by W. A. R.
“I heard you outside, Bri.” Rick said between clenched teeth, and the nickname he used causing Brian to visibly wince. Amber wanted to intervene, but Buddy’s hand squeezed her shoulder, effectively reminding her that the two men needed to discuss this, that some form of truth needed to be built back between them. “What I want to know is what in the hell just happened? How did you know it was a Biter?” he asked, turning his sorrowful and angry gaze to his cousin, his once best friend. “I know…I know…there is something that you aren’t telling me.”
“Yes there is.” Brian replied just as calmly as he had before and Amber knew that his emotions were trying to get the best of him and he was attempting to reign them all in. Hell, she wasn’t even sure that he could do such a thing.
“Why won’t you tell me?” Rick asked and before Brian could answer Buddy interrupted.
“Because you were out of your damn mind.” He spat harshly and Amber was taken aback from his vehemence. She turned to look up at him, realizing that his hold had tightened on her shoulder. He was angry, visibly upset at Rick. “We did what we had to do to protect the rest of us.” Rick narrowed his eyes at the scruffy-looking man as Brian turned to him easily but threateningly.
“You do that again and you will regret it.” He dared Buddy, his voice but a low rumble. The two men stared intently at one another before they finally reached an unspoken understanding. Amber turned from Buddy and shifted on her feet, unsure of how the entire conversation was going to play out. Jackson reached forward and placed an old, weathered hand on Rick’s calloused and bandaged one.
“Rick, we weren’t sure how you would handle everything we had to say. It is a lot to take in and you were out of it.” Her father hesitated only briefly, his eyes finally finding Katie amongst their small group. He turned back to Rick. “Do you remember what you did to Katie?” he asked, and the confused and worried look that crossed Rick’s face told them all that he did not. Katie subconsciously brought a hand to her head, the skin still tender but healed mostly in the month and a half since it had happened. Rick turned his brown eyes to look at her, curiosity lost in their depths.
He shook his head. “I…I don’t remember. What did I do to you?” he asked her, and although he had seemed hesitant with her in recent weeks, his guilt at having known he hurt her in some way was sincere. There he was, Amber thought to herself, the old selfless Rick; strong and defiant, but also so kind and giving. Katie glanced nervously around at everyone in the room before stepping forward, raising her hands to her hair to push aside a few brown tendrils, and turning so he could see it. His eyes widened at the sight of bloodied scars and the evident bald spot among the tears in the skin that had become scars. She then turned back round and stepped back, avoiding his guilty stare. “I am so, so sorry for that… I didn’t know…” he stammered, turning to look at Amber. She felt a sharp pain in her chest at the sight of him pleading with her for forgiveness and understanding. She sighed at him, glancing at Brian before she spoke.
“That was why we couldn’t tell you, Rick. We couldn’t be sure you wouldn’t hurt someone else. It was better that way until…”
“…Until you knew whether or not I was in my right mind.” He finished for her sadly and a bit bitter. Miles opened his mouth to say something in response to this but Shelly gently touched his chest to stop him. This was between Rick, Brian, Amber, and Shelly. She swallowed back the emotion that threatened to come out when thinking of Bobby-Jean, Jackson, and Cassie hearing the story that they had kept to themselves for so long.
“We didn’t know what happened to you, Rick. We thought you were dead, and then...” Shelly said quickly, catching stares from everyone in the room. Rick snapped his head around to her, his eyes narrowed in anger and…guilt?
“I know what you all thought.” He snapped at her. Brian stepped forward slowly, unsure of what to say next, but knowing he had to say something. It was all going to have to be addressed.
Finally, he sighed. “When we found you, we had no idea what you had been through. All we knew was what we saw, and that was that you weren’t all there upstairs and that you were damn near dead.”
