Chapter Text
I smile, picking up the dropped notebook. "Andrew!" I call, waving at him with the notebook in hand. Andrew- a red haired teenage boy- turns back and catching the sight of the notebook in my hands, flushes red. He stomps his way over to me, embarrassed. Snatching the yellow notebook out of his hands he eyes me nervously. "You didn't open it did you?" he asks. Laughing I shake my head, then push aside the hair that had fallen in my face. "No. Why you got some sort of embarrassing secret in there?" I ask, grinning and reach back for the notebook. Andrew steps back, clutching the book to his chest. "No, but even if I did I wouldnt want you reading it" he says. Shrugging I step forward, and bump him, almost knocking him off balance. "Okay okay I get it. Come on, we need to head back or Beth will be upset at us." I smile at Andrew and the boy smiles back awkwardly.
Beth was in fact upset that we were late, but when her daughter, Liz, pushed pass her to hug both of us there wasnt much she could do. Beth had the nicest house on the block, mostly because of her raising Liz. While the world had gone to shit, our group had managed to keep together and settle in a small block. Despite the monsters that crawled out from the rip and the ones who came after, the walls we had built had kept us safe. With only six of us, feeding everybody wasnt a problem.
Most of the houses hadnt been broken into, and there were more houses than people in the group.
As we sat down for dinner, Beth asked us a unsettling question. Had everything been normal, and monsters hadnt crawled up from what seemed to be the pits of hell it would have been a simple enough question, maybe even a good gossip topic. "Have you heard?"
Andrew looks up, mouth full of beans and corn. He swallows and asks the one question that I wouldnt. Maybe Andrew hadnt learned, but I had heard that question before, and nothing good ever came after it.
Beth looks towards me, eyes softening. She starts slowly, but stops when the door opens. Looking up tensely, I relax once I see who it is. "Hey sorry im late, Janice needed help across the street." Alex. Alex and I had been friends since we were kids. He had black hair and the brightest green eyes you had ever seen. Andrew turns back to Beth, curious still. Beth, looking back at Liz, who was eating happily shakes her head. "Id better not..."
Groaning, Andrew goes back to eating. Alex takes a seat right next to me. scooting over for him so he had plenty of room to eat. It wasnt everyday that we all got to sit down and eat together, not to mention have Beth cook for us.
Liz makes a noise, and still being pretty young, throws her fork. It lands right on Andrews notebook, and he cries out, trying to wipe the bean and corn juice off of it before it sinks into the pages. Beth gets up, taking Lizs plate and putting it in the sink. "Off to bed if youre going to be like that" She says, giving Liz The Look. With a pout she gets up off the chair and leaves the room.
"What got into her?" I ask, handing Andrew a napkin. "Who knows..shes just been more and more difficult to deal with lately..." Beth says, sighing and pushing in the chair Liz had left. "Hows your notebook, Andy?" She asks, moving to look over his shoulder. He hunches his shoulders, attempting to block her. "Its fine. Please dont call me that." He says, finally getting up. "Well...it was a good meal, Ms Beth. Thank you." He says, smiling. Before he leaves he looks over to Alex. "Take care of Von for me, okay? Im going for a walk."
Alex and I watch him go, then say our good byes to Beth. Thanking her for the meal we head back down the street, looking at nothing in particular. "Do you know whats in his notebook?" Alex asks suddenly, eyes on the walls that we and others had built to keep the dead, and even more dangerous-the alive-out from our community. "No, do you?" I ask. Alex doesnt say anything for a few seconds before looking at me. "Its all letters." I frown, not sure by what he meant by 'all letters'
We reach the barrier "like what kind?" I ask, now a little bit curious. Alex doesnt say anything for a little bit, and I slow down a little. I never did like getting close to it. Every once in awhile you could hear the soft noises of the dead. "Its all letters to his parents." He says finally. I stop, not sure what to think about that. "Theres recent ones too...He never parts with that stupid book i think he might actually believe that if he keeps writing to them theyll come back" Alex snorts, kicking the couch that had been pressed up against the wood to help hold it. "Alex..." I say softly, concerned not only for him but for Andrew as well.
