The Home Of The Dead (Book 2)

Chapter 11: You need to be ready

Christian looked at my brother for a few moments, I thought he was going to be upset for a second. He knew better I suppose, he knew that this was just a kid and he should not have been through some of the shit he had to do over the last couple of days.
We sat there for a few moments longer, then I grabbed Liam's hand, and then I just hugged him for about as long as I possibly could. I heard one of the dead walking towards us, it must have heard us talking, or it had seen us. Christian pulled out his pistol this time, not even bothering to use his knife, like he usually tended to do.
I could feel my brothers body, and I could tell that I was making him feel a little bit better. I knew that it was not just his best friends mom that was going through his head, it was also an addition of the fact that Angela was gone and he had just had to kill our god mother as well.
Christian then got on one knee, and then gave Liam a hug as well. Then he suddenly picked up my brother, which came as a bit of a surprise to me. My brother did not fight back at all, he just let Christian pick him up, and carry him, like me and Angela used to do when he was much younger than he was right now.
"Liam... Home is where we are going right now. You will be safe there, Ben has his friend, he will take care of you for a few days til we clean up the mess of the community that we have right now." Christian said to Liam. I nodded to Christian.
We kept on walking back to my house, just in silence for a few seconds, but it did not seem as if my brother had finished what he had been saying earlier, as he kept on talking, smart enough to be quiet as well, knowing that the dead were all around us.
"I'm not talking about our actual home, I want to go home, I want to see my mom, and my dad, and I want to see Lilly again..." He said to Christian. I sat there, looking down on the ground the moment that I had heard those words come out of the mouth of my brother.
I could tell that it had just about broken a piece off of Christian's soul, which he did not have many pieces left in anyways. I kept on walking, with my head staring down at the ground, but I noticed that Christian had put my brother down on the ground.
I turned around, a bit confused as to what was going on, I then saw Christian get on one knee once again. I saw a look in his eyes, and it was a look of nothing but pure pain, a look that I had seen before from him, but not quite on this level.
I walked a little bit closer, as I saw that Christian put his hands on my brothers arms, and then he looked at my brother, it almost looked like he was about to drop a tear. But he began talking back to my brother, in a very serious tone of voice.
"Don't ever say that Liam, you have a lot left to live for, there are people that have been through far worse than you. I watched my wife eat my new born child, I watched my best friend, your father get torn apart, trying to save the life of your mother, and I have lost many other friends..." He said to Liam. Liam looked at him for a few more moments, then he curled up his arms and fell onto Christian.
I could hear nothing but pain, from both of them, and I hated it for Liam, he was at such a young age, he should not be learning these things so soon... Hell, neither should I, I was barely even 14 in the first place. I always thought that kids should start their training on their 18th bday.
I may as well be good as dead if I was still at my house when all of this had happened, I was lucky to still have my brother with me, and he was not taken back like all of the other kids, to have who knows what happen to them.
I shivered, trying my best, once again, to not think on that topic at all. I hated thinking of evil things like that, I was not evil, and I did not want to think that the rest of the world could be as well. I shook my head and then began paying attention to my brother, and my mentor, as my brother began talking.
"I'm sorry... I am weak, I am not like you 2, I wish I was, but I could never be like either of you..." Liam said to Christian. I walked a little bit closer to my brother, and gave him a hug. He did not know how wrong he was on everything that he had just said to the both of us.
I looked over at Christian, I could tell he was thinking about what Liam had just said, as he was stroking his chin, as he normally did when he was thinking about something. I looked around us, just to make sure that none of the dead were coming up on us, since we were being quite a bit loud.
We were lucky however, I don't know if all of the dead were just bunched up in one big heard somewhere else in the community, which could very well be true, or if people had really come out of their houses, and they had begun to take out the dead, one by one.
I shook my head, and then I turned my head back to my mentor, as he began to speak. As he spoke, I heard him say some of the most true words that any person could have possibly ever said. It was what I was thinking in my head, but I could not relay that into my mouth.
"Liam... You have gone through more than me, or your brother had at your age, you are the strongest kid that I have ever met... You do not realize how strong you are, we believe in you Liam, you can get through the pain, we all have..." He said to my brother. My brother looked down at the ground for a few moments.
