To Die Unknown

I could see tall walls on either side of us as we entered. The humongous doors stood wide, allowing all of the vehicles in. Six people stood by the entrance, most likely watching for infected, and ensuring we entered safely.

We drove for only a couple minutes longer before stopping. A moment later, the back doors of the van opened. Two men I’d never seen before stood there. Both had brown hair and similar features. Brothers, I assumed.

“Hey! I’m Jason Berry, this is my brother Matt Berry. We shall be your escorts for now.” The one on the left said, bowing slightly, a large grin on his face. I smiled slightly, liking him already.

“Oh shut up Jason, you’re going to creep them out. Sorry folks, it’s just we don’t usually return successful from these missions. We were lucky to have seen you entering that grocery store.” Matt Berry said, shoving his brother a little. He reached forward with a ring of keys. He searched for a moment, before shoving one into the lock on the cage. The door swung open.

I was nervous, but crawled out first. Matt grabbed my arms, steadying me on my feet when I stumbled. I nodded my thanks and straightened out. My back cracked loudly, I already felt a bit better. I glanced about, there was eight vehicles in total. All were trucks and vans. People were milling about, unloading the vehicles, gathering their supplies, I guessed. From what I could see, there was only men. Maybe sixteen in total, excluding the six that had stood guard at the door’s. Wow, they went out there prepared for battle, it seemed.

The walls on either side were very tall, I could barely see any tree tops outside of them. The large gate was now closed. We were in a large, enclosed clearing. All of the vehicles were parked around. But that was it, there was no town.

“Where are all of the people?” I asked Jason Berry who was walking toward me with a strand of rope. I frowned, Victoria and Sebastian had their hands tied behind their backs.

“This is only what we call the first level. We have to walk for a couple of miles, through one other level. They’re just precautions to keep everyone safe. Which is why I have to tie your wrists. I’m sorry, but like I said, it’s a precaution.” I nodded, turning my back to him, and reaching my arms behind my back. I could feel the rope being tied tightly to my wrists. I tugged slightly, but the knots were far to tight to pull apart like that.

“And so we walk onward.” Jason turned me around and lead me through the vehicles and other people. We walked for a few minutes before being clear of the other vehicles.

“Were there any other survivors you found?” I asked him curiously as we began walking through the large clearing. Others were crowded around us, walking to the same destination. They stared at us curiously. I glanced behind me quickly, Sebastian and Victoria were walking with Matt Berry.

“Nah, it was just you two girls.” Jason said, glancing ahead, we appeared to be following a group of five men. Were they the leaders?

“And Sebastian.” I reminded him.

“Yeah, and Sebastian.” He said, turning to me. Their was a strange expression on his face. I shrugged it off and continued walking. My attention drifted back to the five men ahead.

“Jason, who are they?” I asked, nodding my head in the direction of the men. I don’t even understand why I was so curious. I might have been intimidated by being surrounded by all of these people. Well people that were living.

An infected was just that, infected. They wanted to eat you, you tried not to be eaten. It was that simple. With living people, it was much more complex. A struggle for power, safety, food, a place to stay. Someone would easily toss you into a crowd of infected if it meant saving their own ass. The living were selfish, and dishonest. It was tough to know exactly who to trust.

“Those five guys? They’re the guardians. They are basically in charge of security around the town, and they lead the raids and rescue missions. They’re highly looked up to in our town. They have a lot of respect. To bad you pissed off Jimmy and Matt.” Jason laughed, staring at the five men we were walking after.

“Jimmy and Matt?”I was bewildered. Jimmy was one of the so called Guardians? I hit him though. He seemed too laid back and too trusting to be one of these guardians. And Matt? I had no idea who that was.

“Jimmy, you happened to hit over the head with a big wooden stick. He was going easy on you, hoping you would come back willingly. He’s probably the friendliest out of them. And then you hit him. He’s pretty upset about it. Matt is that big guy covered in muscles. The one with the aviators? Maybe you know him as Shadows? Yeah, he hit you with that baseball bat. Twice. Just in case you forgot.” Jason explained, pointing out the two men he was talking about. He laughed loudly near the end, probably about me being hit. I don’t understand why everyone was laughing about that. It wasn’t funny. It really hurt. I glared at my shoes.

“What’s going on back there J.B.?” One of the men had turned around and was staring in our direction. J.B.? Jason Berry? I suppose that made sense. The man who turned around was shorter than the rest, close to my height. I couldn’t make out much from the distance.

“Just talking about Matt hitting her with a bat!” Jason shouted back at the man. The man started laughing with Jason. He started walking our way. I was nervous. Knowing that I had angered two of these Guardians. I didn’t want to upset any of the others, in fear that Victoria would be punished for it.

“Yeah, that sounded like a good one. Wish I could’ve seen it. Matt said he had a good laugh out of it. Any excuse for him to be violent though, eh?” The man chuckled a little, he fell in to step on my other side. I stared up at him. He could’ve only been a couple inches taller than I. His brown eyes were wide and friendly. He appeared to be the farthest thing from intimidating. But, he was a Guardian?

