Dead World Rising (Book 1): Staying Human

by Petrova, Katerina

  She too had the mark of Dave's group on her, I wondered then why she was here. We all agreed that she had been with Dave's group, for whatever reason they had let her loose with a fatal wound that had probably been caused by them. How could they be so cruel, it still did not answer the question of what Tamara's cut meant.

  Tom wiped away his tears looking now angry and fierce.

  'Lets get to work, we have to rescue the girls.'

  He looked so determined I dared not share my doubts about the success rate of this mission. We cleared the ground floor of the pub without much trouble, before going upstairs we found a shovel in an old shed at the back. We buried Amber in the patch of grass near where we had left our bags, we made a cross out of some wood we found in the shed. Tom used his knife to etch her name on the wood, he hammered the cross into the ground and stood for a moment.

  'Amber you were like the daughter I never had, I knew you when you were just a child. You were so innocent, so loving you were too kind to live in a world so harsh. Rest in peace girl,' he let the tears fall, he sobbed quietly as did the other's.

  Though I had never known this girl, she must have been special to make Tom weep so openly. In a way it was good to see people react like this about death after so much time in this world, it meant they still held on to their humanity.

  I comforted Tom as best as I could, I put my arm round him and let him cry into me.

  The sight of this seemingly hard man crying so openly was touching to see, I now knew that as strong as he would have me believe he was he really was a soft man at heart.

  After a while Tom pulled away and just looked at me with such gratitude that I found it difficult not to cry at his tear soaked face.

  I looked around to see Jensen and Tamara holding each other, I suspected that as upset as Jensen was about Amber some of his tears were for what he feared was happening to his sister. I put my hand into my pocket and fished out a pack cigarettes I found a while ago, I was saving them to give to Tom when we could celebrate rescuing the others but I felt now was the time he needed a fag.

  'Here have this,' I handed him a fag, he looked so thankful as he took it from me.

  He stood by Amber's grave looking solemn smoking his cigarette, when he flicked his butt over the wall looking a little better in himself.

  'You alright?' I asked him softly. 'Yeah, it just never gets any easier you know,' he said solemnly. 'I know the feeling, but its better to feel sad than to feel nothing at all,' I replied hoping that my words were comforting.

  'Your right lass, I just wish that we could've found her alive. I wonder if Jade knows I mean if Amber was in the group did Jade get to see her?'

  I couldn't even begin to answer that, in a way I hoped that Jade didn't know. It would better for her to find out after we rescued her than to sit crying about her daughter.

  We prepared to take the next floor, as we crept up the stairs we could hear rustling coming from a room in the left hand corner. We got to the top of stairs and looked to both sides, we saw six walkers four on one side and two on the other side though they had not seen or heard us yet. We crept back down the stairs and tried to figure out what we were going to do next, fortunately we all had the same idea.

  We got out our bows and crossbows and went back up the stairs, we positioned ourselves so that me and Tamara were stood next to each corner so that we could see each take a section of the hallway, Tom and Jensen stood in the middle each facing a different part of the hallway.

  We all readied our weapons and began shooting, Tom and Jensen managed to kill two walkers each before the other walkers had noticed. Me and Tamara also killed two each, there were only two left or so we thought.

  As we shot the last two another eleven came round from the right wing and six came from the left wing. Though we were now worried, we tried not to act it. I knew that despite how alarmed I was panicking would only endanger us all.

  I joined Tom on his side and Tamara joined Jensen, having two of us on each side would make this easier though it would still be difficult.

  Me and Tom managed to take down three of them before they got close, we took out our daggers to kill the two nearest ones as I finished off the one near me I tripped on corpse behind me. I fell backwards and the walker attached to my knife fell with me. We landed with a thud on the floor, Tom killed the other one and raced to my side as he pulled me up I saw that Tamara and Jensen had killed four walkers but were pinned to wall struggling not to get bitten.

