Dead World Rising (Book 1): Staying Human

by Petrova, Katerina

  Thankfully they didn't last too long, the dead came in hordes and destroyed them. I was sad about the women that died but in another way I was glad that the men couldn't hurt anyone else. The other group were in a school in Woodley, they were the worst ones.

  Not only did they keep women as slaves, they impregnated some of them and tortured the ones who didn't become pregnant. I had been taken in by them before I realised what they were, it did not take long for me to see the horror.

  Sam was the young man that took me in, he found me on the side of the road bleeding out after having a fight with another survivor. The man had tried to take my food, I fought back but lost if it wasn't for Sam I would have died. I was stabbed in the stomach, thankfully they had medical equipment and a trained surgeon. The surgeon Lita saved my life, I spent weeks in recovery and Sam came to visit me everyday.

  Once I had recovered the men in charge wanted to use me as another slave but Sam claimed that as he found me I was his, Sam never touched me or let anyone else hurt me. He was only nineteen and didn't have a mean bone in his body, he wasn't like them he just stayed because he had no other choice.

  This was about a year into the apocalypse, I spent almost seven months there but after a while the other men began to realise that Sam wasn't hurting me or any of the other woman he was in charge of. They called him 'weak' and 'pathetic' it got to a point where he knew that they were going to get rid of him, so when it was his turn to keep watch and everyone else was asleep he let all the women out of their rooms.

  They rioted against the men and it was absolute chaos, Sam got me out but was cornered by the leader and another man.

  A single tear fell from my eye as I thought of him, the leader didn't just kill Sam he tortured him. I can still hear Sam's screams as if he were next to me. One of the other men held me back as I tried to save Sam, the leader cut pieces of Sam off bit by bit. First a finger, then a toe he took his time and laughed as Sam screamed. That was the most gruesome and violent death I had seen, I tried to turn away but they made me watch. I felt sick as I saw the thick blood spurt out of him, I screamed for them to stop but they beat me. Sam was unable to move all he could do was scream, I had see the look on his face as he knew that death was upon him.

  By the time they were finished with him, he was missing his hand on his left and two fingers from the right. He had no toes left, they revelled in his pain shouting all the while that you had to be cruel in this world and if you were soft you'd get killed.

  They ended his life by stabbing him in the heart, the other man still held me back as I watched him turn. They shoved me at him and ran out of the room, locking the door behind them. I was trapped in a room with Sam, though he wasn't Sam any more. I cried as I took the hidden knife from my boots and stabbed him in the head, I slumped to the floor and held him as I cried out.

  That was one of my hardest kills, even to this day I'm racked with guilt. I had gotten stronger since then and how I wished I had been able to stop them. Though I couldn't prove it I had a suspicion that Dave was from one of those groups, if he was I would have to tread carefully. The girls would obey his orders and if he wanted to take me back with him, the girls would help him do so.

  I felt sorry for the girls and wished I could do something, but they were under his complete control. I loathed men like him and had to resist the urge to kill him in his sleep, I knew that if the girls caught me they would stop me. I knew deep down that there was nothing I could do for them, they were too weak and frail to fight against him.

  Suffice to say I slept with one eye open the whole time I was with them. After another few days, I began to hear noises at night, at first I though that someone was trying to get in but as I listened closer I found that the noises were coming from the room the girls shared with Dave.

  I couldn't believe what I was hearing, they were sex noises. Eww I thought, Dave was old enough to be their dad. If that wasn't bad enough it wasn't just one girl that was making noises it was both. I tried to cover my head with a pillow but it was no use I couldn't drown out the disturbing moans.

  Could it be that he's getting them to pretend they enjoy it so that I don't think anything dodgy is going on I wondered?

  I couldn't see what else it could be, Dave was nothing to look at and the girls would have to be mad to not only be with someone of his age but share him with the other one. Ugh I couldn't wait to get out of here and find the group I was looking for. I held the pillow tightly over my head as I tried to sleep.

  After spending another week with them I knew I needed to find the house, but I still didn't trust Dave. He barked orders at the girls like he owned them. Me and Izzy went on a supply run while Dave and Hayley stayed behind.

  I wanted to talk to Izzy about coming with me, she and Hayley seemed like good people. I could tell they were afraid of Dave and while I had my suspicions I still could not prove my theory.

  I decided to wait until we had finished our run, I had wondered why they were so afraid of Dave what did he have over them to make them stay with him?

  The sky was clear with not a cloud in sight the sun seemed somewhat pale and colourless today, the wind howled fiercely almost as if it were calling to us. We walked to the end of the road and down a small hill to find the supermarket next to the pub, there was a canal that separated them. The car park was empty there was not a car or person in sight.

  We looked in the window to see nothing inside, though I had a bad feeling about going inside I knew telling Izzy would be a waste of time as she was just following orders. We walked up and down the front of the store and banged on the windows, before long I heard the familiar sounds of walkers inside. We stood by the front door only opening one part of the door at a time.

