Life After Death

6

The funeral was the following morning. They buried him in courtyard before breakfast. Jason didn't eat, he just sat in the watch tower and cried. He caused someone's death, he'd been at the place less then a week and he was already messing things up!

After breakfast, when everyone was going to their jobs, the tower hatched opened, and Laura climbed up. "Hey" she said, she was holding a plate of eggs and toast. "I'm not hungry" he said blankly. "You have to eat!" "IM NOT HUNGRY!" Laura flinched, then walked towards him.

She knelt beside him and stroked his hair. "It's my fault" he whispered to her, I'm the reason Carlyle is dead" he started to cry. "Don't say that!" He started sobbing "It's true!". She pulled him into a hug, "no, no!" He cried on her shoulder. She kissed his head, he sat up and looked at her, then moved in. They kissed. He pulled away and she smiled, the hatched opened again. It was Alex, "Hey, the Runner's wanna see you".

As he was walking to the Runner's area, he cried again. He couldn't hold it back, he couldn't stop thinking about it, he had gotten another person killed. Just like Allen.

***

They woke up to a loud banging on the door. "Get back in that room!" Allen said, cocking his gun. Jason stoped in the hallway and stood against the wall.

Allen walked over to the door. He put his hand on the lock and turned it, then he grabbed the knob, and slowly twisted.

He yanked open the door and it rushed him. Jason screamed out of fear. Another one rushed into the building, Allen was not fending off two of them.

Jason ran to the bedroom, he turned to shut the door just as one of the undead sunk its teeth into his shoulder.

***

When Jason had gotten to the building, it had began to rain. He walked inside and everyone was sitting at a table. "Sit down Jason" Craig said. Jason slowly sat down. Reid looked at him, "look man, it's not your fault" "But- I ran into that compound! He died because of me!". "No" Damon said, "It was an accident!" "YEAH, CAUSED BY ME!" He sat up so quickly his chair fell back. He stormed out of the building with Reid behind him. "Look man!" "Leave me alone!" "No listen it-" Jason turned around and punched him in the face. Reid stumbled back, stunned. "I'm-Im sorry!" Jason ran towards the living quarters crying again. "Jason, Stop! Come back!"
Jason slammed his door and laid in his bed and cried.

He hadn't realized he fell asleep until he heard a knock at the door. It was Laura, "you feeling better?" She asked "no" she hugged him. They laid down together, "its not your fault" she whispered "its not your fault".

Six Months Later..

Jason woke up and stretched, he sat up and turned to look at Laura, who was still sleeping. He leaned over and kissed her check, then pulled the covers off him. He stood up and walked over to his dresser. He opened the top draw and grabbed a pair of boxers and socks, then the middle and grabbed a blue, short sleeve shirt and a pair of jeans.

He grabbed his shampoo, conditioner and toothbrush bag. He opened the door and walked outside. The headed down the hallway, a door opened and a women walked out with coffee. "Mornin' Sadie" he smiled at her, "Good morning, Jason!" She said happily.

Jason opened the metal door to the shower room and walked it. He walked in a big open shower, putting his stuff on a bench at the end, so it wouldn't get wet. He grabbed the knob to the shower and twisted it, water shot out of the shower head and steam started to rise.

When he was done, he changed and grabbed his bag. He walked over to the sink, turning it on. He put a pea sized dot on his toothbrush and started brushing. He put on deodorant and walked outside, headed towards his room.

When he opened his door, Laura was awake, brewing coffee. "Morning Honey" He said, walking towards her. He brought her into a hug. "I'm about to leave" "You gonna bring May?" He looked over at her, "I dunno, maybe".
"Stay safe" he kissed her, "Its me!" She pulled away, "Yeah. Oh god, it's you!" They both laughed, "shut up" he said playfully. "We'll I gotta go, love you".

He opened the door to the runner's place, "Sup" Damon said, jotting something down in a notebook. Jason looked at him, "Where we going today?" Damon looked up at him, "An old superstore". "Mmh.." Jason picked up an M4. "Where is everyone?" Jason asked. Damon pointed at the door, located in the back of the room. "Getting ready" Jason popped a clip in the gun, "what's even back there?". "Locker room" Damon said without looking up. Craig came out of the back, along with Reid, Marcus and Lizzie, the new girl, who joined them about a month after Carlyle's death.

Craig was now the leader of the runners, he had lost a lot of weight and thankfully, his fashion style changed. He no longer wore those horrible shirts with trees on them. Instead, he wore what everyone else wore, tactical gear.

"We ready?" Craig asked, while taking a gun from Reid. "Just about" Marcus said while strapping a vest on. Reid handed Jason a dog vest, Jason took the vest from him and knelt beside Mayo. He lifted her up and strapped the vest on. She licked his face. Damon grabbed the keys to the van and walked outside. Reid passed our duffel bags, "We're ready".

The store was further away then the van. About 3 hours, that's why they left so early in the morning,but it'd be worth it. Reid looked at Lizzie, "we never told you about the party, did we?" Damon turned to back, "Reid I swear to god, I'll crash this car and kill us all". Reid laughed "you wouldn't". Damon swerved the van off the road, "OKAY! IM SORRY!" Reid screamed and laughed.

It was 10:30 in the morning when they got there, so they still had plenty of time to search. Craig grabbed the handle to the door, "Alright, we stay together to clear the place, then we  separate and grab what we need." Everyone nodded. "Lizzie, Grab the other door. Lizzie swung her gun to her back, then pulled out her holstered, M9, with her other free hand, she grabbed the handle. "Alright..1....2.....3!" They both pulled open the door and.....

Nothing.

The store was clear. It was quite, too quite. Craig looked at them, "change of plans, everyone stay together!" He motioned for them to go forwards with two fingers, Jason looked down, "Stay close May". Reid walked in front of them, his scoped M4A1 pointed in-front of them.

They walked down the food isle, "What the?" Reid said. Lizzie ran up to him, "What is it?" Reid looked at her, then turned his head to the others, then back to the floor. "Someone's already cleared this, but took nothing!" Jason pushed through everyone, with Mayo behind him. When he got to the front, he saw the decaying bodies littering the floor. They all had bullet holes in their heads, fresh bullet holes.

Damon crouched down by one, "these- are recent". He ran his fingers across its head, blood. Reid stepped in, "who could've-" there was a crash on the other isle, then multiple footsteps running towards the exit. Craig ran after them, "Hey wait!" Everyone ran after the people.

They heard cars pulling up outside, and more voices. Reid held up a fist, he turned to everyone, with fear in his eyes he whispered, "Its Jared".