The Home Of The Dead (Book 2)

Chapter 10: Traitor

I tried my best to look away, I knew a lot of those people that I saw lying down on the ground. It was nearly the whole council, I was not looking too closely to see if anyone was missing. I could see the pain in the face of Shannon though, for once in my life I felt bad for her.
Even though a lot of that council was made by Shannon's father and my mother, they still did have high respect for her and to them back, Shannon had respect to as well. She would always be praising her council members and making them feel like they had worth.
I had to give her mad props for that, but they were all gone now. It did not really matter. I had to think, with me seeing no one anywhere around there, most of the community was probably gone by now, I was suprised that they did not take Shannon with them.
Maybe they were worried about her potentially taking over their own community. I shook my head on that one, if that were so they would have just killed her. I think the obvious answer to all of this was that they wanted to see her suffer. They got that out of her clearly.
No one took the first step to go over to her and see if she was okay. No one talked, not a word managed to pipe out. I could not blame any of us, I could not imagine what was going through all of their heads. I know what was going through my head was not good.
I just wanted to go find Liam and make sure that he was okay. I had to believe that he was still alive, he was a smart kid... Surely he would have found a way out of this... Unless he did not see them coming. I shook my head, I had to at least think that he was alive.
In the end, for the first time I was the one to take the first step, not even Aidan took it and he had not even been a part of our community. But I already knew what was going on in Aidan's mind so I could not really blame him for all of that.
I could hear the footsteps of the others as they slowly followed my lead over to where Shannon was at on her knees showing no emotion on her face as I could tell when we got closer to her. She did not even say anything to us when we came over to her.
I could tell that she recognized that we were here. I felt sick, she was absolutely destroyed. Much like Angela had been for a while, and she still was to a certain degree now. She still was not normal, I could tell. He had seen our own parents being torn apart, I could only imagine how that must have tormented her for such a long time.
After a few moments of silence, I looked over at the dead bodies to see if I recognized any of them. Within the first couple I looked at I knew a lot of them, I quickly looked away and Christian looked at me and shook his head, but he did not say anything.
Aidan was the first one to talk to all of us, he finally managed to break the sad silence. It had to be him though, he did not know any of the people on the ground like the rest of us did. He was not as hurt as we were but I could still see a little bit of pain on his face.
"I take it this is your leader right here?" Aidan said to Christian. I looked at him, Aidan I could tell already knew the answer, but he was obviously just checking and trying to get one of us to talk. After a few more seconds, Christian looked over at Aidan and he nodded at him.
"Yes... She was our leader. I don't think she can be much of a leader anymore look at her..." Christian said to Aidan. Aidan looked at Shannon he was laying on her knees just staring at the ground. She did not even seem to notice any of what Christian had just said.
It basically told me what Christian had just said had ended up to be true. She was broken, I doubt that she could find any way of being fixed by now. But then she slowly looked up at us, she had the worst sort of frown on her face but she managed to acknowledge that we were here.
"I will be leader... I will save this community, this is just a downfall but it will only go up from here, we have learned." Shannon said to Christian. Christian looked at her for a few moments, but I could tell that he was not all that sure if what she had said was true.
"The community is done... We will wait about 2 weeks for others to come back, and then we will find a new home. We can't live here if they know that we still are here." Christian said to her. It was well spoken, but Shannon still shook her head as if she had not listened to a single word that Christian had just said to her.
"No... I had to make a deal... We aren't over, but things will be rough." Shannon said to him. We all looked at her a bit confused, and I could tell Jordan did not like the wording on what she had just said to us. But he did not say anything about it, he just put his arms together in a way that said he was upset.
"A deal? You mean you were working with these guys all along?" Aidan said to her. Shannon looked at the ground for a few seconds as if she seemed a bit sad and upset about something but then she managed to look back up at Aidan and shake her head at him.
"No... I had to make a deal... It was the only way that our community could survive." Shannon said once again, basically repeating what she had just said a few moments ago. This time I could tell that Christian was a bit upset but he chose his next words carefully.
As he should very well have, Shannon had her whole council laying down on the ground, later tonight they would wake up as the dead, unless this had all happened much longer than just today.
