by D. K Lake
“I haven't drank anything from the bottle yet, it's still okay to drink from.”
“No, I'm good.”
“Drew-”
“I said I'm good, you drink what you want, I'll find something else.”
“Like what? Please tell me you don't drink your own pee?”
He laughed and turned his back on me.
“I'll find something.” he said.
After another five minutes of me trying to convince him to have a drink, he finally gave in and had a couple of mouthfuls and said I could have the rest. I stopped to tip a little into my hand and drank it that way, I wasn't about to drain the only water we had left, and he might want some more later.
We found our way back to the road, but stayed just inside the trees, and carried on walking.
The morning air was getting warmer and the sun was getting higher in the sky. We walked for a solid two hours, all the while the landscape was getting rockier and the road in front was headed toward what looked like a mountain.
“Do we have to climb that?” I asked.
“That's the way the road goes.”
I think my expression said it all.
“It's not that high, that's a little one compared to what's ahead.”
“What is ahead? Do you even know where you're going?”
“This is the way to Colorado, isn't that where you wanted to go?”
“Yes, but that was before. Now I just want to find the others. Are you not worried about your friends?”
“No.”
“No?”
“They know the way home. My guess is they're probably somewhere in that direction.” He loosely pointed to the right.
“What's in that direction?”
“Didn't you just hear me? I said home is in that direction. They wouldn't go through the desert if they didn't need to, but that was the way Luke mapped out as the road went that way. But I'm with you right now and we're going this way.”
I slowed down until my feet refused to go any further.
“I'm not asking you to stay and look after me. I don't need you.”
“You don't need me? If it wasn't for me you would have got your throat slit just like your friend back there.”
“Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing, 'cause then you could have gone home, back to wherever it is you come from, and I'd be dead, which is what I wanted from the moment I found out I had been bitten. I don't wanna be one of them.”
He sniffed and rubbed his nose with the back of his hand.
“Here, you should take this and go.” I said, slipping the bag off my shoulders.
“What am I supposed to do with that?”
“Eat the food when you're hungry, and there's a change of clothes.”
“You can keep it. If I want anything I'll just ask.” he said, nodding his head to keep walking.
And that was the end of the conversation. We carried on walking with Drew leading the way. He didn't say much else to me. Every now and then he would disappear into the trees having heard something, but he'd always come back.
“Why are we going this way? I thought you said home was that way, don't you want to walk that way?”
I wasn't sure if he had heard me or not. He grunted, but I wasn't sure if that was my response.
“Drew?”
“I heard ya,” he replied.
“Well,”
“Well, what?”
“Where are we going?”
“God, woman, you ask a lot of questions.”
“And you never answer half of them. Grunting is not an answer.”
“The plan was to get you to Colorado, so that's where I'm taking you. Josh told me to go with you.”
“What?”
“He didn't exactly say 'go with her' he just waved me toward you when we all split up, he was near Lane, one of those men with the automatics was stood between us and him, so he signaled to me to go with you. So I did as he said, so as far as I'm concerned the plan is still to get you to this place Lane wants you to go, this research center or whatever it is.”
“Don't you mean the place where they hand out free miracle cures,”
“Yeah, that's the one, Miss. Smarty Pants.”
“So Colorado,” I said.
“Colorado.” he repeated.
“You think they're gonna just let me in? By the time we get there, I'll probably look greenish, my fingernails might have fallen off, and my ears may be bleeding.”
“Then you can wear a bag on your head and a pair of gloves on your hands.”
“And your friends?”
“I'll catch up to them afterwards.”
“You mean after I'm a deadbie?”
He chuckled.
“Sorry if I don't wanna stick around once you start eatin' people, it's not the best way to strengthen a friendship.”
I couldn't help but grin, I looked up at him to find he was grinning back at me. We started walking again, Drew was always a few steps ahead of me. Not long after he slowed down and was looking at the ground carefully.
“What is it?” I asked, stopping a few feet away.
“There are fresh tracks here, and they lead off in that direction.” he said, pointing in the direction we were already going.
“Fresh tracks? Deadbies?”
“No, human.”
Human. Drew really didn't believe the zombies were humans anymore, I mean, they weren't mentally there anymore but they were still people... sort of. So to Drew, there were only two types of people walking around, humans and deadbies.
“How can you tell?”
I was still trying to see where he was looking, I couldn't see any footprints or any sign anything had walked this way.
“Deadbies stagger, they don't walk in a straight line. They move all over the place, these are in a straight line. Even when a deadbie runs it's chaotic.”
“Do you think it's one of our group?”
“No idea,”
Something caught his eye and he walked over to a leafy bush, and touched one of the leaves.
“Blood.” he said, rubbing his thumb and finger together.
“Deadbie blood?”
“Maybe, but possibly human, if it is, someone's hurt.”
“Josh got shot, do you think he's all right?”
“I think Josh being an army boy should know how to take care of himself.”
He started walking again and I trailed behind him.
