A/N: So I actually managed to finish a second chapter which is pretty good for me. Usually I get to about the fourth chapter - as you can tell from my other stories - and then totally give up. I hope that doesn't happen with this story though because I actually have a plot going on...
I hope this chapter flows a bit better. I'm only learning lol. Please read and review :-)
Cameron.
I turn and look at Damian and Bryce for guidance. Was somebody shooting at us? Or were they aiming for the zombies? They look just as confused as me. I hear a gasp escapes from Lindsay's lips behind me; her eyes are wide with fear. I follow the trace of her eyes to see what's making her scared. There is movement coming from behind the car. I see a little flash of colour through the window. Lindsay jumps up and backs away from the Chevy. She scrambles over to Damian and cuddles up in his arms. He attempts to soothe her as she shakes. Feet scrap against the ground; there's a somebody behind the car. The person stands up suddenly but the sunlight is blinding; all I can see is a black silhouette standing with a fierce pose. The figure starts to move around the car. My vision starts to come into focus; it's a tall slender girl. Relief washes through me. She's very much human. Another gasp comes from behind me, probably Lindsay. I look down at the girl's hands. She's carrying two Glock17's with her fingers curled around the triggers. She drops them into two holsters around her thighs. I step back a little in alarm. There is a scuttle of feet behind me so I assume the other have done the same thing. She cocks her head to the side and smiles. She has bright, flaming red hair pulled away from her face in a tight ponytail that streams down her back. Her eyes are piercing and frightening but the cat-like green gives off a sense of innocence. I can't tell if she's threat or not. Although her smile definitely does not look sane. She walks in front of the car until she's only a metre away from me. She holds her shoulder back as she moves, walking slinky like a cat.
Damian finally finds his voice and speaks up as our leader, "Thanks for that. We were dead meat. Are you alone?" He attempts confidence, but it all comes out as a blundering mess. She barks out a bitter laugh and turns her head. She looks out towards the JB Hi-Fi entrance - where we just were. I squint and see another figure start to walk our way. At first, with the long hair I assume it's another girl but as she gets closer I see it's actually a boy with long dreads. He too is holding a gun, an AR-15. He has the same vibe as her; his gaze like fire scrutinizes us all. His dreadlocks are pushed behind his back so his face is clear. He reminds me of some modern age badass Tarzan with a gun. He makes his way over to the girl keeping his eyes locked on us. He slings the gun behind his back and stands beside her. Without an introduction he asks, "Did any of you get bitten?" His voice is just as rough as his exterior. We all shake our heads. He smiles and turns to the girl. She shakes her head also. "I'm Samuel," he motions to himself. "And this is Marissa." The red head smiles at us and gives a quick wave.
"I'm Damian," Damian walks up so he's beside me. Lindsay clings to his side like a baby monkey. "This is Lindsay, Cameron and Bryce. And we're with another girl, Emily. Are you two alone?"
Dreads leans back against the Chevy. He looks like a jerk in my opinion; like the typical dickhead guy from high school that made Damain's life a living hell. "Yeah. Marissa and I handle ourselves pretty well."
Damian nods and looks at them up a down, non-discreetly. Its pretty obvious he's impressed. I can see his brain tick over with a million thoughts as he checks out the two. They look like professional zombie killers next to us. We stand here with our little shirts and skirts, like posers. Redhead is wearing tight khaki coloured pants with pistol holsters around her thighs. On top she has a black waist length jacket. It bulges a little so I wouldn't be surprised if she had a whole lot of knifes or something stuffed under there. Dreads has the same type of pants but wears a loose pink singlet on top. He has two gun straps across his chest, like Rambo. Although he is wearing pink, the most feminine colour, I don't think any of us would dream of picking on him for it.
"I can see that," Damian says quietly. I suddenly feel totally stupid clutching my little kitchen knife. Slyly, I hide it behind my back. When I look back up Redhead's smirking at me. My move didn't go so unnoticed.
"Have you ever thought of joining forces with someone?" Damian asks in an audible whisper.
