Mobley

After All-
Chapter Fourteen
PG-13; you've been warned.

Waise pulled into the paved streets and they saw a sign. It was a bit oxidized and rusty, and some of the paint had chipped, but still readable.
“ DC, Sage.” Matt smiled at the sleeping girl. “ We made it.”
Grace saw the sign and cheered.
“ Hell yes! Finally!”
“ We’ll be there in about five minutes, considering nothing awful happens.” Henry grimaced at his map. He could sense just how bad this place was. Waise pulled across an intersection and the truck spit and sputtered.
“ It needs gas. Damn, it has to happen right before we get there, too.” The driver’s door swung opened and Waise jumped out.
“ Asher,” He handed Asher a Smith & Wesson 39 9mm. “ I’ll be right back. Don’t let anything happen.”  Asher nodded vigorously and held the gun like Waise had taught him.
“ Anything I can help with?” Callum smiled at Waise.
“ Jus’ gettin’ some gas for this dang truck.” He kicked a wheel and grabbed a jug from the bed. He jumped and dropped the bottle at the bang of a gunshot ringing through the empty buildings. Henry cocked his rifle and sat it back up again, the shell of the shot landing on the ground. A shambler fell to it’s knees in the middle of the road. A clean shot right through the temple had splattered blood and rot across the road behind it.
“ Don’t shoot that gun! It’ll bring every monster in the whole place over here.”
“ Hell, what are we supposed to do?” He yelled as fourteen shamblers emerged from empty cars and alleyways, drawn by the noise. Waise yelped and jumped into to cab.
“ Asher, give me the gun.” Asher obediently handed him the pistol “ Come with me.”
“ You want me to go out there?”
“ You’ll be safer with me. Just hold my hand.”
Asher complied and jumped from the cab, taking Waise by the hand. Callum jumped from the bed with grace and agility. He moved so quickly, so smoothly. He pulled a bow from his quiver and took aim at a man. The man’s jaw was dangling by small, thin threads of the little flesh that hadn’t been eaten or had rotted. His face and neck excreted pus and blood, mostly by the tear of teeth in his shoulder. This one was gruesome. He relaxed his and and the arrow pierced the air. The creature’s skull gave way to the force and caved in. It’s brains and chunks of the skull scattered across the pavement of the once busy intersection. Blue stood next to him, like a faithful companion should, and tackled the monsters, getting them in a position that Callum could shoot them quickly and easily. Blue snarled and jumped atop an woman who had come too close. Callum pulled his bow back and shot her through the head without thought.
Matt pulled Sage down into the bed of the truck, lying her prostrate on the floor, and stood up. A little girl, who looked like she was no older than eight at the time she died, struggled up the edge of the truck. Matt mustered every bit of strength he had and forced his hatchet into her neck. Her body fell backwards, her head falling behind it. Matt turned around quickly and saw another one trying to get into the truck. This one was bigger, an obese woman in a dirty blue jogging suit with headphones dangling from her pocket. The truck shook as she tried to get one fat leg over the side. The jogging suit was ripped and bloody. Matt saw through the rip in the thigh where there were teeth marks. She must have tripped and been attacked. He lopped off her leg with the hatchet and shuddered. She fell back onto the pavement, immobilized and moaning.
Grace and Caleb moved about the streets, staying together, but looking for any fight they could get. The knew that the both of them together would prove an unstoppable team against one monster at a time.
“ Caleb!” Grace yelled, a smile across her face, as she pulled a pillow from the back of the truck. “ Watch this!” She turned around where a middle aged man was charging at her, mouth wide open and hungry. She quickly put the pillow up against his head and shot her pistol. The gunshot was silenced by the cushion.
“ Clever.” Caleb laughed. He knew it was no time to be laughing though. There was a steady flow of shamblers coming from every alley in the intersection. One after another, they tripped along towards the commotion. To them, commotion was a dinner bell.
Waise held Asher close, weaving through the fight, only shooting when he had to. He handed the gun to Asher.
“ Watch my back.”

