The Dead Don't Talk (Book 1)

Chapter 23: Wake up

It seemed like I had been running for hours even though it had only been a few minutes. I couldn't stop thinking about Christian, where could he have possibly gone?
I shook my head and just continued jogging, I could barely see them in the distance... But it wasn't the time to head in a different direction to hide. The sun was about in the midpoint in the sky. There was no possible way that Christian would train me for that long and then all of the sudden just decide that he wanted to leave me behind.
This couldn't be some sort of trick or maybe he was testing me... He would have been over to me the second he had heard those gunshots. I didn't know what to think, and my mind was at a dark place just thinking of all these terrible sorts of things that could have happened to him.
I didn't see him in the woods anywhere. He wasn't hunting, maybe he went outside to get some rest and was attacked by one of the dead. That was impossible as well though, he can't have possibly turned that fast, I had looked around everywhere, everything was flat with no trees.
The only thing I could think was possible at the moment was that he was hanging somewhere in the woods or that he had been caught by the other group like Jordans mother.
I didn't want to think those types of thoughts, I wasn't even near the end of my training, and with no map, I had no idea where to go, with all the roads and twist and turns we had gone through yesterday I could guess based on where the direction I was going right now, but I didn't exactly know where the community actually was at.
After a few more minutes I looked back again, I could see them in the distance but this time even less than before. My bag was slowing me down so much and my stamina was weak because of it. I was tempted to just throw it away, but all of my food and water was in that.
There was nowhere that I knew of to get anymore, and I couldn't just carry it in my hands. I looked back sadly again, I had to make a quick decision, it was try to head back and find the community.
Maybe I would be lucky and catch one of them out here, but I doubt it, like Christian had told me, people rarely headed in this direction. I didn't know the exact way back, maybe I could guess and hope that I got somewhat nearby it or something.
I made my decision though, I didn't want to get anywhere near that herd. If I turned in another direction and tried to shake them off and then head back that would be even harder to find my way back. Maybe I could look at the mountain and guess.
No... There was no point, I had a better solution, if Christian was still alive out there somewhere than he would know that I was smart enough to keep heading towards the mountains.
I wouldn't stay back and wait for him with a big herd on my rear... First I would have to pull them in another direction though, maybe Christian was thinking the exact same thing and he would start shooting soon.
Maybe he was right behind me, if he was alive he would know that the herd was out there, he would know where I would be going... The exact opposite direction of it until I was far enough away from it.
Had he not soon where I was? Surely he had... If he was out there looking for me he would have checked the whole place before going out there. Surely he knew that I was smart enough that I would not just run out on my own.
Maybe I should have left a bit of paper and written that I was going out on the back porch... I wasn't thinking about that, I would have thought he would be smart enough to know...
I kept thinking about it while waiting for the herd to get closer to me so that I could pull them away. They were so far out, it would take at least an hour for them to catch up to me with how slow they walked.
They were less than 2 miles out, but the herd was big enough that I could see them. I had to pull them in a direction away from where I was going, but at the same time I had to pull them in a different direction from the community.
I sat down and wondered... Why I didn't at least go back and grab the silencer... Now I would have to use my knife for everything and that was not a strong set of mine. I looked at the pistol sadly, I almost wanted to throw it away. But I still would need it to pull the heard away from the mountains.
I had to hope that maybe Christian was still alive and he would be going towards the mountain. My hopes were so low, all I could think about at the moment that he was dead somewhere or he was taken in captive.
He would probably be tortured, the other group clearly knew where we were at, they would have tortured Jordans mother until she told them where the community was hiding out at, if they hadn't already been watching us in the first place.
I shook all those thoughts from my head, they were getting really close, I stood up from where I was sitting on the ground. Maybe I should have thought to hide inside a room. They don't know how to open doors and they wouldn't know I was in there in the first place.
I didn't think about it though, my mind had gone blank at that exact moment in time. All I could think was to run. Maybe Christian had gone back to the place and saw the herd and he was in the other building just hiding.
There was no way that was possible, he would have ran as soon as he heard the gunshots. Where could he possibly be at? He would have ran to me from the woods if he had heard the gunshots as well.
The only thing I could think that was possible is that he was dead somewhere. Maybe he had gotten super unlucky. If he had gotten caught my the other group I knew he would not have ratted me out. He would have told them that he was all alone.
He was good at lying. He had told me he didn't lie often, but when he did it was when it was absolutely necessary. I knew that he was good at lying, he had lied to Shannon and she had 100% believed him.
They were inching closer every moment, they could see me now and they were groaning, they were less than 100 feet away. I turned to the right and began jogging towards that direction. I had only gone less than a mile, Christian would hear me gunshots and know where they were coming from.
I had to stop thinking about him, I had to stop worrying about him, I was alone right now, I could only think about myself. I had to keep myself alive at all cost. I could only imagine Angela and Liam waiting everyday wondering when I would get back.
The wouldn't even know that I was dead... I wasn't dead yet though, I could still do this, I had food and water, there was a lake at the mountain that we were near, supposedly with clean water and it was supposed to have canned food and animals everywhere.
