by Lake, D. K.
"Well, this blows." I muttered.
"But you get a free keychain." Josh joked and chucked a little bear keychain at me.
I got up off the floor and trudged into the front of the store and nearly screamed when I walked into a stuffed bear. It was on all fours and growling. I patted its head and looked around the store. It was quite dark with not much light coming through the front of the store windows, and I think the massive bear at the front was blocking most of the light. There was a cash register on the desk at the back, and on top, there was a stand full of leaflets advertising some nature reserve and all the different hiking routes nearby. There was a little stool behind the register and I spotted a packet of cookies under the desk.
The rest of the store was full of t-shirts with various animals on, sweatshirts, hats, sleeping bags, flasks, rucksacks, socks, and other trinkets. It wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for the creepy taxidermy stuffed animals everywhere. There were moose and elk heads on the wall, an owl with spread wings hanging from the ceiling, and there was a wildcat in the corner and I nearly had a heart attack when I saw it because I thought it was real for a second. I think sleeping in here was worse than sleeping outside, the stuffed animals gave me the creeps and their eyes seemed to follow me wherever I went.
"I think we're safe. No one will want to come in here." I muttered.
"Can we use these?" Josh asked, holding up a fishing rod.
"We'll take them with us, we might be able to catch some fish for dinner." I said.
"Is it even safe to eat fish?" Lane asked.
"If the water looks clean enough and we make sure they are cooked right it should be alright." I replied.
"Are there any fish left?" Josh said.
"Well, we'll find out tomorrow if we find the river again." I answered.
Nick found himself a sleeping bag and rolled it out behind the desk and started trying on sweatshirts with different wolf faces on the front. Lane went into the back and carried on searching through the boxes but I didn't think he'd find anything useful and Josh sat in the front window next to the bear and the mannequin holding a fishing rod, keeping watch. I looked around at my choices to sleep for the night and decided on the small tent set up with a little campfire and a male mannequin sitting inside.
"Sorry, bud, but this is mine for tonight." I said, lifting the mannequin out and dumping it at the side.
I dug through Josh's bag and carried all of the First-Aid supplies back over to my tent area next to the bear. I sat inside the tent and carefully pulled off both boots, and as I tried to peel off my sock on the foot that was hurting it got stuck. Ugh. It had molded with my bloody heel and skin. It took me ages, tearing it a millimeter at a time, I couldn't just rip it off in one go in case it pulled off more skin. When I finally got my sock off I sucked in a breath when I saw the damage. The back of my heel was red and raw. I heard a lot of noise coming from the back room and Josh hopped up to go and see what Lane was doing. I was too busy surveying the damage on my foot to care what Lane was doing in the toilet room. As I picked bits of fluff off my heel that had come off my sock, Lane walked into the store looking like he'd down something wrong.
"Ok, do you want the bad news or the bad news?" Lane said.
"What have you done?" I said, knowing by the look on his face.
"So the toilet was working but now the flusher has stopped and there's no more water."
"So that's the bad news. What's the bad news?" Nick asked.
"You have to go outside and use a banana leaf." Josh joked, walking into the room.
"Oh, how lovely." Nick grumbled.
"And don't open the toilet door." Lane added.
"Oh, you didn't?!" I wrinkled my nose and shook my head at Lane playfully.
I went back to fixing my heel and unscrewed the antiseptic cream cap and as I was dabbing it onto my heel and trying not to cry because it stung like a bitch, a loud thud sounded on the glass at the front, followed by pounding fists.
Chapter 16
I leaned forward and peeked out of the tent and saw Josh standing next to the glass door and there was someone on the other side.
"Please, let me in! He's coming!" the girl screamed and looked behind her as if something was chasing her.
I crawled out of the tent and hobbled over to Josh wearing only one sock. Nick stayed behind the main desk and Lane popped his head out of the back room.
"Please!" she begged.
Josh looked at me then back at the girl not knowing what to do or whether to believe her or not. I turned to Lane and said, "Bolt the back door." He did as he was told and I edged closer to Josh.
"It could be a trap." I whispered.
"I know." Josh said and jumped up onto the ledge and carefully looked out of the window.
"You see anything?" I asked.
"No."
"He's going to kill me! He's right behind me!" She continued to bang on the glass door frantically. "Please! Please!"
Josh frowned and jumped down and looked at the locked door and I could see that he had made up his mind to let her in.
"It's locked, is there a key anywhere?" he asked.
"There's a key under here." Nick said, lifting a set of keys out from under the front desk.
"Chuck 'em here." Josh ordered and Nick chucked him the keys and I stood back and looked out the windows while Josh tried the keys in the door.
"Hurry!" she cried, looking over her shoulder.
The second key he tried fitted into the lock and he unbolted the top and the girl ducked inside and Josh quickly locked the door again and pulled the blind down.
