by Alice Carina
"Milly, tell me more about our friends over in the shopping centre."
Milly paused and glanced at me curiously. "Is there a particular reason you have to know now?"
"Yes."
It was clear she wanted me to elaborate, but I said nothing. I didn't want to have to explain to her every little detail to convince her of what I had seen, and its significance. No, if she had to know, it would have to wait until after I heard all there was to know about these religious survivors. I needed to know exactly how dangerous they were.
"Okay, whatever. Umm... I met them about five weeks ago, and I know they're in the same place - I check up on them all the time so I won't run into them again!" she paused thoughtfully. "I was just looking for a leather jacket, you know, since it's getting colder, and zombies have trouble biting through leather."
This was definitely true; despite how easily the undead ripped through flesh, anything too tough would prevent them from biting through your arm. That was why so many cops had survived the attack; they wore riot gear, and the only thing that got them was other people, or themselves.
"They caught me in the act, and I was brought before this nut, called Joseph Cartel. He had been a salesman before all this happened, he went to church every week, read the bible once every year; a pretty devout man. When the zombies had appeared, apparently he had 'fearlessly risked his life to save them', all his followers. They claimed he was under God's protection, and that was why he had been unharmed by the zombies.
"I just accepted their story, 'cause I've seen the movies; the religious types are the most dangerous in this situation. They insisted I stay with them, for protection of course, but the longer I stayed, the more I saw. He had everyone working as his slave, and they all obeyed. He had a sermon everyday at dawn, where he claimed to have heard God's voice, and that they had to do certain things to survive." Milly paused, staring at the ground.
"This didn't seem to unreasonable, so I listened, I did what I was told. I didn't act out, and I didn't break the rules. I was just like one of his followers - heck, I might even be one right now if I hadn't run away."
"Why did you run away?" I asked before she got distracted.
"They left a map out. A map that they had been using to chart their own movements, so they knew where was safe, and where was dangerous. If an area had too many zombies, it was marked as dangerous, so that they would know to avoid it. They had also marked out all the places that still had supplies, and they wrote what each place had.
"The reason I ran away was because I saw that they had marked in all of the survivors they had come across. And they had begun to mark the survivors that were a threat to the supplies they had marked out. They were planning to destroy all the other survivors that were in the way. I ran because I knew that if they were deliberately destroying other groups, someone like me wouldn't be a problem. So I figured I would be safer on my own."
"What did they do when you ran away?" This was the most important question, but I made it seem unimportant. I didn't want to worry her after all that had happened.
"They chased after me. That's why I warned you guys about them; any normal survivor wouldn't dare to risk their lives to find someone else. After what I had seen, I knew it was because they didn't want me to tell anyone else about them. Because of course if anyone heard about it, their group would be the one being targeted."
"Hmm," was all I said in reply.
"So, why exactly did you want to know about them?" Milly asked quietly, still subdued from the somber talk.
"Ah, your friends are being surrounded. I was wondering whether they were bad enough that we needed to make absolutely sure they didn't survive. "
"And what did you come up with?"
"We're going to have to interfere; these friends of yours are dangerous. We have to make sure they are at least in danger, so a few of them die. That's the easiest way to break what's-his-name's hold on everyone. If the power is broken, then he's not a threat."
"When - ?" she began, but I didn't wait for her to finish.
"As soon as possible. We need to have a plan before the horde completely surrounds them, otherwise our options are limited. We check it out tomorrow."
Chapter fifteen
Chapter fifteen: plan
It was even worse than I thought; the horde had completely surrounded the shopping centre, and even though every door was barred, they were beginning to strain under the force of the bodies pressing against them. It wouldn't be long before the doors collapsed completely and the zombies infested the building.
This may have sounded like a good thing, because it would completely wipe out all of the fanatical survivors. Unfortunately for us, any more than ten people would draw a horde that would span blocks even after they had all been eaten. This was definitely bad for us. We would be forced to gather supplies and hide for months, or we would have to leave. Now. Both options left us in considerable danger.
As soon as I had looked over the positions of the zombies and the state each entrance was in, I began heading back to the department store. Milly and Matt followed behind in silence. If they hadn't been so shocked that I was right about the horde, they might have questioned how quickly we were leaving, but as it was, they couldn't say a word.
I sat down with Lucky, waiting for the two of them to calm down, which didn't look like it was going to happen anytime soon. I wasn't sure what exactly they found so difficult to believe, but I figured it was probably a combination of my age and the fact that no one else had ever tried to monitor the movements of the zombies so far as I knew. Kinda made it hard to believe that a just-turned-eighteen year old had managed more than all of the adults.
At least Lucky believed me. The dog always listened to what I said, no matter how stupid it sounded. It was like he was the only one that could see that the zombies were smarter and less random than everyone thought. It would be nice if that was actually the case, but really he only listened to me because he considered me his owner. Plus he liked me best out of the three of us. Smart dog, he had good taste.
