by D. K Lake
We both watched as the thing got more lively and soon started groaning, it sort of sounded excited but instead of barking it was grunting. I looked at Luke and he mouthed, sorry. A fat lot of good sorry was right now.
The thing had attracted the attention of another deadbie, but the other one didn't have the sense to look up at us and came over to look at the tree instead.
I counted seven deadbies still hovering around. Seven, could we take seven? Would the pack hear?
The deadbie started getting aggressive, its excitement had turned to hunger, and it was using the other one to try and get closer to us. Good job they weren't climbers. The pair of them toppled over, but the lively one didn't stay down for long and was already clambering to its feet to get back to the tree. The groaning grew louder and it was trying to scream but it came out as a gargle, but it was drawing more attention.
“What do we do?” Lane asked.
I was still trying to decide what to do while having a meltdown inside my head over possible outcomes which resulted in the whole pack flooding back and swamping us. But suddenly the noise below stopped, and we both peered over the branch and saw the deadbie flat on its back with an arrow sticking out of its head. The other deadbie had only just got back onto its feet, and it took no notice of its buddy on the ground and started to follow the rest of the stragglers. I looked around for Drew, but didn't have to look far, he was in the tree right beside us, within hearing distance, he had most definitely heard everything Lane and I had been talking about. I couldn't actually see him, but I could see his legs dangling off the branch on the other side of the tree trunk.
Then I tried to remember what Lane and I had said before. Had we said Drew's name in our conversation? Oh yeah, now I remember, I said I couldn't see Drew... and I sounded like a right stalker. Now the guy was gonna think I was obsessed with him and it was all Lane's fault, he started it!
The stragglers eventually trickled out into the trees, but no one dared climb down just yet. We all sat there for another ten minutes twiddling our thumbs, trying to communicate with hand signals.
“So far all I've got is, Lena wants a woman with big tits and curves.” Drew said, looking around the tree at us grinning.
“What?” I laughed and looked back at Lena.
“Or she's ordering a pair of melons, not sure.” he added.
Then I had to cover my mouth so I wouldn't laugh too loudly. Lena was talking to Evan with hand gestures, I wasn't exactly sure what they were saying to each other but it kinda looked like she was outlining the curves of an invisible woman and Evan was nodding his head.
“Okay, I'm going down.” Drew said.
When he landed on the ground (and the deadbies didn't all rush from the trees), we all slowly followed him down.
Everyone stood in a circle, all looking around with cautious eyes.
“Can I speak?” I whispered.
Josh nodded.
“I need to pee, pronto.”
“Go piss, then we're heading back that way.” Drew said, pointing in a different direction to the way the deadbies had gone.
I hurried to the nearest tree, I didn't care if the whole group could hear me peeing, I wasn't going to venture any further into the trees on my own. When I rejoined the group, they were discussing the plans for tonight.
“We'll walk as far as we can, then we'll make camp for the night. We'll take it in shifts to be on watch again tonight.” Drew said talking to Evan. “We need to spread out around the camp, that way if another group comes through we'll have plenty of warning. You, Lena, Dan and me will take first watch. We can split up, but Lena and Dan will need to stay together. Then, Josh, Luke, and Lane can take next watch, spread yourselves around the camp.” Drew said, glancing at Josh to see if he was listening, and he nodded in response.
“I can help.” I said.
“No.” Drew said, not bothering to turn around and look at me.
After everything was decided, we started walking immediately, following Drew and Evan, staying in the trees, we all quietly moved through the trees in our separate groups, all within sight of each other but still spread out so we could spot anything. Lena and her group came across a few stragglers that had wandered in the wrong direction away from the group, but it was only a few so it didn't slow us down.
I was not looking forward to tonight. But Josh assured me sleeping on the ground was safe with everyone on watch. Yeah right! If I wasn't so tired I would be camped out in a tree for the night, but I had no rope and I would most likely fall out. I was already infected, I didn't want to add broken bones to the mix.
