I will apologize for the long gap between chapters. I have started a new job which has taken some getting used to.
I want to thank everyone who has written to me with comments and or suggestions. They keep the writing process fun and give some good ideas too. As always, feel free to send any comments or suggestions to johnashton07@gmail.com .
Now for the responsible author part I know you all love. This story has mature content of a violent and sometimes sexual nature (posted only to Nifty, other locations are only violent). It is purely your responsibility to know your national, state/provincial, local, and household laws on subject matter of this type. Also, there are gay relations which can make people uncomfortable. If you do not wish to read material of this type, now is the time to leave. If you are not allowed legally to read this, don't do it. However if you choose to continue reading, do not send hate to me. You were warned.
Though there is drug use in this story I do not condone drug use outside of this story. If you read this and think, "wow, drugs are cool, I should do them" you are a tool. They are illegal and until they are not there are consequences for drug use in real life. As this is a story in which government and police are no longer existent you should not use this story as a basis to make real life decisions.
"Is everyone accounted for?" Travis asked looking around.
"Everyone is here." Bradley said.
"No one was bitten." Samantha said. "And the wall is fixed. But this shows we need better fortifications."
"What we need is for people to follow the rules!" Eric said. "Who made noise?"
"No one made noise, Eric. I was listening. It was silent before they broke in." Travis said.
"Then we have problems." Eric said.
"What do you mean?" Samantha said.
"I mean, they knew we were here somehow. If they were not hearing us they must have smelt, or seen, or something." Eric said. "It is improbable that they simply decided to jump on into a random building."
"Maybe it is not as safe here as people think it is." Adrian said sitting down on the staircase. "If they smell, there is too much circulation of air in this building. It is designed that way."
"I think we can rule out smell, at least for the most part." Travis said.
"We can't rule anything out." Eric said.
"If they smelled us there would have been more than two. They would still be pounding on our door." Travis said.
"He is right." Bradley said. "That just doesn't make sense."
"Well until we know how those two things knew we were in here we are on lockdown. No one leaves and no noise." Eric said pacing.
"They are smarter than you guys are giving them credit for." Lucas said, not looking up. "The child set a trap."
"What are you talking about" Samantha said. "They are mindless beasts. They don't think enough to duck when you swing a bat."
"I don't know much about these things, but that girl knew what she was doing. She lured me in close enough to spit that stuff at me. I think they have some brains left in there." Lucas said.
"Lucas, I think you may be giving that little bitch too much credit." Travis said. "We have no proof that she lured anyone anywhere. She was just resting if you ask me."
"Either way, it is lockdown. Adrian, Samantha, come with me. I have a job for you two. The rest of you, stay in your rooms or in the lobby. No pool, no gym. If they are smelling us it is probably best not to work up a sweat." Eric said heading up the stairs.
Samantha and Adrian followed him up the stairs and out of view. When they had been gone for a few minutes some of the other residents headed back to their units. Bradley got up and moved over to Lucas.
"Do you really think they are smart?" Bradley said with a hint of disbelief in his voice. He leaned against the wall with his arms folded.
"I don't know, but that little girl was not like any of the others I have seen." Lucas said.
"That little bitch was infected and dead. Walking, but dead none the less. Dead do not think." Travis said.
"What about the other one. She waited until the right moment to jump. Why didn't she just come running out?" Lucas said. "Why are you so dead set that they can not think?"
"I was too fast for it to just run out. It jumped when it saw me, end of story!" Travis said. He pushed past Lucas and went up the stairs without saying another work.
"Travis!" Lucas said calling for him to stop.
"Let it go, man. People need to cool down." Bradley said.
"Why is he being like that?" Lucas asked, more to himself than to anyone in particular.
A black woman sitting across the room looked up. She looked to be in her fourties, and had a warm, motherly look to her. She was slightly portly, though not unattractive. She was holding a boy in his teens who seemed to be too scared to move right now.
"It is a way of coping. He has killed a lot of these things. Zombies, undead, brainless monsters, whatever you will call them. I think I enjoyed the `little bitch' reference best. It is easyto justify killing a walking body." She said. "If you start considering them a living thing, emotions, thoughts, it is harder to justify."
"You do what you have to." Lucas said.
