It Never Happened
"Is this all?" Drew asked as he carried a box. Jazz thought for a moment before moving to the back of the hardware store. "There's a couple of batteries here, flashlight, cash..?" Jazz mumbled as she bent over the counter. "Lighter-" she stopped abruptly. Drew raised an eyebrow as he watched her face twisted in disgust. "What the.." she whispered turning around to the back door. "What is it?" Drew asked taking hold of his rifle and switching the safety off. Jazz sniffed the air taking a step closer to the back door; 'Staff Room' it read. "Foster, damn it. What's wrong?" Drew asked making his way beside her. Sniffing, Drew's face twisted in disgust "Is that..?" "Dead." Jazz nodded staring at the small glass window on top of the door. Jazz took a step in front of him and peeked inside through the thick glass window. Jazz squinted as she scanned the small room and found another door with a small window at the other side of the room, 'Storage'. Jazz frowned deeply staring at the small window that had a word written backwards with a marker, "H..e...lp.." Jazz mouthed.
Suddenly lights started moving around inside the storage. The door flew open followed by a woman with blood all over her screaming and crying before falling to the ground. The small number of biters in the room then noticed her before they started making their way towards the woman. The biters then lunged towards as the woman then began to cry in agony while the undead feasted on her. Jazz and Drew froze in place as they stared through the small window. Out of nowhere, another scream was then heard causing some of the biters to turn to the storage and start pushing against the door. "HELP! HELP US! OH GOD!" Someone started yelling causing the biters to be more aggressive and managed to push the door open letting them inside the room followed by numerous yells of panic.
Slowly opening her eyes, She heard noises coming from outside and a few voices. Groaning out, she sat up on her sleeping bag and stretched her aching back caused by the hard ground. Jazz rubbed her half-closed eyes and yawned scanning the tent, her trekking bag sat at the corner of the tent, beside it was a folding table with a few clothes and clutter on top of it. Jazz checked her watch on her wrist and realized it was seven in the morning. She threw the thin blanket off of her and revealed her tank top and slim cargo pants and got up reluctantly. After slipping on a loose shirt and her sandals, Jazz stepped out of her tent carrying a few folded clothes.
"Good morning." Rea smiled as she passed by her as she was crouched down their makeshift fire pit cooking breakfast. Jazz placed the clothes in front of Rea's tent along with other clothes before heading to where they kept their water in a pale to do her morning routine. After that, she grabbed her plate of food and sat down near the pit where the rest ate. "How's your side?" Rea asked not looking at her. "I forgot to change the bandage last night." Jazz briefly remembered the incident a week ago. "How's your foot?" Rea shrugged twisting her foot slightly. "Getting better I think. At least I can still walk on it." Rea smiled slightly while Jazz only chuckled. "Yeah, at least it's not your arm." Drew mumbled. "I can't even wipe my ass properly." He added making everyone laugh. Jazz then noticed that everyone was now joining them. Jazz then studied everyone, Rea had a twisted ankle and a few bruises on her arms, Drew had a bruising eye and a cut from his lip and up at the bottom of his nose with his arm laying limply on his lap. While Riley, Chelsea and James looked good, with no sign of any abuse. Ritchie was however still hiding in his tent. They had been staying in camp now for more than a week. "Oh hey! Look everybody's present!" Rea then yelled laughing before getting up and slightly limping to her tent that she shared with Chelsea. "Let's drink to that!" Rea yelled holding up a bottle of Jack Daniels. Everyone wasn't surprised at the sight of alcohol. When spotted, they didn't think twice of grabbing the bottle of alcohol. "I'd drink to that." Drew nodded grinned. "Yeah!" Riley cheered before grabbing the bottle from Rea. "Later. It's too early for that." Jazz said firmly but had a small smile before picking up her plate and dumping it on the empty basin. "Oh come on. It's not like we're going somewhere." Riley mumbled rolling her eyes remembering the scene from camp over looking the Atlanta being napalmed. "Yeah. Later." Rea nodded before putting the bottle down inside their tent as Riley rolled her eyes walking away towards the basin to clean up the dishes.
