Low on Time/Issue 22

This is issue twenty-two of Low on Time, entitled: Trust.

Issue 22; Trust
Trent sat alone at the kitchen table, smoking a cigarette. He looked very nervous, rubbing his arm as he smoked. Olivia walked into the room, and sat next to him. He smiled, weakly at her.

"You want one?" he asked, holding out the pack of cigarettes.

"No thank you." Olivia said, weakly. "Don't you know that smoking's bad for you."

"Yeah, well, it helps me relax." he said.

"But, what good will it do in the long run? With all that's going on I don't think we should need to worry about cancer."

"I-I'm not in the mood for this, Olivia. I'm just-- this is fucked."

Olivia nodded, and pulled a pocket knife out of her pocket. Trent looked down on it, and she put it in front of him.

"I know a better way to relieve stress."

Trent scoffed, looking at the pocket knife. "So do I." he said. "And what I'm thinking definitely not an option."

Olivia smiled, and stood up, taking the knife.

"Come on, I sware that this will help." she said.

"What if they get me, though?"

"I promise that won't happen. Can you just come?"

Trent sighed and stood up, looking at Olivia. "Fine." he muttered. Olivia and Trent walked outside into the dark street, the light being the only light. They only saw a few zombies limping in the street. Trent looked at his cigarette, before throwing it to the ground, and stepping on it. Olivia smiled, giving him the pocket knife. Trent pulled the switch, and nervously walked over to the closest zombie, stabbing it in the back of the head. He walked back from it, smiling as it fell. Trent looked back at Olivia who was also smiling. He rushed over to the next zombie, and stabbed it in the cheek.

Langston walked the halls, checking in on everyone. He opened the door, where Ike, Amanda, Jake, Emily, Jessica, and Paul slept. He closed the door, and walked along, checking the rest of the rooms. As he walked by the bathroom, he heard crying coming from inside. He knocked on the door, quickly. The door opened and Kelly stood there, wiping a couple of tears from her face. She tried forcing a smile, to make it seem like everything was alright, but Langston knew better.

"What's wrong?" Langston asked.

"Nothing." she lied.

"Come on, Kel, you can tell me." he said.

"I don't honestly think you wanna hear my boring sob story right now."

"Come on, I'm bored anyways." he said, smiling.

Kelly sighed, looking at Langston. "Not happening." she said.

Langston gave up, and walked away, leaving Kelly. Kelly watches him leave, and goes back into the bathroom.

The next morning, Valerie was up, working on barricading the house. Sean walked up to her, slowly.

"What's this?" he asked.

Valerie turned back to him, and looked back at the plank of wood she was putting up.

"I thought we were only staying here until Ike got better, which he is. We should start getting ready to leave; not fortifying this place."

"We should make this our place to stay for the Winter. Than we can go." Valerie said.

"But-- this place won't help us. We have a better shot out there."

"Out there?" Valerie snapped back. "Without a roof on our head, you wanna spend the Winter out there?"

"No, I wanna spend it farther away from the town and all the bandits!"

"That's not an option." she said, getting irritated.

"Well, I don't see why not. Hell, I can probably get us in contact with other survivors out here."

"And then what? You give them our location so they can kill us?"

"No, so we can try and eliminate the real threat. The zombies."

"Sean, it isn't like that anymore. The real threat are other humans." she proclaimed.

"Valerie..." Sean started, walking closer to her. "Me and a couple of others have talked, and we think our best option is to go country side."

Valerie nodded, "I know that's our best option. But, we can't do that right now."

Sean nodded, not wanting to talk to her anymore, and walked away.

Kira was going through the stuff that Kelly and Emily got from the container, looking at the contents. She looked at a box of crackers, and set them to the side. She picked up a big bottle of liquor, and looked at it in disgust. Jake walked in with Olivia, his arm wrapped around her.

"Shit, that's a lot of booze." Jake said, looking at it. "That guy knew how to do it."

"Take it, I hate alcohol." she said.

"No, I'm good. I think we should save that for whenever we all wanna let loose during the Winter."

Olivia broke free of Jake's grasp, and walked off. Kira stood up, and both Jake and Kira watched her go.

"Is she okay?" asked Kira.

"She's just been under a lot of pressure as of late." Jake said, looking back at Kira, and forcing a weak smile. "She'll be ok."

Owen sat in between Jenny and Emily, and the three were eating crackers that was in the container Kelly and Emily got.