Dreads and Redhead smile at each other. "No. We haven't needed too. We're happy with each other. She doesn't get me killed, I don't get her killed."
Damian nods and shrugs his shoulders. "Well, yeah, OK," he says awkwardly. "Thanks again for saving our arse's anyway."
Samuel laughs. "You can thank Marissa for that. I thought we were going to ransack their stuff, huh?" He turns to Redhead with an eyebrow raised. Great, so they were originally planning to take our stuff and watch us die at the hands of the zombies. What heroes.
She shrugs her shoulders, "Did you really expect me to let the girl die?"
Lindsay squirms uncomfortably. She tugs on Damian and I's shirt. "We should leave," I hear her whisper in Damian's ear.
Damian ignores her and turns back to Dreads. "That was really cool of you anyway. See, we probably - most definitely - would have died. Do you think - uh - we should unite? Us last survivors got to stick together, right? We have a hideout with plenty of space. You could stay with us, while still doing your own thing?" A small growl comes from Lindsay, heard by everyone.
Dreads smiles politely but shakes his head. "We like to do our own thing. It's easier, you know? Thanks for the offer though. Maybe we'll see you again sometime along the track."
Damian smiles back with a shrug of his shoulders. "That's cool. Good luck out there." Dreads salutes with a grin and turns away down the road where Emily is hiding in anticipation. Redhead stays where she is, her eyebrows screwed together. She pulls one of the Glock17s out of her holsters and throws it to Damian. He catches it straight on.
"You might need this." Dreads turns around at the sound of her voice, his eyes tight staring hard at Damian. He grabs Redhead's hand and with one arm on the small of her back, drags her away. As they walk away Dreads leans over and whispers something in Redheads ear. "The safety lock's on by the way," she calls and then they both start to run until they are out of sight.
I turn to Damian, "We should get home." I feel a little bitter. Dreads and Redhead were a bit standoffish. They only think they're better than us because they have a few fancy guns.
"This might come in handy," Damian smiles down at the gun, flipping it around in his fingers. Bryce walks over and takes the gun from Damian's hands, "I used to go hunting all the time back home. God, I've missed the touch." They take turns at pretending to shoot people and reloading it. They look like a couple of children on Christmas morning.
I know I'd never hold that gun. Or shoot somebody with it, even if it was a zombie. Its goes against all my morals. Lindsay scowls from a distance with her hands on her hips. She turns her head to look at me. She sees her distaste reflected on my face and walks over.
She grabs my hand, maybe a bit too tightly, "Damian we'll meet you back at the house so you guys can have some time to play with your new toy," Lindsay snaps. Damian waves his hand dismissively. Lindsay growls quietly and drags me down the road. She gives a wave to Emily at the bottom of the road who returns one anxiously.
Lindsay starts to mutter to me. I can barely hear what she's saying, "Who is she to give us a gun? Does it look like we need a gun? We are doing absolutely fine. Thank God they didn't agree to join up with us. She would tear apart our house and put bloody porn and war-"
"Porn?" I grin at Lindsay and laugh. Lindsay ignores me and carries on.
"I bet she doesn't even know how to use a gun. She was just trying to show off like a little whore. I bet if she could she would get her dirty hands all over Damian and you too if you weren't careful. But you're too smart for that. I should take that gun and throw it away. It's just going to give us more grief than it's worth."
"Lindsay you're starting to sound a little jealous," I laugh.
"You would think that, Cameron wouldn't you? Your just the same as them." She gives my shoulder a shove and with a final diva glare she runs down the road to Emily. Bloody women and their pride. I turn back around and walk towards Damian and Bryce.
Lindsay.
Those boys are so stupid. Its getting dark outside and they still haven't come home. I expect more from Damian. I thought he was a responsible, true leader. I'm getting rid of that gun as soon as they put it down. And thank the lord Emily agrees with me. We don't usually talk that much even though we're the only girls in the house but occasionally we have these moments when we just click.
I walk back over to her on the couch with the packet of crisps. I pop it open and stuff a hand full in my mouth.
"Lets be honest, we can't have anymore girls in the group," Emily says taking the bag from my hand.
