Low on Time/Issue 29

This is issue twenty-nine of Low on Time, entitled: Not Alone.

Issue 29; Not Alone
It was night time, and a car quickly sped down the highway, two other cars quickly behind them. A darker-skinned old man pops his head out of the passenger seat holding his pistol out in front of him. He aimed at the car speeding in front of him, and shot a couple of shots; hitting the trunk. The other car was speeding up to them, also shooting at the car in front of them.

In the car ahead of them, an older lady in her late forties drove the car, keeping her head just above the steering wheel as she tried to evade her pursuers. Next to her, a guy in his mid twenties' sat, drenched in blood, fumbling around with his pistol nervously; and in the back was a man in his late thirties cock-backed his pistol, and aimed it out the window, firing a couple of shots at one of the cars. He turned his head towards the front of his car, then back out the window, firing some more.

"Help me out here, Vincey-boy." the man said.

"What-what do I do?" he asked, nervously.

"Just shoot your fucking gun!" he spat back.

The man, 'Vincey-boy', aimed his pistol out the window, and fired at the truck with the other man, although missing all of his shots. The first man, shot again, hitting one of the tires, making one of the cars spin out of control. The other one simultaneously stopped, probably to help them out; and the car kept driving away from them.

"Man, man this is so fucked!" the man in the passenger seat said. You could easily hear the terror in his voice.

The lady in the passenger seat looked at him, and back to the road. "We're fine. We made it out of there alive, so there's that."

"They killed fucking Gerry!"

"Thanks to you." the man in the back said.

The man looked back behind him and sighed. "How did I know that was gonna happen?" he asked, quietly, deep regret in his voice.

"It's ok, Vince, there was no way you could know." the lady said, her voice reassured him a lot.

"All they had to say is: 'One of our guys is a big fucking dick, who enjoys wearing zombie guts and scaring people.'" he said, now biting his nails. "I didn't know he was there."

"Vince, just calm down, we'll be fine." the lady said.

"Yeah, thanks Mrs. Amador." Vince said, slouching in his seat, shaking.

"Now what?" asked the man form the back.

"I don't know... we keep driving I guess." she said.

"No Patricia, we gotta pull over and abandon the truck. What if they come back for us?"

"And go out on foot? Hell no." she said.

"Yeah, Drew, we gotta just keep going." Vince said, his voice still quivering.

"Hey, man, you ok?" asked Drew.

"One of the guys cut me on the way to the car, but I'm fine."

Drew looked around, and pulled a shirt off the floor of the truck. He passed it up to Vince.

"You are covered in that guys blood, man." he said.

Vince looked down at his shirt, seeing the dark red that stained his white shirt. He slowly took off his shirt, moaning in pain as he did so. Patricia looked over at his stomach, seeing a bit cut going from his chest to his shoulder.

"We gotta stitch you up when we get the chance." she said, looking back to the road.

Drew sat back, trying to relax and forget this night even happened. Vince looked uncomfortably at the road, shaking immensely, and Patricia seemed to be the calmest of the three. She looked at Vince, starting to reminisce about old memories. The two were neighbors, and when he was 16, he came over her house after being mugged; sobbing and crying into her arms, scared of what his mother would say. When he got older, he inherited his parent's house after their death. Then she looked in the rearview mirror, at Drew, who was a bartender at the local club. She bought drinks from him on numerous occasions, after her hard divorce; and they had more than one heart-to-heart talks before. Just as she looks back to the road, she sees a deer standing in the road; and she immediately swerves to the right; the two guys waking up almost instantly as the car goes into a road-side ditch.

Vince awakens, feeling the warmth of a campfire close by. He lifts his head, seeing Patricia and Drew lying down close next to him; and a man bent over sitting alone by the campfire. Vince tries to sit up; but to no avail. His injury in his abdomen prevents him, and he lets out a loud groan. The man by the campfire turns around, seeing Vince struggle to get up; and immediately hurries over to him, helping him sit up, where Vince can finally get a good look at him. Young, black hair; wearing a plaid red shirt and jeans.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Vince can't do anything but stare at this man, the gun holstered in his back pocket just in case Vince tried anything.

"C'mon man, you deaf?" he asked sarcastically. "I don't got all day; I saved your asses, and what? You ain't gonna say shit? I could've kept on walking."

