Rafiq Chedidi
They walked through the streets. Rafiq was leading the pack with Diego. Wayne, Tara and Lily were behind them, followed by Althea and Lisa. Jessica and Bethany brought up the rear. None of them spoke much, as they didn’t want to attract unnecessary attention from the walkers. There were small pockets of undead on the streets here and there, but it appeared that most of them had gone somewhere else. Presumably down into the tunnels. Occasionally one of the walkers would get too close, but they were taken out without too much trouble. As long as you were aware of them and they were on their own, the undead were not that difficult to deal with.
The city was covered in a thin layer of a gray ash-like substance. It made everything look surreal, the abandoned buildings and cars only enhancing the effect. The thought was cliché, but it felt to Rafiq like they were on a movie set. Only know did he understand what those people on the television meant when they said something like that. He said so to Diego, who, quite predictably, grinned at that.
“Not any movie set I’ve ever been to,” he said in a low tone, barely audible.
“Really? You’ve been on a set?” It occurred to Rafiq that he didn’t really know what Diego did before all of this happened. Bethany was the owner of the spa, but somehow Rafiq couldn’t imagine Diego being much involved.
“You can say that again.”
“So you’re an actor?”
“Yeah, though trust me, I’m not that well known. Not like Beth.”
Surprised, Rafiq quickly behind him at the women in the back. He didn’t recognize Bethany from anything, though he had seen quite a few movies in his lifetime.
“Theatre?” Rafiq inquired.
The comment made Diego laugh out loud, too loud, then abruptly stopped upon realizing where they were. Tara let out a short “sssssst”, while the others looked at the two of them either surprised or annoyed. Everyone became on high alert, scanning the area for any activity. Rafiq could feel himself glowing red while checking the buildings on the opposite street. One heartbeat, two heartbeat. There were a few walkers towards the intersection, but they appeared not to have noticed them.
Then Althea let out a small sound of surprise and they all turned towards her, then at the window she was looking at. Two small heads were peering through the window, looking just as surprised as they were. A girl about seven or eight with a large bow in her hair and a slightly younger boy holding an action figure. A woman appeared behind them, ushering the two away from the window. A door opened and a heavily muscled Latino man came through, thunderous and suspicious. He had a gun in his hand, pointing it directly at them.
“Go away,” he said, “there is no place for you here. Go away.”
Instinctively, Rafiq raised his hands in the air. Some did as he did, while others raised their own weapons instead. It was Lisa who responded first, who just as Rafiq had not taken up her weapon, but was showing him her empty hands. “We’re just passing through,” she said, “we mean no harm.”
The man focused his attention on Lisa, pointing his gun at her. Another man appeared behind him, taller and thinner, but otherwise a spitting image of the first man. Brothers. He carried just as big a gun as the first one and gestured it threateningly at the group.
“Go away then. This place is not for you. Only my family.”
“You have that big of a family?” Lily asked incredulous. Tara placed a hand on Lily’s shoulder and pulled her backwards. “Not helping, kid,” she murmured.
The man eyed the gun Lily was holding suspiciously. “You gave your child a gun?” He directed the question to Tara, probably assuming she was the mother.
“Mind your own fucking business,” Bethany said. Both guns immediately turned towards her. She took a step backwards, but otherwise showed no visible signs of fear.
Rafiq, now having lowered his hands, but still with his open palms towards the two men to not appear threatening, walked in front of Lily and Tara.
“Look, like she said, we mean no harm. We have no intention of bothering you or your family.”
“Right,” Lisa said, relieved that at least somebody else was not trying to escalate the situation, “we’ll be just on our way now.”
The muscled guy studied the both of them, then lowered his gun. His brother didn’t. “Alright then. Move it. And don’t come back or else.”
“Right,” Rafiq said and gestured the others to continue walking. They all did, though some couldn’t help but give the two men an angry look. Rafiq and Lisa waited until everyone had passed them and then closed the ranks. Rafiq turned to give one polite nod, but the men no longer deemed it worthy to notice him. They quickly checked the streets and then slammed the door shut.
“I forgot how paranoid people have become,” Lisa whispered to Rafiq.
“Can’t necessarily blame them.”
They took a turn on the intersection and followed along the blind wall of the building. The people inside had no way to see them. Trying to push what had just transpired from his mind, Rafiq kicked an empty soda can to the side of the street. This made him notice that one of his shoe laces had become undone. He stood still, made sure no walker was nearby and then lowered himself. Upon seeing what he was doing, Lisa politely waited on him.
