Only The Living (Lost Survival Series Book 1) (9 page)

Just a few more days, Ian assured himself. Barely a week left until his university interview, and then he’d be able to leave home forever. Knowing his luck though, a day trip into the city could only end in complete disaster.

The hapless student held on tight to his plastic bag full of groceries, sprinting home through the late spring’s unrelenting rain. It seemed that his father had waited until the thunderstorm outside was at its peak before sending him off to buy some bread and milk.

Eventually the lashings of water began to give him a brain-freeze, forcing him to hide underneath one of the nearby playground’s trees. “Just wait it out,” Ian sighed to himself, exposed in the isolated street. He almost found it funny — waiting was all he ever seemed to do, wishing that his problems would soon dissipate like those storm clouds.

His mindless state was interrupted when he saw a burly man legging it through the park, dragging his nearly-destroyed umbrella behind. He was soaked as well, with the droplets of rain pressing his white shirt into his stomach. Ian’s eyes darted away, startled as the man crashed straight into his sheltering tree without warning.

“O-Oww.” The newcomer rubbed his nose, trying to laugh off his clumsiness. “...Can’t fucking see—” He looked up as a shiver took hold, recognising Ian's pulled face. “Hey, don't I know you?”

Harry Burnside. Of all the neds he could’ve ran into, it had to be the hardest, most feared bully in his former high school. Ian tried to be polite, thinking of what he could possibly say that wouldn’t result in a stabbing.

They both chatted awkwardly about their school days for a while, gossiping about who was pregnant, who moved away, who was a total druggie... All of the idiots who actually had control over their lives, while Ian could only wait around and watch the clouds.

The rain slowly began to recede, and Ian figured it meant that there was no reason for Harry to force a conversation with him any longer. He stayed, however, insisting that Ian should stay and tell him about what he was doing now.

“Mechanical Engineering, bloody hell...” Harry repeated, dressing the words up with his gravelly voice. “You always fancied your books more than any girls in our class. Guess it finally paid off!” The thug gave a cheesy thumbs-up, making Ian snort with laughter. He’d never made a sound like that before, not ever.

Both of their attentions shifted to the side, following the noise of a speeding car on the nearby road. The tires splashed into a massive puddle, giving them no time to react.

“W-Watch out!” Harry spread his muscular arms wide, protecting Ian from the oncoming tsunami of ice-cold dirty water. Frozen for a few seconds after he was hit, he only had to turn before setting Ian off into another fit of giggles.

His entire face was muddied brown, letting the numbing rainwater drip from his nose which must’ve tickled slightly. The absurdness prompted a cold shudder, mixed with a low chuckle as he wiped the water off and splashed it towards Ian.

Harry playfully pushed his former schoolmate backwards into the wet tree, pressing him up against it as they laughed and wrestled with each other. Flicking his soaked hair into Ian's face, he restrained him until they were almost making contact... and they held themselves there.

The sparking electricity pulled them both closer, suspended in the air all around the two boys. Gazing into Harry’s eyes for an instant, time stood still as Ian considered the possibility, if only for that brief moment.

The thug didn’t seem as scary anymore. Not in the rain.

Pulling Harry's neck closer towards him with both hands, their drenched bodies barely touched as their lips connected.

----

“Ian... H-Hey, Ian!!” I shook his body from side to side, hoping that he would wake up. As he slowly opened his eyes from his dreamy stupor on the community centre floor, he was surprised to find myself, my mum, Beth, Harry and even Millie surrounding him.

“Daniel? I... I passed out?” Ian gleaned as 'nurse Joanna' nodded. He didn't look terribly good — his face was swollen bright-red, and for the first few seconds of consciousness he had this strange, almost euphoric smile plastered across it.

Wherever his mind was, it seemed to be a much happier place than our harsh reality. That giddy expression of his collapsed as soon as the memory of his parents came flooding back. His swallowed hard, trying not to crack.

“Haa… Fainting. That's so embarrassing. Only girls do that.”

It sounded like his father’s words had really gotten to him... I shook my head, knowing how taxing the last 48 hours had been on all of us. “Don't be stupid. You haven't slept in days, it’s no wonder. We're... waiting, to do that
thing
. When you get better, at least.”

I subtly informed him that we had decided to hold off on confronting the police, despite Millie's protests that we should’ve left already. While my mum attempted to drag him back to her medical station, he threw Harry a peculiar look of wonder before the corner broke their line of sight.