"Please, help me!" she begged, running straight into Lane and using him as a human shield from the whatever was on the outside. I jumped up into the display window and crouched down, wondering what was out there. I gave the girl the once over, she looked about the same age as Lane and me, possibly younger, and she looked very similar to me with her milky white skin and her brunette hair which had been chopped off to her shoulders and I spotted a little butterfly clip. She was wearing a long black sweatshirt that hung down to the top of her thighs, a pair of black fingerless gloves, dark skinny jeans, and knee-high black boots. She had a scratch on her cheek and it looked quite red as though she had been hit in the face recently, and I noticed a few splashes of blood on the bottom of her chin. I looked back at the window and listened to her as she rambled on about being chased but she was talking so fast and not making much sense.
"Please, you need to help me. He was following me, he was right behind me. There were too many of them. He-he beat up Tobias...I dunno if he's dead." she cried and looked at the window with fear in her eyes. "They just turned up, we never saw them coming-"
"Whoa. Slow down!" Josh said, walking over to her and Lane edged away from her and stepped up onto the ledge next to me and looked outside.
"Start from the beginning. Slower this time." Josh placed his hand on her arm to try and reassure her. The girl looked genuinely scared for her life so maybe it wasn't a trap or maybe she was just a really good actress.
"My boyfriend Tobias and I were camping in the woods when out of nowhere this pack of zombies turned up, five or six of them. We managed to take them out, it was hard but it's not the first time we've taken on a group of them. Then just when we thought it was over these two men showed up looking pissed off and saying it didn't work."
"They lured the zombies to you?" Josh said, hands on hips, listening to her and looking at me and silently telling me to keep a lookout.
She nodded and started crying, and Josh sort of patted her on the shoulder but wasn't really sure how to handle her.
"They had guns and all we had was a bat and a machete." She gestured to Lane's machete. "Tobias told them they could take whatever they wanted but after they had gone through our supplies it didn't stop, they wanted more...." She choked out and started crying.
"What else did they want?" Lane asked and I smacked him on the arm and shook my head.
; Josh stepped forward and carefully put his arm around the girl as she sobbed uncontrollably. Lane looked at me and shrugged and I just glared at him and waited for him to figure it out. 'O' he mouthed and looked back at the girl.
"Tobias tried to hold them off but one of them pointed a gun at his head and I told them to do whatever they wanted if they didn't kill us but Tobias tried to overpower the younger one and get his gun and it didn't work and he knocked him out with the gun and just kept punching him and kicking him on the ground while the older man held onto me and made me watch. I didn't know what to do, I was so scared." she sobbed. "I managed to bite him and get him to let go and I just started running. He yelled at his friend that was still kicking Tobias to get me back and I just kept running. Every time I looked behind me I could see him trying to keep up. Then, I saw you standing in the window. I thought you were a mannequin until you moved." she told Josh.
"It's ok, we won't let them hurt you." Josh assured her.
I peered back outside and watched the trees across the road but couldn't see anything moving.
"Please, you have to help my boyfriend, he might still be alive."
I still had a bad feeling about the whole thing. She just happened to see Josh standing in the window. Was she lying, were there more like her hiding in the trees, waiting to pounce and take our stuff and leave us for dead? Was it a trap to lure us outside? The girl looked so distraught, maybe she was telling the truth and it was just luck she saw us, but I was still keeping my guard up just in case.
"Do you see anyone?" Josh asked, crouching down next to me, switching places with Lane.
"No. Nothing. So what's the plan?"
"I'll go back with Drew, and you three can stay here and keep an eye on her."
"Where is Drew anyway?"
Someone knocked on the back door and the girl jumped into Lane's arms. Josh jumped down and hurried through to the back room. I followed him into the back and saw Nick was still hiding behind the desk.
"Who is it?" Josh asked, trying to sound all macho.
"Who the fuck do you think it is?" Drew replied.
Josh and I looked at each other and sighed and he quickly unbolted the back door. Drew walked in with his crossbow on his back, holding two rabbits in his hand and Josh hurried to bolt the door behind him.
"What's wrong?" Drew asked when he saw the pair of us on edge. Before we could answer he walked past us and into the store.
"Who the hell is that?" He looked back at us and then back at the girl.
"Uh...this is..." Josh started but he didn't even know her name.
"Rosie. My name is Rosie." she said, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.
"Rosie. I'm Josh, this is Drew, that's Alex, Lane, and Nick."
She nodded and Drew stood impatiently waiting for someone to fill him in.
"Rosie and her boyfriend were camping nearby when they were attacked by two strangers but she managed to get away but one of them followed her." Josh explained.
"I didn't see anything when I was outside." Drew said, dropping his rabbits onto the desk and causing Nick to pull a disgusted face. Drew went over to the windows and carefully looked outside while from the corner of my eye I could see Nick pushing the dead rabbits off the desk using a pen.
"How far away is your camp?" Drew asked.
"Um, about a mile, I think. I don't really know for sure, I was running."
"Which way." Drew asked, coming back over to us.
"Um..." Rosie thought about it but shook her head. "I don't know, I um...I think I ran from that way." She pointed to the right of the store.
Drew and Josh exchanged looks and Drew started walking to the back door.
"You'll be safe here while we go and look for your boyfriend." Josh said and she nodded. Lane made a move for the back door but Josh grabbed his arm.
