The Home Of The Dead (Book 2)

Chapter 10: Home

We all looked at each other for a few moments, no one said a word to each other. I could tell what Liam was looking at, the dead were still patrolling the streets, as the had the last few days, but I could tell day by day that there was beginning to be less and less of them.
I assumed, the message that Shannon had given to us, she had asked for them to spread it to everyone else after I had left. I went into my backpack quickly, and then pulled out my can of water, I realized that it was nearly empty now.
I knew that the water and the power was down in the community, so there would be no way to get anymore water. I looked at the 2 bottles of water that Christian had in his bag for Liam, thinking about being greedy and taking one of them. But I knew that my brother needed it a lot more than me.
To this community, what was left of it at least, his potential was through the roof, higher than anyone could even imagine. I did not want him to get dehydrated, so while I was looking at the bottle of water, I grabbed it off of the bag that was sitting on the porch with us, and I handed it to Liam.
Taking his mind off of the dead that were all over the place, he nodded thankfully, and then quickly began drinking up the water. Christian nodded to me, as a way of telling me that I had once again made the right decision, he could clearly see what Liam was looking at, he was thinking the exact same thing that I was at the moment.
I looked down at the ground, waiting for my brother to finish drinking all that he could from the bottle. He then handed it back over to me, I grabbed the bottle, and then I put it into the side of Christians bag. I looked at each of them, as they were both looking at me.
Clearly they both were ready to go, they were just waiting for me to be ready. I closed my eyes for a few moments, I part of me just wanted to wake up, and everything would be fine, none this was real... It was just another one of those weird dreams I had been getting lately.
I knew that I was already awake, and that all of this was in fact real. I needed to make sure that we could find somewhere safe for my brother to stay through all of this. I looked back at both of them, and then I nodded to each of them to let them know that I was ready. They sure did not look like they were too sure that I was, so I began to talk to them to let them know for sure.
"Sorry lets go, we need to get to Lilly's before it is dark again." I said to each of them. Christian nodded, and Liam looked down at the ground. I wondered what was going on in his head, but I knew that I couldn't, his head was a lot stronger than mine.
My parents would always tell me that I was smart, and I knew that I was for sure. I just knew that I looked stupid when I was compared to my brother. He was like nothing anyone had ever seen before, I knew if he made it, he would be the leader of the community...
He would be a fantastic leader as well, and maybe if he was the leader, than none of this would have ever happened to us. I shook my head, if there even was going to be a community left by the time he got the age to be the leader of ours.
Christian began to take the first steps for us to get back home, Liam followed him, I just sat there for a few moments longer. Christian realized that I was not walking with them, and he looked back at me, and squinted his eyes. He then shook his head at me, as he saw that I was looking at them.
Liam stopped as well, a bit confused as to why Christian had stopped. He turned his head as he saw that I had still not left the porch with them. He looked at me a bit surprised, but neither of them said anything, they both just stared at me.
My mind then came back to the present, and I began to hop down the steps of the porch, just like they had done about a minute ago. I followed them to where they were sitting there in the middle of the road. I saw that there was one of the dead going right towards Liam.
Just before I tried to warm them, or run at it to save Liam. Christian turned around, and rather than pulling out his knife and taking out the dead, which he had plenty of time to do. He whipped out his gun instead, and shot down the dead. Liam looked at him a bit surprised and a bit confused.
He then saw the dead that was laying right beside him, and he just stared at it for a few moments. I could tell that he was thinking back on Lilly's dead body that had been sitting on the floor of the hallway a few hours ago... He was the one that had to do it.
I knew that I had to wake up as well, I knew that my brother should be the one in pain right now, and the one that could not think properly, but for some reason I was the one that was acting like it. Liam was the one that had to take down Lilly for christ sake!
Christian looked at me for a few moments, and then he looked at my brother, I could tell that my mentor was a bit frustrated with me right now, I was the one that was pretending to be the little kid right now... I had been through worse, hell... I had seen the dead brother of my mother and step father, at least what was left of it.
I felt sick, my sister was the one that had to end them, I wanted to throw up on the ground, I truly was the one that was pretending to be the age of Liam right now, Liam, he was the one that was not showing any signs of any emotions, which is what I had feared.
Christian would say that it was good to be like that, but I knew, that it sure as hell was not. Christian, I could tell that he was getting more and more frustrated by each moment that both of us were just standing there completely still, he coughed, and then began to talk to the both of us.
"Both of you! Wake up! This is how life is going to be, for the rest of your life, and Liam, I can understand, you are young... You should not be going through this shit, excuse my language, but Ben, you are not... Wake up! Lets go! Unless you want to be like your friends..." He said to us. I winced at the last part, but I nodded to him.
Liam looked at him a bit surprised that he was being so harsh, not at him, but more at me. I knew that he was right though, Liam may be smarter, but he did not know what life was like out there, but he was about to start finding out what it was like.
I did not want to take him outside the walls, but it was time for me to teach him some things, my sister had planned on it a long ways away from now, many years... But his life had got cut too short for that, now it was time for him to start to learn.
"I'm sorry Christian... You are right, lets go." I said to him. He looked at me for a few moments, squinting at me with his eyes, to see if I was being for real, I nodded to him to let him know for sure. He looked at me for a few more moments, and then he nodded back to me as well.
We all looked at each other for a few moments, just as we had been doing just a few minutes ago, and then we made sure that we were all ready. My brother looked at me, and he still, expectedly managed to smile at me, even though I knew that he had so much going on in his head right now.
I smiled back at him, and then nodded to Christian to take the lead, as Liam sat in the middle of the little pack, to be the most safe out of the rest of us. We began to walk faster and faster by each moment, at this point we were almost to the point as we were jogging.
I could tell that it was taking a bit of wear on Liam, he was much smaller and much younger than both of us, so he was almost to the point that he was running. I could tell that Christian could hear to heavy breathing of my brother, so he slowed down a lot, and he looked back at my brother just to make sure that he was okay.
I knew that my mentor did care about the people that he was with, even if he told me that he was not. I asked him about a week ago if he would be in pain if I got bit, or if I was killed... He had told me these exact words, quote on quote...