"But you didn't." Vince muttered.

"Yeah, I did." he said, standing up; "Now don't make me regret it."

Vince nodded, and the man helped him up; but Vince's mind still raced, turning his attention back to his friends. "Are they gonna make it?" he asked.

"Most likely." he said, plainly, walking him over to the campfire. "I saw you crash; what the hell were you doing speeding at night like that? You could've gotten yourselves killed."

Vince looked down, remembering the events of that night. "Long story." he said.

"I got time." the man said, crossing his legs.

Vince scoffed, "I don't even know your name."

"Jake."

After Vince had finished his story, Jake watched him intently. He sat back, slowly clapping; making Vince feel uncomfortable.

"What the hell, man?" Vince asked.

"Well, you passed your first test?" he said, smiling.

"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked, both cautiously and angrily.

"Well, I can tell that you didn't lie to me; which is always a nice start." Jake said, putting his shotgun on his lap now.

"Is he clear?" a voice called from the woods. Vince, automatically turns, looking into that direction, in fear for his life at this point.

"He's clear." Jake said.

A group of six exited from the woods; each one carrying a big gun. Kelly, Trent, Trevin, Kira, Owen, and Olivia stared down at the scared Vince.

Manning sat alone in his tent, shirtless; staring blankly into an open notebook. The front of the tent opened; and Julia slowly entered.

"You awake?" she asked.

"Yeah." he said, quietly; not bothering to turn around.

She slowly walked up to him, stopping when she got within arm distance of him.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Fine." Manning muttered, taking a deep breath.

"I heard you... killed someone." as she said that; Manning turned around, looking at her. "I couldn't even imagine having to go through that, and I'm so sorry you had to do that."

He just nodded, and went back to his notebook. Julia just looked at him, and as much as she wanted to talk to him; get him to talk to her, she knew he would probably much rather be alone, so with that, she turned around and left.

Patricia and Drew, now awake as well, sat at the campfire with Kelly's group. Trevin and Trent watched over them as the group was getting situated, making sure nothing crept up on them.

"Fuck, man." Trent muttered, swatting at his arm.

"What? You scared of a couple bugs?" Trevin asked, sarcastically.

"No, this is the last fucking place I wanna be... back out here in the woods."

"C'mon man; this is all part of the fun." he said, smirking.

"Yeah, I know; but I haven't even gotten to feel the comfort of a couch yet. You guys send me right back out here; no time wasted. I haven't slept in weeks."

Trevin looked down and shook his head. "Why didn't you mention that earlier, man? We could've done this in the morning."

"Kira looked like she was about to tear my head off." he said.

"Man, you scared of that little girl?"

"Not her, her rage. I saw her get pissed off this one time at Langston... scariest thing I think I have ever seen. Her eyes get wide and red... fucking looks like she should be cast in The Excorsim."

Trevin lets out a faint laugh. "Man, fuck these guys. We should just head back to camp, man."

"Trust me, I would like nothing more than to go back." Trent said, then turning his head to Kelly and Olivia who were talking with Vince. "But, these people mean more than safety."

The group now walked through the woods, Trent and Jake leading the way; Kira close behind them. Patricia and Drew walked behind them, Drew eyeing the gun in Trent's pocket. Owen, Kelly, Olivia, Vince, and Trevin rounded the group off at the back.

"How much longer?" Olivia complained from the back.

"We are just about there." Trent called back.

As he says that, they get to the top of a little hill, with a clear sight of the small town. The group spreads out, so they're standing in a line.

"What the fuck?" muttered Owen.

Down below, on the town the group saw a huge wall, with bandits walking along it. On the opposite side of the wall, there was a completely sealed off town. Kids running and playing, lights on everywhere.

"Oh my God..." Patricia muttered.

"You wanna go against that?" asked Olivia asked, in awe of what she's seeing.

"Fuck." muttered Jake.

Kira looked at the group, almost like she didn't believe them. "Sean's down there! We gotta go get them!" she said.

"I'm sorry, Kira, but we have, what? 30 people back at camp? And out of those people, we have like 15 able bodies? How can we take on a whole town?" Kelly asked.

"Yeah," Jake agreed. "How do we know if he's even still in there?"

