Dear Readers: Unfortunately it has come to my attention that writing at one in the morning is not conducive to creating the most understandable and grammatically correct stories as such this chapter has been revised to make it easier to read and more enjoyable. Let this be a lesson to all future writers, including myself. Make sure to check your work and don't write after one, nothing good ever happens after one.
Chapter Three
The End is Where We Begin
Why did morning always have to come so early? I rolled out of bed and landed on the floor. It was part of my morning ritual since I always struggled to get up early. I threw my old nightgown on the floor and grabbed a pair of jeans and my favorite teen shirt. The shirt wasn't much to look at but it had a cool blue lion on it. I stumbled down the stairs to be greeted by an empty living room and kitchen.
"Where is everybody?" I muttered to myself before trudging to the kitchen. I grabbed one of our cups from the cabinet and filled it with water. As I took a drink I noticed that there was something amiss. I looked around and finally noticed that the entire level had been cleaned and that all of our stuff had been straightened and put away. That kid was trying to take my place in the house for real.
"Are you kidding me? No way." I heard the sound of a young boy who was enjoying himself too much. I walked to the garage and opened the door. I saw Damien loading up a tent and several other supplies into the back of the truck. Roger was collecting basic gear and piling it up for Damien.
"Does the Military want us to do a Sunday run or something." I asked yawning. The two of them stopped to look at me for a second before Damien went back to loading stuff in the back. Roger strolled over with a stern look on his face. I had only ever seen that look one time and it was when the military tried to put me on the wall. Let's just say that Roger can be very persuasive when he needs to.
"Rachel, we have a problem. The ration station is closed today and I can't seem to get a hold of Jack. He's been a good buddy for me on the inside for years, but something just ain't right. So I talked to Damien about yesterday. He said that you two had a run in with a Firefly."
"Yeah so, there are tons of Fireflies all over the country we meet them all the time."
"Yes, but this one is someone that you two shouldn't have met. Marlene is the leader of the Fireflies and if she's heading out this way then there is something big happening. That combined with what Damien tells me about the conversation that they were having leads me to believe that this QZ is on the verge of collapse. It's about time to get out of here. We're leaving tonight right after night fall. I have a place for us to hole up it's a bit to the south but it will keep us safe for the time being."
"Damien, you're ok with this, we're just going to up and leave? What about everybody else? Our friends, the people we've lived with."
"I've already had to do it once Rach. I'm prepared to do it again."
"Fine it's settled, but I only have one thing to say to you Damien."
"And what would that be?"
"Shotgun." I laughed at his amused looked he gave me a weird stare before finally joining me in laughter. I helped him load the rest of the stuff on the truck while Roger left to go make Lunch.
"So I didn't know how to tell you this in front of Roger, but Rach… your fly's down." Damien ran out the door after Roger too fast for me to hit him. He's lucky I was too embarrassed or there would have been problems. I did up my zipper and followed the males to the living room.
"Roger, how are we going to get out of here tonight? There's only the one gate in the south."
"Well if you already knew how, then why would you ask?"
"I… you know what I mean."
"Well we're going to have to head out tonight. I know the gate is usually locked so I'm going to have to call in a couple of favors. I drew out our path on the map on the kitchen table if you want to know exactly how I plan to get us out of here. I made sure that the route was clear last time I went out to get supplies." I walked over to the kitchen table and took a look at the map.
"What the heck's a Greenville?"
"It's the town I used to call home before this all went to shit. I still have a buddy who lives down there if he's still alive. His name is Al. After that we can come up with a plan on how we're going to survive."
"Alright I trust you. Can I go say goodbye to Sarah before we leave?"
"I suppose, but make it quick and don't let on to anyone what is going on. We don't need panic on top of everything else."
"I won't, you can trust me." I snuck a glance at Damien who was busily helping out Roger with the preparation of our last supper. I turned and walked out the door without saying another word. A desperate, cold silence had come over the town. It was still about seventy degrees out, but the sun was hidden away and a cold breeze was coming from the north. "Damn weather." I thought aloud as I made my way up the road to my only other friend's house. Sarah was a nice girl; she lived with her dad and stepsister, both of whom had become very unstable following the passing of Sarah's mother.
