He was waiting for them when they arrived.Adam’s family was so anxious on the three-hour flight that took them from the camp to the government shelter facility on the outskirts of Alagan.They did not get to see the facility, though.Just as the pilot gave them warnings about sitting in their seats as they were about to land, Marriane was already trying to peek out of the window as if she could catch sight of her boy from that distance.As the plane was descending, they could see the massive, white shelter where one of the men announced they were providing for survivors like them.The announcement was not so necessary, as the people could even see military men patrolling the grounds of the facility.Just before they got to the outskirts where the shelter was situated, they could see many dead zombie bodies at the barricade that led to the shelter.The city of Alagan itself was overrun with zombies.Yet, there was none miles from the shelter.The shelter disappeared from view and soon
Marriane’s anxiety grew as the journey seemed to take forever.“Please, where are we going? I thought my son was just around the corner from the facility." She asked anxiously.The driver did not respond.She wanted to talk again, but then Caleb calmed her down.“Calm yourself, my dear. I am sure we will be there soon.” Caleb said.Yet concern was evident in his voice as well, as they headed farther and farther away from the direction where they had seen the facility earlier.They were heading away from Alagan as well, not towards it.All they could see around them were vacant lands on the highways and no buildings.“Are we…Are we going to another city?” Marriane asked out loud again. “We are leaving Alagan? What about the others? Where is my son?!” she said with a bit of hysteria this time as she looked around wildly.Still, the driver said nothing.Caleb spoke up “Young man, I think you..."All of a sudden, they could see a majestic building up front.Away from the highway and alone
The church bell turned out to be type winded by alarm.There was no one there.Adam thought of disconnecting it, but he eventually let it be.That ghost settlement could do with a little bit of noise once in a while.Adam had a perverse satisfaction at the thought that zombies who came along would be put to stress by the bell, as well when they tore into the church, with the expectation of meeting someone there."I never pictured you for someone who would be satisfied with something so childish" Layla said when he told her why he didn't disconnect the alarm."That goes a long way to say that you don't know a lot about me, miss smarty" Adam responded before he swung the water container in his hand upward to have a drink."Hmm, that is quite true, you mysterious man," Layla said as she tried not to breathe harshly while walking behind him."I know quite a bit though," she said as she adjusted the church curtain they had each pulled down to protect their heads under the unforgiving sun.
A door they had not noticed at first opened suddenly at the other end of the room.A well-dressed, formidable-looking man walked through the door, followed by a younger-looking version of him.The older man pinned his glare on Adam’s family and said in a booming voice. “So, these are the family of the murderer?”“What? Murderer? How? Why?” Marriane said in agitation as she came forward towards the man with her hands extended in supplication “Did Adam hit someone with the car when he had an accident?” she asked with tears in her eyes."Adam,” the younger man scoffed.“At least we have a name now,” said the older man, ignoring Marriane as the others followed her.“Sir, can you please tell us what happened?” Caleb asked.“Oh, I will tell you that. Right after this.”Before any of them could react, the man whipped out a pistol from his pocket and shot at Marriane. Caleb pushed her out of the way and the bullet pierced his head.“Dad!” Lisa screamed as Marriane, who was pushed away, fell h
“I told you to forget I said anything, didn’t I? Now, you need to hold on tightly or you are going to fall off your ass."Adam spoke testily as he laboriously pedaled the bicycle they had found on the side of the road.“I don’t know why you have to be the one doing the riding anyway.” Layla grumbled behind him. “I can do it better than you are''“Well, guess what? Life ain’t fair. Deal with it,” Adam snapped.“I don’t have to deal with anything,” Layla fired back.“You are right.” Adam stopped immediately. Then he turned his head to look at her. “You don’t have to deal with it. You have a choice. You can walk.”You are not funny,” Layla said with a mutinous look.Adam sighed suddenly and looked at the empty road they were on.“You are right. This is just stupid,” he said, then put his foot back on the pedal. “Hang on.”With that, he continued pedalling down the road under the sweltering sun.The mountain bicycle was the only thing close to civilisation that they had seen since they c
Adam finally looked around at the faces around them.It was apparent that this was not just any plane.It was a military airplane.Though they were not all in their uniforms, they all had that discernible aura about them.The aisle door opened and marching footsteps approached.“Commander”“Commander”Men saluted as the figure came down the big Antonov An-124 Ruslan airplane rumoured to be capable of carrying 350 men in its cabin and about 88 more in its upper deck. Decked in the Army Green Service uniform with the silver eagle insignia, the formidable-looking woman marched towards Adam and Layla.“What were you two doing down there, like ducks waiting to be ripped apart by the walkers?”“Walkers?”“Aunt Catherine?"Adam and Layla chorused together.Adam turned to look at Layla, just as the military woman also turned to her. “Who are..."Her eyes flickered a bit and she said, “Lay? Little Lay? Is that you?”“Little Lay?” Adam said in wonder when he saw her looking at the woman with a
“I should have known that I would meet you stuffing your face.” Layla said with a wan smile as she straddled the stool next to Adam.Adam deliberately scooped up more omelettes on the platter and raised them up to her eye level before chewing loudly with a playful smirk.Layla smiled again yet Adam could see that it didn’t get to her eyes.“Ralph offered and it was only gentlemanly to accept.”“Of course”"I don't want to hurt his feelings.”“I am sure that was the only reason why you accepted it,” Layla countered, her smile warming up slowly.“Of course, I even manage to keep some for you. If you beg nicely, I would give you some.”“Or I could call Ralph and ask him to make me more.”“No, he only listens to me now. I have bought his soul,” Adam said.“My aunt would kill you if she heard that,” Layla said.She looked over as he uncovered a plate of steaming French omelettes.Adam pushed it to her and waited awhile while she pushed the food around the plate with her fork, before he ask
Colonel Catherine Aguilar was welcomed to the shelter with such respect.An accord which was extended to her entourage as well.While the liutenant colonel and the men with him went with the supply unit to sort out what the colonel’s plane brought, Colonel Catherine offered to help Adam and Layla gain knowledge of the whereabouts of their people.The supervisor in charge of the facility listened carefully to Adam’s explanation.“I am really sorry, mister. This place has been more busy than a beehive for weeks now. People come in every day, so I can’t really say if your people are here or not. One thing I can do is ask the men in charge of evacuation. They would have more details.”The man quickly arranged to have the evacuation team brought to him.There were about twenty of them.“They used to be more than this, colonel but just two days ago, we lost some of them to the sickness again. Let’s hope any of these have seen the people.”Then he gestured to Adam with a respectful "Mister.”.
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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