The Home Of The Dead (Book 2)

Chapter 17: Holy Shit...

I jogged over to my mentor, who was looking at me with his eyes squinted. He did not say anything however, I was wondering what the look was that he was giving me though. He had been giving me a bit of a strange look over the last couple of days, I just could not quite think of what it could be.
He did not think that I was somehow a part of the alleged scheme that my sister had made, surely right? I did not spend hardly any time around my sister. He knew me better than my sister even knew me. I shook my head, and sped up my jog, not quite to the point of where I was running.
I got beside him, expecting to see flocks of the dead everywhere, but there was no dead to be seen anywhere near us. Whatever Shannon was doing, it had clearly pulled all of the dead over to the community house. I was still afraid to even question whatever it was that she was doing.
She did some things that a lot of people deemed to be stupid, but in the end it actually turned out to be fairly smart. People just gave up on thinking on the plans that Shannon made, and they just did it. I had to give her credit, she had done some great things to our community, but I was not so sure about what it was that she was doing this time.
We would get there at some point today, hopefully before dark. Hopefully to see that there were still people alive as well. Although, I was a bit afraid to even go near the community house due to the fact that all of the dead, inside, and outside the community would be running to it.
Well, not really running, but you get the jest... I suppose, they did nearly run when it was late at night however. Which was the reason that I was thinking on this subject in the first place, I hoped we got there, and things were okay by the time it got dark.
I realized that my mentor was looking at me, to make sure that I was ready. I could also tell that he was starting to get a bit frustrated, which if you ask me, was quite a bit hypocritical, because he was thinking a lot earlier. I shook my head at him, I already knew what he was about to say.
The same thing that he always said, "You should not be thinking that much kid... It'll get you killed..." To a sense he was right, but he had also been doing the exact same thing practically all day. He shook his head back at me, and then we walked towards the path to the community marketplace.
I looked at it, thinking back when I found Chester there just yesterday, he was so afraid, and he felt like a coward, which was something that I had never seen from him before, he always prided himself on being both big and strong, mentally, and physically.
We all had a bit of coward inside of us in the last couple of days. The difference was, I fought through what my head was telling me not to do, and I did it... I was strong, and I now knew that was true about myself. I should have known the day that I had last my mother that I was.
My father was not as big of a hit on me, because I was much younger for one, and I never got to know my father very well, but my mother was the one that had locked me up in the shed for so long, she told me I would be safe and that she would come for me in just a few days...
She promised me on it, one of the strongest promises imaginable as well, a pinkie promise. She did not come through with the promise however, but I knew it was not her fault, my sister had told me all about it. She went into deep and gruesome detail... I was glad Liam was not nearly old enough to realize what was going on.
I closed my eyes for a few moments, trying to clear all of that from out of my head, and just follow the footsteps of Christian. It might not be the best idea, with all of the dead being in the community, but they were after the community house anyways, and I just needed a few moments to think.
Or rather, to stop thinking... I followed the footsteps, and maybe this would be for the better as well, he had always taught me to begin to learn the footsteps of dead, and not the dead, and how to hear them. As I really did my best to focus, even his quiet footsteps were a bit loud in my eyes.
I opened my eyes, as I heard his footsteps stop, I nearly ran into him, but luckily I had been paying just the slightest most attention, to stop myself just in time. I turned my head around to see that we had already gone far past the marketplace.
I did not realize that I had my eyes closed for that long... I then turned my head back to Christian, as he had his eyes locked on mine... But his eyes were squinting once again. I felt look a should step up this time and say something about it. In a weird way, it was actually starting to get on my nerves just slightly.
I looked at him for a few moments longer, and this time I squinted my eyes at him. He looked at me a bit surprised, as if he had not expected me to do that, and he looked away for just the slightest few moments, before he turned his head back towards me, but he was not looking me in my eyes this time.
It was something that I had not seen from him ever before. It was actually a small amount of weakness, which was the opposite of what he always prided himself on. I began to talk to him, my eyes were locked on his...
"Why are you giving me that look? Did Shannon tell you that I might be a part of whatever this was as well?" I said to him. He looked down at the ground for just a few moments, and for a few seconds I thought that the theory that I had just made up in my head on the fly might be true.
He then looked up at me for a few moments, and he began to squint his eyes at me once again. As if he was pretending that the interaction we had just had with each other had never happened in the first place. I rolled my eyes at him, but he did not seem to notice, as he just began to speak back to me.
"Kid... I am worried, but it is not Shannon, I do not believe that you were a part of this plan... That is not what I am worried about... I am worried about you..." He said to me. I looked at him a bit confused as to what he was getting at for a few moments, but then I realized what it was.
At least, I thought I knew what it was that he was getting on about. It was something he had told me that he would never do again, and he reckoned with me that I should do the same as well. I began to speak back at him, as he did not keep talking after a few seconds of silence.
"I thought you told me, to not get attached to one person, or else when you lose them it will hurt." I said to him. He looked at me for a few moments, squinting his eyes at me once again. But this time it did not look like he was suspicious of anything I had done this time.
