Low on Time/Issue 18

This is issue eighteen of Low on Time, entitled: Help.

Issue 18; Help
''A 25 year-old Allen walked along the road, his arm around a girl, about his age. She was visibly pregnant, her stomach big, and she was wearing a sweatshirt and sweatpants. As they walked, he kissed her on the cheek, to which she smiled.''

''"So, you've given any thought to names?" asked Allen.''

''"A couple, have you?" asked the girl, smiling.''

"A couple, you go first though."

''"Ok!" the girl said, happily. "I was thinking about Darren or maybe Anthony, or maybe even Henry."''

''"Wait, those are all guy names..." Allen said, before his face lit up. "It's gonna be a boy?" he asked, happily.''

''"Yes!" she said, happily.''

He brought her in for a bigger hug, out of excitement.

''"So, what about names?" she asked.''

''"Well, I had mostly girl names in mind, but a boy name I really liked was Alexander, or Gabriel." Allen said.''

''"Gabriel... I like that." she said, smiling.''

''Allen's face suddenly got really serious, and he turned to her. "Babe, I just want you to know that I love you, and I'd never leave you." he said.''

She blushed, "I know that. There's no need to tell me."

''"But, I have to. Because..." he said, as he got on one knee in front of her, "I would never hurt you, I would never make you feel bad, and because I want to spend my entire life with you." he said, pulling out a little ring case from his jacket pocket. He opened it, and revealed a diamond ring. "Elizabeth Marie Jenner... will you marry me?" he asked.''

''Elizabeth started crying tears of joy, and put her hands over her mouth. "Of course, Allen. Of course I would." she said, and he took her hand, placing the ring on her finger.''

''"I love you." Allen said.''

''"I love you too!" she cried, hugging him.''

It was morning, and Allen sat by himself, looking at all the bodies in the streets of the campus, through a small dorm window. Tyler and Langston got into the dorm, giving Valerie, Langston, and Allen a place to sleep. The door to the dorm opened, and Allen looked behind him, seeing Isiss standing there.

"Sorry, if I'm intruding..." she said, nervously.

"No, it's ok, come take a seat." Allen said, moving over for more room on the couch.

Isiss walked over to him, and sat next to him. He looked back out the window, observing everything. Isiss took a look, but quickly looked back.

"I try not to think about... that." Isiss said.

"It just fascinates me." Allen said, still looking.

Isiss almost laughed at that idea. "How does it interest you?" she asked.

"I've been a crime scene investigator, for as long as I can remember; and I've seen nothing like this before. Sure, I've seen a couple of cases of cannibalism, but not to this extent. Just think about this, blondie: What if, this was man-made? What if, the government did this? And not our government, I mean, what if the Russians did it... or the Chinese did it? Aren't you curious as to what's going on?"

Isiss looked back out the window, at the bodies and chaos. "How could this have been man-made?" she asked.

"Maybe not man-made, but what if it was a virus out there already, but it was enhanced? Maybe-- maybe this is just a way to kill of Americans."

"That sounds a bit ridiculous." Isiss said.

Allen looked at Isiss, he was very serious. "Ridiculous? Maybe. But that doesn't mean it's not true." he said, looking back out the window.

''A month later, Allen was sleeping next to Elizabeth, his arm around her, and her stomach bigger. Elizabeth's eyes shot open, and she started squirming. Allen immediately woke up, and got up.''

''"What's wrong?" he asked, nervously.''

''Elizabeth just clutched her stomach, grunting in pain. Allen put his arms around her, and looked down on the bed, seeing a lot of blood.''

''"Oh, God no." he said, looking at Elizabeth.''

''Allen sat in the hospital waiting room, his face in his hands. He looked over to his left, and saw a man holding a bible, wearing all black.''

''"Excuse me, sir." Allen said, quietly.''

''"Yes, my son?" the man asked.''

"Are you a priest?"

"I am, what's wrong?"

"Can-- can you pray for me?"

"What's wrong, my son?"

''"My pregnant wife is in there-- and I don't know what's going on... they won't tell me anything." Allen said, nervously.''

''"Of course my son, God is here for you. Bow your head, and let's pray." the priest said, closing his eyes.''

''About an hour later, a doctor walked into the waiting room, where Allen and the priest were staying. He looked at Allen, who rose.''

''"What's wrong?" asked Allen.''

