[b]"Back inside the truck?"[/b] [b]"Why are you cheesing so god damn much?"[/b] Mathew turned to look at Abel.. his eyes glinting again just as they had been before. Abel never understood where people found these slivers of hope. He only wished they'd stop waving the shit in his face. It was annoying. [b]"I found-... you know what. I found nothing."[/b] He turned back toward the truck holding the same smile he'd been holding since he stepped out of the store. He climbed inside the cabin just as Billy caught up with Abel. [b]"The fuck is he so happy about?"[/b] He was confused. The both of them had come up empty handed after searching house after house. This was hardly a reason to be smiling and if he had found something worth taking, he was obligated to share what it was... especially if it was food. He could already feel the familiar turning in his gut reminding him that he was running on fumes. [b]"I don't know."[/b] Abel shrugged. [b]"Says he found something but he doesn't want to share what it is. Knowing him... probably something small enough to fit in his ass."[/b] He cracked a smile, Billy along with him. [b]"Anyways there's nothing here. I'm starting to think that bitch lied to us."[/b] [b]"Ya... me too."[/b] Billy looked around at the rest of the houses on their street. These homes were middle class, two story wonders. Something he had wished he owned in his past life. Most of the lawns now were dead from lack of upkeep but he could imagine the perfect green lawns, cut grass, maybe a small tree growing in it's center. There were probably kids running up and down the driveways without a care in the world. It was free and open and beautiful place to have lived in... nothing like city life. Back then, these people had so much that at times they squandered their riches, took things for granted. Now everything was valuable but despite having so much, these houses were nothing but shells. Empty and shallow.. haunted by memories. Nothing worth taking here. [b]"Well... we still have a few spots to check."[/b] Abel started back toward the truck. [b]"Let's get the fuck out of here."[/b] Back on the road, the three continued their mindless banter, all of them now rambling about nothing and everything at the same time. There were stories of the past tossed between them, stories of the future, of things that they hoped would come to pass. Stories about how they survived up until now and how they learned to live in the new world. It was the same conversation Abel had with everyone after the Rise. Everyone was interested in how you managed to stay alive. No one wanted to know how you died... how they died.. like it was a bad dream that they wanted to simply forget... Abel along with them... and he did. It was surprising to him how easy it was to let things go. He didn't know if it was just the way he was, how he'd been programmed to be but it disgusted him. As he stared out the window, he caught a reflection of himself in the mirror. His face looked tired... lifeless almost. His grey eyes were always devoid of color, they were never really something he liked looking at. They were beautiful. Women never walked away remembering the way his eyes sparkled... They looked like dark ominous clouds trapped in a bubble, like a storm waiting to burst forth... like rain that's been trapped. What did people remember out him? His words.. his lips. Even now they moved, spitting forth nonsense, things he didn't half believe himself, things he didn't listen to. His lips moved but he didn't hear anything he was saying. [center][i]...Has it always been like this?...[/center][/i] He could almost hear the answer echo in his head.... not in the form of words or sentences.. but in images... the way he'd always seen things. In smells... Lilacs.. spots of green light... silk. When it all disappeared, he'd felt as if his world had started to tumble, he could feel himself loosing his grasp, being pulled back and forth, left and right by some invisible force. Shards of glass glided in front of him, splaying glimmering light into his view of the world spinning out of the control outside. It was beautiful... picturesque. Maybe that's just how his world was... a beautiful mess. But he still hated it. He'd let things go and saw it as something to admire... something to build on and it wasn't. More shards of glass followed by the glint of something metal disappearing into a cloud of cotton. Like a falling star pushing through clouds. Beautiful. Where he was now, in this state of bliss, he could almost feel it again... her a voice. [center][i]...abel...[/center][/i] No that's not right... it's missing something.. that wasn't his full name... [center][i]...abel...[/center][/i] No... no. [b]"ABEL!"[/b] Abel's snapped his head around in time to see another bullet smash through the windshield. It glided along an invisible path surrounded by shards of glass, burying it's head into Billy's arm and ripping right through it. His seat turned red. ---- He searched everywhere. A broken window, a conveniently placed vent, a smugglers den... he didn't care what it was so long as it provided an escape, but as he looked around, he realized there was no escape. Not for him, not for Mathew and especially not for Billy. There were windows but they'd been boarded up and there wasn't enough to time rip them from the wall. [b]"Shit!"[/b] They were going to die...or.... they were going to die. A light appeared at the end of the tunnel and he smiled as he finally found a way out. [b]"Well?!"[/b] The pile of bodies blocking the front door had grown to little more than six but while it was slowing the assault, it wasn't enough to stop them and Mathew was running out of bullets. Without saying a word, Abel pulled Mathew to his feet and dragged him back toward the back door, leaving Billy against the counter. The bleeding man muttered something. [b]"The fuck are you doing?! We need to grab hi-"[/b] [b]"Shut it! He's going to buy us some time!"[/b] He screamed out as he threw a heel into the door. It didn't budge. A second attempt was met with much of the same. Another bullet smashed into the wall beside them. [b]"Hurry... "[/b] Mathew watched as the dead turned toward their closest meal. They climbed over the bodies piled in front of the door, snarled and bit at the air. Mathew dropped two more before the gun in his hand began to click with the sounds of no ammunition but he continued to pull the trigger... continued to watch as they fell on Billy and ripped at his flesh. There were no sounds for him... everything was mute save for the screaming in the air. [b]"Two fucking locks...."