Chapter 5- Focused
After wolfing down their food, the children lazed warming by the fire. Layla was huddled on the couch with Zoe who was reading a book, while the others sat on the floor introducing themselves to Tobias.
"So, I'm Alex, this is Billy, and that's Layla and the other one is Zoe." said Alex s, pointing at each of them as she spoke.
"Well I'm Tobias but you can call me Toby if you want." he said in a hushed voice trying not to wake the sleeping baby on his lap "And this is my sister Rae."
"You look after her a lot," Layla interrupted "don't you get sick of her crying and stuff?"
"Layla..." Alex groaned, rolling her eyes at her bluntness.
"No no it's okay." Tobias carried on "Not really. She's my sister so it's sort of my job."
Alex looked down at her hands overcome with sadness as his words reminded her of her own siblings.
"I hope my family is okay." she wondered out loud.
They had been kept busy with odd chores all day that they hadn't had time to worry about the world. About the infected. About their families.
"Me too." Zoe agreed.
"I'm sure they're okay." Tobias reassured "They'll keep each other safe I'm sure."
"Yeah." Billy agreed "But I hope I get to use my gun before the army gets back."
They all chuckled weakly although the joy didn't quite reach any of their eyes. All of them had seen things that day that no child their age should be exposed to. The room fell to silence again and all the children's minds stared wondering.
Peter and Daniel came into the room, followed closely by the rest of the adults.
"Right guys off to bed now I think." Peter noted looking at their exhausted faces.
"Yup." Daniel agreed placing a kiss on his daughters' head "We'll be rotating watch all night so don't be scared if you hear us moving around in the night- Adrian and Jayne will be changing with us just before midnight again."
"I can help." Alex offered trying her hardest not to be viewed as just another child within the group "I've got my gun."
"Yeah me too." Tobias added handing his sleeping sister to his mother, who carried her upstairs "I'll help with the watches too."
"It's okay guys, you have all helped enough today. And besides, you both look exhausted. You need your rest kids." Peter agreed, observing the children's dark circles and absent looks about their eyes.
"Tell you what, tomorrow morning, if the military aren't back, you guys can take a shift...all of you." Daniel offered the children, who were all willing to help "I'll teach you how to use your guns okay?"
"Okay." Alex yawned, standing to hug her father. "Night Dad."
"G'night, I'm heading out with Peter, so we'll send Vince and Frank back." he replied "Off to bed now. It'll be an early start."
Zoe, Layla and Alex bid their goodbyes to everyone in Number 15 and made their way back next door with Claire, leaving the other families to settle in to their own house for the night.
Once they were inside Claire sent them straight to Alex's room where all three of them would be staying.
"I want you girls to get to bed." she fussed following the girls closely up the stairs. "You can stay up for a while, but I'll be up to check on you in an hour. After that it's bed."
The small clock on Alex's wall read '9:57pm'. Without argument the girls set about getting ready for bed. The electricity and boiler switched off at early that evening, leaving the houses with no warm water or light. Luckily, all the homes had gas cookers which provided them with some means of cooking. All the girl's clothes were packed away in the cars ready for when the army returned so they made do with a few oversized shirts to sleep in. It didn't take long for the girls to collapse onto their beds ready to turn in for the night.
Alex rolled over, switched on her torch and crossed out another day in her small diary. She didn't use it for anything other than keeping track of homework and people's birthdays.
"What are you doing?" Layla yawned quietly as Zoe's heavy breaths filled the room; letting them know she was sound asleep.
"Keeping track of the day" Alex answered absentmindedly, switching off her torch and lying down in bed. Her house was eerily quiet. It was usually filled with the faint snores of her brothers or the hum of her parents tv. Outside you could usually hear odd the odd motorbike that zipped up the road among the distant buzz of traffic. Now was nothing but the quiet breaths of her best friends. The eerie silence let Alex's mind slip back to the horrifyingly vivid memories of that morning. The scream. The snarling. The blood. Alex turned over and squeezed her eyes tight shut. Her hand reached under the pillow and closed around the cold metal of her gun. Oddly, it brought her a sense of disturbing comfort, and with that, she slipped off into a troubled sleep.
