Who would have thought the seasons thing was a good idea?

Chapter 16: Like Honey

There was no reason to speak another word.

There was no tragedy.

"Come."

Jessica lead the group into an underground bunker. The place had been long prepared for some provocation of this minor scale, but all of them were still visible shaken by the chain of events that just occurred. Still, it was the one who had been with the dead for the longest that truly had to take the brunt of this.

"Hey…" Louis tried his best to find some comforting words. It was rather easy to sympathise with someone in this situation. He was the same, once. "I'm sorry."

"…thank you." It was hardly a smile, but it was a decent confirmation of her sanity. Everyone here has long seen enough death and destruction to last a life time, but this was just not getting any better wherever they looked. "Is Dave doing ok?"

"He's breathing." Francis remarked. At times like these, his rugged build was coming into usefulness. Dave was far too big a man to have anyone else reasonable move him around unconscious. Strength was one thing, but also the right body type was necessary. "Take that as it is."

"Good." She sighed. It was good that she made it back when she did, else there was no doubt there would have been another mortality. The place they were in were not of a particular safety standard, though. "This place was built when we had much more manpower than we do now. It was, however, overran when the connection to the surface was established."

"Which means this place is infested with them?" Zoey narrowed her eyes. She knew that if this underground system was secure there would be no need for Josh to shut his family within an easily surrounded safe room, but the capacity of this place was worrying.

"Right, but it should be fairly sealed off from the above ground." Jess lit a cigarette to calm her nerves, and only then she had the chance to carefully inspect the one Zoey and Louis came back with. It bothered her, undoubtedly. "Excuse me but, is that…"

"Her name is Cindy." The witch was not making a sound. She was clearly conscious, just extremely silent like she had been all this way. No one had been able to get a response out of her so far, and it was painstaking. Thus, Zoey felt the need to speak up. "She's one of us."

"But isn't she…"

"She's one of us." Jessica was no longer sure of what to think. However, based on the behaviour that this Cindy had been displaying, it was a safe assumption that she would not be dangerous.

"Right, well." She blew a light puff. It was enough to pull her together. She had not smoked in a long time, and this pack was found in Dave's pocket, but she knew she had to. It helped, a lot. "Considering how much you've helped me thus far, I'm inclined to trust your decision on this. I do wonder whatever happened to Michael. I haven't even caught a sight of him."

"Michael?" Louis asked with the most neutral tone possible.

"Yes, he's the last person of our group." Jessica nodded and put out the cigarette. She got what she wanted out of it already, and it did not seem like any of the others was going to share it with her. "He can be a bit frantic at times, but certainly reliable in a fight."

"What does he look like?" Louis continued with the questions.

"Erm, he's about forty. Well built, white, tanned." These questions certainly tipped her off, even though Louis tried his best not to discern any special agenda. "Have you seen him?"

Louis and Zoey glanced at each other. The two of them knew exactly who Jessica was talking about. It was unmistakeably the corpse in the room where they found Cindy. They had not the time to discuss this yet, but the only reasonable explanation they could find was the most disturbing one. However, both having interacted with the Witch for so long, it was extremely difficult to imagine a reason that would put her at fault. Besides, these people did in fact kidnap her and Louis. However, it would appear that Jessica knew nothing of this, and everyone else was either dead or incapacitated.

"Hello?" Jessica was becoming suspicious. The silent alone was enough for her to cast doubt over how the two was acting. Francis, having never seen the corpse, had no idea what was even happening, and thus was somewhat suspicious as well.

"Guys?" The biker was losing patience. There was obviously something the two of them were not telling. They did not get a chance to talk at all, so he would not blame anyone for not knowing, but the fact that they were taking too long just tipped him off.

"He's dead." Those words uttered by Cindy completely shocked everyone. She was now once again the centre of attention. Everyone was staring at her with disbelief, albeit for different reasons.

"What do you mean he's dead?" Jessica was not sure how to respond to this. There was a hint of doubt, but she needed to confirm her speculations first. Cindy averted her eyes, which essentially confirmed the man's mortality. "How did he die?"

"I killed him."

A brief moment of dead silence.

"WHAT?" Jessica's pistol stared down the Witch. It was simply a natural reaction just as soon as her consciousness processed what was being said. "How dare you?"

"Jess stop!" Francis bellowed. It was the last thing he wanted to happen right now. While he had no idea just what was happening, shooting each other right then could never be a good idea. It was best he tried calming everyone down. "Don't go crazy."

"How can I be the crazy one?" The woman shrieked. Her legs were trembling, but her gun arm was as firm as ever. "She killed Mike!"

"It was just a misunderstanding." Louis joined in the effort. He did not really know what happened, but it was the only thing that even made the slightest degree of sense about the events that could have happened in that room. "Please, Jess, this is not something for right now."

