Gaz held the gun tightly and shot randomly into the hoard. "Run, Dib!" she shrieked. Her brother did as was told and sprinted for the fence. He easily hopped over it and fired at a few of the crazies, distracting them by shouting. It was enough of a delay to get Gaz over the fence as well. The siblings ran from the fence before the crazies figured out how to climb it and got out of sight and earshot from the screams and insane laughter of the mob.
"Damn it," Dib cursed, leaning against a tree and panting heavily. Gaz could hear the wheezing in his chest from where she stood.
"Come on, Dib. We have to get to the safehouse," she said, tugging at his arm.
"Wait." Dib swallowed and licked his chapped lips. "Just wait a sec." His voice was rough and gravelled.
And so Gaz waited with her brother. They sat in the cradle between the roots of the tree and impatiently waited for Dib's wheezing to stop.
The purple-haired girl couldn't help but think of the past at times like these. She remembered the beginning of this hell. An outbreak of an unknown virus had swept across America and Mexico, killing a few hundred instantly. The virus began mutating after that. It would incubate, sit in people's heads and eat through their brains, making the victims lose their sanity. The process slowed down to the point that most people died from suicide or cannibalism before they died from the virus itself. Gaz couldn't count how many people she'd seen killed in a violent mob, or hanging from trees in a noose, or being eaten half-alive by crazies.
Inchoerant laughter echoed through the woods, making Gaz's nerves stand on end. "Dib, we gotta go," she said, grabbing Dib's arm.
"I can't," Dib coughed. His voice was still patchy.
"Let's go! You'll get plenty of rest at the safehouse!" Gaz insisted. She hoisted Dib to his feet and partly carried, partly dragged him, making him run by her side.
After a few hundred feet, it was clear that they could not make it to the safehouse in time like this. They still had over a mile to go, and Gaz could hear the insane giggles and shrieks beginning to close in around them. Still, she made Dib run until he collapsed on the ground, hacking and trying to draw breath he couldn't grasp.
"Dib, come on! We're almost there!" Gaz urged. She tried to pull him back on his feet, but in vain.
"No we're not," Dib managed to wheeze. A screech to the left made the duo jump. Gaz hoisted him onto her shoulder and hobbled over to the nearest tree.
"We have to keep going. We're nearly to the safehouse," she whispered.
"Stop lying," Dib said. "We're a mile away, and let's face it, Gaz. I'm not going to get better like this."
"You won't get better by getting caught and eaten, either," Gaz snapped quietly. "I am going to get you back to the house if it's the last thing I do."
"No you're not."
The statement was simple and caught Gaz off guard. Dib was hardly ever so direct with telling Gaz what to do. It took a moment to think of a come-back. "Dib, you can't just leave yourself out in the open like this."
"Why not? I'm sick, I'm a liability. I can't sleep at night. The inhalers aren't working anymore," Dib said. Gaz blinked in surprise. She hadn't known that.
"Well... w-we can find you medicine-" she started.
"What medicine? We don't even know what I'm sick with," Dib interjected. "Gaz, think rationally. Do what's best for your survival."
"But... what about Dad?" Gaz suffered a minor flashback of the siblings' vow to their father, to protect each other and make it through this terror. She shuddered as she watched in her mind's eye the once powerful man she knew as her father slowly bleed to death and fade away, blood seeping into the concrete on the Membrane garage. "What about our promise. I'm supposed to keep you safe."
"And I'm supposed to protect you, too," Dib said. He cleared his thoat, spat on the ground and stood up shakily, using the tree and Gaz's shoulder as supports.
The shouts and laughs were getting louder and more frequent. The crazies were nearing. Gaz's heart started pounding. Dib took a deep, ragged breath.
"Gaz, when I say to, I want you to run to the safehouse. Don't look back. Don't wait for me. Just go to the house," he said in her ear. Gaz gazed at him incredulously.
"Are you serious?" she breathed, flabbergasted and horrified.
Dib nodded. "You run, I'll distract them."
Gaz shook her head violently, tears forming in her eyes. "No, Dib! I won't leave you! I won't let you do this!" she declared loudly.
"It's the only way. Unless you wanna get killed," Dib said sternly. Snarls nearby quickened Gaz's heart.
"No, we can make it! Together, Dib, like always!" She grabbed her brother's hand and clung to it.
"Don't, Gaz! You have to go, now!" Dib pushed her away, taking his hand back. "Go!" he shouted. "Run, run!"
And he hobbled from her, into some bushes. He rustled them and made unintelligable sounds, his voice still rough and weak. "Come and get me, faggots!" Gaz heard him shout before she finally decided to sprint towards the safehouse. She blocked out the sounds of Dib screaming in pain and focused only on moving her body in the direction of the safehouse, refusing to feel emotion.
She arrived at the base of the tree and shouted for Zita to drop the rope. Gaz climbed, since it was the only thing to do before she would be faced with explaining things to Zita, Gretchen, and The Letter M.
"Gaz, where's Dib? Is he coming behind?" Zita asked as Gaz hopped through the gaping hole in the side of the treehouse that was the door.
The girl stopped and looked at her remaining companions. She bit her bottom lip, and shook her head. They all drooped. Gretchen approached Gaz.
"What happened?" she asked, her lisp almost non-existant with her whisper.
Those two words made Gaz fall to her knees and start sobbing. Zita wrapped her arms around Gaz and Gretchen put a hand on her shoulder, fighting her own tears. After her sobs were spent, Gaz told the tale to her friends.
That night, Gaz sat in her room, staring at the moon. She remembered being young with Dib and watching the full moon and the stars, wondering if there was life out there in space. Dib had been sure of it, and she had considered the possiblities. A sob rose up in Gaz's chest.
It was unfair. This whole thing was totally and utterly unfair. Her life was one big heap of sadness and anger, and she hadn't even the chance to apologize to Dib or say goodbye. That had been the worst. She missed him dearly, and her father, and her mother who's died years ago. He shouldn't have been taken from her. Gaz shouldn't have to be alone. Those damn crazies had destroyed her one connection to her old life, a good life.
Gaz grabbed her gun and snuck out of the treehouse, only one thing in mind. She listened in the night, waiting for a screech or chuckle, something that would lead her to the crazies.
They had done this before Dib had gotten sick, hunted the crazies. When they were inexperienced and thought that they weren't so badly outnumbered. That was how they'd lost Marvin and Jessica.
But now Gaz didn't care about getting killed. She just wanted to hurt someone, anyone, and the crazies were good enough for her. She managed to kill six before she heard the rustling and footsteps behind her. She turned to see a man standing, a sick grin exposing his seven remaining rotten teeth. He was missing an arm and an eye, his hair ripped out of his scalp and his nose deformed from many breakings. "Hello, girly. You smell like feet. Do you taste like it?" he asked.
Hands flew from all sides at her, holding Gaz still depsite her struggles and wriggling. Two or three filthy, bloody hands covered her mouth so she couldn't scream. She heard all sorts of sick and twisted mutterings and declarations from the mob that had overtaken her.
At least she would be together with her family, she thought as nails dug into her skin.
She died quickly enough, ripped limb from limb in the silver light of a full moon.
=== DOOM ===
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!