We walked along the broken city; which was filled with empty cars, probably full of gasoline. We brought our siphoning tubes just in case we would find the gas we need for our vehicles. Around us were many shattered doors and broken windows that helped the sunlight reach the inside of each store and home.
We had learned a long time ago to make a lot of noise and draw them all out first before "borrowing" these things from all the dead people. "Who's going to make all the noise and take all the risks," I asked everyone which was met with an immediate head turn towards me. "What why me! I have Justin to look after. You and I know what would happen if too many of them came out at once, I'm going to sleep for a really long time." I said the sleeping part as to not upset Justin.
"You're the fastest and have eaten the most out of all of us," said Felix, trying to make me feel more important like he always does," plus you're young and need to get the exercise." Everyone agreed and eventually I gave in.
Felix has blonde hair and is only a year older than me. I'm 17. He has the most beautiful brown eyes and is just a little bit bigger than me. And I'm super super skinny. He has a fair mental wall, where he won't cry every time something happens but he will if it's super bad. I have jet black hair, and, as people have said, the most beautiful blue eyes on the planet. I feel like I have a strong mental wall except for really bad situations.
"Will someone watch Justin and Oliver for me?"
"I will," said Felix, who always did nice things for me.
"Go hide in that building," I said pointing towards a building that didn't seem to have any of them inside. "Bye bye," I said to Justin who gave me a cute bye bye back.
Justin is my three-year old brother who I've had with me since all of this began. He was and still is the cutest blonde-haired and blue-eyed kid I've ever seen. Oliver is my light brown dog that everybody calls Oli except me.
We found him one day when we were "borrowing" things from all the dead things. He was fighting off two of the things and I just couldn't leave him there to die, but I also had to test him. So I stabbed one in the back of its head and wanted to see what he would do next. He ripped the thing's head off and spit it towards his two other dog companions.
I got the one I saved and named him Oliver because that's kind of what he looked like. He has saved my butt left and right ever since. Felix took the golden retriever and named him Goldy. Creative, huh? Justin got the German Shepard and named him Dada, which he answers to surprisingly, after our father who he watched die by the things trying to protect our family.
I gave Justin a good bye kiss and he was taken away to the building where I looked just in time to see Felix stab two of the things that came from the building looking for a meal.
I went to the side of the giant row of buildings lined up along the street. I stood on the porch of what looks like an old town department store. I yelled loud and banged on the building. And then I waited. That was always the worst part, the waiting. Waiting makes me realize that what I've killed and things I've stolen were for survival, but guilt always creeps in. It makes me rethink to all of my decisions which in turn could be the end of everything I love.
As the things came out of the many buildings, I began to hear the usual sounds of moaning and hard footsteps. I began to smell the rotting flesh. I began to feel the handle of my knife, the leather feeling powerful against my skin. I began to see the things walking out, coming to eat the flesh and skin off my bones and make me become one of them. Everything was the same as it had always been since this all began except for what I saw next.
I saw a girl come out of one of the many buildings and kill four things with just one shot of her bow and arrow. She began to realize that she was not the only thing that was alive in that square. I raised my pistol just in time to stop her from shooting me with an arrow. I shot one thing beside her and saved her life. She then turned to the side faster than anyone I've seen do, and killed two more. That's when I realized that she was killing them with more than one arrow. There was an arrow in each of the things that she killed.
It's hard to explain but she looked and I could feel that she wasn't going to kill me. I turned away from her; the gun feeling heavy in my hands. The trigger felt good between my fingers and I couldn't wait to pull it again and again until every one of the things was dead. I then remembered my father's motto; every action that you make has a reaction later in your life. I know that noise will draw these things and loud noises could equal losing everything I cherish and love. Even if I've already fired the loud gun.
I put up the pistol in its holster and pulled the leather handled knife out instead. I stabbed one after another of these things. I was enjoying killing these things, even if it was sick, because it's one less thing that can take away the only thing that connects this life to my old life. If he is taken away, I will go insane and kill every thing that is still walking around feeding on everything that is alive. Then the worst happened.
I began to feel something grab me and pull me down. I saw the gruesome mouth gaping open with rotting teeth reaching for my neck. I could feel it grabbing and biting into me. I could feel it rip every organ and piece of flesh from my body. Then, I felt it leave me and I thought I was dead.
