When I woke up the next day, I decided to go outside on the porch after my meal. In the distance I could make out the glistening of a lake as the sun shined brightly for the first time in days. There was a cool breeze that blew gently against my cheek, and the leaves had long ago begun to fall. Winter was almost completely upon us and I worried that we may lose people due to the harsh cold.
I yawned quite loudly, not bothering to cover my mouth. When I was through, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head to see Alec attempting to slip behind the house again. Presumably, he didn’t want to speak with me and hadn’t expected me to be on the porch.
He stopped when my eyes met his. “Afternoon.” He said to me and began to walk up the stairs.
“Hey, where have you been?”
His large shoulders shrugged, “Helping with the barn and building bunks.” Stopping at the top stair, he looked upon me as my eyes returned to the lake water. “What have you been up to?”
“Helping Gina and Cole, same old thing.”
He held up a bucket in his hand, “I have to fetch water. Some of the guys don’t like the flavor of the stream water. Tastes like fish.”
“I’m betting, you are one of those guys.”
He grinned, “You would be right.” With that, he stepped into the house.
I didn’t have the heart to tell them that the water in the house was well water, and probably came from the stream. It didn’t matter, as I could see the pain in his eyes when he spoke to me. He wasn’t ready to allow me back into his life. I only wished that he would tell me so.
Another big yawn poured from my lips and as my mouth shut, I noticed some dots coming down the road. Alec stepped out of the house and noticed my line of sight.
“What is that?” I asked him.
“Get the guns.” He ordered me and set the bucket on the porch.
I ran into the house and grabbed four handguns from the cupboard in the kitchen. Bringing them back out to Alec, I gave him two. We loaded them before beginning down the road.
As we grew closer, the dots became four individual people. Two of them walked with a slight limp that was common to zombies. Alec and I stuffed one of our guns into our pants, and prepared to use the others if necessary.
“Identify yourself!” I yelled, my cop instincts kicking in.
All four individuals stopped some distance away. Three of them lifted their arms into the air. “Hal Fulbright.” One of them called, “These are my brothers, Will and Tim. This lady hasn’t told us a name.”
I saw Alec’s lip twitch at the recognition of those names. The three men were the ones that had stolen our food and supplies when we went into the hospital. They left us there to die and had we not expected to be betrayed, we would have.
At that time, we began to gather a group near us. Everyone seemed to be waiting impatiently on our decision. Gina and Cole had noticed the growing gathering and had come to inspect what was going on.
“With your hands in the air, turn around, and walk backwards towards my voice.” I ordered.
The three men did so, but the smaller figure remained with her hands down and looking towards us. I repeated my command.
“We don’t think she speaks English.” Tim’s familiar voice yelled.
“Walk backwards.” I ordered. “Keep coming.” I repeated.
The female walked with them. Though she didn’t do as I had commanded, she didn’t seem to be a threat. When she was close enough, I realized what I had thought had been a hood on her head was actually her hairless scalp. Just like Vion, she didn’t seem to have any hair on her body. No eyebrows, nothing that would indicate that she had shaved them or even grew hair. Her skin was pale and her eyes a faint blue.
“We should blow their fucking brains out.” Alec growled when I told the three men to stop.
“What? No, you can’t do that!” Cole yelled.
“They stole our supplies. Left us and Mabel to die.”
Tim looked over his shoulder, “We’re sorry about that.”
Hal nodded, “Yeah, we had our reasons.”
Will remained silent as always and his only response was a shiver when Alec’s gun touched the back of his head.
“Alec, we didn’t die.” I said, but kept my gun up. “We can’t…”
“Who is to say they aren’t here to steal whatever goods they can from us and dump the girl?” Alec hissed.
“We found a flier. It said we could come here. That this was a haven against zombies, and…” Hal stopped speaking when Alec’s gun was shoved into the back of his head.
I swallowed, “Alec, don’t fucking do this!” My words were calm though my voice was raised.
“Why should we have any god damn respect for their lives when they had none for ours?”