“How come you know how to do all this stuff? You know, killing things, finding your way around in the dark, finding footprints in the dirt... which just looks like dirt to me?”
“I grew up with my grandparents, my grampy taught me to hunt and fish and everything else I know.”
“Where were your parents?”
He seemed reluctant to answer me and avoided my question by lighting a cigarette. Just watching him light it reminded me of Lane, which made me feel sad, I could even feel a tear coming on. I coughed to clear my throat and rubbed my eyes. I missed Lane, and what made it worse was the fact I knew realistically I may never see him again. Drew carried on walking and I looked at the back of him, thinking he might be the last person I ever speak to. I felt sad and miserable, and I felt like I was a burden to Drew. I had given him the opportunity to leave me but he hadn't. Then I wondered why he hadn't left me... Was he planning to use me as live-bait in case a whole pack of deadbies turned up, he could just throw me to them like a piece of meat and run. I found myself leaving a bigger walking gap between us. If he wasn't going to leave me, maybe I should just leave him, slip away when he wasn't looking. But then I realized he would probably track me down within a few hours, but why would he want to?
He turned around to see what I was doing. I was dawdling too far behind. He nodded his head at me to move a little faster, but that was easier said than done, my legs were aching and I wanted to sit down already.
He came to a standstill until I reached him, I noticed he was giving me a weird look.
�
��What's wrong?” I asked.
“We should stop for a while.”
“Why?”
He raised an eyebrow at me.
“Is it that obvious?” I said.
“It's okay, we can stop for a bit so you can rest up.”
“Why, you want me fully rested so you can drag me through the trees until you decide I'm a tasty snack for the deadbies?”
“What?” he laughed as he exhaled smoke.
“I'm just deadbie bait to you.”
He shook his head and walked past me, he left his dead rabbit on the ground and sat down next to a tree, leaning back against it.
I looked around at my choices and decided the tree opposite him was the safest option. I could see if there was anything approaching from behind him and he would see if there was anything behind me about to launch at me.
I leaned the pitchfork up against the tree and slid Josh's bag off my shoulders, and dropped it on the ground next to the tree. Then I sat down and pulled my knees up, and hugged my legs, staring at the ground in front. Not sure what to say, or whether I should keep my mouth shut, I didn't want to annoy him.
“You look tired, you should rest while we're here, I'll make sure nothing hurts you.”
I looked up at him, still wondering why he was suddenly concerned about my well-being.
“If you wear yourself out now, we'll never get you there. Once the virus starts to spread, you'll get a fever, become lucid and I'll have to carry you, the longer you can fight it the better for both of us, and you can't fight it if you're exhausted.”
“If it gets that bad you can just leave me, or shoot me.”
I untied my hoodie from my waist and made a pillow on the ground, then I laid down on my side, facing him, watching an ant crawl across the ground. Ugh. I already felt grubby, and sweaty from all the walking, I wanted a wash, but I had no clean clothes and no towel, and I hadn't seen a river anywhere. My eyes drifted to Drew, he was probably used to not washing, and sleeping in the dirt, he already had a dirty mark smeared across his cheek, somehow I don't think washing was on his list of things to do. It would have to wait until we came across a water source.
“Alex. Time to go!”
I opened my eyes, squinting at the light, I couldn't even remember falling asleep. The last thing I remembered was thinking about how much I wanted a wash and some clean undies. The afternoon air was warm and the first thing I did was have a quick drink. Drew had his checkered long-sleeved shirt tied around his waist, with only a T-shirt on, on the front was the Green Lantern symbol. I looked at the front of his T-shirt and he looked down at it, like he had forgotten he was wearing it.
“It's not mine, I borrowed it from Dan.”
“He likes superheroes?”
“Yeah, anything comic book related that wears latex and tights.”
“Lane likes comic books and all that stuff, they would probably get on like a house on fire.” I said randomly. “What time is it?” I asked, climbing to my feet, and lifting the bag onto my back.
“Just gone three.”
“Really? That late already?”
“Yeah, you looked really tired so I left you. Anyway, I found a way to amuse myself while you were sleeping.” He tilted his head and I turned to see what he was talking about. I counted five deadbies all slumped in a pile.
“I think they must have wandered from the pack.” He shrugged like it was no big deal. “You ready? I want to cover as much distance as possible before sunset, might even make it up that mountain by dark.”
“Yay! More walking. I just need to use the bathroom.”
I walked a little distance into the trees while he waited near the pile of deadbies.
I crouched down behind a tree and emptied my bladder, then walked back to Drew.
“Ready!” I said.
I followed him through the trees, I could see the road just off to the right, we carried on walking up steep hills and rocky terrain, I could see the road all the way at the bottom. Every few steps I would slow down and look back to see if I could see anyone in the distance along the road, but all I saw was a few lone deadbies wandering across it.
The sun started to set and we were about to stop for the night when we came across a little cabin with a rocking chair sitting on the outside porch.
