Separated

by Michael Blue

  "Shit..." Erlina cursed.

  Spring

  * * *

  "Shit!" Erlina faintly cried.

  She turned back and looked at Joshua who was already beginning to lose his mind at the sight of her being so close to the entrance. What would Ellie do? Erlina thought to herself. Quickly, Erlina crawled as if she were a marine in boot camp, stopped just before falling off the steps, and extended her arm to switch on the lock on the door knob. Immediately, she pulled herself back and hid back beside the counter to catch her breath. The doorknob rattled softly at first, but rattled even more as the two outside began fighting to open it. From what she heard earlier, she assumed the strangers were two males; they began speaking to one another in a foreign language.

  Erlina looked over at Joshua,

  "What language is that…?" she whispered incredibly soft.

  All Joshua could do was shrug and put his index fingers to his lips. It only frightened Erlina more because she could imagine it'd be difficult to negotiate with people who didn't speak English. Joshua laid flat on the floor and looked around the room he was in. The fact that there were no blinds gave anyone a chance to look in and spot him if they wanted to. Grabbing a nearby pile of clothes from the torn up couch, he threw it over himself in order to camouflage within the surroundings in the back of the trailer house.

  Erlina heard the boys make their way along the house, and she decided to follow her cousin's instincts. She understood that she would basically be out in the open if the boys managed to peek in through the back. The trailer was basically a rectangular box. Thinly cramped and long with four sides; so a peek through the curtain-less, back windows would give the viewer a whole view through the interior. She opened the cabinet she hid by, and crawled inside. Thankfully, it was empty, but it had an uneasy smell. She could cover her nose for now until she got use to the smell. She closed the cabinet doors behind her and placed herself in a position that allowed her to peek through a small space in the cabinet doors. Her view was directly at the room Joshua hid in; so she could see through the one window that was on the center of the wall.

  The room Joshua was in, had three large windows in total. Two on the sides, and one in the middle. Being pinned to the floor gave Joshua a good advantage to hear what was going on along the back of the trailer house. He, too, had a little hole to peek through, but could only see through one of the windows on the sides. He was breathing heavily, and he wasn't in such a comfortable position. He began sweating from nerves and could hear the two young men make their way around to the back. He believed that if it were any other day, Erlina and he could've taken those fools out, but he could only dream.

  In the midst of his thoughts, he saw the head of one man approach and peek in through the window. He pressed his face close in to the class, and Joshua tightly shut his eyes and tried to remain as calm as ever. From where Erlina sat, she saw the shadow being casted from the window. From the back window, Erlina saw another man press his face to the glass. Immediately, she faltered back until she was completely closed in.

  * * *

  After a long wait, Joshua finally stretched his body out from the uncomfortable position he was curled up in. He felt like he was in the womb. He sat up and rested his back against the couch. If he had to guess, It'd probably been around five hours since he and Erlina stood in their hiding spots. He brushed his hair with his fingers and scratched his neck and arm from the thought of bugs and filth he possibly hid under. The sky was a dark bluish hue, and the sun; shined from one corner of the earth, being no where in sight. It was past dusk, and Joshua wasn't sure that it was safe to stay in this place. The thought about those two men coming back, frightened the hell out of him. His bones cracked as he stood to his feet and stretched out his joints.

  "Erlina," he called as his voice strained.

  There was no answer.

  Joshua brought his arms to his side and examined the cabinet. Approaching it, he knocked the cabinet before opening it a couple of seconds after. Erlina was asleep, breathing steadily and mumbling. The thought that she fell asleep, made Joshua feel terrible. He let out a disappointed sigh and reached forward to tap her. As he placed his palm on her, she jumped up in a fright. She reached over and tightly grabbed his wrist,

  "Erlina! Erlina!" he said using his other hand to calm her, "It's okay, baby. It's me."

  She nodded her head and let out a sigh of relief,

  "Bad dream…" she said.