Then I opened my eyes that I had closed when I didn't know it. I saw the girl with an arrow pointed towards the spot where the thing was about to bite me. I saw Felix in the building trying to keep Justin from looking at me. I felt my neck, body, and face. I expected to feel blood and guts everywhere like I had imagined. But what I felt was skin and no blood, guts, or bites.
I began to turn towards the sound of the fight, which I could hear to my side. As I turned, I saw many more things with arrows in their heads. What I saw next, was my dog just barely dodging the thing's grabs and scratches. I was up faster than I had ever been. I had my knife in my hand, which I picked up from the ground and stabbing it over and over and over until there was nothing left of its head. I hated it because it almost took my life and my dog's would have been next.
I began to think that this new girl could have saved my dog before I did. I walked over and pushed her against the wall; accidentally making her hit her head and she dropped her bow. "Why the hell did you not save him with one of your arrows and skill?"
She began to speak, "Well, I was just in shock," she said with a heavy British accent, "you had given up and closed your eyes and accepted your fate of death." She paused trying to gather her thoughts, when her eyes widened and her heartbeat quickened. She tried to break free of my grasp, but it was too powerful for her. She was unsuccessfully reaching for her bow. She saw a thing.
I grabbed one of the two arrows in her quiver which felt like a strong spear. I had to let go of the girl for a few seconds. I saw the thing used to be an older woman that resembled the girl. I stabbed the arrow through its head and heard the girl give a whimper. I turned back around and I saw tears running down her face. "Finish what you were saying then tell me who that was."
She wiped her face with the back of her jacket sleeve and then began again. "Well, then your loyal dog came out of nowhere and got the taker off of you before it could bite and take you away."
"Who was she?" I asked her trying to sound tough, but actually feeling sympathetic towards her.
She smiled before answering in that deep British accent of hers, "She was my mother, Clarrisa Blackwood, I was named after her," she said with tears rolling down her face and gently falling off onto the ground. "She was the one who taught me how to fight and how to shoot my bow. She died protecting me and Racheal like she always did. I couldn't kill her and she came back." Then there was an immediate reaction.
"Racheal! Please, I need to help her! Let me go!" she began to yell and scramble trying to get free. Panic and despair filled her eyes, and she wanted free.
I let her go and she ran inside of the building screaming, "Racheal! Racheal! Racheal!" I heard her crying and searching for this girl named Racheal. I went around picking up her bow and arrows out of the things' heads. I then heard her scream about two minutes later, "Oh my god, you're okay and unharmed and not bitten!"
I went towards the building and when I looked in, I saw Clarrisa hugging another little girl that resembled her. "Are there anymore of you?" I asked startling her. She grabbed for her bow which wasn't there. "Here," I said throwing her bow and arrows.
"No, it was just me, Racheal, and my mother," she said with a flinch at the word mother. "Do you have a group or is it just you and your dog?"
"How old is she?" I asked simply.
"Three and a half. Why?" she asked confused.
"I'll be right back," I went to go get my group. When I got there Felix hugged me really hard and I could feel him sniffling as tears fell down his face.
He then whispered him in my ear, "I thought I lost you forever Zeke," he then kissed my cheek. "I love you," he said as he walked away to get Justin. I was stunned for a second and slightly blushing with the slightest smile on my face. I told Felix to have a pistol ready but to keep it hidden as we walked back to Clarrisa.
I slowly walked into the building and what I saw next was an arrow pointed in my direction. "Get out and never come back," she said in a stern and hilarious British accent.
"Justin, come here," after I said those three magical words, Justin hobbled into the room in one of the cutest outfits ever. As he entered the room, she lost her ferocity. She looked at him with so much longing and regret. "Group," and with the other magical word my group entered the small room. Even the dogs came in.
"How long have you had him?" she asked sounding hopeful.
"Since before all of this began," I said a sympathetic voice.
"Will you take her?" she said pleading with the point of her finger.
"We'll take you both," I said simply.
"Really?" she said showing her true age. Her long back hair and babyish face made her seem no older than 17 or 18. "Mom, give me a sign to either join or leave them," she said in such a low whisper that I think I was the only one who heard it. It was at that exact moment a church bell rang and it was very loud. "Thank you," she said to her mother. "Yes, we'll join you. Now let's search this town for supplies."
