by Oliver, Nick
6:00 AM, December 10
I awoke with a smile. Sarah was curled up against me, naked, with only a sheet covering her. My head ached and my stomach was upset, most likely a hangover from drinking the previous night. I was also sweating not just from the heat, but from Sarah’s warm body pressed against mine.
Normally after a night of drinking I would put a glass of water next to the bed before falling asleep, but I had more important things to focus on last night. Just thinking about it made my smile grow.
I opted to stay in bed for a little while, we didn’t have anything planned for the day, and so I stretched and adjusted position.
My movements must have woken Sarah up because she shifted and looked over at me with squinted eyes. “Good morning.”
“Good morning to you,” I leaned in and kissed her on the lips. “How did you sleep?”
A broad smile grew across her face as she answered, “Better then I have in a long time.”
I leaned and kissed her again, “Well we don’t have anything else to do today.” I glanced over at the already open box of condoms from the previous night. Luckily I wasn’t drunk enough to forget to use one last night.
“I’m surprised you have any energy left after last night,” she complimented as she wrapped her arms around me.
“Well you know me,” I snuck the words in between the kisses. “I’m just full of surprises.”
4:00 PM, December 10
Sarah and I were walking the perimeter. She had one of the hunting rifles slung across her back, and was holding a set of binoculars. I had my rifle in my hands, ready to fire at a moment’s notice if something were to be broken and one of them managed to find its way through our defenses.
“I still can’t believe you traveled over a thousand miles on foot to get here.” She glanced at me for a second with a look of appreciation, and then looked through the binoculars to check the surrounding landscape.
“Up hill the whole way too,” I joked with a grin.
She dropped the binoculars, and looked at me. Her eyebrows crinkled together, and she tried to shrink her mouth to keep it from smiling, her classic ‘I’m trying to look upset, but I actually think what you said was funny’ face.
“I meant, not a whole lot of guys would do that for a girl.” She fiddled with the binoculars’ focus dial.
“Well I wasn’t going to stay in Ohio away from you for the rest of my life. I did it once and I’d do it again.” I put the rifle’s strap over my shoulder and put my arm around her shoulders. Her face got a little red, and she smiled broadly.
“I don’t know what I would have done without you. I mean I know I wouldn’t be alive today if you hadn’t tried to come back.” She had told me all this before, but hadn’t talked about it since.
“I guess the thought of never seeing you again would have been too much to bear,” I admitted. “I’d rather be dead than live without you.”
Her eyes were looking deeply into mine. I hadn’t noticed it, but we stopped walking. She wasn’t quite smiling, but I could see the happiness in her face. She grabbed my head and pulled me in for a kiss.
We both pulled away at the same time, both of us were smiling from ear to ear. Last night and this morning were still fresh on our minds, and I was sure that it would be continuing for a while to come.
We continued to walk the perimeter, my arm was back around her shoulder, and she put her arm around my waist, and rested her head on my shoulder.
After a while of just walking and checking to make sure the rest of the perimeter was secure, we started to make our way back to our room. She broke the silence that we’d comfortably enjoyed for the last half hour or so. “I never thought a guy could be so selfless.”
“At least not any you’ve ever dated before.” I realized what I said was less a joke and more of a hurtful jab after I said it.
She was obviously not amused, because she pulled away from me right away. “Look, I get it. I’ve only ever gone out with assholes and two-faces, but do you really have to keep bringing it up every other day? Hell, they’re all probably dead now anyways.”
“That’s not what I meant,” I tried to explain myself out of the situation. “I just,”
She cut me off before I could say anything else. “You what? You think I chose those guys on purpose? You think I was trying to hurt myself?”
“No,” I was mentally kicking myself. “It’s not your fault, it’s theirs.”
“Oh don’t try to sweet talk me,” she glared. “I know what you meant.”
I let out a long sigh, and returned her glare. “You really have a lot of room to talk, considering no matter how many times you blew me off for those guys, I was always right there comforting you when they treated you like shit.”
“I didn’t ask you to stay at arms length,” she snipped back without a pause. “You chose to be there.”
“I was waiting for you to realize that I was the one for you.” Now it was just turning into a shouting match, I had already lost any chance of this ending smoothly, so I was just returning all the blows.
“Did you ever stop to think that maybe I already realized that, and I was waiting for you to make the first move?” She stormed off back toward our room without me.
“Sarah!” I yelled to her, “Come on!” I smacked myself aside my own head. “I can’t even say the right thing when I’m finally with her.”
Nick came walking around the corner and saw me leaning against the railing talking to myself, “Sarah looks pissed. What did you do?”
“Oh you know,” I said sarcastically. “Taking a perfect moment and ruining it.”
“So the usual?” he said with a smirk.
I chuckled, his joke was his way of telling me that it wasn’t that big a deal. “You really want to make fun of the guy with the gun?” I raised the rifle slightly to emphasize my response.
“You two are meant for each other, just because you say something stupid doesn’t mean its over. I mean to really fuck it up, you’d have to cheat on her, and that would be a little hard to accomplish considering the only other girl in fifty miles that ain’t a damn corpse is your sister.”
