by Lake, D. K.
I walked back to the stream to fetch some more water to boil, the three of them had pretty much drained what we had already. Nick was sweating through his shirt and looked ridiculously uncomfortable but he refused to strip off, unlike Lane who had discarded of his t-shirt an hour ago and was quite happy for everyone to get an eyeful of his large biceps and abs. Josh kept his t-shirt on, obviously feeling a little jealous of Lane's physique. Josh wasn't unfit but he wasn't as tall and bulky like Lane. It actually looked like Lane had got bigger and had been working on his body while he had been at the mall. I wasn't in the mood to watch Lane and Josh squabble like kids, and Lane was more interested in getting my attention than teaching Nick to fight. He kept looking my way, checking to make sure I was watching him as he flexed his muscles and threw Josh around and when Josh had had enough of being thrown around he went back to turning the end of the rake into a sharp point for Nick. I moved away and went and sat on a log, I was too tired for this. Lane went back to showing Nick how to take a deadbie down without getting bitten but to me, it looked like a pair of friends messing around and rolling around on the ground and it didn't look very safe.
"What are they doing?" Drew asked, sneaking up on me.
"Lane is trying to show Nick how to take a deadbie down."
"Really? That's not what it looks like."
Nick switched positions with Lane and stood in front of Josh as he came towards him.
"This is worse than before I left." Drew joked, snorting down a laugh as Nick fell on his ass again. "He's standing all wrong."
"Well instead of finding fault and making fun, why don't you get over there and help." I suggested.
"You know some of us just aren't cut out for this, and I think Nick's one of them." Drew swallowed another laugh as Nick fumbled with the knife and it jumped out of his hands. "This is just terrible."
"Drew, go and help out, and stop laughing!" I whacked him on the arm but gasped when I realized what I had done but thankfully it was his uninjured arm.
"Yeah, don't do that again. I wouldn't have been happy if it had been the other arm." Drew said before walking towards the others.
I sat back down and tucked my knees up to my chest and listened to Drew as he explained the basics. He then made Josh come at him and he easily flipped him over and had him flat on his back and a knife positioned over his head, ready to stab. Josh looked a little shocked, obviously not expecting Drew to do that. Drew helped him up and he told him to come at him again and this time Josh was a little more careful, but Drew quickly grabbed his arm, whipped his own leg behind Josh's legs and he went down on his back again. Josh looked annoyed like he wasn't expecting a different move this time. When I said get in there and help I didn't mean get psychically involved. I was worried Drew would bust open his stitches.
"Drew, your stitches?" I reminded him, but he just shooed me away before turning to face Nick.
"Now, there may be times when you're cornered and don't have a weapon on hand and you have no choice but to face a deadbie one to one. You need to learn how to get them on the ground safely without getting bitten. It's easier to kill them when they're down and it takes them longer to get up, so while they're down there you can be looking for something to kill it or running away."
Nick listened and Drew showed Nick where to put his hands on Josh and what to do.
"This is good for humans as well, not everyone is friendly out here." Drew continued.
Nick had a go on Josh but Josh easily overpowered him the first few times until Drew stepped in again.
"Don't think about it, just do it. You spend to much time thinking it through."
Nick nodded and tried again as Josh rushed towards him again. Lane stood to the side, arms crossed, watching. Josh tried to grab Nick but Nick was quicker this time and flipped Josh over and had him on his back in a second.
"Like that?" Nick asked with a triumphant grin.
"Yup. That'll work." Drew grinned.
Josh laid on the ground looking confused by what just happened.
"Have you ever hit anyone?" Drew asked.
"No." Nick jumped up.
"I think you should learn. Some people just kill first, they don't ask questions or get to know you, they just want what's in your bag." Drew said.
"What, scented candles?" Josh joked.
