Jonathan opened the door to Block 1. Luckily for the group, the door that led inside the block was open, and as far as they could see, there were no zombies.
"Stay alert.'' Jonathan started to walk slowly, but there seemed to be no zombies. The light outside was giving good visibility, but the group still left the flashlight at the ready.
The group continued walking forward and noticed that the doors to all the cells were open, and there was no sign of anyone, human or zombie. Jonathan didn't test it but he was sure that all the prison doors were open.
'Good for us but bad at the same time. Good because we got in easily, bad because other people can get in easily too.'
After making a small round inside the block, but not checking all of it, the group started to check the cells. '''They have beds!''
Eve walked into one of the cells and sat on the bed, '' They're hard, but it's better than being on the floor.''
Nathanael looked at the toilet, '' Does the toilet flush still work?''
"I think so, but let's keep looking. We'll test it later.'' Jonathan also looked inside the cells, but he decided to check things out later. He wants to check the whole block by the end of the day.
Samantha agreed with Jonathan, "Let's go ahead. We'll have plenty of time to look through it later.''
Eve and Nathanael left the cell and the group continued forward.
They came to a corridor. Jonathan sighed, '' Our problem is that we don't know the layout of the prison.''
Samantha tried to be cheerful, '' We're going to have to look at the whole block. We'll just waste a little more time.''
Jonathan nodded and the group chose to go to the right side. Arriving there, Jonathan said, '' I think this is the cafeteria.''
The area had a lot of tables and chairs scattered across the room. It was tidy, with no signs of the dead or the living. The cafeteria was all empty and surprisingly clean. " Let's keep going."
The group passed through the cafeteria and went to the kitchen. There was no one there either but Jonathan noticed a bad smell, " Are you guys smelling that?"
Samantha nodded, " It looks like a mixture of pee and poop... And it's coming from that place."
The place Samantha pointed to was a door, which Jonathan quickly judged to be the freezer.''It must be the freezer."
' Could there be someone inside?' With that possibility in mind, Jonathan approached the place with quiet steps, " There could be people inside the freezer. If there are, do exactly as I say."
The group nodded, and Jonathan arrived in front of the freezer. He knocked on the door, and heard hustling inside, confirming his suspicion that there were people inside.
Jonathan nodded to his group, '' There are people inside. I'm going to open.''
First, he said, '' Hello? Anyone there? I'm going to open this door, so please be careful.''
Jonathan then opened the freezer. What followed was Samantha and Eve throwing up, while Nathanael and Jonathan gagging. Inside the freeze, there were 6 people, but the thing that surprised Jonathan's group the most was the smell.
It was so horrible, they never smell anything like that before. And 6 people were inside that space, with no window or ventilation. After coughing for a while, Jonathan looked at the 6 people, ' Their uniform tells me they're inmates. No idea why each one of them was arrested but I don't really care.'
Jonathan got his gun ready. He looked at his group, who had recovered and adapted the better they could to the smell by now. He then looked at the inmates, '' Hello.''
The inmates looked at each other. Then one of them stepped up. Jonathan assumed he was their leader.
'' Hello. Can I ask why are you here?'' The leader acted though, even more so when he lifted his shirt slightly to show his gun to Jonathan.
Jonathan let out a chuckle and showed the inmates his gun. Samantha, Eve and Nathanael did the same.
The leader and all the inmates flinched a little.
'' Well, first thing first, you all are free to live the prison, to rebuild your life and be happy outside. Second, this place is our home now.'' Jonathan wasn't in the mood to chit-chat with others. He just wanted to clear up the entire place, this also means those guys.
When Jonathan mentioned that they were free to leave, one of the inmates got excited, '' Are you telling the truth!?''
Jonathan nodded, '' Of course I am! Just grab your things, and some food if you have any, and go! The world is waiting for you!''
The excited inmate was going to grab his things and leave, but the leader stopped him, '' Wait.''
The inmate wanted to leave, but he was scared of the leader, so he stopped in his tracks.
'' Do you even remember why we hid in the shitty room? It's because of the hailstorm of bullets from yesterday! And now there are 4 people inside the prison, a place where people want to leave. Something is not right!''
The leader looked at Jonathan, '' Can you explain to us why are you letting us leave, and how could you carry those guns here?''
Jonathan looked at them in surprise, '' You guys really don't know what's happening to the world?''
All inmates shook their heads.
Jonathan ruffled his own hair, '' Well, follow us. It is better to show you.''
The inmates hesitated for a second but followed behind Jonathan's group.
Jonathan whispered to Nathanael, '' Stay sharp. Don't trust these people, I have a bad feeling about them.''
Nathanael nodded and they all continued to leave for the prison courtyard.
But there was one thing in Jonathan's mind, ' I remember this exact thing happening somewhere else... Deja vu, perhaps?'
While feeling confused about this turn of events, they entered the courtyard. As soon as they left the prison, all inmates put a smile on their faces.
