Surviving, Not Living/Issue 28

This is a teaser for Issue 28 of Surviving, Not Living, entitled The Earth's Most Valuable Resource. This is the fourth issue of Volume 5.

Issue 28 - The Earth's Most Valuable Resource
Jackie sprinted through the halls of the infected-ridden school. Somehow, she had found herself in the off-limits block that was full of infected. Jackie wore a baggy, camouflage jacket over the top of a plain, white shirt. Her jeans had been ripped by nails and blood poured out from her skin. She held a pistol in her right hand. On top of the pistol, a flashlight had been strapped.

Outside, the sun had began to set, casting an orange glow across everything in the corridor. Jackie stopped quickly and leant over, trying to catch her breath. The forthcoming groaned in her ear. Jackie started to run again - forever hearing them, but never seeing them.

The blonde quickly ran into the room to her right, slamming the door shut behind her. Jackie sighed and slid down the door. Catching up with her, the infected clawed on the door. Finally managing to relax, Jackie exhaled deeply. She rested her head on the door and closed her eyes, taking two deep breaths. She let her gun fall to the side.

Jackie snapped her eyes back open when she heard groaning coming from inside the room. Reacting quickly, Jackie grabbed her pistol from the floor and turned the torch on. She used the torch to scan the room, starting at the left. When she was only half done, the torch began to flicker. It flashed on-and-off as the groans got louder. Jackie brought her hand up and sent it crashing down on the torch. After repeating this action twice more, the light clearly shone.

Part of Jackie wished that she hadn't had got the torch working. Infront of her, Doug stood. His face was a grotesque mess, yet Jackie still knew that it was him. One of his eyeballs hung low and a huge chunk of his head was missing. As he stumbled forwards, he tripped over his exposed intestines and fell to the floor.

Panicking, Jackie turned around and pulled the door open. She quickly shut it again, remembering the mass number of infected that had been following her. By this time, the infected version of Doug was already on his feet.

"I-I can't." She sobbed. Jackie broke down - her feet went to jelly and she fell to the floor. The infected Doug leapt forwards and closed his teeth around Jackie's neck.

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Screaming, Jackie broke out of her slumber. Sweat drenched the top that she had slept in. Bobby bursted into the room, followed closely by Vicky.

"Are you okay?" He asked, genuinely worried.

"Yeah... yeah." She panted. "Just a bad dream."

Vicky sighed loudly, expressing her disgust at being awoke. Without hesitation, she stormed back to her bedroom. The sun had already risen across Georgia, pushing light through the cracks in the curtains. Bobby walked over, pushing them back and letting light fill the room.

Quickly, Jackie got up from the bed and pulled on some khaki trousers. She didn't want Bobby to see her in just her underwear and a t-shirt. He didn't turn around, respecting Jackie's privacy.

"I'm decent." She quietly declared.

Bobby turned to face her. He sat on the bed, next to her, before speaking. "What was it about? If you don't mind me asking..."

"It was Doug, Bobby. They're always about Doug." Jackie sighed. "I was in the other school block. There were infected everywhere and I was alone. I escaped into one of the class rooms but... Doug was there. He was infected..."

Wrapping his arms around her, Bobby tried to comfort Jackie. She tried to suppress her sobs but they returned. For a while, she cried in Bobby's arms. Jackie finally stopped crying when her throat ran dry. Bobby loosened his arms as she pulled away and stood up.

"I'm going to get some water." She told him, heading towards the door.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Bobby called after her.

"No, I'll be fine." Jackie assured.

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A few minutes later, Jackie stood in the dining hall. She used a hand pump to draw the water from the source to the tap. She placed a red plastic cup underneath the spout and twisted the nozzle. Unexpectedly, nothing came out of the tap until, a few seconds later, a gooey red liquid gushed out. Jackie quickly turned the tap off.

"Hey Jackie." Zach limped into the room. He coughed hard before collapsing into one of the chairs. "I don't feel too good. Can you get me a cup of water, please?"

"I wish I could." Jackie said, scrunching her face up in confusion. "There's no water... I-I think it's blood."

"What's going on?" Charlotte asked, entering the room.

"Go and get Amelia." The blonde ordered. "This is going to be a problem."

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Amelia, Bobby and Charlotte followed the pipe that connected to the tap in the hall to a freshwater stream. The system had already been set up and running when the group had arrived, much to their surprise. The river was no longer full of water, the liquid had been replaced with thick blood. However, there was no sign of what had caused the blood to fill the stream.

"There must be an infected upstream somewhere." Bobby told them.

The trio walked in silence for a while, before Charlotte spoke up. "I've been thinking... There must've been people here, not long before we arrived."

"Go on..." Amelia said, interested.

"Well, there were two bottles of fresh water, just lying on the table, when we first arrived." Charlotte began. "If it'd been in them bottles for more than a week, it would've gone stale. Also, the other two blocks of school classrooms were already boarded up. If the cardboard that they had used to reinforce the doors had been there for a long time, it would've split and infected would have burst through."

"You're right." Bobby agreed. "With everything that's been going on, Doug, Jack 'n' all, I haven't even thought about it."

"And, this system of transporting the water to the main building. No-one here is clever enough to even start to construct something like this." She finished.

