Chapter five: RUN

Chapter five: RUN

The next morning

Everyone who had been sleeping, woke to the sound of five gunshots being shot at a close distance causing the dead to surround the store who heard the sound to walk towards the store the group was sleeping in and surrounded it with a big crowd of tens of dead.

“Gunshots? Where are they coming from?” Crystal asked, waking up with a jump and hurriedly looking around her to check the store and find her other shocked friends standing next to the sleeping area.

“These sounds as if they are coming from the buildings top.” Bazooka said after thinking about the sound and analysing the distance carefully, the gunshot sounded very close as if it was just above them.

“But how could anyone climb to the top of the building?” Adrian asked with a confused tone as he looked at the ceiling.

“The emergency ladders.” Both Gloria and Crystal said at the same time after remembering their escape from Sydney.

“We used them to escape the crowd last time.” Gloria explained with a shocked expression.

“Wait where is Rellik?” Bazooka hurriedly asked after reasoning Rellik’s sudden disappearance.

“I’m here.” Rellik replied, standing just next to the gates that stopped the crowd from entering the store. “And I don’t think you wanna see what is going on in front of the gates.”

Everyone started quickly walking to where Rellik was standing next to the gate where a big crowd of dead was hitting and knocking on the gates without stopping, it would only take them some time before breaking the wooden gates and barging in the store.

“Ok, I know this is not the right time to say this but we are fucked for sure.” Adrian sarcastically added with a worried expression as Bazooka started walking in circles around himself which meant he didn’t know what to do.

“What are we going to do? it is not gonna take them long before they smash the gates open and come to eat us as a breakfast meal.” Gloria said before backing away from the gates.

“Please don’t mention food.” Crystal said while feeling nauseous, touching her stomach and covering her mouth.

“This is not the time to freak out, we still have time to organise a plan.” Bazooka said cutting everyone’s thoughts short as he stopped moving and stood in front of them with a not too sure posture.

“Yeah, he is right. We still have the weapons and the…grenade.” Gloria started, trying to reassure everyone with a confident smile.

“I have a plan.” Rellik started getting everyone’s attention towards himself. “We are gonna open the gates for 5 inches to throw the grenade in the middle of the crowd then I am gonna start running so they follow me then you guys can run away and leave the town.”

“No, no, no way we can’t leave you here.” Adrian said, completely refusing and shaking his head.

“Who said you are leaving me behind? I am just going to be a bit late, by the way you should go to the forest when you escape.” Rellik started to reassure everyone with his calm tone. “I will meet you there as soon as I escape.”

“I appreciate your help but we will figure something out.” Bazooka said, holding his hand out to stop Rellik.

“We are running out of time, you should trust me. I have all the skills to survive. Moreover, I need to pay you back for saving me back there.” Rellik replied with a confident posture.

“You are being self-“ Bazooka started before sighing when Crystal stopped him mid sentence.

“I trust you, but can you promise me you will meet us in the forest.” Crystal said while putting her pinky out while Bazooka looked at her with disapproval.

“Who still makes pinky promises?” Rellik asked with a raised eyebrow. “But I promise I will meet you in the forest funny chick.” Rellik said, putting his pinky out to make a pinky promise while Crystal started tearing up in fear of losing her newly made friend.

“This is just so irresponsible, you are going to d-“ Bazooka started while rolling his eyes when interrupted for the second time.

“Bazooka let him be, it is his wish to pay you back,” Adrian said before turning to look at Rellik with a forced smile. “I also trust you.”

“I trust you too.” Gloria said, joining the other two and putting a hand on Bazooka’s shoulder to calm him down.

“I can’t refuse now that everyone accepted your decision, but promise me you will never go back on your words.” Bazooka said while biting his thumb to show blood and put it in front of Rellik.

“I will never.” Rellik said while doing the same and touching Bazooka’s thumb with his blood as he took the grande out of the bag and carried his bag.

“Come on everyone get your stuff, Rellik I want you to take another grenade and the gun just in case you need it.” Bazooka commanded, passing him the bag for him to start taking the gun and another grande out and put it in his own bag.

“I will need you to move your asses to the next town if I don't show up in three days' time.” Rellik said with a straight face while everyone looked at him with unsure expressions.

“You promised us. You can’t go back on your word.” Gloria firmly said, raising her finger up to warn Rellik.

“I know.” Rellik replied while securing his bag around his shoulder and letting a hand through his hair. “Just joking.”

“Isn't the grenade going to bring other deads to the town or maybe hurt us?” Crystal asked, picking her bag up.

“I think the owner of the shop made it with limited sounds and it goes far enough to kill a handful of them but doesn’t cause any harm to us here.” Bazooka explained.

“Sounds good.” Crystal said while wearing her bag and stretching her legs to get ready for a long distance ran.

“I am not moving my *** from the forest until I see you.” Adrian said, picking Rellik’s chest with his finger with threatening eyes before picking his own bag.

“And before we go, me and Gloria will run ahead of you to clear any deads and you can follow us.” Bazooka explained before opening the gate five inches and Rellik picking his grenade and throwing it.