Jazz then stepped inside her tent to check her bandage, grabbed a mirror, raised her top and started taking off the bandage along the side of her stomach. "Jazz?" She heard a soft voice from outside the tent. "Yeah?" Jazz said softly distracted by the long gash. Jazz heard the tent zipped open before turning to the person; it was Ritchie. "What now?" the redhead sighed before pulling out a clean gauze from her pack. Ritchie hesitated for a moment. "Can you just help me change my bandage?" Jazz cut him off and shoved the gauge to him. He stared down at the side of her face before nodding and zipping the tent closed. Jazz raised her arms as Ritchie knelt in front of her patching her up quickly without another word. "Thanks." Jazz muttered as Ritchie stood up. Jazz walked past him and rummaged through her bag.
Ritchie only stood there as he studied her; her arms and shoulder were littered with scars, while some deep wounds still had scabs on them and there was a huge bruise where her neck met her shoulder; it had a sick purple shade. Jazz who was feeling uncomfortable with Ritchie quickly slipped in a lose shirt. "Jazz.." Ritchie strode towards her and grabbed her hand. Jazz frowned pulling her hand away from his grasp, "Didn't we already talked about this." "You can't just expect me to-" "I know." Jazz said not looking at him. "I get it.." she sighed again. Ritchie hesitated for a moment, "I'm sorry you had to go through with it." Jazz 's head snapped to him and she glared at him.
"Will you stop apologizing? It's no one's fault." Ritchie stared at her face. Her lip was busted and her right eyebrow had a deep cut. "It didn't only happen to me. There's Rea, Drew and you." Jazz snapped at him. "I know, Jazz. Just let me talk to you properly without you practically-" "Ssh!" Jazz shushed him suddenly. Jazz could barely hear a scream.
Pushing Ritchie out of the way, Jazz quickly grabbed her handgun and baton from the table before rushing out the tent. "James!" Jazz yelled to James who was perched on top of the box-truck trying to find who had just screamed. "I don't know!" he yelled back in panic. "Did you hear that?!" Rea asked anxiously with a shotgun in hand. Drew then came running towards them. "Where's Riley?" Jazz swore she stopped breathing when she realized who was missing. "Where is she?" She turned to everyone. "Somebody!" Another scream rang in the air, now louder than before. "Riley!" Everyone started running deeper into the forest. "Stay there!" Jazz called back to James. The group had been running deeper into the forest for almost ten minutes, now. "I…need to..rest." Rea gasped for air, slowing down and leaning on her knees. Jazz slowed down reluctantly looking back at Rea who suddenly slumped down the grass. "I'll stay with her. Go on." Drew said to Jazz. Jazz only nodded before getting back to running, "Riley!" Chelsea yelled when Ritchie noticed movement a few feet away from them. "Stop. Be quiet." He snapped at her before pointing the two biters that were moving towards them. Chelsea quickly cocked her gun; ready to fire when Jazz grabbed her hand. "No. Guns." She glared at her before pulling out her baton. Jazz and Ritchie quickly dealt with the biters before scanning their surroundings. "There's probably more of them." Chelsea stated shaking her head looking around. "We'll deal with that later." Ritchie stated. "Come on." Jazz urged the group.
"Psst!.." Jazz stopped looking around. "Probably a bird." Ritchie shrugged before passing Jazz who grabbed his arm to stay put. "What…" Jazz held up a hand to shut him up as she tried to listen. "Guys.." a soft voice called from above them. Everyone looked up and there perched on one of the branches was Riley. Everyone sighed in relief, "How did you get up there?" Ritchie raised his eyebrows. "Spider-monkey skills." Riley grinned. Jazz shook her head almost laughing, "Well, spider-monkey, can you get down on your own?" Chelsea raised an eyebrow. "Duh. I just jump, right?" "Yeah and then break your legs, that sounds right." Jazz snorted, shrugging casually. "I'll get the rope." Ritchie stated walking away. Chelsea eyed Jazz and Riley before following Drew. Once the two was out of earshot, Jazz looked up glaring harshly at Riley.
"What the hell were you doing out here alone, Riley?!" she exploded. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to be alone." Riley whined. "Yeah? You could do that by the quarry." Riley groaned out. "Well?" Jazz stood there looking up at her, hands on her hips. "Why do I feel like I'm being scolded." Jazz laughed incredulously, "Because you are being scolded. You should have at least bought a gun with you or anything really. For fuck's sake you could have bought a cooking pan with you!" Jazz exclaimed. "I already said sorry!" Riley yelled. Jazz studied her before sighing, "What- What are you trying to do exactly?" Riley paused before shaking her head, "We just watched Atlanta being napalmed, Jazz. I don't- I don't know if they're still alive out there." She barely whispered.
