Day 361 - Untitled Zombie Story Chapter 10.2 - (1,450 words)

©Wayne Webb and constantwriting.blogspot.com, 2013. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Wayne Webb and constantwriting.blogspot.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

UNTITLED ZOMBIE STORY

By Wayne Webb

Chapter 10.2

James walked briskly off in the same direction that he and his brother had been heading in already when Sarah had called out and split them up. He managed a grunt in the general direction and waved a free hand, but did not dare turn around to be seen. Unlike Derek, he would run a fairly big risk of being recognised, as someone from this place knew who he was and why he was here.

Then a random thought stopped him in his tracks; if they knew who he was then they knew who Derek was? Or would it be the name they knew and not the face? Cameras were a rarity these days and it’s not like the cell networks were still up and running, so camera phones were a thing of the past too.

He picked up his pace again and headed straight for the darkened alleyway behind the theatre where Derek had been walking him. He took cover in the darkness and only then did he turn around.  

Derek and the woman he was talking to, the Doctor named Sarah he had seen in the lobby, the one Derek had convinced he was a part of the community to, were still standing and she was talking animatedly to him. Derek had turned about and was looking backwards at the alleyway, unable to see him in the dark but knowing his brother was there.

The look on his face suggested that he did not want to be there, but Sarah was insisting in a very positive and flirty manner, occasionally raising a hand and placing it on his arm to convince him to come along. Derek smiled and shrugged and that was all she needed in the form of consent and they walked off.

James was thinking about the best way to follow them when a hand clamped on his mouth and something hard jutted into his back.

“Shh.” Hissed a voice in his ear and the grip that held him was stringer than he could resist, so he stayed very still and waited while the two people he was watching walked out of sight.

“I’m going to let you go, don’t do anything stupid.” The voice said, and it sounded familiar to James as the hand melted from his face and the thing sticking into the back of him eased off too.

“James.” The man said in the dark alley and as his eyes adjusted and he saw who it was, they widened further.

“Ben?” James stage whispered, and faster than his eyes could follow Ben’s hand was clamped on his mouth and this man had him pressed against the wall with a dull thud and a jolt that’s hook him to the shoes he was standing in.

“Jesus, James!” Ben whispered but with some intensity. “Do you want to get caught?”

This time James twisted out of his grip and managed to get the other man who was wiry and strong beyond what he looked capable of, off balance and tipping back and away from him.

“What the fuck is going on Ben?”

“How did you get here?” Ben countered.

“What?” James was confused. “Why are you hiding in the shadows? What the fuck was all that stuff that … you know you and Derek and that girl? I was with YOUR people Ben and then I wake up here and you ask me that? What the hell?”

“I … they’re not really my people, not really. My people are more… or less… they’re my people.”

“Oh well I’m glad you could clear that up so succinctly!” The sarcasm was pointed enough that Ben could get it even whispered in the dark alleyway.

“Where is your brother going?” Ben stepped in front of James and looked out and up the empty streets, the guards were on the towers and the spotlights were sweeping parts of the roads and buildings near the walls, looking for stragglers no doubt.

“How would I know that? Ben, these are your people… oh wait sorry, your people…. More or Less? Is that it? Either way how would I know? What the hell is going on?”

Ben leaned in very close to James, so that he could feel the lightness of Ben’s breathing on his lips and cheeks, it made him very uncomfortable and Ben held that distance for about fifteen seconds before saying. “I.” “Don’t.” “Know.”.

Ben took a step back from James and held out his hands in an attempt to reconcile their positions but when James did not move, to either escape or to attack he pointed back at the empty road. “We should get going, your brother could be in danger, more than he knows.”

James started moving into the light, but Ben pulled him back into the shadows and pointed to another alleyway, it would be a short run through the well-lit area but it would be quicker than going the long way around.

They sprinted the gap and panted to a stop a dozen meters or more away. They came to a halt and James jogged to the end of the alleyway with Ben in tow and they got there just in time to see Derek standing in front of an open doorway a few buildings away from the end of the shortcut that connected the curving road that he and Sarah had walked down.

He could not see James from where he was standing, his brother was in the shadows and the darkness would have completely covered him. Derek still stopped and looked backwards cross the road and hoped his brother hand made it to safety,

“Tom?” Sarah called from inside the building “You coming to meet the leaders?”

Derek was stalling on the doorstep, he knew that if he took a step inside the chances if his being caught would go up a decent percentage, yet if he did not then they would come looking for him regardless and potentially catch both him and his brother.

This way he could bluff his way to either freedom or a long enough lead for James to escape.  Though knowing James he would not try and escape, instead he’d mount a rescue attempt. Derek knew this because that’s what he’d do, that’s what any decent human being would do for a friend, let alone a brother.

“You know what Sarah? Can we do this later? I’m asleep on my feet and I can barely keep my eyes open…” Derek made no move inside the building.

“Oh come on it’ll just take…”

Derek heaved up the contents of his stomach and vomited all over the doorstep, taking a few steps back he leaned over the railing and it all cascaded down the sides of the stairs and on to the garden.

“Oh my god, are you… Jesus.” Sarah came over and felt his forehead and looked into his pale face and felt his clammy skin. “You need to get some rest, let’s get you home.”

Sarah walked him back down the steps of the building they had been waiting to enter and then she stopped. “Which barracks are you in?”

Derek said nothing.

“Well you’re not in A or B, I’d know you if you were… C? F?”

“I can walk from here, you go and have your meeting, I need to get some fresh air. I’m in F but I just need to have some air and I can take my time, I feel better already, I’m just … I need rest and my own… bunk… you know?” Derek guessed at the bunk reference, it was implied by the Barracks comment and he threw it in there anyway.

“Ok, if you’re sure?” Sarah walked away hesitantly while Derek walked back the way they had come.

“Hey Tom.”

“Yes?”

“F is in that direction isn’t it?” Sarah was waving vaguely, now suspicious.

“I need some air, I am going to take a quick walk around, get some air and walk it off, I’m good, really I am, I’ll make it… better out than in right?”

“Right.”

Sarah lifted up her radio and muttered something he could not quite make out as he turned and walked away.

“Derek?” Came a woman’s voice from behind Sarah and there looking right at him as he turned to face her was Angela, bruised and looking very pissed off and holding a gun in her hand. As she began to raise her arm Derek dove into a nearby alley way and tried to shelter in the dark, only to find two pairs of arms pulling him to the ground as two shots rang out in the night and a voice called out.

“Guards!”