After The Fall

Lasted, But Not Long

Hello everyone! This is the sequel to "Don't Let Me Go", so read that before reading this to avoid spoilers and confusion.

Now, enjoy the chapter!

~Xion, out!

...

Walking down the road, the only sound they hear is the soft crunch of gravel beneath their feet. The forest far behind them, Mark and his friends trek along the road, heading for the town they see in the distance.

With their supplies running low, and the chill settling around them, they move in silence. They're unsure of how much time they spent in the woods before finding their way out, but they know winter is almost here, if it isn't already.

The wind blows hard, and the group of friends aren't dressed for the changed weather. The town ahead gives them hope. They can get at least some supplies, and maybe even some warmer clothes. It's a ghost town when they finally get there. There are some abandoned cars on the side of the road,  but there's no sign of people.

The whole place is eerily quiet. They don't hear anything but the wind. The group all exchange glances with one another, unsure of if they should be worried or happy about the lack of people, dead or alive. Mark and Jack exchange glances for a moment and Ken frowns, taking a careful look around.

The town looks safe, but they all know that looks can be deceiving. Ken turns back to his friends, "We're going to split up and look for supplies. Nate, Mary-Jane, and I will look for weapons and ammo. Mark, Jack, and Stephanie will search for warmer clothes for the group. And Tyler, Felix, and Marzia will go for food. We meet back up here by sundown, whether you've found anything or not."

He looks over his friends for any objections, and finding none, he nods, "Let's go. And be careful."

With that final warning, the group of nine split into three groups of three, each heading for a different location. Ken's little group heads for a pawn shop, while Mark's group goes for the thrift store, and Felix's group follows the road to the grocery store.

Ken opens the door with ease, it isn't even locked. He goes in, Nate right behind him, keeping Mary-Jane safely behind him as well. Ken and Nate quickly scope the store out, knives in hand, Nate to the left side, Ken and Mary-Jane to the right. Nate calls from across the store, "It's clear!"

"Clear over here, too!" Ken calls back.

Nate nods and turns to the shelves, looking for any weapons that would be useful. The shelves are pretty bare, except for a few busted guns. He moves to the check out area, jumping over the glass case. Most of the glass is shattered, and there aren't many things left in the display, either.

Nate frowns and kicks a bag out from under the counter out of frustration. To his surprise, there's a lone shotgun lying there. He leans down and picks the weapon up, checking it over. It seems to be in good, working condition.  Nate picks the bag up he had kicked and it's heavy.

He sets the gun and the bag on the counter before opening the bag. Inside is full of shotgun ammo. He looks at the gun, wondering who left this stuff here, hidden but unguarded. Maybe they never got a chance to use it. He looks around, inspecting the floors. There is dried blood on the floor, but no bodies.

Ignoring the suspicion, Nate puts some bullets in the gun, then empties the bag's contents into his own backpack. He takes the gun then runs over to Ken's side, "I only found this cool gun that I totally call dibs on."

Ken turns to him, "That goes to whoever's the best shot. We'll figure that out later, feel free to hang onto it for now. I found some more effective knives, everything else seems to have been cleaned out. Let's go give the others a hand."

Nate nods and follows Ken and Mary-Jane from the pawn shop, heading to the nearest store they know their friends will be: The thrift store. Meanwhile, Marzia, Felix, and Tyler finally make it to the grocery store at the top of the hill. With a deep breath, Felix takes the lead and steps up to the door, knife in hand. He looks back at Tyler and Marzia, "Weapons at the ready, just in case."

Marzia nods, drawing hers. Tyler rolls his eyes, waving his knife to show he already had it drawn. Felix rolls his eyes back at him then looks back at the door. He peers in, but it's dark inside, and the glass is too dirty to see much through.

He tries to push the door open, but it won't budge. He looks back at Tyler, "Help me pry these open."

Tyler moves and together, he and Felix slowly work the doors apart. After a few minutes, the doors slide open enough for one person to barely be able to slip through. Marzia slips through flawlessly before the men with her can say anything against it. Tyler moves through next, with little resistance. Felix is the last, struggling a little, but he gets through.

They run to the shelves, instantly tossing every can they find into their backpacks. The more food they can get, the better off they'll be for awhile. Marzia rounds a corner away from the others and she stops dead in her tracks. Her eyes widen and she turns and runs back, but not before the hord of infected notice her.

Some of the infected sprint at her, grabbing her. She screams as she's pulled back around the corner, quickly thrown down as they get on top of her, biting into her arms and shoulders. Her screams fill the store and Felix runs to help her as Tyler stands in the middle of the isle, frozen by his fear. Felix stabs the first zombie he gets to, killing it before pulling it off his girlfriend.

She's convulsing on the floor, blood pulling around her and spilling from her mouth. One of the infected attacking her jumps on Felix, but he's able to kill it quickly. Felix is shaking, tears in his eyes and adrenaline and fear rushing through his veins. Marzia's screams stop and Felix is becoming quickly surrounded.

Tears fall down his face, looking at her one last time. He knows he can't save her. He quickly turns, bolting for the door, seeing Tyler had already fled. He gets to the door and frantically tries to get through, hearing the infected coming after him. His eyes widen, Tyler is standing right in front of him, trembling with his knife still in hand. Felix reaches out, "Tyler, help me, I'm stuck!"

Tyler's eyes widen and he cuts Felix's arm before running off. Felix yells out in pain, sobbing. He keeps trying to push himself through the door, and collapses to the ground on the other side just as the infected get to the door, reaching for their next meal.

Felix lies there, sobbing and screaming for the loss of Marzia, and the physical pain he's in as his wound bleeds profusely. He sees his friends running towards him in the distance and he closes his eyes, letting the despair wash over him, hoping that Marzia might at least be at peace, hoping she won't come back as one of the diseased corpses walking the earth.

Hearing his friends calling his name, he opens his eyes and tries to push himself up. He stands and then groans, not because of the pain he's in, but because he remembers the bags of food he and Marzia had are still inside, and Tyler had run off. Not only do they have less food than when they got here, but now they've lost another friend, maybe even two.