by W. A. R.
“I was actually going to say family, smartass.” Amber retorted as he positioned himself next to Derek, who clapped him warmly on the shoulder. She couldn’t help but feel proud at how much Buddy had grown in the past two months. Since they arrived, he had become a close friend, someone she trusted, and she was the same to him. He was honest and strong willed, and she appreciated that about him. The only problem she seemed to encounter with him was how he acted towards Miles and Damien. She shook her head, turning to glance at the others. Jacob reached forward and shook Jackson’s hand politely and Amber stared at the motion a little surprised.
“All the same, you guys talk about teamwork, faith, and family far too much. The world is a bad place, you should know that by now.” He told them and Amber narrowed her eyes at him. Once he caught her glare, he lowered his head guiltily. His brashness towards reality was unsettling, and he knew that she did not like it, and neither did George. The two of them, alongside Derek were the ones closest to him, the only ones that had permeated some part of his shell and had been allowed in.
“Son, let me tell you something.” Jackson began, stepping among them all, and Amber smiled at her father, feeling the tenderness that came from loving and having a great dad, leader, and teacher. She was one of the lucky ones. His grey eyes were pleasant and not intimidating as he fixed his stare on Buddy. Damien and Brian meandered over to them while Jackson studied him, causing Buddy to shift nervously on his feet. “Teamwork and family are one in the same, first of all. How can you have a true family without some form of cooperation and teamwork? It is never a one way street and that goes for any relationship.” He said and for a moment she felt her heart sink a little at his words. She shifted on her feet. “That is what we have here and you are a part of it. Without the care and respect we have for each other, most of us wouldn’t be here. And without faith, we wouldn’t have much hope for the future or for our own safety.” He told him and she saw Damien shift on his feet, looking down at his shoes uncomfortably. Brian saw this and nudged him, smiling.
“I take it you have a problem with that statement.” Brian said and Damien had the good grace to turn red with embarrassment. Amber studied him closely. The man was quiet and reserved and they knew hardly anything about him and yet they still trusted him…for the most part anyways. Amber had asked Derek about him before, and Derek’s response had been that he had appeared a week before they took off towards the smoke that they thought would save them. Derek had explained to her that he came banging on the doors, screaming and begging for sanctuary and once they were able to get him in he had huddled in a corner and kept to himself. He had said that the man was skittish and nervous, and Amber saw that, but she also saw that he wasn’t unstable. She exhaled sadly, wondering what torment he had endured before he found a safe place.
“I..It’s not that…it’s just that…well…I don’t have a religion to have faith in.” He stammered and this caught Jackson’s keen ears. He turned to the young man, surprising him and causing him to step back involuntarily.
“Faith is simply whatever is real to us.” He said easily, pausing to let that sink in before continuing. “Every single person’s faith is different. Think about what is real to you; what drives you on to survive in the world we live in. Once you have that figured out, you will have your faith.” Amber felt her eyes scan around the group, seeing everyone deep in thought. Her eyes landed on Cassie, who was grinning knowingly at her grandfather. Her eyes then slid to Kyle, who stood showing Rick how to use his bow and finally they settled on Miles whose eyes were on her. And again the heartfelt intensity he sent her way was overwhelming. He wanted to say something to her, but instead, he smiled and turned to look at Kyle and then again at Cassie. George’s grip on her shoulder tightened and she reached an arm around his back, patting him comfortingly. Her family was her faith. Her family and her God were one in the same. How could she doubt that He even existed with the most profound miracles surrounding her, loving her? She could not have one without the obvious existence of the other.
“You just had to get deep, didn’t you Dad?” Brian chuckled, and the thoughts that were invading their minds ceased, at least for the moment, replaced with laughter and humor. The easy going nature of them all settled on them easily, and she felt as if everything was at peace, at least for that brief moment. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, resting her head gently against the crook of George’s arm.
“Don’t I always?” the old man asked, and she lifted her eyelids slightly, catching the twinkle in his eye.
