Writing Contest 2/Cperez13

Day 995. Three Years In. Present Day. Jessica coughed up blood as she struggled to sit up right. Looking around the immediate area, she noticed that bodies were scattered about like someone had emptied the contents of a trashcan on the ground. She raised her hand to her mouth when she realized that she recognized these people. Well, most of them anyway. Her eyes scanned over the bodies as each of their names came rushing back to her even though she had only just learned them earlier that day. All of them dead because of her. Then panic quickly shot through her. She quickly looked over the bodies again searching for her sister, Abby, in the mess.

No sign of her.

She sighed as relief calmed her down a little. She took another look around, this time at the environment and not the bodies of her acquaintances. She was sitting in the hall of the college where only the day before she and Abby had run into a new group of survivors. The walls of the hall was decorated by photos of the campus presumably a few years before the outbreak. The paint on the walls was peeling little by little but it was understandable considering that it had been about three years since the building had been taken care of. It reminded her of her time the local college she had attended before everything happened. Instead of moving far away from home like most people heading to college usually did she had decided to stay closer to home so she could stay close to Abby. She even passed up an amazing opportunity to go to Yale just so she could remain in her sister's life. It seemed funny now; the things that she concerned herself with now versus before.

Now that she was out of her daze she had only one clear thing on her mind, which was finding Abby and getting as far away from the college as they could before having to rest. She reached her hand up to the wall behind her for leverage but fell back to the floor and let out a yelp of pain. Looking down at her stomach she noticed a large bloody wound on her right side just above her hip. Before she had time to react to it she heard Abby calling out to her.

“Jessica!” Abby called to her from somewhere off in the distance.

“Abby!?” Jessica said shooting straight up despite the pain and blood loss. “Where are you!?”

No response

Spitting more blood out of her mouth, she presumed was due to her injury, she called out to her sister again. “Just...hold on, Abby! I'm coming!” She said stumbling toward the direction of her sister's calls.

Almost 18 hours earlier. “We shouldn't be with these people.” Abby hissed at her.

Jessica sighed. “How many times do I have to tell you this, Abby? We need people to survive in a world like this.”

“No, you need people to survive. I don't. We've seen what happens—over and over again—when we become a part of a group. Shit. Always. Hits. The. Fan. I thought you would have realized that by now—especially after what happened with our last group.” Abby said before getting up and storming off.

Jessica sighed and rubbed her temples. After everything they had been through on the road she couldn't understand why her sister thought it would be better than with a group of people that could protect them.

“She's got quite a mouth on her for being so young.” A voice from her left said.

She turned to see a man about her age leaning against the open doorway. He had his arms folded and watched as Abby left the room and headed to the dorm room they were staying in.

“You're...Jack, right?”

“Oh good. You remembered.” He said with a warm smile as he took a seat beside her. “So...what's her problem?” He said nodding in the direction of Abby.

Jessica sighed. “Where do I begin? How about—No matter what I do to try and protect her she still treats me like crap. Or how about how ever since the beginning of the outbreak she's been growing darker. Colder. And no matter how hard I try to get her to try and live like a kid her age should—she won't.”

She stopped to take a breath and waited for Jack to say something in response. But he just sat there and stared at her, his eyes scanning. They sat like that for a few minutes until he broke eye contact and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a photo and looked over it for a second before handing it to her. It was a photo of him and some boy that looked about Abby's age. They were standing in front of some lake and holding up some kind of fish that had to be at least three feet long.

“That's my brother. Josh.” Jack said keeping his eyes on the photo.

“What happened to him?” She asked before she could stop herself. As soon as she asked it a pained look flashed across his face. “I—I'm sorry. I shouldn't have--”

“No—It's fine.” He said taking a deep breath. “Josh and I...we were together when everything started happening. It was just the two of us for until we found a group that took us in a few weeks after. But eventually that group fell apart and it was just the two of us again. It was like that from there on out—Moving around, finding a new group, losing the group, and repeat. And all the while I began to notice that he started changing. He stopped acting like the fun loving little boy and changed into a hardened survivor. He began to criticize me because I was determined to not change my self. To not kill anyone that was living,” Jack paused. “...And he died because of it.”

