Fic: We Are Outnumbered -Chapter 4
Rating: NC-17
Pairings: Ryan/Brendon
POV: First (Ryan's)
Summary: The virus has completely devastated over 150 of the world’s major regions and is spreading rapidly. At this point in time we know of only one method of killing the creatures: destroy the brain. Be on the guard of any loved ones who may have recently been in any sort of contact and could be infected. And if you find yourself in a threatened position, please do not hesitate to act. Again. This is not a test. This is not a joke. We as a species are overwhelmed. We are outnumbered. The world is about to change as Ryan knows it, but can he and Brendon survive the change? Or will they soon end up like the majority of the population?
Author's Note: Rated NC-17 for sex, violence, character death, gore. So heed this as a warning I suppose.
Disclaimer: Complete work of fiction. I don't own the characters. I'm only responsible for the plot line.
I open my eyes and I’m greeted with green light all around me thanks to the trees above me and I can hear birds chirping nearby. I look around and spot Brendon, Jon and Spencer all smiling at me. I feel a smile break across my own face and start to walk towards them. Jon starts to get paler the closer I get and I stop after a few steps.
“Jon, are you okay?” I ask, worry thick in my voice. He doesn’t look so good.
He opens his mouth to speak but instead of words pouring out of his mouth, a thick stream of blood comes streaming out. I step back to avoid any splatter, but Brendon and Spencer stay put, their smiles no longer in place on their faces, but rather a look of pure hatred etched across them.
“What’s going on?” My voice is heavy and doesn’t even echo off the surrounding trees. The sound just dies, as if the air around us is too dead to help the sound reverberate back.
Jon stands back up straight and turns to Spencer and I watch as he lurches forward and sinks his teeth into Spencer’s throat. Blood spurts out, a mix of the leftover blood in Jon’s mouth and the fresh blood from Spencer’s jugular and I feel my stomach give an unpleasant twist. I try to yell, but my voice chokes in my throat.
Spencer stands still as Jon continues to bite into his neck, tearing pieces of flesh away until a gaping hole is left, blood still spurting out. Both then turn to Brendon and I watch as they attack him together, Spencer going for the neck and Jon for a shoulder.
“STOP!” I yell, finally finding the strength to speak again. “STOP! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” I stare as the previously green ground beneath us takes on a more macabre look.
All three turn back to me and start moving toward towards me slowly, their arms stretched out like my dad’s had been. I feel a weight in my hand and look down to see I’m holding the metal bat from earlier, still coated in blood.
“No,” I breathe out as I take a step backwards. “No, no, no. This can’t… No, I won’t… I can’t…” I sputter out my words, taking more steps back until I’m up against a wall of trees.
Brendon, Jon, and Spencer keep moving closer until I can feel the cold from their fingers brushing against me.
“NO!” I shout, trying hard to squirm away from their touch. “NO!”
“Ryan. RYAN!” The voice pulls me out of the nightmare and I sit up, almost bumping my head on the roof of the car.
“Holy fuck,” I pant out, running my hands through my sweat-soaked hair. I close my eyes but all I can see is dead Brendon, Spencer, and Jon walking towards me, the hungry look in their eyes. I open them again and see Brendon peering at me, concern clear in his eyes.
“Ryan, are you okay?” He sounds scared. Fuck, was I talking in my sleep? I nod and gulp down more air.
“Just. A nightmare. No big deal.” I’m still panting, but I’ve slumped back down against the seat again. Brendon is watching me warily, but eventually he sighs and slides close to me again, wrapping his arms around me.
“Just go back to sleep, Ry,” he whispers, his lips pressed against my temple. I nod and close my eyes, feeling myself fall immediately into a dreamless sleep.
******************************************
“So he didn’t show any emotion then?” I hear Spencer’s voice float quietly through-out the car. I’m still asleep for the most part so it sounds distorted, like I’m underwater.
“Yeah, it was weird.” Brendon this time, his voice hushed as if to not wake me up. A lost cause really. “He like, froze and didn’t even move, so I like pushed past him, and started swinging but the umbrella wasn’t strong enough. And I turned back to Ryan, but he was zoned out so I had to take the bat from him and use that. He seriously didn’t move…”
He trails off at the end and I wonder if he can tell I’m awake now and listening in. I feel Brendon stroke through my hair softly and I keep my breathing even and deep, trying to keep up the sleeping façade. It seems to work because he sighs and I feel him shift a little, his attention no longer focused on me.