Rick stood uneasily and as quickly as he could, balancing himself on the table. “That’s right. You have no idea what I have been through.” He paused and glanced around at everyone, his eyes full of hate. “None of you fucking do. I have been alone for months.” He then turned back to Brian who, in spite of his guilt, stood straight and determined in front of the man he once called his brother. “Look at everything you have here, Bri. Not a damn one of you know what it means to be alone in this world trying to survive.” Instinctively Amber glanced between both Buddy and Miles, expecting one of the two to lash out, to tell him he was wrong and that there was someone who understood. Instead, both men stood still, looking at him with such sympathy that it hurt.
Brian stepped forward angrily. “You’re right. I don’t, and you wouldn’t have known it either if you had fucking listened to me at Charlotte’s.” Oh no, Amber thought.
Rick shoved Brian in the chest. “Well, Bri, is that how you ease your guilt for leaving me for dead? I didn’t listen?” He was antagonizing Brian; he wanted Brian to hit him. She wasn’t sure why, but she could see in his eyes that it was his intention. Brian, however, did not take the bait. Instead, his face fell and he stepped back next to Shelly and away from him.
“I have nothing more to say to you.” He said, his voice tinged with such deep emotion. The tension in the room was greatly escalated by then, and the curious stares from Bobby Jean and Jackson were not helping matters any. Amber glanced at Cassie who simply watched sadly as Rick sat back down in his chair, wincing and rubbing his broken leg.
“Good, because I don’t have anything to say to you either.” He retorted before turning to George, who stood at the entryway. Amber had not even heard him come in from checking the fence line. “George.” He nodded and George nodded in return, acknowledging his presence.
“Rick.” He replied, and in that moment Amber was grateful for the small town of Thurston. Rick had also known George from about town. They were never close, but they had nonetheless met before the outbreak. If he couldn’t talk to anyone else, he felt he could talk to him, could trust the familiar face.
“Think you can tell me what is going on? Everyone else here seems hell-bent on not saying anything.” He said and George glanced at Brian uncertainly before Bobby-Jean spoke up.
“Now that is just not true Rick. We have explained our side of things, and you react this way?” she began, her words hostile and angry.
Rick looked at her surprised. “Aunt B…” and she stood, irritation evident in the lines of her face. She placed both palms flat on the table and stared at him from across it. He settled easily back into his chair.
“You listen here, Rick Taylor; we all make mistakes, just as you do. You can’t take them back; all you can do is try to make them right. Now, you have two choices: you can either suck it up, calm down and listen to what we all have to tell you, or you can wallow in your anger and self-pity with no end result except for hurting the people that you once loved and cared for. So, which is it?” she demanded, her eyes stern and fire-like. Everyone in the room glanced between the two of them for a long moment as they stared at one another, both parties thoughtful and determined until finally, Rick conceded, looking down at his bandaged hand.
“I forgot how feisty you were Aunt B.” he told her, a small apologetic smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Bobby-Jean settled back into her chair and Amber felt a surge of relief as the tension concerning Rick began to ebb away, only to be replaced by the even more worrisome discussion of what they had witnessed.
“And you had better not forget it.” She told him, her tired eyes full of worry. She turned to Brian, who stood watching the two of them intently. She motioned with her hand waving between the two of them. “Now, Brian, explain to Rick what is going on.”
Brian looked at Rick solemnly, but without
regret or hesitance. “Do you want the long or short version?” he asked and Rick shrugged, unsure of what to say, or of how to answer.
“Long works for me. I don’t want to miss anything.” He said finally, and Brian sighed, glancing across the room at Amber, who stroked her neck reflexively, remembering the damage the Biters had done. She still sounded a little hoarse from the episode.
And the story began. All of the horror replayed, images painted with their words as everyone in the room spoke some form of the story. They explained everything from the male Biter that could run to the female Biter that had clawed at the dirt and to the arrival of the other group. The discussed the battle with the behemoth Biters, their strength, willingness to think and fight. They explained the bruises on the arms, bite marks all in the same place. And with much hesitation, they explained the now confirmed theory of someone creating these hybrid biters. There was no longer any doubt about other people, or their intentions. The half living, tormented woman had only verified that. By the end, Rick sat in silent shock; mortified by the possibilities that were now open to him.
