Semester of the Dead

Semester of the Dead 7

Chapter 7

Alaric

"What are you guys trying to hide?"

It's morning. The night before was more confusing than ever. I remember reading this document. This document about Sunday. About him being Patient Zero, whatever that meant. I don't get it and it's confusing the shit out of me.

The Serrano twins don't say anything. Valentina surveys the floor. Ignacio stands over her with his eyes pressed up against the window pane surveying the area. He hasn't slept at all the night but he doesn't seem like he's going to take anytime to do that.

"What's he talking about?" Quest asks.

Mitch appears. Quest and Mitch are curious. They have every fucking right to be.

Luna is the one that answers his question, "The twins know something about Sunday. We found something that explains all this last night and they destroyed it. There's something going on out there. I hear them whispering to each other all the time."

"Shut the hell up," Valentina argues.

"No you shut up!" Luna barks back! She is surprising the hell out of everyone in that room before turning to Quest and Mitch and adding, "They know something. Like I said. Something they aren't sharing."

You would think we weren't talking about them. They both have this dumb look on their faces. I want to go up to them and shake the fuck out of them. The only problem is that Valentina is pregnant and her brother is holding onto a gun. It's just like Ignacio. It's just like him to hide behind his power thinking everyone should be terrified but not feeling like he owed anything to anyone. He felt like he was above us. Ever since I became the team captain he's treated me funny because Ignacio swore up and down the role was his. Not that he was supposed to earn it. No. That was ridiculous. He was the kind of person that wanted shit handed to him.

And I want to punch him right in his fucking face.

"Sunday was being tested by their mother," I explain to Quest.

"What's wrong with Sunday?" Mitch asks.

He looks worried. I feel bad for the kid. Sunday was close to him. Looking at Mitch I can tell that he's just as worried as the rest of us. I wish I had answers for him but I don't. There are two people who had fucking answers though. Valentina and Ignacio.

Quest looks up, "What test?"

I can tell it's getting underneath their skin that I'm telling Quest and Mitch everything that they missed last night. I can tell Mitch is shocked. Quest looks mad though. I don't expect nothing less. He's a fucking firecracker. His eyes look like fucking wildfire when he is standing in that living room. His upper lip is fucking trembling.

I shrug, "Who knows? It seems like Sunday has something to do with those things outside. And they know. They know what the connection is. They won't say anything. I swear. They had to be in league with Mr. Drake. I bet you."

I know I'm making assumptions.

"You motherfuckers better start talking?" Quest says.

"Or what?" Ignacio states looking dead at him.

"You feel real big and bad with that gun."

"WE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH MR. DRAKE," Valentina spits out.

She looks like she is having enough of the confrontation. I can see it in her eyes. She isn't like Ignacio. She likes to solve things. I can tell this confrontation is getting underneath her skin.

"Valentina, shut up," Ignacio states.

Valentina gets quiet.

Real quiet.

It's clear now that Valentina knew what was happening but so did Ignacio. I don't know why they were keeping this so tight between the two of them but it had to be something important. I can tell by how Ignacio was clutching his gun. I wondered if he was thinking about using it. A part of me is scared but a part of me is outraged. They were the same as Mr. Drake. The same. They were holding out on the group. Keeping secrets.

And now all that betrayal I felt with Mr. Drake I feel towards the twins. I watch Valentina looking unsteady. It's tense. So fucking tense. I watch Ignacio putting on that fake brave face as though he couldn't possibly be moved. There was no way in hell I was going to let them get away with this.

No way in hell.

"I lost a friend to this already. Whatever the fuck this is. Michael Austin is dead because of it. God knows where my family is. My mother. My brothers. You two don't have the fucking right to keep secrets as if this only applies to you."

Quest looks over at me, "Damn right. It's not just you. I don't even live in Savannah. I'm here following you guys because I think we are all in this together and this is what you do."

"They aren't even listening to us," I state before turning to Valentina, "So much for trust..."

That's when Luna adds something weird in, "I should have warned you about her, Alaric. She's no good for you."

It comes out of no where and she means it.

I try to check her immediately, "Now Luna..."

"She's right," Quest interrupts me.

