Living Among the Dead

Hailey's POV

After Gabe left after the source of the walkers, the rest of us kept fighting. So much blood sprayed upon my glasses, making it so I couldn't see the people in black approach within the herd. Four tall figures stood in the crowd while the rest of their people were children. One adult held a yoga ball... and a gun pointing at us.

Bang!

Macie was blasted to the ground. I looked at the gunshot wound in her shoulder as it grew bloodier. Each of them pointed guns at us. Sarah and I helped Macie up and into the lobby. Luckily, we made it inside before the next bunch of bullets fired upon us.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

"They have too many guns for us," I whispered to the squad. "Surrender and maybe we won't die."

Sarah and I holstered our pistols while Savannah and Swetha put down their melee weapons. Samuel emerged from another room providing support to Alyson, who he sat against the wall next to Macie. However, Kai, Gabe, and Gavin were no where to be seen. The people entered the room bearing heavy arms. The one who shot Macie seemed to be their leader. She sat on the yoga ball that she had been holding, and each of the 12 children sat around her. Two of her people gathered up our weapons while she spoke loud and clear for all of us to hear.

"Let me finally introduce myself. My name is Cara. You all are probably wondering while we're her for you. It's a simple answer. We want your lodge. It has electricity, water, and food. I will give you an hour to get the hell out of here before I let these kids tear you to shreds."

"We aren't leaving," I stated. "This is our home."

"Correction: it's our home now," Cara sneered.

She continued her speech, but the only thing that I noticed was the man behind her facing the window. He pulled out a sniper rifle and stared down the scope. I figured that he saw a walker or something.

Bang!

I bullet passed through the man's scope and into his eye. Everyone was distracted by this, so I took my chance. The man standing behind me held a gun to my head, so I grabbed his pistol by the barrel, but it remained in his hand. I turned his handgun towards his face and pulled the trigger while it was still in his hand.

Bang!

The man fell to the ground and I picked up his gun. Savannah, who sat next to me, took the knife and grenade from the man. I shot the other man near us, and Sarah took his weapons. I aimed my gun at one man.

Bang!

Savannah rushed up to one woman with the knife she acquired. She slashed her abdomen and shoved something into the wound. When she yanked out her hand, the ring from her grenade remained on her middle finger. Savannah took off running away from her victim as the woman exploded, coating the room with blood. The blast took half of the kids with her, but Cara and the other half still stood. Cara whispered something to one of the children, and they all exited the lodge.

"If we're not going to live here," Cara smiled, "Then I'll make sure that you won't either."

I aimed the gun in my hand at her slightly aged face.

Bang!

All of the kids returned holding bottles of alcohol. I knew what this meant, so I commanded Sarah to help me kill them before they could reach us.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

For each kid that fell, the glass bottle and it's contents spilled all over the floor. We were sure that every enemy in the room was dead, but one child was still clinging to life. He pulled a butane lighter out and flicked the flint wheel while pressing the red button. A small flame emerged from the blue colored lighter and his arms dropped into the bottle wreckage with his last breath. I recognized the liquid in the glass bottles as molotov when the small fire from the lighter turned into a deadly blaze all over the floor. The fire grew rapidly to the wooden walls and into the ceiling.

"Out the back entrance!" I commanded the squad.

We ran through smoke and embers, leaving everything we cherished, such as memories and our weapons, in the home that was burning before our eyes. Not one of us didn't gasp for air once we reached the fresh air out back. Samuel even shoved a handful of snow into his mouth. I turned back towards the lodge, but the entire building was collapsing. As I watched the fire consume the remains of the charred rubble, Gabe showed up with Kai and sat next to me. I thought that I had also sen Gavin walk up to Swetha and Samuel.

As the fire died, I thought of all of the memories that we had created there. This was the place where Gabe made us laugh with his random outbursts, where Paige and Carly made us cry with there deaths. The gun that I used to shoot my first walker was in there. The axe that Kai used turn Kate evil was in there. The journal that Sarah had used to document comical quotes from each of us was in there. Savannah's bow, Macie's knives, they burnt too. I felt relieved to see Katie's katana with Gabe.

We had no home. Now, we needed a new place to live, for we were the living among the dead.

(To be continued in Book Five: Beside the Dying Fire)