When the car stopped, Adam peered out the window, but he could barely see anything. There were no lights and everything was shrouded in darkness.
Roger got out and without a backward glance, disappeared into the night. Adam jumped out and tried to follow him, luckily the rest of the group followed his lead.
He blinked a few times giving his eyes time to adjust to the darkness. His vision adapted and he could see that they stood in front of a warehouse. The entire parking lot was empty except for the mini bus. The air had a coper, metal scent.
Roger stood at the warehouse’s entrance a faint light shined behind his back, “You coming or what?”
The warehouse was filled with candles and canned goods, which was stacked from top to bottom. Penny couldn’t believe how much food they had. After her eyes left the canned food, she realised that they weren’t alone. There were two armed men standing to the side, eyeing them up and down.
“This is Hitch and Gary.”
Their eyeswere hungry as they looked at her, it made hershuddered. Hitch was thin and looked dirty with a goatee and bandanna while Gary had a huge protruding belly and looked sweaty. He had armpit stains and even the shirt’s fabric of his chest was wet. He kept wiping the sweat of his brow.
Penny recoiled at the sight. She had this sudden feeling to turn and run…
Next to the entrance stood a huge table. Roger gestured at it and said, “Okay, place your weapons on the table.”
Everyone hesitated.
“Come on guys, it’s not like we’re going to hurt you. We’re just asking for our own protection. I mean, we don’t know you…” He gave a sly smile.
Immediately Penny felt warning signs, but she quickly ignored it. She was just acting stupid.
Adam gave the group a nod and at once Carl, Tim and Charles relieved themselves of their weapons. Willow took a few knives out of her pocket, but Penny noticed that she’d left the one in her boot. Willow gave her a knowing smile and immediately Penny knew she should hide her knife as well.
While Roger and the other two men looked at the guys while they placed their weapons on the table, Penny subtlety placed her knife in her boot.
Willow gave a slight nod while also relinquishing a few of her weapons.
Penny still felt like running, but the knife made her feel better.
Roger raised a brow at her and asked, “You don’t have any weapons?”
Penny took acting lessons as a kid and she’s lied many times in her life, so the lie that came over her lips, came naturally, “I’m not really good with them, the guys protect me.”
The rest frowned, but kept silent. The only clueless one was Charles, “But you have…”
Adam slammed an elbow into Charles’ stomach which made him shut up.
Roger gave a small nod, oblivious to the obvious lie. “Good.” He gave the other two men a quick signal.
The small one stepped forward and slammed the bud of his gun into Adam’s face while the big guy raised his gun and pointed it at them. Tim wanted to help Adam, but the gun aimed at his face quickly stopped him.
Roger, acting as if nothing was wrong, gave a huge smile and spoke, “You know what I love about new people that we find? They’re helpless, clueless people. They’re so easy…”
Adam’s nose bled profusely. He coughed and tried to stop the bleeding as he stood up, but Hitch slammed his foot on Adam’s back and forced him to the ground, then he started beating him. Gary joined in and together they brutally beat Adam.
Penny started crying and pleaded with Roger to let them go, but Roger only smiled. When Adam was finally unconscious, the two stopped.
Just for fun Hitch gave Adam’s unconscious body a swift kick to the stomach.
Now both the men had they guns up and in their faces.
Penny felt horrified.
Roger grabbed rope that was lying on the table and started tying their hands behind their backs. They forced them to their knees.
“Why would you do that?” Charles asked.
“It needed to be done.” It was all Roger said as he kept tying them up.
“Now that he’s out of the way… I’m going to ask you a few questions and you’re going to answer. If you don’t, you’ll meet the same fate as your friend here, got it?”
No one said a word. Penny’s panic was starting to rise.
“Where is your camp?”
“We don’t have one.” Gary stepped forward and kicked Carl in the face. Willow gasped, Penny cried and Tim glared at Roger.
“I’ll ask again; where is your camp?”
Again Carl said, “We don’t have one.” This time Roger punched him over and over in his face.
Penny couldn’t take it anymore, “Please! Please stop. He’s telling the truth. Please stop hurting him, please.” Sobs racked he body as she watched Carl be beaten to a pulp.
Roger stopped, his fists covered in blood. Carl looked horrible. One of his eyes was starting to swell. Roger glanced at her then slowly walked over.
“You’re a pretty one, aren’t you?” He stroked her cheek with his bloodied hand, “Maybe you’ll tell the truth… Where is your camp?”
Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks. She was too afraid to answer.