"What do you miss most?" asked Emily, who was looking at Jenny and Owen.

"I don't think family is a fair answer..." Jessica started, before starting to think. "I miss music, honestly."

"Hit it right on the nose." Owen said, looking at Jessica. "Music-- I can't wait to find a generator or something so I can charge my iPhone and blast some Imagine Dragons."

"You like Imagine Dragons?" Emily asked.

"They're my favorite. You like them?"

"Yeah, they're good. Not as good as Green Day though." she replied, smirking.

"Ok, sure." he said, sarcastically. "That's like saying Metallica is better than Guns N Roses."

"Never listened to them." Emily said.

"Really?" he asked, and she shook her head. He turned to Jessica, who also shook her head. "Fuck, gals. You wouldn't know good music unless it hit you on the head. Let me guess, Jessica, you like Ke$ha?" he asked.

"Nope." she replied, smiling. "I love Blink-182. They're the best rock band."

"Oh my God, I love them!" Emily happily said.

Owen put his face in his hands, and shook his head.

"How'd I get stuck with you two?" he sarcastically asked. "I need Paul or Jake to back me up on this."

"Back you up on what?" Jake asked, walking into the room.

"Come on, they like Green Day and Blink-182... like, those are their top music choices." Owen complained.

"Dude, don't look at me, I love Green Day." he said.

Emily turned to Owen, who lied his head on the table, in defeat.

Olivia sat alone on the couch, shaking. She could feel the winter coming, and she didn't know what to expect, which greatly scared her. Sean walked over to her, and sat down next to her, holding a mug. He handed it over to her, and sat beside her.

"What is this?" she asked, looking at the cup.

"It's hot chocolate. You look like you could use it." Sean said.

Olivia took a sip, and smiled, looking at Sean. "How'd you do this?" she asked.

"Well, the mix was in the container, the water was easy to get, and I built a fire out front to boil the water."

She smiled, and gave Sean a one-armed hug.

"It's amazing isn't it?" he asked, as she let go.

"What is?" she asked, taking another sip.

"How, that hot chocolate made you so happy. It makes you kinda wish you didn't take it for granted before, right?"

Olivia thought back, and realized he was right.

"Yeah, you're right, and I can't believe how well you're taking this."

"Taking what?" he asked, confused.

"This whole situation. I mean, look at me and Trent and Ike. We're obviously not emotionally prepared for this kind of event."

"Olivia, that's why." he said, looking at her. "You tell yourself that, you're right, but if you stand up and tell yourself, 'I can do this'... you'll make it."

Olivia smiled, and gave Sean a hug again, who smiled too.

"Thank you." she said, getting up as Kira walked in. She walked past Kira who watched her go, and she walked over to Sean.

"You like her?" she asked, smiling.

"No." he said.

"You got a crush on Olivia."

"No." he repeated.

"You can't deny it, Seany."

"You're acting like an annoying older sister, please stop." he said.

"I can't do that." she said, putting her arm around him. "I'm not letting this fun go to waste."

Paul woke up, next to Amanda, who was still sleeping. He looked over at her, and smiled. He got up, and turned around, seeing Ike looking at him, rather oddly.

"What?" Paul asked.

"You like the mute!" Ike said.

"No, I don't, dick." he retorted.

"Why you so defensive of this beauty then?"

"I liked her sister, you know, the one you called a whore?"

Ike put his hands up, innocently. "Times has changed, brother."

"I am not your brother." Paul spat at him.

Ike laughed at Paul, who was becoming more and more irritated. "I'm glad to see you're growing some balls."

"Even when you're sick you still find a way to piss everyone off."

Ike smiled, "Yeah, yeah I know. Although, I'm feeling a lot better, now that you mention it."

"I don't care." Paul said.

"Yeah, I know you don't care..." Ike said, walking over to Paul. "I know you were one of the one's who wanted to kill me, so I didn't die and turn in the middle of the night. I know you'd rather me dead."

"No, I wouldn't rather you dead, Ike." Paul said. "I'm not that kind of person, that, would want anyone to die."

"What about-- all those people out there?" asked Ike, motioning to the streets.

"You mean the zombies? They're not people."

"But, they were. Yet, you have an uncontrollable hate for them." Ike pointed out.

"They killed Haley." he said.

"I bet that's not the only thing that killed Haley, let's be honest." Ike said.

