Zero Blood: Volume 4

Zero Blood

Volume 4

Part One

"Footsteps in the Snow"

Episode 1

"Don't Breathe"

(This Part of the Story is From Jeff's Point of View)

"Kingston?" Jess asked, "How far is this place?"

"Not far," Ned began, "We should be there in a couple days if things go as planned."

"This place better not be as overrun as Toronto is."

"It won't be Jess, let's just keep walking." Ned said.

I stopped and took a look back, we were now heading east out of Toronto, and we were walking on a highway. Ned said this was probably the best place out, it was straight and we may even find a car to speed things up. I don't think we are going to find a car though, the whole highway is empty. We will probably end up running into a gang or something with our luck, but we don't have much of a choice from here. I am still trying to take in how much we just lost, all with in a few days, I lost Sabrina, the mall, Patrick, and the last bit of my sanity. I can't even believe it. I knew this world took things from you, but I didn't know how fast it could do it. Kayla held tight to my hand, Brandy held tight to my other hand. Both of them were on both sides of me, tightly grabbing my hand. They were afraid to lose anyone else. Mark slowed walked beside me.

"You know Jeff, if you ever need anyone to talk to, I'm here." he said.

"I'm fine," I said, "I don't need anyone to talk to, it's fine."

"You sure? Everyone needs someone to express their feelings to once in a while, you can let it out."

"No, I don't need to let my feelings out dammit!" I yelled.

Everyone stopped and looked at me, Kayla and Brandy looked up at me surprised. Everyone had mixed looks, confused, startled, scared, sad.

"Fine, but you're not invincible Jeff. Remember that. Everyone has feelings." he said.

I didn't say anything else, I just kept walking with Kayla and Brandy holding both of my hands.

(This Part of the Story is From Jess's Point of View)

Jeff was losing it, I don't know how much further he is going to make it. We all lost a lot, but he was closest to those people than anyone. He lost his girlfriend and his best friend all in a few days. It was brutal, I lost my brother, and I was like Jeff for some time. I'm better now, and Mark helped me with it a lot. Jeff just needs to let Mark help him, he'll feel much better. I remember when I shot Winston with no hesitation after seeing what he did. I might have hesitated if I hadn't just lost my brother. Our group is so small now, we have Ned, Julie, Mark, Jeff, Brandy, Kayla, and me. So many people have died, Julie has been quiet for a while. She really showed leadership back in the air vent of the mall though. When she tried getting everyone out so we could escape. I think she is doing better now, I honestly thought she was going to die soon after Winston's death. Since she now had nobody. She hasn't held it against me though, she knows I needed to do what I needed to do. Winston was out of control, and he had to be stopped.

Mark walked up beside me, Ned was in the front, leading us. I was behind him with Mark, Julie was behind me, and Jeff was in the back with the kids.

"It's hard to see Jeff like that." Mark said.

"I know, you've been through a lot with him." I said.

"It's not just that, I know he is such a strong person. Anyone who has made it this far is strong. He can't lose it now, he's been kept on this world for a reason."

"I understand, I hope he pulls through."

"He won't if he doesn't let me help him!" Mark exclaimed.

"It's okay, he's just upset right now because of all the deaths, give him a couple days. Maybe by the time we get to Kingston, he will be in a better mood to talk to you. He just needs to cool down." I said.

"You should have seen what he did to Gus." Mark whispered to me.

"What?"

"He beat him to death, his face was unrecognizable."

"Do you think he is turning into Winston? I mean, he seems like a loose cannon now. I'm not saying Gus shouldn't have died. I'm glad Jeff killed him, but beating him to the point he was unrecognizable is pretty brutal." I asked.

"I don't know, we'll have to keep an eye on him." Mark said.

(This Part of the Story is From Jeff's Point of View)

Everything looked the same, it was just an empty highway, with frozen trees and snow around it. It was freezing, we had little clothing to keep us warm. Hilda let us keep the pistols, but we are running low on ammo. Hilda supplied us with a couple water bottles and a bunch of energy bars. It would last us until we got to Kingston at least. Let's hope there are no setbacks though. You would think that we would see some stranglers up here, but there were none. It was almost suspicious. I wonder where they all went. I'm not afraid of them anymore, I'll fight them with no protection, I have nothing to lose anyways. Everyone then went to a sudden stop, Jess and Mark leaned in to look at something far away. I didn't see anything, but they must have. I tried looking where they were, and I saw a little lump in the middle of the road. Almost like someone was lying down. It was probably a dead body, but they might have some supplies we need. Jess started running towards the lump, with everyone following her. We ran for about twenty seconds, and I could finally make out what was there. There was someone lying on the cold ground, helpless. They looked alive though. We got closer and I was now standing beside her. She was an old woman, she had a coat on, and a backpack beside her. She was crying.

"Are you okay?" Jess asked her.

"Just go," She shuddered, "I'm freezing to death, it's probably too late for me."

"We can help you!" Mark said.

"No we can't," I said, "We don't have anything for her." I then knelt down and picked up her backpack.

"No please, that is mine." she said, reaching her weak arm out towards me.

I looked her in the eyes, and said something so evil I scared myself.

"You don't need it anymore, you're dying, right?"

I then stood up, everyone looked at me in horror, I opened the bag and saw a bunch more food and water, enough to last us two weeks if we ration it right.

"Jeff! What are you doing?" Jess asked.

"She's dying!" I yelled, "What good is it for her?"

"I have a picture of my husband in there." she said weakly.

