by Lake, D. K
Lane climbed over the back and dragged his rucksack over with him, and pulled out his cigarettes. I gave him a look. He knew what most of my looks meant now.
“What? It might help with the smell in here.”
“Yes, but I don't want to inhale your death fumes.”
In the last house we came across, the previous owner had left a whole stash of smokes behind. I was annoyed I hadn't located them first, I would have hidden them from Lane. I wanted him to kick the habit. His coughing drove me nuts sometimes.
Lane grumbled and kicked off his hi-tops (yes the same ones, he refused to give them up, even with the hole at the bottom that he had patched).
I took off my denim jacket, but left my hoodie on, and removed my boots and jeans. It was nice to get undressed inside for once. It was still chilly. Inside the car was darker and I fumbled around reorganizing the bedding.
I didn't care who had slept in it before. I might actually get a good night's sleep for once. I laid my head on the pillow and tried to get comfy. Lane and I had slept in different places together, but never under actual bedding and on pillows. We sort of cuddled on top of a rooftop one night. The smell of smoke wafted up my nose and I buried my face into the pillow. When he had finished his cigarette and discarded of it outside, he lifted the bedding and climbed in beside me. We didn't speak to each other, we never did when it was bedtime, we usually ended up fighting. This was the way we went to bed most nights, (and by bed I mean, tree, the trunk of a car , or rooftop), in awkward silence.
My body shivered a little and a second later I felt Lane closer to me, his body molded against the back of mine. His hand slipped around my waist and glided over my stomach.
“Err... Lane, what are you doing?”
“I was trying to warm you up.”
“Okay, but enough with the touchy feely hands all over me.”
He moved his hand back and we lay in the same position for I don't know how long. Lane coughed a couple of times and I let out a few fed up sighs. Then soon after the heat from Lane's body was overheating me. I sat up and pulled my hoodie off.
“I thought you were cold?”
“I was, but your body is like a furnace.”
“So you don't want me near you?”
I laid back down and pushed myself back against him.
“Alex, I'm really confused right now.”
“Just shut up and put your arm around me.”
Lane did as he was told and gingerly placed his arm around me again. Keeping his hand on my arm and away from any of my zones I considered no-go areas.
“Is this okay?” he asked.
“That's fine.”
I fell asleep in the warmth of Lane's arms and inside the temporary safety of the SUV.
A loud thud against the SUV had me awake in seconds. I slowly sat up and felt around beside me. Lane was gone, and the SUV smelled of cigarette smoke.
“Lane?” I whispered.
“Shh... I'm over here.”
“What was that noise?”
“Zombie. It spotted me.”
“It spotted you inside the SUV?”
“No, I had a smoke in the SUV, then I went outside to take a leak.”
“I swear I'm going to kill you one of these days, you and your late night bathroom trips.” Another thud against the SUV, this time, it came from the back door where Lane was crouched on the backseat.
“It was just the one I swear. He'll get bored in a minute and leave.” Lane said, and at that exact moment, the zombie let out a hair-raising scream.
“It's a newbie, Lane, it's going to alert every other zombie within hearing distance. You forgot to mention it was a newbie.”
I climbed over the back and landed on top of Lane.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“A little late night zombie killing, you coming?” I asked.
“Are you insane?”
“No, you are, for getting out to take a piss in the middle of the night. That thing is going to attract more. So unless you want the whole crew turning up I suggest you get off the shovel.” I said, yanking it up from under him.
Lane grabbed the shovel and pulled it away from me.
“Lane, I'm being serious, we need to kill it.”
“I know. This is my fault. I'll kill this one.”
The zombie let out another shrill scream and I cringed. Lane gripped the shovel in both hands, looking determined.
“I don't know about this,” I said, crawling over him and into the front.
Every time we came into contact with a zombie Lane's usual reaction was to hide, run (with or without me) or to push me out of the way, the last time I rolled down a ditch and into a river. Yeah, I was pissed when that happened.
“You sure?” I asked.
He nodded. “I can do this.”
“Okay, good luck, and don't get killed.”
“Wait, where are you going?” he asked.
“I'm the decoy.”
“Huh?”
“I'm going to jump out, get its attention and it's going to follow me around the SUV, then you climb out and sneak up behind it. You got that?”
“Uh-huh,” he said, holding the shovel in front of him like it was a flagpole. I reached over and grabbed my own weapon.
“Just in case,” I said.
