The Happy Child

With Jeremy, Mackenzie, and I jogging towards the store I see that there is a large group coming our way. We were still next to the forest so they didn't spot us but we did have to cut the trees so be sure that we weren't drawing attention to ourselves. In the trees Mackenzie suddenly dropped low into a crouch, we hesitated and soon follow. We didn't say anything, we didn't move, we just waited. Mackenzie was trying to focus on something but I couldn't tell what, I tried to listen but couldn't hear anything. All I heard was the moans of the undead and the wind blowing into my face. Once the wind stopped blowing I did hear a slight snapping sound, so did Mackenzie because before I knew it she pulled out my gun and pointed it at me. I slowly turned around and didn't see one of the living dead.

 

But one of the living.

 

It was a guy my age and was holding onto a rifle that looked like it could stop an elephant. He was wearing some sort of black armor and was covered in leaves that knowing where he is, it was still difficult to focus on him without him blending into the forest. The rifle that was pointing at us was going to do a lot more damage compared to the handgun that Mackenzie was using. I slowly stood up, raising my hands to show that I mean no harm and stood in the middle between the man and Mackenzie. The guy knew what was going on and slowly lowered his rifle. Mackenzie hesitated but eventually did the same.

 

It was the guy that spoke first, "You were the one with the bonfire?" I turned towards him and slowly nodded, "Yes, that was us, why do you ask?" He shrugged, "I just didn't know who would come up with a stupid idea like that, I mean you are surrounded by a forest, what do you think would've happened if one of those b******s on fire went to the wooded area, it would've destroyed my cover." Jeremy spoke behind me, "Your cover?" Mackenzie then asked, "What do you mean your cover? Were you watching us?" The man in armor waved his hand flat and shook it side to side signaling that it was kind of his plan, "I was sent out to find anything useful, food, medicine, weapons, or if I'm lucky people." I gave the kid a quizzical look, "Who sent you?" The boy smiled and said, "My boss, his name is Michael and he'll provide you whatever you need, as long as you are willing to come with us back." I shook my head, "Would love to join you but my friends are in trouble, if you really want to you can help, then we'll talk about it."

 

The boy held out his hand, "Names Frank, I'm guessing you’re their leader." I returned his handshake and said, "You can say that yes but we need to hurry." The kid, Frank, nodded and picked up his rifle and slung it over his back. I forgot that my sword had a sling so as Frank was slinging his gear back on I was doing the same. without the sword in my hand I felt that I was able to move more easier especially since I barely felt the sword on my back. Once we were done I also asked Mackenzie my gun, she slowly gave it to me while also giving a malevolent look at the new kid, she pulled me closer and whispered, "Do you trust this kid?" I glanced back at Frank and then back at Mackenzie, "Not really no, I don't really trust his story but we need all the help we need, if he's willing to help us then I'll keep my word and listen to him, but only after we gather everyone else together." Mackenzie nodded and allowed me to continue. We left the forest area and we eventually arrived at the store.

 

It was being under siege by the living dead.

 

We didn't know what to do, we all just looked in awe. It was only Jeremy who said something, "Holy crap." We've all thought it but Jeremy was the one who said it and we silently agreed with him. Frank turned to me and asked, "What now?" The way he asked it wasn't in concern but as a way to see what I would do, he was testing me?

 

I asked Jeremy to see if he can see anyone on the roof top, we didn't have any binoculars but Jeremy says that he could see figures on the roof. He couldn't identify if they were living because of the distance away form the store but if Jeremy saw someone than it had to be our friends and we had to help them. Looking at the crowd surrounding the store was a good size and I didn't want to try the fire tactic again, not only would that might burn the whole town but it my also kill our friends because of the smoke. They'd suffocate once all of the corpses burned up.

 

I turned to Mackenzie and ask, "What do we know about the undead, let's start there." I hear Frank say, "Know your enemy before initiating, smart move general." I ignored his sarcasm and listened to Mackenzie, "Their senses work but not compared to a normal person, the fresher the body is the faster they are, they eat people but not each other, and I guess once they see something of interest they focus on it." I snapped my finger at the last part and turned to Frank. "Do you have anything loud that can draw them elsewhere?" Frank smiled and said, "I never thought you ask." He didn't explain but once he finished speaking he pulled out a device that I haven't seen since there were movies playing in the world.

