Low on Time/Issue 38

This is issue thirty-eight of Low on Time, entitled: Big Hug.

Issue 38; Big Hug
Two hours later, Ryker sat in a chair in one of the cells, next to the foot-less Julia, who was passed out lying on the bed. He sat over her, eyes full of tears, just waiting and hoping she would wake up. Ryker looked towards her wrist, which was handcuffed against the bed post, in case she turned. Ryker couldn't do anything but wait, watching as her breathing was inconsistent and very light.

"C'mon, Jules. Please wake up..." he said to himself, very quietly.

''Julia ran through a Wal-Mart, big backpack on, throwing food and supplies into the backpack as she went along. Ryker struggled behind her, already running out of breath, but with no time to rest. They had to get what they needed and get out of there as soon as they could.''

''Julia got to one of the food aisles, and started shoving things in her bag as quickly as she could. Ryker finally catches up to her, and helps her put the food in their bags, breathing heavily.''

''As they finished, they heard the doors slide open in the front of the store. Both of them immediately dropped to the ground to avoid being seen. Not wasting any time, Julia crawled to the end of the aisle, Ryker close behind her, and peeked around the corner. There were five people standing there, four guys with big guns, and one guy with a small pistol. We can recognize this guy with the pistol as none other than Trevin himself.''

Julia pulls her head back, looking back at Ryker who is nervously watching her.

"Five guys, big guns. We gotta sneak around."

"How are we--" he started, but Julia cuts him off by putting her finger in front of her mouth, motioning him to be quit.

"It's our only option. Just follow my lead, and we'll get out of here as soon as we can."

''Ryker hesitantly nodded, and Julia peeked her head around again. Nobody was there. Instead of contemplating on where they were, she wanted to take advantage of this quickly. She grabbed Ryker's hand, and the two ran out of their hiding place, making their way to the door.''

''As they were about to get out though, Trevin comes from behind an aisle, and tackles Julia, taking her to the ground. He goes to grab his pistol, but Ryker tries to pull Trevin off of Julia, but Trevin is too strong. He spins around, hitting Ryker in the face, and Ryker goes down hard. Trevin goes on top of Ryker, and punches him a few more times, once in the mouth, and twice in both eyes.''

''He lifts up Ryker's shirt, and for the first time, gets a look at him. He sees that he's just a kid, and he looks back to Julia, who is still on the ground, realizing she was just trying to protect him. He immediately feels guilty, and lets go of Ryker, running away towards his friends.''

''Julia gets up, holding onto her hip, which she landed so awkwardly on, and ran over to Ryker, who was still on the ground. She got to him, and looked at him, just trying to see if he was still alive. She smiles when she sees Ryker's eyes moving around, and she helps him up by his arm.''

''"Get up, Ry. You're okay." she said, as she helped him up.''

She grabbed Ryker by the hand again, and the two ran out of the Wal-Mart together, both limping and hurt.

''Ryder and Julia sat alone in the woods by a small campfire. The two sat close to each other, using each other and the fire for warmth. Julia couldn't take her eyes off of Ryker, his lips were bloody, and his eyes were black-and-blue. He couldn't take his eyes off the fire.''

"Thank you," she said, forcing a smile.

''"No-- no problem." he said, under his breath, still hurt.''

Julia pulled in Ryker for a hug, which he just stare blankly into the fire for.

''"Are you okay?" she asked.''

''"I--I don't know if I can still do this." Ryker said. "It's been us two for only a week, and we've almost been killed twice by bandits now. I don't know if I can do this-- I don't wanna see you get hurt."''

''Julia forced a smile, "We're going to be ok in the end." she said, looking at him. "We're going to find a place to stay with to her people-- and we're going to live happily. Just you wait and see."''

''"You might," he said, still looking into the fire. "If I had the chance-- I'd blow my own brains out."''

''"Don't say that, Ry." she said, turning his head so he's looking at her. "We're going to be safe in the end, you and I-- we're going do this. You can't give up though."''

''"I already have..." he muttered.''

"Please, Ry. Do it for me then. There has to be a reason only we made it-- and I think it's because we have the chance to do something big."

"I don't know..."

''"Please, just think about it. I don't want to lose you too." she said, wrapping Ryker in her arms, and giving another big hug. Ryker just looked back into the fire, sighing.''

Kelly sat with Ike and Langston, sitting against the back wall, looking into the cell where Ryker was with Julia.

"Kel, what happened to your face?" Langston asked, just noticing Kelly's bruised jaw.

"I fell flat on my face earlier today." she lied. "I tripped over myself like an idiot."