"Don't tell me what I can- ." She was seriously considering pulling the trigger, but went she no longer had a clear shot. Zoey was standing in front of the gun barrel, with Cindy well hidden behind her. The Witch had not said a word since then, but she did not need to. Jessica was clearly annoyed. "Step out of the way, do you want to be shot?"

"Do it if you must." Jessica went silent at the teenage girl's declaration. "Since you obviously are not willing to be calm about this, I will say one thing." A gulp was heard from the middle aged woman. "I would die sooner than I let you harm Cindy. We would."

Jessica turned to the other men. They had a face of incredulity just then, but then their resolve kicked in. The both of them nodded synchronously. There was no doubt that they had long since considered Cindy a part of the family they had to protect.

"Tsk." Jessica knew she was not getting through all three of them, especially with Dave being in the condition that he was. Forcing to hesitate, she exclaimed. "Why are you defending her? Isn't she… isn't she just a Witch?"

"She is a Witch; she is also someone who never harms another out of thin air." Zoey's words were with absolutely conviction. There was not a slightest hint of doubt in what she was saying. It seemed to have Jessica convinced, albeit barely. "If you're threatening her, you're putting our survival at risk far more than she ever did."

Jessica was forced to stand down, putting her gun out of sight. She did not like it, but their persuasion and combined force was impossible to get through. Sighing, at least she now knew what happened to her group. It was not a pretty end, but perhaps a fitting one.

"You said earlier that she and that guy over there might have been kidnapped?" They had some time to take a breather, it was better to catch up on some important information. After all, the infected had already taken over the ground floor of the museum, thus it would be best to wait for them to disperse a little. Jess knew of an alternative route to the surface at the end of the tunnels, but it was less than safe. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"It's Louis." He answered. Jessica's question did invoke some of his memories when he woke up within the compound. There were few possibilities, but he was rather confident. "Do you happen to have sleeping darts in your weapon arsenal here?"

"Yes." The answer pretty much confirmed what he had been thinking. "We collected some from a nearby hunting lodge. There were plenty of them, but they were not very effective on the zombies. So we just kept them for their intended purpose of hunting animals."

"It would explain why I don't remember a thing then." Louis nodded. "Look Jess, I know they're mostly gone now but, I don't see who else could have done it but those from your groups."

"I wish I could defend them the same way you defended… Cindy there." Jessica sighed. Her group mates were decent people in the end, but it would not surprise her if they had no resolve and just became greedy. "We have been in some trouble with supplies recently, so I could imagine them doing something like this. They did not harm you though, I presumed?"

"I woke up a bit delirious, but fine otherwise."

"Now that you mention it, we actually spotted Josh and Emmy on the field near here yesterday." Francis only then connected the dots together with what the couple had been talking about before. It made all the sense to him now. "They were arguing about their son's condition. They knew that he was bitten."

"Ugh…" Jessica groaned. So much happened while she was out, and a part of her wondered whether it was because of the fact that she left that the entire place went into disarray. She needed liquor, but she was not getting any. "Everything went to shit in a day then."

"That's what's been happening for a while now." Said Louis.

"Well we…" Her train of thoughts were halted by an ear-blistering alarm going off throughout the tunnel. It lasted for a good half minute, and the hatch they closed behind was already making a lot of noise. Everyone went into reaction mode immediately. Whatever triggered that alarm, it could not be good. "What the hell was that?"

"It's… the force trigger." What surprised them even more was Dave coming to. It seemed that the noise was what did it, along with his subconscious yelling danger. He was still incapable of standing by himself, but he was more or less sane. "Jess… this tunnel isn't going to hold out much longer."

"Damn it." There was no time left. The door was not going to stop the horde for long, and they needed to get out before the system collapse on them. "We can't go back there. We'll just have to fight our way to the surface."

"Does this place even lead anywhere?"

"Yes, to the cliff side up North."

Zoey nodded. It was where their boat was. If there ever was a chance to escape from the infected fully it would be off shore. There was no delay as Jess dashed forward, guns ready. They needed to be quick, and she was the only one capable of showing the way.

There was some stray infected left from the first construction, but they were of little threat. The problem was how the entire structure was coming down little by little, creating an immense amount of noise and quake. No doubt there shall be tons more waiting for them once they get out of this place, drawn to the beach by the eerie sounds of these wooden beams.

The tunnel was not very long, but they were taking a huge risk carrying Dave along. The group could not run at full speed, and Francis was also incapable of manning any firearms. They were not in any immediate danger, but how their situation could go very wrong was in everyone's minds. After about five minutes of moving forward, it was clear that the horde from inside the facility had breached the hatch and was catching up. The good thing was that they were already approaching the opening to the cliff edge. The bad thing was the insane amount of infected awaiting them when they got there, as expected.

