The Last Survivors Book 1

Chapter 9

The group spent a few minutes introducing themselves again and they explained their story again to Resh and Rob. Then they both shared some of their own stories. Damon was glad when it was over.
'What's in the rest of this building then?' Rob said.
'Our supplies and beds are in the main part of the church.' Micah said simply, eyeing Rob, then he glanced at some of the others in the room. 'You've given us an opportunity but we need to go and discuss it, in privacy.' He emphasised the word privacy while looking towards Scarlett. 'Come in guys let's go and discuss everything.'
Micah led his people out of the room, through a short walkway and into another part of the building.
'What was that about?' Resh said, confused.
'Didn't he tell you out there?' Bri came loping forwards, waiting to pounce like a lion.
'Tell me what?' Resh said, his frown deepening.
'Bri!' Damon warned but she gave him a menacing grin. She was enjoying it.
'Scarlett is a vampire.'
'W-what? No fucking way.' Resh spat.
'It's true.' Bri said and Liam nodded in agreement. He still looked terrified. Every time he looked at her, it was a mix of revulsion and sheer curiosity. It is as if he could not really believe that a cute little girl like that could also be a vampire.
'Damn it Bri.' Damon muttered.
Rob just looked surprised. 'What did I miss?'
'What? You didn't know either?' Bri threw the accusation, and then she pointed at Damon. 'He almost died by these people. He bled out. He was shot twice by a crossbow and he was about to die yet she saved him with his blood.'
'Oh shit.' Rob and Resh said in unison.
Damon just sighed. He wasn't even going to mention that at all. He wished she had not of told them that but what could he do?
'I'm right here you know.' Scarlett said loudly. 'You could at least talk about me when I'm asleep or something.'
'How do vampires exist?' Resh said, pointedly.
'I don't know.'
'How did you become a vampire?'
'My friend turned me into a vampire, before the apocalypse started.'
Resh whistled. 'Incredible. You didn't start the apocalypse then?'
'No.' Scarlett snapped. She was starting to get a little bit irritated. 'You're the second person to ask me that today!'
A few nervous glances.
Damon glanced at Resh, a warning glance, but Resh seemed to be oblivious to it as he continued his questions.
Resh waited only a few seconds, 'How are you here?'
'Are you daft or something, didn't you just ask that question?' Scarlet said icily.
Resh shook his head. 'No, I mean here in this building. It is a church. In all the movies vampires can't go anywhere near anything religious.'
Good question, Damon thought.
Scarlett's face was a standard look of concentration for a few seconds before changing. 'Well, you've been watching too many films. Before I became a vampire, I was attending a church here in the city. I believed in a God, thanks. I still do. When I became a vampire, everything is heightened, senses, emotions, the lot but it didn't change entirely who I was before, other than the need to feed on blood.'
Resh had a look of disgust on his face.
'Hasn't becoming a vampire changed that?' Liam said, finally speaking up.
Scarlett glanced at him, tilting her head in his direction. 'Nope. If anything, it has made it stronger. I can still feel its lasting touch. People used to fill this building with their joy. Now it is just a remnant. It's sad.'
'Wow you're not a normal vampire at all.' Resh said.
'Have you ever met a vampire before?' Scarlett quipped.
Resh shook his head. 'Guess not.'
'So that means I'm the standard and any vampire you meet from me are weird.' She said with a chuckle.
Resh raised an eyebrow for a moment and then laughed. 'Suppose so. Hope there aren't many of them about.'
Scarlett shrugged. 'There's at least two.'
'Your friend Cora?' Damon interjected.
'Yeah. I wish I knew where she was.' Scarlett said with a hint of sadness creeping into her voice. She was definitely not a vampire he would have expected. 'I miss her.'
'If she's as strong willed and resilient as you, I'm sure we'll find her.' Damon found himself saying but he wasn't sure whether or not he would want another vampire in their small community. He found himself glancing towards Bri. She remained stoic as ever. If anyone was going to tell the rest that Scarlett was a vampire, it would be her.
'We need to talk.' Damon said approaching Bri.
She did not look up. She said nothing.
'Bri?' Damon said.
Bri finally looked towards Damon. Her eyes were cold. 'What? Apart from the fact you could have put us all in danger, with bringing her into our lives.'
'She hasn't fed off anyone.'
'How does she survive?' Bri demanded, staring straight at Damon. Then her eyes widened in realisation. 'She killed the stray. And the dog right?' She threw the accusation like a blade.