“Has he said anything then?” Spencer again.
“No,” Brendon sighs out. “Well… actually once he did. When he was yelling at me earlier. He said it wasn’t okay to lie to someone after you killed their father basically.”
“So he is upset about it then or?” Spencer lets the unfinished question hang for a few moments. Brendon starts to say something but I let out a fake groan and feigned stretching as if I have just woken up. I don’t want to hear anymore.
Brendon cuts off from whatever he’s about to say and his hand finds its way to my hair. I open my eyes a little, still feigning waking up and am greeted with his own brown ones staring back.
“Hey,” he says softly, his mouth curling into a small smile. I grimace a little and pretend to rub the sleep out of my eyes. I reopen my eyes and he’s still staring at me, his brow furrowed a little. “You okay?”
I give a quick nod and push myself up into a sitting position while glancing out the window. We’re somewhere mountainous and the sky is a pale pink and seems to be getting lighter by the second. We must have driven all night. I look at the radio and see that it’s 7 am.
“Where are we?” I finally voice, looking at Spencer in the rearview mirror. He glances back at me quickly before redirecting his attention to the road again.
“Somewhere just outside Denver. I figured we’d go east and see what we can find as far as safety goes, I guess.” He gives a shrug and I watch as he grasps Jon’s hand and squeezes it. I look at Jon and notice he’s a bit pale. The reality of this must finally be hitting him too, I guess. I feel Brendon nudge my hand a little and turn my attention back to him.
“Hungry?” He asks, holding up a fruit cup. My stomach growls at his words and I realize just how hungry I actually am. When was the last time I even ate? I nod and take the fruit cup, pealing the plastic film from the top.
“We don’t have any spoons or anything, so you kind of have to slurp it,” Brendon gives a small shrug but I wave my hand.
“Lack of spoons is the least of my worries right now,” I tip the cup up to my lip and let the sweet juice spill over my tongue before proceeding to devour the fruit in what must be record time. Definitely was a lot hungrier than I thought.
I wipe the excess juice from my face and look back to Brendon who is cocking an eyebrow at me. “Tad bit hungry, huh?” I force out a laugh and nod.
We fall silent again for a few moments, and I watch the sky get lighter and lighter until I finally see the sun peak over the edge of the distant mountains. If the circumstances were different I’d probably ask Spencer to pull over so we could take pictures of it all, but I know we can’t.
Slowly the rural backdrop starts to fade as we pull in closer to what I can only assume is Denver. The streets are surprisingly empty.
No dead.
No living.
Empty.
I give an involuntary shudder as I realize what must have been a huge city before just being completely empty and void of everyone. I wonder if this is how everywhere is now. Would we go further across the country only to find that everywhere is desolate, emptied of all life as we once knew?
I hope not.
Spencer keeps driving for a while before stopping at an intersection that must be the direct center of the city. We sit there for a moment before finally Brendon sighs and opens his door. I freeze for a second, expecting the infected to come pouring out of the surround buildings and alleyways, but nothing comes.
Just silence.
We all scramble out of the car and move to stand near where Brendon is in the center of the intersection. I glance around and notice not a single car is left. No people. Nothing. If it wasn’t for the buildings, it would be like society never even existed here.
“Shit,” Jon breathes out. It’s barely more than a whisper, but with the silence of everything around us, we hear it clear as day.
“It’s so…” Brendon starts, not bothering to continue.
“Forsaken,” I add, finishing his thought. Jon, Spencer, and Brendon all nod.
We stand there for a few moments when suddenly a trashcan falls over in a nearby alleyway. The crash that echoes through the abandoned city causes us all to jump and I step closer to Brendon who latches our hands together.
Spencer jumps forward to the car and pulls out the baseball bat that Brendon and I had used to kill my dad less than 24 hours ago. I notice it’s cleaned of blood and wonder who did it and when they even had the time. Thought quickly moves from my mind as a man and young girl step out from the alleyway, their hands held up in defense.
“Hey, man,” the guy said, his voice calm but loud in the surrounding silence. “We’re not infected, we just got scared cause we heard noise so Cate knocked over the trashcan and yeah…” He shakes the long, black hair from in front of his eyes and gestures to the girl next to him but trails off obviously not sure if he has us convinced or not. “You can check our pupils if you want even for proof.” He widens his eyes as if we’d be able to tell from this distance, but Spencer must believe him because he lowers the bat back down to his side.
