EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
[ chapter seven—tensions rising ]

Adaline leaned forward as Jake leaned across the truck to reach inside the glovebox. He pulled a pistol out, placing it into the cup holder beside him.

Nick glanced at his sister, pulling his jacket off and covering the reverse mirror for a split second. He's going to kill him. Nick mouthed, tossing his jacket back at his sister.

The girl scoffed, shoving the jacket into the seat beside her. "You know Troy could've killed me— us," Nick spoke up.

Jake glanced back at Adaline in the rearview mirror confused. "Why would he kill you?" The blonde girl leaned back in her seat, twirling the green stone around her neck between her fingers.

"We'll, he wouldn't, but, you know, he could've hurt me. That's my point— he could've hurt any of us and he didn't." Good save. "I think he came to warn, not harm." He continued, Jake looked over at the boy refusing to respond to him.

Adaline climbed over the seat as a dust cloud rose. "Fuck." She hissed, the truck coming to a rolling halt, all eyes on the ever-growing cloud.

Jake put the car into third, pressing his foot down. The truck made it further up the hill when they noticed the horde who'd created all that dust.

⭑ ⭑ ⭑

Nadia sat in the empty breakfast tent, Mikaela seated beside her with a hot mug between her hands. "Nick, Adaline, and Jake are in trouble," Alicia spoke softly to Ofelia. "They went out this morning, and I think they came across a horde."

Ofelia furrowed her eyebrows. "You think?"

"We know. We saw it from Rook's rest, walking trail." The brunette girl spoke.

Ofelia sighed, pressing her eyes shut. "We need to go out there and see what we're dealing with." Ofelia frowned. "Wait, why'd they go alone?" Nadia looked up at Alicia, who looked back at her.

"Does it matter?" Nadia asked, standing up from her seat. "Yeah, it matters." Ofelia snapped. "We scout in packs, safety in numbers. It's protocol, you know that." Alicia avoided both girls' gazes.

"Troy snuck into the camp last night and told Adaline and Nick there was something wrong going on out there." Ofelia scoffed, rolling her eyes back.

"Trot, how wonderful." She sneered. "Yeah, Crazy Dog is gonna be overjoyed." The group glanced at the boy in question, Nadia shrugging gently. "He doesn't have to know how we know. We just need to stop it."

Ofelia narrowed her eyes at the girl. "How do I know Troys are not waiting to ambush?"

Nadia stepped toward the girls. "You don't. But we trust Nick and Jake to stop it." Mikaela picked up her cup. "Have a little faith, Ofelia."

⭑ ⭑ ⭑

Adaline walked to the edge, pinching herself for even believing for a second that he had warned them and not doomed them.

Troy knelt before the horde like they were his Jesus. Jake climbed down the hill faster than either sibling.

Nick stepped in front of Jake, muttering something that had gotten lost over the snarling of the dead. Adaline stood at what she felt was a safe distance from the boy. Troy looked at the blonde, smiling.

Nick stood before his sister. "It's a cleansing." More like an extinction, but Cleansing works too. Nick leaned over, his hands above his knees for support. "Troy." With no answer from the boy Nick who also knelt at a safe distance began to speak again. "Listen. You're not right in the head, man."

Troy glanced at Nick, nodding slowly. "Yeah." At least he's self-aware. She thought, raising her eyebrows. "A little punchy, I admit." Hmm, maybe not.

Troy nodded toward the horde. "Leading these guys on foot for two days, two nights." Jake had slowly been making his way around to the other side of Troy. "I stop, they stop. They need constant stimuli— sight, smell, sound." He nudged the grenade launcher in his right hand, How'd he get that, anyway?

Adaline watched as Jake noticed the clean bandages on his hand, looking up at Adaline and back at his brother. "They love loud noises."

Jake cocked his gun, a smirk lining Troy's face. "Don't do this, Troy." His brother pleaded.