I opened the door and quickly checked my surroundings. It was dark, but there didn't appear to be any other zombies.
I walked around to the hood of the SUV. I was short and the zombie wouldn't see me over the roof. The zombie was a tall male, wearing a baseball cap on backward. I was amazed it had managed to keep the cap on but had somehow lost its pants somewhere along the way.
“Hey!” I called.
Its head jerked my way in a weird unnatural motion, then it flopped over to the side, still watching me as it shuffled along the SUV. I edged around the other side and it speeded up. It wasn't as fast as a normal newbie, it looked as though it had had a run-in with other zombies. Its sleeves were torn and shredded, it had a gash on the side of its face, and one of its legs was dragging behind it. I heard the side door opening.
It's about time. I thought.
I kept backing away until I reached the back of the SUV and ducked around the side. Thunk.
“Did you get it?” I asked.
“Yeah, I got it!”
Thunk. Thunk.
Something crashed into the side of the SUV behind me. I shot forward away from whatever was behind me.
A zombie, of course, another zombie.
It shook its head and looked around confused. It must have bumped its head a little too hard. I waited for it to turn around, a short female one, with dirty clothes and a T-shirt that had the word Princess written across the front.
It took a step toward me, I swung hard, aiming for anywhere in the face region.
The meat cleaver collided with the side of its face and sunk in. It ripped straight through its cheek and I was mentally gagging at how gruesome it was. The zombie stumbled toward me making a gurgling sound and I walked backwards, watching as blood trickled down its chin and spluttered out from its mouth. It tried to reach for me and I swung again, aiming for the face. This time, I used the scissor side and it had the effect I wanted. One of the scissor points drove straight into one of its eyes.
“Oh, that's so gross!” I said, pulling my weapon back and quickly moving away, hoping the zombie would fall to its knees or get confused from the lack of visual sight.
Instead, it came at me again. I used my weapon as a bat and knocked it on the side of the head, it fell to the ground and I stood on its back and was about to do my usual zombie killing technique... when I spotted another one, sluggishly moving toward me.
“Crap!”
I got two good swings in, hitting the one on the ground, I didn't know how much damage I had caused, though. I jumped off the zombie and ran at the overweight zombie that was waddling its way over to me, (it actually waddled it was so overweight). I was surprised t
he other zombies hadn't wanted to eat him.
I swung at its outstretched hand and then at the other, continuously causing damage to each arm every time it reached for me. Then I took a swing straight down the middle, I could feel one of its arms brushing against me as it waved them around uncontrollably.
A few seconds later the zombie stopped moving. I had obviously driven the meat cleaver in deep. I was still trying to dislodge it from its skull when it fell forward and I lost my footing and landed on the road with the dead fat zombie trapping my legs.
“Eww! Get off! I squealed, horrified it had touched my skin and was now lying across my legs. I was still only wearing my panties and vest.
I wriggled out from under the dead zombie and saw the previous one dragging itself across the road toward me.
“You just don't give up,” I said, picking up my weapon.
I walked back over to it and trod on something sharp, but I didn't have time to think about it. I went to kick the zombie, then realized I wasn't wearing my boots. It gnashed its teeth at my foot and I quickly jumped back and swung my weapon at its head... again... and again. I was so busy making sure this one was dead I didn't see the next one until it was too late. It fell onto my back, trying to grab me, but missed and slipped past me and landed on the ground. It was another female, dressed in only a bloody white vest and leggings and it had a chain around its ankle. I was still looking at the chain when another thud against the side of the SUV made me look over my shoulder. I could see Lane violently attacking something on the ground with his shovel. (At least he was still alive). I looked back to see the zombie was already back on its feet. It came at me, rattling the chain along the ground. I swung up and my weapon smacked into its chin. I heard its teeth smash together. I was positive it would have broken a couple of teeth or, at least, left some nasty chips. It fell backwards as in slow motion with its arm in the air. I quickly moved around to its head, keeping away from its outstretched arm that was already trying to reach for me. I lifted Butchy above my head and went to town on its face. I didn't stop until its legs and arms stopped jerking around. I took a step back, taking a moment to inspect my legs and arms. I was covered in zombie blood splatters.
Lane popped his head up from the other side of the SUV.
“There you are,” he said cheerily, as though we were playing hide and seek.
He walked over to me, his eyes only on me, then he noticed the blood and looked at the ground around my feet.
“What have you been doing?” I asked.