When he was done, he stood back up again and smiled at her. “Thank you for waiting.”
“No problem,” she said. “Always need someone to have your back, right?”
“Right.”
They continued walking, thinking they had to catch up to the others, but the rest of the group had stood still as well a little further on.
“Ow look, they waited for us as well,” Lisa said with a hint of surprise in her voice.
Rafiq was not so sure about that though, as the others seem to have their attention focussed on something else. They were all staring at the set of apartments behind the building with the gun-happy Latino men and their families. Looking up, Rafiq saw what was going on.“Ow fuck.”
A large column of smoke was coming from the building, darkening the sky right above it. Large flames could be seen through the windows of the upper floor. From this angle it was impossible to tell whether the ground floor was already on fire as well, but everyone could see it was bad.
“That does not look good,” Wayne mused.
“A fire like that unchecked could affect an entire block of buildings,” Tara said worryingly.
“Do you want to call the fire department then?” Bethany sniped, “we better keep moving.”
“Wait!” Lisa exclaimed, “we have to go back.”
The others turned to her. “Why?” Bethany asked, “if we just take a left here, we’ll be fine.”
Lisa pointed at the building next to the apartments. “Those people. We have to warn them. That fire could creep up on them.”
“So? They’ll figure it out soon enough.”
“Do you want to take that risk?” Lisa asked.
“But they pointed a gun at us,” Althea said begrudged, “I’m with Bethany on this one.”
“Seriously? But they have children with them!” Lisa was pleading now, looking at the others for support.
“She does have a point,” Wayne said, “we can’t just abandon a couple of kids like that.”
“Can’t we?” Althea responded. “You heard what he said. Those people made it perfectly clear they want nothing to do with us, which is fine with me.”
“You have those children die?” Lisa asked her, shocked.
“Of course not,” Althea said, “but I doubt that will happen. They will realize what is going on soon enough. In the meantime, I’d like us not to have our heads blown off by a couple of trigger-happy men who misunderstand our intentions.”
“Agreed,” Lily chimed in.
“They won’t just shoot us,” Lisa said, “Jess?”
Jessica looked torn and was about to say something when a loud sound came from the burning building. It was as if an entire floor had collapsed, and judging by the increased intensity of the flames on the upper floors, that was completely possible.
“Right, that’s it. I’m going back, alone if I have to.” Lisa said with fierce determination.
She was just about to storm off, but Rafiq placed a hand on her shoulder and stopped her. “Wait, you can’t go back alone.”
“You’re coming with me?” Lisa asked, hope shimmering in her eyes.
Rafiq blinked in surprise. That had not entirely been what he had meant. He had wanted to stop her from running off alone, as that typically did not end well. Though he agreed with Lisa that those people deserved a warning, he also had to think about the safety of the group. If someone got shot…
“You’re kidding. Rafiq, we don’t have time for this.” Bethany said.
“Ow come on darling. Let them go. It will only take two minutes.” Diego said to her as he wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled her neck.
Bethany rolled her eyes. “Not you too.”
Althea bristled. “It is not even a matter of time, it is a matter of safety. We have to think about ourselves.”
Lisa pulled away from Rafiq, taking another step back into the street. “Well, are you coming or not?”
Rafiq was unsure on what to do. It was clear that neither Lisa or Althea and Bethany could be persuaded otherwise. He really wanted to help Lisa, but not with the rest of the group just out on the streets like that. They would have to have a safe place first, but that might take too much time, as the fire was quickly spreading. “I…”
“Ow God!” Jessica suddenly exclaimed. They all turned around and saw a group of walkers turning the corner. Burning walkers. The shambling corpses were on fire, presumably coming from inside the building. The bodies had started to blacken, but the flames had not affected them enough to impede their mobility. Whether they had died before or after the fire was unclear.
Though the flames licked their hands, arms and faces, the walkers were oblivious to it.
“We have to move now!” Bethany shouted at them, “there won’t be an opening much longer!”
“No,” Lisa responded, “we have to go back! We can flee that way just as well!”
“Don’t be an idiot!”
“Don’t be so selfish!”
“Rafiq!” “Rafiq”
As the burning bodies stumbled closer towards them, a thousand thoughts went through Rafiq’s mind.
He had only one more second to make a decision.