“Finally.” I mumbled as we pulled into the small gas station.
The town was rather small, at least compared to the city that I grew up in. I could see four small houses in the distance as I stepped out of the truck. Behind the gas station was a mobile home that I assumed the gas station owner may have used as a home.
There were only two pumps that Alec and Croc monopolized immediately. Tim was sent inside the shop to turn the pumps on. After which, that left Tim and me to hand them the containers from the bed of the truck and put the filled ones back in. Back on the farm we found anything with a lid. Coffee cans, milk containers, gas jugs, and we found an old empty propane tank. I didn’t know how some of the thinner plastics would hold up to the gas, but no one seemed to question it.
The wind had stopped blowing, but it felt like the calm before the storm. Gray clouds were forming above us and I could feel the moisture in the air. No one said a word to each other, though Tim touched my hand often when we would both grab for the same container. I was beginning to believe he was doing it on purpose. I was certain he was when we touched again and he winked at me.
“Going to rain soon.” Croc mumbled then spit on the ground close to Tim’s foot.
I feared that Tim would retaliate, but he didn’t seem to notice or he didn’t care. I was in no mood to break up another fight, so I ignored the incident entirely.
“We should speed home. Don’t know how bad this is going to get.” Croc told Alec, who agreed with a nod. “Since we don’t want to get into an accident, someone else should drive.” He looked over his shoulder at me.
He didn’t like the way that I drove. Though he didn’t say anything the entire time, I could hear him inhale deeply whenever I made a turn or came to a stop.
“Elliot drove a police car around for a few years. She’s been in a few chases to.” Alec told him. “I wouldn’t worry much about her driving.”
My annoyance from Croc’s words vanished the moment my brother stood up for me. I watched Croc return to the pump and Alec grinned at me over his shoulder.
I was beginning to understand why Croc had been able to take control of everyone outside the house. He wanted everything his way and if someone didn’t want it that way, then they had to be prepared to fight for it. Though, he seemed much more agreeable to Alec’s demands then Tim’s or my own. I wasn’t sure if it was because he respected Alec more for his time in the military or if he was intimidated by him in some way. Alec was well toned, but he was of average height for a man. Where Croc had at least four inches on him.
Perhaps, it was a male dominance thing that I had no understanding of. Croc was willing to bend to or be equals with Alec, but not Tim. He didn’t seem to like Tim since the moment he had walked into the kitchen. I thought it might have been because he had heard what Alec and I had done for the community, and heard what Tim and his brothers had done to us.
Then I remembered that Alec had been working out with the others for a while. Croc and Alec may have gotten to know each other. Tim, on the other hand, had gotten himself hurt the first day out there and refused to go back out. He had been helping around the house and mostly kept to himself. It still didn’t explain his dislike for me, but I decided that it was because I was female.
“Elliot!” I heard my brother’s voice yell and I came back to my senses.
Alec was holding up a milk jug full of gasoline. I took it from him and offered him a fresh one. “Sorry.”
“Pay attention, girl. We don’t want to be here all day.” Croc snarled.
Once the containers were all filled, we piled back into the truck. There was a brief argument about who would drive, but everyone except Croc wanted me to continue. As I was about to sit in my seat, I saw something on the horizon. I was certain that it was people, but a large group of them.
“Look.” I hit Alec in the shoulder as he went to get into the truck behind my chair.
His brows came together as he examined the large group coming down the road.
“Are we going to leave or just stare blankly into space?” Croc barked.
“Better come look at this.” Alec told him. He got out of the backseat after a small spat with Tim about him getting out of his seat, so Croc could get out.
“Walking funny for humans.” Croc announced after he had taken a look.
“Agreed.” I responded and looked at the two men standing behind me.
“We need to get home and warn them that there may be zombies on the move.” Alec ordered us.
“On the move?”
“May have run out of food and are in search of more.” Alec informed me.
Tim leaned into the driver’s seat to see us, “Could just be the townsfolk. May have realized we were here and…”
Croc lifted the driver’s seat forcing Tim to get back into his own area. Both men climbed into the back and I jumped into the driver’s seat. Turning the car on, I looked at the gas gage.
“We didn’t fill the truck up.” I told them.
“Do it, Tim!” Croc ordered.
Tim jumped out of the car and started to fondle with the truck and hoses. The three of us still in the truck, watched as the zombies grew closer. Finally, I had enough and jumped out to help Tim. I ordered him back into the truck and filled the tank as best I could, before I was too nervous. Once I could see their eyes, I knew that time was out and hoped there would be enough gas to get us home.
Jumping into the car, everyone was shouting for me to hurry up. It made me even more nervous, but I managed to get the car on and pull out of the gas station. A zombie lurched forward onto the hood of the truck and I jerked the truck from side to side to throw him off.
Alec and Croc looked out of the back window while I drove as quickly as possible in the direction I knew home would be.
“Do you think they will follow us?” Croc asked. He knew that Alec and I had more experience with zombies then he did.
“All they have to do is follow the road. They will hit us eventually. We have to get back and warn the others.” Alec answered.
“It would take a few days before they reached us, right?” I asked.
Alec nodded and I saw him in the rearview mirror. “Yes, but that’s not enough to get everyone sheltered. We will have to make a plan when we get back. Just to be on the safe side.”
Alec and I knew better then to underestimate the zombies. Just when we thought they were too stupid to do something, they would find a way. I suppose it was human nature that was still in place for them.
The drive back to the farm was tense, but silent. No one spoke a word to each other, but the worry, frustration, and anger was thick. So thick that there were times when I didn’t think I could breathe. The trucks engine played a tune that was somewhat entertaining to my quiet and almost lonesome existence during that drive.
It was close to dusk when we pulled into the driveway of the farm. The whole ordeal had taken us much longer then we had expected. There was no doubt in my mind that Cole would be furious with us. Though his anger would subside once he heard about the zombies in town, then I hoped he would take charge of the situation.
I didn’t know what we were going to do. There was no guarantee that the zombies were coming for us, but in case they were there was no where to hide everyone. We couldn’t just evacuate everyone on the off chance that they were coming, but we couldn’t just leave them to fend for themselves either. I did not envy Cole or Croc for the decisions they were about to make.
