Surviving, Not Living/Issue 19

This is issue 19 of Surviving, Not Living, entitled Disgusting. It is the first issue in Volume 4.

Issue 19:
Ava sat in a small, cramped, dark place. The only light was from a crack in the wall next to her. She had her knees pulled up to her chest and she was crying into them. Tears streamed down her face, moistening her blue t-shirt.

She leant over and picked up a small tin of beans from the gap between her feet and bottom. It seemed like Ava was a cupboard. She grabbed the top and tried to pull it open. However, it was no use. Ava threw it to the side and buried her face back in her knees.

A silent thud caught Ava's attention and she pulled her face from her knees. She gulped loudly. Another thud could be heard. They were the sound of someone walking... footsteps... but this person was walking very slow.

"Hello..." The person outside spoke, calling for someone. The voice was faint and weak. Ava recognised the voice instantly but she couldn't match the voice to the person. Ava was sure she had heard it before but a very, very long time ago. Another sob escaped Ava's mouth and she could hear the person turn and approach the cupboard which she was sitting in.

They slowly pulled the door away and Ava covered her face with her hand, watching through the cracks in her fingers. It was... Danny. His brown hair was ruffled and black bags lined his eyes. Brown eyes contrasted with his pale skin.

"Danny?" Ava leaped from the cupboard and into his arms.

"Woah, steady tiger." Danny coughed, returning the hug. "Ava, is it you?"

"Of course, it's me!" Ava smiled up at him, still holding him close.

"Why were you in the cupboard? Where is everyone?" He asked her.

"Oh, Danny." She buried her face in his belly. "You're the only one left..."

"I'm the only one left..." Danny repeated. "What's going on?"

"Auntie Char, Amelia, Sarah, Doug - they're all gone." Ava began to cry again.

"Amelia? Sarah?" Obviously, he didn't recognise the names. "Ava, start from the beginning. What happened?"

She sniffled. "It all began yesterday..."

___________________________________________________________________________

Jack stood, bent over, collecting wheat from one of the fields. His back cracked and he stood up. He rubbed it. The pain quickly faded away and he went back to his work. A shiver ran through his body.

"Jack!" He heard his voice being called. Jack turned to see Charlotte standing at the edge of the cornfield. Ava stood next to her, holding her Aunt's hand.

"Yes?" Jack replied.

"It's getting cold, you need to come inside." Charlotte told him.

"No, what I need to do is gather the rest of the wheat before it begins to snow and we lose everything." He insisted.

"Someone else can do it, just come inside." She explained.

"Is that your nice way of saying I'm too old?" Jack snapped.

"What, no! Woah, I'm sorry, okay? I don't know what's got you so worked up, all of a sudden." Charlotte sighed.

"A lot of crap has been going on, lately. A rapist murderer had got inside my house, on my land, and threatened my friends. And, Danny doesn't seem to be getting any better. He's not going to survive the winter." He admitted.

"You don't know that." She retaliated.

"I'd prefer to be left alone." Jack told her.

"Come on, Ava." Charlotte sighed. "I don't think Jack is in the mood to talk."

Jack sighed heavily and turned around, preparing to pick the wheat that was previously behind him. He continued his work for another fifteen minutes before something caught his eye. A blood splatter, on a tree at the edge of the forest. At first, Jack thought it was infected blood but the colour wasn't dark enough. It was human blood.

He dropped the basket that he had placed the wheat in and had began to walk briskly to the tree. Jack stopped when he was in front of the tree. He placed his hand on the blood stain - it was dry.

Charlotte watched suspiciously, back at the farmhouse. Ava watched too, but she didn't understand what was going on.

Jack looked around the area, seeing if there was anything that the blood could have came from. He noticed a shovel on the ground, lying broken in two pieces. Jack began to walk over to the shovel but tripped over a very large bump in the ground. He yelped when pain surged through his ankle.

"Ava, get help!" Charlotte called as she dropped her niece's hand and began to run towards the fallen Jack. Ava ran straight inside the farmhouse, looking for someone to help. The first people she saw were Sarah and Amelia, who were attending to Danny.

"Someone help! Jack has fallen over!" Ava told them.

"I'll go, you stay here and watch him." Sarah told Amelia. "Show me where he is."

Ava ran a few paces in front of Sarah, leading her. She was an unusually fast runner for her age. By the time Sarah and Ava had got to Jack, Charlotte was already helping him to his feet.

