Last to Live

Last to Live

1

The Walkers Will Always Be Near

"We can't just stay here!" Sounded a voice screaming loudly into Seth's ear. The argument of survival was now apparent to Ludolf. With his cruel and controlling tone, Seth was sure not to argue back. But not this time.

"Do you really think we have a choice? We can't travel with Shasta's still sick!" Seth's voice carried across the camp turning the heads of the other camp members. "What about our layout here? You have your own space to do whatever you do." He spoke waving his arm in the air at Ludolf's tent.

"Do you know the danger you put us all in with this decision to stay in the same location for nine months? The Walkers will attack us here!" Ludolf argued with a growl. The camp only held eleven campers: scavenging families and quest set members who still have a purpose to live. Seth didn't want to have to care for others but with the growing numbers of people they'd come across, he had no choice but to help them; 'survival of the fittest' was no longer an option in the case of caring for your own family and sticking together to fight against the viral infection.

Seth and his family had already crossed nine states to get to safety. He had got the word that there was a refugee camp in Oregon but when they had finally reached their destination, all was abandoned. The Walkers swarmed the area hungry for the human flesh they carried. Shasta had been ill for months but with the very limited resources, it was indeterminable what the illness was. But their layout wasn't all bad; various tents held in place by the surrounding trees and wood-build fires that kept them warm all through the night. They had stolen hunting gear to hunt deer and other animals available in the wooded fields.

Seth crouched to the ground picking up twigs for the fire, "if you have such an issue with this decision, why don't you wander off before you cause any other problems around here?" His voice stern with warning. He may have had only one good swing but would use it on Ludolf any day. Eyebrows striking with rage, Ludolf stomped away. Seth didn't want to cause an argument with everyone who respected him around and especially with Ludolf. His stubborn fury seemed to aggravate everyone he spoke to.

Sunlight was setting and the rays of light that struck between the trees had faded. Lucette was tending to Shasta with the assistance of Margani. Shasta was only eleven years old but her immune system had the same battle power as a seventy-five year old person dying of old age. Beads of sweat slid down her face, "She must be in so much pain; the temperature is too low for a sweat." Margani whispered under her breath. With the strain of the thought of her little sister sleeping in pain, Lucette couldn't bear to watch the life flicker in and out of her paled skin.

"What do we do?" Lucette asked already knowing the outcome; Shasta wasn't going to survive the coming winter in the state she was in. they would have been lucky if she lived through the next couple weeks. Margani nodded at the frown on Lucette's face her eyes were filled with soft, salty tears. Margani would have lost people too but she had her family with her.

"Mother," sounded a voice from behind the nettle bush, "have you seen my..." Lola's voice trailed off vigorously with a glance at Lucette's face. Realisation hadn't quite hit her yet: people were dyeing all around us and she would be nagging about mud in her nails. Lola was only twelve but she should have known better.

Margani lifted her chin to the glow rising behind the trees, "Olufunmilda, please."

As Lola strolled away scowling to herself, her mother apologised "I'm very sorry, she can be a little... stressful at times. Whether she likes it or not, she will never have the life she had before."

Lucette jumped to her feet with a swift hand, swiping off the earth and moss attached to her cargo bottoms, "Can you keep an eye on Shasta? I need to talk to my dad about the hunt."

"Of course, whatever you need me for."

Lucette spotted her father chatting to Laurain. Although it was nice to see her father moving on, she couldn't stand Laurain. Of all the women still left alive... Why her? Lucette thought to herself. Laurain was nearly perfect in appearance with her shoulder-cut hair that shone in the morning sun like honey in a flu-soothing drink and her surgery-helped face. Well, she wasn't all too perfect and Lucette and Shasta could see right through her. In front of their father, Laurain was the mother Shasta never had. She was the women to teach us all about womanhood and the joys of children. But the only problem was that she herself couldn't stand them. It wasn't a surprise to Lucette though; the necklace around her throat was a shining stone covered in real emeralds. Clearly, Laurain had lived in luxury before this disaster. Or perhaps she stole it.

"Ah, Lucette." Her father's voice low in tone, croaking with exhaustion.

She raised her hand pointing in the direction Laurain pranced towards, "You're off flirting with her while Shasta lies ill?" Lucette's voice carried no further than the tall trees situated across from her.

"She has a name, Lucette and you have no right to disrespect her in such a way!" Without a warning, he gritted his teeth and dropped the collection of branchlet onto the soft, moist ground beneath where they stood.

"I'm sorry father but she isn't as kind as she puts out to be." Not that she needs to put out anything more Lucette urged to say.

"I will no longer speak to you about this!" Seth's anger was increasing, but he sensed the eagerness for answers underneath the dark green eyes that laid upon him, "Look, she will never replace your mother but she is what is keeping me sane."

"You have got to be kidding..." Lucette raged, "I have been trying to get you to open up for years and you let her in! I can't believe this."

Seth's down-turned face quickly grew into a pool of disgust, "With that, you can forget about the Hunt tomorrow!"

