Act 1
Chapter 8
Vermillion Street ran east out of the heavily populated section of Danville and into the field covered country side. Several undead and massacred bodies lay at the side of the road each with its own tale of tragedy and woe. The bodies most likely belonged to the residents of the large housing complex that was the last sign of civilization before the acres of corn and wheat took over, blotting out everything and leaving the usually evil feeling of Danville behind.
The sounds of gunfire and screams from the Mall could hardly be heard by the four survivors as they pulled in through the gates of the housing complex, justly named Sunset Housing. Coleen hadn't wanted to stop, but as James had pointed out "It's going to be utter chaos for a couple of days at max, so we need to lay low and not get killed before we can try anything that stupid again." She couldn't quite argue with that logic.
Of course she could try; Coleen was a horrible person to argue with. If she couldn't win with her wit and knowledge alone she'd use her innocent sounding voice, or girly whines to persuade whomever happened to be the idiot who went against her. James wasn't someone she could win against though. Besides him being stubborn and normally correct, he intimidated her, and she knew he was right this time.
She did want to survive, which was James' whole point. They would most likely die if they kept going like they were invincible. Coleen knew she wasn't invincible, but she wanted to know if the rest of her family was ok. It was slowly cutting up her heart not knowing where they were and if they knew that she was in the most trustworthy hands at the moment. These three were probably the only other people she'd rather be with in a ridiculous situation like this, even if she hadn't seen one of them in a little over two years.
Speaking of Tommy, he had technically saved her life multiple times in the span of twenty four hours and she still hadn't thanked him. Honestly she didn't feel like she should; thinking about him being gone for so long, without so much as a proper good bye, made her furious. She almost wanted to hit him, but she restrained. Further conflict would most likely not turn out for the best.
Coleen was the last to get out of the car after James put it in park in the middle of the road that ran through the housing complex. She stood, feeling a little cramped from the small back seat, behind Tanya whom was looking at James for direction. James was simply looking at the multiple houses, or it was more likely he was looking at the chaos that ensued around and in the multiple houses, as Tommy spoke up.
"Anyone will do." He said looking to James, then to Tanya and finally to Coleen. He held his gaze at Coleen for a moment and she was immediately reminded of that phrase ("people never change") that he had always told her. "But I say we get one on the second floor though."
James nodded and, pistol in hand, began walking toward the first wooden staircase he saw. Tommy continued to look at Coleen until she was tugged along behind Tanya, then he followed in suit. Coleen could hear Tommy's panicky breathing behind her as she walked and it made her feel some reassurance to know that someone had her back, even if that person seemed to be scared shitless. So was she.
Coleen wanted to grab his hand, but she didn't. She grabbed Tanya's instead, and Tanya didn't seem to mind as she squeezed slightly to show that she was there and afraid too. Her hand was cold, but Coleen didn't mind because hers were as well. She was almost certain that Tommy's would be warm; they always seemed to be warm. Or at least they used to be.
She didn't want to keep assuming that he was completely the same, but she also didn't want to just assume he had completely changed. The only thing she wanted to do right now was sit down and ask him questions, a lot of questions. The story was missing two years worth of chapters and for some reason she felt they were big chapters, ones with lots of plot and character building. Maybe that was because she'd changed a lot in those two years.
Her waist length brown hair had been cut moderately shorter, now only brushing her shoulder blades. She kept it put up in a pony tail more often because of her busy schedule that used to hold school, work, dance classes and trying to keep up with her parents. She tried to keep her body busy so her mind would stay clear, but at night, while she was sleeping, she'd dream. More often than not, it would be of him.
The bags that used to hide under her eyes had become excruciatingly gloomy before eventually beginning to vanish. She started taking his advice, forcing herself to eat breakfast (usually something that he liked) and she began to walk. There was never a designated location, she just walked along Route 1 like he used to, usually with her headphones on and an MP3 player with "My Chemical Romance" somewhere on it tucked into her pocket.
The walking wore her out at first, but it helped her to get a deeper sleep. The extra food in her body kept her going, helping her metabolism jump start and her body to start shaping the way she had always wanted it to. For the first time in a long time she enjoyed looking at herself in the mirror after a nice long shower.