It changed instantly when they noticed the pile of bodies Jonathan's group put in one place, and the zombies outside the fences.
One of the inmates shouted, '' What the fuck is happening?''
Jonathan sighed, '' Welcome officially to the end of the world.''
-----
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
After spending the next hour explaining the situation of the world to the inmates, Jonathan said, '' Well, this sum it up. You are free to leave.''
The inmates now didn't move a single muscle. The leader 'stood up' to Jonathan, '' We are not leaving. We were here before you, but we can thank you for cleaning our yard. You can go now.''
Jonathan smiled, '' I don't know if you noticed but we have 4 weapons here and you have one. The world is not the same. The best I can do for you is give you one of the other blocks. Of course, we can help you clean it, but the rest is up to you.''
The air got tense, everyone eyeing each other. Nathanael already was with his gup up and aiming at the inmates while Samantha and Eve did the same.
The leader snarled, '' Fine!''
'' Good! Now, how about we introduce ourselves?''
The leader nodded. Jonathan was about to say his name when he noted one of the other inmates reach out to his back, in the region of the waist.
With no hesitation, Jonathan fired at him.
BANG
Proving Jonathan's decision right, a gun fell out when the guy dropped dead. The leader realized things went wrong in the ambush and aimed his gun at Jonathan.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG
The leader shot 6 times, hitting Jonathan in the torso and in the left arm. Jonathan fell to the ground and the arm was bleeding quite heavily.
Anyway, this was the end of the inmates, as Nathanael, Eve and Samantha shot all of them dead. Their first human kill, but they didn't know who killed who.
The leader shoots all his bullets at Jonathan, but not a single one was fatal. He was now bleeding on the floor, with a gunshot wound to the gut.
Jonathan rapidly bought a tourniquet from the SHOP for 5k and used it on himself. The bleeding stopped a little, but the pain remained.
'' JONATHAN! Are you okay!?'' Everyone came to check on Jonathan.
Jonathan took out his shirt, showing the bulletproof vest, which took 4 bullets, '' Im good, but my arm got hit two times. I'll have to see it better later on... Now, let's see our friend.''
After getting up from the ground, Jonathan approached the leader of the inmates, the only one still alive. He pointed his gun at his head, '' Was it worth it?''
The leader was drowning in his own blood, '' You would've kicked us out! I had no choice.''
Jonathan sighed, '' My man, are you stupid!? I was going to let you live in another block! You could've taken the food you had, if you have any, and live there. I would even help you clean it if you wanted! Now, look at your situation!''
The leader said nothing more. Jonathan didn't waste time and shot him in the head.
BANG
After killing the leader, Jonathan looked at the other inmates, '' Make sure to hit the head, then put them together with the pile.''
Nathanael nodded and did just that.
Jonathan took this opportunity to check his arm, ' Damn! I think I lost too much blood!'
He was feeling a little dizzy, but he continued staying up, '' Let's continue.''
Jonathan took a step up, but he almost fell to the ground. The only reason he didn't fall to the ground was that Eve held him up, '' You are in no shape to continue! Let's enter the cells so you rest for a while.''
Seeing that he had no condition to continue searching the prison, Jonathan took out food for a few days, '' I'll probably be out for a while. Just make sure to stop the bleeding while I'm sleeping.''
Eve nodded, and Nathanael returned from putting the corpses in the pile. Samantha was already inside one of the cells.
''Don't search the prison while I'm out! Do you understand?''
Eve nodded.
'' Good! Now, ill take a nap...'' Jonathan then passed out near the cells.
Eve and Nathanael carried him to one of the cells, '' Now what?''
'' We make sure he's not bleeding.'' Samantha checked the tourniquet Jonathan did and saw that it was doing fine. Of course, he lost loads of blood, but if no more blood gushed out, he will heal in a day or two.
Just to be sure, Samanthan did another tourniquet, this time with a shirt. '' This should do. Ideally, he should receive blood, but we can't do so without Jonathan. He probably could've done something about this, but he's out.''
While the group search this block for a bit, they didn't search everything. ''Don't open any other door and lock the one that leads to the cafeteria. We will sleep in one of the cells tonight and wait until Jonathan wakes up.''
Nathanael nodded, '' Eve come with me. We don't know if there are any more zombies or humans inside. I need backup.''
Eve reluctantly went with Nathanael, leaving a passed-out Jonathan and Samantha together.
Samantha looked at Jonathan, '' You did amazing today. Thank you again.''
She couldn't think of their situation if Jonathan wasn't with them, ' Maybe we would've died of hunger ages ago... maybe we would be like the group who tried to ambush us at the gas station.'
' So I'll do my best while taking care of you while you're out!' While there wasn't much she could do now, unless she learned how to conduct a blood transfusion without the right tools, she would try.
Samantha laid down together with Jonathan in the bed, making it even more cramped than it normally was. '' Get better soon.''
