World of Anarchy/Chapter 13

This is chapter 13 of World of Anarchy entitled: Back To School Shopping

Chapter 13 – Back To School Shopping
Present Day. September 2, 2014 He and Teresa walked through the cramped alley. They had been avoiding the streets just in case they had run into the bandits and Ben. Or a large amount of infected. The alley was mostly empty except for dumpster on the left and a bright blue car parked at the end.

“So...it was kinda sexy how you took control back in there.” Teresa said as they got nearer the blue car.

“Really, huh? Good to know. Guess I should make a mental note of that.”

“You definitely should.”

They passed by the car and rounded the corner of the alley. He could see some of the roof of the high school off in the distance, but some of the trees blocked his view of the rest. They were almost there.

Teresa began to slow, then eventually stop walking all together. David looked at her and saw that she was staring at something straight ahead of them.

It took him a few seconds to realize what she was staring at. About twenty-five feet away was a tipped over stroller that was covered in blood. A lot of blood.

He walked over to it to while Teresa stayed behind. The blood around the stroller was splattered all over the place and seemed like someone had completely bled out awhile ago. He noticed that there were bloody hand prints on the ground next to it. The hand prints weren't adult ones however. They were much to small. He followed the trail with his eyes and saw that they continued for a little bit then turned off into the street.

“This is...just...” Teresa said appearing beside him, her voice trailing off.

“Yeah. We should keep going.” He said walking passed the blood and continuing down the alley.

They walked in silence as they reached the corner of the alley that continued down to the back of the high school.

“How...how do you do that?” Teresa asked.

“Do what?”

“Just...I don't know...ignore I guess is the right word, the stuff like bloody baby strollers? It's like it doesn't even bother you or anything.”

David hesitated for a second.

“It's just how I deal with things. How I always dealt with things.”

“Always?”

“Pretty much.”

“What has to happen to cause someone to be like that?”

David didn't respond as they got closer to the school.

“I'm being nosy again aren't I? Sorry.”

“No, it's fine...How are things with Amber?” He said trying to change the subject.

“Things between us haven't been good for awhile. Ever since our father's death. She got over it pretty fast and accepted it when our mother remarried a couple years later, while I, well, didn't. But I still can't believe she would side to throw Abby out.”

“The apocalypse changes people. I know it's changed me.”

“Well I don't want it to change me like that. I don't want to have to send someone to death just so we might be safe for a little longer.”

David admired that about her. How she was determined to keep her humanity in spite of everything. Even if it was a little naïve.

The high school was directly a head of them. A few infected were roaming around the back but not to many. A school bus was parked by a few yards away from the back entrance next about six zombies. They only needed to distract the infected long enough for them to take the battery. But how?

David quickly looked around the area for anything to help them out. His eyes stopped at an ice cream truck across the street from the bus.

“Here.” He said giving her his bag.

“What are you going to do?”

“See that ice cream truck over there? I'm going to go turn on the song and draw all the undead over there, while you go and nab the battery. Head back to the hotel after.”

“What about you?”

“Don't worry about me. I'll be right behind you.” David said as he began to move toward the ice cream truck.

He tried to move a silently, but as quickly as he could before the infected around him would inevitably notice his presence. He pulled out his hatchet as he the infected began to wander closer to him. He was only a few feet away from the ice cream truck now and still had not been noticed. The driver door to the truck was wide open. The sound of something moving in the pack of it and the infected roaming around were the only noises that filed the air as he slipped into the driver's seat.

A button on the dashboard that had a musical note on it was the only one that looked like it might start the music. He pressed it then quickly dashed from the truck and ducked behind a dumpster. All the infected in the area took notice and found their way over to the truck as the music filled the air. He looked over to Teresa and watched as she used the instructions Leo had given them to remove the starter and alternator. If he hadn't given them the instruction they would have had no idea what to look for.

David looked back to the group by the truck and saw that he could slip back to Teresa unnoticed. He remained crouched as moved away from them, and didn't stand straight again until he was sure they wouldn't see him. As he approached Teresa he could see that she had just finished pulling out the battery.

“I hope the others are having as much luck as we are.” She said putting the battery in the back pack.

He turned to head back down the alley we he saw a group of infected at the end. It had only been a few minutes since they had been down there, so how could it had filed up so fast? Then he saw what might have been the cause.

Right in front of the new heard was what looked like a man. It was hard to tell because he wore a hood that covered some of his face. The part of his face the he could see was covered in what looked like make-up or something that was all over the guys face and made it look pale white. At first David thought he was one of the bandits but something was...different about this guy. Something insidious.

The man stared him down for a few seconds and tilted his head, then turned and walked right into herd behind him. The infected didn't seem to even notice him as passed right through them.

David was stunned. He had never seen anyone just walk right through the infected and not get mauled.

“Uhh...David?” Teresa said grabbing his arm and pointing back to the ice cream truck

It took him a second to realize that the music had stopped. The song was now over and the infected began to spread out again. He looked back down the alley to see if the hooded man was there but he wasn't.

“We have to go!” Teresa shouted to him as the infected from the truck drew closer.

He snapped out of his daze as she dragged him away and into the school.

“This should hold them.” He said slipping a thick pipe through the door handles.“Or long enough for us to find our way out of here.”

The high school was completely trashed. It looked as though a riot of some sort happened. But the appearance of the school wasn't what David was thinking about. The man with the hood was.

“What's wrong? You looked liked you saw a ghost back there.” Teresa asked.

“You didn't see the guy with the hood back there? He walked right into the herd without getting killed.”

“I didn't see anybody. Maybe it was just a zombie wearing a jacket or something.”

He definitely knew that the guy wasn't a zombie, but he pushed all of those thoughts away. He had to focus on getting back to the hotel and getting them there safely.

They walked down the trashy hall searching for an exit. Each room they passed was open and looked about as trashed as the halls around them were. He looked up and noticed that there were hand prints painted on the walls above the lockers just like his old high school. Denton High.

“Being here is bringing back memories from our high school. I still can't believe we didn't meet until college.” Teresa said looking around.

“Well...I guess it's not that surprising. I wasn't exactly the most well known kid there. Unlike Jim. He was the popular one.”

“I remember seeing Jim around before we actually met. He always had every girl hanging off his every word despite him being with Jackie and everything. Well most girls anyway. That reminds me, as long as I've known you and Jim neither of you have ever told me why you ended up being adopted by his parents.”

“...That's... a long story.”

“We got time.” She said as she stopped.

“Maybe we should focus on getting back to the hotel right now.” He said as Teresa stopped him.

“Why don't you ever talk about yourself, David? I've known you for a couple of years, and not once have you ever told me anything about yourself before you went to live with Jim. You can tell me.”

He knew she was right. There were only a few people that new his story and she deserved to be one of them. But before he could tell her, the infected from earlier broke through the back doors. David and Teresa began to ran the opposite way but stopped in their tracks after seeing infected ahead of them as well. They were trapped.

David began to move toward the closest class room to them, but once he entered it he saw that the room had about eleven infected in it. He quickly stepped back and turned to see infected coming out of the classroom across from them.

“David!” Teresa yelled as she pointed to a closed room a few feet from them.

The room was a janitor's closet. If they went in there they would be trapped, but it was better than the alternative.

He ran over and quickly opened the door for Teresa while he used his hatchet to kill a zombie that was getting too close. He then tried to enter the room but was stopped by an infected that had a grip on his ankle. He tried to shake it off but it would let go. Finally he just slammed the door shut on it, cutting off it's hand.