I Will Live & Learn My Lesson

Towers (On My Way)

“So what’s the plan, stranger man?” Sean giggled as he leant forward in his seat to place his head on the shoulder of Ian’s.

They were driving down one of the back roads of some completely deserted town. They needed to avoid the motorways at all costs, considering that’s where a lot of the zombies would be – plus with all the abandoned cars, they would get nowhere. It’d probably be quicker just to go the way they were.

“Get to Ponty,” Ian stated simply, looking up into the rear view mirror just in time to catch Sean’s stare. A blush crept across the blonde’s cheeks and he looked away quickly, sitting back in his seat beside a sleeping Josh again.

“You blush a lot,” Ian stated as the car slowed down to a stop. He turned around in his seat so he could get a better look at him, “is it like a mental illness or something?”

Sean just shook his head and looked out the window, wondering why they’d stopped driving when he saw the deserted petrol tanks – they were fuelling up. Beside the petrol tanks stood a very lonely looking, red brick building. The windows of the wooden blue door were smashed in along with the long, large window beside it; someone had obviously gotten here before they could. Ian sighed in exasperation, reaching for the door handle before turning round to the pair. Sean nudged Josh awake, which Josh didn’t take too kindly; but just as he was about to protest and go back to sleep, Ian spoke up.

“I need you two to go into the garage and find anything edible,” he said in almost a whisper, “I’ll fill up the tank.”

“What If we’re attacked by zombies?” Josh asked, scratching the rough stubble that had started to appear on his chin.

“I’ve already thought that out,” Ian grinned proudly before swinging the car door open and climbing out, not caring whether he was making a commotion or not. He motioned for Sean and Josh to follow him, so they too climbed out of the car and followed him around to the boot. Once they got there, he’d already opened the boot door and was gesturing for them to look inside.

Josh’s eyes widened as he saw its contents, Sean wasn’t all that surprised. Inside lay six knives, a metal-plated baseball pat, two handguns, a rifle, multiple sets of bullets and a single grenade; as well as a few boxes of matches. Two of the knives had the initials ‘I.W.’ carved into them, and another was diamond encrusted with the same initials, the other three were just ordinary kitchen knives. The baseball bat was silver and looked brand new aside from the large scrape that almost reached the entire length of the bat; there were no blood stains or anything you’d expect on it! The rifle however looked more for show than anything; it didn’t look like it had been touched since the day of purchase – if Ian had even bought it, the metal was almost glimmering, it was that shiny; so unless the man spent every waking minute polishing the gun, it was highly unlikely that he’d even used it.

“This is crazy!” Josh exclaimed, picking up one of the plain kitchen knives and twisting it round in his hand until he got a comfortable grip on it, “where the hell did you get all this stuff?!”

Ian looked down at his worn out shoes, “I know a guy…” he said, almost sadly. But the sadness disappeared faster than it had arrived and he looked up, almost beaming with excitement. “Pick up something; I suggest a knife, considering I don’t think either of you are all that skilled in shooting a gun,”

“Fuck that!” Sean protested, a grin plastered on his face. He picked up one of the handguns, holding it in both his hands as he aimed it towards the door of the garage. “Come on, Joshie!”

He placed the gun in one of the loops on his belt, where it amazingly fit before he grabbed his friend’s free hand and dragged him towards the small building.

“Remember to take the safety off!” Ian called after them before walking around to the pumps so he could fill up the car’s petrol tank.

-

The garage was completely empty. Obviously there’d been more than one person in here, considering that a single person could not clear out this entire shop so quickly. The blue and white tiles were splattered with blood – that was a good sign! The shelves that sat in the middle of the room to form two aisles instead of one big shop had been pushed over and smashed to pieces, making it hard for the two to manoeuvre about the room. All the shelves were empty, apart from a single packet of cigarettes behind the till and seven bottles of water in the small fridge beside the door. You’d think that in times like these, water would be the first thing a person would take, considering it was probably the most essential thing for staying alive. The zombies couldn’t kill you if you’d already died of dehydration, could they? No. Exactly.

Sean walked over to the counter, and even though there was space at the side of it for him to walk round, he placed his hands on the wood and hoisted himself up so that he was sitting on it before lifting up his legs and spinning round. He jumped off the counter again and lifted the packet of cigarettes from its lonely place on the shelf; the plastic was still wrapped around it meaning that it was still unopened.

“Marlboro,” he pouted, holding the white packet closer to his face.

“Sean you don’t even smoke,” Josh laughed, tightening his grip on his knife subconsciously as he tried to balance all seven bottles of water in his arms.

“So?” Sean questioned and spun around on his heels so he was now facing the till. Obviously the people who’d already been here had their priorities right; the till was completely smashed, and judging by all the splintered wood lying on the floor beneath Sean’s feet, he reckoned that they’d stupidly tried to open it with some wood. That was Sean alright, always stating the obvious – even if it was only in his own mind. The till had been completely raided of all money, no one even used money now – there was no need for it, the world (or country) was in chaos.

“Sean, can you take these?” Josh asked from behind him, making the blonde jump slightly due to the fact he hadn’t noticed his friend close the space between them. “I’m gonna go check the back, just in case there’s anything back there.”

“Sure,” Sean said, walking around the counter this time before taking the bottles out of Josh’s arms. “But take my gun, I’m gonna go put these in the car,”

“Okay!” Josh laughed, sliding the handgun out from the loop of Sean’s belt before they both went their separate ways.

-

“What do you mean you let him go in the back by himself?!” Ian exclaimed, his face reddening in anger. Sean shrunk back a little, clenching and unclenching his sweating hands. “What if there’s infected back there?!”

“There’s not!” Sean defended himself, taking a step towards him, “they’d have come out if there were-“

He was cut off by the sound of three consecutive gun shots.

“You were saying?” Ian growled before sprinting towards the shop to help his newly acquired friend.