"No, stop." Sarah said. "Don't move him, there's a chance it could be broken."

While Charlotte held him up, Sarah leaned over and inspected Jack's foot. She moved it in a variety of different ways, asking him if it hurt each time. Ava watched, intruiged.

"It's just broken." Sarah told him. "Come on, let's get you inside."

"No, wait." Jack stopped them. "There's something under that little hill. Do you see the blood splatter on the tree and the broken shovel? Something, or someone, was killed and buried here. Dig it up!"

"Ava, go back to the farm house." Charlotte told Ava as Sarah picked up the lower end of the shovel.

"No, Auntie Char." Ava protested as Sarah began to shovel the dirt from the hill. "I want to see this."

"Ava Harris!" Charlotte shouted. "Get inside."

Ava didn't say a word... But, she didn't move either. Charlotte couldn't drop Jack to scold Ava. She sighed deeply and turned to watch Sarah.

After a few minutes, Sarah harshly stabbed the shovel into the mud pile. The disgusting sound of a cracking bone could be heard. As she was wearing gloves, Sarah leant over and wiped the rest of the dirt away.

Anthony's head looked like it was attached to the dirt pile. There was a break in the skin on his forehead where Sarah had hit him with the small shovel. A bullet-wide hole was between his two eyes.

Enraged, Jack pushed Charlotte off him and began to limp back to the farmhouse. He knew who had done it. And, despite the circumstances, he thought it was disgusting. Sarah, Charlotte and Ava ran after him.

"Bobby!" Jack summoned the man. "Bobby!"

Bobby walked from the campsite to Jack with Jackie and Vicky. "What's going on?" He asked.

"You!" Jack shouted. "You murdered a man! I'm disgusted!"

"Wait, slow down. What?" Bobby tried to stop Jack. Amelia walked out of the farmhouse as she heard the shouts.

"You murdered Anthony. We saw his body... I, Sarah, Charlotte and Ava. We all saw it!" Jack screamed.

Bobby looked past Jack, to Sarah, "Did you see it?"

Sarah dodged eye-contact with Bobby and looked away. Doug watched the argument fold out from the second-floor balcony.

"See." Jack spat. "No murderer is allowed on my farm, you should know that."

"Hold on!" Amelia screamed, stepping inbetween Jack and Bobby. "We're all murderers here, don't you see? All of us have killed an infected. Someone who had a life but now has not."

"You're comparing me to Anthony. I didn't try to rape someone!" Bobby continued the argument.

"There's nothing you can do to convince me." Jack told the pair. "Bobby needs to leave this farm, now. Or else..."

"No." Bobby simply said. The group watched, in silence, as Jack dissapeared into the farmhouse. A few seconds later, he returned with a double-barrelled shotgun.

"Get off my land." Jack threatened.

Bobby held his hands up, in defense. "Just let me say goodbye."

"No, no, no." Amelia began to cry. "You can't leave."

He grabbed his half-sister and pulled her into a hug. Bobby listened to Amelia's cries for a few seconds as he rubbed her back. She listened to his breathing and felt his heartbeat on her chest. Then, Amelia felt Bobby slip something into her hand. He whispered a few words into her ear. As they pulled away, Amelia slipped the small piece of card into her bra.

"You c-can't go." Amelia still sobbed. Bobby ignored her and moved over to Sarah.

"Thank you so much for looking after Amelia and I for all twenty years." Bobby thanked Sarah as he gave her a much shorter hug. "But, it's not over yet."

Bobby walked over and pressed a long, deep kiss against Vicky's lips. She looked into his eyes as they broke away.

"You're time is up." Jack told him.

"I'll see you all very soon." Bobby turned around and began to walk out of the farm. Amelia quickly ran after him. However, Sarah grabbed her and held her back. Amelia punched at Sarah's restricting arms, trying to get to him.

___________________________________________________________________________

Hours later, Ava walked into the living room to find Amelia kneeling on the floor, looking between the wooden floorboards.

"You've dropped something down there, haven't you?" Ava spoke aloud. Amelia jumped at the hidden voice.

"Yes, yes I have." Amelia replied. Her voice was quiet and fragile.

"When I dropped my drawings down there, Auntie Char got it out for me." Ava explained, kneeling down next to Amelia. She peered through the hole to see the card that Bobby had secretly gave Amelia earlier. It was laying face-up. A small, passport-like picture of Anthony had been sticky-taped to the front. Six letters - D.A.L.L.A.S. - had been wrote on the front in black marker pen. It resembled an I.D. card.

