Chapter 15

Beads of sweat rolled down his face but he didn't have time to wipe them away. The zombie before him struggled violently against its binds. It shrieked continuously, trying to get away but he wasn't going to allow it.

'Quick David!' he barked at the little boy who was standing by the doorway with tears in his eyes, a runny nose and a bruised knee. 'Get more rope!' The boy limped away from the room and down the corridor.

The zombie in front of him kept on shrieking and the shrieks of other bound zombies in the room aggravated him. 'Where are you boy?!' He was growing impatient. It pained him to keep on looking at the zombie he tried so hard to hold down. Its once beautiful long hair was now knotted and wild. Its face was covered in bruises and its mouth gave off a rotten odour.

The boy limped back into the room and handed the man the rope. 'What took you so long?' he angrily asked.

'Daddy, my knee,' the boy whined but he wasn't paying any attention to him.

He rebound the zombie and made sure the knots were tight enough. 'There. She wouldn't be getting out of that.'

***

'Alka,' Emily said, not believing her eyes. She crawled to Lucy and wrapped her in a big hug. 'We're at Alka!' she screamed, joyful. Lucy hugged her back, too happy about finally being safe to care about her annoyingly consistent hugs.

'We're finally here,' Dave said, sitting beside Tyler as Tyler drove in. His bandaged hand with only the index finger and thumb remaining, rested on his lap.

'Hopefully, the safe house isn't too far away,' Tyler said.

They were drained and tired from their journey. For a place they had been anticipating coming to for a long time, the reception was poor and pretty much non-existent. The battered truck moved slowly and steadily on the snow-covered ground. It was very cold, thankfully, their clothes were warm.

There were houses around them but no one was home. Even though the zombies wouldn't stay in an area as cold as that, the inhabitants all still went to the safe house. Tyler saw smoke rising up from a house further down the road and he slowly and carefully drove to it.

He stopped in front of a house with its lights on and one by one, they came down from the truck and walked to it. Before they reached the front door, someone opened it.

'Survivors,' a man with a deep voice happily said, smiling at them. 'Come in, come in.' He opened the door wider and they all went inside.

'Thank you,' Lucy said as they stepped into the warmth of the house. They came into a living room that had three couches, a table, a fireplace and a picture of the man, a woman in military uniform and a boy hung on the wall.

'It's my pleasure. Please sit.' He gestured to the couches. They sat down and took off their coats and sweaters.

'Thank you so much,' Emily said. 'We didn't know if anyone was still here.'

'Everyone has gone to the safe house already,' he answered. 'The military would have been here to take you there but since more survivors haven't been seen for months, they only come once in a while.'

Tyler frowned a little at him. 'It must be lonely staying by yourself here,' he said.

The man chuckled. 'Well, if I weren't here, you would still be on the road, tired and cold and I don't want that.'

'That's very nice and selfless of you,' Dave said, subtly stepping on Tyler's foot. 'Thank you, mister—?'

'Just Robert. It's my pleasure to accommodate other survivors, and I'm not alone.' The man turned towards the corridor and shouted, 'David!' After a minute, a little boy walked into the living room, looking sad. 'This is my son, David.'

The boy looked sadly at them, hardly keeping eye contact and then, his eyes landed on Emily. His eyebrows rose up ever-so-slightly and a small smile appeared on his face. 'Hello,' he greeted, staring at her. She smiled at him, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

'I'm Dave, and these are Tyler, Lucy and Emily.' They greeted as he introduced them and David's eyes seemed to sparkle when he heard Emily's name.

'Emily,' he said with an adorable tiny voice.

'Go put a kettle on for our visitors,' Robert said and David nodded and left. 'I hope you don't mind tea?'

'We can take just about anything as long as it's hot,' Dave said and the man laughed.

'Okay, I'll be right back.'

While he was gone, Tyler turned to Dave, lowering his voice. 'I just don't see why someone would willingly stay here when they can stay in a safe house.'

'He must have some other reasons but we should just be grateful he's letting us stay,' Dave said. 'We'll be gone soon.' Tyler sighed and lay back on the couch.

'He doesn't seem odd to me,' Lucy said. 'He's a friendly father with an adorable son.'

Tyler smirked at her. 'Sorry Lucy, but that boy has his eyes on Emily.'

Lucy rolled her eyes at him and Emily bashfully hit his arm. 'Really, Tyler?' Lucy said and he laughed and winked at her.

'That means I don't have any competition.'

Before she could respond, Robert came in with a tray and he set it on the table in front of them. 'I hope I didn't keep you waiting,' he said as he began giving them their cups of tea, starting with Dave.

'Not at all,' Dave said, smiling.

David picked up a cup of tea and gave it to Emily. He was smiling at her sweetly and she smiled back. 'Thank you,' she said, taking the cup from him. He smiled wider at her and then he left to serve Lucy but his sweet smile was gone.

'You must be coming from quite a far place,' Robert said as he sat on the couch across from them. 'The zombie outbreak was over a year ago.'

'Has it been that long?' Lucy asked, surprised.

'Well, it might not seem that long for each of you since the zombies appeared at different parts of the continent at different times.'