“It’s fine,” Spencer finally says, clearing his throat. “We believe you. I mean, if you were infected, you probably would have come after us by now, really.” The guy cracks a smile and nods.
“Right, same goes for you, I guess,” he’s still nodding and I can’t help but stare. There’s actually life here. And it’s someone who isn’t infected. Maybe the world isn’t as doomed as I thought before. “Anyways, I’m Frank.”
He takes a step forward, extending his hand to Spencer first, then continuing down the line, reaching me last. We all mumble out our names and he cracks another smile. The girl next to him coughs and he glances at her quickly. “Oh, and this is Cate, my little sister.”
Cate gives a small wave and we all murmur out more hellos before an awkward silence settles over the six of us.
“Well,” Frank starts, glancing between the four of us and our car. “If you want, you can come with us and stay at our base. We have food and a shower and beds and basically anything you could imagine, really.” I immediately look to Spencer who looks back and me and gives a shrug.
“Yeah, alright we can do that. Do you guys need a ride?” He looks back at Frank and Cate who both are smiling and Frank nods.
“Yeah, it’d be appreciative. It’s not far, but it’d save energy and time.” We move back to the car and all pile in, me sat tightly between Cate and Brendon in the backseat and Jon on the other side of Cate. Frank sits in the passenger seat, directing Spencer through the empty streets.
“How many of you are there at the base?” I ask, the thought of maybe a military base filled will tons of refugees fills my mind and I feel myself swell with a kind of hope. Things are looking up. It’s going to get better.
“It’s just me, Cate, and two others. The rest of our party has either split up or fallen.” Frank looks out the window and I can tell he doesn’t want to talk about it. I feel my heart sink back down to somewhere behind my stomach. Well, so much for things improving too much.
Spencer follows the rest of the directions which brings us to the parking lot out in front of a mall. Brendon and I share a glance and I can tell we’re thinking the same thing.
“Your base is a mall?” Brendon voices, skepticism heavy in the question.
Frank hesitates a little before answering. “Well, yeah, I know it’s kind of cliché and ‘Dawn of the Dead’-like, but it works really well. The doors automatically lock and the glass is bulletproof, and there’s an obscene amount of food and other supplies, so it’s quite useful.” He finishes on a high note, and I can tell he’s proud of having thought of the idea.
Brendon and I share another glance and again I know we’re thinking the same thing. It’s definitely going to be interesting while we’re with Frank and his lot. Spencer parks near the entrance that Frank points out to him and we all are quick to pile out of the cramped vehicle. We pull out all the bags and supplies and hoist them onto our backs. No use leaving everything in the car if we’re going to be locked inside a mall.
“At least we get a good parking spot,” Brendon says, a smile breaking across his face at the lame joke. I can’t help but let a breathy laugh escape from my lips.
“Always the optimist,” I say, linking our hands together as we follow the rest of the group to the door. Frank pulls out a walkie-talkie from his pocket and presses a button.
“Yeah, Mikey it’s Frank, come to the entrance near Sears. We found more survivors.” A reply squawks back and it can’t even have been five minutes before a tall, lanky man with blonde hair is opening the door in front of us.
We quickly move to follow Frank and Cate as they step past who I can only assume is Mikey, who locks the door behind us as soon as the last person is through.
“Where’s Ray?” Frank asks Mikey once he’s finished barring the door behind us.
“Sleeping, last I checked,” Mikey says, scratching his head as he turns to the rest of us. “I’m Mikey, by the way.”
We all give our usual small wave and quick introduction before Frank pipes up again.
“Well, since I can’t introduce you to Ray right now, feel free to venture around. Treat it as your home. Eat whatever, sleep wherever, do whatever. There are showers in the bathroom near the food court, and the water in all the fountains are safe to drink thanks to a private well the mall had.” He gestures around him and we nod.
“Okay, well thanks,” Spencer says, speaking for all of us. “We’ll probably go get some sleep; none of us really had a chance to sleep much last night.”
“At least not a good one,” I chime in, remembering the nightmare from the previous night’s drive. I suppress a shudder as I think of it and move the thought to the back of my mind. No, I did not need that right now.
