Left for Dead

Once Virgil brought us and the boat over to the nearest dock we all examined our surroundings. We were outside the back of a obvious abandoned diner. You could tell just by looking around that it was a small town with maybe the population of maybe, maybe four hundred people. This small community reminded me of a nicer version of the swamp people's homes we had just been through. Nick had spent the last five minutes arguing with Virgil that we weren't going to find any gas near by, but Virgil seemed to have thought there would definitely be gas at the gas station beside the diner.

"And if there isn't?" Nick questioned Virgil.

"There's a sugar mill around these parts, when the infection started to become worse the local survivors began to hoard gas jugs in one of those safe rooms. Follow the signs, you'll find some. I'll wait here for five hours for you folks, one of you is sure to come back with at least one jug of gas..." Virgin explained.

Way to look on the positive side...

"How do you know this for sure?" Coach questioned.

"I've been around these parts helping survivors this whole time, I know for a fact there will be gas around here. Too many of the people turned into one of those god damn walking dead folk before they could go through that much gas. Very seldom I saw a few boats take off around these parts..." Virgil answered.

Ellis began to walk towards the back door of the diner, regardless of it having no actual door anymore, he raised his rifle and peered through the scope. I vividly became aware of what we were about to encounter as I heard shots fire from Ellis's gun. Because I was low on ammunition, I picked up an abandoned bloody axe near a picnic table by the dock.

"Ammo's in here!" Ellis called from inside the diner.

"You guys go find some gas... I'll be here." Virgil said with an eery tone as he looked around.

"I'll drop the anchors just off shore waiting for you guys. Signal at me when you got the gas." Virgil added as he fired up the boat.

Briefly I examined the diner as I entered, escaping the rain drops from outside. Ellis, who usually sticks right beside me, was oddly ahead of me and rarely looking back to check and make sure that I hadn't got myself bit. He was acting as if I wasn't there. Was he mad about what I had said after I hit Sasha? Who knew. Anxiety took over me as I heard the giggles and squeals from a jockey.

"Get your head in the game!" Rochelle barked at me as she shot the jockey who was about to pounce on me.

"Look at all the abandoned vehicles and zombies... there's no way there's going to be any gas near by." Nick stated.

The others were busy shooting and slicing away at the zombies who bombarded their way into the creepy small diner as I lazily walked around the kitchen of the diner. Zombies ran past me as if I wasn't there, straight past me towards the others. I wasn't complaining though, I was exhausted and my blistered hands from holding a wooden axe handle most of the time wasn't helping matters much. A green bottle on the counter top finally caught the attention of my wandering mind. I looked over my shoulder at Ellis who was still busy collecting supplies and shooting down any zombies that ran towards us. I shifted my eyes back on the green bottle. Boomer bile.

The puke of the "obese zombie", the "boomer", was collected by CEDA officials shortly after the common infected oddly started to change from 'normal' zombies to 'special infected'. Survivors began to collect these bottles from CEDA officials who had become zombies themselves because in the scenario of being surrounded by the undead, throw one of the glass bottles of boomer bile to the ground, but far enough so that when the stench from the bile starts to attract the hoard of zombies, you're not right in the middle of it. You have a chance to either run your ass the hell out of there or take out the zombies who are most likely now directly where the boomer bile jar was smashed and fighting amongst each other. Better them than you right?

"Get a move on people!" Coach called out as he exited the diner, gun aimed and shooting at zombies in between parked abandoned vehicles and along the road.

Without any hesitation, I slipped the boomer bile into the over the shoulder bag I had got from Virgil's boat to carry ammo and a couple water bottles. Shivers crept up my back as the cool rain hit my skin as I walked out of the diner behind everyone. Watching the men shoot down every zombie that noticed us, the grip on my axe become tighter and tighter as I did so. Concentration and determination was plastered on Ellis, Coach and Nick's faces. Rochelle and Sasha just both seemed eager to find this gas and get back on the boat, where we were at least safe from the undead.

"There's the gas station" Rochelle stated with a sigh of relief.

That was fast.

"Oh come on!" Rochelle added shortly after as she saw the flashing sign 'No gas'.

"See? what did I say? no gas." Nick grumbled in annoyance.