Damon fell silent.
'Better feeding off them, than any of you.' Scarlett piped up.
'What will happen when we run out of animals for her to feed on Damon? Eh?' Bri forced herself to stand up. She was fired up for all the wrong reasons. 'What would happen Damon?' She came far too close.
At that same instant, Micah and the others came back into the room, a timely distraction. Micah looked at each of them. 'We've made our decision.'
'Which is?' Bri prompted, a little too snappily.
Micah did not read into it though. 'We will take you up on your offer, but there's two conditions. We get to check the place out and meet your leader, see how the other people are there and how they live there. And that we can leave at any time. We don't have to give up our weapons.'
'Sounds fine.' Damon said.
'That was just the first.' Micah said bluntly.
Sounded like several in one, but let's hear it, Damon thought.
'The other condition is that everyone else needs to know about her.' Micah pointed towards Scarlett.
The look on Bri's face was like a ten-year-old fat kid that had just found his parent's secret stash of chocolate.
'And now what?' Bri said. 'Shouldn't we be leaving?'
Micah shook his head. 'We need time to pack our things. Then we will go.'
'Get to it.' Bri said, impatiently but she had a smile on her lips as she looked at Damon.
Damon met her gaze, saying nothing.
'Actually could we eat first?' The girl called Larysa edged forwards.
Micah shrugged. 'I guess so.'
'What is through there anyway?' Rob said, pointing to the doors.
Micah gave him a glance and shrugged. 'Just the main church building.'
'Can we see?' Scarlett said.
'Knock yourself out.' Micah said without looking.
A few nervous glances but no one said anything as they followed Micah down the hallway and into the main building. Micah reached into his coat pocket and took out a torch, illuminating the room around them.
It turned out to be enormous.
And empty.
There were dusty chairs stacked either side of the room. There were stone pillars that ran from the ground to the roof. In the middle of the room, there were sleeping bags,
'I can still feel the faint, lingering feel left behind...' Scarlett said.
Damon wasn't sure whether
'Of what?' Larysa said, coming alongside her.
'I just pick up on things. I think I am picking up on the energy residue of the place. I think this was once filled with people, so many people all here on chairs and worshipping.' Scarlett said.
'Oh wow.' Larysa replied.
'Let's just get our things packed and we can go.' Micah said, brushing past Larysa. He clearly did not like the idea of Larysa and Scarlett bonding. Apparently, neither did Fiona with a very brief yet dirty look in Scarlett's direction but neither she did not seem to notice or pretended not too.
Micah and the rest of them packed up their sleeping bags, in a hurried manner.
'Are we going to eat?' Larysa said.
'If we eat now, it will take longer. We can eat when we get to the new place.' Micah said.
'Aww.' Larysa whined. She must have been seventeen or older too.
Thirty minutes later Micah and the rest of his group were ready to leave, they had their crossbows to hand as well as other weapons. It was still light outside. None of Micah and his group had cars, so they only had two between them parked up the road by the Whitworth. Bri, Micah and Jon had gone to check outside to see if the zombies were still lurking outside.
Five minutes had passed and still no sign of them.
'There's still light at least outside for now.' Rob said breaking the uneasy silence.
Damon sat lying down on the floor, vaguely aware of people sat around becoming bored, unsure what to do. He reached into his own rucksack absentmindedly withdrawing a bottle of water, unscrewed the top, and took a sip.
'Where are they?' Connor said, getting impatient. He stood up getting a little bit irate. 'Can we go look for them?'
'Calm down buddy.' Liam said.
'You're not the boss of me.' Connor raised his voice.
Fiona intervened. 'Micah will be fine. He knows how to handle himself. He's done it before.'
Connor didn't look convinced. 'Someone else should have gone with him.'
'Jon's also with him.'
Connor waved his hand away. 'Gareth and I should be with him.'
'They'll be back soon, just sit down.' Fiona suggested.
'I'm going to look, right Gareth?' Connor said, looking towards his buddy. Gareth. Gareth stood up with a smile appearing on his face.
Damon found himself moving towards them. 'No nobody is looking for any of them. We are going to stay put. It's the best thing to do.'
'I don't take orders from you. We don't trust you. For all we know your friend could have killed them both.'
'We aren't murderers.'
'You live with a vampire. Of course you kill.' Connor sneered, spitting in the process.
Damon waved his hands up. 'We aren't tricking you or going to do you harm but you need to sit back down and wait for them to come back. We can't have any more at risk right now.'