Her acne stint had come and gone, luckily while Tommy wasn't around. That was one thing she was glad he wasn't here to see, even though deep down she wished he had. It had gotten extremely prevalent right after he left, when she didn't have the confidence boost that he always gave her and that she had hardly noticed. It started to fade after she began walking, and she commonly thanked Tommy in her dreams, and sometimes nightmares, for the good advice.
Listening to him almost made him stay with her. She began to feel better about herself because she felt and looked good, and it was because of what he had said. Anytime she'd be walking, or at dance classes, and she felt like she wasn't good enough his voice would ring into her ears saying something encouraging or sometimes just funny.
She matured a lot, while also clinging to her childish nature. She began to see the side of life Tommy had always told her about, the side that did things just to make itself feel better. She found a balance, an almost Zen-like state, where she could be responsible and take care of herself and her family while still remaining to keep herself happy. She felt good that she did what Tommy hadn't been able to do.
Bumping into Tanya at the top of the stairs made Coleen pop out of the trance-like state she had been in. Tommy put a hand on her shoulder to keep from running into her and she was right, it was warm. She could feel the heat through her cruddy little jacket, the one she put on in the morning because it used to belong to him. The one that was a few sizes too big and had a large white crow representing the band "Shine down" on the front of it. Whenever she'd awaken from a nightmare, or just have a bad day at school, work, etc., she would take it from her bed post and crawl inside of it, his smell still lingering after all that time. It made her feel safe, loved.
James lifted his leg chest high and put his boot down hard on the handle of the door causing it to fling open and reveal a darkened mess of a living room. Tommy made a somewhat witty remark and James chuckled before stepping through the door with the pistol still at the ready. He didn't bother to turn the lights on, not until he was halfway into the house when he turned back and told Tanya to get them on the way in.
The door would never shut the same, but they barricaded it nicely enough to keep anything outside where it belonged. Each of them found and claimed a respected place to sleep, Coleen favoring a bedroom that looked as if it had belonged to a little girl, probably five or six. The walls were painted a bright pink and the bed matched it with its pink sheets and pillow cases. It looked so innocent that Coleen couldn't help but shed a tear as she imagined what might have happened to the little girl who used to live here.
She dropped to the floor, knowing that she wouldn't be able to sleep in the bed, her feet staying inside of her beaten shoes. Curling up into her favorite position, legs tucked in and her hands under her head, she heard James, Tommy and Tanya chattering away in the living room. She heard her name mentioned, and several other names she recognized, but she was too tired to care. The list of questions ran through her head again, and she promised herself she would ask them in the morning, if it ever came that is.
She awoke from a nightmare to the smell of eggs. She didn't hear her mother or father arguing, neither did she here her sister going on and on about something that Coleen didn't necessarily care about. She was worried for a moment that she had awoken in a stranger's house and that her parents were probably worried sick trying to find her.
Then it all began to come back to her; church, her dad, the Mall, the daring escape, the house, Tommy. It hurt for it to rush into her head all at once, her chest clenched together to absorb the blow but it only made the pain ubiquitous. She realized that everything hadn't just been a dream and she was in fact in someone else's house trying to survive against blood-thirsty creatures from what seemed to be the depths of hell.
She pushed it all out of her mind, and she was moderately surprised that it had let her do it so easily. Her mind was probably tired of thinking about it too, it had other things that it wanted to make her mouth say, or ask rather. She stood up and followed the lingering smell of cooked eggs out of her room and into the living room where she saw the place James had slept, or more than likely just laid awake, the night before.
She continued to follow until she reached the kitchen, the source. There stood Tommy in front of the stove, his hair wild as a Californian brush fire. Blood stained his clothes and neck so much that it looked like he was an extra for a terribly written horror movie that Coleen would normally watch just for the laughs. She tried to ignore the stories that might lie within the stains.
"What's for breakfast?" Coleen asked pulling out a chair at the small yellow table in the corner of the kitchen and taking a seat.
"Well it's actually almost ten o'clock at night." He said turning with his eyebrows raised. "You went to bed almost immediately after we got here, which was around nine in the morning."
She was shocked, almost astonished. Her internal clock had gotten its ass kicked after she fell asleep in the back of the Mustang. How long had it been since she heard the screams in the sermon hall? How long had it been since her father died? How long had it been?