[/b] Two bolts faced him which he'd already turned but the final two needed picking. [b]"The fuck is behind this door?"[/b] He threw his pack on the ground and pulled out two hair pins. [b]"Abel..."[/b] Abel turned to see more of the dead flooding in, the rest ignoring Billy's corpse and turning toward them. They climbed over the pile of bodies with this renewed fervor, their arms outstretched and their jaws hung open. [b]"Abel..."[/b] Mathew fell back toward the door but suddenly caught on something... something sharp. He felt it... pierce through his skin... cut into his flesh... He felt his lungs fill with blood. [b]"Sorry Mathew."[/b] Abel pulled the knife from his back and threw him at the ground in front of the dead. [b]"Don't take this personally."[/b] Mathew fell, his eyes looking back at Abel, watching him as he turned without a second glance, without a single shred of remorse. He simply opened the door and left him behind. He felt hatred... hatred that turned to regret... and then sadness and finally loneliness. Loneliness turned to pity as he felt teeth sink into his back, his neck, his arm. He felt his skin being pulled apart, his muscles being torn from his bones, he felt pain ebbing away at his life. Unable to scream, he simply closed his eyes and went to sleep. ---- A third line was etched into the wall next to him. [b]"Three days..."[/b] He says as he stares at the tally marks. [b]"Three days since I locked myself in here."[/b] He turns to look at the rest of the room once more. A dark and lonely place. Scarred, haunted... there on the floor were the last of his water and food supply. All he had left was the single sliver of meat in his tin can. He didn't dare touch it... he would fight through the emptiness in his gut for as long as he could. [b]"You're probably think me to be some kind of asshole... some kind of heartless fuck."[/b] He closes his eyes as he tries to find something to answer you with, to answer the question he's imposed on himself. [b]"I grew up with one rule."[/b] He opens his eyes. [b]"Opportunity."[/b] Able slowly pushes himself to his feet, his legs weak from having sat in one spot for so long. His clothing is covered in dust and debris, his lungs filled with the smell of burnt wood. His mind filled with the nonsense that somehow drives him onward. He begins to make his way down a long flight of stairs toward the blocked door waiting at the bottom. [b]"Opportunities never come twice. You only get one chance in life.."[/b] As he reached the landing at the bottom of the steps, he places his hand against the sofa he'd managed to prop against the door and pushes it back against the opposite wall. He speaks again as he undoes the locks. [b]"So... when an opportunity presents itself... you seize it."[/b] He pulls the door open slowly. What stands before him is horrifyingly beautiful. Where most would see death, he sees a product of choices and opportunities made and taken that all lead to this portrait. Littering the ground of this once gorgeous home are the inanimate corpses of the dead. They're strewn everywhere with nay a single sliver of the floor visible. All of their heads have been blown out, most of them sporting a wide hole while some are missing entirely. None of them are coming back. A few feet from the door is the stripped body of Mathew. His flesh has been torn through, his guts having spilled across the kitchen tiles. What clothing was salvageable was taken from him including his boots and belt along with the holster and the matching gun. His backpack had been turned over, the useless contents spilled on top of one of the counters. Stepping over and in between bodies, he maneuvers his way into the living and turns to look at Billy. He's unrecognizable, a skeleton with pieces of flesh clinging to what remains of his body. There was nothing left to take. In his lap are a few of the items left from Mathew's pack, these items having dropped off the counter and landing on top of him. There's a few KFC hand wipes surprisingly left behind. There's a bloodied pamphlet of some kind, maps, a pen, a broken pair of glasses... and finally... a peculiar contraption... A toy like object with two cups on either side and a ball on a string attached to the tip. He walks over and picks it up, turning it over in his hands as he looks it over. Placing the ball on top where he figured it went, he held it up in front of him. [center][i]...Looks like a cross...[/center][/i] ----- Abel pushed through the rest of the men to see what all the fuss was about. In the center of this small circle was a woman tied to a tree... surprisingly still alive.From the state she was in, it seemed she'd been tethered to her spot for a couple days already. Her frame was weak, her eyes dropping and the rope around her wrist had already cut down to the bone. The sight was unbearable to some. Billy stood closest to her, the flat of his machete pressed under her chin as he tried to look into her eyes. Abel strode to his side and she turned her gaze to him. [b]"Says her name is Candice..."[/b] Billy started. [b]"....I'll.... be... whatever... you want... me.. to be."[/b] The woman struggled with every word, her lungs heaving and her body quivering as she spoke. [b]"Just cut me loose."[/b] Abel simply stared back. As far as he was concerned, she was already dead. The woman possessed more luck than she deserved. [b]"Says she was part of a smaller group... they have a good stash. Could be a good score."[/b] Able shook his head. [b]"Good stash wasn't good enough."[/b] He said as he turned toward the smoking cabin. The fire had climbed high in the sky and although it had alerted them, they hadn't seen anyone else move in to investigate. They'd waited around for a while and finally decided to move in themselves hoping to find something... but not expecting this. [b]"Guys come on... let's just cut her down already."[/b] Billy and Abel both turned to see Mathew push through the crowd. The glint in his eyes was wavering. [b]"She looks like she's been through enough and besides, she could lead us to the other people... recruit them, sell them... everybody wins right?"[/b] Candice's eyes darted over to Mathew. [b]"He's... right.... I'll help...."[/b] [b]"Where are they?"[/b] Abel asked. Candice shut her mouth but Billy pressed the tip of his blade against the skin of her neck. [b]"[i]Where[/i] are they?"[/b] [b]"Waynesville... Waynesville"[/b]