Trajedy

Jon and Ty smashed through the glass of the food court entrance. Jon reached through and pulled out the mop holding the handles in place, and they burst in, replacing the mop behind them. It was 10 PM, and they had not heard from Tom or Jane since they had left.

"TOM!!! JANE!!!" Ty bellowed.

"Shut up, you moron," Jon hissed. "Do you want to attract more of them?"

Ty waved his hand in apology. "Shit, there is someone over here." On a table with blood dripping off the side lay a man sprawled out, blood coming from his mouth. Ty leaned over him and felt for a pulse. The man coughed, then grabbed for Ty's coat and pulled him toward him. Ty could not make out what the man was trying to rasp; the man gave up, released Ty, and slumped back onto the table. He breathed his last breath and lay still. Ty felt for a pulse again. Nothing.

"He's de—" The words barely escaped his throat before the man sat up and reached for him. Jon was about to move in to kill him, but Ty swung the custom bat Jack had made for them—one each—and sliced through its neck. The body dropped, and the head fell to the floor. Jon quickly scythed it in two so it was no longer a threat to anyone. A drop of blood fell onto the head from above. They looked up: blood was dripping down the side of the balcony and onto the table.

Jon and Ty raced up the stairs. Tom was lying on the ground in a pool of blood; he wasn't moving. Jon reached him first and felt for a pulse by rolling him onto his back. Tom was pale—paler than normal, his eyes shut—but he had a pulse.

"Fuck, he's been stabbed! Where's that first aid kit?" Ty shouted, throwing his bag aside and rummaging around, pulling out the large red bag.

Jon had been religiously reading first aid manuals and anything else he could find on emergency medicine. He fished out a pair of rubber gloves and some alcohol, cleaned the wound, and examined it.

"How does it look?" Ty asked, trying to control the emotion in his voice but not doing a good job of hiding it.

"It's deep, but I don't think it's hit an artery or the kidney or liver." Jon cleaned the wound up again and started to stitch it. Jane had been in training to be a nurse before she gave up on that idea to become a personal trainer—he wasn't sure why—but she had tried to teach him a few things. But where the hell was she now?

"JANE!" Jon yelled, scooping up Tom.

"JANEEE!" Nothing.

"Fuck! Call her again!" Ty tried, but there was no answer.

Then, glass smashed not too far away down the corridor, and dead hands reached through a doorway.

"Damn, grab his bag and weapon—we're leaving!"

"What about Jane?"

"What do you want me to do, Ty? Stand here shouting for her? Attract more dead while Tom's dying?" Ty shook his head.

"We will find her later," Jon said softly. "But right now, we need to get out of here."

2 Hours Earlier

"Tom, get up, please get up!" Jane ran to Tom's side. Blood was pooling around her knees as she knelt. "You can't die—get up!"

Tom's eyes flickered open. "My side is killing me." He looked down. "Oh yeah, I got stabbed—that would explain it. Help me up."

A door opened down the corridor. "BOSS! GRAHAM! Where are you?"

I froze. I knew that voice—it was Tooth.

"Fuck, we gotta go now—grab my bag!" Jane ran to pick up the satchel while I stooped to pick up the baton.

"Can you walk? I'm fine, stop fussing! We were on the top floor—two floors down, Graham was sprawled out on a table. I couldn't tell if he was alive, but I doubt he would be getting up anytime soon."

I hobbled down the stairs. "THERE! AFTER THEM!!"

"Shit, they've seen us go!" Jane insisted, trying to support me as we were pursued. She might have gotten away if she would have left me, but she didn't. Suddenly, she was pulled back by her hair—she screamed as she flew back.

I turned as quickly as I could manage and activated the stiletto, driving it into her attacker's shin. He screamed as it hit him. I pulled it back, reached forward, and punched him in the mouth; he fell backward. We turned to run again, but something hard and heavy hit me between the shoulders. I fell; Jane landed next to me. I extended the baton and took a swipe at his legs, catching them and sending him to the ground. I got back up, helping Jane. There were three more coming. We were not going to be able to outrun them.

