'Maybe that'll teach the boy some manners,' Troy said.
I calmed down a little, feeling grateful for the support.
'I'm sorry, I didn't mean to fly off the handle he just insulted two of our fallen friends,' I told her apologetically.
'No need to apologise, I've punched more than a few people in my time for doing the same thing. Would you like help burying your friend?' She asked kindly.
I looked at the others who were sad and shaken to their core.
'No, thank you for offering though,' Anthony said graciously. 'Alright, well Brooke can you and Steven get these people some shovels and show them where we bury our dead?'
Steven was Brooke's husband, he was in his early forties with short, dark hair, hazel eyes and olive skin. He towered over his wife by almost a foot, Brooke was barely 5'4 but somehow as I looked at them, I saw that they were a perfect match. Brooke was a quiet, timid woman, though she was kind and caring. Steven was the opposite, he was loud, lovable and very outspoken. I think he kept her on her toes, which I thought was a good thing.
'Sure thing,' Steven replied.
They smiled and went to do as they were asked, I thanked Vera again for her kindness.
'What are you going to do with my brother?' Anthony asked worryingly.
'That all depends on him laddie, if he behaves we'll let him out, if not I think he can stew for a few days,' Vera replied with a cheeky smile on her face.
I was really starting to like her, she was a loud, fierce, strong leader but she was also kind and loving to all her people. I'd met so few people like her in these last years.
'You're not going to kill him are you? Anthony asked nervously.
'No laddie I'm not, not unless he tries to kill anyone.' Xandra, Anthony and Brian carried Casey's body to where the dead where buried. I was surprised to see Frankie there, I guessed that Brooke must have told her. We laid her body on the ground, Brian and Anthony dug the hole while the rest of us stood there crying.
'I didn't get a chance to tell you before, but she left a note,' Wendy said tearfully.
I took the note and forced myself to open it, my tears already spilling on the paper. 'I'm sorry, I can't carry on. My heart is now filled with anger, with hate. All I want to do is make those responsible pay, but I couldn't do that. Emily wouldn't want me to become that person, but I couldn't live with my only family gone. Please forgive me.'
'Oh Casey,' I cried. I felt so awful, if only I'd paid more attention to her grief instead of my own. I could've helped her, I could have stopped her. I cried not caring who saw, I felt Frankie put her arms round me. She held me close as I wept, all this was too much. First Emily, then Nikkita, now Casey. How many more people would I lose in this world?
'I wish I could've helped her,' I said sorrowfully.
'I've seen people opt out of this nightmare before, there's nothing anyone can do to help them,' Frankie comforted.
'I've never lost anyone like this before,' I told her. 'My parents opted out, but I'm glad they did. It took me a long time to see it, but I wouldn't have wanted them to live in this world. They were too kind, too loving for this life. At least they got to go together in peace, in our home,' she spoke happily of them and I knew she was right. 'I know what you mean, but I just wish it could have been different.'
'So do I, but at least she's with her family now,' she told me trying to smile. The lads finished digging the hole, we all held on to her body as we lowered it in. Our cries echoed through the compound as the rain started to pour down on us, we didn't move or speak as we covered her over. I looked at Xandra, Wendy and Yasmin. We took each others hands, crying in unison as we said goodbye to our friend.
'I'm sorry I couldn't save you,' I said as I took a daisy that was growing nearby and placed it on her grave.
Anthony and Brian were building a cross for grave, they etched it with her name and a simple message. 'Forever loved, forever missed.'
'You understood my pain, we both lost our sisters. I'm sorry I couldn't save yours,' Xandra cried as she too placed a flower on the grave.
'Thank you for being like the sister I never had,' Yasmin could barely finish sentence before breaking down.
'I was with Emily, she loved you, she missed you. At least now you can be together again,' Wendy said placing another flower down.
'I just, wish you were still here,' was all Brian could get out.
