Low on Time/Issue 28

This is issue twenty-eight of Low on Time, entitled: Bandits.

Issue 28; Bandits
"Let's go then, Trent." Trevin said, smiling.

"Is there more of you?" Trent asked, in a quiet voice.

"A lot more. You'd fit right in."

Trent slowly nodded, and Trevin and his two men followed him. Trent walked slowly behind them, eyeing their hands to make sure they weren't going to try anything. Trevin looked back at him, and smiled to himself. They, rather quickly, got back to the road where the others were staying. The driver looked back at the group, relieved to see all of them back in one piece. He barely notices Trent, who walked slowly behind them.

"I guess it was a good place to check out." the driver said, looking at Trent.

"Yeah, pretty good, I think." Trevin said.

"So, do we cancel off the road trip to the housing development or take him with us?"

"Take him with us. Get him situated, we can do this another time." Trevin said, watching as one of his men gave Trent a fresh water bottle, which he finished almost immediately. He looked back at the driver, who nodded. "I'll tell Langston."

Trevin walked to the back of the car, where Langston sat against the car. Langston smiled when seeing Trevin.

"How'd it go?" he asked, clear pain in his voice.

"What? Not feeling better?" Trevin asked.

"No, I'm fine... probably a migraine or something." he said.

Trevin nodded, looking back to Trent and then to Langston. "We found a survivor. We're gonna take him back and continue this another time."

Langston stood up immediately, along with Trevin. "A survivor?" he asked.

"Yeah, over there." Trevin said, pointing at Trent who was smiling nervously talking to the other guys.

Langston looked perplexed, like he know shim, but from where?

"What's wrong?" asked Trevin.

"I know that fucker..." Langston said. "I can't remember where from though... he looks so familiar."

"Maybe you knew him." Trevin said, shrugging his shoulders. "I mean, he's clearly not been around a razor or something to shave with for a while. His hair is longer than Jake's... that's bad."

Langston laughed a little, with Trevin. "Haven't seen facial hair like that since the Amish." Trevin added, getting another laugh form Langston. Langston and Trevin walked up to the group, was still getting introduced to Trent. Trent looked over, seeing Langston, and smiled.

"No fucking way." Trent said, stumbling forward to Langston.

"Do I know you?" Langston asked, as Trent slowly approached him.

"Of course you know me. I spent a month with you and Valerie and Kelly."

"Woah, woah, woah," Langston said, starting to smile. "Trent?"

"Back from the dead, brother." Trent said, also smiling.

"Where the fuck have you been man?"

"Umm... I think it's pretty clear it was in the fucking woods." Trent retorted.

Langston smiled to himself. "Man, when I first met you, you were some scared little bitch. Now look at you, this thing did you good."

"No, I'm still terrified, if I'm being honest... I just got better at hiding it."

"Like hell, man." Trevin said. "You were like a bunny back there."

"Whatever." Trent scoffed.

"Man, what does it matter?" Langston asked, patting Trent on the back. "Let's go, we gotta get the old band back together."

Oscar sat with another young girl, about his age. The two were just sitting their in silence. Oscar's mom, Jamie, standing behind the two kids.

"You don't talk much, do you?" he asked.

The girl looked up at him, and she looked horrible. She looked depressed, and like she had been bawling all night.

"Oscar..." his mom said harshly from behind them.

"What?" he asked, annoyed.

"That's rude."

"That was only a question." the young boy spat back.

His mother rolled her eyes, and walked away from the young boy.

"Mom's are so annoying, right, Sam?" he asked, looking back at the girl.

"You should be nicer." she said, quietly. "At least you still have a mom..."

Oscar immediately felt guilty. He motioned for a hug, which the young girl accepted, hugging him tightly, although he felt as awkward as could be.

Kelly walked into the medical tent, where Nolan was lying down still. He looked up, upon seeing her, and smiled faintly.

"I'm glad to see you're awake." Kelly said.

"I'm happy too." Nolan responded.

"C'mon, Nolan, you should get the fuck out of that bed."

"But, I'm sooooo comfy." he protested.

"Yeah, well, it's comfier inside of the fucking house."

Nolan quickly agreed, and Kelly walked over to him quickly, helping him stand. She helped him up and into the house, lying him down on one of the couches.

"Thanks, boo." he said, smirking.

She put her hand in her face. "Don't call me that." she said.

"C'mon, remember back at that college party, when you got so wasted that, that car almost ran you over?"