"Go," I said.

"What?" she asked.

"GO NOW!" I pushed her away.

"I'm not leaving."

"Well, you don't have a choice now." She looked—there they were, too close now. I stepped in front of Jane.

"You don't look too good today, dude," Tooth made his way to the front, still sneering.

"Better than never looking good—but you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

Tooth smiled his toothless smile. "Say what you want—you can't upset me. You have done me a massive favor."

"Oh yeah? Brushing all those teeth must have been very inconvenient for you."

Again that smile. "No, you have just incapacitated my boss, so now I'm in charge—and the first thing on that list is burning that shit hole of yours to the ground."

"Over my dead body."

"As you wish."

He moved forward amazingly quickly. I raised the baton, but he knocked it aside and clocked me on the chin. I fell. What happened next was a blur—all I could see was boots hitting me. After the first few, I couldn't feel it anymore. I looked up and saw Tooth's men dragging Jane away—kicking and screaming. Tooth knelt beside me, careful not to get my blood on his jeans.

"It's over. Just lie there and die like a dog—your friends are next."

He booted me in the stomach one last time and walked away. My vision faded. Death embraced me.

RIGHT NOW

"What the hell happened to him?"

"Someone stabbed him."

"Is he okay?"

"He has been stabbed—how do you think he is?"

"Is he going to make it?"

"I don't bloody know—I'm not a doctor."

"Put him in bed."

"Where's Tom?"

"Sky, get out!"

"What happened, Tommmm?"

1 Hour Later

Tom seems to be stable. Jane is still missing. People are with Tom, out of commission; people are looking to me for leadership, and I have no answers for them. Considering the scene we came across at the shopping center, we could be attacked at any second. We have done what we can to reinforce the downstairs—we have boarded up the windows on the ground and first floors. Unless they can throw like motherfuckers, they aren't going to be able to throw a petrol bomb through the highest windows. Sky has not left Tom's side and won't eat. We have heard nothing from Jane.

"So what do we do?" Toby broke the silence.

"We wait for Tom to wake up, then we go from there," Ty chimed in.

"We can't sit here with our thumbs up our arses for that long," Jack countered.

"We should leave," Lara said. Heads turned in her direction.

"We can't just stay here—they know where we are now. We're sitting ducks."

"And go where?"

"Anywhere."

"Jon, do you want to join the discussion here or just stare a hole into the wall?" Jon lit a cigarette.

"We can't leave—we have nowhere to go. We need to reinforce our position. Do we have any more boards for the windows?"

Jack answered, "No, we're out, but there is a scrap yard about 30 miles away. We load it up with sheet metal, bring it back, and I can reinforce this place to the hilt."

"30 miles is quite a distance to go, man," Toby questioned. "What if something happens while we're gone? I'm guessing this is more than a two-man job."

"If we want it done this year, yeah—it would take me, you, Ty, and Jon to load it."

"Leaving us vulnerable at home?" Jon pondered.

"We need to take this chance right now—they could be here any time. We need to do this now."

"I agree with Jack," Jon said. Eyes turned on him. "He who hesitated is lost. We move or we die here, moping. Lara and Jenna will stay, but I'll show you how to work the guns tonight. We'll be as quick as we can, but for a while, you're on your own."

They nodded.

"Everyone else agree?" They nodded.

"Okay, go get some sleep. Big day tomorrow."

Jon went and sat with Sky for a bit, watching over Tom.

"He won't die, will he?"

"No, he won't die—he's far too stubborn for that."

"Why's his arm in that thing?"

"It's a sling—I think it's fractured. That will help support it."

"Okay." She feigned understanding.

"Come on, time to get some sleep."

"Can't I stay here?"

"No, now come on off to bed."

Jon tucked Sky in in Jane's room, just in case Tom turned during the night. He climbed into bed; exhaustion swept over him, and the task ahead weighed heavily on his mind as he slept.