The Regulator (Complete First Draft)

Chapter 13: Ivan - I Am Not a Level-Headed Man

“Why do we have all the lights off?” Niko asked. Ivan rolled his eyes, was this kid joking? They were all crammed into the tiny side room, hiding for their lives under the stupid little table. Annaliese had her back pressed against the door to the room, and they were all praying nothing came walking up to the front door. They knew why they were doing it, they knew why they had to do it. So why was it so shocking that they also had the light off?

“Shut up, you dumb s***.” Ivan muttered to Niko.

“Hey!” Niko shouted, obviously hurt.

“Ivan!” Annaliese said in a hushed shout, “Watch you’re language, and don’t be rude to other people!”

“Are you kidding me? You’re gonna yell at me right now about this?” Ivan asked Annaliese. He got out from under the table and got up in her face. He was completely stunned. Did she not get how stupid Niko’s question was?

“Ivan chill out man...” His friend, Zach said. Ivan muttered some sort of profanity under his breath before sliding back under the table. He laid on his stomach and tried to sleep, but he just couldn’t with all the gunfire. He wasn’t really scared at all, he didn’t hear anyone screaming or dying, but the gunfire was shocking enough to keep waking him up every time he tried to fall asleep.

“Annaliese, is Andrew going to die?” Anthony asked all of a sudden. Ivan felt the room get incredibly silent. Not even the gunshots seemed to be able to pierce the silence in the room.

“Why do you say that?” Annaliese asked. Ivan noticed a little stutter in her voice. Jaxon began crying softly, James moved closer to him and put an arm around him.

“Why would we be hiding if he was going to come back? Aren’t we hiding because he’s not here to help us?” Anthony asked. Ivan wanted to punch this kid in the face. As annoyed as he was with Annaliese for telling him off, this kid was upsetting the whole room, including Ivan.

“No, he’ll be fine. He’ll be back soon, we just need to hide until then.” Annaliese answered calmly.

“Oh, is Nick dead? Is that why his campers are here?” Anthony asked. Ivan snapped. He rolled over, under the table, and clocked Anthony right in the face. Anthony went down on to the ground, his head hitting Seth’s side hard. Anthony grabbed his face and started to cry loudly. Seth let out a gasp from the impact, grabbed his side, and started squirming a little bit.

“Ivan! What are you doing?” Annaliese said. She jumped up and went over to Anthony and Seth. “Shhh, shhh it’s alright. You guys are fine. You just need to be quiet right now.” Annaliese said to the two boys. She then turned her attention briefly to Ivan. “You, you go to the bathroom. Sit on the toilet til I come to talk to you.” Annaliese commanded. Ivan could tell from her tone that she wasn’t happy. He complied, standing up and walking out the door and across the hallway to the bathroom where he sat himself on the toilet.

Ivan pouted. This was so unfair. Anthony was the one asking so many uncomfortable questions, why was Ivan in trouble? Sure the kid was four years younger than him, but that doesn’t mean he can’t take a punch. It was so ridiculous. Saying things like Nick must be dead. That could never happen. Why would Nick be dead? That’s ridiculous. Andrew said Nick told him to bring his group to this cabin. Ivan giggled at the idea. Nick. Dead. So silly.

The bathroom door slowly creaked open, and in walked Zach. He gave Ivan an awkward wave as he walked in, one that Ivan returned equally awkwardly.

“Annaliese asked me to wait in here with you until she’s done with Anthony and Seth. You know, buddy system and all.” Zach said.

“How angry is she right now?” Ivan asked.

“She’s pretty pissed at you dude. Get ready for a talking too.” Zach said.

“Pfft.” Ivan scoffed, “It’s not like she can do much anyway.”

“Whaddya mean?” Zach asked.

“This isn’t a camp anymore dude, you haven’t noticed? It’s a holdout, a shelter. What’s shje gonna do, send me out on my own? Cause that’s pretty much all she can do other than give me a talking to.” Ivan said.

“Just be respectful dude. Don’t give her any s***. She’s stressed out right now.” Zach said, genuinely concerned for Annaliese’s feelings and Ivan’s freedom.

“Everyone is Zach, everyone is.” Ivan said, uncaring.

“Then don’t add more stress to the pile.” Zach responded.

Ivan got silent for a second, and so did Zach. The two stared at each other through the darkness. Zach was one of Ivan’s best friends, not having his support on something was tough. But Ivan was angry with Annaliese. He didn’t like being treated like a baby, especially over something so stupid. He was about to make this point to Zach when they heard a loud thump come from the cabin’s stair case, followed by another, and another. Then several more. Then they heard pounding on the walls, scratching on the wood work, and the awful moaning and breathing of the undead just outside the cabin walls. Zach jumped to the ground and pressed his back up against the bathroom door. Ivan jumped off his seat and did the same.

“Oh s***, oh s***, oh s***...” Zach said under hushed breath.

“Shhhh.” Ivan said quickly, covering Zach’s mouth with his hand. The pounding got louder and faster. More and more undead were gathering outside the front door. They’re gonna die, Ivan thought. All of them. Ben, Liam, Franky... all his friends in Nick’s group. Plus Annaliese, Anthony, Niko, and all of Andrew’s campers. They were all in that room. Someone was gonna make a sound. They were all gonna die. Ivan scanned the room, there had to be something they could do. Maybe they could throw something out the window to distract the undead, or maybe they could find something to barricade the front door just a little more. There had to be something. Zach was breathing rapidly. Ivan could feel tears slipping down Zach’s face and on to his hand. As Ivan looked out the bathroom window, the two heard a snap, and Ivan knew they were running out of time.

“Zach, listen to me. Stay here, stay quiet. I’m going out the window.” Ivan said, taking his hand away from Zach’s face.

“What are you gonna do?” Zach asked. Trying to compose himself.

“I don’t really know.” Ivan said, standing up and walking to the window. He punched the screen and tore the hole open. “Help, I hope.” Ivan said, climbing up onto the window sill and jumping out.