Here for You (3)

With Nolan on the lead, the team started heading for the north with a great speed. It was dark. But the moonlight was helping them to see ahead. Cold breeze was blowing by.

Winter is coming. Thought Will after sneezing twice.

They didn't bought any warm clothes with them. Now they were realizing the consequences. 

"So you're saying a fucking herd is coming this way and we've gotta stop it." Arthur said with a loud voice to reach it to Nolan, "Are you fucking serious??"

"I am."

"You're stupid!"

With a pause, he replied, "Maybe I am."

"For fuck's sake. Do you even have a plan?"

"I do."

"What is it?"

"I'll tell everything." He replied, "But first, let's reach them."

Arthur didn't say anything back. For Will, he was a bit nervous and relieved that Arthur was coming with them. Nervous because he wasn't really his favorite. Relieved because all his life, he had known Arthur as a strong person. With a little hope and anxiety, he continued to keep up with the others.

...

After revealing the incident to the people of Rust, everyone started to panic. With Grace being mentally unstable, it was difficult to maintain the situation there. But since Nolan's team's victory was all about hope, people started to start packing their belongings and began to prepare for the worse.

Olivia knocked at the door twice.

"Come in." Juan said.

She entered the patients' room. Julia was lying on a hospital cot bed unconsciously a bit far way. Ruby was also there.

"What's the condition, doctor?" Olivia closed the door slowly.

Juan sighed, "The wound is vital. The bullet was shot from a short distance. So it went too deep."

"Wh-, is she going to survive?" She came close to Julia.

"I-it's...it's...ah" He covered his forehead with his hand.

"Wh-what? Answer the question! Is she going to survive?!"

"I-I don't know. We can only hope." He sighed again, "She lost a lot of blood. I stopped the bleeding for now. But..."

"But what?"

"But as long as the bullet is inside her, she is in danger."

"Then remove it."

He looked at her, "Didn't you hear what I just said? The bullet went too deep. Her vital organs are hit. If I try to remove the bullet. It will cause too much bleeding. If that happens...she..."

"S-she what?"

"She...she might die."

With a frightening face, she looked at Julia. She didn't know that the situation was this serious.

B-but I thought she'll get better. Wh-what's happening? What am I going to tell Will? I-I was supposed to take care of her. I promised him.

"W-wait a minute. Even if the bullet is not removed...she" Olivia looked at Juan with a teary face.

Juan didn't look at her. He turned his face away.

No...

...

After riding for an hour or so, they finally reached hell. The place, they were suppose to look for, the herd. An open field, overflowing with countless deads. Heading for the south. The team was standing a bit far way south from the herd under trees to avoid getting noticed. Their continuous growling were creeping out Will. He wasn't sure about what he was doing. The herd's approaching was making his mind go blank. Because he never witnessed something so terrifying, it was difficult for him to keep himself under control from going insane.

"Fucking Christ." Arthur said with a low voice.

"Katie was wrong." Said Nolan.

"What?" Will looked at him.

"They are more in numbers...more than two hundred." He replied, "This changes everything."

Wh-what? Will looked at the rumbling herd, "Sh-should we retreat?"

"We don't have time." He replied, "But we can still make it."

...

Nia moved the windows sheets slightly to see what was happening outside. Around 1.5 hours ago, she heard a gunshot. The people outside got busy ever since. She didn't know what exactly was happening, but one thing she was sure of. It was the perfect moment for her to apply her plan.

The time has finally come. 

She moved away from the window and started walking in circles. She couldn't mess this up. It was her only shot. All she knew that she got to make it count.

...

High ground open field. The north and south were covered by forests. A river was floating at the east. The west was a bit clearer than other directions. Nolan took a few minutes to tell his plan. It was simple - To distract them away. As they were coming from the north and heading for the south. The only option was to distract them to the west and east.

3 people against more than two hundred cannibals. And there would be even more. After all, Katie wasn't wrong. The deads were increasing. More of them were joining from different directions.

Nolan came out of the trees with his horse, " I'll be covering the west. You two will be in charge of the east."

"Would you be able to do this on your own?" Will asked.

"Yes." He replied, "It won't be much difficult to distract them away from the west. I have the high ground. You two are the one who will have it hard."

"What?"

"Yeah. There is a river at your direction, also the lower ground. It won't be easy to distract them from there."

"I see." Will noticed.

"That's why I am putting you two there. So that you can help each other."

"Help? Heh!" Arthur laughed, "I'll kill him away if I have to."

Will looked at him hesitantly. He wasn't sure whether he meant it or not.

...

The guy yawned. It wasn't easy to guard three people all at once. He had been here forever. No one was taking after him since the job was boring. A while ago, he heard a gunshot. But couldn't even move from his position. No one even came to him to tell what was happening outside. He kept standing there without having any idea of what was happening outside.

The fuck do they take me for?

He yawned again. Also, he needed to to take a leak. He couldn't hold the pressure any longer.

Hm, will it be okay if I just go and do my business? Well, the rooms are locked from outside. It's not like they can do anything if they want to. And no one will even notice if I am gone for a second.

He decided to give priority to his own business eventually. Before going away he checked if the rooms were actually locked or not. He checked one of the rooms. It was locked. He went to check another one.

It's locked. Good.

Just when he was about to go away, he heard a faint noise coming from the room. His reflexes mad him turn to the door right away. He slowly approached the door and put his ear on the door. He kept hearing the faint sound, the sound of crying. 

The fuck?

"Are you okay in there?" He asked.

No response.

"Hey, I'm talking to you."