"I don't really want Charlotte to see this, you see." Amelia told the younger girl.

"Oooh, secrets." Ava giggled. "If I help you get it out, can I see it?"

"I don't think you'll be able to get it out, Ava." Amelia sighed.

Without saying a word, Ava crawled over to one of the two sofas. She put her hand underneath it and retreived a crowbar. She passed it to Amelia.

"Good work. Now, you go and stand by the door to see if anyone is coming. And, tell me if they are, okay?" Amelia instructed. "Like a female James Bond!"

"Who's James Bond?" Ava asked. Amelia cracked a tiny smile before edging the younger girl to the door.

Amelia slid the crowbar into a gap between two of the floorboards. Swiftly, she pulled the crowbar up and one of the wooden panels slid off. Amelia reached inbetween the gap and pulled the card from the moss growing underneath. She placed the floorboard back and stamped the wooden panel back in place.

"Good work, Ava." Amelia told her.

___________________________________________________________________________

"So what?" Danny asked. "Where is everyone?"

Ava jumped on Danny and hugged him again. She looked out of the window, to the tall, green grass, as a single tear fell down her cheek.

"It was really late... Like, ten o'clock..."

___________________________________________________________________________

"Say goodnight to Doug." Charlotte told Ava. Ava was dressed in her one-piece pyjamas, ready to go to sleep. Charlotte took her round to everyone in the group, to say goodnight. Doug was the last person. He was couting the food in the kitchen cupboards.

"Goodnight, Dougie." Ava giggled.

"Goodnight, Ava." Doug smirked. He sighed as Charlotte and Ava walked upstairs, getting back to his work.

Charlotte lead Ava into the room that the pair shared with Jackie. Ava's single-bed mattress lay on the floor inbetween Charlotte and Jackie's mattresses. Charlotte went around the room, padlocking the wooden shutters closed as Ava got into bed. Charlotte pulled the pink bed covers over Ava and placed a kiss on her head before returning back downstairs.

An hour later, Ava was still awake in her bed. She has been thinking over they day's events, examining them in her child-like way. Suddenly, a loud car horn snapped her to life. She jumped up out of her bed and ran to the shutter that was the closest to the noise. Ava worked with the padlock but eventually got it off. She threw the shutters back and looked out of the window.

A large, metal truck stood out in the darkness. It's front lights blinded Ava. It looked like it had rammed through the metal gate at the front of the farm. A tall man with huge muscles jumped from the truck and began to shout orders to his men that had seemed to appear from nowhere. Jackie's scream echoed through the halls of the farmhouse.

Ava tip-toed the door. She opened it ever-so-slightly and peeked out the crack. From that angle, she could only see the top of people's heads. As silent as a mouse, Ava walked down the stairs. She froze when one of the wodden floorboards creaked... But, after she realised that she had not attracted anyone's attention, continued to walk down.

"Anthony!" The strong, muscly man shouted throughout the halls. The rest of the group  stood in the living room, each person being held by a rough-looking bandit.

"He's dead!" Jack was the first of the group to speak up, spitting at the man. "What do you want? We have nothing to take!"

"I'm sure you have something." He smirked, eyeing up Vicky. "My name is Dallas and I run a group of bandits. I'm sure you've heard of people like me before so lets cut to the chase. We need soldiers and women."

Charlotte noticed Ava at the bottom of the stairs. She gulped heavily but held herself together.

"Some of your women are nice." Dallas devilishly smiled.

"We're not pets! You don't pick and choose who you want!" Sarah shouted at him.

"Who said I'd want you anyway?" He laughed loudly.

Suddenly, Ava ran out of cover. "Get off my auntie." She screamed, kicking a soldier.

"Take all of them to the van! Kill the little girl!" Dallas quickly shouted.

With a struggle, the bandit soldiers took everyone out of the house. Charlotte managed to elbow the bandit holding her in the face before pushing Ava into the cupboard which Doug has been working in, earlier.

As soon as Charlotte slammed the door shut, one of the bandits grabbed her from behind. She fell face-first to the floor and was knocked out cold. Ava tried to hold her sobs in as she watched Sarah being dragged away.

A few minutes later, a single bandit returned to check the house over. He walked to the cupboard Ava was hiding in and leant over, reaching for the handle.

"Come on, Private Jones." Dallas called him from outside. "We have work to do!"

