Surviving, Not Living/Issue 26

This is Issue 26 of Surviving, Not Living, entitled ''Seventy-One. ''This is the second issue of Volume 5.

Issue 26 - Seventy-One
Vicky drove the car around to the front of the school, stopping in front of the main entrance. Jack, Danny and Bobby climbed in and left Charlotte to say goodbye to Ava.

"I'll be back soon, okay?" Charlotte told Ava as they hugged.

"Yes." Ava sighed, hearing the same phrase for the umpteenth time.

"I want you to stay inside of the main building while I'm gone. If you get into any trouble, just scream. "Amelia, Jackie, Zach or Ellie will come running."

"Come on!" Danny shouted, making the car's horn sound. "We're burning daylight.

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Go inside."

"Bye Auntie Char." Ava smiled before turning around and skipping inside. Charlotte watched the little girl as she skipped over to Zach and began conversation.

"She'll be fine with me." He shouted.

"I know." Charlotte called in response.

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Vicky drove the car along the deserted highway, unsure of their destination.

"You're driving too slow." Jack told her, sitting in the passenger seat. "Drive faster or the gas'll run out before we even get there."

"I have to drive slow, this way I can preserve the gas." Vicky snapped.

"Well, if we break down, I'm not getting out to push." He informed them.

"You're legs would give out, if you tried to push, anyway." Bobby said, under his breath.

"What was that?" Jack asked.

"Nothing." He murmured.

The car fell near-silent for a few minute, the only sound was Danny's groaning due to being wedged between Charlotte and Bobby. All that could be seen out of the windows was trees, grass and the occasional infected. Eventually, Vicky pulled over to the side of the road.

"Where the hell are we even going?" She exclaimed. "We haven't passed anything and it could be the same for miles."

"I think there's a mall that's not too far away." Danny stated. "My mom used to go there monthly to do her shopping. Do you remember it, Dad?"

"I vaguely remember. I don't know if it'll be any use, but we can try it." Jack told them.

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It had been an hour since the small group had departed for the supply run and Zach and Amelia sat at the dining table. Ava was outside, playing hopscotch by herself.

"I think it's about time that you told me about yourself. I mean, you know about my family." Zach started. "What about yours?"

"You know about my family. Bobby is my half-brother and I'm sure someone has told you about our parents." Amelia replied.

"Yeah, I know about that." He said. "What about your real mom?"

"My real mom wasn't a very kind woman, for the most part. I remember her being nice to me until I was about five. That's when the problems began." Amelia stopped talking to take a deep breath. "Behind my dad's back, she would hit me. Sometimes, she'd even say I was a failed abortion."

"I'm sorry for asking. You don't have to continue." Zach leaned forwards and touched Amelia's knee. She lifted her hand and wiped a tear from her cheek.

"No, its fine. I don't normally get emotional but I don't think I've thought about her for years." She admitted. Then, Amelia turned around to check on Ava. Ava walked slowly across the playground, frowning.

"She's missing Danny, I think." Zach acknowledged.

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The old Hyundai rolled into the mall's multi-storey car park. None of the cars parked in the building looked in good condition. Vicky undone her seatbelt, grabbed her gun and exited the car.

"We got here on my driving, then." Vicky smirked. Jack rolled his eyes as Danny helped him out of the car. Bobby joined Charlotte in observing the parked cars.

"Jack isn't going to survive two minutes. If he's gotta be helped out of the car seat, he has no chance." Bobby moaned.

"I know." Charlotte sighed. "We should've forced him to stay back."

"Well, there's no going back now." He told her. "Especially with a grumpy old man like him."

The group decide to carry out a weapon check before going into the mall. Jack and Vicky held the only two guns while Bobby, Jackie and Charlotte each held a knife from the school's kitchen.

A long, brick, bridge stood between the car park and the mall. The five walked along the bridge, choosing to ignore the few wandering infected. The mall was completely trashed. Every pane of glass had been shattered into a million pieces. All of the stores had been looted, even the electrionics store was empty.

