Chapter 2
Mercy
It was a sudden drop to the ground that woke Hazel from her restless sleep. Her head collides with the cold concrete and her eyes shot open. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust and while In her groggy state, her mind began to wonder 'where am I?'
When her vision became clear, She could see most of the room. It was a small, possibly a basement. In addition, there were two small windows on the farthest wall, both were boarded up. The only light in the room was from the many candles placed throughout it.
She could make out the image of two men. One lying on a nearby table, the other hovering over him. The man on the table groan and moan and she recognized him as the man Lee shot.
'Lee is gone.' Under normal circumstances, This thought would be devastating, but she knew there wasn't anytime to mourn. It's true, many good people have left her life in the past three years. Most were never mourned and in this case, she would have to finish the journey on her own. When she did arrived in South Dakota, she would mourn all the losses and celebrate life.
"Another girl?" - For the first time she became aware of the man sitting next to her.-"I go days without seeing anyone and you find 3 girls in a week. You have a talent, sir." He sat cross legged, with his back against the wall and his arms tied behind his back, same as her.
"Shut up"-The young man, roared over his shoulder. He then firmly gripped the arm of the man on the table.- "Johnny, you need to stop moving so I can fix you up." He said with uncertainty.
Hazel struggled to sit in an upright position, so that she could get a better look. A sharp pain shot through her head and down to her lower back and she took in a deep breath, in an attempting to keep silence.
"The new's girls is waking!"- The man next to her said in a dull voice. She glared up at him and he smiled back, he directed his attention to her.-"Don't worry, unlike me, you won't be here long."
"Murphy, I told you to SHUT-UP!" The young man rubbed his forehead, in frustration.
Johnny, the man on the table, rolled in pain. Followed by several mumbled curse words. She watched as the man attempted to console his friend, but the injurer man punched and twisted in defense. Hazel knew what she had to do.
"I-" As she began to speak, the man next to her looked her over. "I can help, I can take the bullet out. I've done it before."
"Why?" Murphy asked in disbelief, but Hazel leaned closer to her captors, ignoring the sickly man next to her.
"I'll help, if you promise me you'll let me stay here, Instead of selling me off."- The man shook his head.
"Stupid girl...They're not going to let you stay. The moment he's better, they -" The young man rushed over and landed a solid kick to Murphy's stomach. He lurches forward and began to cough.
"If you don't shut up I'll cut out your damn tongue!" He whispers into the sickly man's ear. Murphy took in a deep breath and swallowed his rest of his words.
"Alright, you have a deal, but if you run." He patted the gun at his side.- "I shoot." She nodded her head just once and walked over to the injurer man, with the young man following closely behind. When she reached the table, the first thing to catch her eye, was the dry, dark red blood on the table. It was obvious this was not the first injured person to be here.
"It doesn't look too deep, do you have any tweezers?" He walked over to a separate table and pulled out a first aid box.
"Here." He muttered as he handed it to her. The man settled behind her again, watching every movement. She opened the box slowly and began to go through it. Gaza, bandages, an empty bottle of disinfectant and a syringe. She placed them out onto the table. Upon seeing the syringe, a plan began to form. She took the tweezers out of the box.
"You need to hold him down." She said to the blonde. Her captor moved to the other side and gripped both of the man's arm's. She took a deep breath, It was true, she had done this once before, but this time was different. The first time it was a young boy's mother and she was only person he had left in the world. At that time she needed to save her. This time she was only trying to stay one step ahead of her captors and this was the only way.
She dug the tiny, sliver tweezers into the man's open wound, he thrashed and yelled out in pain, as Blood began to gush out more intensely. She placed her other hand on his good shoulder to steady herself.
"I almost have it." She pulled the bullet out and let it drop to the table. By now, the man stopped moving, His eye's closed. His chest still continued its steady up and down pace.
"What's wrong with him?" The young man placed his hand on his gun.
"He's fine, he just passed out from the pain." She placed her hands over his open wound to slow the bleeding.- " I need a disinfectant, do you have and alcohol?"
He nodded. "It's upstairs." To her surprises, without hesitation, the man entered a nearby door and proceeded up the steps. She turned to the man behind her, he sat with his back against the wall, his eye's closed. He paid no attention to the world around him.
She seized the moment, taking the syringe from the first aid box. She placed it just in the crook of his arm and slipped the needle into under his skin. She injected the air from the syringe into the his vein and stepped back.
The man's eye's opened wide, his hands abruptly went to his chest. His entire body jolted and he gasped for air and then he became motionless.
"What did you do." The man Murphy urged. He was now fully conscious of his surroundings. She didn't acknowledge him, she was too aware of what she had done.
It didn't take long for the man, the one that was once Johnny, to sit up. His body was tense as he slowly turned to Hazel. He jumped off the table and dashed towards her, she froze. Murphy sat back and watch it play out, but instead of the normal rip and tear, zombie Johnny stopped only a inches from her. He didn't reach for her, only watched her with curiosity.
Murphy looked on in disbelief. It was something about this moment he could relate to completely. The fear in the girl's eye's, as she with for her own death, but it never comes.
It was the creaking of the steps, that caught Johnny's attention, It was the young man.
"Johnny." He called, his lips curled up into a smile. The man was blind, he was so happy to see his friend in 'good health', that he didn't realize his friend was already dead. By the time Johnny had begun to sprint in the young man direction, it was to late.
He wrapped his finger around his gun and freed it from it's holster, but once the gun was out in front of him, Johnny had already sunk his teeth into the young man's neck.
Hazel acted fast, it was almost as if she had done it all before. She took a chair from the table and brought it down repetitively over Z's head, until he no longer moved. She doped the chair next to her, breathing heavily
"Wow." She had forgotten all about the sickly man Murphy. He now stood against the wall, a skeptical look on his face. She wiped the remainder blood on her hands, onto her pant.
"You..." A garbled voice came from under the Z's body. She grabbed a hand full of Johnny's shirt and flipped him. The Young man was still clinging to life. His neck and shoulder were thoroughly chewed, almost unrecognizable. Blood spilled from his mouth.- " You..." He said again.
She reached for the gun he had dropped. The only thing on her mind was Lee. The last good man on earth, a father to her. She placed it to his head.
"Did you give him mercy?" She said it so calmly, it was frighting even to her. She placed her finger lightly over the trigger, tears in their eyes.
"Yes-" The words fumbled out of his mouth as he looked at her intently.
"I hope you're telling me the truth." She whispers and then she pulled the trigger. After the loud bang there was a long moment of stillness and no one moved.
"Whoa." Murphy said, breaking the silence. He moved a little closer and Hazel then pointed the gun at him, he put his hand up imminently.
"Where did they put my bag?" she said just above a whispered.
"The cabinet." He pointed to the corner. She collected her bag and Lee's. Then she steps over the bodies and dashed up the steps, not once looking back.
"Wait!"- Murphy stumbled forward.-"Untie me."
