Lee looked ruefully at the two graves ahead, with a wooden cross on the overhanging earth. It had not been easy at all to carry Carley's body all the way to the place where he would bury Brenda...
There were many moments when he seriously thought about just stopping walking... to stop pushing himself so hard and just wait for something, be it a miracle or death.
To him, it doesn't matter. It wouldn't make much difference.
It had taken hours to make those two tombs. Luckily, he had found some food and water hidden in David's apartment, so he could keep himself going for a while.
He sighed, no longer even knowing what feelings were conflicting within himself, he only knew that there were many. And they caused a mixture of sensations that messed up his mind.
Lee sat down beside the graves, looking at the horizon. Looking at the herd that was slowly moving away from there...
He no longer had any hope that the world would return to the way it used to be... not anytime soon, anyway. Maybe, in the very distant future, people would come to their senses and start helping each other instead of killing themselves. There weren't many people left in the world.
If there was even a future left.
- You know... if there's one thing I miss, it's drinking that whiskey every Friday night... relaxing on my couch and watching some stupid show on TV.
Lee said aloud, pretending that Brenda and Carley were sitting next to him, watching the horizon by his side and listening to his little story.
He smiled nostalgically... a sad smile for never having the chance to do the same thing again. Never to have the chance to be normal again.
- My ex-wife... she always cooked. But every Friday, we would call our favorite restaurant and order some Brazilian food...
He whispered into the wind, ignoring the single tear that rolled down his cheek, while still looking at the horizon with his sad smile. He felt as if his chest was going to explode, as if all those feelings stored inside him would simply force themselves out of his body.
And deep down he wanted this to happen, maybe then his body wouldn't withstand all that pressure, and would simply collapse.
His mind was flooded with memories of his past life. He remembered his students, his fellow teachers, friends... his family, even though he didn't have a very good relationship with them.
- We always watched some TV series together, or a movie, a cartoon. Whatever caught our attention... at that time zombies only existed in movies and TV shows, we didn't even imagine that they would become real.
He said, closing his eyes and feeling the cold breeze against his body.
- You know what? Fuck this... this nostalgia... this indecision I feel... indecision is for the weak.
He said after a while, getting up and stretching his body, turning his face to the two graves beside him as if both women were sitting there, staring at him as if this was the last time they would ever see each other again.
And in a way, it would be. At least, in that world.
- I have people to kill... and a little girl to find... I'm already dead anyway. Why would I stand here complaining about life if I'm not alive?
he asked, smiling sadly at the two women his mind was projecting.
- There isn't a life for me anymore... I just have to fulfill my goal... after that, whatever God wants. I'll get this shit over with.
They both looked at him with a smile, both waved at him... and both disappeared at the same time, leaving only their graves behind.
Both went to their well deserved eternal rests.
Lee continued to stare at the dirt, even after they had left forever.
-I will miss you... I hope we can meet again, someday, in the afterlife...
He said, closing his eye and bowing his head slightly, saying his last words, before he himself leaves forever.
- I hope I can make up for the wrongs I've done... I hope you can forgive me for the suffering I've caused... and I hope I pay for it... goodbye, girls. Rest in peace.
He said, kneeling in front of the tombs and placing his hand gently between the gap that separated the bodies of the two women.
The hand that ended their suffering.
And the hand that would take the lives of many...
He felt a light breeze pass through his body, not cold as he had felt before, but warm...
As if the two women embraced him, before leaving.
Lee dried the tear that was running down his cheek with the back of his hand, looking one last time at the graves, before turning to walk away from there.
He would never go back, all he could do was keep moving forward, follow the road that led to the future that awaited him.
Whether it was good, whether it was bad. Whether it was desperate, whether it was warm... whether it was a horrible death, or a worthy one.
Lee walked back along the empty road, toward the horizon, toward the unknown. Becoming more and more like the zombies with each step he took.
Walking alone through the world of the dead, where he himself had already become part of it.
That was all he could do, walk, and walk, until his legs could no longer move.
And that is exactly what he did, he walked the deserted roads, stopping only to rest a few hours at night, and then walking again through the emptiness of the world.
Feeling the loss and pain following him at every moment, never giving him a true moment of peace.
But, it seems that luck was on his side, or it was just chance.
As dawn broke, Lee saw some cars parked on the shoulder ahead, the same cars he saw leaving town.
He no longer believed in fate, but it was rather curious how his path simply seemed connected to those people.
His blood boiled, his muscles tensed.
But he remained serene, "calm," with that same murderous look he always had. The one that he let take control of his body again and again.
He looked around, looking for possible places they might have gone, and walked calmly towards the forest.