Zoe's dreams were haunted by the same scream. She sat awake for a few hours, watching the small clock on the wall tick by as the white moonlight peaked through the curtains. In the distance she could make out the muffled chatter of voices
"1am" she thought "they must be changing shif".
Before she knew it, Zoe heard the front door click and the shuffling of feet on the stairs. The bedroom door creaked open and Vincent was stood in the door way. He could just make out his daughter's silhouette sat in the darkness.
"Hey, what are you doing up?" he whispered moving into the room and sitting on the end of his daughters' bed. He could see the troubled look that washed her face even if it was near enough pitch black in the room.
"Couldn't sleep." she mumbled scooting close to her dad and hugging into his side.
"You thinking too much again?" He inquired, keeping his voice low, not wanting to wake the other two.
Zoe nodded as the scream played on loop in her mind.
"Dad I'm scared." she said in a barely audible whisper.
Vincent sighed rubbing his daughters back. "Me too" he thought. But he had to stay strong for his daughter.
"I know honey, but we're going to be just fine." Vincent reassured Zoe "The military will be back before you know it and we can get back to normal with your mum as sister."
"What if they don't?" She asked, voice raising slightly "What if they don't come back and we're stuck here by ourselves?"
"It won't come to that." Vincent stated bluntly. "They said it could take up to 3 days. Even then, I'm here, and I won't let anything happen to you."
"I know...but the things we saw yesterday. The man who died. It's all I've been thinking about..."
"I know it was scary. You shouldn't have had to see that. Those monsters are insane." He reminded "But me and the others were on watch all day. We couldn't see or even hear any of those things."
"Do you think they'll come for us?" Zoe queried "The dead, I mean."
"As long as we stay quiet like the Sargent said...we should be fine."
"Yeah." Zoe agreed "I suppose."
They sat in silence a little longer until Vincent got up.
"Okay, back to bed now." he said to his daughter kissing her head "Try and get some sleep. I'm right downstairs with the others. You're safe."
With that Zoe huddled back under the blankets as the door clicked shut. All the girls asleep at last.
Alex awoke the next morning before everyone else - tossing and turning -unable to go back to sleep. She gave up and hopped out of her makeshift bed and moved silently across the dark landing to the bathroom. Shivering as the cool morning air touched her skin, she looked at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. The night before she went to bed covered in grime and sweat from the day before work and her hair was tangled into a bird nest.
"Flattering" she thought running her hand through her hair trying to tame it. She hadn't showered properly since the night before she stayed at Layla's, and with the world going to shit, her appearance didn't really seem to be a big priority. Knowing there was no hot water, Alex was definitely not looking forward to it.
"Here goes nothing." she mumbled as she stripped off her clothes and stepped under the freezing water.
It was shockingly cold, leaving Alex gasping for air as the tiny droplets abused her bare skin. She was under the water for no longer than two minutes but managed to wash herself clean in record time. As quick as she could, she hopped out and wrapped a towel around herself, still shivering. She stood bouncing on the balls of her feet and rubbing her arms regaining as much heat as she could as she dried off. Before long, Alex made her way into the bedroom which was filled with piles of clothes they had scavenged from the other houses. Seeing that all her clothes were either dirty or packed into the car, Alex would have to make do with something out of the room. It didn't take her long to find a pair of black jeans which she wore with a dark green and navy blue checked shirt. She also found a brand-new grey hoodie which she claimed as her own and pulled over her head.
Quietly she moved back into the room, careful not to wake the others - especially Layla. If she would have been disturbed before 11am for two days in a row, she was not going to hear the last of it. Alex squinted at the clock on the wall. 7:08am. Being early February, it was still dark outside, and the house was freezing. Sitting on the side of her bed, she brushed through her now dry hair before lying back down and closing her eyes. The monsters violated her thoughts once more. The rotting dead skin. The cloudy unseeing eyes. The snapping bloodstained teeth.
Alex shot up and rubbed her eyes. She really had to keep busy. From under the pillow she pulled out the gun and fastened it into her waistband. Once again, she silently made her way out the bedroom but this time downstairs and out the front door. The curtains were still closed next door and the whole street was eerily quiet. She made her way down to fence where her dad and Adrian were stood upon a watch post. The sun had just begun to rise but it was still freezing out. They spotted her and motioned for Alex to stay quiet. Without making a sound she scaled the wooden ladder and stood next to the two men.