 

Frank pulled pressed the button to speak into the walkie and said, "Yo Randy, you there?" The volume was turned down but you still hear a loud voice coming from the device, "Where the hell have you been man, I'm super bored here!" Before Frank answered he gave out a loud sigh and clicked the button and said, "Mission changed, rescue mission commence, I've got kids trapped on the rooftop of the convenience store that we pass by earlier and they are surrounded by freaks, do you still have your flares?" The excitement that came over the radio was slightly concerning, "How loud do you want me to be? Ask and you shall receive." Frank finally turned to us and flashed a smirk and pulled the radio to his mouth, "Go crazy, we'll meet up at the exit."

 

With the last click of the radio, there was the usual silent moaning in the distance, it was a weird peaceful morning. The moon was going down and dusk was coming. Then the silent was interrupted by a bright flash of some sort and then loud popping sounds like gun fire were coming to the left of us in the distance. At first, the undead didn't care than after the loud pops went off they turned towards the light and walked towards it. There was only a handful around the store after a couple of minutes.

 

I unsheathe my sword and walked down the hill with the intent of helping my friends. Mackenzie was on my left and Jeremy on the right, both wielding their knives. Frank was behind me with his rifle on his back and he was wielding a smaller version of a fire ax. What an interesting rescue squad we are. Rescue mission? How tactical is Frank's group like? Something is telling me to not trust Frank but I don't know why, the same feeling is effecting Mackenzie, I don't know about Jeremy but when we have the chance I'll ask him when Frank's out of earshot. For now, it was time to commence the rescue mission as Frank likes to call it.

 

Once the large group of the undead was away, getting in was a synch, I slash one head off and did a downward swing towards another head. Jeremy and Mackenzie snuck around the back to get rid of the stragglers and Frank was like a woodsmen with his ax, swing it like it didn't weigh anything. There were a mob near the ladder and a pile of dead, really dead, bodies and they were all rotten so none of my friends got killed so that's a relief. hopefully no one got bitten. Since we were indoor I wasn't confident with the length of the blade so I only got one while Frank twirled his whole body around swinging the ax. The man was awesome to say the least but again something was off about the guy and I didn't know what but I've got to respect the man, he's helping a couple of strangers. Once the coast was clear I yelled up and got no response. I didn't know what else to do so I climbed up hopping whatever was up there wasn't going to attack me.

 

Once I got to the top it was quiet and there was no one in sight. Where did everyone go? It was then that I heard a little kid cough, I entered the rooftop and turned the corner to see everyone looking so horrified, "Umm, hi." I waved my hand at them and once they realized that everything was fine the little ones started to cry and run towards me, they were able to tackle me to the ground and started to get my clothes full of tears and snot. First the undead pus and blood on me, now little kids DNA, well it's good that they are all still alive. I could see that Joe was still holding onto the sick, little Lexi. "How is she?" I ask Joe once I was able to make my way to him, he looked down and I could see just on her face that she wasn't getting better. Frank saw my disappointment because I forgot to ask Ray for something, he ask what was going on and I explained Lexi's situation, "If medication you need I can call Randy to bring something for her and he'll meet us back at my place.

 

I said, "Randy? Like the same guy over the radio?" He nodded and before he could speak I continued, "And why do you want us to come with you so badly?" Frank shook his head and explained by saying, "I'll tell all of you once we get everyone together, that way I don't have to repeat myself, now that I see that everyone is decent except the little girl we should hurry up before the girl gets's worse. Alexander walked up to us and said, "Where the hell did you go?" He punched my shoulder and now only realized the sword he was starting to question that but I stopped him and said, "Long story." With that said I walked up to Matt and he looked like he went to war. I ask him what happened and he explained how some of the undead were able to climb up the ladder and every time he saw a head he bashed it and it would fall, that would explain the pile I saw earlier, he also said that he was too tired and made everyone move away so they wouldn't be notice by any of them that climbed up.

