I press my foot into the man’s back in case he has a healing factor similar to Mr. Vice. If his spine begins to heal, I’ll feel it and split it again. I feel more angry than I ever have before! This seething rage feels like it’s physically burning inside of me. Every time I glance over and see my mother laying dead on the floor, my heart sinks like a stone, but I can’t lose focus. I continue to hold my gun towards the man. A knock on the door disturbs the agonizing silence of the house. “Stay here. I’ll get it.” My father says as he moves towards the front entrance.

Soon after, I hear multiple footsteps approaching. Soon, a familiar voice cuts my ears like daggers. “Well shit! I didn’t think you had it in ya, girly!” Mr. Vice quickly rushes over and check the man’s pulse. “He’s still breathing! We got one!” Mr. Vice shouts to the others. Styx walks around the couch towards me while chuckling to himself. “See you got a fire in you when you need it! Two zombies and still-“ I snap and turn quickly towards Styx, slapping him in the face.

“That’s my mother, you insensitive prick!!!” I lock eyes with him. The anger and sadness swelling up in me as my eyes begin to tear up. Styx calms himself down and turns away. “Alright. Scrape this pile of shit off the ground. She needs a minute.” Ghost grabs the man off of the floor. The man let’s out a little chuckle. “You think you’ll get any information out of me? Good luck.” Ghost then took her finger and shoved it into one of the man’s bullet holes, causing him to clench his teeth and let out a pained growl. “Don’t think I’ll be as nice as her.” Ghost exclaims with a confident glare.

I kneel down to my mother. I lift her head and look at her. I can’t get the image of her attacking my father out of my head. This… is all my fault… I got into this because of what I wanted to learn about… I lean down and hold my mother close, crying into her for the last time. My father kneels down next to me. He wraps his arm around me. His eyes are swelling up as well. “You know… it still hurts… even though your mother and I knew what we were getting into…” He takes his arm and wipes his eyes. “I’m sorry for making you do that…” I lean into my father as we mourn over my mother’s body.

“I should have just got a normal job…” My dad chuckles a little. “Yeah. Your mother said that all the time.” He then stands up as I set my mother back on the floor. “But I always told her that you’re gonna do what you wanna do regardless of our opinion.” My father extends his hand down to me. I grab his hand and stand up. “Just… keep trying to help the world. I know you’ll do good things.” My eyes swell up again as I embrace my father. I hold him tightly for a minute before composing myself. I step back and look at him. “I… know I’m not done working with these guys…” I say through a tremoring voice.

“I know you’re not. Just… make sure to come home when you’re done.” My father wipes his face. “Don’t worry about your mother. I’ll take care of her. Go help people.” I feel my eyes swelling up again. I quickly head towards my room to gather some things. I gather some clothes, ammunition, and a few other things to maintain life with a bunch of zombies. I go downstairs and step outside to see my father leaning on the car outside. He’s talking to Mr. Vice.

As I approach, they stop whispering to one another. My father quickly stands up and turns to me. “Alright, Leah. I trust you’ll be in good hands here.” I stand in front of my father for a moment, silently. He reaches out and hugs me. “Come on. I know a lot just happened, but there’s too much going on for us to keep being sad.” I can feel his chest shaking as his breathing becomes erratic. “Keep us in your heart. Your mother and I have always been proud of your ambition. Show us you’re as good as you wanna be.” My father and I release each other. “I love you, dad. Make sure mom knows how much I love her, too.” He gives me a feint smile. “I’ll make sure to remind her.”

I put my bag in the trunk of the car and hop in the back seat next to the man we had caught. He was now unconscious and tied up. That reassures me that he shouldn’t be a problem on the way. I wave to my father one last time as we pull away from the house. We ride quietly for a while, then I notice that we aren’t going the same way we went when we came to town. “Hey. Where are we going?” I ask as I look around. Mr. Vice raises his hand, jingling a key on a keyring with a picture of my parents and I attached. “Your father left us a little gift. Said it would make things easier.”

I snatch the key out of his hand. I look at the key for a moment before realizing what it was for. Shortly after, we arrive at a storage facility with rows of garage-like containers. We drive to a specific container locked up with a large, blue lock. I quickly jump from the car the moment we come to a complete stop. “Something important in there?” Styx asks as he exits the vehicle. I scramble to unlock the container. “My father told us he had a secret “just in case” stash. My mother and I didn’t believe him!” I unlock the door and pull the lock off of it. I lift the garage door to unveil the most incredible armory of organized weapons and military grade firepower I had ever seen!

Everything ranging from pistols to snipers with all the attachments and ammunition I could ever need! There’s no way we could carry it all in one trip! Styx steps up behind me. “Well, shit! All my daddy ever gave me was a black eye and a bad attitude!” Mr. Vice and Ghost start looking around at the massive collection. “Wow! How do we even choose what to take?” Mr. Vice asks as he lifts a small pistol. I take a moment to walk through, browsing the inventory.

“Well, it’s not like it’s going anywhere. We should just take a few handguns and a bunch of ammo first. The rest can wait until we make a real move.” As I say that, Styx begins chuckling. “Look who finally decided to join the team!” Styx begins collecting smaller guns, loading them into the back of the car while Mr. Vice, Ghost, and I gather ammunition. This feels like a weird way to help the world, but… for some reason I feel like it may be interesting.