Rick pulled a knife. He brandished it towards me. I hopped back and twisted to avoid it. I catapulted myself over the back of the couch. He grabbed my shirt. I twisted to wiggle out of it and nearly fell backwards into the fire. The bricks were the only thing separating me from the fire.
Instead of pursuing me Rick was still standing at the back of the couch, staring. I looked down, my chest tight. I was wearing a black tank top. A tank top that exposed what was left of the cuts on my arms and the gunshot.
I climbed slowly to my feet. My heart was fluttering in my chest. Will any of them notice? Of course, they’re going to notice. What kind of stupid thought was that?
Neither one of us did anything. It was Dean who moved first. He stepped in-between the two of us; his arms outstretched. A palm facing me, and a palm facing Rick. No one said anything. Rick stared at me, or more specifically my shoulder. I stared back at him. Dean kept rotating his gaze between the two of us.
After several tense minutes Rick shoved his knife back in its holster. “You wanna find the cure? You wanna go look for something that doesn’t exist out there. Fine. We’ll go.” He turned away took two steps before stopping. He turned back to look directly at me. “Only rumors. Rumors that all there is.”
Chapter fifteen… Am I just falling apart
I sat on the edge of the bed rubbing my temples, pain radiated from the middle of my brain outwards. It started last night and I had hoped that by sleeping in an actual bed -musty and moldy it may be but a bed nonetheless- it would help. Anything was better than sleeping another night in the truck. Listening to them breathe was enough to set me off. I pulled in slow deep breathes and let them out slow. I’d have to let it run its course unfortunately. As long as I don’t have a repeat of what happened last time.
Over the pulsing in my head I was able to make out both Richard’s and Rick’s voices. Fighting again. This was ridiculous. Every chance they could get they were at each other’s throats. We were in the middle of nowhere which was probably the best place for them to get it out of their systems but for the past three days it was constant yelling. Our luck was bound to run out one of these days, there would be a herd passing by or someone and their yelling would bring them down on us. We were all on edge but this was beyond ridiculous. They would each do something to piss off the other one off. For someone who worked in a lab you would think that Richard would be above the petty stuff. Then Rick who lived off the land, who had to fight to survive every day, you would think that he wouldn’t be so childish. But here I am being proven wrong. At this point if Rick said that geese flew south for the winter then Richard would counter with ‘evidence’ saying that instead they would fly west.
Just yesterday I’d asked Dean what he thought about us tying them up with duct tape. Rick had enough of it we could make them full body wraps out of it. Dean just smiled at that.
“Maybe if they just beat the crap out of each other they’d stop yelling. What do you think?” I rubbed Coke’s head. He just whined. Both he and Rum didn’t like the yelling. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Rum was sitting outside my door waiting for me to let him in.
On the plus side when Rick wasn’t busy arguing with Richard, he was with me. He grudgingly shared his knowledge. In the evenings after setting up camp he would teach me the finer points of how to skin an animal all the way up to how to tie a decent knot with rope. He gave me pointers on how to improve my skills with my bow and how to repair it. There was no jerry-rigging it with him, it was either done correctly or not at all. My skills with the bow were all self-taught, he went through and showed me proper stance, how to aim correctly, etc. After all that he would give me pointers on how to hunt with Rum and Coke. The two of them worked like a well-oiled machine. Working with each other, using teamwork to track their prey. It made the whole process simpler. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, working with Rick was almost enjoyable.
I ran my fingers through Coke’s fur. He was warm. Always warm. Either he or Rum was always by my side. Neither one would be gone long. I’d never had a dog before, now I wish I did. There was just something that I loved about them. Besides being good heaters, I could see why they were labeled man’s best friend.
I groaned at the sound of more objects shattering. I adjusted my shirt before standing up. I’d finally found a shirt that fit me perfect, most of my clothes hung off of me. But this one actually fit. It was a light blue woolen shirt. It hugged my neck like a turtle neck would but it was warm unlike a turtle neck was. The nice part was having a shirt that wouldn’t flap in the wind like a sheet. I picked up my backpack from the floor and scanned the room for anything that I may have forgotten before leaving. My head was still throbbing but it was something I would have to ignore. Before I could even open the door, Coke was sitting beside it waiting for me to open it. As soon as it was open Coke ran through it. I shut the door securely behind me out of habit. Besides who knows we might come this way again and need a place to stay. No point in just leaving it open for whatever to get into it. I walked slowly through the hotel’s parking lot. We’d found the hotel on accident. It was a single floor building in the shape of an L. For whatever reason it was mostly untouched. The office was ransacked but all the keys were still in their places. This place used regular keys, the ones like a house would have. Metal key that you would push in and turn to unlock or lock the door. Behind the hotel was a second building that looked like it was an old Ma and Pa diner. Rick had checked it out before even settling down but like everywhere else other people had been there first.
Even with the mold and my aching head, I’d slept better in there than in the truck. I’d brought in my own blanket and wrapped myself in a cocoon and went out like a light. It was like a vacation compared to sleeping in the truck. It was permeated with the smell of sweat and dog, then of course there was Dean’s snoring. That was enough to drive anyone mad. It only took the first night to understand why Rick chose to sleep outside than in with us. Unless it was dumping buckets of water, Rick would stay out all night.
