“Are you sure you want to join the SLF Xander? You are still quite young, I am sure there are several other divisions you can contribute to in this settlement.” Greyson said to Xander as he sat in his office.He had come to meet him directly after being told that he was too young and didn't meet the requirements to join the SLF. However he was adamant, hence his audience with Greyson.He simply told the recruiters that he wouldn’t give up unless he had seen Greyson personally and so there he was, however, his plan seemed not to be going well as even he didn’t want Xander to work in such a dangerous unit at such a young age.“Respectfully sir, I don’t want to work in any other unit other than the SLF.” Xander said in a composed manner, one that almost seemed too mature for his age.“If I may ask, why are you so determined to serve there? You’re still young. In a year or two you’ll be eligible to protect the settlement.” Greyson tried to point out.Xander took a deep breath and thought
“Where did you leave her?” Christopher asked his son in between breaths while simultaneously clutching his side.Xander zoned out for a moment and looked a bit closer at the area he thought his father had originally gotten injured before, it almost seemed to be becoming… darker-“Xander answer me! Where is Hailey?” Christopher asked again, bringing Xander back to his senses. “Yes, yes I’ll take you to her right now.” Xander said as he opened the door to the bakery and rushed into the kitchen.“Hailey, you are still here right?” Xander asked as he knelt down next to the cupboard he left his sister in.A moment passed and he could hear her subtle sobs through the wooden door. “Sniff.. yeah... I am... sob.” The little girl said and a wave of relief washed over both Xander and his father.“Come out for me sweetie.” Christopher said obviously sounding relieved and quickly the little girl rushed out and ran to hug her daddy.“Daddy… sob... I thought you were gonna get hurt.” She said as sh
An hour had passed by now, and Xander had managed to put Hailey to sleep. She spent most of the night crying, he spent most of the night consoling her.He wanted to cry as well, but breaking down at such a crucial moment wasn’t negotiable. He was the man now and he had to act like it. Hailey had gone through enough, he needed to be able to support her.She slept on one of the beds in the room while he sat on the floor, laying his back on the wall with the gun on his lap. He managed to get her to eat some bread and drink water before she went to bed.To confirm the worst he went back to the room they left their father and took a peek. As he thought, he was gone. He laid there, on his back arms crossed and facing upwards. He looked peaceful, Xander’s breath began to shake once again but he stopped himself and made his way back to the room with Hailey.So much was going through his mind that night, but one odd thing that kept happening was the footsteps that regularly came to the front o
Xander took deep and violent breaths as he stared down at Mark who was now bleeding from his mouth.He was filled with rage, the events of the previous day were still haunting him and Hailey as well. They weren’t even done mourning their late father and here this guy was trying to constitute a nuisance.‘I should just blow his head clean off!’ He thought inwardly, bloodlust clouding his mind. But suddenly something came over him, perhaps it was realization or pity. He could now clearly see the fear in Marks's eyes. Although they wanted to take their weapons and food they never outrightly tried to kill them.The world had already fallen apart due to the monsters causing havoc, why should he contribute to that?His breathing slowed and his reasoning returned back to him. Hailey was okay which was the most important thing. He had decided that it wasn’t worth it, there was no need to kill him.“I don’t know why you decided to do this. But I’m going to let you go. When I get up, you and y
Xander fell to the ground once again, his body was screaming at him. Mark's body lay on the floor, and Adrian’s body lay in front of him. He rested his head against the wall behind him and clutched his side once again. He looked towards where Hailey was sitting and saw her crouched against the wall with her legs tucked against her chest.He used a larger part of his energy to lift himself up and move over to his crying little sister. She leans into him and continues sobbing. Xander felt terrible. Not just because of the pain he was feeling, but because of what his sister was experiencing.She was barely thirteen and she had just killed a man and lost her father a day ago. He was barely holding on so he couldn’t imagine how traumatic it was for her. He looked at the horrific sight in front of them, with Mark's body and Adrian tied up in the corner. ‘Things won’t get better as long as we are in this same spot.’ He thought inwardly.He slowly got up and gently raised his sisters up in
Xander was in a bind, the cabin they had struggled so much to get to was right in front of them but instead of relief, he felt tension. The people there numbered about ten or so, it wouldn’t be wise to confront them head-on.Furthermore, he did not want to approach them either. After what he had experienced with Mark and Adrian, he did not want to give anybody the benefit of the doubt. He could still remember the look on his face when he tried to choke the life out of him. He had gotten wiser in the last twenty-four hours believe it or not.He concluded that the best he could do was simply try to get enough cans of food before the others entered into the cabin. Funnily enough, they seemeddisagreeing. An older man with patches of grey hair seemed to be telling them not to forcefully enter, while a slightly younger man, probably middle-aged was raging for them to break the door down.This however was not a time for him to gawk and stare. It was a time for him to act! “Hailey, stay here
“Xander, anything on your mind?” Phillip asked him as he woke up from his little recap. For some reason, he had begun to remember all the events that led him to their current situation.“No, I’m fine sir. Nothing to worry about here.” Xander said as he regained focus on the gates in front of him. Greyson saved them, who knows what would have become of them if they didn’t stumble across them.He joined the SLF immediately in order to rid himself of the shame that went with him wherever he went. His father's death was on him as far as he was concerned and he had to atone for it.He didn’t like the nonchalant attitude of some of the people in the force, especially their leader but he put up with it anyway despite their taunting and insults at his professionalism.“This isn’t the army kid” or “loosen up a bit.” And “you’re still young”. Those were all things he heard quite frequently since joining the force but he didn’t let them get to him. He simply did what was required of him.As the
Phillip was in a daze, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. ‘How was this even possible?’ He thought within himself. From what he had seen, the infected usually had animal-like or insect-like features with human bodies, however they carried more of the animal-like or insect-like characteristics with more disfigured features.But this time it was different, it had a human face with a lizard-like body. Its head had black eyes and equally black hair. Its mouth opened and Philip almost expected it to say something. Killing it now would leave a bitter taste in his mouth as he did not want to see the face of a human being while he was killing such creatures.Instead it let out a screech that sent shivers down his spine. The sound waves reverberated and sent shockwaves throughout the surrounding areas. Debris and pieces of wood and sand flew all over the place as the monster screamed in the direction of the retreating troops. Some dodged by jumping out of the way while others got caugh