Along the Winding Road

by Marlee Pagels

  “What are you doing?” She slowed and got out her rifle. “Get back from that!”

  He looked over his shoulder at her. “Why?” He grinned. “I’ve nothing to fear from him. I own the curse. It can’t kill me.”

  He thrust his forearm at the infected’s mouth.

  35

  Charlotte rammed her heel into the infected’s stomach hard enough to send it reeling backwards. Once it was at a reasonable distance, she fired on it and, gasping, spun to face Arthur.

  Blood slicked his right forearm. Holding it up within a comfortable viewing range, he eyed the wound without looking impressed.

  She stared at him. Not meeting her gaze, he lowered his arm. Some blood dribbled onto his hand.

  “Well, we’d better wrap that up!” She sped to the table and returned with bandages. “Hold your arm up again.” She nodded at him. “Hey. Come on. You’re bleeding, you know. I can’t wrap it up if you’re keeping it behind you. Arthur!”

  Shaking himself, he blinked and took a step back. “Er, here. Give me the bandages and I’ll do it myself. No need for you to get any blood on yourself.”

  “Why not?” She eyed him. “It’ll be easier if you let me do it. I’m capable, you know. Come on. Arm.”

  He swallowed. “I’m not letting you get any closer. Zombie blood is mixed in with the rest of it.”

  “What?”

  He cringed. “Charlotte… Take a deep breath. Everything’s fine. Toss me the bandages, and I’ll take care of it.”

  She stood her ground before letting her posture go slack and tossing the bandages to him. After watching her feet for a moment, she ran for her bags again. Clawing through her backpack’s largest pocket, she seized the jerky bag with both hands and stumbled back.

  “Okay!” Grabbing the dried meat inside, she shoved it in Arthur’s face. “I bet there’s still time. Eat this, fast.”

  He gave her a look of disgust. “That’s the last piece. I’m not taking that.”

  “Yes, you are!”

  He had to jump back to keep her from shoving it in his ajar mouth.

  “Arthur!” She bared her teeth. “Eat—the—jerky.”

  “Save it for yourself! I don’t need it.” He displayed his hastily wrapped forearm. “It looks like the bleeding’s already stopped. A bit unusual for an infectious bite, hmm?”

  “That hardly means it’s not dangerous! Arthur.” She held the piece of jerky out to him again, her arm straight and trembling. “You have to eat this. Okay? Arthur. Eat it. Please. Please…” Her free hand went over her mouth as she started to sob. “You can’t…” Squeezing her eyes shut, she cursed quietly.

  He cringed, crossing his arms and hunching his shoulders. “I-I… It won’t prove a thing if I eat the immunity jerky as well. I know nothing’s going to happen to me.” He swallowed and tapped at her chin until she looked at him. “Do you really think I would let myself be zombified right in front of you? If I knew I could be moments away from turning on you, I wouldn’t still be standing here. Nothing’s going to happen, to either of us. I know it.”

  Still waving the jerky under his nose, she shook her head. “I think… you believe that nothing will happen. I can come to that much of a conclusion. Now, whether you’re right or not…”

  She struggled for a moment to get her breathing under control. “I don’t want to take any chances. Okay? So eat the jerky, or I’ll shove it down your throat myself!”

  “Er…” He held up his hands. “Let’s not be so rash. If it can still act after I’ve been bitten, what’s the point in making me eat it now? Let’s just wait another hour, and, if nothing has happened, I’ve proven that I’m immune to the infection, because I created it. If I do start to show signs, well, I suppose we could go ahead with the immunity jerky.”

  “If you’re already turning, it’s too late!”

  “Isn’t it already ‘too late,’ technically speaking? If the jerky worked retroactively, I see no reason you would eat it every—”

  “I don’t care!” She grabbed him by the collar, her breath hot on his face. “If there’s a chance it could work, you have no reason not to eat it. I will make you. I’m not taking chances. I’m not going to lose you, too!”

  Hanging her head, she fell silent. He held his breath for a moment before loosening her hand from his shirt. Taking the jerky from her other hand, he tore off a tiny piece, sighed, and swallowed it without chewing.