"...How do you know this?" He pauses, eyes searching mine. Id never seen him with that look on his face before and it scared me a little bit. It was almost like he didnt know if I could be trusted. "I stole it one night." He says quietly, meeting my eyes. He looks down, lips pressed tight. "...He talks about everyone in the group too. Hes got everything in it. Where our food is, where the meds are stored..what house were all in...Hes got our names and everything in it. We need to get rid of that notebook." I stare back, a little shocked, "Alex..." "Im serious Von! Hes more of a danger to all of us than anything out there!" He says, raising his voice and gesturing to the wall.
"Alex his parents are dead, hell fall apart...and hell just find a new notebook...it wont do any good and itll just upset him and then this entire deal falls apart. Plus hes older than us, we couldnt fight him if we wanted" Alex doesnt say anything, refusing to meet my eyes now. "Then if hes that much of a danger we get rid of him...If hes going to make things hard then we need to make sure that the rest of us who are left are safe." He starts walking again, every once in awhile kicking gravel.
"Well were not the leader of the group, Alex. Janice needs to be told about this if you really think that its a problem." I say, trailing behind him. He doesnt say anything, then looks up at me. "We need to get home. Its going to start getting cold soon." He turns heel, nearly bumping into me. Heading back towards the center of the circle block, I had no choice but to follow him.
The next few days I dont hear anything from Alex about Andrew, or even the notebook. Liz was sent with me to gather some wood from some of the houses that had been slowly falling apart. Janice hadnt been seen for awhile but since she was old we expected that the cold was messing with her joints and thats why she wasnt coming outside.
Placing the rotting wood in the road, right in the center of the circle we take a moment to look at it. "Can we roast marshmallows?" Liz asks, looking up at me grey eyes. She might have been young but she was still nice to have around. Other than the rare tantrum she acted like she was a normal 7 year old in the normal world.
"Maybe" I say, smiling down at her. "Well have to wait till dark so that the smoke doesnt alert anything we dont want joining us, but otherwise I dont see why not" I say, ruffling her brown hair. My own hair was lighter but I looked like I could be her older brother. Sometimes I wonder if she thinks of me as a brother. It was hard not to see her as a little sister.
Sure enough, we managed to find marshmallows and Beth agreed it was a nice idea to roast them tonight. She suggested that we gather the whole group, have a meeting of the sorts and catch up with everybody. Liz ran off to tell Andrew about the exciting new bonfire meeting while I went to find Alex. I found him sitting on the same couch that was pressed against the makeshift wall. "Theres going to be a bonfire tonight...were all going to roast marshmallows and stuff..were making it a group meeting.." Alex looks up, then nods "Does Janice know yet?" He asks, standing up and stretching. I shake my head, "No, but I figured you wanted to go with me to tell her"
Liz was already back with Andrew at her side, along with Beth, who was watching both of them. Out of all of us Beth seemed to be the thing that held the whole group together. While Andrew was seventeen, we were only fifteen, not to mention Liz who was only 7. She did her best to be the mother of the group. Janice had the experience, not to mention she knew about the world before everything happened.
Knocking on the door, Alex and I call out for her. It doesnt take long for her to answer, and she already had on a scarf and gloves. "Were having a bonfire, and-" "yes I know. Beth told me. Thank you boys for coming down to get me" She smiles, holding out a hand. Alex immediately takes it, helping her down the single step. She smiles and lets go of him, making her way towards the pile of wood.
Andrew had already been working on setting up chairs, each with their own blanket. Liz was tugging on Beths hand, whining about somthing. As we got closer we were able to make out what she was so upset about. "why cant we just light it now? Its getting dark..." Andrew wasnt offering any help with Liz so I take a step forward, only to be beat by Janice.
"Liz, come sit by me...I want to tell you a story" She smiles, taking a seat and wrapping the blanket around herself. Liz jumped at the chance, making a racket by dragging the chair across the broken pavment to sit closer to Janice. "Is it about before the monsters?" She asks excitingly. Janice nods, and we all take a seat.
Being only 9 years ago, we had all lived through it except for Liz. We all knew how this went. We would start with a story, and tell one each for her. It never had to be anything important, sometimes the smallest of things were the most exciting.
