Left For Dead [malec fanfiction] [complete]

One: Scavengers

There was a Forsaken shuffling across the road. Its moans were no different sounding than the others; low and mournful and enough to raise the hair on anyone's neck.

This one didn't happen to have any arms. This minor detail seemed to throw off its balance completely as it walked in zigzags across the road towards the convenience store, which, coincidentally, was exactly where Alec and his group needed to go.

They were all well hidden behind a tipped over school bus a few yards away from the store. Armed to the teeth, or with as much as they were allowed to carry, Alec was well prepared for scavenge patrol. He'd been on hundreds of runs since joining the little community of Alicante. This one was no different. The people that were in the group may have changed but the objective didn't.

"Okay. Listen up. This is how it's gonna go...." Alec pointed to the store. "We're going to go in through the back. Isabelle and I will clear the store and open the front doors so that way we have more than one exit if we need to make a quick escape. Do not move until I give you the signal."

The newcomer, a young man named Simon, raised his hand as if he were in school and not in the middle of the zombie apocalypse instead. "What's the signal? A whistle? A wave? The Macarena?"

Alec glared at him. Some folks would find Simon's satirical sense of humor refreshing during times like these. Alec just thought he was straight up annoying. "I'll flash my emergency light three times. Keep an eye out and don't miss your cue."

"Ye of little faith," said his younger sister, Isabelle. Normally, she wore short dresses and walked around in death defying heels back at Alicante, but right now she had on a pair of tight jeans and shirt, hair tied back into a ponytail with a baseball cap over it. "You never did trust the newbies much. How do you expect them to get the proper experience if you don't let them come on the scavenges with us?"

She had a point. A very good one, too. "Because remember the last time we let a newbie come with us? We had to leave our supplies because they attracted a horde of Forsaken. Lost a lot of good stuff that day. Stuff we desparately needed."

They both quietly made their way behind the store, squatting down along the side of the building. When he peered around the corner, Alec heard the familiar shuffling of Forsaken feet. Turning to look at Isabelle, he held up four fingers. She nodded in understanding. As quietly as they could, they took out their hunting knives and made their way towards the Forsaken.

Alec's knife slid easily into the zombie's skull, causing it to fall to the ground immediately. Now it was dead for good. He did the same to another while his sister handled the remaining two. She was really handy with a knife. This surprised a lot of people but it didn't surprise Alec. Their father had taken them hunting loads of times as kids, way before the Dark Days. Isabelle was the one who always skinned the animals. Alec was the one who shot them with his trusty bow. Their father even sent them on a hunting trip of their own once. In the woods for a week, they managed to come back with a young buck and several rabbits. Their father was so proud of them. If only he could see them now....

The Forsaken now dead, they made short work of the lock on the back door. It was strange. If this store was already cleared out by other people, then why was it locked? The only thing Alec could think of was that it was locked to keep something from getting out. Humans would've locked it from the inside. Not the outside.

"Ugh. It smells in here," Isabelle clamped a hand over her nose. "What is that?"

"Rotting corpse," Alec pointed out. "Something is rotting in here." He nodded towards the back rooms. "See if there's anything that needs killing before I open the doors."