'I never told you this, but I loved you. You were strong and brave, and I just wish I could talk to you again,' Anthony cried. I never knew he felt that way, I walked over to hug him. He held on to me for a moment just crying. I turned to see Zachary being escorted to the grave by Troy, I didn't see the usual arrogance or coldness on his face, there was only sorrow in those azure eyes. He picked another flower from ground and walked towards me.
'I'm sorry for earlier, I know I'm an insensitive prick but there's a reason for that right now,' he told me tearfully.
He walked over to her grave and just stood for a moment crying, he knelt down and placed the flower on the ground. 'My brother wasn't the only one who loved you, but we swore neither of us would have you,' he almost laughed as he told the story. 'My being a prick was a reaction to never being able to hold you or kiss you, now that your gone, I wish to god I'd just kissed you, just once, even if you'd punched me in the face for it. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I wish you were here instead of me,' in all the time I'd known him he'd never displayed such emotion.
I put my hand on his shoulder, he stood up, he looked me in the eyes and just hugged me. It was then that I knew, all this time he'd been a dick, he was hiding his true feelings.
'I really am sorry, not just for earlier I'm sorry Nikkita is gone. She deserved better,' he told me through the tears.
'I forgive you, right now we need each other. So please no more fighting,' I said softly.
'I promise,' he cried.
'Can he come home with us?' I asked Troy.
'As long as there's no more trouble,' he replied.
'I'll behave,' Zachary promised.
'Good, I'll go and tell our fearless leader,' he responded.
As Troy said those words, I looked at Zachary to see a look of utter despair on his face. That's what he used to call Nikkita. With that Troy turned and left, Frankie asked if I wanted her to come back with me, I graciously declined. I took my friends home, Tessa brought us dinner which we were very grateful for. We said nothing as we ate, our hearts were broken and no words could fix them.
Chapter 16
Faye
I'd been back with my mum for three months, I still couldn't contain my joy at seeing her everyday. I just wish my dad was here, mum told me what happened. They had been in this lab for five years, trying to find a cure for the virus. My dad had gone out to find them some more food, he'd gotten swarmed by the dead, he managed to get away but not without getting bitten. He'd died not two weeks before I arrived, if only I could've gotten here sooner, I thought sadly. He came back to say goodbye but they'd decided he would be my mum's test subject. She'd just had no live people to test out her vaccine on. I'd offered but she refused, there were too many things that could go wrong, she said. No matter how much I protested she wouldn't budge. After so many attempts of making the vaccine, she finally found one that she thought would work.
If only Cammi and Gail were still here, they could have volunteered. I shook my head as I thought of them. How was it possible their deaths had only been ten days ago? We'd all been cooped up in the lab for too long, my mum was working hard on the vaccine. She was close to a breakthrough, she'd taken some of Cammi's blood to analyse but when she'd added the vaccine to her blood it had only accelerated the virus. Mum was tired, grouchy and stressed.
'God damn it!' She shouted as her latest batch failed.
'It's alright, you'll crack this,' Cammi said encouragingly.
'It's just so frustrating, every time I think I'm close to a breakthrough something goes wrong,' my mum replied huffily.
'I know mum but it'll be alright, if anyone can do it you can,' I told her smiling. Looking at my mum I still couldn't believe she was really here, every morning I'd wake up and expect all this to be a dream. She'd changed so much in the last five years. She was 5'9 in height with glowing alabaster skin, her face never seemed to age, she always retained her youthful glow. Without needing to diet or exercise, she had the body of a supermodel, with a naturally large chest. Her ash blond hair fell straight to her waist, her midnight eyes would light up when she saw us for the first time after she and dad got back from a long trip. Yet as I looked at her now, it was hard to not be shocked by how much she'd changed. Her skin was sunken, hollow with no hint of that glow she used to have. Her hair barely came to her shoulders, I could see the faint white streaks she tried to hide. Her eyes did light up, when she first saw me but I could see the sadness, the pain that they hid. Her body, once stunning was now nothing more, than bones. Being in work mode all the time, she often forgot to eat. I guess that's why the food had lasted so long.