Connor and Gareth exchanged a look. 'Fine we will wait another ten minutes but if they don't come back we are going to go and look for him.'
'Good.' Damon replied. Damon only sat back down, when the two had sat back down themselves.
The waiting continued.
Then the ground started to shake all around them.
It was like an earthquake.
Someone screamed.
It seemed to last far too long.
Damon glanced towards the doors when he heard them open. Bri, Micah and Jon came rushing into the building.
A ferocious roar followed them behind as they locked the door. They were panting out of breath, covered in sweat.
'What happened?' Fiona ran towards Micah, embracing him in a hug. She kissed him on the cheek as well.
'We were checking to see whether it was safe for us to leave. The zombie heard had moved on, we found them in the road. We were tracking them. Then that thing comes back, charges down a lot of the undead in the process but it spots us too. It chases after us. No idea how it knew we were there. Crazy.' Micah shook his head.
'Are you all okay?' Fiona asked.
'Nobody got bit or anything.' Micah said.
'What do we do now?' Connor said.
'We're going to have to wait until it leaves...or something.'
'Isn't there another way out, so we can just avoid it?' Damon asked.
'Yeah we can try.' Micah said. 'There is another way out, that leads onto the road so we can avoid the park entirely.'
'We ought to try.' Fiona suggested.
Micah nodded. 'Everyone else ready?'
Nobody argued.
'Finally.' Scarlett muttered from next to him, so quiet but Damon heard her.
They made their way through the main building to a set of doors. Micah unlocked them with a set of keys.
'How did you find the keys?' Damon asked.
'After much persistence searching through nearby buildings. We stumbled across them by sheer luck.' Micah said casually.
'Nice find.'
A warm breeze met them as they stepped outside. There was still some light, but there was a blanket of clouds in the sky now. They probably had two or more hours left of sunlight before it would start to go dark.
The group headed away from the church through the car park, and then into the road. Damon could hear the beast bellowing from inside the park, somewhere. He just hoped it was far away from them. They travelled along picking up the pace, towards the broken barricade.
Droplets of rain started to fall, as they stepped through the gap. The road was filled with knocked over vehicles, and bodies littered the ground, some were still crawling. Zombies. One of them outstretched a hand towards them but could not move very far without legs. It did not stop Connor and Gareth from killing any that crossed their path even those that weren't a threat. It sent a shudder down Damon's spine. It reminded Damon too much of Scott, that same attitude. They enjoyed killing the dead. It didn't seem to bother anyone else. Which bothered him more somehow. In truth, Damon wasn't even sure why it bothered him. The people that had turned were dead. Their former selves gone, just like in the movies. Yet at the same time
'Where are these cars then?' Micah said, breaking the silence.
'We have to keep going until we hit the park. There isn't enough space of us all.' Bri said. 'Some of us will have to give up our spots.' Of course, she glanced towards Damon, and Scarlett.
Damon just rolled his eyes, expecting that but he would not give her the satisfaction of seeing it annoyed him.
'We will just work it somehow, when we get there.' Micah said not too fussed but why would he be?
'Got that right.'
Damon kept alert as always on the walk back down the curry mile, looking for either survivors or the dead. Or anything apparently, Vampires and Monsters were also in that bracket now. Damon tried to ignore some of the inane chatter of people in the group talking. For someone that was not used to it, could be distracting, but Damon could handle it. So much so that he could not help but notice that Scarlett was talking to Fiona and Larysa, while Rob and Resh were talking too Jon and his wife. It looked as though people were getting on at least. He still was unsure about any of them, just yet. It would take time to get to know them and trust them. He just hoped that it wouldn't go the same way it did with Hosea, or the way it could have gone with him if he had gotten what he wanted.
'Here they are just like we left them.' Bri said.
And they looked exactly like they had left them too.
There were still no signs of the dead.
'The cars can carry around ten of us.' Resh said. Then he did a quick head-count. 'There's twelve of us.'
Another snide grin from Bri. 'Easy. You two can walk it. I'm sure you'd be able to manage it.'
'We'll be fine.' Damon forced himself to sound confident even though he did not.
'Are you sure you're okay with doing this?' Rob asked, coming over to him.
'Fine.' Damon said flatly.
'Don't let her win.'
'She isn't winning anything.'
Rob was still hesitating to get into the car even though the rest were climbing into the cars.
'Go on, don't worry about me.' Damon insisted.
