School Yard Apocalypse Book 1: Dead Flesh

Chapter 8: Save Our Souls

(((A bit of an intense and quite gory chapter for you guys. Picture of David above! Enjoy!! <3 Song above is 'Help Our Souls' by Nihils (The Urban Contact Remix) )))

These days waking up always seemed to be a struggle. I hated opening my eyes and realising I was still in this reality. Everything ached. I tried to move but decided against it because even just trying to bring my hand up to rub my eyes was painful. I was lying on my back, a sticky substance soaked the ground beneath me. But something was different... it wasn't concrete, it was grass. Sunlight was shining down from above me. Only now did I realise the ruckus going on around me. Gun shots could be heard, blurry figures ran past me and around me carrying their weapons, a few pistols too. I recognised Jamie holding his colt, just standing there in shock, but then he dropped it. Suddenly I felt movement. Someone was pulling me by the arms away from Jamie and the others. A face appeared in front of me and gasped once they realised I was awake. It was Lydia. She was saying something to the others but I couldn't focus on what. Then Miles and Dean appeared by my side. I tried to hear what they were saying... 'Don't drag her!' Lydia exclaimed, 'pick her up!' With that, two pairs of strong arms wrapped around my legs and shoulders. I was lifted off the ground and carried... somewhere. There was screaming coming from behind me, blood scattered here and there. My mind was racing. I was so confused, what is going on?

TWO HOURS EARLIER
Mitch
They strapped me down despite my struggles. I needed to get back to that room. Sarah was still in there probably bleeding out. I couldn't believe these people would do this to us. Dean, Brooke and Maeve were here too, what if they had already been sitting here like Sarah did? What if they were already dead? I tried to get my hands free but it was no use.

The guy named Richie locked the door leaving darkness once again. My skin was screaming, my head hurt, I was woozy and I wanted to vomit. Other than that the torture process wasn't as bad as I was expecting. They did a number on me but it was nowhere near as bad at what they must have done to Sarah. She was in there a lot longer than me. When they started to electrocute me with their zappy thing I blacked out and felt nothing until I woke up again being taken back here. I shambled over to where I thought Sarah was and felt around to find her. Then I felt something. Something warm and sticky on the ground. I shuffled towards her and eventually found her neck where I put my fingers to her pulse. She still had one. I sighed in relief.

Not that I could tell time but I was thinking it was around an hour later. I was feeling better but I was worried for Sarah. I ripped off a piece of my shirt and tried to wipe some of the blood from her back. There wasn't much other than that that I could do to help her. I just prayed that someone would come and save us.

