Ahoy, mateys!
Long time no talk. Well, not really, but you're still looking good, just as always.
Here is the next chapter, just for you! It's a little bit long, but I hope you'll enjoy it. We meet some new people in this part so I guess that's nice.
Lemme know what you think. I love to hear from you guys.
Fair winds,
--Ash
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Chapter Seven—Kyra
I wake everyone up early and pack them up. I take my backpack and chest with a bag of supplies balanced on top. Everyone else carries a bunch of materials too, everyone that is, except for Bailey. Then again, that’s not a surprise.
I decide we should backtrack, going to the last town we were at. I get very uncomfortable staying in one place for too long, but on the other hand, a lot of our team is suffering from hangovers from last night (I told Isaiah that four cases of beer was too much, not that all of it was consumed). With our state of mind and physical state, I don’t think we’re in quite the condition to move onwards and clear another town. Going to one that’s already been cleared seems much safer.
We walk on this dirt road that goes around the forest instead of the faster way through it. There is nothing but fields and around us this way, making spotting zombies a lot easier.
“So where are we going? La Guerre? Jungle Bungle?” Archie asks in a slow voice. We give a nickname to each and every shelter we stay in. The one we were just at is “Castle” on the Hill.
“’Bandoned Burned Beer Barn,” I answer somewhat regretfully. It had been dubbed that by none other than Mr. Reid. The barn is literally in the middle of nowhere. There are no remains of any buildings within at least a mile radius. There is a town a couple of miles away, one we need to pass through to get there. Anyway, the barn was in a fire some time ago. The wood sides are black with age and damage. I like how it smells like fire though. It reminds me of my home, being curled up in one of the armchairs in front of the hearth, beside my father, immersed in Edgar Allan Poe (or whatever the poet of the day was). Unfortunately, the comforting feeling is somewhat destroyed by the scattered, empty beer bottles everywhere.
“Awwww yea! Beer Barn, Beer Barn, the best of the best is the Beer Barn. The bitter the batter the better the batter—” Archie screams.
“Hey! Shut it! Do you want to get us targeted?” I snap.
“No way, Jose!” Arch replies. He almost trips on his own foot, catching himself at the last possible second. “Whoa, that was close,” he laughs.
“Did you, by any chance, take a few more beers before we left?” Izzie inquires.
“Nahhh!” Arch waves the question away.
“Are you sure?” Iz persists.
Archer wavers.
“Did you take some?” Isaiah asks again.
Arch pinches his fingers so they’re millimetres apart. “Just a teeny, tiny, bitey, bit.”
“You’re usually the best at covering up being drunk,” Iz observes.
“Wait! You guys have brought alcohol to the house more than once?!” I demand to know.
“Aw, c’mon, it’s not that bad,” Archie pats my back and I shake him away.
“Did you get something else? Sneak something stronger?” Izzie questions.
Arch shakes his head vigorously. Maybe it will snap off and roll away. At least then I won’t have to do it myself.
I get fed up with is idiocy. I put down the chest and grab his collar, pulling him down to my level. “What did you have?” I snarl.
He stares into my eyes. I stare back into his bloodshot ones. He raises his hand and brushes my hair aside. I try to shrug him away. He leans closer. I smell the booze on his breath.
“Ah, ah, ah! None of that Archie,” Danny pushes Arch’s shoulder away and pries my grip off his shirt. “Just do us all a favour and tell us, all right Arch?” And so the protective older brother part of Danny rears its head once again.
“Just some vodka,” Archer admits.
“Vodka!” I screech and Dan shoots me a look to be quiet. I shut my mouth.
Daniel waits patiently.
“And a little bit of whiskey. At least I think it was whiskey...” he trails off.
Danny sighs.
“Dan Man?”
“Yea Arch?”
“I think I’m going to be sick.”
Danny spins Archer around to the side of the path where he spews out whatever poison was in his stomach.
“It’s all right, bud. Get it all out,” he pats Arch’s back.
I roll my eyes. “Don’t baby him. It’s his own fault for being stupid.”
“Be as that may, I still want to make sure he’s okay,” Danno says.