“Mom?” Amber heard Kyle say faintly, and she turned to face him, along with Miles and George. The tone of his voice forced her to reign in her suddenly flailing emotions. He sounded uncertain and frightened. She watched as Rick’s face contorted with worry and fear, and even confusion. Both he and Kyle stared along the left fence line where four Biters stood. Amber squinted her eyes against the morning sun to see what they were staring at before she felt her blood run cold. She felt Miles take her hand quickly, pulling her with him as he hurriedly advanced towards the fence, everyone else following suit. They could have ran, should have ran, but something wasn’t sitting right with any of them. Amber felt it; it was a cold chill snaking its way down her spine before turning and swirling in the pit of her stomach.
There was a woman at the fence, gripping the cold metal with strong fingers. She was clean, with the exception of a little blood on the front of her shirt, the stain growing darker towards her back. Her eyes were normal, a sea green, and her skin pale. She wasn’t speaking, and she paid no mind to the Biters around her. The group surrounded the fence, clearly astonished as they watched the scene before them. Amber reached up to touch her white knuckled fingers that laced through the holes in the fence, Miles readying his knife as she did so. Her skin was cold, freezing, to the touch, but her muscles firm and flush. Was she a human being? She couldn’t be sure. And though Amber felt disgusted, she couldn’t stop reveling in her existence. How was she real? The woman was crying, but didn’t utter a word; instead she just watched as Amber touched the soft skin of her hand. Amber shuddered, wanting nothing more than to run and help the woman, but all she could do was stand there, torn between instinct and reflex. She locked eyes with the woman and felt everything inside of her freeze at the fear and pain reflecting back at her.
“What are y’all doing? We should be saving her!” exclaimed Rick, easing forward on his crutches until Derek put out an arm to stop him. Amber shook her head in response to his outburst, more to herself than to him. She wasn’t sure if they could save her, and for some reason she felt as if there was no helping her. Still, there was the possibility that she was human and yet Amber still stood there. Something was holding her in place, her legs and arm unable to respond to that possibility. Jackson placed a hand on Rick’s shoulder to ease his worry.
“Something isn’t right.” He told Rick, who stood there looking among them, astonished and repulsed all at once. Hell, Amber was repulsed as well with herself and her body’s inability to move. She felt useless and weak.
“Help me…” the woman then cried softly, catching the attention of the Biters surrounding her. If Amber’s heart could have dropped anymore it would have then. She suddenly felt sick.
“What?” Amber asked, stepping forward as Brian did the same, their eyes wide with astonishment. “What did you just say?” But she didn’t wait for an answer; the woman was human and they needed to help her. Amber jerked to a start, her body finally allowing her to move but before she could run to the gate, before she could even get a step towards it, Miles grabbed her shoulder, his eyes wide in wonderment at the fence. She followed his gaze curiously, turning her focus back to the woman. Only a fence separated the two and she couldn’t deny the fact that she didn’t want to see the evidence that told her the horrible truth that she already knew.
She witnessed the heartbreak of realization when the Biters looked at her, sniffed the air around her, and then turned back to the pot
ential prey on the other side of the fence. “Help me…please…it hurts…” she begged, but no one could move. Absolutely no one could move a muscle and Amber felt herself pale. Miles released his hold on her shoulder as if realizing that she would no longer be going to try and save her.
“Oh my God…” Cassie said, covering her mouth as Jacob pulled her close to him in comfort. Amber hated that her children were there to see it, to witness the atrocity they were up against. They needed to see it though, and she knew that she would be unable to remove them. “They don’t recognize her as human. They think she’s…” she began but stopped as the woman moved her hands down the fence, her fingers trailing slowly along the cold metal, as if she were in thought, grieving. That was when Amber saw the tell-tale bruises in the crooks of her elbows; they were faint, but they were there. From the tension that then skimmed the group, she knew that others had seen them as well and yet still amazement gripped them; she couldn’t shake it.
