Chapter 14

Their first week without Brad, Ruby and Helena was noticeably different; they all felt their absence. Dave was lost in thought multiple times, thinking about Helena. Praying over their food became awkward without Brad leading it. Dave tried to lead it a few times but it wasn't the same. Tyler missed teasing Ruby so he began to tease Lucy more, especially when she drove slowly.

'I'm sure we would have been in Alka by now if not for your driving,' he said and she glared at him.

'You're welcome to drive all day.' Tyler took her up on her offer but after he started having horrible aches in his arms and legs, he gave up and began to teach her how to drive faster.

Their fights with zombies were deadly and without Ruby's creepy smile, much more serious. Emily and Lucy also started getting closer.

'I never thanked you for saving my life at the lake,' Emily said when the two of them were alone on the cargo bed. Dave was driving and having a conversation with Tyler who was beside him.

Lucy thought back to how she hesitated before she helped her and she became ashamed. 'It was nothing… I'm sorry I didn't come faster though.'

Emily laughed. 'I thought I was gone for.' Lucy laughed nervously. 'Well, to be fair, I wasn't exactly nice to you. I might not have come back if I were you.'

'Hey!' Lucy exclaimed, shoving her lightly.

'So… we're good?' she asked and Lucy nodded. She stretched out her arms for a hug and Lucy leaned in but Emily awkwardly kept her there for a bit too long. After then, she wanted to hug her every morning. Tyler made fun of Lucy when she would whisper 'help' to him as the both of them hugged.

'Just tell her to stop,' he said one day when she was complaining to him.

'That might hurt her feelings,' she nervously said and he laughed at her.

'Suit yourself.'

There were nights when they all talked about Ruby and Brad and how they would be doing where they were. Ruby and Brad had the same conversations too, but it was just at night because, during the day, they had tasks to do.

Ruby was told to join Victor and Winston's group. They left the colony twice a week to nearby towns in search of supplies. They had to leave early in the morning and be back in the evening with more supplies. They were always well-equipped to fight off zombies and Ruby brought her crazy shooting styles to her new group, making them warm up to her faster. Brad joined the medical unit since he already had some knowledge of nursing from his wife. He mostly just helped out and when he wasn't working, he would go to the prayer house for some quiet time.

Amelia was kind but she handled her colony strictly and she made sure things were running smoothly. Her mode of correction was giving more work with hardly any sleep to the offender and very few times, she exiled people from the colony for two to three weeks with supplies to last them for three days. No one had to warn Ruby or Brad before they knew they had to do their work well and they naturally began to greet her as she passed by them.

On the way to Alka, they drove past zombies loitering about and had some confrontations when they were in towns to get supplies. Emily was voted to search the buildings they wanted to sleep in for zombies so they wouldn't end up wasting ammunition. She was scared to go alone though.

'Just go in and check,' Tyler said, getting annoyed with her.

'Alone?' she asked again, frightened.

'They won't even hurt you, why are you scared?'

'Because they're scary.' Tyler gave an exasperated sigh and after some more argument, she started facing the zombies on her own.

They didn't feel the need to teach her how to fight since the zombies never attacked her, even though they came close. Then, a day came when they were all surrounded. They had to fight their way back to the truck and she couldn't do anything to help.

'Lucy will teach you how to use a gun,' Dave said and both Lucy and Emily froze. It was then Lucy's turn to take someone hunting.

'Just breathe, okay?'

Emily shakily nodded. She held her handgun high again and pointed it at the zombie that was standing right in front of her, frozen. Her hands were visibly shaking and her stance wasn't good.

'Emily you need to—' Lucy was saying but Emily pulled the trigger, cutting her off. Her hand went backward and the gun fell from it; still, she barely managed to graze the zombie's forehead. It got agitated and then lunged for Lucy. Lucy shot it down quickly and went over to Emily who was massaging her fingers. 'You okay?'

'Yeah, sorry,' Emily said, looking sad.

'So tell me, what did you do wrong?'

Emily looked down at her feet, ashamed. 'I didn't hold the gun firmly, my hands were shaking, my stance was wrong… I'll do better next time,' she nervously said and Lucy smiled.

They went back to the truck and Tyler greeted them from the cargo bed with a cocky smile. 'Let me guess—'

'Shut up, Tyler,' Emily angrily said cutting him off and he laughed at her. She had been practising for a while but she didn't seem to get better. 'Stop! Or I'll tell them about that time your dad came to school and—'

'Okay, okay!' he said, raising his hands.

Lucy stopped short on her way to the passenger seat and she headed to the cargo bed. 'What did his dad do?' she asked, giving Emily a conniving smile.

Emily turned to Tyler, smiling proudly and he mouthed 'please' to her. Dave blew the horn, signalling he was still waiting for them. Emily and Lucy climbed unto the cargo bed and they took off.

'Come on,' Lucy whined. Tyler hardly ever talked about his past with them and that was probably the only chance she had, but Tyler begged Emily.

'Let's just say… Tyler's dad was very strict.' She laughed and Tyler nervously laughed with her. 'He was really scary too.'

'You didn't see him when he turned into a zombie,' he joked.

'I can't imagine him scarier—' she continued laughed— 'and your sister, she was too sweet. You must have been horrified.'

Lucy remembered when Tyler mentioned his sister when he and Emily were talking. She was about to join in on the laughter but then, Tyler stopped laughing and a look of hurt was on his face. Emily immediately stopped laughing and she regretted saying what she said. 'Tamara didn't turn into a zombie,' he sadly said. 'She died before that.'

'Oh,' she said, shocked and then, her face showed sympathy. 'I'm so sorry.'