"It just makes you wonder, where have the people that used to li-"

"Be quiet!" Amelia interrupted, hushing them. "Look..."

Along the stream, a horse laid. There was a huge split in his stomach and two infected were feasting on it's guts. The three slowly crouched and hid behind a bunch of foliage.

"We're not using the gun, okay?" Amelia instructed. Bobby smiled. He secretly liked the fact that his sister had been taking on the role of the group leader - and not just because that meant less work for him.

"Agreed. Let's go." Charlotte nodded.

Bobby was the first one to rise to his feet. Slowly, he crept towards one of the walkers. He froze when a fallen branch snapped underneath his boot. The infected paused and it’s ears perked up, as if it was listening out for something. Bobby sighed when it went back to eating the horse. Again, he crept closer and closer until…

“To your left!” Charlotte shouted. Bobby had been so focused on creeping up to the infected, that he hadn’t realised that another was limping out of the foliage. The infected jumped onto Bobby and pushed him to the ground. He landed with a thud as the undead collapses on top of him. Quickly, the man grabbed hold of its shoulders and flipped it over. Bobby was now on top of it. Leaning to the side, he grabbed a rock – about the size of his palm.

However, the other two infected had heard the commotion and decided to ditch the horse for the taste of fresh meat. Although, Charlotte and Amelia weren’t having that. The two girls jumped into action. Amelia took down the first infected, swinging her arm around and slamming the end of a screwdriver into her skull. The infected that Bobby straddled was putting up a fight. He had slammed the skull into its forehead over and over again but it just wouldn't die.

Charlotte had no time to help him as he infected was getting dangerously close. She thought about all the different ways she could take it down – take out it’s knee and smash it’s head in with her foot, grab Amelia’s screwdriver and use that, or knock it down with the muzzle of her gun. Her thoughts had distracted her and allowed the infected to get dangerously close. Charlotte quickly decided on her means of attack. She raised her hands and slammed the muzzle of her gun into the side of it’s head. It flew to the side and fell to the floor. The brunette picked up her foot and slammed it into the infected’s decaying skull. It collapsed with very little pressure, spilling pink pieces of brain everywhere.

“That was a bit of an adrenaline rush.” Bobby sarcastically said, climbing from the now-dead-again infected. Charlotte looked at him, giving him her I-am-not-amused face. “Come on, lighten up!”

“Let’s just move this thing and get back to the school.” Charlotte insisted. The three crowded around the deceased horse. It had been dead for a while. It’s skin was a pale brown colour and it’s eyelids had not been closed. Amelia grabbed the horse’s neck and the other two lifted up the animal’s legs. Unfortunately, Amelia pulled too fast and the horse’s stomach split open further. The rest of it’s insides joined the others on the floor.

“That’s gross.” She complained. “I’m turning vegetarian.”

“It’s not like our diet is only fruit and vegetables, anyway.” Charlotte snapped.

“Oh, shut up, Charlotte.” Amelia retaliated. “Winter’s coming hard and fast. Soon, we won’t even have fruit and vegetables to eat.”

Charlotte looked away and continued to lift the horse. When she knew that Charlotte wasn’t looking, Amelia put up her middle finger. Bobby shook his head and smirked.

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“It’s still not working.” In the kitchen, Ellie whined. She placed a cup underneath the spout and turned the tap on. Like before, nothing came from the tap until a clump of bloody god-knows-what fell out.

“Well, it can’t be a blockage in the pipe. I’ve checked every inch of it at least three times.” Bobby told her. Zach stumbled into the kitchen, clutching his stomach and coughing. Charlotte grabbed Ava out of her seat.

“Stay away from him, Ava. We don’t want you catching that nasty stuff.” She told the young girl.

“Doug would know what to do…” Jackie sighed, walking into the room.

“Well, Doug is dead, isn’t he?” Amelia snapped. Zach coughed again, squirming in pain.

“Woah, someone’s a bit agitated.” Bobby calmed. “I guess it’s hard when you’re on your period during an apocalypse.”

Amelia face screwed up and she clenched her fists. “For god sake, can’t a girl be a little on edge and not be accused of being on her fucking period?”

“Someone should just put him out of his misery.” Charlotte murmured, looking towards Zach.

“What was that, bitch?” Ellie strutted over to Charlotte. “You’ve never liked me or my husband, have you?”

“Not really.” Charlotte admitted.

“Well, if you remember correctly, he’s the reason that we all escaped from Dallas’ group.” The blonde spat. “We could have easily left you behind – sometimes I wish we would have.”

“Calm down, Mills.” Bobby spoke. “It was just a joke.”

“Don’t patronise me with that ‘Mills’ shit, Bobby!” Amelia demanded.

Slowly, the two arguments began to get more heated and the volume gradually rose. Danny stormed in and slammed the door behind him. The loud noise echoed around the room and caught everyone’s attention.

“I’m on watch tonight and I’m trying to get some sleep!” He exclaimed. “You guys need to learn to be more considerate.”

“We’re sorry, Danny. Just go back to sleep.” Bobby apologized. Danny sighed before turning around and heading back to one of the dorm rooms. Bobby turned back to Amelia. “I still don’t trust him to be on watch by himself. He’s still not over his dad’s death… I just don’t want him to do anything stupid – we need him.”