The Last Legacy (Season 1): Episodes 1-10 (28 page)

A herd of about seven eaters shuffled towards us. The red eyes connected with me, like I was their singular prey. They stumbled over each other’s feet as the front one moaned. I put my bag down next to Kev and stepped behind Jim and Gabriel.

“What’s the game plan here?” Gabe asked Jim, clenching his jaw.
 

“I’ll circle and get them from behind. You stay and keep them away from Kev. Cover the girls.”

“What about me?” I asked from behind.

“Go hide,” Jim growled.

“No.” I shook my head as I frowned. “I can help.”

“You’ll only distract me.”

“Jim—”

“We don’t have time for you two to bicker. Lana and I will cover the front. Hurry up,” Gabe said as he pushed Jim’s shoulder forward. Jim jerked his shoulder out of Gabe’s hand and left me with a look of disappointment.
 

“He doesn’t let you do much, huh?”
 

“He’s not my keeper,” I told Gabe as I erased what Jim had said from my mind. I couldn’t focus on how negatively he thought of me. I wanted to help, and I’d kill some of these eaters, too. I could do it. I wasn’t weak anymore. I had to be strong. I had to prove this to myself.
 

Three eaters all in line with each other moved closest to us. Gabe went to the left, and I went to the right. I watched as he grabbed an eater by the back of its hair and shoved it to the ground. The thought of grabbing its hair made me gag, so I reached around the eater and pulled at its neck.
 

He didn’t even put up a fight. As he fell, he knocked me back with him. I protected my head so it didn’t hit the pavement and scrambled up, holding my knife in the air. The eater crawled for me, its navy blue pants coated in something wet. I got onto my knees, and with both hands on my knife, I shoved it through its bloody eye.
 

Another eater came forward but tripped on the fallen eater. The woman eater wore a floral dress with a high-heeled shoe dangling from her ankle. The setting sun glared right into my eyes. I had to squint to see the silhouette of the woman. I sliced her, both of my kills falling on top of one another. I panted as I craved more. The adrenaline fueled me.
 

I used my hand as a visor and glanced around for the men. Gabe had three bodies around him; Jim had two near his feet. That was it? The three of us took out the seven eaters better than I expected. It wasn’t difficult, just hard to maneuver since their movements were so erratic and without purpose.
 

Jim stomped over to me and pulled me up by the elbow. He didn’t say a thing, but then again, he didn’t have to. From his squinted eyes, pursed lips, and drawn together eyebrows, I knew he was pissed.
 

“Let’s pitch our tents in the woods.” He grabbed his bag from the top of a Mini Cooper and walked off the highway into the nearby woods. He disappeared behind the line of trees.
 

“You did good,” Gabe said as he lifted his hand. I flinched, my heart racing. “High-five, you know?” He cocked his head to the side.

“Sorry.” I shook my head and slapped his hand. I had to get myself in check.

We all pitched our tents in silence. Our small camp wasn’t too far off the highway, just enough that nobody would see us or hear us from the lanes of cars. We were shadowed by the trees, so eaters hopefully wouldn’t be attracted to our very-dimmed lights.

I moaned as I dropped my backpack onto the ground for the night. My shoulders spasmed from the misery of wearing that heavy thing all day. My lower back ignited in fire. I pressed my fingers on a particularly large knot that had formed at the small of my back, trying to massage it out. It was pure anguish. As I rolled my neck, every single joint cracked.

I had no idea how to pitch a tent. I’d never been camping before in my life, so the instructions may as well have been in a different language. I looked from the diagram to the sticks to the thin fabric with absolutely no hint as to what I was expected to do.

“Want some help?” Jim took my paper from my hands and read through it. He pulled out the two support poles and put one inside of the other. He grabbed the stick and put it in the fabric, threading it through a top loop. All of a sudden, the tent popped into place.
 

“Well, that was easy,” I muttered as I threw the sleeping bag inside. I grew tired of Jim showing me up, acting better than me. I needed some recognition.
 