I hadn't ever caught an animal, but Christian had and he had taught me how to get them. I could stay alive for a while out there. I knew that I could, the only thing was, how long would I wait for Christian?
Would I find the way back to the community... It wouldn't be all that bad just living out there alone for the rest of my life would it? The dead didn't like going up slopes, maybe the community should have built the gates up there.
That was impossible though, in all directions basically it was up and down. We could not have possibly built walls all over that area.
I remembered going to this exact mountain that I was heading towards right now. I didn't know exactly what it was called, if I had Christians map I would... As a matter of fact I was starting to remember a little bit of this area I was in... I was young it was all a blur to me.
It seemed like every other weekend though, my father took us out to go hiking. I shook my head, stop thinking about family that is dead. Wake up, look where you are at right now.
I turned around and noticed that they were a bit behind and the back of the herd was pulling the front of the herd towards the mountain again. I pulled out my pistol, 2 shots is all it took... That is what Christian had always told me if I was ever in a situation like this one.
1 to pull them towards you, and the 2nd a bit further out to make sure they are all coming in that direction.
I didn't have much ammo, less than 24 bullets, 3 magazines... Christian had all the ammo on him in is his bag. He had the pistol with the silencer in that bag as well.
I was in a bit of a mess, I kept on jogging though, I looked back, they were even further than before but they were heading in my direction. I pulled out the pistol a 2nd time and shot again to make sure they knew where they needed to go.
I had to make sure I was the owner of these things, they had to do as I bid, I kept going. This time I was speeding up my jog to where I was almost running, it was starting to where me out and my lungs felt like they were about to explode everywhere.
I couldn't stop though, if I stopped for just a few they would start catching on me. I then lowered it to a bit of a slow jog, slow enough to still be going a bit faster than the dead.
I kept going, stop thinking Ben, this is a life or death situation that I was in... I closed my eyes for a couple of seconds and kept jogging down the bumpy road. I didn't even want too look back, that would slow me down too, every second counted.
I didn't know when to stop, but I just kept on moving, I clearly could not hear them. They were way too far away for that even if they did groan super loud.
I had ran past a couple other of the dead while I had been jogging, they would be another communities problem some time else in the future, I was just pulling more and more into the area.
How had the herd even started in the first place? They were coming in the exact direction of the community, there surely had to be gunshots that I had somehow not heard.
I kept going, it had been at least an hour at this point, the sun was lowering in the sky the same direction that I was jogging. I just wanted to fall over and sleep at this point, but I knew that if I did, I would not be awake in the morning.
I finally decided to turn around, I had jogged several miles... I turned and noticed that nothing was following me. I didn't really know what to do next as I sat there for a few minutes.
My mind had just gone completely blank, for the last hour I had been sitting there trying not to think, apparently it had done too good of a job, but then suddenly my head woke back up.
I remembered what was going on, why I was running, where to go next. I then began jogging in the direction towards the mountains. I just wanted to keep jogging just too get it over with and get into the mountains.
I knew that Christian didn't really jog all that often, he usually walked, so if he was heading towards the mountain as well then he would take a bit longer than I would. I would probably just stay there for a month or so and just hope that one of those days he would be there.
There were buildings I could hide in while I was there. Most likely I could just hide out in the open and I would be okay, but there was always a small chance that there would be a loner that would sneak up on me.
I closed my eyes and continued jogging, the sun was getting even lower in the horizon, not quiet to the point where it was starting to make colors in the sky though. I would keep jogging for another couple of hours until it got dark or nearly there and hope that I would find a house or something that I could hide out in for the night.
First things first though I had to find a road, I was too busy just jogging to even look for one and at this point there were trees all around me now. By the way it looked it would stay that way all the way up until I was at the mountain.
I kept on jogging, there wasn't really a reason for me to do that but I just wanted to hurry and get up there and be safe.
By the speed I was pacing I would most likely get there by tomorrow night, it was less than 15 miles away at this point. I would get there way before Christian... If he was alive at this point.
I looked around, it was starting to get dark, I was in the woods, thankfully however I could see a road near me.
I began heading towards that and just kept hoping that I wouldn't get into another herd.
They could see perfectly fine at night, but unfortunately I couldn't say the same for myself.
Once I was out on the road I looked up and through the trees I could see the mountain. I had to hope that this road would lead me that way.
I kept on jogging, I don't know why really, but I just wanted to get there as fast as possible. I looked around and noticed that I was heading towards a gas station.
It had been worn down and there was shit everywhere around it. But it would do for the night. It was just getting way too dark at this point for me to continue on with this journey.
I didn't really know what else was ahead and it could be miles until I ran into the next closest thing.
I went past the gas pumps I looked down at them sadly. I had remembered when I was really young my father had always let me put the gas into the car, it was always my favorite thing to do for some odd reason.
I picked up the pump for some odd reason as if I was doing it like the old days. There was a car here, I then headed over to that one. I put the pump into the spot that was the gas tank for the car. I missed doing this, there was no gas that came out of it but it was always could just to think back to those good old days. Even though Christian did not want me to do that at all.
Once I got a bit bored I then headed into the gas station. There might be some canned food or anything in there for me to take with me. The problem with hunting in the mountains was I did not have a rifle on me.