"So," Matt said after exchanging several glances with Milly. "What did you... err, umm... see at the shopping centre?"
"A horde." Why were they asking me such obvious questions?
"And?" Milly prompted.
"A shopping centre."
"I meant besides that," she said, gritting her teeth.
"Ah." Heh, it was fun to torment them. "You mean what your friends were doing?"
"Yes! I meant what are you planning to do? I mean, clearly they're surrounded, but I'm guessing there's a problem, so we have to do something?"
"Yeah, with how many zombies there are, we only have a few days before they break through the doors."
Milly blanched. "You can't mean you want to save them?!" she said in realization.
"Of course!" Was it so hard to believe that we needed to help our fellow man?
Matt just looked at me, raising an eyebrow in mock surprise. "That's surprisingly humane of you, Jake. I didn't think you were capable of helping people unless it benefitted you."
"What makes you think it doesn't benefit me?" I was actually curious about what answer he was going to come up with.
"You don't like people. There's no way you'd want them alive to take with us, so how exactly do you benefit from saving them?"
"They don't die," I replied simply.
"What does that mean?" Milly asked.
"Have you any idea how many zombies will swarm this area if any more than a handful of them die?"
"What do you mean; once they're dead, the only problem is a few extra zombies," Matt said, with Milly nodding in agreement beside him.
"That's not what happens. I've seen it happen before; any more than five or six people, and it doesn't matter if EVERYONE is dead, the zombies keep coming. Hundreds of them."
"When did you see that?" Matt said, curiosity clear in his voice. "I thought you didn't like groups?"
"I don't; they're too dangerous
. And I wasn't part of that group. We just exchanged information; it was early on, so I didn't know much about the zombies back then. Their group was especially large, there were over a hundred of them, all spread out in groups of twenty in different buildings."
It had actually been a very impressive set up. It allowed them to move faster and quieter, without drawing attention to themselves because of their size. I had only been keeping in contact with them because they had an engineer and an architect, with a whole heap of maps. I had been using them to track the movements of the zombies, trying to find the pattern in their movements, why exactly they targeted particular buildings.
"So," Matt said, uncomfortable. "What happened to this oh-so-impressive group? There was an attack, right?"
"Yep, three of their groups were hit, sixty people dead over about two weeks. By the time it was over, the horde that had gathered over just two weeks covered every street for miles around. They were so packed in that they could barely move."
"And the other survivors?" Milly murmured, subdued for the first time since I had met her.
"So far as I know, only fifteen people escaped. A group of one hundred decimated to fifteen. Everyone else was dead. Heck, I even saw a few of the people I knew turned and wandering the streets. After that, I did the worst thing I could have done; I hid and waited it out. It was three months before the zombies moved on, and the horde by that time was so large that I saw zombies passing by me for over a week. And that was just some of the half of the group that passed me. There were a lot more that I never saw."
"So," Milly said, as the implications occurred to her. "If we want to be able to leave or stay, we have to prevent too many of the survivors from dying."
"Or leave right now and let them die," I added, just so they knew that was an option.
"So, how do we save them?" Matt said, looking torn between looking to me for advice and glaring at me for my lack of humanity.
"No leaving them to die? Are you sure?" I asked in a childish voice, like he was telling me I couldn't have an ice cream even thought it was right there.
"We. Are. Saving. Them."
"Fine!" I huffed. "All we have to do is get them to leave through the sewers, then break the doors so the zombies leave the streets and go into the stores instead. That way the survivors are less likely to be noticed and eaten."
"That's a surprisingly good plan," Milly said, as if she had expected something stupid. Who did she think I was? Matt? Pfft!
"Glad you like it, we're starting the day after tomorrow, and you," I said motioning to Milly, "are in charge of finding a megaphone so we can talk to the survivors. Now, let's get to work; if we don't save them soon, they might get themselves killed and ruin our plans."
Chapter sixteen
Chapter sixteen: confession
Matt's POV
It was early morning, and for the first time since I had started traveling with him, I had woken up before Jake. This wasn't actually a surprise since I knew he had been awake since only a few hours ago, going over maps of the building, marking out I had no idea what on the paper.
I took this rare moment to appreciate his peaceful face. It was not often that I could watch him while he wasn't arguing with someone or attacking me. I was always surprised at how childish he looked when he didn't have that mask of cynicism to hide behind. It made me realize just how precious he was to me when I could see the type of personality he would have had if he didn't have to survive the zombie apocalypse.
I was distracted from my observation of the peaceful Jake when I noticed Milly sitting up and looking around, probably hungry knowing her. I swear, all that girl did was eat. And I should know since I was the one who had to feed everyone. Compared to her, despite his serious personality flaws, Jake was a pleasurable companion. He ate his share, he only ate when it was mealtime, and he never stole food.