I walked up to the house they lived in. It was a nice two story structure that had slight signs of wear. After several minutes of staring at the house and pondering how life could have been if these things hadn't happened, I knocked. The inside of the house was ghostly quiet. I turned to leave just as the front door creaked open. Sarah answered; she looked as pale as a ghost and was breathing heavily.
"Sarah, are you alright? You look like you just got in a fight or something." Sarah stumbled out of the house and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. I looked into the entrance way and noticed that there was blood covering the walls on either side of the hallway.
"I… They changed. I didn't know they were bitten, they just came back today and suddenly…" The poor girl sat down as she tried to catch her breath. I checked her over and she seemed to have no visible bite marks.
"Sarah, listen to me, who came after you and are they still alive."
"I…I don't know. Charlie came back with his friends talking about how they were going to get back at you and your new friend. He.. He said he had to get some stuff from outside the zone first though. When he got back he had a bite on his left hand and said something about a bunch of infected outside the east wall. Then he went crazy and started throwing things around the room. His friends tried to hold him down but he just…" She stopped and started to cry.
"He what, Sarah?"
"He killed them… He beat them with one of our chairs and then ran out the back. I have no idea where he's going either."
"Don't worry I'll find him. You just get your family and stay safe, ok?" Sarah nodded and slowly headed back into her house. I turned and ran back down the street toward home. I skidded across the cracked pavement as I turned down the road to my house to see Charlie was facing Roger and Damien.
"I don't believe it. A black kid that doesn't hit anybody and an old man who eats more than he's worth are trying to stop me. You can't keep me from getting to her. I will make her pay and you too Damien."
"Be careful he's bitten." I shouted down the road as I approached the scene. Charlie slowly turned to face me. His face contorted into a disturbing smile.
"Rachel. So glad you could join us. It's time for you to get what you deserve. Nobody messes with me and gets away with it." Charlie made a move to come after me but went face first into the ground as Roger kicked his foot out from underneath him.
"You will not touch her." Roger yelled. He walked over Charlie toward me. "Are you alright Rachel? What happened?"
"I'm fine he just killed his friends at Sarah's house. She said he got bit by a group of infected outside the east gate."
"It's just as I thought. The soldiers' hold of the city is collapsing. We have to leave as soon as possible."
"Rachel, look out!" Damien shouted from down the road. Roger turned swinging, knocking the handgun that Charlie held to the ground. The teenager no longer looked human, but had begun to take the form of a monster. Charlie swung at Roger, but the older man had years of experience on him. He blocked the kid's swing and punched him twice squarely in the face.
Charlie snarled, his face only showing rage. He ran at Roger. He grabbed the older man with two hands and tackled him to the ground. Roger managed to roll and push Charlie off of him and he got up. As he did he grabbed Charlie by the head and dragged him to his knees. Then Roger pulled out his M9 and shot Charlie in the back of the head.
"Roger, what are you doing? You didn't have to shoot him; we could have just turned him in." I shouted running up to him. Roger didn't respond he instead stared at the gun in his hand and started shaking. "Damn it Roger, why'd you have to…"
He turned his hand toward me as I walked up. On the inside of his right wrist were the telltale imprints of a bite. I slowly backed away, not knowing how to respond. "She.. Sarah could have been wrong there's no guarantee he was bitten." I tried to reason with myself, even as Roger pulled back the dead boy's collar revealing a bite mark.
"Rachel. It's okay. It was bound to happen sooner or later. At seventy five I think I got to live a much longer time than anyone else here realizes. Damien! Keep her safe. If anything happens to her I will personally return from the grave to haunt your every waking day."
"Don't worry sir." Damien grabbed my hand and led us to the house. He shouldered opened the door and went to the garage. The two of them had loaded a majority of the guns in the back seat along with the ammo. Almost like there was always only going to be two of us making this trip. I climbed silently into the passenger seat while Damien opened the other cab door and got in the driver's seat.
"What about Roger? We can't leave him."
"We're not he's getting the gate opened as we speak."
"I thought we were leaving tonight?"
