When The Dead Came 2 (3 page)

The
lobby was damaged, debris on the floor: trash, stains, and bits of
the walls even. There was dust on the overhead light, caked up so bad
that it looked like it's been there even before the virus spread,
perhaps years beforehand. The paint on the walls was a faded yellow
with patches of white. “This place,” Jenny could only say
before frowning,” it's just...terrible. You think it got hit
first here?”

“From
the way it looks,” Keith responded, looking around,” it's
been like this for years. C'mon.”

The
three survivors walked up the stairs, making sure they wouldn't creak
or fall in on them. Keith silenced the two girls as they heard
movement in a room on the second level. Taking their guns off safety,
they walked quietly down the hall, and to the archway. Keith and
Holly quickly pointed their guns just as Avery and Alex did the same
too. Holly, realizing who it was, lowered her gun down slowly and
began to smile with relief, wanting to laugh.

"No
way," Keith began, almost breathless from shock, and he lowered
his gun, Jenny peered into the room," What the hell!" Alex
smiled at them, and he got up from behind the turned over table he
and Avery were hiding behind.

"Look
who's still alive," Alex said to Avery. She stood up, putting
her gun back on safety, knowing she only had a couple bullets
anyways, she felt relief that she didn't have to waste them. Keith
smiled at the two of them and hugged Avery while Holly and Jenny
smiled on at their friends.

“We
missed you guys,” Keith said to them. Holly looked around,
surprised there wasn't any couches in the room they stood in for them
to sleep on.

"Well,
looks like the two of you established a home," Holly said,
forcing a smile.

"We
thought the two of you were dead," Keith said," and that
Justin took the SUV."

"No,"
Alex said to Keith," Justin made me leave. I don't know where he
is..." Alex gestured then fell silent and put away the knife he
had the whole time.

"How
did the two of you make it this far without a vehicle,” Holly
asked them.

"The
SUV ran out of gas on the highway," Avery answered," so we
walked into the city. When we ran low on ammo, we had to do a lot of
dodging, running, and used our knives."

“We
saw the SUV,” Jenny said,” out on the road. We searched
it to see if you guys or Justin was possibly sleeping in there or
something.”

“We
could've stayed in there,” Avery responded,” but we
wanted to keep moving.”

"Then
we scavenged around," continued Alex," and found a small
amount of food. We're thinking of leaving here though, there's been
more zombies wandering around here lately."

"Well,"
Keith began," you got us now to back you up. What do you say?
The only cure is to kill them all; we can't do it alone either, and
there's survivors out there, waiting for the military or government
to do something. It won't come, we already know that. All they get is
us;" Keith looked from Alex to Avery," we're not much to
look at or forward to, but it's better than nothing. So?" Avery
and Alex looked at one another, then Alex stood up, grabbing his bag.

"Okay,
we'll go with you,” he answered,” I feel like I'm getting
cabin fever in here anyways. Moving around constantly seems natural.”
Avery picked up her bag and followed her friends out of the room and
down the stairs, leaving the temporary safe zone her and Alex and
created.

After
packing their belongings, the group left the building, stepping out
into the cool air and climbing into the Dodge Charger SRT8. Keith
started the car and drove down the streets of Cleveland, Ohio,
chatting with Alex on the plans. “Here’s what we're going
to do," Keith began after lighting a cigarette and taking a
puff," we need more supplies: food, beverages, ammo, weapons..."

"Medical
kits," Jenny cut in, reapplying more lip gloss, and Keith
nodded. Avery, noticing Jenny putting on lip gloss, frowned.

“Why
are you putting on lip gloss?” She asked and Jenny looked at
her before making a look then went back to applying the glittery
substance.

"Medical
supplies, yeah," he glanced over at Alex briefly," and
another vehicle. Possibly one big enough to transport more people or
at least close to that. So I'm going to drop you and Avery off at a
parking lot and let you guys choose a vehicle or find one in a
dealership or something."

"Since
when do you smoke?" Avery asked randomly.

"Since
what happened in Kansas ended," he responded, leaving Avery with
no more discussion on the matter. Alex looked at Keith, also noticing
the change as well, he even noticed the change about
Jenny,
causing a strong smell in the car from the lip gloss she was using.
He wondered like Avery, why the sudden changes? What's up with the
smoking suddenly and the need to make yourself look glamorous when
there's just them left alive to see that. It puzzled him as he began
thinking maybe they got used to doing their own thing. They're living
it up while they can, while he and Avery focused more on survival,
not the glories of wants instead of needs.

They
eventually reached a parking lot with at least a few decent sized
vehicles. Everyone left the Dodge to help find a good enough vehicle,
searching the entire parking lot for a car that still had its keys or
was unlocked for hot wiring purposes. Alex and Avery searched each
one for keys until Alex finally found a dark red Ford Expedition, no
keys, but is unlocked. He opened the door and looked in, a few dried
blood spots rested on the seat of the driver side and the windshield
had a hairline crack over the top in a diagonal line, jagged. Avery
threw their bags in the back seat as Alex leaned down in the driver
seat, attempting to hot wire. He found the skill useful now days, he
just wouldn't be doing this with Justin around, or else he would
start to question on where he learned to hot wire a vehicle in the
first place. At that thought, he began to imagine how that
conversation would go:

Justin:
Where the hell did you learn to do that?

Himself:
It's just something I picked up along the way.

Justin:
How is that when you've been around the group the entire time. Where
did you learn it?

Himself:
None of your business.

Justin:
It is my business. You don't tell me then there's gonna be a fight.
You learned it from your friends didn't you?