It was if he did not want those words that he had just said to be true, it was as if he almost wanted to be weak, but he was not weak, he was strong. He just did not realize that yet, he kept on holding onto my, keeping the hug for as long as he could.
I then let myself off of him, I figured I may as well speak my part in the conversation, it had been a while since I had said anything. I didn't want to say the wrong thing either, this was a big conversation between my mentor, and my younger brother.
I had not seen my mentor say any words more true than what he had just said in that exact moment, and it now made sense as to why he had been stroking his chin, he was really thinking deep into what to say to my little brother.
"Liam... I was around your age when this all had first gone down, you might think it would be worse for me, but you are strong... Any other kid would have just given up, but you haven't, you are still fighting, keep that on you." I said to my brother. My brother looked at me in my eyes, and then he nodded.
Normally when someone looked at me like that, I would look away, or I would not be able to keep a straight face, but this time, I knew it was not the time to be messing around, nor be joking, this was my brother, and he was learning one of the hardest life lessons, in such a cruel world that we lived in.
I swerved my head over to Christian, and Liam did the same as I began to hear my mentor begin to speak to the both of us. I still held on to the hand of my brother through all of us, I needed him to know that he was not alone in this, and he still had me.
"Alright you two, lets get Liam back home, I want to make it back to Lilly's before dark, she is arranging a community meeting in a few days." He said to the both of us. I looked at him and then nodded, and saw that Liam did the same as well.
I realized that we had not told Liam the news at what happened to the council, he probably did not need to hear it right now though, he had already gone through plenty of disasters for the time being. Christian looked at Liam, just to make sure that he no longer needed to carry him.
My brother shook his head, and then we kept on walking, this time I was the one taking the lead, and Christian was the one walking in the back. I heard my brothers footsteps behind me, it was kind of loud for a kid so young, I figured that should be one of the things that I should teach him first.
It seemed that the dead almost felt when someone was walking near them, as if their sense of feeling was much stronger than their sense of hearing. It did not make sense how that would work either, considering you could shoot them 20 times in the chest and they kept on walking.
It was one of the first things that Christian had made sure to show me, it was something new that Lilly had made the people outside the walls teach people, and it was smart. I always heard to aim for the head whenever you shot at one of the dead.
I did not know that, the only way to kill them was to shoot them in the head. You could literally cut off their neck, and they would still be alive, it made me kind of sick just thinking about it, as I shook my head, and then kept on walking taking the lead for the rest of them.
I looked at the walls, the were fairly burnt up, and it looked like all it would take was a single tap and they would be knocked down, all of that metal we were going to use to expand the community was probably going to have to be used to rebuild the walls.
We didn't really need to expand the walls anymore anyways... We had lost all of the kids practically, and we had lost over half of our community, it would take years to get back to the point we were at before, if ever...
I saw my house not too far away in the distance, and I began to speed up my walk, but not too much, remembering that my brother was walking right behind me as well. It was not because he was in bad shape, he was always a bit skinny in fact, but he was so young, a jog for us would be a sprint for him.
Liam stepped in front of me, seeing that he could see our house past me, and then he began to run towards it, I ran up to him and caught him before he even tried doing something so dumb, he looked at me a bit confused as to why I had stopped him.
This time I was the one that got on my knees, he needed to learn that he should not be running off like that, if he neither of us were near him. I could tell that Christian was not going to do anything to stop me, as he shrugged his shoulders at me, and just let me do my thing.
"Liam... There are a lot of the dead around us, you need to stick with us at all times." I said to him. He looked at me for a few moments, and it almost looked as if he was going to get a bit angry at me, but he managed to catch himself before doing so, and he just nodded at me.
I got back up from the spot that I had been kneeling on the ground, and then I looked back at the house, I expected the lights to be on, but then I remembered that the power had been turned off during the attack, that was probably one of the first things that we needed to fix.
We also needed to feed the animals, they were probably low on food and water right now. I shook my head once again, I would leave that up to the leader of the community, it was almost as if I was doing exactly what Christian had mentioned I might be able to do.
I could be a part or Shannon's new council... Lilly used to be a part of my mothers council. I did want to do that or even think about that, though a lot of tbe times it was not ideal, I would not give up going outside the walls and being useful for anything.
Even if some people would say being a part of the council was more important, I did not agree with that. One vote and maybe changing the leaders mind was not worth it, you could just about do the same, while also being useful for the community by going outside the walls, bringing in new people, exploring new areas, and bringing in supplies.