“This brings us to the woman outside.” Jackson said sadly, remembering the incident that had played out earlier in the morning. Everyone grew silent at Jackson’s words, remembering only thirty minutes prior to when they had been confronted with the moral dilemma that was the woman.
“But…she was different…wasn’t she? She seemed…” Rick paused, struggling to find the right word. Of course she thought, he wasn’t stupid. Amber sighed.
“She seemed human.” She finished for him, pausing to gather her thoughts before continuing. “She…spoke…she laughed…her eyes and skin weren’t any different…” she shuddered, feeling her eyes darkened. She caught Miles’s eyes and saw how haunted they were. “Some part of her was human, a big part.”
Buddy dropped his hand from Amber’s shoulder and crossed his arms across his chest. “But the blood on her back…the bite was there. We just couldn’t see it…only the evidence of it. I checked her a little bit ago. The bite was where it should have been.” He said, capturing everyone’s attention. They were apprehensive and frightened, Amber knew that, but what could they do? Everything was suddenly so overwhelming they threatened to run together and the lines between right and wrong blurred. Jackson sighed before picking up where Buddy had left off.
“And the bruises were painfully obvious…they injected her with something…just like the others…and from the looks of things, these people….” Jackson began but Katie finished for him, her eyes wide as if the epiphany had just come to her.
“They are trying to find a cure.” Her voice was low, barely above a whisper but she was clearly heard, reflecting the thoughts of everyone in the room. It was true that they all shared this thought, this realization. There was simply too much evidence staring them right in their faces to ignore any longer. It was only a matter of time before the danger became more and more existent.
Rick was the only one that misunderstood the worried looks pasted on everyone’s grim faces. “Doesn’t that mean there are good, intelligent people out there that can bring us out of this world?”
Miles shook his head glumly. “No…these Biters that we’ve seen…they were people…they were used. With the bite marks all in the same place and different outcomes and actions from each one I think it’s safe to say that they were guinea pigs for their experiments. Who’s to say we aren’t next?” This very question haunted Amber, and she had carried it with her since they had determined the conclusion. She couldn’t escape it and it hurt. The images that passed through her mind in response to this question were her own personal type of hell.
Damien shifted nervously on his feet. “What are we going to do? If they have the technology to do…this…then surely they have weapons, numbers even. We have no chance of fighting them. We already established that.” He said, his blue eyes scanning over every face in the room. His eyes landed on Amber as if he were reaching out to her, asking her for something that she wasn’t even sure he was asking. “Besides, who’s to say they aren’t good people. We don’t know for sure.” At this, everyone in the room cast him incredulous stares. They all knew what had to be done in order to create these creatures with all of the exact same marks, and because of this knowledge, they knew there was no way they were the type of people they wanted to be around.
Shelly shrugged, referring to his first statement. “I don’t know. Can’t we just pack up and leave?” she asked and Brian shook his head. The thought alone bothered Amber immensely. This had become their home. What if they ran into a trap? Or what if those people had no idea that they even existed? Would they all be willing to risk their lives for that chance?
“If someone is watching us, or is even anywhere near here, we can’t leave. They would know and it would draw attention to us. Anywhere we went wouldn’t have the security that we have here.”
“So, we try to fight? We can’t.” Buddy interjected bitterly. “Isn’t there anywhere around where we could set up shop and make just as secure as this place? If we make a few small trips over the course of a few days maybe we could get by without being noticed.” At this everyone quieted. Amber thought of the old house place, realizing that their group needed much more protection than it had to offer given the circumstances, even though they had boarded up the windows and secured the house itself. It could still be a back-up plan. Brian looked around at everyone.
“You can’t be considering this. It is a suicide mission.” He declared hotly, but George disagreed.
