Dead Days: Season 8 Part 11

Chapter Two.

Amy watched the trees rustle in the distance as the army of undead approached and she knew they didn't have long until they arrived.

The sky had clouded over and greyed, much like the ground would grey when the undead graced this place with their presence. Specks of rain fell from above, the sun hidden now behind the thickening cloud. As Amy stood atop the highest point of their wall, she could definitely see movement right ahead. She could smell the rot growing in the air. She could even taste it, clogging at the back of her throat.

And despite all of the threats heading their way, a part of her couldn't help but wonder-and worry-about Riley's fate.

"You sure about this?"

Amy looked to her right. Melissa was standing beside her. Melissa was something of an unofficial second-in-command to Amy. Unofficial, because technically in their group, there wasn't supposed to be any kind of real hierarchy. Just total equality. Of course, Amy took the position and the responsibility as leader. But she explicitly expressed that it was only to create someone to look to, and that should ever enough people around her doubt her ability to lead, she would happily step down. She'd even be willing to discuss issues smaller groups of people in her camp had with her role, her way of going about things. And there had been discussions lately, especially since Riley and Kane had come to town.

But none of those discussions had ended in violence. They'd got heated. There had been tension. But always-always-peaceful resolution was reached.

Amy was feeling her way around this leadership role. But as things stood, her methods seemed like they were working.

Why fix something if it isn't broken?

"All we can do is make sure the walls are solid. Make sure every single crack in this place is covered. And then lay low."

Melissa tilted her head to one side when Amy said those last words.

"Laying low bothers you," Amy said. "Doesn't it?"

"I just think it's risky."

"You heard what Stef said. There's more of those monsters coming this way than we can deal with."

"We could at least send a few teams out. Distract a few of the zombies. I mean, they're like sheep. If there really are loads, we can distract a few and many will follow. At least that'll lower the load on this place."

Amy shook her head. "It's too risky."

"So is staying here and just waiting for them to arrive. How do you know they won't just force their way through those fences and kill the lot of us?"

Amy didn't, in truth. But she couldn't bear the thought of losing any of her people on some risky mission. Now wasn't the time to take chances. Sure, that might sound cowardly, and maybe it was. But the main thing right now-like during any storm-was to just lay low. To brave the siege out. Eventually, their enemy would find something else to move on to. Their attentions would be diverted elsewhere. The storm clouds would pa.s.s.

"Do you not worry about Riley?" Melissa asked. "About Kane?"

Her questions threw Amy off. She wasn't expecting her to address Riley or Kane to her, not again. But she wasn't in a mood to lie. "I care as much as I respect Riley. For what he did for Chlo. For the love he has for Kesha. Kane... I couldn't give a s.h.i.t about Kane. He can rot out there."

"But if Riley's with Kane, shouldn't we-"

"They left the walls," Amy said. "Now I don't know how it went down or who made that decision, but they left, and now they're on their own out there. Whatever happens to them, whatever might've already happened to them... that can't be on us."

"But it is on us," Melissa said.

She lowered her head and Amy sensed she was hiding something.

"Melissa? What is it?"

"I was counting my arrows," Melissa said. "I always keep them together. But I was one down."

Amy felt her stomach sink. "Melissa. That doesn't mean-"

"I didn't think much of it at first. Not until I went back to my room after Kane and Riley disappeared and found the arrow snapped in half at the foot of my bed. I didn't see it when I first woke. But he must've... he must've used the arrow to get out somehow. I must've dropped it when I was in there with him. But the thought he was in my room. He was in my room and despite everything he said, he'd rather me find that arrow than kill me, like he promised he would do. Like he'd rather I suffered for what I did-suffered from guilt-than put me through it himself. He's a f.u.c.king monster. And I feel so responsible that Riley's out there with him right now."

Amy was silent. She mulled over Melissa's words. Beneath her, on the ground, she could hear people pressing things up against the walls, covering all the cracks. Some were still practising firing arrows, which meant they weren't so convinced this was going to be a simple hide-out job after all.

"You were careless," Amy said. "To let an arrow slip while you were in there with him."

"And that's why I have to go out there before the dead reach our position. While there's still a chance. To get him and get Riley and-"

"Out of the question."

"You still don't trust me, do you?"

"Melissa, this isn't about trust. This is about the fine line between safety and suicide."

"You still think I want to kill myself. Don't you?"