Turning off the truck, I got out and was almost shoved out of Alec’s way as he got out of the back of the cab. Croc did the same to Tim, but that was to be expected. I was worried that I had somehow upset my brother.
“Get Cole.” Alec ordered me, while the three men began to remove the gasoline from the truck.
I gave a nod and began to walk towards the house. It wasn’t until I was half way there that I realized that the bonfire wasn’t lit. I could see smoke coming off of it, and even some red hot logs. The fire, however, was out and that had never happened the entire time that I had been on the farm. I then realized that there was no noise. No usual chatter of the people near the fire. No children laughing. No sounds of life at all.
“What the fuck, Elliot?” Alec yelled from the truck. “Go get Cole!”
“Something isn’t right!” I screamed back at him.
All three men turned their sights to where I was staring. Croc nearly threw down the milk container of gasoline that he had in his hands. Racing over to the bonfire, I could here him calling out to someone.
“Lilith!” He cried, but there was no answer.
Alec ran out towards Croc, and I decided to check the house. Entering from the front door, I couldn’t see much in the dark. I knew that if anything, Cole would have locked himself in the basement. Trying to run and feel my way through the kitchen, I stopped when my foot kicked something. I knew immediately that it was a body, just instinct I suppose. When I looked down I could make out the outline of a human and when I bent down, my eyes fell upon Hal’s familiar face.
I heard the front door open and stood up to find Tim with a lit candle. I had no idea where he had gotten it from, but I didn’t question it.
“Anyone in here?” He asked and began to step towards me.
I didn’t know what to say. In hindsight, I should have told him to stay where he was. Instead, he saw his older brother lying dead on the floor. Hal’s eyes wide open stick frozen in fear and his arms sprawled across the floor.
Tim was quiet for a moment as he placed the candle on the table. He stumbled towards his brother and kneeled down beside me. I could hear the cries in his throat as he ran his hands over his brother’s chest in an attempt to hold him. The cop in me said that he was destroying a crime scene, but I knew that there would be no investigation.
I placed my hand on Tim’s shoulder as he cried into his brother’s chest. I didn’t hear someone else enter the room until Alec called my name. Alec’s eyes were large ovals as he stared down at Tim and Hal. With a squeeze to Tim’s shoulder, I walked out onto the porch with my brother.
“Found six more dead.” Alec told me. “One of them is Will.”
I tried not to gasp when I heard Tim’s other brother mentioned. For some reason I looked over my shoulder to see Tim, even though there was nothing but a door in my way.
“Everyone else is gone.” He finished telling me.
“Gone?”
Croc came around the corner of the house and stopped at the bottom of the stairs. “Can’t see anything in this darkness.”
“What do you mean everyone is gone?” I ignored Croc. “They can’t just be gone, they have to be around here somewhere.”
“We don’t know, Elliot. Calm down.” Alec patted my upper arm.
Croc nodded and placed his hands on his hips. “Tomorrow, bright and early, we will have to take a look around. Can’t do much in the dark. Maybe they left a note in the house.”
“Give Tim a moment.” Alec said, stopping Croc from coming up the stairs by placing his body in front of him. “Hal’s dead too.”
Croc mouthed the word fuck and brought his fist up to his forehead.
“Maybe they knew about the zombies. Maybe they had to go hide somewhere.” I tried to make sense of all this.
“If they knew, you would think there would still be a few zombies around and a hell of a lot more bodies. None of the bodies that I saw had any blood on them. Very unlike the zombies to kill and not attempt to eat their victims.” Croc spit next to his boot.
“Yeah, I didn’t see any blood either.” Alec added.
I nodded as I thought back to Hal’s body. Not that I got a very good look in the dark.
“Like I said. Tomorrow, we will check the area and the bodies. See what we have to go on. People just don’t vanish and not leave some sort of trail. Bound to be footprints or something that will give us some insight.” He was talking to Alec, but would occasionally glance my way.
The door opened behind us and Tim stepped out onto the porch. It didn’t even look like he had been crying, even though I had seen him do so just moments before. “Anyone seen Will?” He asked.
All of our eyes dropped to our feet and the silence was all Tim needed for an answer. Turning around, he went back into the house, probably to mourn the loss of yet another brother.
“Let’s fill the generator so we can have some light in the house… and a hot shower.” Alec coughed and went to the truck to grab one of the containers.
Our evening was just as silent as our drive home, except now the air was filled with dread and fear of the unknown. We all had people in the community that we were attached to. My biggest fear was finding them all in a mass grave tomorrow, or worse yet to not find them at all. Even though I knew everyone else was having the same dark thoughts as I was, we chose to not voice our concerns.
Alec found a cabbage and boiled it for us, which became our meal for the evening. Tim didn’t do anything that I had expected him to do after losing both of his brothers. He remained rather calm, ate his dinner, and even wanted to be the first to take a shower. It seemed that Croc was taking the whole ordeal much harder then Tim. I didn’t know who Lilith was, but I feared that bringing up the topic would break the painful, yet comfortable silence we had fallen into.
I had checked the basement the moment I came back into the house. It was void of any human life as was the rest of the house. There was no one and nothing that could possibly explain how so many people could have just disappeared. What caused me the most fear was that Cole’s research and all of his supplies were still in the basement. I couldn’t foresee him abandoning it unless he had been forced to do so. Or unless he had died.
“What happens if we are all alone here?” I asked Alec, after Croc went to take his shower. Tim had come down to announce that he was finished and going to bed.
“Then we go back to surviving like we did before… or wait for more people to find the flyers and come here. Safety in numbers.” Alec answered me, but his voice was somewhat shaken.
“Numbers didn’t do much for those that we left here.”
“Look, Elliot, we don’t know anything. They could be alive for all we know, but forced to leave.”
I snorted, “What could have happened in twelve hours that made them leave, but not give us any indication of where they had gone?”
“I don’t know, but I’m sure they will explain it to us when we find them.”
“When? When we find them? How many fucking people do you know leave in huge fucking herds for no apparent reason and actually live? You know what happens, Alec? It’s genocide! That are all probably in the woods somewhere being eaten by bugs.”
He rose an eyebrow, “Ok, Elliot. You need to calm down and think rationally. I know you are scared, because I know I am. There is nothing that can be done at this moment in time. You just need to take your shower and go to sleep. Tomorrow, I am almost certain that we will have some answers.”
