Life After the Undead (Completed)

PART 14: The Gladiator .1

Melissa'sP.O.V

A door opened and light flooded in and with it came the sounds that had been previously muffled.

The deafening cheer of the crowd and under it the shuffling growling of zombies.

I couldn't stay in there, I would need to get out. So I did. Sprinting out into the arena floor where I could see structures rising out of the ground, and people running away from zombies. I could see that some of them had weapons so I had to assume that was what was in the boxes lying haphazardly around.

After we were taken we were separated.

Jack had told them over and over that he was a Drifter Duke, but they just kept laughing at him. He said when we got to the Dome he'd talk to the Gladiator get us out of this. But I was taken and put into a dark room with no way out and he never came.

I immediately assumed that Jack got himself out of this, got himself free and either had to leave me behind or had just chosen to do so. I was a hindrance after all and I had been giving him a hard time.

If I was lucky, he'd tell Evelyn where I was and maybe she'd come get me, but rule #3 was don't be a hero, and rule #2 was stick with your buddy because the missing were doomed. So, I really shouldn't have been counting on her to come and save me. But I was. I was because I knew if anyone could get me out of this... it was her.

I could already see zombies turning towards me, their mouths leaking fresh blood and new blood. It didn't matter that they had just eaten they were always hungry and I was looking like the next meal.

I had no weapon, I had no cover, and I could only run for so long. I was fucked. Fucked.

I turned to run, and heard an eruption of bullets. An absolute hail fire of them and when I turned the zombies that had been eyeing me were on the ground and someone was coming towards me. A person, like a live person with a gun.

"There you are!"

I stopped, wondering if this was someone who could help me or if this was a hostile, but as the person got closer to me I recognized them.

It was Jack.

Wait... what? He was here? As in competing in the Dome too? Well forcibly competing, people didn't just volunteer for this shit.

He had a big, rapid-fire gun in his hands and one big gash running down the side of his face.

"I've been looking everywhere for you," he said. He got close, gripped my hand and dragged me away. "We've made a little bit of a safe place, a little fort to protect of sorts. We gotta get back there."

Together we ran and irrationally I felt the need to cry. Tears burned my eyes and that was stupid because I really needed to keep running.

"You came to find me?"

"Course I did," Jack threw over his shoulder.

Why did he make it sound like it was the most natural thing in the world? That him coming to find her was logical, expected even. We weren't even friends, I kept saying that I didn't like him, I gave him shit all the time and yet he had stayed. He had looked for me, and it apparently didn't even think twice about it.

He got us back to where him and some other people were all barricaded up. It was one of the structures, except it was built more like a small house with a semi-circle of boxes that must have been dragged there to work as barriers, or cover to shoot behind.

There was a field of dead zombies littering the ground around it, and Jack had to shout: "It's just me, it's just me!"

He got to the door, had someone ask: "How we know you didn't get bit?" and he responded with: "Fucking let me in or I'll throw you out the fucking window."

The door opened but they all had guns on the two of us. "And her, what about her?"

"She's fine," he said and then turned to me. "Right?"

I nodded and he turned back to them: "See."

"It looks like they're setting up for another supply drop," someone called from the second level as Jack pulled me with him towards the back of the small room. He handed me Kevlar and a gun similar to his.

"Put that on, they mean well but their aim sucks," he said.

"Jack, supply drop!" someone shouted and Jack sighed aggressive.

"I found what I was looking for, someone else go this time!" he shouted back and then focused on me again.

Wait... so he was running around away from the safe place, getting supplies and probably saving people and bringing them back here because he was looking for me?

"They have cages set on a timer," he said as he absent went about reloading his own gun. "I figured when you weren't with me during the first round that you were on a different timer. So, every time a new cage opened I went to see if it was you. Course you had to be the one that was farthest away from here, but I mean... not your fault. I bet Tiberus did that on purpose."

The tears were coming back again. "Why?" I found myself whispering. "Why did you..."

He looked up to me again took in my welling tears and smiled almost softly. "Because... you're my buddy and rule #2 was clear..."

Yeah but we weren't with Evelyn anymore and in a world like ours, he didn't have to stick to her rules once we got caught. And just like that I was crying again, not just because I was afraid that I was going to die here, but because I was grateful. Grateful for Jack's presence, glad that he was the one who had been caught with me.

He took in my tears, watched as I tried to wipe them away even though they just kept coming and reached out for me. He took both my hands in his and held them tightly, forcing me to look at him and his encouraging smile.

"Hey, hey, don't you worry. Evelyn's gonna realize you're missing sooner or later and she's going to go looking. We just have to stay alive long enough for her to come and get us."

I nodded at him knowing that I was going to have to man up. I couldn't expect him to keep me alive during this twisted game, I would have to look out for myself too.

But it wasn't just me anymore. I was going to look out for him too. And after this, I was never going to complain about him hitting on me ever again. In fact, I might even welcome it.