by D. K Lake
“Did you get separated from your friends?”
“Yes, there was this group of men.” I shook my head not wanting to think about Luke or go into too much detail about the whole thing. “I got away with Drew.”
“And you were all traveling to Colorado?”
“Yes, but now I don't know where any of them are, they could all be dead.”
“Do you think they're dead?”
“I hope not, but I don't think I'll see any of them again.”
Well, not me anyway. Once Drew got me to Argon, he would leave me and go and find his friends if they were still alive. I didn't know how long I had left. A few more days in this heat and I might pass out from heat exhaustion, that's why I wanted to stay here tomorrow and rest. I wasn't used to the heat, back at the prison I could stay indoors out of the sun, out here it was sun all day long. If we hadn't have found the stream I don't know what we would have done.
I looked over my shoulder trying to see if I could spot Drew, but I couldn't. Two of the wolves were asleep under the tarpaulin but one was sitting a little way out, watching the darkness.
“The wolves won't chase after Drew, will they?”
“No, not unless he makes the noises they make, they hate those noises, them groans and screams.”
“I think everyone hates those noises.”
Anton poured me a drink, he had boiled the water he had brought back from the stream and divided it into two containers, one was for drinking and one was for cleaning hands and washing up cutlery. I didn't tell him we both lapped up the water in the stream without boiling it.
I tipped the water into my water bottle, I thought it best to stick to my own bottle, Anton didn't say anything about it.
Anton ducked inside his tent, and I untied my hoodie and pulled it over my head, even though we were in the hot desert the nights were cool.
He came back out with a box but I couldn't quite see what it was, “A game of Scrabble?” he suggested, showing me the box.
“Sure. Why not?”
After a game of Scrabble, Anton gave me a blanket and I settled down under the tarpaulin, a good distance away from the wolf that had found me the first time. I felt safe with the wolves as our alarm system, but I was still wary of them. Anton insisted I was safe and the wolves would not hurt me, but it still didn't make me feel any better, I didn't want to wake up being gnawed on.
Drew had since returned and brought back his own dinner, he even built his own fire in the distance. I didn't bother him and let him get on with it.
I laid down on my back, at the edge of the tarpaulin so I could gaze up at the night sky, there wasn't a single cloud in sight, only stars. I glanced over at Anton to see what he was doing, he was eating what looked like a creepy crawly of some sort. Gross! I tilted my head to see what Drew was doing, he was sitting in the minivan seats, picking at the underneath of his boots, probably checking for holes.
After Anton had finished eating God-knows-what, he rolled out his sleeping bag and laid on top of it and the two sleeping wolves got up and went over to him, and laid down either side of him. Then Anton rolled onto his side, facing me, staring at me with his big, brown eyes. It was creepy and what Drew had said earlier about what men want after they cook a woman dinner crossed my mind. I quickly rolled over, turning my back on Anton. What if I was wrong and he wasn't to be trusted? What if he killed us in our sleep? What if he tried to rape me? No, he would have done it straight away, what was the point of feeding us and giving us shelter to just kill us or rape me? I shifted around uncomfortably and closed my eyes, and tried to ignore the crazy thoughts running through my head, like what Anton may possibly want to do to me.
Shuffling behind me, and something knocking into my back made me jump. I rolled onto my back, ready to fight off Anton, and found Drew smirking back at me as he settled down next to me. He laid down beside me, our shoulders touching.
“I thought you were...” I whispered, looking over his shoulder at Anton.
I thought it was Anton creeping up on me.
“Yeah, I thought as much. I saw the looks you were giving him, don't worry, he'll have to go through me first before he gets you.” he whispered back to me.
I laid still, listening to the nocturnal animals of the desert, hoping a snake wouldn't slither anywhere near me.
A cold chill made me shiver and Drew pulled a blanket over to cover my legs. He rested his arm behind his head, looking up at the sky. And I found myself gradually wriggling closer to him for warmth. I turned onto my side so I was facing him, still feeling a little cold.