Jessica felt guilt, sorrow, pity, and a mixture of other similar emotions come over her. She was sorry for him—Losing someone like that. Just another thing that's changed along with the world.

“...If you want to protect her,” Jack said pointing in the direction of Abby. “To keep her a live as long as possible—Then you're gonna have to let go of what ever notion you have about how she should be. You're gonna have to become more like. Become cold. Become a person who can kill other living people. A person who can protect herself and her sister in the shitty world that we live in. If you do that then both of y'all chances of survival sky rockets.”

She sat there stunned as she thought about everything he had just told her. Had she been protecting Abby from the world the wrong way? Had her trying to shelter Abby from the cruelness of the world been doing more harm then good? Had it been wrong to try and hold onto the light of the world before, and should she had instead embraced the darkness of this new one?

Jack cleared his throat. “It's already...goddamn it's already one fifteen in the morning.” He said looking up from his watch back to her. “You should get some sleep, Jess.” With that he took back his photo and quietly left the room leaving her to stew in the memory of her past mistakes.

About an hour earlier. “Here. Take this to the mess hall.” Tony said handing her a crate of food.

“Ooof. What's in this thing—rocks?” She said flashing him a smile.

Tony laughed. “Pretty much.”

“So...where's the mess hall again?”

“Just follow the hall till the end and then take a right. Then it's a straight shot there.”

She stopped before she left. “Hey, Tony, do you know what job Abby has? She mentioned something about it being in the kitchen earlier.”

“Oh...I think she has dish washer duty with the others her age.”

She nodded and gripped the box tightly as she made her way through the hall. Along the way she passed the somewhat recognizable faces of the people she had met earlier. A few of their names came to her mind. Dan, Tamara, Jacqueline, Robbie. She smiled and greeted them as she passed by each. To her this place felt different then all the other places she and Abby had stayed before. For one she didn't have to do the sick things she had to before to secure her and Abby a place in the group. And this groups leader wasn't some psychopath like the last.

Just thinking about Damien made her shudder. He was the reason they had to ditch their last group. He became too unstable and crazy. He had stopped letting outsiders into the diner they stayed at and threatened death on anyone who left. Luckily she managed to get her and Abby out of that environment and set out on the road. His words about killing who ever left the group bugged her. She didn't think that he was serious about it considering she and Abby hadn't been killed and it wasn't like Damien was following them or anything. But it still made her worry. But then again, they were with a new group now. A larger one—One that could protect them if anything happened.

She was at the end of the hall now and made her right hand turn. A few other members of her new group filled the hall. As she moved through the hall she began to hear a noise. The others noticed too and stopped dead in their tracks to listen carefully.

Silence.

Then the noise started up again. She could tell this time it was coming from somewhere near the front of the college. And she knew what the noise was.

The rattle of gunfire.

She immediately dropped the box in her hands and began running to go look for her sister even though she didn't know exactly where she was. Her sprint was interrupted however when something broke through the window a few feet in front of her. She stopped and stared down at the small object in horror along with everyone else in the hall. She tried to move the opposite direction as the grenade that had flown through the window exploded.

Present. Jessica ducked behind a shelf after turning a corner and seeing two very large men with guns enter from the front entrance. She peeked at them from behind the shelf and froze when she realized something. She knew these men. She and Abby had lived in a group with them for almost year. Daniel and Paul--they were part of her and Abby's last group.

Part of Damien's group.

They said something to one another but Jessica was too dazed to catch what. The realization that it was Damien's group attacking them was shocking. Damien never wanted to move the group from that diner the entire time she and Abby stayed with them. So why leave now?