My bite mark itched like mad, I just wanted to tear the dressing off and scratch the thing. I didn't dare look at it, though, it was probably oozing pus right about now.
After another forty minutes of walking, we came to another clearing. I dropped my bag on the ground and made myself comfortable on a fallen tree. My legs ached horribly. I don't think I'd ever felt so achy in all my life, I even got the flu when I was younger.. and I thought that was bad.
Everyone scattered out, collecting firewood and keeping watch.
Broken down van, creepy cottage, deadbie horde... what next? I thought, while gently touching my throat. It was really starting to bug me, it felt itchy and sore. As I sat there rubbing my throat and massaging my slightly swollen throat glands, Drew walked past and chucked something at me.
I just managed to catch it, and looked at the item, a packet of throat sweets. I didn't even question where he'd got them from, and I didn't even get the chance to thank him because he had already disappeared into the trees.
I quickly unwrapped one and popped it into my mouth. It felt like a piece of heaven in my mouth. I slipped the packet into my pocket and sucked on my soother, watching Luke dig a hole for a fire so the deadbies wouldn't see the flames as clearly.
The group all gathered together for dinner, apart from Drew and Evan who were patrolling the woods.
Another packet of food was pushed under my nose, but I really didn't feel like eating, I just wanted to sleep. I had set up a bed with a sleeping bag beside the fallen tree, it gave me a little protection if anything wandered this way it would fall over the tree and wake me up first. Lane had rolled out his sleeping bag next to mine, of course.
I picked at my food, not really wanting it, while listening to Stacey complain about the bugs.
She was more worried about the bugs than she was about another horde walking through the camp. Then she started complaining and getting annoyed because no one had bothered to pack any bug spray. I didn't even know we had any bug spray back at the prison.
Dan and Lena were quarreling, they had brought a tin of soup with them, and decided to split it, but couldn't agree on how to warm it up, at this rate, it would end up on the floor with the way they were fighting over the saucepan.
“I need to use the bathroom.” I said, standing up, it wasn't altogether true, I just wanted a few minutes peace, alone with my thoughts.
I was starting to cool down and my temperature was all over the place, so I pulled my hoodie on.
“Do you want me to come with you?” Lane asked, already on his feet.
“No, I think I can manage.” I replied, and Josh tried to hide his big grin as Lane shrunk back down.
“Back in a minute.”
I didn't go too far, and I could still see the group sitting around the fire. I hid behind a tree and squatted down, and leaned back against it, taking a moment to clear my head. But every few seconds my thoughts were overrun with only one thing: What am I doing here?! This is insane!! There is no cure! We're all gonna die out here! D...I....E... D.I.E. Aghh!!!
I closed my eyes momentarily... but was soon distracted by a twig snapping nearby. My eyes shot open and someone grabbed me roughly and pulled me to my feet. At first, I thought it was Drew or Evan because they were the only two not back at the camp.
But whoever had their paws on me smelled of whiskey and stale piss.
“Ea
sy, there,” the man said in a gruff voice.
I tried to break free but he held up a gun to my head and I stopped trying to yank my arm away.
“Now, now, this doesn't need to get ugly if you behave yourself.” he said, dragging me away from the tree.
Then he pushed me in front and ordered me to start walking.
Chapter 9
I slowly made my way back to camp, but every time I slowed down too much the man would prod the barrel of the gun into my back to move me along.
We had all been so preoccupied with that legion of deadbies that we had temporarily forgotten the other hidden dangers lurking in the shadows. Humans. Anyone that held a gun to your head was a danger and a threat.
I could see Lane and the others, all standing in a line. There was a circle of men around them all pointing guns at them. I counted eight men altogether. The man behind me, pushed me forward and I tripped and fell to my knees.
“Alex!” I heard Lane say my name, and Luke quickly helped me back onto my feet.
“Well done, Neville.” the tall guy said to the one that had found me.