"I know! Like, we get along fine but if we add one more girl she'll try sex up all the boys then there will be fights between them and we are the only ones that can keep this family intact."
Emily nods and says with a mouth full of chips. "I knew that girl would be a whore even from where I was sitting. I saw the way she swung her hips and flicked her hair. She was trying to seduce them and steal them."
I dismiss the middle part seeing as Emily pretty much described herself and carried on. "They aren't a bowl of lollies. You can't take your pick and leave them to rot. We're the only ones who can keep them wrapped."
Emily stretches out on the couch. "Its probably a good thing I wasn't there. I would of beat the shit out of that chica."
"I wish you were," I say with a smile. Emily giggles and hits me on the shoulder playfully.
"Me too." We fall into a mountain of laughter until we're interrupted by a huge bang. The boys are making a racket as they stumble through the corridor. Typical.
Bryce wanders through the door first. His feet are flailing all over the place as he walks. "Oooooooh! How we doin' ladieeeees?"
I jump off the chair in alarm. "God, Bryce what's wrong with you?" I grab his shoulders and let him down softly on the couch. He squirms in my arms and try's to get back up. "Emily hold him still," I huff.
Emily grabs his shoulders as Damian stumbles into the room followed by Cameron. "What have you boys been doing? Where's that fucking gun," I snap.
"Heeeeeeeera!" Damian calls spinning the gun around his finger. I snatch it from him and lock it in the top drawer in the kitchen.
"Lindsay!" Emily calls. "I smell liquor on Bryce's fucking breath!" Those stupid assholes. They are always getting into shit. I look over at Cameron. He stands patiently by the table watching Damian with a smile. At least he's sober. He catches me staring at him and he puts his hands together in a prayer position.
Sorry, he mouths. He looks down at the floor with a huge guilty look on his face. I scowl at him and grab Damian - who was swinging his arms around shouting "I'm a butterfly, no one can catch me!" - by the scruff of his neck and chuck him on the couch beside Bryce. They squirm around hitting each other with childish giggles.
"SHUT IT!" I scream and stamp my foot. They look up at me with beady little bloodshot eyes. "You are all stupid little fuckers. I can't believe you'd all be so dumb as to get wasted with a gun when zombies are wandering around. Remember zombies? Those things that eat you! You have probably lead a herd of them right into our hide-out!"
"We haven't Lindsay, I checked-" Cameron says quietly. I silence him with a glare.
Damian and Bryce nod their heads in unison, their eyes locked on mine in fear.
Emily takes over with more sass. "You guys can never leave this house again because we can't fucking trust you! Bryce-" Bryce curls up on the couch his head buried in Damain's armpit. I tried not to smile at the sight. They did look kind of cute on that couch. "I would have thought you would have some common sense. Maybe one of you should have died! It would teach you a fucking lesson, wouldn't it? Now I want you all to go to bed and fucking sleep off the alcohol. You will stay completely quiet or I'll come over there and beat the living crap out of you. Got it?"
No one moves. "GO!" Emily shouts. They jump up and frantically run around the room collapsing onto each of their assigned beds. Cameron looks over at me with a pleading face.
"We'll take about it tomorrow," I growl. He nods and wanders over to his bed and cowers under the sheets. Over at Bryce's bed his long limbs are hanging off the side of the mattress and his head is buried deep into the pillow. I sigh with a smile and wander over to him. Without letting him see my smirk I fix the pillow and lay the sheets over his body. His feet stick out the end still. Emily takes the couch and gives me a small smile as I walk to the door. I shut it and push the block over the handle. I move over to the kitchen and turn off all the lights apart from the small lamp on the bench. I try to avoid eye contact with Damian as I walk to my bed. I can see him staring at me out of the corner of my eye. I can't resist. I turn to look at him with a pout so he knows I'm still angry. The lamp illuminates his face so I can see his cute little smile. Only his face can be seen from under the sheets.
What do you want? I mouth. He motions me over with a sad puppy look on his face.
