Day's End

This Dangerous Path We Walk

A crowd gathered around the body that had been covered in a sheet since it was first found. Most everyone knew who it was, and almost nobody cared. He was a traitor, and this had been his decided punishment. Nobody saw it happen, but everyone knew it happened. Nobody cried; nobody celebrated; nobody did anything except watch as the body's flesh peeled off in the flames, shrinking and bursting until the fatty layer of skin oozed out like melted wax spilling out over a candle holder. All that was left after the excruciatingly long ceremony that lasted long into the night was a marred skeleton with bits and pieces of charred muscle still clinging on to the bone. Everyone acted as if nothing had happened, so they kept their mouth shut, too. 
        Sidney stopped in front of Regan's bedroom door; their fist hovered just in front of it, hesitating to knock. They rapped on the door. "Regan?" Sidney called out. A shuffling noise ensued. "Lafayette told me to-"
Regan quickly opened the door. "You're leaving already?" 
"Yeah. Are you okay? You look-"
"I'm fine, Sid. Azalia, Lafayette, and some others are going with you, right?" Regan leaned against the doorframe. 
"Yeah, they are. Lafayette told me to let you know that we were leaving." Sidney backed away. "So, uh, I guess goodbye, then?"
He suddenly embraced Sidney, squeezed them tightly, and whispered, "Please be careful." 
Their pulse sped up, and they rigidly returned his gesture. "I will, R. Don't worry. We'll be back in a couple hours."
        They pulled away from each other, and, after saying their goodbyes, Regan retreated back into his room. Sidney stood there for a few minutes, quietly listening for something, but nothing came. They basked in the glow of the hug, silently smiling to themselves but left the hallway when the feeling finally dulled. They hurried down the stairs and made their way outside where, mounted on horses, Azalia and Lafayette waited with some other civilians. Lafayette greeted them with a smile and helped them mount Lucy behind himself. "You might want to hang on tight. She's got a helluva bumpy canter." 
Sidney looped their arms around Lafayette's waist. "Should make for one exciting first ride, then." 
"When you two are done having your little chat, we're ready to go," Azalia interrupted, casting them a sharp glare from the front of the group. 
Lafayette chuckled. "Sorry, little sis! We're ready." 
"Christ, don't call me that. Let's just go before they get all of it." 
        Along the way, Azalia explained to Sidney that Alexander had ordered them to search for supplies in the houses far outside the walls. These houses were the only ones they hadn't searched within the neighborhood simply because Alexander didn't see the need until now. They were running severely low on medical supplies and water, which they would need soon when a citizen of Three Spires finally had her baby. Whether it was a male or female, the woman was going to name it Jo, after a man who had saved her life but was now deceased. When Sidney asked if 'Jo' was short for something, the reply Azalia gave was 'Joseph,' but the woman wanted to use a gender-neutral version. Sidney grew quiet and didn't ask any further questions.
      None of them needed to be told when they arrived at their destination; it was clear by the look of things that the area hadn't been touched for quite some time. They turned their horses and slowly walked into the neighborhood. "Alright," Azalia began. "Lafayette, you and Sidney take this first house; Madison, you and I'll take the second, and Charles will have to stay outside and watch the horses. We go down the row of houses until we fill up our bags, then we can go home. Sidney, do you have the knife I gave you?"
They slid the knife's clip off of their pocket and pressed down on a tab on the side, causing the blade to spring out. "Yup."
"Good."
       Azalia dismounted her horse, followed up by all the rest. As expected, a man stayed behind as a lookout, Azalia and Madison jogged the short ways to the second house, and Sidney followed Lafayette up to the first.           The grass was dead and stained with blood that surrounded a fly-swarmed clump of meat that they were sure was once a person. A dirt-stained volleyball sat lonesome in the corner of a fence. The windows were shattered. Red streaks slithered out of the pane, across the dirt and pavement, and led right up to the dead heap of flesh that seemed to smell worse every time they glanced down at it. The front door was closed, but a simple push was all it took to fix that. The locks were broken, and the handle was barely attached to the door.