He thought back over what had happened in the last couple days, back to Ethan. Had there been thoughts and feelings still welling deep within him? Had there been another way to stop him? Maybe given another option he would still be able to run to his arms and have Ethan's embrace comfort him again. Tears began to well up in his eyes as he tried to blink them away.
"We all have done what it takes to survive. Travis is just trying to live with himself for it, as we all are." The lady said.
She stood up, steadying the child the two of them walked over to Lucas. The child seemed to have a bit more life back in his eyes. As he walked the symptoms of shock, so obvious only seconds ago, seemed to fade from his body. The boy walked over to Lucas and gave him a hug.
The boy stood back and smiled a bit. His blue eyes shimmered a bit, tears still in them, though not running down his freckled cheeks anymore. The lady ruffled his red hair a bit before he started up the stairs back to one of the units.
"Alex. His parents were dragged off with the initial outbreak. He showed up here about 10 hours later and has not left since. Good kid. Smart kid, but you can't go through something like that without being shaken. He will manage, though." The woman said looking to where the boy went out of sight. "I am Amanda, by the way."
"Nice to meet you" Lucas said looking up through eyes that were still watery.
"I am a counselor. This building was a home for displaced people, and I have worked here for 3 years now. A lot of our residents were displaced LGBT, or refugees from other countries. If you need to talk, I stay in unit 15." She said.
"Is there a way to cure this?" Lucas asked immediately. He wasn't really sure why he was asking her, but it just came out.
"None that we have found yet. I am not a medical doctor, but I think it is unlikely that there is a cure, and even more unlikely that we would find it at this point. The best we can hope for is to stay segregated and survive." She said, with a knowing look on her face. "We have all had to do things. You are not the only one."
"I killed him." Lucas sobbed. Tears came flowing down his face. "I shot him. I did it. I loved him. He was my life"
"Oh sugar. You have to know that there was not another way. Once this takes you over, you are not the same person. You did not kill him. He was dead before you found him." She said sitting down and putting an arm around him. "The only thing that you can do is continue on. He could not be saved, and you have to understand that."
"I can't do this. I can't keep living when the world has come to this." Lucas sobbed.
"You have to. I have to. We all have to. If we don't, there will be no one to continue on. There will be no beauty to the world. No one to look at the sky, and no one to grip the earth in their palms. The world has taken a scary turn, but there is no one saying it will be like this forever. We have to push through, to show we are strong enough to continue to enjoy our world. All things pass." Amanda said.
Lucas stayed silent for a long time. Long enough that Amanda decided to take her leave. She stood up and looked Lucas over. She gave him a pat on the back as she began the climb up the stairs. As she walked away she quietly sang a song.
"A time to be born, a time to die A time to plant, a time to reap A time to kill, a time to heal A time to laugh, a time to weep" (Turn Turn Turn" by the Byrds)
After what seemed like hours Lucas got up to go back to his unit. He stood up and walked up the stairs, still hanging his head slightly. It was just enough to not notice the collision that he was walking into. Adrian came around the corner carrying a large storage bin just as Lucas was reaching the top of the stairs. The collision sent Lucas tumbling down 5 of the steps before he he stopped himself by grabbing the post of the handrail with his injured arm.
"Oh god, Lucas! Are you alright man!? You came out of nowhere!" Adrian said ditching the bin and jumping down to help Lucas to his feet.
"Brilliant!" Lucas said clenching his arm. "Just brilliant!"
"I feel horrible, man." Adrian said reaching out to help Lucas back up the stairs.
"You!? I am the one that just got pushed down the stairs." Lucas said, huffing a chuckle that he couldn't hold back. It hurt his back a bit to laugh, but this did not concern him compared to the damage to his ego.
"You know what I mean. Are you alright?" Adrian asked.
"I will live, I think. What are you carrying in that bin?" Lucas said motioning to the large bin which had caused the chaos.
"Supplies. We are trying to make it harder for those bastards to break in here, but I am not convinced it will do much good. We are putting caulk in the spaces of the boards and blackout paper on the windows upstairs. Hopefully that will help avoid any crazies getting in." Adrian said. "But if they knew we were here before I am not sure that this will help much more than what we have."
"I still say there is more to what is going on." Lucas said.
"Well I have to get to work." Adrian said, heading down the stairs with the bin. "Look ahead next time, it helps to not be falling down stairs when Eric is pissed about the noise levels."
