Just saying right now, I wouldn't get comfortable with the so-soon update. But the idea of being almost done with this story, and being SO CLOSE to the parts I've been really wanting to write, is very muse inspiring. But again, don't expect another super fast update, I say as if I didn't just write 3.5k words in three days. At any rate, using our big galaxy brains and our understanding of the english alphabet, I'm sure you can guess as to what chapter S will be about, and who it will star (about time amirite lol). Love you lots, and thanks for reading!
P.S alerts are like? Late for me? Like I get the alert emails days after the alert was made. So if it takes a minute for this to appear in your inbox, or I don't reply to you review right away, I'm sorry but I don't have control over that. Just wanted to give a heads up either way!
4(?) months, ? weeks, ? days since first Infection
The printer finally came to a whirring halt as the last page was spat out. Betha took the page and promptly stuffed it into a three ring hole puncher. With a quick chachunk, the page was punched, and then swiftly added to the rest of the pile. Before her, the only edition of "The Survivor's Guide to Surviving the Infection" sat before her.
In the past, she had written long rambling essays, short stories, and had even taken a publication class for a school wide magazine back in college. But this? This felt different. This was more than just a grade, or to fluff up an almost non-existent resume. This was… Was it fair to call it her life's work? A literal legacy she was leaving behind for others to follow, something that they could take, and re-write, never ending knowledge they could pass on.
Though, hopefully it wouldn't be needed too far into the future. And that it could, one day, just be a relic from a bygone era.
Betha cracked open a binder and carefully laid the pages in, last to first. The guide didn't end up being some monster of a print, but just seeing the pages be properly put into place was enough to make her heart swell with pride. The metal rings were snapped back into place, and the guide was all together. She closed the binder, and left it on the desk. She needed to get packing.
The survivor had barely started when there was a hurried knocking at her door, and she could hear Harmony's voice from the other side, "Hey Bets you might wanna come out here!"
Uhhhh-
Harmony was already down the hall by the time Betha opened the door, and she quickly raced after the other woman. She was led to the church's sanctuary, which was surprisingly empty. The great oak doors at the other end were flung wide open. Dread gripped her, and Betha quickened her step, fearing the worst had come to past-
"And there's a whole damned trail leading right back here!" she heard Damon hollering.
"Please mind your words," Father Barnes warned him. "And please calm down, there are no Infected in Belton. We're safe."
"Only monsters we got 'round here is this menace, he-"
"Hey!" Betha interrupted Damon's rant. "What is going on- Ohhhhhh-"
She pushed past everyone to see the main culprit. Zachary stood in the melting snow, blood all down the front of his hoodie, as a dead buck laid at his feet. It was huge. And sure enough, a trail of red stained the ground behind them.
"-My god," Betha muttered. "Uhm, hey Zach, buddy. Pal. Uhhhh, whatcha got there?"
"Dead," the Hunter replied simply. Beside her, Damon and Father Barnes flinched.
"Ya got that yourself huh?" she asked.
"Yeah," Zach shrugged casually.
Before she could say more, a rippling movement from the others and the stench of smoke heralded Ryan's arrival.
"Oh shit that's awesome," the Smoker laughed. "Didn't know you could do that."
"Uh, yeah," Betha agreed. "I didn't know he could do that either."
"Catch a whole deer?!" Maribelle cried from behind them.
"Well, I mean," Betha turned to the others. They had mixed looks of disbelief. "Hunters are fast in the context of normies like us being slow. I didn't think they were fast enough to catch something like that. I've never seen him try to hunt anything else!"
Harmony and Maribelle made some faces, and Betha realized a moment later that "anything else" could be taken as "something other than people". Way to fuck that up. She gave them a weak, sheepish grin.
"So uh, venison for lunch, am I right?" she supplied in an attempt to sound helpful.
"Oh great, I'm starvin," Ryan sighed in relief. He let out a loud wheeze when Betha elbowed him in the side.
x-X-x-X-x
But later that night, Betha pushed Zachary into a wall and asked him, "Okay no seriously, how did you do that?"
"What?" he asked back, his lips curled up in a smug grin.
"How did you catch that deer? Are you really that fast? Cause that was a big ass deer. You got Damon complimenting you about it at dinner."
"Ohh?" he purred. His smugness only intensified.
"Answer my question, asshole."
"I just did," he shrugged. "I smell it. I saw it. I kill it. Easy."
"But that's not easy!" Betha whined, shaking his shoulders. "There's almost no cover anywhere! Deer can smell you back! And you what, just went up and killed it?"
"Yeah," he nodded. "I said it's easy."
"You're the most infuriating person on the planet, you know that?"