“Because that makes us better then them.” I was nearing tears. If my brother demanded that I kill these men, I knew that I would. I didn’t want to, not because of this.
Suddenly the pale girl moved towards Alec in slow strides.
“Stay back!” Alec warned her, but didn’t turn his gun towards her. “I have no problems with you.”
Her hands lifted up and she touched his arm. Alec’s face that was filled with anger slowly became serene, almost empty when he looked into her eyes.
“No more death.” Her voice was soft and her blue eyes seemed to beg. “No more.”
Alec allowed her to lower his arm and when his gun was down, I lowered my own. Vion appeared beside me and rested his hand on my shoulder. He began to speak to the girl in a language I couldn’t identify. It could have been French or maybe even Italian, I wasn’t sure.
The young, pale woman smiled at him before she answered. With that, he took her hand and they walked towards the house with no other words said. Alec and I patted down the three men and took their firearms.
Cole remained with us while the rest of the group disbursed. He was still wary that Alec may kill one. I never did ask my brother why that girl had calmed him, and I doubted that he would ever give me a straight answer. I just always assumed that her blue eyes held the same peace that I had found in Vion’s.
Tim, Will, and Hal sat across the table from Gina, Cole, and I as we discussed how they stumbled upon us. Apparently, they had moved to another city and found one of the fliers that had been left behind by the group. They traveled here in hopes of finding a safe haven away from the zombies, which Cole told them we would provide.
That was when we began to speak about the girl they had with them. She was exactly like Vion, and my curiosity began to rise again to his past. I knew there was something strange about him, but with the happenings of the past few weeks, I had released my concerns.
“We called her Marshmallow. That was the first time that we ever heard her talk.” Hal told us. “We found her in a dumpster. She saw us and wouldn’t leave our side. Just kept following us, so we gave up trying to chase her away.”
Cole rubbed his cheek before he began to speak, he appeared to be very tired. “Alright, obviously we have some issues here to deal with. Are you three and Alec going to be able to co-exist?”
I couldn’t believe that Cole completely ignored their comments on the strange woman, but I didn’t argue.
“We have no beef with him.” Hal told us.
It was then that I really took notice of their clothing. The fabrics on all three men were much dirtier and worn then I remembered them to be. Tim had several blood stains on his shirt, most seemed to come from his head as it stained his collar and shoulders.
“So, what is your good excuse?” I asked after a moment of silence.
“Our excuse?” It was Tim that responded this time.
“Outside, you said you had a good excuse for taking our shit and running away… leaving us to die. What is it?” I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms.
Cole sighed, “We don’t have a problem with you and them, do we now?”
I glared at him out of the corner of my eye, before returning my attention to them.
Hal began to speak, “Look, we thought about staying. We did. But we would only drag more attention to ourselves in a large group. We…”
“Would have been safer. The zombies attack people when they are broken from their group or in smaller groups. We would have had more eyes looking out for us, you fucking retard.” I hissed.
I felt Cole grab my hand that was under my arm, “Elliot, it’s over. Everyone made it out alright. Let’s just let bygones be bygones.”
I rolled my eyes and looked to my right at the wall.
“Go outside. There is a bonfire. Ask for Brent, he will set you guys up with a job to do.” Cole told them.
All three men nodded and stood from their seats. “Thank you for allowing us to stay here. We do appreciate it.” Hal said.
“And we are deeply regretful for what we have done to you and your brother… and the little girl, Elliot.” Tim added.
I snorted as the three men exited the kitchen. After a moment, I realized that Gina had been awfully quiet the entire meeting, and I turned my attention to her.
Cole was rubbing her back and had his own back turned towards me. She looked ill and having thought about it, she hadn’t looked well in a while.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
Gina began to cry. She dropped her head on the table and wrapped her arms around her face.
“Do you want me to tell her?” Cole asked.
She nodded quite violently.
He turned his eyes towards me, “She’s pregnant.”
