by Adams, Taeya
“Well you think when someone is getting chased by flesh eating things, they’d lock the car door,” Ben jokingly said.
Forres smirked and relaxed, well tries to. After putting the bag in the trunk, she noted the smell of iron in the car. Forres’ stomach came up to her throat as she thought of how much blood could be in the car and she vomited on the floor. Ben moved his foot just in time. Strike a thousand of ever trying to get Ben as your boyfriend. The voice in Forres’ head teased as Zander chuckled. Forres’s tan cheeks turned red with embarrassment. She didn’t dare looking at Ben as his warm hand rubbed her back. Now we see why you can never get a man. The voice teased as Forres put her forehead on the back of the cold front seat, now smelling vomit and blood.
When they pulled into the caged parking of the mall, Forres got out and gagged on the smell.
*****
Day One: March 27th, 2020; 4:30pm
Eleanor had eaten and now was trying to relax. She had changed into new clothing and freshened up. Parker had fallen asleep on the table and Jackus was eating. Sargent had gone out to the parking lots, hearing a car. So when Sargent came back in with the group, Eleanor stood, noticing Forres’s lack of color. “Are you okay, Forres?”
Forres nodded a bit. Ben helped her sit in the nearest chair. “Just tired,” Half was true and half was not. She was drained but not of sleep.
“Where’s Jezabel?” Eleanor asked the group, looking at the others.
“Forres?” Jackus questioned the name, touching the bag that was on her bag as if it was a habit.
Ben pulled his hand from Forres’s waist, feeling wetness. He looked at his fingers seeing dark red blood. Her dark shirt was soaked in it “Forres?” Forres looked at him. “You’re bleeding…”
Forres looked at her wounded shoulder. “Oh… I am,” Blood that was seeping through her shirt became more noticeable. Her eyes locked of Ben before the rolled back and she started going down.
Chapter Twenty
Day One: March 27th, 2020; 7:50 pm
Eleanor had stopped the bleeding on Forres’s gun wound
Zander then put the unconscious Forres in a bed to rest. Ben put food, water and new clothing by her bed for when – if – she woke up.
Eleanor had held her tears after founding out that Jezabel didn’t make it. She didn’t want to cry. She had cried when her brother had died… and her grandparents too. She didn’t want to cry, again. Crying made her feel weak, weaker then she had ever been. But as soon as she was alone in the bed store, she cried. She cried long and hard, shaking and whispering to herself that it was her fault and it should have been her. She was another one that didn’t understand why they had been alive.
Those tiny fingers had always haunts her closed eyes but now it was Jezabel’s ear-to-ear smile too.
*****
Day One: March 27th, 2020; 7:55 pm
No one talked at the table.
Chyler was the first to break the silence: “It’s my fault.”
Zander pushed his chair back, annoyed and in rage, as he got up. He shot Chyler a look then turned to leave.
“I was supposed to watch her. She died because of me,” Chyler exclaimed, making Zander stop.
“No, it’s not,” Zander barked at her, turning. “No of this is your fault. Be happy that you’re alive and get over it. People are going to die, not such big deal…,” Zander growled and started off again.
“Did you even lose anyone?” Chyler questioned. “You act as if you never lost someone as if your life is perfect.”
Zander stopped. His jaw tightened in pain. He was going to say something but his jaw was tightened he had given up on it. Zander leaved. He goes to the bed store, hearing Eleanor crying like he had expected. Instead of comforting her, he laid on a bed, listening.
*****
Day One: March 27th, 2020m 8:00pm
“Zander has no one left to lose,” Ben stated when Zander was out of sight.
Chyler looked at Ben then away. She got up and left too.
Feeling awkward as if it was a party he wasn’t invited to, Ben decided to clear the silences: “So you guys know Forres? How?”
Everyone’s eyes turned to Ben. “Uh… Bex and Forres were best friends since birth in the orphanage,” Sargent started. The Latino cowboy raked his hand through his short brown hair and put on his cowboy hat. “Rayne and I meet her in the hospital,” Ben glanced over at Rayne who gave him a flirtatious wink.