"Ouch," he said, pulling her close to him. "At least it wasn't anything serious."

Kelly just nodded, resting her head in Langston's chest, as Ike watched the doorway. He saw Paul walking along with Trent and Amanda, Trent still visibly shaken after seeing Julia's foot get cut off, but Ike couldn't take off of that nervous look Paul was wearing. Ike knows something is up with him-- he just needs to figure out what that is.

"Guys!" they hear Olivia's voice yelling throughout the hallway.

Kelly, Langston, and Ike immediately hop off, running out into the hallway. Olivia, crowbar in hand, is talking to Paul, Trent, and Amanda. Trent turns back to them, as Paul, Olivia, and Amanda run off.

"There's a herd outside-- trying to break in. We gotta fight them off-- we can't run just yet."

Ike and Langston nodded, running out of the room toward Trent, and the three men run off. Kelly walks back into the room, quickly, looking at Ryker, who's now looking at her.

"Can you handle this?" she asked.

"I got it." Ryker said.

"Alright, I'll be right back. If anything happens-- just yell."

Ryker nodded, looking back toward Julia, as Kelly ran off.

Manning stood there, among the rest of the survivors who were trying to thin out the herd trying to break it's way in. Ella ran in the room after hearing all the commotion, and stumbles backwards, seeing the amount of zombies outside.

Manning looked back toward her, noticing the fear in her.

"Ella," he called out, grabbing her attention. "Get my brother and Sam-- go lock yourselves in one of the cells. I'll be back for you."

Ella nodded and ran off.

Ella sprinted down the hallway, going to the infirmary, where she last saw the two kids. As Ella turned the hallway, she is met by Sam, who's holding a knife-- looking both scared and shocked. Ella quickly got on her knees, not paying much attention to the knife.

"Where's Oscar?" she asked quickly.

"He was gonna get me." Sam said, looking down at her knife.

"Who was gonna get you?"

"Oscar-- he was gonna kill me-- my dream said so."

Ella stands up quickly, looking away from Sam, and at the infirmary. She quickly runs past the little girl, and goes into the infirmary-- where a big puddle of blood was the first thing to be noticed. Ella worriedly looks around for the young boy, who's nowhere to be found.

Ella runs into the room, and looks around, for any clue.

She suddenly hears a noise that sounds like crying or whimpering. She slowly follows the noise, which gets louder and louder with each step. Ella gets to a closet, where the crying was easily coming from. She opens it up quickly, where a bloodied Oscar lied on his stomach.

"Oh my God," she said, getting on her knees, and turning the young boy over, who's eyes were barely open. She looks back, seeing Sam staring at her wide-eyed.

Knowing she isn't going to be able to just leave him there, Ella takes a deep breath, "OLIVIA!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

As Olivia runs off, the group has resorted to their guns. Paul and Jake took the left side, firing into the crowd of zombies, and Kelly and Langston took the right side. Manning, Trent, Trevin, Amanda took the center, each one of them holding an assault rifle or submachine gun.

Trent shoots again, killing one of the zombies, whose body falls into the big crowd of zombies by the frond door. None of the zombies have made it in yet, as the group has been able to stop them before they're able to get inside. Trent goes to shoot again, but nothing comes out of his gun but a little "click" noise. He drops the assault rifle, pulling his pistol out from his back pocket, and shooting a couple of more times into the crowd.

Ryker still sat with the unconscious Julia. He leaned over her, making sure everything was fine-- the only noises in the room being the breathing from the two of them. But suddenly, the breathing stopped. Ryker looked over her, putting his head over hers, and looked back away. Julia has stopped breathing.

"No, no, no, please..." he muttered to himself.

He quickly went over Julia, and started giving her CPR. The repetition of giving her breaths, and then pushing on her chest. With every time Ryker goes, the weaker he gets, breathing heavily himself. He won't let himself give up though, and he continues.

While he was doing it, Julia suddenly takes a big gasp of air, causing Ryker to fall back. His breathing pattern out of control, he can't help but smile as Julia's eyes open, and she looks at him, nervously.

"Ry..." she said, weakly.

Ryker couldn't pay any attention to her though, and he stumbled out of the cell, gasping for air. He closed the cell after him, and he stumbled against the back wall, looking back at her.

"Ry..." she said again, but not having enough energy to complete her sentence.

Ryker just looked at her as he gasped for air-- too weak to move.

"Little... little..."

But it was of no use, Ryker was not getting enough air to his lungs, and as he sat back against the wall, he passed out.