I closed my eyes and sighed, dropping my shoulders. This can't be happening... Of course it's happening. All of this is happening. This is more real than real can get.

"Now what?" Sasha asked as she ran her fingers through her hair.

"That trailer by that broken fence has 'gas, two miles' with an arrow pointing north, spray painted on it" Coach replied.

"Good observation Coach." Rochelle praised him as she walked past him and slowly walked over the pushed over wooden fence.

"Keep an eye out for the landmark because we're going to be coming back through here." Rochelle added.

We cautiously made our way in the direction that the spray painted arrow pointed out. Thunder roared as the rain began to turn from a light mist to a steady pour. The guys took care of most of the zombies that were around while Rochelle made the attempt to help and Sasha basically did the same as what I'm doing... a whole lot of nothing. Except Sasha actually was paying attention to where the moans and groans of the undead were coming from so she could let the others know which direction zombies were running towards us from.

"Through this playground here." Ellis instructed causing my head to jolt up.

A nauseous and horrified feeling trembled in my stomach as I imagined the playground once having kids play on it, and the swing set having a couple kids challenging each other on who could swing the highest. The naive part of me tried to psych myself out by convincing myself that those kids were rescued first just like the infamous Keith friend of Ellis had been. However, judging by what Virgil had said about very seldom a boat left this area... and the amount of the undead... I doubted that very much.

"I'm going to be sick..." I whispered to myself as I stared at the playground.

Swallowing the lump that had formed in my throat, I cleared my throat and straightened my posture as I walked around the playground rather than go through it like the others were. We cut through in between unfinished houses towards an abandoned ambulance with its headlights still on.

"Stop for a second... I'm going to patch myself up" Coach said as we reached the ambulance.

Oddly Sasha and Rochelle sat beside each other on the end of the ambulance as Coach patched himself up while both Nick and Ellis scoped out the nearby undead. I brushed my now soaked hair away from my face before staring up at the cloudy sky. Rain drops splashed against my face as I closed my eyes, inhaling a breath of fresh air. I folded my arms across my chest and looked off into the distance at the abandoned boarded up houses and abandoned cars. The playground really got to me. I couldn't fathom the fear that must have went through those poor kids minds as this all broke out. Hell, I could barely think about how I felt when this first all started...

"You alright?" Nick asked me.

Startled by Nick showing concern towards me, I slowly turned and faced him. I nodded with a slight smile. My eyes lingered over onto Ellis who was staring at me before turning his attention away from me as soon as we made eye contact. I frowned and turned back around to the direction I had been facing before Nick asked if I was alright. Within seconds I could feel Ellis standing beside me. I sighed deeply before turning my head and looking at him.

"Yes?" I asked annoyed.

"Cut it out." He demanded boldly.

"What?" I asked in disbelief that Ellis had just said that.

"This angry shit you got goin' on. It ain't worth being angry over. We all have breakin' points but we all only have each other." Ellis replied firmly.

"I just snapped is all." I stated bluntly as I turned my attention away from him.

"You know somethin?" Ellis asked, ignoring me completely.

"Hmm?" I asked as I pressed my tongue against my cheek, becoming even more annoyed.

"I ain't ever been in love before until I met you." Ellis expressed with a huge smirk across his face.

I slowly turned my head to look up at him. I was staring at him and he was staring at me, both trying to read each others body language and facial expressions. My heart skipped a beat as I stared up into his beautiful blue eyes. I could tell that he was being sincere by how he looked at me. Shocked, yet excited to hear him say those words, I remained silent.

"I know I haven't known you for long. But I am head over heels in love with you Amber." Ellis added in a whisper as he stared down at me and placed both of his dirty, cold hands on the side of my face, gently pulling my mouth towards his.

We kissed as the rain poured on us and gun shots from the others echoed around us. I stood on my tip-toes and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling his head down closer towards me, knocking his hat off of his head which allowed me to run my fingers through his hair.

Ellis smilrked as he pulled away slowly. "We're gonna get out of this alive." Ellis said as if he was sure of himself.

"I love you, Ellis." I whispered still staring up into his eyes.

I wasn't one to be sappy and this girly and lovey dovey right off the bat. But I was sincerely, passionately and crazy in love with Ellis.