Rellik started running as soon as the grenade exploded only for the rest of the crowd who didn’t die due to the grande to follow him. The group waited for the store to clear out before they started running hurriedly.

Gloria and bazooka started to clear the way ahead of them by swinging their blades and killing nearly all the dead ahead of them while both Adrian and Crystal ran behind them by a meter.

“We can do Rellik a favour if we cleared out the ones here.” Bazooka explained, swinging his sword across a dead head making his head fly.

Gloria continued to swing her bat until they reached the town exit but they were stopped by a crowd of ten dead running towards them.

“Adrian I will need you to help us with this one.” Bazooka commanded, raising his sword and running towards them.

“Sure.” Adrian said while pulling his knife out of his pocket and running to the crowd with Gloria and bazooka while Crystal ran behind them at a safe distance.

Adrian started killing them by thrusting his knife in their heads causing them to drop dead while Gloria and bazooka did their usual work. Adrian was pretty good with knives but he didn’t like the sight of blood or dead bodies that’s why he didn’t try to help with the killing of the dead as much.

They all got rid of the crowd and started running again leaving the town and heading to the forest where they knew it was safe.

“Don’t stop running, they can easily follow us.” Bazooka said, looking at the three behind him.

“We will have to run for two hours if we wanna reach the forest today.” Gloria stated, looking at the small figure of a forest that’s not too far from them.

“We will stop after running two miles, that’s far enough.” Bazooka replied, catching his breath and increasing the speed.

They all kept running for the next two miles then they walked towards the forest despite their tired bodies and breathless lunges only to stop when they reached the forest to catch their breath.

“Be aware of your surroundings, there could be a dead walking somewhere here.” Bazooka said, causing everyone to nod their head and look around as they finally entered the forest and started walking to reach their destination. They all followed Bazooka who was heading to the middle of the forest.

“They will probably hide here if they wanted to escape an apocalypse.” Bazooka said while pushing some bushes out of his sight to reveal a group of people camping before ducked down next to a bush with the others.

“What are we going to do? We can’t just go and tell them hi, how are you? We are looking to camp with you for a few days.” Adrian sarcastically said before seeing a gun pointed at his head and another pointed at Bazooka’s head.

“Are you alive?” A stranger asked with a calm but threatening tone as he kept the gun pointed.

“Yes.” All of them answered.

“Bitten by anything?” The other stranger asked with a hidden tint of nervousness.

“No.”

“They are just a group of humans, no dead.” The stranger told the group as he turned around and took the gun off their head.

“I told you not to scare strangers, Edd and John .” An old looking man said, lecturing them with an irritated tone as he came out of his tent.

“I know but we have to make sure everyone is safe.” John said with a shrug as he put his gun back in his pocket.

“Bring them.” The old man said. They all stood up and started walking towards the campfire while everyone looked at them with weird glances.

“Who are you? Where are you from and what’s your purpose.” The man asked with a stern tone as he sat down in front of them.

“I’m Gloria, these are Bazooka, Adrian and Crystal. We came from the town in the north. We won’t cause you any harm we just need to camp here until our friend is back.” Gloria replied as the others felt awkward and couldn’t talk.

“You can stay here and camp with us but don’t expect us to share our food with you, I’m Jack by the way.” Jack said.

“We don’t expect you to share your food with us but we ask you to share your tents, we don’t want to sleep out in the wild.” Bazooka said.

“I understand, John bring them the extra tents, please.” Jack said. “There are 15 people in this camp but I assure you all of them are kind hearted and will help you if needed.”

“Thank you, we would like some company for a while.” Crystal said, nodding her head with a smile.

“You are welcome little girl, you can camp at the back.” Jack said, pointing at the empty area behind all the other tents. “You can sit with the rest for now. John and Edd will prepare your tents.”

“What happened to the friend you are waiting for?” A woman asked the question everyone in the camp thought of.

“He promised to meet us in the forest after distracting the dead crowd for us to run.” Bazooka explained while everyone around the group started whispering.

“I’m sorry young man but no one comes back from after distracting a whole crowd.” The same woman said looking sorry to tell the unspoken thoughts of the group.

“He isn’t a normal guy, I assure you he will make it.” Adrian said with a thumbs to distract himself from thinking about Rellik blooded and half eaten running around in the town after being turned into a dead.

“How long are you going to wait?” Jack asked with a raised eyebrow before sipping some water.

“Three days then we go back to check.” Bazooka replied with a straight face.

“I can’t stop you but you came here to run, right?” John asked.

“Yes, but I can never leave a friend I swore to protect behind me.” Bazooka answered, fully confident with a serious expression.

“That’s youth for you.” John said. “You should probably do something around the camp area, you can’t sit here doing nothing for the whole day.”

“I understand. Gloria please take Crystal and help the other group at the right to cook something or whatever, me and Adrian will try to help the other group fix some stuff.” Bazooka said.

They all went to different places to help with different tasks as Gloria and Crystal helped with cleaning the cloths while both Adrian and Bazooka helped with the camp guarding.

“You look so pretty.” A little girl with blonde hair and green eyes said as she touched Crystal’s and Gloria’s hair.

