Have Mercy {Z Nation AU}

Damage

We headed away from  the old amusement park, away from Jeremiah and his play time. The pain in my groin had subsided, and I tried not to think about what had happened, even though I knew the next time I slept, I would wake from the nightmare of that night, and have to face it every day. We drove for days, and I tried to stay awake, which to my dismay, failed after two days. We came to a small town, in the middle of nowhere, which everything was these days, and headed inside the little shopping centre. I followed everybody through the food court, where there were bodies lying everywhere, with half eaten meals that had rotted a long time ago. We went into the small grocer shop, only to find the shelves completely empty.

Addy followed me through the body aisle, and I could feel her eyes burning into my back. I still hadn't said anything since the amusement park. I stepped over empty packages, and old food that had been dropped and left to grow, until we came to where the make up would be. The shelves were empty.

"Who the hell stocks up on makeup for the zombie apocalypse? What if you get bit? Do you become a pretty zombie?" Addy said to Roberta, who was walking around the corner of the aisle.

"You found anything yet?" She asked, sliding her machete back into its holster.
I shook my head, and she nodded. I gripped the handle of my bag and walked around to the opposite side Roberta had come from, I heard plastic rustling, and things moving around. but I kept walking.
As I walked further down the aisle, I tripped over my own shoe, and landed face first on the tile floor. I pulled myself up and looked down to see a small puddle of blood in front of me, exactly where I had fallen. I got to my feet and used my shirt to wipe my nose and my chin, just as Cassandra and Doc walked past the aisle, I made it look like I was wiping my face with me hand, and they kept walking.
Shit, I thought. Thats just perfect.

Garnetts voice rang out across the empty store, as he called out for all of us to leave. I hoisted my bag and set off towards the door, zipping up my jacket to cover the blood stain. As we walked over the threshold of the centre, Garnett pointed out a small pit stop motel further up the road, and decided to check for anything we could use. I felt my stomach lurch, and I wanted to cry suddenly.
Garnett jumped back into the truck, pulled up outside and waited for us to all catch up. I trudged along the road, kicking stones in every direction as everyone else hurried to get closer to the motel. When I reached the truck, everybody was already inside each of the rooms of the motel, trying to find whatever we could use. I climbed into the front of the truck, trying to not think about the now brown stain in the back seat.
Sleep. Scavenge. Eat. Drive. Survive. Thats all we do now.
I stared out of the windshield, waiting for the others to come back. Before long, the heat in the truck started to get unbearable, and I felt beads of sweat start to form on my forehead. I opened the other side of the truck, jumped down, and walked around the front to wait for the others. I sighed and kicked a pebble away from the tire, not that it would do anything. I went into the back of the truck, pushed away the medi-bag, and grabbed my knife. I made my way up to the motel, and checked all of the rooms. I didn't find anybody. I circled my way around and went into the front office. I pushed the glass door open, and climbed over the desk. I heard noises coming from the back room, and followed them up the hall until I came to an open doorway, where everyone was surrounding someone, someone injured. His face was filthy, covered in blood, dirt and god knows what. But it was definitely him, it was Ethan. And I knew the second I recognised him, he recognised me. I backed up slowly, and watched the confusion set into everyone's eyes.

"It's you. After all this, you're the one that lived." He huffed. "You left us! You left us there to die!" He yelled, and I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat. He was shirtless, revealing a large, infected cut on his abdomen. The wound itself could've been easy enough to recover from, but the infection was too bad. I saw the pus inside the wound, all different shades of yellow, brown and green. I wanted to be sick again, but knew I wouldn't be able to bring anything up. Addy turned to me.

"You know him?" She asked, and I nodded.

"She more than knows me, we went to school together. She liked me." He laughed, but it wasn't the fun loving laugh that I was used to, and Garnett stepped forward.
"Watch the tone, kid." He glared at Ethan, and looked at me reassuringly. Warren moved around behind Ethan, gathering a thick rope, and wrapping it around his wrists and ankles. I looked at all the scars and scrapes all over his torso, and cried. I walked over slowly, trying to avoid eye contact, because he wasn't the Ethan I knew. He was some sick, dystopia version. Ironic.
I knelt down next to him, and flattened out the dirt next to his shoe.
Charli? I wrote.
He spat at my face, and a blob of sticky saliva landed with a wet plop on my cheek. I looked him in the eye, stood up and turned my back on him. I didn't blame him for holding a grudge, I would have too if one of them had left us, and taken the food too. I walked to the door, and it took all my willpower to not look back.
"You know, she only died a few days back. I would have loved to hear what she could've said go you." He scoffed, and I turned around, staring into his eyes. I stormed up to him, standing over the chair, looking into his blue eyes that weren't blue. His pupils were dilated and I realised he was high.
I flattened out the dirt on the ground again, writing it out for the others.
"He's high? Man, I gotta get me some of that." Doc breathed.
"Why aren't you killing me yet?" Ethan murmured, his rage induced self had gone down to a tired, hollow version. "I'm gonna die anyway, look at me." I stared at him as he rolled his head from left to right, and the room was too silent. "Just..kill me. I know you want to." He laughed a bit, as I pulled out my knife from the holster. Addy stepped forward and grabbed my shoulder, and everyone's eyes burnt into us. "We don't do this, you're not a killer." She said, with both her hands on my shoulders; pleading me to not do it. Ethan had gone quiet, and I turned around to face him. His head was limp on his shoulder, and I moved into position behind him. I looked into Addy's eyes and felt as if she could read my mind.
I am a killer, I'm sorry.