Chapter Six: The Day He Snapped

Flashback

It was day I turned seventeen years old and I was actually having a great day. A large vanilla cake, a couple of presents, and having some "me-time" with my CD player and walking over to my favorite store. What I found it odd was Matt didn't come over to wish me a happy birthday but I thought he was just busy.

Anyway, I was walking over to the store, listening to Nickelback on my CD player and singing along with the song called "Never Again." I was too distracted singing that I didn't see Matt walking out of the street he lived in.

All of a sudden, my head phones were yanked off and I watched my CD player flying cross the street and smashing into tiny pieces. I would've been pissed off if I didn't have my iPod and the fact that it was Matt who did that. I looked at him only to see fire in his eyes.

"Don't you ever sing that song again?" he shouted at me and stormed off.

I stood there for a second and chased after him "what's with you" I asked

"Nothing, I just don't want to hear that song, I hate that song, OK" he snapped

"That's fine, but you didn't have to smash my CD player" I said "Is something wrong"

"NOTHING IS WRONG, WHY DO YOU ALWAYS ASKED ME THAT" He hollered "EVERY FUCKING DAY YOU ASKED ME THAT AND I'LL ALWAYS TELL YOU NOTING IS WRONG!"

"Sorry, you don't have to yell at me" I said

"Well, sorry you have to be so nosey, all I wanted to do was get out of my house before things started breaking again and be alone, but NO you had to come over here, sing that stupid damn song and get into my business!"

I hugged him and he shut up.

Flashback ends

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I didn't know why I was thinking about the old days, but I guess it was a good way to ignore the dead body of Melissa and the terrible smell or to keep myself from beating the shit out of Marcie.

After shooting Melissa in the head, we headed on home when we spotted Marcie on top of a gas station roof, taking a nap with dozens of zombies crowding around the building. I grabbed the walkie talkie and screamed in it.

"Marcie, get your lazy ass up and get in here, NOW!" my voice shouted through intercom.

Marcie sat up, yawned and calmly walked over to the edge of the building and jumped down onto the roof. I heard a big thump on top and her banging on the door to let her in. Matt opened the roof door and she jumped right in and . . . landed on Melissa's dead body. I could hear a squishy noise followed by the sound of more blood gushing out then Kristine screaming and crying harder.

"Ew, what happened to her?" Marcie said looking at the dead body "oh well, these were my old shoes so no harm done" she said

Kristine grinded her teeth "you little bitch, get off of her!" she screamed

"No need for insults" Marcie said getting her feet out of the dead body and walked over to her spot leaving bloody footprints behind.

Kristine quickly got up to attack her but I pushed her down into the chair again "let it go, Kristine, let it go"

"Heartless bitch, she has no respect" she said crying again "she has no respect at all"

"Don't worry, once we get home we'll give her a proper burial" I lied since all the dead bodies goes into a boxes and dump far away like trash "ok"

She nodded and just stared at the dead body. I sat down in the other chair, looked over at Garret, who was driving, then over at Marcie, who was just humming a song then I looked over at Matt. He caught me staring at him and he gave me a weak smile. I smiled back and returned to my deep thought.

I remembered when I told Matt if he ever wanted to talk about that day with the Cd player incident I was there for him. But sadly, that day didn't come when zombies took over the world. I knew what was bothering him, it was the same thing that's been bothering him for almost ten years. Living in a house where his mother was always beaten would affect any child, but he kept it deep inside and made it look like nothing.

Why I was thinking about this, I don't know why, it was just something that just popped in my head. Maybe I was thinking about it since I was going through that as well with the hag.

By the time we got back to the town it was already night and the Hag said she was having her little party around night time. We stood there as we watched some of the guards carrying Melissa's dead body out of the vehicle with a white sheet covering her up.

"Where are they taking her?" Kristine shouted "I need to be with her"

I stopped her from running to them "don't worry Kristine, they're just taking her to another building to put her in a coffin" I said

"But-" she tried to speak but more tears poured down her cheeks.

"Come on, let's take you home" I said

As we were walking, I noticed that Boss and his team mates were staring and snickering at us.

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Marcie ran off without a word again but I didn't care, the only thing I cared about was making sure Kristine and Garret get back to their homes safely. It was pitch-black outside all except for a few fire places the poor made and the lights from the hotel. We stood there looking at the hotel as I held the bottle in my hand. "Ready" I asked and he nodded

After taking the elevator, we walked over to her room and knocked on the door. We heard her footprints storming over to the door and she swung the door open. She was bright red and breathing heavily. "Where have you two been!" she screamed "get in here, now!"

We walked in but she pushed us to walk faster then she slammed the door hard. She looked disappointed about something but it turned in to rage.

"Stupid excuse for human beings, I can't believe it took ya'll four hours to get a bottle a fucking wine!" she screamed "and only one bottle, I have a lot of quests coming and you only brought one bottle"

"You didn't tell us how many bottles to bring and we had an accident" I tried to explain

"I don't want excuses, you insect, now give me the bottle" she shouted

She snatched the bottle and looked at it "I'm not drinking this" she said simply as that.

