by Mary Martel
Dex
Sitting at the picnic table outside, I fiddle with the strings on my hoodie. We’ve managed to wrangle up another table from the camping park on the side of the lake, so we could push it together with the one that was already here on the property when we first found this place. It’s nice having the extra space, especially now considering we’re going to be having two more bodies around, one of which has already claimed a seat on the edge closest to the house. He’s no doubt waiting for the girl. We’re so stupid for thinking he was her brother. It’s apparent in the way he looks at her that they aren’t related.
I was surprised when I found myself wanting to punch him out of his chair in the barn when she thought he was giving up her secrets. Just thinking about it now makes me want to nudge him off the edge he’s sitting on. If what he told us is the truth, then they haven’t really known each other for long. Two people can go their entire four years of high school without actually knowing a person, and I speak from experience. I’d had a thing for our head cheerleader and never said anything. Hadn’t spoken to her a day in my life until I admitted my attraction to her right before bashing her head in with a brick so she wouldn’t infect me. That’s the way of life now, though. Teaches you not to take things for granted. All that time that existed before means nothing now. Which is why when Em gets settled in and isn’t so skittish, I fully intend to tell her how beautiful she is.
Noble and Russ drop bowls of meat on the table before the latter goes inside to help Joseph bring out a few bowls of veggies.
They take their seats around us before Russ asks, “Should we wait on the others?”
Kemp jumps down the stairs, making his way over to the table. “Doctor G was talking, so they’re probably still going to be a minute in there.”
“Let’s eat then,” Noble decides. “Just make sure we save them enough.”
We aren’t starved by any means. However, we’ve all been there before, so we don’t waste time arguing. One of those things you learn after the fact is that if you’re hungry enough, you’ll eat things you didn’t normally before. You aren’t so picky when your options come with limits.
Russ and Joseph encourage Sam to go ahead and I take a bigger bite than normal to keep myself from saying something before glancing out over the water. Noble is stealing glances at me, but I ignore him not wanting to talk to anyone.
A feminine voice flows out onto the porch quickly followed by Graham’s laughter. Anyone that can pull humor from that serious stone-faced dude deserves a medal. When I glance up, it’s to find Noble with the same shock I felt in his expression. Kemp’s eyes follow the two out the door, but he keeps eating as though he was already in on the secret.
Em’s arm is thrown across Graham’s shoulder as he helps her limp over to where we sit. Her clothes look worse for wear with blood stains running down the front of her shirt and jeans. The latter has small holes in them, fraying clearly showing they weren’t bought that way. She’s down to one boot, with the other foot wrapped in a bandage. I’d bet my hoodie on her still being able to fight if she needed to. The hair that falls over her shoulder is brown, light in some places and dark in others. Probably from all of the blood. Maybe I’ll give her a gift of that hot shower after dinner if one of the other guys don’t beat me to it.
They take the empty spot between me and Sam, and I notice she chooses to sit in the middle of us instead of him and Graham. An evil part of me likes this animosity she’s holding against him. I’d still be pissed too if someone told me I could trust them then tried to sell out my secrets, even if they were being coerced with a weapon.
As soon as she sits, she closes her eyes and tilts her head up towards the sky. For a half a second, I think she’s praying, but her pale skin is lit like a beacon in the last rays of the sun peeking over the tops of the trees. Wherever she was staying, she wasn’t getting enough Vitamin D for sure. I’ll make sure she gets to see the sun everyday if it makes her look as at peace as she does now.
That thought has me wincing internally. When did I become so invested? Yeah, she saved my life, and yeah, she might be the last woman I ever see that’s alive, but that doesn’t mean I should be getting attached. It’s just begging for trouble when she’s already claimed to want to leave as soon as she can. I’m just going to hold out hope that she’ll consider staying with us. Men these days aren’t treating women the way they used to. We’d hardly seen any on our trek here, and the ones we did see, we wished we hadn’t. I don’t know if the virus, or whatever it was that brought the dead back to life, had more of an impact on the female population, but it sure seems like it at this point.
“You need to eat,” Sam orders her from the end of the table, drawing attention to himself.
Kemp’s fork clatters to his plate as a tic starts in his jaw. Russ opens his mouth, likely to politely tell him what we’re all wanting to say, but Emerald beats him to it.
Her chin falls as she levels him with a glare. “I’m enjoying the sun for a few minutes if you don’t mind, Farmer Ted. It’s been over a week since I’ve felt it. You should know that, stalker boy. So, don’t ruin my moment. Sit over there and mind your business while you eat your people meat.”
Sam’s face turns ash white as he looks down to the three rib bones he’s picked clean, and Kemp lets out a howl of laughter. Even Graham chuckles softly from the other side of her.
“People meat?” Joseph asks with a smile pulling his cheeks up.
She shrugs, and Kemp barks again before announcing, “Emerald thinks we’re cannibals. Tried to tell her she’d be the only people I’d be interested in eating.”
The bench bounces as she shifts her weight before there’s a thunk, and Kemp swears, leaning down to rub one of his legs.
