William stared at me in shock. Anger spread across his face, but it was quickly hidden in tears. "Don't shoot me," he begged
"Get back," I demanded. "Me and Mellisa are going to get out of here. We are going to risk running out of here, and we're not going to stay in a small building for the rest of our lives. "Mellisa, wake up, we're leaving," I shouted at her, not caring if any of the creatures heard me.
William slowly backed away from me. His face was tear-stricken yet also red with anger. He stared at me in disbelief and hatred. "Mellisa," he pleaded, "you wouldn't do this to me."
"I thought I knew who you were, but apparently I don't," she snapped. She looked up and started climbing out the hole.
"But Mellisa," William begged again, but he cut himself off with tears.
I gave Mellisa the gun and she pointed it at William. I started climbing out of the hole in the roof. I jumped onto the stool Mellisa had used and climbed outside. The frigid air dotted my skin instantly. A faint wind was blowing, and it seemed to carry the moans along with it. I slowly stood up and looked out in front of me.
The entire base was lying in ruins. Almost every building that used to be there was a charred square of burnt wood. I looked at the few standing houses and saw lights on in them. Could there still be people? I asked myself. I stared into the windows of the homes, looking for movement, but it was still. I looked around the building we were in, and several creatures were all surrounding it. There wasn't any place to run. Mellisa walked up beside me and stared at the horrors. I looked out at the edge of the fort and saw the sandbags. Most of them were broken, and sand was laying on the floor. Some of them looked like they had been clawed through, but most bags had bullet holes in them. A few dead bodies were laying on the ground inside the fort, but not many. Most people were probably bit, I thought, staring at the few bodies on the ground. Moans came from beneath us. I could hear them start to get louder. William's crying became louder with it. The creatures were piling up around the building at the constant sound.
"William, stop crying or you'll kill us all!" Mellisa shouted, backing near the middle of the building roof.
William quiets down, but his crying is still audible. The creatures still sturred, but they stopped trying to climb onto the building. Mellisa breathed out a sigh of relief. We walked near the hole I had shot into the roof earlier. William still sat in the building crying. I peered my head down in the hole, looking at William.
"William, I need you to listen to me," I said quietly, making sure not to annoy the creatures.
"Go away," he responded like a child.
"William, I need you to listen to me," I repeated to him.
"Go away," he said louder, looking up from his hands.
"William, do you want to stay here and die? Do you want us to leave you alone? Or would you rather stay here alone and eventually die?" I shouted angrily to him, annoyed at how he was acting. "You're being childish and you know it, so stop."
"I want you to stay here," he stated.
"William, we are not staying here and you know it!"
"I want you to stay here."
"Have it your way." I sighed, lifting my head from the roof and feeling annoyed. I walked away from the hole to Mellisa.
"He's always been stubborn," she said calmly.
"He isn't being stubborn," I corrected. "He's being suicidal, stupid, and childish. Stubborn is not the word. But, back on the subject." I looked around the small building. "How are we getting off?"
"You don't know how we're getting out of here?" Mellisa asked with a laugh. "Isn't it obvious?"
"And how are we getting out of here? Because, you know, it's super obvious," I mocked.
"We dash," she said, shrugging like it wasn't dangerous and there weren't creatures surrounding us at every corner. "That's the obvious way out of here."
"That was the best you could come up with? You told me it was obvious—"
"It was obvious, wasn't it?" she asked with a smirk.
"I guess so. But it's still stupid. Running out there, surrounded by creatures, completely exposed, is the worst idea I've ever heard."
"Do you have any better ideas?" she countered, arching her eyebrow.
I felt stupid in an instant. "No," I replied, annoyed, turning my head away from her.
"Then it's settled, we leave right after the zombies fall asleep."
We sat there and waited for the creatures to stop stirring. Then I had the realization, making me feel stupid. We needed food for the journey, and the only food was with William. I waited a few minutes before I told Mellisa my realization, and I tried thinking of the safest way to get the food. The safest way to get food is also the only thing I can think of.
"Mellisa," I said quietly, "we'll need food. Who knows how long we'll be out there."
She muttered something under her breath, then looked up.
"I'll go in, and you stay on the roof with the gun. If he comes then, well," my voice drifted off and ended the sentence.
"Is that your best idea?" she wondered, staring at me worryingly.
"This is coming from the person who wants to sprint across the field of creatures," I reminded her, somewhat sarcastically.
"Okay," she agreed quietly. "Do you have the gun?"
This is a terrible idea. I think they could've come up with a better idea, but I can't think of anything. I've never been a creative person, though. I do admire yet despite how Mellisa was able to come over her betrayal from William and repay it without anything overly emotional. Of course, what she does to William does disturb me, but she did what she had to. William was foolish for not listening to his plan.
~Trina
I gave her the gun as we walked to the hole. I looked inside, ready to go in, and looked for William. I didn't see him inside. I put my head in lower and stare in, and still see nothing. Then William jumped out behind the fridge and grabbed my head. He pulled me down and shoved me against the floor. He raised up a fist to punch me, and I closed my eyes, bracing for impact. Instead, I heard a gunshot in my ears. I opened my eyes and saw William staring blankly in the distance. He starts to slump over lifelessly. I didn't move fast enough to avoid him; he fell on me. His large body felt crushing against me. I tried pushing him off, but he didn't budge. I started slowly crawling from underneath him. His weight still pressed against me. I heard Mellisa's footsteps from above me. I felt some weight leave me and assumed she was pushing William off of me. I started pushing with her, and we eventually pushed him to the side. I felt a sense of relief that he wasn't on me anymore. I stood up and looked at Mellisa as she turned her head away quickly. She walked over and started opening cabinets and drawers around us. I wanted to comfort, or at least apologize, but I couldn't think of anything to say without sounding like an idiot; I didn't know how well she knew William, and I didn't know what it would be like to shoot a friend.
"Alright, let's go," she commanded after a few moments of gathering food. Her voice wasn't shaky as I had thought it would be. It sounded robotic and emotionless like she was trying not to sound sad.
I started climbing out the hole. Mellisa handed me the food as I sat it on the roof. I placed everything we got next to me. I reached in and out of the hole, constantly grabbing more and more food. After I had a small pile next to me, Mellisa handed me two backpacks. She slung one over her shoulder as she climbed up.
I packed food into my backpack as I saw Mellisa doing the same. I stared back at William one last time, feeling some guilt. I looked at him with some regret, but then I thought I heard him breathe. No, you're just paranoid, I told myself, but I still felt worried. Soon after, I stood up and looked past the roof. The sun was straight over our heads as I glanced at it. I started walking down near the edge of the building. I peered over the edge and saw a few creatures laying down. Mellisa walked beside me in moments. We both stared down at the group of creatures. They all seemed to be sleeping, but there was still an apprehension I had. I looked around us and saw most of the creatures weren't spread out; almost all of them were bunched against the edge of the building. They almost reached the top. I nodded towards Mellisa as I prepared myself to jump. She nodded back silently. We both backed up near the edge again. We both get ready to jump. I started sprinting down the roof, and Mellisa followed me quickly. I stared at the edge of the roof. I neared the edge of it, then jumped off of it.