Low on Time/Issue 21

This is issue twenty-one of Low on Time, entitled: Sick.

'''Author's Note: No more flashbacks! This way there can be more zombie-content in the issues. Of course, every now and then there will be flashbacks; but not every issue now.'''

Issue 21; Sick
Three weeks later

A dark night deep in the heart of Pennsylvania, there weren't many people out. The only people on the streets were the dead. Most people fled the city, which was a smart move; but not everyone left. Out of the 12 million who lived there, around 30% died, 60% ran, and 10% stayed. It was hell on Earth. In an apartment, not far away from the local park, a family sat around the dinner table, candles lit all around them. There was five of them, a mom, a dad, a 12 year-old girl, a 3 year-old boy, and a 7 year-old boy. As they ate their canned beans, the parents just kept staring at each other, both looked worried. They heard running, coming up the stairs, and soon, a hurried knock on their door. The dad hopped up, and grabbed his baseball bat.

"Honey, get the kids out of here." the dad said.

The wife picked up the 3 year-old, and led the kids to a room down the hall, making sure to keep them quiet.

"Please, man, they're gonna get me!" a frantic voice called from the other side of the door. "Let me in, I saw the light from down the street. Those... things are attracted to the light, and you led them right to me."

The dad looked hesitantly at the door, holding the baseball bat, ready to swing if anything happened.

"Come on, man!" the voice begged.

The dad sighed, and quickly ran over to the door, opening it. A man ran inside, and the dad closed it quickly. He re-locked the door, and looked back at the stranger, raising his bat. The man raised his arms, to show he was unarmed.

"I don't wanna hurt you, man." he said.

"Neither do I." the dad said.

"It's fucking crazy out there. I-- just, thank you for letting me in." he said, taking a deep breath. The man took a small pistol out of his back pocket, and pointed it at the dad, who's mouth dropped. "Give me, all your food." he said.

"Please, we need that food." the dad said, voice shaking.

"'We'? You mean there's more of you?" the man asked.

"I have three children, just please. We need it to live."

The man looked down to the ground, in shame. "I'm sorry, but I need it too. It's too dangerous down there to get some, and most of the stores have been raided anyways."

"But-- you don't have to do this, son." the dad said.

"I-I do, though. I know you said you have three children, and believe me, I have a child of my own too I gotta worry about. He's only 2 years-old! He's already getting emaciated, and I don't think he'll survive. So, you give me your food, or I kill you, and take it." the man said.

"You left your own son by himself?" asked the dad.

"Of course not. My cousin's watching him right now, just please... I don't wanna have to do this."

"Then don't, just put the gun down and walk away, son."

"I-I can't do that. My son will starve! I'm not gonna let that happen." the man said, raising the gun to the dad's head.

"C'mon... this doesn't have to be like this." the dad pleaded.

"I'm so sorry." the man said, before shooting the dad in the head. The man started crying, knowing he could never forgive himself-- but it's something he had to do. He quickly opened one of the cabinets, and shoved all the canned food he could into his bag. He, very carefully, stepped over the dad, and looked down the hall, seeing his wife standing there.

"What did you do?" screamed the wife.

"Lady, I'm so sorry." the man said, tears coming down his face.

"You fucking bastard." she screamed, before charging at the man.

The man, shocked by her decision, pointed the gun on her, and shot her in the abdomen, and she quickly collapsed. He quickly ran out of the apartment, leaving the two bodies. The 12 year-old emerged from the room, the 7 year-old boy was holding his brother.

"Mommy!" screamed the 7 year-old, running toward her.

Their mom's eyes opened, very quickly, and she sat up. But she was different, her eyes were yellow, blood all over her light green shirt. The children slowly backed up, all three of them scared, as the mom stood up, looking at them, so emotionless.

It was a bright, sunny November day in Philadelphia. A zombie walked along the woods, aimlessly, looking for it's next meal. It had fresh blood falling from it's lip. But, behind all the rotten flesh, it used to be a human, just like anyone else. But, while it was walking, an arrow suddenly goes through the side of it's neck. It seemed unfazed by it though, and kept on walking until another arrow, hit it in the head, killing it. The zombie fell to the ground, and someone walked over to it. They picked up the arrow from it's head, and then it's neck. Emily put them back into her bag, where more arrows were held. Kelly walked slowly behind her. The two girls had dirt all over themselves. Kelly held a crowbar, with a pistol in her pants in case she needed it. The two wore ripped clothing, as if they had been attacked by bears. Emily looked up, seeing a bird lodged in a tree. Emily lifted up her crossbow, and aimed at the bird, Kelly watching her carefully. Emily stared at the bird for about 30 seconds, before shooting the arrow, hitting the bird in the neck. Kelly smiled, happily. Emily walked over, and picked up the bird.

