When The Dead Came 2 (9 page)

“Run,”
she screamed out and they ran down the hall. The man grabbed his
shotgun up and stood out in the hall. He pulled the trigger and the
bullet hit the wall near the front door, causing both girls to stop
running.

“You
forgot to knock,” he said in a menacing tone, reloading the
shotgun before walking up toward them, Jenny slowly turning to look
at the stranger, fear deep down.

Alex
and Avery followed Jeff, Trevor, and Nick into a three story
building, it was once a Bed and Breakfast that Jeff knew of, his
grandparents always went there every other weekend for breakfast.
Nick made his way up stairs,” Alex,” Jeff said,” go
with him.” Alex walked up stairs to help Nick, the other three
checking the first floor.

“Wouldn’t
it make better sense to send someone up to the second floor and
someone up to the third floor,” Avery asked, holding the gun.

“I
already know what’s up on the third floor,” Jeff
responded,” storage or old curtains and furniture. Nothing
useful to us.” Avery looked away, studying the paintings
hanging along the walls. She studied the nearest one of a woman
dressed in a Victorian Era dress, a large white hat with a ruby and a
decorative feather. She appeared to be staring off toward the front
door of the Bed and Breakfast.

“You
like art,” she turned around, seeing Trevor looking at it too.

“Yeah,”
she said and then began recalling the day it began. She stopped
looking at the painting to not think about it anymore when the phone
near the front desk began ringing. She jumped and looked over at it.

“You
need to hurry it up,” Jeff said out loud at the stairs,”
we have at least two hours before Charles calls us up.” Avery
stared at it then Trevor shook his head.

“It’s
likely nothing,” he said and turned away. She looked at him and
made her way toward the phone. Picking it up, she responded.

“Hello?”

“We
need help, please,” a man on the other end begged,”
they’re after us.”

“Where
are you,” Avery asked. Trevor stood at the nearest table,
listening.

“We’re,”
the phone began to cut out, static interfering with the conversation.
She could no longer make out what he was saying to her, all she could
hear now were screams on the other end, the screams cutting out as
well.

“What
are you doing?” She looked to her left, Jeff took the phone
from her and set it back down.

“There
was someone on the other end.”

“I
doubt that,” he said,” this city lost electric a few days
after the zombies came here.” She looked back at the phone and
began to feel like she was losing her mind more each day.

“I
told you it’s likely nothing,” Trevor said to her and
they were joined with Alex and Nick.

“Let’s
go,” Jeff ordered and they left the building. Avery curious why
Trevor had told her it’s likely nothing in the first place if
Jeff hadn’t heard the ringing. The group continued walking down
the streets, in search of supplies.

Charles
led his group down a trashed alley,” here,” he gestured
at Holly and Keith,” my people are going in the search this
building.”

“What
about us then,” Keith asked him. Charles gestured around,
lighting a cigarette.

“Dig
through the garbage for anything useful.” Holly dropped her
arms down to her sides in fustration while Keith scratched the back
of his neck, staring at the dumpster across from them.

“I
don't feel good though,” Holly whined to Keith.

“Well
then maybe you shouldn't have drank all that beer last night,”
he told her and climbed inside the dumpster, Holly huffing before
joining him in the foul smelling trash that hasn't been emptied for
over a couple months. Charles sat on a few crates, making himself
comfortable to enjoy a smoke break, keeping an eye out for zombies
and an eye on the two teens. Keith threw out old card board boxes,
damaged from likely rain. The day before he, Holly, and Jenny had
come to Cleveland, they had been rained upon through the night.

Holly
dug around, the smell reaching her and making her stomach turn even
more. She moved aside some bags and found herself peering in a torn
open bag of molded food. It looked to have been half a burger before
it was thrown out; and now there was maggots all over the meat, the
buns a disgusting green color and the cheese smelled horribly.
Finally not able to stand it, Holly felt the vomit coming and she
threw up on the burger. Keith stopped digging.

“Seriously,
Holly,” he said and jumped out of the dumpster. She spit out
the bits and dry heaved a few times before finally climbing out as
well, leaning against the wall.

“At
least it was in the dumpster,” she breathed, wanting to get the
taste of the alcohol from last night out of her mouth. Will, Lucinda,
and Drew came out and looked over at them and Charles, who was still
sitting there smoking, silently chuckling to himself at Holly's
vomiting moment.

“There's
nothing in there worth taking,” Will said to Charles,”
just a few home decorating magazines if you want to do some interior
decorating of the tunnels.” Drew and Lucinda looked over at the
dry heaving and spitting Holly, leaning over. Lucinda gestured.

“What's
up with her?”

“She's
just hanging over,” Charles said, putting out the cigarette and
standing up,” threw up in the dumpster a moment ago. Let's go.”
They began leaving the alley, Will and Charles checking out in the
streets first. Drew dug in his bag and handed Holly a bottle of
water.]

“Rinse
your mouth out,” he told her and they walked on. Holly opened
the bottle immediately and poured water in her mouth, waterfalling it
then swished around before spitting it out. They walked along the
street, their vehicle two blocks down the street.

“Why
didn't we take the truck down here instead of leaving it parked way
down the street,” Keith asked the SGO members.

“Safety
precautions,” Will responded,” it's how we've always done
things and we stick to that.” They continued walking when
Charles looked down a street to the left of them and noticed the
group of undead not far from them.

“We
should move on,” Holly mumbled, trying not to alert the undead.

“There's
something you need to learn about our group,” Charles began and
aimed his gun,” we don't run from them.” Holly and Keith
looked at the others in the group, also raising their weapons, and
they began firing their guns. Charles stopped and looked at them
while the others continued firing,” so to join our group, you
either fire back or die.” Holly looked at Keith, while Keith
watched the zombies beginning to run toward them. The SGO members
stood their ground, stilling firing, taking turns on stopping to
reload their clips. Holly looked around, making sure all the gun
shots didn't draw attention as she began wondering if Alex and Avery
are going through this lesson too.