  “Charlotte?” He watched her, but she didn’t look up. “I ate some. All right?”

  She nodded but didn’t move any more than that.

  Exhaling, he slipped the rest of the jerky back into her grasp and wrapped her hand around it with his own.

  “It won’t make a difference, will it?” Her voice was low.

  “No. But only because I’m immune already. Don’t worry, okay?”

  She huffed, managing to give him a glare before pulling back and dropping her gaze again. “Maybe I wouldn’t have to if you ever did things with a smidgen of caution. With the way you feel about yourself, I can halfway understand, but—” She shook his shoulders with a cry. “Stop it! I don’t care if you’re trying to prove something. I don’t care what reason you think you have. Stop acting so reckless! I know you’re tough, but I know you’re not invincible, and I don’t want to watch you get hurt. I can’t keep you safe from everything, but—for goodness sake! Getting yourself bitten?”

  “Right.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “That wasn’t very reckless in my case, though. Um…” Hunkering down, he hugged her with his left arm. “Sorry.”

  She hugged him back but sighed. “That doesn’t mean anything unless you do something about it.” She pulled back. “I guess I can’t expect too much from you at once.”

  Eyeing his bandaged arm, she hugged her arms and surveyed the area. “Listen, if you’re fine, we might as well keep moving.”

  “Understood.” Wrapping his fingers around the bandaged area, he took a step forward. “Er, are you okay?”

  She started walking. “Yeah, yeah… I just can’t catch up to my thoughts right now. I’ll get some ground covered, if nothing else.”

  “Ah—” he picked up the pace—”all right.”

  ~*~

  By the next morning, Charlotte hadn’t said another word. At sunrise, she just took a bite of jerky and started walking.

  Arthur followed. While his arm wound hadn’t turned grey or gelatinous, it still ached too much for him to shoot well. In any case, it wasn’t enough to make him complain, especially in the stifling silence.

  Noon had come and gone by the time they came to a sudden stop. He gave Charlotte a look-over, but she didn’t seem to have any physical ailments, nor were there any obstacles ahead.

  She turned to face him, her eyes half-closed. “So, the apocalypse…”

  Feeling like the ground was beginning to swallow him, he crossed his arms. “…was my fault. Yes. Along with everything that came afterwards.” Gaze fixed on the road, he swallowed some bile.

  She seemed to believe him by now, at least. Whether or not it was due to the biting stunt, he couldn’t be sure. Of course it had taken her some time to come to terms with the presence of magic, but she had put the pieces together now.

  Why had he let her do that? Why had he even started to tell her? It would have been much easier for the both of them if he had lied. Came up with some story of how he had run into Blake years ago and turned him away. That would have sounded like a decent reason for his guilt, right?

  Yet instead he rattled on about the whole thing and did his best to prove its truth. Why? To punish himself? To make sure Charlotte would be pushed away from him when it would hurt the most?

  That could have been it. But he still felt that he had acted properly. He had no right to keep the truth from her. Now she knew who he was. Now she could make an informed decision as to the state of their relationship. She would have the privilege to give him what he deserved. It was about time one of his victims had such a chan
ce.

  At least he had managed to get her most of the way home already. They weren’t far from Killeen at all now, so it seemed. Thus, he didn’t have to worry about jeopardizing her safety with the breakup. For all he knew, one of the villagers was waiting just past the next bend. And, with what remained of her friends and family over there, she would be able to recover from this stint. In the end, he would be the only one hurt.

  It wouldn’t be the worst he had done.

  “You—” she gripped her elbows—“shouldered something like that all alone?”

  He blinked, meeting her gaze for a moment. “Er, I suppose. That’s hardly the most significant part of the whole debacle, though.”

  “Yeah.” She looked to the side. “I can’t figure out how I’m supposed to react. I guess it all… sort of makes sense, but…” She sighed. “I don’t know. Are you responsible? Can I forgive you? Somehow I feel like I don’t have the authority. I—I can’t even figure out what parts are real.”