"Not the time, Nolan. I ain't in the mood." she said, very harshly.

"What happened to you?"

"None of your goddamn business." she said promptly, and walking away, leaving a confused Nolan to himself.

Kelly walked into the back yard, and slowly jogged to the end of the property land, right in front of the electric fence. In front of it, lied three crosses with names on it, including "Cole", "Johnny", and "Finn". She kneeled down in front of the graves, and wept quietly to herself.

"Can I join you?" a familiar voice asked her.

She turned around, and saw Ryker walking up to her, his hands in his pocket.

"Sure, kiddo." she said.

"I know you liked Johnny..." he started, "but so did I, and everyone else. Hell, the two of us got really close within the last month, and I think it's time we just accepted death."

Kelly looked at Ryker, baffled. "Since when did you start acting like this?" asked Kelly.

"I'm just trying to be a realist. I know it sucks, but we have to learn to accept it, or at least tone down the mourning."

Ryker could feel this getting more awkward and uncomfortable by the second.

"Thanks." Kelly said, after a period of silence.

"Thanks?" he asked, a bit confused.

"Yes, you're right. It's been a week, so I gotta stop this shit. We have more important things to take care of."

"Right, we gotta focus on one thing. Making sure the bandits pay for what they did."

Manning and Ike walked back through the woods, slowly. The sound of zombies followed them, albeit far behind them.

"So, did I tell you about the time when--" Ike started, when the sounds of bullets ricochet through the woods.

Ike instantly pulled Manning down to the ground, the two of them taking refuge behind a large tree.

"What the-- what the fuck is going on?" asked Manning, who looked as if he was about to puke.

"Quiet." Ike said, forcefully, which shut Manning up.

The two lied in the leaves, as the gunfire dies down. Ike dares to look up, seeing a pack of three guys stroll through the woods, holding big guns.

"The gunfire was around here." one of the men says.

"Remember, we don't kill anyone." the other one says.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we all know that."

"Who are they?" asked Manning, as quietly as possible.

"Bandits." Ike said, plainly.

"There's only three of them, let's take them on."

"I'll take them on, you get the fuck out of here." Ike said.

"What?" he asked.

"I'll start shooting, you use the distraction and run back, I'll meet you there."

"What if there's more?" asked Manning. "You need me."

"No, if there's more than we're both as good as dead if you stay, and there's one way we can get around them at this point."

Manning quickly nodded taking a deep breath.

"You ready?" Ike asked, loading his pistol.

"Yeah, I think I am." Manning said, his voice shaky.

"Good." Ike said, aiming his gun at the closest bandit. "3...2...1...Now." Ike said, taking a shot.

As the bandit went down, Manning started sprinting away. The two bandits looked down on their friend, not knowing what was going on at first. But another gunshot from Ike, which misses, makes the two snap back into reality. They fire back into the general of the area, clipping a piece of the tree that Ike was sitting behind. Ike immediately popped back, firing a couple of shots at them, hitting one in the chest, and then in the head. Quickly afterwards, before Ike could adjust onto his next target, a bullet rips through his ear. He immediately screams in pain, grabbing hold of his ear, as blood starts coming out of it quickly. The bandit runs over to Ike, making sure to jump over the body of his deceased friend. He gets to the struggling Ike, and kicks him back onto his back. He points his rifle at Ike, who just looks up at him, not saying one word, yet still grasping his ear in pain. Another gunshot is heard, and the bandit's face is blown off, right in front of Ike. He looks back, seeing Manning with a pistol in his hand, staring into space, like he's in awe.

Kira sits with Grace on the front porch. The two are both eating their share of food, an apple for Kira and a granola bar for Grace.

"Thank you for throwing my name in for getting a share today." Kira said, smiling.

"Of course, you deserved it after all." Grace said.

Kira smiled, taking another bite of the apple. "Can I ask you something, from a medical standpoint?" asked Kira.

"Of course." Grace said, smiling.

"What would you diagnose me with, if I was passing out constantly, getting major headaches, and vomiting every so often?"

"Well, that could easily be just a concussion. Why?" she asked.

"Ok, good." she said, kinda relieved.

"Kira, it's better to know for sure. Do you need me to check?"

"Yeah--- yes, please." she said, nodding fearfully.

Grace nodded, giving her a reassuring smile, as two cars pulled into the driveway of the farm.