Drew tilted his head to look down at me while I shivered beside him. He then abruptly started lifting his arm from where I had snuggled up beside him. Maybe it was a little too much for him. Some girl he hardly knew, trying to get close to him, an infected girl as well. But instead of moving away he held his arm up, inviting me to come closer. Another cold chill had me practically jumping into his arms. He wrapped his arm around my back, making sure my blanket was still covering me. I would have thought this would have been a bit weird, but oddly it wasn't. He stayed on his back, with his other arm behind his head, looking up at the stars, not saying anything, and I snuggled into his chest, I even had one of my legs resting over his.
“You smell like the ocean.” I blurted after a few minutes of us lying together in silence.
He chuckled. “It's my deodorant.” he said, still holding onto me tightly.
“What deodorant? You don't have any. You used Josh's last time and that smelled of pine trees. I should know I had to use it as well.”
He chuckled.“No, but I have been wearing this T-shirt for well over a week. It's still got my old deodorant scent on it.”
“Oh, gross!” I said, lightly smacking his chest. “You know, I should really be disgusted, but for a week-old shirt, you smell pretty good.” I said without thinking. “I mean, you don't sweat buckets like me.” Okay, that sounded even worse. I promptly shut up before I said anything else stupid.
“Your hair smells like cherries.” Drew said.
“Good guess, it's the shampoo I used last.” I replied, playing with the cord from my hoodie.
“You warmed up?” he asked.
I wanted to say no. For once I was enjoying the human contact. I didn't want him to let go. But he'd probably had enough of my infected body lying across him.
“Yeah, I have, thank you.” I lifted my head about to move away.
“Where are you going?” he mumbled.
I thought I was hearing things so I placed my hand on his chest and tried to push myself up, but he kept his arm firmly around me, preventing me from going anywhere.
“Alex, stay, you're not the only one that's cold tonight.”
I looked at his bare arms and realized he slept every night in just a T-shirt, he never untied the long-sleeved, checkered shirt from around his waist. If he was really cold he could use that.
I rested my head back on his chest. “I just thought you wouldn't want the dying girl on top of you for too long.” I whispered.
“Well... you're not... dead.. yet.” he responded as though he was already half asleep.
“Drew?”
“Hmm..”
“Drew!”
“Yes? I'm still awake.” he mumbled.
“Are you sure we're safe here?”
“Ye-yes. Think so.”
Think so?
But a second later Drew's breathing changed and he was asleep. He obviously saw no threat from Anton otherwise, he wouldn't have even considered going to sleep tonight.
Chapter 15
Day 13
Sore legs, floppy arms, useless body! Oh, yeah, and now I'm puking.
I woke up with a jolt. A gust of wind had caused the tarpaulin to rattle above my head.
It's just the tarpaulin, Alex, calm down.
Drew was already awake and sitting on a rock, holding his crossbow. Anton was by the fire cooking something on a stick. The wolves were lying in the shade
beside the rock wall.
“Hungry?” Anton asked, holding up the stick which had a grilled lizard on the end.
“Uh... no, I'm not hungry.”
No more baked beans and chips. I thought, feeling a little disappointed.
I stretched my arms and I must have stretched a little too much as my bite mark suddenly pulled and stung under the dressing. I flinched and made a little noise.
Anton turned to look at me.
“I think I must have pulled a muscle or something.” I said, trying to brush it off as nothing before I drew too much attention to myself.
Now all I wanted to do was scratch it. I waited until Anton looked away before I gave it a quick scratch which only made the itch worse. I think it needed cleaning and a fresh dressing.
I picked up my water bottle and took a few swigs. Drew looked my way and I smiled to say, hi. His lips twitched but he quickly wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. I got up and went over to Anton.
“Anton, I don't suppose you have any medical supplies in your tent?”
It felt rude to ask but it was ruder to snoop through his stuff when his back was turned.
“I ..uh, I have really bad blisters on my feet where my boots have rubbed.”
Anton stood up still chewing his lizard, walked over to his tent and ducked inside. He came back out with a First Aid box.
“This any good?”
“Yeah, that's great.” I said as he handed the box to me.
“I was going to go back to the stream and clean up,” I said, aiming my comment at Drew but he didn't respond.
“On your own?” Anton said.
“I'll be fine, I've got this if I need it,” I said, resting my hand on the knife at my side.
I was about to leave with the box when Anton stopped me, “Wait, I have something else for you.”
I waited patiently while he crawled back into his tent, he came back out with a handful of clothes and walked over to me, and placed them on top of the First Aid box. I looked down at what Anton had given me, an AC/DC T-shirt, clean underwear, (male boxer briefs but I wasn't complaining), and a pair of clean socks.
“And a new bar of soap.” Anton said, placing it on top, the words, Hot Springs Motel, were engraved into the soap.
I grinned and looked at Drew. “Clean clothes.” I said.
Drew didn't look impressed. Anton smiled and went back to his fire, and I wandered over to Drew.
“Maybe if you were a little friendlier he'd find you some clean clothes. You're starting to smell.” It was a lie, he wasn't the one that was starting to smell, it was the dressing under my T-shirt. Drew sniffed under his arm and I tried not to laugh.
I started walking, and soon had to stop to take off my hoodie and tie it around my waist. I didn't know what the time was but the sun was already high in the sky and I think Drew and Anton had been up a while. My boots crunched over the hot desert floor and it took longer than I remembered to get back to the stream. When I got there I took a few minutes to look up and down to make sure there were no deadbies around. I sat down at the edge, kicked off my boots, and tugged off my T-shirt. I twisted around and carefully peeled off the dressing. The bite mark looked manky and a trickle of pus started to leak from it.
“Eww!” I said, flinging the dirty dressing aside and using my dirty, unwashed T-shirt to stop the dripping pus.
I quickly got to work and opened the First Aid box. I wrung my T-shirt out in the stream and tried my best to reach around and clean it. It was so sore and I flinched every time I touched it and I was trying to be as gentle as possible. I didn't know if it would help or make it worse but I had to do something, I didn't want Anton to smell it.
I was distracted rinsing off my T-shirt, when a large shadow loomed over me. My hand flew to my knife as I snapped my head around.
“Jeezzzz!! Drew! Don't sneak up on me like that.”
“I thought you might want some help with your blisters.”
“I don't have any blisters.”
“I know.” he said, crouching down behind me.
I was only wearing my leggings and bra, and quickly covered my chest with one arm and peered over my shoulder at him.
He trailed a finger down my back and it still caused an electric shiver to course through my body which made every hair on my body stand up. I was about to stand up when he placed one hand on my shoulder to stop me going anywhere.
“What are you doing? Get away!” I said, trying to smack his hand away, I didn't want him looking at my bite...or smelling it.
“Just lookin',”
“Well, stop it!”
“No. You haven't cleaned it properly, there's pus and shit still comin' out of it, you need to squeeze it.”
“What! No! Don't. You. Dare.”
I tried to get up but Drew kept his hand firmly on my shoulder.
“Hold still.” he said, and I felt his fingers prodding my back, it felt like he was sticking them in an open wound it felt so sore.
“Ouch! That hurts like a bitch, stop that!”
“You should see what's comin' outta it .”
“I'd rather not, and I'd rather you not see it either.”
“It's infected as fuck, you need to get the gunk out and clean it.”
“Infected? Is that a joke? I'm already infected, and what would you have me clean it with? We have no alcohol or antibiotics.”
“No, but if Anton has some salt in that tent of his we could mix it with warm water and clean it.”
“Sure, remind me to ask him when we get back. I can say I need it for my french fries.”
“Don't be smart, Pretty,”
Pretty? Did he just call me pretty?
“Pretty?” I said, but he ignored me so I carried on our previous conversation.