He had no reason to let his emotions take over, no reason to be anxious or nervous. The moment he found those people, they would be dead, and they would not even notice.
He stopped at a particular tree, took his knife, and made a cut in the trunk, leaving his backpack covered in dirt and dry leaves at the foot of the tree.
Lee looked around once more, hearing muffled voices rustling through the trees. He walked back towards the voices, always looking around. Not looking for someone searching the forest, or a lost zombie, but for a place high enough to climb, or a good enough spot to observe his newest prey.
When he got close enough, he walked to the side, observing people talking in front of a lake, with a few camp tents scattered across the place.
There was plenty of bush around, so he had a certain advantage in terms of hiding, plus the forest was intense, making it easy to get lost in a moment of desperation.
He just watched them... for hours. His cold gaze analyzing every movement, every person that was there.
In total, there were seventeen people in the place.
Lee recognized Max further ahead, the man was treated as the leader of this small group. They seemed quite animated, for a bunch of worthless assholes.
They were talking loudly, and eating the food they got from Richmond.
- Have any of you idiots gone on fucking rounds yet?
Max's loud, irritating voice caught his attention, and Lee watched the man carefully. Max was glaring angrily at a few men and women ahead of him, who had silly expressions on their faces, since none of them had made their rounds yet.
- And what the fuck are you waiting for? Get the fuck out of here before I put a fucking bullet in your head!
He shouted angrily, and the people stood up in some haste, taking their rifles and walking in pairs in certain directions.
Six people came out in total... six people he had to follow, and get rid of.
Lee looked at Max one last time, arching an eyebrow as he gave a slight amused smile as he watched the man start to smoke a cigarette and sit down in a chair beside a tent, carefree, relaxed.
He had better enjoy his last hours.
Lee turned around, and walked calmly along the same path that one of the three pairs had gone.
As he himself had said, the forest was treacherous, if one didn't pay attention, it wasn't hard to get lost. Even being so close to the road, one could get desperate and walk in the opposite direction of the highway, and end up making his situation worse.
Lee followed the pair cautiously, watching them coldly. They were two men, and both didn't seem very willing to do that job.
- Shit man, why do we have to do this shit? Who does Max think he is to order me around like this?
One of the men asked with an annoyed expression, lighting a cigarette and looking at the forest, standing still while leaning on the trunk of a tree.
- Will you stop acting so tough? You didn't do anything when he yelled at us, in fact, I think you were the most scared of all of us.
The other guard sneered, putting his rifle on his back and crossing his arms as he looked around. Lee couldn't just walk up behind them, they would hear his footsteps. They had to walk towards him, and finish them off at the same time, fast enough so that the other would not react, and would not fire his gun.
It would be a bit complicated to do this, but it was possible.
All he needed was a zombie.
Or a way to separate the two.
His eyes focused on two medium-sized stones just beside his feet. It wasn't the most practical way to get someone's attention, it wasn't a video game. But it could serve as a distraction to lure one of the men into the bushes ahead. That was something.
He crouched down and picked up the rock, coming out from behind the tree and taking a deep breath before throwing the rock as far as he could toward the bushes ahead.
The stone crashed into a tree, and bounced a few times on the ground a few meters away. The noise echoed through the place.
The two men were startled by the noise and took out their guns, pointing at the supposed place where the stone fell.
- Did you hear that?
One of the guards asked, whereupon they both started walking towards the bushes.
Lee then threw the second stone a few meters in front of himself, hiding behind a tree when the noise echoed through the place.
- What the fuck?
One of the men said, becoming more frightened and looking around in desperation. Lee shook his head, it was always like this, tough and ruthless men who, when faced with real danger, turned out to be real cowards.
He hated this type more than anything.
- Hey, if it's any of you trying to scare us, you better know it's not funny!
One of the men shouted, and Lee just raised his head, looking up into the treetops as he concentrated on listening to the men's footsteps.
- Someone must be playing with us. He, or she, or they must be close by. You go that way, I'll go this way.
One of the men said, and Lee heard his footsteps moving away from him, while the other man just stood there in hesitation.
- Do you think it's a good idea to split up?
- Man, we'll be within a few meters of each other. Besides, if this was really a trap, we would have fallen into it anyway. I'm telling you, someone is just messing with us. And I'm going to beat the crap out of them when I find the person.
The man said and walked away, walking towards the rock that Lee had thrown into the bushes.
Lee raised his knife to his chest and waited. Calm, still and patient, closing his eye and breathing slowly as he heard the man's footsteps approaching him.
