The Undead the Second Week Compilation Edition Days 8-14

by RR Haywood

  ‘No course not,’ Cookey nods seriously, ‘Nick, you alright mate? You want a brew mate? Don’t worry Nick, she looks well older than fifteen and a kiss don’t mean anything.’

  ‘I killed real people tonight,’ he suddenly stares up at me, ‘I beat men to death and shot some more, not the fucking zombies but real people…’

  ‘I know mate,’ I nod gently, ‘you did what had to be done.’

  ‘And you did it well,’ Dave cuts in, ‘very well Nick. If it wasn’t for you it would have been much worse.’

  ‘Nick, don’t take it to heart son,’ Clarence leans forward, ‘we’ve had to kill before, the refinery…we took lives there…’

  ‘I know,’ Nick nods, ‘but…I don’t know…I was on my own making all the decisions and I had to do it…’

  ‘Nick, there are twenty or so children in our fort that don’t have to be abused anymore because of the actions you took. You did that Nick, not me or Dave or Clarence. You did it because it was the right thing to do.’

  ‘Our way,’ Nick says softly.

  ‘That’s right,’ Clarence says, ‘that’s our way, the way we do things…we do them because right now, no one else will…’

  ‘And what’s more,’ I add, ‘we’re all here because we do those things. I don’t know what all this means but three of us are immune, maybe all of us. Something tells me this isn’t over by a long shot yet.’

  ‘It isn’t,’ Dave adds his voice.

  ‘So that means we’ve got to do what it takes to get through this. We’re the good guys now…we’re the ones that people will turn too. Word is spreading fast about who we are, everyone who turns up here now seems to have heard of us.’

  ‘They asked about us at the house,’ Nick nods, ‘I didn’t say anything.’

  ‘We’re famous,’ Cookey smiles, ‘and I’m immune so fuck you Blowers.’

  ‘Okay mate, too tired to respond,’ Blowers yawns.

  ‘Sleep,’ I announce, ‘we’ll talk more when we get up, you okay Nick?’

  ‘Yeah fine.’

  ‘Lenski’s put you in with us by the looks of it,’ Cookey says, ‘you alright with that mate?’

  ‘Not really, Blowers will try and touch my arse again.’

  ‘In your dreams,’ Blowers laughs.

  The lads go off, after Lani gives Nick a quick hug and tells him he’s done nothing wrong. Clarence pats him on the shoulder before moving off to his room.

  Lani and I finally get into ours and she quickly pushes the two mattresses together. Wasting no time she pulls her top off and starts unbuckling her trousers before sitting down to unlace her boots.

  ‘Your eyes are going to fall out in a minute Mr Howie,’ she says without glancing up.

  ‘Sorry,’ I smile and start undressing.

  ‘That’s okay, Howie,’ she adds with a grin.

  ‘You told Cookey you call me Mr Howie all the time.’

  ‘Do you want me too then?’ She asks softly, both her boots off and she tugs her trousers free of her ankles. The rain has done one more thing for us, it has left us clean after a long fight, probably giving us the best wash since this all happened.

  ‘Nah, it’s okay, unless you want to that is,’ I tug my boots off and pull the sodden socks off my feet.

  ‘I quite like calling you Mr Howie,’ she says, ‘and then just Howie when we’re alone…it sort of fits…does that make sense?’

  ‘Not really,’ I reply and get a wet sock thrown at my face.

  ‘Ooh, that looks sore.’ In her bra and panties she crawls over to look at my shoulder, ‘does it hurt?’

  ‘My whole body hurts,’ I groan, ‘head to fucking toe.’

  ‘Oh you poor thing,’ she says softly as I push my trousers down and kick my feet free.

  ‘I need lots of care,’ I groan, ‘special care and warm kisses.’

  ‘Warm kisses?’ She asks as I lay back. Staring up at her sitting next to me I reach out and find her hand, fingers entwining. ‘I think we can do more than warm kisses,’ she adds as she bends down towards me.