The door opened suddenly bringing in light. 'Let's go boy, we're moving' Ricky called out. I clenched my jaw and reluctantly followed his orders with Sarah in my arms. 'Richie we have more visitors!' Riley yelled in a sing-song voice.
'Coming!' Richie yelled back, 'don't try to run or I'll kill you instantly.'
I nodded before he turned to meet Riley at the door. 'Who's this?' I heard a familiar voice ask.
'This is Richie, my brother.'
'Okay... and has he happened to have seen a group of teenagers?'
'Teenagers you say?' Richie asked.
'Yeah, three girls, two boys, all brunette but one with black hair?'
'No sorry.'
'Huh... well I guess we'll be going...'
No I was about to miss my chance! I didn't want to alert Riley and the others but I had to do something to get the person at the door's attention. I rushed to a nearby window, wiping away the dust to look outside. I slowly lowered Sarah to the ground and looked out the window. Emily, Jack and Miles were standing at the front door. Miles was the one talking to Riley and Richie, he was the familiar voice. I needed to get their attention soon before they left. I looked around me and saw a mirror hanging on the wall behind me in the hall. I grabbed it carefully, as to not make too much noise, and reflected the sun into Mile's eyes. He flinched before searching for where it came from. When he saw me in the window his eyes went wide. He mouthed: Mitch? and I simply nodded. I gave him a frantic look before he turned back to the people. 'Okay, well goodbye then' he said and grabbed Emily and Jack's arms. Right before he left he gave me a look, I could tell what he was trying to say: we'll be back, hang on. I breathed a huge sigh of relief that we were finally going to get help. They were going to save us! We only had to wait until they came back with weapons and more people before we'd finally be out of this hell hole. I let my legs give out and slid down the wall to sit next to Sarah. She was still unconscious, her eyes closed and breathing slow. Hopefully they can get us out of here before... I couldn't bring myself to think about what happened if she stopped breathing. Richie came back and saw me by the window. Oh no. 'That was close' he snarled. Wait... he didn't know. 'Come on, we need to leave now' he continued as he grabbed a chunk of my hair and pulled me up... ouch. I took Sarah in my arms again and carried her with me as Richie led us back into the living room. Riley was there in her chair with Maeve, Brooke and Dean on the ground near her. They were all awake but only Brooke and Dean were tied up. They seemed fine, so I guess they weren't tortured, except for Maeve of course. She had a split lip, several bruises and cuts, a black eye and swollen cheek but other than those things she looked okay. She was quiet unlike the others who were still squirming and groaning despite the gags. When they saw Sarah in my arms they all had wide eyes. Brooke started squirming more with a furious look, Dean stopped with a worried expression and Maeve started to tear up. I swallowed the lump forming in my throat and without thinking, sat myself on the ground with her in my lap. It was no joke that I had become sort of protective of her, like she was my sister or... girlfriend... anyway the point was that I had formed a sort of bond with this girl and I wasn't going to let her die. The others seemed to notice this as dean gave me a sympathetic expression and Maeve's eyes moved between her and me repeatedly. I brushed some hair out of her face and brought a smile to my lips. Please wake up I begged her, don't leave me. Riley stood up with an amused scowl and came up close to me. 'Well look at these love birds' she said venomously. I narrowed my eyes and looked into her dark grey ones. Her eyes were like the colour of death, I could see the crazy radiating from her. She was a psychopath that was for sure, the only thing I didn't understand was why the other four idiots let her be their leader. She looked like she was willing to kill them in a heartbeat if they stuffed up. If I were them I would have gotten the hell away from her as soon as possible, even if she was my sister. It was like she read my mind because the next thing she did was slap me hard across the face. I winced but kept my cool as she raised her hand for another blow. 'Hit me all you want' I spat at her, 'I don't care!' This made her stop and lower her hand. She looked confused for a few seconds before she broke out in laughter. She was even scarier when she laughed but I tried not to let my fear show through my expression, I kept a poker face the best I could. Maeve and Dean looked scared though while Brooke gave her a glare that looked like ultimate murder. If looks could kill... Riley grabbed a fistful of my shirt brought her face closer to mine. I clenched my jaw and stared right into her eyes. I wanted to show her that I wasn't scared, that she couldn't affect me. She saw my expression and smiled sweetly. 'Jo, grab Harry, Richie and Ricky grab the others, we're leaving right now' she ordered. I hadn't even noticed when the other men had entered the room but they did as they were told and seized my friends. Ricky was having a bit of trouble with Brooke but he managed to hold her despite her frantic squirming. Riley pulled me up, she was surprisingly strong, and dragged me along. I held onto Sarah tightly, making sure to not drop her and injure her further. We were taken out to the backyard where a van was parked on the grass. The intense sunlight made all of us squint after being in that dark house for who know how long. It looked to be the middle of the day by the way the sun sat at the very top of the sky. My stomach growled, remembering it was lunch time and I hadn't eaten in... in fact I had no idea how long... they hadn't fed us at all since they kidnapped us. Every now and then someone would give me water but never food. Maeve and Dean were shoved into the back seat of the van. We need to delay them as long as we can, the others are coming, we can't leave. Brooke struggled against Ricky, refusing to get into the van. I tried to do the same thing with Riley but it was hard to do so without dropping Sarah. I looked at the others in the van already, they seemed to catch on to us and tried to escape as well. I swear this van looks familiar I suddenly thought. My mind wandered back to the school... the van on the road... the one that blocked Brooke and nearly got Sarah killed... this was the same one! They must have been watching us... waiting until we were vulnerable, when we were split up and still distorted from being in a new environment. But why did Riley say we had taken Northpoint from her when she could have gotten it before us? She had been watching us before we even went there so why did she want to punish us? I was so confused. Brooke broke my train of thought by kicking Ricky and making a break for it. She had gotten to the gate when I heard a shot. Richie had taken out a pistol and shot it right at Brooke. My breath caught in my throat as I slowly turned back to Brooke. Her eyes were wide but... I couldn't see any blood on her body. She stepped to the left and I saw it, a bullet hole right beside her on the gate. He missed, but just barely. 