Frank nods. “Well, the best places with beds are Sears, JC Penney or Macy’s.” He gives us a smile and points in the directions of each store.
Spencer turns to me and Brendon. “Well, you guys can take Sears if you want, and Jon and I can go to JC Penney. That way we each get our own space?” Me and Brendon share a look and nod.
“Yeah, that’d probably be best,” Brendon says, nodding a bit more.
“You’re welcome to leave your stuff here if you want,” Frank offers, gesturing near the door. “No one is gonna take it, I mean even if they did, you’d know who it could be anyways.” He shrugs and the rest of us look around at each other before shrugging as well and tossing our bags and supplies down on the floor. Even if someone does take something, it won’t be anything we can’t replace here.
Brendon laces our hands back together and we walk off towards the entrance to Sears, while Jon and Spencer wander off in the other direction to JC Penney. As Brendon pulls us through the store, I look at all the clothing and other merchandise around us. It’s weird knowing that if I want something I don’t have to pay for it.
I wonder if I’ll ever become accustomed to how the world is now. There aren’t any laws anymore. No rules to abide by. It might be called a sort of freedom, but to me, having to lock myself in a mall to avoid the outside world shouldn’t count as freedom.
I don’t feel free. I feel like a goldfish on display. Like God is watching us to see what will happen if he introduces some toxin to the fishbowl. Testing us to see how far he can push us until we crack. Or maybe he just got sick of our shit and abandoned us all and this is the result. Or maybe there is no God. Maybe this is just what happens when a species is left on its own. We turn on each other. Everything falls to chaos. Better yet, maybe it’s the end of the world, in the form of an ever-so-cliché zombie apocalypse.
No, this couldn’t be the end. To think of the world ending in complete destruction, I just couldn’t deal with that. But then again, how else would the world ever end? It’d have to be in some form of destruction. Meaning there wasn’t going to be a happy ending for anyone.
Chapter 5
A/N: Alright, I'm so sorry this is short and cuts off fast and I apologize for it being late. Lots of stuff going on lately and I've had writers block like none other. I promised before this was going to be longer but if I didn't post now, it'd be another week before I could update. Next chapter is going to be much, much, much longer though to make up for this. Again, I'm sorry omg.
Pairings: Ryan/Brendon
POV: First (Ryan's)
Summary: The virus has completely devastated over 150 of the world’s major regions and is spreading rapidly. At this point in time we know of only one method of killing the creatures: destroy the brain. Be on the guard of any loved ones who may have recently been in any sort of contact and could be infected. And if you find yourself in a threatened position, please do not hesitate to act. Again. This is not a test. This is not a joke. We as a species are overwhelmed. We are outnumbered. The world is about to change as Ryan knows it, but can he and Brendon survive the change? Or will they soon end up like the majority of the population?
Author's Note: Rated NC-17 for sex, violence, character death, gore. So heed this as a warning I suppose.
Disclaimer: Complete work of fiction. I don't own the characters. I'm only responsible for the plot line.
I open my eyes and I’m greeted with green light all around me thanks to the trees above me and I can hear birds chirping nearby. I look around and spot Brendon, Jon and Spencer all smiling at me. I feel a smile break across my own face and start to walk towards them. Jon starts to get paler the closer I get and I stop after a few steps.
“Jon, are you okay?” I ask, worry thick in my voice. He doesn’t look so good.
He opens his mouth to speak but instead of words pouring out of his mouth, a thick stream of blood comes streaming out. I step back to avoid any splatter, but Brendon and Spencer stay put, their smiles no longer in place on their faces, but rather a look of pure hatred etched across them.
“What’s going on?” My voice is heavy and doesn’t even echo off the surrounding trees. The sound just dies, as if the air around us is too dead to help the sound reverberate back.
Jon stands back up straight and turns to Spencer and I watch as he lurches forward and sinks his teeth into Spencer’s throat. Blood spurts out, a mix of the leftover blood in Jon’s mouth and the fresh blood from Spencer’s jugular and I feel my stomach give an unpleasant twist. I try to yell, but my voice chokes in my throat.
Spencer stands still as Jon continues to bite into his neck, tearing pieces of flesh away until a gaping hole is left, blood still spurting out. Both then turn to Brendon and I watch as they attack him together, Spencer going for the neck and Jon for a shoulder.