There probably would be one out in that country area more than likely however. I knocked on the door to the gas station to make sure there was nothing there. It was a bigger gas station, it was a Sheetz and I remembered that the bathrooms were inside. I would probably just hide in one of those stalls for the night.
I began searching through the gas station. There was a few drinks and not really anything to eat. It was a bit disappointing. I couldn't drink any beer and I didn't even really want to try drink any of that soda.
Besides, if a drank beer that had gone bad, my father had told me that it would get you even more thirsty than you already were.
It didn't surprise me that the cigarette section was empty as well. I bet when it had all gone down people bought as many of those as they possibly could. I was tempted to head in the back because I knew they had food back there.
But it smelt disgusting and there wasn't canned food back there it was all just fast food that had gone bad years ago. I looked around in the last section hoping that I would get somewhat lucky.
Today was my lucky day... Well not really, but at least I got lucky in one aspect. I suppose people were too busy getting drinks and chips too get any of the canned food. I looked at them and smiled, they had an expiration date but they were still okay to eat, they just would not be healthy for you anymore.
I picked a can of beans up and began eating into it.
It it felt better than those peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I had been eating non stop for the last month and technically the last few years really. I smiled for the first time today I gulped down the rest of it.
I then looked around and just looked through the glass that was in the gas station. I was tempted to sleep in one of those sofas that were in the room next to me. But if anyone saw me they would most likely kill me.
I thought about it once again, but I just shook my head. Christian was right, I shouldn't even try something like that even though the odds of something happening like that were very low. It wasn't worth me trying that to find out.
I had to the bathroom, I would just hide in one of the stalls for the night. It would not be comfortable at all but I would have to get over it. It wasn't worth my life at this point. Even though my life really wasn't all worth too much.
I headed into the bathroom and sat in one of the stalls. It smelt absolutely nasty, I looked at the toilet and saw something so disgusting. There was shit all inside of it, clearly someone had shit in that more than once. The thing was filled up nearly to the top.
I was tempted to just go into the women's room. Even though there were no women were here I decided not to do that just straight up out of respect. I could never think of going into a women's bathroom.
I sat in the other stall that was right beside it. There was some pee in it but there was no poop. I just shook my head, did people really not know how to flush the toilet? But you never really know where that came from after all. That poop could have been from someone hiding out here for a long time.
I just closed my eyes. I just wanted to drown my thoughts, of all the negative things like Christian had told me to do. I grunted and then sat down on the seat. It was uncomfortable but it would have to do for the night.
I lowered my eyes trying my best to drown out all of the thoughts of what had gone bad the last couple of days. There was a lot that had happened, I cleared out all of them and just fell into a deep sleep as I usually did.

I woke up and noticed that the room was still dark. It clearly was not day time, even though there was no light in there in the first place I could see that in the corner near the doorway it was still dark out there.
But that wasn't the reason that it would have woken me up in the first place. I could here yelling, there were people arguing outside of the gas station and I couldn't quiet catch what exactly they were saying.
They didn't sound like they were someone I knew but after all I didn't really know that many of the important roles in the community. I was tempted to come out of the stall and say hi to them and tell them if they had seen Christian.
I couldn't be that stupid though. I put my feet up in the stall just in case they came in. They were probably most likely just heading by and just arguing. I was actually glad that I hadn't gotten up because Shannon had told everyone not to be out there when it was dark out.
My mom had said that as well, so obviously these were not people from our community. I just had to hope that they didn't come in. I didn't want to find out if they were good people, Christian had told me that most people out there that you met were not good.
I sat there with my eyes wide open, I just prayed that they would just keep on walking wherever they were going in the first place. Maybe it was a group even bigger than I thought, maybe they were heading towards the community.
I had no choice really but in the morning to get up and then run to the community and warn them that there were others out there. I knew that these people could not be good people based on the way they were yelling.
It wasn't just a typical disagreement, they were yelling as loud as they possibly could, its as if they knew I was here and they were trying to bring in as many of the dead as possible.
My body shivered just thinking about being torn into pieces, I couldn't think those types of thoughts, there was no way these guys knew that I was in this gas station.
I heard a gun shot and then some laughing, clearly these dudes had no silencers and they didn't really know what they were doing. They would attract any dead that was anywhere near this area. As soon as they were gone I had to get out of here immediately. I knew that I hadn't gone that far out in the other direction and the herd might have possibly heard all of those gunshots.
Then I would be screwed no matter what if I was going to the mountains. I had already nearly gone through a full can of water. I needed to get back to the community. Christian was probably dead, maybe if he wasn't he had gone back there himself.
I shook my head... That was impossible he would have had to get through the herd that was in that direction. I couldn't think about him in this exact moment. I was in a bit of a sticky situation.
My worst fears turned into a reality. I heard the door to the gas station open. The guys, however many of them there were were in here as well. I remembered the big shitty toilet and slightly groaned queitly... These might be the dudes that did that. These guys did not seem friendly at all.
I heard the guys talking and listened in closely to hear what they were saying. My deepest fear turned into a reality when I overheard them.
"I don't think your friend that we got today is awake... He's about to wake up!"