Drew ignored him and showed Nick how to make a fist and where to punch, using Josh as the dummy. I walked closer and stood next to Lane, Drew was better at this stuff even if Josh had been trained back in the army he was rusty now and had spent too much time in the prison, chilling and messing around in the gym. Nick threw punches and Josh dodged them and Nick just got frustrated.
"Switch to defense." Drew ordered and Josh started throwing the punches while Nick tried his best to dodge and block the attacks but he was slow. Josh never actually hit him, he would stop a split second before contact.
"This is useless. I'm no good." Nick said with sagging shoulders.
"You'll get better. You just need more training. We're going to be on the road for a while, I'm sure we can fit some training in each day while we stop for food." Drew suggested.
If we find any food. I thought.
"Ok, let's go again." Drew instructed and explained what he wanted him to do and this time Nick had to defend himself and try to get a sneaky punch in when the attacker wasn't expecting it.
Nick blocked Drew's punch, and then tried to punch him in the gut but Drew jumped back, grabbed Nick's arm and was about to flip him over but he didn't.
"Ah...damn, I wasn't quick enough." Nick moaned.
"You'll get it." Drew said, placing a hand on Nick's shoulder. "You did ok. You need practice, and we need to work on combat using weapons, and your stick could work really well if used properly."
"He thinks he knows everything." Lane scoffed under his breath.
"You think you can do better?" I said, looking sideways at him.
"Of course, I'm bigger than him." Oh boy.
"Size isn't everything." I rolled my eyes and looked back at Drew who was smiling as though he had heard us talking.
I walked back over to the fire and filled the bottles again and tidied everything away as we were getting ready to leave in a minute, but Drew was goading Lane and he was taking the bait.
"Come on, Lane. Show your brother how it's done? Or are you worried about getting that pretty face of yours all messed up?" Drew teased and I could tell by his tone of voice and the hidden smirk on his face that he was trying to rile up Lane.
Lane scoffed. "You're all arms and legs and no muscle, I wouldn't want to hurt your pretty face either."
"Well, it's a good thing I'm not bothered about my face then." Drew raised an eyebrow, waiting for Lane to jump in.
Josh and Nick exchanged looks and moved out of the way and Lane shook his head, laughing it off as he walked into the circle area where they had been fighting and stood opposite Drew.
"Ok, I'll try not to hit your face." Lane smirked and quickly added "Too hard." under his breath.
"Here we go." I sighed.
Lane cracked his neck from side to side and Drew pulled off his t-shirt and tossed it at me and it hit me in the face as I was caught off guard. I hadn't seen Drew with his shirt off since that time we stopped in the woods and he took all of his clothes off and washed up in the river. My heart fumbled a beat. He was lean and muscular, and he caught me checking him out and I quickly looked away. He stood waiting for Lane to come at him, legs apart, elbows bent, with a smile on his face.
"Ready?" he asked Lane.
Lane didn't answer and just ran at him, charging into him like a bull and taking him down to the ground.
"Your stitches!" I fretted.
Drew didn't hear me and was quick to get the first punch in, smashing Lane's face to the side, and shoving him off of him. Drew jumped up and waited for Lane to get back up on his feet. Lane was sort of laughing as he straightened up and went after Drew again. This time Lane tried to punch Drew in th
e face but it was as though we were watching it in slow motion as Drew swiftly dodged the attack, grabbed Lane's arm and flipped him over.
"Whoa...that's gotta hurt." Josh said.
Lane grumbled, rolled over and jumped up again and beckoned Drew to come at him. Drew moved closer and ducked out of the way of Lane's punch, and then again, laughing each time Lane missed like it was some sort of game until Lane managed to get one hit in and punched Drew dead on the nose and his nose started bleeding. Drew scowled at Lane and barreled into him, knocking him off his feet and then he straddled him and started throwing punches at him. Unlike Nick's training session, Drew and Lane were actually beating the crap out of each other. Lane rolled Drew off of him and held him down and punched him again and again, and then Drew grabbed Lane's arms, leaned up and headbutted him.