''"The baby was a miscarriage, sir. We did all we could, I'm sorry." the doctor said.''

Allen didn't say anything, he just looked back at the priest, who was starting up another prayer to himself, probably for the baby.

''"Where's my fiancée?" asked Allen.''

''The doctor lead Allen to Elizabeth, who was lying in the hospital bed, crying. Tears started flowing down his face, and he ran over to Elizabeth, hugging her.''

''"It's ok." Allen reassured her, "It's ok, my baby."''

Kelly sat alone in her room, looking at her water bottle, which was half-full. Olivia walked up behind her, and sat next to her.

"How did you sleep?" asked Olivia.

"Listen, Olivia, I know you wanna help me; but I'd rather be alone." Kelly said, with a tiny bit of anger in her voice.

Olivia nodded, and backed off, a little hurt. "Fine." she said, walking away.

Kelly took a sip of her water, and put her on the table, resting it. She sighed, and closed her eyes, trying to just forget about it all.

"That's not gonna help you." Jake said, walking over to her.

"Jake, just leave. I'm not in the fucking mood." Kelly said.

"Ouch." he said, grabbing his heart. "That hurt, now stop being such a baby."

"Shut up." she said, getting up, and starting to walk away.

"No, you listen to me, Kel." Jake said, turning her around, so she's facing him. "I-I can't do this. We lost him yesterday, and I know you wanna mourn... but we just can't do that given the circumstances. All you have to do, is carry on and take your mind off of it."

"Fuck off, Jake." she said, pushing his hand off of her shoulder.

"Kel, just, talk to someone. It doesn't have to be me, maybe Kylie, or Trent or Jeremy; but do something to help yourself! You can' go on like this."

"Don't tell me what to do." Kelly said, coldly. She turned back around, walked out of the door.

Kira sat at her computer, playing Solitaire. Kira heard the bed moving, and she turned seeing Sean was waking up. She got up, and walked over to him, standing above him. She lifted her hand, and smacked him across the face. His eyes shot open, and he grabbed his cheek.

"What the fuck, Kira?" he asked, angrily.

"I told you I'd kick your ass when you woke up." she said, looking down on him.

"I'm sorry." he said, shutting his eyes. "I didn't mean to cause a ruckus, or do anything bad."

"Then why'd you do it?" she asked.

"I was just really stressed out, and I saw Harold, walking outside as one of those things, and I-I... I didn't mean to do anything... ridiculous."

Kira sat on the end of the bed, feeling bad instantly. "I'm sorry." she said.

"No, I am." Sean said. "I-I tried to be strong in front of you, you know? Cause I didn't want you to feel worried, I wanted you to feel safe. And now here I am, more of a wreck than you are." he said, a tear going down his face. "A couple of months ago, I promised I would protect you; and just cause the end of the world came, doesn't mean I'll go back on that promise."

"Sean..." she said, before smiling and hugging him.

Owen woke up on the couch, wearing a plain white t-shirt, and jeans. He got up, and stumbled over to the kitchen, starting to make a pitcher of coffee. The door across the room opened, and Violet walked out, in a bathrobe, with wet hair. Owen looked to her, and back to the coffee. She walked over to him, and forced a smile.

"What's wrong? After I kissed you, you've been acting strangely." she said, holding his arm.

Owen sighed, and looked at her. "I'm sorry, but I didn't know what to do. I've never had many lasting friendships or relationships; so I didn't know what to do."

"You didn't have to storm out and not talk to me, though."

"Well, I don't know if you noticed; but I'm not exactly Jake, or Tyler. I'm not someone who rises up and shines; I'm doomed to fall, in this world. I had a dream, and I was running away from those things out there with Tyler, Jake, Paul, Ike, and they outran me... and I was eaten alive, and it felt so fucking real. And then it occurred to me, Violet, this isn't made for me; I'm the weak; I'm the first to go. So, please, just save yourself the trouble and move on, or else you won't get anything besides a corpse to hold onto." Owen said, waking away from Violet.

Violet looked down, and then back to Owen. She hurried over to him, and went in front of him, stopping him.

"If you really do think you're going to die... why would you not wanna spend it happily with someone that cares about you?" she asked.

"It's not about what I want, is it?" Owen asked, looking at her. "It's what's best for you, and that's for us to be friends, but only friends. Cause when I die... I don't want you to be too down."

