#like yeah we can cure death but until I see rich people not dying or aging then I don't believe it exists

[boobachu]

In ancient times humans only died when they were killed so death by aging is a new concept invented by big pregnancy.

scrunching my face real hard rn

[mor-beck-more-problems]

Poison and Wine || Morgan & Miriam

Just two undead gals being pals.

@meflemming

The hide, not yet treated, floated in the water like forgotten flotsam after a wreck, or perhaps a dead body. Morgan had only floated in the deep after coming back from the dead, where she could rise or sink at will. She couldn’t imagine how she might have looked if her curse had tried to drown her instead, if Remmy would have had to fish her out with a hook, or their bare hands, but maybe it would have been something like this. “And you say this helps you feel more alive?” She asked, curious underneath her snark. “Do you think this is like, a thing for people like us? Searching for life in more death?” she mused.”I’ve spent a lot of time this past month watching animals die and thinking about taxidermy.”

Hair pulled back and sleeves rolled up, Miriam added a few chemicals to the water so that the hide didn’t damage while it soaked. It’d be a while before it was ready to go into the liming process, but she had a few pieces in various states of treatment to show off to Morgan since the other woman had been curious enough about the process. “Well, perhaps it’s a thing for you, but this goes a bit further back for me,” Miriam said, lips quirked up. She washed her hands, explaining, “Leatherworking has been in my family since before we moved to White Crest several odd generations ago. Though, I will admit, the process of dying has become much more interesting. I suppose since I can’t do it again…” She raised an eyebrow. “Taxidermy, though? An interesting pursuit. A fun one, too, I’ve heard.”

“I didn’t take you as someone into tradition, Mim,” Morgan said. “You seemed like such a renegade. Still, I mean you’re heading this operation by yourself. And everything here is…” More than a little impressive. Even to her undead senses, the leather workshop was rich with the smell of creation, death into a different kind of life. The tools were heavy, plain, and simple. The tables, spacious. Everything had its place, its purpose, its balance. It looked like the most beautiful puzzle to Morgan. “Yeah, you can’t really watch your own death, you only remember the part where it hurt, and where it was quiet. Or--I mean, do you? Still remember?” She sped along with the other train of discussion, just in case it was too personal, even for the strange bond of undeath between them. “Yeah, well, my girlfriend dabbles and I spent a lot of time in the shed where she works. Playing with glass eyes and small specimens she’s done. It’s kinda neat, how they get suspended in time, sometimes a little prettier, a little happier looking than they were before. Some of them still look alive, if it weren’t for how still they are. It’s...interesting, I guess. I think skinning the critters is going to be the hardest part, if I ever try. I kinda go apeshit for some nice, raw, dead tissue.”

“I have a head for business and a talent for making things, dearest,” Miriam said breezily. “And I put more work into this business than my father ever did. I actually make things. He simply ran them.” She looked around her home workshop, everything neat and orderly and accounted for. Her father had it built for her after… well, after. No windows for sunlight to escape in, and it was connected to the house through the wine cellar. It was the perfect workspace for all sorts of work, and Miriam took more than a little pride in it. She grew quiet, trying to think of her death. The car wreck, the pain and the heat of it, was still fresh on her mind. “I remember it rather clearly, though I couldn’t even begin to tell you when the troubles of my life ended and the troubles of my unlife began. Someone, though, came along, and here we stand. Making leather.” She walked over to a piece that was closer to being finished, the hide already cured and turned into actual leather. She’d been toying around with it, a messenger bag, perhaps, tooling floral designs into the flaps of it. On the table in front of it was the designs sketched out more clearly onto paper, so she had a rough idea on what she was creating. Next to it was a sketch of a pair of heeled boots she thought about attempting, though it’d been quite some time since she’d attempted shoes. “It’s all a bit macabre how we make beautiful things out of death, isn’t it? Jackets, taxidermied animals, it was all living once and we… I don’t guess I could say that I’m doing much to preserve it, but.” She looked Morgan over. “You’re still very new to all of this. Control comes with experience. Until then… Perhaps you can help her with the less bloodied parts?”

Morgan hadn’t considered that Miriam’s work would be a pragmatic choice. But she’d never had anything passed down to her except her curse, nothing she could use or consider her own. She was used to using whatever she had on hand, though. And this, well, she could admit was a pretty good ‘whatever’ to lean on in a crisis. “Do you identify more as an artist or a craftsman?” She asked, hearing Miriam’s pride in doing the heavy work on her own. “Oh, yeah, I think...that’s the hope right now. I haven’t really got up the nerve  to see her while she’s working, but I fiddle with the tools sometimes, the glass eyes. It’s weird, what pains people will take to make something fake look like it has a spark of life. Although,  I think it’s all in the lid sculpting, from what I can tell. Even in people, it’s the skin that signals emotion, or the eyebrows,” She gestured to Miriam’s own expression with a smirk.

Morgan wandered over to the work in progress, ghosting her finger along the shapes tooled into the leather. “With leather I guess it’s different,” she said. “What do you think about, when you’re making it into something? What are you trying to capture?”

Considering the question, Miriam cocked her head to the side, considering her work. “I suppose it depends on who you ask. One of my teachers in college would have said an artist. Between my sketches, and I’ve dabbled in other mediums. But some businessmen I’ve worked with would say a craftsman. All the work that goes into the craft, the labor behind it. But you asked me.” She paused. “I’d say there’s an art to the craft. I can do practical. I made a saddle once. Someone recently asked me for a harness.” Though, that one seemed to be more for pleasure than practicality. “But I like detail, and adding artistic flair to my work. I want it to be personal. When I do something, I like it to be one of a kind. I have two employees for the shop in town. We all work everything by hand, though they rarely cure their own leather. I buy supplies for them, and they make it lovely. They make it into art. So, I suppose it’s all about the piece, really.” She smirked, allowing her face to be more expressive. “There’s your convoluted answer for the day. Though I’m sure I’ll have more. And people don’t want it to seem fake. They want it to seem preserved. A dear family pet isn’t really dead, only sleeping by the fire. They want the illusion of well-preserved life.”

Miriam looked over at the piece, moving a bit closer to Morgan. How strange; she was rarely around other members of the undead. It was almost as quiet as if she was alone in the room. Not a single heartbeat between the two of them. “Mostly I’m trying to capture what the buyer wants,” she said wryly. “But sometimes, I’m simply playing around. I think about what looks pretty. If it’s something I could stand to own myself or not. I might see a design in something and think I can do it better, so I make the attempt. The end result is either something that can be sold at an extremely high price or an extremely low one.”

“You’re gonna hate this, but putting my spin on a commission was my favorite part of the alchemy-crystal game,” Morgan said, looking thoughtfully at the sketches on the table, carefully picking up one sheet, then the other. “Every once in a while I got some really boring, overly-detailed request, usually ugly too. But some people would say, I want an amethyst mirror, I want a smoky quartz ring holder that reminds me of my cat’s left paw, and that was it. That middle space, where what they want becomes part of the challenge, or the fun, was the best. I don’t even know how many sketchbooks like these I threw out.” She brushed her hands on her skirt, as if dusting away the memory, the longing for those hours. “Whatever I do next will be the old-fashioned way, don’t worry,” she said wryly. “A set up like this would be nice. It feels lived-in, for lack of a better word. I bet you could pass a whole day here and not notice a thing. Or maybe that’s just me? Time has a way of getting slippery. I’m not good at coming home when I’m supposed to unless I set an alarm. If it wasn’t for everyone else, I don’t think I’d mind so much. Days and nights don’t mean as much when you don’t sleep. But I guess that’s different for you, you sleep a little, right?” She danced her fingers on the edge of the table, pressing down, testing how much of it she could feel. “Do you have anyone, that makes time matter for you?”

“You were certainly good with your craft,” Miriam said, only a bit begrudgingly. She had the decanter Morgan made in the house, filled with quality bourbon. She’d yet to actually drink any of it, but she stared at it sometimes, torn between being disgusted and impressed. “I’ve always liked it when customers give me that bit of creative license, the freedom to give them what they want without it being too specific.” She did raise a single eyebrow a bit at Morgan’s comment. “Morgan, dear, I know it’s not quite the same,” not as wholly wrong, “as it was before, but, for better or worse, you’ll always be using magic with whatever you apply yourself to for the rest of your days. There’s no more old-fashioned way.” She looked around, taking pride in her workshop, the one place that she felt at home. “I do pass the whole day in here occasionally. Sometimes several days. No eating, no sleeping, no noticing the time until it’s pointed out to me.” She shrugged, leaned against the workbench. Miriam didn’t slump; she was raised better than that, but she did grab a pencil and twirl it between her fingers, thoughtful. “I sleep?” She hated how it sounded like a question. “Not for long, and it’s not… I don’t particularly dream or anything. I suppose it’s just rest. The closest I got to sleeping lasted for several years and was closer to death, I think.” She watched Morgan’s fingers and the slight dent in the table they caused. She didn’t say anything about it, though, too focused on the question. Did she? No. She had acquaintances, occasional dalliances, but no one who made time matter. That had been Theo and his family and her family. They were all gone now. Now, all she had was revenge, and that didn’t make time matter; it just made it drag. “I have my work,” she said breezily, while not being specific as to what work she meant. “It’s no person, but it serves its purpose.”

“What do you mean no more old-fashioned way? Like, because--” Because she was dead? Or un-dead rather? Morgan hadn’t thought of it that way before. Obviously what had happened to her wasn’t the norm. Dead people, generally speaking, did not come back. The soft nothing space she had slept in was the end of all things. There were no more sunrises or lovers or rabbits any more than there was no more sleep, no more taste. And with magic dead inside her, she carried that betrayal. She hadn’t thought that it was keeping her alive, somehow. That it had seeped into her corpse and carried her through her existence. But if it wasn’t her heart, what else could she call it? “Because of what I am? W-what--” She looked down at her hands, pasty and dead and--still, somehow hers. “Does that ever bother you? That you’re a little magic too? That the same energy in the universe that I used to control is part of why you’re still here? I just-- I’ve never even thought of it that way before,” and now that she had, now that she could, her mouth quirked upwards in a small guilty smile of wonder. How could she never have asked herself that before? And how did Miriam know, and want to comfort her with that truth? “I just wonder how you could, much less say it so easy like that.” She looked at Miriam thoughtfully, and wondered if her loneliness had been part of why she’d felt drawn to her before. She’d lost so much, even before she died, and she knew pain well enough to become bent and twisted by it. How heavy must it be to do that? “You should let yourself have people, Miriam,” she said. “Sometimes they’re the only thing that makes a day mean anything.” She held her gaze for as long as she could. Morgan wasn’t sure if Miriam would listen, if she knew that she meant it, but she hoped. Morgan rubbed her hands on her skirt and reached under the table to pop the dents she’d made smooth again. “Is there, uh, anything else I can see?”

“On the nose,” Miriam said quietly. “We’re just dead things reformed by something impossible to truly understand until we’re no longer quite dead.” She’d spent hours thinking on it, fretting about it. What she was, what made her, or, rather, unmade her. She had, for the early years, clung desperately to the idea that she might have survived that wretched car crash. It wouldn’t have killed her. She would have been fine. She’d been resentful of others like her, particularly those who weren’t bound to the town or molded by white-hot revenge. Eventually, she’d come to terms with magic, what it was and what it was for. “I have no problem with magic, Morgan. I truly don’t. It’s a beautiful thing, you know. But it doesn’t belong with humans.” How humans perverted magic. They used it and twisted it into beautiful things, sometimes, like Morgan’s crystals, but also awful, wretched things. “Magic corrupts them all, in the end. Kills them. It killed us.” Miriam places a hand over her unbeating chest. “Only difference is that it keeps us alive as well.” She knew she wasn’t going to get Morgan to see her side. Spellcasters, even former ones, rarely did. Though, she supposed that was usually because the conversation was a bit one-sided; she talked, they screamed. It made it so hard for them to hear her. The last one had screamed until he couldn’t; he’d been about useless, unable to tell her about any local covens or even how to fix her White Crest-locked predicament. He left his shoe, too. She saw it out of the corner of her eye but was careful not to draw too much attention to it. Instead, she met Morgan’s eyes and smiled. “Perhaps you’re right. It’d do me good to have,” she paused, ruminated on the word, “friends. We are so useless alone.” She clapped her hands together and looked around. “There’s not too much else going on in here, but there’s a set of stairs and a tunnel that connect to the house’s wine cellar so I can avoid sunlight. My mother’s idea.” It was also so the staff wouldn’t see the family’s bloody secret lurking around in the dark, but still. It was a nice gesture. “I have a fairly decent collection of alcohol. It’s practically useless unless in large quantities, but it’s pretty to look at.”