Kelly sat in her room, looking out the window as Oscar played with Sam. She smiled, loving watching kids be happy in times like these. There was a faint knock on her door, and she turned, Paul's head peeking into the room.

"Hey." she said, smiling.

"Hello, Kelly." he said. "You gotta come see this."

Kelly nodded, and stood up. "What's this about?" she asked.

"Something good has actually happened to us." he said, smiling.

Paul led Kelly outside, where she saw Olivia hugging Trent. She looked at them, not believing what she's seeing. She looked back at Paul, who was smiling.

"Are you fucking serious?" she asked, now smiling too. "Is that Trent?"

"It is." he said.

Kelly smiled, and jogged over to Trent, taking him to the ground with her in a giant hug. "Where the fuck have you been?" she asked, happily.

Trent looked over at her, seeing who it was, and smiled softly. "Missing you guys." he said.

Grace walked with Jamie down the field, Jamie smoking a cigarette, her hair all messed up.

"What's wrong?" asked Grace. "You look... stressed."

"That bad, huh?" she asked, but both girls laughed. "I'm just so worried about my baby. He's out there with Ike, and It's been a few hours, and I can't stop worrying."

"He'll be fine." she said. "Ike's a good shot, they'll be fine."

"HELP." they hear in the distance.

The two girls turn, and see Manning and Ike walking towards them, but Ike was leaning heavily on Manning.

"Oh my God." Grace said, and the two took off running. As the two got to Manning and Ike, and Manning immediately passed Ike off to Grace.

"What happened?" asked Grace, helping Ike for support.

"Bandits... shot... in the.... ear..." Manning said, breathing heavily between each word.

As another survivor reached them, Grace and him hurried off with Ike, leaving Jamie tending to Manning.

"Are you okay, honey?" she asked.

"I'm fine, mom." he said, brushing her off and walking away from her.

Trent sat inside, cleaned up now, with less facial hair. He sat with Olivia, Kira, and Kelly.

"What happened to the rest?" asked Olivia.

"The rest?" he asked.

"Sean, Jessica, Valerie, Emily..."

"Valerie-- she didn't make it, I know that." Trent said, trying to recall the events.

"What about Sean?" Kira asked, nervously.

Trent looked down to the floor.

"What is it?" she asked.

"There was five of us, not including me. It was a dark night, and... there were gunshots, and we all scrambled. I went with Sean and Jessica and I was ahead of the pack, and I turned around they were gone. I went back for them, but they were gone."

"Gone?" asked Kira. "What do you mean?"

Trent looked up at Kira, seriously. "They fucking took them. I saw them loading them into their goddamn truck."

Kira looked back up, at Olivia and Kelly.

"We have to get them." she said.

Kelly looked at Olivia, who slowly shook her head. Kira looked at the two, unbelievingly.

"They're our friends!" she spat out. "We have to go get them."

"That was little over a week ago." Trent said.

"They could be dead." Olivia said, harshly.

"Or alive!" Kira retorted.

"Where the hell could they be? We don't even know where the bandit camp is." Kelly said.

"That's not true." Trent said, causing all eyes to fall on him. "I know where it is."

Trevin stormed into the room, looking at the four.

"Guys, Ike, he got shot." he said, panting.

"What?" asked Kelly, standing up immediately.

Grace was wrapping up Ike's ear in gauze. Kelly stormed in, hurrying to Ike's side.

"What happened?" asked Kelly, worried.

"He was shot by a bandit. Almost killed him too." Grace said, finishing up the wrapping.

"Did they follow them back here?"

"No, Manning said they killed them all." she said.

"Good." Kelly said, putting the back of her hand on his forehead. "He's burning up, is he gonna make it?"

"I have everything I will need, and he'll be fine, just give me some space please." Grace said, pushing Kelly aside.

Kelly nodded, and quickly made her way out of the tent.

Trent waited outside of the tent, and followed Kelly when she walked out of the tent.

"Will he be ok?" asked Trent.

"He'll be fine." Kelly muttered.

"Do you wanna know where that bandit camp is now?" he asked.

Credits

 * Kelly Gay
 * Olivia Bell
 * Kira Fulton
 * Paul Alexander
 * Ike Dennis
 * Trent Jones
 * Langston Otto
 * Ryker Daniels
 * Trevin
 * Grace Rutherford
 * Nolan Fitzgerald
 * Jamie Manning
 * Manning
 * Oscar Manning
 * Sam

Deaths

 * Unnamed Bandits (Three)