"We got ourselves some dinner tonight!" Emily said, happily.

"I can't believe all that food went so quickly..." Kelly complained, walking to her.

"I know, it seemed like so much at the time. I wish we new how much we still had, although it can't be much."

"You'd have to ask Valerie."

"I don't mean to sound rude, but I don't trust her." Emily said, looking into the air. "The way she rations food always favors Langston, herself, and Trent it seems."

Kelly nodded, understandingly. "So, I've been thinking, with food being scarce..." Kelly started, as Emily turned to her. "Should we just send everyone in hunting? Or just keep it as me, you, Jessica, and Paul?"

"They don't know how to hunt. It would be so much worse if we just brought anyone else right now. All I know, Kelly, is this bird is big enough to feed us two, plus someone else tonight."

Kelly smiled. "I feel like I haven't eaten in weeks." she complained.

"Yeah, cause Valerie's crew gets it all!" Emily said. "Just look at Amanda and Ike. Those two haven't eaten in a week, because Valerie refuses to give them anything. She's turning into a dictator."

"So, what do we do?" Kelly asked.

"I-I don't know. I guess we hope that Paul and Jessica are doing better than us." Emily said.

Emily looked over, seeing a squirrel climbing a tree. With one swift shot, she took it down.

"There, now Amanda and Ike have something to eat tonight." Emily said, walking over to the dead squirrel.

Paul walked with Jessica through the woods. Just like Emily and Kelly, the two had dirt all over them, and their clothes were ripped all over. Jessica had her crossbow out, and Paul had with a shotgun with a home-made silencer on it. Paul carried a bag over his shoulder, which had a dead bunny, and a couple of rats. Jessica looks ahead, and sees a zombie roaming around. She lifts her crossbow, aiming it at the zombie. But before she can shoot, the two hear a gunshot, and the zombie fell.

"Fuck!" muttered Paul.

Paul got behind the closest bush, and Jessica followed him. The two watched through the bush, as a group of five men walk over the body of the zombie. Jessica, was scared to say the least. She was shaking, and her eyes were wide, while Paul was calm watching them. The five guys all had big guns, like shotguns and rifles. They were loud, to say the least, but they looked in much better condition then the two college students.

"C'mon, there has to be more food around here somewhere." one of the men say.

"There probably is... somewhere." another one says.

"Guys, what happens if we run into other survivors?" one of them asks.

"Kill them." the first man said.

"What? No way, man. We're not savages." one of the other guys said.

"What if they're dangerous? Or have something we need, like food?"

"What if they're helpful?" asked the second man.

"Then it would just be another mouth to feed. Listen, if we do run across another one, since none of you pussies are ready to kill... just beat them and take all their stuff."

"But..." the third man starts.

"No more 'buts'. That's settled." the first man, who is clearly the "Alpha Male" says.

Paul and Jessica both listened to them, and watched them, until the group moved on, in the opposite direction of Paul and Jessica. The two got up from the bushes, and Paul looked over at Jessica.

"We should go now. It's not safe here." he said, and Jessica quickly nodded.

Inside a two-story house, about 20 miles from the city, Trent, Isiss, and Kira played Monopoly, each one of them looked depressed. The three were clearly bored out of their minds, and all of them were covered in cuts and dirt. The walls were covered in dark blue, and the house just reeked of miserable; which just so happens to fit them all perfectly. In the room next door, Amanda slept next to Ike in a sleeping bag. There were a bunch of other sleeping bags around, showing that this was where most of the group slept. The rest of the upstairs was empty, besides a cricket walking through the hallways.

Downstairs, Valerie and Langston sat at kitchen table. Valerie had out the food rations for today, and her mind was filled with questions about who should be getting it. Langston played with a pocket knife, cutting the wooden table, making a design. In the living room, Jake hugged Olivia on the couch, the two trying to get their mind off of things. Sean sat on the floor of that room, trying to get his radio working again. In the bathroom, Violet stood with a shirtless Owen, fixing up some of his bandages. But, just like the rest, they were miserable, starving, tired, and there was nothing they could do about it. Jake got up, kissing Olivia on the forehead, and walking over to Langston and Valerie.

"I'm going." he said.

"Going where?" asked Valerie, standing up.

"Somewhere where I can get us lots of food, maybe a couple of blankets."

"I made this very clear, Jayme." Valerie said, which irritated Jake. "No going into town. It's a feeding frenzy."

"Probably not as bad as Philadelphia." Jake said.

"Philadelphia most likely doesn't have dozens of bandits in their, watching your every move!"

"I don't care what you say, Val. I'm going because people are going to starve if we don't get any food."

"Fine, then go. See what I care if you don't come back." she said, sitting back down.

"He's not going alone." Owen said, walking over to them with Violet, his shirt still off.