I ruffled inside the bag to find a small picture of an old man, her husband. It was a small photo that you put inside your wallet. I picked it up and threw it beside her. I then started walking away with the bag. Nobody followed me, I turned around.

"Well, are we going? We don't want to end up like her." I said.

Everyone slowly followed behind me, Jess said something to the lady, probably apologizing, then we were off. The lady picked up the photo and held it close to her chest. I swung the backpack over my shoulder and we kept walking. After a few more minutes of walking Mark ran up to me, he looked mad.

"Jeff what the hell is your problem?" he asked.

"What?" I asked.

"You're being an asshole! You just robbed that lady!"

"She was dying anyways!"

"What if that was you? Put yourself in her shoes!" Mark shoved me.

I threw the bag on the ground and walked close up to him, he backed away, he looked scared.

"I already am dead inside. I know exactly what she feels like."

I then backed away and picked up the bag, I didn't want to fight Mark. It would be unfair, considering he only has one arm.

Nobody talked at all for a long time, we just kept walking. I took lead, and everyone followed behind me. I know it was bad for me to rob that lady, but she was dying, and we need it. The group will be thanking me later when we have enough food for the trip to Kingston. Kayla and Brandy strayed away from me, and they started walking with Julie, I was fine with it, since she was a good role model for them. Better than me right now, I was not only scaring them, but scaring everyone else. I was fine walking by myself in front of the group, it gave me time to think. The sad part is that I don't think I will ever be the same again, not after everything that has happened. I think everyone is screwed up from this world, everyone has different ways of coping with it. Maybe I'm bad luck, if I think about it more, I realize that whenever I am included in something, bad things happen to other people. I showed up at Patrick's house at the beginning of this apocalypse, everything was going fine until Derrick attacked. Maybe that was my fault, I was the one who let Ian inside the house. If I never let him in, we may have never even met Derrick. Mark would still have his arm, we would still be peacefully living at Patrick's house. So many people would still be alive if it wasn't for me. Maybe it would be best for the group to go on without me. Kayla and Brandy could stay with the group, they would be safer with them. I would go off on my own, and see how far I could get. I'm sure a lot of people's lives would improve.

(This Part of the Story is From Julie's Point of View)

Kayla and Brandy held onto my arms, keeping close to me. I have formed a pretty strong bond with them lately. Ever since Sabrina died, Kayla and Brandy have almost looked up to me as a mother figure for them. Although I wasn't even in my twenties yet, I think I could take care of them. I don't think age matters anymore in this world. I have lost a lot, so I can relate to both of them. Jeff is doing exactly what my dad was doing, he lost so much he gave up, and gone a little insane. I don't blame him though, he lost two important people to him within a few days. That's rough. I just hope he gets better, and doesn't have the same fate as my dad did. Kayla needs him, she already lost Sabrina. She can't lose her dad now. I will try to take care of them as best as I can, but I don't know if I can do it alone. Jeff needs to be there for them.

"Julie?" Kayla asked me, "Is my dad going crazy?"

"I hope not." I said.

"Jeff is strong," Brandy said, "He will make it through this. He has so far."

I heard the faint sound of a scream in the distance, behind us. Strangler screams. Everyone slowly turned around, and I almost passed out. What we saw was bad, and we didn't need this right now. I saw a huge horde of strangler behind us, on the highway. They were about one hundred feet from us. They saw us though, because I saw them running straight for us. The horde had to have at least fifty stranglers in it. They were all screaming, and headed this way at full speed.

"Oh shit." Jess said.

"We need to run." Mark yelled.

We all turned back around and started running away from the horde, we were on a straight road though, how are we going to hide from a horde on an empty highway? We were going to have to hide in a ditch or something.

"Everyone! In the ditch!" I yelled.

Stranglers weren't very smart, so I don't think they would find us if we hid in a ditch. And even if they saw us go in a ditch, I don't think they would remember by the time they got here. It was the only shot we had.

Everyone liked my idea, so we went with it. I leaped over the railing, and rolled into the snowy ditch. It was cold and uncomfortable, but I had to put up with it. Everyone hopped over the edge and we laid down, hoping the stranglers would just keep moving past us. Brandy started panicking, and breathing heavily. Kayla grabbed his hand.

"It's okay." she said.

He stopped and calmed down, I thought that was pretty nice of them. They were looking out for each other, maybe they didn't even need a guardian. They've made it this far on their own. After a little longer of waiting, I started hearing the stranglers get closer. Instead of running like they normally do, they stopped. I heard the footsteps stop, and I heard growling. They were looking for us! I didn't think they were smart enough to know we hid in the ditch. I closed my eyes tight and held my breath, everyone did the same. I heard a strangler move up against the railing, growling. Then the growling stopped, I opened my eyes and looked up. I saw a strangler leaned over the edge, and looking me directly in the eyes. It screamed in my face, I got up and shoved it over onto the road. All fifty stranglers were looking straight at us, they all screamed. It was so loud, I almost fell over.

"Run!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.

Everyone got up and started running into the forest that was beside the highway. The stranglers kept screaming and followed us. Now everyone knows that stranglers are faster than the living, the only way to outrun a strangler is to try and shake it off of you by making lots of turns, or get lucky. In the woods, I don't think we were going to get lucky. So our only hope was to shake off fifty or more stranglers. We tried as best as we could to stay close together, because the last thing you need is to split up, but it was hard to do that in a forest. We had to dodge trees and stranglers at the same time. I stayed close to the group and I was certain that Kayla and Brandy were right behind me, but I looked back, and didn't see them.