“I don’t need a fucking shower.” I stood up from my wooden chair and slammed my hands on the table. “This is fucking bullshit!” I screamed and ran up the stairs before Alec could respond to me.
As I walked to my room, I allowed myself to calm down as my brother had suggested. I knew that I had sounded a little insane, but I had kept all my thoughts and emotions bottled up since this whole thing began. I just didn’t who I was nor where this life would lead. Would we forever be just surviving. Just trying to make it through another day. Was that really any way to live?
As I passed Gina’s old room, I heard crying which I recognized from earlier. Knocking gently on the door, I called Tim’s name out. He told me to enter and I did so.
Laying on his bed in the darkness, I sat down beside him. I knew that asking him if he was alright was a stupid question, but I did so anyway.
“Guess, I’ll have to be.” He responded. “We survived so much. We were suppose to be safe here.” Turning over onto his back, he sat up. “How the hell did we manage to live through all that we have, and to die… for them to die out here, like this. The virus, zombies, and now… now… what the hell happened?”
“I don’t know.” I sighed in almost defeat of my answer, “I lost my sister to zombies. She lived through the riots and the virus, but one zombie killed her.”
He was quiet for a moment, “What are we going to do? I mean, what if we don’t find the others?”
“Then the four of us will either have to get moving or stay here and wait for more people to arrive.” I repeated my brother’s plan to him.
“What about the zombies we saw in town?”
I had almost forgotten about that, so I didn’t have an answer for him. “We don’t know.”
I could see his shadowy form nod, “I guess it all comes down to what Alec and Croc decide, doesn’t it?”
I nodded, “Yeah, looks like it.”
“You and I get to be the followers, and pray they don’t lead us to our deaths.” I heard his voice break.
Gently and slowly, I placed my arms around his neck and squeezed him close to me. After a moment, Tim returned the embrace and we remained in that position for several moments. I think that after all we had been through, even though it was separately, we both needed someone to allow us to be afraid. Tim’s brother, Hal, seemed to be a lot like my own brother, in the sense that we had to survive now, then we can feel pain and loss later. Where Tim and I wanted to share our pain, but just were not allowed until they were ready.
I almost wanted to cry with my cheek pressed up against Tim’s, but I just felt so tired and empty. As if there was nothing left in my soul that needed the tears anymore to cleanse it of pain. Tim, however, cried some and then pulled away from me. I wasn’t quite done hugging him, but I allowed him to leave my arms.
As soon as he was out of my embrace, his hand touched my cheek and his lips my lips. I don’t know why, but I allowed him to kiss me. Even though my thoughts were on Cole and then on Drew, I wanted someone to be with me, to touch me, and to just need me. I didn’t fight it, when Tim laid me down on the bed. Nor did I ask him to stop when our clothing was removed. It was almost as if I accepted that this was happening to me, and it didn’t matter one way or another.
I needed another person to share what was left of my soul with and I thought that Tim may have needed that to. So, that night we bonded in a way that only lovers should. My heart had no love for him, but my soul was in dire need of another soul to merge with. If only for an evening. My loneliness, my fear, and my heart could take no more.
Waking up with Tim next to me was a bit of a shock. It felt like the evening before had been a dream, as if I had been drunk on fear and hopelessness. I was terrified of what he might be lead to believe from our night together. Quietly, I gathered my clothing and made my way out of his room.
I did not even like Tim, so I had no idea what had possessed me to sleep with him. We had no form of contraception and therefore I started to count the days since my last menstrual cycle. As I walked down the hallway to my room, Alec exited his own. Except for my shirt and pants, all of my other clothing was in my hands. I had no doubt that Alec knew where I was coming from. His eyes went to the clothing that I held down the hall to Tim’s doorway.
“Get dressed, we have to search the property today.” Was all he said before making his way down the stairs.
Alec may not have approved of what I had done, but he had never been interested in discussing my sex life with me. Even if it was to tell me that I had screwed up. Olivia use to bring boys home all the time, and he would often come to my room to get away from the noise. He never had to tell me why, and I never asked.
In my room, I found what I considered to be the most clean of my clothing and put them on. I wet my hair in the bathroom and put it in a ponytail, before heading down to the kitchen. Croc and Alec were sitting at the table, and Tim came down the stairs shortly after me.
“We will separate into two groups.” Croc said. “Alec and I…”
“You and Elliot.” Alec corrected him.
We couldn’t put Croc and Tim together, but there was no way that Alec was going to leave me alone with Tim. I felt embarrassed and wanted to go hide myself away, but I said nothing.
“Alright. We will take the north and Tim and Alec will take the south.” Croc told us. “Report back here around noon. We will look at what we got and decide what to do from there.”
Everyone headed out the doors. Tim and Alec headed away from the house, while Croc seemed to be surveying the surrounding area. He picked up a piece of grass and pressed it between his lips as he thought.
“Where first?” He asked me.
“I would think that they would want water for wherever they went to…”
He nodded, “The lake and the well. Good idea.”
Walking towards the lake, I had to jog a bit to keep up with Croc’s quick, long strides. He didn’t want to waste anytime.
There were many footsteps surrounding the lake, but that wasn’t unusual. People often washed themselves, their clothes, and even drank the water. It was used quite often in the time we had spent here, so footsteps were next to useless. That was unless Croc could tell the difference between old footprints and new ones.
“Not many of these look to have been planted here yesterday.” Croc said. He coughed slightly and looked back up. “If they used any of this lake, it would have been here nearest to the house. Let’s try the well.”
Unfortunately, the well was much of the same. We began to walk near the wooded areas to see if any large group of people had entered.
“Why didn’t they take Cole’s supplies in the basement? Or food from the kitchen?” I asked. “Besides there is no hints that anything came in here and scared them away. No zombies, nothing.”
Croc gave a nod, “It ain’t right. Worst yet, there was not a drop of blood split or a bone broken on any of the dead we found. What the hell could have killed them?”
Neither of us had any answers so we kept searching. Everything that we could think of we checked, no matter how outrageous it was. By the time noon came along we were empty handed, and began back towards the house. Tim and Alec stood on the porch. They were none the wiser for their excursions either.