He shook his head, a soft chuckle leaving his lips. "I love that sound." He began, "I love that sound the way some love when a— ball hits the fat of a bat, you know. Good wood."

Troy turned to Adaline. "Are you everyone for organized sports, Ads?"

"I played soccer in high school." She mumbled a light chuckle from Troy's lips, nodding his head toward Jake and turning back to the horde. "Jake was."

The boy stood. "Jake was All-Everything." Jake raised his gun at Troy as he stood. "I told you it was beautiful, didn't I?" Adaline looked at the horde and back at Troy.

None of it was beautiful, it felt like she was about to lose everyone she cared about.

Nick stood up straight. "And this..." Troy pointed at the canyon. "This is evolution. This is— this is Darwinian."

Nick shook his head, for once he and Adaline were on the same page. "No, this is murder, Troy, nothing more."

The boy raised his eyebrows. "Murder? You really wanna go there, Nick." Troy stared straight at the blonde.

"You don't wanna kill everybody at the ranch." Nick continued, attempting to move on from outing Adaline's sins.

"They see this, they'll run." Troy raised the launcher toward the horde. "They don't, it's eviction or extinction."

"Drop the launcher, Troy." Jake threatened. "Don't make me do this." Troy scoffed lightly. "Don't make you do what? If you were gonna shoot me, you'd have done that a long time ago."

"I swear on Dad's grave, I'll shoot you." Adaline cringed, stepping toward her brother. "I'll kill you, brother, I will." Nick glanced at his sister, hoping that wouldn't be them in three years.

Troy pressed on the trigger, Jake threw his brother to the ground, straddling him, Adaline covered her mouth as she clenched her jaw in hopes of muffling her laughter.

Jake began slapping his brother's face repeatedly, opening the almost healed cut beneath his eye. "Jake, stop, okay?" Nick spoke, approaching the pair. "We can still beat them back to the ranch."

Jake pulled out his pistol aiming it at Troy. "Go!" He shouted, "Just go, Nick! There's still time to evacuate."

"It's not that easy. One road in, one road out." Troy attempted to explain but was quickly cut off. "Shut up."

"You face the monsters or you die in the wasteland." Jake clicked the safety off. "Shut.. up!"

"Jake, you'll never live it down." Adaline finally spoke, stepping closer to the brothers. "I protected him." Jake pressed.

"You left me, brother." Familiar words, spoken by two sides of the same coin. Jake's voice cracked. "I always protected you!"

"Jake, you pull that trigger, you're gonna wake up with it every day." Adaline took a breath, glancing at the boy beneath Jake. "You will never get it out of your head."

Troy believed her to be talking about his father, but the truth of it was she was talking about the border and the people she let out and they didn't even make it past that room. The little girl who'd thanked her didn't make it out of that hallway. "It's still ricocheting inside your skull, Adaline?"

Jake stuttered above his brother. "What— what are you talking about?" Nick glanced at his sister. "What is he talking about!" Jake shouted, looking back at the pair for a second.

"You tell it best, Ads. I don't wanna steal your thunder." Tears stung Adalines eyes, debating the odds of her getting shot.

"I am sorry." She sighed.

Troy shook his head as if her words weren't sufficient enough. "Don't say sorry to me. Say it to him." Jake's grip on his pistols softened slightly, Clicking the safety back off, his eyes dug into the girl's soul.

Adaline squirmed, wishing for a way out of the conversation. "You didn't know?" Troy taunted, Adaline pressed her eyes shut. Reliving every kill shot. "I was sure as shit Alicia would've told— oh, you— you know she knows."

"She doesn't know." Nick blurted to protect at least one of his sisters. Adaline already confessed, Troy knows what she did and he wasn't letting up. "Jake she didn't."

"It doesn't matter." He whispered, almost lost in his void. "I don't care what you did." He sniffled, chuckling. "It doesn't matter." He repeated, Nick slowly approached the brothers, pulling the launcher away.