“A car killed you, unless there’s more to the story. Not that you have to share either, but—” Morgan shrugged, mouth stretched in a sympathetic grimace. “But my family curse killed me. So you’re not wrong there. I just didn’t think about magic as bringing me back. The magic I did before didn’t really look like this.” She slid off her cuff and showed the scar near her wrist in the shape of Remmy’s mouth. “But you’re right. Nothing else to call it.” She tugged the cuff back down and tugged on her sleeve for good measure. “And I am, about having friends. I don’t know how much you believe me, but I mean it. You should get to have people, Miriam. It means a lot, to be known.” She smirked at the idea of the wine cellar. “Hey, at least you can get drunk at all. I’m down to appreciate the aesthetic though.” She wandered over to the walls, looking for the stairs and room in question. She’d thought there’d be more, but it was almost a relief to see that Miriam held on to some of her humanity, even with the side murder.

“A car headed to confront my husband, who was only using me for money so that he could fund his coven’s magic is what killed me,” Miriam said with a shrug. It was fine. She’d come to terms with it. Her jacket was on the back of the chair she was standing near. She stroked the sleeve gently. “See, it’s magic that’s keeping us alive. Not what human’s can practice, of course.” They were doomed if spellcasters learned how to do whatever bullshit it was that made vampires and zombies. Then again… Necromancers. Miriam fucking hated spellcasters. She smirked, though. “Well, I do thank you for that, Morgan. I should invest in some people. Friends.” She batted her eyelashes, knowing it probably wouldn’t work with Morgan having a girlfriend but not being one to turn down an opportunity. “We can be friends, I hope? Put all the silliness of the past behind us?” She led the way to the stairs, wondering if she should move the shoe but deciding against it. “Have you tried mixing alcohol with, I don’t know, organs? That might get you a little buzzed. Blood always helps me.”

“People aren’t investments,” Morgan childed mildly. “It doesn’t necessarily speak badly of you if things don’t ‘pay off’ the way you want. What speaks well of you is that you try anyway.” She answered Miriam’s fluttering lashes with a coy smile, a roll of her eyes. It was a little late to pretend there wasn’t something of a connection between them. Mriam understood what it meant to walk through death in a way like she did, and without a reason to fear her, Morgan found the return of a feeling she’d had before: a wish that Miriam would let someone ease her pain a little, that she would let go and allow herself a different way of being. “We can be friends, yeah,” she said gently. “And, tragically, no boozy combo I’ve tried yet seems to take the edge off. So that’s one point for vampires!” She followed Miriam towards the dark hall, trailing her fingers on the wall. She noticed a stray shoe strewn absently as she went, pointing to it as she asked, “Do you, uh, get a lot of company down here?”

“Nonsense,” Miriam said. “I was always taught that people were investments. Good ones, if you went about it the right way.” But she could see what Morgan was saying. Relationships were meant to be enjoyed. They were good things, usually. Unfortunately, when all was said and done, Miriam had done a bit too much to allow anyone to get too close. She didn’t regret any of the wretches she’d killed; why, she could barely even remember their faces. Sure, the first few times had been rough, and sure, she ached for something to fill the whole inside of her, the one that wasn’t desperate for revenge and blood. But she was quite good at pushing all of that aside, pretending she was whole. She was still a young vampire, after all, more years in the ground than she’d spent as a creature of the night. Perhaps she’d eventually get used to feeling like this. And, if not, well. She’d read that vampires could turn it all off, if they so desired. Whatever would happen to her if she couldn’t feel her anger and rage? Her thirst for revenge? She didn’t know. Maybe she’d find out. “Darling, you can still go out in the sun. I’d trade all the booze in the world for a nice day sunning down at Dark Score. But maybe we can find something out there for you.” Looking at the shoe, she gave Morgan a wink. “Well, I did say I liked to have dalliances, didn’t I?”

Morgan winced, feeling guilty for bemoaning her eternal sobriety when Miriam couldn’t even watch a sunrise. She couldn’t feel a sunburn or a winter chill anymore, but she could stand in the light and the snow and imagine what it was like. She could remember, at least for now. “What, you mean drinking away the undead existential crisis isn’t all it’s cracked up to be?” She asked wryly. “That’s a fair point, you know,” she said. “More than. Sorry. Although, apparently there’s a giant squid in the lake that may or may not eat people, so maybe you’re not missing out on too much.” She really didn’t need to know anymore about Miriam’s dalliances, however charming calling them that sounded in her dated cadence. She scampered down the stairs after Miriam, ready to leave all of that behind and see the rest of her place.

“There’s nothing like a drunken bender every few weeks to destroy your liquor cabinet,” Miriam joked. Though, she wasn’t actually joking, seeing as how she could smell last week’s rage in the form of spilled wine all over the cellar. She sucked in her cheeks frowning. “I forgot about the mess down here. Those undead existential crises tend to end in a bit of broken glass.” She gave a short laugh, but she could clearly smell blood, human blood, underneath all the wine. And if she could, she figured Morgan could as well. “It’s nothing to apologize for, darling. And I have heard about the squid. See, I can’t recall anything like that happening back when I was alive.” Miriam really needed to learn to clean up after herself better. And, perhaps a wine cellar wasn’t the best place to torture a little witch bitch into giving her information on a coven she apparently didn’t know anything about. There’d been some spilled wine, spilled blood, and a new rosebush in the garden. But no cleaning of the wine cellar. It was a shame, too. In her rage she’d managed to break a few bottles of very pricey vintage. It was a waste on all fronts. She walked over to the stairwell leading to the house, a sigh on her lips as she stepped over the mess. Miriam gave Morgan a tight smile. “I’m sometimes unaware of my own strength and anger, these days.”

Maybe if she hadn’t died and made a passtime of stuffing her face with viscera, Morgan wouldn’t have been able to notice the difference between wine and bloodstains on sight. She might not have been able to sense some bits of dead skin, dead something, ground into the floor. But she was salivating in a way that made her clench up with undease. Why was she feeling the hunger pull? Why was there blood mixed with broken glass. Morgan stopped short, surveying the mess. She looked up at Miriam’s thin smile, too sharp to reach her eyes. She didn’t need to ask, she shouldn’t. The whole reason she had stayed away from Miriam for so long was because she knew what she was capable of. She didn’t just carry darkness in her, she had hatred. The kind of hatred that lead to a mess like this. Blood spread in so many directions couldn’t be from anything swift or easy. She backed away slowly. “Y-yeah, um...I can see that. That’s…” The smart thing to do would be to come up with some non threatening question to indicate she didn’t care or at least wasn’t going to push. But as she crept back up the way she came, eyes fixated on the stains she couldn’t un-see as blood she asked, “Who was that? How many...how many people do you bring down here?”

Miriam frowned. A part of her recognized that she should apologize, try to start this over and appeal to the tentative friendship that had been forming between the two of them since before Morgan even died. Miriam wouldn’t lie, she’d grown a bit fond of the witch even while she wanted to kill her, just as she’d always been fond of Theo’s sisters and friends. But Miriam had been raised to not apologize, even before she’d been turned, so she didn’t, couldn’t. Whatever. “It’s mostly just wine, you know,” she said as a way of explanation. But that wasn’t good enough, probably. Readjusted. She smiled, an attempt to soothe. Sometimes, Miriam forgot that she was more bite than bark. “Morgan, I would never harm you, you know. Not anymore. I have no reason to even try.” She adjusted her posture, trying to appear non threatening, but she could no more do that than get Morgan to forget their first encounter. So, she sighed and took a seat near the steps that led to her house. They were on opposite sides of the wine cellar, at an impasse. “I don’t ask for names,” she said. “And she didn’t have any information. Just a drifter, lucky bitch.” Really, Miriam couldn’t be to blame for killing the woman. She’d practically rubbed it in Miriam’s face that she could leave and perform magic while Miriam was stuck in this town as a living corpse. She closed her eyes and took a soothing breath that she didn’t need. “I don’t know. Not many. Wine cellars make terrible places to conduct business, you know. Too many breakable things that I don’t want broken.” She ran her finger through a dark, sticky substance near her heel.

“Miriam--” Morgan began, her voice soft and heavy with disappointment. What had she expected? Where was the surprise in any of this? She stopped, tugging on the roots of her hair as she tried to take in the cold, matter-of-fact way Miriam talked about her killings. It reminded her of Deirdre when she was at her worst, when she was the thing her mother wanted her to be. How could Miriam be this way in so short a time, after one heartbreak? Had she loved him that much, that nothing could exist for her besides that hurt? She let out a long sigh. “I know you wouldn’t, Miriam. I know that,” she said. “But I wish you would let this go. Or at least that I could understand how--why this is so important to you. If it’s so fulfilling, why do you have to turn yourself off like that.” She nodded in her direction, taking in all the signs, the hard lines, the heaviness of the apathy. It was somehow more horrible to look at than the blood. “I just...if it was really that worth it, I don’t think you would have to be like this about it. I think if you understood you can have something besides hating people who never hurt you…” What? She wasn’t sure. She couldn’t see another version of Miriam hiding under the darkness, exactly. She knew she was lonely, driven, proud. Sometimes, under the weight of her death and her un-life, she could be funny. But Morgan didn’t know what else. She just wanted to believe it existed. Another breath. It was stupid, she didn’t need to breathe at all, but if she could float some air into her, maybe she could understand why she felt this upset over something she should have known all along.

There was a part of Miriam that wanted desperately for someone, anyone, to understand. She couldn’t let it go. It wasn’t from a lack of trying. After she’d killed Theo, when the high from it all had faded away, she’d cried until she couldn’t. Her mother had been the one to find her, a bloody mess, a shadow of a human being, sobbing over what was left of the husband she’d killed. Her mother, prim and proper, who had left the rearing of her daughter to her stern and more business-oriented husband when Miriam had been more interested in leathers than satins, didn’t know how to react to seeing her child the murderer. The monster. She never did. And yet she’d tried to comfort. And Miriam had let her, had thought this was a one and done situation. But there was no such thing. She couldn’t explain the hunger or rage that was only quieted by others’ screams. Morgan would certainly never understand it. Instead, Miriam kept her face impassive as she licked the blood and wine off her fingers, her eyes flashing red at the taste. She smiled, both sharp and sanguine. “Dearest, I’m only being myself.” She leaned back against the steps. “At least, what’s left of me.” Her hate must be fed to be tempered. She’d learned that the hard way. Miriam would stop if she only knew how.

Morgan lingered in the stairwell, wondering again what in all the earth she had been thinking of in coming here. Why she didn’t have her fill of Miriam from the last time. Had she really set aside the hatred in her eyes over a shared dread of eternity? Was the numbness, the pain between them really enough to scrub away the things she’d done? When she’d been alive, Miriam had sent her to the flipping hospital, of all things. She looked at the woman, resigned and stubborn on the ground. She was so lost she couldn’t even argue with Morgan, couldn’t even fight her.

Morgan crossed the room, stepping over the mess out of respect for the dead. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I know sorry’s are stupid, but since I actually know how it is to wake up and feel chunks of yourself missing, I feel like I’m allowed. And--I just don’t think those empty spaces have to stay that way. Not for you, or for anyone else. There has to be something different, something better for you.” She bent down, closer than she had ever been to Miriam yet. She ghosted her fingers over Miriam’s hair and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “I wish you would look for it some more,” she said. Then she turned back the way she’d come and left.

Not meaning to, Miriam flinched back from the tenderness of Morgan’s touch. She hadn’t experienced anything like that in so long. Not even the people she’d slept with recently had been tender. But she didn’t cry, for what it was worth. Didn’t allow tears to even begin to well in the corners of her eyes. But she felt worn around the edges and seen. It was fucking with her head a bit. Did Morgan seriously think she could be redeemed? After all that she’d done? There was no redemption for her, only vengeance and the final death that it would bring. This was what she knew, what she felt in the pit of her cold heart. But she couldn’t find the words to say it. Instead, she said, “Shut the door on the way out, sweetness.” It wasn’t loud, and it lacked her usual bravado. She stood up slowly, a phantom feeling in her bones, like her true age’s weariness was catching up to her, and she went in the opposite direction. She was going to have to clean up herself, it seemed. Didn’t matter. She had a bit more time on her hands than she planned for the evening, anyway.