         Lafayette's footsteps heavily echoed through the silent room, followed closely by Sidney's. "Don't look," he said. "Just go search another room." But they couldn't look away. Above the entrance was a large chandelier, and hanging from the chain which the decor hung from was a rope, tightly woven around a woman's neck. The walker growled and clawed at them. Before Lafayette could tell them twice, Sidney had left the entry way and hurried into the kitchen. 
        What was there shook them even further. To the left, a body was slumped over on the couch, and an axe had been driven into its skull; the rotting brain was half-spilled out onto the back of the furniture and on the tile floor. They turned their back to the scene and opened the fridge. A strong, putrid scent overtook their senses. A loud 'thump' caught their attention, but Sidney felt somewhat more at ease when they realized Lafayette had taken the walker down. They shut the fridge and ravaged through the cabinets, only finding an unopened box of undoubtedly stale crackers and a few bottles of water; barely enough to fill the bag.
         Sidney left the living room and kitchen. Though they doubted any of the other rooms would have anything, they decided it best to check. They entered the smallest of the two bedrooms. In the right corner of the pale blue room was a crib. Sidney didn't have the courage to look inside and ran out into the second room.
          A scratching noise came from the closet, which was immediately in front of the door. When they tried to open it, it was locked. A diary sat on a bedside desk; on the front cover, written in glitter, was the name 'Rachel'. Sidney opened it:
      'Mommy said I couldn't go outside to play with my friends today. I asked her why and she said it was because of the strange people that were outside and that they wanted to hurt me. Why would they want to hurt me? I just want to see my friend again.'
They flipped the page:
       'I'm really hungry. Whenever I ask mommy if I can eat she always just says no or maybe soon. The baby cries alot and I can tell that mommy is really sad. I can start to see her bones now. Daddy too. They say I can't see the baby but I don't know why. When I asked mommy she just said its because he's sick.'
A bad feeling swept over them, but they continued:
       'Mommy is acting strange and daddy is worried about her. The baby doesn't cry anymore though. I think that's good but mommy doesn't look any better. Daddy doesn't talk much and always tells me to stay in my room. Mommy won't give me food but I know we have some. I saw some in the kitchen yesterday. She said if I ever came out of my room again that I would get in trouble. Daddy didn't say anything.'
Sidney looked up from the diary and struggled to keep going:
      'I went outside of my room today because I heard someone screaming but mommy caught me and put me in the closet as a punishment. She said she would come back when she was sure I learned my lesson but I'm scared. I don't like the dark. Mommy locked the door but I don't know where she put the key. I heard a sound that sounds like when she swallows her pills though. I'm scared.'
      They took a step back but realized something. If the daughter was in the closet, how could she have written in the diary? Sidney looked closer and saw that the penmanship was different; it was neater, but the pen was pushed down so much in some areas that it almost ripped through the paper. Scribbles and half-written words filled up the rest of the paper, but some of the words they could make out: "Scared," "Whiny bitch," and "Hungry". The rest were unintelliable or scribbled out. 
        She heard a sound that sounded like her mother taking pills. That must've meant that the mother had swallowed the key. Sidney sighed and closed the book. The body on the couch must've been the father, and the screams she heard were from when the mother murdered him, driven insane by hunger. They walked back into the entry. Lafayette had already killed it, but Sidney would've preferred that job over what they were going to do next. 
         They plunged the knife into the mother's stomach and sliced her torso open. Sidney tried their best not to vomit. They reluctantly pulled back the flesh and looked about for something metal or anything that resembled a key. Then they found it. Their hand grasped something small and pulled it out. It was the key. Sidney ran into the kitchen and vomited into the sink. They took their time to prepare themselves for what was inside the closet. 
        The key was the perfect fit for the lock, and they slowly opened the closet door. A small walker lay flat on the ground. It groaned and tried to move but was so emaciated it couldn't even lift its head. Sidney kneeled and placed their hand on its shoulder, which it didn't even respond to. They left the room after the deed was done but made sure to leave the closet open.
         Lafayette and Sidney both wordlessly left the house, and neither asked what the other had found; the look on their faces told enough. He didn't even question why Sidney had rummaged through a walker's torso, but he trusted them. Charles still stood with the horses. "Maddy and Azalia have already done the third and fourth houses. What took so long in there?"