"It just doesn't matter, I don't care." Adaline genuinely felt bad for the boy. Troy furrowed his eyebrows at his brother. "Are you thinking of checking out?"

Adaline looked up at the skies above, oh my fucking god. "Hey, we can— we can do it together." The girl's eyes widened, checking her brother's reaction to ensure he did, ask that.

"No, little brother," Jake whispered. Adaline had run back to the truck, pulling a map from the glove box. A farmhouse was a couple of miles further than the ranch but she needed a car to get back to her siblings.

⭑ ⭑ ⭑

Lee had run through the house packing out-of-town bags for each of the siblings. Nadia, Alicia, and Cooper had stood with the Nation, trying to make a plan to save their upcoming extinction event.

"Jesus." Ofelia hissed, the group looked over the ridge line at the incoming horde. "How far do you think?" Alicia asked.

"No more than half a mile away." Crazy dog answered, Cooper lowered the binoculars. "Fair estimate." He agreed.

"We gotta evacuate," Cooper spoke. "Taqa left us to protect this place." Alicia's hand met her chest where her sister's hand would be if she were here. "We can't run."

"Last stand it is," Cooper spoke up, nodding to Crazy Dog beside him.

⭑ ⭑ ⭑

Adaline had come across a farm closer than the service station, she'd been cursing the whole way up their long driveway.

There was a truck outside the house, just no keys and she had zero clue how to Hotwire it.

She tapped her machete against the door of the farmhouse, nothing spoke out or rustled from inside. She twisted the door handle, in hopes of something going right today. Locked.

She wandered around to the back of the house, trying the back door, the screen door opened with ease, the second door, however, was a little trickier, probably just the hinges needing some oil or something blocking her entry.

With a little effort, the door thudded open. Death rushed through its only escape directly into Adaline's face. Oh god. She muttered, pressing her effort against the door to get inside.

Nothing came knocking when the body behind the door thudded over. Adaline squeezed herself through the door, pinching the bridge of her nose.

She searched the kitchen for bottled water, nothing but expired foods that didn't sit well with rotting flesh.

The body behind the door looked decently fresh, a couple of days at the least, which only worried the girl more. Get the keys out.

Beside the front door was her next search place. Adaline slowly turned the corner looking down the hallway to the left and up the hallway to the right, tapping her machete onto the wall beside her, but nothing.

She'd thought the truck being there was good luck, but not seeing anything dead was even better.

Adaline raced into the living room, gasping as found where the smell had been coming from.

She'd pressed herself against the wall in horror, locking eyes with one big infected munching on a ginger cat she'd guessed had found its way inside in search of food.

Adaline pulled herself together, looking around the room for keys. Keys, keys, keys. She repeated, scanning the room. Her stomach turned as her eyes met the front door, a warning that read; save yourself. In a darker red, than it did when whoever wrote it there.

Beside the door hung a key hook, and glistening slowly in the deathly breeze hung the truck keys, with a big Toyota logo on the back of them.

Adaline rushed toward the door as softly as she could, clicking the door lock hurriedly as the monstrosity behind her growled.

The ground shook as it ran toward her, the girl's hands trembling as the screen door refused to open. She glanced around the room, a pistol in the son's hand, and a hunting rifle in the father's.

Fuck.

⭑ ⭑ ⭑

"Why were they out there?" The crazy dog pressed.

Alicia sighed. "Troy came up on Nick before dawn."

Cooper had almost lit up. "He was here?" Alicia continued ignoring the man's questions. "He said something was coming. Something that might wipe us all out."

Crazy Dog scoffed softly. "Something he saw or something he brought down on us?" Cooper unfolded his arms, putting his hands into his pockets. "You don't know he did this."

Ofelia turned to Crazy Dog. "Troy may have saved our lives." The man pulled his pistol, checking the magazine. "Should have shot him when I had the chance." He hissed, picking up a nearby rifle.