[soul4art]

Hunted

Warning: horror, zobies, death, blood, killing, 18 +

Chapter one : How it all started

My name is April, I'm going to tell you what happened in the year 2317. There were riots people were dying, soldiers and civilian's. We called it the new dark age. There we're sicknesses, no food and radiation poisoning. One by one the human race was dying and we couldn't do anything about it, until 3 years later, the government started experimenting on people, they called them The Hunters, but they wanted to upgrade them to be more stronger, they wanted to make them weapons . The government took sick dying people from the streets and experimented on them. A couple years ago I was in a group and that is were I met Cole my best friend, he has short brown hair and bleu eyes and a sarcastic attitude, he was one of the scouts. I woke up and then headed to the weapons tent and got my gun to go on a patrol with Cole "so where are we going today" Cole asked me. "the north side of the city, we have to pickup something there" I answered. "What is it that we have to pickup?" he asks "they didn't say" I told him "must be something important" he said. "Must be" I said, we took our stuff and started heading out.

We saw the city and parked the car and headed there. We were walking down a dark and awry street, there were people siting on the ground and building debris everywhere. "How far is it still, I don't like walking trough this part of the city, it gives me the creeps" Cole said. "Not far anymore, it's on the end of the street" I answered "why did we have to leave the car?" He asked. "We can't risk bringing it to the city" I answer. As we walked down the street every body was looking, of ones out of now were a woman walked up to me grabbing my arm, she was in here late 40's and was blind on her on eye. "have you seen a young girl she's about 7 years old and has short brown hair?" the old lady said. I looked shocked at her "No, I... I'm sorry" I answered. "LET GO OF HER!" Cole shouts and points the gun at her. The woman than stepped back and looks angrily at Cole. "Cole put down your gun" I say and calm him down, he nods and continues walking. Finally we reached our destination. There was a wooden box on the floor with the name "New World Corp" on it, Cole and I looked at each other in shock. "Why do we have to pickup something from NWC?" Cole asked me. "I don't know but i have a bad feeling about it" I answered. We brought the box back to camp.

When we got to the camp we went directly to the commander. " What the hell, why didn't you tell us what we were picking up?" Cole asked the commander "I didn't tell you because I new you would react like this" He answered. "We would have anyways reacted like this so what was the point." Cole said. "We should have just left the box, there might be a tracker on it or something" I said. "They wouldn't do that it would be to obvious" The commander said. "We still have to get it out of the camp" Cole said. "I'm the commander of this camp so I make the decision!" The commander shouted. "Your not the only one in this camp, there are families here your wife is here, do you want something to happen to her?" I said. "I'm doing this for my wife and all the sick people, in that box there is the cure to the radiation virus" the commander says. Cole and I look shocked at what he said. "What do you mean a cure?" I Ask "Are you saying that they generously gave you it" Cole says. "This is ridicules why are we even discussing this" I said. "This is not to discus, gourds get them out" the commander says and the gourds grab us and drags us out the cabin. "We have to worn the people they wold want to know" Cole says. "No, we cant stir up a panic" I say. "What should we do than" Cole asked. "I don't know" I answer.

That night the commander opens the box and sees injections with a red substance in it with a name tag The Syntphtesia cure, he grabs one injection and goes to his wife "What is that?" His wife asks "It's okay Clair this will heel you" he says and injects her with the substance. Here eyes became heavy and then she fell asleep. "Goodnight my love" the commander says to his wife, just as he walks out the room. A few minutes later Clair`s eyes shot open. They were as red as the substance in the injection, she stands up and walked towards the door, she opens it and she saw her husband sitting.

Chapter two : The attack

Clear sees her husband sitting on the couch and starts growling. The commander hears something behind him he looks and sees his wife standing in the door way, he stands up and looks at her, he looks at her blood red eyes and sees her drywalling and growling "Clair what`s wrong with you, are you okay?" he asks in shock. She starts running towards him screaming and pushes him to the ground, she starts hitting him and tries to bit him "STOP!" the commander shouts but Clair starts hitting him even harder, blood goes everywhere. "HELP...PLEASE HELP ME!" he screams over and over again but no one hears him. I couldn't sleep so I get out of bed "What`s wrong?" Cole asks me. "I cant sleep" I answer. I go outside for some fresh air and of ones I hear screaming coming from the commander's cabin. I hear him screaming "HELP" and run towards the cabin. I open the door, there's blood everywhere and I see Clear on top of the commander. She looks strait at me and starts charging at me, I run outside and grab a stick that I saw on the grounded and hit here in the face. When she hits the ground I run towards the commander's cabin to see if he was okay, I sit on my knees and feel his pols, I felt nothing.

I ran back out side and saw that Clair was gone, I ran to my cabin to tell Cole, I walk through the door and woke Cole up "April...l what is it, you got blood all over you?" He asks worried. "Something happened to the commander's wife, she attacked him, his dead, I nocked her out and went to check on him and when i walked back out she was gone, I think he injected her with that "cure" I say in shocked. "Ow shit, we need to find her before she hurts some one els" He said. Of ones we her screaming coming from outside, we run out and see someone on the floor, we run to the woman, her arm was bleeding and head "What happened" I asked. "Someone attack me, when you ran out she was gone" the woman said. "Witch way did she go" Cole asked the woman pointed towards medical. "Doc is in there" April said. We told the woman to hide in the cabin and to lock the door then we ran to medical. When we got to medical we saw bodies everywhere, we checked for a pols by everybody only a few were alive. We asked one man were the doctor was he pointed to one of the surgery rooms, we ran to the room and saw the doctor on the floor "I will check if his okay try to find Clair" I said. Cole stood up and started looking around. "Doc, hey are you okay" I said "What happened?" he asked. "You got attacked by the commander's injected his wife with a some kind "cure" that he got from NWC, his dead" I said.

Cole was looking around and he of ones heard something behind the desk. When he looked over the desk he saw Clear scratching the wall, she stopped and looked at Cole. Just when he wanted to call out to me Clair tackled and pushed him on the floor, she started hitting him, he tried to push her off but she was to strong. I looked up and took a bone cutter from the table and stabbed her in her neck, I grabbed Cole and helped him stand up "I found her" he said. "She's nocked out, Cole can you help me get her on the surgery table?" "yeah" We grabbed her and put her on the table and strapped her down. "Are you okay" I asked Cole. "Yeah just a few cuts and browses" he answered. "Come I will get that cleaned up, doc can you check what it is she has?" I asked. "Yes of course" He answered.

I took Cole to the room next door and grabbed a few things to clean his wounds. I took a peace of cotton and put some disaffected on it and pressed it on the wound "ouch, that burns" "don't be a baby" I said. Then I grabbed a surgical needle and stitched his cut on his eye brow up. "Why didn't he listened to us?" Cole asked. "He was worried about his wife, it's normal, love blinds" I answered. "True, but still he put everyone ells in danger and did you notes that there was no gourds around, don't you find that weird that we haven seen one of them on patrolling?" he said. "Your right" I said. We walked around the whole camp ground and found not one gourd "that`s weird normally Frank is on watch tonight" Cole says. "What if they were in this with the NWC" "I heard some of the gourds talking about the radiation virus but I didn't here much so didn't think much of it" He said. Out of nowhere we something behind us "bravo you are smart, but to bad no one wanted to listen too two kids" a strange man said he had black hair up to his shoulders and a peace was in a pony, his clothes were dark but was decent that means he was from the central, that is were all the rich people lived, it's a couple. He had ten body gourds and one of them was some of our gourds. "Who are you?" Cole asked the man. "I am Jonathan" He said. "Why are you doing this, this is murder" I said. "No this is how we life, now follow me or..." "And if we say no your going to kill us anywise, so why don't you just get it over with" Cole interrupted. "Ha, I like you, what`s your name kid" He asked. " Cole, and I'm not a kid I'm 16" Cole said. "Wow, you have one hell of a moth on you, take him" he ordered. " No wait let him" I shouted. "I almost forgot about you, so what`s your name?" he asked. "April, now let him go please" I said. "PLEASE ha, how polite" he says "That wont get you far in this world sweaty" he said and grabbed my chin, I pull back. "If gotten this far" I said. "With you boyfriends help" "his not my boyfriend were just friends" I said. I then grabbed a log from the floor and hit him across the head, he fell on the ground, Cole starts hitting the gourds and grabs my hand. We run in to one of the cabins and hide behind a wall. "GET THEM" Jonathan says "that bitch!!." We hear some gourds walk in the cabin pushing thing around.

"We need to get out of here" Cole says. "How, where surrounded" I say. "I will distract them, then you can get out" Cole says. "What about you, I'm not leaving without you" "Don't worry I will be right behind you" Cole then stands up and starts running and making noise. I try to grab him but he was to fast. Cole then ran towards the door and pushed it open, the gourds grabbed him and pushed him to the ground "APRIL RUN NOW...GO!" Cole shouts. I hesitated for a few minutes then I ran towards the gate, I looked behind me and saw Cole on the ground looking right at me but i just go on running, I make it out of the camp and I hear Cole screaming. "She left you behind, what a great friend she is" Jonathan says. "That`s not true she will find you and kill you so i would watch your back" Cole says. "Thank you for the advise" Jonathan says and nocks Cole out " Put him in the car." I hide behind the wall and hear the car pull out, I see someone throw something out the car. When they drove away I went and looked at what the person threw out, I kneel down and grabbed the thing I look at it, it was Coles neckless. I take and put it on I start walking, I take a few weapons and a car. "I will find you and get you back i promise." Chapter Tree : On the road

I drove a couple hours and then stopped at a gas station. I walk into the store by the gas station and look around. I grab some food and eat some thing. Then I hear something outside, I grab my gun and point it towards the door I open it and walk outside of ones a gun is pointing at my head I look next to me and put my hands up and look, it was a girl she had long hair one side was shaved. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" the girl asks. "My name is April, I was just looking for some food and fuel please I didn't mean to intrude, let me take my stuff and I will be out your hair" I say. "I don't think so leave your stuff then i will let you go" the girl says. "Just let her go V, she didn't hurt anybody" Some one said. "Why, she stole from us, the least she could do is give us her stuff" the girl says. The guy pushes the girls hand away. "So ... April was it, where you headed?" The guy says. "No were" I say. "I don't believe you, if your going no were why all the weapons?" he asks. "You looked through my stuff?" I say and he looked at me and hfs. "So were you going?" he asks. "I don't have to tell you, who are you anywise?" I ask. "Ow, sorry were are my manners, my name is Aiden" He said wile holding his hand out. I ignore his hand and he'd to my car. "If your going to central you would need help" he says. "What, were not helping her" V says, Aiden ignore her and walks towards me. "How do you no were I'm going?" I ask. "No one with so many weapons is just going looting" he answers. "You don't even no me so why would you want to help me?" I ask. "Good question" V says. "You can't fight them on your own you will die" He says. "Why do you care, look it was a "pleasure" to meat you and thanks for the offer but I can do this by my self I don't need your help so goodbye" I than get in the car, I start the engine and drive.

Central was quit far from the city because of all the riots that happen so they build it on a more secure aria. It's about a 4 day drive. A couple of hours later I reach a small town, it looked like a ghost town. I get out the car hide it underneath something and start walking towards it, I look around and see stray dogs and rats running around. The buildings were broken down and old, the paint became really dal. I walk into one of the bars, I look around if there was anyone but find nothing. I went behind the bar and took something to drink, it  then I saw a fireplace and looked for some wood, I found some and set it on fire. It got darker and darker and became night. I was eating some caned beans that I warmed up on the fire, it was not the best food but it was better then nothing.

It was morning again and I woke up from the sound of something braking outside. I went outside to look what happened and a dog runs past me when I threw the door. Then I heard something coming from the building in front of me, I took my gun and walked slowly towards the building. As I open the door I heard something run so I pushed the door open and pointed the gun towards were the noise came from. I started walking into the building and looked around, I came accrues a room were there was glass broken from a window. I looked in the room and saw a person, I hide behind the wall. It came and I heard it growl so I grabbed a pipe that was on the floor and hit the person with it, I didn't knock it out but did distracted it for a little wile so I could run out the building. I got out the building and saw two people in front of me, it was the two from the gas station "Aiden, V, what are you doing here, did you follow me?" I asked. "Yes" he answered and pointed the gun a me "duck now" he said and I ducked, he shot the person behind me, I stood up and looked behind me wile backing off.