“I’m uh—sorry, for getting mad before,” he said with his eyes trained on the leaves beneath our feet. I smiled and wrapped my arms around his torso. He stiffened, but when I didn’t let go, he returned the hug.
 

By the time I walked back to the center of our group of tents, Gabe had started a fire. Kev sat on a rock beside it, poking the bright orange embers with a thick stick.
 

“Let’s get some sticks,” I said to Scarlet. I wanted to check in with her, see where her head was at. While I didn’t want to break my promise to Kev, Scarlet had to know something was up.
 

I checked over my shoulder and saw that the guys were out of earshot.
 

“So, how are you feeling?” I asked her as I bent down and grabbed a stick. She paused with her arms around her stomach.
 

“Eh. I’m tired and grumpy and depressed. I’ve never had to live like this.”

“Where were you before all of this?” I asked, waving my arms around at the dark trees and camping situation. I had never had to live like this either. While I never had money, I could always scrounge up enough for an apartment or shelter.
 

“I told you I lived with my husband.”

“I know, but like, what did you do? Who were you? I only know you as Scarlet, the red-headed terrible driver who loves to slap me.” She shoved my shoulder and laughed.
 

“Well, I am twenty-six. I lived in a huge mansion with two cats. My husband was a lawyer. Truthfully, he never was around during the week and on weekends we had to go to all these events. Looking back, I was shallow and loved having money. It took me losing Brett to see what’s really worth living for.”

“Did you work at all?”

“No. I never had to. I went to college just to get a husband.” She laughed, but from the exhale of her breathe, I knew it was sarcastic. “I didn’t even have hobbies. I went to lunches, dinners, manicures. Hung out with my fake friends. Pathetic, right?”

“Not at all. At least you had friends. I pretty much stayed at home alone all the time.”

“Why?”

“It’s easier to be strong when there are no outside forces shoving you down. I learned early on that relationships are negative triggers. I try not to trust anyone. Of course, that was before. Now we don’t have a choice.” I hated having to rely on others when most of my life I dealt with what I had to alone. I didn’t work in groups well, preferred to get projects done alone. It was just how I worked.

“I know we don’t talk as much.” She pauses as she lifts a big log and balances it on her forearms. “But I hope you still have my back. I have yours.”

“Of course I do.” I nodded.
 

“Do you still trust Jim?”

“Yeah…” Did she know something? “Why?”

“I just get a weird feeling. There’s something about him that’s off. He’s dangerous.”

“I don’t think so,” I told her with a frown.
 

“Just promise that if something happens, we’ll run together. We stay together. Always.” She held out her hand towards me, her red fingernails chipping.
 

“Promise, Scarlet.”

We walked back to camp and unloaded all of the dry sticks and logs near the fire. Kev had passed out not too long ago, according to Gabe, who checked in with Scarlet in their tent. We had a nice warm spot to congregate around and that’s what we did. The fire had begun to die as the night crept around us. Jim and I stood to gather more wood before turning in for the night.
 

A branch snapped from behind us somewhere. Jim shoved me backwards behind him and tore out his knife like it was second nature. I pulled out the knife from my back pocket and stepped up beside him.

“Guys,” Jim whispered. It was hard to see through the darkening woods, the trees creating a cover from the dying sun. Scarlet and Kev shared a tent, and I heard it rustle to my left.
 

“Who’s there?” Gabriel asked into the otherwise quiet afternoon. Nobody answered, not that an eater would. My fingers trembled as I held the long knife in front of me, right in line with my chest.
 

Another stick broke, something rustled and then snapped, and I thought for sure that we were about get ambushed. I shuffled forward, but Jim cut a glance towards me, halting me from moving.

“If you’re not infected, show yourself so we don’t hurt you.” Jim’s tone commanded. I knew that if I was out there, I would listen to whatever the hell he had to say. That or run in the opposite direction.

“We’re not infected,” a deep voice rang out. “We just need shelter, or food. I have kids.”

My breath caught in my throat at the sounds of someone new—human. I glanced over at Scarlet, whose eyes were wide with alarm. She shrugged, her knife still raised like mine.
 

“How many?” Jim asked next.
 

