Low on Time/Issue 24

This is issue twenty-four of Low on Time, entitled: Disbelief.

Issue 24; Disbelief
“What do you mean we’re all infected?” asked Paul, who was in disbelief like the others when Jessica told them that they all had whatever was in them.

“It means no matter what happens-- we’re going to be one of them!” Olivia said, her voice clearly shaking.

“Unless we survive this.” Jessica said, speaking up.

“Which we fucking won’t.” Ike spat out.

“Shut the fuck up, man!” Paul snapped back.

“Both of you, shut it.” Valerie said, her voice louder than both of their voices combined.

Ike leaned back against the car, and Paul looked at him, still full of rage.

“So… what do we do?” asked Trent, nervously.

“We go somewhere safe.” Valerie said.

“Where the hell is safe?” asked Julia, who was still next to the shaking Ryker.

“Countryside.” Sean said, looking from Valerie, to Paul.

The group looked around, waiting for someone else to speak up.

“He’s right.” said Ryker, under his breath.

“All right…” Valerie said, looking at the group. “By a show of hands, who says we go countryside?”

Sean, Kira, Olivia, Kelly, Jessica, Emily, Violet, Julia, and Ryker all raised their hands.

“Can you tell me why?” asked Valerie, crossing her arms.

“It’ll be easier to see oncoming hordes.” Emily said.

“And, maybe we can try to sustain ourselves.” Kira added.

“And those who oppose?” Valerie asked, looking at the rest.

Jake, Paul, Owen, Langston, Ike, Trent, Amanda, and Valerie raised their hands.

“That’s 8-9.” Kelly said, not taking her eyes off of Valerie.

“Ok, majority rules then. We’ll go countryside.” Valerie said.

“Gather as much fuel as you can now though. It’ll be a wild and long ride.” Jake said, looking at everyone.

“Where are we going? North Carolina?” asked Trent.

“Something like that. Let’s get ready.” Valerie said, picking up her shotgun.

Amanda walked with Jake, through the parked cars. She walked slowly behind him, picking a few yellow Daffodils that were growing in the street. Jake looked around, making sure they were clear, and he opened one of the car doors. He went through the glove compartment, and saw a bunch of papers. He took out all the papers, and in the back, lied a box of condoms and a small bag with marijuana. He pulled them out, and looked at Amanda who was looking at him, confused.

“This is for me, later.” he said, looking at the weed. He looked at the condoms and threw them at Amanda. “That is for you and Paul. That’s a thing, right?” he asked, smiling.

Amanda rolled her eyes, and started to walk away from Jake, angrily. Jake followed her, smiling.

“Come on, Amanda, why did that his a soft-spot?” he asked, although Amanda kept walking, trying her best to ignore him. “I know he was your sister’s boyfriend, but you gotta go for it. I see the way you stare at him; and I used to do that to Olivia until gathering up the nerve to ask her.”

Amanda turned around suddenly, causing Jake to stop too.

“I’m just, so confused right now.” Amanda said.

“Confused about what?” asked Jake.

“Everything. I’m sure you heard about Ike… how he was the one who--” Amanda started to say, and started to cry.

“Yeah, I heard.” Jake said, interrupting her.

“He apologized earlier-- and I want to-- I want to accept his apology, cause I know he didn’t mean it, but, I don’t think know if he deserves one or if I should just let Paul handle it how he wants too.”

Jake smiled, lightly, looking at Amanda getting all worked up. “What you have to do, is do what you want to do.” Jake said, brushing away one of her tears. “Don’t care what Paul says, or what I say, for that matter, just do what you wanna do.”

Amanda nodded, wiping some more tears from her face. “Thanks.” she said, walking away.

Valerie sat down on the hood of a black Mercedes, while Ryker and Julia stood next to her.

“Get comfortable, kids. Probably the best it’ll get.” Valerie said.

Julia and Ryker both sat down next to Valerie. Valerie looked at the two of them, which kinda made them uncomfortable.

“What are you doing?” asked Julia, breaking the awkward tension.

“Seeing what you guys can do.” Valerie replied.

“Well, you could ask us. That’s kinda creepy.”

“Fine.” Valerie said, looking at Julia. “What can you do?”

Julia smiled, and just by the way she smiled, you could tell she was full of self-confidence. “My mom had me work on a farm back when I lived in Atlanta. If we get to a farm or get to the countryside, I could help with planting, animals, and such.”