"H-help."

"What?"

"Help me." The girl said, "I am in pain. I don't feel good."

Now of all time?

"Hold on, I'm coming in." 

He unlocked the door and got inside. The girl was lying down on the floor.

"Hey! What's wrong?" He approached her.

"H-help me, my it hurts so bad. I f-feel like it's going to burst."

"Where are hurting?"

"H-here." Nia pointed at her stomach.

The guy looked at her stomach. Just then, something hit him and he fell down on his back.

"What the fuck!?" He touched his head. It was bleeding already.

An act? He felt like a stupid, What did she hit me with? A flower vase?

While he was thinking stuff, Nia got on him and put a pillow on his face. The guy started to move rapidly to get out of the situation. He kept throwing his limbs here and there. She kept her body away a bit and put all her strength on pressing the pillow down as tightly as she could. Unclear noises started to come out through the pillow. He finally grabbed her face with his right hand tightly. With all his strength left, he started squeezing her face tightly. Nia felt his fingers  and nails pressing down on her face. It felt like her eye was going to pop out soon. But she couldn't let go off the pillow. She moved her head and bit his thumb tightly with her teeth. With all her strength, she bit off the thumb and spit it away on the floor.

"GYAAAA" He cried out and shouted unclearly, "Fucking bitch! I'm going to kill you!"

His voice didn't reach Nia's ears. She was more busy doing her job. The guy kept getting tired slowly. His hands, limbs started to stop moving. After few seconds, his body got quiet. Nia got away from him and started panting. The body wasn't moving. He was dead.

Sorry.

After catching her breath, she took the shotgun he was caring. Came closer to the dead body, looked for other weapons. But she only found a knife.

What the hell is this? Guarding 3 people with only these? 

She was a bit annoyed but it was not the time to think about it.

She peeked through the door. No one was there. Everyone was busy doing something. Maybe they didn't notice anything. Nia got closer to the room in front of her.

"Hey Brad, Diana." She whispered, "Can you hear me?"

A sound came out of someone moving, "Nia??"

"Diana, is that you?"

"Yeah. How did you get out? Where is the guard?"

"Jeez, didn't you hear any noise? Which world were you in?"

"I heard nothing."

"I killed the guard."

"You did what?"

"Where is Brad? Why isn't he responding?"

"He..." Diana paused a little, "He is still in shock."

"What the hell is he doing?"

"He is around a corner."

"Wait, I am unlocking the door." She said, "We are getting outta here."

...

"Avoid shooting guns for now." Nolan said, "No need to draw more attentions. Is everything clear?"

Will nodded. Arthur yawned.

"Okay then." Nolan looked at the herd, "Let's begin."

With his horse he started to move to west. He looked back for a moment. He wasn't really sure about letting Will with Arthur. But it was too late for him to worry about such thing. He looked forward again. The distance kept getting greater between him and the others.

It was time for Will and Arthur then. Will tried to look at Arthur without moving his head. He was nervous. How could he teamwork with Arthur? Nothing was coming to his mind. But then he realized, it wasn't the time for that. He moved his horse with average speed to the east. He noticed that Arthur was also following him. He didn't have any emotion on his face. Which made Will even more nervous.

After few seconds, he reached the spot. The end of the high ground. The river was floating just beside him. Now that he was looking it up close, the river was a bit aggressive.

Don't want to fall down there.

He noticed that Arthur approached the spot slowly. Both of them were quiet. Waiting for the herd to notice them. Until Arthur broke the silence.

"William Jones." He said with a calm voice, "Never knew you'd survive for this long."

Will slowly turned his head and looked at him.

"I am actually surprised that you've come this far." He smiled at Will, "Thought you'd die soon."

"..."

"Guess I was wrong." He laughed.

"..."

"You know, I've always pitied you." He spoke as if he were actually sad, "You were always so small, innocent, pitiful boy. Always minding your own business."

"..."

"But I said to myself, 'Hey, he doesn't need your pity, Arthur. He is strong.' Isn't that right, Will?"

Wh-what the hell are you talking about?

"That's why I always went tough on you. To make you stronger. To make you come out of your comfort zone."

That was not what you did.

"I won't lie, I kinda liked it." He paused, "Being able to have control over someone, truly made me feel really special."

"..."

Arthur looked at him with a creepy face, "You're also special, you know."

"Wh-what?" his face gave him the creeps.

"Yes. You are." He replied, "Because you were under control by someone like me."

"..."

"I am special...no," he stopped smiling, "I thought I was."

"..."

"After all this shit. I realized that I'm not."

"..."

"When you came to the community, I was so happy." He continued, "No one was happier than me. I thought it was time. I would become special again. By having you under my feet again. But no..."

"..."

"I was wrong. I thought, you were meant to rule by me. I thought, you complete me." He moved his horse a little, "But no. I was wrong again."

What are you even saying?

"Everything changed. You kept getting at the top little by little. And I..." He paused, "I kept falling down. Until I realized."

"..."

"Until I realized that I am actually jealous of you."

"wh-what?" Will seemed surprised.

"Jealous of being under you, you know. Knowing that I wasn't the special one after all. It was you all along."

"I-I ahh..."

"Must be nice, huh?"

"What?"

"Must feel nice being the special one."

"..."

"But it's time." He said, "I finally got the chance I was waiting for. Didn't know that it would come this soon."

Chance?

"Do you know how to become special, Will?"

"..."

"Answer me, do you know?"

"N-no."

"It's simple." He replied with a serious face, "Kill the special one. And you'll become it yourself."

___