Storytelling Week 3: Sibling Rivalry

"Victor, no!" Sebastian shouted as he watched his brother run after the herd of zombies. As his reckless brother disappeared down the abandoned subway tunnel, he just heard him shout, "Wait for me here! Look after the others and I'll be right back!"

Sebastian stood in the light of the setting sun, trying to catch his breath. As the others in his group caught up to him, he turned to explain the situation. "Vic went in after them," he started, the blood still pounding in his ears. "He told us to wait here and that he'd be right back."

At this, the group erupted in quiet whispers, some voices louder than others. Over the past few months, they'd grown used to speaking in lower voices so as not to attract the infected, but some of the members could not hold back their anger.

"Why would he do that?" he demanded, face contorted in worry. "Who's supposed to protect us? Your brother was in the army! He knew what he was doing and now we have no one!"

Some of the older members of the group quieted the young man down before one older women asked, "What exactly did he say?"

Sebastian thought back to the conversation he'd had with his brother before he had run after the retreating herd. "He said he was going to try and wipe them out," he started. "Vic said he was gonna try and lead the herd into a trap, make the town safer for us so we could make a home here. He, uh, he left me in charge," he finished awkwardly. 

Although it was evident that some of the younger members of the group were not happy with this, the elders seemed to accept this fairly quickly. 

While they were waiting for Victor to return, Sebastian and a few other members of the group checked out an abandoned building near the subway entrance. Once they confirmed it was clear, the rest of the group set up camp on the second floor. Sebastian and a few others stood guard outside the subway tunnel.

They waited outside the tunnel for a day and a half before they heard sounds coming from the tunnel. First, it was just a muffled scraping sound. Then, the sounds of the herd returning starting filtering up through the entrance. 

"We have to seal it up!" someone yelled, running to grab whatever they could find off the streets. When Sebastian realized what was happening, he tried to stop it, tried to convince them to leave the tunnel open for Victor to return, but no one listened. 

"Your brother's gone, son," the old woman told him. "We have to board this up to make sure we stay safe. You're gonna have to lead us now."

Realizing what she said was probably true, Sebastian began helping to seal the tunnel.

Sealed Tunnel in Richmond:
Found on Wikimedia Commons

***

After weeks of work, the small group had grown and flourished in the town. They had built walls and sealed all the tunnels, creating a safe haven of several blocks in each direction. Under Sebastian's leadership, the group had grown in numbers and in skill.

There hadn't been an attack during their stay in their new kingdom, but they just assumed it was because of their superior fortifications. 

Exactly one month from Sebastian's loss of his brother, the group held a celebration for their new and improved life. As Sebastian was preparing to toast his brother's memory for his bravery, there was a loud bang followed by a cloud of dust near the fence.

When the dust cleared, Victor stood on the other side of the fence, covered in dirt and blood. His eyes were narrowed in a stare that Sebastian had never seen before, it was a look of absolute rage.

"You!" he shouted, stomping his way over the fence towards their gathering. "Seb, you left me down there to die! I tried to get out and I was trapped!"

His eyes were glazed over with fury, and he let out a laugh before continuing, "Did you think I wouldn't succeed? Did you think I would have gone after them if I didn't think I would win?" Grinning maniacally, he turned to gaze at the rest of the crowd who began to back away slowly. His gaze slowed until it settled back on his brother, whose joy at seeing his brother alive was gradually dimming.

"And here I am, back from the dead and what do I see? My brother's taken my place and there's a celebration! A celebration right next to the tunnel where you doomed me to die, in the dark with those things!"

At this, Sebastian tried to interject, to tell him that he had never wanted this, that it was not his idea and he'd tried to stop it. But as soon as he opened his mouth, Victor snapped and lunged towards him.

"You left me to die!" he said, punching Sebastian in the face. "You wanted to take my place!"

Victor continued his assault, as Sebastian tried to retreat, refusing to hit his brother. Once they were on the other side of the wall, they heard the sounds of infected nearby and Victor's eyes widened with terror, his month spent alone having taken it's toll on his sanity.

"You're going to understand how it felt now," he said walking backwards, leaving his brother on the other side. "You're going to stay out there and if you try to come back, I'll kill you."

The moans were getting closer, the sounds of shuffling feet just around the corner. Sebastian started running, turning to look over his shoulder as his brother raised the wall back up and he lost sight of the town that he helped build.

Author's Note

This story is based off of the story of Sugriva (Sebastian) and Vali (Victor) and the events that took place. In that story, Vali chases after a demon who flees into a tunnel. When he does not come back, the elders urge Sugriva not to go after his brother and to rule in his stead. They seal the tunnel against Sugriva's wishes and when Vali returns, he thinks it was Sugriva's idea. This leads to a rather big and violent fight between the two, as evidenced by my version. The zombies replaced the demon that Vali chased into the tunnel in the mountain. I took quite a bit of creative liberty but I tried to keep as true to the story as I could even though I changed the setting, antagonist, and character names. I really love zombie movies and TV shows, so I thought I would try and use that this week. I also tried to make this more external because last week's story was very internal, so I thought I would change it up. I loved the relationship between these two in the story and I feel like I conveyed it in this version of the story. The story that I used for this one is RK Narayan's version of The Ramayana. 

Bibliography

"Sugreeva's Story" by R.K. Narayan, from The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic (2006)