The now somewhat weary group followed Mike to the living room, which wasn't all that far from the front door, where a black, 32 inch screened T.V. was placed on a nice, also black, entertainment system complex, overlooking a set of very beat up blue couches. The windows of the room where locked and had the blinds pulled down, blocking out the outside world. Compliments of Mike and Nick who had done so to every window and door during there first sweep of the house.
"No on sit in my chair." Mike said, pointing to the single person armchair of the set. He then headed for the T.V. and picked up the remote for it, which was sitting right on top. The chair was actually Mike's dad's, but since he was absent, and probably dead, Mike had claimed the recliner as his own.
The group began to file to the other two couches of the blue set: A double and a triple. On the set's smaller double couch, which was placed against the wall that wasn't facing the T.V., Ashley and Tracy sat down, and on the main triple couch up against the wall facing directly at the T.V., Nick sat first, in the middle, Chad following suite on Nick's left, and Ali, having no where else to go, sat on Nick's right. She didn't take up much space at all. Mike, fingering the remote to the T.V., sat in his single person recliner, which was in between the triple and double couch, unslinging his shotgun and proping it against the wall as he went.
"Alright." Mike said. "We flipped it on real quick when we first got inside, but we didn't catch much before we turned it off again." Mike took a breath, "Here we go."
He raised the remote and hit the 'power' button. The room was suddenly flooded with the news. The news from grainy on-scene footage from handheld camaras. Footage of violent mobs attacking police forces in the streets of many major cities, interviews with survivors, and how they had taken down their crazed attackers. Even actual footage of people being torn apart. hundreds and hundreds of people fleeing for their lives. Many not making it. Even a few camaramen where caught by the creatures, their camaras spinning out of control, sometimes fizzing out as they hit the ground.
The group watched in silence for a few agonizing minutes.
"So it is fucking widespread." Chad muttered. "Godfuckingdammit." As he played with the M1 Carbine slightly.
"Yeah. Looks like it." Mike muttered back.
The group continued watching for a few more moments of the news of the "End of the World" as many a reporter called it. It didn't take more then ten minutes for the group to find out that this "virus" as the news called it, had affected nearly every major city on every continant in the entire world. This thing was literally everywhere.
They would show clips of American military leaders saying that people should report to various bases and forts, and those officers promising to find everyone. They would show scientists, and how they were puzzled at finding any sort of reason or answer that people were being attacked, killed, and revived, only to kill more, starting the cycle again. They said they hadn't found a cure, or an immunization.
The teens heard reports of the infection spreading through bites, and how people died and came back mere hours later. They heard that causing damage to the head was the only sure way to bring the attackers down permenantly.
And the bad news just kept flooding in.
It was when the news stations reported that scientists were estimating that at least a a fifth of the Earth's populice was now turned into these "things", that Nick finally broke the silence and spoke up.
"Mike, turn the T.V. off, please."
"Why, what's up?" Mike asked, glancing to his left at Nick. He was worrying about Molly right at this moment, it didn't take a genuis to figure that out.
"Just do it." Nick replied.
Mike didn't answer, but slowly, as if in a trance, he raised the remote with his right hand, and after a few moments delay, he switched the T.V. off.
"Nick, what the fuck? I was watching that." Chad said, slightly irritated.
"What's wrong?" Tracy asked, staring at Nick with wide teary eyes. Under the conditions she and everyone else where actually doing rather well.
Nick didn't react instantly. For a few moments he just sat there, eyes distant. He layed the M4 on the floor in front of him, and then leaned back against the back of the couch, eyes closed, and taking a deep breath. It was when he was sure that everyone was listening to him that he, snapped his eyes open, sat up straight again, and started to speak.
"Alright. Now we've all seen how bad it is." He said to the whole group, who were paying very rapt attention now. "And we know now that this situation looks like it will completely spiral out of anyone's control. And the world as we knew it will be over."
His first statement was responded to only with silence. Like many things he had said recently.
He took a breath and continued. "It is now us. Just us six here, and Molly. We now only need to worry about ourselves. I doubt anyone will come to save us. I doubt that there will be many people left to do any kind of saving."
He took another, deeper breath "So now, we need to figure out what we want to do. We can stay here for a while, but then what? We need a plan, and a backup plan, and a backup for that backup, and so on."
Nick sighed. "And, this sounds stupid, but we need to vote a leader."
"Fuck you. You're our leader." Chad nearly snorted aloud in disbelief at what he was hearing.
"Yeah, I was." Nick conceded, "I was a leader of circumstance. No one else did anything, so I did, and you all, not knowing anything better to do, followed me."
"That's true. Bit you seem to know what you're doing." Tracy said, trying to be helpful, while still fighting off the urge to just start crying.
"Fuck you, man! I follow no one else!" Chad was visibly pissed.
Nick drifted off to his and his best friends childhood, where he remembered him and Chad emerging victorious from one of their "War games". The pair couldn't have been more then nine years old. And Nick remembered Chad say to him that day, "I won't follow any one else into battle but you."
And Chad apparently still ment it to this day.
Chad had calmed a bit. "You're in charge, man. What do you want us to do?"