"We were, but Roger noticed that none of the guards were on any of the walls. We decided to leave upon your return, but Charlie showed up. Now he's going to open the gate by himself." Damien started the vehicle and hit a button on the dashboard. The garage door screeched as the door lifted for the first time in over ten years. Damien put the truck in drive and drove the Ford down the pot hole filled street.
Though there were several times that Damien had to move cars out of his way using the plow, it didn't take long for the duo to reach their destination. When they rounded the corner they saw Roger climbing up to the guard tower that held the key to their escape. Roger opened the gate and began to run down the stairs. When the gates had fully opened they revealed a relatively open road.
"Rachel, you're navigating. Make sure that Damien is able to stay on track. Al will meet you once you get down to Greenville. Once you are there you will have to make your own calls. This is where the planned part of your lives ends. Now you have to decide what you want to do with your life." Roger reached into his coat and pulled out his Beretta. He looked it over for a split second before handing it through the window to Damien. "Take good care of her, I'll make sure that as many people as possible make it out. Good Luck now go."
"Roger. NO! I'm not leaving you here." I cried. I undid my seatbelt and tried to open my door. It was locked and Damien had put a hand over me to prevent me from moving around anymore. He started the vehicle down the path we had been given. I looked back longer than I should have, longer than anyone would have. I watched Roger turn into an ant in the distance.
We weren't more than a few miles down the road when Damien started to slow down for the cars blocking the road. As he did I grabbed one of the rifles from the backseat and opened my door. The pavement seemed to be flying by, but that didn't concern me very much. I heard Damien say something, but I didn't hear it. I jumped.
I don't think there is a phrase to describe leaving a moving vehicle at over twenty miles per hour. It was scary and stupid, but most of all it was painful. I landed on the ground solidly, but my momentum carried me forward with the truck and I fell and rolled for thirty feet. When I stopped rolling, I could feel something warm running down my left leg, but I preoccupied with going back after Roger, I stood up and start walking back toward the QZ. After about ten feet my leg gave out. I looked down to see that although I hadn't broken my leg, it was shredded and bleeding profusely.
Luckily for me Damien had stopped and walked back to me. I looked up at him while he said some words. I don't remember anything he said, but I did start to feel the sting in my leg. He left for a few seconds, and I attempted to get back to walking back, but I fell again. This time Damien came back with gauze and some medical tape. He pressed the bandage to my leg and then taped the bandage down.
"You're pretty dumb for a supposedly intelligent white girl." Damien joked. I smiled weakly trying to get the strength to stand.
"Yeah, says the kid who only had one day of school." I joked back, then I remembered what I was doing, "We have to go back." I stated staring Damien in the eyes as he shifted uncomfortably.
"Fine, but then you have to promise that there are no more stunts like you just pulled right there."
"Deal" I hobbled back to the truck and climbed in the passenger seat. Damien climbed into the driver's seat and turned the truck around. The vehicle rumbled on its way back down the street, silent except for the noises from the engine. We reached the QZ in a matter of minutes. When we reached the South Gate we noticed that there were several families exiting the zone. In the front of the line were Sarah and her family. They ran up to the side of the truck and Damien opened the windows.
"Rachel, we're going to try and find a place in the southeast, you're welcome to join us barring all other options."
"Thanks for the offer Sarah, but I have to find Roger, and we're are going to Greenville." At that moment I looked up to see Roger helping a young child back to his family. The child was reunited with his family and Roger looked away for a second and noticed us. He looked older, weary. He fell in almost slow motion. His legs failed to hold him vertical any longer.
"Roger!" I ran across the pavement and knelt down beside him. His breathing was slow and ragged. I didn't want to believe it was happening, but I knew it. Roger was fading and he wasn't going to last much longer.
"Rachel… You can't save me." He coughed, slowly regaining consciousness.
"That doesn't mean I'm going to give up on you. You old coot." I smiled weakly, tears welling at the corners of my eyes.
"Don't, Rachel. You know I've had this a long time coming. If you want to make me proud, you have to go out and change the world, not for the worse either." Roger laughed and drew me closer. His voice was hoarse and quiet, but his words seemed to be louder than anything else going on. "Rachel, I never had a child, you're the closest thing to family I ever had. I want you to take this and make sure that Marlene never gets a hold of it."