I gave him a blank stare. “I’ve never even looked at another girl, let alone wanted another.”
We looked at the mass of bodies all reaching up at us, snapping their bloody jaws, drooling at the thought of eating the flesh off our bones.
Nick pulled out a flask and took a swig of it, causing him to grimace and shake his head.
“Alright, I’m just saying. It gets kind of scary, you know. Knowing you’re with the person in front of you for the rest of your life.” He said with a slightly frightened look on his face, staring off into the horizon.
I grabbed the flask out of his hand and took a swig. The sharp taste of vodka gave me a burning sensation down my throat.
“Remember what I said last night, if you break up with my sister, I’m throwing you in with the zombies.” I smiled and handed him back his flask.
8:00 PM, December 10
We were all in the living room watching the movie Predator. Sarah was still mad at me and she was sitting on the opposite side of the couch from me to show it.
There was a similar distance between Roxie and Nick on their couch. We sat in silence, when typically we all would be quoting the movie, making jokes, and laughing. I grabbed the remote and then pressed the pause button.
“What the hell dude?” Nick exclaimed. “It was just getting to the part where they unload all their ammo into the trees.”
“How long are we going to argue with each other over petty things?” I asked, ignoring Nick’s question.
“Petty?” Sarah shot me a look. “Insulting me about my past hardly seems petty to me.”
“I didn’t mean it like that Sarah,” I reached over and put my hand on her shoulder, “I think you know me better then that.”
She shrugged my hand off her shoulder, “You’re right. I thought I knew you better then that too.”
<
br /> Before I could say anything else Roxie cut me off, “Nick won’t let me go on a supply run. It’s not fair that I have to stay here while you guys go out.”
Roxie took me by surprise, I had no idea she wanted to go on a supply run. “Why do you want to go? Nick and I can handle it.”
“Give me one good reason why I can’t go out on a run.” She crossed her arms and waited for an answer.
I looked over at Nick. He was already looking at me. I shrugged because I couldn’t think of any reason why she couldn’t go. He saw this and his face got sour, “She can’t go because it’s too dangerous. I don’t think she should leave the school.”
“And I don’t think that’s your decision to make,” Roxie shot back. “What gives you a better chance than me?”
“Because I’m a man and you’re,” he paused.
“A woman?” Roxie cut him off. “So the fuck what? I can shoot just as well if not better than you.”
“It’s true Nick,” Sarah taunted, siding with Roxie. “You better watch out.”
Nick shot Sarah a look that I would have punched anyone else for. I would have hit him anyway, but to be fair Sarah did taunt him. “I don’t give a shit how good of a shot you are. You’re not leaving this school and that’s final.”
Roxie didn’t say anything at first. She just stared at Nick and began laughing. Finally she stopped laughing. “Sorry, I just remembered you don’t control me, which means I can do whatever I want.”
Nick was about to yell but I stood up and cut him off. “You’re right,” I said to Roxie. “You and I’ll go on a run tomorrow.”
I expected Nick to argue but he was speechless. He and Sarah both had the same look on their faces, but for different reasons. Nick was obviously upset that I was siding with Roxie.
Sarah wasted no time expressing her opinion, “Go on a run tomorrow?” she asked. “You guys just went on a run. Why do you need to go again?”
“If Roxie thinks she’s ready then why wait?” I argued. “We can always use more supplies.”
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Nick broke his silence. “Sarah’s right, why go out again so soon?”
Although Nick and Sarah had valid points, the tension between Nick and Roxie had been building for a while, and after what I’d said earlier that afternoon Roxie and I could both use some time away from our significant others. Going on a supply run was a perfect opportunity to do just that.
“Look, we’ll go to the Wal-Mart,” I suggested to help ease their worries. “It’s big, open, and a lot safer than going through individual houses in a neighborhood.”
“Whatever,” Nick shook his head. “Just press play already.”
Sarah wouldn’t even look at me, she just stared at the television waiting for the movie to continue.
I grabbed the remote again and pressed play. We went back to the silence we had before I paused it. I hoped that I wouldn’t regret taking Roxie out on a supply run, and that Sarah would forgive me for what I said.
10:00 PM, December 10
I went back to the auto garage after the movie was over. The girls went to bed, and Nick took watch. Roxie and I were leaving first thing in the morning, but I couldn’t sleep, so I figured I would get what work done I could.
The engine out of my old ranger was shot, it could probably have been rebuilt by a professional, but I was far from that. I had the engine and transmission out of one of the Rangers we took from the dealership up on movable stands.
Everything else in the truck ran well enough, I’d already replaced anything that might be old or worn out. As soon as I put the new engine and transmission in and connected everything my truck would be good as new.
Having the truck up on a lift and a shop full of every tool and piece of equipment I would need made the job a lot easier than it was when I had it jacked up in my driveway with only a small wrench set.
I probably should have had Nick help me with some of the lifting and moving things around, but it was better that he stay on watch. Besides, whenever he tried to help me he either broke something or got distracted and wandered off, leaving me under the truck waiting for him to hand me a wrench.