None of us said a word to each other, we all walked back into the house and sat down at the table. Our lips sealed and our minds hard at work. I would briefly look up from the wood patterns on the table to see the men looking down. There was nothing that we could do. No leads for us to follow. We were all alone.
“Do we stay for the group to find us? Those zombies are coming… or do we go? There were too many of them to fight off if they found us.” Croc finally spoke.
We all looked at each other as if waiting for someone to respond for us.
“Be best if we left.” Alec finally stated. “We can’t rely on the fact that the others will come back in time. We have to protect ourselves now.”
Croc agreed with a nod, as did I. Tim didn’t seem to like the idea, but he didn’t argue.
“We will leave in the morning. Head away from the group coming at us.” Croc said.
“Then what?” Tim asked.
“Then we pray that another group got the same idea as we did. Hope we find them.”
“Prayers and hope aren’t exactly what I like to risk my life for.” Tim growled.
“In times like this, it’s all we have.” Croc responded and stood from the table.
With deep sighs, we all headed back to our rooms. Everyone knew this would be our last days in comfort. It was the road again that we would call him. A harsh reality that none of us had wanted to take, but knew that it was for our own good. I doubted that we would ever know what had happened to everyone here. In truth, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to know.
“Wake up! Damn it, wake the hell up!”
My body was shook at my shoulders, and slowly I opened my eyes to see my brother’s face. It was covered in panic and I knew immediately that something was desperately wrong.
“They’re here!” He began to run towards the door.
“Who?” I yelled at him, but he was already out of the room.
An excited jump echoed in my heart when I realized that perhaps it wasn’t fear on my brother’s face, but excitement. Did everyone come back to us?
Jumping out of bed, I looked out the window to see the dawn sun beginning to rise in the sky. I quickly pulled on my clothes and with some glee, I ran down the stairs with a small skip in my heart.
To my surprise, the kitchen was empty but the door stood open. I could see Alec standing on the porch. When I ran to see what was happening, I found Tim and Croc out there with him. It didn’t take long to see what the commotion had been about. Zombies. They were everywhere. I did not know how they became organized, but they surrounded the house with two hundred feet between us and them in all directions.
My heart that once throbbed with excitement, now did so with fear. “What are they doing?” I asked. My voice had broken half way through my sentence.
“Just standing there.” Croc answered with a deep swallow, “None of them look familiar, so they can’t be our group.”
I felt someone hold my hand and looked down to find Tim was the one doing so. With a quick yank, I removed his grasp from my own. Now was not the time to inform him of my disdain for him, but I didn’t want to lead him to believe anything else.
“We are surrounded. There has to be at least five hundred of them.” Alec told me.
“They aren’t attacking. Maybe they will let us through.” I said, but both Alec and Croc looked at me as if I was stupid.
“Wish we had a hand grenade.” Croc coughed, “We could blow away a bunch of them, and give ourselves an exit.”
“I can make one.” Alec told him. “Gun powder, something to hold it, and a string of some sort to light it. If it doesn’t kill them, might distract them long enough for us to slip past.”
“We would have to make a run for the truck. No way that we are going to outrun them.” Croc spit on the ground near Tim’s foot.
“We could try to make a bunch.” Alec agreed. “Make a bigger exit.”
“Couldn’t we use the gasoline?” I added.
Both men looked at me and then at each other.
“Might not explode, but it could set them on fire.” Alec informed him.
Croc nodded, “Let’s do it. What do you need?”
“Same thing as the grenade.”
“Cole has a bunch of stuff in the basement.” I told them.
“I’ll go find some of it down there. You figure out what you need to do, and get everything else ready.” Croc announced and ran into the house.
“I’ll help him.” Tim told us and followed him in.
Alec and I made a planned then waited in the kitchen for the two men. After ten minutes, I rolled my eyes and told him that I would help them. I should have gone in the first place since I knew the basement better.
Making my way down the stairs, I heard hard breathing coming from the room. It reminded me of when I had heard a zombie feeding. Pulling the gun that Alec had given me earlier out of my pants, I prepared to protect myself.
Steadily, I opened the door, but was not met with any figures. I could still hear the sound and my eyes followed it to the bathroom. I knew I should have gotten Alec, but I couldn’t risk that one of the men might still be alive. Opening the bathroom door as slowly as possible, my eyes widened at what I saw.
Tim was bent over Croc’s body as he feasted on one of his arms. Croc’s chest was ripped open, though I couldn’t identify any tool in the room that could have done such a thing.
“Oh my god.” I whimpered.
Tim turned around to face me, dropping Croc’s limb. “Elliot.”
A fear passed over me, and I lost all my police training. Instead of shooting him, I ran up the stairs to Alec. Screaming at the top of my lungs, Alec already had his gun pulled when I arrived. I hid behind him as Tim emerged from the basement. Blood covered his face and clothes. He didn’t seem alarmed by Alec’s gun. Leisurely, he leaned against the wall with a smirk on his face.
“What the fuck is going on?” Alec asked.
“He killed Croc. He was eating him!” I yelled.
“What?” Alec yelled back at me.
“I suggest putting that gun down, Alec.” Tim’s voice had become husky. “On my say so, those zombies will enter the house. If you kill me, then there will be nothing holding them back.”
Alec slowly lowered his gun, “What are you?”
“I’m one of the alphas, as were my brothers and the other men that were killed here.”
“Who killed them? Where is everyone?” Alec seemed to demand the answers more then ask for them.
Tim shrugged, “I don’t know. This village was meant to feed our entire clan, but now it looks like you and that ignorant fool will have to do.” He pointed to the basement.
“And what of Elliot?”
“The women were going to birth our children. Again, our plans were ruined. Elliot will remain safe with me. You may die knowing that.”
“Why are you doing this?” I cried out from behind Alec.
“This is the way it works now. I don’t know where the rest of the village went to, but we will find them. My brothers will not have died in vain.” Tim stood up straight. “Now, step away from her.” He ordered Alec.
Alec hesitated.
“She can die with you if you prefer.”
Without another moment’s thought, he stepped across the room from me. Tim raced towards him, and I was given a moment to realize that my brother was about to die. I don’t even remember lifting my arm and I certainly don’t remember firing my gun. Tim fell to the floor with a gun wound to his head. The moment he fell we heard the zombies moan, they were coming for us.