“That rhymed!” Archie shouts after wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Nice observation. Now why don’t you stay by me, all right?” Dan takes Archie’s arm and slings it around his shoulders. He puts his own arm around Arch to support him.
Izzie looks upset. At least someone has the same feeling as me. “You had some really good stuff and you didn’t tell me? Didn’t share with me? Now what kind of brotherhood is that?” Or not.
Archer frowns. “I never thought of that.”
Apparently walking and talking has become too much for him and he trips on his own feet nearly causing both him and Danno to fall. Dan braces himself and pulls Archie back up.
“Easy buddy.” His niceness disgusts me.
“How much longer?” Arch groans.
“Couple of miles,” Graham says.
Archie moans. He leans to the side and vomits again. Bailey sighs, frustrated, and pushes her way to the front.
“I am not walking behind this imbecile, listening to him puke his guts out and having him slow us all down.”
This from the girl who was attached to him for the past few days.
We continue forward in a broken group. Bailey, Izzie, and Tams take the lead, setting the pace. Graham, Jacquelyn, and Danno stay at the back of the pack with Arch, offering their condolences and encouragement to him. I walk with the front group until I can no longer stand being in Bailey’s company anymore. I hang back until the others catch up with me. And then, when Archie’s complaining becomes too much, I speed up again. The process repeats. If we were to be ambushed by a pack of runners, we would be decimated.
The town we need to pass through to get to ‘Bandoned Burned Beer Barn appears in the horizon in the mid-afternoon, motivating everyone to step it up a gear. Arch switches from complaining to wishing.
“Sleep soon. Soft. No walking,” he chants to himself like a mantra.
As we near the town, I put down my trunk to flex my hands. The only good thing about having to travel and lug around so much luggage is that it gives your arms a nice shape from the muscle you build up.
“You coming?” Daniel questions.
“Yea, go ahead. I’ll catch up in a minute,” I answer.
He hesitates, wanting to get to the barn but not wanting to leave me by myself.
“It’s fine,” I tell him.
“I’ll stay with her. We’ll just stretch then catch up. No worries,” Jackie says.
“Okay. You got your horns if you need anything?” Dan checks.
“Yup,” Jack and I reply simultaneously.
“Here Graham, take Arch’s other arm so we can move faster.” The three of them enter the town together.
“Jeez, he can be so stupid!” I complain.
“Daniel? I thought you two had a thing?” Jackie says surprised.
“No, Archer. And we don’t have a thing. Tried it. Nothing.”
“Oh, well that’s too bad, Daniel’s great. And, yea, Archer can be. He seems to be...” she searches for the right words, “...mood-swingy lately.”
“You could say that again,” I laugh.
“I think it’s because of you. Maybe he—” Jacquelyn is cut off by a high pitched scream.
We both kick into action at the same time the blow horn goes off. We grab our weapons and leave the chests and bags that aren’t on our backs behind before sprinting into the town.
They didn’t get too far into the place before they were attacked. Zombies must have been lying in wait, lured by the scent of the living.
“Give me a gun!” Arch yells.
“Stay down!” Danno orders, unwilling to give Arch a weapon because he is completely wasted and liable for accidentally shooting one of us.
Archie ducks in front of Danny, who lets out a continuous stream of bullets into the undead around them along with Graham.
“Ky!” Daniel shouts for me, knowing I’m here without even looking.
I start with the death arrow. Jackie uses her gun to help clear a path to Arch, Graham, and Dan. We make a break for it, turning sideways and moving back-to-back, watching out for the other. We make it to the guys and more zombies fill in the path we’d just created.
“Where are they coming from?” I ask over the blast of bullets. We constantly shoot, trying to keep the hoard back.
“I have no idea! They came out of nowhere. I don’t know where the others are,” Daniel hollers back.
I turn to Jackie who has tears streaming down her face. We all know the scream belonged to her sister. Jack doesn’t give up or shut down though, she keeps fighting. My dad would have liked her.
“Dan Man!” we hear someone yell.
“Isaiah!” Danno bellows back.