Jazz pressed her lips in straight line nodding her head, refusing the tears to escape. She herself didn't even know where her parents were. "Let's make a deal…" Riley cocked her head. "In a few days, as long as you don't do anything reckless or stupid, we're going to Altanta and look for them. Just give me time to rig us a good vehicle with gas and a few supplies." Riley nodded thoughtfully, "Deal." "Are you okay?" "Just got my shoe." Riley shrugged. "We'll check for scratches later."
After Jazz and Riley checked her legs for scratches, Jazz strode to the pit. "We'll start having watches from now on." She stated watching everyone. "Agreed. We should have done it the moment we got here." Rea nodded before hissing. "I already told you, you still need to wait for it to heal." Chelsea glared up at Rea as she tried to rotate her ankles. "And patrols in the forest the moment the sun rises and before it sets." Ritchie added. "We can't let you do watches and patrol, Rea." Jazz smiled at her friend. "You've been cooking for us this whole time." "You even wash our clothes." Chelsea pointed out. "Come on, at least for a few hours." "One hour." Jazz stated before walking away. "What? For real?" Rea exclaimed unsatisfied while everyone shrugged.
After lunch, everyone resumed their routine. Jazz looked around the camp, a box truck was parked at the corner of the clearing where James was perched on for the first watch. Inside the truck was Riley, counting and taking note of how much food and water they still have before she and Drew would have to go to a run; Rea came out of her tent before picking up the pile of clothes by her tent followed by Chelsea and walking away heading down to the creek to wash them; Drew was by the pickup studying a map while Ritchie was nowhere to be found. Jazz strode over to Drew, Drew then pointed down a small town, "This could be a good place for our next run." Jazz shook her head before grabbing the pen from Drew. "We already checked that place. It looked like it was overrun." She marked the town with a huge X. "This is the only place that has a good chance of supplies that's not a hundred miles away." "We have more than a months supply. Besides, I think we need to lay low for a while." Jazz took the map while Drew frowned. "We all saw what happened to Atlanta. People who've been stuck on the road will move out of the highways soon. We don't need them to know where we're staying." She shook her head. Drew looked around making sure no one else was listening, "I got a plan about the biters smelling the camp." Jazz cocked an eyebrow, "Yeah?"
Ritchie stood on top of the boxtruck for his watch. "That's the fifteenth car." Ritchie pointed out as he looked through the scope of a rifle, another car had passed going out of Atlanta. "I stopped counting." Rea stated as she played poker with Riley and James. "It's been an hour already." Ritchie mumbled looking at the sky, as it got darker. "Quit worrying, man." James chuckled. Chelsea, Drew and Jazz had gone on their patrol for the night. "They're fine. You forgot this is Drew and Jazz we're talking about here." She chuckled. "Fuck! Stop doing math!" Rea suddenly yelled at Riley in frustration, as she slammed a hand on the table. Riley laughed as she clutched her stomach. "You are no longer allowed to play cards with anybody!" Rea exclaimed gathering the cards. When out of nowhere a piece of cloth was suddenly on top of her head. "What the.." she grabbed the dirty piece of cloth when she smelled it. "Fucking hell!?" She screamed before throwing it to Riley. "Hey!" Riley yelled before throwing it to the ground. Laughs erupted around the camp as Jazz, Drew and Chelsea came in view. "Nice throw." Chelsea laughed as she gave Jazz a high five. "That was epic." Jazz gasped out still laughing. Rea smelled her hair before her face twisted in disgust, "What the hell was that?" she exclaimed. Drew chuckled before picking up the piece of cloth. "We cut out the biter's clothes." "What?" Everyone's face twisted in disgust. "It could disguise the camps smell." Drew shrugged. "And what exactly do you plan to do with it?" Riley raised eyebrow at Drew. "Well we have lot to do tomorrow if we plan to keep this place safe." Jazz smiled shrugging.