“Maybe it’s up your ass?” Yelled Tim. Roger started laughing. He filled the silence with his laughter and without warning slapped Tim across the face. Everyone jumped at the hard smacking sound. Tim spit blood out of his mouth and straightened his posture to keep glaring at Roger.
“You’re very funny, you know what’s even funnier? You lying in a pool of your own blood.” As he said these words he picked up a bat that lied nearby.
Tim’s eye grew.
“Now tell me, how many of you are out there?” He pointed his bat at Willow. She held his gaze as she said, “None, it’s just us.”
“Now that I believe.” He swung his bat around and slammed it into Tim’s side.
“Why the hell did you do that? I spoke the truth.” Willow was seething.
“Because it’s fun, darling.”
For extra emphasis, he hit Tim again. Tim groaned and fell onto his side. He curled up into a ball. One of his ribs might be cracked, thought Charles. He frowned and gave Roger a disgusted look, the guy was pure evil.
He smiled the whole time while beating them.
Suddenly the warehouse’s door opened and another man walked in. He swung his car keys in his hand and whistled a tune. He was huge, bigger than all of the men. He had red hair, a bit of stubble and cold blue eyes. He glanced at them, saw the blood and unconscious man, but didn’t even blink. “I see you’ve rolled out the welcome wagon.”
“You know me, always showing hospitality.” Roger grinned from ear to ear.
“Well, keep going. Don’t let me stop you.” The man grabbed a gun and stood next to Hitch and Gary.
Roger kept asking about the camp and every answer caused Carl to be hit by the bat. Tim tried directing Roger’s anger towards him, to ease Carl’s pain, but Roger didn’t fall for that.
After a while, the third man stepped forward and said, “I’m getting tired… tell me about your camp or one of you will look even worse than him.” He pointed at Adam who was still unconscious.
“We don’t have a bloody camp.” Tim groaned as he spoke the words.
Roger looked almost gleeful, “Wrong answer.” He pulled a gun from his back pocket, aimed it and shot Carl in the head.
Carl’s entire body slumped to the ground. Lifeless. Dead.
Penny heard a high pitch screaming until she realized it was her own screams.
Willow had started crying. Charles looked at the scene unfolding in front of him, horrified.
“You son of a bitch! You bastard. You…” Tim gave Roger all kinds of colourful names.
Roger rolled his eyes and motioned for Hitch to shut him up, which he did with violence, naturally.
“I’m tired of you and your friend, maybe one of the girls would be more cooperative,” the thirdman gave Penny’s cleavage an appreciative look.
He grabbed her by the hair and forced her to her feet. Dragging her towards a back room.
Hitch and Gary gave whistles, encouraging him.
“Go easy on her, Troy, she’s mine next!” yelled Roger.
“Wait, what are you doing?”
“Where are you taking her?”
“Leave her alone!”
Tim and Charles shouted, but were silenced by a fist in the face.
Troy threw Penny into the room, closed the door and then locked it.
“This is gonna be fun.”
He untied her and she immediately tried to distance herself from him.
“Scream all you want, no one is going to hear you. The place is soundproof. Oh and at least put up a bit of a fight. I love it when they fight me.” He mumbled this to himself as he removed his belt. Penny felt bile rising in her throat, her fingers curled inwardly causing the skin of her palms to break, but she didn’t feel the pain. Her hear thudded too loudly and her stomach had turned on its axis. Her legs felt frozen.
He came closer with the belt still in his hand, swinging it from side to side.
“Take off your shirt.”
“No.”
He dropped the belt and slapped her across the face. Her head spun from the slap and her ears ringed. She felt dizzy.
While she was disorientated, he grabbed her shirt and ripped it in half.
Penny tried covering herself, but Troy was on her before she could. He pushed her against the fall with so much force that he slammed the air out of her lungs. He fondled her and she felt disgusted. She tried to push him away, but he was much stronger. He slammed his mouth across hers and forced his tongue into her mouth. She wanted to vomit. His breath was horrible.
Penny felt the panic rising, if she didn’t do anything she was going to be violated.
She tried to remain calm as he kept touching her and as she slowed her breathing she remembered the knife.
She slipped her fingers down her thigh and into her knee-high boot. Her fingers brushed the handle but they slipped when she tried to grab it. She felt the panic rise again, but willed it away and after numerous tries finally gripped it.
Troy was about to remove his pants and she knew she had to act now. Clumsily she took the knife and slammed it into his neck. For a moment he looked stunned then he gurgled and blood poured from his mouth. “That’s for Carl, you bastard.”
In his last moments on earth, he tried to strangle her, but she ripped the knife from his neck and stabbed him again. This time he left her alone and grabbed his neck trying to stop the bleeding, but his death was inevitable.