Valentina looks uneasy. I feel bad. I don't want to pressure her like this. I didn't mean to start whatever the hell is starting. The way Luna is butting into my relationship in her usual weird way or the way that Quest is getting angry. Ignacio isn't going to break. Valentina will though. I can see it in her eyes. I can see the pressure making her fold. I'm not the only one though. Quest points his finger right in Valentina's face in the most aggressive way I could imagine.

"You lying bitch!" he states.

I'm ready to say something. Anything to check Quest. This is getting out of control! OUT OF CONTROL FAST! It shocks the fuck out of all of us when he does it. That's when Ignacio rushes over and damn near tackles Quest to the ground. He abandons his gun in the process.

Quest and Ignacio are going at it. They are fighting in the middle of the floor. I'm not surprised that Quest is holding his own against the strong football player.

The conflict gets out of control with Ignacio climbing on top of Quest. Quest hits Ignacio in the head several time with closed fists. Ignacio manages to pin him down and headbutts Quest so hard that Quest's forehead bursts open and starts gushing with blood. I've seen enough. I run over to get Ignacio off of Quest and meet with an elbow straight to the abdomen.

I saunter backwards with the pain edging in my stomach.

And that's when I see the gun. It's the gun that Ignacio dropped. I don't want to hurt Ignacio. I don't even want to shoot it. I just want to wave it around and scare him.

So I reach for it.

It's just sitting on the floor. Just...there...

So I reach for it but someone gets to it first. At first I think it's Valentina. It's a girl's hand. But I'm wrong. The hand is much smaller than Valentina's.

It's a little girl's hand. Some random girl is in the room! Without us knowing and she has Ignacio's gun!

"What the fuck?" I ask.

Without any acknowledgement the girl just grabs and the gun and starts running as fast as lightning out of the house! I can hear someone yelling, "Fuck, Fuck FUCK!" I'm not sure who it is. It doesn't matter. I don't even know how she got in until I see one of the windows that Ignacio was looking at cracked open a little bit.

"She took the gun!" I hear Valentina scream out.

I don't know how he gets to his feet so fast but I know that Ignacio and I are both jetting for the window as quick as hell. With those things outside we needed a gun. The only reason we got this far was because we were confident that Ignacio had a gun in case anything broke out.

We are out of the house.

"Where she go?" Ignacio asks.

"That way!"

The voice is coming from Quest. Him and Mitch are out of the house too now. The girls are close behind. Everyone has refocused. Someone literally just tried to steal our weapon away from us.

We start chasing the girl as fast as we can. It's the first time we are really acting like a group of people who need to work together. I just felt violated. It was clear we were being watched. We were being watched this entire time and now the only weapon that we had was gone. Down the main street, we can see the dead zombies walking. Too many for the girl to run into. She makes a quick right down an alleyway. The girl is fast! Real fast.

I'm fast too though. I run ahead of the others. My feet are moving as fast as I can. I'm struggling to get to this girl. I watch as she runs into a store front. It looks like an old bar or something. I'm not sure. She runs right in there and I run after her.

She tries to shut the door but I kick it open, making her scurry back. She turns to run with the gun in her hand but I grab her by her waist, swing her around and collect the gun out of her hands.

"Stop...running..." I manage to say completely out of breath.

The girl looks at me.

The others are close behind but I've already recovered the gun. They run into the bar.

"Bad ass lil' girl," Quest states, still bleeding and starts cursing under his breath probably because he had to run all this way with a bleeding headache.

"You're scaring her," Valentina states before trying to approach the girl, "Who are you?"

I let the girl go. She doesn't run. She just stands there. Valentina takes another careful step towards her. Real careful.

That's when we hear the sound of guns. A clacking noise.

Someone readying their weapons.

And in a moment it's clear. We're surrounded!

"Step away from the girl," a voice states.

"What the fuck?" Ignacio responds.

I give him a harsh look. This was all his fucking fault for keeping secrets. Quest deserved his ass beat. Hell, if Ignacio wasn't going to beat his ass for going too far with Valentina then I probably would have. Still, all this was just more proof that he was in no position to lead the rest of us anywhere.

"Good job, Mary Anne," a man tells the little girl. The little girl runs behind him taking cover.

There are multiple guns. These people are way better off than we are. I shake my head at that moment. I don't know what's going to happen.

Were we going to get beat up?

