~ Lucy ~

I made my way to the front of the crowd.

"Excuse me! Coming through! Out of the way!" I pushed between people.

Randy was talking to a boy, on the chubby side, geeky looking, but that's not what stopped me in my tracks. Blood. Blood was everywhere on him. His hand was wrapped up in some sort of bandage or a rag and some duct tape it looked like. I came to hear part of the conversation.

"Dead? You're sure?" Randy asked.

"Yeah. Then everything went bad. They came out of every crook and cranny and swarmed Luke and I." The boy said.

"Luke? Where is he?" I stood on my tippy toes and looked over their shoulders toward the road, "is he with you? Where. Is. My. Brother." I marched up to him.

Randy and the kid looked at me for a moment. "Lucy, this is Dominik. He was with your brother after an accident. He's right up the road." Randy reassured me.

"Well let's go get him." I tried walking past them.

"That's not a good idea..." Dom said.

"And why not? He's my brother. If you won't go get him, I will!" I continued to walk toward the road.

"He's dealing with dead ones. If you go out there now, you can ruin what he set out to do." Dom confessed.

Randy and I gave him questioned looks.

"You left my brother out there, to die?!" I instinctively balled my fist and retracted it back to hit Dominik, but Randy stopped me.

"How many Dominik?" Randy said in a calm voice.

"A lot. There was at least four and one weird one." Dom counted on his good hand.

"What do you mean weird one?" Randy asked.

"He didn't look the same. He walked normal and stuff."

"A runner." Brick said walking from between people. "It's a runner. It's an abnormal. It's faster, stronger, smarter. Very dangerous. If he tipped it off that he was there, he's gonna have a hell of a challenge. That sonuvabitch is gonna be the meanest thing this kid will ever see." Brick crossed his arms.

"Look!" Someone shouted from the crowd.

There within the fog, someone or something was sprinting their way, but just as fast as the first appeared, a second figure was just as present.

"Lucas!" I yelled.

Randy pulled me inside the gate as Brick and two others closed it.

"What are you doing? We can't leave him out there to die!" I had tears forming. Annie emerged from the crowd.

"What's going on? Someone help him!" Annie looked at everyone's faces.

"We can't do that Ann. If we do, we put everyone here at risk. I'm sorry." Randy said as he watched through the gate.

"Cowards. You're all cowards!" I grabbed the fence and screamed as loud as I could, "Run Luke! Don't give up! Come home!"

There was a blood chilling howl. The people went quiet as the second figure closed in on the first and then both figures were fighting each other on the ground.

"Yup. He's a goner." Jeremy made his way from the back with his hands behind his head. He had this smirk on his face, like he was enjoying what he saw.

"My brother will come back. Just you see, jerk." I said, looking away from him and back to the fog as a tear rolled down my cheek.

"Come back Luke... please..."

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

~ Luke ~

It was hard to breathe. With every foot I put between Tall and Creepy and myself, the pain drove a nail deeper into my body. First it was my sides, but now it's my sides, thighs, shoulders, wrists, feet. Everywhere. I felt myself slowing down, even though I told myself to go faster, my body was too weak and had no energy left. I didn't want to look back, but I had to. I glanced over my shoulder and expected the worse. Maybe a hand or two, bloody teeth, snapping jaw and a quick end then it'd be all over for me. But when only the fog was there, I sighed in relief and wanted to slow down for a breather.

"I lost him. Damn that was intense. Why was that one so different? ... Don't stop! If you do, it'll surely get you this time. That thing smelled you over 10 feet away and WAITED for you to turn around. You didn't outsmart it by following the road as you ran"

I went with my gut feeling, so I didn't slow down, in fact, I kept the same pace, if not went faster. The fog began to dissipate. If there wasn't so much pain and if I wasn't so tired, the sight of those gates would've made me smile. People were even gathered there.

"Good job Dom. Thank you."

There was a voice yelling through the fog. It wasn't clear who it was or what they were saying, so I focused my hearing. The gate began to close by the figures behind it.

"What the... They think I'm one of them... or something is wrong."

I finally made out the words "run" and "Luke" it was Lucy, no doubt, but I'd would be there soon, there wasn't any need to run faster, was there? Then, as if to answer, a howl stilled my blood to a dead cold. I got one glance behind me before it happened.

