The Dead Don't Talk (Book 1)

Chapter 5: The Beginning

My sister laughed and then told me to follow her with Liam looking all confused... He had never been exposed to anything quite like that before. He had only been told by my sister, mother, and his father that if you saw one of those things was to run. They had told them what they had looked like, saying they looked different then a normal person, lots of blood and all of that. And they told them that if he thought they were friendly they would tear him apart in seconds. He cried the first time he har heard that... But he hadn't ever seen one and he had never seen such a fight go like that before.
Me and my sister Angela were actually perfectly fine and agreed on most things. Another reason why I had wanted to be trained by her... But I was actually sort of happy that I had Christian as my trainer.
What he would be training me with would be teaching me every single way to make it out there, not just a few different ways like Scavengers or wanderers were taught. Tyler gave Angela a hug and then he walked back to his place which was in the opposite direction of us... Another reason why I didn't see him much ever. I just know that Angela was his friend and he had always had a huge crush on her, she always had different feelings... He was a great guy and in no way bad looking at all. I felt bad for him, her last boyfriend could be a bit of a dick sometimes but he was in noway a bad dude... Tyler was perfect in every aspect, and I never really understood why she never gave him a chance, even after her boyfriend died.
She had been depressed for such a long time, her only way of taking that out she had told me was just to go out there and kill things and help people. I knew she was still depressed, but weren't we all? She had to get over it at some point. Everything for everyone in this world was basically gone at this point. It still hurt thinking about, what if things went right? But I knew that type of thought would get me depressed vibes.
"Alright Ben lets go... I've got some things to tell you before you start training... I want to make sure you pay full attention..." She said to me... I nodded and we headed back to the house. Liam was staring back at us smiling... I was so happy he was here... No matter what people said to him or told him all these horrible things and horrible stories he always kept that smile on his face. He was the only one in this world that wasn't depressed at all, I thought to myself... I mean he never even met his parents...
He just kept walking looking back at us... This would be the last day I would be having him basically anytime that I had wanted... I would be training for a few weeks like Angela had told me... she had been trained by our stepdad... Then I would be out there several days/weeks at a time... I was ready but I was just sad for Liam, he would be living in a daycare place for basically everyday until he turned 10... Angela would be out there all the time and so would I, I would rarely ever see him.
I was beginning to realize that Angela had it way tougher than I always had it... She saw our parents die together, and she was always out there rarely even getting to see me and Liam. She cared about us so much when she was actually here and I was beginning to realize it now that I would soon have no time around them...
I would be able to go see Liam sometimes but, unless me and Angela came back on the same days... Then I might not even get to see her for even months. I felt bad for Liam, but I knew he would pull through it, his smile just made me so happy. He was basically my only thing I had in my life for the last few years. I actually just thought in my head about that girl I had seen the other day... She wasn't there today, but maybe she would get a job like me and we would get to meet up. She would have her 1st month her to get things set on her feet then she would start getting trained. Maybe Jordan already had his eyes on her though. He was known for leaving girls behind for a new one. Another reason why I just never understood why that girl I had liked before had accepted him.
"I know guys, I wont see you that much... It makes me a bit sad... But Im just so happy that Ben got that job! And I didn't like that girl that was talking! She was so mean." I agreed with him and he smiled and kept walking backwards. I loved him oh so much, we were almost back to the house. Angela then suddenly pulled me back. I looked around confused.
"Ill be right back I want to go check on a friend I haven't seen in over a year... Just want to make sure she is doing okay... Watch your brother for me." Angela said to me and then began walking to a nearby house. I had never met that person before so I had not a clue who that was that she was going to see. I just looked back at Liam and we both shared a smile.
"I'm so happy I got this... He can be mean a lot, but I will be ready... Im going to be missing you so much Liam." I told him. He looked down sadly and then looked back up with a smile right back on his face. Even at times when it seemed like he would be sad he would still smile.
"Its okay, some day I'll be like both of you... Hopefully that mean lady gets over herself though." Liam said to me... He could have a great job because he was so smart. But I feared that Shannon would have another meltdown like today. Everyone in this community even though they had never really seen much of him knew how smart he was. He would be a good person to maybe even be a part of her cabin but I seriously don't think she would allow that to happen. He would definitely not be a farmer, he would be good as a cabin member of Shannon. He would definitely be the smartest one out of that group... But that would most definitely not happen. I just wish I could just restart all this and tell people all these things that would happen and try to stop in... I wish I could just go back to the begining... No one would die... My family would still perhaps be alive.