“Back up!” Izzie blares his horn continuously.
Danny searches through the crowds. “There!” he points to a stick in the air with an orange shirt on it. Iz leans out of a tree and waves.
“We’re going to have to work together to get over there. Make a circle. Archer, stay in the middle of us,” I instruct.
“Technically, if the four of you are making a shape around me, it will be a parallelogram of sorts. You can’t make a circle,” Arch says.
“Now is really not the time to be a smartass!” Jackie screeches.
Arch shuts up. It’s slow going making our way towards the tree. Sometimes the others have to step into the middle with Archie to reload, making it even more difficult to keep the undead back.
“Hurry up!” Iz frantically yells. Izzie never freaks out, he always keeps his calm. Not now though.
We get to the tree in what seems like a lifetime. Danny, Graham, and I cover Jack as she scales up the tree. She, Tam, and Isaiah take out the dead as best they can from the branches above. Bailey is up there too, hiding in the leaves.
“Shit guys! This isn’t working, there’s too many. Get your white asses up here!” Izzie shouts.
Graham climbs up leaving Danno and I on the ground.
“Go!” Dan yells.
“No! You!” I scream.
“Stop arguing and just get up here! You’re wasting time!” Jackie says.
“While I’m still in charge, I call the shots. Get. Up,” I order.
Danny looks at me and bites his lip. He nods and leaps, pulling himself up. Now it’s just me. Jacquelyn was right though, we should have just gone up one after the other. In the time we wasted arguing, the herd has moved closer, leaving me no time to turn and ascend. I have to constantly shoot to keep them at bay.
“Give me your arm!” Archie yells.
“No! You’re drunk! You’ll drop her right in the middle of them! We got you, Boss,” Dan says. He and Iz reach down to tug me up.
“No!” I shout. “Shoot them! Look through the branches and shoot them!”
Dan gives me a pained look before doing as I said. I am the boss after all. They lean out as far as they can on the limbs and fire.
“Dan, shoot with me. Everyone else, focus on that side! Tell me when it’s fairly clear,” I command.
“What are you thinking?” Danno calls down to me.
“Just do it!”
We fire away, concentrating everything we have on reducing the numbers around us.
“Boss, we’re pretty good over here, what do you want us to do?” Graham bellows.
I reach into my quiver and pull out one of the few grenades I have in there for emergencies like this. Thank the heavens for the army becoming careless in their final days. “JUMP!” I scream as I bite the pin out and throw. I turn and I run, kicking zombies out of my way. Usually I don’t get this near to them, but this is life or death and the undead around me are fairly sluggish.
The others hop down and bolt alongside me. The slow zombies, although high in numbers, stand no chance on evacuating the bomb. Most of them explode sending dark blood flying everywhere. We run down a hill and into a field, then stop dead. More zombies are spilling out of the forest ahead of us. I look over my shoulder and feel the blood drain from my face. Another mob has formed and is descending behind us.
“Dan, give Archie a gun,” I demand. We need everyone we’ve got. “Bailey, take one too. We need you now more than ever.”
I hand her my extra weapon, a gun Tamsyn gave me for Christmas, and she looks fit to burst into tears. Jackie puts a hand on her back. “You can do it,” she murmurs to her sister. They share this intense look, they have no need for words to communicate their feelings, and Bailey nods and takes a deep breath.
“Okay,” she sighs.
We form a circle, or whatever shape you can make out of eight people, and ready our weapons. The masses start to descend and we open fire.
My throat starts to clog and I swallow the need to cry. Fear courses through me. I clear my voice and shout over the bullets, “I just wanted to say, it has been on honour fighting with you all. Thanks for—”
“RUNNER!” Archie hollers. I feel three people turn in his direction and their guns cracking at the same moment.
“Shit! Watch where you shoot that thing!” an unfamiliar voice bellows.
“Did I just imagine a zombie talking?” Izzie says.
“Not a zombie!”
We take a quick look in the direction the voice came from. A boy, dressed head to toe in black, holds a sword in each hand. He slashes through the zombies, swiftly and efficiently, making his way to us. I swivel back to the crowd in front of me, unable to watch this stranger without risking my life.