“STOP!” I yell, finally finding the strength to speak again. “STOP! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” I stare as the previously green ground beneath us takes on a more macabre look.
All three turn back to me and start moving toward towards me slowly, their arms stretched out like my dad’s had been. I feel a weight in my hand and look down to see I’m holding the metal bat from earlier, still coated in blood.
“No,” I breathe out as I take a step backwards. “No, no, no. This can’t… No, I won’t… I can’t…” I sputter out my words, taking more steps back until I’m up against a wall of trees.
Brendon, Jon, and Spencer keep moving closer until I can feel the cold from their fingers brushing against me.
“NO!” I shout, trying hard to squirm away from their touch. “NO!”
“Ryan. RYAN!” The voice pulls me out of the nightmare and I sit up, almost bumping my head on the roof of the car.
“Holy fuck,” I pant out, running my hands through my sweat-soaked hair. I close my eyes but all I can see is dead Brendon, Spencer, and Jon walking towards me, the hungry look in their eyes. I open them again and see Brendon peering at me, concern clear in his eyes.
“Ryan, are you okay?” He sounds scared. Fuck, was I talking in my sleep? I nod and gulp down more air.
“Just. A nightmare. No big deal.” I’m still panting, but I’ve slumped back down against the seat again. Brendon is watching me warily, but eventually he sighs and slides close to me again, wrapping his arms around me.
“Just go back to sleep, Ry,” he whispers, his lips pressed against my temple. I nod and close my eyes, feeling myself fall immediately into a dreamless sleep.
******************************************
“So he didn’t show any emotion then?” I hear Spencer’s voice float quietly through-out the car. I’m still asleep for the most part so it sounds distorted, like I’m underwater.
“Yeah, it was weird.” Brendon this time, his voice hushed as if to not wake me up. A lost cause really. “He like, froze and didn’t even move, so I like pushed past him, and started swinging but the umbrella wasn’t strong enough. And I turned back to Ryan, but he was zoned out so I had to take the bat from him and use that. He seriously didn’t move…”
He trails off at the end and I wonder if he can tell I’m awake now and listening in. I feel Brendon stroke through my hair softly and I keep my breathing even and deep, trying to keep up the sleeping façade. It seems to work because he sighs and I feel him shift a little, his attention no longer focused on me.
“Has he said anything then?” Spencer again.
“No,” Brendon sighs out. “Well… actually once he did. When he was yelling at me earlier. He said it wasn’t okay to lie to someone after you killed their father basically.”
“So he is upset about it then or?” Spencer lets the unfinished question hang for a few moments. Brendon starts to say something but I let out a fake groan and feigned stretching as if I have just woken up. I don’t want to hear anymore.
Brendon cuts off from whatever he’s about to say and his hand finds its way to my hair. I open my eyes a little, still feigning waking up and am greeted with his own brown ones staring back.
“Hey,” he says softly, his mouth curling into a small smile. I grimace a little and pretend to rub the sleep out of my eyes. I reopen my eyes and he’s still staring at me, his brow furrowed a little. “You okay?”
I give a quick nod and push myself up into a sitting position while glancing out the window. We’re somewhere mountainous and the sky is a pale pink and seems to be getting lighter by the second. We must have driven all night. I look at the radio and see that it’s 7 am.
“Where are we?” I finally voice, looking at Spencer in the rearview mirror. He glances back at me quickly before redirecting his attention to the road again.
“Somewhere just outside Denver. I figured we’d go east and see what we can find as far as safety goes, I guess.” He gives a shrug and I watch as he grasps Jon’s hand and squeezes it. I look at Jon and notice he’s a bit pale. The reality of this must finally be hitting him too, I guess. I feel Brendon nudge my hand a little and turn my attention back to him.
“Hungry?” He asks, holding up a fruit cup. My stomach growls at his words and I realize just how hungry I actually am. When was the last time I even ate? I nod and take the fruit cup, pealing the plastic film from the top.
“We don’t have any spoons or anything, so you kind of have to slurp it,” Brendon gives a small shrug but I wave my hand.
“Lack of spoons is the least of my worries right now,” I tip the cup up to my lip and let the sweet juice spill over my tongue before proceeding to devour the fruit in what must be record time. Definitely was a lot hungrier than I thought.
I wipe the excess juice from my face and look back to Brendon who is cocking an eyebrow at me. “Tad bit hungry, huh?” I force out a laugh and nod.