  She looked around after realizing how dark it was, and grabbed hold of Joshua's hand as he aided her out of the cabinet. Bumping her head, she softly cried "ouch" and touched it. As soon as she made it to both feet, she proceeded to rub it. Joshua walked towards the windows in the back of the trailer, peeking out to see if anyone was still in sight. Grabbing his sharpened mop head, he walked back towards Erlina. He toggled on his flashlight, and she did too. They were both thankful to be okay.

  "Did you see them?" he questioned.

  "I only saw one," she said, briefly tip-toeing as she reached towards the ceiling to stretch, "What about you?"

  "Yeah I saw one, too. He was pretty tall, lean, light eyes, and had short brown hair I think."

  "The one I saw had big ears and was kind of ugly. He had on a dark cap so I couldn't see what colored hair he had."

  Joshua couldn't help but snicker at Erlina's description. He sighed,

  "We've gotta get out here…" he groaned. He rubbed his head, "We can't even stay here. They might come back."

  "Why can't we just hide again?"

  "Erlina, we have no clue who those guys are. We're in a trailer park. This might be their home or something. Maybe they're a part of a gang," he tried gathering up more thoughts, "It looks empty, but those other trailers are probably filled with people right now."

  The sound of that made Erlina feel uneasy,

  "But it's almost dark out. Infected are everywhere around this time."

  "I know, but it isn't the first time we've been around infected in the dark is it?"

  She shook her head.

  "Just follow me, keep your head down, and keep your knife in your hands at all costs," Joshua ordered, "Understand?"

  She nodded while faintly blinking her eyes. Constantly fighting and surviving wasn't her favorite things to do. Scary part of it all was that she was beginning to get less sensitized to the violence.

  Joshua reloaded his handgun with the five bullets he found earlier, and was sure to arm himself with his sharpened stick. Softly unlocking the door, Joshua made his way out as Erlina followed. Erlina softly let the door close behind her and continued to follow Joshua and he quickly paced around the trailer park as if it were maze.

  Speaking of the devil, an infected appeared to be in the area. Just as Joshua made it past the corner of a trailer, he and Erlina jumped back in fight. The Runner heard the noise, and turned around, but Joshua could only assume that he and Erlina were out of sight. Peeking through the corner, the Runner returned to its aimless walking and circled the same spot twice. As the Runner stopped circling, Joshua took his chance to strike. Staying crouched, he crawled behind the Runner, and just before it fully turned around, Joshua shot up, piercing the mop handle right through it's throat. It gagged and breathed hoarsely for a split second before it fell limp to the ground. Yanking the stick from the corpse, he turned around.

  "Come on, Erlina," he whispered.

  There was no answer but a faint croak, similar to a Clicker. Quickly making his way back to the trailer he was last behind, he came just in time to see the Clicker being tossed to the ground. Erlina quickly turned around, tightly clenching her knife in a reverse grip. Joshua examined her hands; they were covered in blood, but the kill was clean. Joshua opened his mouth to ask if she were bit, but he never could. He was afraid of the answer. He gave a thick gulp,

  "Are you okay?"

  "Yeah, it walked up right behind me when you left. It didn't hear me," she said.

  As she walked beside Joshua, he patted her o
n the back and they both fled the trailer park in a full sprint, running through the tall fields of grass and into the streets.

  * * *

  It was the next day. Joshua and Erlina woke up a little late since they rarely slept in that creepy barn. They were high up, but some infected happened to make their way in. One died without Joshua and Erlina knowing, and they got out just in time because it began to produce spores.

  They were now in a small, cooped up diner. The door and ceilings were still intact, so they locked themselves inside. Joshua sat in a stool and began marking things down on his "map". Erlina, on the other hand was on her bathroom break. It was the only bathroom they had seen in a while that had toilet paper.

  "They actually have hand sanitizer in there," she said as she walked out rubbing her hands together.

  Joshua took a good glance at her hands and they were actually really clean compared to how they looked before. Erlina placed her hands behind her back and swung side to side in boredom before she went to explore the rest of the diner. She walked in the kitchen, looked in the bathrooms, and even in the employees room; the place was stripped clean of anything important or fun. Walking back to where Joshua sat, she rested her elbow on the counter and broke the silence,

  "Are we almost there?"