~♥~♥~

“ Not long. About a half hour.” He smiled down at sleepy Asher. Shiloh, Henry’s daughter, hadn’t slept the whole time. She just looked out the window, eyes vacant. But that’s what she always did. She only ever talked to Henry when she really needed something. She didn’t even scream during the attack. Just sat in the corner, staring. She was a strange kid, but seemed like she’d be easy to care for. Henry had it easy with her.  
“ Shiloh?” Asher poked her shoulder and smiled. “ Isn’t Waise’s truck so cool?”
“ Yeah.” She, for once during the whole ride, looked like she was back in tune with the real world.
“ What’s your favorite color? Mine’s red!” Asher was so carefree and chipper.
“ I like yellow.”
“ Me too! I was just kidding about red.” He giggled. “ Why don’t you talk very much?”
“ Asher.” Waise caught his attention and said without words ‘leave her alone.’ Shiloh sighed and went back to looking out the window.

Callum was having a good time for once. He laughed with Caleb and Grace and they all made quick friends. Matt didn’t seem to talk much, but he seemed nice enough. Callum was just excited to meet the people in the cab. Maybe Henry’s daughter was pretty and his age. That would be nice. Callum knew that in times like this, it was best not to get attached to anyone, but he also knew that in hard times he’d need someone to help him that wasn’t a Wolfhound. “ Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all” he always said to himself. He forgot who he was quoting, but it was a cool quote.
“ So, Callum,” Grace grinned. He could tell she had thought of another question. “ What did you do before all... This?”
“ I was in college. All that money and time to waste, could have been spent on supplies for all this.” He laughed. “ When I heard the rumors going around I was sure it was just some crazy on Bath Salts.”
“ We all did.” Caleb snickered. “ But what are you going to do, eh? We might as well make what we can of this world.”
“ You’re a glass half full kind of guy, aren’t you?”
“ Yeah,” Caleb grinned. “ You have to be nowadays. Otherwise you get killed.”
Matt looked down at Sage and shuddered. Matt had never been “glass half full.” He’d always been a bit mopey. Happy, but always had a constant sadness about him. He had a great home life, but at school... Nobody but Caleb really ever liked him.

You have to take better care of her, Matt. Do you want her to die?

Matt shuddered, but kept his part of the blanket. He knew his body heat would help her. He wrapped one arm around her back and the other across her waist, keeping her from bouncing along the dirt road. He wished he could give her his coat, but he knew she’d never take it. She barely was even convinced about the hat. Her skin was pale, but her cheeks were flushed with red. Her fever kept dipping and rising and Matt didn’t know what to do. All he knew was that he should follow Henry’s orders. Henry was a doctor.
“ Henry, her fever...” Matt felt her forehead.
“ Keep the blankets on her at all times. It would shock her body, even if she feels hot, to take them off. We have to maintain an even temperature for her.”
“ Okay...” Matt rubbed her shoulder. They’d given her a few pills before they had left. They only had a few pills left though, so Matt was worried if she’d get better before they ran out. Otherwise she’d have to deal with a lot of pain. The last thing Matt wanted for her was pain.

Cameron watched from the balcony as they buried his sister’s body. It was wrapped in a  sheet and twine, a makeshift coffin of sorts. Her natural bleach blonde hair swayed as they carried the body. Clumps of the pretty blonde hair he been matted and thick with blood and different parts of flesh, but Cameron had her washed before they buried her. Nobody in the house was a mortician, but they had a makeup artist and a doctor who could try and patch her up. Cam was mostly concerned about the bullet hole he’d put through her head. The blanket slipped as they put her into the hole. Cameron saw the face of the beautiful sister he once loved. She was so nice, so caring, but now she was dead. Cameron’s only way to handle such grief was a type of denial. Except he wasn’t really denying, as much as accepting. He knew she was dead. He knew she was in a better place. Anywhere was better than here. Twenty three people stood outside, looking down at their feet while Vincent and Ray piled dirt over the body. Haddie peered up to the balcony where Cameron was standing and stared. Cam shook his head and walked back into his suite. The rooms in the house were beautiful, nice and homey, but he still yearned for his real home. The rule around the house was that you had to share a room with one other person for safety and crowding reasons, and they all slept on one wing so that nobody was ever really alone or in danger. But Eliza always slept with Cam. Now he was alone.