"It's been about a day," Tommy said, reading her mind like he did sometimes. "Give or take a few hours or so. I found you in my car at around one or something yesterday."
She began to piece it together in her head. She left the church around noon, running for her life, before finding the green mustang and passing out in the back seat. She slept until the sun was up, so she'd guessed it was around seven or eight in the morning considering they wound up here at nine.
"Gosh," She said letting out a large sigh. "It seems like it's been weeks."
"That's what happens when you sleep a lot." Coleen was sure that wasn't really an insult of any manner, but she couldn't help but feel that it was. Tommy looked like he hadn't slept at all and he probably hadn't. He most likely had been up early on Sunday morning and hasn't gotten a wink of sleep since the infection began spreading.
"You need to sleep." She said it quietly, weakly.
"Here's your eggs madam." Tommy said ignoring the comment with a tired smile on his face and sliding a pile of scrambled eggs onto a nicely washed plate in front of her. She didn't know he could cook. In fact she had never seen him, or even heard of him, cooking before in the entirety of their friendship. She rethought the saying "People never change".
She began to eat them, savoring the taste of a freshly cooked meal. It reminded her of the occasions when her mom would cook for her. She, again, quickly pushed the thought from her mind, trying to re-focus on the list of questions that was compiled in her head. Then she decided that this wasn't really the place to do it either and compiled a new list, one that was appropriate given the circumstances.
"Where are James and Tanya?"
He told her about how James had been setting outside of the now un-barricaded door for the past few hours, holding his gun and taking a pop at anything that tried to work its way up the wooden stairs.
"Tanya just went to sleep actually," He said, taking a scoop of Coleen's eggs with a spoon. "She started crying a little and just wanted to be alone, so I let her."
Coleen looked down at her eggs and suddenly didn't feel like eating anymore. She prayed that she would never have to eat again and that these eggs would keep her body going for the rest of her existence. They wouldn't of course, but she prayed. Sometimes it was all she could do. Sometimes it was all she wanted to do.
Then Tommy's phone rang. He jumped straight out of his skin, knocking the plate of eggs off of the table. The plate shattered leaving the eggs to huddle against the nicely tiled floor. He threw his hand into his jacket pocket and retrieved the tiny flip phone that he had apparently thought he had lost. The look on his face was one of bemusement and relief; it was a nice change from the exhausted look he had been wearing.
"Hello?" He asked flipping it open to receive the call. His face went blank for a moment, his eyes wide with shock and his mouth unmoving until he looked up at Coleen. "Yeah, she's right here." He held out the phone for her and she almost shit out the eggs she had just eaten, but she reluctantly took it, holding it up to her ear and hearing her mother's voice.
"Coleen?" The terrified voice called out, hoping for a yes answer and it did receive one.
"Yeah it's me, mom." Coleen's lip quivered and a tear rolled down her cheek. Tommy left the room and she almost broke down immediately. Her mom sounded as if she had been crying for a while before she made the phone call to Tommy, praying that he was with her daughter. That asshole must have called for her when she was at school, or work, earlier on in the week. Otherwise her mother would have had no clue to even try calling him. She knew he had left, and know she knew he had returned. She cursed Tommy under her breath.
The conversation was relatively short but its meaning lasted longer than any increment of time. Her mother was alive, and so were her brother and sister; they had been evacuated to Champaign earlier on that day. Her mom kept asking if she was alright and if she was safe. Coleen wasn't sure how to answer at first, but after seeing Tommy standing in the doorway she said that she was safe, and definitely alright.
Coleen told her about dad, and what happened at church and how she ran. She told the whole story, or at least the abridged version, of how she had found the car and escaped the Mall and how they found themselves here. Her mom told her that they were safe there for now, but they were going to have to try to get out of the town. The National Guard and the Army were preparing a quarantine of the entire city of Danville, and if they were still in the confines of its borders when it went into effect there was no telling what might happen to them.
That made Coleen worry, but she needed the worry. It would motivate her, keep her moving on, trudging through the mess that the city had made itself in just a matter of days. The conversation was ended when the voice of a man came in from the background saying that her mom had taken her thirty minutes on the phone and that it was someone else's turn.
"I love you Coleen." Then the phone line went dead.
"I love you too mom." Then Coleen began to cry.
