Surviving, Not Living/Issue 15

This is issue 15 of Surviving, Not Living, entitled Still Alive but Barely Breathing.

Issue 15:
Jack quickly ran over and knelt down next to Danny, grabbing his hand.

“My boy... My boy...” Jack cried.

“Jack, you need to get back.” Bobby told him. “We don’t know if he’s dead, or if he’s gonna turn.”

“No, no.” Jack screamed as Bobby grabbed the man and dragged him away.

“Charlotte, Doug, Vicky, Jackie.” Sarah called. “Hold him down.”

The four ran surrounded Danny’s body and each grabbed a limb. Cautiously, Sarah leant down and listened to see if Danny was breathing as Amelia tried to find a pulse on the arm she was holding.

“He’s still alive.” Sarah told the group. “But, he’s barely breathing.”

Everyone in the room sighed as Charlotte, Doug, Vicky and Jackie released their grip on his limbs. Bobby freed Jack and he ran back over to Danny’s side, whispering words too quiet to hear.

All of a sudden, the shutter covering one of the windows slammed against the wall, making everyone jump. Sarah ran to the window and looked out, grabbing her pistol from it’s pocket and holding it forwards. In the corner of her eye, she was a shadow moving behind the back of the house. Sarah cocked her head to look but there was nothing there.

“Come on.” Bobby walked over and pushed Sarah’s arm down. “It was just the wind.”

“Dallas to base, Dallas to base, we have located another group.”

“What was that?” Ava asked, being the only one to hear the words.

“What, honey?” Charlotte looked at Ava. Ava shook her head, dismissing the voice.

“Everyone clear out! Let’s leave Jack alone!” Bobby called as he, Sarah, Amelia and the rest of the Douglas farm group left the building. Jack stood at Danny’s side and continued his sobbing.

“Thanks for fucking helping.” Vicky pushed past Anthony who stood outside the front door. Strangely, Anthony wickedly smiled, turning around to follow her.

***

Hours later, Jackie drove down one of the deserted main roads of Georgia. In the passenger seat, next to her, sat Doug. His shotgun made light tapping noises as it bounced lightly on the window as they travelled over the corroded road. In the back, Sarah and Amelia sat. They each held onto their own pistols. Silence filled the air, with the only noise coming from Jackie’s hands sliding across the wheel.

“Don’t worry.” Jackie broke the silence, calling back to Sarah and Amelia. “Anthony’s a nice guy, really. He just don’t want to have you guys and Bobby sleeping in his tent. He likes his alone time with Vicky.”

“Are they together?” Sarah asked.

Doug burst out laughing. “As if anyone would ever get with Anthony. He’s a major creep.”

“He is a tiny bit weird.” Amelia said, recalling the looks that Anthony has been giving her.

“Where was the camping shop you were talking about?” Vicky asked Doug, changing the topic of conversation.

“Take a left here.” Doug pointed with his gun. “And then it’s not the next right, but the right after.”

Soon enough, the four got to the camping shop. Three wondering infected made their way infront of the shops entrance. Doug went to fire his shotgun but was cut off when the girls silently each took one out with their knives.

“Impressed?” Sarah smirked. The door into the shop had been ripped from one of it’s hinges. It laid half-attached to the doorframe. Jackie leaned down and pushed the bottom of the door, it span around nearly one-hundred and eighty degress before the other side of it crashed against the floor. Doug approached the door and pushed it upwars, crawling underneath like it was a cat flap. Amelia smirked as she walked forwards and grabbed the top of the door. She ripped it from its single hinge and, without any noise, placed it on the floor. Jackie and Sarah walked through the doorway before Amelia pulled it and leaned it back up.

“I think that’s 2-0 to the girls.” Amelia laughed as she walked past Doug and patted him on the stomach.

“Um... guys.” Jackie called. “We got a problem.”

Amelia and Doug turned around to see the shop. Tents had been shredded and the rest were black and crumbled under their fingertips, it looked like they’d been burned. The group split up and walked through the carpeted area.

“This one looks okay.” Amelia pointed with the end of her pistol to an orange tent.

“Sure, if you wanna stick out like a sore thumb.” Doug snapped. “2-1 to the boys.”

“That doesn’t count!” Sarah called.

The group continued to search for another few minutes before Jackie found one, “Over here!” She shouted.

“What’s that?” Amelia pointed. It looked like something sharp was sticking into the side of the tent. Jackie slowly opened the tent as Amelia aimed her gun.

Inside, an infected cowered over a young girl. She looked about fifteen years old and freshly killed. Her face wasn’t dirty nor was it filled with blood. Amelia clutched her stomach as she leaned to the side and puked up their breakfast of pumpkin soup.

“There’s one like that over here?” Sarah shouted from the other side of the shop as a groan came from the tents around her.

“Here too.” Doug called as another groan came from another tent. “A herd must’ve passed through this community a few days ago. It’s silly, if one person would’ve stayed awake then half of these people would be alive.”

“I explains the broken door.” Amelia said as she wiped her mouth. All of a sudden, the infected in the tent to her right ripped the side and went to grab her. Quickly, she span around on one foot and sent a bullet through it’s brain. Amelia turned around to see Doug, Jackie and Sarah all fighting off the now-active infected.

“The doors too far away!” Doug called, pointing out that they were at the back of the oversized shop. “Make a runner for the exit!”

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