“Yea, hi there. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t shoot at me. I’ve made it this far, I rather not be taken out by a stray bullet, thanks,” I hear the guy say. It’s a natural reaction to turn and look at the person talking, but I can’t chance a glance around because in my last lapse of attention the zombies have gotten even closer. Being all loose legged and everything really helps them when they’re going down hills as their legs carry the momentum. Granted, some of them do collapse, but the majority of them just speed up.
“So you’re a good guy then, right?” Archie asks. He’s drunker than I originally thought.
“Good guy, bad guy, what’s it matter? I’m the badass guy with the swords.” With that, he charges the oncoming undead.
“Stay together! I’m going to go cover the idiot!” I tell the others then run after him.
“Kyra!” Danny calls. I wave my hand over my shoulder and continue forward.
Like Arch and Dan, the guy is a natural runner. I swear and pick up the pace trying to catch up. He stops abruptly and I nearly crash into his back.
“I don’t know who you think you are, but you will not endanger the lives of my team. Do you hear me?” I shout at the guy. He turns to me and I nearly take a step back. His eyes are pale blue. Like über pale. It’s freaky. He grins at my startled reaction.
“Oh I hear you, but you have your facts wrong, miss. I’m here to save your asses, not kill them. If I was going to slash you all, I would have done it back there. Plus, you’re the one who ran after me. Now, if you don’t mind, I have some fighting to do. You can either join me, or run back to your posse, all right?”
My mouth drops open in shock. Nobody talks to me like that. I am the Boss.
“I beg your pardon, but—”
“Shh, shh! Concentrate. Ready?” He crouches down, a little smirk spreads across his white face.
Pale Boy leaps into action slashing zombies left and right. I do the only thing I can, I turn my back to him and hope that he’ll cover me. I fire arrow after arrow, knocking them down one by one. Not as efficient I guess, but I never miss. Something brushes up against my back and I immediately kick out.
“Whoa, Bessie!” the guy yells at me.
“Well, announce yourself or something next time!” I shout back.
“Yea, and I’ll bow and introduce myself too, right? Invite you over for tea sometime, maybe?” he sarcastically bites back.
The zombies around him start to reach for me as if they joined his side or something. It’s like they’re specifically targeting me.
“Would you mind fighting better?” I scream.
“Fight better? Princess, I’m picking up for your slack!” he argues.
“What’s with you? You’ve got a friggin’ attitude problem!”
“Attitude, yes. Problem, no. You’re the one who seems to have the problem with my attitude.”
I growl in frustration. I reach for another arrow and grasp nothing but air. I automatically move to grab for my spare weapon before I remember I no longer have it. I feel a tightness in my chest, as if the air is sucked out of my lungs. Suddenly, I don’t feel so sassy anymore...and the zombies don’t seem so simple to kill.
Their mouths hang open, venomous saliva drooling out of their mouths, hungered by the smell of me. Their remaining teeth have look ready to dig in. I should know by now not to look into their lost eyes, but I do. This icy feeling washes over me and I feel paralyzed. I stare Death in the face.
The zombie in the front reaches his hand out to me. He was a cop in life, still has his uniform and everything, but he’s not here to save me, or protect me, or help me. He’s here to kill me. I look to the right and the left and see that those sides are moving in as well. I am trapped with nothing to keep them at bay.
I close my eyes and quickly prepare myself for hand-to-hand combat, something I have never really been good at. But I will fight to the death, just like I promised.
I thought that I had longer to get ready then I did. I’m grabbed, something’s arms under my armpits in this awkward hug of sorts. I open my eyes and scream, pushing away before jaws rip into me.
“Oi! Quit it! You’re messing up my aim!” Pale Boy yells in my face. He wraps one arm around my back, holding me to his chest my face presses against his leather jacket, in the other hand he holds one of his swords. I wiggle my hand that’s pinned to my side and stretch for the blow horn. I snag the horn and push the button down.
“Jesus woman! What the hell was that?” the guy hollers.
“Kyra!” Danno yells.