I brushed my hands off, stealing glances down the line. I was at the end of the line standing next to Luke. Lane was at the opposite end with Josh and Stacey, and Lena and Dan were in the middle of us. But no Evan. And no Drew.
Then out of nowhere a loud rumble echoed all around us, and another two guys appeared on loud motorcycles.
Idiots. Deadbies were drawn to sound.
“Found this one over there.” Neville said, talking about me.
Neville was a short, stocky man, with dirty, unwashed red hair that was stuck to his sweaty face, and he had a manky-looking beard to match.
“Anymore of you out here?” asked the tall man standing in front of Josh, he had to speak up over the loud din of the motorcycles as the two of them were just driving around us in circles like teenagers trying to show off to their friends by doing doughnuts.
The tall man was obviously the leader, or at least had some authority over the group. He was as tall as Lane, unshaven, and dressed in a leather jacket and jeans.
I briefly looked at all the men, they all looked dirty, unwashed, unshaven, and gross. They were all different ages, the tall one, the leader, looked to be in his fifties, and I even spotted a teenager with the group, he looked about our age.
I caught Josh looking at me, and he shook his head. We all knew Drew and Evan were in the trees... somewhere.
“What do you want?” Lena asked, and I heard Dan tell her to keep quiet.
“We just wanted to say 'hello'. We haven't seen real people for a while.” the tall one said.
The man that had dragged me back to camp, Neville, had picked up my bag and was digging through it.
“Hey, that's ours!” Lena yelled, and Dan shushed her.
“Alex,” Neville read the label on the bottle. “Sorry, Alex, but I'm feeling thirsty.” he said, before downing the last of my water and chucking the bottle on the ground.
I hope he gets infected.
“What do you want?” Luke asked.
“We just wanted to see if you had anything going spare.”
“Well, we don't.” Luke replied angrily.
I looked sideways at him, I had never seen Luke pissed, but he was definitely pissed now, there was even a vein sticking out in his forehead.
The tall man stopped in front of Luke and looked down at the dog tags Luke had hanging around his neck.
“The Army refused my family entry to one of their safe houses. They sent us away and didn't even give us anything to feed my youngest. I watched my children go hungry, and then one night I got to watch them being torn apart by the crazies.”
Crazies? I'd never heard them called 'crazies' before, but come to think about it, once you became one of them you did lose your mind and go crazy, what sane person wants to eat another person?
“Look, we don't want any trouble.” Josh said, trying to keep the peace.
“I'm not so sure about that, you see, you're on my turf.” the tall man said.
“Your turf?” Luke scoffed.
“Yeah, you're on my turf!”
I zoned out for a few moments, the bikes were so distracting, circling around us like vultures, creating a hell of a racket.
“Now how about we all settle down and start over. I think we got off on the wrong foot. I'm Gil, and these are my men.” the tall man said, gesturing to the surrounding men that still had guns pointed at us.
Gil walked around our small camp and ordered two of his men to search our bags.
“Just take what you want and let us go.” Josh said.
Gil came to a stop and his eyes landed on Stacey for a brief moment. For once, Stacey didn't like the male attention, and Josh clearly didn't like it either because he pushed her behind him.
This was not going to end well if things went bad. Lane and I had met guys like this before, I could still clearly picture Dom and his sleazy male friends back at the Lab.
“Nice knife,” Neville said, eyeing Luke's knife. “Can I see it?” he asked.
The knife made me think of my gun, the one Josh had hidden under his shirt. I glanced down the line at him and looked at his waist belt, but he shook his head slowly.
“Fuck off can you.” Luke replied.
“Luke, stop,” I whispered. “Just let him see it.”
“No.” Luke growled. He then took a step toward Neville, and was at least a foot taller than the guy. “Me and my friends are just leaving.”
I reached out and grabbed Luke's waist belt and tried to gently pull him back in line, but he wasn't having any of it and stood his ground.
