Colony Z: The Complete Collection (Vols. 1-4) (16 page)

Eric stared at the gun that sat on the floor next to the pool of blood and his broken, beaten wife. He had fallen.

He had fallen.

His daughter’s corpse lay in a small pile on the ground across the room. He didn’t have the energy to prepare himself if she awoke again. In fact, he didn’t think he’d ever have the energy to do anything ever again.

He was prepared to just sit here and wait for his maker to come get him. The will to live had left him sitting in a dark, cold room with nothing. He immediately wished that he had let her kill him too…if only so that her body could continue to live over his own.

It would take Eric Billups many, many years to overcome this feeling. And even longer before he felt love again.

But, for now, he would just lay here. Lay here in ruin and let himself hate the world and everything in it. The world that, in just one night, had taken everything from him.

If I had just listened to Donna in the first place…if I hadn’t been such a prick, maybe she would have told me…maybe I could have helped…

Eric told himself these things for hours, reminding himself that he was ignorant, a terrible father, and an idiot for not seeing this coming. Things had been wrong for weeks, and all he had done was miss the signs.

This is your fault. You could have stopped this. You could have saved them. You should have tried harder.

“I should have tried harder…” He whispered to the empty room.

But the room wasn’t quite empty. For, in the corner, there now stood a slightly plump sixteen-year old girl and a red-haired boy, who kept his arm around her waist tightly. The girl stared at Eric, but Eric did not see the girl. He did not see anything.

“I should have tried harder…” Eric said. This time loud enough for the two others in the room to understand what he was saying. By this point, they knew what Eric meant by the state of the bedroom itself.

“…there was nothing else you could have done.” Hannah whispered, stepping forward, but Owen pulled her back.

“He has a gun, Hannah.” He whispered in her ear. And yet, Eric did not look up. It was as if he was caught in a trance, and nothing anyone said was going to bring him out of it.

“I don’t care.”

“Hannah!”

But Hannah had already tugged away from Owen and was making her way forward, toward the man who had nothing left. Hannah knew how he felt. In her heart, she knew what it must be like to lose your family, because soon enough she’d lose her own, if she hadn’t already. And, more than that, she knew what it was like to feel like it was her fault.

“I know what you feel…” Hannah whispered, reaching where Eric sat on his knees. She bent down to him, so that she could look into his terrified eyes. “I know how much this hurts…but you have to keep going.”

“I…can’t…” The man said through the tears blinding his eyes. “I…leave…she…I’m sorry…” And, with that, he burst into fresh sobs. Hannah’s own eyes were welling, and she wondered how long she was going to be able to talk before she, too, was crying from the loss of those she loved.

“You were strong enough to do what you had to do…” She said, reaching a hand to his cheek and turning his face toward her. “Now you need to be strong enough again.”

“…who are you?”

“My name is Hannah. Hannah Jameson. And this is my boyfriend, Owen. We’re here to help you.”

“You…can’t…”

“Yes, I can.” Hannah turned his face toward her once more, not allowing the man to look away for long enough to reel back into the world he now lived in. If they couldn’t bring him out, he’d kill himself with that gun, and she knew it. “What’s your name?”

“I…”             

“What’s your name?”

“…Eric…Eric Billups.”

“Well, Eric Billups,” Owen said from his corner, finally stepping forward. “We’re here to start a colony. And you’re the first recruit.”

Owen reached a hand down to Eric, who looked at it like it belonged to an alien.

“A…colony? For what?”

Owen paused for a moment, unsure of what to say. It didn’t strike him until just then that most people they came across would have no idea what the Zero-Hour was, or what had attacked them, if anything. They wouldn’t know what things roamed the streets at night, and they wouldn’t know that the world was in danger.

The apocalypse was a slow process. But once the disease spread…it would wipe out mankind itself.

But these people didn’t know that. All these people knew was that they were scared, scarred, and torn up pretty rough. And Owen didn’t quite know how to break the news.

“…the world’s going to end, Eric.”

Hannah shot Owen the most horrified look, as Eric simply looked at the floor again.

“Owen, what the…”

“I figured as much.”

When Eric interrupted Hannah, Owen literally jumped in surprise. He thought they’d lost Eric all over again.

“You…you knew?” Owen said slowly. “You knew what was happening?”

“No...but this…things like this don’t happen unless God’s finally coming down to judge you- do they?” Eric forced himself to look up at Hannah again. “You’re trying to save me, but you can’t.”

Owen snatched the gun off of the ground and held it behind his back firmly. There was something about this man that he liked, something about him that was growing on Owen, and he didn’t want to risk him killing himself now.

More than anything, he didn’t want to risk Hannah seeing something like that. The torn corpse on the floor and the dead infant was enough. How was he going to protect her in a world like this?

“Sure we can, and you’re going to help us.” Owen said. Hannah smiled at him, one of the first genuine smiles she’d given him in two weeks.

“I don’t know how I can help you…”

“You’re good with a gun, right?” Owen held up the gun. “I’m a lousy shot, and Hannah isn’t about to shoot a gun. So it looks like we need you more than you need us.”

If Hannah shot Owen an offended look, he didn’t see it. Eric gave a small smile as Owen offered his hand again and helped him off the ground. It was time to move on.

“So you’re coming with us then?” Hannah asked.

“I suppose I am.”