“Thank you, what’s your name?” Gloria asked while scraping her old clothes and trying her best to smile for the little girl.

“My name is sandy.” Sandy replied with a smile.

“Oh sandy you are very cute too.” Crystal said, causing Sandy to smile even more before covering her face in embarrassment.

“It is a waste we couldn’t bring the clothes from almi, I wanted to wear something new.” Gloria said, looking disappointed while wiping a fake tear of her cheek.

“I am sorry I should have put them in the bags last night.” Crystal explained with an apologetic expression.

“It is not your fault, who knew someone would fire gunshots at the start of the freaking morning…. Gunshots….Gunshot….. , who fired the gunshots?” Gloria said, finally realising that the gunshot weren’t the group then who fired them?

“Yes, someone was probably following us and trying to kill us by getting the crowd’s attention to our hiding spot.” Bazooka said while coming out of nowhere with Adrian who were previously listening to their conversation.

“Killing us? Why?” Crystal asked with a shocked expression and dropped the clothing. “I don’t remember killing anybody's cat.”

“No, what if he was using us as a bait to escape the town?” Adrian asked with a hand on his chin. “He also probably followed us here, a safe place where the dead can’t find you.”

“Or he was following us to kill us for some reasons.” Gloria said.

“Or he could be at the town now trying to kill Rellik” Crystal said with a serious expression as she picked the piece of clothing again.

“Yes, let's pray that he followed us instead of Rellik.” Bazooka said, with a worried expression.

“He wouldn’t want to lose us so he probably followed us.” Adrian explained. “Or he is gonna follow Rellik when he comes here, he wouldn’t try and kill Rellik when he will lead him to our place.”

“Yes that’s the best option he has for now so Rellik is safe.” Bazooka said, relieved with a sigh escaping his mouth.

“There were about ten building he can hide in so he will be fine and maybe he is on his way coming here.” Crystal said hopefully.

“I can’t believe someone like him can be so loving and caring for his friends.” Adrian said with a surprised expression.

“I bet you he is having fun killing them now.” Bazooka said with a small laugh looking ahead at the trees.

“I am gonna force him to tell me the whole story when he is back.” Crystal said to try and make the atmosphere more friendly.

“Guys wait why would the man try to kill us?” Gloria asked seriously.

“I can’t answer this question.” Bazooka started with a shrug. “Any idea of why would a man try to randomly kill a group of innocent people.”

“Maybe he is a serial killer who enjoys killing people and he was waiting for the right time and place to kill us.” Adrian replied as if he was talking about a movie plot about a serial killer.

“The time and place where we think we are totally safe.” Crystal said.

“So he is playing a game of survival with us.” Gloria added.

“Sorry to interrupt your conversation but we need help cooking lunch today, so we would like some help if you don’t mind.” John asked after coming out of his tent.

“Yes, we will be there in a minute.” Gloria politely responded.

“That means all the people here are in danger.” Crystal whispered with a worried expression.

“Yeah but we can’t assume he wants to kill them.” Bazooka said before sighing in frustration due to the mystery of the problem. “Come on they will get suspicious if we didn’t move and help them.”

Everyone stood up and separated to help with different jobs around the camp area. They still thought about the mysterious gunshots, the man who was trying to kill them as soon as he found the right place and time which is as they thought a place where they feel safe enough to fall asleep.

……………………….

“This is so confusing, we and maybe everyone here can be in danger.” Crystal said after lying in the tent and looking at the group with annoyance.

“I wish we could only predict the future to stop anything bad from happening.” Gloria added while rolling her eyes.

“I only wish Rellik is alive.” Adrian said.

“That's such a depressed atmosphere.” Bazooka started with a raised eyebrow. “You all know Rellik isn’t a kid, I am sure he had a plan by the time he started running.”

“No offence to him, but all of us know Rellik is only good with killing.” Adrian sarcastically said. “He is stupid.” He whispered.

“Guys I am sure Rellik is ok but we can be in danger too, this man can be a dangerous serial killer.” Gloria said. “Or worse he could have already, you know? Um…., did something to Rellik.” She awkwardly said.

“You are right, but you and Bazooka can beat him. Right?” Crystal asked.

“It depends on the training he took, he can be a normal serial killer or a hitman.” Bazooka replied with a sigh.

“A hitman?” Crystal asked.

“It is someone you pay to kill some person you don’t really like or you just a person you don’t want to exist.” Gloria explained.

“Who would rent a hitman to kill us and it is so expensive.” Adrian said.

“You are right, that’s a weird idea.” Bazooka said.

“A freed serial killer is a better idea. A serial killer works to enjoy himself and know that there are no laws, his work is better than ever.” Gloria explained.

“We will stay for tomorrow but leave in the next two days, it is way too dangerous for people here.” Crystal suggested.

“Yes, we will leave the next day at dawn.” Bazooka said.

“I agree, now let’s just sleep I am tired of all the chores for today.” Gloria said while lying down in the tent. “Good night everyone.”

“Night.”

“Good night.”

“G’night.”

The next day….

End of chapter.

To be continued……………

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