"That's not what Taqa wanted," Ofelia spoke, watching the man arm himself with the rifle. She placed her hand on his chest, his hands falling to his sides. "This isn't helping."

"We could start with sticks and stones, brother, bows and blades, but if the dead come in droves, we're gonna need bullets, all of us," Cooper spoke, Crazy Dog put the rifle strap over his head, walking past the three.

"Lee," Ofelia spoke out, Alicia glanced around for her brother, whom she'd warned about being down here while they spoke. Ofelia leaned forward tilting her head at Crazy Dog.

"Fine." Lee reached for the keys to the armory, tossing them to Ofelia. "Let's arm up." Ofelia glanced back at Alicia and Cooper, flicking the second key over in search of the first.

⭑ ⭑ ⭑

Adaline trembled as she ran for the pistol and hunting rifle, She checked the magazine as she ran through the living room to the hallway, making a run for a room with a window she could get out of. The clip was almost full.

She slammed the door closed behind her pushing the dresser up against the door. The beast growled and groaned, throwing itself against the door.

Adaline turned in circles, throwing the rifle strap over her shoulder and the pistol into her holster. She pushed open the bedroom window, almost in tears as the door began to break down.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" She exclaimed, throwing the rifle out the window and climbing out after it. Adaline tossed the rifle toward the truck, pulling her machete from its scabbard and slicing it through the screen door.

Her hand just fit through the gap, Reaching inside she searched for the Toyota logo engraved on the keys. The beast ran through the house to ensure it got its next meal.

The growling grew closer, and the thudding of its feet grew louder. Found them. She hissed, pulling the entire key hook from the wall with the keys. The infected reached the door milliseconds before Adaline slammed it closed, making a run for the rifle and the truck.

The truck failed to turn over the first couple of tries, and with her mother's breathing techniques failing to calm her she became enraged with the vehicle, slamming her hands against the rim of the steering wheel.

She angrily pushed the key back into the ignition, turning it over and begging for any sort of assistance, from whatever god was still out there.

The engine stuttered, once more. She thought, trying it again. The engine spluttered and finally turned over.

⭑ ⭑ ⭑

When Adaline had made it back to the ranch most of her people had begun moving into the pantry, One of the motor homes had tipped onto its side and the dead were seeping through the gaps.

Adaline pressed her foot down in four-wheel drive, wedging the truck somewhat blocking the rest of the herd from coming in through the gate.

She climbed over the seat, bracing herself for what waited for her on the outside. She turned to the glove box hesitantly opening up, nothing. Not everyone's as prepared as the Ottos.

Adaline kicked the door open with all her might, shooting the incoming infected. She grabbed the rifle from beside the seat, smashing the grip of it into an incoming infected.

She tried to figure out for herself how the hunting rifle worked before she'd gotten to the ranch but it just frustrated her beyond repair.

The further her machete went into infected heads the angrier she got at Troy. He was like a completely different person, he'd sworn to never hurt her and that's exactly what he did. It's exactly what they did-- to each other.

Adaline reached beyond the wall, a bloody machete in hand. "Alicia!" She shouted, racing to the other end. Nothing but dead roamed. "Lee!" Her voice trembled, slamming her machete into the incoming infected.

"Nadia!" Someone tugged at the girl's arm pulling them toward them. "Hey!" Coop exclaimed, nodding his head to the incoming infected.

The girl turned again, replacing her machete with her pistol. The living were loud, but the dead were louder. Adaline had caught a glimpse of her sister helping other ranch members.

The girl turned back to Coop, cursing as he was surrounded by infected. "Go, go!" He shouted, waving her off as she attempted to get them off him.

Adaline stood emptying her clip on the dead that surrounded him, the more she'd killed the more came. Alicia grabbed her sister's arm tugging her toward the pantry.