"Why is there a hunter all the way out here?" I asked. "His not a hunter, it's an experiment, but your right what is it doing all the way out here" he says "how do you know that it was an experiment?" I ask "he wouldn't be so wild and there would be a guard nearby and we saw nothing when we walked in to town" he says and investigates the body, he took something out of the front pocket from the mans T-shirt. "What's that?" V asks. "It's his ID, his name was Mark he was a teacher, we need to bury him" he says, we go to the towns cemetery and bury the man. "let us help you, you could use our help" he says. I look at him "Why do you want to help me?" "Because were headed there to" he says. "Fine but don't get in my way" I say "fine, and pleasure by the way" he says "for what" I ask and look at him "for saving you" "you didn't save me I had it under control" I say and walk past him. "Do we have to go with her, she said that she didn't need our help" V says "were safer in numbers Aiden says and follows me. I took everything that was covering my car out and got in "Are you just going to stand there or are you going to get in" I say, they step in and I start driving.

Chapter four : Central

We drove another 2 days and saw central, there was a big grey building at the back of a massive wall. "There it is" "I'm going to save you Cole"  I say to my self wile looking at the building. We get out the car and and take the weapons out. We the wall and we hide behind a couple of rocks. Jonathan take out a pear of binoculars and looks through them. "I see a few gourds by the entrance and some military cars going in" Aiden says and gives me the binocular. I look through them and zoom in, I looked in one of the cars and saw Cole, I put the binoculars on the ground and run towards the wall, Aiden grabs my arm and pulls me down "what do you think your doing running off like that" "Let go of me!" I shout and push his hand off. "You can't be careless and run towards the surrounded by gourds with really big guns, we will get in but we have to make a plan and running like headless chicken wont help" he says "your right I was being careless, I wasn't thinking but how do we get in" I ask. "There are tunnels that they use for sewers, they go under the wall normally" he says and takes out an old map and puts it on the ground. "I'f I'm right there should be a manhole right here, aha" he says and opens it. We jump in, took out our flash lights and started walking.

Cole wakes up, and was stupid down in a chair in the middle of a white room and there`s one white door right in front of him. Of ones a guard walks in, he recognises him "were am I?" he asks but got no answer, the guard just looked at him. Another guard walks in and following him was Jonathan. "Your awake, good, how are you feeling?" He asked. "Why would you care, your the one who nocked me out" Cole answered. "You must be wondering why your here, well your a perfect test subject  for the new hunter drug that were testing but the only way we can give it to you is if you allow it" he says. "And of I say no" Cole asks. "You will die, but no worries I will make sure you will take it" He says and looks at me he walks to a table with surgical tools on it and he grabs a scalpel "what are you going to do to me?" Cole asks "Like I said I will make sure you will take the injection" he says and looks at me and grabs Cole's arm.

We were walking for 15 min and finally found a ladder up "I will check if the coast is clear"  Aiden says "Wait, I just wanted to know why your here" I asked "I'm looking for my mom, they took her a few weeks ago, why are you here?" he asked "I'm looking for my friend but, but I need to find him it's my fault his here and I'm freaking out..." Aiden grabs my shoulder "it's okay we will find your friend and my mom I promise" he says and goes up and opens the man hole and looks around to see if there was anyone. He gives the signal to say that it was clear, we all go up and hide behind a half wall. "Nice work Aiden, now what do we do" I said. Aiden looks around and sees a way to get in the building without getting detected "there, you see that there are soldier uniforms, we could use those to get in the building without getting detected" he says. We head to the uniforms and put them on. We walk towards the building and open the door "STOP" we hear someone shout behind us, we turned around and look at the guards.  "Were are you going?" the one guard said "Um, we were assigned to the 30 Th. floor" Aiden said "What were you assigned to do?" he asked "Guard the prisoner" Aiden replied "aah yes, the boy that came in today the one that there going to put The Syntphtesia virus in, they have  been torturing him all day, he might just brake" he answered, when I heard that my hart dropped "Go on ahead" the guard said and walked away. We walked into the building "I need to get to him" I say and stand still "We will but i need you to move" He says, I nod and start walking to the elevator.

The door opens to Cole's room he looks up, he had cutes and browses everywhere "Hey Cole, wow you look terrible" Jonathan says "You look worse" Cole reply. "You still got sas don't you, untie him and bring him to the lab" "Yes sir" the guards say and take Cole. They walk down the hall and through two big doors, there was a huge room and a glass were there was a room in and people were sitting watching the lab. The guards put Cole on a bed and strap him down "your not really co-operating" Jonathan said "Piss off" Cole replies, Jonathan looks at Cole angry "Inject him" "But sir he might... Jonathan Grabs the doctor "you want me to put you in the building!" he says "no sir" the doctor says "than do it" Jonathan says and puts the doctor down. The doctor grabs the Injection and walks towards Cole "I'm sorry" the doctor whispers and grabbed Cole's arm "No...please!" Cole shouts the doctor injects the red substance into Cole's arm and he blacks out.

Chapter Five : the building

We get to the 30 Th. floor "Witch room is it" V asked "We should check all the rooms, there`s not that much" Aiden says. We start looking threw the small hole in the door, his not here" I say and sit against the wall on the floor "your looking for that one boy aren't you, I saw him when they brought me here" we hear of ones someone say, we look to see witch room it was, V opens one of the holes in the door and found the person "hallo" the man says "guys come her" V says, we head to the door where V is. "Can you tell us were they took him" I ask the man "Yes, I heard them say something about a lab, they brought him there, It's down the hall on the right" the man says "thank you and we will help you get out of here" I say and head towards the end of the hall. I see to big white doors with a sine saying Lab, I open it a bit and look "there are a few people, I think there doctors or scientists, I don't see Cole" I say ,Aiden walks towards me and looks "Do you think the boy might die?" "He should have just said yes, They brought him to the hunting grounds" "were is that" "It's the black building next to central" he hears a few guards say and looks at me with a shocked "what's wrong?" I ask with a confused look "nothing, come need to go ,I think I know were he is" he answered and walks towards the stairs.

When we get down we head towards this big black building "wait, how do you now he might be here" I ask Aiden "I here'd the guards say something about a boy being brought here" he answered "is that all they said?" I asked "yes" he said and continued walking. We get to the building it was big and very weary, we open the door and walked in. In front of us there was a long hall, we closed the door behind us. "Now what?" V asks "start looking" Aiden answers. We look in every room we pass, then we head to the second floor. On the the second floor we see cell like rooms with people in them, as we walk past them someone grabbed V's arm and pulls her against the bars "let go of me!" she shouts and tries to get free "get me out of here or I will brake her neck" the man said and look's at us with a scared expression "let her go and we will help you" I say "no let me out first then I will let her go" he says Aiden starts walking towards the bars and tries to pick the lock on the gate. "FASTER! they will be back any minute" the man say "who... who will be back" I ask "Jonathan and his men, there taking people for "the hunt" as they say" the man answers "what`s the hunt?" I ask "it's were they put people on one floor to test how good the drug worked, the strongest and most reliable hunter they use for there army" he answers "army?" I say and look at V and Aiden.

Aiden gets the gate open and the man let's V go "wait before you go... can you tell as if you saw a boy here, he as short brown hair and bleu eyes?" I ask the man "No I'm sorry but I would look on the there'd floor they take everyone there for the hunt" he tells me "thank you" I say "find your friend and get out, you don't want to be here when it starts" he says and runs towards the stairs. We get to the 3d floor and look around we see again sells but they were empty, the walls are full of blood stains "what happened here?" Aides asks "what do you think" V replies "we need to find Cole and your mom fast" I say "did you hear that?" Aides says and walks towards were he heard the noise. He looks around the corner "MOM!" he shouts and runs towards the woman "mom....mom are you okay" he says and pushes her head up, she had cuts and bronzes all over her "Aiden, what are you doing here" she asks and looks at him "I came to save you" he said "do you think she would be able to move?" I ask "no, she's to beat up, you should go find Cole, we will try to get my mom out" Aiden says "okay, be careful" "you too"

I start walking to the end of the hall and open a big wooden door, I walk threw the door and hear of ones a voice coming from a speaker "April, nice to see you again" a man says, I recognise the voice, it was Jonathan "were is Cole?!" I ask "I can't tell you yet, look to your left" he says and I look "do you see douse people in the cell, you love saving people don't you so try and save them" he says "what, just tell me were he is" I say, the door closed behind me, I walk forward and look to my right and see a long dark hallway with a red flickering light "PLEASE HELP US!!" I hear the people scream, I run towards the them and try to open the gate "QUICE, THERE COMING!" a woman says, I start hearing screams and running coming from the hallway, I get the gate open and everyone starts running towards the door, I look at the hall way and see people with red eyes running towards the people "We need to get in the cell, that's the only place wear safe" I say and, we run to the cell and close the gate. The hunters try to brake down the gate. "What do we do now" the woman asks "we try to keep them back"

Aiden gets to the exit, he puts his mother on the ground "I need to help April" he says to V and heads in "don't risk your self for her okay, you come back to me" V says and hugs him "don't worry I'll be back" he says and hugs her back. He walks back in the building and hears screams coming from up stairs, he starts running, when he reaches the 3d floor he runs down the hall and went to the door, he tried opening the it but it was looked. He looked around for something to brake the lock with, he finds a crowbar with blood on it and grabs it he goes to the door and brakes the lock, he pushes through the door and I see him "Aiden... what you doing, you need to get out of here NOW!" I shout at him, he looks at me with a scared look on his face. The hunters look at him and start running towards him, I open the gate and grab a pipe that broke off, I start hitting hunters on the head and I see Aiden fighting back too. "Aiden... you need to go, get your mother and get out of here!" I say "NO" he says. Blood was flying every were, then a loud siren goes off and all the hunters run back to the hallway, than guards with big guns and armor walk in and grab people. I look next to me and see someone standing in the doorway "Cole?"

Chapter Six : Getting Out

"Cole?!" I say, I walk towards him "what did they do to you?" I asked "we heeled him" I hear Jonathan say "what do you mean?" I ask "I made him into a soldier, well a test" he says with a smile "Cole?" I say "he doesn't hear you, he only hears me because of a chip that I put in his head" he says "please just let him go" "I can't do that, take the rest out off here" he says and walks out the room along with everyone ells "No wait April his going to kill you!" Aiden says; the guards drag him out wile I just stand looking at him. A few minutes later I hear Jonathan again on the speaker "lets see if you can survive long enough, kill her" he says and Cole starts walking towards me "listen to me, you don't have to do this, please" I say and he pushes me against the wall and hits me in the stomach, I fall to the ground "I don't want to fight you please...stop!" he hits me again and grabs me, he pushes me against the wall again and strangles me. "Kill her" he says "Don't... listen...to him" I say straggling to breath. I start seeing my hart beet in my eyes, I try pushing his hand away "It's me...your best...friend, I love you" I say and kiss him.

He loosens his grip, I brake the kiss and look at his eyes, I see them change into there normal colour. "April?" he says and I hug him "did...did I hurt you?" he asks "I'm fine it doesn't hurt" I say "NO, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED" we hear Jonathan say. Guards burst in surrounding us, Cole stands in front of me. "You bitch, what did you do" Jonathan says "she saved me" Cole replies. Of ones we here gun shots coming from outside "HEADS UP" V shouts and throughs a gun to Cole, he caches it and starts shooting guards. Blood flies everywhere, I grab the crow bar on the floor and start hitting guards, I see Jonathan and shot his arm. V unties Aiden and runs to the door "come on, we need to get out of here" she said, we started running towards the exit. When we get out Aiden grabs his mother and run to a car, Cole grabs my hand and takes one of the military tracks "Come, get in!" Cole says. Guards start surrounding us and start shooting "Give me that!" Jonathan say says and starts shooting civilians, we were able to get through the gate but lost a lot of people. "If they want a war they get one, get the haters ready" Jonathan says "sir, your hurt, you need a doctor." a guard says "I'm fine" Jonathan says.