“Help me…” the woman cried again, looking at every one of them pleadingly. Amber stepped closer to the woman, once again catching her sorrowful gaze. And with a sudden ferocity, the woman arched her back, slinging her head back at a painful angle and groaning in obvious pain. Amber started, unsure of what to think, to do. She was at a loss. The monstrous Biters were one thing…but this…they were completely different from this one dead woman. She could talk, feel, think…but her heart held no beat. Her arms stopped shaking as she gripped the fence before turning back to them.
“Save her!” Rick lashed out at them angrily, but no one reacted heatedly. They knew he didn’t understand, thru no fault of his own. How could they have told him what had happened? His mentality was in question and they couldn’t risk everyone else. Under other circumstances, Amber might have felt guilty then, but she couldn’t tear her eyes from the horrible monstrosity before her.
“She’s one of them. She’s a Biter.” Jackson said solemnly, his tone of voice tight with apprehension and surprise.
“That is not possible.” Rick declared when her head suddenly jerked back upright, her hair flying wildly about her face but Amber didn’t miss the hatred in her eyes paired with the lifelessness that a Biter carried with them. Drool dribbled out of the corner of her mouth, sliding down her chin and her bottom lip quivered and twitched. Her hands balled into fists at her sides, her chin lowered so she looked up at them from under her eyelashes and hair. Her entire body trembled, and in an instant she lunged at the fence, shrieking like a banshee. Everyone stumbled back as the fence shook from the force she applied to it. Miles caught Amber before she fell, but neither of them took their focus off of the woman. They simply stared at her as she screamed, her fingers beginning to bleed from gripping the metal so hard. Her eyes were still the same sea-green color, as if she were a human on a rampage. They were all frozen in shock and some in misunderstanding. And then she stopped, throwing her head back and laughing wildly. Her laugh echoed in their ears, and Amber looked to Miles, trying to decide what to do. But then again, what could they do aside from what they knew they had to?
“What are we going to do?” Jackson asked them sadly, his focus never leaving the spectacle before them. Amber stood on shaky knees, finding it hard to breath. Their future laid before them in the grotesque image of this woman, this monster.
“We have no choice but to…kill her.” Brian replied breathily and Amber felt the world weigh down on her. They would have to kill her. They had no idea how strong she was, how fast…and though she selfishly wanted to study her, to talk to her, she couldn’t put everyone else at risk. The woman snapped her head back, her eyes directly focused on Amber as a slow smile crept across her lips. Amber felt herself shudder at the force of her attention, her heart beating out an unsteady rhythm.
“Kill me? You think you can kill me?” she asked, chuckling maniacally at them. Her low laughter continued as she lowered her head, her brown hair covering her face. With a suddenness that again shocked them, she brought her gaze back up to them. Her eyes were once again pleading, tears threatening to fall from her lashes. She was begging Amber for something…for some help, to take the pain away. “Kill me. Please.” She begged, her innocent and hopeless eyes penetrating every person she looked at. No one moved a muscle, and not a sound was heard. Sensing their slight apprehension, she began to look desperate and angry, saliva building again at the corner of her mouth. “Kill me!” she screamed, reaching her hand as far as she could through a hole in the fence, reaching for Amber. Amber swallowed thickly and stepped back, watching as the woman grunted and growled, pushing her arm farther and farther until blood began to trickle onto the ground below, the metal tearing the skin and flesh from her arm. The woman never flinched. Amber winced as she heard Brittany double over and heave at the sight. “Kill me!” she screamed again, reaching, her fingers splayed apart and grasping at air. Why was she so focused on Amber? Amber couldn’t take anymore.
“Miles…” she said, turning to him sadly, and he nodded at her request to end the woman’s life. Before Amber knew what happened, however, an arrow whipped by her ear, and she heard the grotesque sound of the metal point slicing through the woman’s skull. The woman instantly fell and they all turned to see Kyle off to the side, his face a stoic mask, his bow in his hand. His little chest heaved with every breath he took and his hand trembled. Amber’s heart pounded against her ribs from the surprise she felt, and even more so from seeing her son had been the one torn to end this woman’s life. She felt her heart begin its slow aching and she began to run to him, to comfort him, but Miles and Jackson each grabbed her wrist and shoulder, effectively stopping her. She conceded, understanding that he needed the reassurance a young man would want to receive, not the coddling an overprotective mother would give.
