by Jenkins, Seb
Lizzie twisted her neck to look up at Max.
“I know kid, I know,” Max said before pulling her into a hug.
He knew he couldn’t leave her now, but he also now knew that he didn’t want to.
The two lay there like that in bed, until they both drifted off into a deep sleep.
Chapter Nineteen
Max woke up earlier than usual, carefully sliding out of bed, so he didn’t wake the peaceful Lizzie. He took advantage of any time she was quiet, he laughed to himself. After taking a long shower and slipping on his clothes, Max wandered downstairs into the kitchen. The entire Jennings family was already sat around the table, tucking into breakfast and chatting away.
“Don’t you people ever sleep?” Max laughed.
“Never waste a minute of the day, Max my man; never miss a minute,” Henry smiled, his eyes gleaming as usual.
Max had never met such a warm-hearted man who managed to smile both with his mouth and his eyes.
Max pulled up a chair and sat down at the table.
“Are you not eating Max?” asked Emily, whilst trying to control the two young girls, fighting over the last bowl of cereal.
“Nah that’s okay, thanks Emily. I’m going to head out soon, see what I can scavenge from around here. I’ll grab something to eat when I’m back,” Max said nonchalantly.
The whole table fell to silence and the whole Jennings family stopped eating.
“I must have misheard,” Henry chuckled, looking around the table.
“You said you’re heading outside the gates?” he asked, clearly puzzled.
“Yeah, just a quick look around, see what I can find in nearby houses, maybe some food and medicine and stuff,” Max explained, unsure as to why it had caused such worry.
“But they… they’re out there,” Sophia said, trembling and hugging her mother’s arm tightly.
“She’s right. It’s not safe,” added Emily.
“It’s fine,” Max scoffed
“I’ve been out on the road long enough, I’ve fought and killed those things enough, and I know what I’m doing,” he reassured.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea Max, we have plenty of supplies here,” Henry argued.
“Well Henry, those supplies will eventually run out, and if you’re not prepared to go outside to find more, well then I’m sorry, you’re fucked,” Max said, pushing his chair back and getting to his feet, ready to leave.
“Language!” Emily snapped, covering Megan’s ears as she did so.
“Sorry, but the sooner you realise it, the better. This is a fu… screwed up world we live in, and we have to do stuff we don’t want to in order to survive. End of,” Max snapped back at her, annoyed by the sheer ignorance of the family.
They had been locked away in the safety of their home since the start; they didn’t know what it was really like out there. More than that, they were in complete denial about the need to explore in order to survive. If Max was still planning on leaving Lizzie here, he’d be having second thoughts round about now.
“Look, come with me Henry, let me show you, teach you what it’s like out there. Eventually you will need to venture outside your little haven here,” Max urged.
Henry mulled this over in his head, but Jenny weighed in before he had the chance to reply.
“He most certainly will not!” she shouted.
“If you think my husband is risking his life out there just to match your idiotic bravado then you’re sadly mistaken!”
“Right okay, well I’ll see you all later,” Max said, fed up with the opposition he was facing about such a menial task.
“Would you at least like me to look after Lizzie whilst you’re gone?” Emily asked with a condescending tone.
“Actually, she’s a big girl, I’m sure she can look after herself,” Max shot back at her.
“Who can look after themselves?” Lizzie said, stumbling into the room, rubbing her sleep filled eyes.
Silence.
“Wow, who died?” Lizzie asked, confused.
“Well apart from like 99.9% of the population obviously,” she laughed, picking up a spare piece of toast and cramming it in her mouth.
“Max here is thinking of going outside the gates to ‘scavenge’ for supplies,” Jenny announced.
“Cool, can I come?” Lizzie said, picking up another piece of toast as she did so.
Jenny’s mouth fell open in shock as all eyes locked onto Lizzie.
“What?” she said, spitting out crumbs as she chewed.
“Go get dressed, we leave in five,” Max laughed, heading towards the kitchen door. He didn’t want to be in this room a minute longer than he had to.
“Aye aye captain,” Lizzie responded, sarcastically saluting before darting out of the room in front of him.
“This is irresponsible and I-” Jenny began to yell, but Max was already out the door, humming a tune in his head without a care in the world.
Lizzie was sprinting down the stairs within the next minute, ready to go.
“That was quick,” Max chuckled.
“Less time for that lot to argue,” Lizzie replied cheekily.
“Come on then kid,” Max said, smiling as he opened the front door and walked out towards the gate.
As they reached the towering metal fence, light footsteps could be heard, approaching from behind.
“Grandpa said that I should close the gate behind you,” Megan beamed proudly, happy that she had been given such an important job.
“Sounds like a good idea Megan,” Max smiled, ruffling the top of the young girl’s head.
Megan giggled and walked alongside Max to the gate.
Max pulled up the bolt which fixed the gate into the ground, before pulling it open and stepping through to the other side.
“We’ll see you later okay Meg?” Lizzie said, being unnaturally nice to the child, obviously in a better mood since she had been trusted to come with Max.
Megan nodded, still with a grin on her face as Lizzie and Max walked off down the street.