"Take a vote." Nick answered after a slight pause. "Take a vote of who you want in command." He looked around at the five other teens. "That means all of you vote. It has to be unanimous. And this is how for democracy goes. After this, it's what the leader says."
"Fine, dude, I'll play along. I fuckin' vote you." Chad said.
"I second that shit, man. No one else could've gotten us out of there." Mike seconded with a nod. "You just promise me we'll get Molly."
"I promise." Nick said, whole-heartidly meaning what he said.
There was a moment of silence.
"I vote you." Ali said quietly.
"Yeah, sure, why not? I vote you, too." Tracy said a few seconds later, and giving a shrug. "It's not like I want to lead anybody." Nick noticed that Tracy had finally put her phone into one of her skirt pockets.
Nick nodded, and all eyes turned to Ashley, the only person that hadn't voted.
She stared at Nick for a few moments. "Why do we need a 'leader'? I mean, really. Why would we?"
"If we have a bunch of people with their own plans and agendas, we won't fucking survive. We'd be too busy fighting over what the fuck to do, then actually doing anything. If a single person was in charge, things would get done faster and fucking better." Chad replied, giving a textbook, but profane repsonse.
Ashley paused, "But why you?" She asked Nick.
"Hey, he gotten us this far, hasn't he?" Chad said. "I'd say he's pretty fuckin' qualified."
Ashley paused again, "Alright, I vote you." She said half-heartidly, not knowing what else to do.
"Fuck yes!" Chad turned to Nick, "Now it's fuckin' official! What do you want us to do, man?"
"Gimmie a minute." Nick replied, glad his friend had stood up for him. He started to feel a bit too warm all of a sudden. Maybe it was his sweatshirt, or maybe the heavy, black tactical vest he now wore. Or maybe it was the new surge of revelation at they're current predicament. Or maybe it was all the responsibility he had just been handed. Probably a combination of all four.
And the group waited in painful silence for a few moments, before he figured out where to begin.
"Alright," Nick snapped up, "I want you all to know, that what I say goes. You will follow every order I give like your life depends on it, because maybe it will. If you won't do that, then I can't lead you."
"Fuckin' A, I'm in." Chad said nearly instantly after Nick was done talking.
"Yeah. I'm with ya, bro." Mike said, nodding.
The three girls just silently nodded.
"And stop saying 'leader', it sounds fucking gay.", Chad added, as he finally put the M1 Carbine on the floor in front of him as Nick had done with his weapon.
Nick ignored his friend. It was too serious a situation to laugh. "Are you all sure?" he asked, giving them all another chance to change they're minds.
"Nick! Shut the fuck up and 'lead' us!" Chad said nearly laughing.
Everyone was sure.
"Okay, when we get Molly, we'll re-vote to get her opinion, and if any of you have changed your minds, that'll give you a chance to speak up. I can't lead people who don't want me too."
"Fuck, man! Do you want to 'lead' us or fuckin' not?" Chad said, "Jesus."
"Yeah, I'll take the job. How's the pay?", Nick said, trying to smile a bit, but failing.
"Finally." Chad muttered, "Oh, the pay sucks ass, man. And no dental."
Nick again ignored his friend, not something he normally did, and he thought for a moment. "Kay, my first order, and this is key: We are it." The group looked at Nick in suspense waiting for what he would say next. "We are it." he said again, "We're the only ones that anyone here can reley on now."
Nick paused for a moment, "Are you all understanding me?"
Chad spoke for everyone "Yeah, man. I think we got it."
"No, I don't think you do." Nick replied, "Look around this room... Go ahead, do it... Everyone here may save your life at some point, or you may need to call upon one of us to save yours. I may need you all to save my life someday. That day may even be today. And that goes for everyone here. Can I possibly make this any more clear?"
"No, we get it." Ashley said from her position next to Tracy on the double-couch.
Nick locked eyes with everyone in the seconds of silence that followed.
"Okay." he said, satisfied for now. Second order. Everyone carries a weapon at all times, alright? And I mean at ALL times." Nick said, giving this order extra emphisis. "We have more then enough for everyone to have a main gun, and for some a backup as well.", He paused, "Girls, this mainly applies to you." Nick said, addressing them before he actually said what exactly concerned them. "You will all learn how to use the gun assigned to you. Myself and Mike will assign guns based on your size and experiance; what you can handle. You will then learn how to use your weapon from Mike, who knows how to use all the guns here. Can I make that any more clear?"
"No." Ashley said.
"Alright. At this moment we have but a single mission: To get Molly. We need to figure out how best to do that." Nick said.
"You have any bright ideas?" Chad asked his best friend hopefully.
"On;y dim ones but I'm working on it, but first things first. Mike," Nick said, leaning forward to retrieve his M4 from the floor, and then turning to his larger friend.
"Let's get the rest of the guns."
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Hope the suspense is starting to get to you. If it is, I'm doing exactly what I'm trying to. If not, I need to work on it...
Oh, I don't know if any of you have noticed, but for the first part of the story, Ive taken a more clinical then emotional approach of writing. Pretty soon, I'm gonna start getting into each character's head. Hope no one has any complaints thus far, and I hope you're enjoying the story, and, as of this far, I'm nearly completed with chapter 9.