"lets stop hear we need to talk" we hear Aiden say from the radio. We pullover and step out the car, we walk towards Aiden and V "what's wrong?" I ask "there going to come after us and the only way we can survive is if we stay together so are you with us or not" Aides says "No, were fine thank you for but we should go home" Cole says and grabs my hand "WAIT, Aiden's right, if they come for us we need help fighting them" I say and pull away "April we can't trust them" Cole whispers to me "you don't even know them, they helped me and save you" I said angrily at him, he looks angrily back "we will rest here for the night, just sleep on it tell us your answer tomorrow, ow and can you guys get some fire wood" Aiden says and I nod. We head towards the forest and look for firewood.

"I'm sorry" I say "for what?" Aiden asks "for leaving you and being a coward" I say and sit on the ground "no, hi I told you to go" Cole says and sits next to me and hugs me "I should have helped" I say "you did you saved me didn't" Cole says "yes but if I helped you at the camp then you would not been infected" I say "don't worry I'm here now, don't blame your self, it's not your fault" Cole says, I put my head on Cole's shoulder "OW, I forgot here" I say and stick my hand out "my neckless, I was wondering wear that went, were did you find it," he asks and takes it "I found it on the floor outside the camp" I say "thanks" he says,  I then stand up and look for firewood. When we walk back to the camp grounds Cole stops "wait can I ask you something?" he says "yeah, of course" I say "back there in the building... umm... did you kiss me?" he asks, I look shocked at him, I start getting red "yes... but It was just..." I say "It's okay" he says, I got even more red and look at the ground, I look at him, everything went quiet "we should head back" I say and start walking back to the camp, "yeah" Cole says and picks up the firewood.

Chapter seven:

Fort Collins

"What took you so long?" Aides says "what do you think" V says with a sassy attitude "just bring the wood to the fire" Aiden says and we bring the wood too the fire "what`s her deal?" Aiden asks "she hates me, and now you to, for no reason" I say. A couple of hours past and everybody went to bed except for me, I was sitting against a tree and kept watch, Aiden comes and sits next to me "can't sleep?" I ask "yeah, so what are you going to do...about staying" he asks me "I don't know, I haven't spoken to him about it yet" "you should stay" he says "I know... it's just Cole is scared" I say, Cole hears that and wakes up, he gets out of bed and hides behind a car and eavesdrops "please I want you to stay" Aiden says and kisses me, Cole sees that and looks angry, he walks away and goes back to his bed, I brake the kiss "we shouldn't do that" "why... are you and Cole..." he says "no... I don't know" I say and stand up "we should go back too bed" I say and head back, I get back in bed and try to fall asleep.

The next morning I wake up and get some food, I look for Cole and see him packing his bag, I walk towards him "what are doing" I ask "what do you think, I'm leaving" he says "can we talk about this" I say "no... just stay here with your new boyfriend" he says, I look confused "yeah, I saw you kissing him" he says, I look at him in shock "that was nothing, please can we just talk about this" I say "no I think I'm better alone" he says and grabs his stuff and walks to one of the smaller cars "what`s going on?" Aides asks "his leaving, he" I say to Aiden, he starts walking towards Cole "we're you going to go" Aiden said to Cole "why do you care" he says "if you want to leave fine but just know you leaving April, the girl who saved your life" he said, Cole looks at me and back at  Aiden "I don't care" he says "well you should care, we could have just as easy left you there" Aiden say with an angry tone in his voice "you should have done that, then I didn't have to see you two together" Cole says "is that what this is all about or is Jonathan still controlling you" he says, Cole looks angrily at Aiden and hits him, I look shocked at Cole and then see Aiden run towards Cole and pushes him against the car. "STOP" I say and push Aiden away from Cole, I turn around to look at Cole "can we talk" I ask "why so you can..." "Now!" I shout and grab his hand. "You kissed her" V asks, Aiden ignores that and walks away.

"What`s your problem" Cole asks "what`s my problem, your the one who starts a fight for no reason" I say angrily "no reason, he insulted me" "you know maybe his right" I say, Cole looks angrily at me and walks away "hey, don't walk away from me" I say "why what use am I to you like this, thy did something to me I don't feel the same" he says and I see tears in his eyes "look at me Cole, shh, it's going to be okay, I'm right here" I say and hug him. After a wile we head back. "Is everything okay?" Aides asks "yeah everything is fine"

I reply "so what`s going to happen?" he asks "were with you guys" I say "good cause were heading out in 15" he says and starts walking away "where are we going by the way" I ask "to my home" he says.

"Lets head out" Aiden says, and start driving. "So how long is the drive?" I ask "About 4 hours" Aiden answers "so how is Cole?" "his doing fine, I think" I answer "and you" I ask "I'm fine, you know he really hits hard" he says "yeah" I say. After a wile of driving we finally reach our destination. "Well everyone, welcome to Fort Collins" Aiden says and drives the car threw this huge iron gate surrounding a colony. Aides stops the car and everybody climes out "Aiden, V your back" a man with white grey hair tide up says and gives Aiden a hug "uncle, I would like you to meet April and Cole they helped us" Aiden says. We walk towards him and his uncle "Hallo welcome to Fort Collins, my name is commander Rowlins, you must be April" the commander says and sticks his hand out "yes It's nice to meet you" I say and shack his hand "and your Cole" he says "yes" Cole says "please make your selves at home, my nephew will show you your accommodations" he says.

Here we are this is your room and two doors further in Cole's room, you can get settled, there are showers, the water is not that warm but it's something, if you need anything my room is all the way on the end of the hall, ow yeah and dinner will be in an hour" he says and gives us the keys to our rooms "thank you, for everything" I say "no thank you I wouldn't have made it if it wasn't for you" he says and walks away. I open my door and look at Cole "if you need me, I will be right here okay" I say, Cole nods and walks into his room. I walk into my room and close the door behind me, it was a medium sized room with a bed and closest and there was a door that led to the bathroom. I grabbed my bag and took everything out of it, I took some clothes and went in the bathroom to take a shower, I turn the shower on and take my clothes off, I get under the water "It feels nice to get all the dirt off of me" I say to may self. After 5 minutes I get out the shower and put some clean clothes on, I get on my bed and relax.

Cole puts his bag on the bed and explores his room, he then turns on the shower, an hour past fast and we head for dinner, we saw everyone heading to a building it was a school, we looked for the cafeteria and bump into Aiden and V "hi guys, are you lost?" Aides asks "yeah" I say "come on" Aiden says, we get to, the cafeteria and walk in "you can sit by us my uncle wants to talk to you" Aiden says and leads us to our chairs "aah, April Cole i hope my nephew as been good to you" the commander says "yes sir he has" I answer and we sit down "so if I understand you two were scouts in your old camp" he says "yes we were" I reply "if I may ask, what happened there?" "our commander send us to pickup a package but we dint know that it was from NWC, when we got to our location we saw there name on it, we brought it back to camp and took it to the commander, he told us that it was a "cure" but actually it was the Syntphtesia virus, that night he injected it into his wife she killed him and started killing everyone from the camp, we try to tell him that it was a bad idea but he didn't listen" I say "you don't need to worry about that here" he says "Aiden said you wanted to talk to us about something" I say "aah yes, I would like you two to be scouts like in your other camp, we could use skills like yours" he says "we would love to" I say and Cole just nods "good I would like to go over a few things tomorrow, so rest today and meat me in the gym tomorrow" he says and stands up, I nod and continue eating. After eating I head to my room and get in bed.  

Chapter Eight: There Here

I wake up the next morning and dress up, I go to Cole's room and knock on the door "Cole are you awake" I asks, the door opens "yeah just need to get dressed, come in" he says and lets me in, he closes the door behind me and starts getting dressed "are you okay" I ask him "yes, why do you ask?" he replies "you've been quiet lately" I say "I'm fine you don't have to worry about me" "I worry" I say. After he gets dressed we head to the school. I see Aiden and walk towards him "morning" I say "morning... my uncle said to wait for you guys here" he replies "thanks" I say. We start walking the gym, there were two soldiers standing next the door, they open it and we walk trough. "Your here" he says, we walk to the desk, there was a map "so we all know what the NWC is doing and you guys saw it first hand" he said "that's true and after what happened at central they will come and they would want a war Aiden says "we should make a plan to defend our selves" I say "and how will we do that" V says "you have good fighters here, I have seen it" I say "yes that`s true but we're not ready for a war" the commander says "but you can train them, you have enough time" I say "yes and then what, we fight, we die" V says "that's what happens" Cole says "how many hunters do they have" the commander asked "100, 1000 we don't know for sure" I say "we can send out scouts" Aiden says "we could do that, but who will volunteer" the commander asks "I'l go" I say "Me to" Aiden says to "I also volunteer" V says "I'll want to go to" "no, what you need to do is rest, your already not your self" I say, Cole looks angrily "fine" he replies and walks away. "We have our team than" the commander says.

"Sir, there ready" a guard says, Jonathan follows the guard to this massive room "how many hunters do we have?" Jonathan asks "1000" the doctors says "good get them ready, we leave in an hour" he says "yes sir." After an hour guards start loading trucks with the hunters and started driving. As we walk I hear cars driving "do you hear that" I ask "yes" Aiden answers, I look to my right and see military cars "it's them" I say "we need to get back" V says, we start heading back. We get back and had to the gym, we find the commander "sir, we have a problem, there coming" Aiden says "how far are they?" he asks "there about 1 and a half out" Aiden says "okay we have enough time to get the woman and children in the bunker and everyone that can fight ready "I'll get all the woman and children to the bunker" V says "and I'll get everyone who's able to fight ready" Aiden says, we head out "I'll look for Cole meet back here in a half an hour" I say, he nods and walks away.

I head to Cole's room and knock on his door, after a few minutes he opens "is everything okay" Cole asks "the hunters are on there way, we saw the NWC trucks curing them" I say "I thought they we're still far how did they get here so fast?" Cole asks "I don't know, maybe a shortcut or something, we need to head to the gym" I say, he nods and follows me. We get to the gym and see Aiden "is everyone ready?" I ask "yes" he says "now what" V asks "we wait" Aiden says "I'll head to the gate, to keep watch" I say " I'll go with you" Cole says. We head to the gate, grab some guns and keep watch "April, I just wanted to say sorry for how I was acting" Cole says "no , it's okay you cant do anything about that" I say "I should have tried" he says "you did and I know that" I say, Cole smiles at me. After 3 hours we hear cars "there here" I say and look at the thousands of cars driving towards us.

Chapter Nine : The Battle

"There here" I shout and grab a gun, I aim at one of the cars in front and shoot the driver. The car looses control and crashes into the wall, the hunters clime out of the car and start hitting the wall. Out of no were a tank comes and I see it aiming for the wall I grab Cole's hand and hide behind one of the barricades, we hear the wall explode and feel the ground beneath us tremble. "They've breached the wall" someone shouts, I look down and see hunters run in, I start shooting them, blood flies everywhere. I look beyond the wall and see more trucks coming, I head down with Cole, I see Aiden, he had blood all over his face "more are on there way" I worn him "there's to many of them " he say, I look around and see people dying one by one "we need to fall back" he say "no, I have a plan" I say, he looks confused at me "I was exploring one night and saw boxes of grenades under us, we can lore them to were the grenades are other them and have someone ignite them" I say "I'll do it" Cole says, I nod "Okay but how do we know if they still work" Aiden says "we will just have to find out where we have to go?" Cole asks "head down to the school basement, go to your right and you will se boxes there" I say "how do I know when to ignite them" he asks " you will know and when you take the pin out just run and hide behind the wall, okay" I say "Okay, stay save" he says "you too" I reply, he runs towards the school and heads in. "lets hope this works" Aiden says "it will" I reply.