I push the button down again, three quick sounds, so they know I’m alive.
“You trying to deafen me? I thought we established I was going to help.”
“Shut up and keep killing.”
“Fine. Get down.” He gives me a little push and I fall to his feet. He steps over me, one foot planted on each side, and takes the other sword out again from the one of the sheaths on his waist. He stabs with the blades, kicks with his feet, and punches using the handle-thing of his sword.
I called the twins graceful, but if they’re graceful then there is no word in the English language to describe this guy’s movement. Each move leads into the other. He flows like water, deadly and something you cannot grasp in your hands and kill. He smiles as he fights, amping up his overall scare-factor.
In almost no time, between my team and this stranger, the zombies are down.
“Well, it was fun while it lasted,” Pale Boy laughs.
From my seat on the ground I stare up at him in astonishment. “Fun?” I repeat.
“Yea, didn’t that get the adrenaline pumping? Clear out the sinuses? Fulfill your kill quota?” He bounces on the balls of his feet, not showing any signs of fatigue after that close battle. I glance at my team as they approach and see sweat pouring down their faces as they pant for breath. What’s with this guy?
“So that’s what you think? Your opinion on this whole,” I stand and gesture around me as I try to come up with a word to finish my sentence, “...situation?”
“You want to know what I think? I think I’ve known you for only fifteen minutes and I’m already bored. That speaks volumes about one of us,” he leers.
“Indeed,” I reply. “It tells me you’re an arrogant bastard, quiet honestly.”
“Arrogant bastard, dangerously sexy, take your pick.”
“I’ll pick arrogant bastard, thanks.”
He smiles. “Do you think more are on their way? I wouldn’t mind another fight like that.”
“Are you crazy?!” I scream.
“I wouldn't say crazy. Maybe an eccentric who looks damn good in jeans,” he grins at his own joke.
“You are an idiot! You could have gotten us all killed! What did you think you were doing, running out into a hoard like that? You should—”
“Be ashamed of myself? Go to hell? Be put in a mental institution? I’ve heard it all, Princess. Listen, I really don’t care what you think though. Unlike your sidekicks over there,” he jerks his thumb over his shoulder to where my team is carefully making their way over to me, “I will not let you tell me what to do.”
I sputter. “This isn’t about me! It’s about you being—”
In one quick motion he draws and thrusts a sword. I scream, thinking it’s heading right for my face. It whizzes by my cheek, slicing into something with a sickening wet sound. Pale Boy grabs my arm and pulls me towards him again. There’s an undead on the end of his weapon.
“Runner,” he calmly states. He kicks the zombie off his sword and wipes the blade on the dead undead’s shirt.
“I...uh...I...thanks.” Apparently I have lost the ability to form normal words.
“Don’t mention it. Really. Don’t,” he says as he puts the sword away.
He crosses his arms and stares off.
I look closer at him. There’s some thought in the back of my mind nagging at me. I know this guy. I’m sure of it. So I ask, “Haven’t I seen you some place before?”
“Yea, that’s why I don’t go there anymore,” he leers.
I narrow my eyes at him. “No really.”
He turns to me and carefully examines me. I wait for his answer.
“Never seen you before,” he responds. I can’t tell if he’s lying or not.
“No, seriously.”
“I am being serious,” he replies, “I never forget a face. Ever. Unfortunately.”
“Hey man! Thanks for that! You really saved our butts,” Danny thanks Pale Boy when they finally catch up.
“Oh my freakin’ gosh! He is gorgeous!” Tammy whispers in my ear.
“No problem, man,” Pale Boy murmurs.
“No, honestly. Is there anything we can do for you to pay you back? We’re heading to a safe house, at least I hope it’s still safe, if you need somewhere to stay.”
“I’m all right actually. I’m headed home.”
“Wait you live—” I start to say but Tams decides her question is more important.
“What’s with the swords?” she giggles.
He turns to her and flashes her his brilliantly white smile. “I never outgrew pretending to be a pirate.”
“How hot is that?!” she squeals in my ear.
I push her away and face Pale Boy again. “You live here?”