  As a few walkers piled out, we sliced and smashed them, it didn't take us long to clear them. Still the bad feeling I had remained, but we entered the store as we needed to get food. We stuck together, looking down each aisle as we went we saw only a few walkers in the whole of the store.

  We grabbed a trolley and began to pile things in them. Though much of the food had gone out of date it didn't matter as we still needed to eat, I had discovered that despite the expiration date on many foods they were still edible years later.

  After filling the trolley we walked towards the exit, Izzy stopped and turned to me; she looked worried.

  'You need to leave Frankie, Dave wants you dead. He's planning on getting rid of you tonight.'

  I could tell it took great courage for her to tell me. 'I figured as much, why don't you and Hayley come with me? We can take care of Dave together.' I did not want to leave them with Dave but if they refused there wasn't much I could do. 'We can't, he will find us he always does. If he doesn't the rest of the group will,' her voice was quiet and nervous, she would not look at me.

  There was a terror in her eyes that sent shivers down my spine, I wanted so much to take her and Hayley with me.

  It was in that moment that I knew they were being held captive by the group, the look of fear in her eyes matched the terror I had seen in the women at the group in Woodley.

  I found it hard to imagine a group worse than the one Sam had been with, while every fibre of my being wanted to drag her with me I knew that it was no use.

  'If your sure, I don't want to leave you?' This was one of those times where I had to switch off and not let my compassion get in my way of surviving.

  'Take some food and go, before he hurts you.'

  I packed some food in my bag, thanked Izzy for giving me a chance to get away and carried on with my journey.

  As I walked down by the canal I could not help but fear for Izzy and Hayley, I could tell they were good women but it seemed they were trapped by Dave and his group.

  I shook my head and carried on walking, I had to finish my mission I couldn't just stop and save everyone. The canal ran at the back of the house where I had stayed, I had to be careful as I got close to it. I looked over and couldn't see anyone in the garden, I felt
safe enough to continue down the path. I reached the bridge that I had seen the week before, as I went under it I could see a small row of houses to my left. The canal had started to thaw as the temperature increased, I could tell that it was warming up because I felt a little too warm with my jacket on.

  The little row of houses looked like they had once been full of life, I could just imagine little children running along the private road and playing on swing set that sat in the garden of the last house on the row. Now there was a spooky feel to this place like it was empty and missed the laughter of the people that used to be here.

  I climbed over the fence onto the street, a feeling of nervousness took over and wondered whether I was doing the right thing. As I came to the end of the row I saw the house I had been looking for. Next to it was a very colourful van, it was white but painted with all sorts of hippy symbols. The sight of it made me smile, it reminded me of Nikkita. I crept round the back of the house into the overgrown garden, I saw that there was a door which led to the basement. I could hear voices coming from inside, they didn't sound panicked or worried so I felt it was safe to knock. As I knocked on the door my hands shook with fear, I did not know would to expect. Would they be kind or would they kill me on sight?

  Chapter 8

  Izzy

  When the outbreak began, I was twenty years old. I was barely an adult and found the new world unbearable, I came from London which to me was the worst place to be when the world ended. It took barely weeks for the biggest city to become overrun, I had no family to aid me and very few friends. I had never known my biological parents as they gave me up at birth, my adopted parents had died eighteen months before the outbreak in a car crash. I'd no siblings and often had trouble making friends, what few friends I did have died saving my butt. I quickly learned to adapt in this life, I sliced my way through the dead as I fled my city. I soon learned to cover myself in the dead blood so to blend in with them, that was how I escaped my home.

  I spent a few years travelling alone, I'd seen almost every town and village between London and Nottingham. It astounded me given how quiet and closed off I had been in the old world, that I had adjusted quite well in this one. Within the first year of the deadly plague I had killed my first person, it was an old man who tried to attack me. I didn't think twice before stabbing him repeatedly in the chest, I left his blood on my face as walked out of the wooded area. It was not until a few hours later when I saw him as one of the dead that I realised anyone who died came back as one the corpses unless you destroyed the brain.

  I avoided other groups, especially the all men ones. I'd overheard them talking about capturing women and enslaving them, I swore I would rather become a murderer than be their slave. I spent so many years on my own, just wandering from place to place. It was not until I came to the outskirts of Nottingham in January 2013 that I met Hayley, she was barely eighteen.

  At first we were both wary of each other, despite me saving her from a child when I first came across her, we kept our distance. As we were both heading up north we chose to stick together, it was almost three months before we actually talked properly. Her life story was much like mine, her parents died in a plane crash when she was ten. Hayley had lived with her aunt until the world went to hell, her aunt was old and frail and chose to 'opt out' of this world.