Cole heads down to the basement and looks for the grenades, he finds them and waits for the signal. "We need to get the hunter's to the front of the school" I say, we start making noise to attract the hunter's "find coffer." Cole hears running on top of him, he grabs a grenade and takes the pin out, he throughs it in the middle of the room and hides behind a wall and coffers him self. "Get ready" I shout, we hear a huge explosion, the ground was trembling and we saw bodies fly everywhere. "It worked" I say, Cole runs back up and looks chocked. Out of nowhere we hear a siren, the same siren that we heard in the hunters building, I look at Cole and see him fall to the ground, I callout his name and run towards him. "Hey, Cole, look at me" I say, I look in his eyes and see them turning red again "I can feel it, it's starting to control me again, I'm trying to ignore it but it hurts" Cole says "look at me, I'm not loosing you again okay" I say and push his chin up, his eyes start going normal again. The sirens stop, I look behind me and se Jonathan standing at the gate. "Hallo again" I hear him say and stand up. "Why are you doing this" I ask "because it's fun and I needed to test them out and how better them the people who killed half my guards" he says "you have a grudge on us so you don't have to hurt these people, they didn't do anything wrong" I say "your right, grab those four" he says

The guards take us to the school and bring us to the gym "get on your knees" one of the guards say. We try to refuse but they push us to the ground. "Now who do I kill first" he says and and walks past everyone but stops by Cole "shell we start with the accident" he says and grabs Cole by his arm and throws him on the floor. "Just get it over with" Cole says "I want to have a little fun before" Jonathan says and takes his knife out, he grabs Cole's arm "stop please, take me" I shout, Jonathan and walks towards me "your braver than I thought" he says and grabs my chin "DON'T TOUTCH HER!" I hear Cole say "don't worry I won't" he says and walks back to Cole. He grabs Coles hand again and cuts Cole, blood drips from his arm "STOP IT!

Chapter Ten : End

A half an hour past "now who`s next?" Jonathan says, I look at Cole and see him unctuous and blooding "your a monster" I say "yes, I am sweet hart" he says and grabs my chin, I hit my head against his face and run towards Cole "YOU BITCH!" he shouts "Cole... Cole wake up" I say, I tray waking him up, Jonathan grabs me "fine... your next" he says, he thrown me on the ground and takes out his knife "were should I cut you first" he say, of ones we hear an explosion "find out what that was" Jonathan says, the guards head out "your going to die and I will be the one to kill you" I say, we hear the door open and see commander Rowlins with a gun to one of the guards head "let them go or I will shoot him" the commander says, Jonathan grabs my hear and pulls me up and put the knife against my neck. I try to get away but he grips me tighter "let her go" the commander says "kill him I have more guards" Jonathan says, the guard looks shocked.

The commander pushes the guard away from him and shoots him in the head. I see blood coming from his head and look shocked at the commander, he starts pointing the gun at Jonathan "let her go or I will shoot you" he says "you would have to shoot her first" Jonathan replies, the commander looks at Jonathan, I move my head a little and he shoots right in Jonathan's neck, I pull away and take his knife, I start stabbing him in his chest. "wow ... stop, his dead okay... his dead" Aiden says and hugs me "what happened" Aiden asks his uncle "we started fighting back, I'm sorry we didn't get here earlier" the commander  said, I look at Cole and walked towards him, I look if he has a pols "his still alive but barley, we need to get him to medical" I say and look at Aiden, he picked Cole up and heads to medical.

We get Cole to medical, we see body bags everywhere "we need help" Aiden says to one of the doctors "put him here" the doctor says, Aiden puts him on the hospital bed "what happened to him?" the doctor asks "he was tortured" I say "need to stop the bleeding, I need some room so if you guys could wait in the waiting room" the doctor said "okay please just help him" I say, we all leaf the room and head to the waiting room. A half hour later the doctor comes, he wakes me up "how is he" I ask "his still unconscious but if you want you can go to him" the doctor says, I head to Cole and sit on the chair next to him "please wake up Cole" I say and take his hand, I feel a small grip from him "Cole?" I say, I see his eyes start opening "your awake, how are you feeling?" I ask "I feel a little dizzy but otherwise fine, what happened, where am I?" he asks "your at medical, Jonathan is dead" I say, he looks at me relieved "are you okay, what`s that on your neck, is that a cut, did Jonathan do that?" he says "I'm fine it doesn't even hurt anymore" I say "are you sure" he says "yes, you should rest, okay" I say, "okay" he says and closes his eyes, I fall asleep in the chair next to him.

I wake up the next morning and look for something to eat. I see V and Aiden at a table with food and water "morning guys" I say "morning... how is Cole?" Aides asks "his fine... better" I say "that`s good" V says "and you" Aiden asks "I'm okay too, just hungry" I say, I grab a plate and start filling it up and take one for Cole too. I head back to him and wake him up "you need to eat something" I say, he sits up and I hand him the plate "how do you feel?" I ask "still a little tiered and I still hurt everywhere, but other wise fine" he says and grabs the plate. "What do we do now?" Cole asks "we make this our home and protect it" I say, he looks at me and smiles. I head out for some fresh air and see Aiden, I walk towards him "hi" I say "it's nice out here isn't it, quite, peaceful" Aiden says and sees me looking a little unsettled "don't worry his gone" he says, I look at him "I know, it's just... it feels weird not having to worry about him anymore" I say "that's true, we do still have the rest off the hunters to hunt down and try to find a cure for them" he says "what if there is no cure, it only worked by Cole because I have feelings for him" I say "we will just have to try right" he says "your right" I reply. "It is nice out here" I say all we need to do now is survive.

[dontdietwd]

Don’t Die, day 11

It all happened too fast.

As I fled from the house through the kitchen door, it was all a blur of running and noise, Daryl and Merle’s heavy, hurried steps right on my heels and the loud groans and growls from the two dead people running after us. Daryl ran faster than me and guided us around my house to reach his. As we reached the porch, I looked back and saw Bobbi-Jo’s dead, stumbling but surprisingly agile body turning the corner, the half-face she still had with perfect makeup, but her eyes void of any life.

We’d entered the Dixon’s house, locked all the doors, and had been there ever since. The house had three entrances; the front door, the kitchen door to the side, which led to another small porch, and the basement hatch door, that had always been locked and blocked by an old wardrobe and had never been a viable way in and out. The kitchen door was now blocked by an old and very heavy dresser, cardboard blocking the glass view. The front door, the only one that was left unblocked, was constantly guarded.

If I had to recollect and tell exactly who things went, I wouldn’t be able to. I don’t know if it was the electricity, the phone signal or the internet that went down first. I don’t remember if we searched through the house looking for things that could be useful before or after we saw dozens of dead people walking around the street, Bobbi-Jo among them. The battery radio still worked, but no useful information came out of it.

It was a virus. It was a parasite. It was bacteria. The cure was known. No, that cure didn’t work. It was the end of the world. Don’t let yourself get bit by one of them. That’s how you die and then turn. We will find the cure; we’ve got the best people working on it. Don’t get bit until then. The CDCs all over the country were working on it. Go to Atlanta. Go to Atlanta. There’s a center, food, and shelter until the cure is found. It’s safe. Don’t get bit and go to Atlanta.

“Yeah, but that ain’t true, is it?” Merle dragged in the same old, drunken voice, a bottle of beer in hand, his back to the arm of the couch, a leg resting along with it. “Sons of bitches don’t know nothin’.”

“What are you on about?” Daryl asked from his watch by the window.

“D wasn’t bit, was he now?”

“Nope,” I answered from the other couch where I was lying. “Died from a stab in the neck. Only one who bit him was me.”

“What?” Merle questioned, frowning.

“I bit him, you don’t remember that?” I sat up, bare feet resting on the worn out, dusty mat. “The night before. And I sure as hell ain’t one of those fuckin’ dead things”, I finished as I got up, leaning over to reach for a pack of cigarettes from the coffee table. “So ya right, son of bitches know nothing.”

“We don’t know he wasn’t bit,” Daryl said looking at me as I approached him putting one cigarette between my lips and handing him the pack. “He coulda been. Damn fucker was so hammered all the time, coulda forget it happened.”

“Or that.” I agreed.

Daryl threw the pack at Merle after he took a cigarette for himself and we went silent again like we were most part of the time when Daryl and Merle weren’t fighting, foul-mouthed and disagreeing on everything. I hadn’t slept more than a few minutes but felt alert anyway, I’d never needed many hours asleep to feel fine. What worried me now was that, after ten days in that house, their pantry had been emptied while we just sat around, ate, argued and fought and waited for something to happen. I worried that, after so long, nothing was actually going to change. Not if we didn’t take action, any kind of action.

“I’m going home.” Hours later I broke the silence.

“You insane?” Merle asked. “Ya can’t go back there. The street’s taken by those things. Your house’s taken.”

“You gonna end up like ‘em.” Daryl completed.

“Good to see you guys agreeing on something.” I crossed her arms and glared at them. “I’m gonna take things. Food, clothes, first aid kit, weapons. Lots of knives in the kitchen, a pistol in Bobbi-Jo’s bedroom. A rifle on the wall that might still work if we find ammo. Things on the fridge might still be good. Gonna pack all I can, you should too if we’re gonna make it to Atlanta.”

“I ain’t goin’ to no fuckin’ Atlanta.” Merle sat up, both feet now on the rug. “Won’t be nothin’ there. Shelter and food for free to everyone? Bullshit. Rich people, is all.”

“So you gonna stay here?” I opened my arms to gesture around the living room. “And do what? Starve to death? Thirst yourself dry? You don’t even wanna go next door for supplies, how ya gonna get food?”

He didn’t answer, only crossed his arms, shaking his head, a stubborn smirk still on his lips. Big fucking child.

“We know how to kill ‘em.” Daryl said still from his position by the window. “Just gotta stab in the brain and don’t let ‘em come close.”

“I got two good hunting knives there, one in Owen, the other in D. Should get ‘em back too.”

We agreed but said nothing, just moved at the same time as if agreed. Only wondered about that later. Now we just moved to the kitchen table where we had previously set out a sort of kitchen knives. Daryl grabbed two of them as well as his crossbow. I chose a big butcher knife and two smaller ones and moved to the door sheathing them into my waistband being followed by Daryl.

“Ok, gotta stay together. Don’t go wandering alone.” I told him.

“I’ll have your back while you take the things.” He agreed and we gave each other a sharp nod.

Daryl pulled the door open and we crossed the threshold. The noise of the door and our steps attracted the attention of two dead people who were closest to the house, by the sidewalk. They turned their heads in slow motion, but as their dead eyes found the two living people on the porch, it was like their bodies came to life, groaning excitedly and taking stumbling but fast steps in their direction.

“Noise attracts them.” Daryl stated what I was thinking a moment before shooting an arrow right into the eye of the male one. We went down the steps and on the bottom Daryl stopped to reload the crossbow, hands working on it but head raised and eyes looking around attentively. The second dead, a female, was closer to me now. “In the brain!” Daryl reminded me.

I walked to the corpse as she walked to me and felt my heart accelerate. Damn, it really was a fuckin walking corpse, like for real, the sci-fi movies had really happened, who’d think that? But I got over that because no time to think right now or it’d bite me. I remembered how soft and easy it had been to stick the knife into D’s eye, so that’s what I went for before it could even get close enough to me. Blood splattered on me as the eyeball popped. Disgusted, all I thought then was that if this was how one got infected with whatever that was, I was screwed. But then again, we’d all touched the dead’s blood ten days ago and hadn’t got sick, so I didn’t really know what to think. Maybe it really was just bites.

“Let’s go.” I put the thought aside for now and we ran across the yard towards my house. There was one more there and Daryl’s arrow reached it easily. As we got to the steps, I heard a groan and looked back. It was Bobbi-Jo, or what used to be her. I stared at her as her corpse started coming to me. After ten days of her death, her figure was now something completely different. Her exposed flesh had started decaying; her eyes seemed even whiter than before, what was left of the skin of her face a nauseating shade of gray. Her eye makeup had oozed down her cheek.

“Sam!” Daryl’s voice called from the porch. I didn’t remember having ever heard him say my name before, I hadn’t even been sure if he knew it.

“Go, I got her.” I told him and heard his steps entering the house only a moment later like he had paused to decide and then moved. I let Bobbi-Jo approach, less agile than she had been days before, but still quick. When she was close enough, I grabbed her by the neck, keeping her dead, moaning form away from me at arm’s length. My heartbeat got even faster, I could feel in my temple, and my throat suddenly tightening. Bobbi was small, the same size as me, but had always been thinner as an effect of too many drugs.

