Chapter 18

Her world was upside-down. She was hearing the blood rushing in her ears. How it heavily pulsed through her veins, and it got louder with every passing second. Additionally, she was surrounded by stuff that would make most people blush within a second.

Sex toys, smut mags, porn, lingerie…

Okay, Brooke wasn't really shy when it came to sexual stuff, but why in the hell – out of various stores – had this to happen to her in a sex shop? And how had she even gotten herself into this mess anyway?

'You wanna know why this shit happened?' she thought, 'Because I'm a fucking idiot!'

A few hours earlier…

Conscientious and neatly, Brooke checked her gear for the next looting.

Two days of travel and quite a bunch of miles later they had finally arrived at the city of Salem, Oregon. Like the rest of the towns they had barely crossed on their journey so far, the city was partly destroyed and filled with Screamers.

On their way here, the group had to stop several times to get some gasoline, and at some point, they also had to realize how fast food and water was depleting.

Every stop was a risk. Every time they had to loot, chances were high to get caught and overrun by a herd of Screamers. In addition, somehow a new kind of creature had developed. And in contrary to the others, this one was quiet and faster. As far as Brooke had witnessed, it walked on all four extremities like a spider, and when it wasn't pacing around as fast like hell, it was lurking in the shadows, only to sneak upon it's prey. That's why she had decided to call them Lurkers.

Brooke guessed that it had been one of those who had gotten Logan and then almost had gotten them all killed in Arcadia Bay.

'As if we don't have enough problems, already. Ugh!' she thought as she checked her appearance once more.

Camouflage military pants, check! Black, tight tank-top, check! Nice pair of expensive – and very comfortable – sneakers, check! Swords, check! Silenced pistol, check! Ammo, check!

Yup, she was ready for action.

But then, her sight caught something in a corner of the RV's bedroom, which darkened her already bad mood even more: Max's old camera bag.

Back when things had been normal, Brooke had jokingly mentioned several times that this bag had to be Max's fifth limb, since she seldom had seen her without it.

"As a photographer, you must always be ready to take a shot." she once had told her under four eyes when the Asian girl had mentioned it.

A slight smile was formed by her lips, followed by comforting warmth in her belly, as the young teenager remembered those moments with her crush. It had been this crazy time when she had started to realize that she saw more in Max than just a friend. Those times she had watched her under the shower or through the window with her drone, only to eventually use those hot imageries to rub herself one for thirty minutes straight.

As fast as those joyful memories had appeared, as fast they were replaced by sadness and the fact that Max was gone.

But Brooke wasn't a weeping person, no. She disliked bawling all the time or trying to get pity. So, she wiped away those remnants of sorrow from her face and stubbornly moved on. She even was so hard focused on leaving that she hadn't realized that Kate had been standing on the other side of the door, which caused that she harshly bumped into her.

Both groaned, both stumbled and both landed on the butt.

"Kate? What…what the…?!" exclaimed the Asian girl, pulling herself up again while Kate did the same.

"S-sorry!" the blonde spoke timidly, averting the other girl's angry gaze.

With a few deep breaths, Brooke managed to calm her anger, now ogling Kate with suspicion. "Where you spying on me?"

"N-no!" she stuttered, "I-I…I just wanted to say that…that I'm sorry. That Max died-…"

"Wasn't your fault," completed Brooke her sentence and shoved past her friend, but got stopped before she was able to leave the RV.

"But it was my fault! I shot Juliet! Because of me she ran away! I…"

Suddenly, Brooke turned on the spot and grabbed Kate violently by her shoulders, barking angrily into her face.

"You want me to blame you?! Fine!"

A loud smack sounded through the vehicle as the raven-haired girl's flat hand connected heavily with the blonde's cheek.

"Here you go!"

Then another smack followed, which was so hard that Kate lost her balance once more and hit the ground, where she started to whimper.

"Satisfied? HUH? Want another one?"

