Chapter 6 – Haley
I woke up that morning very optimistic, more so than usual. I wasn’t sure why Jeremy hadn’t wanted to leave, but he was awake and alert, that’s what was important. I remembered that I needed to talk to Caitlin about our combat tactics, as well as inform her that she was on very thin ice due to the fact that our leader was now incapacitated because of her. I looked for her near her bunk, but she was nowhere to be found in the RV. I stepped outside and I found her sitting on a stump, staring into the sunrise. I approached her, not really knowing what to say.
“Hey” was all I could mutter. She didn’t respond. I wanted to tell her she had to straighten up her act, I wanted to tell her off and tell her that our leader was incapacitated because of her, and because of her my brother was nearly killed. What if there was a zombie in that dungeon he was trapped in? He would have been lunch for an undead, at her hand. I wanted to tell her off so badly, but I couldn’t bring myself to do so. She seemed so angry and sad at herself already, I wanted to know what she was thinking. I sat down beside the stump, and tried to inquire, but she beat me to the punch.
“I know it’s my fault Haley, there’s no need to rub it in.” I was sort of stunned when I heard her say this; I suddenly wanted to hear what she had to say.
“I never wanted to hurt anybody Haley, you have to believe me. I only wanted what was best.” She spoke vaguely, as if trying to conceal something.
“I wanted all of us to be safe; I wanted the best for us. And he wasn’t what was best.” She continued. I interrupted her when she started to bash Jeremy.
“Where do you get off criticizing Jeremy for his leading? Last time I checked you were a smuggler and a coward. When the last time you truly took charge like Jeremy was does on a daily basis? I’d like to see you go through what he has and is going through and see if you can last a day. Being a leader isn’t all lollipops and gumdrops Caitlin, he’s doing a damn fine job and you have to accept-------“. She turned and decked me in the face. She then stood and returned to the RV but before she managed to get back inside I got up and slammed her into the side. She tried to struggle free, but I managed to grab the door and slam her against it. I kept my hand on the door and kept smashing it against her face, I had so much pent up aggression that I hadn’t realized. The girl I saw sulking on the tree stump was gone, it had turned out to be a mask to lure someone in; that someone had been me, unlucky for Caitlin. I kept slamming until I felt hands pulling against me and Caitlin, and even then I tried to pull away and keep slamming. Finally; Weir, Wilson, and Ryan all managed to get me off of her. After I let Caitlin go she fell to the ground, nearly unconscious, bleeding from the nose and mouth. I thought she deserved that much, but my colleagues seemed to disagree with me. They thought she deserved a lot worse. Wilson picked her up like a baby and started walking across the road; I wondered where he was going until I saw the lake across the field on the other side of the road. Wilson was going to dump Caitlin into the lake. I think everyone felt she deserved to die, for what she has done to this group. Ryan got about halfway across the field, when I saw a few zombies closing in on him. They were what we called runners, they were faster than the average zombie and could jump a few more feet than them as well. I grabbed the walkie-talkie from my waist and talked to him.
“Wilson you better get out of there, there’s about 5 runners converging on you and I can now see about 3 regs (regular zombies) behind them.” I saw him look around to identify the zombies. He then set Caitlin down and ran back. As if he had planned it, the zombies went after Caitlin and not him, thank god. He managed to get back in one piece and thanked me for the heads up. We all proceeded back into the RV, where we were met with Jeremy leaning up against a wall near the back.
“So what are we doing today oh gracious leader?” He said in a playful tone. Everyone stopped in place and looked straight at Jeremy. I was stunned as well; I thought for sure he was here to request his position back from me.
“I’m still a little bit too weak to lead this group Haley; can you do it for me a bit longer?” he asked. I couldn’t believe my ears. Being the leader meant everything to Jeremy; he always said it gave him a certain sense of importance. This was one of the qualities that made Jeremy such an amazing leader to begin with, he put the feelings of other people before those of himself.
“Sure Jeremy, just concentrate on getting your strength back” I told him.
“Will do boss.” He replied with a huge smile on his face, but I saw the smile fade when he said he had unfinished business to attend to. We all knew what he meant by that, he wanted to go back into that dungeon.