"There's not going to be a car in here." Charlotte scoffed. Vicky pushed Bobby forwards, wordlessly telling him to speak to Charlotte.

"I'm sure there is. We've just go to keep looking." He said after clearing his throat.

"Whatever." She sighed.

"Okay, you need to stop, Charlotte." Bobby told her.

"Stop what?" Charlotte scoffed.

"Exactly that!"

She sighed. "It's been a though week for me."

"And, you don't think it's been a tough week for everyone else?"

"You don't understand, Bobby. It's my week. I'm on-"

"Will everyone please stop telling me that I don't understand? First Jackie and now you!"

"I'm on my period!" Charlotte screamed, stopping on the spot. Her final word echoed around the halls of the deserted shopping mall. Danny burst out laughing as Bobby awkwardly scratched his neck. Jack decided to take drastic measures to shut his son up, resulting in Danny's receiving an elbow to the stomach.

Bobby opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by a shrill scream. He turned around and the spot and counted the group members.

"Where's Vicky?"

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Ellie sat around the back of the school, on steps that lead to the playground. She rested her head on her fist and sighed. She was bored - Zach was busy with Amelia and Jackie hadn't been capable of holding a conversation in days. The only other person to talk to was Ava.

Ava was walking around the playground, all alone. Solemnly, she held her hands behind her back. Ava wore a red, ripped t-shirt that Charlotte had made out of the clothes that were found.

Deciding to speak to the unfamiliar child, Ellie stood up and brushed the dirt from her skirt. She strutted over to Ava, stopping a few feet away.

"Hey Ava. Do you wanna play hopscotch or something?" She asked.

"No, thank you." Ava replied.

"I know this awesome game called Tick Tack Toe." Ellie suggested.

Ava hesitated before replying. "Auntie Char says that I can't talk to you."

"And why's that?" The blonde raised an eyebrow.

"She thinks that Dallas has sent you two in. To, like, kill us in our sleep or something." Ava explained. "But, you haven't even spoke to her. Have you?"

"No, that's true." Ellie sighed, taking a step closer to the younger girl. Quickly, Ava took two steps back. "What are you hiding, Ava?"

"Nothing!" She claimed. Ellie raised her eyebrows again. Ava sighed and put her hands out in front of her. A pistol laid on her palms.

"Where did you find that?"

"Under my bed. Can you teach me?" Ellie was taken aback at Ava's forwardness. "Charlotte refuses to let anyone teach me yet I've nearly died a billion times."

"I'll do it. But, you don't tell anyone that it was me who taught you." Ellie shot a quick look back to the school before beginning.

She started with rules - don't fire unless you have to, always keep the safety off, never point a gun, loaded or unloaded, at a friend. Then, Ellie led Ava to the metal fence that surrounded the school.

"Relax you arms and prepare yourself for the kick." She instructed. "That's all, Ava. Accuracy can't be taught. Go on... Try and take that one down." Ellie pointed to one of the infected that stood out from the crowd. The little that was left of it's hair had been tied into pigtails and it wore a faded green t-shirt.

"Okay..." Ava took a step forwards and, shakily, pulled the trigger. The bullet penetrated the infected's shoulder.

"Use your other to keep steady." Ellie told her. Ava placed her right hand on top of her left. It took four more shots to take the infected down.

"I did it!" She jumped, pleased with herself.

"I think that's enough for today." Ellie said. "We don't want to attract any more infected.

Slowly, the pair walked back to main building together.

"What's going on?" Amelia ran out, holding a knife.

"We heard gunshots." Zach appeared beside her. Jackie peered out of her bedroom's window.

"Don't worry. I found a pistol by the fence - one of the infected must have dropped it." Ellie lied.

Amelia sighed and shook her head, returning into the dining room. Zach ushered the other two inside and closed the door behind them.

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Breathless, Vicky jumped out from a t-junction of shops. She sprinted up to Bobby and bent over, trying to regain her breath.

"Infected..." She gasped. "I haven't seen a group of that many in years. It looks like most of them were trampled to death as people tried to escape the mall."

"How many are there?" Danny asked, starting to hear the groans.