"What do you mean? Are you saying you betrayed the community? I am not quite catching the drift as to what you are trying to tell us." Christian said to Shannon. Shannon lowered her head to the ground as if she had not heard a word that Christian had just said to her.
A few moments of silence began again, Aidan walked over to a nearby bench and then sat down on it. I did not say anything about it but I just looked at Shannon waiting for her to respond to what Christian had just asked her. But this time Jordan was the one to step in and he had pure anger in his voice.
"You are saying that you made a deal with this same community that killed my mother, and probably also killed my father?" Jordan said to her getting right up on her face. Shannon looked as if she had not heard a single word that he had just said to her.
Christian then walked over to Jordan and then pulled Jordan back a little bit to give Shannon some space. Rightfully so as well, I could not imagine what must be going on in the deep thoughts of Shannons mind. I say deep thoughts, becuase that is what most leaders thought about.
"Give her some room. She just had her whole council torn apart, right in front of her face clearly. We will just wait, she has to have time to clear her head." Christian said to Jordan. Jordan looked at him for a quick few moments, and then he nodded to him.
I looked at the ground, so many thoughts began to flood my mind as we were all just sitting there in silence. Soon, some of the council would wake up, but they would not wake up as if it were a normal day. They would wake up pale, their eyes straight black.
I closed my eyes, I did not even want to think about any of that, I knew it was going to happen, a lot of them had clearly been shot to the head, but I could see a few that had know shots down there. I wanted to just lay down beside them, maybe I would wake up back with my mother and father.
I shook my head though, if none of this had happened, Liam would not have been alive. I knew my father could not have kids ever again, that was something I had been told when I was very young. I never understood why but I knew Liam would not be here.
Speaking of Liam, I needed to go at least find out if he was still alive out there somewhere. I opened my eyes and looked over to Christian who also had his head to the ground much like Shannon. I walked over to him and was about to say something to him, but Shannon was the first one to speak.
"I had to do it... They found us, it was let them kill all of us, or let them kill half of us and they take the woman, the kids and the strong men back with them." Shannon said. This time she stood up to her feet and was blatent with every word that she said to us.
Christian looked at her a bit surprised for a few moments, he clearly did not know what to say back to that. I could not blame him. Right as she had said that to us, my mind began spinning in all sorts of different circles about potential thoughts that might have happened to Liam.
If that were true, and they had kids with them, then that meant that surely Liam was not dead no matter what... But I knew he was smart enough as well to hide. I could not leave those thoughts out of question either.
But then I shivered as I remembered one thing that Tony had said to me. I did not even want to think about that being a possibility, I would rather have him die then have something like that happen to him. He would not be the same if that happened to him.
Tony, he had told me. They had killed all of the normal people and had only brought in the good looking people and the strong people and the kids. I already remember what he had told me they had done with the kids, it made me feel sick even putting those thoughts in my mind.
Christian looked as if he was going to speak, but instead I decided to be the person to say something to her, I had not said anything to her quite yet, I had stayed silent this whole time. Just listening to what she was saying and trying not too think too deep into it.
"Does that mean my brother is still alive?" I asked Shannon. She looked at me for a few moments, she looked a bit confused for a few moments. Surely she knew who Liam was? She was the son of our previous leader, everyone knew about him.
"There is a good possibility about that, is your brother not a smart kid? He would have found somewhere to hide, much like you did when the dead attacked years ago." Shannon said to me. I looked at her for a few moments, I still was not all too sure.
My mother had taken me to the storage shed to find somewhere to hide, it was not my idea... I would just have to hope that he was with Lilly at the time. She would know what to do with him the moment that she had heard the shots, she would find somewhere for him to hide.
I nodded to her anyways, then Christian stepped in once he made sure that we were done with our small part in the conversation.
"Shannon, if this was your only choice, we do not blame you for this, but we need to find out more information, we can maybe find a way to save them, but we cannot live here, they know that we are here." Christian said to Shannon. I nodded to Christian, even though I knew that he did not see it.
This time, Shannon did not take long before she was able to respond to what Christian had just said to her, she looked a bit upset this time.