“I hope that wasn’t your bad foot,” Graham tells her fighting another smile.
Pink tinges the skin of her face, but she doesn’t let Kemp get the best of her, answering Graham with a smartass smirk. “It wasn’t.”
At the end of the table, Sam looks as though he’s going to start puking at any moment. Lucky for him, Noble comes to his rescue, I damn sure wasn’t going to. “It’s not people. There are tons of deer that roam these woods now that no one is here to hunt them. We have fish sometimes too, but you have to catch your own. This one was killed this morning. Figured fresh meat would be a good way to welcome you both.”
“Seeing as your welcome mat of being tied to a chair sucks racoon rocks, I’d say this is definitely better,” Emerald observes sarcastically. She eyes the stack of meat in front of her skeptically. “Are you sure it’s even safe to eat the animals?”
“We’ve been doing it for weeks, and we’re all seemingly fine,” Russ tells her.
She snorts out a laugh and mutters, “Except that you’re all a little insane.”
“Nah, just Kemp,” I tell her, drawing another huff of a laugh from her throat. The butt of our joke does nothing but smirk and throw a wink her way.
“Animals don’t turn,” Graham says reassuringly. “We made sure when we first started hunting. You weren’t the only one with that worry.”
I watch Em eye the meat hungrily as she bites down on her bottom lip, and Noble asks, “How long has it been since you ate a good meal?”
That pretty face drops into a scowl as her gaze flicks up to him. “I eat just fine, thank you. Probably better than you do here. I can even bake bread. Well, I could if I had an oven.”
Heads turn to each other, no doubt thinking the same thing I am. None of us have had fresh bread for months, and it feels like years. What this little zombie slayer next to me obviously hasn’t realized is that with the solar panels, we do in fact have a working oven. I wouldn’t be ashamed to admit to anyone that my mouth waters just from the thought. Maybe after that hot shower, we could convince her to give it a shot.
Emerald
The guys sitting around the table all look around at each other at my bread announcement, completely unfazed by my egotistical attitude. Th
ey have electricity, hence working oven, and that’s not something that has escaped my attention, but I’m not going to be any more in debt to these guys than I already am. Nope. I’ll just plant the seed of hunger in their minds and let them think it is their idea to let me put my skills to the test.
In the meantime, I’m going to do something stupid and trust them with this meat thing. It really has been awhile since I’ve had food that wasn’t in a can.
“Just so we’re clear,” I warn while taking a huge steak from the bowl, “if I eat this only to find out later that it’s not what you say, someone will be eating their own balls for their next meal.”
Russ sucks in a sharp breath and chokes on his bite of food, making Kemp reach over and pound him on the back. Chuckling all the while. I let them do their thing as I pick up my chunk of meat with my fingers and rip a piece off with my teeth. After watching the fuckfaces tear into people, one would think I’d have some kind of aversion to eating like this, but I don’t. Guess I’m just sick in the head like that.
As if he can read my thoughts, Kemp makes a snorting sound, “We have silverware. You don’t have to eat like a savage.”
The flavor is wild unlike the hamburger I remember, but nothing I can’t get used to. Especially when it’s warm and not from a can. I raise my eyebrows at Kemp as I take another bite and chew with my mouth open. Something my mom would’ve been completely ashamed of back in the day.
They keep talking around me, but I pay them no mind. I also don’t even bother with anything else they’ve laid out on the table. I’m one hundred percent going to need one of these assholes to teach me how to hunt with one of those fancy crossbows before I leave. A gun would probably be easier, but that just seems like it’ll be inviting trouble to my doorstep. That’s if I can even shake them once shit settles down. If I want to shake them by the end of this.
I clench my eyes shut as hard as I can. For the love of zombies and all of their undead unholiness, I cannot afford to think that thought. I’ve stayed alive this long by myself and sure as hell don’t need a man or an army of them for that matter, telling me what to do. The meat sours in my mouth, and I have trouble swallowing the last chunk I bit off.
Dropping the bare bone on my now empty plate, I push away from the table. Graham and Dex both stand up with me. I temper the snark I want to put forth and instead calmly say, “There’s no need for you guys to stop eating. I can make it back inside by myself.”
Graham is already shaking his head, but Dex is the one to speak. “You don’t need me to help you, but I’m heading that way anyways. There’s no need to aggravate your leg any more than you have to, and since we’re both going that way...”
When put that way, I’d have to be a complete dick to refuse, so I throw my arm across his shoulders. “Carry on then.”
Everyone but him smirks or snickers. Dex is ever the gentleman Graham was, keeping the arm around me high on my waist as he helps me hobble into the house. When we stop at the bottom of the staircase, Dex looks to me as if asking what we should do.
I sigh and look to the ceiling. “Turn around.”
He complies without hesitation, and I launch myself onto his back off my one good leg. Even without warning, he manages to catch me easily. I start to feel bad when he staggers up the first couple of stairs. By the time I’m ready to tell him to put me on my feet, he seems to get a second wind and stalks up the last part.
