Part 2
John
The woods were dark and only the sound of crickets chirping filled the kids ears. They've been waiting for Dave to come back for an hour. He must have been eaten. Typical that he of all of them would get taken first. Oh well. That means that John is the leader now, and he was going to make sure to be a better one than Dave.
Jade Harley sat beside him on a log, with Rose Lalonde on the other side of her. Rose stared off into the distance while Jade nervously fiddled with her fingers. "Do you see him yet?"
"No." Rose answered blankly. John sighed as Jade did. He was just as worried about him as Jade was. If only Jade had given him back his phone. Then they wouldn't be in this stupid situation.
"Oh!" Jade jumped and patted skirt, a heavy object falling out of it. It was ringing. A phone? But Jade doesn't have a…
"Jade is that Dave's cell?" She blinked, somewhat dazed by what just happened. "I-"
"Doesn't matter, just answer it." Rose demanded. John sighed again and picked up the device, answering whoever was calling. "Hello?"
"Dave? Dave are you okay?" It was Dirk, Dave's older brother. He sounded worried. Damn. John bit his lip. Dave was probably a zombie by now. How was he going to tell his brother? "Uh, this is John."
"John? Why do you have Dave's phone?"
"Uh…" Oh how to explain… "It's a long story. But I'm not going to explain why I have it when your brother is probably walking around eating people's brains." There was a gasp on the other line. Was he on speaker? "Jane calm down. Yeah I know…hang on." Dirk must be talking to his friends. "Sorry, Jane started to freak out when you said that. Where are you guys?"
"In the woods behind my house. Where are you?"
"In town. We'll be there soon. Don't move." Click. John put the phone in his pocket and stood, looking towards the direction Dave had gone in. "That was Dirk. He said to stay put and that he and his friends will be here soon." Rose and Jade looked up at him, remaining silent. John was quiet too. The thought of his best friend getting eaten wasn't really helping their will to survive vibes. John looked back at the path Dave had taken. Should he go see if he was okay…? No, Dirk said to stay put. But then again, Dave was his best friend. He decided to go see if he was still in the house. Nothing bad could come from that…right?
"I'm going to go check on Dave." John tightened the straps on his bag. Rose and Jade looked up at him, surprise on their faces. "But you said-"
"I know what I said. But we can't just leave Dave in there. Even if he is a zombie. If he is, then we need to kill him. He would want us to." The girls stayed silent and John took his que to leave. He didn't feel right leaving them alone in the woods, but he didn't feel that leaving Dave was right either. He was sure they'd be fine though, since they're the ones with the firearms and amo. Even if Rose is the only one who knows how to use a stupid gun. Rose would probably teach Jade though. John chuckled at the thought of sweet little ol' Jade firing a revolver. She'll probably drop the darn thing before she even pulls the trigger! Oh well.
John got to the edge of the woods fairly quickly, the distance between him and his house full of zombies mindlessly roaming about. If he was going to get to Dave he'd have to fight his way through. Sighing, John held up his baseball bat, reading himself. It was hard to see in the dark, but luckily the moon gave off just enough light so that he could see their skin. If they're stupid enough, then they shouldn't be able to see him. At the last second, John put up his hood so that it hid most of his pale face. He then charged at the closest zombie, knocking its head right off. Blood spurt onto him and he almost made a sound in disgust, but bit his lips to keep it from escaping. He went to the next zombie and did the same, and then the next.
There were only eight zombies left when John started to get tired. His bat had broken, and he didn't have enough time to get his spare weapon from his bag. The zombies were starting to close in on him. It was stupid to go after Dave. Now he was going to get eaten too. At least Rose and Jade would have Dirk and the others to look after them. John smiled to himself, dropping the remains of his bat. Rose would be safe. That's all that really mattered to him. As the zombies began to get closer, John said a small prayer, "Jegus, please…keep Rose safe…"
Right when a zombie was about the grab him, guns sounded, and the zombies around him fell to the ground. Egbert looked up, trying to find who had fired the shots. It was none other than Jake English and his twin pistols. He smirked and blew the smoke that crept out of the barrels before slipping the weapons into their holsters. Dirk, Jane, and Roxy stepped out from behind him and ran over to the boy. "John! John are you alright?" Jane asked, hugging him tightly. "Yeah, I'm fine." She released him and John smiled to Jake. "Thanks."