I tried my best not to allow my jaw to drop. Jumping from my chair I ran to the other side of the table to kneel down next to her and rub her back. “Gina, it will be alright.”
“No, it won’t!” She said through her sobs. “I’m a cocoon for some demonic spawn!”
I didn’t know if she was referring to her rapist or the fact that he was a zombie, perhaps both.
“You have to decide now, Gina.” Cole said in a calm voice.
“I don’t know.” She cried.
“Decide what?” I looked up at Cole.
He diverted his eyes from me.
“To kill it or not!” She lifted her head up and screamed into my face.
I couldn’t hold my jaw anymore, “Why?”
Cole answered for her, “Could you imagine what she would go through if the child was born like it’s infected father? Unable to perform anything but the most basic of needs? Then what would happen if he turned violent against the women?”
“You two speak as if you know it will be a boy! It could be a girl.”
“We don’t know if we want to take that chance.”
I was surprised to hear Cole use the word ‘we’, as if it was a decision between Gina and himself.
“Yes, we. I have to do the surgery.” Cole answered, apparently I had asked without realizing it. “She has to decide before it’s too late.”
Gina’s eyes were on me, “You’re a woman, you understand better then he does. What would you do?” She asked as the tears dripped from her jaw onto her shirt.
I had no answer for her.
“If it is an infected one then we have no idea what it could do to her body.” Cole told me as if he were trying to convince me to tell her I would abort.
“What would you do?” She asked again.
I shook my head, “Cry and ask someone else what I should do.”
The tears began again and she practically leapt into my arms. I hugged her and she cried on my shoulder as I looked at Cole. He looked helpless and I didn’t think he liked being such a position.
“Could you imagine if we have to kill the child after it’s born? Do you know how much more painful that could be for her?” He reached out to rub her back.
“What about the surgery? Is it dangerous? We don’t have a sterile room or the proper equipment. Hell, you aren’t even that kind of doctor.” I snapped.
“You are right, but this not only risks her life but everyone else’s…” He cut himself off, “This is your decision, Gina. I’ll help you, no matter what you decide.”
I felt her nod against my neck.
“Me too.” I added, and she squeezed me tighter.
Next Chapter: http://rkphunt.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=68
I yawned quite loudly, not bothering to cover my mouth. When I was through, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head to see Alec attempting to slip behind the house again. Presumably, he didn’t want to speak with me and hadn’t expected me to be on the porch.
He stopped when my eyes met his. “Afternoon.” He said to me and began to walk up the stairs.
“Hey, where have you been?”
His large shoulders shrugged, “Helping with the barn and building bunks.” Stopping at the top stair, he looked upon me as my eyes returned to the lake water. “What have you been up to?”
“Helping Gina and Cole, same old thing.”
He held up a bucket in his hand, “I have to fetch water. Some of the guys don’t like the flavor of the stream water. Tastes like fish.”
“I’m betting, you are one of those guys.”
He grinned, “You would be right.” With that, he stepped into the house.
I didn’t have the heart to tell them that the water in the house was well water, and probably came from the stream. It didn’t matter, as I could see the pain in his eyes when he spoke to me. He wasn’t ready to allow me back into his life. I only wished that he would tell me so.
Another big yawn poured from my lips and as my mouth shut, I noticed some dots coming down the road. Alec stepped out of the house and noticed my line of sight.
“What is that?” I asked him.
“Get the guns.” He ordered me and set the bucket on the porch.
I ran into the house and grabbed four handguns from the cupboard in the kitchen. Bringing them back out to Alec, I gave him two. We loaded them before beginning down the road.
As we grew closer, the dots became four individual people. Two of them walked with a slight limp that was common to zombies. Alec and I stuffed one of our guns into our pants, and prepared to use the others if necessary.
“Identify yourself!” I yelled, my cop instincts kicking in.
All four individuals stopped some distance away. Three of them lifted their arms into the air. “Hal Fulbright.” One of them called, “These are my brothers, Will and Tim. This lady hasn’t told us a name.”