Were we going to get robbed?

What's going to happen to us?

That's when I recognize a face amongst the people holding a gun. Then I recognize another face. My mouth drops.

"Alaric."

It was them. It was my brothers. Nixon and Beric.

Beric is the one who answers first, "Put your guns down, guys. It's my little brother."

~

The group Nixon and Beric were with were different from us. Here we were doing all this infighting. They were more organized. More mature. Hell, one of them had to treat Quest because he has this big ass gash on his head from all the drama that's been going on with us. My brothers' group was different. They seemed to have an understanding amongst them. It was some realization that they were in this thing together...whatever this thing was.

I catch onto their names quickly. Quincy and his daughter Mary Anne who was the little thief they had sent to purposely steal our gun. Then there was Diane. She's an old lady with the mouth of a fucking sailor. She looks familiar like I've run into her in passing but she doesn't seem to recognize me so I don't pretend like I remember where I know her from.

"You guys are lucky. We were about to rob you blind," Beric admits.

My brother has taken me out back when Beric admits that. Beric looks like he's been through it. Usually, he is fresh-faced but he looks like he has been stressing. The same went for Nixon but in a different way.

"Thanks. That makes me feel better that my fuckin brothers turned out to be such decent people."

Beric laughs, "You're so damn sarcastic. You don't know. The world has gone to shit, little bro! So many people died. The government came and started evacuating everyone to Atlanta. I guess they are hoping to stop the spread of the virus. I doubt it worked."

"Where's Mom?"

"Atlanta," Beric states, "She's with Uncle Tom. They evacuated when the government came. Valerie...she didn't make it..."

Fuck. Valerie was his fiancée. I look at Beric and can feel his pain.

"Damn Beric."

He sighs a little bit his face wearing the shit he's been through, "We've all lost people. So many people. It's shit out there man. Real shit. Blood, gore. You should have seen it when Savannah fell. It's not good man. We had to do some shit. We had to do some real shit to survive man. But we stayed behind. We wanted to wait for you. We just knew you'd make it back to the city. Wasn't going to leave. Not without little bro. No way in hell."

Beric reaches over. He messes with my hair. My brothers have always been real close to me. Beric was the oldest. He was an actor who started off on Broadway. Made it real big. Came back and put my brother Nixon on. Nixon was named one of the hottest men by GQ. He was moving to New York in a few weeks. He got this big modeling gig. Beric was going to wait a while until he established my career and then move us all out to New York to join Nixon. That was the kind of person Beric was. He was giving. He had the biggest heart. He already promised me all this success when I graduated highschool. We were going to make it big. We were all going to be famous. Just like Beric was.

All those plans.

All those goals.

Where were they now?

I turn to my other brother, "What's wrong with you?"

I noticed Nixon hasn't said anything. Beric was always the older brother. He was always the guardian. He was the guy we looked up to. Nixon was the one who was closest to me though. We were closer in age. As close as we were it meant that there was competition. Who could get the tightest six pack, who could pull the most attention from girls, who was next to make it big like Beric? Or when it came to Nixon, who could crack the most jokes. The kid was never serious. NEVER. That was what we worried about. Looking back all that shit has changed. Priorities have changed. It's outlined on Nixon's face.

Nixon sits back. He doesn't have a shirt on. He's always showing off. I would think he didn't have a shirt on because he saw Valentina again. He's only met her once but mentioned how hot she was. This is a different Nixon though. Not shit talking Nixon who never knew how to be serious.

He smiles, faking the funk, "I'm fine."

He's talking as though we are strangers. We both knew Nixon though. We both knew he was bullshitting. Something was wrong.

"He's upset," Beric stated, "We had to make some tough choices recently. He had to do some things he wasn't really proud of."

I look over at Nixon wondering what those things were.

"Like what?"

Nixon struggles for a second and then changes the subject, clearly uncomfortable, "Forget me. What about you? I see you and that hot Spanish chick still running around."

I pause.

"Guys...I have something to tell you."

All I feel is the heavy wham on my arm. It feels like a MAC truck. It's my brother Beric. He punches me so hard in my arm that I go numb. I don't even have the chance to squirm in pain or make any noises. It's just that pure numbing pain.

"What the fuck was that for?" I ask him.