"Me? Never."
x-X-x-X-x
Morning came with a lot more tears than Betha expected. She expected Noelle to be a sobbing mess, clinging to Toni's side as she wailed for him to stay. Subverting expectations, Toni didn't cry back. He just kept a steady hand on top of her head, staring out onto the horizon with an unreadable expression. The other boys didn't cry, because why would they?
But Betha herself? The moment she saw the tears in Harmony's eyes, she felt them stinging in her own. There was a lot of gross crying, and hugging, and promises of "You'll come back one day, right?"
Which felt like a shit thing to try and promise, but Betha was just kinda agreeing to whatever at this point, anything to ease the pain of saying goodbye.
"Ms. Fandell," Father Barnes addressed her. "I just hope you know that you'll always be welcome back in Belton again. And if you run into anyone else out there, don't be shy about pointing them in our direction either."
"I'll be sure too," Betha nodded, wiping her cheeks with her sleeve. "Please take care of yourselves. Use that guide as often as you need to, really!"
"We sure will," Father Barnes chuckled, and then wrapped her up in a big hug. Which then Harmony joined, then Maribelle did, and while Damon still stood off to the side, she could feel his reluctant sadness at seeing her go. Maybe. Probably not though.
It was easier letting everyone else go than it was getting Noelle off Toni's leg. To his credit, he didn't shake her off, nor attempt to kick her off (both of which he could do with incredible ease if he felt it). Instead, Harmony had to pry her daughter's fingers off him and carry her inside. And maybe that was the saddest part of this, as Noelle cried and cried, and Toni didn't even look back at her. And Betha supposed she understood. It couldn't be easy saying goodbye to your little girl a first time, much less a second.
Without much fanfare, the little pack of four finally set off. Betha would periodically look over her shoulder to watch the church dwindle into the background. It quickly got swallowed up by the sparse homes of Belton neighborhoods. Neighborhoods turned back into the town proper, and they followed the road south. It was recommended to them that they head south, and back into warmer weather before heading west again.
Eventually town ended, and it was back on a solid road that lined empty farm fields. A road sign pointing southwest, Bridgerton, fifty miles. Their next destination.
About five miles out of Belton, Betha glanced between her companions, and then finally asked, "So in the whole couple weeks we were there… Did any of you figure out my name?"
"Your what?" Ryan said.
"They kept callin ya somethin," Zachary mused. "Beta?"
"Betha," she corrected. "Yeah because it's my real name."
"Why would you- Coughcough- Lie about that the whole time?" Ryan asked with furrowed brows. "Do you not like it?"
"I don't like it," Zachary grumbled.
"I really don't like it," the survivor said. "I know Divine sounds cool and edgy, which it is, but it's better than being," and she made a face before continuing. "Elisabetha Fandell."
Ryan started laughing wildly. And wheezing and choking, but mainly laughing.
"And that's why I gave you guys a fake name," she growled. "Because of course, one of you three have enough of a brain still to make fun of me for it."
"Aw come on- Coughcough- It's pretty," Ryan tried to assure her between giggles.
"I don't like it," Zachary repeated. "Want Div-ine back."
"It's just one word dude, we've talked about this. But yeah no, you're in luck, we're back to normal, baby," Divine declared. "Just us, doing our thing, no one to stop us. Y'all can be as weird and zombie as you want again, I'm not gonna stop you."
"Oh finally," Zachary groaned and he promptly dropped to all fours. "Hate standin'."
"Yeah, makes it easier for us to kick you again," Ryan teased. Zachary hissed back at him.
Divine couldn't help but smile, already so relieved to get back to normal. She glanced over at Antonio, who was but just a few steps back. His head was down, his hands shoved into his pockets, but still stood upright on two feet. Divine dropped back to walk alongside him.
"Hey," she greeted him.
"Hm," he responded.
"You're gonna be alright."
"...Yeah."
She held out her hand to him. After a few more steps, one of his slowly slid out from its pocket, and took hers. She slotted their fingers together in a way to just avoid the claws from slicing her skin open, but still held his hand tight as they walked.
It took Zachary a full minute to look behind at him, and stop dead in his tracks.
"WHAT?!" he screeched incredulously. He looked down at the ground, to his own hands, lifting them up, and then flexed them contemplatively. The next thing Divine knew, he was up on his feet again, and racing over to take her other hand.
"You're actually legit the worst you know that?" Divine scoffed at him. "How could you even tell? You're blind?!"
"I wanna hold hands too," he insisted.
"Wow okay, no one wants to hold mine then," Ryan pouted. "I see how it is."
"He's the one being a baby!" Divine cried. "It's not my fucking fault! Zach, let Ryan hold your hand."
"Never said he couldn't," Zach grumbled, but held out his other hand for Ryan to take.
"You weren't- Wheeze- Offering either," Ryan rolled his eye, but still took Zach's hand. All four of them were now linked together, and forced to walk at the same speed. They were gonna take forever to get anywhere.
"...I don't cause problems you know," Toni spoke in a small voice. "I never do anything wrong."
"Okay, that's debatable," Divine started. "More like, you cause the least amount of problems, I think."
"What the fu-ucuh-ck do I do that's a problem?!" Ryan exploded. "I'm not the one always hoppin around killing things!"
"What's that-" Zachary started, and Divine just felt her eyes glaze over as the two of them started bickering. Toni whispered a small apology to her, but she didn't respond. She just kept her eyes on the road ahead. She wondered if it was too late to turn back to Belton.
x-X-x-X-x
Around midday they took a water break at one of the many farms that dotted the landscape. It took some kicking and hammering, but eventually a water pump by an empty trough eeked out enough water for them all to drink. It was kinda actually gnarly tasting, especially after drinking filtered water again for a few weeks. But they were all some form of zombified at this point, so what was the worse that was gonna happen?
Divine was drinking from her canteen, slowly looking around the fields, when a flurry of white in the distance caught her eye. The flurry seemed to move back and forth, and when she turned her head and cupped her ear, she could very faintly hear honking.
"Hey check that out," Divine said quietly to Ryan, pointing. The Smoker looked up from the trough, and followed her finger. He squinted at it, also turned his head to listen, and made a funny face. He looked at her, and they both grinned at the same time.
"Thinkin' what I'm thinking'"? he asked. She nodded excitedly. "Awesome… Hey, oh mighty Hunter Supreme! What's that over there?"
Zachary made a curious noise as he surfaced from the trough, water droplets flying as he looked around wildly. Ryan reached over, grabbed the top of his head, and turned it towards the flurry. Zach's brows furrowed together, frozen in place for a moment, before his brows shot back up and he made a tight "o" shape with his mouth. Without anymore encouragement, he launched away from the trough, out of Ryan's grasp, and made his way over.
He seemed to half blend in with the ground, really only visible whenever he moved. He seemed to alternate between speeding through clumps of dried grass, and creeping slowly through the shorter brush. But he got ever closer, and the geese didn't seem to quite care. Divine idly wondered if this was how he managed to bag that deer from the day before. She was eager to see if he'd give a repeat performance.
"Hey, you know how… We talked about problems… And causing them?" Toni said. "Isn't this like… That?"
"They're just geese, dude," Divine shrugged nonchalantly. "I think he can handle them just fine."
In the distance, Zachary paused… Then launched out from the grass at the flock. A chorus of honking reached their ears as the flock took off into the air. They could see Zachary take a flying leap after them, and a white body crashed beneath him. They shared a collective "oooh" as they watched, very impressed with his technique. And then they shared a collective "oohhhh" as the flock wheeled around in the sky and came diving back down towards Zach. In a flash, the Hunter came running, hissing and snapping geese close on his heels.
"EVIL BIIIIIRDS!" he screeched. "EEEVIIIL, AHHHHHHH!"
The three together all screamed, and without waiting for him to catch up, turned on their heels and took off towards the closest shelter they could find.
x-X-x-X-x
An hour later, inside a cramped potting shed, they could hear the flock on the other side of the thin, wooden walls. Through the cracks, they could see the geese marching about, red eyes full of bloodlust, more rotted flesh than feathers. The serrated edges of their beaks had grown, visibly poking out, gleaming in the sunlight.
"Okay so, yeah, Antonio, uh, I see your point now," Divine started from somewhere under his legs. "Uhm, and I didn't expect them to be infected, cause ya know, that deer from yesterday wasn't, so-"
"It's still your fault," Toni grumbled above her. "I never do anything bad."
"You sure don't, buddy."
Somewhere above the both of them, Zach made a hacking sound, and spat something wet out that hit the wall with an audible thunk.
"So much feathers," he shivered. "Birds? Never again."
"I mean, it was pretty cool," Ryan said. "For like, two seconds. I've never seen you jump that high."
"He's a man of many talents," Divine nodded.
"I try," Zach sighed, and let out another loud bleh.
"How long they gonna be out there" Toni asked. "Been a while already."
"We can wait 'em out," Divine said. "Not the first time we've been holed up in a dark room before like this."
"That was fun~" Zachary said in a nostalgic voice."
"For you," both Ryan and Toni said together in miffed tones. Zachary blew a raspberry at them.
"Okay guys, come on, work with me here," Divine started. "We'll just hang out, and maybe they'll get bored and go away. It can't be that much longer."
It was dark out when Divine felt Toni nudge her awake and whispered, "They're gone".
"Howduknow" Divine slurred sleepily. She couldn't see anything between the cracks in the wood. But after taking a moment to pause, she realized she couldn't hear anything outside. "Like, are they gone gone?"
"Oh man I hope so," Ryan grumbled tiredly. "I want oooouuut of here!"
"Gotta risk it then," Divine decided. "Alright, let's- Oh shit, okay uhm-"
There was a lot of "ow"ing and "oof"ing as they detangled themselves. There wasn't a whole lot of room to begin, and by the time they managed to find the door and open it, they still practically tumbled out of the shed like clowns in a tiny car. Sure enough, the geese had vanished, only leaving behind dropped feathers and splatters of poop. But at least they were fucking gone.
"Okay new plan," Divine said as she stood up and stretched. "We'll just keep going till we get there. No more stops".
"But you-" Toni started, but she quickly shushed him.
"We're gonna pretend this never happened, we're moving on."
"I can do that!" Zachary agreed cheerfully.
"Yeah whatever," Toni sighed.
"Hold on, I got my foot stuck in a flowerpot," Ryan whined. "Help?"
x-X-xX-x
By late morning, they had finally reached Bridgerton. The road leading into the city was clogged with cars, most abandoned, some with their occupants rotting away inside their seats. Much to Divine's surprise, Infected still crawled the streets. Curiously enough, they didn't come racing for her when they walked past. One unwise fellow stumbled near, looked at her, and started to yell when Zachary simply reached out and sliced his throat. The infected man crumpled to the ground rather noiselessly, and no others reacted.
So, that was kinda cool. All she needed to do was not get too close.
To an even bigger surprise, Divine spotted a white, spray painted house on the side of one building with an arrow under it. Well hot damn, don't mind if they did! Taking the lead, Divine guided her boys down the street, avoiding any close encounters, and found their way to the safe room. Or rather, an actual house, as the tell tale red door stood out brightly amongst washed out brick and stone along a row of townhomes.
The door swung open to darkness, and luckily, nothing came out from the shadows to greet them. The quartet entered cautiously at first, the door cutting off any light once it closed behind them. Unholstering her shotgun, Divine clicked the flashlight on, and slowly swept it across the room. The windows had been boarded up, and whatever meager sunlight filtered through wasn't enough to provide any sustainable light.
Her own light, however, flashed across a lantern sitting on the floor. She walked over to fiddle with it, and thankfully, it flickered on, battery powered. But who knows how long that would last. The survivor moved on to investigate further. They all quickly determined they were in a living room, the couch remained, but most of the furniture had been cleared out. A set of mattresses were propped up against the wall next to the staircase. A coffee table and bookshelf clogged the stairwell itself, meaning upstairs was off limits. A doorway from the living room led into the kitchen.
Divine turned on every lantern she found, or tried to at least. She found five in total, but only three had enough juice. It'd be good enough. She switched off the kitchen lanterns for now, deciding to go over the kitchen when her feet didn't feel like they were gonna fall off.
"Alright gang, I think we're good," she announced, walking back into the living room to find that Ryan had already sprawled out across the couch. "I see you're all settled in."
The Smoker shot her a grin as he stretched out, and then wiggled himself into a comfortable sleeping position.
"Good idea," Divine agreed. "Clear the way boys, I'll get these beds set up. Or sleep on Ryan either way."
"Oh please do-hooooof!" Ryan started to warn, but Zachary happily flopped down into his lap. He snickered triumphantly as Ryan wheezed and coughed. "Dick," Ryan breathed out.
Divine laughed wearily as she set her bag aside and pushed the mattresses down across the floor. As soon as they were flat, a (so far) patient Toni dropped down across them.
"Uhhh, sure you don't want me to find some sheets?" Divine asked. "They looked kinda uh, used?"
Toni mumbled something unintelligently as he buried his face into his arms. Fair enough then. Before she lied down herself, Divine quickly locked the door, then sat down on a mattress corner. She unlaced and then pried her boots off, gagging slightly at the smell.
"Wow I didn't miss that," she mumbled.
"Eeeeew," Zachary commented helpfully from the couch.
"Don't ew me, you're sleeping on the walking gas bag," Divine retorted.
"I'll take that, ahhh, as a compliment," Ryan yawned.
"Want sleep," Toni whined.
"Okay, okay, everyone close your eyes… Or your brains, just shut it all down," Divine ordered. She lied down flat on her back, and let out a big yawn as she did. "In the… Evening I guess we'll just.. I dunno… Worry about shit… Later…"
Within minutes, they settled into a peaceful snooze, their day of rambling and roaming finally over.