Lucas simply rolled his eyes. He walked down the hall toward his unit when he started hearing voices. He noticed they were coming from Travis' unit. He stopped just outside the door and listened.
"... can't just fuck everyone in this building moron!" Eric chastised. "It isn't good to mess with people's heads in this situation! Keep your pants on for once in your life!"
"It isn't like that Eric, and you are not in a position to tell me what to do. You act like you are in charge here, but just because you are bossy doesn't make you the boss." Travis replied.
There was a loud slam which sounded like someone had kicked something.
"And this lockdown is a load of crap. That was a freak occurrence. We need to get more supplies and soon. Zombies are only one concern. We have to be able to have food, and our water supplies are not meant to hold out this many people for long." Travis said. "Kicking and punching, whining and crying are not going to change that."
"Then you go. I am locking the door behind you." Eric yelled.
Eric opened the door to the unit and saw Lucas standing there. He looked furious, but slammed past him and down the hall. Travis came to the opening and looked at Lucas. He scowled and closed the door. Lucas decided there was nothing left to do but go in his unit.
He walked in his room and laid back on the bed. He felt something hard hit the back of his head as he laid back and moved his briefcase out of the way. He sat up and opened the case. He took out a small bit of pot and a rolling paper. He had only smoked a couple times, and had never rolled before, but he managed to roll himself a fair joint. He pulled out a lighter and lit the joint. He took a puff and felt his body immediately relax.
"Ahhh.." Lucas let out. "Nice."
He put out the joint and laid back again and fell asleep. He was woken up a few hours later by a knocking on his door. He got up and tried to get his hair to lay down and presentable before giving it up as a lost cause. The knocking continued until he answered the door. Adrian was standing there with his bin.
"I am here to cover your windows. What took you so long to answer?" Adrian said looking slightly annoyed.
"I was sleeping, man. Come in." Lucas said stepping aside.
"Woah, what is that smell?" Adrian said setting his bin down.
"Uh, its nothing." Lucas said. He felt a lump in his throat and he could feel his heart speed up.
"That smells like pretty damn good nothing. Man have you been holding out on us?" Adrian said taking another whiff of air.
"Don't say anything. It was my boyfriend's, I don't even smoke that often. Please." Lucas said.
"Man, what are you expecting me to do? Call the cops?" Adrian said. "No one is going to throw you out for having some weed, man! They will be pissed you aren't sharing!"
"I don't have much." Lucas said.
"You have to have some seeds stuck in some of the buds, I could set up a couple plants if you hook me up with a little bit of it." Adrian said with a smile. "My buddies used to grow their own shit. It takes a bit of time to get going but yeah."
Lucas went over to his case and pulled out a couple buds and gave them to Adrian.
"Keep it quiet would you? I don't need people breaking in here for this shit." Lucas said.
"Alright, alright. I wont tell. Oh, by the way, Travis wanted me to send you over. I just fixed his unit up." Adrian said.
Lucas sighed and locked the case back up. He put it beside his bed. He walked across the way and knocked on Travis' door. It opened quickly and he was ushered inside by Samantha.
"Come in" Samantha said. "Come in, we need to be quiet alright?"
"What is going on?" Lucas said.
The blackout paper really changed the unit. The large windows were completely covered and no outside light was getting in. The only light in the room was coming from a lamp in the corner. This gave everything an eerie underground atmosphere and the shadows cast around the room did not help the mood.
"We need supplies. Eric has threatened to lock people out, but you know that already, sneaky" Travis said with a slight glare.
"Hey if you guys want to yell don't get offended if you get overheard, Travis. We could hear you with our doors closed" Samantha said.
"What is your problem? I thought we were alright, but since the zombies got in you have been a real ass!" Lucas said standing up to leave.
"Lucas, sit down. I am sorry. It is just weird stuff in my head. I am sorry." Travis said pulling Lucas' unbandaged arm back.
"Well chill it!" Lucas said sitting back down. "What am I doing here?"
"We need to make a run for supplies. We need you to take us." Samantha said.
"Why me?" Lucas asked.
"Because you have that jeep of yours in the garage. Eric has the keys for the other vehicles in his unit. His lockdown is going to kill us before the bastards outside can if we do not get food and water. We have to go tonight, and be back before he knows we left, or we will be locked out." Travis said.