"And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Paul asked.

"Everyone was in a frenzy. You don't think that maybe, just maybe, someone might've tripped her or someone might've pushed her so they could live?"

"What are you saying?" he asked.

"Don't worry about it, Pauly D. I wouldn't want you to stab me again." Ike said, walking past Paul.

Paul quickly turned Ike around and pushed him against the wall, creating a loud thud which woke up the sleeping Amanda. Paul held Ike by the collar, although Ike didn't seem fazed by Paul's effort to intimidate him.

"What are you saying?" he repeated.

"You underestimate the fear in people." Ike calmly said. "Sooner or later, you'll learn."

"What's going on?" Amanda asked, rubbing her eyes, and standing up.

"Nothing, Amanda." Paul said.

"Yeah, 'nothing' my ass." Ike said. "You talk in your sleep, Dixon."

"And you scream in yours." she replied.

"Maybe so, but, I know you were the one who stabbed me."

Violet and Langston entered the room, quickly, to see what all the ruckus was about. Langston was holding his shotgun, like he always seems to have on him.

"What's going on?" asked Langston.

"Why don't we have a big group discussion about it? Little Miss Mute over here tried killing me all those days ago. And, I bet Paul here, would like nothing but to do the same, isn't that right?"

Paul just stared at Ike, "What happened to Haley?" he asked.

Ike smiled to himself, but not taking his sight off of Paul. "I was running away. She got in my way. Accidentally banged into her."

Paul stared at Ike as he finished, you could see the rage all over his face. Amanda looked at him, great remorse in her eyes. Violet and Langston both watched the confrontation go down.

"C'mon now, kill me. One of you, should just do it." Ike said.

"I should've finished the job." Amanda muttered.

"You should've." Ike said, smirking, before Paul punched him in the jaw.

Ike hit the ground, hard, and in a matter of seconds, Paul was on top of him, punching him, over and over. Langston and Violet just stood there watching, not knowing what to do. Paul put his hands around Ike's throat, and just stared at him. But, Ike was smiling, like he liked it. Ike's mouth was bleeding, and the blood rushed down his chin and face. Paul, then, started to choke Ike. The three watched in horror, as Paul was taking the life right from Ike. But, Ike didn't struggle. It was like, he wanted Paul to kill him. Langston raised his shotgun, and pointed it at Paul, who was still choking Ike, who was now gasping for air.

"Let go of him, or I'll shoot." Langston said, nervously, but Paul just kept going.

Langston pointed his shotgun up at the ceiling and fired a shot, which busted through the wood. Paul let go to cover his ears, and Langston pulled the distracted Paul off of Ike. Violet quickly went to Ike's side, as they could hear the footsteps of their group, running upstairs.

Kelly and Trent sat outside, being the only ones not to go upstairs to the gunshot. They had to make sure that no zombies were around to hear that. Trent, nervously and quickly pulled out a cigarette, and a lighter, lighting his cigarette. Kelly looked over at him, and sighed.

"I bet someone else told you this already, but smoking is bad for you." she said, causing him to turn to her.

"Yeah, I know... but goddamit it helps me so much." he said.

"How long have you been a smoker?"

"I only started when Jeremy died. That bastard, leaving me all alone." he said, nervously.

"You're not alone, you have us." she said.

"He was the only person I have ever trusted, besides my high school friends; and they're probably all gone too." he said.

"Trent..." she said, in a motherly-tone.

"No, Kelly. I-I can't do it."

Kelly smiled and turned toward him, taking his hand.

"We both know that trust is so important. We're going to need trust to survive this. And I don't mean just me and you. I mean me, you, Ike, Valerie, and everybody else. Even the trust of strangers is so important." she said. "I want you to be able to tell me anything, like you did for me when I lost Dylan."

Trent slowly nodded, bringing a tear to his eye, when he turned, seeing a bunch of zombies walking to the house.

"Oh God." he said, bringing Kelly's attention to it.

She turned too, her eyes as wide as can be.

Credits

 * Kelly Gay
 * Olivia Bell
 * Jake Munoz
 * Kira Fulton
 * Sean Solo
 * Paul Alexander
 * Ike Dennis
 * Trent Jones
 * Isiss Rivera
 * Violet Middleton
 * Owen Horne
 * Amanda Dixon
 * Langston Otto
 * Valerie Wilson
 * Emily
 * Jessica

Deaths

 * None