"That's the thing, we are safe now... I made a deal with them. I just had to give up a lot at the same time." Shannon said to us. I looked at her a bit confused still, she kept talking about a deal, it already seemed like a pretty fair deal for the other community.
The could kill off any of their competition while at the same time take in all of our strongest. I looked at her for a few moments, I was about to say something but Jordan stepped in front of me in line and began asking her questions, clearly he was still not trusting her.
"So you let them take the strongest, and you let them take the woman? Does that mean that my mother is still alive out there somewhere?" Jordan asked her. I looked back over to her, it was a good question. I knew that Jordan was still not giving up on his mother much like Angela had not given up on Tony.
As it came to pass, Tony was still alive so that had to mean that Jordans mother was still out there somewhere. Shannon once again though was quick to respond, now that she was not wallowing in her own self pity.
"There is a good chance of that. I am not sure, I did not ask him many questions... I just watched... London was his name... There is no way you can be them they have 10s of thousands." Shannon said looking back at Christian. Tony had not told us about that, maybe their leader was just trying to scare her.
I looked over to Jordan, I could tell that he was insanely stressed and very worried, just based off of the look on his face. I looked over at him to get his attention, and it least make him feel a little bit better.
"Jordan... We found Tony, you may not know him that much. If he is alive, so is your mother and your father... They can find a way out, Tony found one." I said to Jordan. Jordan looked at me for a few moments, he still did not look to sure but he looked at me and then he nodded.
Christian this time stepped in to finish out the rest of the questions that he had to ask her. I looked over at Shannon, she was now paying full attention to what we were saying. It was at least good that she had her mind off of her dead council that were sitting right behind her.
"When you say deal? You what do you mean? They let you live, but you don't look as if that is the only thing that is on your mind." Christian said to Shannon, it was a good question. I looked over at Shannon who was now looking at the ground again.
I could not blame her, she had to make a hard decision, she was probably not given very many choices to work with. I felt bad for her, but I was still too worried about where Liam might be to even be thinking about what was going on in her mind right now.
"I had to make the deal... It was let them kill all of us, and take others... Or let them kill half of us and take others... You understand right?" Shannon said to Christian. Christian looked at her for a few moments and then he shook his head.
I looked at Christian a bit confused, was he not understanding what she had just said? They took it lightly on us in a sort of weird since. It still was not light to me, they had still killed half of the people here... But surely they were lying to her? I had not seen anyone around here.
"That still does not answer the question, think about it in their eyes... What good does keeping us alive, have to help them? They do realize, that we could find them and kill them right?" Christian said. He looked at me and Jordan when he said it as well.
Shannon looked at him for a few moments, but then she shook her head at him, it was her way of saying that he wad not getting the point that she was trying to get across to him.
"Like I said... There are less than a thousand of us now, and potentially up to 20000 of them... They took our strongest, they have the strongest and we have the weakest, we would stand no chance." She said to him. He looked at her for a few moments and then he nodded to her.
But she was still not answering the question that we had been asking all along. It was starting to annoy me, and I could tell it was annoying the others that were around us. Christian made sure that she responded to it truthfully this time.
"You still our not answering the question that I have tried to get my point across to. What exactly was the deal you made with them? Why did they not just kill all of us? You cant just tell me they were friendly... Obviously they were not." Christian said to her. The moment he said it she lowered her head to the ground once again.
There was clearly something that she was not telling us, and it might be something that could potentially be very dark. I closed my eyes, why could she not just tell us now? She was delaying the inevitable... Finally I heard her speak however.
"The deal... They kill half of us, and we get to live the other half, but every year we have to give them half of our food, half of our weapons and ammo, and many other things that they will come and take from our houses." Shannon said to him. I looked at her a bit upset, but I suppose that she had no other choice.
Aidan this time stepped into the conversation after he had been quiet for quite some time. I looked over at him, and then I looked at the bench that he was sitting at, for some reason something was telling me something about that bench.
I could not quite understand why something was getting in my brain about a simple bench. I looked away not trying to think about it because it was hurting my brain, I listened in the hear what Aidan was saying to Shannon.
