Guilt (A Zero Spin-Off)

TwentyFive - Ella

"They look drunk," I whispered to Zero as we got closer to the highway where four men were hanging out. I think they were supposed to be patrolling or something, but they'd decided drinking was a better time. And from the looks of it, they'd had a lot to drink. One fired off shots at a zombie, having to take three before he finally hit it at an almost point blank range. They all stumbled around. I couldn't imagine how stupid a person had to be to drink out here. "That doesn't seem too smart."

Zero shrugged. "It's not, but they have a decent look around them. Either way, stupider the better." She squinted her eyes, leaning forward to get a better view. "That one," she pointed to one of the men who was thinner than the others and sat quietly watching his companions make idiots of themselves. "He's sober, I think. We take him out first."

Did I want to attack these men, help her kill them? I completely believed the world was a better place without these men. They were only harming what was left while the rest of - most of us, I hoped - were working so hard to rebuild it. Still, I'd never killed a person before. Not a living, breathing one anyway, and I had only rekilled one already dead one. Deserved or not, I didn't think I could take a human life, and, if I'm being honest, I didn't want to be anywhere near those men.

"If they're too drunk to spot us, we should sneak past and get what we came for."

She looked over her shoulder at me. Her face softened and there wasn't a hint of judgment in her eyes, just understanding. "You don't have to do this, Ella. I can handle them on my own."

I got the feeling that no, she couldn't. They may have been drunk, but there were still four of them and one of her. And they all had weapons. She was maybe a little crazy. It was, like, a prerequisite to being good at killing zombies.

"Why don't we get them on the way back? Make sure we don't tire ourselves out." I waited, but she didn't look ready to budge. I could see it, everything about her screamed what she was thinking, she wanted the assholes to pay. Further, she wanted to be the one to do it. "We're trying to get something that can save people, end this whole thing. A desire of vengeance can wait."

Zero rolled her eyes at me. "Alright."

I barely held back my relieved sigh. I could have huggged her, except that I was pretty sure if I did she'd shoot me. We pulled out from where we'd hidden from the sight of the men and Zero stopped suddenly.

"If you don't want to fight those men, no guns."

"What are you—" I looked into the night and saw the dark outlines of zombies coming our way. There were twenty maybe, it was hard to tell what was zombie and what was shadow. But it was all blocking our path. We had a lot of leeway with routes and roads to take, but this was sort of unavoidable. If we didn't got under this overpass, we'd have to go around it, which would lead straight to the mend waiting on top. The same men who were stupid enough to keep shooting into the night and attracted the zombies. "Shit."

"If you can push it out of your way, do so. You spend too much time trying to kill one, another will grab you," she says quietly. "We go straight through."

I wished Kyle was there. I was selfish and stupid and silly for wishing such a thing. I left him behind because I didn't want him to put himself in this kind of danger for me and now that danger was surrounding me, I wanted him.

"It's too late to go back," she said as if reading my mind.

"Okay, I'm ready," I told her knowing I would never actually be ready for this. Ever. So right then was as good a time as any to enter into the fray.

Zero sort of nudged me with her elbow, which I think was supposed to be a show of solidarity or reassurance that we had this, but it was lacking. And she nodded and started forward, I kept pace with her, practically shoulder to shoulder. I didn't want to risk getting separated and that way we only had to cover three of four sides. When we hit the first zombies, they converged quickly surrounding us. All reaching out at grabbing toward us. It wasn't that many, maybe three, but it felt like dozens. I glanced to the right to see my self-appointed partner in crime take out a zombie with ease and kick another out of her way.