Suddenly I heard a bit of a scuffle from nearby me... I turned around slowly not really all that worried. Suddenly from about 5 feet away from Liam's back I saw one of those things. My heart began pounding, I had to do something quick but I couldn't get a word out of my mouth. I just thought of all the ways that the people I had cared about had died. I couldn't let that happen? How did that even get in? Stop thinking Ben and go!
I ran through it and pushed it down almost knocking it into Liam. He yelled, and then spun around. It was now coming after me and i was stuck in a tree root. Liam began crying and I was yelling for help but it seemed like no one was there to listen. This was it... This was the end for me... At least I had one good thing that happened... Liam would live... No matter how hard I tried I was genuinely stuck... I was about to give up when I heard something loud come from behind it... It fell to the ground finally dead.
Lilly was right behind where it was laying with a big rock in her hand. She sat down next to me and helped me get out of the root. Liam ran over looking all scared.
"I knew I should've brought my sword... Damn, oh Betty..." Angela said sadly looking at the younger lady... She couldn't have been even 25... I had heard of her name a few times but I had never seen her in person. I got up once I was free and gave Angela a big hug. Thanking her for saving me but then grieving for her loss at the same time. I then realized how scared Liam must have been... That was the first time that he had actually seen one of them.
"So that's what the look like... I thought they would look completely different then that... You guys told me they had blood on them." Liam said, looking at Angela a bit confused. Angela got up and so did I... I already knew why she didn't have blood. The ones that did had been bitten and she had just died in her sleep peacefully.
"She didn't get bit... Lets go Liam... You're a bit too young to be seeing this." Angela said to him. He looked as if he was going to argue but the just shook his head. "I'll tell Shannon about it tomorrow, there's no point in going all the way back, and shes not in a never good mood right now." I laughed mainly just to get how scared I was off of my chest. I was seconds away from dying... I was lucky Angela was on her way back. Liam definitely had no idea how to kill one of those things, and he was way too young to even try. I knew how to kill them but I had never killed anything in my life besides a few ants when I was younger and some spiders that were inside our house.
We finally got back into the house, I was grateful for it, I had wondered why Lilly didn't go to the meeting but I guess I sort of understood why. She knew that Shannon and Angela would get into an argument and indeed they did. But this time it was not Angela's fault at all... And I had lost basically all my respect to Shannon because she had tried to make me be a farmer only because she hated Angela. Angela had told me she was smiling when her boyfriend Shaun had died and she had told everyone.
I never knew her well, Angela had told me she was a good leader she just let some stupid things cloud her judgment. Now I was beginning to wonder if that were true at all.
Angela sat down at the table and told Liam to go to the other room, it was starting to get a bit dark outside, it was nearing dusk... I was wondering what Angela was going to say to me. She didn't think I was soft and not ready for this did she? I was more ready than ever, I was ready to go out there and do something useful to this world.
"Alright Ben, I just want you to know that... This he is going to be extremely tough on you. He was tough on Ned and he was best friends with Ned... That wad part of the reason why he was friends with him in the first place. I just want you to know that when he is tough on you... Don't take it like he is being mean to you... He is only trying to help you." Angela said to me... Ned was our stepfather... I kept that in my head and then went ahead and nodded.
"I will keep that in mind... And Angela don't be scared for me... I am ready and was always born to do this." I said to her. She smiled and then got up from the table... I got up as well. Im glad she knew that I was too, I was not afraid of death I just didn't know how to use guns and weapons and all that other stuff. But that was the whole point of training in the first place. I was ready to learn.
"I believe in you Ben, so does Liam, he always believes in us, that's what keeps me alive out there, I don't know where I would be at mentally if I didn't have him here. Lilly doesn't believe in you, that's a lot of the reason why I didn't like you going to hang out with her all that much." Angela said to me before heading to her room. I then realized how true that was. She had always wanted to me to aim low, she thought that I was weak and could not do it... I would prove her wrong, I would go and prove everyone wrong.