  Inhaling, she took his hands. “But I know you’re hurt by this, and the last thing I want to do is make it worse. Don’t worry about it pulling us apart. That’s all I can say.”

  She sighed, though not unhappily. “I have felt like blaming you before. But I wouldn’t leave because of that. If I were to leave… I can’t trust you to seek out anyone else. Even if you’re strong enough to handle it on your own, you deserve to have someone to support you.” With a brief hug, she added, “I wouldn’t want to break up with you, anyway.”

  “But…” He stammered for a minute as his shoulders locked. “N-no. I don’t deserve you—far from it. I—”

  “You deserve to have someone at your back. And I don’t care if it’s ‘right’ or not—I want to be that person.” She held out a hand as if to shake and smiled. “You don’t mind, do you?”

  He took her hand but hesitated. “You’ll change your mind once you’ve come to terms with it, won’t you?”

  “We’ll just have to wait and see. Until then, there’s no need to worry about it. I’m at least worth hanging onto a little longer, right?”

  Breathing shakily, he gripped her hand tighter. “Right.”

  36

  When a gunshot rang in their ears, Charlotte and Arthur both ducked into the trees. After waiting some time for anyone to come into view, they resurfaced.

  “I don’t imagine an infected was firing.” Arthur took the lead.

  “Probably not.” She caught up with him and took another look around. “In fact, I have a feeling I know whoever fired.”

  “Eh?”

  It was his turn to keep up as she strode ahead, eyeing the horizon. Despite her pace, a few minutes passed before the walls came into view. Clunky, grey mesh peeked up from the trees and rubble as some of the taller buildings in the distance surfaced.

  Arthur was hard-pressed to stay by her side. “Is that…?”

  Grinning, she seized his hand, but he wasn’t certain if it was a romantic gesture or something to keep him from dragging behind. “Yup.”

  Their feet sent bits of asphalt skittering off the road, but the tiny scraping sounds were soon blocked out by another gunshot. A figure in the distance fell to the ground. Infected, by the look of it. She wouldn’t have thought otherwise at this point.

  “You pick that one up.” The voice was faint, but Charlotte still faltered mid-step. “I’ll be back.”

  Arthur managed to stop her before she could fall outright, but she let go of him and took off running faster.

  “Ah!” He stepped after her but hadn’t caught up when another man ran up to meet her. Quite a bit taller than her, he stood with his arms lifted as she crashed into him. Handling the impact with ease, he returned her embrace as she buried her face in his chest.

  A moment passed before she pulled back the slightest bit and grinned up at him. “Hi.”

  His eyebrows rose. “Hi.”

  “Miss me?”

  He grunted.

  Laughing, she pressed the side of her head to his chest and shut her eyes. After a long sigh, she started to pull back. She didn’t get any farther than letting her arms drop.

  She grinned at him. “You can let go now.”

  “No.”

  Giggling, she hugged him back for a while longer before pausing and turning her head.

  “Hey.” She eyed Arthur and tilted her chin up. “You can come over here, too.”

  Arthur nodded but hesitated before approaching them. Silence followed as the other man stared him down.

  “He doesn’t look like Blake,” Timothy finally said.

  “Ah. No.” Pulling away, she let her arms go slack. “This is Arthur. Blake—” she took a deep breath—“won’t be coming back.”

  “I thought so.” He frowned at the ground for a moment before straightening up again. “Arthur, you said?”

  She nodded, then turned towards her boyfriend and gestured discreetly in her brother’s direction.

  “Um, yes.” Arthur held out a hand to shake. “She met me along the way. We’ve, er, been traveling together.”

  She chuckled and elbowed him in the side. “He’s my boyfriend.”

  Cringing, Arthur gave her a “what did you do that for” look before swallowing and looking back at the taller man.

  “And this is my big brother, Timothy.” She put a hand on her hip. “You two are going to get along, right?”

  Timothy stared him down. Arthur swallowed, unsure whether he was supposed to submit or dig in his heels. As it were, he shrank but stood his ground.

