Annihilation

Chapter 11 - Detours and Disasters

TATIANA'S P.O.V

As I open my eyes, I notice that everyone other than poor old Lucien is asleep. Man, are we all really lazy or something? Or is it just that the movement we endure and the little hours of sleep we're getting is finally taking its toll on the group?

It could be either, to be honest. I feel so weighed down with the weapons and the consistent running, but I know that I have to persist if I want to live. Man, if we ever reach civilisation again, I will never take anything for granted.

It's true! We've been living off of poorly made Subway sandwiches for the past two days, and constant tinned food before that. If you handed me a plate with just onion on, I'd probably eat it all.

Okay, maybe not all of it, but I'd certainly be willing to try it. Onion is the worst food on this planet, but I'd take a bite of one if it meant that the five of us could live. That's really big of me to do, for my hatred of onions is almost as large as the hatred for the ravenous monsters that have followed us for however long it's been now.

"Hey, Lucien," I whisper, trying not to wake Elias. His head rests on my shoulder; his fringe hangs over his eyes, shielding him from seeing the disastrous world around us. "How long will it be until we reach the tower?"

"Not long now," Lucien mutters, looking at a sleepy Cassius in the front of the vehicle with him. Earlier, we stopped to change seats because Dyson had suggested dumping the back seats in the middle of the road and using the back of the car as a storage component for our mass collection of weapons. "We're gonna meet a friend of mine there. He's dying and he wants us to kill him before the zombies find his body."

"May I ask who he is?" It isn't exactly the politest question, but we aren't in a state where politeness ranks at the top of our priority list. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, I'm just being nosy."

"I'll tell you," Lucien sighs, looking down for just a second before looking back up to see where he was going. "We're off to shoot my dad. He fears this kind of stuff and has done ever since a prank that went wrong when he was roughly twelve. He's been hiding in an underground bunker and he's ill as it is. I'm not going to let him die to an undead freak. I'm gonna fulfil his last wish."

"That must be a horrible feeling," I gasp, thinking about murdering my own parents. The thought makes me want to cry, however, I hold back the tears. It isn't my story. "Is there anything I can do to support you?"

"Not really. Thanks for caring though, Tatiana," he smiles weakly at me, his eyes brimming with tears. "Wanna hear the summary of the prank before we wake the others and reach the tower?"

"Sure," I reply, showing an interest in caring for Lucien. Call me sick and twisted, but I really want to hear the story, imagine the scenario in my head. It's obvious that it's lingering on Lucien's mind, so why not let im spill the beans? It's not going to be told by me, for I'm probably going to die tomorrow or something. Reaching this radio tower is our last step towards safety, with Lucien's dad being the penultimate step. Sure, America probably knows about the outbreak somehow, but may have chosen to ignore it because of the little evidence they have.

"My dad was at a party," Lucien says, making me snap back to reality. "Not an alcohol party or anything, just a little gathering where he and a few friends had a sleepover. Typical London; two random kids broke in. One was dressed as a zombie; the other one was a vampire. Of course, they decided to bite the kids, including my dad. My dad bled a lot more than the others and ended up in hospital. He's feared this forever - the time when the world is overrun by walking corpses."

"That is tragic," I gasp, shocked by the story. What possesses people to bite random kids? Maybe they were high or something? I've heard stories where people have done drugs and ended up doing the worst things ever. "I'm so sorry for your dad and his friends. No one deserves that. Well, unless you count karma, in which case, I hope those kids are both zombies."