“Sort of,” he replies.
“Is it like this everywhere? Down that way as well?” I ask, pointing in the direction of ‘Bandoned Burned Beer Barn.
He nods. “They seem to be coming up from the south, southwest area. This region use to be fairly clear, but in the past week or so they’ve been showing up all over.”
“Damn.” I push my hair back and groan.
“Why? You headed that way?”
“Supposed to, yea,” Danno answers.
“Well I’d advice against it. Strongly advice, in fact. There’s an old house in the forest back by where my house is if you need somewhere.” He shoves his hands in his pockets and rocks back and forth on his Chuck Taylor clad feet.
“Which is where?” Graham questions.
“I’ll walk you there. It’s on the way,” Pale Boy declares.
“We’ll need to grab our stuff. We left it back there,” I jerk my thumb over my shoulder.
“Once again, I’d suggest not doing that.”
“Why?”
“Take a look.”
We all turn to see that more zombies have entered the town making it dangerous to head back for our supplies. We’d risk our lives for stuff we can hopefully gather again. Still, we’ve spent most of our time together, over a year, finding those objects. I feel so stupid for leaving them behind even though I had to.
Pale Boy starts to head off without even waiting for us. “Come on, then,” he yells over his shoulder, stepping over the bodies without even seeing if some are still “alive”.
I exchange a bemused look with Danno and race to catch up. Pale Boy isn’t as tall as Archer, but he walks just as fast.
“So you’re in charge, right? Where are you guys headed exactly?” the stranger asks when I catch up.
“Um, we’re heading north.”
“North? You do know you were travelling south?” he points out.
“Yea, long story about that,” Dan mutters.
“Let me guess: Mr. Abercrombie & Finch over there is drunk shitless and you guys couldn’t move on so you thought going back was better, right?”
“Well, yea, basically,” I am surprised we were so obvious.
Pale Boy turns around, walking backwards and studying us all. “So, who are you guys?”
“Daniel Scott,” Danno holds his hand out to the stranger.
“Charmed,” he seems to almost dismiss Dan and turns to me.
“And Mr. Abercrombie & Finch, as you said, is Archer Reid. The short white-blonde girl is his twin, Tamsyn. Then those two girls that look alike, the taller one is Bailey Wright, the shorter one is her sister, Jacquelyn. The guy with reddy-blond hair is Graham Kennedy and—”
“And the only black guy is Isaiah Robinson, the greatest person you will ever meet,” Izzie yells from behind us.
The stranger grins at Iz, probably recognizing a fellow conceded guy.
“And you?” he turns to me again, “Who are you? I know you are the big hoo-ha, but what’s your name?” he tilts his head to the side.
“Kyra Leigh,” I reply.
“Kyra Leigh,” he repeats, “I like it, Princess.”
“Thanks, but I never asked for your opinion. And stop calling me Princess.”
Danny gives me this shocked look, Pale Boy smirks at me.
“Touché...Princess.”
I roll my eyes at him.
We, being my gang, all walk with our hands by our weapons, ready to be drawn, looking for danger around every shrub, branch, and shadow. Pale Boy has this skip-like walk, his hands tucked in his pockets, while he whistles a tune. An unidentifiable tune at that.
“So, do you have a name?” I ask.
“I’ve got hundreds,” the stranger replies with a chuckle. “So you guys staying here for long?”
“Not long. We need to move on,” I quickly respond.
Pale Boy gives me this strange look. “Yea, I hear you.”
Dan walks up front with the stranger and he asks him about life in this area, suggests possible reasons as to how and why these zombies have sprung out of nowhere, and the usual Danno stuff.
“I don’t like this guy,” Archie says as he walks beside me taking Danny’s place.
“There’s something strange about him,” I reply.
“He’s sketchy. I mean, swords? Really?” Arch huffs.
“You shouldn’t be talking, he did much better than you while fighting. I wonder why that is....hmm...Oh! Right! It’s probably because he is sober!”
“Hey! I’m sober-ish! Fighting drained the drunkenness out of me.”
“Whatever Archer.”
