New Tomorrow/Part 3

This is Part 3 of New Tomorrow, entitled Streets.

Click here for the previous part.

Part 3 - Streets
The two became silent, adding to the already-serene atmosphere of the park. They just sat there, looking at the field of grass, the foliage, the trees in the distance. Like nothing mattered around them.

Elaine didn’t know how to say it yet. That she appreciates all of what Liam’s done for her. His faithfulness. His loyalty. That kiss wasn’t enough. She had to return that loyalty with her own.

She looks at Liam, then takes his left hand and places it on her lap. She then slips her right hand onto it and interlocks her fingers around his. She focus on their two hands, resisting of letting it go. She looks at Liam, to see how he felt.

His expression was nothing but bliss. He couldn’t believe if Elaine was finally serious about this. He transfers his eyes to her nose, then her lips…

Elaine smiles, and goes for it. She kisses him fervidly, closing her eyes in the process. Liam keeps his dazed look for the first few seconds, and eventually accepts. They both kiss, for the longest time. It was long overdue.

They both stop at the same time. Elaine looks at Liam, noticing his pinkish cheeks, and she rests her head on his shoulder. The grip they’ve maintained was still as tight.

Liam couldn’t help but smile. He looks down on Elaine’s black hair, and rests his head on top of it.

They both continue to look at the grass, its glisten against the sun growing more intense. Like the light above them was getting stronger, making the grass glow…

Liam felt like he was in a dream, until he was eventually forced to return to reality, when he hears an outside voice.

A woman’s voice, from his far left side. He shoots his head up and turns to look at her. //////////////// It felt like they’ve been standing there for only a few minutes. Both Liam and Elaine have lost track of time. They’ve already been there for a couple of hours.

A young woman, a stranger, stood a distance to their left, her look cautious, yet concerned. She had nothing in hand, and her outfit looked quite busy; leather jacket, boots, jeans, and a black scarf to conceal her neck. She had long, brown hair tied to a ponytail, with thick strands concealing a bit of her eyes.

“How long have you guys been sitting there?”

Both Liam and Elaine pull away from each other, with Liam putting his left hand behind his waist.

“Who are you?”

The young woman tightly seals her mouth and does a few looks around behind them.

“L-look—there’re walkers roaming around here. They’re starting to surround the blocks...”

Liam and Elaine look behind their bench to see what she was talking about. She wasn’t lying; there really were biters in the streets, scattered around and wandering. A few of them have taken notice of the three others.

“We’ll be going, then,” Liam says, standing up and looking at Elaine to follow. He takes his machete out and points it at the woman.

“Don’t follow us.”

Liam grabs Elaine’s hand and walks away from the bench, heading towards the direction of the duplex. He takes a few glances behind him to see if he’s intimidated the woman enough; so far, she was just standing there.

“W-wait… wait—it’s not safe over there—”

“We can take care of ourselves,” Liam replies right away.

“Hold on—” The woman hastily approaches them but was forced to stop once Liam faces and points his blade towards her.

“Hold on… just…” The woman puts both her hands up as a sign of caution and takes a few steps back. “At least… at least let me help you clear a few of them out...”

Liam scans the woman’s expression, then takes a few glances behind him, where the street leading to the duplex was. There was already a good number blocking it, but it wasn’t enough for them to worry too much about.

If they hadn’t taken so long… but Liam was still settled nonetheless, for having kept Elaine from her heavy thoughts and settling a few things.

Looking at it, Liam was starting to think twice about taking all of them head-on…

But he can’t risk it. It’s only him and Elaine. No one else.

“We’ll take our chances.” He turns around and heads toward the street, with Elaine following. “Stay behind me,” he says to her, and he takes a few more glances at the woman they’ve just left. “And keep an eye out on her.” Their distance from the woman grows as they walk away, from the park and into the street. Liam spins his handle on the blade and eyes the nearest biter to his front. //////////////// Liam effortlessly hacked and slashed his way toward the duplex, putting down every biter in his way with one fierce swing to the head. Elaine carefully trailed him, looking back and forth between Liam and the park behind her. He woman had apparently vanished, out of her sight… and it was continuously limited by the other biters that were starting to block her view.

