I've Just Seen a Face

Chapter Nine: Heroes and Ghosts


A City Street, Pennsylvania, 20: 09 PM

'So after, like, three hours Keith gives up tryin' to break the glass with his mind, ya follow? 'Cos it was goin' nowhere. Now, by this stage he's real mad that he wasted his time doin' that for so long, so he ends up kickin' it, BUT the glass bounces right into-'

'Ellis.' Zoey smiled at Ellis kindly over her shoulder from the driver's seat, cutting him off mid-gesture as he rattled on enthusiastically. 'Maybe you could continue this a little later?'

'But you do wanna hear it an' shit, right?' the mechanic asked hopefully.

'Sure.'

Bill took the golden moment of silence to make a swift suggestion. 'I'm thinkin' we lay low here for about an hour,' he said, eyes sweeping the again-deserted street. 'get some rest so we can try to make the rest of the journey in one go. May as well take the peace where it's offered.'

'Can't argue with logic like that,' Louis answered with a bleary blink. He stretched his still-casted leg slightly and gave a small wince. 'Anyone got any pills? I think it's seizing up again.'

'Think you'll be able to sleep?' Bill asked.

Louis shrugged with a faint chuckle. 'I doubt it.'

'Then you can take first watch.'

Sleeping within the confines of Zoey's dingy little vehicle would have proved difficult in most situations. It was small, poky, not truly befitting of the five-person seating it claimed to have. However, the quartet were tired from the emotional if not physical stress they had been subjected to recently, and Ellis quickly dozed off in the back seat, opposite a gun-toting Louis. Bill shortly followed him from the passenger seat, and finally Zoey's cheek pressed against the cold window as her eyes slid closed.

The last dream she'd suffered had involved Boomers and gunfire, and had vanished from her conscious mind as soon as she blissfully opened her eyes and realized she was late for class.

She wouldn't be so lucky this time.

It was dark on the street; the lamps had long been extinguished, and far above the clouds blotted out the moon like cigarette smoke, thick and warm and sickly. There was just blackness, here- blackness and heat. So much heat.

She clicked her flashlight on with a tiny noise, the beam slicing through the darkness like a knife through a gut. Intruding on the nothing. She was alone again.

'Hello?'

A yawning silence greeted her. She couldn't see a thing, the light doing little good, and reached out blindly as she began to walk, half-hoping someone might grab her hand to guide her. No one did. She felt sluggish, ill, drifting. The darkness bit at her eyeballs, but she kept walking.

Suddenly, something came from nothing; a call back, and one that made her heart leap and then sink again almost instantly.

'Hello?' But it meant nothing, because this was her own voice, a mirroring of words, an echo.

Still, the question left her dry lips stupidly. 'Who are you?'

For a moment she doesn't anticipate an response, but it did come back. Only introverted, and the meaning is somehow terribly different though the voice was the same. 'Who are you?' She wasn't so sure.

It was beginning to rain, running along the length of her bare arms. She would have been happy should it given her some sort of release from the thick and unyielding heat, but no such luck- the rain was warm. Hot, even.

Hot.

Zoey opened her mouth, tilted her head up and began to scream.

'ZOEY!'

'No... NO...'

'Zoey, open your eyes. We got you.'

'Who are you?' she choked out, forcing her eyes open. The semi-darkness of the car was almost as suffocating as the total black of the nightmare. She sucked in deep breaths, only vaguely aware of Bill and Louis' concerned stares and the way Ellis took her hand in his skittishly, trying to sooth it out of it's locked fist.

'You started twitching in your sleep,' Louis informed her warily. 'I, uh... I tried to wake you up and you flipped out.' Zoey nodded jerkily. 'I think I'm gonna throw up.'

She tumbled out of the car and clung loosely to the side mirror as she retched, bringing nothing up. She tried again, achieving the same result.

'You okay, Zoey?' Ellis muttered, all wide eyes as he exited the car also. 'Musta been pretty bad, huh?'

'Yeah,' she managed as she gulped down greedy lungful after lungful of the cool night air. 'Yeah. It kind of was.' She proceeded to gasp for another few seconds before becoming strangely aware of the silence that had befallen her friends. Through watered eyes she observed them as she straightened up, and followed their stunned gazes up the empty street.

Well. Almost-empty street.

Three zombies- only common infected, easily dealt with, but infected all the same- were charging towards them at a frenzied pace. Louis swallowed audibly and raised his rifle. 'I guess this is where it starts, huh?'