I saw Alec’s lip twitch at the recognition of those names. The three men were the ones that had stolen our food and supplies when we went into the hospital. They left us there to die and had we not expected to be betrayed, we would have.
At that time, we began to gather a group near us. Everyone seemed to be waiting impatiently on our decision. Gina and Cole had noticed the growing gathering and had come to inspect what was going on.
“With your hands in the air, turn around, and walk backwards towards my voice.” I ordered.
The three men did so, but the smaller figure remained with her hands down and looking towards us. I repeated my command.
“We don’t think she speaks English.” Tim’s familiar voice yelled.
“Walk backwards.” I ordered. “Keep coming.” I repeated.
The female walked with them. Though she didn’t do as I had commanded, she didn’t seem to be a threat. When she was close enough, I realized what I had thought had been a hood on her head was actually her hairless scalp. Just like Vion, she didn’t seem to have any hair on her body. No eyebrows, nothing that would indicate that she had shaved them or even grew hair. Her skin was pale and her eyes a faint blue.
“We should blow their fucking brains out.” Alec growled when I told the three men to stop.
“What? No, you can’t do that!” Cole yelled.
“They stole our supplies. Left us and Mabel to die.”
Tim looked over his shoulder, “We’re sorry about that.”
Hal nodded, “Yeah, we had our reasons.”
Will remained silent as always and his only response was a shiver when Alec’s gun touched the back of his head.
“Alec, we didn’t die.” I said, but kept my gun up. “We can’t…”
“Who is to say they aren’t here to steal whatever goods they can from us and dump the girl?” Alec hissed.
“We found a flier. It said we could come here. That this was a haven against zombies, and…” Hal stopped speaking when Alec’s gun was shoved into the back of his head.
I swallowed, “Alec, don’t fucking do this!” My words were calm though my voice was raised.
“Why should we have any god damn respect for their lives when they had none for ours?”
“Because that makes us better then them.” I was nearing tears. If my brother demanded that I kill these men, I knew that I would. I didn’t want to, not because of this.
Suddenly the pale girl moved towards Alec in slow strides.
“Stay back!” Alec warned her, but didn’t turn his gun towards her. “I have no problems with you.”
Her hands lifted up and she touched his arm. Alec’s face that was filled with anger slowly became serene, almost empty when he looked into her eyes.
“No more death.” Her voice was soft and her blue eyes seemed to beg. “No more.”
Alec allowed her to lower his arm and when his gun was down, I lowered my own. Vion appeared beside me and rested his hand on my shoulder. He began to speak to the girl in a language I couldn’t identify. It could have been French or maybe even Italian, I wasn’t sure.
The young, pale woman smiled at him before she answered. With that, he took her hand and they walked towards the house with no other words said. Alec and I patted down the three men and took their firearms.
Cole remained with us while the rest of the group disbursed. He was still wary that Alec may kill one. I never did ask my brother why that girl had calmed him, and I doubted that he would ever give me a straight answer. I just always assumed that her blue eyes held the same peace that I had found in Vion’s.
---***---
Tim, Will, and Hal sat across the table from Gina, Cole, and I as we discussed how they stumbled upon us. Apparently, they had moved to another city and found one of the fliers that had been left behind by the group. They traveled here in hopes of finding a safe haven away from the zombies, which Cole told them we would provide.
That was when we began to speak about the girl they had with them. She was exactly like Vion, and my curiosity began to rise again to his past. I knew there was something strange about him, but with the happenings of the past few weeks, I had released my concerns.
“We called her Marshmallow. That was the first time that we ever heard her talk.” Hal told us. “We found her in a dumpster. She saw us and wouldn’t leave our side. Just kept following us, so we gave up trying to chase her away.”
Cole rubbed his cheek before he began to speak, he appeared to be very tired. “Alright, obviously we have some issues here to deal with. Are you three and Alec going to be able to co-exist?”
I couldn’t believe that Cole completely ignored their comments on the strange woman, but I didn’t argue.
“We have no beef with him.” Hal told us.