Liam takes a few looks at Elaine. “We’re—” He slashes yet another biter away first. “—we’re getting out of here. Grab your stuff as—as quickly as possible and we run—”

Elaine takes a few more glances before completely turning toward Liam. “O-okay!” she replies.

“She still there?”

Elaine takes one more look. Nothing, but more biters. “N-no—” she replies right away.

Liam, after taking down yet another biter, takes a look himself. He sees a biter getting thrown onto its front, making way for… the young woman. She skips in between two other biters, holding something with both her hands. But the way she moved it hard for him to see.

“What the hell…” Liam, before completely facing the woman, hacks another biter away and ushers Elaine behind him.

“The hell are you doing?!” he shouts.

The woman takes notice of his somewhat divided attention and looks at him. “Helping!” she shouts back, and she quickly turns around and swings her weapon at the biter directly behind her.

It was clearer there, in Liam’s eyes. The woman was holding a black-and-yellow sledgehammer. She was looking like a force to be reckoned with. Liam doesn’t want to risk it.

He glances behind him and looks at the duplex’s door. “Elaine,” he says to her. “Just go inside, grab our bags. I’ll meet you there.” He faces her as she nods, and he runs ahead to clear her path a little better.

Elaine darts for the door, while Liam disposes of two more biters a few feet from her side. She quickly tackles the doors open toward their room and rushes for the two backpacks; one for her, and one for Liam.

Liam takes a few more looks at the woman before deciding to leave her behind, so that he can follow Elaine. He speeds through the opened doors and arrives toward the room door, seeing Elaine gather their stuff together.

“You good?” he asks, and Elaine notices him. She approaches and hands one of the bags for him to carry. “Yeah… are you?”

Liam briefly smirks, and nods. “Never better.” He slips the backpack on with machete in hand.

“Is she still following?” Elaine asks, and she peeks her head over the door. They both wait anxiously and get their answer right away.

The woman appears before them by nearly stumbling to their view. She sees them looking at her, her hair messily covering her face. Her bloodied sledgehammer made her and heavy breathing made her look like a killer.

Liam cautiously looks at Elaine. “Go to the back door…” he whispers to her, and Elaine quickly nods. She has no idea where it is, but if it gets them away from this woman…

Elaine scurries behind Liam, taking a few steps back.

“What the hell are you doing? W-why are you following us?” Liam asks, his tone in the middle of anger and annoyance.

The woman takes some time to compose herself, brushing her brown hair away. It was hard to tell from this distance, but there was something different with her eyes from Liam’s view.

“I—I’m trying to help, alright?” she replies, almost in a similar manner to Liam’s. “I just fought a bunch of walkers to catch up to you guys…”

“Yeah, so you can kill us, right?” Liam looks behind him to see if Elaine was gone. She was still present, listening along with him.

“N-no! No… that’s not wh—”

“We’ll give you some food if you leave us alone.” She didn’t look like the hungry type, to Liam, but that’s what all other people want.

“No… I don’t need that…—”

“Then we’re leaving.” Liam glances at Elaine and together, they turn around and leave. Better to not prolong their time with this stranger.

“Wait!!” she shouts, as the two vanish from view, taking the only right turn of the elongated hall. Liam’s machete is ready if she gets too close.

The woman’s footsteps echo behind them before it completely stops. She’s probably gotten the message by now.

“I—I’m looking for people. Other survivors…”

Her booming voice, along with her change in tone, forces Liam to stop. He looks beside him, tempted to turn around.

“I—I got a group… five others. And w-we really need some help…”

Liam does a full turn and hesitates to approach the woman. The way she sounded so certain, and yet a bit hopeless with those words…

“Y-you don’t have to follow. But we can really use the help…”

Liam looks at Elaine. “Other people?…” she whispers to him. Liam then faces the direction of the woman.

