At first I agreed with everything she did, everything she said and thought...but after the callous feelings, or lack thereof, after Nuria was shot left me thinking...Was I in the right group?
"Kelly."
Was I going to make it out alive if I stayed here?
"Kelly!" Shocked, I looked up and saw Elizabeth standing over me. I guess I didn't realize I had entered a daze.
"Yeah, what is it?" I answered back.
"Do you see what's happening outside?" She asked. I got up and ran to the side window. I noticed all the girls in the other group were hiding behind walls, trees or buildings. Then I saw Susie hiding behind a garbage can, a terrified look plastered on her face. I looked closer and realized that the can was getting destroyed...
"The gunman..." I said under my breath.
"What?" Elizabeth asked.
"The one that shot Nuria...I think they're after Susie..." I left Elizabeth, ran out of the room and into the room that had all of our supplies. Vankelia looked shock as I rummaged through one of the bags to find a nice sturdy weapon.
"What are you doing?" She said, pulling a piece of licorice candy out of her mouth.
"They're going to die out there!" I said without even thinking.
"AND SO?" Elizabeth entered the room, her face reddening. "That's what we want...to whittle them down until we can grab the keys and make it out of here. What is wrong with you? Don't you want to survive?"
She was right...I had wanted to survive and I knew that I was willing to do anything to do it. Save the little girl and risk my life? No way. In this post apocalyptic world, kindness isn't rewarded...it's tossed to the side and beaten with a metal bat. You have to be tough but at the same time Elizabeth showed me that you can't be heartless. You need allies and seeing Nuria die made me realize something, was Elizabeth my ally?
I found a nice Desert Eagle in the bag. It was a good Israeli hand gun, with a solid recoil but I've handled one before when my dad used to take me to the shooting range...I knew what it packed. I put it in my holster and ran out the room back to the windows.
"What are you doing?" David asked walking into the room.
"Quiet for a second." I said scanning the horizon. Suddenly I noticed a glint coming from a building window and realized that the gunman was shooting from there. I counted up the building to the 5th floor and ran out to the elevators. David followed.
"Give me the elevator key." I told him. I knew Elizabeth had given him the right to guard it.
"No...where are you going?"
"I spotted the gunman, they're going to die down there if I don't stop them." I said.
"Well if you're going on a little adventure, I should join you too." He cocked his rifle, put the key into the elevator and down we went.
I ran out into the street and heard screams. David and I took a peek from around a corner and saw Susie collapsing to the ground. "Fuck..." I heard David say under his breath. I looked at him and silently motioned for him to run across the street so we would be in the gunman's blind spot.
In the shade of the building adjacent to where I saw the gunman, I heard no more gunfire.
"Where are they?" I asked David. He looked through the scope of his sniper and saw nothing in the window I had pointed out.
"They're gone, I think...but wait a minute..." His gaze went down to the ground floor. "What are they doing..." I looked over and saw Lauren N. and Nina sneaking into the building as well. I couldn't help but smile to think that they were probably going to stop the gunman too.
"Let's go! We have to help them." I said.
"Are you crazy! You don't know if there are more of them in there." David said pulling me back by my wrist.
"And we could be next if we don't do something now!" I refused to listen to him. I broke free from his grasp and ran towards the building. I heard him huff behind me and he ran to catch up.
"Okay if we do this, promise one thing?" David asked. I looked at him sternly. "When we get the keys to the car, I drive." I looked at him confused. "I know, I know...I just think that Elizabeth will probably try to drive...you just need to convince her that I'm the better driver."
"Whatever, fine. I promise."
"Sweet. The Demoralize is IN."
We quietly entered the building and noticed Lauren N. and Nina slowly walking up the stairs.
"You guys." I whispered loudly. They didn't hear me and disappeared around where the stairs turned. "Let's go." I said to David.
We began climbing the staircase and I could see the other two girls climbing up a few flights ahead of us. My eyes widened when I noticed another TWO figures running down towards them.
"LOOK OUT!" I yelled up. Lauren N. and Nina looked down to see me. Then they looked up and saw two masked figures that noticed we were there. They took aim and fired but Lauren N. and Nina had run through a door to escape the bullets. The shots ricocheted off of the metal beams, causing sparks to fly everywhere. The two figures began chasing us down and we ran as fast as we could to get away.
David and I got back to the ground floor and got our weapons ready. The two masked figures walked down the last flight of stairs slowly with their handguns pointing at us.
"Who are you!" I yelled, demanding an answer. Only their eyes could be seen but I knew from their height and structure, these were two men.
One of them laughed and cocked his revolved. David put pressure on his trigger.
"I wouldn't do that, if I were you."
They were definitely older.
"I SAID WHO ARE YOU." The two men ripped off their masks and I instantly recognized them. I didn't know their names, since I never listened or cared about it, but they were two security guards we had at the shop.
"You..."
"Skip how you know us...Yada Yada, we know you, you know us." One of them said.
"We know your group raided the police station and stole our weapons. We want it back...and your car." The other one said.
"What?" I was confused. I had no idea what they were talking about. "We don't have your weapons...we've never been to the police station."
"Drop the bull shit! We saw you guys using them during that last zombie outbreak. I recognize my gun anywhere. That Asian chick was using it...you know...your manager."
"Sarah..." I looked at David. "They're not part of our group. I swear."
"The way you were all fighting those zombies it looked like your group. Now get us our weapons back or each day we will kill another one of you." The larger of the two men said.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." I looked up and saw Nina standing at the top of the stairs pointing her Magnum at them. Lauren N. was holding her machete up. The two men looked at them and smirked.
"Little girl has a gun. What are you going to do shoot us? Have you ever even held a Magnum Revolver before?" I could see Nina's hands shaking. She pulled the trigger and shot.
The men ducked down and in the confusion one of them shot at Nina also missing. David reacted quickly and shot the bigger one in the chest and he collapsed. I was startled but apparently so was his partner because he turned around and shot back in our direction.
It wasn't until David screamed at my direction did I realize I had been hit. I looked down and my black shirt had become saturated in my own blood. I looked up and saw Lauren N. slice off the head of the other man and Nina running towards us.
I collapsed down to my knees as I suddenly felt a surge of pain run up my back and throughout the rest of my body. I began shaking profusely as I tried covering my wound with my hand.
"Lie, lie....lie down." Nina said as she took her sweater off and began ripping it into strips.
"David put pressure on her wound!" David nodded furiously and without question put his hands on my stomach, his hands getting covered in my blood.
I felt blood escape my mouth and I couldn't help but cough...I knew I didn't have much time left. Elizabeth was right...I thought as I lay there dying with two of my friends crying over my body. Lauren N. ran out to find help.
"You'll be all right!" Nina said crying. "You'll be all right."
I knew I wouldn't be. David's face was stark white as they tried to wrap my wound with their clothes to stop the bleeding.
"How's the sunset?" I asked. Nina looked confused through her tears.
"What?" She asked sweetly.
"How's the sunset...I can't see it...describe it for me."
"It's beautiful. Pink and oranges smothering the skyline...it's all for you sweetie." I needed to hear that.
I closed my eyes and their cries became muffled. Everything turned black and death was imminent. I saw a final vision before I took my last breath.
I was running through piles of leaves in the fall. My dad was chasing me pretending to be a bear. I was three years old. He swept me up in his arms as I laughed.
"You will grow up to be a strong woman!" He said as he whirled me around. "And you know how I know that?" He asked.
"How daddy?" I was genuinely curious...I figured he knew everything.
"Because you have a heart of gold."
"How can you see the color of my heart daddy?"
He smiled. He never answered me. But somehow I knew.
I knew how all along.
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