Episode 9: No Hope Left

Episode 9

"No Hope Left"

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

After shit hit the fan I didn't know what to do. Jeff stayed to help Mark, he's probably dead now. That's the problem with Jeff, he doesn't think realistically, you have to worry about yourself in this world. You have to be selfish or you won't make it far. I didn't know that when the virus first happened. I wanted to help people, I saved Jeff and Kayla at their apartment. Now, now that I see how the world really is, I've changed. You can't save everyone. Groups are important, but you have to worry about yourself first nowadays. Since I am alone now, I don't know how far I am going to make it. I ran from my house as fast as I could, I still had my hands tied behind my back. I tripped a couple times and couldn't break my fall. I need to get these things off. I ran towards the road, running for my life. The stranglers were everywhere, they circled the house like moths on light. I ran down the dirt road, and didn't stop. I kept looking behind my back, nothing was following me. I slowed down to catch my breath. I don't know how long I am going to make it out here. I'm screwed. If we had been more prepared we could have wiped Derrick's group clean out.

I kept walking down the road, until I decided I needed to get these ropes off my hands. I backed up to a tree, and started rubbing it against the tree, it took a while, and burned like hell, but I got out eventually. Once I was freed, the ropes snapped and I was on my way. I need to find some kind of shelter, a place that has food and water. I need to find a new home. Nobody ever lasts long on the road. I kept walking down the road, good thing the storm has died down. After walking about an hour down this dirt road, I saw a house in the distance. I started to run for it, hopefully it will have something for me to survive. I'm not hungry or thirsty right now, but I know I eventually will be. I kept on running, the house got closer and closer, until I was a few feet away. I looked at the house, it was like mine. In the middle of nowhere, beautiful brick house. I almost felt like it was mine for a minute. I walked up the porch and looked through a window, the blinds were shut and I couldn't see anything. I tried the door, it was locked. I backed up, and kicked the door open.

"Phew," I said, "Almost broke a sweat there."

I walked in the house, and shut the door behind me. I screwed up the lock on the door, but I can fix that later once I claim this place as my own. I looked around, in hope of finding food or water. I took a look in the fridge, and my eyes widened. Food and water stacked to the teeth. I was loaded, I just hope nobody lives here. I heard a gun click behind me.

"Turn around slowly." said the voice behind me.

I raised my hands and slowly turned around to see a gun in my face, holding the gun was Sabrina.

"Whoa take it easy Sabrina. It's me." I said, my voice was shaky.

Sabrina slowly lowered the gun, she put it in her back pocket and hugged me.

"Oh thank god, I thought it Derrick's men came back for us." she cried.

"It's ok," I said, "They won't find us. They have our house, they don't want anything else now."

Sabrina kept hugging me, crying into my shoulder.

"Is Jeff with you?" she asked.

"No." I said, it pained me to say it. Jeff was a good friend, and I'm sure he is as good as dead right now.

"Let me take you in the other room, Margaret is here too."

Sabrina walked towards a room and I followed. She opened the door to reveal a beautiful, big living room. It had a fireplace and leather couches. Margaret was sitting at one of them, blowing her nose in some tissues. She saw me and dropped the tissues, she got up and hugged me as well.

"I thought we were the only survivors." she said.

"You guys got lucky, how did you find such an amazing place?" I asked.

"Well," Sabrina began, "We kept running as fast as we could, scared half to death. After running so far, Margaret stopped and couldn't go any further. I looked around for anywhere to go and we spotted this place. We headed there and hit the gold mine. This place was armed heavily with guns, ammo, and food."

"A place like this seems too good to be true. Do you think the people who owned this house are just on a run or something? And they are coming back?" I asked.

"No, because we found their bodies." Margaret sniffled.

"What?" I exclaimed.

She pointed over behind the couch, where two bodies were. They both had bullet holes in their heads. They committed suicide.

"Why the hell would they do that? They were loaded!" I cried.

"Beats me, we should really get them out of here though, maybe give them a proper funeral." Sabrina said.

