Broken

Chapter 25

We reached Clayton around noon. I had only ever been to Clayton once, but it was so small I knew the layout. As soon as we stepped within the city limits, the smell wafted up on us.

We were greeted with a horrific site.

Bodies were strewn everywhere. Buildings were crumbling, on fire, or rubble. It looked like a war zone. We became more alert and had our weapons at ready.

"Where do you live?"

"Cherokee Lane."

"Drake Avenue will get us there the fastest."

"Yeah, I know."

I gave him a strange look as he headed towards Ferugeson Road.

"Then why are you heading down Ferugeson? Drake is this one."

"I know which is which, Beth!" He snapped. "I want to take Ferugeson, not Drake."

"Why?"

Seth whirled around, grabbed my arm, and dragged me down Drake. I stumbled after him.

"Seth, stop! You're hurting my arm. Seth!"

He stopped in front of an alley and pointed at it with a shaky finger. I didn't look. He gripped the sides of my face and forced me to look. Three bodies. Two were recognizable, the other was... splattered across the entire alley. A little girl and a woman. The little girl's eyes were still open and her throat was ripped open. The woman's entire abdomen was torn apart. I grabbed Seth's wrists and tried to pull his hands away from my face.

"Stop Seth! I get it! I get it!" I cried. "I understand!"

He let me go. I saw his face. He was fighting off tears and gripped his gun tighter. His lower lip trembled slightly as he spoke.

"Let's go."

I nodded and followed him through the bloody streets. I kept my eyes on the back of Seth's head, not wanting to see the horrors around me.

At one of the stop lights, a seven car pileup was still sitting in the intersection. It must have been very recent, because the blood smeared on the side of a minivan was fresh. I couldn't bear to look inside the van. Seth grabbed my arm and yanked me closer to him.

"I hear insane," he whispered.

Sure enough, three insane, two men and a woman, stumbled out of a bar across the street. I had assumed the town had been abandoned due to the lack of supplies and humans, but apparently the insane still thought there was something good still here. Seth pulled me behind a wrecked truck and pulled out a gun. I squeezed the handle of my bat and took a deep breath. The insane neared the truck. One of the men, who was tall and buff, said,

"Something's here. Human."

The woman said, "Well, I am hungry."

They cackled. The other man, short and skinny, suddenly pounced behind the truck. I jumped in surprise and swung my bat at him. It grazed his arm and rammed into the truck beside us. The man laughed.

"Come on, little girl. I'm not gonna hurt you... hehehe."

The other man came around the truck. "Yeah, you're all alone. Why don't you just come with us?"

I gasped and looked behind me. Seth was gone. I felt someone grab my arm and I turned back around. The tall man was dragging me closer to him. The short man tore my bat from me and threw it on the ground. I fumbled for my knife and when I found it, I stabbed the tall man in the arm. He released me and roared in pain. I went in for another stab, but the short man kicked me in the face, sending me flying into an eighteen wheeler behind us. I crumpled on the ground. Black splotches covered everything, and my jaw hurt like crazy. I spat out some blood and tried to get up. The short man had already gotten to me, though, and kicked me multiple times in the stomach. I doubled over in pain and clutched my stomach. I moaned as more blood spilled from my mouth.

Where the frick frack was Seth?

That's when I heard a gunshot. Both men attacking me called out,

"Mary?"

No response. I could only assume Mary was the insane woman with them. The short man grunted,

"I'll get her. You finish the girl."

I, once again, tried to get up. I managed to get on my knees, one hand supporting me and the other holding my stomach. The tall man chuckled as he came up to me. Then, another gunshot. The tall man whipped around and yelled,

"You better not be messin' with me, Joe!"

Nothing. The tall man grabbed me by the hair and dragged me around the truck. I clawed at his hand and cried out in agony as my jaw, stomach, and hair follicles all tormented me as one. As we rounded the side of the truck, I caught a glimpse of Mary and Joe on the ground, dead. I felt the tall man lift my entire body off the ground by my hair. I whimpered. He called out,

"I got this girl here. You don't anything bad to happen to her, do ya?"

Seth came from the shadows, gun trained on the tall man.

"If you know what's good for you, let her go."

The tall man looked at me and laughed. "Son, you have no idea who you're dealing with."

Seth glanced at me. "Beth, brace yourself."

I covered my face as Seth shot the man in between the eyes. I fell to the ground and managed to roll away from the tall man. His welts exploded and blood gushed onto the street. I stopped rolling and didn't move. I held my stomach and tried to suck in tears. I heard footsteps run to me and I felt Seth's presence kneel next to me. I heard him mumble under his breath, but I couldn't understand it. He gently wiped the hair out of my bloody face and said,

"Don't worry, Beth. I've got you now."

Everything went black.