I followed her as she headed straight towards the food. It wasn't that I wanted to stop her from eating too much, it was more like I wanted to leave Jake in peace so he could catch up on his sleep. I swear, the guy was an insomniac, and it really wasn't healthy, that was for sure. It still surprised me that he didn't collapse every few days from lack of sleep.
"Want some bread?" Milly offered around a mouthful of what I assumed was bread - I couldn't actually tell anymore.
"Uh, no... I'm fine." No way I was eating after the... thing I had seen in her mouth.
"Suit yourself."
"Hey, Milly, how old are you?" A bit sudden, but...
"My, aren't you forward," she said with a flirty smile. "You know you're not supposed to ask a woman her age, right? But I'm nineteen, just so you know."
Wow, I really was the oldest one in our group. I never knew being twenty two could make me feel so old! I miss the days when anyone under twenty five was considered young, and only people in their forties and older were actually considered old. Now, that wasn't the case. There were plenty of twenty year olds, but almost no one younger than that or older than forty five. Young people and old people were a dying breed.
"So young," I murmured. "It's still hard to believe that you guys managed to survive when you're barely adults."
"I have to agree with you there; your little friend is pretty incredible surviving on his own this long. I was lucky to survive this long, and it was mostly because I was traveling in a group. Everything has been going wrong ever since I've been alone. It's kinda the reason I'm so glad I ran into you guys."
"Heh, same. I'm lucky to be alive. If it wasn't for him, I would've been zombie lunch a long time ago," I said, gesturing to Jake.
"Oh, really? The way you guys act, I thought it was the other way round," Milly looked honestly surprised, as if she had expected me to be incapable of getting myself into a bad situation.
"It was originally... well, kind of. He wasn't in an impossible situation; I just helped out a little, and that was when we first met. After that, I got myself into a pretty crumby situation, and he saved my life."
"I thought he didn't save anyone unless it benefited him?" Milly said mockingly. Was she implying that I had been exaggerating? She really didn't know Jake if she thought that was possible.
"It did benefit him; I like saving people, so he figured it would be better to keep me around. Then I would save his life if he was in a situation," I couldn't help but smile at that. More and more it looked like the only thing I did was get in the way and end up getting saved by him.
"What kind of situation did he save you from? I mean, it had to be pretty bad if you couldn't save yourself."
"There was a group of survivors nearby. I had been foolish enough to trust them, so they used me as bait to draw the attention of the zombies surrounding them so they could escape. Jake came and saved me, he even managed to distract the zombies, so the survivors escaped too."
"How is that a good thing?" Milly demanded. "They tried to feed you to the zombies!"
"They weren't all bad!" I protested. "It was only the leaders that were that bad. It's not fair to punish them all for something a few of them did."
"I'm starting to see why Jake picks on you; really are naively... good." She said 'good' like it was an insult, and she shook her head in disgust. "It really is a wonder that you're still alive."
"It really is," I agreed.
"So why did you go to those survivors in the first place? I know it used to be common, but people really don't trust strangers anymore."
"Ah. I was looking for anyone I might have known, you know, from before the zombies took over."
"Oh, so you were looking for your girlfriend?" she said teasingly. "You know, this isn't a fantasy world where you are actually reunited with your true love just through the power of your feelings. Like that isn't something new to you, right?"
I stared at her. "I was not looking for my girlfriend," I said flatly. "Besides, I know how far fetched it is to run into someone I knew, but still, there's a chance. Just like there's a similar chance to run into people you knew that ha
ve been turned into zombies. It's not impossible, just really, really unlikely."
"So, no true love? That's pretty sad; the only people you have to look forward to are strangers, friends who might turn on you any moment, and us. A dog that hates everyone but the sociopathic introvert, and myself, a binge eater who is practically useless except in saving myself. That's a pretty sad life."
Was she deliberately trying to depress me?
Because it was working. I was seriously depressed. I was beginning to wonder which would be worse; continuing with life as it was, or drifting around as a zombie, eating other people until I was killed. With the smile Milly was giving me, I figured the latter option would be better for me.
"Well, there is one plus side," I said eventually.
"Really?" Milly said, exaggerated shock on her face. "What could possibly make this situation any better?"
"Well, just because true love can't conquer zombies, that doesn't mean that you can't find love even in this situation." I can't believe I actually admitted that.
"Oh," Milly said after a pause. "Well, it's not like I don't like you, it's just... Actually, I can't think of an excuse. I'm just not interested."
I stared at her, first in confusion, then realization, then I glared at her. "Who would be interested in a useless binge eater? I prefer the feisty type, even if I get bitten."
Milly began to laugh as she saw my determined expression. "I didn't know it was possible for anyone to feel anything other than irritation towards that twerp. You really must be a saint."
"Who's a twerp?" Jake asked from behind me.
I really felt like sobbing at that point. Or strangling Milly. Yep, now that I think about it, it was all her fault, and the only way for her to be forgiven was for her to die. Maybe if I offered her corpse to Jake he would forgive me. It was hard to say, but probably.