It’s impossible to ignore the hard muscles that flex underneath me, or the scent that radiates off his skin. This is as close as I’ve been to a dude in a long time, and I must say I like the spark that I feel in my belly. I take a deep breath and fill my lungs with the musk of Dex. His body warmth seeps through the hoodie that I’ve yet to see him without.
As he sets me down, I miss it immediately and then kick myself in the ass. No matter how nice he looks with his blond hair and blue eyes and that bit of scruff on his face, I can’t let it distract me.
Pulling me out of my head, he says, “The hot water works if you want a shower. I don’t know where you’re staying, but it’d been awhile since we’d had a shower before coming here. Figured you might want one.”
“Thanks, that would actually be pretty awesome,” I tell him honestly.
His lips pull up on the side, making him all the more attractive. “We can wash your clothes, too. This is my room, and I’ve got some spare sweatpants and a couple t-shirts in one of the drawers you can wear until we get them clean.”
I don’t trust myself saying anything else with him still standing so close, so I nod and limp to the door. When I’m locked inside, I lean my back against it. This is going to be so much harder than I thought.
A few minutes later, I’m questioning my existence. I don’t know what kind of god there is for showers, but they need to be worshipped on so many levels that it’s not even funny. I didn’t even realize how much I’d missed something so simple until the hot spray hit my back, and a deep moan left my mouth. Thankfully, none of the guys are around to hear it. That would just get awkward.
As much as I’d love to revel in the steamy goodness, it’s a waste not, want not world now. There’s no guarantee of another, but that doesn’t mean I need to abuse the privilege. Cursing my mindful common sense, I take a handful of shampoo, lather it into my hair, and rinse it out quickly. I could seriously kiss Dex for providing conditioner too. Well, by providing I mean, he said help yourself, and it’s here, so thank you kindly. Letting it do a soak, I use the bar of soap on the edge of the tub and try to scrub what feels like months’ worth of grime from my body. Then I return to my hair and rinse the conditioner out.
It isn’t until I’ve shut the water off that I realize in my haste to get into the magnificent shower, I didn’t grab a towel. Dex comes to the rescue again as I peek my head out of the curtain to find what looks to be a clean one hanging on the towel rack. The only thing that could be slightly problematic is that the rack is beside the sink on the other side of the room. I’ve managed to keep my bandaged ankle out of the water but hobbling across the room on one wet and one messed up foot screams disaster.
Fuck it. I can either risk it or scream for help.
Or crawl.
Shut up, you unhelpful psycho.
That’s when you know shit is getting real. When you start arguing with your inner voice. Making my decision, I sit on the edge of the tub and bring both feet around. So far, so good. I stand up and test my weight on the bad foot before quickly dropping it back to the good one. It’s only five steps or so. I can make it.
Famous last words, apparently. I’m halfway there when my left foot slips. Catching myself with my right tweaks it hard and I try to recover back to the other foot. Epic fail is what they’d call my life at this moment. The left foot is still slick and goes out from under me faster than I know what’s happening. A high-pitched girly scream leaves my lips right before my wet ass connects with the floor. I’m already this far down, and both my ass and my foot now throb together, so I just lay on my back and cover my eyes with an arm.
I want to laugh, and I want to cry, but I don’t get time for either. The door is thrown open so hard it bounces off the wall. Dex rushes into the room. Before I can warn him about the giant puddle I’ve made on the floor, he does his own version of a slip and slide. My arm comes down in time to see his shocked expression at my naked body laid out on display. Then it morphs to a panicked oh shit, I’m going down look.
He tries his best to avoid my wrapped ankle, but that only causes him to fall elbow first next to my hip. His face is bare inches away from my downstairs where no one has been since my toddler bum was out of diapers. Our eyes meet, and there’s no stopping the fully belly laugh from rolling on out.
Dex chuckles with me uncomfortably as he starts to lift himself onto his hands. Every breath I take makes my injuries throb, but I can’t seem to stop. Until the door is flung open again, that is.
Kemp’s red hair stands out in stark contrast with the white doo
r behind him. What’s more worrisome is the pistol he’s automatically started scanning around the room. It quickly lowers as he takes in the scene before him. He stops so suddenly that a huge body just about barrels him over from behind.
I open the cabinet underneath the sink and grab the first thing that touches my fingers, which, lucky me, turns out to be toilet paper and chuck it at his and Noble’s heads. “STOP STARING AND GET THE HELL OUT!”
They’re still frozen in shock, and I’m not sure if it’s the position they found Dex and me in, or if it’s just the sight of a naked woman turning their stupid man brains to mush. Either way, I’m two rolls in and reaching for tubes of toothpaste when Dex finally snatches the towel off the rack and covers my body with it.
It breaks Noble out of his stupor, and with a blush red enough to make a tomato jealous, he stutters an apology and backs out of the room. There’s some commotion in the other room before Graham’s voice calls out, “Emerald, are you okay?”
“Define okay,” I demand.
Kemp, having never left, snorts, “I don’t think she was screaming for assistance in here, Doc.”
“Dude, really?” Dex snaps in my defense.