I went in a row when searching the buildings because I had always been like that ever before this thing began. I had a bad organizational issue. The first place was a jewelry store full of jewelry that I could never afford in my life before. Now, I grabbed a lot of jewelry pieces to give away on birthdays. I just hoped that everybody in my group wasn't dead before their next birthday. I grabbed watches, ear rings, necklaces, bracelets, rings, and charms.
"Why you grabbing jewelry?" asked Greg who I never thought was very educated.
"It's why are you grabbing jewelry," I said in a smart tone, "and it's none of your business.
"Alright, well you need to come look at this back door because you have the key and there is a lot of stuff inside that we could use."
"Thanks for using correct grammar," I said rolling my eyes, "and I'm coming." I closed my bag full of jewelry from this store. I went to the back, but before I got there, I checked the cashier's desk which had a pistol and fourteen bags of off brand chips that were still good according to the bag's due date.
Greg is kind of an idiot, but he can fight. Greg is a big Scottish-American guy who has black hair and a smile on his face. He always tries to find the best out of every situation. He's also a great fighter and can kill a lot of things.
I went to the back of the store and at the back door were Jessica, Greg, Felix, Justin, Clarrisa, and the three dogs. Justin gave me a wave which I returned kind of lazily because I haven't had a good sleep since this all began. I've been too busy protecting Justin from anything that would take him away from me.
I grabbed the key out of my back pocket and opened the door. Out of the door appeared a revenging thing that pushed me onto the ground. I had done this so many times that I had a knife and stabbed it after Felix who got there before I could. I leaned up and Felix hugged me as hard as last time. He then whispered he loved me again in my ear and kissed me on the neck.
"Why didn't you tell me there was a thing inside of that door?" I asked really pissed off that somebody didn't warn me. I looked over and saw Justin crying into Felix's pant leg.
"I didn't know it was in there, honestly," said Greg sounding sympathetic so I believed him and everyone agreed with him.
"Alright, we've all been through it more than once," I said kind of surprise by the thing, but not trying to show it. "Now, let's see what's inside of this room that almost got me to be put to sleep."
I walked into the room which was small but the payoff was huge. Those fourteen bags of chips couldn't compare to this reward. There were boxes full to the top with bags of chips and some were full overflowing out. There were boxes full to the top with full water bottles. There was even a box full to the top with melee weapons and guns.
"The store owner prepared for the worst," said Clarissa, which I had forgotten about for a minute.
"Yea," was the only thing I could say because I couldn't believe we found a stash like this, "things are looking up."
I calculated how long this food and water would last us and who would get what weapons. We have ten people in our group including the two new girls and the dogs. Everybody except for the young kids eats one meal a day which equals two bags or cans of food and a bottle of water a day. The young kids get three bags or cans of food a day and one or two bottles of water. The boxes were huge and full of individual bottles and bags. I say there was about a hundred bottles and two hundred bags per box. The boxes were about three feet tall and three feet across. There were nine boxes of bags and nine boxes of bottles. If my calculations were correct, then that is 1800 bags of chips and 900 bottles of water!
In the weapons box, from what I could see, were four pistols, a shotgun, a rifle, a bow, a crossbow, arrows, ammunition, four small daggers, a couple butcher knives, two baseball bats, five bludgeons, two maces, six hammers, six crowbars, three golf clubs, two sledgehammers, ten machetes, three sickles, two axes, a katana, and a knife sharpener. I didn't know who was getting what yet.
We left that building and filled up a coal truck not full of coal with our stuff. Clarrisa and Jessica stayed behind to search the rest of the building. They said there was nothing left.
The department store next door surprisingly had working flashlights, a ton of batteries, and rotten produce. It also had a couple of boxes full of cans of string beans and squash. The most surprising thing we found though was baby clothes that fit Justin perfectly and the cutest jacket that had a picture of Santa in a cartoon version on it. We also found clothes that fit Rachael and she seemed to really like them.
We then searched the restaurant that I guess was local because there was no sign. I guess it rotted and fell off. The restaurant was full of things because the door pulled out and wasn't enough pushing against the door to break through the glass.
"What are we going to do with all these takers?" asked Clarrisa which was met with an immediate confused reaction, "that's what I call them because they take things from people and never give anything in return."
"Oh okay," said everybody basically at the same time.