I worked on mounting the engine first. That took a while, the bulkiness alone made it tough for me to move by myself, even with the mount holding all the weight. Once it was in place I bolted it in I started straight away on mounting the transmission next.
It was easier to maneuver into position than the engine since it was both smaller and lighter. I bolted it in place as well then took a break. The heavy lifting was done, all that was left was to bolt in the smaller components, wire everything up and she’d be ready to go.
It didn’t take long for me to lose track of time. It was already past midnight. I shut down the generator that powered the equipment back there and started walking back up toward our safe room.
The school was spooky as hell at night, especially with no light. The banging, scratching, moaning and growling coming from outside the walls didn’t help. I didn’t want to go back outside the safety of the walls again so soon, but deep down inside I wasn’t that worried. When I really thought about it, I didn’t feel any less safe when I was outside.
Hell, I always glanced behind me every few minutes just to be safe and I always had a gun on me for the same reason. It wasn’t that I felt just as safe outside the walls as inside them. It was more like I felt just as vulnerable inside the walls as I did when I was outside.
Chapter Twenty-One: Supermarket
6:00 AM, December 11
I opened my eyes and stretched. The couch wasn’t the most comfortable place to sleep but considering how mad Sarah was with me, I opted for the more comfortable location.
It didn’t matter how many times I’d woken up covered in sweat, I wasn’t going to get used to it any time soon.
My rifle was on the table next to the couch, next to my pants. It was still warmer than usual this time of year, even for Florida. Maybe all those politicians were right about global warming. I wiped the sweat off my forehead and stood up to put my pants on only to trip while doing so and wacked my head on the side of the coffee table. It was going to be a long day.
I cleaned up the blood as best I could and went into the kitchen to find something better to stop the bleeding than the napkin I was holding against the new gash stretching across my forehead.
I finally found some bandages to cover the wound when Roxie came in. “Are you serious?” she asked, charging over and ripping the bandages off to examine the deep gash.
I let out a yelp of pain when she pulled the wound open, “Son of a bitch.” I went to push her hands away, “What are you doing?”
She swatted my hands away with ease. “Stop being a baby, we need to stitch this before we leave.”
“Well stitch it then,” I sat down complaining. “Just stop with the torture.”
“Please,” she laughed as she hooked the stitching thread to the needle. “That was hardly torture. This on the other hand, might sting a little bit.”
I couldn’t help but notice she was already dressed and ready to go. She must have been more anxious to get out then I thought. She stuck the needle in and began to stitch my forehead back together.
“How long you been up?” I asked mostly to distract myself from the pain.
“Almost an hour,” she answered, tying the end of the stitch up. “I already put all the bags back in the truck.”
“Pretty excited to get out of here I take it?” I asked as she cut the excess stitching off.
“You have no idea,” she put her needle and scissors back in the drawer she got them from. “What else do we need to get?”
“Well if you got all the bags in the truck already then all we need are guns and ammo.” I sat up and rubbed the freshly stitched cut.
“Stop rubbing that,” she put a large bandage over the wound. “That’s all we need is you getting this infected.”
“Yes mom,” I answered sarcastically. “Just
let me grab the guns and we can get out of here.”
“I’ll go wait by the truck,” she said as she tied her hair up in a ponytail. “And hurry up, we don’t have all day.”
I decided against using the yes mom joke again, I didn’t want it to get old too fast. My bow was still in the back seat of the truck so I just needed to grab a couple boxes of .22 rounds for Roxie’s rifle, and a few clips of ammo for our side arms.
“This is a stupid idea and you know it.” Nick was standing in the doorway. “It’s not safe for her to go out there.”
“Would you relax Nick,” I put the last box of ammo in a small duffel. “I’ll be there, if things get too heavy we’re out of there, no harm no foul.”
“Don’t give me that bullshit. It’s an unnecessary risk and you know it,” he yelled at me.
I dropped the duffel bag and got within inches of his face. “We wouldn’t be in this situation if you had the balls to do what you should do,” I yelled back. “Now, if you’ll excuse me I have to take Roxie on a supply run.”
I picked the duffel bag back up and started walking out the door when Nick put his hand on my shoulder, “If you take her out there we’re going to have words when you get back.”
After letting out a sigh I turned my head just enough to see Nick in my peripheral vision. “When we get back, you’re going to have a choice to make, so you might want to think hard about those words we’ll have.” I didn’t wait for him to answer. I grabbed the two rifles for Roxie and I then kept walking out the door and toward the staircase.
He opened the door and followed me out. “And what choice is that exactly?” he scoffed.
“You’re either with my sister, or you’re not,” I answered loudly enough for him to hear me without having to turn around. “Either commit to her or break up with her, your choice. You have till we get back.”
He didn’t say anything back that I could hear, although I wouldn’t be surprised if he was mumbling to himself about how it wasn’t my decision, but I didn’t care. Roxie was standing next to the truck when I got to the auto garage, and so was Sarah.