by Lake, D. K
“Alex,” Lane called softly.
I didn't answer hoping he would get the picture.
“How close have you come to getting bitten?... Alex?”
“Pretty close, okay? Now can you please stop talking so I can get some sleep... or am I going to have to use that duct tape on you?”
“Getting kinky are we? Well, we're halfway there, you've already tied me up.”
“Goodnight, Lane,” I said, closing my eyes again.
Not even a minute had gone by before he started again.
“Alex... Alex, Alex?”
“What?” I snapped.
“Thanks,”
“For what?”
“For letting me tag along.”
“Night, Lane.”
“Night, Alexia.”
I couldn't help the small smile that appeared on my lips. No one ever called my Alexia, not many people even knew it was my real name.
I settled down, but didn't close my eyes this time and did what I did most nights. I stared into the darkness until my eyes could no longer stay open. There was nothing comfortable about sleeping in a tree. To be honest, I only ever got around four hours sleep every night. I was surprised at Lane, after saying he wasn't tired he was asleep within half an hour, snoring like a pig, and, of course, every time I drifted off one of his extra loud snores woke me up. It's not like I could kick him to make him stop as I couldn't even reach him. Maybe been on my own wasn't such a bad thing, with Lane around I wasn't going to get any sleep. I ended up cushioning my blanket over my head and around my ears, it helped to drown him out... a little. I would just have to sacrifice staying warm so I could get some sleep.
Chapter 6
A scream filled the air, causing me to jolt upright, only the rope didn't restrain me as it should have. It was now loose around my waist, and I quickly lost my balance and fell sideways off the branch. I reached out, desperately trying to grab anything I could, but it was to no avail. I wasn't quick enough to land safely and instead landed awkwardly on my leg and then fell onto my front. It was still dark, but the moon was bright, shining through the gaps in the trees.
I rolled over and sat up, wondering what had happened... then I remembered the scream. “Shit.”
I pushed myself off the ground and managed to stand up, the rope had fallen down with me and was twisted around my legs. I was still trying to get out of it when something crashed into me. I landed back on the ground, quickly lifting my head up to see what had knocked me down. “What the hell, Lane?”
“Run!” he shouted.
“What?”
“There are tons of zombies heading this way.”
“What?” I repeated, trying to stand up again, but my leg wasn't cooperating.
“Can you walk?” he asked.
“Not at current, thanks to you.”
“Alex, we gotta get outta here.”
“No, I can't go anywhere and all my stuff is up the tree.”
Another scream... I turned to Lane and spotted his rucksack on the ground.
“Grab it, quick, and get back up the tree.”
He picked it up and we quickly scrambled up the tree. Lane was right behind me, urging me to hurry, but my leg was still sore from the tumble. All of a sudden I heard Lane yelling obscenities behind me, then he dropped to the ground again. I looked over my shoulder to see a zombie had yanked Lane from the tree and they were now both on the ground.
I had two options, I could either forget about ever meeting Lane Walker and climb back up the tree... or I could climb back down and help (and possibly get killed in the process). When I reached the bottom of the tree, Lane was nowhere... and the zombie was gone. The shovel had disappeared from beside the tree, and when I reached for my gun... it was gone. I scooped up Lane's rucksack and dug around inside it.
A loud gurgling sound stopped me in my tracks. A tall zombie lurched toward me... and I thought Lane was tall, this zombie was like, giant tall. I started backing away pulling out random items from Lane's bag and chucking them at the zombie to distract it while I searched for the meat pounder which appeared to have vanished.
The keys went first, then a comic book, followed by a random piece of clothing, deodorant can, each time I aimed for the zombie's eyes. Then I got my hands on a corkscrew. I stepped up onto the log and waited until the zombie was close enough, then I lunged forward, stabbing the corkscrew into the zombie's eye. It let out an annoyed grunt and I jumped off the log.
The zombie twirled around in a circle and walked backward, and while it was temporarily distracted, smacking itself in the face, trying to figure out why it couldn't see out of one eye, I had a chance to locate the meat pounder.
The zombie was still flailing its arms around confused by what had happened, and I took the moment to run behind it and jam my foot into the back of its knee. I needed it on the ground. Ramming my foot into the back of a zombie's knee was becoming my signature move, it was the easiest way I had found of dealing with them, by getting them on the ground and pouncing while they were down.
It fell forward onto its knees and I gave it a shove in the back with my foot, causing it to fall forward and onto its face.
I didn't think about what I did next, I never did, I had no choice. I stood over it and started hitting it in the head as hard as I could. Its arms jerked around and every time it tried to get up I stood on its back and pushed it back into the ground. It let out a few groans but didn't put up much of a fight. My hand felt wet with zombie blood, but I didn't stop. Another groaning noise caught my attention. Zombie number two was heading my way, this one a little faster than the last.
I backed away getting ready to dive under its arm when another figure appeared, running toward me, but lost its footing and stumbled to the ground beside me.
“Where did you go?” I asked, still backing away.