Minutes
passed when finally, the zombies down that particular street, were
all gunned down. Keith stared at the dead bodies, laid out in random
areas of the street while the SGO continued walking down the street.
Holly turned away from the dead bodies, not wanting to throw up again
and jogged to catch up with the others. She walked beside Keith,”
I think we should leave,” she whispered to him where the others
couldn't hear,” I don't feel right about these people.”

“There's
nothing wrong,” he said,” they're just doing what's
necessary to survive, like we're doing.”

“Yeah
but, you heard them before. Last night Charles mentioned killing us.
He threatened that again just a moment ago,” she gestured
behind them.

“Like
I said, necessary to survive. You either live or die these days.”
Holly frowned.

“What
would Avery and Alex think,” she said, not looking at him.

“I
don't care,” he responded,” Alex is just trying so hard
to be like his dead brother.”

“Wouldn't
you too? If you had a brother that is.” Keith shook his head
and Holly stared at him with disbelief,” well then what would
Avery think,” she began.

“Screw
Avery,” he snapped at her and she shut up instantly, staring at
the person she once knew to be kind and funny. He was now mean,
harsh, and careless. “ I don't care what Avery does, I don't
care what Alex does. And I don't care if we live or die. If Alex
wants to drive himself to death just like Justin had, he can. And if
Avery wants to continue being alone then she can do that too.”

“Avery's
your best friend though.”

“No
she's not,” he said, staring ahead,” Avery doesn't mean
crap to me.” Holly stopped talking, staring down at the ground
while they walked, fully aware now that the others heard the whole
conversation from start to finish. She felt strongly that his
outburst of anger was jealousy. She could understand that he's
jealous over Avery. She knew that he noticed the attention Trevor
gave and the attention Alex gave when they found them. But why was he
jealous of Alex? Because of his bravery? She wasn't sure and didn't
care now. As of this moment, Keith was lost. He was no longer a
matter to her. For once since it began, Holly felt alone.

The
groups gathered back at the tunnel, everyone bringing anything they
found inside before piling the sand bags in front of the opening.
“What happened to the door that was there,” Holly asked
the SGO.

“Don't
know,” Jeff responded, throwing a bag on top,” it was
gone when we came here.” She watched them pile the bags on,
arms crossed.

“Are
you just going to stand there or help us,” asked Jeff,
gesturing. She uncrossed her arms and picked up a bag, realizing she
misjudged the weight of it and fell back in the dwindling pile of
bags, the one she had picked up knocking the air out of her. Alex sat
by himself, near the others of the SGO and looked around, noticing
the other group hadn't come across Jenny. He could see Holly
attempting to help Jeff, Trevor, and Drew with piling the last of the
sand bags up, clearly the only one struggling with it being Holly. He
saw Charles spending time with Lucinda, talking and hugging briefly.
Avery looking around at the different areas of the collections. Nick
and Will talking and drinking again. He assumed this group drank each
night apparently, perhaps their way of enjoying life while it's
there. And he noticed Keith off to himself this night.

“So
your group didn't find Jenny,” he asked Will.

“No,”
he responded,” we found magazines, a few rolls of toilet paper,
one partially used, a couple of cans of lentils. And your friend,”
he gestured over at Holly, finally regaining posture after the fall,”
threw up.”

“Is
she sick or something?”

“Hanging
over,” Will then stopped and added,” oh, you should
probably talk to her and that other guy. They had an interesting
argument.” He took a drink from a shot glass. Alex looked over
at Holly who was stretching her arms out, likely trying to play off
what had happened, then looked over at Keith. “
Your
group might be having problems.” Alex walked away toward Holly
to ask what happened. Since Justin was now gone, he was trying his
best to become a leader, including trying to solve all issues.

“I
hear there was a problem earlier,” he said to her. Holly stared
at him.

“...
It was just vomit,” she responded,” I likely won't drink
tonight.”

“Not
that,” he said, shaking his head,” between you and
Keith.” She sighed and looked down at the floor then at him.

“Keith
is definitely changing these days.” The both of them walked
over, Alex stopping to have Avery join them too since it was a group
issue. Keith looked up to see the three of them walking over and he
stood up.

“What,”
he asked in a snap. Alex gestured.

“Something
up? Will told me there was a problem forming in our group. What's
wrong.”

“Why
do you care,” Keith asked,” it was just between Holly and
I. It's none of yours or Avery's business. Leave it alone.”

“Fine
then,” Holly blurted and faced Avery and Alex,” he's mad
because of the both of you, I think it's jealousy.

“Shut
up,” Keith snapped at her,” you know what's bothering me?
All three of you,” he pointed, beginning to raise his voice at
them,” the three of you think you're so damn great;” he
looked at Holly,” you won't stop whining! You lost your
boyfriend and you cried about that. He was cheating on you the whole
time, so all your crying around was worthless. You whined the entire
time 'cause Joel died. Take the hint, Holly, you're too desperate to
keep a boyfriend alive. You'd do better being alone for the remaining
time of your life, which isn't much anyways 'cause you're useless
against zombies in the first place,” Holly flinched at the last
sentence and backed up a step.

He
looked at Alex next,” you lost your brother and are trying so
bad to try and be like him. You're no leader. You're not impressing
anyone. Come to think of it, neither your brother could save anyone
long enough to keep them alive, much less himself. You're just as
weak as everyone else.” Alex stared at Keith, feeling a bit of
anger at him talking about his brother like that that he tightened
his right fist to keep from hitting Keith then and there. He then
looked at Avery.