Valerie looked like that was nothing. “What about combat?”

“I’m good with, well, ok… I’m no good with combat.” she said, looking down.

“Perfect.” she said, sarcastically looking at the still shaking Ryker. “What about you?”

“He’s got really bad asthma.” Julia said, talking for him. “He’ll try to talk himself up, but he’ll end up just getting himself killed.”

Valerie looked back over at Julia, then to Ryker. “Are you his mom or something?” she asked.

“I consider myself his caretaker, yes.” she said, not giving an inch for Valerie to try and back her down.

“Kid, what can you do to help?” she asked, turning back around, looking at Ryker.

“I could probably be a big help with, um, anything you need help with.” he said.

“Told you.” Julia muttered.

Valerie rolled her eyes, and looked over at Paul who was standing there, almost done putting back together a pistol. “Hey, Paul.” she called over to him. Paul looked up, and quickly jogged over to them.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“Are you taking Violet and Kira out to train soon?” asked Valerie.

“Yeah, I am.” he said.

“Take these two with you.” she said, looking from Julia to Ryker.

“Sure. The more the merrier.”

Owen walked along the highway, peeking into any cars to see if there was anything worth taking. Stopping by a white van, he looked around it. The car was still running, so it might not have been there that long. He heard banging on the back of the van, and he slowly raised his crowbar, approaching the van. He slowly put his hand on the handle, and pulled it open, prepared for the worst. A squirrel popped out of the van, scurrying away. Owen took a deep breath, and heard footsteps behind him. He quickly and swiftly turned around to hit whatever was behind him, but his arm was grabbed, before he could swing. Emily stood there, holding onto his arm, holding her crossbow in the other one.

“Are we good?” she asked, looking at the sweaty Owen.

“Yeah, sorry.” he said, as Emily let go of his arm.

“What the hell are you doing out here alone?”

“I could ask you the same question…”

“I’m not in the mood for these games.” she said, interrupting him. “You’re taking this too easily.”

“Taking what?” he asked, as the two started to walk.

“The whole part that we’re all infected!” she said, her voice getting more tense as she said it.

“Just don’t think about it.” he said.

“Easy for you to say.” she said. “This changes everything, for me. My mom and my dad and my little sister are out there; and they’re more than likely dead or one of those things.”

“I know how you feel.” he said, picking up a bottle of water that was lying on the road. “But, we have to keep pushing on. You, Violet, we all gotta pull together to make things right.”

“Good luck with that.” Emily said, rolling her eyes.

“It’ll be hard, I know. But we can do it.”

Emily just nodded and walked into a different direction, away from Owen.

Trent went through a car, going frantically through the glove compartment. He threw out all the papers and all the stale gum out of the way. When he obviously didn’t get what he wanted, he cursed to himself, wiping some sweat away from his forehead. He turned around, and saw a couple of zombies walking over to him. Trent frantically reached back into the car, looking for something to use, but never taking his eyes off of the incoming zombies. He felt something in his hand, and he pulled out a lighter.

“Shit.” he muttered, dropping it.

Trent looked around for anything to use, and then looked at the car. He went on top of the car, for leverage, and looked around to see what he could do. From on top of the car, he could see there was at least thirteen zombies on their way to him. He looked around, and saw Jessica walking with Langston.

“Over here.” he said, just loud enough for Langston to here.

Langston turned, seeing Trent on top of the car, and Jessica turned too. Langston lifted his shotgun, and jogged over to him, with Jessica getting her crossbow ready. Langston got to Trent, and saw the incoming zombies. He raised his shotgun, but was stopped by Jessica, who lowered his gun. She lifted up her crowbar, and shot an arrow, hitting one of the zombies in the head. Trent jumped off the car, and went down with Langston and Jessica.

“What do we do? We can’t take them all on.” Langston asked, looking at the two.

“We could let them pass.” Jessica said.

“How could we do that?”

“Get under the cars.” Langston said, seeing more zombies come from the woods. “I’ll go warn the others.”

Jessica nodded, and Langston ran off. Jessica grabbed Trent by the hand, and pulled him to the ground. She brought him over to the closest car, and the two went under it.

Langston ran, seeing Sean walking with Valerie and Emily. He ran over to them as fast as he could, and right away they could tell something was wrong.

“What’s wrong?” asked Valerie, upon seeing Langston.

“Under the cars, now. A whole lot of them are coming.” Langston said, breathing heavily. “I’ll get the rest.” he said, running off as the three got to the ground.