  "Hm?" Joshua said, still concentrating on the map.

  "Are we almost there? The dam?"

  "Why are you cursing at me?" he snarled defensively

  "No," she groaned, "Are we almost at the dam?"

  "Oh…" he said, fixing his eye on the map, "Yep...we just have a couple more miles and then we're-"

  Erlina and Joshua's neck turned to look at the entrance after hearing three quick knocks. Erlina immediately prepared to take cover and went behind the counter.

  "Uh, hello?" a recognizable voice spoke out, "We know you're in there. We, uh, we don't mean to scare you."

  The individual had a thick accent of an unknown origin. That's when he started whispering in a foreign language. After another, slightly younger, voice was heard, Erlina jumped,

  "The guys from the trailer park!" she whispered.

  "Fuck!" Joshua swore, "We're being followed?!"

  "Please. We don't want any...um, how do you say?" he muttered before speaking again. He heard the younger guy translate for him, and repeated, "Trouble."

  That's when another voice began to talk. The translator: his accent was much milder, and he spoke English very well.

  "We're recruiting people for our group…" he said.

  The one with the thick accent decided to talk next,

  "We have food, water, clothes, and a lot of other people..."

  Joshua didn't answer.

  "There's children there too," he added.

  He paused for quite a while and Joshua could sense Erlina rising from behind the counter.

  "Joshua…" she softly said.

  "Please. We have polaroids," the well-spoken one said, "Polaroids are pictures."

  From underneath the door, pictures were slid into the diner like a prison tray. Joshua tilted his head from where he stood and reached towards it. The floor creaked, but it didn't matter. Joshua crouched down and grabbed the pictures. He saw images of cooked food, educating children, electric lamps, farmed crops, and a lot of people. Shuffling through the photos once again, Joshua looked at the educational picture. It depicted children sitting at a table with a chalkboard behind them. In the very back, on each side of the chalkboard were two women; An older woman with gray hair, and another with brown skin and short brown hair, kept in a ponytail over the shoulder.

  Joshua's hands began to tremble. Goosebumps rose on the surface of his skin and he covered his mouth as silent whimpers escaped through his separated lips. As he slowly closed his eyes, tears dripped from his eyelashes.

  "Joshua?" Erlina called curiously.

  "She's alive," his voice cracked.

  Spring

  * * *

  Joshua and Erlina sat at that the booth, both men sat on the opposite side. The man with the thickest accent introduced himself as Eugene. The translator's name was Connor.

  "Ms. Pam is your mom?" Connor asked.

  The sound of her name only reassured Joshua's questions even more. He nodded, wiping away his tears. His face felt heavy after having such an extreme moment. Before he let both of men in, Josh desperately tried to hide the fact that he was crying, but he was sure they knew.

  "What are the odds that you'd even find us?" Joshua questioned as his voice slightly cracked.

  "Well, you aren't too far from the dam. It's only a couple of miles away," Eugene said.

  Erlina was clung to Joshua's arm, and looked up at Eugene who gave her a smile. Already, she had her guard up. Not entirely sure she could trust a couple of older men - not after all she's been through. She wasn't scared of fighting back through.

  "How is she?" Joshua asked.

  "She great." Conor answered, "Literally. She's a great person."

  "Ms. Pam does her part in educating the kids, cooking, and teaching bible class. Because of her I'm actually a Christian now," Eugene answered, "She's teaching my son how to read better."

  "Yeah, that sounds like aunty Pamela," Erlina added.

  Joshua forced a smile at her.

  "I know this is probably a dumb question but..." he paused, "has she spoken about us?"

  "Here and there, yeah...but Eugene and I joined the dam way after she did, so we don't know the whole story."

  Joshua was relieved to hear that. However, he'd be lying if he said that he never doubted for a second if she were alive.

  "You guys ready?" Eugene added.