“Kyra, come on, just listen—”
“No,” I cut him off, “I don’t want to hear it.”
“So how long have you two been married?” Pale Boy’s turned around and watches our exchange curiously, head angled to the side. If he keeps doing that, his head will get stuck...hopefully.
I face him and growl, “Don’t get me started.”
“And if I do?” he grins.
“Seriously, shut up freak. This is a private discussion,” Arch declares as he steps in front of me.
“If I heard correctly, she said she didn’t want to finish your ‘discussion’ as you call it. She said it rather loudly too if I recall accurately. In which case, I am not butting into a private conversation, I am just inserting an observation.”
“What?” Archie says not understanding.
“I’d explain it to you, but I haven’t any crayons with me. Sorry.”
“Are you calling me stupid?” Archer yells.
“I don’t know, am I calling you stupid?” Pale Boy snickers.
“You do realize I’m like two times your size,” Arch exaggerates.
“Yea, with about one eighth of my brains.”
Archie takes a step towards Pale Boy who holds his ground.
“That’s enough!” I shout. “Tamsyn, take Arch and watch the back.”
Tammy nods, runs up to her brother, and tugs him to the back of the group.
“And you,” I say to the stranger, “I don’t know who you are, but why don’t you just show us where this safe house is, then you can be rid of us, all right?”
He stares into my eyes without answering. I stare back.
“Fine,” he grumbles and sets off again.
“Are you sure it was such a good idea to piss off our guide?” Danny whispers to me.
“Hey! He started it.”
Daniel shakes his head. “What’s gotten into you, Ky? You don’t usually act so...immature.”
“I am not immature!” I protest before realizing that only furthers his point.
Danno raises his eyebrows.
“Fine, I guess I am,” I sigh.
“Maybe just...try to be a little nicer. He did help us.”
“But he—” I want to say how he was the rude one first, but that is definitely immature. “Okay. I’ll try.”
“That’s all I’m asking. And it’ll only be for a few hours tops, right? So it’s not that bad. You can get through it.”
“If I don’t kill him first,” I joke.
Danny chuckles. “That’s the spirit.”
I stick my tongue out at him and face forwards again, nearly licking Pale Boy’s shirt.
“Um, sorry about that,” I say awkwardly instead of retorting how he should give a little warning before putting the brakes on while walking in front of someone. Gotta be nice.
He leans down and murmurs in my ear, “I can think of better places for that tongue.”
My jaw drops and he just laughs. “The house should be coming up, it’s on the right. Just thought that you and the others would want to know.”
“All right everybody, we’re almost there. Be ready,” Dan calls back to the team.
Everyone, except for Bailey and I (Bailey because she’s stupid and me because I do not have any), draws their weapons to have at the ready. Pale Boy cautiously leads, watching out for fallen twigs that may snap and give away our approach.
“There it is,” he says quietly while using one of his swords to point to a little, stone house. It looks like the cottage from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves after years of neglect. There are vines all along the walls camouflaging it in with the greenery around it. The climbing plants have broken through the windows, probably infesting the rooms inside. However, shelter is better than being out and exposed to the undead around you.
“Oh my friggin’ God! Finally!” Bailey shouts. She pushes past everyone and runs towards the house.
“Bails! Wait!” Jackie yells and holsters her gun to chase after her.
“Seriously?” I growl and sprint after them.
“Oi! Where do you think you’re going?” Pale Boy runs beside me.
“To get the dumb blonde, what does it look like I’m doing?” Apparently Bailey and Archer are not the only stupid people around here.
“Without a weapon? Are you mad? Here, take this.” He hands me one of his swords.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” I pant as I run.
“Oh, I don’t know, kill zombies maybe?”
Just as we reach the open door we hear a scream.
“Bailey!” Jacqueline cries out.
Pale Boy enters first, quickly and efficiently clearing the room before I follow. One of the horns goes off followed by rapid fire in the room ahead. Pale Boy and I go through the doorway that leads to that room. He walks through first, I’m right on his tail which causes me to bump into his back when he suddenly stops. Again.
“Oh Hell,” he mutters as the others catch up.