Kira shook her head furiously, and turned around; storming away. The rest of the group watched her go, in silence.

"Trent, Owen," Kelly said, and the two looked to her. "Go with her, please."

"And what about you guys?" Owen asked.

"We're not done here."

Kira, Trent, and Owen walked through the dark woods; Kira walking too fast for the men to keep up.

"Come on, Kira." Owen complained, but Kira doesn't listen to him, she just keeps walking.

Owen looks back at Trent worriedly, who just shook his head.

"He'll be fine; I'm sure of it. We'll think of something." Owen said, trying to reassure her.

She suddenly span around, stopping the two dead in their tracks. She had this wide-eyed look, brimmed with tears.

"He's probably dead." she said, walking closer to them. "And soon enough, so will the rest of us if we don't eliminate the threat."

"The bandits?" asked Trent.

"Yeah, the bandits." she muttered.

"Trust me; when the time comes; they'll wish they haven't fucked with us." Owen said, eyeing the motionless Trent. "You okay, man?"

It takes Trent a moment to realize he's being spoken to. He suddenly snaps back into reality, and looks at the two. "What? he asked.

"Are you okay?" asked Owen.

"Yeah, fine." Trent said, under his breath.

Ike awoke, lying in a bed. His throat was dry, and he had this horrible pain in his ear. He goes to grasp it, but only feels the gauze; and he remembers what happened during the events prior. He looks up, and Amanda is sitting there, clenching her gun. He rolls his eyes lying his head back down on the pillow, and she relaxes; seeing that he was actually alive.

"They sent you to keep me under watch?" asked Ike, bitterly.

"Yeah." she said. "They thought you could get an infection and die or something."

"That would've been lovely, wouldn't it?" he asked, looking back up, to which she receives a confused glance from Amanda. "For you to kill me? C'mon; I'm sure you would've loved it."

"Why do you think I'm out to get you?" she asked.

"It's not you," Ike said. "It's Paul."

"He's not as bitter anymore."

Ike scoffed, "Yeah, sure, I'll believe it when I see it."

The door opened and Grace walked in, slowly.

"Glad to see you're up." she said, not taking notice of the tension in the room. "I need to check the bandages."

Paul, Ryker, and Julia sat up on the guard tower, looking over everything from the woods to the tents. All three looked incredibly anxious.

"Where are they?" muttered Paul.

"They're off looking for trouble." Ryker said

"Nothing good can really come from this, can it?" Julia asked.

"It depends if they get caught." Ryker mumbled.

"They won't." Paul said. "They'll be back soon enough. Why don't you two go get some sleep?"

"I tried, trust me." Ryker said.

"And if he can't, I can't." Julia said, smiling.

"And why is that?"

Julia smiled, looking at Ryker. "When we first met; I had been taking care of him for his asthma attacks. After the school fell, when there was about six of us left; we made a pact to stick together. Even the stupid things like sleep we practically trained ourselves so we wouldn't be alone."

Paul couldn't help but let out a smile. "That's so stupid." he finally said, still smiling.

Ryker laughed a little, while Julia just smiled. "Maybe so, but it helps us cope. Knowing we're not alone."

Kira, Trent, and Owen kept on walking through the woods; hoping to get back to the farm as quickly as possible. As Owen walked, he gets his foot caught on a branch, almost tripping over himself. "Fuck." he muttered to himself, pulling his foot out and looking back up. He looks up, and sees a bunch of zombies stumbling through the woods in his general direction. He can feel his heart stop as he looked around for Kira and Trent; who have appeared to have vanish. He started to back up slowly, until a hand had reached up and grabbed his shoulder. He immediately turns around, and sees Trent and Kira worriedly looking at him.

"Come on, we gotta go." Trent said.

Kira, Trent, and Owen then, together, started to run away; trying to not make much noise, as the zombies got closer and closer.

Credits

 * Kelly Gay
 * Olivia Bell
 * Jake Munoz
 * Kira Fulton
 * Paul Alexander
 * Ike Dennis
 * Trent Jones
 * Owen Horne
 * Amanda Dixon
 * Julia Riley
 * Ryker Daniels
 * Trevin
 * Grace Rutherford
 * Manning
 * Drew Radke
 * Patricia Amador
 * Vince Dallas

Deaths

 * None