"I need you to stay here, make sure everyone is safe."
Lane looked at the girl and frowned slightly. He wanted to go and help Josh find the campsite, he never did like missing out on anything. Josh pulled him away from the girl and out of earshot. Nick finally came out from behind the counter and went over and introduced himself properly to Rosie and kept her distracted while Josh and Lane argued.
"You need to make sure Nick and Alex are safe. The whole reason we are here is to protect Nick and Alex. For all we know, this could be some elaborate trap, so I need you here. And if not and these two men show up Alex can't fight off some big burly man on her own and your brother hasn't had enough training to take anyone on. I need you to stay here."
I could see how annoyed Lane was but he knew someone had to stay here and apparently I wasn't good enough to keep us all safe because I was a fragile girl.
"We don't know if she's lying. Just keep an eye on her." Josh whispered and glanced at Rosie.
Josh might be able to get Lane to do what he wants but there was no way I was staying behind. I hated waiting. I needed to know what was happening and what better way than to go with them. Josh had my gun, Drew had his crossbow which he was really good with, and I had a wooden stick (hockey stick), but I could still hurt someone if I needed to. I saw Drew waiting by the back door for Josh as I hurried back over to the tent and placed a dressing pad over my heel and securely taped it in place, and then I wrapped some gauze around my foot and pulled my sock back on.
"Ok." Lane huffed, finally agreeing to stay behind.
I stood up and marched into the back room and stood next to Drew, and he raised a curious eyebrow at me.
"And where do you think you're going?" Josh asked, following me into the back.
"I'm coming with you."
"Uh...no you're not." Josh argued.
"Yes. I am. You might need a distraction. These guys like girls, right?"
"We're not using you as bait, Alex."
"Well, I'm not staying here. I'm not just gonna sit here and do nothing, waiting for you guys to come back."
"Alex-"
"No, Josh. I'm coming with you."
"It's not safe."
"And what if it's a trap? I'd be safer with you two."
Josh thought about it and I could see the internal struggle as he looked back into the store at Nick. He wanted to protect us both but didn't know if we'd be safer here or not.
"I'd feel safer is she came with us." Drew said. "At least that way we can keep an eye on her."
I glared at him. I was not a thing that needed to be watched. I wanted to help and I didn't think sitting here and waiting was very useful.
"Ok, fine. But you do everything I say, ok?" Josh said firmly.
"Sure, whatever."
"Alex."
"All right."
"What's going on?" Lane walked into the back room.
"Alex is coming with us." Josh told him.
"What? No. Alex can't go. It's safer here, like you said."
"I think Alex would be safer with us." Drew said and Lane scowled at him.
"I think I know how to take care of Alex." Lane scoffed.
"Really? Like that night she stayed in town with you and your buddy and she ended up getting bitten?" Drew responded and I suddenly wished I'd never told him the whole story about that night, but I think he had forgotten the time we rolled down a hill in a shopping cart and ran into a bunch of deadbies and I ended up getting bitten again. They ended up in some kind of scowling competition. Lane clenched his hand into a fist and took a step closer to Drew.
"Enough! We haven't got time for this. I'm going. End of story. Now, are we gonna stand around until it gets dark or are we going to help these people?" I said.
Drew unbolted the door and walked out, leaving it wide open.
"Be careful." Rosie said, watching us from the doorway not knowing what was going on between Lane and Drew.
"You stay next to me at all times unless I tell you otherwise. If I say run, you run as fast as you can until I tell you to stop, and if I say hide, you find the best damn hiding place-"
"Ok, Josh, I get it." I said and he
nodded.
We both turned to leave but Lane grabbed my arm. "Alex, wait."
"What is it?" I huffed, wanting to go.
He leaned closer to me and whispered, "Don't do anything stupid, he's not worth it."
I blinked a few times and it took me a moment to understand but I didn't get the chance to say anything as Josh tugged me out the door and pulled it closed behind us.
Chapter 17
Drew hurried through the trees in front of us, jumping over fallen branches and ducking around trees while I hurried alongside Josh, keeping an eye out for any movement. Drew would stop every now and then and duck down and check the forest ground for footprints and then he would veer off and we would follow. I had a stitch in my side again which I tried to push through, at least my heel didn't hurt anymore which was the only good thing.
"What if they're already gone and her boyfriend is dead, that is if he's even real?" I said.
"I dunno, carry him back and bury him." Josh replied.
"With what?"
"I saw a spade in the back room of the store."
"Do you think she was telling the truth?"
"I think so. No one has jumped out at us, so..."
"Yes, because all of our supplies are back at the store, we don't have anything apart from our weapons. If it was a trap to get us outside and split us up then they wouldn't be bothered with us."
"Huh? Now I'm glad you talked me into bringing you."
"You didn't already think about that? I mean, that's only if she was lying. She cried a lot, that was a lot of tears, right?"
"The tears looked genuine to me."
"So it's possible she was telling us the truth, and we might actually bump into these idiots that attacked them. Seriously, how far are we gonna search for their camp? We've been jogging for ages!"