  “Hm.” Timothy backed off and swung his head around to face his sister. “You must be tired. Let’s head back inside the walls.”

  “Yes, sir.” She smiled and stepped after him once he went ahead. Arthur vacillated, so she seized his forearm and pulled him along with her.

  “Doing okay?” she said under her breath, smiling.

  “Er, yes.” He glanced ahead at her brother. “Is he, um, okay with me?”

  “Well, he stared into your soul without throwing you across the forest, so…”

  He straightened out his collar. “I’m sorry he had to see that; it was probably rather scarring.”

  “Oh, hush.” She shouldered him, making him stumble a few steps to the side. Timothy came to a stop up ahead and spoke with a man crouched over a body bag.

  “It takes two to get over the fence,” Charlotte told Arthur, “so Timothy’ll need a little help himself.” She grinned. “And it looks like he’s fetching a friend, too.”

  “Er, that’s nice.”

  She charged ahead, an outstretched arm waving. “Oi! Armando!”

  Zipping up the last of the body bag, Armando nodded at Timothy before pausing and snapping his gaze up.

  “Ah!” Shedding his gloves, he charged for Charlotte, leaving Timothy behind to flare his nostrils.

  Laughing, she braced herself for the tight hug before he pulled away, leaving one arm over her shoulders.

  “You made it!” he cried, grinning so hard it looked painful. “Not that I didn’t think you would, of course. It’s been a while, though, huh, Charlotte?”

  “I guess so! Sorry about that.” From her bouncing, she looked much more excited than apologetic.

  Juggling his shoulders, Arthur cleared his throat.

  She looked over her shoulder at him and stuck out her tongue. “Patience is a virtue, you know.”

  “And China is a country, but I don’t see how that’s relevant to the situation, either.”

  With a snort, she pulled Armando over to him. “I guess more introductions are in order. Armando, this is Arthur. He’s most of the reason I kept you waiting so long, but he’s also my boyfriend.” She glanced at Timothy for a response, but he only continued to frown. “Arthur, this is Armando. We usually pair up for infected hunts around here.”

  Arthur continued to eye Armando with some degree of distaste, but the latter held out a hand to shake.

  “Nice to meet you, Arthur.” His grin seemed stiff all of a
sudden. “I hope we can get along.”

  “Er, yes.” Arthur shook with him. “Pleased to make your acquaintance as well.”

  “So.” She put a hand on her hip. “Are we heading inside or what?”

  Timothy nodded and led the way, although not without squinting at Arthur. The archer scratched his jaw but followed. The group went over the wall—Timothy with Armando’s help and Charlotte with Arthur’s—and landed inside the town without incident.

  Arthur tried to take it in. The buildings ahead seemed to be in fine condition, much better than the houses outside the walls. A few people were out on the streets now, some hurrying, some chatting, one walking a dog. And there were supposedly even more of them invisible at the moment.

  He picked at his collar.

  Surely Charlotte wasn’t going to introduce him to everyone?

  ~*~

  Shortly after Armando left for his house, Charlotte stuck her head through the window of the Nourriture qui Sauve. A patron near the entrance glanced at her but returned to his meal.

  She craned her neck towards the back counter. “Oi! I demand to see the chef!”

  The worker at the payment counter blinked at her.

  “Charlotte,” whispered Arthur. It took a few nudges to her back before she realized the door to the kitchen was opening.

  Pulling her head and shoulders back outside, she grinned at the man exiting the building and waved. She couldn’t quite lower her arm before she was tackled.

  “Charlotte! Ma chère!” the attacker cried, hugging her tight as Arthur jumped back. “You’re back!”

  Émile pulled away, running a hand through his hair. “How did it go? Are you all right?”

  She grinned. “Yeah, I’m fine. You… You were right about the whole thing, but—” she folded her arms—”it’s all right. It wasn’t a total loss. Speaking of which, you might need to lay off the hugging before my boyfriend bites your head off.” She gave Arthur a pointed look.

  “Quoi?” Émile gasped. “Boyfriend? You came back with a boyfriend? Before I ever had the chance to give my approval? Oh, no, no, no.”