In the moment I looked into Bobbi-Jo’s dead eyes, I remembered years of having her present in my life. The moment I had met her, my dad bringing her to our house and introducing her as his girlfriend. I remember thinking how could she be my dad’s girlfriend if she looked to be my own age. Later, I found out Bobbi-Jo was only seven years older than me. I remembered us moving from Atlanta to Savannah. I hadn’t wanted to. Dad didn’t really want to either, but Bobbi-Jo had insisted. That’s when they started living together, and it was hell on earth. We fought all the time when dad wasn’t home, and in the beginning Bobbi-Jo would pretend to be the victim when he arrived, but after a while she didn’t even do that anymore. I hated her. I hated her with all my might, I hated her for all the horrible things she told me, for the physical fights, for making dad father suffer, for cheating on him, for spending all the money he had gathered from years of hard work in a carpentry. For pretending in front of friends and family that she was suffering when he was dying from cancer. For getting herself a new boyfriend less than a month after he died. I hated having had to stay in the house, hated having Bobbi-Jo still live there. We each owned half of it, neither wanted to leave it to the other.

“Yeah, you bitch?” I snarled at her. “How’d ya like that? All the trouble ya had and that’s how ya die. Hope it was as painful as his death.” I raised the knife, eyes burning with all the remaining anger I carried with me all this time, “That’s for my dad!”

The knife entered her left eye and I held it in place for a long moment. The knot in my throat tightened painfully, the rage in my eyes being instantly replaced by tears. As I pulled he knife out, a wet noise following a splash of stinky blood, Bobbi-Jo’s body fell to the ground. With a sob, I felt no satisfaction; it just didn’t feel like it was enough. Leaning over, I stabbed a few more times, into her other eye and even into the hard bone of her temple and forehead, and I was probably groaning in anger at each stab because my throat complained quite a bit after. Finally, I stopped and straightened up, breathing hard, staring down at the disfigured head. The hand holding the knife was shaking, tears escaping my eyes.

When I turned, unable to look at the mass of flesh on my feet any longer, I saw Daryl standing under the doorframe, eyes watching me carefully, head turned downwards, crossbow hanging on his side.

“It’s clear.” he said quietly when I just looked at him, not moving or saying anything. “Was just one of ‘em inside.”

Without a word, I climbed the four steps towards the door, but Daryl didn’t move. I stopped on the step below him and looked up, eyebrows raised in question.

“You ok?” he murmured.

“Stop asking me that.”

I’m sure my voice sounded stronger than I felt at the moment. I felt my insides trembling, it that makes sense, my shoulder muscles so tense they’d stop a knife. I took a step up and passed by Daryl, our shoulders touching briefly. Stopping just by the front door, I looked around. It had been days, the house and the bodies smelled horrible, putridly, as if the air was solid. I didn’t look at the corpses for long. Daryl had already closed the kitchen door, so the only way in and out was through the front. He was taking his arrow out of the eye of the random guy Bobbi-Jo had brought home that night. I felt bile in my throat again at the smell of the living room of the house I had called home for so many years. It didn’t feel like it anymore.

“Go, I’ll keep watch.” He said carefully while he cleaned the tip of an arrow on the fabric of the couch.

It didn’t take long for me to go through the whole house. I emptied the cabinet of groceries into a backpack, there were several cans there, clothes I thought could be functional into a handbag – clean underwear! I’d been handwashing as reusing the same panties for days now! The two different pairs of boots I had and one I took from Bobbi-Jo. Hers were yellow and I hated it, but whatever. The carton of Morley packs, half a bottle of whiskey. That was for the boys. The first aid kit from under the bathroom sink. A couple of soap bars, toothbrush and toothpaste. I took the gun, checking it was loaded, two boxes of bullets from Bobbi-Jo���s wardrobe, knives from the kitchen, the rifle from the wall, and that was it.

“Hey,” Daryl stopped touching a finger softly on my shoulder as I was heading to the door carrying all the bags by myself, without asking for help. I stopped in a halt and looked up at him, a frown on my face. I was too tense and willing to get the hell out of that house for good to be expecting a touch, even the slighted ones, right now. “Thought ya’d want this.”

He handed me a picture he’d taken from a frame on the living room wall. I saw the back of it first, a sloppy handwriting that said “Jack and Sam at Chastain Park, spring 1989”. Turning it around, I saw myself as a nine-year-old sitting on top of a slide, smiling widely, blonde hair shining under the sun. Standing by my side, smiling awkwardly at the camera, was my dad, sandy hair graying on the sides, unkempt stubble, dark brown eyes lit up with contentment.

My throat tightened once again and I felt an uncomfortable prickle in my eyes, and I just nodded without looking up at Daryl. I knew that picture, of course, and it’d been on the wall for years, but I never looked at it. It was painful. I folded the picture carefully twice and reached around to my back jeans pocket, tucking it in. Taking a deep breath, I looked up at Daryl for just a second before looking out the door once again.

“Let’s go.”

We both stopped on the steps, though, Daryl once again higher than me, when we saw Merle ride his bike out of the garage of their house. He rode not once looking back, speeding away with a loud rumble, dead corpses trying to rush after it.

“Son of a bitch!” Daryl shouted as he rushed past me down the steps. She ran after him, crossing the yard to his porch and into the house, slowed down by the bags. When I entered he was rushing over the other rooms of his house. I dropped the bags by the front door before going looking for him.

“Fuckin’ bastard!” He was yelling when we met again on the corridor.

“He just left?!”

“You saw him leave, didn’t ya?” he answered angrily.

I raised her hands lifting my eyebrows in affront. Daryl just rushed past me mumbling “fuck” and I followed him into Merle’s bedroom.

“His stuff still here.” he noticed as I stood by the door.

“He’ll come back,” I said, arms crossed. “he wouldn’t leave you in this –”

“- -the hell he wouldn’t!” Daryl raised his voice again. “Is wha’ Merle do, he leaves. Not the first time.” His voice was bitter as he strode past me. When I reached the living room, having followed him one more time, Daryl was picking up one of the bags from the floor. “Let’s just go.”

“What if he comes back?” I asked with my arms still crossed.

“Yeah, maybe in a couple of months.” Daryl snorted out.

“C’mon Daryl, we don’t know that.”

“You know nothing ‘bout Merle.” he snarled turning to me, a backpack over one shoulder. “He ain’t coming back!”

“Daryl, listen, he’s just left, you sure you don’t want to wait at least a bit?”

“Why do you care if he come back anyway?”

“I don’t, really, but I know that if we leave now you might not find your brother again.” I uncrossed my arms and took a couple of steps towards him, speaking calmly. “We don’t know what’s gonna happen, how things are out there… What if you don’t see him again? What if you don’t see him again just ‘cause you couldn’t wait a few hours?”

Daryl looked from me to the door and back again, unsure, biting the skin of his lower lip.

“It’s past three, anyway,” I kept talking, knowing he was listening now “it’ll get dark soon; I don’t think we should travel at night. If not for Merle let’s at least just wait ‘til morning ‘cause it might be safer.”

Daryl stared at me, worry creasing his forehead, still biting his lip. I’d seen him do that before, anytime he was lost in thought, or worried, or unsure. He nodded sharply once after a moment and dropped the bag to the ground again, then moved away from me and deeper into the house. In the hallway leading to his bedroom, he said: “You watch over, I’ll take a nap.”

He crossed the hall with heavy steps and stormed into the room and I expected the door to be slammed closed, but he didn’t act that childishly. It was more like Merle to do that, even though he was the oldest. I think he was about ten years older than Daryl, but I’ve never known for certain. And he wasn’t here now. It was weird not having Merle there, because his presence was always known. Even if he was in his bedroom sleeping we could hear him snoring loudly and speaking on his sleep. He never slept quietly, I wonder how he even got any rest. Maybe that’s why he did all the drugs, to let go of whatever it was he had in his head.

Merle was a case to be studied. I knew very little about him. I’d been living next-door to the Dixons for eighteen years, and for a while, it was three of them; the father and the two sons. I barely saw the father over the years, he was always inside and when I did see him occasionally outside he was drunk and slurring racial insults at neighbors or inappropriate things at Bobby-Jo or myself, which turned into misogynistic ones when neither of us gave him any attention. He had died two or three years ago, I think, from something on his liver. Then it was just the two brothers. Merle had been gone from the house for long periods of time and back three of four times since I’d been there. At least one of them I knew he’d gone away with the army, I’m not sure if he went to a war or something, but in total Daryl was alone at the house for a few years. Their relation was… Delicate, let’s say. I always saw them together at the house and over the years even out throughout the city, so they seemed t be friends, but they fought a lot, never agreed on anything and Merle often talked him down. On those 10 days, I’d been cooped up in the house with them made this quite clear. I hated to hear it, I wanted to tell Merle to just shut the fuck up, but hey, who was I go meddle? I didn’t really know them; I didn’t know what was behind all that. So when it was too much I just left and locked myself in their spare bedroom, the one I’d been using, and stayed in there for a few hours.

Maybe Daryl was right. Maybe Merle had gone for good, left us, and was not coming back. Is shouldn’t bother me. It didn’t. It didn’t bother me. I couldn’t care less. What would I be missing without Merle traveling with us tomorrow morning? Not a thing. It would be better to be just with Daryl; I could deal with Daryl. He was not bad. He even spoke gently and carefully to me, something I’d never expected, something guys didn’t usually do. I would be fine, I didn’t care.

Except that I fucking did. I groaned in anger at myself and I observed the street through the window, shaking my head and taking a pull off my cigarette. I fucking cared, I wished Merle would come back. He was still Merle, still the person who verbally harassed me for years, but on those ten days in his house something had changed and I couldn’t pinpoint it, but I knew it had. He wasn’t harassing me anymore, except for a few jokes about how I should cook for them and maybe warm up their bed at night – Daryl punched him hard on the shoulder for that one and Merle laughed, even as he held his arm because that strong punch had to hurt. He was behaving not in a good manner, but in a manner I could accept. And he had come to my rescue that night, there was that. I wished he’d come back, mostly for Daryl, but also because I knew things must be dangerous out there. There was much more than this fucking neighborhood and Chatham, and if the world was ending things were not pretty out there.

But it was settled, in the morning Daryl and I were gonna go, leave this house and hit the road to Atlanta, with or without Merle. I moved from the window to the kitchen, where I lit a single candle and tried making some food. I didn’t even know what, maybe one of the last packs of powdered soup. I took a clean pan from the drying rack, placed it under the tap and opened it. It couched and gurgled and a little brown water came out, but then just air. No water. Great… I placed the pan inside the sink, rested my hands there and lowered my head. Yeah, it really was time to go.

I blew the candle off and returned to my spot by the window. We were going to hit the road. Leave our houses. I was going to leave my house and God knows when I’d be back. Of if I’d ever be back. The house I’d been living at for 18 years and had lived good moments, but also the worst of my life. I wasn’t sorry I’d be gone. I kind of wished I’d never come back. I wished life would change so drastically I’d never even had the chance to do so. Never have to decide to come back or not.

What was this weird thing I was feeling? I wasn’t bad, but shouldn’t it be bad? Shouldn’t I be dreading whatever the fuck was happening? The world seemed to be ending in rising corpses and nothing would ever be the same, why wasn’t I that scared? I mean, of course, I was scared, but in a strange way…. In a way that good things also scare us. Does that make sense? No, it doesn’t, I know it doesn’t. But I was… And I shocked myself when I found the correct word for it, even then, standing by that window as I saw a group of three dead walking up the field at the end of the road: excited. And now I judged myself for feeling it. What kind of horrible person feels that when the world is ending and so many people are dying and suffering? I hated myself for it.

I also thought of my father. I wished he had lived to go through it with me, he was always so supportive, always trying to make me look at the good side to everything, such a gentle soul. Yeah, but thinking about it made me see he was not fit for this new life, he would never be able to kill a corpse even if it was trying to kill him. No, he was too good. All of this would break his heart. And now I was crying, thinking about dad.

“Hey, we got no water,” Daryl’s voice brought me back from where my mind was to the Dixon’s dark living room. I looked back at him, who had only now figured where I was. I had lit no candles and there was just a gap in the curtain letting a little light in. Seeing me, he continued, “jus’ a warnin’ so ya have no surprise in here”, he pointed over his shoulder in the direction of the bathroom.

“Yeah,” my voice came out a little weak and hoarse. “I tried to cook something and the water was out. We got one more can of soup… Then jus’ things I bought from home.”

I turned to the window again trying hard and failing not to think of what he meant about a surprise in there, and the room was quiet again. I guessed he’d moved away again. There were six dead people roaming the street now. Their moans and crickets and cicadas singing were the soundtracks of the night.