  "We have a car a couple of miles away from here as a safety precaution. We've got to reach that and then we're on the way there."

  Joshua, Erlina, Eugene, and Conor gathered all their items. They reloaded their guns and thankfully had enough bullets to spare. It wasn't a whole lot, but it was enough to make them all feel safe. Before they left the area, they were all checked to see if there were any bite marks on them. None of them did.

  * * *

  They all continued on some road in the middle of some open plain. There were farm houses, ranches, and super tall weeds growing all over the place. The skies were clear, and the breeze was light refreshing enough for the human skin. Erlina was walking beside Eugene. He was a really tall man who later claimed he was French. Erlina was surprised she hadn't called it any sooner, but that was the least of her worries. Erlina was a couple of feet behind Josh and Conor. She understood Joshua's excitement, but she was scared to be walking alone with some stranger, and she was disappointed Joshua didn't think of that. She kept a good distance from him, and he finally managed to muster up a conversation with her.

  "You know, I have a son about your same age."

  Erlina looked at Eugene with little interest. Eugene didn't even look that old.

  "How old are you?" She question.

  "I'm..." Eugene gave a sigh, "I'm thirty."

  "I'm twelve. That means you had your son at eighteen."

  "Sixteen," he corrected, "My son's fourteen,"

  Erlina continued to look forward, but she couldn't refuse asking her next question.

  "How many other kids are there?"

  "A few…" Conor answered, turning around, "We have a projector room for movies."

  Erlina's face lit up,

  "Movies?"

  "Yes. There's popcorn, sweets," Eugene added.

  "Sweets?" Erlina questioned.

  "Uh," Eugene paused, "The American's say 'candy'."

  "Aren't you excited?" Joshua smiled with a chuckled.

  Erlina weakly nodded with a smile as they all walked.

  "She looks tired…" Conor said to Josh.

  Joshua sharply exhaled,

  "Yep."

  "Don't worry," Conor paused, "Where we're going - she won't feel that way. She won't be the only kid anymore. She'll play with kids her own age and get plenty of rest.

  As they contin
ued walking, the entire party came to a halt. They were blocked off by a train at a railroad crossing; overgrown with weeds and vegetation. The train had multiple cars, the front being a little further down from where they all were.

  "How are we going to get past that?" Erlina questioned, passing back Conor his canteen of water.

  "We walk inside," Eugene said, "It's how we got here."

  "Is it safe?" Josh asked.

  "It was empty when we got came here…" Conor looked over and saw the anxiety appear on Josh's faces, "It's the only way through."

  After a moment of avoiding eye contact, Josh looked over at Conor and nodded in understanding. Conor walked ahead and made his way to the stairs, pulling himself up. Eugene was next, aiding Josh by pulling Erlina in the railroad car. Joshua was last to pull himself in. Although the windows within the cars were all shattered, there was some traces of spores trapped in the cars. Putting on their gas masks, they continued on. There a few fungal corpses here and there, but it wasn't too much.

  "My feet are killing me," Eugene commented.

  "Mine too," Erlina added.

  "Calm down my children, we're almost home," Conor joked.

  "I was really missing son," Eugene said, euphoria apparent in his voice.

  "Yeah," Conor chuckled, slightly speaking louder than all, "I remember how difficult it was for Tommy to even get you out the dam..."

  In one of the seats to the left, a Clicker, completely hidden with a large covering, jumped up and grabbed Conor from behind. They all yelped, and before Conor or anyone else could grab their gun, the Clicker dug its teeth deep into Conors neck, tearing apart his flesh and large muscles. He shouted as the blood splattered from his wound and Eugene faltered back as some managed to splash on his face. Erlina let out a tearful shout and ran behind Josh, clenching his shirt in her palms.

  "Eugene!" Josh called.

  Before the Clicker could get his hands on Eugene, he reached into his holster and pulled out a handgun, planting two bullets into the Clicker's face. Ever the Clicker fell limp to the floor, other shouts and screams were heard. Erlina, standing last in line, looked behind her only to see some Runners making their way towards them.