These guys had guns, they were no match for us. We had one gun between us, and I could see our other weapons had already been lined up on the ground behind Gil. Luke still had his knife on his belt and Josh still had my gun. But still, we were outnumbered and weaponless. Eight brawny men, and two more on bikes against us seven... as two of us were AWOL.
Gil signaled to two of the men behind me and I was quickly shoved out of the way and Luke was forced onto his knees and Neville kneed him in the face, and Luke's nose started bleeding.
Gil started laughing and his men joined in.
“Hey! There's no need for that.” Josh said, stepping out of line, but one of the guys got in front of him and hit him in the face with the end of the gun they were holding.
It happened so quick even Josh didn't see it coming. Stacey let out a weird yelp. Then blood started dripping from Josh's nose, and Stacey pulled him back to her.
Neville had already taken Luke's knife and the holder that Luke kept attached to his belt.
“You killed many people with this?” Neville asked.
“Not people, just zombies, and assholes.” Luke replied, before spitting blood on the ground but it hit Neville's boot instead, but I think that's where Luke was aiming for.
Neville shook his head and signaled to the two men holding Luke down, and they dragged him outside the circle. This wasn't good. Josh was nursing a bloody nose, possibly broken, the same went for Luke.... and then Lane took a step toward Gil and I nearly went into panic-mode.
“Just let us leave.” Lane said firmly.
“Did I say you could step out of line?” Gil said, and one of the guys to the right came over and shooed Lane back in line with his gun.
“Assholes isn't the only thing this knife is going to kill.” Neville said.
“What are you doing?” Stacey whimpered.
Oh my God.
Lane and Josh tried to make a last-ditch attempt to get to Luke but one of the men fired their gun. Stacey screamed and Lena pulled me back a few steps with Dan. Lane reluctantly fell back in line next to Josh, and then I realized Josh was holding his right arm, that was now bleeding.
“Stay back!” the man that had fired the gun ordered, and Gil started laughing again.
My eyes drifted back to Luke, one of the men had his head tilted back, pulling his hair.
“Smart-ass pricks as well.” Neville said, and I heard Luke's body fall to the ground, but I couldn't bring myself to look at him anymore.
I looked up to see Gil smiling. It was an evil smile. These men were evil, and their ring leader was possibly the devil.
“Now that's out of the way, how about we all get to know one another.” Gil said, looking Lena and me up and down.
I was going to be raped, I was pretty certain of this, and I think the same thing was running through Lena's mind. She was shifting around on her feet and Dan looked uneasy... and green, and he wasn't being subtle about scanning the trees for Drew and Evan, but I found myself doing the same.
Stacey collapsed onto the ground and started crying. This wasn't really the time to be on the ground sobbing, we needed to make a run for it. Maybe I could distract Gil and his guys so the others could get away? I was already dying, it didn't matter if I sacrificed myself. Damn, I should have thought of that a few seconds ago then maybe Luke would still be alive. But I knew even if I was to create a distraction, Lane would never leave me behind.
One of the motorcycles shot out of the trees and skidded to a stop near Neville, he was busy wiping blood off his boot with a handkerchief and was in no hurry to look up at the boy on the bike.
“Chad's dead!” the guy on the bike yelled.
“What?” Gil snapped, his nostrils flaring.
“I dunno, he was riding behind me one minute, then his bike crashed into a tree and there was an arrow stickin' out his head. He's dead, Gil!”
Arrow? I only knew one person that liked to use arrows.
With all the murdering going on I hadn't even noticed the bikers had ridden off. Gil's men suddenly lost interest in us and started to spread out. Neville walked over to Gil, along with one other guy that was holding a rifle. Gil turned his head away from us and exchanged a few quiet words with Neville. Now was our chance, Gil wasn't holding a gun, Neville was holding Luke's knife, his gun was back in a holster on his belt, and the guy with the rifle was looking the other way while he listened to whatever Gil and Neville were talking about.