“Four. Two adults, two children. I’m with my wife and kids,” the man said. We still couldn’t see him through the veil of the trees. I didn’t know what to think. Only that we had to take them in, let them stay.

“Grab the light from my pocket,” Jim whispered to me. I reached around his side into his back pocket and pulled out the flashlight. I flicked it on, the soft yellow glow blinding me for a second, and handed it to him.

“Step forward so we can see you,” Jim commanded again.

When the family came forward, I leaned towards Jim, our sides pressed against each other. Not because they were scary. Just because all at once four new faces appeared out of nowhere. We remained silent, the sound of an owl hooting up in a nearby tree.

“I’m Michael; this is my wife Margaret,” the man said. They arranged themselves in a ‘V’ shape, the man in front, his wife slightly behind, and the two kids behind them, yet close enough to touch.
 

I didn’t have much to go by other than my initial observations. His features were plain, brown hair and light skin. I couldn’t really tell what the kids looked like. He reached behind himself, and I tensed up, lifting my knife, thinking he was pulling out a gun. But his wife stepped forward to be in line with him, distracting me.

I don’t know why I was surprised, but when I saw the dark woman, my jaw fell. Her eyes popped even in the awful light of the flashlight. The greenness stood out against her dark skin and brown hair. She didn’t smile at me. What caught my attention were the two kids that stood by her side.

The girl and boy looked to be around the same age. They were tall, up to the mother’s breasts, and stood with a confidence that screamed misplaced. They were spitting images of their mother, only with slightly lighter skin, but those green, green eyes that pulled you in.
 

“These are our kids, Marcus and Maggie.” Michael nodded at Jim, as if sensing that he was the leader of our group. Gabriel stepped forward with his hand outstretched towards Michael.
 

“I’m Gabriel,” he said with a welcoming tone.

“Mike.” The man took Gabriel’s hand and shook it and then stepped back. He wrapped his arm over his wife’s shoulders and tugged her and the kids closer.

Jim hadn’t said a word in a long time. Tension radiated off his back in heavy ripples. I put my hand on his forearm.

“Scarlet,” I whispered over, nodding back.
 

“Where are you from?” Gabe asked Mike.
 

I tugged Jim backwards so we were out of earshot from the new group. Gabriel spoke to them and I used the distraction to whisper with Scarlet and Jim alone a few yards back.
 

“We can’t—”

“We don’t have a choice,” Scarlet said at the same time Jim started to speak. I shook my head because I should have known that they wouldn’t agree. My head swarmed with various scenarios. What if this was a play on our weakness? What if they were bad people? Yet what if the children died because of us? It just wasn’t the same world I once knew, and the possibilities of who these people could be worried me.
 

“The positives: more people, more protection. Negatives: we have no food as it is; I don’t trust them. But they have kids.” I shrugged my shoulders because it didn’t seem like we had a choice. Children didn’t deserve to be alone, hungry, without a safe place to sleep.
 

Even in the real world—before the bombings—children were always put first. We couldn’t turn them away. We’d have to risk it. I glanced over my shoulder at Gabe and the new man. But my eyes trailed to the children behind him, all wide eyes and dirty faces. I wouldn’t let them go back into the woods alone.

“We need rules then,” Jim growled, his eyes softening when they met with mine.

“I agree,” Scarlet said, nodding her head in the narrow beam of my light.
 

“How many are we willing to take in before it’s too much?” Jim asked. I didn’t think I was ready to answer his question. It would definitely change based on who we were faced with. He made an important point, though. How many was too many? Or when would it finally bite us in the ass? I didn’t know the answer to that, but I knew that this group needed us.
 

The man had a plastic bag over his shoulder, the mother a little purse on her left arm. It didn’t look like they’d eaten, their faces droopy. The children were covered in dark stains. Who were we to turn them away? We didn’t have some exclusive rights to live.
 

“Can we decide that another time?” I asked.

“Where are they going to sleep?” Scarlet asked, swaying onto her hip.
 

“If Lana will let me bunk with her, they can have my tent. It’s the largest and could fit the four of them.”