"This is bad." Louis exclaimed, as he reigned Francis' shotgun down at the ones trying to climb up cliff. Those were extremely vulnerable and easily taken care of with such an advantageous high ground position. However, will they get through before those from the tunnels catch up was the question. "They're still coming."

"I don't think they'll stop before this entire thing collapses." Zoey remarked. She was busy dealing at the front as well. This was the first time she was aware first-hand of how close Cindy was to danger. When the Witch saved her off the harbour of Georgia she did not see it, but this was different. "We have to race to the boat."

"But Dave…" Jessica protested, but was cut off.

"Jess!" There was no time left. Dave had nothing left on his plate. He watched enough spaghetti Western to know what he must do. "It's too late for me."

"But…"

"Our greed got us into this." He looked at Louis. Louis did not say a word. "This is God's judgement."

"Dave…"

"Give me the gun." Dave said. Jessica was obliged to do what he asked. She knew what had to be done. "Goodbye Jess, you were a good woman. God have mercy upon us all."

*Bang*

She dropped, dead.

"What did you...?" Francis disarmed him immediately, but it was too late. "She was your friend!"

"She deserves better than this hell hole." Dave was content; he had no qualms left. He was ready. "If I'm lucky, I will meet her by His side."

"Let him go, Francis." Zoey said. The biker felt the overwhelming urge to beat the man into a bloody pulp, but decided against it. Doing such a thing was not worth his time. They were still at definite risk. Thus, Dave was dropped onto the rocky ground. "We need to go."

"Right." He turned away. He was not happy about it, but nothing else could be done. Zoey traded her assault rifle for the pistols he confiscated. She had always preferred the lighter variant. Francis went to the cliff side to fend off the horde, while Zoey kneeled to Jessica's body. She took her pistol and Pipe Bomb. As she closed the dead woman's eyes, her gaze meet Dave's.

"I will pray for her." He said. "But as long as you have that abomination by your side, no one will do the same for you."

Cindy shuddered. Her grip on Zoey hence loosened. It was easily noticeable.

"You're proud of yourself, aren't you?" Zoey grabbed the Witch's hand. It was reassurance for both of them. Things were not looking up at that moment. "This is what you believe in."

"I will see my brother, and my family once I'm gone." Dave replied, without the any allusion of uncertainty. "Who will you?"

Zoey stood up and away from the dying man. She had nothing left to say to him. Jessica's sudden death was of great shame, but there was nothing else she could have done for her either. Jessica gave her trust to these people, and these people did what they thought was right.

"Cindy." The Witch did not reply, but only slightly stare at the girl. It was a good enough indication of attention. "Don't let go, ok?"

Cindy nodded. Francis and Louis were waiting for this all along, as the four of them slid down the cliff. There were many old traveller's paths along the mountainside, so it was fairly safe for them to get down. The problem was being surrounded entirely once they have set foot on the beach.

"Fire in the hole!" The Pipe Bomb flew, carrying the majority of the immediate group. The stray ones were also drawn towards them by the ticking, but this was no big deal. Even though it had been a while, they had gone through enough battles that this number of infected was not going to matter to them. The sand did slow their progress down, but they made it regardless. They did not expect to see no special infected, but they will take it.

The boat was still there, albeit with not much left. Most of the supplies have been stripped, and only things that were harder to get through inside cabinets and cupboards still remain. What no one could have removed, however, was the machinegun mounted on the deck.

"Let's go Louis."

The rain of bullets provided cover fire so Louis could get the boat out to sea once again. Without any bombs, it was much more difficult to keep the infected at bay with only the machine gun and Zoey giving their all. However, the further they got out on the ocean, the safer they were. Soon, the boat was off the water enough that the horde could no longer chase them. The infected swarmed the beach, but to no avail. They were safe.

"Phew." Francis was exhausted. It had been a while since they had experienced this kind of adrenaline rush. There were other problems, still. "We're still here."

"We barely have any food left though." Louis was searching through the shelves once again, trying to find some things that he might have missed the first time. He was prepared to be disappointed. "Man, they really cleaned out this place good."

"What's the plan now?" The biker turned to Zoey. Their plans on this island had essentially gone to bust, and now they needed a new one. Zoey was not replying, but she did look extremely concerned. Next to her on the wooden bench was Cindy, sleeping. "Is she ok?"

"I don't know…" Everything was worrying. "She hasn't said another word. She passed out half way through climbing up the boat."

"Do you think she really killed that man?" Louis asked. He was not sure of what to think at this point. All that happened on the island was far too much for him to decipher without having a good rest.

"We'll ask her when she wakes up."

"Wait a minute." Francis had a flash of memory. "Have you ever seen Cindy sleep before?"

"No…" Louis slowly replied.

The three of them stared at each other.