We both slowed down and Drew had already gone undercover, hiding behind a tree, watching the cabin.
“You think there's someone in there?” I whispered, hiding behind a tree, three trees over from him.
“Dunno, stay here.”
He stayed low and crept closer while I waited. I took my eyes off him to look behind me to make sure there was nothing coming and when I turned back to look for Drew again he'd vanished. Damn, he was shifty, and quick.
After two long minutes of nothing I was about to go looking for him, when I heard something behind me. I slowly turned around and saw another figure walking toward me, it was a slow one, not in a rush to get to me, but it had still seen me and knew I was here. It was male, shoulder length scarecrow-type-hair, dressed in what I could only describe as hillbilly clothes, dungarees, and a long checkered blue shirt. I lifted up the pitchfork that was starting to give me arm ache. I thought I might as well get it over with and had only taken two steps when Drew appeared next to me (and frightened the life out of me, he was such a quiet creeper).
“I got it.” he said, and shot the thing in the head, and it dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
I dropped the pitchfork back on the ground and turned to Drew.
“So what's the deal with the cabin?”
“It's empty.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, it's been empty for some time.” He looked at the deadbie on the ground. “I wouldn't be surprised it if belonged to this dude.”
Drew tipped his head at the cabin and I followed him. The small, wooden steps creaked under my weight as I climbed them. My boots knocked against the decking as I walked over to the rocking chair and touched the top of it, it tilted forward and rocked back again.
Drew opened the door that was already unlocked, and we both walked into the cabin. Inside there was a small kitchen area with a table and two chairs, and on the other side of the cabin, there was a small double, wooden bed with a patchwork throw over the top. The walls were covered in all sorts, butterflies behind glass, there was one shelf with a collection of different colored glass jars, more shelves crammed full of books, there was even a stag's antlers mounted on the wall. I moved around looking at everything, it always felt weird looking through other people's stuff. And this cabin was full of beloved items and decorative pieces.
In the kitchen area, there was a shelving unit on the wall stacked with pots and pans, and on the counter sat a wicker picnic basket. I opened the lid and found plastic cups and plates. There wasn't a sink or any functioning water supply. I did spot a couple of fishing rods stacked in the corner.
“Do you think there's a river nearby?” I asked.
Drew looked at the fishing rods then back at me. “Why? You wanna go fishing?”
“No. I want a wash.”
“Maybe.” he replied.
Over the counter was a small window, and someone had even taken the time to make a little pair of curtains to fit. I spun around and walked over to the bed, there was another window beside the bed, a nightstand with a gas lamp sitting on top, and a small tin. I picked up the tin and opened the lid, it was full of tobacco. Drew saw what I was holding and soon lifted it out of my hands for himself.
I sat on the edge of the bed, it was bouncier than I was expecting.
“It's pretty dead outside,” he smirked. “So we should be all right here for the night.”
“You sure? What if that group of deadbies comes back?”
“Those men finished a lot of 'em off from what I could see when I went back. I don't think you need to worry too much.”
I watched Drew as he wandered around the cabin, looking in jars and cupboards. Underneath the k
itchen counters were more cupboards, full of camping equipment, and behind a curtain under one of the counters was a small food supply.
“Spaghetti, tomato soup, and a tin of spam.” Drew listed the tins.
“That's all?”
“And a can of Red Bull.”
“That's not much of a survival supply.”
“Maybe it was the last of it, or maybe no one was ever here after the virus hit. I think it was more of a family hut, they probably took trips up here during the holidays and weekends.”
“How do you know it belonged to a family and not some grumpy old man that left his wife at home to go fishing on his own?”
“'Cause there are a little girl's wellies in the bottom of the closet and there's a box over there with toy cars and trucks.”
I hadn't got as far as looking in the closet at the end of the bed. I stood up and went over to the closet and opened the door. At the bottom sat four pairs of wellingtons. A large green pair (obviously the dad's wellies), then there was a petite floral pair (the mom's), and two more little pairs, they looked the same size, one pink with fairies on the side and one blue pair with Buzz Lightyear, possibly twins. There were a couple of blankets stuffed in the top of the closet and waterproof coats hanging up, but apart from that it was bare. I closed the door just as Drew walked to the front door.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“Dinner,” He held up the rabbit. “I'll leave you the Spam.” he said before stepping outside onto the wooden decking.
I followed Drew outside and sat down on the steps, watching him collect pieces of wood for the fire.
I kept my eyes on the trees while picking dried blood off my boots. Drew made a fire and I went over to join him and settled down opposite him. Unlike Lane or me, Drew had no fear of sitting out in the open.
I wouldn't have been able to sit around in the open with such ease. Drew had his legs stretched out with his ankles crossed and was leaning against a tree. I was sat cross-legged opposite him, constantly looking over my shoulder. The sun was starting to dip and the air was starting to cool down. I held my hands up in front of the fire.
“Are you always this jumpy?” he asked, watching me look over my shoulder for the umpteenth time.
“Are you always this laid back?”