"Anytime! Now, tell us why you're out here alone." The boy sighed, looking towards his home. "I was looking for Dave." Dirk stepped forward, peering in the doorway of the house. "Looks pretty empty to me. Just a bunch of bodies laying around. Did you guys fuck up some zombies or something before you left?" This puzzled John. He looked inside the house, and to his surprise, Dirk's words were true. There were zombie bodies littered all over the place. Most in the living room. John took a step inside, being careful to step around a body that lay on his kitchen floor. The rooms reeked of death. Gross.
Dirk followed in behind him leaving the others waiting outside. He and John looked around, trying to see if there was any sign of Dave. John took a few steps forward and heard a crack. He must have stepped on something. He looked down, lifting up his foot to see what he had crushed. It was Dave's shades, now in little bits and pieces. Dirk walked over to him. "What's wrong John?" He nodded to the glasses. The older boy bent down and picked up the frames, holding them in his hands. He stared down at them for the longest time, John thought they were going to be there all night. Dirk finally put them in his pocket then turned to John. "Let's go…" His voice was barely a whisper, but there was so much emotion behind the choked words that it made John's insides tingle. Dave was obviously there, but he hadn't stayed long enough for them to catch him.
They walked out of the house meeting up with Jake and the girls outside. They took one look at Dirk and knew something wasn't right. They didn't ask any questions though. The group just followed John back to Rose and Jade.
Hopefully Dave was out there somewhere, fighting off the zombies like the bad ass he is. Where could he have gone? If he had gone back to them while John was looking for him, he would've noticed, right? Then again, John was wrapped up in his own thing. He hadn't even noticed the alphas walking over to him when he was fighting the zombies.
How did this whole zombie thing even start? The question bugged John all the way back to his friends. Just yesterday his dad was perfectly healthy and happy. The next morning he's trying to eat John's brain. Unless someone came in and put something in their dinner last night, then there's no way that his father should have become one of them. There's no possible way.
"John!" A force struck him hard on the head, sending him sprawling backwards into Jake and Jane. They caught him before he fell to the ground. "You okay?"
"What the hell was that?" He asked, looking around. There weren't any low branches sticking out that could've hit him. Nor was there anyone else out here. The others looked around too, but saw nothing. How strange. He didn't even know what had hit him on the head…
They arrived back at the spot where Rose and Jade sat talking about whatever it is girls talk about. Probably boys and nail polish. "Hey guys." John sat beside them on the log, still rubbing his his. Whatever it was that hit him sure did hurt. Jade noticed his head rubbing. "You okay there?" He nodded and stopped. All the rubbing was making him feel dizzy.
"We should head back to town." Dirk said, folding his arms in such a way that made him look powerful compared to everyone else. He was and everyone knew it. Bro was the one that taught Dave all of his strifing skills, which was how he fought off the zombies. Speaking of Dave…
"Hey uh, before we go we should probably show them…" John said to Dirk. He nodded slowly, digging into his pocket. He pulled out Dave's shade frames, and Jade nearly fell to the ground. Rose and John had to catch her mid-way. "Jegus…" She gasped, tears rimming her green eyes. John looked at the ground, feeling bad about having to show her. "Hey, it doesn't mean that he's one of them. It just means that he lost his glasses." Dirk explained, putting them back in his pocket. The oldest Strider sounded confident about what he had just said, like he meant it. But did he actually mean it…?
"Let's get going." The group followed Dirk out of the woods. The sun was starting to rise over the horizon, shining some light over the hill. John's house shone in the light, looking whiter than it actually was. They all stepped over bodies, Jade and Jane tripping over one every once and a while. Dirk led the group away from the area to town. Sometimes they had to hide behind dumpsters or cars to avoid being seen by the undead. "We should take to the roofs…it'd be a lot easier to travel up there."
"Are you kidding me? I'm not jumping from roof to roof!" Roxy whined. One look from Dirk shut her up. Jake spotted a ladder on the next building over and they crawled over to it, careful not to draw attention to themselves. Jake went up first, then the girls, then John, and finally Dirk. Once everyone was up, Dirk gazed out over the other roofs, making sure there wasn't any dead up there. He ran and jumped, landing on the roof of the building beside them.