Roger wrapped his good hand around my right hand and pressed a soft bound book into my hand. He slowly stood, knees shaking. Age seemed to be catching up to him in a single day. His face was white and covered in wrinkles that hadn't existed before.
"Rachel… You have to finish this for me… Promise."
"I promise Rodge. I won't screw this one up on you." The tears began to roll freely now. I was watching the only person who had cared for me in these past years die. Roger suddenly stood up, with the final reserves of his strength. He started walking back toward the QZ.
"Damien, take her to Greenville, and this time, don't let her come back." Roger commanded over his shoulder as he slowly trudged toward the gate.
"Yes, sir." I felt Damien pick me up and I can honestly say there was nothing I could do about it. I felt sick and needed to lie down. Damien gently set me in the passenger side of the truck. As he did so I heard the terror inducing moaning of hundreds of infected. I watched in the rearview mirror as they started to charge toward the gate. In the center of the gate stood the greatest man I had ever known.
Damien climbed into the driver's seat and shut the door. The sound of the door slamming synchronized with view of a massive explosion from where the gate used to be. The truck shook as the shockwave crashed by. I cried again, tears flowing down either cheek, without thought about how might look.
Damien drove along in silence. Sensing my sadness he waited until we were a ways down the road before he pulled out Roger's handgun. He passed it over to me. "I think he would have wanted you to have it. I'm not much of a shot." I weighed the gun in my hands, still just recovering from earlier.
"No he told you to take care of her." I said handing it back.
"He didn't mean the gun Rach. That man didn't care about that gun a single day of his life, compared to you."
"Well you've probably going to need one of these then." I continued holding the gun out to him. I desperately willed him to take the gun. I didn't need something that reminded me of Roger right then.
We rode for several hours winding down I-55. I don't remember most of the ride. I'm fairly certain I was asleep for the vast majority of time. We reached the turn off and Damien shook me awake.
"What's up?" I asked groggily. I rubbed my eyes and looked around. "What's Litchfield?"
"This is our exit according to Roger. He said that we were going to have to go through the city before and then we would follow 16."
"Ok. Well let's get going."
"We can, I wondered if you wanted to drive." Damien asked unbuckling his seatbelt.
"Sure, why'd you have your seatbelt on? If we crash we're probably going to be dead anyway."
"I don't know, it's just something that Roger said to do. I think he's a pretty smart guy so I listen to him sometimes." Damien smirked as he opened his door and walked around the front. He opened my door and helped me down. I laughed at his mock bow and walked back to the driver side and hopped into the cab.
I drove down the ramp and turned onto the main street through the city. There were a lot of cars blocking the street, but we were able to push our way through the street to the center of town. Damien started fishing around in his seat before he pulled out the book that Roger had given me. He set it on the center console and leaned his seat back a ways, his seatbelt still on.
"Hey Damien, you aren't going to sleep on me are you?"
"You slept the entire way here; I'm just now getting some sleep." He countered. He was just settling back in when I saw someone up ahead. I slammed on the brakes and Damien looked up. "What's the matter with you?" He asked obviously upset that he wasn't going to get any sleep.
"Look." I pointed to the person up ahead. He was limping slowly toward us and waving his arms.
"Well, we should go help him." Damien said undoing his seatbelt and reaching for the door handle. He opened his door and shouted over to the man. "Don't worry; we've got stuff to help."
I eyed the man warily as I exited the truck. He was holding his side, but there didn't seem to be any external signs of injury. I shut my door and walked over to him. "Here, let me see, we can't help if you're holding your side like that. When I was within two steps of him he reached with his open arm and grabbed me with his other he grabbed his pistol.
"Don't try anything funny kid; come around from behind the truck." The man's voice was gruff and I could tell he wasn't keen on us living for very long. Roger had told me about these types, but I had never thought anyone would be unscrupulous enough to act this way.
"You get them Frank?" A man called from way down the road.
