The Dead World/Issue 61

Looking up at a random clock which could kind of tell him the time, Anthony judged it was around about 11 am and sighed as he picked up his next drink and took a sip before putting it back down on the bar.

He had arrived at the refugee center around an hour ago and had told Will and the rest of the group excluding the few that were still missing what had happened causing Will to quickly leave in hopes of rescuing Natasha, however Anthony had a bad feeling inside that Natasha wasn't going to be coming back, alive at least.

Turning around to glance at the rest of the group, none of them paid any attention to him. The lesbians were cuddling with each other on the sofa, Logan was at the door keeping watch for bandits and Charles was currently having "the talk about death" with Maria.

About to pick up the drink again, Anthony found himself stopping just before he pressed it to his lips as he remembered Natasha's words of don't ever change?. Don't ever change? how the fuck could he do that when her death was practically his fault.

Slamming his drink down on the bar, Anthony drew the attention of the rest of the group but he didn't care and instead stormed off to his room, trying to get Natasha out of her head but he couldn't stop thinking about their conversation.

Each and every word continuously running through his mind....

Waking up from his sleep on the sofa by being touched, Anthony looked up to see Clara looking down him giving a small but sad smile as she gestured to the TV which was currently giving another news report causing Anthony to sit up instantly and pay attention to it.

''"as you may have noticed, I am reporting from outside the city of Charleston since I was one of few that was thankfully evacuated out of the area before they put a quarantine on the city" a young and beautiful woman reported on the screen as the two couple shared a shocked look. Did this mean they were trapped in the city?.''

"this is happening all around the world on the date of 2nd March 2013, the armies all over the globe have deemed all cities everywhere "dead zones" and have put them under quarantine in hopes of containing the monsters which have now been named Zombies. For anyone still in the cities, we apologize and wish you the best of luck" the reporter finished before the TV once again cut to static leaving the room in a ghostly silence.

''"Anthony....what are we going to do?" Clara turned to him looking shocked and he quickly came to her side before pulling her in for a hug soothing her which soon worked. Eventually he leaned down and whispered in her ear "pack your things, we're going to leave the city" Anthony told her causing her to look up at him confused, sniffling a little.''

"the reporter said to stay in the city" Clara stated but Anthony shook his head and lightly pushed her towards their room as he spoke "yeh but she also said the city is in quarantine and that means they've trapped us here with those freaks, we have to leave as soon as we can" Anthony told her but before she could protest there was frantic knocking on the door followed by the sounds of a friend of theirs calling for their help.

Opening the door, the couple found themselves face to face with their mate across the flat but what shocked them was he was pointing a shotgun currently towards Clara's stomach "I'm sorry but you really have to give me all your stuff" he stated and the couple looked to each other in shock again before back to their "friend".

''"look man, we're leaving the city too, we can work together" Anthony said raising his hands like Clara did but the man just shook his head and pressed the shotgun nearer to Clara's stomach. However before he could shout at them again a explosion was heard in the streets causing the man to accidently pull the trigger in a panicked state, blasting Clara's stomach completely apart.''

''Catching Clara in his arms, Anthony found tears falling from his eyes as he barely heard the man apologize and run down the corridor leaving him to gently lay Clara on the ground begging her to stay alive as she coughed up blood. However after a couple of moments, she reached up with her hand and rubbed his cheek, some tears at her eyes as she said her final words "please....don't change"...before her eyes finally closed and her arm fell back to her side.''

Letting out a loud shout, Anthony burst into tears as he brought her close to his arms and hugged her tight, becoming unaware of the world around him as he cried with every single tear he had, promising to make sure he would never change...for her.

Watching as the bandits got closer and closer to the bar, Lewis quickly shook himself out of the shock and ordered for everyone to go behind the bar which after having a little trouble for Daniel they eventually did.

"what we going to do?" Karen asked gripping Daniel's shirt tight as they all looked to Lewis as he was the highest one in charge of their group here but he just looked lost for ideas at first until he finally again shook himself to it.

"what guns have we got?" Lewis asked reaching for his Browning Hi-Power Pistol while Bella just shook her head as she just had her machete, however Daniel still had his Glock and Karen had her Ladysmith and crowbar.

Sharing a look, they all checked their ammo, Lewis and Karen had full ammo but Daniel had none, having used it all when he panicked after getting bit.

"damn it, did any of you count how many there was?" Lewis asked but they all shook their heads causing Lewis to take a deep breath before looking over the counter quickly doing a head count before moving back down again just as they reached the door.

Holding up his hand, he showed five fingers before all four of them suddenly went still as they heard the door smash open making a noise which was soon joined by the sound of boots walking into the bar which stopped suddenly when the bandits heard the zombies still trying to get in.

Sharing a look, the bandits all reached for their guns while Lewis and the group watched in a mirror in front of them to see where they were and nodded to each other, even sharing one final look of good bye before Lewis and Karen prepared to fire.

However before they did, the door suddenly came free and zombies bursting out heading straight to the five bandits who were taken by surprise so much they were overwhelmed by the zombies and soon enough the group behind the bar came to a realization.

With the zombies busy, the back door was free to escape through. Quickly ordering the group towards the exit, Bella helped Daniel out of the exit while Lewis and Karen fired at the zombies and bandits.