“It isn’t a bad idea Brian. We could pull it off, and if it is close enough we could do it within the next few days. We could use the garage to hide our activities as far as loading and the amount of people leaving at a time. Two trucks can go two different ways to wherever we end up, just to ensure no one is following us. We just need to think of a good place that we could use.”
Damien snapped his fingers, his eyes wide. “In Bastrop there is a building with decent fences around it, maybe a little dilapidated but they shouldn’t be too bad. We could easily fix them on a run.”
Derek shrugged. “Close enough to do it, but far enough away to go unnoticed. I say we go for it.”
Buddy jumped a little in place. “All in favor?” he asked and the vote was split. Amber turned to face them all, seeing anger on both Brian and Miles’s faces.
“Aren’t we jumping the gun on calling a vote on such a big decision?” she spat, catching the glare of Buddy’s blue eyes. He didn’t answer, and instead held her stare, studying her. Bobby-Jean looked around anxiously, nervous but inclined due to the circumstances to agree.
“Either way, there is still the matter of food. We are on our last few cans and we have no meat. How are we going to survive anywhere if we can’t go out and get food?” and it was a solid question, one that Amber herself had not thought of. She felt certain that her mother was trying to postpone the voting and whatever other discussion that was sure to be heated. Then again, before any other plans could be made, their necessities to survive had to be taken care of, and this just happened to be one of them.
Brian rubbed a hand across his face. “We will have to hunt and go on a run before we leave then…if we leave.”
“When are we hoping to get this done?” Katie asked, her voice high and full of apprehension and Brian shrugged.
“Within the next week. We can’t risk any longer than that.”
Derek nodded in response. “Agreed. I think we should go about things and make them seem as normal as possible while we gather things in the house and load them up. Tomorrow, we can go on a group hunt and get what we can. Go in pairs, kill what we can and preserve it however we can.” As he said this, he looked pointedly at Bobby-Jean, who nodded in agreement with his request. “And just to play it safe, a day or so after, we go on a run to get whatever weapons and food we can get. Just a few of us then though, just in case we are followed.”
George nodded. “And while we are on the run we c
an go check out the place and secure it so we can just come back and load up what we have and go within the next few days.”
Jackson nodded. “Sounds like a plan.” He said, and though Amber agreed, she felt a nervous trepidation settle over her. She glanced over at Miles, whose stare was intent on Brian. She glanced at her brother and winced. He was so emotionally exhausted and couldn’t think straight.
“This is bullshit.” Miles muttered, catching everyone by surprise before turning and stomping from the kitchen. The front door slammed only seconds later and Amber flinched at the sound of it. Amber stole her eyes to Shelly, who stared back at her with the same worried expression. Shelly nodded at Amber and Amber stepped forward. She couldn’t shake the dark feeling settling in the pit of her stomach.
“Whoa. I think we should take a break and think about things….let them settle and then decide.” Amber began. “Things are about to change majorly and serious stuff is about to happen so…I really think we should take some time to accept them. We can meet back in here later and decided everything we need to. We need a plan, but we should think about things before we make one.”
Rick nodded his agreement and oddly enough she felt relieved by his agreement. “She’s right. We need clear heads before we decide anything else. There is a lot of tension here and everything is overwhelming. We have a lot to think about.” Everyone mumbled agreements and very slowly, they began filing out. Some went into the living room, others upstairs, and a few meandered onto the front porch. Amber, however, checked on her children, watching as Cassie and Kyle both carried their tired bodies up the stairs after telling her they needed to lie down. She couldn’t blame them for their exhaustion. The morning had drug out every emotion there was and it seemed as if there was nothing left. They had talked about everything for a few minutes before making their way up the stairs and Amber retreated into the bright sunlight of the outside world, seeking solace from everyone, unsure of whether she wanted to think about everything or forget it all. Hushed voices reached her ears as she crossed the threshold into the backyard, away from everyone.