No, I shake my head and wander over to my bed. I slip under the single sheet. This bed is so uncomfortable and cold. I haven't slept in it for ages. Since two weeks ago I've been sleeping in Damian's bed every night. One night he saw I was shivering so he picked me right up, took me to his bed and curled up against me. Apparently my teeth chattering was keeping him up. Sleeping with Damian is so much warmer and I always feel safe beside him. Damian gives me a sense of security that I've never felt in my whole life. Especially not at home. I squirm around uncomfortable for a while before giving in. I grab the sheet and walk over to Damian. His eyes are open; he was waiting for me. He smiles and pulls up the sheets for me to slip in. I squeeze under the sheets and curl my body around his. I fit in perfectly like two pieces of a puzzle. He sighs in comfort. His breath is warm on my neck.
"Can't resist, can you?" he whispers.
"Shut up," I laugh. "You're wasted." He's right though. I can never resist. Ever.
Bryce.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
I wake up suddenly and instantly feel like someone is pounding a hammer into my skull. I attempt to open my eyes but they are crusted over. I rub my cheeks with my hands to warm up the muscles. Licking my dry lips I sit up from my bed and pull my eyes open to look around the room. I find the source of noise; Emily is sitting on the couch crunching away at some cornflakes. Each crunch sounds like a firework that has gone off in the room. It pounds against my ears. I stumble over to her and with a shove against her shoulder first; I sit down.
"Do you have to chew so loudly?" I growl, rubbing my forehead with the palm of my hand.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Emily says sarcastically. "WAS I KEEPING YOU UP?"
I cringe away from her and curl over in a fetish position on the couch. Bitch.
"Shut up. Both of you," Lindsay calls from the kitchen. God, seriously a pin drop could burst my eardrums right now. My mouth is dry, body is tired and brain feels like its made of tissue. I am dead on my feet. And suddenly a flash comes back to me: bent over the bar bench belching into the sink before jumping on Damian's back for a joy ride. Oh crap. We are in so much shit. I jump up off the chair and nonchalantly stroll over to the kitchen like nothings wrong. If I act normal maybe I won't have to face the wrath of Lindsay.
"You're not fooling anyone, Bryce. Your feet a wobbling like an old man," Lindsay scowls.
I sigh, "Can I please just have a panadol?"
Lindsay barks a cruel evil laugh.
"Sit down," she points over to the kitchen table where a very guilty faced Damian and Cameron are sitting. I walk over, head down, tail between my legs. They don't speak as I approach but Damian smiles at me. It's not a happy smile; it's an 'it was good knowing you' smile. I sit down in the chair and wait patiently for my fate. I've only been the target behind one of Lindsay's rages once. To this day I can't mention the events without getting a little teary. It was single handedly one of the scariest moments in my life.
Eventually, Lindsay cleans up all the dishes in which feels like years and walks over to us. Better to get it over with now. It's like a howler from Harry Potter. Best not to leave it to long because she'll just build up with more ideas.
Lindsay sighs and paces backwards and forwards. She stops and looks up at Cameron.
"So, Cameron seeing as you weren't as idiotic as these two," she motions to Damian and I. "Can you tell me what really went on last night?"
Cameron clears his throat and with an insure glance towards Damian he rambles, "Well you and Emily left to go home and Damian and Bryce were really excited about the gun and they wanted to test it out. So we all agreed to hunt down a pack of zombies," Lindsay's jaw drops and her brows screws together. Cameron carries on like he didn't notice, "and Damian and Bryce shot them down like Tin cans in seconds. We weren't in any trouble at all. Believe me." I take a second to sink back in glory at our zombie attack. We took them down like toy fucking soldiers.
"So Bryce suggested a celebration was in order-" I glare at Cameron. He's totally going to blame this thing on me. "And Damian agreed so obviously, reluctantly I joined them. We came across a bar completely zombie free - it had no broken windows or nothing - and starting taking a few drinks. Ten shots later they were completely off their face. Trust me, even I didn't see it coming! One minute hunky dory, next second Damian was trying to smash a glass bottle of vodka across my butt."
Damian starts to laugh at the memory but thinks twice about it and sinks back into silence.