---
MANY HOURS LATER
' GROAN.' After groaning, Jonathan woke up with pain in his left arm. He hissed and looked at his arm, '' Well, at least I'm alive.''
While Jonathan wasn't aware he was going to be ambushed by those inmates, he prepared himself with the bulletproof vest. Getting hit in the arm wasn't in his plan though.
Jonathan got up from the bed and noticed no one was there with him, ' Probably sleeping in other cells. Let me see how my wound is looking.'
He wasn't an expert on this, but from what he could gather, the bullets passed right through his arm, ' This is good. Now I don't need to remove the shards.'
He tested the mobility, which was still very limited, ' Well, I figured it wasn't going to be so simple. Maybe I'll need a week or more to recover for good.'
The parts where Jonathan was hit were near the hand and a little above it.
'I'm lucky to be alive. I need to prepare better for a situation like this.' While Jonathan knew humans were a big threat to him than zombies, he subconsciously tried to ignore them, for the sake of his sanity. But look at where it led, his left arm with no condition to fight.
Jonathan was already wary of new people, this just made him even more vigilant and paranoid. ' I tried a new approach, and it went wrong.'
After making sure everything was in order with this arm, he bought a arm sling from the SHOP and put it on himself.
Jonathan opened the cell and said, '' Hello?''
It wasn't a shout, but everyone could hear it. Nathanael, Eve and Samantha got out of their cells, '' Jonathan! You woke up!''
'' Yeah. It will take a lot more of this to take me out.'' To be honest, this encounter made Jonathan realize they need a doctor and a lot of equipment related to medicine. When he found the medical part of the prison, he would buy anything related to that. Only the doctor would be left.
' And that isn't something I can fix for now... I could buy books of medicine and study it, but it will only be superficial knowledge.'
Jonathan even searched the SHOP to see if he could cheat regarding this, but in the part INFORMATION where he bought the information regarding the apocalypse, didn't have the option to buy something regarding medicine.
Well, it had something like that, a part called KNOWLEDGE in the SHOP. But just like with the part of the Cars, it was greyed out. Jonathan wasn't sure, but he thinks it will be liberated later on. He just doesn't know when.
' So we need a doctor... but I really don't trust strangers.' It was a dilemma they would've to face in the next 8 months, thanks to Samantha, ' Even if I trusted strangers, where I would find a doctor in the apocalypse?'
'' How long I was out?''
'' I think it was 8 hours or so.''
Jonathan nodded, '' Anything happened while I was out?''
Nathanael shook his head, '' Nothing worth mentioning. We followed what you said and didn't search anymore of the prison.''
'' Good. Let's go now, I don't want to be surprised while I sleep.'' The good thing for Jonathan was that he was righthanded. The bad thing is that he wouldn't be able to use rifles for a while, ' It was already difficult holding with 2 hands, imagine with just one... I need to grow really fast.'
Eve and Samantha tried to convince Jonathan not to move, '' How about we do this tomorrow? While you're rested, you are still in no shape to do strenuous things.''
Eve nodded, '' Yeah, rest a while more. Besides, it is even darker now that night came.''
When they started exploring the prison block, it was almost noon. Now that 8 hours have passed, the entire block was almost pitch black.
Jonathan hesitated, ' While I do want to clear everything today, it seems time isn't on my side.''
He reluctantly nodded, '' Okay then. Where do you want to sleep tonight?''
Nathanael said, '' We are already inside, so let's sleep here. Besides, I think this block is secure.''
While they only checked the cells and the cafeteria, there were only a few more places to search.
Eve and Samantha agreed with Nathanael.
'' Okay. I'll go outside for a while. I slept for a while, so it will take a while for me to sleep.'' While the normal was for Jonathan to rest while healing, he didn't want to be laid down for too long.
Everyone went back to their respective cells, while Jonathan went outside the block. He almost couldn't see anything outside, so he used his flashlight to look around.
He looked at their car, which was still hanging there. Then he looked at the pile, '' Let's take care of that.''
Jonathan purchased gas from the SHOP and threw it in the pile of bodies. He also bought a match and threw one at the pile. It didn't take long for it to start to burn. The good thing for the ones inside the block is that the pile was far away from it.
Jonathan stood there watching the pile burn. It took a while for him to return to his senses. He then went back to the block. Jonathan wouldn't admit it, but he was tired even though only 2 or 3 hours passed since he woke up.
He found his cell and entered it. His sheets had a few blood stains. He ignored it all and tried to take out a bed from the hotel, but found out it wouldn't fit inside the cell, '' Well, fuck.''
Jonathan then went outside of the cell and put the bed in the middle of all cells around. He put 3 more, in case Samantha, Eve and Nathanael wanted to sleep on it too.
He sat on the bed and then lay down. It didn't take long for him to sleep, ' Let's hope tomorrow will be better than today...'