"Don't talk like you're already dead, cause we both know you're not! You still have a fighting chance." Violet said, tears in her eyes.

"What am I supposed to do? It's only a matter of time before I'm a burden on the rest of us."

"Then have Tyler train you in combat, or something... you can't just do nothing."

Owen looked away from Violet for a moment, and looked back at her. "And then what? I'll magically be able to survive anything? If I'm going to be trained, it'll take a while, and we won't get anywhere by staying in this dorm-- we'd need to go to the gym, and there's no reason to go outside with those things crawling around." he said, walking away.

"Or, just learn the basics on how to defend yourself. I'm not letting you give up." she said, taking his hand.

Trent lied down on the couch, with Valerie, Allen, and Jeremy with him. Allen was wrapping his leg up, to hold the bones in place.

"Fuck." Trent muttered, in pain, holding onto Jeremy's hand.

"We're almost done." Allen said, not taking his eye off the leg.

Jeremy looked over to Valerie, and smiled. "I knew I recognized you somewhere." he said.

"Me?" asked Valerie.

"Yeah, you. You were on the volleyball team over at Boise."

Valerie blushed, "Yup, that's me." she said.

"Wow, so within a day, we get two star athletes to protect our asses, and a fucking cop. A-fucking-men!" he said.

"Yeah, I'd say we're in pretty good shape." Allen said.

Allen finished up with Trent's leg, and stood up.

"Leave it there for about a couple of weeks, and with limited travel, he'll be as good as new."

"Thanks." Trent said, very quietly.

"Yeah, thanks so much. We really appreciate it." Jeremy said, smiling.

"Of course." Allen said, walking away.

Paul woke up, feeling sore all over his body. He tried sitting up, although his body wouldn't let him. He took a deep breath, and just closed his eyes. There was a knock on the door, and Paul opened his eyes, looking at the door. The door slowly opened, and Amanda poked her head in.

"Ok, you're awake." Amanda said, walking in.

"Yes, Amanda?" asked Paul.

"I just wanted to see if you're ok, or if you needed anything."

Paul smiled, and shook his head. "No, thanks." he said.

"Alright, well if you need anything just yell." Amanda said, walking out of the room.

Paul closed his eyes again, and took a deep breath.

Langston sat by himself, headphones in his ears, Frank Ocean blasting. He was sitting against a wall, shotgun on his lap. Tyler walked over to him, holding his pistol, and sat next to him. Langston looked at Tyler, and took his headphones out.

"What's up?" asked Langston.

"So, I've been asked to, for lack of a better word, train the others here." Tyler said.

"And...?"

"And, I need some help."

"How many people actually need to train?" asked Langston.

"From what I can tell, we have a lot of people who need training. Owen, Violet, Isiss, Kelly, Kyla, Olivia, Sean, Amanda, Jeremy, then Trent when he gets better... we have a lot to do."

"So, I know that Allen and Valerie could help." Langston said.

"So can my guy, Paul." Tyler said.

"Alright, we can do this... but how?"

"We clear out the local gym. Bring most of the people there, leave a couple behind to defend the fort... it's perfect." Tyler said.

"So, we just give them upper-body workouts?"

"No, cardio, upper-body, bring out the punching bags, teach them how to fight, in case they get stuck alone."

"Yeah, I think we can do that." Langston said, smiling.

Trent lied down on the couch, alone. He had an ice pack on his leg, and he was trying to get some rest. The door to the dorm opened, and Kelly walked in, slowly. Trent turned his head towards her.

"Hey, Kelly." Trent said.

Kelly rushed over to him, and hugged him. "I'm so happy you're safe." she said.

"Yeah, I heard about Dylan... I'm so sorry."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about, actually." she said, sitting next to him.

Trent looked at her, and smiled. "You can tell me anything." he said.

Kelly smiled, and nodded.

Isiss walked into her dorm, and heard a strange noise coming from Ike's room. She walked over to it, slowly, and pressed her ear against the door, nervously. She could hear someone choking inside.

"Fuck." she muttered to herself, trying to open the door, but it was locked. "Ike, are you okay?" she asked, but got no answer. She started kicking the door, trying to bust through. She backed off, and then gave the door one last kick, kicking it open. She looked around, and saw lying on the ground, Ike who was lying on his back, blood in his mouth.

Credits

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

Deaths

 * None