Then I looked around and one member of our group was missing. "Justin!" I reeled around just in time to see his hands reach the restaurant door and all hell broke loose. He didn't get they were dangerous until after he was in danger. The first one that tried to grab and bite him was an older man and he reminded me of a pedophile. I took out the pedophile with the first bullet of my pistol. Everyone was shooting now and Justin was up and hobbling towards me covering his ears to block out the loud gunshots.
"Stop shooting, it's going to attract more of them," everybody but Clarrisa with her bow, put up their weapons and pulled out their melee weapons. This was when we discovered that the restaurant had many more things inside than I expected. We spent a long time swinging our arms trying to protect ourselves and one another.
After we spent, what felt like forever, Greg yelled, "Hell, yeah! That's what I've been looking for!"
"Why are you excited? We all almost died and I had to force my little sister to stab them with a small dagger I found in the weapons box. My sister wasn't supposed to become a murderer at the age of three," she paused to take a breath, and then continued, "Even your leader had to force his little brother to stab anything that wasn't one of us!"
"I haven't had some good action like that in a really good time. So shut up if you know what's good for you." Greg said this as a threat and Clarrisa just rolled her eyes very annoyed which emmited an angry groan from Greg.
Everybody looked at Justin who had my dog, Oliver, and his own dog, Dada, tired from killing so many things. He wasn't bloody and there wasn't much blood on the dagger because he was raised to be peaceful and cute, not violent and scary. Then everybody's attention shifted towards Rachael. She didn't fare so well. Goldy was the only dog that was protecting her and she was bloody and had lots of blood on her dagger.
Felix came over and gave me the biggest hug yet. He told me he's never loved anyone like me then grabbed my hand. Our fingers interlaced then he looked me right in the eye. He then touched his lips to mine for a long kiss. Everybody in the group, that was paying attention was in shock, including me. I knew Felix loved me, but I didn't know it was this kind of love. I had always liked him and thought he was cute. As he kissed me, I could feel the tears rolling off his face and then he separated. He told me that he thought he would never get to do that and that hopefully I didn't hate him. I answered that with a great big hug and a kiss to the cheek. I whispered in his ear to meet me near the river tomorrow morning really early so we can talk about this later.
I picked my scared little crying brother up and comforted him. I gave him so many kisses, as I looked over at Felix and winked, and told him I loved him so much. Clarrisa did the same for Rachael who in my opinion was a little Clarrisa because she can fight and kill accurately.
After everybody was calmed down a little, I made an announcement, "Now, we need make a decision whether to leave this town with the amazing stash we've already found; or search this restaurant, siphon the cars, and the rest of the town; or just siphon the cars. There will be a vote in one minute.
I counted to sixty. I like the idea of keeping a democracy in our group. We stand in a circle, which I call the voting circle. I am the judge and get a vote.
"Welcome to the voting circle. Would anyone like to abstain?" No one did. "Okay, now you must explain why you made your decisions. I say we search the rest of the buildings and siphon the cars because we should milk it all the way" I said calmly.
"I guess I'll go next," said Felix, "I'm with you on this one, he said winking at me.
"I say we're best with just siphoning the cars and leaving as fast as we can," said Greg seeming conflicted.
"I'm with Greg on this one," said Jessica sounding more confident.
"Clarrisa, it's up to you," I said calmly.
"I'm with you and Felix," she said sounding conflicted.
"So its three to two, doing it all is the majority vote."
We then went inside of the restaurant. I first went to back of the store. In the back was rotten food and seasonings. I haven't seen seasoning to make food better since all of this began. This includes salt, pepper, sea salt, vanilla extract, turmeric, thyme, tarragon, sage, saffron, rosemary, parsley, paprika, oregano, marjoram, garlic, ginger, garlic powder, curry powder, cumin, cinnamon, cilantro, Chinese five spice, basil, mint, peppermint, and peppers. I used to be a chef and there were boxes full of each one. We can actually have good tasting food in the apocalypse. That may have been the only thing we found, but it was a very good thing. We then left the restaurant and packed the boxes of spices onto the truck.
Felix took me away for a minute. It still surprised me when he grabbed my hand and our fingers interlaced. His skin felt so soft between each finger. His face was so handsome and I couldn't wait until he kissed me. He started at my neck and roughly kissed it. Then he whispered in my ear, "I love you and I have since the first day." Then he kissed my lips and it felt amazing how powerful he was and how controlled he was not to do this sooner. When he pulled away, he took me back to the group and then we walked into the next place in line.