  Me and Tom raced to their side and killed two with our daggers, there were still six left. We backed down the hallway trying not to trip over the dead ones as we went, me and Tom were behind Jensen and Tamara and used our crossbows to kill another two just in front of them.

  Without putting themselves in too much danger Jensen and Tamara killed the next two, while they did that one of the walkers almost got Jensen fortunately he was wearing his thick leather jacket so it couldn't easily be bitten through. He stabbed it in the head and jumped back before he was attacked again.

  Tamara killed the last one just as it went for Jensen, we sighed with relief as we had all got through this in one piece. We were all covered in walker blood, and felt physically exhausted from all the fighting.

  Jensen looked at his hands and saw that it was covered in blood, he wiped his hands on his jacket which was also covered in blood. He turned to look at Tamara, she barely had any blood on her, he got his sweaty blood stained hands and rubbed them all over the back of her clean jacket.

  'Oi Weasly don't ya think I've got enough blood on me?' It was more of a playful statement than a question. Looking at him now I see could the resemblance to the Harry Potter character, I laughed harder than I should have.

  Jensen just laughed at her, 'I thought you looked a bit left out little miss clean.' For a rare moment we just sat and laughed at each other. It was strange how it was the little moments got us through the bad ones, thinking back to when Jensen, Tom and I were at Esco I smiled to myself it was a rarity to have these innocent times. Though I wouldn't dwell to much on what happened with Jensen, it was too confusing for me to deal with right now.

  'Come on lets check out the rooms,' said Tom who was trying his best to look serious.

  We split up into two groups, me and Tom took the rooms along the back of the right wing and Jensen and Tamara took the front rooms along the same side. There wasn't much in the way of walker activity in the rooms thankfully, we did find a few things for the road like torches and tinned food. We could hear Jensen and Tamara in the nearby rooms, I was glad that we weren't venturing too far away from each other. While the rooms might seem safe, you could never be too sure.

  As we went into each room looking for walkers or supplies, Tom looked more tired than usual. His face looked pale and drained, the circles under his eyes looked far bigger than they had earlier. He sat down on a bed and sighed heavily, he looked up at me as if he wanted to say something but seemed to lose his nerve.

  'What's wrong Tom?'

  'I need to show you something,' he sounded defeated and a little lost.

  He lifted his sleeve to reveal a small scratch on his lower arm, it wasn't very deep but it was very red and infected. Oh no, not Tom, I couldn't lose him not now. I felt like crying, our group had lost enough how could we ever hope to rescue Jade and Maggie without him. I could see the black veins already starting to spread up his arm, I didn't know what to do I felt like my world was crumbling around me.

  'No, Tom. You can't die, we need you,' I almost cried.

  'I'm sorry lass, I didn't mean for this to happen,' he said softly.

  'I know you didn't, but you've got to make until we rescue the girls,' I told him.

  'I'll make it, I've got to see Jade and Maggie again,' he replied determinedly.

  'Oh Tom, why didn't you say something sooner?'

  'I didn't want you to worry lass, please don't tell the others not yet,' he pleaded. I put my arms round him and tried my hardest not to cry. I fel
t like I was dying inside, this was why I hadn't stayed with people for so long. Even though death was more common than making it to your next birthday in this world, it still didn't make it any easier. As I looked at his rough old face and saw the sadness behind his eyes, I couldn't hold back the tears. Tom was like our dad, he scolded us when we were stupid, he comforted us when we were upset. How was it possible that I'd only known him less than four months? Tom held me as I let the tears fall, I clung to him not wanting to let go.

  It was sometime later that I managed to compose myself, I understood why he didn't want the others to know and for now I would respect his decision.

  We needed to hurry up and rescue Jade and Maggie, I knew he would want to see them again before he went.

  'Alright I won't say anything yet, but we have to hurry up and get the others back.'

  I held his hand and squeezed it gently. We met up with the others to look through the left side of the building, as we all walked to the corner we heard rustling noises coming from the end room. We all readied our weapons just in case their were any dead ones inside. Tom stood in front of us and flung open the door, there were no walkers inside. The rustling sound had stopped, but something didn't feel right, there had to be something here.

