Bloody Hell

Chapter 8: Hope

Have you ever been in a situation like, turn left, you die, walk right, you're as good as dead, go straight and bang! A headshot (which is obviously, dead). And going back isn't really a choice or briefly, there's no such option provided.

"HELP!" Fred cried.

"You idiot! Try screaming something like please don't do this sir, because for sure there's no one who's gonna come for help, and I don't hurt old creatures" Lil shouted.

"Sir, please don't shoot, I swear we were just hungry.." Tabitha said as Steve covered rest of the people in the group.

"For food! Food, not blood" Linda tried to sound convincing,as rest of the people looked at her "What? Just letting him know that no one's into transition"

"No one's taking any food, leave your bags and get your asses outta here!" The old man stepped closer.

"Hey! You have a gun too right?" Kim whispered to Harold.

Harold immediately pointed at the end of the gun and shook his head.

"Seriously? No bullets? You guys are pathetic!!!" Kim said this one aloud.

"What's going on at the back? I want you people to just leave quietly!" The old man grew impatient.

"It was better at MSSC, atleast they let us eat peacefully" Fred mumbled while walking out.

"What did you just say?" Old man narrowed his eyes.

"Nothing! Please don't kill me!" Fred begged the old guy.

"No-no! You said MSSC, did you guys ever.... visit that camp? Maria's camp?" The old man lowered his voice. His eyes now seemed full of sorrow.

Hope, reminds me of something named "funny". It's funny to have hope, to just keep thinking that things would get better, that everything is fine, that one day we're gonna get back to that one person and all of that which was ours. It's funny because we just keep expecting things even though we're clueless about the situation. It's like expecting the positives just to keep your silly little heart happy.
Even though somewhere deep down you know the bitter and the true answer to your questions, you refuse accept it, not because you don't want to, but because you have hope.

"Yeah...it was our last stop" Steve stepped towards the old man, trying to comfort him.

"My grand daughter is there..." Old man dropped his gun.

"Oh....sir, it's alright, take a seat" Tabitha kept a hand on his shoulders.

"What happened exactly? Tell us" Aron rubbed the old man's back. Tabitha was kind of impressed by Aron's human side.

"My name's Ben. I used to work on the sea port, after losing my son in the apocalypse I shifted to MSSC with my grand daughter"

"Isn't that the boat club near our school?" Kim whispered to Lil,she nodded.

"Lemme guess, you broke a rule, they kicked you out" Linda sat down.

"Yes and they kept her....is she okay? Did you see her?" He looked at them with hope in his eyes.

"...if you could just tell us what does she look like?" Tabitha asked.

"Annie, she just finished her middle school before the... zombies. She has a scar on her her chin and.."

"Lots of freckles??" Aron got jumped.

"We know her, we saved her life and probably broke one of the rules, that's why we're here" Lil scratched her forehead.

"Yeah, Maria might be wondering why didn't she ever thought about a situation and made a punishment for saving someone else inbetween the punishment" Aron giggled.

Ben was now smiling. They were looking at a new man, his smile was so adorable.

"Ok..but how are we so sure about Annie being alright after breaking two rules?" Tabitha looked at Lil.

"I told you already, it's just that Maria admires the people who can escape her grip and win from her. She starts respecting you. But in our case, I screwed her mind, twice, soooo" Lil gave Aron a high five.

"Thankyou so much. Thankyou" Ben started crying.

"So can we go now? With the...food?" Linda murmured.

"Sure, you can take whatever you want, you people brought me hope! And if you people want, you can stay here till the morning" Ben was kind enough to offer them almost a motel like comfort.

The variety store still has so much to eat that Ben could live here like forever, ration was more than enough for one guy. Only thing to fear about was....you know.

"Check the doors, even the store room, Ben says there's a back door there" Steve fixed the curtains while commanding others. Curtains kinda help them remain safe because...yeah, zombies do have eyes.

"Can we go to sleep now? I'm hell of a tired" Fred cried.

They packed up their new bags with new supplies, extra tshirt and first aid. They kept the bags ready for the morning.

"What the hell?! There are only four blankets" Kim shouted.

"Shhh young lady, two can share one. I can use the extra curtain" Ben distributed the blankets.

"Fine.." Kim rolled her eyes. Suddenly she got a sweet idea "hey Harold, would you mind sharing the blanket with me?"

Harold looked at Linda hoping for her permission but he got his answer. She doesn't control him anymore, he's with them now.
Then he looked at Kim and nodded.
Thankgod, Kim didn't have to beg Aron this time, that sexy little bastard.
What? Everybody has a crush on him...

"I wouldn't mind getting back to my old tent partner" Oh my god, Tabitha freaking Rouse invited Aron for a blanket share!!!!! In a nonchalant way..but still!!
His stupid ideas were working?!
He immediately jumped in and closed his mouth as soon as he realised how stunned he was.

"I'm gonna stay with my sister, no matter what" Linda said as Lil gave her.. remember that squeezy smile?

Steve noticed her reaction to this, he immediately said "no actually...Fred snores a lot and he's already asleep"

He gave Linda one of the blankets and made it very clear that he's the one who's staying with Lil tonight. Linda made a crooked face and went to a separate corner using the whole blanket herself.

"Thankyou, seriously, my head hurts and-" Lil's "grateful speech" was interrupted.

"Grrr..ssss" obviously a zombie was lurking inside the store just next to Fred.

"Shhh, don't worry, he's gonna crawl slow, lemme grab him from behind" Steve started walking.

Suddenly the zombie stood up started running.
This wasn't the second stage anymore......

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Is this a start of the third and the wildest stage of all?

I'm so freaking grateful for all the love and support and I won't stop saying this because I love you guys so much!!!

Thanks for reading, see y'all next week!! Share, vote and comment!!!

Happy imagination:)