The thug and I sat down to block the doorway, sighing restlessly as Beth dragged Millie off to show her some of the nursing skills she had just learned. Neither of us really knew what to say to each other — I still had no idea who Harry was, and frankly his razor-sharp attitude had tainted my impression of him already.

“I know what you're thinking,” he abruptly interjected. “I saw that look you gave me, the moment I showed up on Ian’s door. You think I'm some sort of ned, right?”

I couldn't help but let out a nervous laugh.
Nothing gets past this guy.
“I think… that if Ian trusts you, then that’s good enough for me. You two have been sneaking around this whole time, I guess you already knew about him being—”

Harry shot me a glare, instantly prompting my silence. If looks could kill. “I don't care what you think about me, but don't go having problems with Ian. He's a good lad, he—”

“That’s not what I meant.” This time, it was my turn to interrupt. “Ian trusted you with some kind of secret... Something he felt that he couldn't tell the rest of us. I know it wasn’t a priority, but look at what happened. These things still matter."

“What? He... really didn’t mention it at all?” This seemed to catch him off-guard. Feeling his inquisitive eyes on me, I still couldn't help but feel a little bitter.

"Now that I know what he was hiding, I'm just pissed that he thinks I won’t be okay with it. So what if he's gay? We're friends, or... at least I think we are.” I was still in a state of confusion as to whether someone could go from being a complete stranger to a best friend in less than three days, but that's what it felt like.

Harry let a rare smile spread across his lips, starting to play around with his switchblade again. “...Right answer. Ian thinks the world of you, y'know. For a moment, I guess I was a little jealous from the way he was talking—”

The thug froze, realising what he had just said. I raised my eyebrows with scepticism, although he must’ve seen that as something else.

“I-I mean, I didn't see you as competition... Wait, I mean, we're not— It wasn't like that! We only kissed once— Gah, fuck off!!”

Harry became flustered, obviously embarrassed about something that had now undoubtedly happened between him and Ian. I was barely capable of listening though, my intimidated eyes still trained on the knife that he effortlessly tossed from hand to hand.

That man was terrifying no matter what situation we were in; he always seemed on-edge with his leather jacket and spiked hair. I couldn’t risk defining him as either a friend or a foe.
Friend, huh... Weirdest start to a friendship I've ever seen.

Abandoning Harry before he could ‘accidentally’ stab me, I checked into my mum’s medical corner and found Beth and Millie hovering over a sleeping Ian. Mils used the bottom of her shirt to clean her strange pistol, which I hoped had the safety on.

She could see my astonishment, and answered what I'd been meaning to ask for a while. “...It’s a BB gun. Figured it might help to scare the dead off, but nope. Still good for bashing heads in, though."

“Classy. Nearly gave me a heart attack before.”

Smiling a little, she nodded towards Ian who either pretended to be asleep, or was just an obnoxiously-heavy breather. “What exactly happened to him, anyway?”

I opened my mouth to speak, but stopped myself when Ian stirred with a mumbled groan. It probably wasn't my place to tell, anyway. “You can ask him yourself, if he ever bothers to wake up... Hey, Mils? I'm sorry.”

The plummeting tone caught her by surprise. My childhood friend set down her fake pistol, turning towards me as I scratched my neck awkwardly. Apologising wasn’t something I did often, since I was hardly ever in the wrong. I always aimed to please those around me, out of sheer convenience. Everyone it seemed, except for Millie.

“I’m sorry… Not just for how we left things, but how I acted last night. You stopped my dad— my step-dad by yourself, and I was just cracking jokes like everything was fine. It's... not fine. We're supposed to be best friends, and I wasn't there for you at all. I'm sorry for that.”

I truly meant that much, but I wouldn't dare to apologise for the light-hearted approach Beth, Ian and I had taken over the past few days. It was the only way we had managed to survive, to keep ourselves moving.

If we stopped and stewed over how messed up everything was, we would still be stuck in that cramped newsagents, going stir-crazy and just waiting for it all to blow over. No one was going to swoop in and save us, because they were all too busy looking out for themselves.

However, it seemed that ‘stewing’ was all we could do in a structured facility like this. The atmosphere within the community centre was growing dire as the seconds ticked by — far past the point of being able to resolve the drama with a nice little chit-chat, anyway.

The horde of Lost that padded the centre’s gates only thickened each day, tensions were rising and supplies were low in this so-called 'safe haven'... I was unsure of how long we'd have to correct their flawed system, before it collapsed entirely.