'And plus he has me,' Scarlett said with a snigger.
'Great.' Damon replied.
'Take my hand.' Scarlett offered her nearest left hand to him.
Damon took it.
Then just like that, they were running. But far quicker than Damon anticipated.
They actually somehow managed to keep the cars in view, most of the time.
Occasionally Scarlett had to pause to catch her breath.
'Are you sure you're okay?' Damon said for the third time.
'I'm using my supernatural energy, its draining me.' Scarlett said. She looked rather pale.
'Are you going to be okay?'
Scarlett waved her hand, snorting. 'I'm me and there aren't any like me.'
Damon sighed. 'If you say so.'
'I just did.' Scarlett said with a smile, and then she took his hand again.
Once more, they were running at an incredible speed, darting across the terrain.
They caught up again with the vehicles, just as the familiar walls of the quarantine zone came into view. It just as well as Scarlett stopped again, needed to breath once more.
The sun had dropped beneath the horizon, the last rays of the day fading into darkness. They could not have returned at a better time. They were very lucky to return when they did as if it took any longer than that they would have been returning in the dark.
'We're finally here, thank God.' Scarlett replied, sighing.
'Yeah.' Damon replied, with a chuckle.
'What's funny?' Scarlett narrowed her gaze at him.
'You saved my life once already today and now you've helped me again, even though I've done nothing to deserve it.'
'You're welcome but I still don't see what's funny.'
'You've saved my life more times than most of the people behind those walls.' Damon remarked, with only a tinge of bitterness as Bri got out of the car, speaking to the guards on duty.
Damon felt uneasy when entering the gates of the quarantine zone. He was not sure how this was going to pan out. Shane and some of the other soldiers were there to greet them.
'You made it back and with some survivors, good work guys.' Shane said a smile to his face and a nod of appreciation.
'It's good to be back,' Resh said walking past him.
'I need to talk to Ironside, like right now.' Damon said quietly.
'Oh, really? In private Damon?' Bri's cold voice came from over to his side.
'Why what's happened?' Shane said.
'Damon brought—' Bri started.
'Do we have to do this here?' Damon cut in over her.
At the same time, Micah came over to them.
'I'm Micah.' He introduced himself, boldly but friendly.
'Where were you from?' Shane said, eyeing him up and down.
'Chorlton.'
'Nice. And you were still hold up there?'
'We had to leave after a while, and then we made our way out when it was no longer a safe place to stay. We lost many people along the way. Then we ended up in Platt Fields, and the Curry mile. Safe enough until just a little while ago.'
Damon paid attention to the little details, even though he had heard them already. It was definitely making him thank back to the adjoining neighbourhood near the church. It was the only time that Micah got defensive.
'Sorry for your losses. We're glad you're here now.' Shane said, giving him a firm handshake. Then he looked back at Bri and Damon. 'So what is it?'
'Need to talk to Ironside.'
'Come on with me then. Bri, can you help these new folk settle in?'
Bri's directed a glare at Damon but she looked at Micah and then Shane. 'Yeah, I can.'
Once they were gone, Shane radioed it in. 'Ironside? You there?'
The radio buzzed with his voice coming through. 'Yeah, I'm here.'
'Damon and the others are back. He wants to talk to you now. Is that okay?'
'Sure is. Bring him here.'
'Yes boss.' Then the radio went silent.
'Let's go then.' Shane muttered.
'I wouldn't mind meeting your leader too.' Micah put bluntly.
Micah joining does not change anything, Damon thought.
'Come on then.' Shane replied and they started walking towards Ironside's HQ and house but then he paused looking back. 'Does she have to come?'
'She's one of the reasons why we're going to see Ironside.' Damon muttered quietly.
'She's not bitten, is she?'
Damon shook his head. 'No.'
'All right, this better be good.' Shane said.
They came up to the building where two guards were stationed outside, holding torches. One soldier flashed the light in their direction. 'Who goes there?'
'It's Shane, Damon and others.' Shane shouted back. 'Brianna and the rest are back, they have found survivors.'
'Okay come on in then.' They called back after a moment.
One of the guards led them up to the house and banged on the door. 'Ironside! Brianna and the others have found survivors!'
The door swung open and a rather tired looking Ironside appeared in the doorway. He was still in a bed robe. 'Survivors?'
'From Platt Fields Park!' Damon answered, so quick before even Shane had chance to respond.
'Come on in then.' Ironside opened the door, allowing them in.