“We’ll start a few streets down, then circle to these houses on our way back later, okay?” Max said.
“Sounds good to me,” Lizzie agreed.
The two walked down the street into the distance, as Megan began to pull the gate shut behind them. She closed it, before pushing the bolt back down into the ground, struggling with the stiffness of the slightly rusted metal. The bolt slid part way into the ground and Megan hightailed it back into the house before slamming the front door behind her.
The gate wobbled in the breeze.
Chapter Twenty
“Okay Lizzie!” Max shouted up the stairs of a stranger’s house.
It was easier to not think about the families who used to live in each house anymore.
“Looks like we have all we’re gunna get here! Let’s pack up and move out, head back towards the Jennings’!” he called up once again.
Lizzie didn’t reply, forcing Max to stamp his way up the stairs, mumbling and groaning as he did so. The girl never did as she was told.
“Lizzie?” Max screamed at the top of his lungs, now slightly worried about her safety.
“Woah, calm down big guy, I’m in here,” Lizzie replied coolly, poking her head around a nearby door, sarcastically smiling to wind him up.
“Little shit,” Max mumbled, walking towards the door.
“I heard that!” Lizzie yelled, still beaming.
“What are you doing in here anyway?” Max asked, now smiling to himself as Lizzie had turned away.
“I found these,” she replied, thrusting out her hands, cupped together, and carrying a pile of three padded balls.
“Juggling? Really?” Max said with a smirk.
“Yeah! I’ve always wanted to learn!” Lizzie laughed, as she gave him her best attempt.
She threw one ball high above her head, before fumbling and dropping the other two, with the first landing on her head with a dull thud.
“Wel
l I won’t lie, that was impressive,” Max said, stifling a laugh.
“It’s harder than it looks! You try then!” Lizzie challenged, lobbing the balls his way as hard as she could.
“Can’t be too hard,” Max stated as he dropped his bag to his feet.
He bent down, plucking the balls from the ground and weighing them from side to side. He inhaled, and threw the first ball up. Immediately he struck a perfect rhythm, throwing and catching the trio of balls in a beautiful arching motion. He kept this up for ten or so seconds before catching all three and throwing a cocky smile Lizzie’s way.
“Okay, what the fuck?” she giggled.
“Yeah, I took lessons as a kid, breathe another word of that and I’ll shove all three down your throat. Time to go,” Max replied swiftly, chucking the balls into his backpack and hightailing it out of the room before she could reply.
Lizzie caught up with him downstairs, still chuckling to herself about the thought of Max in some kind of clown camp.
“Home time?” she asked after she had calmed herself down.
“Yeah, maybe try a few of the big houses down that street, then face the music back at the house. I’m sure they’ll have come up with at least ten new reasons of why this trip was so reckless,” Max complained bitterly.
The pair set off into a steady jog down the road, turning left, then right until they entered the Jennings’ street.
“Maybe they’ll send us to bed without dinner,” Lizzie teased.
“Yeah or make us do the washing up before we’re allowed any pudding,” Max sniggered.
As they neared the house, they slowed to a walk before Lizzie noticed something ahead.
“Is it just me, or does that not look good?” Lizzie asked with a seriously worried tone.
Max looked dead straight, where Lizzie was pointing. The large metal gate was swinging freely, and the front door of the house had been ripped from its hinges.
“Shit!” Max yelled, looking from the door, to Lizzie and back again before breaking into a sprint. He tore his bat and machete from his backpack and tore into the house.
“Stay close to me kid!” Max called out behind him.
Max burst into the kitchen where a group of undead had Henry and Jenny cornered. He swung his bat towards the nearest clicker, cracking it against its skull; chilling vibrations running down the weapon into Max’s hands. The clicker fell to the ground with a thud, before Max thrusted the machete forward with his left hand, through the stomach of another undead.
He tore the blade back out, guts spilling out onto the floor before he planted two aggressive stamps onto the fallen clickers head, collapsing it in on itself. Henry pulled his wife behind him, pushing away the approaching clickers with all his might. One tripped and fell in front of Lizzie, who jumped backwards in fright.
“Max!” she screamed.
Max turned round in lightning speed, jabbing the end of his bat through the clicker’s mouth, and out the other side with a soft, disturbing squelch. He then dispatched the last two zombies with a swift and powerful slice of his machete, cutting through the soft fleshy necks like a knife through warm butter. Both the severed heads fell to the floor, rolling a few metres towards the door before laying still, eyes wide open and staring back at the four survivors.
“The children…” Jenny whispered quietly to her husband, clutching the gaping bite wound on her left arm.
Henry’s face was pale, almost completely white as Jenny collapsed into his arms. He glanced towards the doorway, knowing the rest of his family needed him, but he couldn’t bear to leave her.
“Max…please,” he said simply.
Max nodded.
“Wait here Lizzie, keep them safe okay,” Max instructed, one hand planted on her shoulder.
The kid looked traumatised, but he trusted her to get the job done more than he did Henry right now. Max passed her the bat before exiting through the door and bounding towards the stairs.
