Apocalypse

III Light In The Darkness

Lucas introduced me to his daughter, Iris which I immediately fell in love with. She was perfect, her smooth light skin, her beautiful brown eyes, and black hair and her gorgeous smile were the best thing I have seen ever since this shithole apocalypse happened and I also met her mother, Lucy, a fairly old lady about in her 30s with the same eyes and hair as Iris except she has bags under her eyes. After introducing me to Iris and Lucy. He talks to me about their situation about a gang of bikers called the Wolves who have been terrorizing him and his family. He then shows me the scars they left on his back for defending his daughter from them. "Son, please help me protect my family" he says with a hand on my shoulder
"Give me a place to sleep, a good meal and I'll try" I reply grinning
He then takes me to their gunsafe filled with many handguns, rifles and stacks of ammunition. "Holy shit" I whisper quietly as I stare in awe at the collection of weapons that could supply a small militia.
"These should help us out, plus I know you have that car stocked with weapons don't you?" He says calmly
"How the hell did you know?"
"Must be uncomfortable for you being in a house full of strangers, get to know the family they go to bed son, maybe they'll get used to you" he replies with a grin. I smiled and walked back to the living room where Iris and Lucy were sitting. The smell of chili filled the small living home as I sit down next to Iris. She hands me a warm can of chili and I immediately dig in. I use my fingers to grab chili and then proceed to lick the chili off of my hand, starving I continue eating until I realize that Lucy was staring at me judgingly.
"I'...uhh I'm sorry, it's been a while since manners actually mattered." I reply smiling nervously. Iris smiles and gives me a spoon as she heats up another can.
"So did y'all live here or something or is this just a place to hideout?" I ask trying to start conversation and ease the tension.
"No..this house was my grandmother's, she was killed during the outbreak a month ago." replied Iris
"Oh..my bad, didn't mean to hit a nerve"
"It's fine, I mean we're surrounded by death everyday so I think it's best that my grandma wasn't going through this." She replies as her eyes begin to water.
"Iris! Don't say that!" Replies Lucy as she slowly sheds a tear. "What the hell do you think Gram Gram would say if she heard you!"
"She can't hear me mom! She's gone!" Replies Iris as she gets up and storms into the other room.
"Believe her or not, but she has a point." I reply while eating my can of chili
"What the hell are you saying?"
"Could you imagine how much harder it'd be to take care of another mouth, one who could most likely not hold their own. It's a fucked up thing to say but look all around us, shits fucking fubar." I respond scraping the bottom of the chili can. Lucy sits there burying her face in her knees, tears going down her face. "It sucks ass, I know it does, I lost my family to that shitstorm." I reply while slowly getting up. "There's not one day where I don't wonder what I could've done to save them." I grab a blanket from the ground and place it over her shoulders. "She's in a better place though it's okay to mourn your loved ones, but if you keep wishing for them to come back then you'll be highly disappointed. Honestly the only thing I've learned the past month. Get some rest, I can tell you haven't slept well in days. And thank you for the food." She nods as I grab a can of chili and walk back into their bedroom where Lucas is sorting out ammunition.
"Yo, come eat man, chili's getting col-what the fuck do you think you're doing!?" I yell as he presses the pistol against his head and slowly puts his hand over the trigger.
"You can take care of my family now" he says smiling as a tear runs down his cheek.
"No, fuck you! I'm not gonna fucking bury somebody, not in this fucking heat, and especially not someone I barely fucking know! Put that fucking gun down!" I yell as I run up to him, grab the gun and backhand the back of his head. "You've got a fucking family to protect and you were about to kill yourself?!" I yell furiously as I toss the gun onto the bed.
"I'm sorry, it's just too much, they took my eye, raped my wife and tried to rape my daughter." He says sobbing while hammering his fist onto the ground.
"Then get them the fuck back! Turn that sadness and tears into rage, and anger, stop fucking begging for mercy, and search for vengeance. Make them fucking pay!" I snarl as I made my fist tighter. Lucas continues to sit there speechless as I begin to walk out of the door. It's up to you, fight for yourself and your family or give them what they want. Either way, you're gonna have to pick up that gun." I say as I walk back into the living room and Lucy takes me over to my bedroom.