"We don't have time to discuss it. Either come with us, or give us your keys." Samantha said.
"Fine. Lets go." Lucas said.
The three of them left the unit and as quietly as possible went down the stairs. Travis and Samantha went into the Armory to pick up some weapons while Lucas waited in the lobby. Around the corner upstairs he saw a patch of red hair peak around and snap back.
"Alex, isn't it?" Lucas said loud enough to be heard. "Come out."
The redheaded boy came around the corner with a cautious look on his face. He walked slowly down the stairs but paused on the last few.
"You are leaving aren't you? Eric is going to go ballistic." Alex said quietly.
"We need to get supplies. He won't even know we were gone." Lucas said. "Can I trust you not to tell him?"
"You are going to bring more of them back here..." Alex said with a shake in his voice.
"No, they can't get in here. We put up more protection." Lucas said, trying to reassure the boy.
"I am not a dumb kid, you know. The paper is a waste, and a little plastic in the cracks is not going to stop them any more than the nails and wood did. You said they were smart, they will follow you and they will get in again." Alex said shaking more now.
"I also said we were not going to bring them back here, didn't I? You need to go back to your unit and pretend you did not see us. Understand?" Lucas said, getting a bit more frustrated now. "We will be back with food and water, unless you would rather not eat when your rations run out."
Alex turned without saying anything and went back upstairs. Lucas listened and soon heard a door close. He turned around and nearly ran into Travis and Samantha.
"If you just got us caught... If we are locked out when we get back..." Travis said looking furious.
"Chill out Travis, the kid is cool. He won't rat us out. Lets go." Samantha said, pressing an M6 into Lucas' hands and walking toward the door to the garage.
Travis walked silently past Lucas through the garage. Lucas unlocked the Jeep and climbed into the driver's seat.
"Where are we going?" Lucas said starting the engine.
"There is a Walmart on Hook Creek Blvd. Go there. I just hope it hasn't been raided already." Travis said from the back seat.
Lucas pulled the jeep onto the road and realized that there was more traffic obstacles than he had remembered. He had to weave through cars and debris from wrecks most of the way. He stuck to the back roads as much as he could, as there was less to dodge.
As he turned onto Francis Lewis Blvd he realized that night was not the best time to be out driving. He turned off his lights as he approached the group of zombies huddled over the body of a woman that had obviously been the source of feeding for a couple days now. He could only tell that it was a woman by her clothes, though honestly he thought it could have been a drag queen with this part of town. He stopped the car not wanting to get any closer as their luck had been good that they had not already been noticed.
"What do we do?" Lucas said.
"I don't know." Samantha said from the passenger seat. "I think I am going to be sick though, I can smell them from here."
"Don't... move..." Travis said frozen in position.
From Lucas's peripheral vision he could see movement just outside the jeep. A hand slammed onto the window and Lucas tried his best not to jump, though he was not sure he was successful in hiding the inch he had moved.
Samantha was not as quick on the uptake and turned to see a man standing outside her window as well. His lower jaw looked to have been broken as it hung limp from the rest of his face, revealing that half of his teeth were missing and his tongue had withered back into his throat. She let out a whimper, but it was enough to alert both zombies around the jeep to the fact that there was food inside. They began to pound on the windows with such force that small cracks were developing in the glass.
Lucas slammed on the gas and they were off. It was only seconds before the rapid large bumps signaled to them that they had run over the zombies feasting on the body in the road. Lucas did not even bother to look back to see if they were being followed, but he had never witnessed a zombie that could run as fast as he was driving. He turned onto Hook Creek without slowing down and nearly tipped the jeep as he pulled into the parking lot of the Walmart.
"What part of don't move do you not understand!?" Travis said slapping the back of Samantha's head.
"Oh I know you did not just slap me, bitch!" Samantha said turning in her seat. "You have some nerve!"
"Stop it!" Lucas said throwing an arm between them. "We do not have time for this! Lets get in, out, and back to the complex. Really! It is like dealing with children!"
He was just about to open his door when he heard the sound of shattering glass. He let out a scream as a decaying hand pulled him back against the door. He saw Samantha raise her gun and was pulled back against the door again. His head slammed into the frame of the window, and his world went black.