Present
Hadrian paced back and forth in his living room. The boys were playing with toys on the carpet, and soft gurgling could be heard throughout the house. It had been about two weeks since he ran from the hospital, one week since the phone calls stopped, and about an hour since they ran out of food. Hadrian was at a loss at what to do.
I could always visit the Greene's house. He thought to himself. But what if they turned, too? Should I risk it? He looked over towards his babies, contemplation written across his face. Hmm, I could leave the boys here, no what am I thinking! Well, maybe if they're napping... That's it! With his lips twisted into a worried smile, Hadrian walked over to the playing children.
"Hey loves. What are ya'll playing with?" Hadrian asked the tikes.
"Caw!" Micah exclaimed, holding up a shiny red toy truck. Hadrian smiled at him and reached out a hand to smooth Micah's unruly hair out.
"Are you now? Well that's so cool! What color is that, Micah? Can you tell daddy?" He had been working with the boys since they were born. Micah could already speak, read, and could write just a little. He still hadn't quite grasped motor skills. He felt a proud grin stretching his face as Micah responded, "Wed, daddy!"
"Aren't you just so smart!" He kissed Micah on the head and turned to Dante. He was sat quietly across from Micah, gently rolling a bright blue car around. He tapped Dante gently on the shoulder to get his attention.
'What have you got there, baby?' Hadrian signed to his son. Dante was born deaf, and Hadrian learned, and taught both boys as much as he could. He had educational videos he showed the boys as well.
'A toy, daddy. Do you want play with me and brother?' Hadrian smiled, and setlled himself down to play with the twins.
_
Two hours later
Both boys were finally asleep, but Hadrian was having second doubts. The nearest town was about ten minutes away, and the Greene's were about fifteen. He didn't know if he could leave the boys for so long, but he didn't really have a choice. They would starve otherwise.
With a weary sigh, Hadrian stood up to get ready.
Locking the door behind him, Hadrian proceeded to check every entrance to make sure it was locked up super tight. He hated to leave the boys alone, but he refused to take them with him and put them in even worse danger. He walked to his car, and started to leave. He decided to go to the town. If the Greene's were indeed alive, they would probably want to keep as much of their food as they could.
The road was long and quiet. He only saw two or three deados, and they were far enough away from his home that he wasn't bothered too bad. Ten minutes later, he pulled into the town. He looked around, trying to get a sight on how many of those things were there. He pulled over and cut the engine, not wanting to draw their attention, and started counting heads. He saw fifteen scattered about. Not too many, but enough to cause a problem. He then quickly looked at the shops. Every one of them had signs saying closed, but only a few had gates across the doors. If they were locked, well, he could pick a lock pretty quick. The only thing now is he needed some kind of distraction. He looked around at the shops. It's still summer so there should be... Aha! He saw the fireworks stand not too far from where he was parked. The weren't any geeks around it either. He decided to take a chance, and got out of the passenger side of his vehicle, barely closing the door behind him so it would draw notice. He looked around before dashing the few meters to the stand, and made his way to the back. He tried the knob, and to his luck, it was unlocked.
He quickly glanced inside to make sure nothing was hidden in there, before making his way in and gently closing the door. He flicked on the flashlight he had brought with him, and glanced around in horror. Nothing was touched. There were still hundreds and hundreds of fireworks stocked. Seriously? I cannot be the only one that has had this idea... Are people really this dumb? Shaking his head, he glanced around. He was looking for something small, that would make a lot of noise. Preferably in mass quantities but beggars can't be choosers.
He avoided the walls. Those were usually full of the big flashy ones, and while he could use them, this run was for emergency items. He'd make another one later. Looking on the counter-top, he saw a jar full of wack bat rolls. They were perfect for what he had in mind. He looked around for a bag of some type. He was definitely taking as many with him as he could. He spotted a rack of plastic vendor bags, and quickly grabbed a few. He filled them up as mucha as he could and ended up with two and a quarter full. He found a few lighters to throw in the bag as well. Taking a few rolls out and putting them in his pockets, along with a lighter that he made sure worked, he quickly made his way back to the door and let himself out quietly and gently. Looking around to make sure the area was still clear, he placed the bags gently to the side of the door to pick up on his way back to the car.
He took one of the wack bat rolls out of his pocket and looked around the corner of the stand. He could see three corpses directly in front of the shooting range next door, and several more in front of the gas station across the street. He could see the door to the shooting range directly across from him, he just had to make the fifteen foot gap without them seeing him. Glancing once more towards the street, Hadrian quickly dashed across the grass and threw himself at the wall next to the door. He held his breath to listen for footsteps, and hearing nothing, quietly released a small breath.
He tried the doorknob for this one, but wasn't as lucky. Grumbling to himself, he crouched down, and took out his tools. Taking the pick and torque wrench, Hadrian swiftly unllocked the door and darted inside.
POV Change
Glenn was a medium built, agile, KOREAN man, and right now, he was getting ready to go ballistic on someone.
"I'm not Chinese man! I'm Korean! I've told you this a million time!" He shouted in frustration.
"Ah who cares! All ya gooks look the same ta me." Merle said with a grin. taking another drag of his cigarette, Merle winked at Glenn and walked away. Glenn gave an angry growl and yanked his hair in frustration.
"That stupid, no good, arrogant, piece of..." Glenn muttered to himself. He was tired, stressed, and hella annoyed.
"You alright there Glenn?" The soft voice coming from behind him startled him and he turned around to answer.
"Yeah, thanks Dale, I'm good. I'm just sick of racist redneck bastards." Glenn tried to reassure him. Dale just gave him 'that look', the one that just screamed, LIAR.