“Are you okay, Kyle?” Miles asked him hoarsely, clearly emotional from what had happened and Kyle seemingly relaxed at his question, nodding in reply before stepping slowly up to him and lowering his head. Brian then cleared his throat hastily.
“Everyone in the house, now.” He said and without question they began towards the house, their eyes scanning the fence lines for any more unusual creatures. She was grateful whenever they didn’t see anymore.
Amber stood against the counter, her nerves a nasty, jumbled mess. Miles had ushered Kyle into the living room with Elliot and Brittany, who was still sick from the turn of events. He had made a deal with Kyle, telling him that Brittany didn’t need to be alone and that Elliot was too young to hear what was going to be discussed. Kyle readily agreed, willing to be treated like an adult with responsibilities that went beyond daily chores. She didn’t want to leave him from their discussion, but things were soon going to be heated and angry, and she couldn’t subject him to that. This was still on her mind as Miles sauntered back in through the entryway and into the quiet that rested over the kitchen. His worried gaze immediately found hers, where she stood beside Cassie and Jacob against a counter. She watched him survey everyone in the room, feeling out their positions and tensions as he made his way toward Brian. And though her mind and heart weighed heavily with the startling realization and the new fear that accompanied it, his mere presence eased her mind, if only a little. Cassie shifted on her feet, glancing sadly at Amber before turning back to the crowded room before her. Rick, Jackson, Bobby-Jean, and Elva Jo sat around the table while Derek, Katie, and Damien stood to Amber’s left, heads lowered in thought. Brian, Shelly, and now Miles stood, leaning against the counter with a clear eye on Rick, should he attempt to startle them and affirm his loss of sanity. They knew that they would have to tell him everything that had happened, if only to explain and discuss the woman. It was the only way, because he refused to be excluded; and Amber thought, he shouldn’t be. He was family and he belonged there just as much as anyone else in that room. The simple fact that they had denied him information made her feel slightly guilty after what happened, but still, she knew it was the right thing to do.
The back door swung open and Budd
y sauntered in after having checked the perimeter. His eyes scanned the room before he began ambling in, closing the door behind him. Within seconds Buddy stood next to her, and Amber noticed as Katie and Damien glanced up at him thoughtfully and then to Brian and Miles, and for a moment Amber wondered what they were thinking. Were they as frightened as she was? How did they feel about what had happened? Buddy’s fingers skimmed the hair on her neck before wrapping around and squeezing her shoulder, in a comforting, friendly gesture. She glanced up at him and he offered her a weak smile. She turned form him, sighing, ready to get the conversation going; it was inevitable. Her line of focus jumped from person to person throughout the room and she felt herself shudder with anticipation. Everyone was tense and didn’t want to discuss the true horror they had just witnessed. She gazed at her brother sadly, feeling defeated at his slumped shoulders, weighted down from the world. The tears in Katie’s and Shelly’s eyes damn near tore her apart, and the eerie quiet from everyone else didn’t settle easily. She turned to Miles and met his stare. He nodded at her in acknowledgment and offered her a small smile. She turned from him, feeling weak and vulnerable. Even in the midst of chaos and loss he was still there with her and trying to be her strength, even when she should have been his. He wouldn’t have had it that way, however, and she knew it.
“What…in the hell…was that?” Rick’s gruff voice pierced the silence and the tension in the room only increased. Each word was weighted and accusatory. “That was fucking creepy.” Understatement of the year, Amber thought to herself, shuddering. It was almost a slap in the face. Amber glanced across the room at Brian, who swallowed thickly before answering.
“That was a Biter.” He said simply, and Rick squeezed his eyes tightly shut. Oh, her poor emotionally twisted family. She mentally cursed the world and all of its cruel deformities and terror. She cursed it for the losses they had endured and the sanity they were all slowly letting go of.