"Yea, couple of stupid kids." He called back, he sounded confident, too confident for my liking. I pushed his arm holding the gun away from my head, causing it to go off. While he was still recovering I bit his arm that held me. He swore and let me go. I fell forward onto the ground and rotated around in time to see him bring up his gun on me. Time seemed to slow as I stared down the barrel of a nine millimeter handgun.
Bang. I heard the handgun go off and looked down. I was alive and he missed, I thought happily before looking back up. The side of the man's head was gone and blood was pooling on the ground next to him. To my right Damien stood hand shaking and smoke drifting from the barrel of Roger's M9. I stood up and ran over to him.
"Come on we've got to go." I told him clicking the safety of the handgun on. I went to get in the truck, but noticed that the road had been blocked behind us and a group of thugs was now running down the street toward us. "Shit, grab the gear. We are going to have to get out of here on foot." I yelled cramming some of the food and drinks that we had stuffed in the back, into my backpack. Damien had a nice camping backpack with two bedrolls strapped to in ready in the back and he threw that on his back. We both loaded all of the pistol rounds we could carry into our bags. I grabbed my trust M4 out of the back seat and loaded it with one of my clips that I had preloaded. I threw the rest in my bag and shut the door. Damien grabbed a shot gun and strapped the little twenty two to his bag.
I watched him grab a little remote from the back and he made his way over to me. We opened the door to one of the buildings on our right and shut the door behind us. I was about to lead us ahead, but I remembered something.
"Wait I forgot something." I rushed back out the door and opened the passenger door. I heard bullets ping off the metal and the front window shattered as I grabbed the map. More bullets whizzed overhead as I searched the console. "Where is it? Where is it? I scrambled across the seat and felt on the floor. My fingers found purchase on the soft leather and I wrapped them around my prize. "Thank you, I breathed.
I felt someone grab my foot and drag me out from the truck. "Come here you." One of the thugs growled while he dragged me from the car. My head hit the pavement as I slipped from the car, but I never let go of the book or map. Damien rammed the guy head first into the rear passenger window and let him crumple to the ground. We ran back into the building and shut the door.
"Quick, after them." One yelled, we presumed it to be their leader.
"No, they left their shit here. Let them run. Look at this boys, jackpot!" One of the thugs yelled. They had all of our guns and supplies. Damien stood up and walked across the room and opened the door on the far end.
"We can't just let them have all of our stuff; they'll use it to get anyone else who's running from Springfield." I whispered following Damien to the next room. He pulled out the little remote and held it out.
"They won't." He calmly replied. He depressed the switch on the side got down behind the wall pulling me with him. The loudest most painful noise I have ever heard assaulted my ears while the entire building shook. It lasted for several seconds, but it felt like hours as the door busted off its hinges and flew across the room.
My ears rung as I stood back up and looked through the room we had just been in. I saw pieces metal and splinters of wood covering the entire block. Damien stood up slower than I did and struggled to get his bearings.
"I thought we were much farther away from the blast radius than we actually were." He yelled, his hearing as affected as mine was. He laughed uncomfortably before he noticed the disembodied arm that was lying in the center of the room. He turned around and immediately vomited. I turned away as well. I led him toward the far exit and opened the door. The sun seemed brighter than usual as I scanned our surroundings. There wasn't a sound coming from anywhere, and it seemed incredibly peaceful considering what had just happened. We walked down the street to a rundown restaurant and climbed through the window.
"Where do we go now?" I asked trying to bring Damien back to his senses. I could tell he was still sick, but he shook it off and faced me.
"How should I know? You've got the map." I looked down to see my knuckles bright white with both the book and the map still clutched tightly in my hands. I pulled up the map and set it down on one of the tables still standing in the room. I looked down and noticed that aside from the little excursion through the building we were still very much on track. The road was going to be a lot longer now though.
"It looks like we still have a ways to go from here Damien. I think we could use a break though I'm hungry." Damien looked at me and reached into his pack producing a granola bar.
"You go ahead I'm not very hungry right now." I thought back to a few seconds ago and suddenly realized I wasn't very hungry either. I wasn't nearly as affected as Damien seemed to be, but then again his life didn't seem to be nearly as bad up to this point as mine had. I put the bar away just in time to hear a loud shriek followed, by the most unappealing noise I have heard to date.
Clicking.