Chapter 7: Paul Carson
Paul Carson was your everyday average teenager, except for one major thing. He was Willamette's biggest pyromaniac. If it could catch fire, it had been discovered by Paul. He spent his free time creating his own bombs, raiding his parents' wine stash so he could make Molotov cocktails, and burning whatever he could to the ground. Paul had burned down every tree in his back yard, and destroyed the deck of his house because there was nothing left to burn.
Paul spent most of his time in his room and the backyard. One the occasions he did go out, life became miserable. If he went to the mall, other teenagers would point and call him names. Parents would drag their children away from him, and no matter what he did, they all laughed. Life for him would become unbearable and would go back home and set something else alight.
On the day of September 21st, he had trapped two women in the Casual Gals closet and was threatening their lives with one of his special, homemade Molotov cocktails. He had found Mindy Baker and Debbie Willet wandering around Wonderland Plaza, scared and confused. He had seen them at the mall before, undoubtedly laughing like the others and had attacked them. He grabbed Mindy by the hair, and had threatened to light her on fire with his lighter. She had screamed and cried and kicked, but to no avail. That's when Debbie had hit Paul over the back with a baseball bat. He had turned to her, anger prevalent in his eyes. After a moment, he thought of an ingenious plan. He ran to the upstairs part of the Space Rider machine, making the girls think he had left. Then he had strapped a bomb onto a remote control car and driven it down the steps. With the car, he had chased them into the small closet of Casual Gals.
Now, here he was ready to throw a Molotov cocktail in their faces, and show them the error of their ways.
"Please don't do this!" Debbie screamed as she hugged Mindy.
"But I h-h-have t-to!" Paul yelled back, grabbing at a wine bottle he had snatched from Seon's Food and Stuff.
Just then a man, Frank West was sneaking up behind Paul as Mindy asked, "What did we ever do to you?"
"Y-y-you do it all the time. Y-you l-l-look at me a-and l-laugh!" Paul answered as Frank got closer. Just then, Frank West tripped over a bottle of gasoline, alerting Paul.
Paul looked at him, then the girl's then back to him. He tried to decide who to throw this nice, warm Molotov cocktail at, and decided Frank was more of a threat. He threw the cocktail and ran out of the store as fast as he could.
Frank ran after him, attempting to kill him and get to the survivors. As Frank chased, Paul dropped bombs in his path, hoping to shake him off. This went on for some time, and Paul became tired. He continued to throw bombs in an attempt to shake off Frank, but he was getting nowhere.
After a while, Frank finally caught up to him. He slashed at Paul with a sword. The sword hit him in the ribs. There was a blinding pain, and blood spurted out of his stomach. AS Frank made to hit again, Paul dodged out of the way and ran back into Casual Gals. He grabbed another bottle of wine, and was attempting to light it on fire when Frank came in. The lighter wasn't working and it took a few tries to get it to light. When the cocktail was ready, Paul grinned and got ready to finish Frank off. He stepped back to put distance between him and the blast and he tripped over a bottle of gasoline. He hit the ground hard and let go of the burning wine bottle. It flew into the air, and landed feet from him. There was a huge explosion, and before Paul knew what was happening, his jeans had caught fire.
He felt the fire burning his skin, and screamed in pain and frustration; sure he was going to die without giving Debbie and Mindy what they deserved. He watched Frank run out of the store, sure he was leaving him to die. Frank came back with a fire extinguisher and was amazed to see that Frank was actually trying to save him.
Once Paul was extinguished, he got up and thanked Frank. The man asked him to join his party and handed Paul the same sword he had been hit with. As Paul looked over the sword, Frank went and got the girls out of the closet. They slowly approached Paul, thinking he might try to hurt them again. When he showed no signs of aggression, they relaxed and took what was offered to them.
Together, the survivors ran out of the store and into the zombie infested mall. Paul limped badly because of his wounds, but managed to have some fun by slicing countless zombies in half. When they got through the mall and in to the security room, Paul thanked him and went to the room Otis appointed him.
I must find some way to repay him, Paul thought. Paul went over to the corner, and pondered the ways he could thank Frank for letting him live after what he had done. After hours of thinking, the idea came to him. He had seen Floyd walking around, sharing his wine bottle with the others in the room.
Molotov cocktails! Paul thought,yes, they'll be perfect
He took a wine bottle out of his pocket, and ordered Otis to call Frank and tell him he wanted to give him something. Frank came in, sweaty and covered in blood. Paul called him over, and gave him a Molotov cocktail. Frank took it in his hands, and an incredulous expression came over his face. The others in the room looked the same as Frank, and Paul told him he could have as many as he wanted. Frank took a few more, thanked him, and walked out.
"Where did you get that?" Jolie Wuu asked.
"I made it," he muttered, afraid that the others would start laughing.
"You did! That's amazing!" Rachel exclaimed.
"Really? You mean it isn't stupid or something?" Paul asked a little louder.
"No way! That is cool! That is like the ultimate zombie killing tool," she said.
"Wow, thanks," Paul said.
As time went on, Frank came in for more, and Paul produced them. The other survivors were amazed that Paul could make these ultimate tools of destruction, and all were comfortable with the fact that Paul could blow the zombies away if they ever came in.
When the helicopter finally arrived, the other survivors and Paul walked out onto the rooftop. Mindy, even though she was still terrified of the troubled teen, thanked him for not blowing her to smithereens. She then left Paul to talk to Jolie, who had become a great friend of hers. Paul was glad that the people of Willamette were no longer laughing at him. They climbed into the helicopter, and as they flew away from the dead city, Paul threw his last Molotov out of the helicopter.
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