Jazz and Rea walked down the trail towards the quarry in silence with flashlights. "See, now I have to clean up in the dark just because you threw that biter cloth at me." Rea complained as they reached the creek. "Stop complaining. We just took a bath this afternoon." "But you threw a biter's shirt at me!" Rea looked at her accusingly. Jazz laughed, "I regret nothing." Rea started stripping while Jazz kept watch. "Have you two talked?" Rea asked quietly referring to Ritchie. Jazz didn't turn to her and sighed deeply, "There's no point, Rea. It's done. He needs to get over it. I got over it." she shook her head. Rea only nodded before studying Jazz, "Don't be like that, Jazz. I know it hasn't been easy for you either." "Can we not talk about this right now?" Jazz pleaded. "Nope. You are not going to escape me this time." Rea grinned a little. "Well will you at least put some clothes on before we do this!?" Jazz exclaimed. Rea quickly cleaned herself before slipping on a clean set of clothes. "Okay, now." Rea said softly sitting down beside Jazz by the creek. "If you really want to end it between you two, talk to him. You can't ignore each other forever." Rea shook her head before patting Jazz on her shoulder. "'Course I can. Watch me." Jazz flashed a grin while Rea raised an eyebrow at her glaring. "I was kidding." Jazz muttered. "You two need to talk about what happened, Jazz. At least, give him the closure you both need." She said softly following Jazz back to camp. Rea stayed quiet as they both navigate the trail, "Do you think they're really dead?" Rea almost slapped her own head for asking. Jazz cocker her head, glancing at Rea with a snarl. "I shot them point-blank. If that doesn't kill them-" "D'you think there're more of them?" Jazz shrugged, "Maybe. Make it fast will you?" she huffed picking up the pace.
Ritchie stood on top of the truck pacing back and forth when he spotted the two. Quickly getting off the truck, Rea shook her head at him while Jazz quietly left and went inside her tent. Ritchie grabbed Rea's arm pulling her away from Jazz's tent. "What'd she say?" Ritchie asked anxiously. "She'll talk to you. Maybe not now but- She will." Rea said looking at Jazz's tent thoughtfully. Ritchie recoiled brows furrowed. He was already loosing his patience with her. "Ritchie, don't." Rea grabbed his shoulder firmly. "No one here knows what happened before that night. You have to be patient. I know you both too well. If you force her into this, you're just pushing her away." Rea shook her head looking up directly at Ritchie. "Okay?" Ritchie only nodded before walking away with a pissed of look in his face. Rea shook her head before going inside the tent to fetch the bottle of alcohol without knowing that Riley had been standing a few feet away from them.
Everyone excluding Riley who was on watch, was crowded by the fire pit drinking and laughing, "I've never had sex!" Riley yelled from on top of the edge of the truck where she was seated with her legs dangling. "Jesus, Riley. We don't really want to know how much of a prude you are." Rea rolled her eyes as she handed everyone a shot of the alcohol. "Chelsea!?" Riley exclaimed staring at her with wide eyes as she downed the alcohol. "You're not a virgin?" Riley asked. Chelsea snorted, "No. What about you, Rea?" she grinned at her direction. "No I'm not." She only stated with a smile on her face. Drew, Ritchie and James laughed. "I never thought you could actually get a boyfriend." James chuckled while everyone nodded. "Oh he wasn't." Rea nodded cockily while everyone busted out laughing and yelling as Rea got thrown with random things. "Okay, okay." Rea put her hands up in defeat. "Let's play truth or dare." Everyone grimaced. "Honestly, Rea this feels like high school all over again." Chelsea winced. "Or college." Ritchie added while everyone nodded in agreement. "Come on, guys. We helped and nursed strangers and got beaten up by them. We almost got killed and barely got out of there alive. Let's fucking cut ourselves some slack, please? Let's think of this as a.. reward." Rea exclaimed harshly as everyone quiet down. "World's gone to hell and I'm pretty sure it isn't going to end anytime soon. Doubt the government's even still functioning. We need this. We've been sleeping with one eye open. We need to loosen up." "Fine." Jazz piped up before standing up and going inside her tent. Everyone waited for her to come back and tried to peek at what she was hiding behind her back. "This," Jazz pointed to the alcohols scattered on the picnic table. "Isn't going to be an everyday thing, you hear me?" Jazz said firmly as everyone nodded in understanding. "We do this once a month.." A few grunted. "Once a week, one bottle… With two people taking watch who aren't drinking. We take turns each week." Everyone nodded. "And if we're doing this we might as well use this." And with that Jazz threw the box on the table. Everyone stared at the small pack. "Is that.." "You had that this entire time?" "Since when?" Jazz sat down next to Drew. "Stop asking questions." Jazz chuckled opening the package, putting a stick between her lips and lighting it.
"HELP! HELP US! OH GOD!" Someone started yelling causing the biters to be more aggressive and managed to push the door open letting them inside the room followed by numerous yells of panic. Something inside Jazz snapped before she drew out her gun and swung the door open. Everything was a blur as groans and snapping of teeth was barely heard while continuous gunshots and screaming filled the room