"I figured it would be worse if I left them unsupervised with a gun so I stayed and kept them out of trouble. They got into a few fights with zombies-"
"What?" Emily screeches from the couch. Until now I had no idea she was listening. "One of you could be bitten!"
I quickly scan my skin. I can't remember this fight going down. Just a big black blur of nothing last night is.
"Non-contact fight, I promise. They just threw a lot of things at them. So I finally managed to get them to agree to come home. It was a mission though, I tell you. They kept spying crashed taco stands and insisted we buy one."
Lindsay taps her foot expectantly. "Well is that it?"
Cameron looks uneasy, "Well... yeah."
Lindsay sighs and starts to pace again. She's like a gazelle; planning out her attack.
"Bryce," I cringe. "This was your idea to drink?" I nod but she hardly notices as she's already sucked into her head. "And when this thought crossed your mind did it not occur to you to be completely stupid? Mind bottling retarded? What moron on this Earth would ever think to get wasted while zombies roam all streets? I guess only you." She laughs sarcastically. There's no humor behind the laugh, just pure evil. In no way am I over exaggerating. "Do you know what the consequences could be? Do you not know how your one decision could have effected us all?" She stops; she seems to be waiting for an answer.
I don't risk my voice. It would come out all squeaky and high pitched which is just embarrassing. Instead I shake my head.
"I'll tell you how: If you had picked a fight with a herd of zombies you could have gotten Damian or Cameron killed. One of you could be bitten and you'd come back all happy and excited and then transform over night and we'd all be woken up to you sucking our brains out. You would have killed us all. We wouldn't be protected in anyway. You could have murdered your own sister!"
Over at the couch Emily nods in agreement. What a suck up.
"I actually feel sick to the stomach for ever trusting you. I actually contemplated last night kicking you out but then you would probably burn our hide-out down wouldn't you?" God, she's laying it on a bit thick. I'm not that stupid. "You are always the butt-headed ring leader who manages to find away to endanger everyone. I wouldn't be surprised if you caused the whole zombie apocalypse single handedly." That's right; blame the whole worlds disasters on Bryce.
"Damian," thank God she's moved on from me, though. "Why would you agree to this?" Her voice turned from bitter distaste to a more soothing disappointment. Of course Damian gets it easy. "You are so much smarter than this. I thought you would put a stop to it straight away. I'm so disappointed in you and if there is ever a next time I'm going to hold you personally responsible."
With a last huff she turns to Cameron, "Don't be a fucking doormat."
She's stare's at us all pointedly then marches to the kitchen. We sit for a few seconds in silence taking it all in before I whisper, "She's got you there, Cameron."
He hits me on the shoulder with a cold grin, "Just shut up."
I lean back in the chair and stretch, "I can't believe she took it easy on us. I thought we were goners."
"Lindsay's not that bad," Damian reasons.
I laugh. "Are you kidding me? I love Linds but she's a cold hearted bitch at the best of times."
"That's a little uncalled for I think," Damian says bitterly.
"Come on, Damo! Your only saying that 'cause she went easy on you," I pat him jokingly on the shoulder. "What if she'd said the things she said to me, to you? Would she still be an 'easy going' chick?"
The chair scraps across the ground as he jumps up suddenly. He glares down at me, his fist clenched and I was sure for a second he was going to punch me in the face. He sighs and drops his hands, "Maybe everything she said to you is true." He stalks over to the kitchen and immediately starts helping Lindsay in the kitchen. So he's a suck up too. He starts doing that touchy thing he always does with Lindsay; where he flicks her nose or leans over her back so his head is resting on her shoulder. He is just like Emily, seriously. He can't call me out on being an 'asshole' when he is just as worse. The way he carries on around Lindsay, plays with her emotions, pretends like they have something going on. I know very well Lindsay is head over heels for Damian. It's obvious to everyone - but Damian. He doesn't recuperate her feelings but he still continues to drag her along. If anyone is, its him who's going to screw up our family.
I turn to Cameron, "What's up with him?"
Cameron shrugs his shoulders with a sigh. "Extra sensitive?"