~♥~♥~

Matt shook his head, his brown hair falling lightly over his green eyes. Sage stirred in the cot, moving about slightly. Her eyes fluttered open, a blank look in her eyes. She sighed, smiled, and drifted back into a drug induced slumber. Grace stood from the table and looked out the tiny shack window. She saw at least fifteen monsters, shambling across the green field, staining it red and brown. They were disgusting.
“ Pigs.” Waise stood over her, looking over the field.
“ They can’t help it,” Grace put down the thin curtain and sat back down. “ They’re like animals now. Only live to eat.”
“ Maybe. Asher, eat your eggs.” Waise scolded the small boy who lay on the floor building something of epic proportions with blocks.
“ How much food do we have here, anyway?” Caleb asked boldly.
“ At least a week’s worth.” Maglorix pointed at a hatch in the floor, probably a cellar, which contained the food.
“ How are we going to get more food after the week is over?” Grace was dumbfounded at their vain idiocy.
“ Hunt, farm. Stuff like that.”
“ How the hell are we going to even get outside of this shack, with all the shamblers crawling around?”
“ You call them shamblers?” Henry asked, totally ignoring Grace’s question.
“ What, the things?”
“ Shamblers... That’s a good name for ‘em.” Waise scratched his head.

Anson looked at Asher, Asher looked at Anson, and they nodded. The connection they had was like no other. They were as close as two human beings could probably get. They thought the same, looked the same, acted the same, everything. They were each like a clone of the other, except Asher had green eyes. Anson moved silently through the cabin, Asher following behind. The door moved as a shambler stood outside, banging and clawing to get in.
Curiosity had bested both of the young boys as they quietly turned the door knob. They wanted to go outside, see what it was like out there. See if they could help the sick man banging on the door. Waise had said they were all sick people who want help, so they’ll chase you, but you have to get away because they don’t have enough food for them all, and they can’t just help one. The twins moved the door slowly open, letting in a cold, sharp wind. The man stood at the doorway, staring at the boys. Anson motioned for him to come in. The sick man seemed to smile at them as he swayed towards the doorway. He moaned, probably saying “thank you.” to the little boys.
“ We have a visitor, Waise!” Anson announced, looking proud and chipper as the shambler approached him slowly.
“ Damn!” Waise scrambled up from his bed mat on the floor. “ Anson! Move!”
The shambler took Anson by the shoulders and pulled him close, his mouth opening as he grew nearer.
“ What the hell?” Henry turned over in his bed and saw the door wide open and Anson in the grasp of a monster.
“ It’s okay, Waise!” Anson let the monster pull him close, “ He’s going to give me and Asher a hug for helping him.”
“ Dammit!” Waise took a shovel to the monster’s head, knocking it against the wall. But this only angered the monster. It stood to it’s feet, and this time it meant business. It took Anson by the leg and dragged him across the floor to the door. Waise dove at it and missed. The monster took the opportunity to move faster out the door and into the grass. Now Anson had realized what he’d gotten into. The sick man wasn’t friendly or grateful. He’d seen the half eaten bodies on the highway with Waise and Asher.
“ Anson!” Waise ran from the doorway, shovel in hand, and battered the monster carrying the boy. It fell to the ground in defeat and Waise picked Anson up in his arms and bolted back into the cabin. By now, everyone was awake.
“ Holy stuff.” Maglorix grumbled when he saw the blood that stained the wall of the cabin.
“ What happened?” Henry asked as Waise slammed the door shut, Anson still crying in his arms.
“ Oh dear lord, thank god you’re okay.” Waise fell to his knees and nuzzled Anson’s hair. Anson buried his face deep into Waise’s warm sweater. It made him feel a little better.    “ Come here.” Waise took Asher by the hand and pulled him close. He held the twin boys in his arms, holding them as close as he could, and cried with them.
“ Waise...” Caleb began, but Waise was clearly too busy with the twin boys, hugging them and kissing the tops of their heads.
“ Don’t ever, ever scare me like that again.” Waise whispered to the boys.
“ We won’t, I’m sorry.” Asher wiped a tear from his cheek with the sleeve of his coat.
“ Thank the lord you’re okay. I don’t know what I would do without you two.”

Sage’s temperature had rise profusely in the last four hours. Matt ran his free hand through her thick black hair.
“ Matt, you have to sleep tonight.” Caleb took his shoulder. “ I’ll look over Sage.”
“ No.” Matt made deep eye contact with Caleb. “ I can do it.”
“ Matt, your eyes are really bloodshot. You can’t do this.”
“ I can and I will. Just leave me be.” He snapped, staring down at Sage. Caleb shrugged and walked back to his bed roll.

~♥~♥~

List of things I'm going to do when I move out.

1. Each a whole box of Shells and Cheese.
2. Throw an amazing party.
3. Eat a whole pizza.
4. Spread four bottles of shaving cream on one wall.
5. Sleep until whenever I want.

It's the small things that make me happy. c: