by D. K Lake
I stood with my back to him, looking across the river. After five minutes I was getting bored of standing.
“I think all the fish swam away.” I said just as the line started to move. “Oh, it's moving!”
“Looks like you got a nibble.” Drew said, standing up and coming over to me.
“What do I do?”
“Start reeling it in.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, if you think you've got a bite.”
I started reeling and the bushes rustled behind us.
“What was that?” I looked over my shoulder.
“Shh.. stay here.”
“What do I do with this?” I asked, but Drew was already in stealth-mode, running off and leaving me.
I carried on reeling the line in and to my surprise, there was a fish on the end of it. I had no idea what type of fish, or if it was even edible. I didn't know what to do with it so I stood there like a lemon waiting for Drew to come back.
“Alex!” someone screeched.
I spun around at the sound of my voice and saw Stacey running toward me.
“Stacey?”
I knew it was Stacey, it just didn't look like her. Her hair was a wild jungle of knots, and her face was covered in dirt. Her jeans were muddy and wet, her pink hoodie was tied around her waist, and her white vest top was no longer white. Her arms were covered in scratches like she had been running through bushes. She looked like a crazy-bush-woman.
She ran straight at me and I quickly chucked the rod onto the ground with the fish still attached to it and opened my arms as she dived into them.
“What the hell happened to you?” I asked, hugging her back and rubbing her back.
“Those men chased me, I thought they were never going to stop. I had to hide in a muddy river.” she replied between sobs.
“The same men?”
“Yes.” she whimpered.
I quickly scanned the trees for Drew.
“Did they chase you here?”
“No, the zombies did.”
“Did you see any of the others in our group?”
“No.”
Just as she said it a deadbie walked out of the trees.
“Stac, move,” I said, pushing her aside and behind me.
“It's gonna get us,” she squealed and shot off to my right.
“Stacey, come back!”
I started to back away, but I couldn't go back any further because the river was behind me. I dodged out of its way and grabbed the knife I had on me. It turned around and started coming for me again. I gripped the knife, wondering where Drew had gone.
I looked around for Stacey but couldn't see her.
I blew out a breath, and started to count to three, but just before I got to three an arrow whizzed past my head and straight into the deadbie's skull.
“You all right?” Drew asked, running past me to get his arrow.
“I'm fine, Stacey was here.”
“What?”
“She just ran out of the trees and said she was been followed by zombies.”
“Where is she?”
“I dunno, she got frightened and legged it over there.”
Drew was about to go after her when another one appeared. Its skin looked paler with a green tint to it which meant it was close to dying. It was male, short, with wispy hair that looked like the sort of hair really, really old people have in the movies. Its top lip was missing and I could see all its teeth, and I was amazed it only had one front tooth missing. But it was still ugly, like something that belonged in nightmares.
I stepped back as it lurched toward us. I looked sideways at Drew waiting for him to shoot it, but he wasn't moving.
“What are you doing? Kill it already!”
“Nope.”
“What do you mean nope?”
“This one's practice.”
“Practice? What the fuck, Drew?”
“Okay, so what you're gonna do is bend your arm, hold it up and push against it as it comes to you, push your weight into it. Then using your other hand, stab it as hard as you can.”
I could hear him fine but panic was setting in and I wasn't really hearing anything he was saying.
“Drew! This is no time for a training lesson.” I said as we both started walking backwards.
It was getting closer than I felt comfortable with.
“This is the perfect time.” Drew said with a hint of laughter.
“I'm not good with the knife.” I insisted. “I'll probably stab myself.”
“Well you're gonna learn not to stab yourself, it might save your life.” he smirked.
I glanced sideways at him. Save my life, really?
“This is no time for joking around, Drew.”
“I'm not, that came out wrong. I meant, you know, before we get to Colorado, this could save your life on the way, learning to use the knife.”
“I don't want to learn how to use the knife. Just give me the pitchfork and I'll take care of it.”
“No, no pitchforks allowed. Now remember, he might bite. Those teeth look sharp, minus the one he's missing.”
“Drew!”
“He's a weakling, and he's nearly dead, he's perfect to practice on. Now pay attention, he's comin' for ya.”
“You have got to be kidding me.” I said through gritted teeth, getting ready to fight because Drew had moved back a few more steps out of the way.
The deadbie lunged for me and I ignored all my instincts that told me to run from its outstretched nasty claws. Instead, I blocked its attack by pressing my arm across its collarbone, then I managed to push it back a few steps by pushing my weight against it, all the while trying not to get my face bitten. I shoved it against a tree and tried to stab it in the head, and try was not the right word, more like a 'beginner's guide of what not to do when killing a deadbie'.
“It's not working, this is impossible!!!”
“Try for the eye, one quick strong motion” Drew said, coming up beside me holding his crossbow up to it just in case I completely failed.
“What? You're insane!”
“Just trust me.”