Olivia had lied Oscar down on one of the tables, looking over him. He was bleeding heavily, and Ella stood next to Olivia, hoping to help. Sam sat in the background watching the two, knife still in hand.

"What can we do?" Ella asked, still worried.

"I--I don't know! I'm not a fucking doctor." she said. "Get me some rubbing alcohol or something, I'll do my best, I guess."

Kelly shoots the final zombie dead, and the group looks over at the now-empty street. Kelly immediately turns around, and jogs back to the cell room. She goes in immediately, and sees Ryker lying passed out on the floor. She runs over to him, checking his pulse, feeling a small pulse. She looks back at Julia, who's eyes are still open, looking at Ryker and Kelly.

"Fuck," Kelly mutters, looking back at Ryker.

Kelly puts her head against Ryker's chest, feeling his faint breathing, and sighs. Ike stumbles in, and immediately runs next to Kelly.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I don't know-- go get one of his inhalers." she said, quickly.

Ike runs back off toward the infirmary, as Kelly puts her head against Ryker's forehead.

Manning ran into the infirmary after hearing the news about Oscar. He looked over at Oscar, who Olivia and Ella were with, and runs over toward him.

"Is he okay? What happened?" he asked, in a panic.

"As far as I can tell-- Sam attacked him." Ella said, as Paul passed the room, looking in.

"Sam? How did she--"

"She got hold of a knife."

"Is he-- is he gonna be okay?" he asked, looking back over at his brother.

"Maybe," Olivia said. "But you're going to need to give me some space."

Manning nodded, tears rolling down his face, backing away from Olivia and Ella. He went against the back wall, throwing his face in between his knees, trying to look away from his brother's mangled body.

Ike came running back into the cell room with the inhaler, as Ryker's head rested in Kelly's lap. Kelly takes the inhaler, and puts it into his mouth.

"Please, Ryker, don't die on me." she said, under her breath.

"Yeah, kid." Ike said. "Just-- come back."

"Please," Julia's faint voice calls to them, drawing Ike's attention. Ike gets up, and walks up to her cell, slowly. "Bring Ry in here... I've done it a hundred times."

Ike nodded, and he turned back towards Kelly, who's doing her best to try and help Ryker. Ike nodded, and the two lifted Ryker up, Ike opening the cell, and bringing Ryker in to Julia, Kelly handing her the inhaler, and Kelly unlocking Julia's handcuffs. Ike leans Ryker up against the bed, so Julia's in arms reach of him.

"Thank you," she said, sitting up, looking back at Ryker.

Sam sat in the hallway, being watched by Trent and Amanda. She was crying too, realizing what she's done. Paul walked toward them, pistol in hand. Trent immediately notices Paul's gun, and hops in his way.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked.

"Move, Trent. I am going to put her out of her misery." Paul muttered.

"She's a kid--"

"A kid who might've just killed Oscar. What's to stop her from doing it again?"

Trent doesn't look ready to back down to Paul though-- he knows it's wrong for Paul to do this. Amanda just looks at Trent, and slowly shakes her head. Trent looks back toward the crying Sam, and moves out of Paul's way.

Paul sits next to the crying Sam, bringing the girl into a hug.

"It's ok," Paul said, stroking her hair. "I'm going to stop the nightmares."

Sam looked up at him, nodding his head. "I'd like that." she said, still crying.

Paul nods, kissing the young girl on the forehead. Paul puts the gun up to the back of her head, giving her one last kiss on the cheek.

"I'll miss you." he said.

"Me too." she said.

Trent and Amanda just watch, the two sobbing to themselves as Paul pulls the trigger.

Olivia stepped back, looking over the bloody and now-deceased, Oscar. His eyes were closed, he wasn't breathing, and blood still flowed out of his stomach. Olivia dropped her tools, dropping to her knees, crying. Ella looked back toward Manning who was watching them confused. Ella just shook her head, and Manning stood up, sprinting over to his brother.

Manning looked over his brother, rubbing his head, before breaking down into tears. Manning just hugged his dead brother, crying softly to himself. Ella put her hand on Manning's shoulder, and he just pushed her away, turning back toward his brother.

"I'm sorry," he cried to the body of his brother, still holding his body in a big hug.

Credits

 * Kelly Gay
 * Olivia Bell
 * Jake Munoz
 * Paul Alexander
 * Ike Dennis
 * Amanda Dixon
 * Langston Otto
 * Julia Riley
 * Ryker Daniels
 * Trevin
 * Manning
 * Oscar Manning
 * Sam
 * Ella

Deaths

 * Sam
 * Oscar Manning