Episode 2: Old Habits

Episode 2

"Old Habits"

"Alright, I'll follow you Jeff! You lead the way!" Derrick cried.

"Be thankful I spared you," I said, "A normal person in this world would have killed you then and there."

He sniffled, and nodded.

I headed down the stairs, Derrick following behind me, and the rest of my men following behind Derrick. We made sure he didn't have a weapon before leaving. We don't want him attacking one of us. Derrick is a coward, he felt safe in this house, so he could act tough. It just goes to show you that when someone's life is about to end, their true self opens up. The stranglers still weren't in the house yet, but we needed to leave now. Patrick ran over and grabbed some things from a china cabinet.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"I know we are going to lose this house," he started, "I want to gather some things to remember it by." he held out a picture of him and his family standing in front of the house, and another picture of him as a kid, helping build the house. That's why it meant so much to him, he built the house with his father. Now I understand why it means so much to him.

"Alright," I said, "We're taking the back door." I pointed to a door across the room, the stranglers were still banging on the doors and windows. We were going to be okay though.

We ran for the back door, I heard a window behind us crash. They were in, we kept running. The door was getting closer, then I was pushed. I fell to the ground and hit my head. Derrick started screaming, he pushed me out of the way so he could escape first. He opened the back door and ran out crying. He really was a coward, and the stranglers were now here. I heard footsteps running around, they were coming for us, they were in the house. My vision went blurry, everything was spinning. Patrick grabbed me and pulled me up, we headed for the back door. Mark kicked it open and we saw what was really out there. We realized we couldn't take the back door. There were tons of stranglers outside, at least a hundred of them, they were everywhere. I saw Derrick in the middle of them, they were ripping him apart. It was over for him. My eyes got teary eyed, I understood his actions, even if they were bad. He lost his wife, and I can connect with that. I wanted to kill some people at times when she was gone. I even shot Clark in the face because he threatened Sabrina. Something about men disrespecting women sets me off, maybe it's because the men who kidnapped Samantha probably did horrible things to her.

"We can't go this way dammit!" Patrick cried, he slammed the back door.

We ran back, but were stopped by two stranglers. My headache was starting to go away, and I felt anger again. I realize now, after all of this, you can't be the good guy. I tried helping Derrick redeem himself, but in the end it ended up hurting everybody. I should have just let Mark kill him. The stranglers screamed and ran for us, I know we can't risk them getting us sick. I must be very lucky to still be alive today, since I have had so many close calls with them. Either that or I have a strong immunity to them or something. One strangler ran straight for me, I stuck my leg out and kicked it onto the ground. We kept backing up, but stopped again since more stranglers were banging on the back door now. We were cornered, what were we going to do? More stranglers got into the house, and starting cornering us into the back door. We were screwed.

"Shit! We trapped ourselves!" Patrick cried.

"Don't panic!" I yelled, "We have to think of something!"

The house was now full of stranglers, they were slowly moving towards us. That's one thing I've noticed about the stranglers, the same thing happened with Kayla. When the stranglers feel like they have trapped you, they move slower. It feels like they want to make your death last longer. They knew you are screwed and they want to take their time to rip you apart. These things are pure evil. They finally got close enough, I had no ideas to get out of this one, I just hope Sabrina takes good care of Kayla, that's all I ask. She can be a good mother to her.

"This is it isn't it?" Mark asked me.

"Yes." I sighed.

"Dammit, I really wanted to live longer in this world, I wanted to be around for a cure or something."

I took a deep breath in, and prepared myself for the worst. The more we waited here for our death, the more stranglers piled up into the house.

I then heard the sound of a motorcycle outside, could it be? The stranglers turned around that were facing us, they were distracted. This was it, we had to make our escape now.

I creaked open the back door to see the horde of stranglers facing something, they were leaving a path for us to run away.

"Now!" I yelled, I opened the back door and we all ran out.

The stranglers in the house realized and chased us out of the house, following us. They screamed, and all the other stranglers outside were alarmed. They started chasing us. We now had about one hundred stranglers following us. Good thing for the motorcycle engine, because that gave us just enough time to run and make our escape.

The stranglers were fast though, I've noticed this before, the stranglers are very fast and you'd be lucky to get away from them. I looked behind me to see they were gaining on us.

"Shit!" I yelled ahead, "Keep running!"

"Oh really?" Mark panted, "I thought it would be a good idea to stop."

"Stop with the sarcasm, it's not the time Mark." Patrick complained.

"Well he shouldn't ask dumb questions."

I heard the sound of the motorcycle getting closer, circling the house. It was coming for us, it had to be Sabrina, it just had to be. I turned around one last time, the stranglers were almost breathing on my neck. There was a screech in front of us, that revealed Sabrina on a motorcycles. She drifted right in front of us, on the back of the bike was Kayla. They weren't wearing helmets, which kind of scared me, but I can't worry about that now. Sabrina lit something, then threw it. A red smoke flew through the air and landed into one of the fields. It was a flare, how did she get one of those? The stranglers stopped, and looked at the flare. It was only going to keep them occupied for so long though.