“You okay?”

I jumped a little. His voice was closer than I expected Daryl to be. Damn, the man could be silent if he wanted to. Hunting instincts.

“Sorry,” he smirked

“Jesus, Daryl” I turned away from him again. “I’m fine. Told ya not to ask me that.”

“Is jus’…” he shrugged. “Voice’s weird. You been cryin’?”

I crossed her arms over her chest, still looking out. He didn’t have to know that. It was personal. He wouldn’t understand what I was feeling now, not even I understood. Excited that the world was ending, only sad my daddy wasn’t here to see it?  Forget it.

“No,” I told him simply.

“Alright,” he stated and moved away from me in an instant. I followed him with my eyes, turning around a little. Damn, did he sound relieved that I didn’t share! Men and their troubles with feelings and stuff.

Who am I kidding, I have trouble with feelings and stuff as well.

But a little tiny part of me was a little disappointed that he didn’t insist? Yep, it definitely was.

“Did ya eat?” he asked already from the kitchen.

“No. Not hungry, you go ahead.” I responded mechanically, trying to see him in the dark, unsuccessfully. In a minute he was back, the cold can of soup in hand, half of its content in a bowl that he handed me. I didn’t take it, arms still crossed.

“Eat,” he said firmly, motioning the bowl again.

Sighing and rolling her eyes away from him, I took the bowl and started eating. That was not one of the good soups, but whatever. We ate silently, both standing looking out.

“There’s Mr. Walker from 4th street.” Daryl said around a mouthful of soup, pointing to the dead chubby, old man wearing suspenders.

“Dead man Walker.” I said in a dead serious voice.

He chuckled for a moment but caught himself and lowered his head to his can of soup quickly, going silent again. I held in a smile. This rough man could be cute sometimes and wasn’t even aware of that. Full of surprises, that guy. He’d never spoken to me before in those eighteen years but then he goes to the diner to warn me and get to my house to help and if hosting me here for 10 days like it’s all normal. I really didn’t understand.

“Why did you help me?” I asked suddenly after finishing my half soup.

“Wha’?”

“That day, with D.” I turned a little more to him after resting the empty bowl on the window sill. “You went all the way to the diner to warn me about him. Why did ya do that?”

He shrugged, not looking at me, “Was in the area.”

“Seriously, Daryl.”

He kept looking out, his expression closing up, and was silent for a moment. I just waited, staring up at him.

“Couldn’t hear him say what he’d do to ya and do nothin’.”

“Alright. Okay, you warned me, I told you I could take care of myself, but then you showed up there and helped me, and stick around and helped with the… Walker things, and then took me in here, and I’ve been here for days. It’s ‘bout all that I’m asking. Why you helping me?”

“Would you rather I didn’t?” he turned his head to me, annoyance clear in his voice.

“Oh, c’mon Daryl!” I turned away, arms up in annoyance for a moment Why couldn’t he just answer me?

“’Cause you needed, is why!” he cried, getting pissed. It was easy to piss him off. “You our neighbor twenty fuckin’ years, don’t gotta be best buddies with someone to help.”

“Well, you’re right we ain’t best buddies, but we were never even a little bit. We ain’t never talked to each other, and now I’m here practically living in your house.”

“It’s the fuckin’ Walker apocalypse out there!” Daryl yelled angrily pointing out the window. “What a fuckin’ cold-blooded motherfucker ya take me for? Ya thought I’d let the men rape and torture you, and then leave you to die alone eaten by the dead?” he snarled and took a step further, standing very close to me. I looked up at him, towering at least ten inches above me, but I didn’t flinch or blink. Somehow I knew he was not a threat. “That the kinda man ya take me for?”

I swallowed hard, my eyes locked with his, and his got a little self-aware after a second, as if he realized just how close to each other we were standing now. We’d never been close like this, even living in close quarters. I could pay attention to details on him that I never registered before. His stubble was nearly blonde, or maybe it was starting to grow grey, just how freaking blue his eyes were and the mole he had just above the left corner of his lip. Was he maybe noticing these detailed in my face too? I still had a faint bluish mark from that old slap, and my eyes probably looked tired now. No self-care with my face skin for many days now, it must look dry. Damn, I was starting to get self-conscious by him looking at me like that.

I should say something. Daryl hadn’t moved after his question, so maybe it hadn’t been rhetorical. I soundlessly cleared my throat of the lump that had formed there before saying in a very low voice, “Torture?”

Daryl nodded slowly, his jaws clenching tightly. “Yeah.”

And yet, he didn’t move.

“Guess I never thanked you.” I whispered.

That made him lower his eyes and turn again to the window, opening space between us once again. “‘S nothin’,” he mumbled tightly.

“You helped me avoid rape and torture. Guess that’s something.”

Before moving away from him, feeling too awkward and uncomfortable being so close, I touched his bicep quickly, squeezing it lightly before letting go.

[sadnessandallhisfriends]

Events.

1 It’s strange how days that start like so many others and that end like so many others may hit you with the unexpected. Although I guess I should have expected it... I can’t avoid the past forever, no matter how much I’d like to. I was leaving out of the record store, pretty happy with my newest acquisitions. I finally managed to grab Holy Money by Swans, the same band I had picked for our theme song, I also got two nice vinyls of “The Tired Sounds of The Stars of The Lid”, one, obviously, for me, the other for Moonlight, since it was her favorite band. I also had grabbed a bunch of other random albums that I found cheap. It was when I stepped outside that I heard him, he was playing a really nice song on his guitar, mellow, but nonetheless aggressive. It sounded familiar, but I couldn’t really point out what it was, only later would it dawn on me that I had played a very similar riff once upon a time in a concert. He was standing outside, his long light brown hair covering most of his face, giving him a mysterious aura, his beard was somewhat big, but not too big, and he was looking at his acoustic guitar, not caring about the people passing by, just focused on his guitar as if he was playing his song for no one else but himself. Maybe he was. I liked the tune so much that I grabbed a coin and approached him to give it. “Nice song you’re playing. And believe me pal, I don’t say this to ever-” I stopped mid-sentence. When his blue eyes locked on mine I realized just who he was. Now I was wondering how the fuck did I not noticed before, but I guess I had never seen him with hair or beard that long. “Joshua?” I asked, or at least I think I did. I’d like to think that I controlled myself then, but I know I didn’t. My legs shook, my arms shook and, even though I couldn’t confirm it, I’m pretty sure I was pale as a wall. The coin dropped from my hand and he graciously caught it before it touched the ground. He looked at the 1 pound coin and then at me. “Leave.” he said, putting the coin back in my hand. I grabbed it and nodded, leaving as quick as possible. 2 The steps echoed loudly inside the long empty hallways. Sometimes I wondered why did I bought a mansion. I mean, I bought it because I could, there was nothing more than that... But it was during these days, when my family wasn’t here or Katherine, or even the cleaning ladies... And Jason wasn’t coming anytime soon either now that we broke up. So all this space just for me. It made me feel rich. It made me feel lonely. I looked at the yellow cover of “The Tired Sound s of Stars of the Lid” for a second, then I got my copy out of the plastic and looked inside. It had three LPs so I just grabbed the first one and put it on the vinyl player. The static relaxation of Side A started playing. “Requiem for Dying Mothers, Part 1” the booklet noted as the first song. I laid in my bed, hearing the minimalist noise as it blend with the house and my thoughts and my loneliness and I noticed my mind drifting to memories long gone. Strangely enough, not the ones that I would expect after meeting Joshua. 3 “You have visits.” The doctor tried to say to my sister, but neither I nor Dawn cared to let him finish before bursting into the room. My sister looked at us and forced a smile. I’m sure now that she didn’t want us to see her in that state. Her normally painted purple hair was now blond, but not the blond that she used to have, not the blond that we all have, no, more of a white if anything. Her eyes showed a tired gaze, and the beauty of her blue eyes was starting to fade. She was never the thickest of girls, but her skin now seemed glued to the incredibly and frighteningly noticeable bones. She looked more like Death now than she ever did during all those years dressing up for Halloween. “Hey, you two!” she said loudly and cheerfully before immediately being sucked out of her happiness by an cough attack. “Bollocks to this” she said when she finally stopped, clearly annoyed at herself. “Hello Nightfall...” I said, simply looking at her. Dawn jumped on her, which made me wince, she looked too fragile for someone to be jumping on her, even if it was just a 9 year old. But Nightfall hold and hugged her back seemingly not hurt by her younger sister. “Hey hey! Nighty! How are you?” Dawn asked. “Bad, I guess... I don’t know. I’m always bad.” she said, with a smile on her face. “Everything alright, Rory?” “No.” I couldn’t look at her in the eyes, so I focused on the ground. “Mom’s been crying all day and I heard the doctors, you know? I know.” She smile and pat my head. “Of course you know. I know, we all knew, we just didn’t want to believe it. I’m going to die one day, and it’s going to be sooner rather than later.” “That’s unfair.” “I don’t think it is. People with my condition generally die within their first year of life. I lived 15 years past what I should have.” “I know, you keep saying that. It’s just an excuse...” “It’s not.” “It is.” “It’s not!” “It is!” “IT’S NOT!” “YES! YES, IT IS!” “SHUT UP! YOU DON’T KNOW HOW I FEEL!” I jumped back when she screamed, I was not expecting someone in that state to shout as loud as she did. Soon, the smile disappeared and was replaced with small tears. “No one knows, you keep going around saying I’m going to be fine and that you don’t want me to die... You think I do? You think I want to die?! No, no I don’t. So yeah, you know what, it IS an excuse to make all of you feel better when I die, because I don’t want you all thinking that I left sad, I don’t want you to feel guilty, but I’m fifteen, of course I want to live more, I want to travel, and I wanna see the world. I wanna go to Mexico and to South Africa. I wanna read more books and watch more films. I wanna see you grow up and see all you three end up being. I wanna marry and I wanna have kids and name them Aragorn and Arwen... or some other stupid name, I don’t know. I wanna grow up and be old enough to make a tattoo and have a piercing. I wanna be allowed to swear, I want to so fucking much... I don’t want to die, but I’m going to...” She shook her head, now completely wet. “I don’t want to die...” When she finished all of us fell into silence for a couple seconds, until I broke it. “No.” I said, finally raising my head to look with blue eyes into hers. “Survive this night, please, and survive this week and survive this year and survive just a little bit more. I’m a genius! I’m super smart right? So I’m going to find a cure, you lived for 15 years past what you should, you can live for 15 more.” “Yeah, I’m going to grow up and be a doctor and us three will find a cure for your illness!” Dawn said, hugging her tightly. “I promise we’re going to find a cure and you’ll live to grow old and do all those things, okay?” She nodded and that was when the doctors arrived to tell us the time was over, to come back tomorrow. We didn’t. And that night we all broke our promises. 4 I put the second LP on the vinyl player and jumped back in bed. I wish I could tell you that Nightfall’s last words were “I love you” or something incredibly profound. I wish I could tell you that Nightfall died smiling, just like she lived. But her last words were “I don’t want to die...” and she died crying. I wish I could tell you that Dawn and I did our best to find a cure, but that’s not how it is, we just moved on. If she died why would we bother to find a cure? Dawn did end up being a doctor, but I guess for her that was just something she did without much thought put into it. But I guess that’s reality, books and movies and music they all romanticize death, but death is just ugly and sad and devoid of romance. It’s just pure and cruel. I looked at the guitar on top of my bed, and then to the photograph on the wall. That photo should be about 10 year old by now... It showed me with my blue hair phase, holding my guitar, dressed like the little punk I was... I am. Katherine was sitting behind us, on top of her drumset, legs wide open, cheekily showing her panties to the camera, her long dark curly hair covering her face. In front of us was the short, chubby Sarah, looking proudly to the camera, like she always did in photos. That proud smile hurt more than anything else nowadays. And on the opposite side of me laid him, holding his bass guitar, and smoking his cigar, with a hint of the beard he would have so many years later... Joshua. That day I pondered removing that photograph from the wall, but I didn’t. Ultimately I wasn’t ready to move on. I told myself one day I would be, knowingly that probably I wouldn’t. I remember thinking to myself, looking at Sarah’s smile that death had given me so much pain, but that it probably wasn’t over yet. And I was right, the worst was yet to come. The second LP ended. I didn’t bother putting the third.