          Suddenly the sharp, unmistakable smell of smoke that Sidney knew all too well infested the air. From which direction, they couldn't tell. It seemed to be from all sides all at once. Madison and Azalia came running towards them, and Sidney was pulled back toward the horses as the house they had just been in was already partially in flames. Lucy nervously pawed the ground and pulled on Charles' grasp on the reins. The second house was starting to kindle a fire, and it quickly spread, mostly due to the fact that the houses were so close together. 
        Sidney just watched the fire as Lafayette tried to calm the horses down. "We should go. Maddy and I have our bags more than halfway full, and at least you have some things," Azalia said. "Let's just go home."
          They all rode home in silence. All of them knew that the others knew who did it. To be fair, the Phoenix didn't know they were going to this particular area, but Azalia said that they only set fire to areas that were walker-heavy; more specifically, an area of walkers that they couldn't control. One of the houses they checked didn't have any walkers at all. In total, including Sidney's two, they only had to kill six walkers. 
         Call them paranoid, it didn't take Sidney long to guess what had happened, and they didn't bother to keep it to themselves. They shared their thoughts that the Phoenix might be trying to kill them. Not only Sidney, but everyone in Three Spires. They didn't have very much proof, but why wouldn't they? The Phoenix barely get anything out of the relationship with Three Spires, and it would be so much easier to just kill them and take it; especially since that was what they were already doing to everyone else.
       Lafayette wasn't afraid to agree, but Azalia just remained silent. She knew that Sidney might be on to something, but no way in hell did she want to start anything with the Phoenix. That was a battle they couldn't win. Things were fine the way they were now, and she wasn't so eager to play with fire. Literally. 
        No one was waiting on them, and no one was there to welcome them back; not even Regan, which surprised both Lafayette and Sidney. The community just seemed so still and eerily silent. Perhaps it was just the aftershock of what they saw that made it seem this way, but even Azalia looked a little unnerved, even if she did not say so. They all just stood there for a few moments, contemplating what to do.
        Loud steps split the silence. Andre strode towards them. Sidney instinctively went for their gun but remembered they had left it in the armoury. "I bet you're.. wondering why everyone's gone, huh?" Andre asked, motioning towards the houses. 
"Where's Alexander?" Azalia demanded.
Andre smiled. "He's right here, ma'am. Now, I want you to think. Think about it. Have you ever really seen Alexander? Any of you? Do you know why? I can see it in your eyes. You're suddenly realizing it, aren't you? I'm Alexander." Andre chuckled. "Of course, my name is still Andre. That still doesn't explain what I've done with your friends, though, does it? You see, I tried to do well. I tried to make a community that wasn't all about killing; a real community. I'd already made a name for myself in that business, so I had to figure out a different way to.. lure people in." He shrugged.
"So, I put on a different name and stayed in the shadows, but I guess it's just not my thing, you know? Caring for two communities as two different people with two different personalities- kinda hard. Now I'm just rambling. What I mean to say is: you and your friends need to leave. Now. We took care of them; they're all at the north exit of the neighborhood all ready to go. When I say 'all,' however, I mean the ones that didn't put up a fight. The ones we didn't kill. By 'all,' I mean just a little less than half. You can expect the pregnant lady to be there, though. Run along, now. Don't just stand there."
      Azalia didn't force another word and ordered them to follow her outside the walls. None of them spoke. They just walked away. Sidney prayed and begged that Regan was with the group. They wouldn't have cared if the Phoenix had killed everyone else. As long as he was alive, they would be okay, and they weren't embarrassed to say that to themselves. 
        The group was considerably smaller than twenty five people. Clearly, Andre had lied. There were a lot less than half the original number. Only ten people remained, which included the five that Andre had just chased away. Micheal wasn't in the group, but as they dove into Regan's warm, tight embrace, they didn't worry about it too much. Regan sobbed and smiled and laughed all at the same time, and Sidney returned the sentimentality in equal intensity. 
        Apart from Regan and Azalia's group, Charlotte, Tiffany, Marcus, Taylor, and David remained. "So this is it," Azalia muttered to herself. "What do we do now?"