The Dead Chapter 5

Book 1: The Dead

Chapter 5

As it turns at no one got any sleep that night, whether we were too on edge or afraid our nightmares would be worse than reality, we all stayed awake. At one point around 3 am I jumped at the sound of a siren in the distance. After the fear subsided I was strangely comforted, at least it was a sign that there were more people alive out there. When I turned I saw Todd, Wendy and Nicole sitting around a lamp silently. I got up and joined them, Nicole looked at me as I sat ‘I’ve decided to come with you,’ she said, I could tell from her tone she had calmed down and made up her mind, ‘it’s the best chance I have to find my family’

‘You don’t think they’ll come back?’ I asked, while I wanted Nicole to join us, I didn’t want her to lose her family

‘No, if they thought they’d find me here they would have stayed. I think they would have gone to the police.’ I nodded slowly, it made sense, but it didn’t make things easier ‘but they’re probably not still there,’ I said, trying to play out the scenario in my mind, ‘a large group of people like that, either someone you tell them where to go-the government probably-or they would panic and start running again, especially if they saw one of the dead’

‘But still,’ Nicole tried to smile, her strength had returned, ‘if we keep moving we have a greater chance of finding them than if we stayed in one spot.’ I smiled at her, enjoying the optimism.

We sat for a while in silence, until Wendy began to rub her head. ‘Are you alright?’ Todd said as he moved closer to her

‘I’m fine, just a headache,’ Wendy replied

‘It’s probably because you haven’t had any sleep,’ I told her, ‘or from when you fainted, I’ll go see if Caleb found any ibuprofen or paracetamol.’ I left and went into the room where Caleb had left everything he had found so far. There were clothes, heavy things to use as weapons, and some medicine, mainly painkillers but there were also some bandages that may prove useful. I got two pills out of one of the bottles, but paused before I left the room seeing a leather jacket on top of the pile. I smiled slightly, I had always wanted one, but I never had much money and I wasn’t sure I could pull it off. Well it’s not like I’ll get many more chances I thought to myself.

I walked back into the room where Wendy and the others were waiting. When I gave Wendy the pills she quickly swallowed them, stood, then said, ‘I’m going to try and rest.’ Nicole stood too and followed her. Todd looked at me, noticing my new apparel, he smiled as he said, ‘nice jacket’

‘Shut up,’ I replied and smiled, embarrassed. We sat for a few moments as our smiles slowly left our faces. I took a deep breath, gathered my courage and said, ‘we have to go to the police station’

‘We can’t,’ replied Todd almost before I’d finished, he knew what was coming

‘What are we doing Todd? Do you know cause I don’t! The police have weapons and by now they must have some form of plan’

‘How do know that? Do you think they saw this coming? No one did! You were right Will we have to find people we trust. Do you think that if you or I were about to be attacked strangers would risk their lives to save us? We can’t be sure of that but we can be sure that people like Wendy, Nicole and YOU would!’ by this time the others had heard our fighting and come to see what was wrong. But none of us had said anything to stop Todd because instead of his words making us panic, they brought us hope. Hope that what we were doing was right.

Nicole finally walked over to us and asked, ‘so where are we going next?’

‘Daphne’s house is the closest,’ Wendy replied, walking over to where they had mapped out all our friends’ houses

‘No,’ I said, standing up, ‘A friend of mine and Nicole’s lives closer, in between here and Daphne’s’

‘Sebastian,’ Nicole said, remembering

‘Alright,’ said Todd, gathering up the maps, ‘that’s where we’re going next.’ And with that Todd simply became the leader, although I doubt he even realised what had just happened but we all recognised it. Caleb and I sorted out what was useful from the scavenged pile and loaded it into the car. We had silently and unanimously decided we were leaving now. Nicole and I were in the car that Caleb had found, a Ute, while Wendy, Todd and Caleb took my mother’s car. I didn’t want to go near it anymore.

The drive to Sebastian’s was mostly quiet, but we did occasionally hear a crash, siren or scream in the distance, those few reminders that we were not alone became less and less scary as time went by. And that scared me. We began to turn into Sebastian’s street, but any hopes I had of finding my friends with their families unharmed and with a large pile of weapons had been left at Nicole’s. And they became even further impossible as we searched Sebastian’s house and surroundings but found no sign of him, his family or anything. Until Caleb, Nicole and I entered his backyard and found a deadwoman feasting on a fresh kill.

It hadn’t noticed us yet, but still none of us moved for fear it would hear us. But then Wendy come out of the other door, not noticing our situation, ‘so we didn’t find anything but’-her words cut short as she saw the deadman. But it was too late as the deadwoman began to run with great speed toward the closest of us. Me. I swung the pole I was still using and hit her in the shoulder with the heavy end, knocking her to the ground. Caleb lifted and swung his axe, burying it into her head. Todd came out from the house, hearing the commotion, ‘Holy crap,’ was all he could say

‘Let’s get out of here,’ said Nicole solemnly, turning away

‘Wait,’ I stopped her, ‘that guy the…uh… victim. He’s a police officer’

‘So what?’ Wendy asked

‘So,’ I explained, walking toward the victim, ‘he should have a weapon’

‘A gun,’ Todd said, realising. I hated doing this, knowing it would give me nightmares for years to come, but I searched the mangled corpse and found what we had been hoping for, a gun. ‘So, uh,’ I started, holding it up awkwardly, ‘does anyone know how to use one of these?’ I looked around no one responded. Until Todd stepped forward hesitantly, ‘I-I might.’ I was all too eager to hand it over, knowing that however useful they could be in this situation, they’re also dangerous. Todd studied it for a few moments before doing something with it, checking it works I guessed. Todd walked over to the corpse and grabbed a holster and something else from it, he held up the other item, ‘ammo,’ he explained. None of us cared that it was only one gun or that it could cause more trouble than it was worth, it was a symbol of hope and progress. As well as one of power.