Through the fence they were led to a sparse of green which spread across a large area leading them past the abandoned cars. The place was still zombie-free but for how long? And why weren't there any zombies here?
Nick had his shotgun on his back and a baseball bat in his hands, his eyes were tired but he continued on without moaning as his aching legs carried his weight across the grass.
The grass soon disappeared beneath them and they found themselves stalking across a dry dirt path. Dust collided around their ankles and they coughed away the ash a number of times as it entered their lungs.
Zoey's face was drained of colour; her eyes seemed lighter green and begged to close as the heat shone down on them. Her hair lay motionless as no breeze seemed to lift. Ellis had taken his hat from his head and began waving it back and forth in front of his face as a substitute fan. Drake's dark blonde hair had been soaked in sweat and his crystal-like blue eyes flickered to different angles as paranoia flooded his bloodstream.
Nick seemed calm as he trenched along the path, inhaling and exhaling at a normal pace. He had a slight limp on his leg as he stepped.
Zoey caught up with Drake who seemed alarmed by her sudden appearance beside him.
"How are you holding up?"She asked him. Drake sighed and wiped a layer of sweat from his forehead.
"I honestly don't know. I've lost everyone."He said hanging his head trying to hide his emotions.
"What happened? You know, splitting you and Franklin up?"Zoey wondered.
Drake straightened up as they walked and exhaled shakily again.
"If you don't want to talk about it I understand-"
"No, no. You deserve to know after what you did to help me and little Franklin."He interrupted and said in a rushed tired voice which he ended with a broken breath escaping his gagging lungs.
"We were in Lima when we got separated. We ran into this girl, umm... Dana, she seemed fine at first, but I think the isolation had really gone to her head. She turned against us thinking we were a threat to her, she tried to kill us and take all the supplies we had-"
"Kill you? What happened?"Zoey interrupted her green eyes wide.
"She held Franklin at gun-point telling me to give her our supplies or she'd shoot him. There wasn't really anything I could do other than give her the stuff."He sighed.
"So you gave her your supplies."She finished.
"I did. But then she wouldn't settle for that. She said that we'd follow her and take the stuff back, killing her. When we had no intention of killing anything sane. Then again, she was hardly sane."He continued.
"She shot me. Here-"Drake stopped and pulled up his sleeve exposing a bloody bandage which he'd wrapped around his arm just above his elbow. The bleeding had obviously stopped but it was still a terrible sight to see the amount of blood on the bandage and stained down in trails on his arm.
"Why didn't you show us that before?"Zoey wondered as they continued up the dirt path.
"You seemed to all have enough to deal with."He breathed a tired laugh.
Zoey was silent for a moment before turning back to Drake.
"So, what actually split you two up?"She asked.
"Dana. She was honestly insane. She set off the alarms in the mall and dragged in a horde of infected bitches. Franklin and I made a run for it when a huge animal-like thing slammed Dana into a wall; it held her like a rag-doll in its giant fist and pummelled her into the ground until the concrete literally cracked, as did her bones. As the horde came at us we just lost sight of one another. Franklin must have run off while I ended up fighting off the horde trying to find him."Drake explained.
"I'm sorry."Zoey said quietly.
"Don't be, it wasn't your fault and what you did for Franklin was much appreciated."He sighed.
"But I'm sorry we couldn't save him."She said blankly.
"I'm sorry too."He forced a friendly smile onto his lips and turned back to the front, walking at a steady pace as he pulled his sleeve back down over his bandage.
The orange sun was still beaming down on the survivors and they still hadn't found a patch of shade. Trees were nowhere in sight and the sky was cloud-free and the same blue as Drakes piercing eyes.
The group was almost ready to give in and let their bodies fall to the dusty ground which would add little pain to their already aching bodies.
Zoey pushed a few escapee strands of wavy brown hair behind her ear and breathed a sigh as the dirt path began to disappear beneath them and they came to a road. Nick held his head high on his neck, facing towards the sky, his eyes closed and he took in his surroundings with a few deep breaths. The fact that they had made it this far despite their wounds and desperate states.
They staggered onto the road, seeing no infected around them. The atmosphere was somewhat peaceful; they were soon surrounded by buildings as they walked further up the road. The sky began to fade to purple and the survivors were slowly but surely wandering into fatigue.
Nick led them towards a tall building; he followed the staircase to the top floor and edged the others into one room which had a lock on the back of the door. Locking all of the exits, including windows. The survivors collapsed on the floor, their heads hit the ground like bowling balls, despite how much pain they were already in, and how much they had already suffered. A little knock on the head wasn't going to bring them to any mourning. Drake brought the supply bag off his shoulder and resting his head against it as a substitute pillow. Zoey had leant her back against the wall and sat slouching facing Nick and Drake. Ellis was already asleep beside her, his hat had fallen half off his head and was now attached to a clump of his dusty brown hair which had fallen across his right eye as he slept.
Zoey turned her back to where Ellis lay as his eyelids fluttered slightly and she was worried he'd catch her watching him and the situation would become rather awkward. She moved about until she was comfortable enough to nod off.
*The lights were dim in the empty room. Her heart raced in her chest and her head felt heavy on her shoulders when she tried to look up, her eyes closed quickly once a bright, white light bolted into her eyes, causing her pupils to retract. She realised she was sat in a wooden chair placed in the centre of the room. With minor effort the girl looked to the right, she noticed the room was sanitised but had no idea as to where she was. The walls were smooth white and a metal-looking door placed ahead of her was the new area her eyes fixated on as it seemed to be radiating muffled sounds into the room. Her green irises seemed to narrow and the white covering to the rest of her eyes almost illuminated her face as paranoia flooded through her veins and her mind focused on whatever was behind that door.