He could hear screams from the girl’s bedroom. The door was wide open. Max ran into the room, relieved to see only one clicker bearing down on the children and their mother. Max approached from behind, placing his hand on the creature’s shoulder and pulling it around to face him. He then lashed out with his blade, arching it down into the infected woman’s shoulder.
There was a deafening crack as the machete lodged into the clicker’s shoulder blade. The woman didn’t flinch, as if unaware of the sword, protruding from her body. Max gripped around the clicker’s waist, throwing her against the wall before caving her face in with the sole of his boot. He wrenched his weapon back out of the bone and turned to check on the Jennings family.
He couldn’t tell if they were more afraid of the undead, or what they had just witnessed him do, but frankly he didn’t care. He just needed to get them to safety.
“Kids, out the door and down to the kitchen okay!” Max yelled above the screams, checking the rest of the room for any other lurking clickers.
The children didn’t need telling twice, sprinting out the room towards the stairs.
“Where are my parents?” Emily screeched at Max, shaking him as she did so.
“They’re down in the kitchen, now follow your children okay Emily?” he shouted back at her, following her out of the room.
Emily let out an ear piercing scream, frozen in horror as a trio of clickers blocked the bottom of the staircase, her children only a metre away. Sophia pushed Megan back up the stairs, but in doing so tripped on one of the steps. She came crashing down, desperately scrambling to regain her footing, but the clickers were on her before she could. They tore away at her flesh, fighting each other to be the first to take a bite.
Megan just stood in shock horror, watching her sister get mutilated by these disgusting monsters. She still had hold of Sophia’s hand, unwilling to let her go. Before either Emily or Max could even react, the clickers had enclosed both daughters; the stairs awash with blood and screams.
“NOOOOOO!” Emily screeched, running down to her daughters’ aid.
Max thrust out a hand and grabbed her by the arm, holding her back.
“Emily, it’s too late! We have to find another way down!” he tried to say calmly.
Emily turned and cracked her hand across Max’s face, wriggling free of his grasp. She leaped down the staircase, pulling the first clicker away from her children. What lay beneath barely looked like a child’s body, torn flesh and blood covering any distinguishing features.
Emily’s hands clapped against her mouth, crying out for her daughters, with no reply. The clickers immediately turned on their new victim, pulling her down to join Megan and Sophia. The crying turned to screaming, the screaming turned to silence.
Max could only look on in horror; but he needed to get down there. He couldn’t let the same happen to Lizzie. He ran into his own bedroom, flinging the window open and climbing out onto the ledge. Without hesitation he pushed himself off, clattering into the bushes below.
He felt the thorns and sticks scrape against his arms, cutting his body, but he clambered out and stumbled back towards the front door. The three clickers still knelt over Emily, Megan and Sophia, mouths dripping with blood. Max ran at them, not holding anything back, violently and mindlessly slashing his way through them until what remained was nothing more than a pile of bodies, lifeless on the stairs.
Max was dripping with blood, some human, some clicker; he didn’t even know anymore. He burst back into the kitchen, seeing Henry crying over his wife’s body and Lizzie desperately trying to pull him away.
“We need to go Henry!” she was shouting at him over and over again.
Jenny lay still, her throat slit. A bloody kitchen knife sat on the floor beside her. Henry looked up and saw Max.
“I had to do it! I had to! I couldn’t let her turn!” he yelled across the room.
“I couldn’t let her turn,” he sobbed again.
“Where are the girls?” Henry asked, suddenly noticing the bloody state of Max.
Max shook his head.
“Henry, I’m sorry,” he said gently.
“Henry, we have to go; we will mourn them later, I promise,” he added.
“GO? WE HAVE TO GO? HOW CAN I LEAVE THEM?” he screamed back at Max.
“I failed them all! They’re dead because of me!” he sobbed into his wife’s dead body.
His head suddenly shot up, eyes full of hatred.
“And you! You failed them! Why didn’t you save them?” he roared.
“Henry, I tried, I’m so-” Max began.
“Sorry? You’re sorry? They’re all dead because of you!” Henry hissed back at him.
Henry leaped to his feet, snapping the knife up from the floor. He grabbed Lizzie by the scruff of her shirt and pulled her in close, her back up against his body, and the knife now held tightly against her throat.
“Why should I lose everyone I love and you still have someone!? Huh!?” Henry asked manically.
The knife pressed further against Lizzie’s throat, drawing a small amount of blood. Lizzie dared not to breathe, let alone say anything.
Max looked at her.
“It’s going to be okay kid, just hang in there,” Max said reassuringly.
Lizzie didn’t reply, but her eyes were filled with trust.
“Henry, put the knife down. There’s been enough bloodshed today, you don’t want to add to that. She’s just a kid,” Max said calmly.
“Just a kid? My sweet granddaughters were just kids! Where are they Max?” Henry yelled back.
Above Henry’s screaming, Max hadn’t noticed the repeating clicking, quietly echoing around the room. One last undead had wandered through the back door, stumbling its way behind Henry, who was still yelling.
“First I’m going to kill her! Then I’m going to kill you Max! I will avenge them!”
“Just wait and think for a minute,” Max stalled, as the clicker slowly crept closer and closer to Henry.
“None of this is our fault Henry,” he added calmly.