(Alice's Pov)
It had been a rough few days escaping the city on nothing but back roads and side street in order to avoid the inevitable build of traffic on the highways and freeways. They were obviously nothing but roads of death and sad entrapments for people ignorant of what would be at their throats faster than they could get out and run. Trust me when I say I've seen the carnage and army of the dead sweeping over an entire highway leading out of the city from a long patch of road that ran parallel to the freeway we passed a couple of days ago.
It was horrifying what we saw that night. It was like a tidal wave washing over people who had noticed and got out in time, but most still had their children to get, which slowed them down, causing them to be caught by the wave with their loved ones and be torn apart. Some people were so fearful of the wave of undead quickly washing over those behind them that they complete and unwillingly gave in to their fear and abandoned their families.
Although Jacob, Megan, and Lana wanted to help those we could by fitting as many people in the RV as we could, I stood at the door leading out of the RV and told Allen to just drive. They tried to push me out the way, but I continued to hold strong and swallow my pride that I built up over the years through saving the innocents and stopping the wicked and stilled my resolve to point my gun at them, making them stop in their tracks. I chose to be the bag guy to save those I love from dying in vain that night. It still weighs heavily on me knowing that I chose to save not one person from being slaughtered on that freeway, and it weighs heavier that I may never regain the trust, respect, love I once garnered from my daughter. It was very apparent by how she wouldn't look me in the eyes since and would angrily scowl at me from time to time when she thought I wasn't paying attention from within my peripheral eyesight.
Jacob wasn't as torn up about it as Lana was as he knew what I had done I did for our group, but I could still tell from the look in his eyes that he didn't see me in the same light anymore. The same light that made him trust in me and follow me down whatever rabbit hole I jumped down. He was the kind of partner who would fight with you through any situation; he's a real ride or die partner and a better friend than I would give him credit for.
On the other hand, Megan completely understood why I did what I did despite her morals screaming that what I did was wrong. Although her high morals for helping those in need were high, she quickly stilled her resolve to follow me even after pointing my gun at them. After all, she was one of the first to witness to survive John's little massacre as back the graveyard and was fully ingrained with what kind of horrors we were up against.
Megan doesn't hide the fact she's interested in me, and due to the constantly rising situations and cramp RV, I just ignore her while leaving contextual clues to the little chats we have when near everyone to my interest in her. I have a lot of frustration and anger built up that the company that she can provide when we finally get somewhere safe and a little privacy alone can come in handy.
Allen didn't really mind since he's already prophesied this to those that turned a deaf ear to him so many times. On the other hand, my mother would give me nothing but worried looks from time to time when our eyes met, but I paid no attention since I still blamed her for how civilization is ending.
Currently, the RV is stopped on the side of the road while we check some nearby homes while my mother, Allen, and Lana wait in the RV since there wouldn't have made any sense to leave our only mode of transportation unguarded. Although my mother couldn't really do much by default and Allen's age was catching up to him too, so it really only left Lana to guard the RV while baby also babysitting two people who were minimally useful to a certain extent.
My group had already checked and rummaged through several houses to only find little to nothing except some food that would go bad soon; we still took them. Not because we were desperate for food or water, but because it was a lot better to eat whats to soon expire from an abandoned house than our own reserve of canned food. Every bit helps in the long run, especially since when food is going to become scarce soon, very scarce if we don't find a nice place with a great yield and abundance of food and supplies. I'm not sure how great this bunker Allen keeps praising truly is but I can only hope that it will hold against what John has in store for the rest of the world.
After a while, we eventually found a house that had been locked up tightly. It was a regular two-story house with white paint and a nice white picket fence around it. Nice decent yard with a drive and garage. Would've been a great home to have lived in if the apocalypse didn't splatter the exterior with blood that's probably been dry for a couple of days.
Eventually, I picked the lock instead of kicking in the door as we still had the intention of gathering supplies without the unwanted attention of any potential zombies lurking around. We walk in and find a bloody mess in the hallway leading towards the kitchen to where a man's corpse with a knife in the back of his lays still and decaying. It's no surprise this would be what we found, but it is a major surprise to have found a nice stash of canned food in their storeroom since the rest of the neighborhood seemed to be dry.
"What do you think happened here?" Megan asks me in a concerned voice as she tells me about the bloody children's room and the bloody bathroom with the broken door upstairs.
I look over to her and say, "Death. Death is what came, is what happened, and what still lingers here. Grab what you can; my bag is full."
I say that I look around and ask, "Where's Jacob?"
Just as I asked Megan, Jacob yells from the back yard., "You guys might wanna come see this!"
Both me and Megan make our way out the back of the house to an astonishing sight. It was a woman with a fair complexion in her mid-twenties with wings. Fucking wings! At least on one side of her back, the other side didn't have wings but was apparently bleeding after having her wing slice off. Clean cuts if I didn't say so myself.
Jacob being superstitious as always, was highly cautious and chose not to approach not one bit until Megan and me arrived. Megan's jaw dropped while Jacob was frozen at the sight before us while I was focused more on the wing sumps looking infected and black veins starting to appear on her back.
Around her were the burnt and crispy corpses of 40 if not more zombies with their hands reaching toward her as she sat in the center crying. As she turned to look at us, she revealed her face also had blackened veins and had gone pale like the many zombies we've seen along the way.
I didn't know about Megan and Jacob, but I was sure in hell wasn't about to let a fire breathing bird bitch roast me like she did the zombies around her. I didn't need that many contextual clues to tell that whatever she was, she was dangerous. Although I did have to hand it to her, roasting the zombies around here did make it safe as hell to loot in peace, but just as I was about to shoot a nicely aim bullet at her head, she yelled, "Wait!"
"My name is Delia, and I have a proposition for you, daughter of the one killed John," The woman says, looking pessimistically at her left hand.
I look on and ask, "How do you know who I am... better yet, who or what are you?"
"I am, or I should say, going to be the former Goddess of Light, better known by my colleagues as Delia. Look, I don't have much time, but here's a quick rundown of why I'm here. You see, a holy civil war is currently going on because we, the gods who didn't like the decision of the oldest gods we call the elder gods, felt you humans deserved one more chance. I snuck past the battle in hopes of ending it by slaying the one you call John, but he truly is a crafty one. I almost killed him if not for the surprise attack from my sister." Delia says with a tear rolling down the side of her face.
I slowly approach her with my gun still drawn and say, " And let me guess somehow you're now turning into what another one his zombies. I don't really see how that should be possible since your a god, and he's not right now as far I can tell from what your hinting to."
"You're right; his curse wasn't as powerful nor as potent as before, and I was going to purify myself when it suddenly evolved and is now affecting my very astral soul. As far as I know, only a hand full of monsters that we gods keep trapped and sealed away can do such. He must be evolving into something very powerful to be affecting me like this, and I can feel through the growing intensity of the curse he's still evolving into something frightening. But my proposition to you can probably help with in some way."
Although I was very skeptical before seeing as I could possibly get some kind of advantage in this world, I couldn't pass on this as I was incredibly desperate at this point. I look Delia in the eyes that were fading and becoming milky white and said, "What the deal?"