The man raised his gun a final time, pressing the trigger down and waiting for the end, though it never came. He was empty. "I got you," Alicia whispered, pressing the trigger as he closed his eyes.

Adaline glanced up as the gun fired.

Ofelia grunted, pleading for help. "Ofelia!" Alicia exclaimed, running to the girl as she tried to keep the infected from biting into her flesh.

Adaline slammed her machete into the base of its skull, helping the girl to her feet.

"Let's go," Alicia muttered, pulling the girls to the pantry.

Infected swarmed the entry to the pantry. "Crap," Alicia muttered, raising her rifle. The empty clip clicked, with every press on the trigger. Adaline handed Ofelia her rifle.

A gun fired from behind the girls, Crazy dog and Nadia stood with empty clips. Taking knives from their belts.

The five made a path through the crowd of infected, trying to stay out of one another's way as their arms swung at the dead.

Blake called the group over, holding the door open for them. Adaline ran in after her sister and Nadia. Searching the surviving faces for her brother.

Alicia followed behind her sister wishing to know what happened out there. Adaline didn't have answers for her, and if she had any idea of what to say she still wouldn't answer her. "Crazy dog is going to want answers. If Troy did this—"

Alicia paused, looking around them before she spoke again. Everyone who filled the pantry was too busy worrying about they're missing loved ones, Adaline included. "I need to know before it all comes out."

The blonde girl shook her head, frustration taking over her body as she couldn't find their brother. "Lee, where is he?" She asked, Alicia glanced around cursing herself for misplacing their little brother.

Alicia stuttered, finding Nadia in the crowd. "Do you know where Lee is?" She asked, pulling the redhead to the side. Nadia's lips parted, looking around them.

Nadia pressed her lips together. "I haven't seen him since we let the herd out." She admitted, taking her friend's hand. "He's survived worse. He's like a cockroach, he can survive anything. Including this."

Alicia nodded, "he'll be fine." She mumbled with tears in her eyes.

Adaline shook her head in hopes of disbursing the tears that rolled down her cheeks. "We've got jobs to do." She finally spoke, replacing Nadia's hand with a box of bottled water.

Handing one to each girl and the survivors around them. She turned to another aisle to replace her empty box with a full one.

She didn't think her face could fade any further, but seeing the bite that would take Blake, who she considered a pain in the ass but he was a good guy for the most part.

"Adaline!" Brandon spoke, making his way through the crowd of survivors to Adaline. "Did you find him?" She asked, moving away from Blake between the shelves.

The boy shook his head. "Uh, no luck. But we've got bigger problems." How could things get any worse?

Adaline followed the boy to the back of the pantry, toward the freezer room. Alicia, Ofelia, and Crazy Dog stood waiting for the blonde. "Nothing is coming through," Ofelia spoke.

The girl wandered over to the group standing below the vents, holding her hand beneath it waiting for a cool breeze, nothing came.

"This place is sealed." Blake spoke up, the blonde stood back on the ball' of her feet, her eyes wandering around the faces she could see ahead of her. "And it wasn't built to house this many."

Adaline closed her eyes staring at her reflection in the steel of the walls. "There has to be another way in." Crazy Dog offered.

"That vent is the only way," Blake spoke again. "Without that..." Adaline pressed her eyes shut, reaching for the pendant that should sit around her neck, though it wasn't there.

Alicia looked up at the vent, speaking up. "We run out of air." She paused looking back at her sister.

⭑ ⭑ ⭑

The group sat below the vent planning Ofelia and the other Lees's trip through the vent. "The shaft runs all the way up past the barn." Blake began, leaning against one of the stock shelves and watching Alicia speed papers across the floor.

"How long will it take dragging on our knees and elbows?" Crazy Dog asked, seating himself beside Ofelia. "About an hour to there to clear the blockage."

Ofelia nodded, "right. Plus we need an hour back."

"There might not be enough air down here to last." Adaline stood beneath the vent gazing upward. The group looked to Alicia as she flipped through the papers, pencil in hand.