“I want to see what’s up with that place, what it’s made for, that’s why I didn’t want to leave yesterday.” There’s no denying that there has been both a sense of curiosity and awe concerning the dungeon amongst the group ever since we left, but I really didn’t want to go back. I watched my brother almost die because of that place, that dungeon was the last place I wanted to revisit. But, leader or not, Jeremy is often too stubborn to argue with, especially when it comes to settling a score. We agreed that we would have 3 more people enter the dungeon, and 3 holding the rope and standing guard. I, Jeremy, and Ryan would go in, while Wilson and Zach would hold the rope with Weir taking guard. I couldn’t believe we were actually going to go back into that hell-hole. Honestly, it scared me quite a bit, but if there was one thing I picked up from Jeremy’s leadership, it was to cover your fear with determination, courage, and concentration to your goal. I led the group out of the RV and entered the apartment complex with our signature weapons. We went straight to our destination, the room with the secret hatch. As planned, Jeremy, Ryan, and I all went down into the dungeon. The light from the open hatch helped a lot with the absence of the flashlight down below, the light must have gone out because I don’t remember picking it up. After all three of us were down, we all started searching the place. After a few moments of searching, I stumbled upon Jeremy’s old blood puddle. This was the reason I hadn’t wanted to come back here, too many bad memories for me. I had seen my brother who was my main protector, on the verge of death at this very spot at my feet. Other than that blood puddle, the room seemed completely empty. The walls, roof, and floor were all made of stone, and the only things other than the stone in the room were a small window masked with a net and Jeremy’s blood puddle. Until, Ryan stepped on a peculiar stone.
“Hey guys, I think I found something!” He called. Jeremy and I ran over him as he was taking his foot off the stone and the all in front of him opened. The door led to a small wooden ‘panic’ room. Two walkers inhabited the room, but were quickly dealt with by Ryan. We searched the room thoroughly and found 25 bucks, some twinkees and a poster that read ‘if you have made it to this room, you have dabbled in the field of evolution’.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jeremy asked.
“Remember when you fell down here and nearly died Jeremy?” I asked
“No Haley, I don’t remember this place at all. Considering I fell almost to my death here and I was bleeding out and this is the only place I’ve seen of it’s kind.” He said sarcastically.
“Well smart-ass, look at us now, exploring this place with ease after your little near death mishap. We learned how to handle this environment and master it. We’ve evolved a tiny bit, which is a key to survival.” I explained.
“Nicely done Haley.” He responded, as if what he said were some sort of test toward me. It is highly likely that he would test me that way, given his intelligence in that sort of philosophical and vague riddle fields, but why test me? Is there something that he knows that I don’t? Other than quantum physics, advanced molecular theory, binary code, computer viral structure, and all other things science and technology? I was wondering what he was thinking.
“Come on, let’s get back to the RV” Ryan suggested. I thought he was right,
but the expression on Jeremy’s face contradicted us. I knew what he was thinking about the subject.
“Jeremy just leave it be.” I scolded him, but he wanted to tear this place down in order to prevent anyone from getting hurt or captured by this eerie place ever again. Jeremy had that malice look in his eyes that I knew all too well, but almost miraculously, it vanished. Something in his eyes changed, and ive never seen that before in him. He then followed my orders and left it be. This left me in surprise, ive never seen Jeremy act this way before. To actually listen to reason, to actually swallow his pride and follow an order. What has happened to him? Whatever it was, it had to stop. This is not Jeremy, not the way I knew him. We started to climb up the rope toward the hatch, when he heard Weir scream. Jeremy, farther up the rope than me or Ryan, started climbing faster and with more aggression. I swear I have never seen Jeremy’s arms move so fast in my life. When we got to the top, Wilson and Zach were slashing through zombies with knives, and Weir was gone. Jeremy jumped on one of the zombies and sliced him with his knife. I have never seen Jeremy in such a frenzy before. It’s almost as if the pride to deny my order turned into pure rage inside him. By the time the battle was over, Jeremy had wiped out the entire attacking force in half the time it took for Wilson and Zach to back them off. However, Weir was still missing. Jeremy quickly examined the room and went over to the window on the other side of the room and jumped out. What was he thinking! That was at least a 25 foot drop to the ground! We all ran toward the window, but before we got there, we saw a hand plant itself on the windowsill. Then came Jeremy and Weir pulling each other up from the broken fire escape. When they both were safely inside the complex, Weir finally said
“They had me cornered in here, I had to jump, I killed two down there and the ones from the kitchen followed. The weight of them all collapsed the fire escape, but I grabbed a part of the bar. It held me until Jeremy came.” The important thing was that we all were safe, and I was thankful. That ambush could’ve ended up very badly, and hopefully Jeremy was counting his blessings as I was.