The Last Legacy (Season 1): Episodes 1-10 (48 page)

“No intruders?” I asked as I wrapped my arm over his body.

“Not during my shift,” he mumbled, his voice still full of sleep.

“Good.” I ran my hand down his face and into his hair, massaging his scalp.

“We’ve got a long day,” he said as he kissed my collar bone.
 

“Is it worth it? We’re going to waste a lot of energy moving things around and waiting for them to possibly attack.” It didn’t seem worth it to me if I was honest. Just let them come in and ask what they want. I knew it was naive of me to think that they’d just go away after Jim set them straight that he wanted to stay with us, but I guessed I just saw people better than they were.

“He’ll kill you, Lana.” Jim pulled back so he could stare into my eyes. When he did, he glared. “I’m not risking it.”

“Because you care?” I smiled, knowing that it bothered him. I had to mess with the guy a little. Things had gotten too serious. Constant questions dug through my head.
 

“Exactly.”
 

“Well, let’s get started then.” I rolled over on my stomach and pushed up. My body ached from sleeping on the hardwood floor of the living room, my lower back throbbing. But it was warmer than the ground outside, so I was thankful.
 

Jim handed me a bottle of water and half of a peanut butter Powerbar. We stepped over sleeping bodies, making sure not to wake anyone. Gabe sat near the entryway in a love seat, his gun over his lap. His head tilted to the side at a strange angle. He shot up when he saw us awake.

“Take a nap. We’ll wake you when we need some hands,” Jim said as he patted Gabe’s shoulder.

“Thanks, man.” Gabe scurried up off the love seat to his sleeping bag next to Scarlet and Marcus. He zipped in and shut his eyes. I smiled as we walked to the kitchen. Slats of light broke through the cardboard, casting the house in a yellow glow.

It was very modern with lots of silver accents and shiny surfaces. The kitchen looked too clean to eat in. I sat at the table, sipping my water while Jim rifled through the cabinets.

“Totally empty,” he said as he sat down across from me.

“Do you think John will just want you?” I wasn’t sure what tricks were being played here. What was the endgame for them? All of us dead? It seemed like such a waste of time. I couldn’t stop the thoughts from plaguing me.

“No. I think he’ll want you.” Jim’s blue eyes met mine.

“Why?” My heart beat extra hard.

“Because he didn’t get you. I showed too much interest in you. He knew from the second I brought you into that house that he was going to get you. It’s like some sick competition to him.”

“So if I were to just go with him you think he’d leave you all alone.”

“You wouldn’t be that stupid, Lana.” His back straightened.

“How is that stupid?” I pursed my lips, offended by his comment.

“Because you’d be raped and killed. You want that?” I flinched at his words. “I didn’t think so. I’m not just giving you to him to save these people. We don’t even know if that would work.”
 

Jim shoved up from the table, making a bang as his chair fell to the floor. I sat back and watched as he faced the wall. His body tensed, straightening as he whispered to himself. I didn’t know whether to be happy that he didn’t want to give me up, or offended that he thought I was stupid.

“But if it did work I would do it!” I threw my empty water bottle across the kitchen, lashing out in the only way I knew how. Jim ducked and spun around.

“If you did that, I would hate you.” His words were laced with venom. Hate me? For giving myself up for the greater good of the group? I’d be doing the right thing. And yet he made me out to be doing the opposite. I didn’t understand why he couldn’t see my side of things. He never understood me.

“So what’s your plan then, Jim?” I cocked my head and narrowed my eyes on him, hoping to convey how pissed off I was getting.

“I don’t know yet…”

“Exactly.” I pushed off from the table and walked out the front door. Jim and Gabe had dragged some logs across the front walkway, blocking the eaters from getting in. A few eaters meandered down the deserted road. I sat on the front stoop and watched how the eaters didn’t even notice me.
 

I grabbed a stick from beside me and threw it into the road. The stick didn’t make much noise but it somersaulted a few times on the pavement. The eaters turned towards the noise and walked. They still didn’t notice me, only focused on the stick and getting to the noise it made.
 