Janice starts, looking around the group. "When I was 62, my husband and I decided we needed some noise in the house. So out he went, and he came back with this little bird. Made all sorts of pretty chips and noises...Well after awhile the thing wouldnt stop making noise. Hector and I stayed up every night, because the little bird just would not be quiet." She chuckles, shaking her head. "we found a home for it eventually. Nice little girl a little older than you, Liz." She doesnt say anything for awhile, then sighs "If I had known that in two years I wouldnt hear a bird song again I would have kept it. Hector worked so hard in getting it for me too..." she stops and then opens her mouth to say somthing else but closes it again, looking at the rest of the group.
"When I-" Beth starts, pausing and looking at Liz "...when I met your father he seemed ready to take on the world. Wasnt a single thing that would get between him and us. 'Course my daddy didnt like him. Said hed run off with me." she closes her eyes, relishing the memory. "And he did. Ran right off with me...followed him like a lost puppy dog...followed him untill you were born..." she smiles, ruffling Lizs hair. "Thats not fair ive already heard that one before mom!" She complains, trying to duck out of the reach of Beths hand.
"Two years into this you were born...I was your age when it happened, Liz" Andrew starts, cutting them off. He stares down at the ground, not saying anything for awhile. "Youve got a loving mom...and youre well taken care of. Should be happy about that. Not give her such a hard time..." "Andrew..." Janice starts, looking at the boy uncomfortably. Every thing was quiet now, not even the murmurers of bugs could be heard. He looks up at Liz, smiling. "youre way braver than I ever was" he finishes. The air was still tight, but Liz was smiling and didnt seem to notice.
"Id tell a story but I think its time we lit the fire" Alex says, getting up. The sky had darkened considerably, and the cold was slowly creeping in. Liz, now completely set on the fire forgot about the stories and instead went on to bug her mother about roasting the marshmallows.
Andrew gives Alex a hand in lighting the pile of sticks while I went to help Beth calm Liz down. Finally we got it going and a pretty good fire up and burning. Janice raises an eyebrow, looking at Liz. "You wanted to roast marshmallows, didnt you? Von why dont you go and help her collect some sticks to put them on" Liz nods happily and takes my hand, tugging it and pulling me away from the fire.
"Look for ones that arent too big, but wont break if they have weight on them" I say, picking up a pretty nice stick. "See? this is a good one. See if you can find any that kinda look like this" I say, watching her happily search. Everything was nice, and I could hear laughter coming from the bonfire. The voices were loud, and I made a mental note to tell them to quiet down a little bit when we got back. It wasnt till I hear a voice that was too deep to be Alex or Andrew that I realized somthing was very very wrong.
A bolt of shock went through me and I rushed towards Liz, grabbing her shoulders. "Run back to the fire. Tell Janice that theres someone whos lurking around over here. Hurry and dont make any noise." I say, whispering fast and harsh. She takes off at a run and I turn, afraid of what could possibly be behind me.
Nothing. there was nothing behind me at all. Instead of calming me down it just made the nervousness that much worse. I was sure that I had heard it. I was positive I had heard a voice. A few minutes of silence before I relaxed a little bit. Picking up the sicks that Liz had dropped I start to head back to the fire, ready to tell everyone about my embarrassment. All the talking had died down and everyone was dead silent. Andrew had a cross bow ready and as I got closer he lined it up. "Andrew its me. Sorry guys" I say, and he lowers it. Dropping the stick on the ground I look around at the faces, all worried. "I thought I heard a voice...but I guess not..its dark so it freaked me out..sorry.." I say and Andrew groans. "Dude what the fuck." "Andy!" Beth says, grabbing Liz and covering her ears. "She doesnt need to hear that stuff..." Beth says, looking down at Liz who was trying to get her mothers hands off her head. Janice agrees with Beth, opening the bag of marshmallows. "Shes been through so much, but that isnt somthing she needs to learn. In the future please watch your language.