“I'm just stating the obvious. If I ask him for salt he'll want to know what it's for, and I can't exactly boil a pot of water and strip in front of him.”
“You stripped in front of me.”
“No, I didn't. You just snuck up on me half dressed. Owww!” I squealed, flinching away.
“Give me that,” he said, holding his hand over my shoulder.
I handed him my damp T-shirt and he cleaned my back.
“That should do it.” he said, letting go of my shoulder and standing up, then he crouched down by the water and washed his hands off.
“So what do you make of Anton, do you think he's dangerous?”
“No. I think if he was he would have had his dogs kill us when they first found us.”
“You mean wolves.”
“Whatever.”
“Why are you being such a grouch?”
“'Cause I think we should leave. I don't think we should stay another night here.”
“Why not? You just told me you don't think Anton's dangerous.”
“I don't think he is dangerous, but what do you think he'll say if he sees your back?”
I ignored his question. “Why didn't you ask Anton to let you have some clothes? I'm sure he has some more spare.”
“I don't want his clothes.”
“Uh-huh.” I said, trying to suppress a giggle as he pulled his boxer shorts down from riding up too high.
He was still wearing Josh's floral boxer shorts.
He caught me laughing. “I hate these boxers, they're too damn small!”
“Well, you're not having these.” I said, grabbing the clothes Anton had given me.
“We should leave today.” Drew said, reaching out and grabbing my arm.
“We've been walking for days, my legs need a break. If you don't think Anton's dangerous then we'll just refuel for a few days and move on.” I said, pulling free.
“A few days? Yesterday it was one day, now it's a few days. You'll soon be wanting to spend the week... You may not have many weeks left.”
“I don't need reminding.” I said through gritted teeth. “I'm going to get washed... over there.”
“Don't let me stop you.” he replied, going ove
r to a rock and sitting down.
I gathered my things and paddled through the stream to the other side and kept walking. I stopped and looked back at Drew, he was facing the other way with his back to me.
I stripped off the rest of my clothes and squatted down in the water. It felt good to finally be able to have a wash and clean the desert dirt off my skin. Most of the time I kept looking back at Drew to make sure he wasn't peeking, and the rest of the time I was scanning the rock slope to make sure no deadbies were going to roll down it and land in the stream. After I was done, I quickly tiptoed back to the edge and pulled on the clean boxers and got my bra done up as fast as possible. I turned around to look for Drew and saw a deadbie stumbling down the rocky verge toward me. Drew was still perched on the rock looking the other way. I quickly searched the ground for my knife and realized I had left it back on the ground where Drew was. The deadbie's clothes were hanging off in tatty rags, its skin was reddish and it had blisters all over its face from the scorching hot sun. I looked around at what I could use and the only thing I spotted was a large tree branch lying on the ground across the stream. I ran across the stream, letting out a small yelp when I trod on a sharp rock hidden in the water.
I grabbed the branch and spun around to face the deadbie. It skidded down the slope with a wobble but quickly regained its balance and splashed through the water toward me.
“Drew!” I called, but he remained unfazed...that or he was purposely ignoring me.
I gripped the branch and took a deep breath, and braced myself. I took a step back as it approached, and another step, I had underestimated its height, I was a lot shorter and I had to swing high. I took one swing and barely clipped the thing on the chin. I swung again and managed to smack it on the nose. Why did I have to be so short? I took another step back and trod on a large stone which caused my ankle to give out under me and I fell onto my butt. The deadbie lunged toward me and crawled through the dirt, quickly reaching my feet. Its nails scraped the side of my foot and I wriggled backwards trying to put enough space between me and it so I could get back on my feet, but it caught my foot in its hand and dug its nails into my skin. I squealed as its nails broke the skin and I shoved the sharp end of the branch straight into its eye before it could get its teeth in my foot. I twisted the branch and heard a squelching sound as I pushed it further into its eye socket. Then all of a sudden Drew appeared and shot it in the head, and it was all over in a blink of an eye.