Cammi, Gail and I decided to give her some space so we went on a run to find some more food. I needed the air, as the lab was under ground there were no windows to the outside world. As we lifted up the secret door that led to the church above, I felt the relief as I breathed in the fresh, country air. I radioed Finn, as I did everyday. So much had happened since we'd gone our separate ways, I couldn't believe it.
Maggie and Jade had been rescued, Frankie's girlfriend had come back, but then she'd died. Dave's group had been obliterated, and the other slaver group was still after them. Jade had been kidnapped by Izzy, Hayley had died. I felt glad I hadn't gone with them, I didn't know if I could handle all of that. Poor Cammi was still dealing with her mothers death, having Gail here really helped but I knew she still missed her mum.
'I'm so glad to be out of there,' Cammi said.
'So am I, that musty air really gets to you after a while,' Gail agreed.
'There should still be a few shops we haven't gone to,' I told them.
'Lets go then,' Cammi smiled. We wandered out into the empty streets, in the time we'd been here we had cleared most of the dead from nearby. The sun was shining brightly today, giving the town a somewhat happy glow. I smiled, feeling the warmth on my face. We walked down the streets, keeping an eye out for any straggler walkers. There was one stuck under a falling tree, it flailed trying to get free. The flesh around its face had been torn off, I could see its teeth and the inside of its mouth. Given the state of its decomposition, I couldn't tell if it had been a man or woman. I could only tell that by its size, it wasn't a child. Cammi walked over, knife at the ready to take it out.
'Let me take this one out, I could use the practice,' I told her.
'Go on then kiddo,' she said smiling.
'Would you stop calling me that,' I joked.
'In a couple of years I might.' I walked over to the corpse, looking at it for a moment. It reached for me, but it couldn't quite get me. I took out my knife, that my mum had given me and swiftly ended it. The blood spurted out of its head, but didn't get on me.
'See, easy as pie,' I told them.
'Don't get too cocky,' Gail warned me.
'Don't worry I won't. You have to admit, I've gotten better at fighting,' I said smiling.
'Yes you have, but you're still no Finn,' Cammi replied.
'Yeah I know, my brothers like that guy from the film, you know the one where the boy gets sucked into the board game and ends up living in the jungle.'
'Oh I know which one you mean, he gets let out years later and all the animals end up in our world,' Gail said laughing.
'What was that kids name again?' Cammi asked.
'Allan I think,' I replied. 'Yeah your brothers definitely like him, he could take on the world,' Cammi laughed.
'Yeah yeah, I know he's a regular Hercules,' I said with a bitter tone.
'Aww don't be jealous, you'll get there,' Gail comforted.
'I just want to help out, in the case of an emergency I don't want to be useless.'
'You won't be,' Cammi smiled. We walked around for a while, checking the houses as we went. Most had been looted, we did find a few more knives and a hammer that we took. I looked towards an old post office, I thought I saw a little girl inside.
'Hey, did you two see that?' I asked.
'See what?' Cammi said.
'That little girl, she went into the post office.'
'No, but lets check it out,' Cammi said. As we walked over to the post office, a chill ran through me. I had a very bad feeling about this. Cammi went first, only opening the door a tiny bit. She peeked inside but saw no walkers. We went in, the place was in complete disarray, shelves had been thrown everywhere. The glass on the screen had been smashed, the papers were on the floor, we kept an eye out but still saw no corpses. As I went round the back of the counter, I could hear faint breathing from inside a cupboard.
'It's alright, I'm not going to hurt you,' I said quietly. I crept nearer to the cupboard, knife at the ready. I pulled open the doors to find a small child, she looked to be barely six years old. She was a tiny, pale child with cabbage green eyes and matted blond hair. She looked underfed and was clearly scared.
'Hey, I'm Faye what's your name?' I asked putting my knife away.
'I-I'm Sammy,' she mumbled nervously.
'You can come out, we won't hurt you,' I told her.
'Is it safe, are they gone?' She asked fearfully.
At the time I assumed she was talking about the walkers.