“I was leading the other one away,” Lane replied, quickly jumping to his feet and hiding behind me. I sidestepped around the dead zombie hoping my plan would work. The moving zombie tripped over the dead one and I jumped back not wanting it to touch me, but I bumped into Lane and the moving zombie clawed its way down my jeans as it fell. I quickly bashed it in the head before it got back up. Another screaming zombie appeared from the trees and ran straight into the log and toppled over it.
Damn zombies were retarded, they couldn't even figure out how to step over a tree log. Lane was still using me as a human shield. I had since changed from pounding the zombie in the head with the meat pounder to crushing its skull in with my boot. The newbie zombie that was already back on its feet, screaming and running toward us, had managed to get its feet tangled in the rope. Lane must have seen it as well because he left my side, running over to the zombie, skidding across the ground, through dirt and leaves, and pulling the rope with him. The zombie fell face first onto the ground.
I stopped my skull crushing for a moment to see if the zombie was going to get up again. It didn't move. Lane was on his feet dragging the newbie zombie over to me.
“Got you a present,” Lane said, walking past me, dragging the zombie closer.
“Remind me to thank you later,” I said, kicking the lively zombie in the face.
“How many did you see before?”
“Tons!”
“How many is tons?”
“Alex, look out!” Lane yelled, pushing me out of the way.
Another zombie had turned up and was in the process of trying to tackle Lane to the ground, another newbie, it was stronger and faster, and screaming like a school girl. Lane lost his balance and went down, and I realized I was lying side by side with the other newbie. It noticed me and tried to claw at me, but I rolled out of reach and got to my feet, kicking it in the face again, while reaching over it to grab the rope. I ran toward Lane, he was on the ground, holding the hungry zombie back at arms length. I looped the rope around the zombie's neck and yanked it backward and off Lane. I dragged it across the ground and stuck my knee into its back and knelt on it, letti
ng go of the rope and using both hands to whack it in the head with the meat pounder. I glanced over my shoulder, not forgetting there was another zombie, but Lane had located his shovel and was smacking it in the head already.
The zombie underneath me stopped squirming and I climbed off it and went over to Lane. He still hadn't killed the zombie he was dealing with, more like stunned it, every time it moved he gave it a tap on the head with the shovel.
“Give me that,” I said, snatching it away and plunging it into the zombie's neck, it was harder than it looked and I ended up jumping on the shovel for the desired effect.
The shovel eventually pushed through to the ground and I kicked its head into the trees. “I've got fucking zombie brains all over my Chuck Taylors,” Lane complained.
I gave him a hard shove and he stumbled backward.
“What was that for?” he asked.
“I fell out of the tree. What happened? What were you doing out of the tree?”
“I had to use the bathroom.”
“The bathroom? Are you kidding me, couldn't you have just taken a piss from up there?” “It wasn't that kind of calling.”
“Huh?”
“I needed a number two.”
“Too much info Lane. So just for the record does tons of zombies mean four or five? Or are there more?”
“No. I think this looks like all of them. I never did get to go to the bathroom, they caught me with my pants down.”
“Well, I'm not stopping you.”
“I think I'll hold it,” Lane said.
“Ugh! What's the time anyway?” I asked, checking my watch, but it was too dark to see it. “5.23am.” Lane said, looking up from his digital watch.
I pushed the meat pounder against his chest which he caught and I stalked back over to the tree. “Are you mad at me?”
I ignored him and pulled myself up, not even bothering to look back to see what he was doing. I climbed back onto my branch, straddling it. My rope was still wrapped around the zombies. It could wait until sunrise, anyway, there was no way I was going back to sleep.
I heard him on the other side of the tree, but he didn't try to talk to me.
We sat there for another hour and a bit, and I listened to the early morning birds chirping as the sun came up.
When I was happy with the amount of sunshine, I grabbed my bag and climbed back down without speaking to Lane. I picked up my gun, I had spotted it on the ground from up in the tree. I tucked it safely back into my belt, just as Lane dropped down from the tree.
Then my eyes landed on a toilet paper roll that had rolled behind a tree. “Oh, my...” I walked over to it, stepping over a dead zombie and picked up the toilet paper.
“Is this mine? Did you go in my bag and steal my toilet paper last night?”
“I didn't have any.” Lane shrugged.
I shook my head. Lane Walker had stolen from me and nearly gotten me killed by zombies. I had to cut him loose.
He gathered his things that were strewn all over the place and put them back inside his rucksack. I rolled my blanket back up and detangled my rope from the zombies. When I was done, I caught Lane looking at me.
“Don't!” I said, adjusting my bag strap across my chest.
“I didn't say anything.” he said, avoiding my gaze and staring at one of the dead zombies. “You don't have to say anything. You're looking at me like I'm a crazy psycho that just set fire to a box of kittens. I killed a zombie, Lane, it's what I do, and it's what you're going to have to do if you want to stay alive. I haven't seen that many zombies in these woods for weeks, yes they're in the towns they always are, but rarely in the trees, there's nothing for them out here.” “And?” he said.
“And I run into you and a whole frigging horde of them turns up, and I risked my life saving your ass.”
I started walking away.
“Alex,” Lane called, jogging to catch up to me.
“Don't talk to me, better yet, start walking in the opposite direction.”
