Outnumbered

Charlotte sat silently on the ground looking at the dry, empty land in front of her. Traveling through the desert wasn’t the most exciting thing to do but they had no choice. It was the only way to get to California. She watched as the wind carried dirt and sand through the air, and turned her head slightly when she heard footsteps approaching her. She relaxed when she realized who it was sitting next to her.

“What are you thinking about Charlie?” Austin asked, resting his arms on his bent knees.

“Nothing.”

“Are you lying to me?” Austin said, looking over at his big sister.

“No. I’m not thinking about anything. I’m just…” She trailed off, finally looking at him. “I don’t even know, to be honest, Austin.”

The two siblings, who looked almost exactly alike with their blonde-brown hair, green eyes and tan skin, stared at each other in silence for a minute before Austin spoke.

“Are you scared?” He asked quietly.

Charlotte looked down at the ground and sighed when she heard her brother’s words. Of course she was scared. She scared out of her mind, but she didn’t want them to know that. She wanted to be tough for them. If she stayed tough and fearless they would too. But Austin knows Charlotte better than anyone. He knows how to read her and she couldn’t lie to him.

“Yeah.” Charlotte said simply.

“I’m scared too, Charlie. I’m really fucking scared.” Austin said, as he ran his fingers through his shaggy hair.

“I know you are, AJ, but you have to hide that. If Kenny, Tanner or Toby sees that we’re scared they’re going to start panicking. And that’s the last thing we need. I mean, we just got Toby to calm down. We don’t need him getting worked up again.” Charlotte said to her brother. “We can do this Austin. You, and me together, we can get us to San Diego. You believe that, right?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I believe it.” He said, nodding his head slowly.

“So, you’re still with me?”

“Of course, I am. I’m with you ‘til the end sis.” Austin said.

Charlotte raised her fist towards Austin and he smiled slightly before bumping fists with her. They leaned their heads together before Charlotte spoke.

“Let’s go kick some zombie ass, yeah?”

“Hell yeah.” He said, chuckling.

Charlotte and Austin stood from the hard ground and dusted themselves off before beginning their walk back to their van. Charlotte turned her attention to the store connected to the gas station where they were parked. She noticed the shattered windows and broken lights. She slowed down which caught Austin’s attention.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, with a confused face.

“Did any of you guys check out the store?” She asked, nodding towards the wrecked building.

“Me and Woodie did earlier. It wasn’t much inside. We grabbed some drinks and food. The cash register was empty. There was this door in there but it was locked.” Austin said.

“It looks like there is a garage or something connected to this building. There could be stuff we could use in there. We need to check it out before we leave.” Charlotte said, starting to walk again.

When they got back to their van they saw Tanner outside of the van playing with Toby. He grabbed Toby in his arms and looked over at his two friends.

“Everything okay?” He asked.

“Yeah. I think we should get back on the road. Where is Kenny?” Charlotte asked.

“He went back in the store. I told him about that door. He said something about trying to open it. I told him to let it go but he wants to-“

“GOAL!!”

Charlotte, Austin, Toby and Tanner’s heads snapped to the building as they heard a loud crash and yelling. Charlotte immediately opened the van door and grabbed her shoulder holster as Austin grabbed a shotgun.

“Tanner, get in the van with Toby. Lock the doors. If we’re not back in thirty minutes, you know what to do.” Charlotte said throwing her hair in a ponytail and looking over at Tanner. “Protect Toby.”

“I swear, I will.” Tanner said, seriously.

Charlotte closed the door and took off towards the store with Austin beside her. They got inside and immediately spotted the open door.

“Watch your back.” Charlotte said pulling out her guns. “Don’t let them bite you.”

“Got it.” Austin said, before walking through the door and into the garage.

Charlotte jumped as Austin shot at a zombie that jumped in front of him.

“CHARLIE!!”

Charlotte’s head snapped in the direction of her younger brother’s voice. She saw him standing on a broken down car trying to keep the zombies surrounding him at bay with a bat. Charlotte immediately started shooting at the zombies who then turned around and came at her. Kennedy took this as his chance to jump off the car and attack some from behind. Charlotte continued shooting and began kicking away zombies that got close to her.

“Charlie! Behind you!” Austin shouted, suddenly.

Charlotte quickly dropped to her knees and threw her leg out, tripping the zombie and making it fall to the ground. She wasted no time in stomping on the head of the zombie before pistol-whipping the last zombie coming up beside her and shooting it in the head. Charlotte breathed heavily as she looked around the room at her brothers.

“What were you doing by yourself in here?” Austin said angrily, walking over to Kennedy.

“I just wanted to check the door out. Woodie said you guys could open it and I thought there may be something we could use.” Kennedy said, looking down as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

“Yeah, but you know you’re not supposed to go off alone Ken. It’s not safe.” Austin said.

“I know, I know. I’m sorry, okay.” Kennedy said, rolling his eyes.

“Kennedy, don’t roll your eyes. This is serious, alright? You can’t just run off by yourself. What if we didn’t hear the word? You could’ve been hurt or even worse…” Charlotte said frustrated at first but losing the frustration as she got to the end of her statement.

Kennedy sighed, guiltily, and grabbed his sister’s hand before pulling her into a hug.

“I’m sorry sis. Really. I swear, I won’t go off like that again, okay? I promise.” He said, hugging her tight.

“Okay.” She said

“Alright, guys, let’s go. We don’t want Tanner leaving us.” Austin said, turning and walking out of the door.

Charlotte and Kennedy began to follow but Kennedy stopped suddenly after hearing a noise in the garage. He looked back in the room and froze when he saw another zombie. But this zombie was different than all the ones he had fought. This zombie was a little kid. He stood there silently as the young infected girl moved at a slow pace towards him. Kennedy knew that he should shoot it but he didn’t have the heart to. Even though the girl was infected it was a kid. He couldn’t kill a kid. Kennedy started to back up but was knocked on his back as the young girl forcefully attacked him. He used all of his strength to keep it away from him but it was becoming difficult to contain the blood hungry zombie. Suddenly, Kennedy felt the weight being flung away from him and then he heard a gunshot. He stood up and looked at Charlotte, who was looking down at the dead body.

“You hesitated.” She said looking over at him.

Kennedy shrugged as he looked to the ground. “She was just a little girl.”

He inhaled sharply as he felt Charlotte grab his chin forcefully to look at her.

“That ‘she’ just tried to fucking eat you. ‘She’ isn’t like us, Kenny. This isn’t the kind of situation to have a heart.”

“I know.” He mumbled.

“Well, then act like you know. These things aren’t human. Not anymore. Remember that.” Charlotte said as she turned to walk out of the door.

Kennedy moved to follow but stopped when he saw Charlotte staring at him.

“If it isn’t like you and me, you kill it, because if you don’t kill it, it will kill you. “