"Two hundred, maybe." Vicky told him. She had finally caught her breath. "Probably more."

"There's no way that there are two hundred infected together..." He doubted.

As if on cue, all two hundred infected limped around the corner. Danny's mouth fell open, not believing his eyes. It was the biggest gathering of infected that he had ever scene.

"Everyone, run!" Bobby ordered.

Sprinting as fast as they could, the five began to retrace their steps. The group reached a t-junction and, without thinking, Danny pulled his father back the way they came.

"No, stop!" Bobby called to him, grinding to a halt. "Infected or not, our job hasn't changed. We need to find a car."

"I need to get my dad safe." Danny answered, not stopping. By this time, the infected had caught up and created a wall between then. Charlotte, Vicky and Bobby were forced to run the opposite way. The infected seemed to split off unevenly; two thirds of the herd followed Danny and Jack.

After running for a while, the group of three collapsed to the floor. They had created quite a  distance between them and the infected but could only afford to stop for a few minutes. Vicky's eyes widened as she felt something in her pocket. She reached in and pulled out the car keys.

"Danny isn't going to get far without these." Vicky told them.

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The infected were hot on Jack's heels. Danny was determined to get his father out of there, no matter what it took. The twenty-something man grabbed Jack's collar and yanked it. Danny immediately regretted this decision as Jack fell to the floor, the sound of a snapping bone filling the air.

Danny turned around to see an infected topple on top of Jack. The old man used his gun and quickly fired. Like Ava, Jack's hand was shaking and his accuracy was poor. Soon, numerous infected overwhelmed him.

"No!" Danny screamed, jumping forwards. In a fit of rage, he took out as many infected as he could. He couldn't support himself and his father, not with one knife, causing three infected to topple on to Jack.

Danny threw his knife to the floor and grabbed his father by the shoulders. On the third try, he managed to pull Jack from the infected's grasps. It was too late. A chunk of his kneck had been ripped out. Danny threw Jack's arm over his shoulder and the pair limped away. Danny tried to hold his tears in.

"I fear this is g-goodbye." Jack stuttered as the gap between the infected and the pair increased.

"No, not yet. You're too young." Danny sobbed. Despite being the only healthy one, he found it hard to carry on.

"You're strong, Daniel. You can survive this. If you stick with Bobby and Amelia, you'll go far." Jack told him as they turned a corner.

A tiny bit of hope managed to find it's way inside of Danny's mind. Not too far away, a large truck had smashed through the wall of the mall. Tripping over pieces of brick and glass, Dannny moved his father closer to the vehicle. He threw open the driver's seat door and checked for keys and gas. Both were present. Next, he moved around to the passenger's side and tried the door. It was jammed.

"You've gotta go in the back." Danny told him. "Trust me, I don't want you to go in there. Keep pressure on your wound and I'll get you back to the school."

With a groan, Jack fell on to the wooden floor of the truck. Danny slammed the door and ran to the front. It took a few tries but the vehicle burst into action. He reversed over the pile of bricks and sped off.

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"Wait! Stop!" Charlotte shouted, abruptly stopping. A sound, previously in the background, began to rise in volume. The horn of Danny's truck bounced around the mall's walls.

"We need to get out of here. That's gotta be the other two!" Vicky admitted.

"Up head! Look!" Bobby called as the three started to run again. Two, inactive, sliding doors at the end of the hall were blocked by two infected. Vicky raised her gun and fired. It only took three shots to take the pair of monsters down. Vicky fired once more - this time, the bullet hit the door's glass. It shattered, carving them a path to the outside.

The trio stood at the front of the mall. Many average-looking cars loitered the place. Bobby wished that they had gone there first. Opposite them, Danny sped across the road; his emotions reducing his driving skill. He didn't stop driving, only slowed down the car.

Charlotte was the first one to jump into the back of the car. She helped Bobby up and, finally, Vicky. Although, nothing could prepare them for the next thing that they saw... Jack, lying on the cold, wooden floor. Blood still flowed out from his veins, turning his skin pale. There was no movement, not even in his eyes. Jack was dead.