"Hop on!" she yelled.

"Are you crazy?" I asked, "All four of us aren't going to pack onto a motorcycle that already has two people on it! That's six damn people on a motorcycle, it won't work!" I yelled.

"Just do it!" she cried, "Do you see any better options right now?"

"Damn, fine." I agreed.

I climbed onto the back and placed Kayla on my lap so we could use less space. Mark jumped on, along with Barry and Patrick. Sabrina floored it, and we all almost fell off. Patrick was on the very back, he was almost sitting on the back tire. We didn't go as fast since there were so many people on at once, but we got away from the stranglers, that's what counted.

We slowly drove down the laneway, I couldn't imagine how stupid we looked right now. I looked back and saw what would probably be my last glimpse of Patrick's house. It was infested with a hundred stranglers. The flare wore off, and they were back to just walking around. They must have totally forgotten about us now. The stranglers weren't that smart, but they were brutal. Sabrina kept driving, and finally we arrived back at the small house a few minutes later. We all got off, and stood in shock. That all just actually happened. All in a few hours, we infiltrated Patrick's house, killed Derrick's men, Derrick gets ripped apart, stranglers show up, and we somehow get out safely. I almost feel like someone is watching over me, I wonder who. I would like to think it is Samantha my wife, but I can't admit she is dead, her body was never found. She's not dead to me.

"Holy shit!" Mark yelled, he pumped his fist in the air. "Damn!"

"You really saved us back there Sabrina, that was awesome. How did you do it?" I asked her.

"Well," she began, I heard gunshots in the distance, that must have meant the war was going down. I watched from a distance, cheering you guys on. I then noticed a horde of the stranglers making their way to the house. I thought maybe you guys could make it out in time, but time passed, and you didn't leave the house. So I hopped on a motorcycle with Kayla and we headed off. It was really scary doing this, I've never done anything like this before, but it feels good."

"Wow." Barry said.

"Where did you find the flare?" I asked.

"It was just lying around, found it shortly after you guys left."

"Sabrina kicked ass!" Kayla yelled.

I looked at Sabrina, she started laughing. I cracked a smile, I probably would have laughed more, but I was still shaken from what just happened back there.

Night came, and we decided to stay at the house another night. This place was not permanent, but we were still deciding where to go from here. I tried falling asleep, but I just couldn't. I don't think anyone could after being back from a war and almost dying. I got up and turned the T.V on, this house had a very small T.V, but it would do. There was a problem, it wouldn't turn on. I realized it now, it finally happened. I knew sooner or later the power was going to stop working, and now it's over. No more power, unless we could find a generator of some sort. I walked over to the sink and turned the nozzle, nothing. Everything had shut off. Shit. I went back to bed and just sat there, we were going to start having to survive for real now. That means scavenging lots more, and even hunting if we had to. Mark came and stood beside my bed.

"What?" I asked.

"I need to talk to you." he said.

I got up and followed him outside, it was nice out. The crickets were out, owls were out as well, and I felt safe for once. There were no screams of stranglers, or anything. It was a peaceful night.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"I understand what you did back there," he said, "I understand why you let Derrick live."

"You do?" I asked.

"Yeah, we're still good people. We didn't need to kill Derrick. It brought a smile to my face when I saw him being torn apart, but I understand. I got mad at you because I was so full of revenge, but I think you have taught us all a valuable lesson today."

"Thanks." I replied.

I looked into the sky, normally before the apocalypse, you would see the odd plane fly by, cars drive by, and street lights everywhere. Now, it was peaceful. I never thought an apocalypse could actually be so beautiful. I may seem like a crazy person for saying that, but when there is not a sound in the world but your own thoughts, you start to admire the things around you. We could all die tomorrow, anytime. I need to start enjoying every minute I have now. I almost died back there at the house, and I don't want to go through that situation again. The thing that scared me was that I know deep down, I am probably going to have to go through countless situations like that again.

I just sat outside with Mark, making small talk, when Patrick walked out as well, along with Barry. They sat with us.

"Sabrina and Kayla are fast asleep." Patrick said.

"You couldn't sleep?" I asked.

"Are you kidding me? Of course not." Patrick replied.

"I still think about Damien sometimes," I started, "he was a good person, he helped us get out weapons. It's a shame Derrick took them when he attacked, but it was still nice to have them while we did. If stranglers didn't attack tonight, I would have grabbed all the guns. For now, we are stuck with a couple of pistols, oh well."

"Damien was a cool guy, and I wish I got to know him more." Patrick agreed.

"Who's Damien?" Barry asked, "I keep hearing about him."

"An old friend," I said, "Derrick killed him, at least that's what he said."

"So what now?" Mark asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Where do we go from here?"

I thought for a long time, I honestly didn't know where to go from here. We needed to start scavenging, we hardly have anything right now. Then it hit me, how did I not think of this from the start? I think it's time to go to Toronto. I think we're ready.

"I know now." I said.

Everyone looked at me, wanting to know what to do now.

"I wonder if the military has cleared Toronto yet."