She watched in horror as the life left his body through his eyes. After his body had stilled and the aftermath became a reality, she cried.
Adam’s entire body throbbed, he was probably covered in bruises.
He groaned and slowly tried to pry his eyes open. A low glow entered his vision and then he saw a body lying next to him. He blinked a few times, trying to make his eyes focus more clearly.
He remembered the beating and how Roger had turned on them.
Finally, his eyes complied and gave him a better view of the person lying next to him.
Adam jumped from the sight in front of him. He scrambled away from the horror. Perhaps he was dreaming or his eyes were betraying him.
Carl laid there with a bullet in his head.
This wasn’t real. This was just a nightmare.
“Adam. You’re awake. Are you okay?” Adam swung his gaze to his right. His eyes landed on Willow, who had her hands tied behind her back.
He frowned, confused and disorientated. He tried lifting himself to his feet, but his muscles refused to work.
“Yeah, what… what happened?”
Charles peeked from behind Willow’s shoulder and said, “Roger shot Carl.”
Adam’s head spun. So many questions and replies entered his head.
“Adam, we have to do something. Roger, Hitch and Gary left while Troy, this huge dude, took Penny to a back office. I think… I think he might…” Willow didn’t know how to phrase her thoughts. They were too horrible to say aloud.
At that moment the office’s door opened. Willow was too afraid to look. Perhaps Troy had killed Penny as well.
Charles and Tim gasped.
Willow refused to look. Without knowing it, she had started to care for Penny.
“Guys, I think I killed him,” said a shaky voice.
Willow looked and what she saw was baffling.
Penny stood in the doorway. Her hands were covered in blood, her neck also had blood and the front of her shirt, which was torn in half, was a deep scarlet red. Her bra peeked through the two flimsy materials. Her eyes looked wild.
She would never be the same after this.
“What happened?” Charles asked with such tenderness, Willow was surprised.
“He… He tried to…” She burst into tears, her shoulders were hunched and her body looked tired.
“I’m so sorry, Penny. Did he…?”
She sniffled the words, “No, he didn’t get the chance.” Tim and Charles gave sighs of relief.
“Penny, Roger, Hitch and Gary left. We need to get out of these binds. Will you be able to cut us free?”
Penny was still teary-eyed, but she hardened when Willow spoke. “Yeah, hold on.”
She disappeared back into the office and came back with a bloodied knife.
After that, they were all cut free. The entire time Adam was silent. He never said a word.
“We should get out of here, before they come back.”
“Like hell we are, they killed Carl and Penny was almost assaulted. Men like that always come back. We have to kill them; otherwise they’ll just do the same thing to someone else.” Adam had finally spoken. Willow nodded adamantly.
Charles shook his head, “I’m not killing them.”
“Then stand by and watch, Charles. I’m not leaving until every single one of them isn’t breathing anymore. They stood by and let Roger do those things... They’re just as bad as Roger.” Drenched in blood and the knife in a tight grip, Penny said the words that rang true.
“As a med student I swore not to do harm, but instead to help people.”
“These are different times, Charles. It’s kill or be killed. So fuck your damn oath. Troy tried to rape me. I’m not going to roll over and take it. For the first time in my life I took charge of my life and I’m not going to stop now. So who’s with me?”
Charles gave in and agreed to help them.
Willow motioned for everyone to grab their weapons on the table. There were other weapons too, probably from other victims.
Willow saw something that made her gleeful. A bow with multiple arrows.
She had taken archery lesson as a child and the skill had always come naturally to her.
Tim stepped forward, “Cool, a bow! Let me try and shoot it...”
Willow took and arrow, took aim and shot a can a few feet away.
Again, she surprised everyone. Tim took a step back and said, “Never mind, you clearly know your way around an arrow and bow.” Willow gave him a small smirk.
Penny stood to the side, eyeing the table, she wasn’t sure which weapon to choose from, but then her eye caught sight of the bat that Roger had used.
She picked it up, liking the feel of it in her hand. This was definitely her weapon.
Adam had taken his gun and knife back while also taking two more guns.
Tim took his own gun and Charles, hesitantly, took the gun that Carl had owned.
Tim walked towards Carl’s body and closed his eyes.
Abruptly the warehouse’s door was opened again, Roger, Hitch and Gary walked in, oblivious to their escape.
“Did you see the look on that guy’s face when you shot his friend? Hillarious.” Gary chuckled, but quickly stopped when he saw all of them freed and holding their weapons.