As we began to keep on walking, even closer to the house, I heard my brother say something to me from behind, something that Christian could not quite catch, and as I heard what it was that he had to say, I realized why...
"Do you like your mentor? He seems a bit mean..." Liam said to me. I kept on walking, looking back on my brother with a bit of a smile, and making sure that Christian did not hear a word of what my brother had just said about him behind his back.
It did not seem like Christian had heard what Liam had said, either that or he had not been paying attention, nor had he cared what Liam had just said about him. I looked at my brother as we continued walking, and then I responded to what it was that he had just asked me.
"Yes... He can be a bit rude sometimes, but he does it for a good reason, he has taught me many things that I would not have thought of, or I would have thought the opposite, I am lucky to have him, I would not even give him up for even our sister." I said to my brother, with a bit of a grin on my face.
As I looked away, the grin disappeared, I hated thinking about my sister, especially if she was the one that had betrayed us, which I was still quite a bit iffy on... I just hoped that Aidan had helped save the other group before it was too late for them as well.
I wondered if we would ever meet them again, or ever find out what had happened to them. Aidan would either come back with bad news, or he would not come back at all. Which I did not know if that was for a good, or a bad reason quite yet.
I walked on the front step, and then sat down at the little swing on the porch, Liam sat down on it with me, I did not even want to go inside. I knew that my brother was going to be okay, but I still wish sometimes that none of this was real, and I was just in some never ending dream.
I looked at my mentor, as he walked up on the porch behind us, and he just stood there, and the ends of the porch with his arms, just looking at what seemed to be nothing. I would try to see what he was looking at, but all that I would see was a house.
By the time I looked at him, just to make sure it was a house that he was looking at, he was just staring at something completely different this time. I gave up after the 3rd attempt. I just looked at my brother and then smiled at him, he looked at me but then did not smile back at me.
It was a bit different for me, it almost made my smile go away, because he was always a happy kid, but I knew the reason that I was smiling, and it was not a fake smile. I gave my brother a kiss on his cheeks, which I knew he hated when I did it, but I could tell it lightened the mood.
My brother wiped off the smooch that I had given him from off of his cheeks, and then he turned away, trying his best not to show to me that he was smiling as well. But I could tell, and I looked over at my mentor, as he looked happy to see that we were still somehow in good spirits, even after going through what had just happened to us.
"You still have me Liam... Do not give up on the world just yet, I will do everything in my power to find, and bring back Angela." I said to him. He looked at me for a few moments, and I could tell that he did not look as if he was quite sure what I had just said really was true or not.
I knew it was, if I did not find my sister, the best I could do was die trying... My sister's life meant a whole lot more to this community than mine did, even if I was important to this community. She was smart, and she gave our community hope, it was something that not even I could ever do.
I kept on swinging on the swing with my brother, wasting just a bit more time, as I could tell that it was getting Christian more and more antsy by the moment. I just did not want to go into the house, knowing that my sister might not ever be back in this place ever again.
I looked back at my mentor, as he coughed trying to get our attention, I nodded to him, for him to go ahead and speak whatever it was that was on his mind. Once he knew that both of us were paying attention to him, he then finally decided to start talking.
"Alright, you 2... We really need to get on the road..." Christian said. I looked at him and nodded, it assumed me to this day that people still used that slang, when there were no cars to use anymore. I shook my head though, and then looked over at my brother to let him know that it was time to go in.
I first got up from the seat to notify him that I was about to head inside. He followed right behind me, grabbing on to my hand still wanting to hold it. I let him do it for now, as Christian picked up the key from the same matt that we used at Lilly's...
He put it into the lock, and then after a few spins, because the lock to the house was not very good, he finally managed to unlock the door. It was not a very good house that we lived in, it was mainly just a big yard for Angela to practice whatever she was working on once she went out of the walls.
I saw Chester get up from the couch, and saw that he had a bit of some scruffs of chips on his face. I was a bit surprised to see those, I knew my sister often liked to hide them away, only for special occasions, or for herself, chips were a bit hard to come by in our community.
He must have looked everywhere, it was a bit funny to me that it was the first thing that he had probably eaten as well. He saw that I was looking at the chips on his face, as he wiped it off of him, and then he began talking to all of us.