  We looked in the wardrobe, under the bed but there was nothing inside. I noticed on the floor that there was a thick rope made of bed sheets attached to the metal pole that was used as a brace to take the weight of some one climbing up or down it. I looked out the window to see that the rope led down to the ground floor, by the look of this room some one had been living here for quite some time. There were empty tins on the floor, the bed had been stripped of all the covers and the mattress was lying in the middle of the room.

  I looked up to see that there was a large hole in celling, I could just see what looked like pigeons in the corner of the attic. Well at least we knew what the rustling noise was and we didn't need to worry. I wondered if the person would be back any time soon, or if they were even still alive. I didn't see how they could be given how many dead ones were in the building when we arrived.

  After much talking we decided to stay the night and rest up before looking for the other group. As we I looked out the window I could see that the sun was getting ready to set in the sky, we settled down for the night after getting our bags from downstairs. The bed was a king size so we could all just about fit on it comfortably, we opened our tins of beans and hot dogs and began to eat.

  'Do you guys think we should take down the brace, the person who lived here might come back?' Asked Tamara worriedly.

  'I don't think we need to worry lass, this room looks like its been empty for a week at least not only that we can use it if we need to make a quick escape.'

  Tom had a point, though it did make me a bit nervous thinking some one could just come in while we were asleep.

  'That's true, you never know when we might need to get away. I just don't like worrying that some one will come back in the middle of the night.'

  Tamara didn't seem very reassured, I was glad that I wasn't the only one with that worry. We settled down for the night and pulled the quilt over us, which was so soft and fluffy almost like sleeping with a cloud. I was so glad that we had chosen to stay together tonight, I didn't want to be away from them. I was laying between Jensen and Tamara, Tom was on Tamara's other side. I often tossed and turned during the night and tonight was no different, I turned to face Jensen to find him looking at me affectionately. Tamara and Tom were asleep but Jensen and I were still wide awake.

  'I wish I knew if they were alright,' he said sadly.

  It was so easy to forget how young he was, but looking at him now as the moonlight shined on his face pale face I could see the fear and sadness in his eyes.

  I moved my hands and held his his face, I looked at with determination as I said, 'I swear to you we will get them back, no matter what it takes.'

  'Thank you so much, for everything you've done. Without you we wouldn't have got this far,' he told me trying to smile. I smiled at him as stroked his face. 'You're all the closest thing I've had to family, in such a long time. I'd do anything to protect you and keep you safe,' I told him gently.

  Just for a minute I forgot about the sadness and sorrow, I leaned in feeling his breath quicken. I didn't think about Nikkita or of the danger we were facing, in that moment I just wanted him to know how much I felt for him, without worrying about anything. The calmness of his breath as our lips met, the softness of his mouth, the feel of his hands pulling me close told me everything I needed to know. I had no doubt that cared for me deeply, and truthfully I knew I felt the same.

  'Oi, you two pack it in, I'm trying to sleep,' Tamara muttered.

  Both Jensen and I tried not to laugh as we pulled apart.

  'Sorry,' I said quietly. We just smiled at each other for a moment, we fell asleep holding each other. For the first time in forever, I felt safe, I felt loved surrounded by the people I loved the most. I knew right then just how much I would fight for them, to keep them safe, to make sure no one took them away from me.

  I was awakened in the middle of the night by a voice calling us to wake up, there was a lad standing by the window holding a knife to Jensen's throat. Despite living in this world for so long I was still surprised by some peoples physical appearance. His hair was a mass of blonde dread locks caused by not grooming himself , his clothes were far too small for him they clung tightly to his body as if they might rip open at any moment.

  Chapter 15

  Maggie

  'Ouch,' I said, wincing in pain as I fell to the floor.

  'What's wrong?' Jade asked worryingly.

  'My stomach, it hurts like hell,' I told her trying to get up.

  'Sit down,' She replied.