"Should we stop them?" Josh asked confused about what was happening but showed no sign of stopping them.
I shook my head and sighed, this was silly, fighting each other like this. They weren't just messing around anymore, this was serious and they were hurting each other. I didn't even know why they were fighting? Was it a rivalry thing, were they fighting to show who was the better fighter, or maybe all that testosterone had gone to their heads?
I handed my hockey stick to Nick and marched into the circle and leaned over Drew who had overpowered Lane again and was on top of him, throwing punches.
"Hey! Cut it out!" I yelled and grabbed Drew's shoulder but his elbow shot out and connected with my face and I stumbled backward and fell on my butt.
Josh finally decided to jump in instead of just watching them and managed to pull Drew off of Lane.
"You're a dick!" Lane said angrily.
"And you hit like my grandma." Drew spat, wiping the blood off his face before noticing me on the ground and he realized it was me he hit in the face. Nick helped me off the ground and brushed me down, yes, he actually did that. Lane came to my side real quick and pulled my hand away from my face and I was just glad my nose wasn't bleeding.
"Alex, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-" Drew started my way but Lane's arm shot out.
"Don't touch her!" Lane growled.
"Stop it! I'm fine!" I snapped, pushing past Lane. "Can we please go already, that is, if you've finished squabbling like little kids over a candy bar?" I snatched my hockey stick from Nick and headed over to where the fire was and stomped on it, grabbed my bag and started walking away.
I was not going to be their candy bar to fight over.
Chapter 14
I ignored them both. Josh followed closely behind me but didn't say much, I think he knew something was up and I didn't want to talk to anyone, and Lane and Nick were way behind us, trailing along. And Drew was...I had no idea. I looked over my shoulder but couldn't see him anywhere so I scanned the trees, he had to be somewhere nearby. I heard footsteps running up behind me.
"Hey, um...Nick wants to talk to you about uh...Washington." Lane said.
"Um, sure." Josh agreed happily and dropped back to where Nick was walking.
I doubted he really wanted to talk, Lane had probably asked him to keep Josh busy so he could talk to me. Lane jogged to catch up with me and we walked in silence for a few minutes before he finally worked up enough courage to speak to me because he knew I was pissed.
"So um...are you ignoring me?" Lane asked.
I looked sideways and surveyed the damage. He had a small cut on his eyebrow and his left eye had a purplish tint to it, the beginning of a bruise.
"No, why would you think that?" I mocked.
"I feel like you're mad."
"That's because I am." I said, pulling a face at the same time but my cheek felt sore from where Drew had elbowed me. I touched the tender skin and just knew it would bruise.
"I know, he's a total dick for hitting you."
"What? That's not why I'm mad!" I looked up at him with a deep frown. "Seriously, Lane, you think that's why I'm mad?"
"So you're not mad that Drew hit you in the face?"
"No...I mean, I am mad at him for getting into a fight with you but not for hitting me. And I'm mad at you for the same reason."
"He started it." Lane scuffed his white trainers along the road, it was the first time I realized he wasn't wearing his red Chucks anymore.
"Started what? Why were you two fighting in the first place?"
"Because the guy's an idiot."
"Why, because he's better at teaching Nick how to fight than you are?"
"You know that's not the reason why."
"Then maybe you can tell me what it was all about because I certainly don't know."
Ok, maybe I did, but sometimes I think I'm reading Drew all wrong and I'm imagining things.
"Yes, you do."
I shrugged. "No, I don't."
Lane searched the trees before answering to make sure Drew wasn't lurking.
"He thinks he's better than me." he finally answered. Not what I was expecting him to say.
I rolled my eyes. "Drew's not like that."
I should know, I spent enough time with him to know that he doesn't look down on people, he just looks bored half the time. He keeps his feelings bottled up most of the time, but he cares more than he lets on about people. He's one of these people that are extremely hard to read, you don't know what they're thinking and you can't anticipate their next move, they're not big talkers but they're always listening and taking note of everything even if they look as though they're not paying attention.