'How do you know that?' Tyler asked.

'They kept us updated at the safe house.'

'So you were there at first.' Robert narrowed his eyes at Tyler and then he quickly smiled.

'Yes. We were always informed, fed and protected. There was a rumour that it was the other continent, Lendie that sent the zombies here. Our two continents were never on good terms. It would also explain why the outbreak didn't just start from one place. It was planned.'

'An inside attack,' Emily said, thinking back at her mum and the way she behaved when she saw her last.

'Most likely.'

'That's horrible,' Lucy said, frowning. 'All those innocent people were turned into monsters just because of some flimsy disagreement.'

'What is Tendra doing about the situation?' Dave asked.

'They make sure that everyone in the safe house gets vaccinated against the virus, as I have.' A look of amazement and joy crossed all their faces.

'That's great!' Emily said.

'Yes,' he said, but he didn't sound very enthusiastic about it and then his eyes hardened. 'But they haven't done anything about a cure.'

'You mean, there's a way to get a cure?' Lucy asked.

'I'm sure there is, but they are only interested in the vaccine, the lives of those in the safe house and getting back at Lendie. They just need a shove to start doing the right thing.'

There was a change in Robert's aura and the mood in the room changed with it. Dave took the last sip of his tea and set his cup down. 'Thank you for the tea, Robert; and also for all the information. I think we should be on our way now. Can you direct us?'

'No,' Robert said, standing up. He pointed at the clock and said, 'It's a five-hour drive to the safe house. It'll be too dark before you get there. You should stay the night.'

'We've driven in the dark multiple times,' Tyler said. 'I'm sure we can handle ourselves.' Just as he finished the sentence, he opened his mouth wide and yawned loudly.

'Look who's tired,' Lucy joked and Emily laughed.

'I insist,' Robert said. 'I'd like you to stay for dinner and I have room enough upstairs.'

Dave looked at his group, knowing they could use some food and then he looked at Tyler who stifled another yawn. 'Okay then. We'll leave first thing tomorrow morning.'

Robert smiled happily at them. 'Let me get started on dinner.'

Lucy and Emily offered to help and the three of them with his son went to the kitchen. After dinner, Robert showed them to two rooms. Tyler and Dave slept in one while Lucy and Emily slept in the other.

Emily woke up in the middle of the night feeling thirsty. She walked out of the room she was in and then down the stairs. She turned to the kitchen but the sound of someone sobbing stopped her. She walked to the living room where the sound was coming from, more curious than concerned and then she saw David curled up on the floor beside the couch near the door, crying.

'David?'

He jumped, scared, and when he saw her, he wiped his face and sniffed in noisily. 'Emily!' He put a big smile on his face but his eyes were still puffy.

'What's wrong, David?' She came closer to him and sat beside him. He shook his head and said it was nothing but she gave him a knowing look. 'You can tell me,' she calmly said.

He brought his knees to his chest and hugged them. He kept quiet for a while and Emily patiently waited. 'Mommy.'

'What happened to her?' she asked, concerned.

'Daddy said she's sick, very sick,' he slowly said and then sniffed in.

'I'm sure she'll get better. Don't cry.' She put her hand on his back and gently rubbed it. He nodded and wiped his face again.

'Emily,' he said, looking at her. She made a humming sound to let him know that she was listening. He leaned on her side and put his arms around her waist. 'You look like mummy.'

She looked up at the picture of his family on the wall and at the woman in military clothes. She was also tall and had long red hair but Emily didn't feel she looked as strong. 'Awn, I'll like to meet mommy one day.'

David immediately left her and shook his head. 'No. I don't want you to get sick too.'

Emily was a bit taken aback by his reaction but then she smiled when she saw how concerned he was for her. 'Don't worry, I'll be careful.' David shook his head again and then there was a loud sound of something falling. Emily jumped at the sound and she looked towards the corridor where it came from. 'What was that?' she asked, talking to herself.

'Nothing.'

But then, she started hearing the sound of a piece of furniture being dragged on the ground in short intervals. 'It's definitely something.' She made a move to stand up but David held her hand.

'No, please. Daddy will hurt me.'

She frowned at him. 'Why, what's there?' But he didn't answer. She stood up and followed the sound to a door before the kitchen, leading to a room. She heard some groaning sounds on the other side and she looked back at David who was standing behind her.

'It's mummy.'

Then she heard an all too familiar shrieking sound. 'She's a zombie?' she asked, frightened and he slowly nodded. She remembered the conversation they had earlier that day, about there being a cure. 'He's keeping her there,' she said to herself. It was sick and dangerous. She shook her head, thinking she didn't have any say in what Robert was doing. She was about to back away from the door when she heard more shrieks overlapping each other. 'They're more.'

David shakily nodded. 'Survivors,' he said and her eyes widened in fear.

'I wish you didn't have to see them till tomorrow,' a deep voice said and she looked up, seeing Robert coming towards her with a wicked frown on his face.

She backed away from him. 'What did you do?'

'You'll know soon enough.'

She took in a deep breath and tried letting out a scream but Robert swung a fist hard at her head and that was the last thing she remembered.