"I would believe you if I hadn't noticed this mood you've been in the past week and a half." Glenn felt his shoulders sag a little in defeat.
"It's nothing, Dale. I'm just worried about a friend. I would have expected him to come here during all of this, but I haven't seen any sign of him." Glenn explained worriedly. When he finished speaking, Dale got a sad look in his eye.
"Have you thought, you know, he's probably gone, Glenn. Not very many people survived." He tried to sound reassuring, but Glenn almost immediately started shaking his head, letting a couple of chuckles.
"No, Dale. You don't know Mr. Thompson. If there's anyone anywhere that can survive this thing, it's him. He's probably one of the toughest people I've ever met. I know where he lived. His house is pretty secluded, he probably just stayed there." Glenn stated matter-of-factly. He could see the mild disappointment in Dale's eyes, but he didn't care. He knew something like this wouldn't take Hadrian down. He's been through far worse than this, and that's just what Glenn knew about.
Flashback
June 25, 2003
The boy led the man to the alley by the street.
"Fifty for a suck and a hundred for a fuck. Money upfront." The fifteen year old said to the much older man.
The man quickly took out two twenties and a ten and shoved them into the boy's hands before undoing his belt and dropping his pants. The child pocketed the money and looked towards the engorged flesh pointing towards his face. He hated what he had to do but his papa, no… He would not think of that man as papa. His guardian made him. He had no choice in the matter.
So with that thought in mind the youth took the man's member deep into his throat and swallowed. He hoped he could get through this as fast as possible. The man didn't last long and promptly released down the boy's throat, grabbing his hair and holding him to himself in the process. The child, once released, fought not to gag. He watched the man walk off through narrowed eyes.
Standing, the young man reached into his pocket to see how much he had made that night. Not paying attention to where he was going, he slammed into another body and started to fall. Before he hit the ground, though, he was caught in a surprisingly strong grip.
"Hey, Kid, are you alright?" Hadrian jumped when he heard the voice. It was a warm and smooth sounding voice. It brought waves of comfort to Hadrian, and he had to fight not to succumb to them. He looked up into tilted, dark brown eyes. The guy holding him didn't look to be much older than he himself was. He was Asian in appearance, though of which country he couldn't tell.
Catching himself staring, he quickly ripped his arm from the other man's grasp.
"I'm fine." Hadrian told the man in a cold voice. The Asian was relentless, however.
"Are you sure? You're not hurt? I'm sorry I bumped into you. I wasn't really watching where I was going. It's my first day on the job, you see, and…" The man continued to babble, causing Hadrian to give him a confused look. Was this man insane?
"Like I said, I'm fine. Now do you mind? I need to get back to work and you're kind of in my way." Hadrian's abrupt tone seemed to break through the man's ceaseless chatter. The Asian looked at Hadrian, finally taking in his appearance, causing a blush to spread across his face.
The boy was wearing really, really, short shorts and a black fishnet top that stopped just above his naval, with knee high boots. He had mid-back length black hair that was pulled back into a braid, with a fringe over his eyes, and was wearing a thick line of eyeliner, causing his beautiful violet eyes to pop. All in all, the boy was stunning.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't realize you we're a…um…a uh…um..." He started awkwardly.
"A prostitute?" The boy retorted lazily. He had come to terms with what he was, and he wouldn't deny it (no matter how much he hated it).
"Uh… I'm Glenn. I deliver pizzas." The guy, Glenn apparently, blurted out. He stuck his hand out to shake but Hadrian just looked at him and rolled his eyes.
"Hadrian; whore." Hadrian bit out.
"Yeah, um…" Glenn laughed nervously. "Well I had better deliver this pizza. Um, later?"
"Bye." Glenn watched Hadrian walk to the nearby lamp post and lean against it. He shook his head and walked to the nearby apartments. What was wrong with the world? That kid couldn't have been more than twelve. Glenn delivered the pizza to the impatient guy and left the complex. As he was exiting the doors, he heard shouting and the sound of flesh hitting flesh.
Heading towards the noise, Glenn came across the alley where he ran into Hadrian, and looked into it. It was really dark, but he could make out the vague shape of a larger body scrambling above a much smaller one. His thoughts flashed back to Hadrian and his profession, and, thinking that it was just another whore, Glenn turned to leave. At the sound of a pained cry he turned sharply and ran back towards the alley.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" He yelled out, hoping to get their attention. He saw the darker shape jerk up before running off just as he got there. Now that he was closer, he could make out Hadrian lying on the ground. The boy was a mess. His shorts were down by his ankles, his shirt was in shreds, and there was blood everywhere.
"Hadrian? Can you hear me? Hey, I'm going to pick you up, ok? I'm going to get you to a hospital." Getting nothing but a groan in response, he gently picked Hadrian up and made his way to his car.
Present
Shaking his head, Glenn felt his stomach growl, and went to see if he could find anything to eat.
POV Change
Hadrian's breath came in quick bursts. He managed to scrounge up several knives and a pistol. In his haste to clear out the shooting range, he forgot to check for bodies. He looked around the shelf he was hiding behind, trying to find where the geeks were. There was one immediately there, but its back was turned to him. He could see the other one a ways down the lane. He only saw two, so that was a relief. He could see the check out counter immediately in front of him and quickly stood to dash behind it.
As he took the first step forward, something caught under his foot, twisting his ankle and sending him tumbling to the ground. He let out a high pitched yelp as he hit the ground hard. His body went cold instantly and a shiver crawled up his back. He slowly turned to look at the zombies, and his stomach turned to ice.
They were right beside him...