  'Oh god, ouch fucking ow!' I cried.

  'Stay here, I'll go and get Ellen,' she said fearfully. I clutched my stomach crying out in pain, I fell out of my chair feeling afraid as I didn't know what was wrong. I'd never known pain like it, I felt someone was stabbing me in the stomach. I tried to pull myself up but only ended up causing a large draw full of cutlery to came crashing down on me. I screamed as another sharp pain shot through me, just then Dave, Ellen and Jade came running back in.

  'What's wrong with her?' Dave growled.

  'I won't know until I get her to a bed,' Ellen hissed.

  I hated having Dave touch me but as I couldn't walk through the pain, he had to carry me to the hospital part of the compound.

  'Aaaah!,' I screamed as he put me on the bed.

  'Everyone out, now!,' Ellen shouted. Surprisingly Dave didn't argue, both him and Jade went outside. Jade gave me a soft loving look as she turned and walked out the door. Ellen pulled the makeshift curtain across so that no who came in could see me.

  'Oh god, it hurts like hell,' I cried.

  Ellen was just about to come to my side when she looked down at my jeans, her eyes went wide and her face was one of shock and almost sadness.

  'I need you to take off your jeans,' she said calmly.

  I struggled but I did as she asked, I looked down to find my legs and pants were full of blood. I didn't need Ellen to tell me what was wrong, I'd been pregnant and I'd had a miscarriage.

  'I'm sorry,' Ellen said sombrely.

  'I'm not,' I told her sternly. I had been at the slave camp for three months, although it felt like a lifetime. As each day passed and my brother didn't come and save me, I felt my hope and strength waning. I had suffered more in the last three months than I had in five years of the outbreak, I had to not only endure being violated almost daily but the miscarriage last month had left me with emotional scars. I felt awful for feeling glad that it happened, but there was no way I could have brought a child into this world let alone one that had been conceived of rape. The only thing that made being there tolerable was Ellen, she had been my rock. Like Jade, Ellen had been sterilized before the outbreak so her only use was cooking and cleaning. Ellen was also the resident doctor
so she came in handy, I rarely saw Jade so I came to be grateful for Ellen's comfort. She was more than just a doctor to me, she was my friend.

  'There has to be some way of getting out of here,' I said to Ellen after three months in this hell.

  'If you can find one, I'll be surprised,' she replied solemnly. I sat and thought, after my miscarriage Dave had only violated me once mostly down to Ellen's insistence that I needed to recover; but even she could not protect me forever. It was only a matter of time before he tried to impregnate me again, and I could not count on having another miscarriage to save me. I knew that one of the women Cammi kept contraceptive pills in her thick, black bobble and gave it out to as many women as possible. Cammi was currently in isolation though as she'd tried to beat up one of the men, I knew that as Ellen was one of the women that could be trusted she often went out on runs with the guys. She would try and bring back more of the pills and had promised to give me some the next time she went out, but I needed them asap.

  'Can you get to Cammi?' I asked. 'Possibly it all depends on who gets put on her dinner duty, at the moment Carla is on it but she hasn't been feeling well so they might ask me,' she replied.

  Out of the twenty women that were here, half of them weren't loyal to Dave and the men. Dave had a reward system in place, if the women behaved and submitted they got to live in nicer accommodation, they were allowed to wander freely and were treated with some kind of respect. The other half had been here so long that they were brainwashed, while they had started out pretending to submit in order to gain the rewards, they were now actually loyal to their captors. Some of them even seemed to want to have their captors baby, which to me was just plain wrong.

  We could not risk alerting them of a plan to escape otherwise they would rat us out. If I could get some pills from Cammi that would at least help me for now, but if we could get weapons to the non loyal women that would be a start. I wasn't sure if the other ones would actually fight against us if we rioted, but what other choice did we have? I wasn't going to spend the rest of my life being used as a baby making factory for the likes of Dave, Ellen would help me only if I had a valid plan. Hmm, there must a be some weakness I could exploit.