Next Chapter: http://rkphunt.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=70
The town was rather small, at least compared to the city that I grew up in. I could see four small houses in the distance as I stepped out of the truck. Behind the gas station was a mobile home that I assumed the gas station owner may have used as a home.
There were only two pumps that Alec and Croc monopolized immediately. Tim was sent inside the shop to turn the pumps on. After which, that left Tim and me to hand them the containers from the bed of the truck and put the filled ones back in. Back on the farm we found anything with a lid. Coffee cans, milk containers, gas jugs, and we found an old empty propane tank. I didn’t know how some of the thinner plastics would hold up to the gas, but no one seemed to question it.
The wind had stopped blowing, but it felt like the calm before the storm. Gray clouds were forming above us and I could feel the moisture in the air. No one said a word to each other, though Tim touched my hand often when we would both grab for the same container. I was beginning to believe he was doing it on purpose. I was certain he was when we touched again and he winked at me.
“Going to rain soon.” Croc mumbled then spit on the ground close to Tim’s foot.
I feared that Tim would retaliate, but he didn’t seem to notice or he didn’t care. I was in no mood to break up another fight, so I ignored the incident entirely.
“We should speed home. Don’t know how bad this is going to get.” Croc told Alec, who agreed with a nod. “Since we don’t want to get into an accident, someone else should drive.” He looked over his shoulder at me.
He didn’t like the way that I drove. Though he didn’t say anything the entire time, I could hear him inhale deeply whenever I made a turn or came to a stop.
“Elliot drove a police car around for a few years. She’s been in a few chases to.” Alec told him. “I wouldn’t worry much about her driving.”
My annoyance from Croc’s words vanished the moment my brother stood up for me. I watched Croc return to the pump and Alec grinned at me over his shoulder.
I was beginning to understand why Croc had been able to take control of everyone outside the house. He wanted everything his way and if someone didn’t want it that way, then they had to be prepared to fight for it. Though, he seemed much more agreeable to Alec’s demands then Tim’s or my own. I wasn’t sure if it was because he respected Alec more for his time in the military or if he was intimidated by him in some way. Alec was well toned, but he was of average height for a man. Where Croc had at least four inches on him.
Perhaps, it was a male dominance thing that I had no understanding of. Croc was willing to bend to or be equals with Alec, but not Tim. He didn’t seem to like Tim since the moment he had walked into the kitchen. I thought it might have been because he had heard what Alec and I had done for the community, and heard what Tim and his brothers had done to us.
Then I remembered that Alec had been working out with the others for a while. Croc and Alec may have gotten to know each other. Tim, on the other hand, had gotten himself hurt the first day out there and refused to go back out. He had been helping around the house and mostly kept to himself. It still didn’t explain his dislike for me, but I decided that it was because I was female.
“Elliot!” I heard my brother’s voice yell and I came back to my senses.
Alec was holding up a milk jug full of gasoline. I took it from him and offered him a fresh one. “Sorry.”
“Pay attention, girl. We don’t want to be here all day.” Croc snarled.
Once the containers were all filled, we piled back into the truck. There was a brief argument about who would drive, but everyone except Croc wanted me to continue. As I was about to sit in my seat, I saw something on the horizon. I was certain that it was people, but a large group of them.
“Look.” I hit Alec in the shoulder as he went to get into the truck behind my chair.
His brows came together as he examined the large group coming down the road.
“Are we going to leave or just stare blankly into space?” Croc barked.
“Better come look at this.” Alec told him. He got out of the backseat after a small spat with Tim about him getting out of his seat, so Croc could get out.
“Walking funny for humans.” Croc announced after he had taken a look.
“Agreed.” I responded and looked at the two men standing behind me.
“We need to get home and warn them that there may be zombies on the move.” Alec ordered us.
“On the move?”
“May have run out of food and are in search of more.” Alec informed me.
Tim leaned into the driver’s seat to see us, “Could just be the townsfolk. May have realized we were here and…”
Croc lifted the driver’s seat forcing Tim to get back into his own area. Both men climbed into the back and I jumped into the driver’s seat. Turning the car on, I looked at the gas gage.
“We didn’t fill the truck up.” I told them.
“Do it, Tim!” Croc ordered.
Tim jumped out of the car and started to fondle with the truck and hoses. The three of us still in the truck, watched as the zombies grew closer. Finally, I had enough and jumped out to help Tim. I ordered him back into the truck and filled the tank as best I could, before I was too nervous. Once I could see their eyes, I knew that time was out and hoped there would be enough gas to get us home.
Jumping into the car, everyone was shouting for me to hurry up. It made me even more nervous, but I managed to get the car on and pull out of the gas station. A zombie lurched forward onto the hood of the truck and I jerked the truck from side to side to throw him off.
Alec and Croc looked out of the back window while I drove as quickly as possible in the direction I knew home would be.
“Do you think they will follow us?” Croc asked. He knew that Alec and I had more experience with zombies then he did.
“All they have to do is follow the road. They will hit us eventually. We have to get back and warn the others.” Alec answered.
“It would take a few days before they reached us, right?” I asked.
Alec nodded and I saw him in the rearview mirror. “Yes, but that’s not enough to get everyone sheltered. We will have to make a plan when we get back. Just to be on the safe side.”
Alec and I knew better then to underestimate the zombies. Just when we thought they were too stupid to do something, they would find a way. I suppose it was human nature that was still in place for them.
---***---
The drive back to the farm was tense, but silent. No one spoke a word to each other, but the worry, frustration, and anger was thick. So thick that there were times when I didn’t think I could breathe. The trucks engine played a tune that was somewhat entertaining to my quiet and almost lonesome existence during that drive.
It was close to dusk when we pulled into the driveway of the farm. The whole ordeal had taken us much longer then we had expected. There was no doubt in my mind that Cole would be furious with us. Though his anger would subside once he heard about the zombies in town, then I hoped he would take charge of the situation.
I didn’t know what we were going to do. There was no guarantee that the zombies were coming for us, but in case they were there was no where to hide everyone. We couldn’t just evacuate everyone on the off chance that they were coming, but we couldn’t just leave them to fend for themselves either. I did not envy Cole or Croc for the decisions they were about to make.