I was grateful to have such a good sister like her, she wasn't like this when we had first found this group but she had grown up a lot over the last few years. Especially after our moms death and her basically becoming the mother. I realized how right she was, her and Lian believed in me and always had. Tyler said he believed in me too when we were getting ready to find out what I was getting trained for. We didn't know each other all that much but I did believe in him.
I just felt greatly disappointed at Shannon today... She had really gotten Christian to think that they were holding it off till tomorrow. She deserved to be removed as leader because of that but she would not... There was no one really worthy in this community that really had to be the skills to be leader. And no one wanted to be leader either. They would have to pay attention to everyone and all of their jobs, mapping out areas for the wanderers to go and explore. That would be way to hard for anyone and everyone knew that... That's what made Shannon a good leader. I had to realize that, but at the same time she was not a good leader in several different aspects as seen today.
I wanted to lay down for a bit and rest, I wanted to get my mind off of what had happened less than an hour ago. I was almost a dead man walking... Well not really, they would have given me another day or so and then they would have taken me out but it scared me so much and for a little bit I wasn't too sure if I was actually ready to go out there.
I just lowered my head down on the pillow trying to get all these thoughts from out of my head. It scared me, I was ready but at the same time maybe I wasn't.

I woke up and realized I had slept through the rest of the day. There was a plate of food next to me, Angela thought I probably would have woke up in the night and ate it. The sun was barely beginning to rise it the horizon. I picked up the food knowing it would have gone bad... It was a piece of steak but it couldn't have been out for more than 10 hours. I was hungry even though I had eaten a huge meal yesterday afternoon. It was probably because I knew that this was the day would shape my future. My first day of training.
I knew the first day would not be all that hard. That's how it always was for training people... You start slow and then speed up the tempo after that. The steak was good, straight from the farm, unlike that processed steak that we had before all of this. It was a good but it was nothing on this. Even out here for this long just sitting there. There was a few green beans laying there. I didn't really like them but I knew that I had to eat them anyways because they were good for me. I got up from my bed and then went to the living room. My brother was already up reading a book as per usual.
"Hey Ben! You ready for your first day!" He said to me. I walked up to him and gave him a big hug. I was going to miss him, I would be trained for a while so he would be at the daycare all day but I could pick him up on the way back on the evenings. After that he would be spending the night with all the other kids around his age. Which might not actually be all that bad for him. It would be good for him to make some friends... Im not all that sure if he had ever even had any. He had always called me his friend, but I was family it was a big difference.
I used to have a few friends but most of them had begun getting trained a while ago or we grew apart... Or they went to go with Jordan I thought disdainfully.
"Yeah Im ready! Im going to miss you." I said to him... He said it back to me and I gave him another hug before finally getting up from the couch. He continued reading his book, it looked like a chapter book which kind of surprised me. Already? I could barely read in the first place. I had learned a bit from the teachers... But they weren't actual teachers besides one of them and she wasn't exactly a reading teacher.
Angela walked out from her room after she heard me talking. She gave me a big hug just like Liam. She knew how stressful it was thinking about my first day. She had told me how stressed out she was.
"Alright Ben, we are actually less then a mile away from Christians... He's right near Shannon's place. He wants us ready really early... When he says morning he means it." She said to me. I wondered how long it would be... Others would have maybe a few hours of training each of their first few days but I had a feeling that it would be a lot longer for me... I had a feeling this was going to be rough. "Get you some food and we will head off."
"I ate that steak from last night, Im good." I said. She nodded to me and then walked to the kitchen making me a sandwich. I was a bit confused but then I realized why. This definitely meant that this was going to be a very rough first day. She just didn't want to admit to that.
We then said goodbye to Liam and then headed off. I was ready... I knew it this was going to be great. I thought of all the things I would be learning... Every aspect of every group that ran out. There used to be traders till the other group disappeared... Or died rather... Scavengers used to trade a lot too. Luckily I wouldn't be learning how to do that. That seemed like a bit of a boring job actually... Somewhere in my heart I had always wanted to do Angela's job but this would be way better...
We were right near his house... I had never seen it before but it actually looked very small. It looked as if it had been built after this had all started. He was already there sitting on his porch smiling at us. It didn't look like a happy smile though, it looked like a "Im about to beat the shit out of this dude" smile. It actually kind of scared me but I tried not to show it.
"Alright you ready to start the roughest day of your life?" Christian said to me. Angela was smiling. I nodded... Surely this was a joke right? "This is just the beginning..."