I peek around him to see Bailey crying on the ground with Jackie over her shooting at zombies that are literally coming from the wall. The tangles of vines grew over them, sticking them to the wall. They now rip their way through them to attack. It looks like a scene from a horror movie. Jackie is holding her best, quickly pivoting and firing at the closest threats. A look of sheer terror is on her face.
Pale Boy jumps into action slicing his way through the few zombies in his path to the sisters. I follow behind him, clumsily swing my sword around. Danno’s right after me, firing at the zombies he can without endangering the lives of the stranger and sisters. Tamsyn and everyone else stay in the hallway as more zombies start pouring out of the other rooms.
I attempt to mimic Pale Boys skilled moves and fail miserable. I start to just slash, maiming, and not killing. It’s absolutely exhausting wielding a sword. For starters, the object itself is heavy. Secondly, it’s a very awkward weapon for a small person quite like myself to use. Thirdly, I’d never used one before so I have no idea what the heck I am doing.
“You all right there, Kyra Leigh?” Pale Boy hollers over Dan’s and Jackie’s shots.
“Um...” Another point I’d like to make is that it is extremely difficult to talk while concentrating on using a sword.
He takes a quick glance at me and my awful defence skills and instructs, “Use your whole body. Move with the sword.”
So I try. I successfully stab a zombie in the stomach. Only thing is, it doesn’t die and is now stuck on my swords.
“Pale Boy!” I bellow before I can think about it.
“What did you—Oh jeez, really Kyra Leigh?” he shouts.
He delivers a swift kick to the zombie to dislodge it. “All right, how about you just lookout and I’ll deal with the killing?”
Before I can answer, he takes his sword back and starts tearing into the zombies.
Danny grabs me and moves me so I’m between him and Bails with Jack on the other side of her. “We got you, Boss,” he says.
I feel utter helpless having other people fight for me, and for the second time today too. I could never be like Bailey who just sits around and lets the rest of us cover her ass. Bailey! I reach down to her and snag the gun from her waist. She doesn’t even protest, she just continues crying.
“This is the last time I am fighting for you. You’re on your own next time,” I tell her before I open fire. Between the four of us fighting in the small room, and the four others fighting in the hall, we are able to clear the first floor.
“That was close,” Graham declares.
Izzie opens his mouth to add something when we hear more shuffling upstairs.
“RUN!” Archie shouts.
We leave the house as fast as we can, making a racket as we do so. Bailey “hobbles” along so Arch takes her in his arms and makes a break for it.
I roll my eyes at Tammy who sprints beside me. She nods her head in agreement. I proceed to trip over a root and fall, letting out this atrocious high squeal.
“Pale Boy’s here to help,” the stranger says as he yanks me to my feet. I glare at him.
We all gather around as we try to catch our breaths.
“So what’s your real name anyway?” I wheeze.
He looks at me while shifting his weight from side to side as he contemplates actually telling us or not. “Trace,” he finally answers.
“And your last name?” I ask.
“It’s of no consequence anymore.”
“What do you mean? It’s your heritage! Your family history! It’ll always be important,” I argue. Family has always been the most important thing to me. The others watch our exchange as one would a tennis match, back and forth following the ball, except, in this case, it’s following the speaker.
Pale Boy, now known as Trace, moves towards me so that I have to raise my head up to look him in the face. Damn being short.
“The world is coming to an end. Zombies are everywhere, death is everywhere, and you want to know my last name as if it is the difference between life and death? Sometime, probably soon, we’re all going to die, so what does it matter if you know my last name or not? I remember it for myself. That’s all I need. And you Kyra Leigh, I don’t remember you ever sharing your last name. Do any of you know Miss Kyra’s surname?”
Everyone looks at the ground. I never shared it with them. The only time I’ve ever mentioned it is in my journal which none of them are allowed to read.
“My point has been made. Let’s keep moving. We made quite a bit of noise back there. We’ll have to move quickly in order for them to lose our trail.”
And just like that, my team who I’ve been the leader of for over a year, turns and follows the command of this jerk named Trace.