"Well, I've had to stop you doing it enough f.u.c.king times already."

There was silence after that. Silence where Amy regretted what she'd said, right away.

"Sorry."

"No," Melissa said, shaking her head. She was smiling slightly, like she hadn't totally digested what Amy just said to her. "It's good to hear you being totally honest with me."

"I shouldn't have said that."

Melissa rolled up her sleeves. "But you did. You did, and that's fair enough for you to have those concerns."

Melissa stepped up to Amy. Looked right into her eyes. Amy couldn't help glancing down at her exposed arms.

"No fresh cuts there," Melissa said. "You'll be pleased to know all's happy in happy land."

"I didn't mean to hurt you. This is just an intense time. You understand that."

"And you need to understand that I'm coping. I'm managing. And honestly, I'm not surprised you just blurted out what you did. I've seen the way you look at me. The way you all look at me."

"We don't look at you in any way."

"You do. Don't lie. I don't belong here. Which... I guess in a weird way, that's why I liked visiting Kane. As detestable as he is, at least he was honest. Even when he was lying, he was honest."

There was a pause. An awkward silence. Then Amy just had to pose the question.

"Melissa, did you know you'd dropped the arrow for Kane?"

Melissa smiled. It was a shaky, uncertain smile. And instants later, Amy saw the tears building in Melissa's bloodshot eyes. "The fact you'd even ask me that question says it all, I think."

She turned around and started walking down the ladders.

"Melissa?" Amy called. "Where are you going?"

"I'm leaving," she said.

"No. No, you-"

"It's my fault Kane got away from this place. It's my fault Riley's out there. And truly, I think I can draw some of the undead away from this direction."

"You won't make it."

"Maybe not," Melissa said, walking right up to the gate. "But it's what I have to do. And like you said. You run a transparent leadership, right?" She turned to Stef and Carly, who were at the sides of the gate. "Open up."

"Don't!" Amy called.

Melissa turned back and looked up at Amy. "Let me fix this problem. Let me help. Trust me, just this d.a.m.ned once."

Amy looked down into Melissa's eyes and she remembered her when she'd first found her. Curled up in a ball in her bed, the body of a dead partner by her side.

She remembered the way she'd forced Melissa to lift her chin up and break out of that stupor she was in. She remembered the times she'd barged her way into locked doors to stop Melissa from overdosing.

She remembered sitting beside Melissa and holding her hand as she used a clean blade to cut, just to release a little of the pain, before giving up the cutting completely.

And she looked at her now-so confident, so sure of what she wanted to do-and she couldn't help feeling a twinge of pride.

"Go," Amy said.

Stef frowned. "You sure?"

"Open the gates," Amy said. "Let her go."

Melissa looked just as surprised by Amy's verdict as the people around her. She gathered her bow, plenty of arrows, and a long blade. Then she walked up to the open gate.

She kept on looking back up at Amy, though. Waiting for her to say something else.

"You stay safe," Amy managed eventually, her lips quivering. It was all she could manage.

"You too," Melissa said.

Then, as the dead kept on moving in their direction, a dark spectre looming on the horizon, Melissa looked back at Amy one final time before disappearing into the trees.

When she'd gone, Amy climbed down the ladder. She heard people saying things to her. She heard people asking her for things. But she just waded through them, and went into the bathroom area.

She barricaded herself in that room and she couldn't stop herself.

The tears fell down her face.

Her tough exterior that she had to maintain for everyone around her cracked.

Because Melissa wasn't just anyone.

Melissa wasn't just a stranger she happened to find in the early days of the outbreak.

Melissa was her biological sister.

Her baby sister, the pair of them separated by adoption.

And as Amy thought about her sister out there, all on her own, the guilt overwhelmed her.

If only she'd told her the truth before she disappeared.

If only she'd found the strength to tell her that she was her big, biological sister, maybe things would've been different.

She thought about going out there and chasing after Melissa. She had to. It was her duty. Her responsibility.

But when she stepped out of the bathroom, she saw the glum, resigned faces of the people around her.

She climbed the ladder. Annabelle was up there now.

"What is it?" Amy asked.

Annabelle pointed into the distance.

Amy didn't see what she was pointing at right away.

Then she saw the trees less than a quarter of a mile rustling.

She heard the footsteps.

She saw grey flesh...

Lots and lots and lots of grey flesh.

"They're here," she said.

Chapter Three.