"Just let go of me!"A familiar voice cried from the other side of the door. Zoey felt her heart skip a little as she attempted to move from the chair she had woken up on, she pulled her arms to her sides but her hands seemed to be caught in a bind of some sort. She leant back, almost forcing the chair off two of its legs and onto the floor, rocking herself forward she managed to keep it upright. Zoey leant back with more care and patience. She caught glimpse of a rope tied around her wrists which had been connected through the wooden bars in the back of the chair. Her wrists were bound; she had to option but to wait, intently listening to the sounds which still were difficult to understand from this side of the door. Zoey soon became restless watching the motionless door on the other side of the room. She turned her head to the ground and simple occupied herself by scuffing her shoes across the floor, making a quiet scratching sound on the tiled surface.
That was when the door bursted open and her heart jumped into her throat; a pale man was thrown into the room followed by another who seemed to have the upper-hand in whatever was going on here.
Zoey's eyes met glassy blue ones at for the first time since she had woken up she remembered something. Ellis. Her eyes wandered upwards to the other man, this one she hadn't seen before. Dark brown/black hair and a tanned complexion. The man was taller than Ellis but still short for the age he appeared to be.
"Zoey-"Ellis mumbled gathering his weight onto his feet and managing to stand.
"Ellis, what's go-?"Zoey was stopped when she felt a strong force hit her, the chair fell backwards onto the floor and she struggled to turn enough to see Ellis again.
As a mere few moments went by Zoey heard shouts and thuds, her mind flickered from thought to thought as she attempted to turn herself around even though her wrists were bound far too tight to allow her to move even an inch.
She finally felt the ropes move slightly and she was able to move her small hands from the ropes, she felt red raw rubs spreading around her wrists from the struggle and scarlet blood trickled down her forearms.
"Zoey!"Ellis called out, Zoey's eyes wandered upwards again, away from her burning wrists. She brought herself to her feet, seeing the room bare and the door hung open. She staggered out the door; it seemed strange that she was no longer limping or even feeling weaker than a normal person who wasn't dealing with a zombie apocalypse. She turned a few corners as she walked through the corridors attempting to be as silent as she could so that she would be able to listen for Ellis. She heard a thud behind her and turned seeing Ellis being slammed into a wall by a normal sized man. He wasn't infected, but he did seem...different.
Zoey ran towards him and threw herself at the man, using her own body-weight to knock him off his feet, his ankles resounded a deathly crack and he fell to the ground shakily holding in a cry. Zoey felt herself being pulled to her feet and saw Ellis behind her lifting her up. She pushed away his arms and stood alone looking up to him.
"What the fuck is going on?"She exhaled scanning Ellis' face and noticing a few grazes and bruises crawling up the left side of his face.
"These people aren't infected. They're fucking insane!"Ellis yelled. Anger had obviously built up in his veins since the last time she saw him...which, Zoey couldn't remember.
She turned to see the man crawling along the floor up the corridor; turning her attention back to Ellis who seemed to be looking around for something she wondered;
"What's wrong?"She asked readjusting the sleeves on her pink jacket.
"Nick, I can't find him."He said blankly before rummaging through his pockets, pulling out a pistol he handed it kindly to her and gave her a quick smile before walking anxiously up the corridor in the opposite direction.
Zoey glanced down at the man who was still crawling across the ground towards her, his hands stretching out to try and pull her down with him. She loaded the pistol with one hand and shot a bullet right into his back without even hesitating. The apocalypse seemed to be turning her into an inhumane being, killing people was wrong, and yet she couldn't find a way to change her actions.
This all seemed to real, the place, the people. And yet all Zoey remembered was falling asleep beside Ellis in the dusty room which smelt of rotten corpses and vomit. She missed the putrid stench in the air which her nose had adapted to after the long nights laying in abandoned homes and flee-ridden safe-houses. Then again, the smell of sanitation wasn't to be moaned about. Even if she had no idea where she was or how she came to be here.
Then she heard a sound coming from behind her which snapped her back to reality. A gun shot. Zoey glanced forwards to see Ellis stood holding his hand to his chest as scarlet liquid seeped through his shirt. She was unable to speak as the shock had taken over her emotions. She then saw a figure come out from behind him. Drake?
He stood holding a gun, which he had obviously just used to shoot Ellis.
"Drake? What the hell are you doing?!"She cried.
"Hush your gums and drop the gun."Drake ordered. Zoey refused his request and pointed the pistol right between his blue eyes.
"Drop the gun or I'll shoot you, just like I shot Nick and Ellis."Drake went on, stepping cautiously towards the girl, keeping the gun aimed straight at her.
"Why are you doing this? We're on the same side!"Zoey said clearing her throat.
"No, WE we're NEVER on the same side. The moment i met you guys i knew you were nothing but a waste of my time. And I was right; you managed to get my brother killed! Then you decided to run away instead of going out there to save him from those sons of bitches!"Drake spoke as he stepped closer and closer. Zoey stepped back feeling uneasy. She glanced down to Ellis, who's mouth was full of his own blood and he had fallen to his knees on the hard floor. His blue eyes breathed fear and yet she couldn't help him until Drake was out of her way. Zoey quickly gripped the front of the gun Drake was holding and pulled it towards herself, Drake flew forwards and onto the floor beside Zoey. She loaded the gun quickly and aimed it at Drakes head, stuffing the pistol into her back pocket. The boy staggered to his feet and faced her, gazing down at Ellis he looked up and almost smiled. Then Zoey's
Hearing went fuzzy and all she could hear was a near silent tapping...