The Bowl/Issue 9

This is Issue 9 of The Bowl, entitled "The Aftermath".

This issue was wrriten by Headaches and Jamie141, with the challenge Two Is A Couple.

Issue 9, The Aftermath
It was three hours before Steve, Charley and Mark returned from the supply run. Three hours of fear, worry and bloodshed. Charley rolled the car that they had taken on the supply run slowly towards the base. Bodies loitered the pavement outside. Mark peered out of the passenger door. He recgonised some of the bodies. However, most of the bodies were unrecogniseable, Mark wasn't sure if that was because he'd never seen the people before or they were too mangled to recognise. Charley parked the car just outside of the gates.

"Stay alert." Steve instructed as they got out of the car. They walked inside safetly, only taking down one infected on their way.

Peel, Kyle, Harrison, Joel and Daniel sat on overturned crates inside one of the buildings. Adam knelt down on the floor, leaning over the only body that hadn't been cleared from the room. Peel looked up at Charley as they walked in, tears swelled in her eyes.

Charley dropped her gun and ran over to Adam. He pressed a damp cloth onto the body's stomach - it was Josh. He had been shot during the attack. His skin was pale and he was barely alive.

Resisting to let out a shocked gasp, Charley knelt down beside Josh and looked him over seeing his wounds while Steve and Mark just stood there and watched as Josh lied on the floor unable to move.

"W-what happened?" Charley asked, finding it a bit hard to form words as she tore her eyes from Josh to look up at Adam. He glanced up at her for only a second before looking back down at the boy.

"We were attacked....by those "others"." Peel explained to the three while Adam replaced the damp cloth with another. But, before he could go back to what he was doing, Charley took it from him. She pressed it to Josh's stomach while motioning for Adam to fill in the situation. Turning her attention down to Josh, she smiled at him, trying to keep his eyes open and him talking.

"We fought back as best as we could." Joel told them. "We took down most of them but I think some got away. They might be regrouping somewhere."

"We have to leave, then." Mark said. "We don't have enough people to take another attack."

"We can't leave this place." Adam insisted. "We have shelter, a view of the city and ammunition stocked for months."

"Do you see how many of us are left?" Mark shouted. "We have to leave!"

"I'm with Mark." Kyle admitted.

Charley sighed deeply as a tear rolled down her cheek. She turned around and stood up.

"He's... Dead." Charley choked out. This wasn't the time for crying - she had to stay strong. Peel walked over and hugged the younger woman.

Steve peered over to see Josh. He lay lifelessly on the floor. His eyes were still open. The bloodstain on his t-shirt had stopped spreading. Steve slowly dragged his fingers down Josh's cold face, closing his eyes.

A silence passed through the group as they looked at Josh's dead body. It was interrupted by Adam's sigh, mumbling about how hard they had worked for this place as he walked away.

<p style="line-height:20px;">They looked at each other before Harrison followed him out, probably to see if he could do anything to help Adam. After the two had left, a silence once again passed until Mark stepped up in front of them.

<p style="line-height:20px;">"So, who's in favor of leaving?" He asked, looking to each of them. They all nodded, agreeing that it sounds like its the best option. However, Charley just stared at Josh's body, trying to decide what he would want to do when Steve came over and interrupted her thoughts by puttinng a hand on her shoulder.

<p style="line-height:20px;margin-bottom:0px!important;">"You okay? We asked you if you was ready to move him somewhere better but you seem to be in a world of your own." Steve asked her. She turned to nod at him, giving him the go ahead to move his body but didnt answer his question.

<p style="line-height:20px;margin-bottom:0px!important;">Charley ran a hand through her hair as she sat down on Harrison's crate. She bit her lip in an attempt to stop herself from bursting into tears. Mark sat down on the crate next to her. He placed one of his hands on top of both of hers.

<p style="line-height:20px;">"It's okay to cry, you know?" Mark told her. Charley didn't reply and pulled her hands away, rejecting his friendly gesture. Suddenly, Harrison bursted into the room.

<p style="line-height:20px;">"We found someone!" He exclaimed. A few seconds later, Adam walked in, followed by a girl. She was nineteen with blonde hair that was tied into a messy plat. There was a huge gash across her forehead and her lip was busted.

<p style="line-height:20px;">"Bella! Come here, dear!" Peel jumped up from her chair and opened her arms. The girl, Bella, walked towards Peel and hugged her. When they moved away, Peel continued. "Bella worked with me in the kitchens. Someone help clean her up!"

<p style="line-height:20px;">After Daniel applied a bandage to her forehead, Bella introduced herself. They found out that she was twenty and originally from Wisconsin in America.

<p style="line-height:20px;margin-bottom:0px!important;">"We're planning to leave the base within the next hour. We need to find somewhere to sleep before the sun goes down." Adam told her. "I'm sure The Others will be back."

<p style="line-height:20px;margin-bottom:0px!important;">Bella nodded to Adam before looking down at her hands, probably unsure of what else to say. They couldn't blame her... Everyone was unsure of what to say. Noticing everyone go back into silence, Adam decided that they all looked pretty down about the whole situation and shared a look with Steve, knowing he was thinking the same thing.

<p style="line-height:20px;">Standing up and catching everyone's attention, Adam quickly processed what to say in his head before he spoke.

<p style="line-height:20px;">"It's going to be ok you know? We've survived this long and we're going to survive a hell of a lot longer!" He started looking to each group member in turn.

<p style="line-height:20px;">"We honor those who died today by surviving ourselves. Who knows? Maybe we might even find another community like this one out there. We gotta keep up hope that we can do this, right?" He finished. But, when he got no answer, he raised his voice slightly.

<p style="line-height:20px;">"ALRIGHT?" He shouted, putting on a major-like voice, resulting with nods and mumbles of yes's. Harrison shouted a "yes sir" and saluted. Peel smiled.

<p style="line-height:20px;margin-bottom:0px!important;">"Good, now get ready to leave." Adam told the group. <h2 style="line-height:20px;margin-bottom:0px!important;">Deaths


 * Josh Brady

<h2 style="line-height:20px;margin-bottom:0px!important;">Credits


 * Steve Tusk
 * Mark Tusk
 * Charley Simmons
 * Peel Rustjovik
 * Josh Brady
 * Kyle
 * Adam
 * Harrison Blueman
 * Daniel McFrank
 * Joel Everett
 * Bella James