“You don't mean that.” he said, falling into step beside me.
“Yes, I do. I don't want to get killed because you're being an idiot. I mean, who takes a dump in the middle of the night in possible zombie infested woods?”
“Sorry if my metabolism doesn't agree with your zombie survival program.”
“Lane! I fell out of a tree. I could have seriously injured my leg.”
“But you didn't your leg is fine.”
“What is wrong with you? Can you not see what you did wrong? You didn't even tell me you had loosened the rope, I had no idea. I could have broken a bone and I would have become a zombie's breakfast.”
“I think you're blowing this out of the water a little,” Lane said.
“You nearly got me killed, and you just stood there watching, you weren't even participating at the start.”
“I don't like killing zombies and you were the one with the weapon. I didn't know where the shovel was so I stayed out of the way.”
“Lane, if you don't have a weapon then you use what you can, like your feet, they're not just for walking on.”
“I did, I kicked one.”
“You kicked one,” I laughed. “Let me guess you didn't want to get your hi-tops too dirty.” “Stop being such a bitch.”
“Well, stop being such an idiot and use your brain.”
When we reached the river I offloaded my bag and quickly dug out everything I needed. I wanted to get this over with.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I'm looking for a black hole,” I replied, still digging through my bag.
“No really?”
“I'm having a quick wash in the river if that's okay with you? Not all of us want to stink.” He held his hoodie out and sniffed inside the neck of it.
“That's so gross,” I said.
He leaned against a tree and pulled out his cigarettes.
“You're not washing?” I asked.
“I'll be the lookout, you can go first, I'll go afterward,” he said, smirking. “I'm good like that,” he added.
I ignored his rude comment and laid out my towel, clean underwear, and socks, then found my body wash and washcloth.
“I stood up and took off my denim jacket, watching Lane, not liking the idea of leaving my gun in his reach or my bag which had all of my supplies inside.
“I'm not waiting for you. After I'm done here I'm off, so you either get in the water with me or you can continue to stink for another couple of days. Your choice.” I said, lifting my hoodie over my head, hoping he would take the bait.
He lowered his unlit cigarette from his lips and slipped it back into the pack.
I removed my socks and boots and looked up to see Lane was doing the same. I made it down to my underwear and caught Lane staring at me.
“You lost weight.” he said.
“That's what happens when you don't have enough food.”
He undid his belt and unzipped his jeans and I turned away, feeling my cheek starting to burn. “So how are we going to do this?” he asked.
“Um, stay there until I'm in,” I said, trying not to turn around.
I unclasped my bra, quickly covering my breasts with my arm, then picked up my body wash and washcloth, and tiptoed to the water.
I took a moment to work up enough courage, I knew the water was going to be super cold. I waded in until the water came up to my waist.
Far enough. I thought.
I squatted down in the water until my chest was covered and then somehow managed to get my panties off, keeping my washcloth and body wash under my chin.
I tossed my underwear back onto the side of the riverbank, where Lane stood scratching his chest. “Is it cold?” he asked, still in his underwear.
“No, it's actually really warm.”
“I bet your nipples disagree.”
I looked away and started squeezing out some body wash onto my washcloth. I couldn't be bothered with my hair today, and I'd lost my bottle of
shampoo in the last river.
I heard Lane curse numerous times as he splashed his way over to me. He bopped down, then came back up.
“I can't get washed with you watching me,” I said.
“I'll just draw the imaginary shower curtain.” he said, flashing me a wicked grin. “Here, take this and start washing, keep your back to me, and no peeking, you understand?” “Yes ma'am.” he replied, taking the bottle from me.
“Can I borrow your washcloth?”
“I'm going to assume you're joking. You can use your hand... I bet you're good at that.” “Now who's been dirty?”
“Just start washing. It's freezing in here today.” I said, peeking over my shoulder to make sure he wasn't looking, then I stood up and washed my other areas.
“It's actually really warm.” Lane mimicked me.
I took a few extra minutes, scrubbing my face and in-between my toes.
“Are you done yet?” I asked, afraid to turn around, in case I got an eyeful.
“Yeah I'm done.”
I turned around in the water keeping my front covered. Lane was stood in the water which just about covered his lower half. He playfully splashed me.
“Stop that, I'm not in the mood.”
Lane rolled his eyes, he looked at the riverbank, then back at me.
“You need to wait there a minute. There's only one towel and I'm using it first.”
“Wanna bet?” he said.
I met his eyes, which had taken on a mischievous glint.
“Don't you dare,” I said, moving through the water, and Lane copied my movements. “Lane, that's not funny.”
He laughed and waded past me.
“No,” I squealed grabbing his arm, but my hand slipped down his wet arm and into his hand and he pulled me through the water with him.
When we reached the riverbank he dropped my hand and all I saw was Lane Walker's backside. He scooped up my towel and turned around holding it out in front of himself.
“You're a douchebag.” I mumbled, standing on the same spot, shivering, trying to cover all my body parts.
I diverted my eyes into the trees while he quickly dried himself down, and then he chucked the towel at me. I managed to catch it, but Lane still got an eyeful of my breasts.