The man's footsteps echoed just behind the tree. Lee opened his eye again, and in the blink of an eye, he turned, stabbing the man in the neck and pulling his body toward him, knocking him to the ground just in front of the tree he was leaning against.
Lee put one of his feet over the man's mouth, and just watched him die slowly. His cold eye stared into the frightened ones of the man literally at his feet.
He removed the knife from his neck and walked silently to the side, away from the tree. In a matter of minutes, maybe even less, the man would return as a zombie, all he needed to do now, was wait.
- Hey, Ronald... I didn't find anyone here. How are you doing there?
The other man shouted, looking through the bushes one last time before turning, confused not to see his partner there.
- Ronald? Where the fuck are you?
The man asked slightly annoyed... or maybe, scared? He walked forward, looking around nervously.
- Ronald! I swear to God if you're trying to scare me, I'm going to beat the shit out of you!
He shouted again, turning and looking around, feeling even more scared as he realized that he was alone in an unknown forest.
The man took a deep breath, still thinking that this was just a prank.
He heard a grunt from behind him, similar to a voice. He turned quickly and walked towards the grunt, a cocky smile on his face as he walked along convinced that it was Ronald.
- Hah, I knew it was a prank, Ronald. You couldn't keep serious even to save your own life.
he said in a loud voice. His eyes widened and he cried out in pain as he felt Ronald grab him all at once and bite his neck.
Lee came out from behind the next tree and walked towards the man, stabbing him in the other side of the neck and letting the zombie do its work.
There were no other zombies around, and the only ones he saw were too slow to approach the group at a decent speed.
He looked back for a few moments, admiring his little job.
One pair was gone, two more to go.
(...)
Max watched the people ahead of him with an annoyed look on his face. They were too loud, it seemed as if they were at a party, at least they were well-behaved enough not to drink more than they should.
Maybe they were just excited about the amount of supplies they had, plus the drinks they took from Joan's personal stash back in Richmond.
Max understood this, but still, it was not the best time to let their senses be ensnared by drink.
- Those shitheads are taking too long! They were supposed to be back by now!
Max said loudly, irritated as he looked at the surrounding forest. Lonnie was right next to him, drinking some of the wine he had in his glass, looking lightly at Max.
- Relax man, there are still zombies in the world. They must be busy... or fucking behind a tree, hehehehe.
Lonnie said, already a little drunk, and Max looked at him with a certain disgust. Just because they had succeeded with that rather risky plan, they acted as if they owned the world. As if they were the last people on earth, as if life was a fucking party.
Many of their people died back in Richmond, compared to the vehicles and people that were supposed to have gone out according to the plan, the whole thing had been almost a failure. Seventeen of the forty people had made it out alive. They got less than half of the vehicles and supplies, but the others didn't seem to realize it.
- Bunch of idiots! They're not having dinner tonight, that goes for you too, Lonnie! You weren't supposed to drink all this!
He grunted angrily, picking up the bottle of wine from the ground and popping the cork again, getting up and walking towards one of the tents next door, much to Lonnie's displeasure.
- Oh come on man. Don't be a killjoy. We deserve this! Joan is dead, and now we can do whatever the fuck we want!
Lonnie said, getting up a little groggily and trying to look at Max.
- Well, I'm doing what I want. And what I want is for you to stop drinking!
Max shouted from inside the tent.
Lonnie took one last sip of wine, and approached Max, trying to say something. But before he could even open his mouth to speak, a zombie came up behind him, biting him on the neck.
Lonnie cried out in pain and the entire camp turned in his direction, startled by the zombie's sudden appearance.
Max came out of the tent and looked at Lonnie, his eyes widening as he saw a chunk of the man's neck being torn off, and an absurd amount of blood squirting out of his wound.
He stood up and stabbed the zombie in the head, putting his hands on Lonnie's shoulders, who was kneeling on the ground.
- What the fuck! I told those idiots to make the fucking rounds! They couldn't do a simple fucking job!
Max shouted angrily, until he looked at the zombie.
His eyes widened again when he saw that the zombie was actually Ronald, who had gone out to make his rounds hours ago.
Another scream echoed through the camp. Max turned away and gasped even more when he saw one of the women being bitten by her best friend, who had also become a zombie.
- What the fuck?!
he shouted confused, picking up his rifle from the ground and shooting at the zombie in front of him.
A few footsteps approached behind him, and he turned around startled, just in time to stop Ronald's companion from biting him too.
Max struggled against the zombie for a while, slowly pushing it back, until he got enough space to kick it in the stomach and push it away from him. He raised his rifle and fired at its head.