As she witnessed her friend, lying on the ground, curled up and body shaking from heavy sobs, Brooke's anger abated with every labored breath, until she fell on her knees and soothingly laid her hand on the crying girl's shoulder, saying softly "Katie?"

But as she winced upon the touch, Brooke eventually realized that she had hurt the person that – in contrast to Victoria – had voluntarily tried to apologize for her faults.

Had it been necessary to shoot Juliet? Maybe. But Kate hadn't done so out of joy or viciousness. No, she had been afraid. She had feared that her other friends might get hurt. She had cared about the group and now Brooke had punished her for that.

"Katie, I'm…I'm sorry! I…I didn't mean to…"

Surprisingly, Kate turned towards the Asian girl and wrapped her arms around her neck, weeping into her shoulders and Brooke did the same.

Minutes passed and over time, both came down again, eventually sitting opposite from each other.

"I saw it happening to my family," Kate, who had gone silent for the last two days again, told absently. "My granny had been bitten by a crazy homeless guy during her daily walk. She got sick and we took care of her. When my sister wiped some sweat off her face, she got bitten and turned sick as well. My dad believed it were demons and called a priest, who…tried to shoo away the evil spirit."

Her demeanor turned numb as she stared into nothingness, her fingers clawing into the flesh of her arms, leaving deep marks.

"My family…the people I used to love, had turned into monsters and tried to kill me. I…I don't even know how I managed to escape. I just…I just know that I killed Lynn, my li'l sister…my sweet li'l bunny."

Kate's face grimaced as a huge surge of sadness washed over her, and only with sheer will she managed to regain her composure.

"Her face… I can't forget how she stared at me with those milky, murderous eyes as she tried to bite into my neck… How I stabbed them both out with a screwdriver and killed her."

With red-cried eyes she than gazed at an entirely stunned Brooke, who felt ashamed and sorry at the same time.

"I don't blame you for being mad at me. I'm a murderer. I disobeyed the Lord's highest commandment. You shall not kill! I'm a sinner."

"But you broke that rule in order to survive and to protect those you care for," countered Brooke, which didn't really cheer her up.

"It's not that easy, Brooke!" returned Kate and got up. "Those murders will be burned into my soul for all eternity. Only the Lord has the power to decide if I'm a sinner or a savior."

"Does it really matter?" replied Brooke as she got up as well. "Look around! We're already in hell. We're doomed, no matter what. You really think that the Lord wanted that for those who allegedly followed him?"

"Maybe it's the big cleansing. The Apocalypse. Judgment Day. Maybe this is our last task before we move on into paradise."

"Or maybe just another pile of shit in our fucked-up lives. Who knows?" was the raven-haired girl's dry answer, her mind refusing to accept the existence of an entity. "If a god ever did exist, he has long abandoned this hellhole we call Earth."

"But what if…" Kate started to speak up, only to get silenced by Brooke's raised hand.

"We have to fight for ourselves. No god will carry our asses out of this mess. It's kill or get killed."

Yes, Brooke was a hardcore atheist. There had been even a time she had made fun of Kate because of her beliefs. But since the blonde had tried to jump off the roof, the Asian girl had decided to never pick on her or anyone else again for such trivial things like religion or hobbies. So, why was she saying things like that again? Why did she care?

'Keep your crap to yourself, Brooke!' she tried to tell herself, wanting to leave before things got worse, only to get stopped by Kate's sad voice again.

"Would you be able to kill me?"

The question came surprisingly. From all the things, Brooke ever could've imagined to get asked for, reaching from kinky sex to building a killer-robot, killing someone with her own hands hadn't really been on the list.

"I-I mean, if I get bitten?"

Moments passed, in which the raven-haired girl ogled her friend, pondering about the right answer, until she made a decision.

To Kate's surprise, Brooke closed in, and for a moment she feared that she might get smacked again. But instead, she got kissed on the forehead and then hugged, while her friend whispered in her ear.

"When the time comes, I'll be there and free your angelic soul from this hell world, so that you can fly to heaven like a free bird and see your family again!"

