“I still do not understand why you are trying to feed him like a kid.” That was the first coherent word that Adam heard, hours after he fainted. It was his father again. Inexplicable anger rose inside Adam toward the man he had respected for most of his life. “Does dad hate me?” he thought drowsily as his eyes finally focused on the person sitting close to his head while she tried to put a straw in his mouth. Sophia. “I swear to God, Caleb... Adam, son, are you awake?” Marriane, who was about to let her husband have it, quickly asked when she saw Adam’s eyes flicker. Adam would have loved to respond to her. He would have loved to erase that pain from her voice. He would have loved to tell her he was just tired and goddamn hungry. Yet all he could do was look at the person with something close to food in her hand. He made a move to talk to her but all he could do was move his head. Yet she understood. She put the straw back into his slightly parted mouth and with a little re
The Troy household was not what Adam expected it to be. Adam had thought he would meet a lot of resistance from the workers when they found out that Trent was dead. He thought he might have to make a scapegoat of a few of them so that the others could fall in line. As it stood, he did not even have to do anything at all. There was no resistance from any angle. Simply because there was nobody there to give it. The fifty staff who were said to be working on maintaining the splendour of Troy’s new home were nowhere to be found. The house was squeaky clean.Scents of detergent and air fresheners still hung thickly in the air but the interior of the house was chaos. It was as if angels of vengeance had descended on the house and turned it apart. Shredded wallpapers. Broken glass tables. Half Yorkshire vases dotted the rooms. The kitchen seemed to have gotten the greatest hit. The dinner table was scarred with marks of soot and knife cuts. There were only a few china plates in t
Trent’s phone was missing! Adam put off facing the horrible sight after he and Ryan got back to the stables. It took them a while to get back to the others because Adam told Ryan that they should cover the hole. The stinky tarp was burnt once they were done. Then Adam told Ryan that he should go ahead and that he would join him later. Ryan merely nodded and went on to the stables. After he had told Adam the chilling story of how his family was killed, the man was back to his expressionless, quiet self again. Adam knew that there was nothing he could say at the moment that would make Ryan believe that he only did what he had to do to survive. The man believed that he was a murderer and that whatever happened to him was his punishment for what he had done. Adam could understand the feeling well enough. So, he let the man be and he suggested that they should cover the hole instead. Ryan did not need to be told twice. He took the needed tools from the outdoor shed and jumped t
None of them confessed to have seen any phone. Adam wondered what anyone would want to do with a dead man’s phone. Since he was not sure whether people passed by the stables while they were inside, Adam couldn’t say for sure whether the phone was with any of them. Since he didn’t want to give them more reasons to hate him, he decided to let go of his instinct to search their bags. What would anyone do with the phone anyway? Sell it? To who? Where? With that thought in mind, Adam dismissed the thought of the phone and concentrated on what was important. He needed to get to his sisters.And he couldn’t go without putting things in order here. The women were surprised by the amount of food in the pantry, storage room and kitchen. Some of them had been chosen from time to time to make Trent’s meals and they were not allowed to take anything apart from the leftovers that remained after he ate. So they knew the situation. Sophia was the only one who voiced the question that most
Adam could feel the increasing dread in Old Larry’s body as they proceeded. The tension Adam was feeling earlier had not made him take in the destruction around him. He couldn’t believe it had been over twenty-four hours already that he passed those streetsThe road was filled with all forms of junk. Damaged cars.Rotten foods.Carts and scattered pieces of luggage filled the streets. “Do you know how this started here?” Adam turned to ask Old Larry, who was sitting in the front seat with him. The man’s face was whitened like he had seen a ghost. Adam did not bother to ask the question again since he could see that the man was battling his own monsters at that moment. Only God knew what he had seen with those dim eyes. Adam thought. The young man at the back was just muttering “Holy shit. Holy shit” from time to time as he saw more and more blood and destruction. “Just look away” Adam said, just as he had told Yoshi earlier. “Hey, you can’t tell me what to do!” Jeremy yelled
