The Corrupted (Completed - editing)

Chapter 16 - "The Lamas"

"Guys..." Dex slows the van, pulling us to a stop. He sits there, eyes widen at the road ahead.

Zoe yanks out her headphones, sitting up. "Why did we stop?"

The van remains silent, so Zoe storms to the front. "Dex, what are you waitin-

She too stops, her mouth wide open in utter disbelief. I stumble my way up to the front, investigating the issue. As I make my way towards the windscreen, I can't believe my eyes. The rest of the crew rushes up behind us, a few gasps appearing here and there. We stay silent for a moment, until Dex bursts out into laughter, jumping up from his seat and practically smashing his way through the van door. A small breeze wafts inside, greeting us, enticing us to join Dex outside. Zoe is the second to run out, so I follow along behind her, while the others trail behind us. It's a warm day outside, as we stand in front of the van, leaning back against the hood, staring in awe.

Thousands of lamas stood, blocking our path. Occasionally one or two would glance over at us, some even approaching us. They weren't scared. I suppose they hadn't seen real predators in a few years, so they didn't have the fear of being hunted. They're more curious than cautious.

Dex sprints up ahead of us, jumping up onto the back of one lama. Fallon giggles, watching him with her arms folded. I stand back with Dax, Annie and Jason while we attempt to conceal our laughter. Zoe and Flynn, however, were not impressed.

"Dex, get off the lama, now!" Zoe runs ahead, attempting to pull him off of the shrieking lama. Zoe chases after the lama, who was now bucking, while Dex sat on top, a slight look of terror yet excitement on his face. The other lamas cleared way for Dex and his bucking steed, watching calmly.

Flynn walks back towards the door of the van, not wanting to be involved in the dilemma. His serious expression remains spread across his face, until he reaches the door, where a small smile appears on his lips. He enters the van without a word.

Zoe continues to chase Dex, now laughing. Dex laughs with her, as the lama beneath him goes bezerk. Jason wraps his arm around Annie, kissing her forehead as she laughs and smiles. Dax stands next to me, his arms folded and a smile across his face. No longer filled with guilt. Fallon smiles, running alongside Dex.

The lama finally bucks Dex off into the dirt below, as he landed with a cloud of dust. Zoe stops, watching to see if Dex was okay.

A brief moment of silent fills the air before the cloud of dust clears, allowing us to see a hysterical Dex rolling on the floor with laughter. The lama turns to Dex, glaring. Then, it spits directly onto his face.

We go nuts. Gushes of laughter fill the air, our stomachs in pain from the fits. Dex lies there, lama spit on his forehead, with a blank look on his face. Zoe wipes tears from her eyes, as she tries to contain her laughter. The lama slowly walks away, swaying its hips with sass.

After several minutes of our laughter dying down and Dex laying in shock, Zoe stumbles over to Dex, offering her hand. She helps him stand up, as he wipes the lama saliva off of his head. A small smile appears on his face, as the laughter starts back up again.

And then a gun is fired, replacing the laughter with silence.

We look over to where the bullet had been fired, seeing Flynn standing at the door, a hand gun positioned in his hand. It took a moment for us to connect the dots, but as we did we look over to see what or who he had shot.

Turning our heads in unison, we find it wasn't a person that had been shot, rather, a Corrupted. The corpse lied crumpled on the ground, his eyes staring up to the sky, a bullet through his forehead. He was inches away from Zoe and Dex. No one had seen it coming.