I looked back at the biter, it groaned, and gnashed at me, it smelled like something that had just crawled out of the sewer, and I was wrestling with it. Ugh.
I had to turn my gag reflex off as I gripped the knife tighter and plunged it into its eye socket, after minimal force the knife slipped through and I fell onto the ground with the rank deadbie beside me.
“Ewww!” I moaned, pulling the knife out and wriggling away as fast as possible.
“Well done.”
“Well done? I nearly got my face bitten off. Stabbing a deadbie in the head is harder than it looks.”
“Deadbies bones are weaker in general, but that was a good attempt.”
“Weaker in general? Have you ever tried stabbing one of them in the head before?”
“Yeah, and anything's possible if you put enough force into it.”
“Well I'm a girl and that was hard work for me.”
Drew laughed. “I never took you for one of the girly girls.”
“Shut up, I have a disadvantage. I'm sick.”
“You don't look that sick.”
“Not yet, but my arms ache.”
“As long as you can hold a knife you can fight, you need to learn... I heard you decapitated one with a shovel.”
“Who told you that?”
“Lane. He likes to talk. He, um, talked a lot about what you two used to get up to.”
“What!” I said shocked.
“Not that,” Drew said, trying not laugh. “Just the killin' stuff.”
“Yes but I used to have longer weapons and I used to hack...ugh, never mind. I don't like getting that close to them. And a little prior warning next time would be nice if you're just gonna leave me to get eaten.”
“I wanted you to learn to be able to defend yourself.”
“Why? You leaving me?”
“No,” he said confus
ed. “I don't... why would you think that?”
“You don't have to stay with me.”
“I'm not leaving you, Alex.” He stared at me for a moment, holding me hostage with his striking blue eyes. “I promise you, I'm not going to leave you, but I want you to be able to defend yourself. I don't know what's over the next hill, those men could find us, a horde of deadbies could find us, I just wanted you to have a little practice with the knife. I don't plan on leaving you, you're good company.” he grinned, and at the same time we both heard a scream and turned around to see Stacey staggering toward us.
I had almost forgotten about her.
She was holding her shoulder, and when she removed her hand I saw a nasty wound, it was bleeding really badly and looked deep. It must have just happened because I was sure she wasn't bleeding a few minutes ago when she first turned up.
“It bit me!” she squealed.
Then she started whaling and freaking out. The culprit deadbie appeared behind her. Fresh blood dripped down its chin, staining its T-shirt. It started running toward us with its arms out. Drew shot it before it got anywhere near us.
“Stac, calm down.” I said, not really knowing how to deal with her when she was like this.
Then she started screaming.
“Stacey, shut up!” I said, rushing over to her.
“It bit me!” she said again.
She started hyperventilating and chanting 'it bit me, it bit me', over and over as she sank to the floor on her knees.
“Stacey, please calm down!” I pleaded with her, I didn't want her drawing any more of them to us.
“Don't tell me to fucking calm down!” she yelled.
I tried to comfort her, placing a hand on her arm but she smacked my arm away. Then she started crying, but it was more noise than anything, she was whaling and getting completely hysterical.
I took a few steps back, not knowing what to do.
“Shut her up!” Drew growled.
“I can't, she's hysterical.”
“Then I will.” Drew raised his crossbow.
I stared at him, frozen in time as what he had said registered in my head. His eyes flickered to me, like he was waiting for me to tell him to stop... but I didn't.
The whaling and screams stopped a moment later and the trees became eerily quiet. He walked in front of me and bent down near her, he pulled out his arrow and walked back to the river.
I took a deep breath, and looked up at the trees, watching the birds, getting lost for a few seconds.
“You caught one,” Drew said, pulling me back to reality.
I looked back at him, he was holding the fishing rod I had chucked on the ground which still had a fish attached to it. “Not a bad size either.” he added.
I stared at Stacey's dead body on the ground and barely noticed Drew standing next to me.
“We need to go now. If those guys are around here then they would have heard her, that goes for deadbies too.”
“Okay.” I said but it came out as barely a whisper.
I didn't know how I felt about Stacey being dead, or how I felt about Drew killing her. But she had been bitten and was going to die no matter what, like me, the only difference was I didn't turn into a hysterical screaming toddler.
Drew started to leave but soon came back to me when he realized I wasn't moving and was still staring at Stacey.
“I know what you're thinking, but we don't have time to dig a grave, and we don't even have any spades.” Drew said.
“You should leave me, I'm a burden.”
“You're not a burden.”
“Yes I am, you're only doing this because you feel like you have to.”
“Alex,” Drew sighed. “You're not a burden to me. Now can we please start walking, or do I have to carry you?”
“No, my legs still work fine.”
“Then get your shit and let's get outta here.”
I took one last look at Stacey. The sun glinted through the leaves and warmed my face and for some strange reason, I felt as though a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I quickly, and silently said my goodbyes. Evan was right, she wasn't a survivor.
