Dead But Not Gone

Between The Eyes

The next morning, I went around town to make sure the people were armed. However, I found that most of the houses were deserted. I headed to Xander's house to tell him.

"Most of the houses are empty," I reported, "So there's only 20 people here including us."

"Fuck. Why would they-" Xander looked down at his feet when he realized why they left.

"Sometimes people can't handle stuff like that. Even in the apocalypse." I explained.

Xander looked down at his hands and clenched his fists. He then turned away and said, "Rodney's on his way. Be prepared for the worst. Let's head to the medical center and check on Alex."

When we arrived at the medical center, we found Alex sitting at her disk with her face in her hands. When Xander went to comfort her, she snapped at him.

"Stay the fuck away from me!"

"Woah, Alex what's wrong?" He asked.

"You fucking killed Mike with your bare hands! Your own friend!" She shouted with tears in her eyes.

"Look, Alex he tried killing us." I interjected.

"You know I always have a reason to do the things I do." Xander defended himself.

Alex sighed and looked away from us for a second. "Was it really that easy?"

"I- I, well er- no. No it wasn't easy. I mean maybe when I was angry but the aftermath has been stressful. A bunch of people left sometime today. Those who stayed are scared out of their mind." He told her.

"Do you blame them? You killed a friend in front of their eyes. So what if he was a traitor? We should've just exiled him. Nobody deserves to go out like that."

"You're right."

"I know I am."

"Not trying to interrupt but Rodney's on his way and we gotta be ready just in case. Alex let's go." I added.

Alex nodded and got out of her seat. She wiped her tears away and grabbed a beretta out of her drawer. Then, the three of us headed out to meet Rodney at the gate. We heard the sound of an engine approaching and opened the gate doors. A truck came to a halt and the engine stopped. Rodney stepped out of the vehicle and two gun men came out with him. He smiled at Xander and clapped his hands. More men came from behind the truck, carrying a crate. They walked towards us and dropped it at our feet.

"Here you go," Rodney started, "Double just like I promised."

Xander walked up to the crate and looked inside. Sure enough there was food, medicine, and weapons.

"Where's Mike?" Rodney wondered.

"Dead. He was the one who tried killing us at the mall." I replied.

"How unfortunate. Well, I hope you all are well, and we'll be on our way." Rodney waved and got back into the truck with his guards. They started the loud engine once more and drove away. We dragged the crate in and closed the gates.

"Well that went better than expected." I joked.

"I guess so." Alex said.

After a couple steps, I heard a beeping noise. I turned to Xander and asked, "Do you hear that?" Before an explosion went off. I flew backwards as Xander protected Alex. Then, tear gas was thrown inside. The bitter taste entered my lungs and I started coughing. My eyes watered as I saw men enter Gunther with their guns firing.

The left over survivors heard the gunfire, saw the gas, and grabbed their weapons. Star was taking refuge in a house and killed the guy that was about to finish me off. Xander grabbed Alex and they ran behind a house. My body ached as I got to my feet and they were begging for a break but I refused to listen. I took out my pistol and fired through the gas, killing two people in the process. Rodney came inside with a gas mask on and killed a survivor named Joel. I went to shoot him but was tackled by someone. He started punching me in the face but I managed to roll on top of him. I pulled out my knife and stabbed him in the throat. His eyes fluttered as his blood came seeping out of the open wound. I stripped him of his mask and put it on.