"I'm going to have to lock you in, for safety purposes." She says quietly.
"It's fine, I understand. Good night" I say as I close the door and pull off my shirt and boots. I lay down feeling my body slowly sink into the bed, giving me comfort that I haven't felt in weeks. I slowly close my eyes and I listen, footsteps slowly going down the steps. Lucas' sobbing ceasing.
"That kid, he's something else isn't he? I don't know if we even have a chance against those bikers but, he's given me hope, stupid kid" Lucy's kind words of encouragement
"We can get through this honey, I believe in us, I believe in him." Replies Lucas. Tired, I get out of bed and hammer on the floor.
"Go to bed damnit, who knows what time we gotta wake up!" I yell at them while smiling
"Goodnight Erick!" They yell back while laughing. I get back into bed, my shotgun, leaning against the bedside cabinet. I smile and yawn as I stare at the ceiling, wondering how I got here. I continue staring at the ceiling for about an hour. I charge my somewhat useless phone and roll over into the soft pillows as I close my eyes. Immediately I see a biter in front of me, grinning, the same man, dark pitch black eyes, and that horrible bleeding grin.
"Sooner that you think!" He yells as he laughs maniacally. I get out of bed as fast as I can, in the process tripping over the sheets and falling.
"Oh shit!" I whisper as I listen for Lucas or Lucy to wake up. Silence. I sigh in relief and slowly get up until the door unlocks. I reach for my shotgun and aim at the door, the door slowly opens, revealing the smooth light face of Iris. Her dark brown eyes shining with the moonlight. She slightly smiles at the sight of my awkward yet menacing pose on the ground.
"H-hey, sorry" I say as I rest the shotgun back onto the cabinet and stand up and walk towards her. "What's up?" I ask, wondering why she's here. She stays quiet and looks into my eyes, her shy smile slowly widening. Her eyes forming small tears that slowly run down her cheeks.
"Thank you!" She says as she wraps her arms around me and buries her face in my chest.
"For what? I haven't done anything." I say as I awkwardly pat her back, my face feeling redder than the chili I ate earlier.
"My mom and dad haven't gotten along this well since Gram Gram died. You've taken their mind off of death. Given them hope. So thank you so much!" She says as she squeezes me tighter.
"Yep, yep, it's fine, don't gotta squeeze me. Oh fuck" I say as she literally squeezes the life out of me. She let's go and wipes the tears off of her eyes.
"So that all you needed?"
"C-could I sleep with you?" She asks nervously as she moves a lock of her hair behind her ear and tries to hide her blushing.
"Why? You barely know me. Why trust me?" I respond trying to understand her intentions.
"You've helped up this much, why would you hurt us right now? Plus it's really cold tonight, and I see my mom didn't leave you any blankets.
"Well I guess you can, go ahead." I respond, tired, needing sleep.
"Thank you!" She says excitedly as she runs past me and into bed. Weird girl, I walk towards the bed and lay down, realizing I'm not wearing a shirt.
"Oh shit, hey, you want me to put on a shi-" I'm interrupted by her hand pushing my chest down onto the bed as she cuddles up next to me and lays her head on my chest. I shrug off my nervousness and close my eyes, the snarling demon gone, my mind is clouded with her scent, my nightmares are gone. As she rests her head on my chest I realize how badly I smell. Like burnt, sweaty grass and dirt. Embarrassed I try to move away from her, but she pulls me closer to her. I lower my guard and hold her close as I close my eyes and slowly fall deep into sleep, ignoring the white bright light out of the corner of my eye with a small vibration following it.

I was awakened by the sounds of distant yells and loud engines, I slowly get up as Iris looks up at me. Loud footsteps are heard as Lucas runs up the stairs and opens the door to my room and yells "They're coming, here's a rifle, and take this, he threw me the keys to my explorer "If things get too crazy out there and I go out, just promise me you will keep Iris safe?" He completely ignores the fact as to why Iris is in my  room next to me.