"You're going with him?" Valerie asked.

"And me." Violet said.

Valerie laughed, "You guys are just going to get yourselves killed!"

"Fuck you." Owen snapped back. "Just cause you think you're better than us, doesn't give you the write to boss us around."

"I'm the only one keeping the group together." Valerie insisted, albeit, coldly.

"Doesn't change the fact that we can make our own goddamn decisions."

"Just go then!" she said, irritated at this point.

The three nodded, and Jake walked over to Olivia.

"Where are you going?" she asked, weakly.

"Just going to get some supplies." Jake said, kissing her.

Olivia nodded, and closed her eyes. Jake turned, seeing Violet picking up a pistol, and Owen putting his shirt on, and picking up a shotgun.

"Ready when you are." Violet said, smiling nervously.

Kelly and Emily walked through the woods, starting their trip back to the house. Kelly led the duo, hitting one a zombie in the head as they walked. They knew how risky the roads were, so they took the back way every time. It was a lot longer, but safer, and that's all that matters nowadays. The pair were silent, not wanting to make unnecessary noise. They got to the road, which was by a housing development. The two went behind a house, to make it harder in case someone was around. Kelly peeked onto the road, seeing a car driving in their direction. The two watched as the car came forward until it suddenly came to a screeching stop. The two watched as zombies bombarded the car.

"Poor bastards." Emily muttered.

"C'mon, let's keep going." Kelly insisted, and the two ran across the street.

Jake, Owen, and Violet were on the outskirts of town. Owen was looking through a pair of binoculars, not seeing anything, but zombies, zombies, and more zombies.

"I don't see any bandits." he said, putting them down.

"No, they run in strike teams." Jake pointed out. "They'll wait for you to get them their shit, and they'll charge out of one of the buildings... you know the rest."

Jake picked up his shotgun, and the three stood up.

"We're going to a food shop, just around the corner. Make it quick and we should be fine." he said.

"Sir, yes sir." Violet and Owen said, in unison.

Jake nodded, and the group made their way into town.

Paul and Jessica walked up to the house, where everybody else is staying. The two walked in, and were greeted by Valerie and Langston.

"What did you guys get?" asked Valerie, as Paul passed her the bag.

Valerie inspected it, and smiled. "This is enough for half of us to eat tonight. Combine that with whatever Kelly got, we'll be good." she said.

"I'll start cooking it." Jessica said, taking the bag back from Valerie.

"I'll come with." Langston said, and the two walked off.

Paul went to walk upstairs, but Valerie grabbed him by his arm, pulling him back.

"We need to talk." Valerie said.

"About...?"

"The food situation. We need more; but we can't risk getting attacked by bandits."

"So, send a strong-looking group in. They're less likely to attack is it's, for example, me, Ike, Langston, Jake, and you."

"But, what if everybody dies? No one's left to protect the weaker ones."

"Not true. We would still have Kelly, Owen, Violet, Jessica, and Emily."

"Fuck..." she said, looking up. "Jake, Owen, and Violet went into town."

"They did?" Paul asked, surprised.

"Yeah, they've been gone for a while. It'll start getting dark soon; so, they better come back."

Jake, Owen, and Violet quietly jogged through town. They were easily able to evade, or if necessary, silently kill, the zombies that were on the street. They got to the food market, and the three went into different directions. The store was almost completely empty, with only a few things lying around. Jake ran over to the beverage aisle, dropping his gun to pick up a few bottle of Gatorade and water, putting them in his small backpack. He picked up his shotgun again, and ran off, to get more stuff.

Owen, a couple of aisles down, was loading a bunch of canned food into his backpack, which was a bit bigger than Jake's. Violet stood next to him, doing the same. Jake ran over to them, and helped them start packing up food.

"Remember, this is the easy part." he muttered, packing more food into Owen's bag.

When they were done, the trio ran to the front of the store. Jake looked around, seeing a couple of zombies in the street, and across the way, a head poking out of the local bar.

"One guy, up ahead in the bar." Jake said, readying his shotgun. "Count on more."

Owen and Violet looked over, and both nodded, readying their guns.

"3...2..." Jake counted down, and Violet and Owen got ready to run. "1" he said, and the three started running. They got into the street, and ran down the street they came, avoiding some zombies. Jake kept his eye on the bar, that they were about to pass, getting his shotgun ready. As they passed it, Jake peeked in, looking to see if they were going to get jumped, before seeing that the survivor in their, were families, with small kids, and elder women. The head he saw earlier, which was a man holding the classic bar shotgun stared Jake down as Jake ran away. Jake turned back to Owen and Violet who were getting ahead of him. He sped up, adn the three ran out of the town, unscathed.

As they got to the outskirts of town, the trio stopped to take a breath. They were on the road back, by a couple of houses.