Turning off the truck, I got out and was almost shoved out of Alec’s way as he got out of the back of the cab. Croc did the same to Tim, but that was to be expected. I was worried that I had somehow upset my brother.
“Get Cole.” Alec ordered me, while the three men began to remove the gasoline from the truck.
I gave a nod and began to walk towards the house. It wasn’t until I was half way there that I realized that the bonfire wasn’t lit. I could see smoke coming off of it, and even some red hot logs. The fire, however, was out and that had never happened the entire time that I had been on the farm. I then realized that there was no noise. No usual chatter of the people near the fire. No children laughing. No sounds of life at all.
“What the fuck, Elliot?” Alec yelled from the truck. “Go get Cole!”
“Something isn’t right!” I screamed back at him.
All three men turned their sights to where I was staring. Croc nearly threw down the milk container of gasoline that he had in his hands. Racing over to the bonfire, I could here him calling out to someone.
“Lilith!” He cried, but there was no answer.
Alec ran out towards Croc, and I decided to check the house. Entering from the front door, I couldn’t see much in the dark. I knew that if anything, Cole would have locked himself in the basement. Trying to run and feel my way through the kitchen, I stopped when my foot kicked something. I knew immediately that it was a body, just instinct I suppose. When I looked down I could make out the outline of a human and when I bent down, my eyes fell upon Hal’s familiar face.
I heard the front door open and stood up to find Tim with a lit candle. I had no idea where he had gotten it from, but I didn’t question it.
“Anyone in here?” He asked and began to step towards me.
I didn’t know what to say. In hindsight, I should have told him to stay where he was. Instead, he saw his older brother lying dead on the floor. Hal’s eyes wide open stick frozen in fear and his arms sprawled across the floor.
Tim was quiet for a moment as he placed the candle on the table. He stumbled towards his brother and kneeled down beside me. I could hear the cries in his throat as he ran his hands over his brother’s chest in an attempt to hold him. The cop in me said that he was destroying a crime scene, but I knew that there would be no investigation.
I placed my hand on Tim’s shoulder as he cried into his brother’s chest. I didn’t hear someone else enter the room until Alec called my name. Alec’s eyes were large ovals as he stared down at Tim and Hal. With a squeeze to Tim’s shoulder, I walked out onto the porch with my brother.
“Found six more dead.” Alec told me. “One of them is Will.”
I tried not to gasp when I heard Tim’s other brother mentioned. For some reason I looked over my shoulder to see Tim, even though there was nothing but a door in my way.
“Everyone else is gone.” He finished telling me.
“Gone?”
Croc came around the corner of the house and stopped at the bottom of the stairs. “Can’t see anything in this darkness.”
“What do you mean everyone is gone?” I ignored Croc. “They can’t just be gone, they have to be around here somewhere.”
“We don’t know, Elliot. Calm down.” Alec patted my upper arm.
Croc nodded and placed his hands on his hips. “Tomorrow, bright and early, we will have to take a look around. Can’t do much in the dark. Maybe they left a note in the house.”
“Give Tim a moment.” Alec said, stopping Croc from coming up the stairs by placing his body in front of him. “Hal’s dead too.”
Croc mouthed the word fuck and brought his fist up to his forehead.
“Maybe they knew about the zombies. Maybe they had to go hide somewhere.” I tried to make sense of all this.
“If they knew, you would think there would still be a few zombies around and a hell of a lot more bodies. None of the bodies that I saw had any blood on them. Very unlike the zombies to kill and not attempt to eat their victims.” Croc spit next to his boot.
“Yeah, I didn’t see any blood either.” Alec added.
I nodded as I thought back to Hal’s body. Not that I got a very good look in the dark.
“Like I said. Tomorrow, we will check the area and the bodies. See what we have to go on. People just don’t vanish and not leave some sort of trail. Bound to be footprints or something that will give us some insight.” He was talking to Alec, but would occasionally glance my way.
The door opened behind us and Tim stepped out onto the porch. It didn’t even look like he had been crying, even though I had seen him do so just moments before. “Anyone seen Will?” He asked.
All of our eyes dropped to our feet and the silence was all Tim needed for an answer. Turning around, he went back into the house, probably to mourn the loss of yet another brother.
“Let’s fill the generator so we can have some light in the house… and a hot shower.” Alec coughed and went to the truck to grab one of the containers.
Our evening was just as silent as our drive home, except now the air was filled with dread and fear of the unknown. We all had people in the community that we were attached to. My biggest fear was finding them all in a mass grave tomorrow, or worse yet to not find them at all. Even though I knew everyone else was having the same dark thoughts as I was, we chose to not voice our concerns.
Alec found a cabbage and boiled it for us, which became our meal for the evening. Tim didn’t do anything that I had expected him to do after losing both of his brothers. He remained rather calm, ate his dinner, and even wanted to be the first to take a shower. It seemed that Croc was taking the whole ordeal much harder then Tim. I didn’t know who Lilith was, but I feared that bringing up the topic would break the painful, yet comfortable silence we had fallen into.
I had checked the basement the moment I came back into the house. It was void of any human life as was the rest of the house. There was no one and nothing that could possibly explain how so many people could have just disappeared. What caused me the most fear was that Cole’s research and all of his supplies were still in the basement. I couldn’t foresee him abandoning it unless he had been forced to do so. Or unless he had died.
“What happens if we are all alone here?” I asked Alec, after Croc went to take his shower. Tim had come down to announce that he was finished and going to bed.
“Then we go back to surviving like we did before… or wait for more people to find the flyers and come here. Safety in numbers.” Alec answered me, but his voice was somewhat shaken.
“Numbers didn’t do much for those that we left here.”
“Look, Elliot, we don’t know anything. They could be alive for all we know, but forced to leave.”
I snorted, “What could have happened in twelve hours that made them leave, but not give us any indication of where they had gone?”
“I don’t know, but I’m sure they will explain it to us when we find them.”
“When? When we find them? How many fucking people do you know leave in huge fucking herds for no apparent reason and actually live? You know what happens, Alec? It’s genocide! That are all probably in the woods somewhere being eaten by bugs.”
He rose an eyebrow, “Ok, Elliot. You need to calm down and think rationally. I know you are scared, because I know I am. There is nothing that can be done at this moment in time. You just need to take your shower and go to sleep. Tomorrow, I am almost certain that we will have some answers.”