"What!" we shouted

"I'm not drinking this" she said again

"But that's the bottle you always drink" I said

"NO, this is cherry flavor, I only drink strawberry" she said

"My teammate's sister died to get that stupid bottle you could at least drink it!" I shouted

"So I heard, like I told my son, your team was a little rusty and now I'm right when I told them to leave a fresh zombie out where you were at"

"You made them bring a fresh zombie out where we were because you think we needed more training.

The Hag smirked as she nodded then raised her hand that had the bottle in it and dropped it to the floor "oops" she said

My jaw dropped as I watch the wine spread across the floor and the pieces of glass. "She died because I had to shoot her since she was bitten, AND YOU CAN'T EVEN DRINK THAT STUPID BOTTLE!" I shouted

She slapped me across the face and I nearly fell over. She was going to slap me again but Matt stopped her. "Leave her alone, hitting her is not going to get that bottle you wanted" he said

"Matt, don't stand up for me" I said

"Yeah, you heard her, Boy" Mrs. Taylor said "you know the punishment when you or her make mistakes"

"Please, I was the one who grabbed the bottle, hit me if you want" Matt said

"Don't listen to him" I said "Matt, its ok"

"I would, Boy, but I find it more enjoyable to punish the insect" she said "now you could leave or stay here and watch"

Matt said nothing and continued looking at me "I guess you're staying then, oh well, this would be a good way to teach you not to disobey me"

"I said don't hurt her" Matt said

"And what are you going to do about it, Boy, you're going to stop me, I dare you and see what happens." The Hag said "and beside she deserves it anyway"

Then something happened, it seems that Matt went blanked as I was smacked again till I hit the floor then was kicked in the stomach.

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Terrible memories flashed across Matt's eyes of him being inside that house. What was going on was the same way his mother nearly lost her life when he was eleven.

He stood in the corner of his room hearing his mother and father shouting and screaming at each other. Things started breaking and then he heard the sound of his father's hand hitting his mother's face.

He covered his ears to block out the sound but it seems to be getting louder and louder. Suddenly, his mother ran past his room with his father coming after her. He went to his door and saw him smacking and kicking her.

The past and the present were flashing back and forth since it was so familiar. "Daddy, leave her alone!" he hollered

His father looked at him with burning bloodshot red eyes "what was that, Boy" he asked

"Leave her alone" he said again

"I could hit you too but your mother said she'll take the punishment for not obeying me or for your mistakes" he said

"Hitting her is not going to buy you beer, dad" he said

"Well I wouldn't if she'd bought it, but she disobeyed me so she deserves to be hit"

"Go back to your room, dear" his mother said weakly as she tried to get off the floor.

Matt stared at his father which got him more annoyed "What, you don't like it when I hit her"

He shook his head and his father laughed "And what are you going to do about it, Boy, you're going to stop me, I dare you and see what happens."

"I said go back to your room" his mother said

He was pushed into his room by his father and the door was slammed on his face. He continues hearing him hitting her til his mother blacked out.

Seeing that day after day, month after month for years with the sense of regret because he couldn't or wouldn't do anything about it. He sees his friend getting beaten up was like seeing his mother. The tears in her eyes and the blood smeared from her nose and mouth.

(No, no more!) He shouted

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"I SAID LEAVE HER ALONE!" Matt shouted

He grabbed Mrs. Taylor by the shoulders and literally swung her to the left. She screamed as she crashes into the table. Her back hit the sharp corner of the table and she hit the floor. Blood stained the table's corner

I got up and wiped the blood off my nose. I froze when the Hag was trying to crawl away with blood pouring out of her back.

Matt breathes heavily as he walked over to her "you always hit her" he said and kicked the Hag in the stomach "that was your daily thing, get drunk and hit her!"

He kicked her again and again "why do you always hit her, Dad, why do you beat her every single day"

"Matt, stop it!" I said I tried to move but I clutch onto my stomach from the pain. It hurt so much I had to get down on my knees.

Matt started grabbing things around the room and threw them at Mrs. Taylor's head. "It doesn't feel good being hit with things, DOES IT!" He shouted and continued kicking her in the stomach and then the face.

I could hear her screaming but that ended when Matt kicked her right in the mouth. She started spitting out teeth and blood. I crawled over to him to make him stop. It was not that I cared for the Hag, it was that fact that he had lost it.

Blood continues dripping out of my nose and now from my mouth. "Matt, stop"

Matt continued yelling, kicking and hitting the old woman till his knuckles turned red. Blood was smeared everywhere on the floor with teeth and tears from his eyes. He stomped on her head before I grabbed his legs and cause him to trip. He fell but tried to crawl over to the Hag again but I held him back

"Let me go, he must be punished" he said

"Matt, Matt, listen to me, that's not your dad, do you hear me that is not your dad" I shouted but he wasn't listening to me.

I hugged him and he stopped. I held him tight til he had calm down as he places his face down to the floor and begins to cry for the first time in years. "I couldn't take it any more" he said

We sat up and he buried his face in my chest as I continued to hold him. I looked over at Mrs. Taylor. She wasn't moving.

She was dead and that was a bad sign for Matt and me . . .

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Chapter Seven: The Discovery: While trying to figure out what to do about the dead body of the Hag, Bianca found out the Hag was keeping things from her.