"Well, look what we got here." they heard a voice say.

The three turned around swiftly, looking at five guys, standing there with guns. They were the same people that Paul and Jessica saw earlier. Jake, Owen, and Violet lifted their guns, and the five others lifted theirs too.

"C'mon, all we need is what is in your bags. We get that, we walk away." the man said.

"Or what? You're going to kill us for a couple of cans of tuna?" Jake asked.

"No, we won't kill all of you. We'll have some fun with the girl first." he said, eyeing Violet, who slowly backed up behind Owen.

Jake looked at the other four, who were obviously not on the same page of him; and he knew exactly what he had to do.

"Fuck, zombies." he muttered, raising his shotgun.

The five men turned on instinct, seeing nothing was there. When they turned back, Jake, Owen, and Violet were already running away. The first man, their "leader", raised his rifle, taking a blind shot at the three. The bullet hit the ground right next to Violet's foot, causing her to stop. Owen turned, and took her hand, still running. Jake, while he ran, turned, taking a shot at the five. He hit one of them in the foot, taking him down. One of the other men, tried helping him up, as the leader again started shooting at the three, wildly, missing all his shots. Violet turned around, and lifted her pistol, shooting at them, before Owen again took her hand. The men behind them started to chase them, until one of them turned around, and realized the zombies were on their way to them, as the gunshots were loud enough for them to hear. He brought the attention to them, and they ran the other way, through the woods.

Jake, Violet, and Owen kept running until they got to the front yard of the house they were staying at. Owen and Violet started laughing, happily, when they realized they got out of their alone. The three walked into the house, and Valerie was sitting at the kitchen table, pacing back and forth. She looked up when they entered, and walked over to them.

"I thought you said it was dangerous." Jake said, sarcastically, handing her his bag, and Owen and Violet did the same.

Valerie smiled, looking at the food. "Did you guys see Kelly or Emily?" she asked.

"Nope. Are they not back yet?" Jake asked.

"No, they're not."

Kelly and Emily sat watching the car getting bombarded by zombies. Kelly picked up a glass bottle, and threw it onto the street, behind the car. They watched as most of the zombies, pulled away from the car, to examine the noise. Taking this opportunity, Kelly and Emily ran over to the car, easily killing the three zombies that stayed by the car. Kelly opened the driver's seat door, looking into the car, seeing all the blood and guts that remained from the poor survivor in the car. She tried her best not to look at it, but instead, looked in the backseat, seeing a bunch of supplies in the back. Kelly smiled, looking back at Emily, who stood behind her, in case the zombies noticed them. Kelly reached into the back, pulling out a container full of food, and medicine. Emily looked at all the stuff, and smiled.

"Come on, let's go back now. It's getting dark." Emily said, quietly.

Kelly nodded, and Emily led the two back to the house. By the time they got back, it was dark out, and most of the group was worrying. Emily opened the door for Kelly, and they made their grand entrance. The group sat by a table, eating dinner, with the exception of Isiss, and Trent, who there wasn't enough food for, and Ike, who was still upstairs. Kelly and Emily walked over to the group, Kelly holding the big container. Langston stood up, almost immediately. "Where have you been?" he asked.

"Getting this." Emily said, as Kelly plopped the container on the floor. Valerie stood up, and walked over to it, looking inside, seeing all of the food and medicine.

"Oh my God..." she muttered. "If we ration this right, this could be enough to last us the whole Winter."

"Where'd you get this?" asked Paul, taking a look too.

"Does it matter?" Kelly asked, smiling.

Valerie shook her head, and kept looking at the container, smiling.

"How's Ike? There might be something in there for him." Kelly said.

Valerie picked up a bottle of Advil, and smiled. "His fever's gotten worse. This should help though." she said, passing the bottle to Kelly.

Kelly walked upstairs, while the rest of the group carried on doing what they were doing. She got to the room where Ike was supposedly sleeping. She kneeled down next to him, and put her hand on his forehead, seeing his head was hot. His eyes slowly opened, looking at Kelly.

"Hey, Ike." she said, looking at him.

"Come to put me out of my misery?" he asked.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

Ike scoffed, closing his eyes again. "Valerie was talking to some of the others about a 'mercy killing'. I guess she doesn't think I'll make it."

Kelly forced a smile, rubbing his head. "No, you'll be fine. Take some of these, you'll start to feel better." she said, giving him the pills. Ike immediately put them in his mouth, and swallowed them. He looked back at Kelly.

"I don't wanna die." he painfully said.

Kelly patted his shoulder, and smiled. "You're going to be fine, Ike. The infection is going away, and this will bring the fever down. Just tell me if you need anything."

Ike nodded, and closed his eyes, as Kelly walked out of the room.

Credits

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

Deaths

 * Unnamed Man & Wife