“I’m Johnny.” He held his hand out to me, I could only stare. My hands were restrained behind my back. He frowned momentarily.

“My hands are tied.” I felt the need to point that out to him. I didn’t want him to think I had rejected his kindness. A cheeky grin spread across his face as he realized his mistake.

“So you’re Hayley then? I believe my thanks are in order. You’ve provided all of us with great amusement. I can’t believe you actually hit Jimmy! None of us saw that coming. It’s why he went to get you in the first place. He’s the nicest! Well, you wouldn’t have stood a chance against the rest of us.” He exclaimed, puffing out his chest and flexing his arms for emphasis.

“I’m sure I could’ve taken you out. You’re almost as short as me!” I scoffed. He grumbled his disagreement. After that, we well into silence. A soft murmur of voices surrounded us.

Johnny and Jason made conversation from either side of me. I didn’t feel my input was necessary. I was beyond exhausted. Both emotionally, and physically. Having been knocked unconsciousness for four days really took a toll on me. The pain in my head had only receded a little. It was a repetitive dull throbbing, and it was relentless. I squinted my eyes a little, attempting to block out some of the sun, thinking that it would help. It didn’t.

I stared at the rough terrain, concentrating on each step I took. Being around all of these people, I felt something that I hadn’t felt in a long time. Dirty. It was hard to keep clean when being on the constant move, and not having clean water, or soap, to clean with. But all of these men, looked fresh. Well, compared to myself, at least.

“You know, if any one us had been bitten, we would have been turned by now.” I spoke up, not raising my eye’s from the ground.

“How is your immune system? Do you catch a cold or flu quickly?” Johnny asked. I raised my eyes to his in confusion. What would that have to do with anything? A cold was a cold. And a bite was a bite.

“No, I’m pretty healthy.” The right corner of his mouth raised into a partial grin.

“Exactly. A cold will infect everyone else differently. So will a bite. Well, depending on how bad it is. Everyone’s immune system responds differently to the infection. It depends on how strong your immune system is. Two people could have each had a small bite, one might turn 3 days later, the other, 8 days. It’s happened here before, and we won’t take the risk again.” Johnny explained. I mulled it over for a minute, it seemed to make some sort of sense.

“So if you guys usually come back empty handed from these search and rescue missions, what’s the point in even bothering?” I changed the subject, hoping to maintain a conversation now.

“Well, we get other things. Obviously not food. Everything is beyond expired. We basically do everything we need to sustain ourselves. But we get other things. We come back every time with things varying from shaving cream to children’s toys. It’s nice to try and live a some what comfortable life.” Jason said, seeming pleased with his response. I couldn’t imagine that they would make trips and come back with such things. They weren’t of any importance.

“But what about food?” I struggled on a daily basis to provide for Victoria and Sebastian, myself giving up my own portions.

“Like Jason said, everything has expired so we make our food. We grow our own vegetables and wheat’s, milk the cows, plant fruit tree’s an-“

“Wait a second.” I cut Johnny off. “What do you mean cows? All of the animals were gone with the infection.”

“Maybe gone, but certainly not infected. The infected don’t care for animals. But the animals don’t want to be anywhere near the infected. Which is most likely why you haven’t crossed any. With the infected constantly trailing us, the animals have learned to avoid us. But we’ve caught animals from horses, to dogs, to pigs. It’s just hard to find them.” Johnny trailed off, he stopped walking.

I looked forward everyone seemed to have been stopped. We were in front a large door. It crossed the entire expanse of the enclosure. I was surprised that I hadn’t noticed.

“We’re here.” Johnny simply stated before he walked forward to join Jimmy, Matt, and the other two of the Guardians.

“Nervous?” I turned to look at Jason. He was staring in the direction of the doors.

“Not in the slightest.” I lied, my voice betraying me with a stutter. I took larger steps to match Jason’s stride when he began walking again. I was more frightened then nervous. What would be beyond these doors? Who would be there to greet us? And my greatest worry, would I have been safer outside of these walls? Out there with the infected.

“Don’t worry about a thing. I’m sure you’ll be fine.” He gave my back a hard and encouraging pat. I stumbled, losing my balance. I fell hard on my face, not being able to catch my fall. The pain coursed through my head immediately, and the taste of copper surged in my mouth.

I was suddenly pulled back to my feet. A strong hand gripping my wrists. I coughed out, feeling blood spill out from my mouth. The earlier pain in my head and the newly added bit, had my head spinning momentarily.

“You should be more careful.” A velvety voice spoke in my ear. I turned my head, a strikingly handsome man stood behind me. I could feel my heart start to pound in my chest, my breath quickened. I was suddenly aware of his warm, calloused hands on my wrists. His chocolate brown eyes were staring at my lips. I noticed the bit of facial hair on his chin, the sly curve of his lips, the height of his cheekbones. He started to move in, my breath hitched.

“You have blood on your face.” He gave me a strange look and walked away. I was shocked at my reaction to his proximity. I had never responded like that to anyone in my life, let alone a stranger. He turned to look back at me, a cruel laugh escaped his lips. I stared after him in disdain.