Kelly opened a car door, and looked over on top of the seat, seeing a purse with blood splattered all over it. Kelly reached over the seat, picking up the purse, and she started to go through it. She pulled out a wallet, and a driver’s license, which was a Pennsylvania license. It had a picture of a black-haired woman, it says she was 37 years-old, and her name was “Karen Alexander”. Kelly looked on the floor of the passenger seat, seeing a big photo book. Kelly sighed, and picked it up, opening the first page. The first one was a 16 year-old girl, holding a baby. She skipped ahead a few pages, and saw someone who looked very familiar. As she skipped to the end of the book, she saw a photo of the mom, a younger girl, and a man who she quickly recognized to be Paul. They were huddled around a birthday cake, as the little girl was blowing out her birthday candles. Kelly looked back at Paul, who was with Violet, Kira, Julia, and Ryker, showing them the best techniques when involved with melee. Kelly looked back down at the picture of him, and then to him, not knowing what to do. She then looked up, seeing Langston running towards the group, signaling for them to get down. Kelly saw Paul, Jake, everyone drop to the floor, and roll underneath one of the cars. She saw Langston running to her, and she got to the floor, rolling underneath the car. Langston got to her, and went under with her.

Underneath a Sedan, Amanda lied with Ike. Ike was watching as the feet got closer and closer to them. Amanda though, was watching Ike, and she looked beyond nervous. Ike looked at Amanda, and tried to ignore her, but to no avail.

"This could be your ultimate revenge right here." he said, quietly. "Push me out from underneath, I die, and you all live."

Amanda shook her head, trying to remain as quiet as she could. Ike looked back at her, and he put his head down on the pavement, trying to cancel out all that was happening. Amanda watched the feet now, as hey started to slowly walk past the car.

Owen walked down the highway, not realizing the grave threat coming towards him. He kicked a rock as he walked, not paying attention to his surroundings. He walked around a car, and finally saw the herd of infected walking towards him. He saw Violet hiding underneath one of the cars with Paul, and he turned around and ran. He ran until he saw an open UPS truck. He ran to it, and jumped in the back, closing it behind him. He slowly walked backwards, tripping over a package, falling into the big pile of them.

Violet and Paul looked around, as the feet of the undead slowly walked past them. Paul looked to the car next to him, looking at Olivia and Kira who both were shaking nervously. He looked behind him, where Jake lied with Ryker and Julia. Paul took a deep breath, and tried to not think about what was going on, but he knew that wasn't going to just happen. Violet moved a little farther away from Paul, to get some more room, but doing so, her hair was showing, although no zombies seemed to care or notice.

Jessica lied with Trent under one of the cars, and they didn't see any more footsteps at this point.

"Are they pass us?" asked Trent, quietly.

"I think so." Jessica whispered.

Jessica slowly rolled out from underneath the car, holding her crossbow just in case she needed it. She looked around, not seeing any zombies near them, and she stood up. Trent rolled out too, standing next to her. They looked out, seeing all of the zombies still aimlessly walking.

Ike was still lying under the car with Amanda. He had his head pressed up against the road, ready to give up. He looked over at Amanda, who was still shaking in fear, and his mind started racing with ways to sacrifice him to save her and the rest. He knew he didn't deserve to be here, while everyone else was dead. All he had to do, was roll into the street, and maybe give them enough time to get the hell out of there.

A zombie walked through the highway, walking aimlessly. As it walked with the others, out of the corner of it's eye, it saw Violet's hair; but it didn't seem to care for it. As it walked, it stepped on her hair, and from underneath the car, a painful grunt came out.

Paul pulled Violet closer to the middle of the car, and put his hand over her mouth. All of the zombies who were close started to crowd the car, trying to get under it. A zombie started to crawl from underneath the car, and got to their legs. It took a big bite of Violet's ankle, and she let out a painful scream. Paul takes the silenced pistol, and shoots thezombie was that was attacking Violet. As Violet cried in pain, Paul tried to look for a way out, which seemed to not be possible. Paul just shot at the zombies, hoping that someone would come to their rescue or that this would end as quickly as possible. He looked down on Violet's leg, and wuickly realized she was gone. The sobbing Violet, frantically kicked at any zombies that came near her. Paul looked at her, and aimed his gun at the back of her head, "I'm sorry." he muttered, before pulling the trigger.

Credits

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

Deaths

 * Violet Middleton