares at the body. She is crying. The others probably didn’t recognize him in the dark or didn’t want to see him.

  I tie my cousin’s arm with a napkin as tight as possible like I did to Kay. I get him on his feet. “Get to the roof. Nya, you and me provide cover. Everyone roof!” I say the last part louder to everyone. They run through the back door. We back up fast. We get to the ladder by the door. Sarah gets Gavin to his feet. He climbs the ladder. Blood is soaking into the napkin on his arm.

  A man tries to flank us. Nya is quick to shoot him in the leg. She shoots him a second time in the leg. She insists I climb the ladder first.

  “Come on!” Sarah says when she is on the roof.

  I hold the gun with my right hand and climb the ladder with my left hand. I sit next to May. She sees Gavin sitting by the ladder. She sees his wound.

  “He got shot?” she asks.

  “Yeah. Dave should’ve been here by now,” I say.

  She puts her eye to the scope of the gun. “Did he abandon us?” she asks.

  I aim at a group of cars parked in front of the store where a small group is taking cover. “He wouldn’t leave us here.”