Forest Ranger's Station, Oconee Forest, 20: 59 PM

'Well,' Nick said delicately as the door slammed behind him, 'I think it's safe to say we're going to die.'

'Boy, you better start thinkin' positive else I'm gonna put my foot up your ass.' Coach snapped uncharacteristically.

Nick mulled over his words before raising his hands. 'Fine. We are going to die quickly. Better?'

Rochelle didn't lower her weapon like the others, but instead hurried a little deeper into the office-like cabin. The woody scent was pleasant; a stark change from the stench of rotten flesh and the metallic smell of blood that overpowered her clothes. Francis, following her lead, backed her up while plucking a burr from his goatee. 'I hate the great outdoors,' he muttered to himself.

'Anyone here?' Rochelle called expectantly. Her ears strained for movement or voice, and she frowned, eyes suddenly grim. 'Hello?'

Francis sensed her disappointment and brought down his gun to turn to her, the whole business of cheering up evidently something new to him. 'Hey! Maybe... they all went out for coffee.'

She raised an eyebrow, slackening her hold on the bat. 'At the same time?'

'... yeah.'

They returned to the entrance after ensuring the place was secure to find Coach in the midst of finishing a makeshift barricade for the door. Against it leaned a desk and three chairs, which shuddered ever so slightly as the infected outside pounded the wood in vain.

'Everybody doin' okay?' Coach asked finally.

'Sticks and stones,' Rochelle replied in a faux-airy tone. Everyone seemed to be in the best condition they could have hoped for; it appeared the worst wound anyone had obtained was the one to Nick's pride now that his white sleeve was hopelessly coated in bile.

'I'd feel a hell of a lot better if I was a little more educated on these bastards,' the con man huffed, irked with his lack of recollection once more. His expression grew even more peeved as he continued. 'Anyone wanna... uh... give me a crash course?'

'Probably a good idea,' Rochelle agreed. 'First though- anyone know what direction we just moved in? I mean, we're trying to get to North Carolina and once they showed up we just sort of... well... ran.'

'Gotta be a map or somethin' in here.' Francis rose from where he was slouched in a doorway and began to raid some cabinets unceremoniously. Nick, however, gave Rochelle a withering look she knew was usually reserved for the likes of Ellis.

'You're seriously still planning on going to meet up with the others? Don't mean to burst your bubble or anything sweetheart, but there are zombies out there. Have they even started evacuation?'

'Not yet, I think. If you could remember, Nick...' Coach said decisively. 'You'd know it's important we get to 'em. Whatever shit's going on here- they're at the heart of it. We gotta find them to work it out.'

Francis returned, slapping a folded map down onto a table. 'So I have no idea what we're talking about, but I'm on their side.' Nick rolled his eyes, not bothering to retort back, but Rochelle could see that somewhere inside he knew they were right, though was simply loath to admit it. Satisfied, she pushed the map away from her and took a seat on the patchwork couch opposite him.

'Now listen up. The fat one that puked on you? That was a Boomer...'

Rettleburg Apartment Complex, Pennsylvania, 21: 46 PM

'Anyone else sort of miss having Francis around for stuff like this?' Zoey chuckled slightly as the apartment door finally gave way, swinging back on it's hinges.

'For what? Brute strength or criminal experience?' Louis asked jokingly as he took in the empty place.

Usually he would have felt bad for squatting for a few hours like this, but given the zombie apocalypse was imminent, he found it considerably easier to swallow his morals. Far below and past the lobby doors on the street they heard a pained, inhuman bellow. Following this a muffled, barely audible voice said something in the apartment below them. It was obvious that many families had barricaded themselves into their homes with concern for their safety... and quite rightly so.

'You guys sure the car's okay down there?' Ellis said from behind him.

'We're not wasting too much time up here, that's for sure.' Bill replied. 'We're gonna eat, get some sort of plan together and haul ass, understood?'

'Roger that,' said the mechanic. 'Oh, hey Zoey, you good to listen to the rest o' that story 'bout when-'

'Why don't you tell me right now, Ellis, and let Zoey try to get a hold of a proper weapon?' Louis intervened quickly with a swift look at Zoey's faraway expression. At his words she eyed the bloodied crowbar in her hand and placed it on a kitchen counter, already spying a large butcher's knife in a block.

