Godead

LIII

"Hmph!" Abby replied, puffing her cheeks. As Hannah shivered with fear, Claude turned to her.

"It's alright. We're not going to hurt you. What's your name?" he asked.

"H—Hannah," she replied tensely.

"Hannah, huh?" Claude asked, looking her over.

Hannah was a young woman in her late twenties, slim and unusually tall for a girl. She had wavy brown hair and wore a yellow tube dress, her brown eyes wide as she nervously eyed the others.

"The five of you were the only ones in the store, right?" Elsa asked.

"Y—Yes," Hannah replied.

"Bleh! This place reeks! Is there even any food left that hasn't gone bad?" Abby asked.

"The canned stuff is still fresh. That's mostly what we've been surviving on all this time," Hannah replied.

"Looks like there's quite a bit left, too," Claude said, looking to a nearby shelf. "We should tell the people at the library it's safe to come here now. We should also grab the guns those survivors were using."

"Ha! I don't need no stinking gun!" Abby said with pride.

"Me neither," Reuben added.

"Elsa and I do, though. And the people at the library, as well," Claude said.

He and Elsa gathered the guns from the slain militia, leaving the store as they kept a close eye on Hannah. As they returned to the library, Jake opened the door with surprise.

"You're back!" he said.

"How'd it go?" Caroline asked.

"Good. We managed to kill four of them. Hannah surrendered, so we decided to spare her life," Claude replied.

"We took the weapons from their bodies. Can you all use a gun?" Elsa asked.

"I can," Jake said, stepping forward. As Claude was about to hand him a weapon, Abby stepped forward.

"Not so fast!" she said, standing between them as she raised a brow at the survivors. "How do we know we can trust you maggots with these?" The others all paused, looking to each other before turning to Abby.

"...Don't worry. We won't try anything strange," Jodie said.

"Yeah! We'll just use 'em to kill them zombies!" Ryan said.

"Pah! Yeah, right! You're probably just itchin' to kill us and take all the food for yourselves!" Abby said with a wicked grin.

"That's enough, Abby," Claude said. "I'm afraid she does make a rather good point, though. Until we're sure we can trust you, we'll give you all one gun to share for the time being. We have a total of five. Elsa will keep one, Reuben will keep one, Abby will keep one, I'll keep one, and we'll give one to one of you."

"...Yeah, but which one?" Caroline asked.

"Hmm," Claude replied, briefly pausing in thought. "...Well, we're in the US, and this is a democracy, after all. I guess we should take a vote as to who we give the gun to. I vote Jake. He seems the most level headed of the group."

"...Heh. Thanks, man," Jake replied, somewhat surprised.

"I concur. He seems the most rational of the four, going by what little we've seen of you so far," Elsa replied. "What do you think, Reuben?" The boy gave a pause, looking the four over with stoic eyes.

"...I vote Caroline," he said. Caroline paused, smiling at the boy moments later.

"Why thank you, sugar," she said warmly.

"Caroline, huh? Abby? What do you think?" Claude asked.

"I don't give a flying f*ck! I say we don't give any of these idiots guns!" Abby replied, hands on her hips.

"Well that's two votes for Jake and one for Caroline. Now it's your turn. Who do you each think is most trustworthy? And please don't vote for yourselves," Claude said. The other four paused in thought.

"Well...," Ryan said, rubbing his chin.

As he was just about to speak, Jodie suddenly shrieked, looking out the library's front window. The others turned around, pausing in shock before warily stepping back. As Claude looked to the window, he froze, eyes wide as he recognized the winged girl standing at the glass.

"...Debra!" he exclaimed, Debra coyly smiling as she raised a brow at those gathered inside.

Meanwhile, back in Meadowbrook Research Labs, the quiet moans of caged zombies echoed through Flood's dark lab. As the scientist lay motionless on the ground, he slowly began to stir. He warily sat up, hand to his head as he looked around the room. Upon noticing Amanda's destroyed cell, he sighed, rising to his feet as he recalled what had happened. He then looked sideways, noticing Blair's chains lying on the ground.

"Two escaped convicts, eh? Such naughty little girls," he said, shaking his head in frustration. "Crenshaw was a prime specimen. Her loss is a great one for the scientific community. Unless I can track her down, that is. Her, and..."

He then moved to a cabinet, taking a key from his coat before unlocking it. He sifted through Blair's belongings, rummaging through her old police uniform. He then paused, slowly grabbing her panties with a wry smile. He held the small white boy shorts to his face, taking a deep whiff as he gave an eery grin. He then looked over at her badge.

"...Officer Blair Nightingale. A name that will stay on my lips for eternity!" he said quietly. "Though our time together was tragically short, I'll never forget your exquisite beauty, my dear! Fort Lauderdale Police Department, eh...? You came all the way from Florida, did you?" Suddenly, Flood paused in silence, light reflecting off his glasses as he gave a dry smile. "...I'll track you to the ends of the Earth, my love!"