We then went to a doctor's office. The doctor's name was really strange. It was strange because you had never heard about anyone like this but the rewards around the office showed that he had won many rewards for being a great doctor. I had never heard of him though.
I walked behind the receptionist desk and I found pencils, pens, crayons, colored pencils, coloring books, crossword puzzles, word searches, and Sudoku. I was ecstatic because there were about 50 books of each and none of them were marked in. I guess he/she died before she could do any of them. I told my group, "I found entertainment," and held up a box to show them. We had been running low on stuff to do and playing the same old board games over and over again just got so boring.
We walked into each patient room. I was surprised that there were no things coming out of the many rooms but I guess there were none to be killed because it seemed all of them were in the restaurant.
Each room had some things we needed. Some medicine here, medical supplies there. It wasn't until everyone walked into a large room in the back that our luck came back again. There were shelves and shelves full of medicine. I also found a guide that told me what each medicine helps and when to give it to a "patient". I told them to grab every single bottle of medicine.
"We don't know what any of it does, though," said Greg actually using his head. I raised the guide and then he and everyone else except me and Felix started grabbing all the bottles and containers. I and Felix started grabbing all the medical supplies. We grabbed syringes and needles, bandages, peroxide, alcohol, Band-Aid's, Blood Pressure Monitor, Blood Pressure cuffs for both little kids and older, crutches, gloves and goggles, enough thermometers for each of us to have one, and I even managed to grab a couple wheelchairs.
After we left, I told everyone to search the homes and for Felix and Clarrisa to help me pack all of this stuff onto the truck. Clarrisa was on my left and Felix was on my right with his hand and fingers in mine. She then asked Felix a really weird question, "When did you know?" she asked sounding cocky.
"Do you mean about the gay thing?" he asked sounding even cockier.
She then said sarcastically, "No I meant about you kissing a guy in front of everyone."
"He's a great leader and he's really handsome. I've kind of always had a crush on him but I didn't fall in love with him till the first time he saved me." He then kissed me again.
The first time I saved Felix was in the hotel somewhere far away from here. He was new to the group and I didn't know if I could trust him. We were searching the rooms for anything because we were running low on supplies and I never want to run out completely. We found enough in that hotel. I had just opened a door across from where Felix had opened a door and a thing jumped on him. He was crying and screaming and trying to not get bitten. I saw the terror on his face and I stabbed the thing in the face. It fell over and when he got up I was knocked down by how strong he had grabbed onto me. I then leaned up and comforted him by letting him lay his head in my lap. I petted his hair to show him that he was a welcome member to the group.
After a while of this, I got up and I heard the worst possible noise. My little brother screaming and crying. Felix was running that way before me. He was jumping over sprawled luggage to get to the screaming. Justin was being pinned down by a thing and was about to be eaten. Felix got there just in time. If he wouldn't have been there, Justin would be dead. After he saved him, he picked Justin up and comforted him better than I ever could.
I gave Greg a beating that night because he was the one in charge of Justin that day. I gave him scars and bruises to show him that if he EVER did that again, I would kill him. I used bats, mallets, and even a knife to show him that I meant business. He also didn't get to eat for a week. I've kind of hated him ever since then. I've never put him in charge of Justin again since then. Felix always is. Felix takes great care of Justin and I love him for that.
When all three of us got to the truck with the supplies, we loaded everything on. Then I grabbed the siphoning tubes and the gas cans. I handed siphoning tubes and a gas can to each person. We were done siphoning the cars by the end of the day. We grabbed about ten gas cans full.
So, to add up everything that we got: jewelry; calculated 1800 bags of chips and 900 bottles of water; guns and melee weapons; enough spices to always have good food; entertainment; medicine and medical supplies; and gas.
We had a great day and won't have to do this for a while. The ride back was quiet and long. Felix slept on one side of me the whole way and Justin slept on the other. Felix had my right hand and Justin had my left. I just stared at the wall the whole way thanking some great deity for helping us find all of this stuff and I knew from that moment on that we were going to be okay. Hopefully.
It's late and I've had a long day. Goodnight.
YOU ARE READING
Things Happened
Mystery / ThrillerA story consisting of zombies, referred to as things, take over the United States. The things only objectives are to eat and make more. Follow the adventures of Zeke and his group as they face turmoil. Warning contains...