“I don’t need a fucking shower.” I stood up from my wooden chair and slammed my hands on the table. “This is fucking bullshit!” I screamed and ran up the stairs before Alec could respond to me.
As I walked to my room, I allowed myself to calm down as my brother had suggested. I knew that I had sounded a little insane, but I had kept all my thoughts and emotions bottled up since this whole thing began. I just didn’t who I was nor where this life would lead. Would we forever be just surviving. Just trying to make it through another day. Was that really any way to live?
As I passed Gina’s old room, I heard crying which I recognized from earlier. Knocking gently on the door, I called Tim’s name out. He told me to enter and I did so.
Laying on his bed in the darkness, I sat down beside him. I knew that asking him if he was alright was a stupid question, but I did so anyway.
“Guess, I’ll have to be.” He responded. “We survived so much. We were suppose to be safe here.” Turning over onto his back, he sat up. “How the hell did we manage to live through all that we have, and to die… for them to die out here, like this. The virus, zombies, and now… now… what the hell happened?”
“I don’t know.” I sighed in almost defeat of my answer, “I lost my sister to zombies. She lived through the riots and the virus, but one zombie killed her.”
He was quiet for a moment, “What are we going to do? I mean, what if we don’t find the others?”
“Then the four of us will either have to get moving or stay here and wait for more people to arrive.” I repeated my brother’s plan to him.
“What about the zombies we saw in town?”
I had almost forgotten about that, so I didn’t have an answer for him. “We don’t know.”
I could see his shadowy form nod, “I guess it all comes down to what Alec and Croc decide, doesn’t it?”
I nodded, “Yeah, looks like it.”
“You and I get to be the followers, and pray they don’t lead us to our deaths.” I heard his voice break.
Gently and slowly, I placed my arms around his neck and squeezed him close to me. After a moment, Tim returned the embrace and we remained in that position for several moments. I think that after all we had been through, even though it was separately, we both needed someone to allow us to be afraid. Tim’s brother, Hal, seemed to be a lot like my own brother, in the sense that we had to survive now, then we can feel pain and loss later. Where Tim and I wanted to share our pain, but just were not allowed until they were ready.
I almost wanted to cry with my cheek pressed up against Tim’s, but I just felt so tired and empty. As if there was nothing left in my soul that needed the tears anymore to cleanse it of pain. Tim, however, cried some and then pulled away from me. I wasn’t quite done hugging him, but I allowed him to leave my arms.
As soon as he was out of my embrace, his hand touched my cheek and his lips my lips. I don’t know why, but I allowed him to kiss me. Even though my thoughts were on Cole and then on Drew, I wanted someone to be with me, to touch me, and to just need me. I didn’t fight it, when Tim laid me down on the bed. Nor did I ask him to stop when our clothing was removed. It was almost as if I accepted that this was happening to me, and it didn’t matter one way or another.
I needed another person to share what was left of my soul with and I thought that Tim may have needed that to. So, that night we bonded in a way that only lovers should. My heart had no love for him, but my soul was in dire need of another soul to merge with. If only for an evening. My loneliness, my fear, and my heart could take no more.
---***---
Waking up with Tim next to me was a bit of a shock. It felt like the evening before had been a dream, as if I had been drunk on fear and hopelessness. I was terrified of what he might be lead to believe from our night together. Quietly, I gathered my clothing and made my way out of his room.
I did not even like Tim, so I had no idea what had possessed me to sleep with him. We had no form of contraception and therefore I started to count the days since my last menstrual cycle. As I walked down the hallway to my room, Alec exited his own. Except for my shirt and pants, all of my other clothing was in my hands. I had no doubt that Alec knew where I was coming from. His eyes went to the clothing that I held down the hall to Tim’s doorway.
“Get dressed, we have to search the property today.” Was all he said before making his way down the stairs.
Alec may not have approved of what I had done, but he had never been interested in discussing my sex life with me. Even if it was to tell me that I had screwed up. Olivia use to bring boys home all the time, and he would often come to my room to get away from the noise. He never had to tell me why, and I never asked.
In my room, I found what I considered to be the most clean of my clothing and put them on. I wet my hair in the bathroom and put it in a ponytail, before heading down to the kitchen. Croc and Alec were sitting at the table, and Tim came down the stairs shortly after me.
“We will separate into two groups.” Croc said. “Alec and I…”
“You and Elliot.” Alec corrected him.
We couldn’t put Croc and Tim together, but there was no way that Alec was going to leave me alone with Tim. I felt embarrassed and wanted to go hide myself away, but I said nothing.
“Alright. We will take the north and Tim and Alec will take the south.” Croc told us. “Report back here around noon. We will look at what we got and decide what to do from there.”
Everyone headed out the doors. Tim and Alec headed away from the house, while Croc seemed to be surveying the surrounding area. He picked up a piece of grass and pressed it between his lips as he thought.
“Where first?” He asked me.
“I would think that they would want water for wherever they went to…”
He nodded, “The lake and the well. Good idea.”
Walking towards the lake, I had to jog a bit to keep up with Croc’s quick, long strides. He didn’t want to waste anytime.
There were many footsteps surrounding the lake, but that wasn’t unusual. People often washed themselves, their clothes, and even drank the water. It was used quite often in the time we had spent here, so footsteps were next to useless. That was unless Croc could tell the difference between old footprints and new ones.
“Not many of these look to have been planted here yesterday.” Croc said. He coughed slightly and looked back up. “If they used any of this lake, it would have been here nearest to the house. Let’s try the well.”
Unfortunately, the well was much of the same. We began to walk near the wooded areas to see if any large group of people had entered.
“Why didn’t they take Cole’s supplies in the basement? Or food from the kitchen?” I asked. “Besides there is no hints that anything came in here and scared them away. No zombies, nothing.”
Croc gave a nod, “It ain’t right. Worst yet, there was not a drop of blood split or a bone broken on any of the dead we found. What the hell could have killed them?”
Neither of us had any answers so we kept searching. Everything that we could think of we checked, no matter how outrageous it was. By the time noon came along we were empty handed, and began back towards the house. Tim and Alec stood on the porch. They were none the wiser for their excursions either.
