He’s insane. Out of his mind.
She’d seen it before at Lexington. The world wasn’t easy, and some people just couldn’t handle it. Everyone lived in a world ruled by monsters, and it was easy for a mind to snap.
She turned to run. He caught her by the arm, and she quickly pulled free.
“Whoa. Where you going?”
“Somewhere safe, where there aren’t any walkers. And don’t touch me.”
He laughed, again putting Samantha on edge. “Good luck with that. Listen, see that backyard there, with the grill on its side? Run through that house to the next street. Look for the house with The End Is Near spray-painted above the door.”
“I can’t read.”
He gave her a look. “Can’t read? Well, can you count?”
“Yeah, I can count, asshole.”
He smirked. “Fourth house down from the end. You should see it as soon as you hit the street. I’ll meet you there.”
“What are you gonna do?”
“I’ll slow them down.”
Samantha turned and ran. She knew she owed the stranger her life, but she wasn’t going to wait around for him.
He wants to be an idiot and get himself killed, fine by me.
Chapter 6
Aaron Thompson watched the beautiful dark-skinned woman sprint away. She pushed a stray walker to the ground and jumped over the grill, then vanished inside the house he’d directed her to.
He rubbed his head. He was as curious about her as she was about him. What was she doing in Baltimore? He had heard the trucks moving about while on his afternoon walk. He hadn’t thought much of it, he’d heard them before, but this time he noticed the undead were all funneling in one direction. He guessed they were after a live meal, and he was right.
Very pretty lady, even if a little rude.
He was impressed with her. She wore two sweaters, and a cap to cover her hair. The woman obviously thought ahead.
He shook his head as he passed the undead mob. “No lunch for you today, guys.”
He picked random corpses in the mob and just tripped them. Walkers started falling over each other, like the old game of dominoes he used to play with Aunt Denise.
As always, the undead made no move to harm him.
Aaron walked through the long-deserted house. He noticed a chair knocked over and an old lamp busted on the floor. No doubt the clumsiness of his guest.
He left through the open front door and saw something that made him pick up speed. At the door to his home were about twenty walkers. Three or four were pounding at the door while others were trying to climb in through the shattered windows. A few undead had spotted Samantha entering the old home, and a few undead had turned into many.
“Hell, lady, what are you doing in there?” he whispered to himself.
He didn’t run to the front door. He ran past the undead and the three other homes on the street. He rounded the corner and grabbed the fire escape ladder on the side of the last house. He always left the ladder down, although he pulled it up after him this time. He knew the undead weren’t coordinated enough to scale a ladder, but with a live meal nearby, he wouldn’t take any chances.
He sprinted up the winding metal staircase and jumped to the roof. The roof access hatch of his home was already open. He seldom closed it, except when it rained.
He quickly climbed the wooden foldout ladder down to the second floor. He heard the moans of the undead all around. The stairs leading downstairs were gone, taken out years ago by whoever lived in Aaron’s home before him.
He saw Samantha near the front of the house. He watched her stab a walker that had climbed in through the window, then she tried to slide a couch in front of the splintering door.
Aaron lay on the floor and extended one arm down while bracing himself against the wall with the other. He didn’t have time to set up the ladder he kept nearby.
“Hey lady!” She turned and looked up at him. “Grab my hand!”
She tucked her bloody knife into the back of her sweatpants, then got a running start near the door. She jumped and clutched Aaron’s hand. The front door burst open as he struggled to pull her up. A corpse missed her foot only by a few inches.
Aaron and Samantha both lay on the floor on their backs for a minute, out of breath. The song of the undead grew louder as more of them filed into the house. When Aaron pulled himself up, Samantha was already on one knee. She had tossed her cap off, and her hair flowed down around her shoulders. She leaned against the wall, pointing her blade right at Aaron. He went to help her up, but she recoiled defensively and thrust the knife out.
“I just killed two people,” she said.
“Uh, good for you?”
“They couldn’t keep their dicks where they belonged.”
“I will try to keep my dick in my pants.”
“Good. I have no problem killing you.”
“Okay. You’re welcome, by the way.”
“I didn’t thank you for anything.”
“I know. It’s called sarcasm. Kinda like a joke.”
“I know what the hell sarcasm is. I’m not in the mood.”
“I can see that.”
He moved in to help her up. She shoved him away. “I said don’t touch me.”
“Okay, okay, lady, relax. Calm down. I’m Aaron. Aaron Thompson.”
“Samantha. No last name.”
“Samantha. Sam. I like it. Pretty name.”
She looked at him with narrowed eyes. Fifty walkers were beneath them, and he was talking about pretty names. “Is it safe here?”
He laughed. “Is anywhere safe?”
“Would you please stop laughing? It’s annoying me.”
He laughed again, although more subdued. “You’re in a city of the undead, and my laugh is getting to you?”
She closed her eyes and barely held in a scream. Aaron already drove her crazy, and she’d known him less than five minutes. “Would you, please, just shut up, and answer the question?”