It was then that I really took notice of their clothing. The fabrics on all three men were much dirtier and worn then I remembered them to be. Tim had several blood stains on his shirt, most seemed to come from his head as it stained his collar and shoulders.
“So, what is your good excuse?” I asked after a moment of silence.
“Our excuse?” It was Tim that responded this time.
“Outside, you said you had a good excuse for taking our shit and running away… leaving us to die. What is it?” I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms.
Cole sighed, “We don’t have a problem with you and them, do we now?”
I glared at him out of the corner of my eye, before returning my attention to them.
Hal began to speak, “Look, we thought about staying. We did. But we would only drag more attention to ourselves in a large group. We…”
“Would have been safer. The zombies attack people when they are broken from their group or in smaller groups. We would have had more eyes looking out for us, you fucking retard.” I hissed.
I felt Cole grab my hand that was under my arm, “Elliot, it’s over. Everyone made it out alright. Let’s just let bygones be bygones.”
I rolled my eyes and looked to my right at the wall.
“Go outside. There is a bonfire. Ask for Brent, he will set you guys up with a job to do.” Cole told them.
All three men nodded and stood from their seats. “Thank you for allowing us to stay here. We do appreciate it.” Hal said.
“And we are deeply regretful for what we have done to you and your brother… and the little girl, Elliot.” Tim added.
I snorted as the three men exited the kitchen. After a moment, I realized that Gina had been awfully quiet the entire meeting, and I turned my attention to her.
Cole was rubbing her back and had his own back turned towards me. She looked ill and having thought about it, she hadn’t looked well in a while.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
Gina began to cry. She dropped her head on the table and wrapped her arms around her face.
“Do you want me to tell her?” Cole asked.
She nodded quite violently.
He turned his eyes towards me, “She’s pregnant.”
I tried my best not to allow my jaw to drop. Jumping from my chair I ran to the other side of the table to kneel down next to her and rub her back. “Gina, it will be alright.”
“No, it won’t!” She said through her sobs. “I’m a cocoon for some demonic spawn!”
I didn’t know if she was referring to her rapist or the fact that he was a zombie, perhaps both.
“You have to decide now, Gina.” Cole said in a calm voice.
“I don’t know.” She cried.
“Decide what?” I looked up at Cole.
He diverted his eyes from me.
“To kill it or not!” She lifted her head up and screamed into my face.
I couldn’t hold my jaw anymore, “Why?”
Cole answered for her, “Could you imagine what she would go through if the child was born like it’s infected father? Unable to perform anything but the most basic of needs? Then what would happen if he turned violent against the women?”
“You two speak as if you know it will be a boy! It could be a girl.”
“We don’t know if we want to take that chance.”
I was surprised to hear Cole use the word ‘we’, as if it was a decision between Gina and himself.
“Yes, we. I have to do the surgery.” Cole answered, apparently I had asked without realizing it. “She has to decide before it’s too late.”
Gina’s eyes were on me, “You’re a woman, you understand better then he does. What would you do?” She asked as the tears dripped from her jaw onto her shirt.
I had no answer for her.
“If it is an infected one then we have no idea what it could do to her body.” Cole told me as if he were trying to convince me to tell her I would abort.
“What would you do?” She asked again.
I shook my head, “Cry and ask someone else what I should do.”
The tears began again and she practically leapt into my arms. I hugged her and she cried on my shoulder as I looked at Cole. He looked helpless and I didn’t think he liked being such a position.
“Could you imagine if we have to kill the child after it’s born? Do you know how much more painful that could be for her?” He reached out to rub her back.
“What about the surgery? Is it dangerous? We don’t have a sterile room or the proper equipment. Hell, you aren’t even that kind of doctor.” I snapped.
“You are right, but this not only risks her life but everyone else’s…” He cut himself off, “This is your decision, Gina. I’ll help you, no matter what you decide.”
I felt her nod against my neck.
“Me too.” I added, and she squeezed me tighter.
Next Chapter: http://rkphunt.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=68