 

He then told me about the noises and the bright light, I smiled and nudged my head towards Frank and told Matt that he's helping us and once Matt heard his name he stood up despite his exhaustion and walked over to Frank, once both of the boys locked eyes something passed between those two and in an instant they hugged each other. Both guys were actually tearing up, I've never seen Matt cry before and looking at Frank, I don't think he's cried awhile either. I nudge Alexander and ask him what's going on, he said, "Before Matt found Gary he told me that he used to hangout with a gang in his own school when the bad was getting worse and after a while, they treated each other like brothers. They got separated in a bus tunnel once a bus wreck in the middle, according to Matt the bus jumped over him and landed in the middle between him and the rest of the boys and Matt never saw them again, at least that is until now.

 

Alexander pointed over to Matt and I saw that they were done "bonding" and I approached both of the guys and said, "Happy reunion." Matt was still shocked and didn't know what to say, Frank wiped at his tears and went back into a serious mode with a slight nod, "Now that is done I think we should regroup with everyone and then I'll make my offer. I nodded and told everyone what was going on, some were happy to hear that there were others while the older kids were suspicious with Frank but didn't say anything. After that was done with everyone gathered a few supplies that we have and met us at the front entrance and we started heading out towards Ray and the rest of the group.

 

Being back into my group felt normal again and not only did we find other kids but there's a chance that humanity is growing again with us kids building it up again, the thought alone is exhilarating. For now, the building the world can wait for a little bit, getting up and moving around I realize that my body is running on fumes and that I was very tired, looking at Mackenzie and Jeremy I could imagine how I looked. I don't blame anyone it was a nightmare last night. So we'll hear Frank out and if his offer sounds good we'll go with him and get a decent nap. Frank offered to carry Lexi since he looked the most who wasn't tired and Joe was too tired to decline the offer so Frank was carrying Lexi and was in the middle while I led our group to Ray and Matt in the back and Jeremy and Alexander to my sides.

 

Compared to last night, there seems to be no sign of the horde, it was like a town full of dead bodies laying, scattered around the town, some were burnt to a crisp while others decay in the day light. I notice the pharmacy in the distance and I pointed it out to Frank and explain to him that there used to be a camp there, an undead camp and Frank nodded and explains to me that was something called a hive, apparently I'm not the only one to notice a change within the dead. A hive is exactly what it sounds like, a bunch of undead in a building, camping out. Frank also said that night time is becoming more dangerous because the undead stays in the buildings during the day and will hunt at night. I ask him what's going on. He laughed, he had no idea. Does anyone?

 

After a while we finally met up with Ray and her group, once she saw us approaching she was waking everyone who have fallen asleep from exhaustion. "Welcome back, I see that you found everyone?" I nodded my head and introduced everyone to Ray and her people and Ray did introduced everyone in her group. Once everyone was introduced I asked everyone from my group and Ray's attention and then I gave the floor to Frank, he nodded with the respect that I'm holding up part of my deal and he found a nearby rock to stand on so everyone can get his attention. "First off I would like to introduce myself, hello, my name is Franklin Smith, but most people call me Frank." Everyone said hello and he continued, "Secondly I would like to thank Jack for giving me the chance to speak to you all. Now what I want to talk to you about is I can see that you all are struggling to survive, you don't have to say anything just listen. I can help you get to a place where it's safe. There's a prison just a couple of miles from here, in said prison there are high walls, food that we grow ourselves, water, and most importantly beds that you all could sleep on. Now I know this seems too good to be true, I thought so to until I saw it and it's nice if I say so myself, but I'm not forcing you to come with me, this is just an offer, you can take it or leave it."

 

Everyone from both group was murmuring with each other and some were saying that it's got to be a joke while others were saying that it's a miracle. The older people were suspicious about the whole thing. Ray pulled me closer and asked me what I think, "I think that we could check it out and if we don't like it we bail." Ray didn't like the idea, "What if we don't like it and we can't leave." I checked over my shoulder to see if Frank was listening and he was currently busy answering question about how many kids were there and how much food, one kid ask if they had guns and Frank smiled and showed the little boy the rifle on his back. You could tell by the little boy's eyes that he was persuaded. Just in case I leaned closer to Ray and whispered, "Then we'll force our way out." I didn't know what I looked like but it took Ray a couple of seconds to nod in agreement. We shook hands and told Frank we would like to put a vote to it, Ray also enjoyed that as well.

 

It was unanimous either way. Frank smiled and we set off to the exit.

 

Once we got there we saw a kid that was tan with black hair, he was shaking a bottle of medication of sort.

 

Lexi was going to get better, this made Joe smile.