Himself:
Definitely didn't learn it from you or else we wouldn't have to spend
so much time finding a car with keys.

And
that that point, they'd begin fighting and that would go on until
someone stopped their fighting. That is if they run into him again
after these months, then he could easily lie and tell him he was
taught how to do it for survival purposes. No questions asked after
that. Hopefully.

Back
when Alex was in high school, his senior year, he and his group of
friends had gone out partying, drinking and smoking some weed. When
they became drunk enough, they had left the party and made their way
out to a house off to itself. While there, they had realized no one
was home, but their one vehicle was parked out in the drive way. He
and his friends had broken into the 2008 Pontiac and his friend Henry
had disabled the alarm that had gone off. Once that was done, Alex
attempted several times to hot wire the car, his other friend Jason,
told him how to hot wire it. After it started, they gathered in the
car and drove around. Then they drove the car into a field and did
doughnuts in the crops before abandoning the car on the side of the
road not far away. No one ever found out it was him and his friends.
And he suffered the worst hang over he ever had, then swore off
drinking ever again no matter what after he had spent all morning
throwing up, lying to his parents that he was sick with the stomach
flu, except Justin was smarter than that and knew what was going on.
He didn’t know Alex had stolen a car and left it out in the
middle of nowhere, but he could tell he drank alcohol.

Alex
sat up after the car started. "We'll head east and south,"
Alex told Keith, no longer thinking of that fond memory of his he
won't ever forget.

"We'll
go the other way then, meet back here in a few hours, okay. And just
honk if you're in trouble, we'll be able to hear it."

"Wouldn't
that attract the zombies though?" Avery asked them.

"She's
right, it would," Alex said, looking at Keith.

"Fine,”
Keith almost snapped in annoyance,” rev the engine," he
finalized before walking away, throwing his cigarette down in
frustration suddenly.

He
watched with binoculars as the tall dark haired guy wearing all black
got into the driver side of the Dodge then he turned his sights onto
the other two survivors left behind, getting inside the Expedition
and then driving away. The watcher pulled his brown eyes from the
binoculars and picked up his walkie talkie," Looks like we have
some interlopers in our domain." The other side came to life
with another man's voice.

"How
many?"

"Five,"
the guy responded," looks like two guys and three chicks;
possibly some kids. Should we follow them?"

"Yeah,
let's give them a warm welcome to our town." The guy smiled and
put away his walkie talkie, picking up his gun and leaving the dark
room in the tall building he was in. Shortly after he left the room,
he was joined with the man he had spoken to before. Both guys were
tall, one with a receding hairline and the other with short dark
hair. The man with the receding hairline got in the driver seat while
the
other
guy with tattoos on his arms and neck, joined in the passenger seat
of the black truck and left east. Five other guys and a woman climbed
into a van and proceeded with going north.

Keith
sped down the streets, causing Holly to grip the door until her
knuckles were white and her hands were red and sore, her stomach
feeling like it was doing flips once again. He drifted around a
corner, still blasting music, the song Push It by Static X giving
Jenny a harsh headache. She never listened to loud music before, back
when things were normal, she was more of a pop music fan than rock
nor metal.

Holly,
no longer liking the car ride like she had when they were on their
own at first, finally reached over and shut off the music and spoke
up,” will you slow down!” Keith looked over at her, a bit
surprised she was shouting at him suddenly.

“Why,
there’s no cops or other drivers out, we can speed all we
want.”

“Slow
the hell down or I’ll shoot you and make sure you drive slowly
from now on,” she threatened, holding her pistol in her left
hand. Keith just looked at the gun then at her and scoffed.

“Yeah
right,” he challenged and kept speeding. No longer phased at
his ‘bad guy attitude’ he’s developed since Kansas,
she cocked the gun and aimed at his foot on the pedal and he looked
at her once again as she raised her eyebrows.

“You
think I’m joking? I’ll shoot your foot just to make you
stop.” When he didn’t listen, she pointed the gun at his
opened window and pulled the trigger, making him jump and stomp on
the brake pedal instantly, causing Jenny to almost join them in the
front as she screamed.

“What
the hell is wrong with you,” he shouted. She lowered the gun,
staring ahead at the road.

“I
told you I’m not joking, now slow down or I’ll definitely
shoot you next time, so help me,” she exhaled and put the gun
on safety. Keith glared at her before continuing driving, going at
least 75 now. Sensing the tension in the car, Jenny looked at Holly
then at Keith, not sure whether to remain silent or not. She could
recognize when someone is mad and when an argument is about to break
out, her step mom and her dad always argued. She remembered her step
mom always seemed angry, especially when Jenny would decide to stay
home and not go out with her friends to Wal Mart or the mall, her
step mom would spend the rest of the day slamming things and drinking
while cursing.

She
missed her dad. He was the nicest person she ever knew, except when
he’d end up arguing with Haley of course, but overall, he was
kind. So looking at the two people she’s grown used to now, she
knew that if one of them speaks, there is going to be arguing. She
kept silent.

“I
told you it doesn’t matter how fast we drive now,” Keith
insisted, annoyed at his friend.

“And
I’ve told you before that we’ll likely wreck, now shut
up.” Keith shook his head.

“You
guys need to loosen up,” he said,” it’s the
apocalypse, enjoy life while you have it.”

“You’re
telling us to loosen up and let our guard down,” Holly began
and he cut in.

“All
of you are acting so uptight,” he almost yelled,” you,
Alex, even Avery is acting like there’s important things now
when there isn’t.”

“Yes
there is, you idiot. For one, we would like to live on,” Holly
argued back,” we would like to attempt to live until we’re
old and help others.”