One stopped at the edge of the logs. Like he stepped into my human radius, his head darted up, his eyes meeting mine with ferocity. He must have smelled me. He pushed into overdrive, his movements choppy and crazed. He growled, his hands twitching and reaching. But he was stuck behind the piled logs, unable to figure out how to make it over.
 

His red eyes connected with mine. They were dead inside, empty. His broken teeth chomped, the clicking sound loud from where I sat. His shins kept banging against the logs, blood starting to trickle down onto the ground in puddles. But the eater appeared unfazed at the lacerations.

I pulled out my knife and stood up. I shook my head as I walked towards the eater. This poor man had turned into a disgusting murderer. The infection made him hungry and pathetic. I didn’t think of them as human anymore.
 

In one swift slash, I cut into his head, ending his miserable life. He fell onto the logs, half of his body on top, half against the pavement. I pushed his shoulder back, and he flopped to the ground.
 

“What are you doing?” Jim stormed out of the house. He grabbed my shoulder and tugged me away from the body, towards the stoop. “Listen, I’m sorry I snapped or whatever. But I don’t know what the fuck is going to happen if John catches up to us. And it frustrates the hell out of me. And I took it out on you.”

“Well, thanks,” I said as I dragged a stick in the dirt.
 

“But I wasn’t kidding. You’re not going to give yourself to them. I don’t trust them for shit.”
 

“I was just trying to think of ideas,” I explained.

“The only thing we can do is wait. We can try to split them up when they attack us. We can try to get John alone so I can talk to him. But at the end of the day, they hold the power.” Jim raked his hand through his hair, tugging his overgrown beard.
 

“So we just wait?” I asked as I drew a heart around my cursive
Greyson.
It wasn’t even a real last name—one the system had concocted to make me more marketable.

“We’ll make sure the fencing is strong. We’ll fix the windows on the entire first floor. We’ll secure this place for a few more days, but then we’re going to have to come up with a plan for the winter. I honestly don’t think it would be safe here.”

“The house does have a fireplace. Plus with the fence and the woods so close it might be good to flee if we needed to. I think we could make it work.” I leaned back against the stairs, resting my arm on Jim’s knee.
 

“We’ll have to start stockpiling food and cutting wood for fires. I guess we could do it.” He shrugged like he really wasn’t sure. “If it did get overrun, we’d never last on the run when it’s below freezing.”

“Want to find an axe? I think we need it for cutting wood.” I nodded towards the house across the street that looked dark and empty. I didn’t want to sit around all day. I needed to get my mind off potentially being attacked by John and his murderer friends. I had to stop thinking of ways to get myself killed.

“Let me get Gabe and empty a bag. Wait here, okay?” He looked down at me and kissed my forehead. I hugged him, squeezing him tight, and then heard the door shut as he left me alone.
 

I stared at the street. Before the attacks, this was a normal residential area with many pedestrians and affluent families. We were near the Long Island Sound which meant high-end beach houses weren’t far away. I wanted to do some exploring if we were going to stay here. We needed to be comfortable with the area incase we had to separate. I had to be smart.

“Let’s get busy,” Gabe said as he exited the house. He drank from the peach can before passing it down to me. I took it and slurped, needing the quick sugar rush to give me some energy.
 

“You want to carry the bag, Lana?” Gabe asked.

I nodded, and he threw it down to me. I put it over my back so it wouldn’t have to compromise my arms. Gabe took the lead in the front, and Jim walked behind me.
 

We stopped at the house across the street since it was closest. However, I knew the odds of food there were going to be slim. If Sandra’s house was looted, then this one probably was, too.
 

We ended up finding a shed near the tree line in the back yard. Inside, a plethora of useful tools hung on the wall that would help us secure our house and gather supplies.

“This is a gold mine,” Gabe said as he pulled out what looked like a machete. He ran it across his palm. “Still sharp. Dibs!” he yelled as he stuck it in the back of his pack.
 

Jim laughed as he pulled out a weed whacker and tossed it to the side. There were several different shovels with various shaped spades. We found some metal rakes as well.
 

“Oh!” I said as I pulled a small axe out from under a blue tarp. It wasn’t going to be big enough to chop down a tree, but it would definitely help when we had to cut logs for the fireplace. I held it as we maneuvered around the exterior of the house and back towards Sandra’s.
 