"You got her pregnant."

My brothers know me like that. Nixon starts laughing in his Nixon way. All of a sudden we forget the world has gone to shit. We are just West brothers all over again. And it felt good. My dad left my mom. Everyone thinks he became a drug addict. It brought us closer. I loved these guys. Seeing how close the Serranos were made me miss my own family. Only Beric could know what I had done before I had even done it.

"It just...happened," I admit.

Nixon is having a field day, "And everyone thought I'd be the one to knock a chick up first. Jesus Christ. This is perfect."

"I don't see what's so funny," Beric responds, before adding with a stone face, "How much does she want?"

"What?"

"How much does she want to get rid of it?" Beric asks.

I pause.

"Beric. It's not that easy."

"Why not?"

"LOOK AROUND!" I state shaking my head, "Remember when we were kids, Beric. Every year mom bought into all the hype that the world was ending and believed all the computers were going to shut down, and it was going to be mass chaos, doom, and gloom, all that shit. The works! So she went nuts hoarding food and supplies, and at one point was considering a bomb shelter. Remember when Nixon wanted to pull that prank?"

Nixon laughs being the mischievous guy he was, "Who doesn't? Mom wouldn't let us celebrate New Years. We all had to stay home."

I nod, "So to get back we pulled that prank. Shut off the light switches and TVs simultaneously. And it worked. She just sat there in the darkness with this panicked look on her face. We could barely contain ourselves."

Beric isn't amused even though Nixon is thoroughly distracted from whatever was going on in his mind by the memories.

"What's this got to do with anything?"

"The shit is real now Beric. It's real now. Those plans we had. They are gone. We probably won't have girls throwing themselves at us. This kid that's coming...this might be the only chance I ever have. Ever. And I don't think I want to waste it."

"There are plenty girls out there," Nixon responds.

"What if I don't like girls anymore?"

I don't know why the words come out but they just come out. There is silence at that moment. Pure and utter silence. I know what I just said. I know the words that came out of my mouth. I was preparing to tell Valentina but who better to test this on then my brothers.

"What you like women now?" Beric asks.

It's something Beric would say. He doesn't think out of the box. He doesn't understand what I mean.

"No. Like I met someone. Like a male someone."

Nixon has this smile on his face, "You joking me bro? You fuck him?"

"We messed around," I admit, "But it wasn't like that. It was like...man...this is what I should have been doing. You know? All along. It just felt right."

Beric is quiet. Nixon is smiling.

"So were you a bottom or..."

"NIXON!"

Nixon shakes his head and laughs, "Ok. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. With all seriousness. You're little bro. We support it. Besides. I've stared at a guys ass before. Hell, not too long ago. Kind of found a guy cute. Wish I acted on it but things went...left."

"What the hell is happening right now?" Beric asks.

Nixon laughs, "It's the end of the fuckin world Beric. Let's not make the kid feel bad. C`mon. You never thought what it would be like? Sticking your dick in some warm boy ass."

Beric shakes his head, "No. No, I never fucking thought about fucking another dude. Y'all sound gay...gay as fuck."

Beric is clearly uncomfortable. But he doesn't look disgusted. Not like I think he would. They aren't taking this as bad as I thought.

Nixon shrugs, "Listen. We are here for you Alaric. Not going to protect you when your girlfriend finds out you can suck a dick better than she can. Ha. But we'll be here for you. Right, Beric?"

Beric pauses, "I guess."

Beric isn't giving a glowing review but it's better than what I expected. It's better than what I expected by far.

"You want me to talk to the guy?" Nixon asks, "Hook you guys up?"

"No," I laugh uncomfortably.

"C`mon I been depressed lately. It'll help cheer me up. Which one is it? Is it the thug or the skinny white kid, or the Spanish jock?"

"None of em. He's not here. He was taken. Kidnapped by someone posing to be our teacher. We were hoping they came to Savannah...but...um...why are you guys staring at me like that?"

They are acting really weird. They stare at each other. They stare at me.

"Teenage kid?"

"Yeah...about 5'10", dark skin, brown eyes, full lips with really long eyelashes that look almost like they are fake."

I get excited. Super excited. If my brothers found him it would be awesome. If they found him maybe they knew where he was heading. Maybe we could track him down before anything happened to him.