Two children, Adam and Becky, from her new group came around the corner on the far end and stopped when they noticed Daniel and Paul.

“Please misters—you have to help us find our mom!” Adam pleaded to them. “Those monster people are getting inside!”

Jessica held her breath as Daniel and Paul looked to one and other then back at the kids. They raised their guns and without any hesitation gunned the kids down. It took everything for Jessica not to call out as the children's lifeless bodies fell to the ground, their faces contorted in pain. Daniel and Paul stepped over the bodies and continued on—mentioning something about having to find both her and Abby as the exited.

She stood frozen in place as the last few seconds played over and over in her mind. She couldn't believe Daniel and Paul had gunned two kids for no reason. They weren't like that when she and Abby stayed in their group. Then she remembered Abby was still somewhere while all of this was going on.

Snapping back to reality she began to move around the dead bodies of her friends until she reached Adam and Becky. She got down on her knees slowly because of her wound, and she adjusted them to look more peaceful and less broken. She wasn't let that happen Abby—Not if there was anything she could do to prevent it. Looking over to her right she noticed a handgun clutched in the hands of one of her dead fellow group member. It was time--She knew it was. Time for her to stop letting everyone else do the fighting for her and save her sister. She picked up the gun and slowly made her way off towards the direction she had heard Abby's calls for help.

“Shit...” Jessica mumbled as she stumbled through the halls clutching her wound.

It wasn't bleeding too much; the only real problem was the pain. The pain and the fact that undead and found their way to the college because of the gunfire. She turned a corner with one hand holding the gun and the other her side. Ahead of her was the hall to the administration side of the building. She stopped however when a familiar voice said her name over the school's P.A. system.

“Jessica...” She looked all around but was unable to find how he knew where she was. “Don't waist your time, Jessica. You can't see me—but I can definitely see you.”

She continued looking around the hall until her eyes caught sight of a camera mounted on the wall that had her in its field of vision. “Damien...” She said with a shaky voice.

“It's nice to see you again, Jess. You and your sister. Speaking of--” He said as some shuffling noise began in the background. “Why don't you say something to your big sis, Abby.”

“Fuck you.” Abby spat from over the P.A. before a loud smacking noise could be heard that tore Jessica up inside.

“Anyway,” Damien said as his tone changed from more of a smug one to a near psychotic one. “When you're ready you can find us in the office.” He said before the P.A. cut off leaving an eerie silence in the hall.

Before she even had a chance to think undead began banging on the windows to her right. One of them managed to crack the window it was pounding on. That was her cue to leave. She moved as fast as she could in her condition down the hallway. By the time she reached the end of it the zombies had managed to break in and were following behind her.

There was no end to the undead as she made her way to the head of the school's office. She fired round after round before realizing that she should save some ammo for her encounter. That and the fact that she was a terrible shot. The thought of killing someone who was alive made her sick to her stomach and made her want to sit down and curl up in a ball. But the thought of Damien hurting Abby in any way kept her on her feet and moving.

She noticed the corpses of more of her new groups members, some up and walking around while others lay torn open on the ground. One of them was Jack. She tried to not look at his mangled body as she walked up to the entrance to the office. Taking a deep breath, she quickly entered the room. Upon entering she immediately noticed Damien standing behind the desk with a gun pointed straight at Abby, who was standing near the wall a few feet away from him.

“Hello, Jessica.” Damien said in an extremely calm voice despite the wild look in his eye. “It's sad we had to reunite under these...circumstances.”

Jessica looked to Abby and then back to Damien. “Damien—Just—Just let us go, okay? It doesn't have to be this way--”

“Doesn't have to be this way!?” Damien yelled. “You left us, Jessica...all of us back at the diner.”

“I had to...things weren't safe there for Abby. Especially not with you around.”