At some point during the day, Ian had taken off from his makeshift bed to find Harry, despite my mother’s insistence that he should rest. It was nearly impossible to tell how much time had passed, being trapped inside a cube that constantly emitted a fluorescent-yellow hue.

I guessed that it was almost five o'clock, judging by the grumbles my stomach made. Millie's plan to escape would have to wait at least another day, unless she felt like taking on hundreds of Lost at once.

When I told her exactly that, her frown tilted in slight confusion. “Huh? ‘The Lost’?”

I quickly recapped what Beth said to me, how they always looked like they were lost. It was an oddly appropriate term to use, giving reference to the people they used to be rather than what they had become.

“Oh. Bummer…” Millie brushed her arm, almost regretting the question. “I mean, it's true. That poor girl, of course she would think of it that way. She's very mature for her age, hasn’t cried even once all night.”

I scoffed at the notion of Beth being anything close to mature. “What, are you serious? That girl’s gonna be a kid for life! Ten years from now she’ll
still
be eating sweets for breakfast, calling everyone 'Mister' or 'Miss'...”

The topic shortly got off-hand, when I started to seriously think about it. What kind of future could Beth possibly have, in a place like this? It wasn’t a matter of years… She could die any day now, and it would be my fault for not looking after her properly.

Millie saw the stern look on my face, and must’ve thought I was kidding around. She thumped me hard on the shoulder, chuckling for the first time since our reunion.

“Check you out! No living girls to date, and you still became an overprotective dad!” The comment was greeted with a moment of silence, dragging up the memory of Leo and his wife. Perhaps they were watching over Beth, watching us from someplace…

Even with those we’d lost on my mind, I still couldn't stop myself from smiling. “On the way here, I don’t know… The three of us kinda became our own little family. Maybe you and Harry can get in on it too!”

Millie giggled, shaking her head with scepticism. “Harry? You mean that greaser from the 50’s you came in with? What’s his deal, anyway?”

I had to appreciate her fairly-accurate comparison, since he was admittedly the strangest-looking evacuee in the whole complex. With everything I’d learned about him, I knew that Millie would have a lot of fun barking up that particular knife-wielding tree.

My tired eyes scanned the hall with very little effort to try and find the duo, and to my own surprise, I could just barely caught a glimpse of Ian and Harry. They were still hiding away from the rest of the centre's residents, lodged into a small alcove with their fists scrunched into each other’s clothes.

Ian hid himself behind Harry’s larger stature, although it was obvious that he was being comforted rather than assaulted. Despite my own aversions to the thug, I could already tell that he was into the whole 'protecting Ian' thing. One less chip on my shoulder.

The befitting couple made me smile, whereas Millie eagerly tried to pry information out of me about them. I refused to say a word, deciding it would be best to let the two guys have their tender moment in peace.

Thinking about our 'little family' suddenly reminded me of another group we had recently encountered. I asked Millie for details about the scavengers we found on the railway tracks; the spotty teenager, the tall suited man and the tiny woman with glasses.

“I remember the policemen sending that team out, yeah. I don't think I've seen them back here yet... and it's getting dark outside. Doesn't look too good, sorry.”

I didn't know what I expected, really. Compared to everyone else, I had things easy from the start. The three of us figured out the patterns of the Lost, found lockable shelter and stayed inside when the situation called for it. Most people didn't have that luxury.

Millie's gaze drifted away from the conversation, and for some reason she stood up defensively. I turned around to find my mother and Beth protesting against one of the uniformed men. Harry must’ve caught sight of the commotion as well, grabbing Ian's hand before joining our beeline of a sprint.

We didn’t know how many seconds it would take before the yelling officer resorted to the violence we’d already seen from his kind. Once we got closer, we could hear the discussion flowing between the nurse and the man guarding the doorway.

“Please... Mr. Watson needs his insulin, and the Cantern family still don’t have painkillers or even bandages for their wounds. We need more medical supplies, or half the people in here will be dead by the end of the week!”

What she was saying was obviously true. Looking around, every single resident was either elderly or in a constant state of unrest. Even if their bodies held on, most of them were already broken inside.

The man moved his hand towards his taser, but stopped once he saw the barrage of young people barrelling towards him. “Ah, perfect timing. Get this woman and her stupid girl under control, or you're all out of here.” The order was not well-received.

“Didn't you hear her?!” Harry spat into the cop's face. “People are dying! Pull
your
shit together and bring us some help, or fuck off and get eaten! Ain’t nothing to me!”

