2020 End of the Road

Chapter 7: Safe Haven

~Paul's POV~

I didn't want to do this.

Technically, he wasn't a zombie yet. But... He wasn't alive either.

However, I still would not feel comfortable having to bash an old man's brains out just to make sure he didn't get back up.

"Alan...." I believed this was the first time I had addressed him by his name. He once more turned over and my eyes locked with his.

"...I can't do it. I..." I wanted to ask if he would be willing to do it for me. I didn't wanna ask him such a harsh task though.

"I can do it." He nodded and gripped the knife in his clenched fist.

"Hey... Hey... Come here... It's okay..." Pipers voice sounded very warm and loving. The kind of voice a mother would speak to her daughter with when she was consoling her.

The crying little girl continued to sob, she hesitantly got up and ran over to Pipers open arms.

"I know it's painful... But don't worry... We won't let anything bad happen to you." Piper mumbled reassuringly and hugged her gently.

Piper eventually led her away from the building and out into the center of the campus where she would be a lot safer and so she wouldn't have to witness the next upcoming event.

I decided I would stay by Alan's side. It would definitely make both of us feel better if we were in each other's company. I closed my eyes when I saw Alan squat down with both hands on the knife handle.

Even with my eyes shut, the sound of squishy flesh filled my ears which therefore led to me imagining perfectly what had just occurred.

"It's done. He's not getting back up." I hesitantly opened my eyes at the sound of Alan's voice. Avoiding looking down at the elephant in the room.

I felt a bit squeamish, my legs wobbled when I tried to take a step back. Alan noticed this and immediately rushed over to hold me up by my waist. "Hey, don't go passing out on me now." He said slinging one of my arms over this shoulder.

I leaned against him for support, taking deep breaths to calm myself down.

I wasn't sure how long we both spent in that position, but it was enough time to get Piper to check back on us. "Everything okay?" She asked, glancing down at the corpse in front of us.

"Yeah. Princess here is just feeling squeamish." Alan responded for me.

I sent him a small glare but he flashed me in return. Once I was sure I was alright, I patted Alan's shoulder and took a step to the side, letting go of him.

"Wow, so you can fight back no problem but this grosses you out?" Alan crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow at me.

"It's not that numb skull. It's just seeing someone I knew, even for a moment, just die right in front of me— it really set the reality of things you know?" I rubbed my arms in comfort.

Alan remained silent after that, and honestly I was quite grateful that he ended the topic there. I didn't wanna talk more about this.

"Hang on, where's the little girl at?" I asked.

"Right, I left her with your friends. I told them to take care of her while I came back here." She explained.  I nodded my head in understanding.

"We should check out the building, just to make absolutely sure this place doesn't have any unwanted guests." Piper called out from down the hallway. We both looked at her and nodded a bit.