Upon those relieving words, Kate began to cry again, yet this time, out of joy.

"You sure you wanna go down there all alone?" asked Alyssa with a frown as she looked through the binocular.

They had parked their 'headquarter' – as Alyssa liked to call the RV – outside the city limits and had cautiously approached the town's mall, which was luckily situated a bit outside the center.

Still, there were a lot of Screamers and Lurkers roaming the area around the shopping center, which had forced Brooke to come up with a new idea.

"Alone, I'm faster and will draw less unwanted attention."

"And get killed if they spot you," mentioned Frank in addition, but Brooke was adamant with her plan.

"One false step is enough to be a human happy meal for 'em. So, better it's just me and not all of you guys. Let alone that, the more of us are out there, the higher are the chances to fuck up."

"Alright," Alyssa concurred eventually with a nod. "But don't ya dare gettin' killed out there, 'cause without you the Apocalypse isn't that much fun anymore!"

Once more, everyone was staring at the slight chubby goth-girl in disbelief, except of Brooke, who just chuckled and hugged her tightly.

"Don't worry, if anything, I wanna go down together with you, Armageddon-sista. Now, take care of the others while you try to find us a truck to transport the booty!" she answered and just about to go as Kate was surprisingly hugging her as well, whispering "Take care!" before she let her go.

Then it was Frank who approached her, holding a walkie-talkie in front of the Asian girl's face. "Here, take this! Channel two. Give us your status every thirty minutes. And if you're in trouble and can't speak, turn it mute and press the speaker-button. Two times for radio silence, three times for trouble..."

"…and four times for Get me the fuck outta here!"

A wide smirk appeared on the bearded man's face as he nodded confirmation. "You got it, kid. Good luck!"

Though the surroundings of the mall were pretty much crowded with infected, the way towards the huge building wasn't that hard, because bushes and lots of cars gave plenty of cover. Additionally, being inconspicuous and sneaky had always been two of Brooke's highest virtues.

The hardest part, however, was to find access to the roof – since strolling through the front door seemed like a suicide – and it represented itself by an emergency ladder close to the loading bay, luckily located at the way less crowded back of the mall.

"Fuck!" the young woman cursed silently as she realized that the ladder had been housed and locked by a padlock.

Not wanting to give up that easily, Brooke just tried the simple way by drawing her pistol and shooting the lock. Sadly, it wasn't like in those movies and videogames, where the padlocks busted open with a single shot. But all that happened in reality was a plain PLINK and a hole in the lock's body, nothing else. It stayed locked.

"Damn! Why can't I have powers like a Jedi? Or just a freakin' lightsaber?"

Once more, she aimed, now directly at the spot between the body and the shackle. Another hole appeared, though this time the force of the projectile on that weak spot was high enough so that it punched out the shackle through the deformed metal of the body.

"Ha! Fuck you, stupid padlock! You're no match for my .45 ACP powers!" cheered Brooke and finally opened the access.

Everything was going smoothly…too smooth for the Asian girl's taste. More than once she checked her surrounding like a paranoid person, but nothing happened. Nobody was following her. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. Except that the hatch to the inside was locked as well, but this time from the inside.

"You gotta be shitting me!" she cursed again and searched for another entrance to the building.

The skylights?

"Yeah, sure. Safety glass and a deadly height without a rope. You think I'm insane?!"

Another hatch?

"How big are the chances that this'd be coincidently unlocked, idiot?"

The ventilation system?

"Do I look like John McClane?!"

But then her eyes fell on the end of a ventilation shaft, which's cover was half lose, hanging on just two screws.

"This better be working, jackass!"

Swiftly, she made her way to the improvised entrance. One shot was enough to punch out another screw and let the cover hang lose down.

"Okay, here goes nothing," she said with one last huff, before she climbed into the shaft feet first. "Shit-shit-shit! Bad idea! Bad…fucking…ide-aaaaah!"