We followed the river and walked for a good hour before Drew decided it was okay to stop for a bit. He cleaned and gutted the fish while I built a fire, I wasn't completely useless yet.
We ate in silence, I was on one side of the tree, Drew was around the other side. After we had finished, he walked over to the water and crouched down with his back to me.
“Are you mad at me?” he asked, washing his hands in the river.
“No, I'm not mad at you.”
“It's just.. you're being really quiet. I'm used to you being the chatty one.”
I looked over at him to find him watching me.
“I was just thinking about Stacey, is it weird I don't feel remotely sad that she's dead? I kinda miss Jasper and Luke, but Stacey, not so much.”
“Were you close to her?”
“I thought we were, we shared a cell, she shared her secrets and crushes with me, I dunno... I just think I'm numb to death now.”
“It's the best way to be.”
“You know she once asked me if zombies had two stomachs because they're always hungry. I tried to explain to her they were still human inside, not frickin' aliens.”
Drew chuckled.
“She was told not to come in the first place, this was her fault, and she shouldn't have run away from me. Anyway, she wouldn't have lasted long, that bite looked bad, she would have died from blood loss. You did the right thing.” I said.
“Good. As long as we're okay.”
“We're okay.” I smiled at him and he looked satisfied with my answer. Was he really that concerned about me?
“So where to now? I'm completely lost, I have no idea where the road is, or which way we came from just now.”
He picked up his crossbow and held out a hand to me.
“Let's hit the road.” he said, waiting for me to take his hand.
It was strange, I had watched Drew shoot Stacey without hesitation but for some reason, I wasn't afraid of him. It was like I knew he wouldn't do that to me... even if I begged him I was sure he'd refuse.
I knew Josh had told Drew to follow me and look after me but he didn't have to. He could have easily left me to fend for myself, or killed me in a heartbeat. There was something else keeping him here with me but I couldn't put my finger on it. There was something else.
He smiled at me and wiggled his fingers, still waiting for me to take his hand.
With everything that was going on, Drew somehow had a way of making me forget.
Drew led me back to the road, and we wandered along it, keeping to the trees. We stopped for a few short breaks so I could have a drink and rest for a moment. But I wanted to keep going as much as Drew did. We both wanted to get out of these woods and away from what was hiding in them. I used to feel kind of safe hidden in the trees, now I felt vulnerable. We were on unfamiliar terrain and I wanted to get away from it. I was still worried we were going to walk into Gil's base camp. Drew was almost certain Gil came from a town, but I still wasn't so sure. I didn't feel so tired and achy today so I assured Drew we could keep walking, but I was sure my legs were going to pay for it tomorrow.
We carried on our journey and stopped just before nightfall, sharing a tin of spam and spaghetti for dinner. I got less than three hours sleep, I was jumpy and every noise had me awake in seconds, Drew was the same. I think he was still worried about Gil's men catching us but he didn't say that out loud. I think he was up most of the night keeping a lookout. I did offer but he refused and said we'd be okay hidden away at the bottom of an old, large tree which had gnarly roots the size of my waist. I curled up and wedged myself between two thick roots. Drew promised me he would get some rest, but I don't think he even closed his eyes.
Chapter 12
Day 6
Slow reflexes, fatigue, and a headache that won't piss off.
After a slee
pless night, I managed to wake up after three or four (not so gentle) shakes from Drew. We had been walking since before dawn. Drew had woken me up when it was still dark, wanting to move again. The day had dragged on and I was so tired.
And after hours of looking at trees and nothing else, we finally came across a building at the side of the road. It was a smallish building, with a pull in gravel parking lot with a low wooden fence around the outside with one car parked in it.
As we moved closer I could see a sign on the outside of the building, Darlene's Deer Cafe. There was even a picture of a smiling deer above the door. The front of the cafe had tall glass windows running the length of it.
Drew slowed down without warning and I walked into him.
“What is it?” I asked, trying to see over his shoulder but he grabbed my arm and pulled me behind a tree with him.
“You think there's someone in there?”
“I can see something moving inside.”
“Deadbie? Human? Animal?”
“It's tall and on two legs.”
We both peeked around the tree, watching whatever it was walking up and down the cafe.
“Deadbie!” we both said at the same time.
“If I tell you to stay here are you going to listen?”
“Probably not, I like to wander.”
“Well, stay close.” he said before slipping between two trees.
We hurried through the trees and over to the cafe, but we stayed hidden from view, watching the deadbie inside.
“There's no way in the front unless we break the glass, and I don't really want to do that. You don't know what will show up if we smash the glass.” Drew said, then he spotted something across the road and froze.
“Drew? What's wrong?” I asked on edge, trying to see what he was looking at.
“Nuffin, just another deadbie.” he whispered. “Come on, let's see what's around the back.”
We both crept around the back, trying to be as quiet as possible but me being me, I managed to trip over a crate.
“Sorry.” I cringed.
On the way we past a manky dumpster that was well overdue to be emptied, and had garbage spilling out at the sides.