"Dirk I won't be able to do it!" Jane cried, looking down at the ground. Her face paled slightly at seeing how high up they actually were. Jake walked up and hugged it. "You'll be able to do it Janey. You just gotta run and jump! Dirk and I will be over there to catch you if you need help." With that, Jake stepped back a couple paces, then ran, jumping to the next building. He landed beside his friend, who was smiling at Jane. "Now it's your turn." She trembled. "I-I-"
"Jane, it'll be okay." John said soothingly. He was always good at comforting people. It was just a gift of his. She looked at the young boy and smiled slightly. "Okay fine…but if I fall to my death, I'm blaming all of you!" She stepped back, ran, and jumped. Her foot caught the ledge of the building but that wasn't enough to keep her up. She started to fall, screaming her head off at the feeling of being pulled towards the ground. "Jane!" Jake and Dirk grabbed her arms, catching them before it was too late. They hoisted her up and hugged her tightly as she wept. "Oh my god. Oh my god. I almost died!"
"But you didn't because we caught you." Jake said with a smile. "Yeah, you're welcome." Dirk said. She sent him a look that said jackass then looked towards the people still on the other building. "Come on guys!"
Rose and Jade went next, landing on the other building. Then Roxy. John was the only one who still had to jump. Heights scared him shitless. Yet he had to jump. If he didn't he would be alone, and he did not want that. Gulping down any last thoughts, John stepped back. But his back touched something. Something squishy. Something that should not have been on the roof.
"John!" The others screamed from the other roof. He knew what was behind him. Damn he knew what it was. And he was defenseless. His bat had broken, and if he tried to get the weapon in his pack, his hand would probably get nomed off by the fucking zombie. On the other roof, John saw Jake and Roxy pull out their guns, aiming it for the dead. "If you shoot you will shoot John too!" Dirk pointed out. He pulled out his katana, which seemed to glow in the sunlight. Before anyone could protest, he jumped over.
A hand gripped John's shoulder tightly. He was shaking. Horrified, John stood rooted to his spot. "John move!" He couldn't. He couldn't. He couldn't. He couldn't. DAMN IT! He was such a scaredy cat! He couldn't even get away from a stupid zombie! Dirk had to push him away to get him to move out of the way. John fell to the ground, watching as Dirk stabbed the walker then cut off it's head. He then grabbed John by the arm and threw him over to the other roof, where Jake caught him. Dirk put his katana back, then jumped over. He gave John a look before jumping to another roof. The others gave him an unsure looks too, as if he did something wrong before following Dirk to the other roof.
John just sat there on the roof, watching as they jumped the roofs, leaving him behind. He supposed he should follow them, but he was afraid they didn't want him as part of the group anymore. Since he was such a wimp, he was useless. Plus he didn't have a weapon. Wait, yes he did! John took off his bag and reached inside, grabbing the weapon that lay inside and pulled it out. It was a gun. Like the ones that police use. He loaded it, making sure it was full of ammo. He wasn't going to back down from anything anymore. He wasn't going to chicken out. He wasn't going to ask for help.
John put his bag back on his back and strapped it on tightly. He walked towards the ledge, peering down. The zombies were everywhere. He let out an airy laugh. Pathetic. He jumped to the other roof. Soon they would kill them all. They'd all be gone. For now they, he had to focus on finding Dave.
He stopped a roof behind the others. He didn't need them. He could fight them all off on his own. His eyes wandered to Rose, who sat on a box. Her face shimmered under the sun, her black lips standing out against her pale complexion. Her ghost white hair danced across her face as the warm summer air passed, making her look even more beautiful. God damn she's go gorgeous. But she's so out of his league. John sighed. He couldn't leave her behind. He supposed he would stay with the group until he came up with a plan. Yes, that sounded like a good idea.
Egbert jumped to the other roof, joining his friends. "What took you so long Egbert?" Dirk asked, sitting on another box. "Sorry something uh…caught my eye." He glanced at Rose as he said that. To his surprise, she was smiling at him. So he smiled back, but that made her look away. Damn it. He sighed, sitting down on the floor. "What do we do now?"
"We wait for Dave."
"Wait? That could be years! Besides, he's probably a zom-"
"Don't say that!" The Strider snapped. John shut his mouth. "I know he's alive! He's a Strider damn you!" The group was silent, the tension so thick that John could hardly breathe. He was saying and doing all the wrong things today. He didn't want to be here anymore. John got up and walked to the ledge. There were some zombies down below. He needed a way to let out his anger. What better way to do so than killing some fucking zombies?
"John? John what are you doing?" Jane asked wearily, walking towards him. He looked back at her, which made her stop. He looked so sad, so unwanted. She wanted to give him a gigantic hug and some cake. If only she had the materials to actually make a cake. She sighed. This apocalypse is so not sweet!
"I'm jumping." Before anyone else could get up he waved goodbye and leaned over the edge, allowing gravity to take him down into the ally of walkers.