“I swear it wasn’t deliberate. I swear it wasn’t deliberate!" Jeremy kept yelling as he ran down the staircase that led from the side of the workshop to the living quarters of Old Larry.He held a boombox that was still blaring in his hands.“Boy, what…?” “Shut the damn thing off!” Adam shouted, interrupting Old Larry.He quickly looked back at the zombies that were getting closer to them at that moment.“It wouldn’t turn off! It wouldn’t fucking go off!” Jeremy shouted with all the sheer terror of a sixteen-year-old on his face.Gone were the belligerence and the world-weary toughness.At the moment, he was nothing but a teenager, afraid to even get down the staircase because he knew he had messed up.“Just throw the damn thing away as far as you can. We have to go now!” Adam said as he jumped from where he was tying the last part of the rope against the rack.“I can’t! Mom gave it to me. This is all I have of her now!” he shouted while still standing on the staircase.“You…” Jere
The Troy’s mansion was as silent as a graveyard that night. Even the children seemed to feel the tension and sadness in the air, even though they did not know what caused it. They quietly ate their food and went quietly to bed. Those who were not asleep yet hung around the living room and terrace, like they were waiting for the hands of the clock to change. The last dregs of hope were evident in some eyes, like they were expecting things to have turned out differently. “It still feels like a dream,” Adam heard a man whisper to his wife. Yet it was no dream at all. Most of them had seen the torn body of Old Larry when they brought him back. Some of them had dug the grave where he was buried. Most of them had heard the repeated “I killed him. He died because of me,” Jeremy mumbled over and over before Marriane calmed him down. They had all seen that, yet some of them couldn’t help but hope. They had seen all the destruction before, yet they couldn’t help but wish that this wa
Carlisle was like a disaster waiting to happen After he had been restrained from taking his own life three times, he finally settled into a depressing mood. By then, Ryan was sporting a black eye. Caleb had promised to have nothing to do with restraining him again. And one of the kids had cried her eyes out after Carlisle had snarled at her for looking at him. Adam had finally been able to talk some senses into him eventually. Not without some help from Sophia though. It was obvious that despite his cloud of despair, Carlisle had a soft spot for her. She was the one who had been able to persuade him to eat his first meal. Adam had even caught Carlisle apologising to Sophia once for not saving Cain. The two of them were hugging each other at that time. Though Adam couldn’t see Sophia’s face at the moment because she had her back to him, the heaving motion of her shoulder made him know that she was crying. Carlisle’s one good eye also had a telltale wetness in it as he repea
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Adam left the house after Theo was buried.Even though Lisa was not happy with the idea, she respected his decision after warning him to stay away from danger and call her from time to time.Layla paid him no attention as he left and in a way, he knew she might never really forgive him.Reminding himself of how much more important the art of survival was to them at the moment than the matters of the heart, Adam became a scavenging nomad.Layla was right in a way after all, if Theo had not been with him, he wouldn’t have died.So he thought of the best plan.To travel alone from place to place, helping those he could and educating people more on how they can beat this thing.He gathered men from place to place, and trained them in ways they could get food, avoid attacks and how they can survive.Soon enough, Lisa and the others made out the first batch of the new vaccine they were working on.It was a vaccine that could mask people’s scent when they are near zombies.They had been able
“Please tell me you were not out here all night.”Adam threw the soil off the shovel and swiped at his sweaty brows before looking back at Lisa.She stifled a yawn as she peered at him through bleary eyes. “You really have been here all night?”Adam smiled as he said, “Pot. Kettle.”“Well, excuse me. I have been trying to think of ways to save lives. What is your excuse?”Adam’s smile was gone as he said, “I have been trying to do what I can to preserve the body of the life that was taken because of me.”“Oh, Adam,” Lisa said in a heartfelt tone as she came closer to him. “She blamed you, didn’t she?”“She was right,” Adam said automatically. “I couldn’t even get the tools yet a man died because of my decision. That is not on anybody, Lisa. It is on me.”He turned away and continued digging again.He ignored Lisa’s approach and continued to dig in a frenzy.His back glistened with sweat in the cold air and the increasing light of dawn brushing the sky.“Adam!” Lisa called sharply when
“So it was your fault!” Layla said immediately Adam finished his narration.She had been holding herself so rigidly as Adam told them everything without sparing any detail.Even as others gasped and muttered with sympathy and shock as Adam explained exactly how Theo had died, she had only stood their with soot and sweat drying on her body.With her arms tightly around herself, she stood still, like she might crumble if she moved.Tears falling from her eyes had increased, but she didn’t say anything.Then, immediately after Adam completed his narration, she blurted that out.“Layla, I don’t think Adam...”“No, it was his fault.” Layla cut Maddy off. “If he had not told him to stop, if he was not so concerned about getting some goddamned farming tools, Theo would still be here with us!”Each of her words dug a dart into Adam’s heart.He had not expected that from her.From anyone else, he could have expected the hateful words coming out of her mouth.But not from Layla. She was...Layla