Damien chuckled. “You peg me as some bad guy for doing what needs to be done in order to survive,” He began as Jessica made eye contact with Abby. Her sister pulled out a steak knife from her back pocket and began eying Damien. “--It's something you never understood, Jessica. Something you will probably never understand.” He said as Abby began to slowly make her way to him, despite the pleading in Jessica's eyes not to. “It's funny—all of this could have been avoided if you just realized that—to live in this world—you have to do the things you wouldn't have done before--” He finished as Abby pounced and plunged the knife into his shoulder.

With pain etched in his face he spun around, knocking Abby off of him, and firing wildly with his gun. Wasting no time, Jessica shut her eyes and raised her gun, firing over and over until Damien fell to the floor.

Silence.

She held her breath as she walked passed the desk to see if he was really down. Luckily he was. Relief and a sudden urge to throw up flowed through her as she looked at his lifeless body. The crazed twinkle in his eyes was gone now; only emptiness remained. But at least it was over.

“Abby...It's over we can--” She began as she turned to look at her sister but stopped.

Across from her Abby stood with a blank expression as she stared down at her shirt. Just where her heart was was a big red blotch that was growing in size. Jessica only realized what it was as Abby collapsed to the ground.

“NO!” Jessica screamed as she ran over to her baby sister.

She cradled her sister in her arms and moved the hair out of her face as tears began streaming down her face. A fine stream of blood was now exiting from Abby's mouth and spilling to the wooden floor below.

“Jess...?” Abby said through coughing up blood.

“Abby...no, no, no, no...I'm sorry Abby. I'm so, so, so, sorry. If—If I had just...This is my fault. I said that I would protect you from all this...but I couldn't. It's my fault, Abby. I love you, Abby.”

“...I-I...Love you to, sis...” Abby said as she faltered and went silent, the color quickly leaving her body and being replaced with nothing but paleness.

The only thing that Jessica could hear besides her crying was the horde of undead banging on the door to the office. They were about to make their way in—she knew they were. Just as the door gave way letting in a few dozen undead Jessica raised the gun to her head. She waited a few seconds before pulling the trigger so she could be with Abby again.

But nothing happened.

She looked blankly at the gun in her hand. It was out of bullets. At first she was terrified at the thought of being eaten alive by those monsters, but the terror soon left her as she began to think that maybe that was exactly what she deserved. Maybe she deserved it because of all the wrong she had done. Because she couldn't protect Abby.

The first undead made it's way around the desk and quickly knocked her to the ground. She did nothing but lay there and close her eyes as one by one the undead made their way to her and began devouring. She felt her stomach being ripped open, her arms being clawed and gnawed on, her skin being torn off her body. Then she felt nothing at all.

Three years earlier. The night of the outbreak. They were herded like cattle as they were marched into the military zone. Her mind was restless because of everything that had happened that night. People rising from the dead to eat living people. To her it felt like some bad horror movie. Even worse was that it had to happen during Abby's birthday dinner. She looked down at her sister and noticed the overwhelming amount of fear in her eyes. Jessica was scared too but tried staying stoic for Abby. No need for the both of them to act like scared children.

“This way ma'am.” One of the many soldiers said to her as he motioned her and Abby into a very large tent.

She nodded and took Abby's hand as they went inside. The tent was a giant room filled with bunk beds as far as the eyes could see. They were led to a pair of beds on the far end, passing by other families along the way. The soldier left them after someone on his radio mentioned something happening at the far end of the compound.

“Jess,” Abby said shaking. “What's going on? Why are we here?”

Jessica considered telling her the truth but decided against it. She figured it would be better that way. “I-I don't know. But it's going to be okay.”

Abby ignored her words. “Where's aunt Susan?”

“Hey,” Jessica said as she pulled Abby's face to look at hers. “Everything is going to be okay.” She tried to say in her most reassuring tone of voice.

Abby's breathing slowed down and it looked like the fear was slowly leaving her. “You-You promise?”

“Yes, Abby. I promise—I won't let anything happen to you. We're going to be okay.”