Adam, Tim and Charles each held a gun, which was pointed at them, while Willow held her bow and aimed an arrow at them.
“Hey, Willow, remember that time when we escaped and the look on those guys’ faces when we killed them? Hilarious.” Penny spoke the words menacingly. Her shoulders were pushed back and a small frown marred her face.
The three men’s faces paled when they heard Penny’s words.
“Ok guys, I know we roughed you up a bit, but we were going to let you go...”
“A bit?” spat Tim
“Let us go? You killed our friend,” Adam took a threatening step towards the three. His gun was pointed directly at Roger’s head.
“We went a little overboard, I’m sorry.” Roger looked scared witless. Hitch and Gary have taken a step back and tried to hide behind Roger’s back.
“I’m sure we could come to an agreement. How about you take all the food you can carry and we promise we won’t follow you?”
A bubble of laughter burst from Penny’s throat, “Why bargain when we can take all the food we want? You have no power anymore and we’re not going to negotiate with you.”
“How many people have you killed since the virus broke out?” Tim questioned.
“What? None, I swear.”
Tim gave him a grim look, then murmured the words; “Wrong answer.” Tim took his revenge. An eye for an eye and in this case; a man for a man.
Penny didn’t even flinch when she heard the resounding shot. Her eyes watched as Roger took his last breath, then she turned her focus towards the other two.
“We didn’t do anything! We didn’t kill anyone.” Hitch tried to defend himself, but his explanation fell on deaf ears.
“You watched and let it happen, you’re just as bad as them,” barked Adam.
The group watched as Adam took his revenge on the two men who had beaten him. No one said a word or showed any emotion.
Another two shots filled the air and then it was deathly silent.
Tim walked to Carl’s body and closed his eyes. With sorrow, guilt and regret Tim grabbed a knife and stormed out the door. Penny followed, trying to stop him from doing something stupid.
“Tim, wait!” she yelled.
Tim marched onto the parking lot, spotted a stray feral and headed straight for him. Before Tim reached the feral, it saw Tim and turned his way. Tim pushed the feral until it fell onto it’s back, then Tim started stabbing it multiple times.
He used all of his rage, anger, frustration, confusion and guilt to brutalise the feral. Tim kept stabbing until all of the energy left his body, then he gave the feral one final stab to the head, causing it to die.
Tim sat atop the dead feral and bawled his eyes out. Tentatively, Penny approached Tim and placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him, but not knowing how.
Tim finally stood, grabbed Penny by the shoulders and hugged her. Penny was the only reason he was still standing, because he leaned all of his weight against her, crying. Penny soon joined him and together they cried. Grieving the loss of their friend.
At some point Adam, Charles and Willow had joined them, also crying and hugging Tim. They all knew that Tim and Carl were close for a while.
“I can’t believe he’s gone.”
Everyone was silent. There was nothing to say.
“I’m going to miss him,” whispered Willow.
“We all are,” said Adam.
“Why did it have to be him?” wondered Tim aloud.
“The scary part is, it could have been any one of us...,” supposed Charles.
“If I could kill them again I would!” Tim shoved his friends away from him, needing his space. He roughly shoved his fingers through his hair and pulled at the strands, almost ripping the hair from his skull.
“Tim, please calm down,” asked Willow. She was in tears.
“No, I don’t want to! This is so unfair. Why did it have to be those people that found us? We should never have gone to that field. We should never have left the cabin. This is all my fault. I wanted to find my family. I am the reason he’s dead!”
“No, you’re not Tim. This wasn’t your fault. It was no one’s fault. No one could’ve predicted this.” Adam tried to remove Tim’s fingers from his hair, seeing that he was trying to rip the strands from his skull.
“But I could’ve. When we walked into that warehouse I had this urge to run. I should’ve said something!” Penny experienced horrible guilt as she cried. Tim pushed Adam away from him and went to Penny’s side.
This time it was his turn to hold her while she cried.
They stood in that parking lot, blaming themselves, feeling confusion, experiencing rage and trying not to cry too loudly so as to not attract more ferals. While they grieved the sun raised in the East, light quickly filled the lot and spilled across their vision.
After everyone’s tears were all dried up, they decided to bury Carl’s body.
In silence they filled the car with canned food, weapons and the body. They transported him to the woods near the gas station where they all dug a hole in the ground and placed the body gently within.
They had a small funeral. Each of them recalling something small about Carl, because each of them hadn’t known him very long. The fact that they hadn’t really known him, made Tim cry even harder.
“If I ever see my family again, I’m going to tell them about Carl and how his sacrifice saved us all,” swore Tim.
ns 15.158.61.5da2