“What’d you find, Miss Lana?” Marcus and Gavin were in the front yard of Sandra’s house. Marcus held a pile of sticks while Gavin sat on the steps watching him.
 

“We got a whole bunch of tools,” Jim said. I stepped over the log barrier but almost tripped. Jim grabbed my elbow and helped me get over the pile. I kept stumbling.

“Look what I got!” Gabe pulled out the machete and showed Marcus, who immediately ran over and tried to touch it. I widened my eyes at Gabe, not wanting him to let Marcus play with the very harmful weapon. I continued towards the back of the house with the axe as Gabe explained to Marcus that it was sharp.
 

I didn’t want to waste the cool hours of the day, so I pulled off my backpack and began cutting up some of the smaller limbs off a cherry tree since I knew the season for growing cherries was over. It would give us food, so we could use it for heat. By spring, we’d hopefully be gone. It wasn’t long before Jim found me.
 

“Take a break.” Jim passed me some water, and I dropped the axe on the ground, wiping the sweat off my forehead with the back of my hand. Jim, too, was drenched with sweat, his shirt a shade darker than normal. “I think we’re going to loot some houses after lunch,” Jim said as he sat down on the back patio. I sat beside him, my biceps burning.
 

“You look tired,” I said as I finished off the water.

“I am a little,” he admitted.

“Want to take a quick nap?”

“No. Gabe is taking one now, so I said I’d stay up and watch everyone.” Jim glanced over his shoulder, checking the road.
 

“Sit on the floor in front of me. I’ll play with your hair.” He cocked his head to the side like I spoke in a foreign tongue. “Trust me.” I laughed, widening my eyes. He took his time getting off the chair and sat between my legs on the cool ground.
 

His hairline dripped with sweat, but instead of finding it gross, I found it a bit appealing. I pulled all of his hair back away from his forehead like I was putting it into a ponytail. It wasn’t long enough yet, but soon if we didn’t get scissors, it’d be to his shoulders.
 

I grabbed the hair around his ears and massaged his scalp. Untangling his hair, I combed my hands through the strands. He groaned as my fingers drew circles into his skin.
 

“You’re going to put me to sleep,” he murmured as his head fell to the side. His cheek pressed against the inside of my thigh. My stomach twisted at the contact. I spun my fingers in his hair again, while I leaned back in the chair and took in the cool day.
 

Marcus ran towards me, and I put my pointer to my mouth, shushing him. He slowed down and tiptoed over to me.
 

“Can you do me a favor, buddy?” I asked as I took his hand in mine.

“Sure, Miss Lana.”

“Can you run inside and grab my book from my bag? Jim fell right asleep and I don’t want to move.”

“Sure!” He ran back into the house, the back door slamming. I winced a little and glanced down at Jim. Luckily, he didn’t stir. I cut a glance over my shoulder and didn’t see anything unusual in the street. Marcus came back fast with two books in his hands.
 

He handed over my romance novel and sat beside me. With a pen in his hand, he began working on a new Sudoku puzzle, occasionally asking me to check his work.
 

A loud bang sounded from the doorway. I turned and saw Gabe come out of the house, his dark hair a mess on his head, sticking up at all angles. He yawned and nearly tripped down the stairs, his feet catching on the middle step.
 

“Shh!” Marcus scolded Gabe. “Jim is sleeping.”

“How long was I napping?” Gabe whispered. Marcus hopped up from his seat, letting Gabe sit down next to me. I pulled Marcus onto the arm of my chair and hugged him against my body, letting him lean so he was comfortable.
 

“Maybe a little over an hour. Not long,” I told him as I bookmarked my novel. The plot was heating up, the main character finally giving into her deepest desires with the king. I’d have to get back to it later.

“We have to find some more food, loot some houses,” Gabe said as he finished off a chocolate Powerbar. He threw the wrapper on the ground.
 

“I can’t really move.” I laughed, covering my mouth so he wouldn’t wake up. I pointed down at Jim. His ears must have started burning because his body jolted and he sat up. He murmured something I couldn’t understand and then glanced around him, taking in the surroundings in panicked movements.