Another scream echoed behind him, he turned around again. One of the men had his throat cut, blood was squirting from his neck, and he knelt on the ground, growing weaker and weaker.
A shot echoed through the trees, killing another of the men.
Max ran to the side, taking cover behind a tree as he watched one of the women get bitten by another of the zombies that appeared on the scene.
He was confused, scared, and angry. He, more than anyone, knew that it didn't take much for chaos to spread, and now he was tasting his own poison.
A few more shots echoed through the place, and fewer screams were heard.
Until then, one last one was fired, and the last person let out his last scream, before everything went silent, and all that could be heard were the sounds of zombies chewing on people's flesh.
Max looked around in nervousness, he had found no one, nothing.
He didn't want to admit it, but he was getting more and more desperate. In an ill-considered move, he stepped out from behind the tree and tried to run into the forest.
Another shot echoed through the trees, and Max groaned in pain as he felt his leg being hit. He fell to the ground, but quickly turned and pointed back, even more frightened to see no one there.
- I-it doesn't have to be like this!
he shouted in some desperation, crawling backwards as he looked forward, toward where the shot had supposedly been fired.
- I-I can leave! I'm never coming back! If it's for the supplies, you can have it!
He shouted again, looking around one last time before trying to stand up, leaning on the trunk of a tree.
He looked down for only a few moments, but it was enough for another shot to be fired, and his other leg to be hit.
Max cried out in pain once more, falling back to the ground. His heart was beating hard, and desperation acted as he looked forward, and again, finding no one.
- S-sorry! I-if I've ever done you any harm, I'm sorry!
He shouted, letting his fear overwhelm him. He held the rifle in trembling hands, looking nervously at his surroundings.
Another shot was fired, this time hitting Max's hand. He groaned in pain and dropped the rifle, holding his right hand with his left.
He was in a panic, he felt his lungs running out of air, he felt his heart beating hard and desperately. His whole body was trembling, and tears of dread were streaming down his face.
His eyes widened when he saw a man coming out from a few bushes ahead.
He had seen this man before, the same man who was taken to prison by David.
Max despaired as he saw him approaching. Calm, slow steps... the sound of his footsteps sounded like razors that pierced his ears, making him more and more anxious as he drew closer.
- Please... please forgive me... please...
He began to plead, dragging himself backwards in a futile attempt to get away from Lee, who was staring at him in disgust.
It was a pathetic sight, as well as a very hypocritical one.
Lee looked at Max the way he would look at an annoying insect, hating the way he begged for his life.
And Lee hadn't even hurt him yet.
He stood right in front of Max, kicking the rifle aside as he stared intently at the man at his feet, following with his eye every move, every gasp of breath he made.
- Kind of hypocritical, don't you think? What about the people back in Richmond, hmm?
Lee asked in a dangerously cold tone, crouching down and looking deep into Max's terrified eyes.
- A-that was a mistake...I realize that...T-that was a mistake...I'm sorry!
He begged again. Lee holstered his pistol at his waist and picked up his knife, looking into Max's desperate, crying face, enjoying seeing the heavy tears of fear streaming down the man's cheeks.
Lee ran the bloody blade across Max's face, gently, as if trying to dry his tears with his knife.
- There's no use in begging, Max. I won't be merciful to you. You don't deserve it.
Lee said, almost in a whisper, causing shivers to run down Max's entire body, and he cried harder.
Lee then cut some specific areas on Max's arms, and Max cried out in pain and despair as he felt his flesh being torn away.
He could no longer use his arms, not after Lee cut those areas off.
- Save your energy for later. You're still going to scream a lot.
Lee said, standing up and looking at the zombies that were beginning to approach.
(...)
And as he said, Max would really scream a lot.
Lee looked at his newest work of art. He had killed most of the zombies, trapping only one in a tree. Lonnie, Max's best friend. Further ahead, Max was hanging by his torso from a tree branch, unable to use his arms.
And the blood drew the zombie's full attention in his direction.
The man was crying like a child, begging for his life and for Lee to have mercy.
No matter how much he begged, Lee would not change his mind, would not "undo" what he had already done.
- Look, Max...I told you to save your strength. I want to see how you scream at having half your body devoured by your best friend.
Lee said, releasing Lonnie, who immediately went towards Max.
His screams echoed throughout the forest, desperation and pain was on Max's face as he screamed for mercy, for the pain to stop.
Lee watched the scene with an arched eyebrow, interest present in his gaze.
Max's desperate movements, his cries of pain that echoed through the forest and pleased his ears... the sounds of his flesh being torn and chewed by Lonnie.
They were strangely satisfying...
He liked it...
