Dead Trigger

Chapter 13

I looked out over Boston. The setting sun glimmering off of the skyscrapers, painting the city in a blood red. I had my arm wrapped around my sister, her head pressing up against my shoulder and her arms tightly wrapped around me, as if she let go I would disappear.

"You know I'm not going anywhere," I said as I kissed her on her forehead.

"I know," Marley responded, nudging closer to me. "Where were you?"

I knew she had a lot of questions, Hell, I had quite a few as well. "I'll tell everyone tonight, it'll just be easier that way."

Marley nodded her head. "I thought you were dead... Just like Mom and Dad."

Suddenly I just realized I completely forgot about my parents. I was so overjoyed by the fact that I found all my friends, and my sister, that I just didn't focus on it. "Oh my God... You didn't, you didn't see it did you?"

"Yeah," Marley responded sadly. "We were in the grocery store. Dad was grabbing food, while Mom and I were scavenging medicine at the pharmacy in the back. Then we heard some shouting and I thought I recognized Dad's voice. When we rushed over there, he was arguing with some man and then all of a sudden he pulled a gun and shot him."

"Marley..."

"But that wasn't even the worst part," She continued. "I ran head on to the stranger and shoved him to the ground. He dropped his pistol and I picked it up. Then I uh... I put a round into his head. The thing was, Dad was still alive. Just before he died the last thing he saw was me killing a man. I didn't even get to say goodbye."

I wrapped Marley in my arms, letting her cry softly into my shoulder. While the rest of my family was trying to survive, and having to do terrible things, I was stuck under rubble. I guess it's not my fault entirely, but I should've been there.

"I actually have something for you," Marley walked off and disappeared into a tent. I looked back at the city, that was how claimed by the dead. I wondered if it was like this all over the world? How hard were the other cities hit? "Here," Marley handed a black box with a key sitting on top of it.

"What's this?" I asked, reaching for the box and key.

"Open it," Marley answered. I examined the black box and realized it was quite heavy. I unlocked it and saw a matte black revolver with a wooden grip laying against the black foam.

"A revolver?" I asked.

"Yeah, the Rhino 60DS. It was Dad's. I know he said he didn't own guns, but he had this one which he told me about," I watched as her eyes looked at the gun and then me.

I chuckled at the thought of Dad not owning guns. I didn't mention about Dad's hunting rifle, it seemed like this was her last connection with him, of having that secret. "Thank you."

"Yo," James called out. "Time for supper," He held up a bunch rabbits from his hunting trip.

***

"What was the school like?" Taylor asked, a classmate of mine.

"Completely destroyed," I responded. "Only came across one Walker, but I'm sure there's more," I looked around the fire, at all my friends who could've possibly lost others.

"Do you know who the Walker was?" Cara asked.

"No, I'm sorry, I don't," I answered.

"Alexander," James called my name, getting up from the fire and walking over to the edge of the cliff that looked out into the city.

"Who are the others?" I asked immediately. We both knew we had to talk, it was just a matter of when.

"You already met Drake and his right hand man Fred. The bigger girl is Hannah, and the scrawny kid is Jyles," James answered. He already knew my second question. "We met them when scavenging supplies off 74. Our supplies were dwindling, which they had a surplus of, but they didn't have any guns. So, we combined forces."