Dean was leaning against the truck while watching Richard scream at Rick while Rick threw things in Richard’s direction. They ranged from rocks the size of golf balls to shoes. “For someone who claims that I have anger issues, he has a funny way of showing his.” I joked. Dean smirked and shook his head. “I guess we’d better go ahead and try to break this up. I mean we’ve been lucky so far. But luck only holds for so long before it’s gone.”
Dean nodded. “Yeah we should. I just, I just wanted to see if they could work it out of their systems.”
A bottle came sailing past and hit the truck right next to my head. I jerked my face away and felt the pieces of glass hit the back of my head. Alright. That’s it. I’m done. I’m so done. I dropped my bag and stalked towards Rick. He started bellowing at Richard for throwing the bottle that hit his truck. “Rick! Rick!” I yelled.
He turned around and saw me heading towards him. “What!”
“You two are done. Both of you. Now shut up!” I directed my voice towards Richard, who was heckling us. “Look you two don’t see eye to eye. We don’t see eye to eye but we’re not at each other’s throats. Now you two need to stop or we’re going to have bigger problems on our hands than who took the last can of spam.” I stared Rick down.
He grinned. “No one told me I had to grow up.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked away whistling. Rum ran to his side and trotted away.
Coke was left standing near Dean staring at Rick’s retreating back. “You want to go, just go.” I flicked my hands at Rick. Coke slowly walked after them, his tail hanging straight down. I felt slightly guilty for telling him to leave but if that’s where he wanted to go, then I didn’t want to hear him whining. My head was still pounding but it was slowly ebbing away, slowly.
Dean was still leaning against the side of the truck, a small smile on his face. I softly shook my head. I don’t know how he manages to handle it. He seems to think it’s funny how I handle t
hem. If it was just me, this wouldn’t be an issue. I’d hike it out there and get back. But with Rick he insisted on stopping to hunt or scavenge. No wonder he said it could take up to a couple of weeks. If we just did it in a straight shot, we’d easily cut it down to a week or two at the most. But no, every place that looked even remotely interesting we just had to stop and look around. The most we found was a stash of clothes and a small backpack full of MRE’s. That’s it. Nothing that we couldn’t live without.
But during these excursions he’d point out how he would use the area to his advantage to trap or ambush infected and other people. It was interesting but I’m not interested in learning it, not now at least. It’s useful and I hope that I won’t need it but I want to be done with this whole mess. I’m tired of dealing with all of this testosterone. I want to be able to go home and hide in my room or just be alone when I didn’t want to deal with anyone. Out here there was no chance to be alone. To recharge, except for last night but that was an exception to the rule. But most of all, I’m tired of having my family’s lives hanging over my head. If they followed what I told them to do they’ll be fine but until this is over, I’ll have no idea if they are or not. I wanted to put Richard in the rearview mirror, take Rick to see mom because I know she would want to see him, and Dean. I don’t know if I want to say goodbye to him or take him with me.
Richard disappeared around the side of the building, towards where the restaurant was but as long as he and Rick weren’t yelling at each other I was fine with having them do their own thing. I looked at the truck to meet Dean’s eyes. “What?” I raised my arms. “You afraid I’m going to run away or something?”
He dropped his arms to his sides. “Actually yeah. They’re driving me crazy and I can only imagine how crazy they’re driving you. You do have priors of just doing your own thing. I’m damn certain if we left you alone you would get to this lab or whatever and back in half the time as us.”
I shrugged. “What’s the problem with that?”
“Oh, gee let me think. It’s because you’re not alone. You have us slow pokes tagging along.” His voice was serious but there was a note of teasing to it.
I rolled my eyes. “It wouldn’t be so bad they weren’t constantly at each other’s throats. And if we could keep moving instead of constantly stopping.” I ran my hand through the hair that had fallen loose from my pony tail, pushing it back behind my ears. “You know, I’ve been curious about something.” I stepped closer towards Dean and crossed my arms over my chest. “Why does it seem like you know so much about me? You almost act like I have a file that you’ve studied.”
He glanced down at his feet then back up to my face. He started running his nails on his right hand across the pad of his thumb. “When I found out that Romero enlisted you to be our guide, you know there really are files on everyone that’s stood out, and I found yours. It doesn’t have much in it, which that just means that either you don’t break that many rules or you just don’t get caught.” He scratched the back of his head while staring me in the eye. “I mean from what I’ve seen, you’ve been very careful to not get caught.”
I didn’t know what to say. No wonder Dean seemed to know me, not details but how to handle how I acted. He seemed to know what to expect from me. I looked away from his eyes to his fiddling hands. He was looking at me like he was waiting for me to run away, to deny the existence of files. I had to stop being predictable right? I couldn’t be read like an open book. “Well Dean,” I tilted my head to the side, feeling my hair move on my back. “Have I lived up to my ‘file’ yet? Or have I disappointed you so far? I mean, am I as empty and boring as it is?”