"Seems like a better deal then they gave us... I came back home with my family dead, and the rest of our community... It did not end very well for us..." Aidan said to her. I looked at Aidan for a few moments, it seemed a bit strange to me that Aidan was completely with her on this topic.
Christian looked at him a bit confused but he did not say anything to him. I looked over at Jordan to see what his thoughts on the subject were but he had his head looking at the ground, he was probably too busy thinking about his mother and his father, which I suppose I could not blame him for.
"You are a part of another community? The same community that was attacked by them, not too far away from here?" Shannon said to him. He looked at her a bit confused, and then after a few moments he shook his head at her.
"No... We lived in Virginia, they do as well, there are other communities as well, but a lot of them have been destroyed by them as well... The last of us came and hid in the mountains, we have been there for around a year now.  We don't find many new people, but it is a safe place..." He said to her. She looked at him for a few moments and then she nodded.
I tried to read her thoughts but I could not find my way into them, instead I turned back over to Aidan and the bench that he was sitting at. I looked at it for a few more moments, once again, something about the bench was blowing into my thoughts, in a strange sense.
I looked at it for a few more moments, my brain, some self conscious was trying to tell me something but I could not think on what it could have possibly been... What was so special about this bench? It was new it was not a long memory, besides I didn't want to think about old memories right now.
But right as I thought about it, something seemed to click in my mind...  I remember sitting on that bench, the day before I had turned 14... I was sitting on that bench, Angela and Shannon were in a deep conversation. They were talking about something, I could not overhear the words... But I remember something about it... Yes... Angela was with 3 people, they were supposed to join our community...
I wonder what happened to them... I had not seen them since that day... I remember staring at the younger girl for quite some time... But that wasn't the main part that was falling into my thoughts, the girl, she had a mother... Something was important in my head about her mother.
It then in that exact instance clicked... I had seen her not once, but twice... Twice as in just 2 or 3 days ago... I had seen the woman... It was dark in the room that I was in, but I could have sworn that I had seen the lady before.
It meant, then clicked once again... How the other group had found us... Why I had not seen them... They were a part of the community that had attacked us... It all made sense to me now. I felt sick, we were trusting people like them now...
I looked back up, the others had been talking and I had not caught a single word that they had been saying this whole time. My mind was too busy wrapped up in some much more dark, and deeper thoughts. I looked over to Christian who was the one talking this time.
I listened in to what he was saying, but I knew that I needed to interrupt him, if what I had seen was true. It meant that Aidan's community was not safe still. I had to tell him, it was all clicking so fast for my brain to handle all of it.
"We can join the other community maybe, they are safer... Expand the place and bring the crops over to there." Christian said to Shannon. Shannon looked at him and then she rolled her eyes at him. Christian looked a bit disappointed that she wasn't even taking his idea into consideration... I could not blame her, it seemed a bit like too much in a small wooded area to me.
But right as he finished with that part that he was telling her, I stepped in this time and the others looked at me, this time even Jordan was paying attention to what I was saying...
"Wait... The day before my birthday... Angela had come in with 3 people... I saw one of those ladies the night that the guy had gotten out of your community." I said, looking over at Aidan. The others looked at me still not too sure what I was getting at.
"That could just be a coincidence... People leave our community from time to time if they don't like it..." Christian said to me. I looked at him, I shook my head, I knew what I was talking about was true. I could tell that Aidan was paying full attention to what I was saying...
"No... She was in the prison with us... The guy got out the same night, they were here in our community... They were spies... Your community is not safe Aidan, they might be coming for you soon." I said to Aidan. Christian still did not look as if he was too sure. But I could tell by the look on his face that he was.
After a few moments, Aidan then turned around and he pulled out his walkie, he started talking fast but I could not hear a word of what it was that he might be saying. I just knew that he was telling his community to make sure that they could get out and find somewhere safe.
I turned back over to the others, I saw a bit of an angry look on Shannon's face which confused me a bit. But then it started to make sense, and it did not confuse me anymore. She now understood the reason why we had been attacked.
After a few moments of silence, besides the people talking through Aidan's walkie Shannon stepped in and decided to say something about the current situation that we were all stuck in...
"Your sister betrayed us then? It would make since... She was with them when they came into our community... Ben, your sister is a traitor...