“How do you know Forres,” Ben nodded at the military lady who was feeding the military guy on the table.
The lady looked at Ben. “We were sent her to find survivors but I was sent her to find a sick girl named Forres Tanner and give her medicine,” Jackus put her bag on the table.
“Forres is still sick?” Sargent asked as if he hasn’t seen Forres in years.
“Still? Forres is sick?” Ben asked, looking at Austin who sat back in his chair.
“Forres has always been sick since birth,” Bex clarified. “She has an unknown, incurable, killing virus in her body. Her immune system is never good and it can’t fight off the virus without medication.”
“Who sent them?” Ben asked, narrowing his eyes on Jackus.
“Her doctor,” Jackus answered.
“Doctor Greene?” Rayne interrogations.
Jackus nodded as Ben spoke, “Wait! Doctor Greene as in Greene, G-R-E-E-N-E?” Bex and Sargent nodded together.
“Why you know him?” Jackus scowled at him.
Ben looked at the path Zander had left in. “I know his son…,” Ben ran him hand over his mouth, thoughtfully. “How would this doctor even know Forres would be alive? A lot of people die right?” Bex nodded. “So how would he know Forrest isn’t dead?”
Everyone looked at each other as if the answer was written on their faces.
“Do you think he’s watching?” Rayne made a face of disgust, not liking the idea of someone watching her.
“Or tracking Forres every move,” Austin suggested. Once again, everyone looked at each other but this time as if they were the neighbor who were hired spies.
“It’s getting late. We should hit the hay,” Ben stood, grabbing his rifle. He lifted it in the air as if he was showing the “spies” that he had a gun and he knew how to use it. Ben gave a nod and goes off. He goes to the men’s bathroom, getting the feeling that someone was following him or watching him.
Ben goes in the bathroom and put the rifle on the counter, turning on the sink. Ben bend down and splashed water in his face. When he stood up, Ben saw someone in the somewhat foggy mirror and the person raised a gun.
Chapter Twenty-One
Day One: March 27th, 2020; 8:26pm
Zander never shot out of bed so quickly in his life.
“Zander?” He heard Eleanor’s small voice came. “What was that?” Eleanor sat up. Even in the dark, Zander could see her eyes rimmed with red. Zander had gotten out of bed and grabbed his guns. He threw one to Eleanor. She caught it in her hands.
“Gun shots. Stay here with Forres!” Zander ordered as he ran out of the bed store. His bare feet got a cold sensation and as did his bare chest. Chills ran down his spine at the thought of zombies coming in. He had fallen asleep like Eleanor and was woken by two gunshots like Eleanor was too. Zander had gone to the place where he thought he had heard the gun shots at.
Austin ran towards him. “Was it coming from here?” Austin pointed to the men’s bathroom.
Zander gave a nod. “That’s what’s I think,” Zander and Austin entered the bathroom together.
Zander’s heart ceased to beat as well as his body ceased to move. His body goes stiffs. Zander’s jaw tightened with anger as some of the others came in.
Ben and Beatrice were dead on the floor; Ben’s rifle was on the sink, and a pistol was in Beatrice’s dead hand.
Austin took off his cowboy hat and put it over Ben’s face for everyone’s sake.
Chyler saw something on the mirror. Stepping over Ben’s lifeless body, she gr
abbed the yellow sticky note from the mirror. It read: “I wanted Ben to myself. We will be happy. ~Beatrice.”
Anger raged throughout Zander’s body. He couldn’t hold it; he was going to burst as if he was a water balloon with too much water. Zander balled his hands. He turned and passed through the crowd of gasping people.
Someone grabbed his arm, following him. “Are you okay? Do you need comfort?” Rayne asked. Zander glared at her before yanking his arm from her grasp. He couldn’t tell if Rayne had come to the terms that people will die in the apocalypse or if she had no heart.