This time it looked like he really was showing some signs of weakness. He then looked down at the ground for just a few moments. I looked at him for just a little while longer, and then I saw something from behind him. I saw a few of the dead just walking past us, on their way to the community house.
I pointed a finger in front on Christians face so that he saw it, I knew that he could not hear them from over there, they were over 300 feet away. He looked at me a bit confused, and then he turned around to see what it was.
He jumped back, a bit surprised, as if there was one on him right now, and for a few moments I thought that might be so, but then I realized it was just a natural instinct. We sat there in silence for a few moments, seeing tons of the dead just walking by us.
I did not even think there could still be so many of them left in the community. I then turned my head over to Christian, waiting for him to say what to do. That was the job of a mentor, my job was only to be trained, but from time to time I would still give him advice.
Right now, this was just not one of those instances where I had any advice for him. I was just going to wait it out, and find out what his decision was. He knew better than me, I doubt that he had been in a situation quite like this, normally you run away from the heard, but this time we were following it.
After a few moments, and him just sitting on one knee, just watching a bunch of the dead roll by. He then turned his head over to me, he then nodded to me, to which I nodded back to him as well. He then began to speak, stumbling over his words, as if he had not thought through this enough.
"Kim's place is away from where they are heading, we will just have to sneak around and get your stuff first, after that we will head over, the dead should be gone by the time we get out, and you have finished talking to your girlfriend." He said to me. I looked at him for a few moments, and then I nodded to him.
I then turned my head away, suddenly a bit confused. How did he even know that I had a girlfriend in the first place? I had never told him about Sasha before, now I was beginning to get a bit scared, and my natural instinct was to do what Christian had told me to do.
I lifted my gun at, I was scared and confused how he knew all of this stuff. He turned his head over to me, hearing my heavy breathing, and then he looked at me with a bit of a surprised look on his face. I then began to talk, with real fear in my voice, as I moved a little bit further back away from him so he did not have time to get up and stop me in the case that I must shoot him, but I was starting to feel like I must...
"You were the one that betrayed us? How did you know I even had a girlfriend, and how did you know she was with me when I went to Kim's place... Who else is in on this?" I said to him, turning my fear into anger at the same time.
Anger, because everyone had been blaming my sister, when it had been my very own mentor all along. He looked at me a bit confused, and he looked like he was about to laugh, but he thought best not to with me pointing a gun at his head.
He gulped, which was not a good sign on his part for me believing whatever it was that he was about to say to me. I was tempted to pull the trigger right now and not even give him the chance, he could easily lie and then pull out his gun and shoot me.
I did not see him putting his hand anywhere near towards where his pistol was in his buckle. That was at least a semi good sign to see. I still had just lost all of my trust in him, with those words that he had just said to me.
After a few more moments, and him putting his hands in the air, just to let me know that he was not going to pull out his gun and shoot at me, he then shook his head at me, before he finally decided to talk, after that short few moments of silence, which felt like a millennia.
"Kid, I saw the look you were giving her, and I saw all of you heading back to Kims, I was going to stop all of you, but I had some unfinished business of my own to work out, now will you please put that gun down." He said, pointing a finger at the gun that I had still fully pointed at him.
I still was not ready to believe him, nor trust any of the words that he had just said to me, it all seemed a bit bogus, but who else could have betrayed me during all of this, neither Kim or the other guy knew that me and Sasha were ever dating. I still was not ready to trust him, as I then began to respond to him.
"Unfinished business, like what?" I asked him. He looked at me for a few moments, and then he rolled his eyes at me. He clearly was not taking any of this seriously, which was beginning to annoy me. But it also made sense to me, if he had really not betrayed me.
Maybe I was giving Sasha a bit of a weird look, I missed her so much, and it had really hurt me when she had just gone out of her way to start ignoring me completely. I still was not quite ready to trust Christian, I was doing exactly what he had taught me to do if it came to something like this.
He looked away for a few moments, and then he looked away, just staring at the ground. It was now tempting me to shoot him once again. If he had that sort of look on his face, surely it only meant that for one reason. He was guilty for betraying all of us...
I shouldn't be jumping to conclusions like that however, but I still felt like I should just shoot him. I just could not bring myself to do it, he was my mentor and I considered him as a friend of mine. If he was truly not guilty, then I would have just killed an innocent man.
It just felt a bit easier for me to kill someone, after that night that I had found Tony, and Christian. I had to kill those guys, and now it made me feel like a sick person, like I could just go around killing whoever I wanted to. I heard Christian begin to talk, and I turned my head over to him, to hear what it was that he had to say to me.
"Kid, I can't tell you that, it is none of your business, I get that you are scared right now, but I am going to need to get you to calm down, we have already wasted a lot of time today, we need to go..." He said to me. I looked at him a bit surprised for a few moments, but then I quickly tried to hide it from him.
I thought I was doing a pretty damn good job of trying not to look scared. I shook my head, my thoughts should be on what he had first said to me, rather than what I was thinking about in my head right now.