"Hey you all... Glad you found your brother. Thought something had happened to you all, you must have stayed the night there I suppose." He said to me. I looked at him and then nodded, Liam was looking at me a bit confused as to why there was such a big guy that he had never met before, just sitting on our couch, eating our food as well.
I heard a few clicks from Christians gun from behind me, and I turned around to see what it was that he was doing, I saw as he was just fixing up a few kinks on his pistol, as I looked back at my brother, who was still confused as all hell who the guy was.
I looked at my brother, and nodded to get his attention. He turned his head over to me, as I began to speak to my brother, to let him know that it was okay, and he was just one of my old friends, at least, if you wanted to call him that.
He would probably be out of his mind of he found out that I still called him a friend, he never really was a friend to me in the first place. He was always a dick to me, one of his other friends, and Jordan liked to chime in from time to time on it as well.
"This is Chester, he was one of Jordan's friends, I found him while I was looking for you... He is going to take care of you." I said to him. Chester looked a bit confused as to what I was talking about, I did not know if it was because I did not say he was my friend, of if it was because I said he was going to take care of Liam.
Chester looked at me, he did not looked annoyed or angry, he just looked a bit confused, I had forgot if I had told him that we were going back to Lilly's or not. He then began to speak to me, as Christian kept on fixing whatever he was fixing in his gun behind me.
"Wait... Where are you guys going? You trust me to take care of your brother?" He said to me. I looked at him for a few moments, and then I rolled my eyes at him. Taking care of my brother really was not going to be that hard of a job, my brother was a very smart kid.
Christian giggled from behind me, which I was confused about, maybe he thought this interaction that I was having with Chester was a bit funny to him. I looked back at Chester and then I responded to the questions that he had just asked me.
"Well... Me and Christian are going over to Lilly's, just to clean up the community and see who is alive, and who is not... Yeah, hes not that hard, just make sure he doesn't run off or leave the house." I said to him. Looking at my brother as well, to make sure that he knew not to try to do something stupid like that.
Chester looked at my brother, squinting his eyes at my brother. My brother thought of this as something funny, and it seemed the giggle affect was rippling from Christian of to Liam. Chester let out a bit of a loud snort, which made Liam laugh even louder than before.
I smiled at them, happy to see that they had at least gotten their minds off of all the bad things that had just happened to all of us in the last couple of days. Christian just rolled his eyes at all of us, and then my brother walked over and then sat down at the other couch.
He put his hands into the chip bag, and to my surprise he pulled out a chip, I would have thought that Chester would have finished that whole bag by now. Chester looked like he was enjoying the company, when he was not such a dick to me, I knew that he could actually be a fairly cool guy.
I let them be, as I could hear them talking quietly to each other, I could not hear a word that they were saying to each other, it was if they were trying to be quiet on purpose. I shook my head, and then turned my head over to Christian, who was finally done with whatever it was that he was doing with his gun.
He saw that I was looking at him, and then he nodded to me. I was looking at him for what the plan was for us to do next, I did not know if he realized that or not, but he always seemed at least some what of a smart guy to me, so it did not seem as if I needed to ask.
He walked into the kitchen, and then began to open the cabinets, I was a bit confused as to what he was doing. Was he looking for some food to eat? It had been quite a while since I had last ate, I wondered if it was the same for him, I kind of wish we had taken a little bit of Lilly's food with us.
I shook my head though, that would not be right at all, she was gone now, I could not just be eating her bread, and her food and drinking her water, all the while she was just sitting there, laying down on the hallway just dead.
Christian turned his head to me, and he pulled out 4 pieces of bread and then he put it on the counter, he then grabbed the can of peanut butter, and grabbed some jelly from the cabinet, I realized how hungry I was and I nodded to him as he began to make a PB&J for us.
Once he was done, he put the knife into the sink, I wondered why he had not cleaned it off at least, he seemed to be fairly good with that, but then I remembered, the power being off, the water of the community was also off as well.
He handed my the sandwich, and I nodded to him thankfully. We both bit into our sandwiches, and after a few moments, and a quick gulp, he then began to talk to me once again. I looked at him, making sure he knew that I was paying attention to him.
"Alright Ben... We are going to Lilly's now, this is either for the good or for the bad, I just want you to know, you need to be ready."