Andrew apologizes and we all sit down. Everyone was quieter now, especially with that little spook we just had. Liz was happily loading her stick with marshmallows and roasting them while Andrew sat sulking. He had set his cross bow beside him and scooted his chair back so there was no chance that Liz would step on it. The night went by pretty quiet, and after everyone had their own fill of the marshmallows Andrew stood up. "Well hate to leave the party but im tired and tomorrow I want to work on the wall a bit. Make sure some of the wood isnt getting weak and falling ap-" He stops quickly, then lets out a fearful breath
Everyone was on their feet now, and five red eyes peered out of the darkness. It went so fast, with everyone trying to scramble away to safety. Beth had grabbed Liz, and started towards their house, but was grabbed. More screams filled the air and then the harsh smell of blood. Liz sobs and Beth falls to the ground, landing on top of Liz. Andrew trips and suddenly there a hole in his stomach. He cries and crawls, reaching for anyone that passed. Janice never moved, eyes wide. There was a human with them. It wasnt long till the human had grabbed Beth and peeled her off of Liz. With out pause he drags her hair first to the fire. Alex jumps in, landing a hit on the mans face but his feet get tangled up in a chair. The smell of burning flesh mixed with blood and the night only got worse. I couldnt do anything. My hands were shaking and there was so much screaming.
A sicking crack rings out and Janice slumps over. I just barely hold the puke back as I stumble to my feet, moving as fast as I could away from the smell and sight. A familiar voice rings out, and I stop, legs shaking so much that I couldnt handle it. Andrew was watching me. They were leaving him with a hole in his gut, bleeding out. The group laughed and I watched as the vampires started to feed. By now Liz has stopped screaming, but Andrew was still alive and unable to do anything. He manages to get up, only to stumble and impail himself further on the arrow sticking out of him. Shaking I take a step towards Andrew, then I catch sight of Alex. He was watching me silently. He was being slowly drained. His eyes said nothing but hurt and I knew there was nothing I could do anymore. So I ran. I ran and I climbed and I didnt stop running till the smell of blood and flesh was wiped from my senses. I ran out of breath long before I got far enough away. Even a good distance I could hear the vampires laughing and talking. Everything I had was gone, just like those 9 years ago, except this time there was no warning.
I stumble on for awhile, and meet other groups along the way. I dont stay with them for long, afraid to grow too close to them. The words "Have you heard?" follow me where ever I went. A few times I was close enough to see the people I met brought down by the same ones who took away my group. For a long time it seemed like I were being tracked down, and death was following in my wake. After awhile though it stops and I focus less on the threat of the monsters and more on the threat of surviving. There was a crack of a branch and I spin around, pull out a kitchen knife I had found and prepare for a fight. A boy comes out from behind a tree, un-armed and shy. I dont drop my weapon. "Do you..have anything to eat..?" the boy asks, swaying this way and that as he got closer. I step back when he gets too close, not ready to trust him. "No." I say harshly. Its the truth, I really dont have anything to eat. ive been surviving by eating what I can while im in towns, and suffering till I got to the next town. The boy looks down, clearly disappointed. I keep taking steps back as he inches closer. Finally he looks up, skin seeming to shimmer. He launches at me and I dodge just barely. "THEN...ill eat YOU" He cries out. Ghoul. They hadnt appeared till after on, and I wonder if maybe they used to be human. I dont stop to ask and the next time he charges at me I get a blade in his stomach. He cries out in pain and falls back, taking my knife with him. I dont stick around to see if he dies.
A few weeks later I find a vampire, chained to a tree and clearly starving. I avoid them but they still smell me, and they reach up at me. im not sure if they did it to themselves or if someone else tied them up. I dont stick around to ask. I find more like that along my way, shaking bodies and soft sobs. One is a little girl, about the age Liz was. She doesnt move when I come close but shes alive. "Do you have a gun?" her voice spooks me and I turn around back to her. Her eyes were bloodshot and red from hunger and crying. "..No.." I say, keeping my distance but a little bit curious. She doesnt say anything for awhile but as im about to leave her she reaches out to me. Shes not close enough at all to grab me but I still take a step back. "If you find one...please kill us." she says, voice breaking and letting out a sob. I leave her. I find out later from another one tied to a tree that theyve done it to themselves. That when they get hungry enough they black out and wake up with a dead body in their arms, and without a weapon to end it they decided to starve. I have nightmares about it. I keep moving.