None of us said a word to each other, we all walked back into the house and sat down at the table. Our lips sealed and our minds hard at work. I would briefly look up from the wood patterns on the table to see the men looking down. There was nothing that we could do. No leads for us to follow. We were all alone.
“Do we stay for the group to find us? Those zombies are coming… or do we go? There were too many of them to fight off if they found us.” Croc finally spoke.
We all looked at each other as if waiting for someone to respond for us.
“Be best if we left.” Alec finally stated. “We can’t rely on the fact that the others will come back in time. We have to protect ourselves now.”
Croc agreed with a nod, as did I. Tim didn’t seem to like the idea, but he didn’t argue.
“We will leave in the morning. Head away from the group coming at us.” Croc said.
“Then what?” Tim asked.
“Then we pray that another group got the same idea as we did. Hope we find them.”
“Prayers and hope aren’t exactly what I like to risk my life for.” Tim growled.
“In times like this, it’s all we have.” Croc responded and stood from the table.
With deep sighs, we all headed back to our rooms. Everyone knew this would be our last days in comfort. It was the road again that we would call him. A harsh reality that none of us had wanted to take, but knew that it was for our own good. I doubted that we would ever know what had happened to everyone here. In truth, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to know.
“Wake up! Damn it, wake the hell up!”
My body was shook at my shoulders, and slowly I opened my eyes to see my brother’s face. It was covered in panic and I knew immediately that something was desperately wrong.
“They’re here!” He began to run towards the door.
“Who?” I yelled at him, but he was already out of the room.
An excited jump echoed in my heart when I realized that perhaps it wasn’t fear on my brother’s face, but excitement. Did everyone come back to us?
Jumping out of bed, I looked out the window to see the dawn sun beginning to rise in the sky. I quickly pulled on my clothes and with some glee, I ran down the stairs with a small skip in my heart.
To my surprise, the kitchen was empty but the door stood open. I could see Alec standing on the porch. When I ran to see what was happening, I found Tim and Croc out there with him. It didn’t take long to see what the commotion had been about. Zombies. They were everywhere. I did not know how they became organized, but they surrounded the house with two hundred feet between us and them in all directions.
My heart that once throbbed with excitement, now did so with fear. “What are they doing?” I asked. My voice had broken half way through my sentence.
“Just standing there.” Croc answered with a deep swallow, “None of them look familiar, so they can’t be our group.”
I felt someone hold my hand and looked down to find Tim was the one doing so. With a quick yank, I removed his grasp from my own. Now was not the time to inform him of my disdain for him, but I didn’t want to lead him to believe anything else.
“We are surrounded. There has to be at least five hundred of them.” Alec told me.
“They aren’t attacking. Maybe they will let us through.” I said, but both Alec and Croc looked at me as if I was stupid.
“Wish we had a hand grenade.” Croc coughed, “We could blow away a bunch of them, and give ourselves an exit.”
“I can make one.” Alec told him. “Gun powder, something to hold it, and a string of some sort to light it. If it doesn’t kill them, might distract them long enough for us to slip past.”
“We would have to make a run for the truck. No way that we are going to outrun them.” Croc spit on the ground near Tim’s foot.
“We could try to make a bunch.” Alec agreed. “Make a bigger exit.”
“Couldn’t we use the gasoline?” I added.
Both men looked at me and then at each other.
“Might not explode, but it could set them on fire.” Alec informed him.
Croc nodded, “Let’s do it. What do you need?”
“Same thing as the grenade.”
“Cole has a bunch of stuff in the basement.” I told them.
“I’ll go find some of it down there. You figure out what you need to do, and get everything else ready.” Croc announced and ran into the house.
“I’ll help him.” Tim told us and followed him in.
Alec and I made a planned then waited in the kitchen for the two men. After ten minutes, I rolled my eyes and told him that I would help them. I should have gone in the first place since I knew the basement better.
Making my way down the stairs, I heard hard breathing coming from the room. It reminded me of when I had heard a zombie feeding. Pulling the gun that Alec had given me earlier out of my pants, I prepared to protect myself.
Steadily, I opened the door, but was not met with any figures. I could still hear the sound and my eyes followed it to the bathroom. I knew I should have gotten Alec, but I couldn’t risk that one of the men might still be alive. Opening the bathroom door as slowly as possible, my eyes widened at what I saw.
Tim was bent over Croc’s body as he feasted on one of his arms. Croc’s chest was ripped open, though I couldn’t identify any tool in the room that could have done such a thing.
“Oh my god.” I whimpered.
Tim turned around to face me, dropping Croc’s limb. “Elliot.”
A fear passed over me, and I lost all my police training. Instead of shooting him, I ran up the stairs to Alec. Screaming at the top of my lungs, Alec already had his gun pulled when I arrived. I hid behind him as Tim emerged from the basement. Blood covered his face and clothes. He didn’t seem alarmed by Alec’s gun. Leisurely, he leaned against the wall with a smirk on his face.
“What the fuck is going on?” Alec asked.
“He killed Croc. He was eating him!” I yelled.
“What?” Alec yelled back at me.
“I suggest putting that gun down, Alec.” Tim’s voice had become husky. “On my say so, those zombies will enter the house. If you kill me, then there will be nothing holding them back.”
Alec slowly lowered his gun, “What are you?”
“I’m one of the alphas, as were my brothers and the other men that were killed here.”
“Who killed them? Where is everyone?” Alec seemed to demand the answers more then ask for them.
Tim shrugged, “I don’t know. This village was meant to feed our entire clan, but now it looks like you and that ignorant fool will have to do.” He pointed to the basement.
“And what of Elliot?”
“The women were going to birth our children. Again, our plans were ruined. Elliot will remain safe with me. You may die knowing that.”
“Why are you doing this?” I cried out from behind Alec.
“This is the way it works now. I don’t know where the rest of the village went to, but we will find them. My brothers will not have died in vain.” Tim stood up straight. “Now, step away from her.” He ordered Alec.
Alec hesitated.
“She can die with you if you prefer.”
Without another moment’s thought, he stepped across the room from me. Tim raced towards him, and I was given a moment to realize that my brother was about to die. I don’t even remember lifting my arm and I certainly don’t remember firing my gun. Tim fell to the floor with a gun wound to his head. The moment he fell we heard the zombies moan, they were coming for us.
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