However just as the two were about to exit with Bella and Daniel, one of the bandits had began to fire wildly and one of the stray bullets hit Karen straight through her shoulder causing her to scream and fall to the ground while the other three turned to look at her shocked....

Finally reaching the refugee Centre, Will shifted the dead body of Natasha in his arms gently as he opened his truck door and laid her in the back before covering her up with the blanket and closing the door again, double checking that it was locked until he took a deep breath and began to head inside where he was greeted by Logan.

Noting that Natasha wasn't with him, Logan gave Will a look of sympathy and patted his shoulder before moving out of the way as both Lily and Emily hugged him but he just quickly ended the hugs and nodded to Charles before heading over to the weapons.

"Will, you need rest" Charles stated as they watched the man pull out two sniper rifles but Will shook his head gesturing to outside.

"I'll rest when they're isn't two bandits currently on the other side of the streets checking our place out" he said springing them as he handed Logan a rifle causing them to nod to each other before they headed to the roof.

Their walk up the stairs was silent and when they reached the roof, they quickly headed over to the edge of the roof and crouched low as they got their rifles ready before aiming, Will helping Logan to see where the targets where.

Making sure there was no other bandits around, the two nodded to each other and simultaneously fired, hitting the bandits straight through the head with a loud gunshot before things fell to silence again until Will broke it.

"her body is in the truck, I found her as a zombie...put her down though" Will stated and Logan just nodded silently again unsure what to say but taking a glance to the man beside him he soon realized he didn't have to say a thing.

However their attention was soon drawn to the streets below as they watched while Lewis, Daniel, Bella and Karen moved to the refugee center as quickly as possible. However a few things were wrong with the "Picture".

Karen was being held in Lewis's arms who was struggling to hold her as it was obvious blood had covered her shoulder and his arm making his hold on her slippery.

Bella was having to support Daniel as he literally hopped to follow Lewis as he was missing about half of one of his legs causing Logan and Will to share a look before they rushed back down to the main floor to see what had happened, joined by Anthony along the way.

Rushing into the living room, the three were soon met by the sight of Lewis carrying a bleeding and barely conscious Karen past them and into the closest room before laying her on the bed, while Daniel tried to go after her but Bella soon convinced him to stay on the couch.

"what the hell happened?" Will asked while Anthony rushed off into the room where Karen was joined by Lily as everyone else looked to Bella and Daniel for answers.

"well...." Bella was going to start but trailed off unsure of how to put it so Daniel done it for her.

"when we were walking through the streets I was joking around and winded up being bit in the leg so panicking, I fired my gun....we ended up being held up in a bar where they cut my leg off but despite the odds I survived, this morning these bandits arrived but we managed to escape...Karen getting shot in the process" Daniel said gesturing to the door but before he could panic, Bella rubbed his shoulder comforting.

However as she done this she looked around and realized Natasha was missing causing her to look up to Will confused but his look soon answered her question, Natasha was dead but before she could question more...he walked off to his room telling them he needs a quick rest.

Watching as Lewis laid Karen on the bed, Anthony gulped as he realized out of everyone he was the only one that was able to save her and soon found himself getting dizzy before Lily caught him and held him up.

"hey, hey" Lily called him shaking him out of his dizzy spell as he turned to look at her confused slightly "Karen needs you, ok? don't let her down" Lily stated and Anthony soon understood and nodded before going over and checking her wound.

Aware that he was slightly drunk due to the drinks he had earlier, he nodded to Lily and Lewis that he needed assistance and they nodded in return before Lily went out of the room to get whatever supplies to help that she could find while Lewis helped Anthony lift Karen slightly so he could check the back of her shoulder.

"yep that's what we want" Anthony stated nodding to Lewis before they made sure she was comfortably on her side, blood beginning to cover the bed but soon enough Lily returned and Anthony had her push pressure on the wound to stop it bleeding while he done the same on her back.

"what is what we want?" Lewis asked and Anthony gestured to the exit wound he was currently putting pressure on.

"if the bullet had stayed inside her, we would've been in real trouble" Anthony stated noticing the blood was beginning to slow and a nod from Lily told him she had the same thing on her side.

Moving the pressure away from the wound and putting down the soaked material beside noting that it was much less blood coming out now before he turned to Lily and Lewis "do you two know how to stitch?" Anthony asked as he helped Lily remove her material carefully.

"yes" Lily said but Lewis shook his head so Anthony closed the back wound and also showed Lily how to do what she had to do along the way while Lewis kept an eye on the front wound.

After he had successfully stitched up the wound, Lily smiled at his skill and was about to turn and ask him to do the other one because she was nervous but saw he was in an even worse state. They hadn't realized it not but he was shaking and sweating and he really looked like he needed to lay down so she gave a nod to Lewis who walked over to Anthony and helped him up.

"come on man, you need a little rest" Lewis said to Anthony as he led him out of the room leaving Lily to stitch the other side of Karen.

After being left by Lewis, Anthony entered his room and closed the door before practically collapsing on his bed out of breath and out of energy as he ran his hands over his face...

He had lost Natasha and nearly lost Karen in one day as well as the fact he had to save Karen himself while partly drunk. Letting out a sigh, Anthony rested back on the bed and closed his eyes trying to calm down, however all he was rewarded with was memories of his dead girlfriend and flashbacks of Natasha blaming him causing him to be depressed all over again....