It isnt untill I stumble on another group that things go bad. I hadnt been sleeping in between towns. I trip and fall, slicing open my leg on a piece of metal. They find me like that and take me in without my consent. The first words I hear are "Havent you heard?" and I fight though them and get out of that town. I dont get far before I cant get any further. I climb a tree, tears streaming down my face as I get up the branches. I sleep. When I wake its about dawn. Theres fire in the town. People are screaming and trying to get me out of the tree. They die one by one trying to get to me and I sit, terrified of moving. When I do try to move I find myself chained to the tree, and oh god im bleeding and I reach out for help only to be avoided. I scream and struggle and then I wake up. I wake up for real and everything hurts. The town isnt on fire and its about midday. A person is headed towards the tree and I dont move, afraid. Finally the reach the bottom and stop. Its a man with fresh scarring on his throat. His eyes are cold and red and im suddenly hit with the relization that im going to die. Sure enough he gets up to me and pulls me down. I land wrong on my leg and sob but he pays no attention. He grabs my throat and moves my head. He bites. The pain is horrible and I scream. How could Alex sit so quietly when this is what it felt like? Spider webs up and down my face burning and throbbing and then it goes dark.
I wake and and the first thing I notice is I woke up. Theres a bandage on my leg and neck. Sitting up is too painful and so I lay there. It looked like I was in a house. There was no sign of my captor. I lay there for what seems like hours and then I fall back into the dark. The next time I wake up theres food on a plate by my head. I look a second time and yes, its real food. I eat it without checking it or looking at it too hard. Slowly I sit up and take a good look around the room. Its just a normal looking house from what I can tell. im laying on the floor of what looks to be the living room. The door opens to my left and the vampire comes out. He doesnt say anything, just sits there and watches me. I dont say anything or move, the memory of the bite still fresh on my mind and neck. How many times did vampires need to eat anyway? The scarring on his neck looks a little bit better, and I think it might have faded a bit. He stands up and grabs me. I thrash around and kick but he doesnt pay any attention to it. Outside he drags me before I get my feet under me enough to walk. I follow him the best I can with his hand wrapped around my arm. He walks and walks and walks. Its getting dark and I dont think hes going to stop. When my legs give out he picks me up and carries me. I fall asleep in his arms. I have nightmares again, tearing at me and dragging me. The man works himself into them and I wake up crying. A little while after I wake up he puts me down. I have no idea where I am but I can see another town. Theres people in this one and he uses me to get in. He signs at the and I wonder if he cant hear. Nobody knows what hes saying and I dont say anything either. If they were to find out this man was a vampire we both would be in trouble. He finds a rope and ties me up in a house. When he comes back later that night we both leave, but now hes got a rope tied on my hands. The town is silent as I leave and I catch specks of blood on the streets. I keep quiet and both of us continue on. Neither of us have said a thing for days but now im not tied up. He lets me walk unbound and unhanded. I dont try to run and when there are towns with people in it I stay in the house he puts me in. He brings me food and water and medication when I need it, and we both stay in this town for a few weeks. It isnt untill someone bangs on the door that I move of my own accord. One of the members of the group, a nice looking lady with soft eyes. She asks about someone and I shake my head. She asks about the man and about me and I open my mouth to say somthing and then shake it. im about to shut the door on her when she comes pushing in the door. Except she wasnt pushing into the house, she was being shoved into it. The man is behind her and he wraps his hand around her mouth and I watch horrified as he slowly drains her. When shes dead he drops her and then looks up at me. I notice one of his eyes is a darker blue than the other. "Why.." I croak out. my voice doesnt sound right and he looks surprised that im able to speak. As he gets closer I repeat the question, over and over and over and over and over and then hes lighting me up with the painful spider webs and I cry and go limp. He lets me go and I dont pass out. I sit there as he leaves and im still there when he comes back. He bandages my neck and I cant help but watch him. When hes done he pulls me up and I follow him out the door and away from that town.