"Good idea."

We dragged the bodies outside, and Sabrina dug a hole for them. I placed them in the hole and covered it up with dirt. Margaret crafted a small cross with sticks and stuck it in the ground where they were.

"We don't know who these people are, but we have to be humane enough to give them a proper funeral. Poor people." Margaret cried, blowing her nose into another tissue.

It was sad, but I didn't see how the woman were so upset about it. They never knew them, I don't know if I am just a bad person, or can't feel emotions as well as a normal person. It doesn't matter, what's done is done. We need to start a new life here, I can only hope the best for Jeff an his daughter. We need to focus on building up our group again, to become strong again. I wonder how Damien was doing as well. Never really got to know him as well as everybody else.

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

I saw Margaret and Sabrina run one way, Patrick run another, and Jeff stayed back to try and help Mark. He was going to get himself killed, I have to run. It's every man for themselves now, I can't stay here. I need to run at all costs. I slipped my hands out of my ropes, I guess Derrick's men didn't tie mine as well. I ran off into the fields, this was probably the best route, since the road is far too dangerous. I saw Patrick run down the road, he is not going to make it far. After getting through the field, there was a forest. I looked around, stranglers were everywhere, surrounding the house. Jeff and his poor little girl were probably already dead. That's what you get for trying to be the hero. It never ends well for anybody. I ran through the forest, it was like a damn obstacle course in there, I was dodging trees, and hanging branches. I almost poked my eye out a few times. After all this running I got tired, and I slowed down. I sat down on a tree stump to catch my breath. I was screwed, I am lost in this forest and I have nowhere to go. I know what I needed to do now.

I turned around, and headed back for the house. I have nothing left now, and all I felt was anger build up inside of me. Derrick thinks he can just walk into our lives and take whatever he wants. That's not going to happen, I am going to kill him, once and for all. I grabbed a branch off of the ground, it looked sharp enough. I knew this was a bad idea, but I am going to die out here anyways. This is not me trying to be a hero, this is me taking my anger out. I got out of the forest, and saw the house again. I was going to settle this, with this branch straight through Derrick's chest. I walked back through the field, the storm started dying down. I was slowly getting closer to the house, this was it. I knew this was stupid, but I kept telling myself it was the only way. I got out of the field, and all that was left in my way was the fence we built. I threw my branch over it and climbed back over. I picked the branch up again and headed for the back door. I put my ear to it and listened. I could hear a bunch of men laughing, and talking. They think they've won, they are already acting like this is their home. Not anymore, I hope they've enjoyed their stay.

I opened the door and headed inside, I made sure the branch didn't touch the floor, that would make way too much noise. I went into the kitchen, and I could hear their voices clearly now. They were in the living room, which was only one door away from the kitchen. I put my ear to the door and listened.

"Those stupid ass fools!" Derrick laughed, "I can't believe this worked, look how much shit they have!"

"All these guns!" another man cried.

"And all this food! I'm getting fat tonight!" another man bellowed.

"Pigs." I whispered to myself.

"They build us a nice fence too! We don't have to worry about anything now!" Derrick said.

Then the talking stopped, everything fell silent. I was starting to get nervous. I backed away from the door, then it opened. I almost had a heart attack. As soon as the door opened I charged with my stick. I put it right through whoever opened the door. We crashed into the living room and I looked at who I stabbed. It wasn't Derrick. I stabbed one of his men, but not Derrick. I looked up to see everyone looking at me. They didn't look too happy.

"Did you just kill one of my men?" Derrick asked.

I tried pulling the stick out of the man's chest, but it wouldn't budge.

"Yeah, you piece of shit." I answered.

"Now you know that you are going to die right?" Derrick asked me.

"I know, I've got nothing left anyways." I said, I fell to my knees. It was over.

I heard the sound of a gun clicking, I looked up and saw a pistol in my face. Derrick was holding it.

"Goodbye, you idiot." he said.

There was a bang, and everything went black.