"You got it bud" I reply as I put on my boots and Iris grabs the rifle. "You stay here I'll go downstairs okay?" I tell Iris as I put on my shirt and kiss her in the cheek then I grab my shotgun and run down to face the bikers, I run to my explorer and grab the body bag filled with weapons and run back into the house, handing weapons to Lucas and Lucy and showing them the ammo. As they grab a weapon the gang members start to appear around the corner of the red house across the street. Lucas grabs his hunting rifle, some ammo and runs upstairs to the roof to take out some from a distance so our fight would be easier. The gang members were on dirt bikes and ATVs carrying nothing but sawed off shotguns and pistols. It was about 10 of them taking on the 4 of us. I aim down my sights and before I even pulled the trigger he drops to the floor the ATV spinning out of control and flipping over on top of the passenger. The madness began right after that first shot. We killed 5 of them before they reached the door but we were too late. The door was kicked open and a barrage of bullets were flying everywhere over our heads and into my shin.
"Fucking shit the bastard fucking shot me!" I yell as I return a few rounds back and stare at my bleeding shin. I tear off my shirt and wrap my shin to stop the bleeding. I turn back around only to see four more guys run inside the house, we run down the hall to the kitchen and I get up and flip the table on its side for cover. A sharp pain pierces my arm as I flip the table and I drop to the ground behind the table
"Fucking fuckers!" I yell loudly as my arm gushes blood. Lucas then comes downstairs with Iris following and fires shots at the gang members killing 2 of them. The table gets too damaged and we split up behind 2 walls Lucy on the right corner and I'm on the left one. I turn around to fire some more shots but the recoil was too much for my right hand. Then Lucy ran out of ammo and took a chance to get more but gets shot in the chest, barely breathing she crawls to my side of the wall and hands me the ammo she grabbed when she got shot. She grabbed my arm and pulled me down whispering something I couldn't really understand due to her shortness of breath and the gunshots. "I....Iris... K... Keep..S.. Safe" I gave her a nod of understanding and agreement then she rested her head on the floor and closed her eyes. I return to the battle only to see Lucas get beaten to near death and some old perverted pedophiles grab Iris and start poking and stripping her. Enraged, I grab my knife in my boot and plunge it into the unsuspecting old mans back then proceed to slit his throat open. The other walk up to attack me, until a horde of biters about 20 or so yards away catch our attention and they go outside to kill most of them leaving the leader of the Wolves in the room fighting against me. The leader smiles and dances towards me waving his machete around like if nothing was happening
"Wow you are an idiot for helping these people! I must say though, you have balls kid, no intelligence at all but you do have balls." he says while changing his tone and swinging his machete. I limp away from the attack and grab the bat on the counter and counterattacked with a hit to his back which seemed to have no effect on him since he just shrugged it off and elbowed me in the face then threw me across the room. I slowly get up and swing again and strike him in the side if the head. His face turns blank and stupid so I ram him into the wall, shattering the drywall. I grab his blade and stab it right through his hand, hard enough to penetrate the wall and keep him stuck there. I grab the bat and slam the damn thing onto his head. He passes out and I fall back breathing heavily feeling a sense of accomplishment. Until screams pierce my ears as Wolves are mauled outside and biters getting through the fence and filling up the front yard. I wake Lucas and carry the scarred Iris outside the back door carrying as much things that we can. As we exit the door I see Lucy leaning against some boxes, she reaches inside and pulls out an old gas can and throws it against the wall pouring gas everywhere, she lights a flame and sets it ablaze. I turn around and see her body fall to the ground and is consumed in flames.
"Lucy! Yells Lucas as he tries to get her
"She's gone leave her!" I yell as I pull him back and slowly limp towards the car.
Out of the corner of my eye I see the Wolves leader regaining consciousness and yells out "Damn you boy, damn you all to hell! This isn't the last you've seen of me you sonuvabitch!" as a large wall of flame rise between us.