Ironside closed the door behind them and led them down a hallway into what looked like a kitchen. He lit a lamp on a table. 'So let's have it then.'
'Firstly we found six survivors, led by this guy, Micah.' Damon said, introducing him.
'Ah it's good to meet you. We're glad that we finally meet some other people.' Ironside greeted him but then he paused, clearing his throat. 'Only six?'
'The quarantine zone around Platt Fields Park was deserted. We found them nearby.'
'Oh no,' Ironside disappointed. 'At least you all made it safely.'
'We took your offer to stay here very seriously in your community. We decided to come here on conditions that we would be able to check out the place and be able to keep our weapons and be able to leave at any time.'
'Oh, is that all?' Ironside said, in a slightly higher tone of voice, almost mocking.
'Not quite, the other reason why we came, I'm afraid there is more to the apocalypse than just the zombies. Go on Damon tell him.' Micah said.
'Vampires exist.'
'What the fuck? Is this a joke?' Ironside snapped.
'No idea. They never mentioned—' Shane said.
'Scarlett, show them.' Damon said.
Without saying anything, in the darkness Scarlett flashed her fangs. Shane flashed his light, highlighting her eyes. He fell backwards dropping it in the process. It took him a few moments
'Fucking hell, no way.' Ironside also pulled away shaking in shock.
Surprise wasn't a strong enough word for it.
'I can't believe Vampires exist as well.' Ironside said. 'I can't believe you would bring her into our home. Who else knew?'
'Nobody. I didn't want anyone else to get involved in it. It might have put myself at risk.'
Ironside slammed his fist against the wall. 'You brought a vampire into our home, a potential threat. You kept it secret, yet people seem to know. Why?'
'When we stepped into Micah's home, they thought we were a threat. One of them shot me with their crossbow. I was almost dead yet she saved us all, and she saved my life.'
Ironside fell silent, processing it in his mind. 'She saved your life, how?'
'With my blood. My vampire blood has healing properties. As much as I can kill, I can heal too.' Scarlett answered when Damon could not exactly.
'Incredible.' Ironside muttered.
Ironside began asking the all too familiar questions, of her background, when she turned and how. Of course, while he didn't directly ask her if she started the apocalypse, he did ask whether she knew anything on how it started. Her answer left him disappointed.
'So there you have it,' Damon said.
Ironside was silent again.
'We can't let her stay here...' Shane said.
'It is a risk I know that Shane. But at the same time it's an opportunity.'
'An opportunity for what?'
'How many people have we lost over the years, from carelessness, injury, and all that? Let alone the zombies. People witnessed Damon almost dying and he brought her back without any kind of medicine? What happens when we finally run out of medicine? What will we do? We have to think of what is the best
'Yes but what does she feed on?' Shane interjected. 'Blood. How often do you feed?'
'I can manage with feeding once or twice a day...but I used a lot of my energy, my powers to get back here with Damon...' Scarlett admitted.
'Powers? Other than healing?' Ironside asked.
'Well as a vampire my senses are heightened, I can even hear the guard outside coughing occasionally. I also have incredible reflexes and super strength and speed, if I don't say so myself.' Scarlett replied.
'Fascinating.' Ironside said, he definitely sounded like he was calculating his decision. 'I think the best decision would be to stay. We're going to have to somehow find animals or something for you to feed on.' Ironside said.
'Animals?' Shane choked. 'There's hardly any of them about. It's a bad decision.'
'We are going to take the risk. We need some kind of upper hand in surviving. This is it. I only wished you had told me sooner Damon. This is final, she stays but we can't let everyone know just for the time being. We can't start a witch-hunt. People are already low in spirits with losing so many people recently. They might be just looking for someone to blame.'
'We lost James along the way. I'm sorry.' Damon said.
'Fucking hell. Another funeral, damn it.' Ironside reacted again clenching his fist but this time not punching the wall. He breathed out a long sigh.
'What of Bri? She's itching to tell people.'
'Shane send her in here, I'll talk to her.'
'Are you sure you don't want to share it with the rest?' Micah offered. Damon had almost forgotten he was with them.
'Not unless there's a very good reason to do so. If one vampire exists, and at least another out there. There might be more out there. We have to be alert. There could be anything out there. It changes the game completely. It actually gives me more hope, rather than fear. It means there has to be a reason for all this. And there has to be more survivors out there. I still don't understand why it's been twenty years and we're only just finding out about it now.'