Tall and Creepy was right there and ran straight into me at full speed. My whole body jerked forward, inducing whiplash, and the air was knocked out of my lungs. I was hit, hard, it felt like a freight train with no brakes. Turning to look over my shoulder helped the outcome. Tall and Creepy didn't have a good hold and we both fell to the ground. I managed to get on my back just in time as Tall and Creepy pounced. The ax lay on the road, inches from my body. If I reached for it, it'd create an opening for Tall and Creepy to make me his meal.

"Something tells me he won't waste that kind of opportunity..."

Both of my hands were occupied anyway. They were holding the wrists of Tall and Creepy, keeping him from lowering on top of me.

"He's too heavy, I'm gonna die here, in front of everyone... You're really gonna let Annie see you like this? She's definitely over there. And what about Lucy? You saved her just to die like this? Come on. Kick this thing's ass!"

I found a reserve of strength and held Tall and Creepy off my chest and pivoted my hips to get an angle. Tall and Creepy strained his neck forward and snapped his jaw inches from my nose. Black goop and spittle splattered my neck and chin, thankfully I closed my mouth just in time.

"1...2...3!"

I pushed with all my might, turning my body, flipping Tall and Creepy over to the side. I wasted no time and got the axe. I held one of his hands down against the pavement with my free hand. I brought the axe down on his exposed wrist. He howled in pain and pulled his hand back. I cut it good. His hand was hanging onto his forearm by a few tendons.

He tilted his head back and screamed a deep, full chest battlecry at sky. He grabbed his dangling hand and bit through the remaining tendons keeping it attached and dropped it on the road. He sprinted off into the fog.

All I heard was me breathing. I looked all around. The way he ran, the other parts of the trees, hell, even behind me. I heard the pitter patter of bare feet coming from the road behind me, but when I turned back, I was blindsided with another breathtaking impact.

"Damn he's fast..."

Again, we were on the ground. I held the ax up to help hold him back but his missing hand was still bleeding, or whatever Z's do. My hands got covered in it. The ax slipped from my hand and fell towards my face, it barely missed and chipped the road right beside my ear.

I had a better position this time. I had my knees tucked under Tall and Creepy's chest. One hand held his intact hand while my other was pressed against his neck. His stub wasn't doing much, except batting at me and spreading dark goo everywhere.  Tall and Creepy flailed his arms trying to break free and claw at my face. I tilted my head to look at the surroundings. We were next to a ditch that steeply led into the trees.

"What if I just..."

Again with all my might, I monkey flipped Tall and Creepy over. Tall and Creepy's legs flung in the air as his body was catapulted down the ditch. I was on my feet in time to watch him slide, bounce and flip the rest of the way down. It wasn't that far from the road, but the incline was not a gentle slope.

Tall and Creepy was up in a flash and making his way back up, but he was having issues getting good footing. The wet grass and his spastic movements didn't coordinate well.

"Seriously?!" I said angrily and out of breath, "What's it gonna take for this guy?"

To dry my hands, I wiped the blood and goop on my shirt. It smeared and I can feel it soaking through the fabric. I bent down and picked up the axe and held it with both hands at my waist. I needed the best moment to strike.

Tall and Creepy managed to find a way up; he crawled on all fours. All three in his instance?

"Just stay down!" I screamed at him. I was tired and agitated.

I stepped back to the middle of the road and placed my feet on the yellow dashed line and waited.

Tall and Creepy's hand met the graveled shoulder and he straightened out, looking into my eyes. His decaying chest rose and lowered as if it was breathing, his mouth hung open as if he was tasting the air, his arms and hand twitched with anticipation to lunge at his prey. He was challenging me. Sizing me up, and asserting dominance like owners do to their dog.

We stood there awhile, just looking at each other. A drop of sweat rolled down my face, barely missing the corner of my eye. The air was still, no sounds were heard. That is, until Tall and Creepy bellowed.

"This is it. If I miss this chance, it's all over... Don't miss....don't miss."

Tall and Creepy made the first move, and fast. Gravel kicked up from under his feet and his arms were outstretched to grab me.

7 feet.

"Not yet."

5 feet.

"Not yet....."

3 feet.

"Now!"

I ducked and stepped to the side as Tall and Creepy's arms grasped the air where my head was just at. I swung the ax as hard as I could like a baseball bat. The ax embedded itself into Tall and Creepy's upper back, below the shoulder blade.

The momentum caused me to lose footing and fall over. The slickness of the handle made the ax slip from my hands, so Tall and Creepy and my ax fell forward and skidded to a stop before the ditch on the other side.