We fall silent again for a few moments, and I watch the sky get lighter and lighter until I finally see the sun peak over the edge of the distant mountains. If the circumstances were different I’d probably ask Spencer to pull over so we could take pictures of it all, but I know we can’t.
Slowly the rural backdrop starts to fade as we pull in closer to what I can only assume is Denver. The streets are surprisingly empty.
No dead.
No living.
Empty.
I give an involuntary shudder as I realize what must have been a huge city before just being completely empty and void of everyone. I wonder if this is how everywhere is now. Would we go further across the country only to find that everywhere is desolate, emptied of all life as we once knew?
I hope not.
Spencer keeps driving for a while before stopping at an intersection that must be the direct center of the city. We sit there for a moment before finally Brendon sighs and opens his door. I freeze for a second, expecting the infected to come pouring out of the surround buildings and alleyways, but nothing comes.
Just silence.
We all scramble out of the car and move to stand near where Brendon is in the center of the intersection. I glance around and notice not a single car is left. No people. Nothing. If it wasn’t for the buildings, it would be like society never even existed here.
“Shit,” Jon breathes out. It’s barely more than a whisper, but with the silence of everything around us, we hear it clear as day.
“It’s so…” Brendon starts, not bothering to continue.
“Forsaken,” I add, finishing his thought. Jon, Spencer, and Brendon all nod.
We stand there for a few moments when suddenly a trashcan falls over in a nearby alleyway. The crash that echoes through the abandoned city causes us all to jump and I step closer to Brendon who latches our hands together.
Spencer jumps forward to the car and pulls out the baseball bat that Brendon and I had used to kill my dad less than 24 hours ago. I notice it’s cleaned of blood and wonder who did it and when they even had the time. Thought quickly moves from my mind as a man and young girl step out from the alleyway, their hands held up in defense.
“Hey, man,” the guy said, his voice calm but loud in the surrounding silence. “We’re not infected, we just got scared cause we heard noise so Cate knocked over the trashcan and yeah…” He shakes the long, black hair from in front of his eyes and gestures to the girl next to him but trails off obviously not sure if he has us convinced or not. “You can check our pupils if you want even for proof.” He widens his eyes as if we’d be able to tell from this distance, but Spencer must believe him because he lowers the bat back down to his side.
“It’s fine,” Spencer finally says, clearing his throat. “We believe you. I mean, if you were infected, you probably would have come after us by now, really.” The guy cracks a smile and nods.
“Right, same goes for you, I guess,” he’s still nodding and I can’t help but stare. There’s actually life here. And it’s someone who isn’t infected. Maybe the world isn’t as doomed as I thought before. “Anyways, I’m Frank.”
He takes a step forward, extending his hand to Spencer first, then continuing down the line, reaching me last. We all mumble out our names and he cracks another smile. The girl next to him coughs and he glances at her quickly. “Oh, and this is Cate, my little sister.”
Cate gives a small wave and we all murmur out more hellos before an awkward silence settles over the six of us.
“Well,” Frank starts, glancing between the four of us and our car. “If you want, you can come with us and stay at our base. We have food and a shower and beds and basically anything you could imagine, really.” I immediately look to Spencer who looks back and me and gives a shrug.
“Yeah, alright we can do that. Do you guys need a ride?” He looks back at Frank and Cate who both are smiling and Frank nods.
“Yeah, it’d be appreciative. It’s not far, but it’d save energy and time.” We move back to the car and all pile in, me sat tightly between Cate and Brendon in the backseat and Jon on the other side of Cate. Frank sits in the passenger seat, directing Spencer through the empty streets.
“How many of you are there at the base?” I ask, the thought of maybe a military base filled will tons of refugees fills my mind and I feel myself swell with a kind of hope. Things are looking up. It’s going to get better.
“It’s just me, Cate, and two others. The rest of our party has either split up or fallen.” Frank looks out the window and I can tell he doesn’t want to talk about it. I feel my heart sink back down to somewhere behind my stomach. Well, so much for things improving too much.
Spencer follows the rest of the directions which brings us to the parking lot out in front of a mall. Brendon and I share a glance and I can tell we’re thinking the same thing.
“Your base is a mall?” Brendon voices, skepticism heavy in the question.