Zander had broken heart from losing loved ones and now it was filled with rage. When he broke loose, he goes straight to a sport store. “Zander, what are you going to do with that?” Austin asked, following him to a jewelry store. Zander had a bat
Enraged in his heart, crazy in his eyes, Zander swung at the glass doors of the jewelry store. Glass fly, making Austin back up and the group to crowd around at a distance. Zander stepped into the store with his bare feet. He didn’t care about the pain of glass digging in his feet. He gave a hard swing at a case full of necklaces but it only cracked.
“Zander!” Eleanor gasped when she came to the crashing noise.
Zander looked at her. “My best friend is dead. Murdered, to be exact, by a psycho,” he told her. Eleanor opened her mouth but then closed it. “Thought so,” Zander swung again and again at the case until it broke. Glass flew from the now shattered necklace case.
“Beatrice wasn’t a psycho,” Rayne stated before Zander could hit another glass case. “How do we know you didn’t do it instead of her?” Rayne crossed her arms over her chest, sassily.
Zander slowly turned to Rayne and started to the door. Rayne had to admit, Zander looks pretty good without a shirt. He was lean and a bit broad. His skin was pale with tattoo ink on it: in his inner elbow was an arrow and drawings of butterflies climbing up his right arm and around to the tip of his shoulder. Zander looked at Rayne with his olive tiger eyes. “Why would I do that?”
“You did it because you were jealous,” Rayne explained. “You love Forres.”
Rayne could see Zander’s jaw tighten as well as the muscles in his body. “I do not like Forres, let alone love her,” He snarled.
Rayne really didn’t like the tone of voice he had used on her. “You have issues…”
Zander’s head tilted to the side like a confused puppy but he wasn’t confused on why he had issues. “You would too,” Zander started and turned.
Eleanor stared at the ink on his back that she hadn’t noticed before. He had dark, broken angel wings on his back with the saying in fancy dystopian letters, And on that day, she flew. She flew high in the sky like she said she would.
Zander goes to a ring case, his feet now bleeding. His hands tighten around the bat. “If your life was as horrible as mine,” Zander lifted his bat and came down on the case.
Austin stepped into the jewelry store, glass breaking under his boots; bat in hand, boots in the other. He had a grim look on his face and Zander thought he’d hit him but instead, Austin threw him the shoes.
Zander looked at Austin and brushed the glass off his foot before putting on the shoes Austin gave him. Austin – ankle and arm feeling much better – swung at some cases. Taking their time, Austin and Zander bonded over breaking case, necklaces, and more and getting their anger out.
Rayne watched Zander’s every movement. She watched his muscle tense up when he swung at the cases. She watched the way his shoulder blades pop out of his back. She watched all of him.
*****
Day One: March 27th, 2020; 8:57 pm
Chyler stepped behind Sargent unable to watch anymore. She turned, sniffing and leaving. Sargent didn’t want her to be in the mall alone so a minute after she left, he goes to find her. As he patrolled the halls, he heard crying from a record store nearby.
“Chyler?” Sargent asked to the cases of records.
The crying stopped and was replaced by sniffing.
“Are you okay?” He asked. He knelt beside her, behind a record case. She turned away from him, embarrassed. He reached back and grabbed a record. “Do you know who the Beatles are?” Chyler turned back, thinking he’d say something smart but instead he said, “No? I don’t either. I was hoping you did.”
She laughed a little, and then looked down.
“Her death wasn’t your fault…”
“I could’ve helped her. Instead, I froze. I watched her go down and black out. I was responsible for her. Her blood is on my hands…”
Sargent sighed. “You’re only a kid – what fourteen or thirteen – you shouldn’t have been responsible for an even littler kid.”
“I was trusted to watch her,” Warm tears formed in her blue eyes.
“You know, when I was fourteen, whenever Bex, Forres or I got in trouble, we’d be blaming it on the real person’s fault. The adult. They shouldn’t put their responsibility on us because we were kids.”
“It’s not Eleanor’s fault, its Rayne’s.”
Sargent chuckled as if it was a joke. “Why is it Rayne’s fault?”
“She’s the one who murdered Jezabel…”
Sargent looked at her with a confusing looks as Chyler decided to trust him.