With a shattered face that hurt rained on, Lucette picked out the knife she held in her pocket and sharply handed it to her father. As she turned away, she vowed not to cry. Any news not-so terrible would not have put her in a state, but she had never been allowed to go on the Hunt before. Her father had taught her how to shoot an arrow and Akachi taught her how to skin prey properly. The avidity of wanting to hunt was overwhelming and now that she could not release her impatience, she was enraged and provoked.

Lucette tramped back to her tent where Lucas sat, waiting. Lucas was no hunter but he wished so badly to be. His fear of amphibians and blood prohibited him from leaving the camp site where the fires had kept the frogs away. Unfortunately, the Walkers were nearly impossible to avoid with nearly a world's population undead to the infection.

Lucas' flaxen curls wavered in the cool breeze that drifted between them. He knew something was wrong because of the annoyed hand gesture mocking his current existence Lucette was throwing, "well, I can see you're a wee bit upset there." He mocked her with the smile on his face.

"Dad has un-allowed me to go on the Hunt," Lucette's face dropped. "You have no idea how long I've waited!"

"True, but I'm sure it's not all what it's cut out to be." He assured with a kind wave.

Lucette sat on the nearby log placing her head between her knees. "And how would you know?" She questioned. "You can barely look at the Walkers without going weak at the knees." Lucas' smile impaired in seconds.

"Okay then, I'll leave you to it." He spoke hollowly, rolling his eyes as he strode to his feet.

"Lucas..." Lucette rasped. Even though she saw it in people that she had aggravated them or maybe lightened their spirits, Lucas was a closed book and no one really knew much about him.

Looking over the horizon of the forest trees, the sun had fully set and Lucette's feet ached from the hiking she had done for the harvesting she, Margani and Lola had done earlier. She didn't regret what she had said to her father before about Laurain, yet something inside her wished she'd hadn't done it so suddenly - making her shiver.

In the morning mist everyone carried only their sleepy faces and frozen limbs. The temperature was rapidly dropping and the rain had made the air soggy. Lucas had lit the fire warming up water with an aluminium pot on a hook. Margani was folding the extra blankets they must have used over the tent which occupied a non-waterproof top. Everyone had a job to do... except Lucette who stood at the side watching everyone at work. She felt useless.

When Shasta awakened from her sleep, Margani hurried to her side calling Lucette and Seth to join her. But when Lucette arrived to see her sister for the few minutes she would most likely be awake for, her father waved as if the invitation was a refusable offer.

"Hey," Margani's voice vocalised with care and patience. "Do you feel any better?"

A shake of the head answered our dreaded question. We knew she wasn't any better.

Seth and Ludolf packed the guns and arrows while Chuckwudi packed spare bandages that we had left in our last first-aid kit. With the hard stare Laurain fixed on Lucette, it was obvious Seth had told her what she had said. Not that it was a care for Lucette but she knew it would come back one way or another. Soggy moss and brittle wood mashed beneath their feet. The Hunt would last until dawn but it came early now with the winter nearing.

"What time do we set out?" Lucette asked shoving her pocket knife into her belt. She remembered what her father had said but she still had to try.

Seth shook his head in disagreement of her stupidity. "You're not going anywhere."

"Oh, I thought it was-" Chuck began but was cut off by Lucette arguing her fight.

"This is so unfair, just for what I have said? Pathetic." She pouted in resentment only to find herself storming in the opposite direction.

Lucette had calmed from her rage with distaste for her own father's opinion. While her opportunity to go out into the openness of the un-walked woods and search the streets for supplies they needed had been ripped from her, she had to sit miserably watching her sister's every breath slip away from her. The woods were beginning to turn colourless in both the trees and in the sky. Rain droplets fell lightly on Lucette's scalp as she whittled the steak with the pocket knife her father had given back to her. The damp air seethed through her clothes making her shiver with every intention to release her anger. Why me? Lucette thought to herself. In the moments it had taken her to realise that it wasn't just her stuck in the predicament of losing everything that mattered most to her, Lucas approached her with a kind and meaningful grin. The face of an angel he had. His curls were wet at the tip with rain but soaked at the roots with sweat.

Lucette was sitting on the stump the tent, where Shasta rested, was tied to. Her cargo bottoms receiving all of the wood shedding the carving gave off. "Isn't this a surprise? The great arguing ginger who has won every battle, sitting right before me." Lucas' charming smile chuckled. His brown eyes were consistent with the wood's trunks around us, his skin the colour of honey and crème with a dash of strawberry flush. Lucette envied his smile; so careless and persistent. She could never smile every moment of the day until she slept in a freezing cold tent, dreading the Walkers she would have to fight in the near future. But behind that smile with glowing pearls as teeth, was a secret cry of loneliness and frustration awaiting someone or some thing's comfort.

"Ha ha, you're not far from ginger. And my father stood his ground." Her anger strengthening. Last thing she needed was a closed book wedging at her to open all her pages.

"Come on-" Lucas began but interrupted by Lucette's shush.

Lucas' head lolled around looking for whatever Lucette had heard. Nothing was in sight.

"What's wrong?" Lucas questioned, worried.

"Did you not hear that? The noise?"

"Probably just a squirrel or a bird."