Frank hesitates a little before answering. “Well, yeah, I know it’s kind of cliché and ‘Dawn of the Dead’-like, but it works really well. The doors automatically lock and the glass is bulletproof, and there’s an obscene amount of food and other supplies, so it’s quite useful.” He finishes on a high note, and I can tell he’s proud of having thought of the idea.
Brendon and I share another glance and again I know we’re thinking the same thing. It’s definitely going to be interesting while we’re with Frank and his lot. Spencer parks near the entrance that Frank points out to him and we all are quick to pile out of the cramped vehicle. We pull out all the bags and supplies and hoist them onto our backs. No use leaving everything in the car if we’re going to be locked inside a mall.
“At least we get a good parking spot,” Brendon says, a smile breaking across his face at the lame joke. I can’t help but let a breathy laugh escape from my lips.
“Always the optimist,” I say, linking our hands together as we follow the rest of the group to the door. Frank pulls out a walkie-talkie from his pocket and presses a button.
“Yeah, Mikey it’s Frank, come to the entrance near Sears. We found more survivors.” A reply squawks back and it can’t even have been five minutes before a tall, lanky man with blonde hair is opening the door in front of us.
We quickly move to follow Frank and Cate as they step past who I can only assume is Mikey, who locks the door behind us as soon as the last person is through.
“Where’s Ray?” Frank asks Mikey once he’s finished barring the door behind us.
“Sleeping, last I checked,” Mikey says, scratching his head as he turns to the rest of us. “I’m Mikey, by the way.”
We all give our usual small wave and quick introduction before Frank pipes up again.
“Well, since I can’t introduce you to Ray right now, feel free to venture around. Treat it as your home. Eat whatever, sleep wherever, do whatever. There are showers in the bathroom near the food court, and the water in all the fountains are safe to drink thanks to a private well the mall had.” He gestures around him and we nod.
“Okay, well thanks,” Spencer says, speaking for all of us. “We’ll probably go get some sleep; none of us really had a chance to sleep much last night.”
“At least not a good one,” I chime in, remembering the nightmare from the previous night’s drive. I suppress a shudder as I think of it and move the thought to the back of my mind. No, I did not need that right now.
Frank nods. “Well, the best places with beds are Sears, JC Penney or Macy’s.” He gives us a smile and points in the directions of each store.
Spencer turns to me and Brendon. “Well, you guys can take Sears if you want, and Jon and I can go to JC Penney. That way we each get our own space?” Me and Brendon share a look and nod.
“Yeah, that’d probably be best,” Brendon says, nodding a bit more.
“You’re welcome to leave your stuff here if you want,” Frank offers, gesturing near the door. “No one is gonna take it, I mean even if they did, you’d know who it could be anyways.” He shrugs and the rest of us look around at each other before shrugging as well and tossing our bags and supplies down on the floor. Even if someone does take something, it won’t be anything we can’t replace here.
Brendon laces our hands back together and we walk off towards the entrance to Sears, while Jon and Spencer wander off in the other direction to JC Penney. As Brendon pulls us through the store, I look at all the clothing and other merchandise around us. It’s weird knowing that if I want something I don’t have to pay for it.
I wonder if I’ll ever become accustomed to how the world is now. There aren’t any laws anymore. No rules to abide by. It might be called a sort of freedom, but to me, having to lock myself in a mall to avoid the outside world shouldn’t count as freedom.
I don’t feel free. I feel like a goldfish on display. Like God is watching us to see what will happen if he introduces some toxin to the fishbowl. Testing us to see how far he can push us until we crack. Or maybe he just got sick of our shit and abandoned us all and this is the result. Or maybe there is no God. Maybe this is just what happens when a species is left on its own. We turn on each other. Everything falls to chaos. Better yet, maybe it’s the end of the world, in the form of an ever-so-cliché zombie apocalypse.
No, this couldn’t be the end. To think of the world ending in complete destruction, I just couldn’t deal with that. But then again, how else would the world ever end? It’d have to be in some form of destruction. Meaning there wasn’t going to be a happy ending for anyone.
Chapter 5
A/N: Alright, I'm so sorry this is short and cuts off fast and I apologize for it being late. Lots of stuff going on lately and I've had writers block like none other. I promised before this was going to be longer but if I didn't post now, it'd be another week before I could update. Next chapter is going to be much, much, much longer though to make up for this. Again, I'm sorry omg.