“Well then what are we waiting for?” Owen said, running his hand through his hair. “There are a lot of towns in Michigan and we have a lot of ground to cover. Let’s go.”

And so, Eric left behind the past that had been torn to ruin, and
Hannah and Owen gained their first companion; just one of the many that were still to come.

“We’re going to die down here, you idiot.”

Carlos was pacing now, glaring at Nathan, who still remained in the corner holding the sobbing Jennifer. Carlos knew that should have been his job, but he was so mad at her right now that he could hardly keep calm. And being calm was incredibly important when you were in this situation that they were now in.

If they didn’t get out of here, eventually, they’d run out of air.

Carlos didn’t know if there were enough cracks in the door to allow the room to breathe, but he knew it wasn’t enough with three of them now puffing along down there. Every breath Nathan took stole another second of life from Jennifer.

He didn’t stop to think that the same was true of himself.

“…Look, man, no one said I’m the one who caused the door to get blocked…”

“No, but you sure as hell led them right to us.”

Carlos didn’t bother yelling anymore. It would take up valuable breathing time. Breathing time he’d need to figure out an answer. There had to be a way out somehow. They’d been in here for, what, five hours? It should have been nearing daylight outside. Maybe someone would see whatever we blocking the opening and would come to their rescue…

He knew that the thought was ridiculous. Even if someone was passing through, how would they know that there was a trap door in the ground. What if the covering was huge? No one would have any reason to believe they were down there. And it didn’t matter how much noise they made. It would be wasted energy.

Carlos could feel the air draining, and Jennifer wouldn’t stop crying long enough for him to think clearly.

“I didn’t mean to lead anyone to us, alright?” Nathan let go of Jennifer and stepped toward Carlos, arguably one of the bravest things he’d ever done in his life. But it seemed he was finally fed up with being treated like a child. “Do you want me to figure out a plan? Because our brilliant leader doesn’t seem to be coming up with much.”

“…excuse me?” Carlos said, in shock. It was like a completely different person was looking back at him.

And Nathan knew it. He saw in Carlos’s eyes that he had done something almost manly. There was anger in the other man’s face, but there was a fine line of respect that hadn’t been there before. And it made Nathan feel good. It made Nathan feel smart.

“What’s the door made out of, Carlos?” He asked, walking over to the stairway and climbing up. “If it’s wood, we can probably bust through it with the right method.”

“I’d already thought of that, kid.” Carlos replied, which was a far cry from his usual nickname, ‘idiot’. “It’s made of cement, just like the walls. There’s no way to break through. We have to lift it. And I have no idea how we’re going to manage that.”

Being near the door itself drove Nathan insane. All he had to do was lift that latch and he could breathe the cool morning air, roll around in the morning dew, anything the calm him. Ever since he had been walking to Jennifer’s house to leave flowers on her porch, and had gotten chased there instead by those
things,
Nathan had been more tense than ever before in his life.

“Well, it can’t hurt for us to try.” He threw in, looking at Carlos expectantly.

And try they did. But no matter how hard they pushed, the door would not open.

They were trapped, and the boys knew it. But they couldn’t tell wide-eyed Jennifer in the corner of the room. They just couldn’t. She was too innocent, too young, to be told that she was going to die, and soon.

“…how long do we have?” She asked quietly, looking at the floor.

“…maybe two more hours before this room is nothing but carbon dioxide.” Carlos said. When Jennifer began shaking, Nathan ran to her. Carlos sat next to them, rubbing her back.

And so they all waited for death to come. And it would have, too. If not for the complete miracle that occurred outside.

It just so happened that Owen, along with Hannah and their newfound companion, were traveling along a backyard path in a small town.

And it just so happened that Owen, after a very long day of getting nowhere, noticed the broken windows on the house ahead.

“…they’ve been here…” He said slowly, looking around him and keeping Hannah behind him. “They’ve been here and they were looking for something. Look.”

Owen pointed to the scratch marks in the grass, and the areas where the plantation had been ripped off in shreds from the dragging of the living dead’s feet.

“I don’t think they found it either…” Eric said, still quiet, but tuning in for the first time so far on their expedition. “Look. They’re still there.”

And Eric was right. There was still movement going on through window, but whatever it was moving was carefully avoiding the sunlight coming in through the opening. But Owen had the worst feeling that it was staring right at them, just waiting for them to get too close.

“They can’t be inside, Owen,” Hannah said. “If they were inside, they’d be dead already.”

Owen looked around, but there didn’t seem to be anywhere for anyone to hide. Yet the things inside would only stay if they knew their prey was close at hand. Unless…

“They’re keeping it as a living space.” Owen said finally. “They invaded the house and are using it to hide in during the day. Look at it, it’s perfect. Blinds on all the windows, a cool interior, small enough to stay shady, and probably a huge, comfortable basem…”

But Owen stopped there as an idea popped into his head.

“What is it, Owen?” Hannah asked. “What?”

Owen pointed to a small window in the lower corner of the house, a basement window.

“What’s different about the one than all the others?” Owen asked, as if he was testing his girlfriend. “Can you tell?”

“…it’s the only one that isn’t covered…Owen, are you saying there are people down there?”

“Look closely,
Hannah. There’s something written on that window, do you see it?”

“Owen, I don’t know how you find these…”

“Just look, Hannah.”

“He’s right.” Eric piped up again. “It’s written in red.”