'The next one won't be a warning shot girly' he warned and Brooke stood down. So now we knew that they had at least one gun. We couldn't run if they would just shoot us down. What were we going to do? The others still weren't here! Where were they!? Richie went over to Brooke and pulled her back to the van. He held his gun to her head and she reluctantly got inside. Next was Sarah and I. Ricky took Sarah from me and placed her in the back of the van. Then Richie brought his gun to my chest and pushed on it, telling me to get in or else. I slowly turned around and started to climb in. No, this is bad. No, no, no! We can't leave. Richie pushed me again with his gun sticking into my back. It was now or never, I had to do something. I took a deep breath and prepared myself. One... two... three... GO! I turned quickly and grabbed Richie's gun. He fired but it missed me by an inch. My foot lunged towards his... you know what... and he doubled over. That's rough man, too bad men are so weak in that area, it really is a huge disadvantage. Now the gun was in my possession. I aimed it towards Riley's head just as Joseph pulled out his own gun. Despite the pistol pointed towards her she was still smiling. 'Stand down or I put a bullet hole in her head I threatened. Jo and Ricky glanced at each other in worry. Harry, who Jo had brought out here and was lying on the grass looked up at me with surprise. I bet he didn't see that coming. I smirked at the upper hand I now had. They can't do anything. Maeve got out of the van and smiled at me. 'Can you try and get Brooke and Dean free?' I asked her. She nodded and looked around for something sharp. Jo finally gave up and dropped his gun to the ground. I smiled again. Things were finally starting to go our way. Then it happened. No, no, no! Why now!? A wave of nausea washed over me and I fell to my knees. My head pounded harder and harder until it felt like it would explode. Jo saw the opportunity and took his gun. He aimed in right at me and time slowed down. I saw his finger start to push down the trigger. I closed my eyes and accepted it. I was going to die. Just as the gun was going to fire, something else happened. Blood splattered everywhere. He dropped the gun and clutched his shoulder which now contained a large hole. When he fell onto the grass I saw who had shot him. Jamie held his Colt up with a smirk. Then he turned to Riley and pointed it at her head. Caitlin and Tate came up from behind him. Caitlin had her crowbar at the ready to bash anyone's head in that dared to fight back. Tate held his axe at Richie's throat who had just gotten up after the whole kicking in the crotch thing. Miles, Xanna and a few of the others came through the gate then and surrounded them with their weapons. Miles took the pistol from me and patted me on the shoulder, letting me know that he would use it well. I tried to smile at him but my body was still screaming in pain. I held my head in my hands and tried to force it to stop but obviously will power wasn't enough. This had happened when we were going to leave the school and only a little while ago when Sarah and I were in that room. What was this sickness and why did it only affect me at certain times? I coughed and clutched my middle, somehow thinking that would stop me from throwing up. But it happened, my empty stomach somehow managed to conjure up something to exit my mouth. I coughed and spit out the disgusting aftertaste onto the grass. Caitlin rushed over to me and looked at my face. I knew I was pale, the blood would have left as soon as I had hit the ground. There were probably bags under my eyes too. She rummaged through her backpack and pulled out some pills. I took them and swallowed them dry. It was especially hard since my throat was so dry but they went down. A few of the others climbed over the fence behind us and joined the platoon. It was over. We won. Jo, Harry, Richie and Ricky held up their hands in surrender but Riley laughed. Everyone directed their attention to her and Jamie got closer with his gun. 'Don't move' he ordered but she just kept laughing. 'You failed me boys!' she laughed harder and turned to her brothers, 'I trusted you but you failed me!' This girl is seriously messed up. Jamie shoved her and held the gun right up against her head. 'Shut up!' he yelled but she didn't. She looked him in the eye and he visible shook. 'What's wrong with you?' he asked and she finally shut up.
'Me?' she asked innocently, pointing at herself as if he could have been talking to someone else.
'You're a psycho' he whispered and she narrowed her eyes.
'I'm a psycho? Really?' she asked in genuine curiosity.
Jamie just stared at her and pushed the gun harder against her head. She was about an inch away from his face when she kicked his knee. He stumbled and she started laughing again. I could believe what she did next. She ran up to Richie first and ripped his neck open with her bare hands. Miles shot her in the arm but she ignored him like she didn't even feel it. Richie screamed and fell to the ground dead. Then she tackled Ricky and clawed at his face. He was crying out for someone to help him but Miles was reloading and Jamie just stood there in shock. Xanna held her metal pipe up, ready to bring the barbed wire end down on Riley's head but Riley quickly dodged and punched her in the stomach. She gouged out Ricky's eyeballs then bit a chunk out of his neck causing him to scream and fall as well. Then she rushed towards Joseph who already had a bullet wound in his shoulder. These people were evil, there was no denying that but... they didn't deserve this, it was horrific. She punched him hard in the face. Tate ran over with his axe to try and stop her but again she was too fast. She grabbed his axe and kicked him causing him to let go and stumble over. Jo was begging for mercy but she acted as if she didn't hear him. She kicked him over and... cut his head clean off of his body. I would have thrown up again if I had anything left in my stomach. It seemed some of the others weren't as lucky. Miles finally had his gun ready. He shot a few times at her, some shots missing but one or two hitting her in the chest. She still didn't stop though. Tate's axe lunged at Harry but was blocked by Caitlin's crowbar. She swung at Riley's head and actually made contact. Riley finally hit the grass, blood soaking her clothes. Just when we thought it was over she sat up again. Her breathing was shaky and her movements slow but she managed to do one last thing. She brought up Tate's axe and dropped it above her head. It's weight mixed with gravity was enough to slice straight through her head when it hit. Harry screamed, someone else vomited, Caitlin fell to her knees with her jaw on the ground, Jamie dropped his gun and Sam fainted. What just happened?