There is a pause. A moment I swear there is a recognition.

Then nothing.

"No. No, we've never seen him," Beric states.

~

I know my brothers. I know there is something wrong. Beric wasn't in the best mood when I tell him that I'm gay but his behavior when he walks back into the bar is weird. He goes over to the old lady and pulls her aside. It's odd. Real odd.

We join the others for lunch. Diane, the older lady, makes food for everyone. They are welcoming to say the most. A little too welcoming. But I notice Beric pull Diane aside, bring her back and then go pull the guy Quincy aside. They seem to trust Beric and Nixon so they trust me. They accept my group in. For the first time in a while, it feels like we aren't running for our lives or hiding. Maybe it's because this new group is older. We aren't a bunch of kids struggling to make it. This group seems to know what's going on.

And there is a comfort to that. A comfort to having adults around.

Except for Valentina and Ignacio.

"We should tell your brothers," Quest whispers in my ear at the table, "We should tell them about Sunday. About Valentina and Ignacio."

"Now's not a good time," I state.

"What are you talking about?" he asks, "Now's a perfect time."

I look over at Nixon. He's just sitting there. He's gone back into his depression. Something was really wrong. I'd seen Nixon when he had to get his kidney removed. I'd seen Nixon when girlfriends broke up with him. I'd seen Nixon during the worst points of his life. Something had changed and something was weighing him down.

Something was wrong in this house. Very wrong.

"Diane and Nixon, can I see you guys out here for a second. Mary Anne, why don't you go play in your room," Beric states.

"Everything OK?" I ask.

"Everything's good. Great news actually. We were going to talk about how we can bring you guys with us."

"With you where?"

"We're going to head to Atlanta," Beric states, "Take you guys with us. It's safe there. Mom is waiting. No infection."

The group gets happy. Real happy. You can see it on their faces. I watch as Beric and his group go to the next room. They want to talk in private. I find it weird. I mean what else is there to talk about really?

"Thank the Lord..." Quest is saying, "I was trippin'! Straight up. Man, I'm glad your brothers came along Alaric. Real talk."

He gives me a fist pump. He's excited. He's not the only one.

"I can't wait to get a warm meal," Mitch states.

"And a warm shower. And television," Valentina adds.

Then there is a stare. It's coming from Ignacio.

"I'm not leaving without Sunday," Ignacio responds, "Neither are you..."

Quest looks over at them and rolls their eyes, "Suit yourself."

"I'm not leaving either," I add, "Not without Sunday."

"You want to stay. Stay with THEM? We can't fuckin trust them. You know that."

He looks over at Ignacio and Valentina.

"You got a real smart mouth. Homeboy. Too bad your fists can't back it up," Ignacio retorts.

Quest is about to say something back but I interrupt. I don't want another fight getting started and Ignacio was good for doing that.

"Valentina is carrying my baby...and Sunday...well. I want to find him."

Quest looks irritated.

Quest asks, "Listen. Your brothers are helping us out. They aren't charitable. They aren't the Red Motherfuckin' Cross. They are helping us because you are blood to them. If you are out of the picture they won't help us."

"You trust them?" I ask.

Quest looks confused, "They are your fuckin' brothers."

"And they are acting weird as hell," I state, "Something's off. Something's all the way off."

"You are letting those two get in your fucking head," Quest states.

"Listen. Maybe Alaric has a point," Valentina points out, "Let's think about this. That's all I'm saying. Let's just keep our business to ourselves," she adds, "Including anything we know about Sunday."

"We don't know shit about Sunday. That's you," Quest states.

"Lower your voice," Luna states.

Luna gets up. She's pacing around the table acting weird.

"I'll tell you guys everything I know," Valentina promises.

"Valentina---" Ignacio interrupts.

"No. Ignacio we have to trust people. If we are going to get Sunday we are going to have to trust someone. The truth behind Sunday is---"

"Don't say it," Luna interrupts.

"What?"

Luna goes behind the bar, "Come out little birdie."

That's when Luna pulls out Mary Anne. I could have sworn the little girl had gone to her room. But no. She was spying on us. She was fucking SPYING ON US! Luna holds her close.

"Let her go," someone states.