"But..." Jones began.

"Leave the dying boy. He's no good to us." Dallas shouted. "And the girl won't survive two minutes without the rest of them."

___________________________________________________________________________

Ava was sobbing as she muttered the last few words of the story. Danny held her close, whispering sweet words to her. He softly brushed her hair with his hand.

"You're gonna be okay." Danny told her.

"No." Ava shook her head. "Nothing is every going to be okay."

Danny took her hands and bent down to look into her eyes. "They said you wouldn't last two minutes without the others. And, you did. We're going to find them, I promise."

"Okay... What do I need to do?" Ava asked. She wiped her nose on her sleeve as she waited for a response.

"First, show me where all the weapons are." He told her.

"I-I don't know." She shrugged. "There's a crowbar underneath the couch in the living room but no-one tells me where the others are."

"That's good enough. Now, go upstairs and get changed. A onesie isn't suitable for running."

___________________________________________________________________________

As Ava walked down the stairs, she pulled the hood of her jacket over her head.

"Danny!" She called, worrying when she couldn't find him.

"Over here!" Danny called back, from the kitchen of the house. She walked through the hall and into the kitchen where Danny stood. He looked down into a cellar.

"You found the guns!" Ava shrieked in happiness.

"Or what's left of them." Danny sighed as he walked down the narrow staircase. A few shells laid across the floor and the only box of ammunition left laid on it's side. There was only two handguns left and Amelia's knife stuck out from a wodden shelf on the floor. Danny walked across the room and pulled Amelia's knife out.

"Here." He held it out to Ava. "Only use it if you need to. And, don't be afraid of hurting someone who isn't an infected."

"You mean, like, a bad man?" Ava replied. Danny nodded as he walked over and picked up the two handguns. He walked over to the turned-over ammunition box and scooped up as much as he could carry.

"I'm going to need you to carry some of this in your bag. Collect your person things too. If we find them, I don't think we've ever going to come back here." Danny told Ava.

___________________________________________________________________________

The two walked along a dirty, barren high road. Snow fell and the pair couldn't see a few feet in front of them. anny wore a long, camouflage jacket and a beanie covered his jet-black hair. Ava wore a big coat that was originally pink but was now brown with mud, as Danny had convinced her that it would work in her favour if she ever had to hide on the floor from someone. The two held hands as they walked, making small-talk about the times they remembered at the farm. Danny kept a handgun in his free hand at all times.

"Stop, Ava." Danny suddenly sighed. "Where are we going? We're walking to nowhere. We might not even be going the right way."

"Yes. We are going the right way." Ava insisted.

"How can you now?" He rudely questioned.

"Look at the ground." She told him. "Tire tracks through the snow... Big ones! Like the truck that smashed through the gate."

"They could've came to the camp this way and left the other way." Danny explained.

"No, look at the way that the treads are going. The truck definitely went this way." Ava continued.

"Oh, Ava!" He grinned. "You're not as dumb as you look."

"Do I look dumb?" She squealed.

A few minutes later, Ava ran off to a crashed car on the side of the road. After shouting at her, Danny chased after her. He caught Ava wiping the windshield free of snow so that she could look inside inside the vehicle.

"The keys!" Ava sounded happy with herself. "They're still inside the car!"

"Ava..." Danny groaned. "This car probably hasn't moved for twenty years. The engine is probably all corroded. Anyway, I can't drive. I can barely walk."

"I was just trying to help." Ava sulked.

"Wait a minute. Ava, don't move." Danny had spotted something. "The infected isn't in the car. Someone must've died in the crash. I doubt anyone would have walked along here since the outbreak."

An eerie groan drifted into Danny's ears. He shoved Ava out of the way, into the cold snow, and span around. Expecting to be able to shoot the infected, Danny raised his gun. It was very close to him, however, and the end of Danny's gun collided with it's jaw.

Danny turned around and picked Ava up from the floor. He shot one bullet from his gun. It didn't even touch the infected. It could've drawn more infected. Danny began to sprint down the motorway, carrying Ava like a baby. Scared, she buried her face in his chest.

That's when he saw them. The intensity of the snowfall had died down a tiny bit but it was enough to let Danny see the surroundings. Infected lined the street. Frozen against cars, trees, some even frozen to the ground. As he leaped over an infected, it's head rose. Although, it's jaw was frozen to the ground which prevented movement.

Groans were all Ava could hear. Groans, groans and more groans...