'Yes, it's safe. I promise,' I smiled. As she slowly came out of the cupboard, I could see that she was dressed in baggy jeans that were held together by a belt, they'd been cut at the leg so they fitted her. Her t-shirt was too large and obviously for an adult. She wore pink trainers on her feet and a black bobble that held up her matted hair.
For some reason a little voice in the back of my head told me not to call out Cammi and Gail, just then I heard shouting from outside.
'Their back,' cried Sam.
'Who?' I asked quietly.
'The army men, they killed my dad,' she said sniffling.
'It's alright, just stay quiet and out of sight and we won't get hurt,' I whispered. She nodded and went back to the cupboard, I peeked over the counter to see Gail and Cammi being attacked by army men. There was six of them, all tall, burly and strong. They had guns and knives, and were clearly not afraid to use them.
'Where's the girl?' A tall black guy demanded. The black guy was Jamaican, he had long dread locked black hair with large bulging brown eyes and very large round nose. I could see that had a small scar on the left side of his cheek. He had and loud booming voice that send shivers down my spine and looked to be in his mid-thirties.
'What girl?' Cammi cried.
'The blond one, where is she? We saw you with her,' a slightly shorter white guy growled. He was a few inches shorter than the black guy, he was exactly six foot in height. He had sharp sea blue eyes and thin pale mouth, he too looked in his early thirties. He had a harsh voice that made him sound more fierce than he looked.
'We don't know what you mean,' Gail protested.
'She's lying,' a young guy said. This guy seemed to be in mid twenties, he had long well groomed raven hair that he kept tied up in a low ponytail that flowed to just past his shoulders. He was more muscular than his comrades but didn't seem to be as nasty as them, his steel grey eyes made him seem more cold than nasty.
The tall black man, pulled out a gun and held it to Gail's head.
'Either you tell us where she is, or you die,' he shouted.
'What could you possibly you want with a little girl?' Cammi asked fearlessly.
'We want her and her brother, their parents can help stop this virus. The kids will know where all the top secret papers are that'll help us find the answer,' the black guy said angrily. Shit, oh fucking shit. If they thought Finn and I could help them, they wouldn't stop until they found us. They must have thought my mum had
shared her secrets about the vaccine with me or Finn, I knew I couldn't let them get me. I saw the back door from here, it looked to be unguarded. I crept towards it, knowing that I had no choice but get out. I whispered for Sam to come with me, but as she crept along the floor she kicked a mop bucket and sent it flying.
I ran out the door as fast as I could without being seen, I knew they'd catch Sam and I just couldn't save her. I could only pray that somehow, Gail and Cammi could get away.
I found a large bin and hid inside it, running out in the street would do me no good. I could still hear them, so I listened in.
'Is this the girl you were with?' They demanded.
'Y-yes,' Gail cried.
'What's your name girl?'
'Sam,' she wailed.
'That's not the one we're after,' growled the black guy. I felt so powerless, I couldn't stop them. I couldn't save my friends or that little girl. I just put my hands over my head as I heard the shots. One for Sam, one for Cammi and the last for Gail. I heard them cry as each shot was fired, I could only pray they'd been shot in the head. I sat there, hiding, crying as I waited for the men to leave.
'Where to now boss?' One of them asked.
'Up north, that's where the lad went,' the black guy replied. I waited patiently, it felt like I'd been stuck in that bin for hours. I wondered just how they knew where Finn was or how we were still alive? I crept back into the post office, I saw the bodies laying there. Cammi's eyes were open in terror, to my relief she'd been shot in the head. I looked at Sam, she was so small, so innocent. I'd been a coward, I should have come forward, I should've stopped this. I hadn't checked on Gail in time, it wasn't until she rose, growling, reaching for me that I knew she'd turned. As much as it hurt me, as hard as it was I knew what I had to do. I kicked her, sending her flying into the broken table. I smiled for a moment thinking that my training had paid off. I raced over her, and plunged my knife into her head. I cried, feeling lost. They'd been there for me, when I was held captive, they helped me survive. Now they were gone, and I was alone.
Dead World Rising Page 16