“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
Marriane had a relapse during the night.She had been doing so well lately that Adam had almost forgotten that she was struggling with oesophageal cancer.The cancer had been a rude shock to the family when Adam was in his final years of college and his sisters had just been admitted to the University of Chicago.At first, their parents did not inform them about the situation, but they all got suspicious when their parents insisted that there was no need for them to come home to spend their holiday that semester.Adam came home only to meet his mother in a hospital bed.She just had her surgery.Though his sisters were not informed immediately, they eventually knew.All had been well in the household, apart from the fact that they were not doing so well financially since the exorbitant rate of $68,980 had been from liquidating the family business assets.They were all happy that the Stage 4 oesophageal cancer had not claimed Marriane’s life.The happiness was short-lived when the tumo
Carlisle and Ryan told the people to go back to their rooms.Sophia stayed with Marriane and continued crooning to her while rubbing her down with the wet cloth that she had asked for.Adam didn’t waste time before going out into the night to get his mother’s medication.“I will come with you,” Caleb said as he followed Adam out into the cold night, still bare-chested.“No, I will…”“You don’t know where the vial is,” Caleb said simply as he opened the door and jumped into the passenger door.He was silent for a while before he said “Are you going to tell us where you got the car from?”“Dad…”“Never mind, never mind. I must be out of my mind asking this right now when Marriane is lying in there like that. Can you drive faster?”Adam drove faster.They got to the house and came back without any casualties.It was as if the zombies were off the street for the night or they had decided to go elsewhere.Adam knew they merely got lucky though.Marriane was calmer when they got back. Thou
Adam drove for a while on the highway before he started hearing it.A thumping sound was coming from the Jeep’s bed!He had been tuning the radio dial to see if he could get any signal.No stations seemed to be on.All he was getting was static noise.Adam quickly switched off the radio to be certain that he had not imagined the sound from the back.There was silence for a moment, but then the sound came again.Wondering what could be making the sound, Adam thought of parking right there to check.But on second thought, he decided to move farther from the residential areas.He was not fooled by the calmness of the surroundings. He was sure that there were zombies lurking around, just beyond sight. He was not about to deliberately call them to feast.The first thought he had was that the one making the noise from the boot had to be a zombie who had managed to hide there when he was not paying attention.Adam knew that zombies don’t go down without making noises that could attract atte
“Oh fuck it!" Adam swore under his breath, some paces away from Jeremy. Then he reversed. “Get in. and I don’t want to hear a thing from you!” He snapped when Jeremy wanted to talk. “You want an adventure, yeah? Well, you are about to get one!” Adam said. He had briefly thought of taking Jeremy back to Maradoit, but the thought of his mother’s health and his sisters’ safety made him let go of the thought. The boy would need to learn how to survive eventually. He might as well start now. Adam just hoped he wouldn’t end up getting the both of them killed. Adam lifted the Jeep over a fallen car with a bloodied car seat. “Oh, cool” Jeremy breathed in excitement. “How did you…” Adam turned his “What did I say” gaze on Jeremy and the latter shut his mouth immediately. Adam almost missed it. Just as he was lowering the car down, he saw a pharmacy from the corner of his eyes. He quickly slowed down. “Why…why are you slowing down?” Jeremy asked immediately. “You know...you are n
Adam stepped over the zombie as the crystal core disappeared.The Katana sang its deadly tune, and Adam sank it deep into the neck of one of the zombies he had seen in the doorway.He wondered briefly where the other had gone, but he couldn’t dwell for long on that.He took a step in the direction where the baby’s shrieks had increased.He needed to shut that baby up before it got all of them killed.“Get the fuck away from me!" Another shout from outside got Adam’s attention.That boy!Adam swore in anger as he changed direction again.He now knew why the other zombie had not come for him.It had turned back and joined five other zombies that had surrounded the Jeep.They were hitting the glass in an attempt to get to Jeremy.When that didn't work, they started pushing hard at the car as if to topple it over.A smaller car would have been rocked by their desperate push.Adam didn't want to risk finding out if the Jeep could hold either.Yet the boy kept shouting, “Get the fuck away