It didn’t take Adam long to realise that his guess was right.The fiery halo was nothing but a blazing fire.“Who the fuck was making a fire out there?” he wondered as he ran with all his might.He started hearing the sounds of rushing feet ahead of him as well.Soon enough, he caught up with Maddy and some other men also running in the direction of the fire.“What is going on?” Adam asked instantly.Maddy’s eyes widened in surprise as she saw him. Without stopping, she said, “You are back! Good, we are about to find out who the fuck wants to die so badly.”They burst out into the opening to see Jared struggling with Molly!What the… “Hey!” Adam called out in fury.The two struggling figures turned to look at Adam.At least Jared turned.Molly used that opportunity to send her elbow into Jared’s guts.Though her hit didn’t do much to hurt him, he grunted and staggered back a bit.That gave Molly the chance to turn around as well.Her face fell when she saw Adam.Then she looked guilt
Adam recognised the car even before he saw the cutout van behind it. His heart leaped for joy when he saw Layla at the wheel of the car. But then his happiness was tainted by what Lisa just told him. He looked back at his sister just as the car parked. “You are sure?” he asked urgently. With tears in her eyes, Lisa nodded. Adam stepped out of the car. “Adam!” Layla called excitedly as she rushed forward to hug him. The men in the van came down just as Layla realised that Adam was not as excited as she was. She moved back from his embrace and asked, “What is wrong? Were you able to get…” Layla saw Lisa at the back of the car just then. She smiled in greeting and said, “Glad to see you are okay, Lisa.” “Hi, Layla,” Lisa responded in a gloomy tone. That made Lisa’s brow rise in confusion as she looked back at Adam and asked, “What is the problem?” Adam didn’t bother to mince words. “It is Theo,” he answered. Layla automatically looked towards the airplane, where Jeremy w
Hoping that he wouldn’t cause their crash, Adam quickly turned his phone on and searched for how to land an airplane while it was on autopilot.He could see the anxiety on Lisa’s face as she removed her jacket and placed it on him to keep him warm.Silent and morose, Jeremy stared intently at the unconscious body.Lisa looked up at Adam and he could feel the hope dying in her as she asked, “How far to go?”“Not too far,” Adam stated.Not that he was so certain of all the digits and radars on the system.He just hoped they would soon be in Sydney.He was glad for the fact that Theo had already inputted their destination into the control system before the unfortunate incident happened.Adam looked over at the body on the floor.The blood had finally stopped.Lisa had made sure of that.Still, Thomas remained very unconscious.When Adam had checked his pulse earlier, it had been threadbare.Things were not looking good at all.Adam took his mind off the morbid thoughts and focused on sea
Adam ran as fast as his pain-wracked body would allow. The angry shrieks and snarls behind him were thrumming in his head. Even though the sword kept slashing zombies down behind him while following him, the zombies were relentless in their pursuit. At that moment, Adam thought fondly of the chemical the Emir’s men had used on the zombies. He would make it his life mission to ensure they had something like that too. That was if he survived. Which was not looking so likely at the moment. The bites on his body hurt like hell as he ran without pause. The overgrown weeds slowed him down, while the mindless zombies plowed on without stopping. He had to turn to shoot at the closest two zombies that escaped the sword’s reach, even while backing away. The zombies were gaining on him as the airplane came into view. He could see the anxious faces of Lisa and Jeremy by the window as they were yelling something he couldn’t hear. The sword gained him some ground as he quickly climbed th
They started coming from everywhere. The more the zombies that were with them snarled and growled, the more other zombies started coming to join the feast. Adam regretted his urge to stop at that place. As he swung, slashed, and cut, he wished he had never thought of stopping at all. He took no notice of the crazily increasing storehouse.Cores dropped in succession and the storehouse increased in tune with it.Adam was too busy fighting for survival to marvel at the size of the storehouse.One couldn't stand at one side and see the other side of the storehouse again at this point.Adam was sweating profusely as black blood flew yet more zombies poured out of what had once seemed like a ghost town.It was like entering a hornet’s nest. The more he killed, the more they started coming. Theo was holding his own, and Adam was helping him out whenever he could. But when Adam was able to pull out a gun and toss it to Theo, the gun fell to the ground uselessly as Theo shouted, “I don