"What's going..." Alex started but was cut off by the men shushing her. Daniel motioned over the road and beyond the wall of cars to where one of the infected was wandering around a patch of grass.
"Walker." She breathed, and both men nodded in response.
"We spotted it this morning." Daniel hushed "Luckily before it spotted us."
The monster was aimlessly walking into the sides of buildings, jaws snapping and snarling at the slightest sound.
"Are you going to shoot it?" Alex asked, hand moving to her own gun, drawing it at her side.
"No, it's too far away." Adrian warned with one of the larger rifles trained on the walker. "Anyway, we can't risk the noise. It could attract more."
The three of them stood watching the thing for a while longer.
"Everyone's going to be up soon, it's going to hear us then." Alex offered.
"We know. We can't risk it coming over here we don't know what it will do." Daniel nodded at his daughter, still careful to keep his voice down "But we need to get rid of it."
"We need to draw it closer right? Take it out quietly?" Alex offered "Quick and easy without drawing more."
"Yeah, good." Daniel agreed "We'll use the knives."
"Okay here's what we do." Adrian whispered, "Daniel and I will climb down the fence and then Alex, once we're down you rattle the fence and see if we can draw it over."
Alex nodded. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't slightly terrified.
"We bring it to us." he went on "We keep it controlled and quick. Dan, you're stronger so you take it down to the floor and hold it, I'll finish him off. Alex you will cover us."
"What are we going to do with the body?" Alex asked.
"I suppose we could burn it." Adrian offered shrugging.
Alex swallowed, and Daniel nodded
"Okay...no time like the present, right?"
"Right." Adrian agreed, taking the large gun off his shoulder and placing it on the floor.
"Dad, wait." Interrupted Alex "What if something goes wrong? I...I can't shoot. You haven't taught me yet."
"Nothing will go wrong," Daniel promised "we've got this under control."
"You don't know that." Alex pleaded.
Daniel sighed and took the gun, checking to see if it was loaded
"Ok so it fully loaded, and this is the safety." he stated switching off a hitch on the gun.
She took in everything her dad was saying, not wanting to miss anything in case she had to use it.
"Line it up with the target, hold it steady and squeeze the trigger" Daniel instructed passing the gun back to his daughter. "When you aim, don't lock your elbows. If you do, the rebound will hurt. And this clip is to reload. Got it?"
"Got it." said Alex holding the gun in two hands "Go on, I'll cover you."
"Stay focused, okay?" Daniel nodded at his daughter.
"I know dad. I can handle this."
Daniel and Adrian climbed down the fence and drew their weapons. Adrian raised his arm, giving Alex the signal. She began rattling the top of the fence and bagging the metal to get the attention of the walker.
"C'mon..." she urged under her breath. Just then the monster raised its head in the same direction the noise was coming from. It spotted them instantly and dragged itself in that direction. As it got closer, Alex could see it's unseeing eyes and decaying flesh up close. Its arms were outstretched grabbing at the air, and its teeth snapping together, waiting to devour the two men. It got closer and closer until the men sprang into action. Daniel grabbed the monster by arms and shoulders and tried to take him down. It was a lot stronger than they expected but they managed to get it to the floor. As they were wrestling to pin it in place, movement from the alley way behind the men caught Alex's attention.
Another Walker.
"Shit." Alex thought raising her gun and training it on the woman walker; It's clothes tattered and blood stained. It obviously heard the rattling and it attracted her. Its head was raised, and jaw was snapping as if it was smelling the air to track down its next meal.
"Dad!" Alex hissed
"Not now Alex!" he retorted trying to pin down the relatively large walker that was still struggling and snapping underneath the men.
"Dad!" She shouted louder, fear building and heart racing as the walker caught sight of the struggling men and limped closer.
"Keep your voice down!" Daniel cautioned, finally holding the walker still.
Adrian drove his knife into the side of its skull with a squelch as the other walker advanced on the oblivious men.