She sighed, sitting up. "We have maybe two hours before the carbon dioxide kills us."

Adaline leaned against a shelf stocked with vegetable oil, looking down at her sister. "Okay," Ofelia mumbled. "So, we move, right?"

The girl stood. "An hour to the end— that's the best-case scenario?" The other Lee asked, looking at Blake and the sisters. "Unless lack of oxygen slows us up."

Adaline stared at Blake as he spoke, how many others were bit? She wondered. How many wouldn't admit it till they'd already had a taste of their loved ones' flesh?

The crazy dog stood, walking beneath the vent. "We need to even the odds." He began, Ofelia furrowed her eyebrows at the boy. "It's this or nothing."

"It's not worth the risk."

"What other options do we have?"

Adaline snapped out of her thoughts shaking her head and she stood up straight again. "No, it's not. We can—" she paused, hating herself for even thinking it. "We can buy some time."

The group turned to look at her, confused about what she meant by that but Blake knew, he knew what they had to do.

Crazy Dog stepped closer, her voice cracked, almost a whisper. "Fewer people, less carbon dioxide." Alicia looked up at her sister and back at the papers in front of her.

Ofelia looked through the isles at the survivors, and Adaline followed her gaze. "We put down the bitten." Adaline nodded lightly, watching the children play with patty cake together.

"No one will admit it." Crazy Dog began. "It's just a matter of time before they start showing symptoms." Ofelia continued. "We need to strip everyone down and search for bites."

Adaline shook her head, "No, they're not prisoners. You can't force them. We're all in this together."

"Then we're gonna die together." Crazy dog hissed, Adaline glared at the boy. "All I've heard you bring to the table is force them to show us their bites." She scoffed.

"Hey, Alicia," Ofelia called out to the girl who'd hidden behind a shelf. "Why don't we have the bitten go clean out the vents?"

Adaline furrowed her eyebrows at the girl's question. "We can't send someone sick," Alicia answered. "If they did in there, it'll just make everything worse."

"Well, that settles it." The crazy dog turned to the people behind them.

Alicia stuttered, grabbing the boy's shirt and tugging him back. "No, wait!" She hissed. "They'll riot. They'll kill you for trying to kill them."

"They're already dead." He hissed back. The girl turned to the end of the aisle. Pushing past the boy to talk to the survivors herself.

"Everyone?" She spoke up, stepping into the middle of the pantry. Crazy Dog, Ofelia, and Alicia stood behind the girl. Blake leaned against one of the shelves waiting for the girl to continue.

"I— I know you're scared. We're all scared." The girl's eyes met a young girl and a boy who'd reminded her of herself and Nick curled up in their father's arms.

"We don't know what's going to happen out there," She continued. "And we're less sure what's going to happen here. But, uh, this is what we do know." The girl glanced at Nadia who had a little girl asleep on her lap. Alicia.

"The vent is broken. The only airway we have is blocked. Which means if we can't fix it, we suffocate." The people began to murmur against one another, pulling their loved ones close. "Right now, the enemy is not what's out there. It's time. And the more of us there are, the less time we have." She admitted.

Her eyes wandered to a young boy who comforted his mother instead of her comforting him. Lee.

Adaline gulped, playing with a loose thread on the bottom of her shirt. "So, we're asking... for those of you who have been bitten to come forward." The pantry murmurings came to a stop, nothing but women coughing at the back of the room.

Crazy Dog stepped forward pulling out his pistol. "I guess we do it the hard way." He spoke, loading the gun, Blake stood in front of him, shaking his head.

Blake stepped out for everyone to see him, slowly pulling his shirt up revealing his bite. "No baby, no." A woman begged as her son stood, Pulling her head to his shoulder.

Adaline's breathing heavied as more people stepped up.

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word count — 4338

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ₊˚ପ⊹ *:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