Surviving, Not Living/Issue 5

This is Issue 5 of Surviving, Not Living, titled Split.

Issue 5:
“Are we ready?” Amelia asked as she, Bobby and Sarah stood behind the front door. They had decided to walk along the high road and try to siphon petrol form the deserted cars. Amelia eventually decided against Bobby coming but eventually let him come, his cold had nearly dissapeared - along a cough remained. Sarah and Amelia both desperately needed toiletries and their only option was the Walmart at the other end of the main road. But, without any gas, the trip to Walmart was impossible. Sarah nodded and Bobby gave her a nervous smile, signalling it was time to go.

Amelia threw the door backwards and sprinted outside, sending a clean shot through an infected’s head. Sarah ran bedside her, shooting rapidly at the three infected approaching the two. Bobby ran to the opposite side of the lawn, swinging his axe and slicing an infected’s head in two.

“Go!” He shouted to Amelia and Sarah. Sarah walked backwards to the end of the lawn, shooting the infected approaching them, while Amelia sprinted onto the main road. Bobby quickly ran over and swung his axe into the head of an infected that Sarah kept missing. Amelia shot one final bullet and everything was quiet.

“Let’s go quickly.” Amelia told the others. “The gunshots would have attratced more infected. They’ll be drawn to here and hopefully clear off by the time they return.”

The three started to speed-walk along the main road. There were no cars in sight.

“This is gonna be a long day.” Bobby commented.

After fourty-five minutes, the group came to their first car. It looked like it had span off the road and crashed into a tree. Bobby pulled the siphoning gear out of his bag and began to work at the car.

Sarah walked over to the car and tried to look inside. The windows were covered in a layer of dirt which made it hard to see inside. She blew at the dust and it flew from the screen, creating a cloud around her which she could not see through. As the dust cleared, Sarah jumped at the sight. An infected was clawing at the vehicle’s window, but it was restrained by a seat belt. It struggled, desperate for the taste of flesh.

Sarah rose her gun to put it out of its misery before Amelia interrupted her, “Don’t. It’s not worth the ammunition.”

“I’m done.” Bobby grabbed the pressurised cannister from next to the car. “We’re going to need a heck of a lot more to make the round trip to Walmart.”

Amelia nodded and began to continue to walk down the road with Sarah. She pulled her hair, tightening the hairband.

“I need new clothes.” Bobby ruined the silence.

“What?” Amelia asked.

“I need new clothes.” He repeated. “I’ve been wearing these clothes ever since I was big enough for them.”

“And before that, I remember you wearing them clothes when they were about two sizes too big - Sarah had to roll them up.” She laughed. A tiny but detectable smirk appeared on Sarah’s face. “I always thought I’d be the one to moan about not having any clothes. I remember all my disney princess dress-up costumes - Mulan, Aurora, Rapunzel.

“Aw, you must have been so cute.” Bobby tormented as he hugged Amelia from the side.

“Well, we did save my Snow White costume and we did make you try it on when you were younger. We took a picutre with that camera thing that prints the pictures straight away. I’ll dig it out of my drawrers later.” Amelia smiled.

“You dare.” He laughed. Their banter was cut short by a gunshot. The two quickly span around on the spot, raising their guns to the firing position. Sarah was standing over the corpse of a recently taken out infected. Although, groans could still be heard. The groans got louder and louder as Sarah walked back to stand beside Amelia and Bobby. All of a sudden, more and more infected began to emerge from the trees.

“There’s too many.” Amelia called as they started to split her and Bobby from Sarah. Sarah began to shoot down the infected. One by one, the crowd racing towards her were put down but more came from the trees - too many to handle. Bobby split an infected’s head with his axe but there were also too many to handle for him. Panicking and without thinking, Bobby and Amelia ran in opposite directions. Bobby ran along the main road, in the direction of their house, whereas Amelia ran across the road and into the fields on the other side. Sarah quickly turned around and began to run down the main road, the opposite direction of the house.

The infected split into three groups, one chasing each member of the group. Amelia had chosen the worst path of the three - through tall grass that came up to her waist. With low visibilty, she stayed alert at all times. Amelia ran through the grass quickly, firing random shots in hope it would hit an infected that was trying to eat her. Luckily, Amelia reached another road full of cars. She looked around, noticing that the infected were still following her, and dived into a nearby RV. Amelia pulled the door shut and locked it by the tiny, metal lock. She ran around the small kitchen and living room and shut all the windows and pulled the blinds. Amelia was invisible to the infected, now she just had to wait them out.

Meanwhile, across the field, Sarah wasn’t having as much luck as Amelia. She was still running down the high road and the infected were close behind her. Sarah was getting out of breath and the infected showed no signs of stopping. Pushing herself she ran on and on, right into the sunset.

By this time, Bobby had made it back to the house. After a while, he shakily managed to get his key into the lock and opened the door. He frantically searched the house for more ammuntion and more guns. Bobby found the shotgun lying on Amelia’s bed and began to wonder why she hadn’t taken it, but pushed the thought aside in order to not waste time. Without hesitation, he ran back outside, ready to help his friends.

“''I remember tears streaming down your face when I said, “I'll never let you go." "When all those shadows almost killed your light. I remember you said, “Don't leave me here alone"." But, all that's dead and gone and passed tonight.''” Amelia began to sing from inside the bedroom of the RV.

“''Just close your eyes, the sun is going down. You'll be alright, no-one can hurt you now. Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound.''”

Sarah continued to run, off into the sunset.

“''Don't you dare look out your window, darling, everything's on fire. The war outside our door keeps raging on. Hold on to this lullaby, even when the music's gone, gone.''”

Bobby sprinted down the road, looking for any signs on where his friends had gone.

“''Just close your eyes, the sun is going down. You'll be alright, no-one can hurt you now. Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound.''”

Amelia dropped her face into her hands and began to cry.

End of Issue 5

Trivia

 * The song that Amelia sings at the end is called Safe & Sound by Taylor Swift ft. The Civil Wars.