*****
Day One: March 27th, 2020; 9:08 pm
Zander bended down and picked up a ring. Chest heaving, he spoke, “Honestly, I wanted to get married. Find the perfect girl and propose…”
Rayne perked up. “You have time to find the perfect girl. Maybe she’s right in front of you.”
Zander looked up and saw Austin in front of him. Zander gave a weak smile and handed the ring to Austin. Austin let out a laugh, took the ring and hit it away from him with his bat. “Uh, no thank you,” Austin chuckled.
Zander walked out of the store through the window. He stopped by Eleanor, back to the others. “I told you to stay with Forres.”
“Forres is fine… Are you?” Eleanor asked. She shuttered away the feeling of reaching up and touching him.
“Will I ever be?” He glanced over at Eleanor then walked off.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Day Two: March 28th, 2020; 10:10 am
Forres woke up in no pain.
She sat up, touching her shoulder that was supposed to be injured. She felt no pain when her fingers brushed her wounded shoulder.
Forres looked around. She was in a small white room, on a bed. There were four walls that surrounded her, no door. Ben sat at the foot of the bed.
He flashed a smile that brightened the room even more. “Morning, beautiful,” his voice came in a whisper.
Forres felt her cheeks heat up with redness. She couldn’t remember the last time she was called that by anyone.
Ben smirked at her red cheeks. “How do you feel?”
Forres licked her lips and opened her mouth to talk but closed it. She didn’t know the answer though. She shifted a bit to test how she felt. She let out a breath of air and looked at Ben. “I feel… light as if… I’m flying.”
Ben beamed. Forres wondered how someone’s smile could be from ear-to-ear because Ben’s was. “I never got the chance to tell this but I liked you,”
Forres stared at him a bit confused. “What do you mean?”
“Forres,” He started and took her hand into his. His hand felt cold, not warm at all. Forres scowled at his hand but looked at him. “I liked you from the start. It’s sad that I didn’t have the chance to get to know more about you.”
Forres took her hand from his icy hand. “Why are you talking like that Ben?”
His sparkle that was in his eyes left as sadness spread in them. “You shouldn’t be here. You can’t be here.”
“Where are we, Ben?”
He stayed silent.
“Ben, tell me where we are!” Forres yelled as the white paint on the walls began to peel off. Underneath was a rotted away wall.
Ben bit him lip as a familiar voice came: “Forres! Forres! Do
n’t you do this to me too!”
Zander’s voice.
Forres stood from the bed just as the walls finished peeling. A decayed form of walls surrounded them. “What is he talking about?”
“Just go to him,” Ben stood from the bed. Behind them, the bed started to rot away.
“How? Where are we? Why are you and Zander talking weirdly? What’s going on?” So many questions swam around in Forres’s head and not enough answer. She turned to Ben. His hand started to rot away like everything else did. “Ben!” Forres tried to take his hand but it turned to ash and dust from her touch.
She gasped as Ben looked away. “You have to go,” He said in a voice that – Forres could tell – was full of pain.
“What will happen to you?” Forres reached up and touched the part of his cold face that wasn’t rotten away yet.
Ben’s brown eyes meet Forres’ misty eyes for maybe the last time ever. “What happens to all those who are lost… Wither away…”
“Forres Tanner, please wake up!” Zander’s voice came.
Forres suddenly noticed that this was a dream and she would get to see Ben’s beautiful face again. Or was this a nightmare? Ben started to wither away into ash and dust right into the palm of her hands. The wind started to blow the ashes away.
It was a nightmare. Forres started to breathe heavily as she let the ash be blown away.
“Forres, please…,” Zander’s voice came.
Forres looked around and was trapped in the decayed room. She didn’t know what else to do but to scream loudly. She screamed because she was trapped. She screamed because of the pain she could now feel. Her body felt as it was on fire and all she felt was pain.
The pain of losing Ben in this nightmare.
The pain of being stuck here.
The pain of wanting to wither away with Ben…
The pain of being lost.
The pain of being dead.
Chapter Twenty-Three