He grinned at me. “You are most definitely not boring or empty. It doesn’t cover how your eyes light up after coming out of a fight, it doesn’t cover how effective you kill infected. It doesn’t cover how you softly you walk when you’re on the move. You know how to anticipate infected, you move confidently. Like you know that they can’t stop you. It told me how you disregard the safety of the city and rely solely on yourself but it doesn’t say how you would throw life away to keep your family safe. It didn’t tell me who you are.”
I was flattered. He noticed all of that? I mean it was obvious that I could kill infected but the other stuff, those were details I’d never noticed. I was definitely flattered by his compliments. He seemed genuine about them, but was this him flirting with me or just being truthful? What do I say? I was acutely aware that the top of my head came to his shoulder. My tongue felt thick and clumsy. It was frozen in my mouth. He saved me from saying anything.
He reached out his hand and brushed right under my jaw. “How did you get that scar?”
I didn’t have to look, not that I could see it, to know what scar he was asking about. He was softly running his fingers across my skin, touching it enough to make it feel like feathers were fluttering against me. But feathers didn’t leave a trail of heat behind them while the rest of me was breaking out in goosebumps. I swallowed hard, unsticking my tongue. “It was stupid really. I was outside the safe zone, obviously. I was trying to catch some fish out of the river. I’d done it before and gotten some pretty big fish out of it.” I held my hands about a foot apart. “Anyways fishing hadn’t been that great that day so I was calling it quits. To get out I had to climb up a steep bank. It was muddy from the rain but stable enough that I knew I could get out. I was almost to the top when my foot slid out from under me and rolled back down into the water. It wasn’t until I finally got out that I noticed my shirt wasn’t grey or brown anymore and that it wasn’t quite in one piece.” I laughed softly. “It was a shallow cut but it goes from here-“ I took his finger and drew it down my neck, across my shoulder and down my arm until I stopped at my elbow. His hand was rough under my finger, covered in callouses like mine. “Needless to say, that shirt was ruined and my sister threw a fit about me wasting clothes.”
Dean laughed. He left his hand resting on my elbow and I couldn’t bring myself to pull my arm away from his touch. It was warm and comforting. Something that I haven’t felt in a long time. Comforting, yeah it was an alien feeling to me. Normally just being around people was enough to make me run for the hills, but his touch was enough to calm me down. It was just something that was different with him. I guess it helped that he actually looked at me. Not just what I could do for him, but who I was as a person. His serious eyes bored into mine. His other hand brushed my hair away from my face, catching the flyaway’s and tucking them behind my ear. My skin burned wherever he touched it. It burned hot enough that I wouldn’t be surprised if I had burn marks left behind. His hand came to rest on my shoulder where it met my neck, his fingers making small circles.
A dog’s barking interrupted the moment. Seconds later the second dog joined the fray. I turned around almost frantically, but there was nothing in sight. That just meant that they weren’t here where I could see. I pulled my machete out of its sheath on my hip and sprinted towards the sound of the barking, my headache forgotten in the rush of adrenaline.
Surrounding the entire lot where trees. Tall trees that blocked the sun and kept their leaves year-round. Well they weren’t leaves, they were needles. They were enough of them that they formed a barrier around the lot. Which meant that they kept us out of sight but they kept us from seeing anything that approached.
I sprinted around the side of the building I saw Rick. He was standing on top of a truck completely surrounded by infected. They were screaming, reaching for him. Every single one that I could see had their mouth open ready to rip Rick apart with their teeth. He saw us and waved us away. The infected were all in various stages of decay but all kept their focus straight on Rick. They would keep their focus on him unless we made enough noise to draw them away. I turned around, a plan forming in my brain, Dean was staring wide-eyed at the group. He had a pistol in one hand but it was hanging at his side. I whispered a silent thank you that he didn’t start shooting. That would have brought them all down on us. I’d never
go head to head with this many that would be suicide. I’d run away from more than this but never gone head to head with this much. There were about twenty of them but that was still plenty more than I could handle. I grabbed Dean by the arm and pulled him back with me. If there were that many coming after me the best course of action would be to run and hide, if there was a place to hide. Dean ran willingly enough back with me.
There on the side of the truck where I’d left it, my bow with its arrows. I slung the sheath across my chest. “Dean there’s another sheath in the truck grab it just in case I run out. And if they come at us you can be my back up.” I ordered. I turned to go back.
He grabbed my arm. “What about Richard? He can’t die.”
I growled. “Go find him then. Don’t use the gun unless you have nothing to lose.” I didn’t wait for his reply before I was sprinting back to Rick. Dean can go find Richard and I’ll help Rick. Best way to split up for now. I slowed down before coming around the corner of the hotel. Rick was still on top of the truck. He was standing right in the middle of the roof, barely out of reach. They were only inches from grabbing his pant legs. I raised the bow while stringing my first arrow. I took a deep breath and aimed. My bad shoulder stretched but didn’t give out as I held the bow away from my body. It was almost back to normal. The night before last the wound had closed. It was shiny and pink, a fresh new scar for my collection. The scab had fallen off two days ago, on Lily’s birthday. My eyes burned momentarily as tears threatened to spill. No know. I can’t think of that now. I blinked to get rid of the tears and cleared my mind.
Dead Paper Birds Page 20