I sat there for a minute. Catching my breath and watching the lifeless body of the, well, lifeless body. I looked to the gate, then back at the body. I stood up and walked over to Tall and Creepy. A flesh trail was left behind him after he skid on the pavement and a pool of oil black blood started to surround him.

I grabbed the handle of the ax and pulled. It didn't move without Tall and Creepy's body. The ax's blade was completely inside the body, only the handle was sticking out.

"Either his body was super soft, or there was a lot more power in that swing than I thought. Whatever the reason, thank you several years of baseball!"

I left the ax with a shoo motion of my hand.

"You know what? You can keep it," I bent over to rest my hands on my knees and to breathe, "as a gift... From me to you."

I noticed a limp as I walked off to the gate. Suddenly I heard a sound from behind me. I turned and groaned.

"You've got to be shitting me."

Tall and Creepy was up, looking worse than before. I couldn't fight anymore. I had exhausted everything into that last hit. He breathed heavily and glared at me. I held eye contact, even though I knew I was spent. I flinched at his sudden movement, but it wasn't towards me. He turned and booked it out of there, disappearing into the foggy trees.

"What the? He could've killed me if he wanted... Why do I feel like this won't be the last time I see him...?"

I turned back towards the gate, slowly limping home.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

~ Annie ~

The scene was over as soon as it began. Luke and the thing wrestled on the ground, the thing was sent to the ditch and then it was gone.

The crowd that gathered at the gate was quiet, and in shock. So was I. I had never seen anything like it.

"Was that real? Did he really just do that?"

I couldn't believe it, but I had seen it with my own eyes, right?

Luke made his way to the gate.

"He looks so tired... I wish I could've helped..."

The gate opened, Jeremy huffed and walked off and the crowd got lively again.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

~ Luke ~

I held my mouth open and sucked in air while looking at the ground. All the adrenaline made my brain oblivious to the wounds I sustained in that fight. My elbow ached and blood dripped from it. My wrists began to show signs of bruising from Tall and Creepy holding them so tight. The pain from running was gone, but replaced with the jello feeling in my legs.

I lifted my gaze to the crowd that gathered at the gate and scanned the faces. Finally I saw Lucy breaking free from the group and running towards me.

She looked my wounds over, scolded me and took me to see Randy.

"Welcome back, young man." Randy said, "let's get you looked at."

"Dominik. Is he here?" I looked around. I had to make sure he was okay. I spent the whole time thinking he made it, but what if he didn't?

"He's fine. He's getting looked at in the clinic right now. You saved his life, Luke. That was quick thinking out there." Randy patted my shoulder.

Annie caught my eye. She smiled lightly and cast her eyes to the ground.

"Don't go over... You'll get beat up again and this time it'll be from someone alive... But I really want to go talk to her... Don't... I'm gonna."

I walked her way.

"You can still walk away! Just turn around and--"

"Hey." I said.

"Hey." She giggled back.

"I want to thank you for staying with Lucy while I was gone."

"Oh you don't need to thank--" She stopped talking as Jeremy walked up and wrapped an arm over her shoulder.

"Welcome home sport!" Jeremy kissed Annie's forehead. "Nice display out there."

"Hey, nice sarcasm, jackass."

"Yeah," I shied away from Annie, "thanks. Well I got to go. Cya guys." I walked off, feeling defeated.

"Wow. He always finds a way to ruin things."

I visited Dom in the clinic, which was just one of the houses that was turned into an infirmary. After that, I gorged all the pancakes Lucy had made and finished with a warm shower. I dressed and made my way back outside.

Randy had a small group of people huddled near the van Brick brought back.

"We need those supplies and they're sitting in Dirksville. Anyone want to go? I know it's a lot to ask after everything we just saw, but that doesn't change the fact those supplies are valuable." Randy was convincing, but the people just looked amongst themselves. No one spoke up.

I turned around and started walking back home.

"Just go home... They got this... No need to help..."

I looked at our house and imagined what Lucy would do and say if I did go back out.

"Yeah, she'd kill me."

"Anyone?" Randy was desperate.

I sighed.

"I've been out there, and I know where the van is." Everyone turned to look my way.

"Luke, are you sure?" Randy stepped forward, a hint of surprise and concern in his voice.

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry Luce."

"I'll go."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This chapter was a bit longer than the others, my apologies!

*Author's Note*

Luke just can't seem to stay out of trouble!

I hope y'all are enjoying it so far! :)