The polished sheet stamped metal was very slippery and caused that Brooke lost her grip instantly so that she fell down the shaft with a loud scream. Lucky for her, the fall wasn't long, but the impact still hurt as she hit the bottom with a loud Plonk!

"You…fuckin'…son of a-" she groaned, but the screeching of deforming metal let her go silent again. With a loud thud, the shaft broke open and Brooke glided uncontrolled further down like on a slide, only to eventually crash through the ceiling of the shop below her. And once more she got lucky as she was caught by a bunch of cables.

There she was, hanging head-down, entangled by cables and only able to move one arm. And if it wasn't even worse enough to hang around entirely defenseless in a sex shop, multiple steps could now also be heard, closing in on her position.

"Fuck-fuck-fuck!" she cursed again, trying to fight her restrains, but to no avail. She was trapped, and who knows who or what was closing in on her. Seeing no other option, she used her free hand and drew her pistol, pointing it into the direction of the incoming threat.

The steps were getting louder and louder… Or was it just the strong pulsing blood that was gathering in her head? She tried to focus. To keep her mind sharp. But all the blood in her head didn't really help her case, let alone that her glasses were about to come undone.

Then, a person came into sight, yelling "Holy shit!" before the man dove into cover and aimed with his gun into Brooke's direction. "Drop it!"

Another bunch of people, men and women arrived not a second later, not less armed and aiming instantly at the teenager as well.

'Well, better than Screamers…right?!' thought Brooke, letting the muzzle of her silenced pistol wandered between the different people. Eventually, it came to a rest on a guy who wore the uniform of a mall security guard.

"Drop it, bitch, or I'll ghost ya!" he yelled, his finger squeezing the trigger. Yes, he was ready to shoot and Brooke – so not ready to get shot by a freaking mall cop – was also prepared to sell her life as expansive as possible.

Both stared at each other deeply, not ready to give a quarter. Until a female voice broke this dense aura.

"Everyone, guns down!"

Right between the inhabitants of the mall and Brooke stepped a lanky, brunette woman. She was definitely taller than the Asian girl, wore casual clothes and a dark-blue beanie on her head. But what sprung more into her eyes were those full lips and those mesmerizing blue eyes. And if this hadn't already stunned her, the fact that those people were listening to her surprised Brooke entirely.

"You, too," she then spoke to her directly. "Put the gun down!"

And for a moment she considered obeying, but then realized that the mall-cop was still aiming at her. So, she did the same. The woman simply had to follow the trapped girl's gaze in order to know why she didn't listen.

"Terry," she sighed in annoyance, which made clear that this wannabe-Rambo had a problem with the brunette's authority. "Please, put down the gun. We don't need to kill each other if we can avoid it."

"She, first!" he answered with gritted teeth, obviously on the edge. But then – at least in Brooke's eyes – the lanky woman made a giant mistake: she gave in to his demand.

"Okay, drop it, gal!" she addressed her now, rolling with her eyes. Maybe most of those people looked up at her as a leader, but in truth she wasn't one, hence to those signs of weakness. So, why should Brooke listen?

"No, he first!"

But then something surprising happened again, which chided Brookes first assumption a lie. The unknown woman stepped right in the line of fire between the two opponents.

"Listen, girl, you look pretty smart. So, just do the math. You're hangin' from the ceiling, obviously trapped like a li'l cute rat. True, you can shoot, but then what? You maybe get two of us before we turn you into a human Swiss cheese. And that would've proven what exactly? That you made your point? That you're a stubborn hardcore bitch? Let alone that your head looks like it's gonna explode any second."

She then approached her, one hand stretched out until it touched the gun and softly pulled it out of her hand.

"We won't hurt you! I promise you that."

Brooke was just petrified upon such badassery. This woman wasn't weak. She was strong and had courage…besides being attractive like hell.

However, Terry the mall-cop had still his gun pointed at her up until they had freed and disarmed her, and then never left her side until she got locked into the mall's holding cell.