None of my business huh? That made things even more suspicious... What did he have to do in this community that was none of my business? I knew he did not have a wife, or anything of that matter, nor did he really have any friends.
I looked at him, and then I squinted my eyes at him, what he had just said to me had only made me feel even more suspicious of him. I was so close to pulling the trigger, why was he putting it off like I did not have a gun to his head... Did he think that I was not being serious?
"If its not my business, then it must mean that you were doing something to betray us... Tell me why, or I ought to shoot you right here and right now." I said to him. He looked at me for a few seconds, and then he squinted his eyes at me, with a bit of an angry look on his face.
I didn't expect that reaction from him at all, he was acting like I was the one with the gun getting pointed at my face right now. It was actually really starting to upset me. But at the same time as well, what he had just said to me had all made quite a bit of sense.
All except the part where he did not want to tell me what it was that he was looking for, or to make sure was still okay. That was the main reason that I still had my gun pointed directly at his face still. But the look on his face, it seemed he did not notice, or he did not care that he had a gun pointed there.
He looked down at the ground for a few moments, and then he closed his eyes. He was trying to collect his calm, he always did that when that was what he was trying to do. We all had our different ways of doing so I suppose, but now I just really wanted to get this over with.
After a few moments, of him just standing still, he put his hands down, but I did not shoot, my thoughts were too focused on the fact that I did not see as many of the dead walking towards the community house, my mind had gone completely blank on what we were talking about in the first place.
Then Christian lifted his head up, and he began to speak to me. I looked over at him, letting him know that I was paying attention to what it was that he was saying, and I was not just scared and tempted to shoot him, which was my original reaction.
"Ben... You need to calm down, I always trust you, I need you to have the same trust in me. If I do not want to tell you what it is, just let it be, I did not betray you, and neither did your sister. Now we need to go, it is already past noon..." He said to me. I looked at him for just a few more moments, still not ready to trust him quite yet.
I finally came to realize that he was right, I needed to stop acting like this, he was my mentor, and I knew that he would not let me down. I knew that he did not have evil intents, because I practically knew more about him, then any other person... Besides the fact that he would not tell me what it was that he was looking for...
I put my gun back into my belt, and I nodded to him. He squinted his eyes at me for a few moments, and then he nodded back to me as well. He then turned his head back to the street that was just in front of us, across the straight and narrow small path that we had to take to get through it.
We were lucky that the dead did not like to walk in areas like these, I would be to afraid to walk in the woods or places like this if that were so. Christian looked over at the street for a few more moments, and then he turned his head towards me and he nodded.
He did not speak however, which was kind of what I was expecting him to do. So it was just a bit of an awkward silence as I turned my head back over to the street, no longer seeing any more of the dead walking past it anymore.
After a few more moments of us just staring at the road in silence, I remembered what it was that we were doing in the first place. That was, to get over to Kim's place to get my bag, and after that, we needed to head over to the community house, to find out, just what it was that was going on over there in the first place.
I looked back over at Christian, who was still staring down at the road, but after he realized that I was looking at him, he turned his head over to me, and then he nodded to me, to let me know he was listening to what it was that I was about to say to him.
"We need to go now, I think it is at least somewhat safe to get across, and it is going to be dark in a couple of hours." I said to him. He looked at me for a few moments, and then he nodded back to me. He managed to crack a bit of a smile, which I was a fair bit confused about.
I shook my head, and then we just kept on standing there, as if neither of us were actually going to do what it was that I had just said we needed to be doing. I could not even push the blame on him this time, I was a slight bit scared of what we were about to be walking in to.
Christian then looked back over at me, and he broke the silence that was in the air once again. I could tell that he was not sure if he wanted to do this either. It was not a look of fear on his eyes for himself, but he had just told me that he was afraid for me earlier. He began to talk to me finally however.
"You are right indeed... Follow my lead, I'll make sure it is safe for us to keep going." He said to me. I looked at him for a few moments, and then I nodded to him. He then began to walk forward, with me following him not too far behind.
As we got closer and closer, I then began to realize that the street was at least semi safe, not to walk on, but to go on the sides, so that none of the dead would see us. That was, depending on where it was that we were walking, and luckily it was the opposite direction that I saw to the left of us.
Neither of us said anything to each other, we just stood there, and stared at what it was that was in front of us, and I could see it going for at least a mile. It was the biggest heard that I had ever seen in my life, even bigger than the ones that I had seen in the big city that me and Christian had gone to a few weeks ago.
There was at least a thousand of them, I flinched as I heard random gunshots, and it nearly made me fall to the ground. Christian luckily caught me just before I did so. I nodded to him gratefully but he did not seem to notice it.
I turned my head, over to the right side, and I could see a couple of stranglers away from the massive pack, but they did not have their eyes on us, they were going over to where the gunshots were coming from in the first place.
I looked back over to the left side, and the heard looked even bigger than I had first seen, I could not even see the community house in the distance, and it was on a downwards slope, all I could see were the dead... And I could not help but say what I said next.
"Holy shit..."