That's when we see it. The guns. The group has come back but they've come back with guns. They surround us. Nixon and Beric are with them. Nixon and Beric have guns too.

They point their guns at all of us.

"What the fuck is happening?" I ask.

Beric shakes his head, "We did something little bro. Something bad."

"What?" I ask, "Oh God Beric. What did you do?"

"They killed Sunday," Luna states.

There is a pause. My heart drops. My entire world just goes black. I just sit there. Shocked. There was no way.

No way that Sunday could be dead.

What the fuck! That's impossible. It's fucking impossible. How Luna knew this was kind of weird but then again there wasn't much not weird about Luna?

Valentina has tears in her eyes. Mitch is outright bawling in a matter of seconds.

"You're lying," I state.

I want to believe it. There was no way in hell my brothers could be involved in something like this. Then I see Nixon's face. He was sad about something. No he wasn't just sad. He was depressed. And then I remember how Beric was trying to protect him. Beric would do anything to protect us. Anything.

"I'm going to kill you," Ignacio states getting up from the table, "I'm going to fucking kill all you."

Ignacio's words hit like a ton of bricks. He has no weapon on him. None at all. He must have handed it over to them or laid it down feeling comfortable earlier. That doesn't stop him from getting up though. He walks right up to Beric's chamber and I swear my brother is going to kill Ignacio right then and there. I'm not sure who was the one who pulled the trigger but I knew that this was bad. This was really bad.

And I was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

My group or my family.

"See...too much emotion," the guy Quincy explains, "I told you Beric. They are attached to that kid. Only reason they would have travelled to ground zero of this fucking plague to rescue him. Too much fucking emotion. Too many attachments."

I didn't know who this Quincy guy is but I didn't like his tone.

"What's he saying?" I ask.

"He's saying that we can't let your friends live," Beric states, "We have to protect our group. I'm sorry bro. We have to kill your friends."

"Put your gun down," Luna states.

I'm shocked when I see Luna has a gun too. She must have stolen it. It's one of theres. I don't know when she did it. I don't know why. But Luna has a look in her eyes. A look that said she didn't trust them from the beginning. And what she does next shows how far we've gone down this path.

She takes the gun and points it at the little girl...

She points it at Mary Anne.

"Wait!" Quincy states.

"EVERYONE CALM DOWN! LUNA! LOOK AT ME! PUT THAT FUCKING GUN DOWN! LUNA! LOOK AT ME!"

Luna was being ridiculous. What the fuck was wrong with her? Why was she pointing the fucking gun at a little girl.

Luna looks like she is going to listen but then something startles her. It's a loud thrust. The door is being pushed open to the front!

Luna starts shooting wildly!

Someone breaks through the front door and we all stare in shock at who it is. The person who broke through and startled Luna was none other than Sunday. He's covered in dirt as though he's been playing in the mud or something. He's filthy.

But he's alive.

He's fucking alive.

And I run over to him. Like a fucking idiot. I forget about Valentina. I forget about the tension in the room. I forget about everything.

I hug him.

"You're alive," I state.

And at that moment I knew it. I was gay. I had to be. I had never been excited to see someone in my life. I beat Ignacio and Valentina to him. I hog him from Mitch. They are close behind though. The other group looks shocked seeing him. But not as shocked as me. I don't let him go.

I just want to keep this kid to myself.

"I heard you screaming," he states, "I came running..."

How?

How was he alive?

That's when we hear something else. It's Quincy. He's screaming. He's screaming.

We turn and we see why. And this moment of happiness that I'm feeling in my heart from seeing Sunday just disappears. Dread falls. That's the only way you can describe it. This clenching feeling in your chest that some shit has happened that you could never take back. This collapsing feeling that this chaos surrounding our world is affecting us more than we would ever like to know. These were the moments that would live with us forever.

And I feel Sunday grasp at my hand. Holding it. No one else sees it but I feel it. I know he needs comforting and I know why.

"Oh god...no..." Sunday says.

Quincy is in pain. So much pain. I can see it in his eyes. It must have been one of the bullets that Luna shot. One of them hit a target. He has his daughter in his hands. She isn't moving. She isn't breathing. He looks like he's going crazy. We know all hell is about to break loose.

He points at Luna. He points at all of us.

"You killed her," he states, "You killed my daughter!"

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