'Don't be. I'm glad she didn't see the apocalypse.' There was a moment of silence after and then Tyler went to the side of the cargo bed to take a nap.

A few weeks later, the weather started becoming cool and the number of zombies they saw started reducing. They were getting much closer to Alka. They stopped by a few clothing shops but most of them had already been looted, most likely by other survivors that came that way. They luckily were able to get a few warm clothes.

'You can still go faster,' Tyler said one night and Lucy frowned at him.

'I'm going faster than my safe speed.'

He chuckled. 'You're still scared, even when they're hardly any other cars on the road.'

She rolled her eyes at him. 'Fine.' She pressed down on the accelerator and the car started moving too fast. 'Is this enough?' she asked sarcastically.

'Yes!' he shouted, the wind in his hair.

She shook her head at him but then, suddenly, a figure ran onto the road. She quickly turned the steering wheel, making the truck swerve wildly. Dave and Emily woke up due to the movement and then Lucy stabilised the car.

'What was that?' she asked, breathing hard. Tyler looked behind them and saw the figure running after the car. Then, there was a loud shrieking sound and two other zombies ran onto the road in front of them.

'Rabies.' The zombies ran to the truck and Lucy kept on moving forward with the aim of running them over but once she got close enough, the zombies leapt and slammed into the windscreen, cracking it.

The vehicle swerved again and Emily let out a terrified scream. The two zombies rolled up the car, one fell off by the side but the other landed in the cargo bed. It stood up and lunged at Dave and he quickly shot it down. For a few seconds everywhere was quiet. Lucy kept on driving, still shaken but she couldn't see ahead of her very well because of the cracks.

Another loud shriek was made and this time, more shrieks followed after it. They could see zombies ahead, running towards them and their heartbeats accelerated. Tyler reached for his gun and Emily reached for an axe since she wasn't perfect with guns.

Lucy tried manoeuvring the car around the zombies but they were too many. She ran over some which made the vehicle bump up and down wildly but the rest leapt onto the car. They got a hold of the cargo bed and began climbing into it. Dave and Emily began attacking them but they fought back. Another zombie leapt onto the windshield and more cracks appeared. Lucy turned to Tyler and they both shared a terrified look. The next zombie leapt onto the windshield and they immediately covered their eyes.

The glass broke in and rained on them, cutting their clothes and exposed skin. The zombie fell in-between their seats, already dead. The vehicle slowed to a stop as other zombies rammed their bodies into it. Lucy and Tyler groaned in pain but they didn't have enough time to recover before the remaining zombies began clawing their way through the glass and into the vehicle.

A zombie clawed its way to Lucy. She still had her eyes covered but by the time they were open, the zombie was just inches from her arm. It opened its rotting mouth wide and bit down hard on her arm. She screamed and quickly punched it away.

'No, no, no,' she said, checking her arm, her mind racing. Then she realised the zombie couldn't have bit her flesh because of her thick sweater. She was about to breathe a sigh of relief but she was reminded she wasn't out of the woods yet when the next zombie snapped at her face. A gun was fired and the zombie fell limp. She turned to face Tyler who had his gun aimed at another zombie and blood seeped out a long cut on his forehead.

Emily brought her axe down on the head of a zombie climbing into the cargo bed. Its brain matter splashed up and she immediately felt nauseated. She heard gunshots behind her and she turned to see Tyler struggling to keep Lucy and himself safe. She turned to Dave and saw him reloading just as a zombie clawed at his foot and he shouted in pain.

She breathed in hard to calm herself and then she picked up gun magazines and a gun and jumped out of the vehicle, landing in the midst of zombies. She pushed through them and then got to Lucy and handed her the ammunition and gun.

Lucy quickly got her gun loaded and started firing at the zombies near Tyler who had just run out of bullets. Emily swung her axe at the zombies near Lucy but then a cry of pain from behind her got her attention. She rushed to Dave to see that he had picked up a sickle and began impaling the zombies around him with it. She went to the zombies near him and swung hard at them, bringing them down.

Tyler stepped out of the passenger seat with his gun reloaded and shot at the zombies near Dave while Lucy finished off the zombies in front. Finally, a bullet was fired and the last zombie fell to the ground. They tried calming their heavy breathing afterwards but then Dave slammed his fingers on the side panel of the cargo bed and shouted at Emily.

'Cut them off!'

That action made her jump in her skin but then she looked at his fingers and saw the bite mark on them. Tyler's breath caught in his throat and he stared horrified at his father-figure. Emily's hands became shaky and she hesitantly rose the axe up. Tyler immediately snatched the weapon from her and brought the sharp edge down on Dave's fingers, cutting them off.

Dave shouted in pain and retracted his bleeding hand. Tyler jumped into the cargo bed and rummaged their stuff. He got a piece of clothing and then covered Dave's hand. He raised his hand high and then applied pressure to the amputated part to stop the bleeding.

'Please,' Tyler muttered. Lucy and Emily stood beside the vehicle, looking at Dave, terrified. Dave kept quiet and his mind flashed back to when his colleagues were bit and turned and how he left them and then when he drove his knife into Helena before she could turn. He was truly terrified and he didn't know if cutting off his fingers would help at all.

The bleeding stopped and the three of them still watched him cautiously to see if anything would change. 'How do you feel?' Tyler worriedly asked after a few minutes. Dave gave him a thumbs-up with his right hand and they all sighed in relief.

'I'm not going just yet,' he said and Tyler sniffed in, holding back his tears.

'No, you're not.'

Lucy drove away from the scene of the fight afterwards. They tended to their injuries when they got to a far enough and safer distance and then they continued on their journey.

It took them two long months from when they left the colony and finally, they read a large faded signboard which wrote, 'Welcome to Alka'.