He shrugged. “Sure. They can’t get up here. The roofs are all connected, but all the other hatches are closed, and they can’t climb ladders. I pulled the fire escape up. We’re safe.”
“Good.”
Samantha leaned against the wall. The adrenaline was wearing off, and her body began to ache. She was so tired. She still kept a solid grip on her knife, though she didn’t think Aaron would try to hurt her. He could have already done that, but men were weird creatures. She knew Murphy and Anderson were scum, but hadn’t thought them capable of rape. She’s been wrong. If she was wrong this time, Aaron would end up with a blade in his gut.
“Where is your family from?” Aaron asked. “I’ve never seen anyone with your skin color before. Spain? Mexico? Egypt?”
“I don’t know. Is it important?”
“Nah, just wondering. You don’t look like a Sam, either.”
She opened her eyes to look at him. It was hard to hide her annoyance. “I know. That’s because my name is Samantha. You don’t look like an Aaron.”
“Oh really? What do I look like?”
“You look like a stupid son of a bitch who asks a lot of dumb questions. Look, I don’t want to be your friend. I don’t want to get to know you. Let’s just stick to the basics, okay?”
She immediately regretted her words, but couldn’t help it. Everything about Aaron was unusual, from his carefree attitude all the way down to his laugh. He bothered her.
Aaron didn’t even flinch. “Well, okay then. Sounds like that’s my clue to leave.” He pointed to both ends of the hall. “We’ve got two bedrooms up here and a bathroom. The bathroom still works, believe it or not. Just gotta fill the tank up with water. I’ve got supplies in both bedrooms, but there’s a mattress, too, if you want to rest.”
He walked past her to a bedroom. She watched him grab a magazine from a pile in the corner and stretch out on the mattress.
Finally, he’s not talking.
At first she thought that was a good
thing, but then she heard all the undead below her. She looked down at the fifty or so that had squeezed their way into the living room. They reached up to her with wide eyes.
Sam went exploring, although there wasn’t much to explore. Aaron’s description of the upstairs was accurate. The rear bedroom had a mattress with no bed frame, eight large jugs of water, clothes folded neatly in open dresser drawers. It looked rather clean, except for the wallpaper peeling off the walls. The bathroom had an empty tub with a broken skylight directly overhead, letting the sun in, and a medicine cabinet that was almost falling off the wall.
She slowly peeked into Aaron’s room. He had blankets and sheets folded in the corner, with a stack of books in another. He had pictures of himself along with some other people in frames on the old broken down dresser.
This didn’t seem like a temporary place for him. He’d put a lot of time in it.
Does he actually live here?
* * *
Aaron kept his eyes on Sam as she studied his house. He could see the wheels turning in her head while she took everything in.
The heat must have gotten to her, as she took both of her bloody sweaters off. She leaned in the doorway, wearing just her sweatpants and a white sports bra.
He smirked and looked back down to the magazine he was reading. He thought back to a few months ago, to the last time he had entertained visitors. Two men and a woman were trying to make their way through the city. The woman was named Diane. She was very attractive, and thought she could seduce supplies and help out of Aaron. He’d tried not to laugh in her face.
Oh, Aaron, look at my tits. Can we have some water? Look at my ass, do you have any food?
It didn’t work. Of course, he helped them, until they had gotten themselves killed on the streets. He helped them not because she was attractive, but because that was the kind of person he was.
He shook his head at the memory. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Sam with her arms crossed, showing off a curvy figure. She was quite beautiful, even with the huge knot forming on her forehead.
“You’re reading?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“What for?”
He smiled. So much for seduction.
Despite her harshness, for some reason, he liked her. “You sound like my Uncle Frank.”
“Is he here?”
“No. My family is dead.”
Sam nodded. That meant he was alone, and less of a threat. She could kill him if he tried anything.
“So what brings you to Baltimore?” he asked. “I’m guessing supplies.”
“Yeah. A truck run went to hell pretty fast when two guys tried to screw me. I killed them.”
“So you said.”
“I need to get back,” she stuttered when the word actually came to her, “home.”
She was surprised at herself. She didn’t go out of her way to contribute at Lexington, nor did she have any friends there. It took being stranded with a million walkers before realizing she thought of the school as home.
“Stay as long as you want. Leave when you’re ready,” Aaron said. “I have food, water, a change of clothes. I’ll heat up some deer meat later for dinner. They walk right on the streets now.”
“You actually live here?”
“Yes.”
“In a dead city?”
He looked over his magazine to shoot her an agitated look. He didn’t like her tone. “Yes.”
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Why? How? Where do you find water? How do you even leave this house? How did you find me in that alley without getting eaten by a million walkers?”
He put his magazine down.
“Answering those questions would go past the basics. You’d have to get to know me, and we can’t have that now, can we?”
Sam almost fired back a comment, but she kept it in. She slumped ever so slightly in the door frame. Aaron picked up on how exhausted she was.
“Take a nap in the other room,” he offered. “It locks, so you don’t have to worry about me.”
