The Decay

Chapter Eighteen

****Warning: This chapter contains a small amount of mature language that isn't included in previous chapters.****

     There are three of them attacking the girl. Noah halts everyone and they crouch behind a cluster of bushes on the side of the road. A young girl, maybe in her late teens, thrashes on the ground trying to fend her attackers off. She screams for help as they try to take off her pants making her cries pitch even higher and more desperate.

"Stay here," hisses Noah to the others, "I'm not messing around. None of you move from this spot."

     He takes off quietly down the road and slows his pace when he gets near, opting for a casual stride. The others look around at each other before reaching a mutual agreement and following after him behind the shrubs along the road. They want to provide backup in case something happens.

     "Fellas," Noah starts, "there must be a misunderstanding here. It looks to me like this young lady doesn't feel the same. I feel bad and all; believe me, I do, but you've gotta move on. As they say, 'There are other fish in the sea.".

     The men all stare at Noah in confusion and anger. The girl realizes her moment and surges toward Noah, hiding behind him crying.

"That little bit-" Starts the hairy one with messy blonde hair.

"Watch your language. You should be ashamed speaking of a lady in such a way."

Hairy, Baldy, and Skinny all start creeping forward with scowls on their faces.

"I think it's time for you to go." Growls Baldy.

     "Yeah," Skinny agrees with a twisted smile, "we still need to have our fun with the little miss you've got right there. Just give her on back to us and we won't have to kill you."

     The three men are armed with bats and crow bars. They raise their weapons and Noah reaches for his gun. When all his hand grabs is air, his face goes stone hard. Just as he readies to fight them off himself, the young girl steps out from behind him with tears sliding down her face.

"You disgusting motherfuckers!" She screams and fires the gun.

She aims for his chest but the kick sends it off course and Skinny takes it in the throat.

"Fucking die!"

     Skinny drops to the pavement clutching his throat as blood runs through his fingers and down his neck. The other two snap out of their shock and run forward with a string of threats and curses. Noah grabs the girl trying to shield her but she lets off another shot and Baldy takes it to the leg. He hits the ground with a painful grunt. Finally, Noah gets the gun from the girl and pushes her back but before he can aim it at Hairy, he's on him.

     They roll and punches are thrown both ways. The gun skids across the pavement stopping in front of the girl but she lays scrunched up on the pavement crying harder and asking for forgiveness. Noah lands a knee to Hairy's groin and he rolls away in pain. Noah jumps up and goes for the gun but Hairy drags himself to it first. On his knees, he smiles and trains the gun on Noah who stops in his tracks with a scowl.

"Time for you to go." He says and begins to pull the trigger.

     A shot goes off. Tanner who already looked away because he knew there was nothing he could do to stop it in time holds onto Miyonah who buries her face in his shirt. Lucas covers his ears with his eyes shut and looks as if he's trying to convince himself not to cry. Tanner reaches his hand out for Zayna but meets only air. He startles and takes his first look in the direction of Noah's murder. Zayna stands on the other side of the shrubs, gun in hands, arms stretched out and aimed towards the spot Noah and Hairy were fighting.

     Tanner leans over to see what happened and gasps. Everyone else looks up after him. Miyonah releases a strange sound from her throat and takes off down the road. Lucas runs to Zayna and wraps both arms around her middle. Tanner just stands and walks over to her.

"Pigs." She whispers and her emerald eyes begin to glisten.

Quickly, she shoves the gun in her waistband and begins to make her way over. Tanner follows.

"Nice shot." Noah says when they all reach him.

     They all look down at the Hairy man whose brains are splattered across the pavement. Tanner takes Zayna's hand and squeezes it in agreement. She looks to him surprised at his actions when everyone is around them but then realizes she doesn't care; she squeezes back.

     They hear another scream and snap their attention to where the girl is being held with a knife to her throat by the bald man who was shot in the leg. They had almost forgotten distracted by Noah's near death moment.

"Drop your fucking weapons or she's dead!" The man yells at them.

    This time, there is no dramatics. Sick of the demands people have been throwing at them since the guy held Lucas in the same position, Zayna raises the gun and shoots him so quickly he didn't know what hit him. Alive one second and dead the next. The girl screeches and pulls herself off the ground taking off in the other direction. With no "thank you" or explanation, she's gone.

"Uh, you're welcome." Grunts Miyonah.

After collecting any supplies from the three men, they start on their way once again.

"You've got to stop killing people, Zayna." states Noah, "You're young. You're messing yourself up too fast."

     Zayna looks to Noah and a strange smile finds its way to her lips but doesn't reach her eyes. The shadow Noah sees cross her face makes him trip up.

"I'm already too far gone."

     No one speaks on the matter again. They continue down the road and when they get to the top of a steep hill, they all stop and look down at the large city below them. A city filled with bodies and the unmistakable sound of biders groaning.

***Please Read***

****Hey, guys. It's been a while.... I just haven't found the time to write but I promise you that more will be coming up in the next few days. 

I have a favor to ask: I have a feeling I've lost a lot of readers with my taking too long to update so if you're still enjoying the story, please tag someone you think would enjoy this in the prologue. It would mean a lot!

Thank you to all my readers that have stuck around. Tell me what you thought of this chapter and vote if you enjoyed!****