"And you would know? You spent a few weeks with the guy, you don't even know him. He's not who you think he is."
"And who is that?" I said.
"You think he's your night and shining armor because of what he did for you, getting you to Colorado but he's really a dick."
I sucked in a breath and held it and marched ahead. I did not want to get into this right now. I shouldn't be surprised, Lane had always been like this, well, before everything went all zombie nation anyway. He was always the cocky one, the guy that thought he knew better than everyone, he would walk around school with his so-called friends and look down on everyone. I found it funny he thought Drew was like that. Drew was nothing like that.
I was so busy stomping along the road, trying to cool off before I blew a gasket and yelled at Lane for being so Lane that I hadn't noticed how far I had walked off and how much distance there was between me and the group, that I marched straight into a deadbie. Thud.
I walked dead bang into the thing as it just stood in the middle of the road waiting for me. What a way to survive, offering myself up on a plate and walking straight onto the dinner table. I jumped back with wide eyes. It was male from what I could tell, a lot taller than me, but that wasn't saying much, most people were taller than me. His face was hollow and his eyes were very sunken, his black hair was wispy and looked like cotton candy with patches missing, his skin had turned a murky green with black pitted spots that happened when they were close to dying, this one, in particular, was almost dead. It smelled of death and looked like something the devil had dragged out of hell. I almost threw up my noodles when I saw a maggot crawl out of its nose. Ugh. I was never eating noodles again. His dirty white shirt was hanging off in threads, and his beige pants were covered in dried blood stains and mud, and I could see the rest of his skin had turned greenish, and he was wearing a pair of socks but one had a hole and all I could think about was how his big toe stuck out and how annoying it must be. I used to hate that if I got a hole and my toe stuck out.
He groaned a little and swayed to the side as if he was trying to look at me, he wasn't as responsive as the newer ones, this one looked like it needed a nap.
I tightened my grip on the hockey stick. It was time to get back into the swing of things. I swung as hard as I could and I heard a pop as my stick connected with its head, and it went flying across the road. I jumped back as the body crumpled to the ground in front of me.
"Damn, Alex, you certainly haven't forgotten how to fight." Josh
said, hands-on-hip as he looked at the deadbie.
"Not really, it was almost dead. I don't think it even noticed me it was so far gone. His bones snapped like twigs."
"Well good job." Josh patted my back.
Lane took a few steps back before running up to the head and kicking it into the trees.
"Score!" Lane grinned.
Josh looked at me and shook his head before walking away.
"What?" Lane shrugged.
"That could have been someone's dad and you just booted him into the bushes. Not cool." I said.
"So what? He's dead, he doesn't care. And since when do you care?"
"Fine. Feel free to kick my head into the trees the next time I turn."
The frown lines on Lane's forehead doubled as he thought about it.
"We kill them. We move on. We don't play with them when they're dead. It's just rude." I said sternly.
"Did you shove a stick up her ass when you were giving her the cure because she's bitchier than she was before." Lane smirked, crossing his arms and talking to his brother but he was still looking at me.
"I think I'm gonna be sick." Nick responded, covering his mouth. "Ugh. I think it's the smell-"
Nick threw up right in front of me and I barely had time to move out of the way as his lunch made a reappearance and I ended up with some noodles on my boot that just reminded me of the maggots again.
"Ew, gross!" I cried and walked over to the grass and tried to wipe it off.
Nick threw up again.
"Jeez, Nick, don't hold back." Lane said.
I shook my head and used a tree to steady myself as I tried to get it all off, and something rolled past my feet. I did a double take when I saw the deadbie's head rolling to a stop, facing towards me, its eyes wide open as though it was in pain.
I turned around and saw Drew walking out of the trees, he glanced in my direction and took in the bruise that was most likely forming on my face and he looked guilty for a split second before he walked past. I noticed he had a split lip from where he had been fighting with Lane but apart from that he looked ok.