She turned and walked to the other bedroom. “I’m not worried about you.”
“Well, that’s good.”
“Don’t be flattered,” she called back. “It just means I could kick your ass.”
She shut the door behind her. Aaron laughed, and went back to his magazine.
* * *
Sam had a terrible nightmare. She dreamed Murphy and Anderson were a little more successful in their rape attempt. They managed to get her clothes off, but instead of raping her, they turned into walkers and started eating at her bare flesh. Legs, arms, breasts, face, it was all food to them. She tried to get away, but they had torn out the muscles in her legs. She couldn’t move. They continued to slowly kill her by feasting on her body, and more were coming.
She woke up and felt a hand on her shoulder, gently shaking her.
“Sam, wake up.”
She sat up with a start and held her knife near her ear, ready to strike. It had never left her hand, even during sleep. Aaron jumped off the bed and backed up, his hands up defensively.
“Whoa, Sam! Calm down. You were almost screaming in your sleep. You didn’t lock your door either. See? And my dick is still in my pants.”
She took a few deep breaths. She noticed he had a towel on his shoulder. She nodded, the closest she’d ever come to showing meaningful gratitude.
“Come here,” he said. “Let me show you something.”
She followed him to the bathroom. He pointed to the tub with a smile on his face. As obnoxious as his smile was, Sam realized she liked it.
The tub was half-full of water, a hint of steam just barely visible.
“You put together a warm bath?”
“I heat the water up on the roof with my grill, then just pour it through the broken skylight. The drain actually works too. No idea where it goes, but hey, whatever. Anyway, it’s all yours.”
She looked at him. “What?”
“I figured you could use one. Hell, you’ve got blood on your face still.”
Sam laughed. It was the first time Aaron heard her laugh. It was a nice sound.
She shook her head slowly, a smile still on her face. She could hear the undead in the living room beneath her. It seemed when she spoke, they made just a little more noise.
“Let me get this straight. You expect me to take my clothes off, and take a bath, with a hundred walkers downstairs, and you right outside the door? What’s your game, Aaron? What are you trying to do? Get off on seeing me naked?”
Aaron was hurt. He could tell gratitude wasn’t Sam’s strength. Still, it wasn’t exactly hard work, but it took time to heat up two buckets of water, pour them through the skylight, and then start over.
“Sam, I don’t expect you to do anything. You want to take a bath? Fine. You don’t? I’ll sleep either way. You are a beautiful woman, but you’re not that beautiful. My goal is not to see you naked. I’ve got more important things to do.”
Her face was blank for a moment, then he thought he saw the hint of a smile. She reached out and grabbed the towel from his shoulder. “My name is Samantha.”
It was his turn to smile. “Soap, razors, and I think some shampoo is under the sink. There’s girl clothes in the rear bedroom in one of the dressers.”
She laughed. “Girl clothes?”
“You know, bras, panties, stuff like that. This door locks, too.”
She smiled and nodded, then closed and locked the door.
Aaron took a breath. That is one exhausting woman.
He listened at the door for a moment. He heard her peel off her clothes, then climb in the tub.
Good, now I can go to work.
He did have other reasons for getting her in the tub, but it had nothing to do with her being nude. He had some things he needed to get from the first floor, and the last thing he needed was for Sam to catch him walking with the undead.
He wouldn’t know what he’d tell her.
He set the ladder up and climbed down to the living room. He tried to breathe as little as possible as he walked through the mob. Dangerous to him or not, they were disgusting. He leaned down to grab his fishing rod, and felt something hit the back of his head. He knew it was a maggot or worm, and quickly brushed it off.
“Maybe you all should be the ones taking a bath.”
They moaned at him in response.
He gathered a few more things and went up to the roof.
It felt strange to have another guest after all this time. He could tell she wasn’t too fond of him, but at least she was honest and didn’t hide it. She was probably planning her trip back home, wherever that was. He knew he would help her however he could, probably even give her the keys to the car. Then he would be alone once again.
She was certainly intriguing. Aaron could honestly say he liked her, but he remembered the last time he had guests. He had to watch everything he said and did. He couldn’t go on any moonlight walks with Sam staying with him.
The sooner she left, the sooner he could get back to his normal life.
* * *
Sam hated to admit it, but as horrible as things were going, she couldn’t remember the last time she felt so relaxed. It had been a long time since she had an actual bath. They had makeshift outside showers at Lexington, but nothing like a bath. The warm water loosened every muscle. She washed her hair and took her time shaving. As she dried off she could hear footsteps on the roof.
She still didn’t know what to make of the cute bald man. At first, she thought he was crazy, but he didn’t seem to be out of his mind. He was actually intelligent and thoughtful.
Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that he was a lot more than just a hermit in the city.
She wrapped the towel around her and went to the bedroom. She picked out some undergarments, a black pair of shorts and a white tee shirt with words on it she couldn’t read. It was nice to wear some clothes without holes in them.
Dead Living Page 8