  Despite being only fifteen when it all started, Hayley outlived all those she had been close to. She'd gone to live by herself in Sherwood forest only going into the town when she ran out of food. I admired her strength and will to survive, though in a moment of weakness she was almost killed. Hayley had found a newly turned child tied to a tree, she sat and stared at it for the longest time as she could not bear to kill it. She told me how she saw something familiar in the child's eyes and wondered if the dead could be saved, I understood how she felt but I warned her against making that mistake again. I had watched from a short distance away as she undid the child's ropes, as I suspected the child lunged for her. If it were not for my quick feet she would have been dead, she did not stop me as I ended the child's undead state but I did see the sorrow on her face. We travelled together listening to each others stories, for almost two years we did everything together. We laughed, cried, ate and slept together, we would not be separated by anything. No matter what burdens we had on our heads, the pain was lessened because we were in it together. I had never had a relationship as close as what me and Hayley shared, it was beyond friendship, beyond even love. It was as though our hearts and souls were one, there were no words that could comprehend how I felt about her. We did not need to confess our feelings to each other, it was as if we could sense what the other was feeling.

  'Where to next?' I asked her one day in October.

  'We want to keep heading north don't we, so the next big city is Manchester,' she replied smiling.

  'Isn't it too dangerous to head into a city, look what happened last time,' I told her. Last time we had gone into the city of Stafford we'd almost got overrun by the dead, if it wasn't for the group of vile men driving through in their big pick up truck we would have been dead for sure. We ran from the men and managed to avoid being seen, but Hayley had done her leg in. She'd tripped on some barbed wire and sliced her leg, I'd bandaged it up as best I could but the dead had smelled it and came charging to us. It was lucky that the forest nearby had some pretty tall trees for us to hide in, we'd stayed there for two days before being able to get out.

  'I know, but if we want to keep going north that's our way to go,' she replied.

  'Alright have it your way, but don't blame me if shit goes wrong,' I told her. It was in November of 2014 everything changed, we were walking along the burned down city of Manchester when we heard a large group of men on bikes. We hid inside a shop to avoid them, but it was no use.

  'Well well lads, look at what we have here,' one of them said in a hungry voice.

  We were outnumbered but we didn't care, we fought with all our strength but in the end we failed. I bit a few of them as they tied me up, which resulted in me getting a black eye and split lip. 'Looks like we've got some fresh meat lads,' the tall older one said as he laughed.

  'Go fuck yourself, you won't be having us,' I shouted angrily.

  'Oh looks like we've got ourselves a tough one here boss,' a short blond guy said.

  'What's your name pretty one,' the older man said hungrily.

  'None of your business,' I said as I spat in his face.

  He whacked me one straight across the face, I looked at him angrily as grabbed my face.

  'I'll ask nicely once more, next time I won't be so friendly,' he snarled.

  'Izzy, my names Izzy,' I told him angrily.

  'Now that wasn't so hard was it,' he replied nicely. He walked up to Hayley who was being restrained by two younger men who looked about sixteen, one of them had long ginger hair and big blue eyes. The other was a mixed-race lad with dark brown eyes and bulging muscles, he laughed as the older man approached her and placed his hands upon her pale face.

  'What about you sweetheart, what's your name?' He asked.

  Hayley didn't speak she just stared at him with a blank expression on her face, he asked her again with more force to his voice but she gave him a swift kick in the jewels. 'Fucking bitch!' He screamed in agony. The mixed-race guy punched her in the mouth, I screamed at him to stop but ignored me as whacked her a few more times. I kicked and screamed but it was no good, Hayley was on her knees with blood pouring down her face.

  'Stop please, her name is Hayley,' I screamed at them.

  'Well now we know your names, I'm Dave. The coloured lad is Sam, the ginger bloke is Vance and the tall lad behind you Izzy is Carl.' He said introducing them all. He marched us out the store and into one their cars, they mostly came on bikes but they had one old blue pick up truck they used for putting the women in. I refused to be a slave but didn't see a way that we could both get out of this alive, Hayley said nothing on our ride back to their camp. The blood on her face had drie
d by the time we got back, I saw that their base was an old pub near somewhere called Holmfirth. Neither me nor Hayley needed to ask why they wanted us, it was obvious from the beginning and made even more clear when we got there. I saw some of the women already housing large pregnant bellies, I vowed to not let them touch Hayley but didn't know how to stop them.

  If it wasn't for one of the women there called Cammi we would have met the same fate as most of the other girls, but Cammi kept a secret stash of contraceptive pills in the thick bobble on her head. When we slept in our rooms she would pass the pills through a tiny hole in the wall, some of the less troubled women were allowed out on runs with the men. Cammi was one of those who didn't fight their advances, which enabled her to go with them. I don't know how she managed to get more of the pills without them seeing but she did, it kept us going for a few months.

  In the late December of 2014 me and Izzy had been allowed to go out with Dave to check the nearby areas for food and other supplies, Cammi had given us some pills to take while we were away. She and her mother had been held captive for quite some time, the men could not figure out why she and some of the others were incapable of giving them offspring. Not that it made them try any less harder, I had tried my hardest to stop them hurting Hayley but in the end there was nothing I could do.

  We tried to fight them the first few times it happened, but we just ended up with black eyes and bruised ribs. It was only when our monthly cycle came about that we and the other women had a reprieve from their sickening advances. Before we'd left on the run with Dave, he and the other men of the group had told us that if either me or Hayley tried to escape they would kill the other. Me and Hayley looked at each other fearfully and knew that escaping was futile, neither of us would put the other in danger.