20

RONAN

I walked away from Hailey-Jade. She shouldn't have kissed me. I felt guilty enough as it is and I just wanted to fucking drown in my silence.

Because when I'm silent, I can go back. Way back in time. To a place where I talked to my brother every day. We didn't resent each other then.

I spent so much time crucifying him lately. For something he had no control over. Because you can't choose who you fall in love with. No. We have no control over that.

And yet, after a while, I managed to convince myself that Luke was no longer my brother. Because brothers wouldn't hurt each other like that.

They say all is fair in love and war. And we were at war. Me and him. We both drew blood. Still, it was never a fair fight.

I got the girl- but at what cost...

I crossed a wet field covered in tall grass. I cut the grass with my machete as I made my way over to a barn on the other end of the farm.

Once I reached the barn I heard screeching sounds coming from the other end of the door.

Rotters.

A deep frown settled on my forehead. I slammed my machete into the chains hanging on the door handles. I kept going until the chains dropped to the ground.

I held the machete up to my chest before kicking down the doors.

My eyes landed on a horde of rotters. But they seemed different. They were much bigger than the normal rotters.

They must be level two of the infected. Hulks.

They're strong and fast, but so am I. They're blind, which makes them extremely sensitive to sound.

They moved based on sounds which means I have an advantage over them. They won't even know that I'm here.

The hulks blindly stormed at me with full force.

They were an abomination and they reeked of death. I quickly ducked behind a table before soundlessly sneaking my way over to the other side of the room.

I looked at them as their backs faced me now. They were clueless over the fact that I was about to reign hell on them.

I lunged forward and stuck my machete into a zombie's rotten skull from behind. His body thumped to the ground, alarming the rest of the horde.

I slid across the wet floor cutting the legs of two zombies off. They fell to the ground, and I killed them with ease.

I got back up to my feet before ramming my blade into a zombie's thick skull, unwilling to crack open.

I was overtaken by rage, so I broke his neck before sticking my knife into his left eye. I was quick to move on to the rest of the hulks. Rage and adrenaline took over my entire body and I showed no remorse.

All of the anger that I'd been bottling up for so long was finally coming out.

If I scream now will you finally hear me?

I moved through the zombies at a rapid speed. I had no time to waste, no risks left to take.

Show no remorse, turn off your humanity when you go on a killing spree.

Until the world forgets your name.

Be the walking dead sentence that you were meant to be.

I sliced the last hulk's throat before sticking my blade into his forehead and his rotten blood sprayed across my face.

I turned around, my chest heaving up and down as my eyes thoroughly scanned over my surroundings. My breath caught as I looked up. In front of me stood Cooper. He looked at the bodies lying at my feet in horror.

He watched me as if he didn't recognize me at first.

Then he wordlessly left the barn and walked a few feet away from it before throwing up.

I tiredly threw the machete over my shoulder and calmly walked up to Cooper. He raised his hand into the air. I stopped dead in my tracks before frowning at his crouched-down position.

"You need fucking help!" He angrily spat at me before wiping his mouth clean with his jacket sleeve.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him in annoyance and he was still angrily glaring over at me.

He got up from where he was sitting before coming over to me.

"We need to get back to the house. There was a car heading our way earlier. I think the others might be in danger- or do something stupid. So get your shit together and be their leader. You can't be an asshole and a deadbeat." Cooper told me in annoyance so I ruffled up his hair before throwing my arm around his shoulders.

We left the barn together and crossed the tallgrass with ease on our way back. We got back to the house and saw a black 1997 Honda Civic parked in the driveway.

The car door opened and revealed a flustered Hailey-Jade. She stuffed a bunch of paper into her jacket to shield it from the rain. Then she ran up to the house.

"Let's go," I told Cooper before following her trail.

"What the hell happened to her?" Cooper asked in disbelief and I tilted my head to the side.

"Ask her yourself." I blankly stated before storming into the house and following Hailey-Jade all the way upstairs to her room.

"There's always something with this kid." I listened to Cooper whining from behind me.

I know that look on her face.

She's trying to hide something and I will get to the bottom of whatever that is.