The policeman’s glistening badge read as SP. Burkley, the superior officer in the community centre. Acting as mature as his title, he slammed the rowdy thug backwards and grabbed his nearest victim by the hair… of course, it had to be poor little Bethany.

He probably wanted to use her as insurance, although it only served to highlight his own disregard for our safety. The child pulled and kicked at the man, forcing him to tighten his grip on her blonde locks. A weak cry escaped her scrunched-up face, unable to break free.

“O-Ow! L-Let me go... Help, Mister!!”

Reacting instantly to the threat, the half-broken Ian and I tried to reach her, but three more officers appeared out of nowhere and blocked our path. According to them, we were the ones who were acting disorderly.

“Don't even touch her!!” I barked at Burkley, with as much venom as I could muster in my panicked state. He merely cackled it off, throwing her head to the side and out of harm’s way.

“Oh, like I'd hurt a defenceless little girl. If I wanted to do that,” he leaned in close to Ian's clenched face, “I'd go for
you
, princess. Yeah, word gets around fast in here.” He slapped him lightly on the cheek, which infuriated Harry to the point of breaking free from the guard that restrained him. The thug took three bold steps into it as he slugged Burkley right across the jaw.

With a build that towered even Harry's, the officer managed to shrug it off with ease. I had a feeling that we’d went too far, although it definitely seemed like he’d antagonised us on purpose.

“...Urgh... Luckily, I still have some use for you brats. Otherwise, you'd already be out of here.” He distantly nodded to yet another guard on the other side of the room, who started pillaging through the medical corner. They emptied everything onto the floor, including my rucksack full of stockpiled supplies.

“Looks like you had quite the stash up there. Planning on going somewhere? Well, I suppose that doesn't matter... This woman says we need medical supplies. You lot are going to get them for us.”

It was true that we desperately needed more resources. Even so, there was no sense in risking our lives outside the centre, especially when the armed police could easily make the trip themselves. Nothing they did was efficient, almost on purpose...

Millie stood up on her toes, getting right into Burkley’s face as she flat-out denied his request. “Oh, yeah? What if we don't? I'm sick of you treating us like dogs, go play fetch by yourself!”

The officer barely reacted, blowing some hot air out of his nose as he scrunched it up at us. “I'm glad you asked, young lady. You've got three days.” He held up his fingers to confirm that we all understood what 'three' meant. “North-West of here, the old Medical School should be full of surprises. I'd suggest you start there. If you're not back here before then—”

“Then what?” She just had to ask.

“Well, dear… For your parents’ sake, let’s just hope you are.”

----

We weren't allowed to take any of our stuff, in the end. Not our rucksacks, not our weapons, not even the food I planned on sharing with the evacuees once they were free from those pigs.

Ian took one long last look at his mother and father, who only glanced in his general direction. With his many double-chins, Ian's father shook his head disapprovingly; he must’ve figured it was his son's fault, after being threatened with eviction by Burkley.

My mum was clearly distraught, blaming herself and wishing that she’d never bothered asking for help. I put on a brave grin and told her that I would've went anyway, if I knew that she needed more medicine... regardless of whether she wanted me to or not.

I didn't know how much of that admission was true, but it calmed her down knowing how stubborn I could be. It never stopped her from worrying about her own life or everyone else’s relatives back in the centre, however.

It was difficult for us to decide on what to do about Beth, whether it was safer for her inside or outside the community centre. My mum insisted that she stays close to us, away from the prison camp that was our only refuge.

“You be a brave girl out there,” she whispered into Beth’s ear. “I'll hold the fort until you come back... You have no reason to be scared, darling. Not with this many guardians.”

She was right, it was better to drag Beth along with us. We couldn’t risk her being kicked out if we never made it back, not without anyone left to save her. We all put on a weak smile for the concerned nurse, trying to not show our dread as we approached the darkening exit.

Millie, Beth and I gave my mum one final hug before being thrown outside by the policemen. Before we knew it, the front gates were slamming shut behind the five of us.

I broke our group’s paralysis by stepping forth into the rasping street, painfully aware that it belonged entirely to the Lost. The only comfort I could hold was the fact that we were all filled with the same trepidation, the same fear for whatever lurked in the shadows. That wasn't the only thought on my mind, though...

Three days, or my mum dies.

A hoarse moan crawled up from behind us, serving as a reminder of how vulnerable we were, exposed in the middle of the invisible road. We raced against the clock towards the rising sliver of moonlight, plunging the sky above into a colder hue of black with every step.

Burkley's echoing taunts informed us from a distance. Day one was already over.