“There’s a soldier with us. She… she’s one of us.”

Soldiers. Liam and Elaine were fully aware of what the military was doing to this place. Shooting people that aren’t them like they’re biters…

The prospect of this was too good to be true. Now Liam is nothing but curious. He looks at Elaine one more time before approaching the woman. //////////////// They’ve soon found themselves walking the streets, after having found the back door and using it to get away from the duplex’s building. The street was emptier than the ones from earlier, though they had to kill a few biters along the way.

Liam and Elaine keep their distance away from the woman with the sledgehammer. She leads both of them by walking up front, the direction of her head not bothering to change. They’ve been walking silently for a good amount of time now, as Liam was still untrusting of her.

He chose to keep this distance so it can be easier to flee if they were forced into a trap. That could be the only other thing this woman was leading them to right now. If she does see people and a soldier, he’ll take everything back.

“What are your… names?” she asks, finally breaking the prolonged silence in between them. Liam and Elaine look at each other.

“None of your business,” Liam bluntly replies, and she looks over her shoulder to show the side of her face. Liam hasn’t sheathed his machete yet, and Elaine walks right behind him.

She goes silent for a few more moments, reaching the end of this street and continuing to go forward.

“Well… my name is Alice,” she says, in the friendliest tone she can do while in this awkward state. Liam and Elaine don’t bother to reply.

“I’ve… I’ve been looking for people like you guys since the beginning of this week. We’ve only found one other family…” She turns around to reveal herself, choosing to walk backwards a few moments. She wears a smirk that soon dissolves once she takes notice of how they were looking at her. She turns back around to her front.

“It’s these two old people… and their daughter. And her son. The daughter and son are stuck in a building…”

No matter how much he still doesn’t trust her, her words changed Liam’s cautious state a bit. She was certain about her words, and the words “daughter”, and “son”… presumably these were the two people they needed help on.

She looks over shoulder one more time, before going completely mute.

Liam and Elaine look at each other. //////////////// After having passed a few more blocks, with Liam warily looking at every alley they pass by, the woman finally makes a complete stop, scurrying over to a nearby building to her left. She peeks on the non-visible side of the building and looks at the two to follow.

“Jen!” the woman suddenly shouts, taking Liam and Elaine by surprise a bit. She soon jogs away and disappears, prompting the two to follow.

There, they see it. The woman was jogging toward yet another woman, wearing a military uniform minus the helmet and vest. Her sleeves were folded up, and in her gloved hands, she held a rifle. The sledgehammer woman points toward Liam and Elaine, saying some things to the military woman. The military woman jogs over to them.

“Hey—” she greets, as she edges closer. She looked a bit too attractive to be a soldier, with her long, silky hair tied to a ponytail. She wears a friendly smirk, looking in between the two. A smirk that reassures Liam and Elaine.

“So you guys are… the two people having a hard time trusting Alice…?” she says.

Liam tries to hide his astonishment; the woman wasn’t lying, at all. Here was a soldier, as friendly as she can be… not pulling a gun on them yet. And then, the woman named Alice walks away from her side to jog toward… two other people from the distance, standing a bit impatiently and noticing Liam and Elaine from afar.

“Private Jen Trugilio, at your service. Jen for short.” She puts her rifle aside and puts her arm forward.

Liam and Elaine look at each other one more time.

“L-Liam,” he says, and he lightly shakes her hand.

“Elaine,” she follows, giving her a much shorter handshake than Liam.

The woman named Jen nods and keeps her friendly smirk, but it soon vanishes as she looks behind her.

“We got a few people stranded… up top a building. Woman and her son. Those two…” She points behind her, to the two other people walking toward them. “They’re her parents. Really worried sick… and it’s not a two-people job.”

Liam felt ashamed, for a second, for his wariness. As much as he couldn’t risk it, these people needed their help. It can’t be just him and Elaine for now.

“The walkers just wandered in that building,” Jen continues. “Now they’re blocking a clear path for the two. Just help us clear them out.”

Next - Parked Cars