While Ellis was certainly less eager to share his story with someone who wasn't... well, Zoey, he still launched happily into the tale, content with the knowledge that he had a willing audience. The girl murmured something about checking the street below to see if the numbers had risen, and slipped out the sliding glass door onto the balcony.

Bill watched her retreat and made an inward decision- it was time.

The Forest, 22: 05 PM

It was quiet as they made their way through the looming woods; all was quiet and calm save for the trickles of a nearby river. Rochelle squinted to make out the lines on the map she clutched in her hand and continued to lead onwards.

'I don't like this,' Coach stated plainly, bringing up the rear.

'Tell me about it,' Francis replied dryly. 'I'll be happy when we're outta these goddamn trees. I can't see shit.'

'Here.' Rochelle took the flashlight she had pilfered from the station and tossed it to him. He caught it and switched it on quickly, thrusting the light into the shadows.

And directly into the eyes of the Witch they hadn't heard over the river.

Several things happened very fast then. Everyone faltered backwards, breath catching in their throats as the creature gave a sudden savage snarl, eyes burning through her lank, pale hair. She shoved herself up from the ground, spine arching and claws stretching out to swipe as Rochelle forced out some half thought out warning. 'We gotta run... we gotta run NOW-'

A single gunshot cut off her cry, and she felt her knees tremble as she watched the Witch glide to the ground with an earsplitting screech. A bullet hole glinted wetly on the bridge of her shattered nose, looking grotesquely like a third crimson eye. Nick lowered his handgun, looking coolly pleased with himself.

'Nice shot,' she complimented breathlessly.

Rettleburg Apartment Complex, Pennsylvania, 22: 12 PM

She was sitting on the fire escape when he finally got the chance to join her, legs dangling between the thin steel bars as she pensively regarded the considerably quiet street below. She didn't look up at him but simply nodded as she acknowledged his presence. 'Hey, Bill.'

'Zoey.'

He joined her gingerly, leaning his back against the cool brick wall behind the escape instead of also sitting by the rail. There was a faint click as he lit up a new cigarette, a silence settling between them. Not an awkward silence, nor a comfortable one. Just a silence.

'Something you wanna tell me?' he finally voiced. He half-expected her to say no, or to shy away from the topic of her distress. However, she took a deep breath and continued to look out onto the city.

'I remembered too much.'

A pause. 'The book?'

'Well... yeah. I remembered everything. I remembered how it ended.' Her voice had lowered.

'And how did it?'

Zoey picked distractedly at a flaying speck of paint on the steel, and for a moment it seemed she wouldn't reply. She did, however. She always did. 'Me. Everybody else... gone. Not that I lasted much longer anyway. We're all... Bill, all of us are...'

'Yeah. I thought as much.' His words were so simple, so calm that they seemed to bring an odd consolation to her. The dead girl shook her head.

'One thing I don't get though.'

'Yeah?'

'Why the hell couldn't I remember anything?' she whispered.

'You say you were alone?'

'Yep...'

'I'll tell you right this second, Zoey- loneliness is about the worst thing in this world. You want to know why you couldn't remember? I say cos you didn't want to. You were alone and you were scared, and it's what every other damn person would have done- you blocked it out.'

She dropped her eyes and after a moment nodded, the hollow sensation in her stomach deepening though she still didn't panic. 'So where are we? 'Cos I'm pretty friggin' sure this isn't heaven, Bill. And if it is I feel seriously ripped off.'

'You wanna know my theory?' the older man asked, stern eyes still raking the cityscape. She was grateful for the way he didn't once look at her; it made her feel safer somehow, less pressured.

'I'm asking for it, aren't I?'

'The way I see it, dying's like a doctors appointment. You try not to think about it and pretend there's nothing wrong 'cos the idea creeps you out, but it comes around anyway whether you like it or not. But... that's death. And where we are... where we are is the waiting room.'

Bill finally looked into the girl's eyes and she mashed her mouth into a thin line with a semi-understanding. The two stayed sat atop the slates for a while longer in a simple hush, Bill thinking as he took a long drag on his cigarette, Zoey's arms crossed tightly across her chest as though it could protect her from the world.


A/N: Props to Mechanical Animals and FroFro567 (on dA) for being the first two to correctly guess the big reveal. It's far from over, though... more on that next chapter.

In conclusion? Ellis is cute. Louis is understanding. Zoey's scared. Bill's knowing. Rochelle's getting by. Francis is trying for once. Coach is strong. Nick is snarky and amazing. Witches are crabby as shit.

I'll update soon. :)