Lucette nodded her head - shaking off her thoughts. Crack, another sounded. "That's one hell of a squirrel," she yelled pointing at the corpse headed their way. "Crap!"

Lucas tripped over the log stack, slicing his leg. His scream carried across the camp alerting Margani and Akachi from their tent. Lola followed shortly after. "Lucas!" Lucette yelled pouring to his side; helping him up with an arm over the shoulder. "Margani, get Shasta, the Walkers are headed our way!"

Margani began to wrap Shasta up in the blankets awakening her. "We must run child, the Walkers are near." Shasta was shattered. Her energy completely gone. Akachi grabbed the pistol placed near the first aid kit for emergencies; only to be used in dire situations. His first shot missed the walker headed straight for Lola and the second, right in the head. But the noise recoiled through the woods turning many decomposing heads. "Akachi," Margani gasped.

They all turned to look at the Walkers tediously marching their way. Lucas began to panic pushing himself away from Lucette telling her to get Shasta. Lucette found her mind trembling in confusion. "Margani, have you got Shasta?" But when she looked back, Margani was out of site. Akachi spun around in realisation that the Walkers were behind him. He found himself fighting them off with a stick - wrestling their full strength from him.

Horridly, he caught a glimpse of Margani's leg being mauled. She screamed in terror and pain. "Margani!" Akachi wailed to his wife. Adrenaline rushed through his veins lifting the corpses off as if they were feathers. But it was too late.

Margani's glowing skin, was now gushing blood from the rips and tears taken to her flesh. Claws pushed at her flesh pulling it from her muscle-less bones whilst Lola stood, mesmerized by the creatures tearing her mother apart; vulnerable to them. Akachi rushed to his beloved partner yanking the soulless cages away from her exposed flesh then stabbing them right between the eyes without hesitation. He crumbled to her side like a hardened cookie, crumbs falling at every bite.

Lucette rushed over to Shasta, moving her away from the blood seeping into the crushed birch chips and pebbles that occupied the ground. She couldn't tell if Margani's eyes were open but she knew for sure she had to get her sister and Lola to safety. Predicatively, Lola reluctantly moved screaming for her mother - rasping her arms to her. Lucette struggled to keep her back.

All of a sudden an arrow shot - slicing through two of the Walkers. "Lucette!" Thank God she thought to herself. Lucette was so eager to jump into her father's arms. But this was not the time. Ludolf took the others out using the same arrows then wiping them off with the already-bloody rag he kept in his left pocket. Lucette had always believed that that rag was some sort of trophy of his; as a memory for all the deceased he shot an arrow at. Relief overwhelmed her, producing a slight smirk. It faded.

Seth approached Akachi, placing a soft hand on his shoulder. the man was shaking. Watching his wife's life slip rapidly away was devastating. Tears pouring down Lucette's face made her turn her head away in disapproval of the others seeing her like this. She wanted to be remembered as a warrior, not a blubbery 'little girl'. She glanced at Chukwudi's remarkable features, his coffee coloured skin with a hint of honey to lighten his deep brown eyes. Eyes that now looked confused with a stare into Lucette's tearful face. Ludolf had clicked first, trying to force Chukwudi back from seeing his mother lying on the dirt, dyeing. That's when his yelps began. After a short battle with Ludolf's muscular limbs, he fell to his father's side, crying in horror. "Mother! Please you cannot die like this. It is against your nature. Please." He whispered, terror cracking his deep voice.

"Chuck, take-" she broke off to gurgle on the blood she eventually spat out, "take care of them for me. I will always love you. I will watch you from the stars above." Lucette's cheeks reddened with more salty tears. Those were the last words Margani spoke before she slipped into her never awakening sleep. One she would return to only as a 'soulless cage' as they had used to remember that their loved ones no longer actually accompanied their lost body – making it easier to kill them once they had come back from the dead.

Akachi wailed. Lola's head turned from the warmth of Lucette's chest, causing her to witness her mother's lifeless body. She scurried to her crumpled father. More burning tears fell.

Several minutes passed and Seth knew what was to come. He couldn't imagine being asked this question about his wife, but hoped someone would give him the opportunity to do it himself. They had to put the corpse out of its misery. "Shall I?" Seth asked from behind the nettle bush of which they crowded to mourn over their camp mate's lifeless body.

"No! I will do it myself!" Akachi blazed into fury so quickly, even Lola faltered. He snatched the knife and pushed it into her skull. Lola screamed but Chuck was there to muffle them with his thick, boarded chest.

The camp was destroyed. Cups, pans, blankets and supplies were sprinkled everywhere throughout the site. The Walker's bodies were part of that mess too. Lucette's gut was filled with misery as she painfully watched Lola cry herself to sleep and then witness her brother digging a grave for their mother. Their father hadn't said a single word since the chaos and she could sense Seth was worried Akachi might become an issue.

"We better start cleaning." Laurain spoke. Couldn't even mourn over someone you practically lived with Lucette thought to herself, heartless bitch.

Everyone began to pick up the wrecked materials as Seth aided Lucas of his ankle. Lucas raised his head, steadying it to remove the sudden dizziness. "Wait, where's Ludolf?"

7