“Killing the zombie.”
“What? The same one?”
“Yeah, I was making sure it was dead.”
“I could have used a little help.”
“I didn't know more had shown up. But it looks like you took care of it, my little Princess Warrior.” “You're an idiot! Get back in the SUV.”
I stalked away from him and climbed back in, dumping my bloody-drippy weapon on the floor inside.
I climbed into the back, smearing blood over everything.
I searched around in the dark, trying to find my bag.
Lane was already inside, he leaned over into the back and flicked on his lighter.
“Stop that! Do you want more showing up?”
“Sorry, I was trying to help.”
“Well, that's not helping.” I moaned.
I finally located my bag and found the packet of baby wipes I kept for emergencies. This was an emergency! I wiped my hands, arms, down my legs, and all over my feet. I felt dirty and unclean. I also found a piece of glass sticking out the sole of my foot.
“You okay?” Lane asked.
“Not really. You nearly got us killed. Again!” I said angrily. “Crap,”
“What is it?” he asked, concern lacing his voice.
“I got glass in my foot and I trod all over zombie blood barefoot. I should have put my boots on.” “Alex, you weren't to know the whole zombie squad would show up.”
“I should have just left you alone out there and got back in the SUV.”
“That's not very nice.”
“Contracting the flesh-eater virus isn't very nice either, Lane.”
“You're not infected.”
“How would you know? You're not a Doctor, and we won't know until I start showing signs.” “You weren't bitten.” he said.
“You don't have to be. What are you retarded? They're not vampires, you don't just turn into one of them from getting bitten. You can contract it through all sorts of things. I thought I already explained this to you, it's why we don't drink from the river. Do you not listen to anything I tell you? And now I've got zombie blood in my wound. This is really bad!”
“I'm sorry.”
“You're sorry? I knew this would happen. I knew you'd get me killed someday.”
“You trod on a piece of glass, I didn't exactly stab you with it.”
“Just shut up! Don't talk to me anymore, not unless it's to warn me about another possible zombie invasion... or you've found another chocolate bar, okay?”
“Okay.” Lane mumbled.
“You can sleep over there.” I said, chucking a pillow at him.
Chapter 8
“You still not talking to me?” Lane asked for the fifth time.
I thought he would have got the picture by now.
“Do you feel sick yet?”
“You'll know when I feel sick. I'll make sure to puke all over you.”
“Smart-ass.”
“Not that smart, if I was I would have given you the slip weeks ago.”
I stuffed my empty hand in my pocket and Lane edged his way over to me.
“I'm hungry.” he grumbled.
“Join the club,” I said, giving him a sidelong glance. I knew what he was after. “I know you still have half a packet of crackers hidden at the bottom of your bag.” “You shouldn't be looking through my bag,” I said, smiling at him.
“You told me we didn't have any food left.”
“We don't. Those crackers are for emergencies.”
“This is an emergency. I think my stomach is about to turn hostile and eat all my other organs. C'mon, Alex, I'm starving!”
“You want a cracker then you have to earn it.”
“What?”
“How about each time you kill a zombie you get a cracker.”
“That's savage, Alex. I need my strength to fight off zombies. I'm like, double the size of you.” I laughed.
“I need more food than you.”
“My crackers. My rules. You. Kill. Zombie. You. Get. Cracker.”
“Alex,” Lane whined.
“No!” I grinned.
I sped up as he tried to grab my arm, unsuccessfully, but it didn't take him long to catch up to me. He grabbed me from behind, this time, wrapping one arm around me, trapping me to him. I tried to pull away, but even with only one arm restraining me Lane easy overpowered me. “Alex,” Lane said in a soothing voice against my ear.
“No. Get off.”
“Give me a cracker and I'll leave you alone.”
“For good?”
“Yeah right, you know I'm never going to leave you.”
His words made me uncomfortable. I didn't want to get into an argument again. Lane had made his feelings extremely obvious for me over the past two months, and I had spent the past two months pretending I didn't care or notice him. It was a lie. How could I not notice him? We did everything together, we spent every minute of every day with each other or within a few feet of distance from each other. He rarely left my side. I wasn't blind to the way he felt about me. I was the one he depended on, the one that made the decisions, the one that had kept him alive. But even though I knew all this, I pretended he meant nothing to me. I was still secretly grieving my parents, I didn't want to become too attached to Lane because I never wanted to feel that way again if I lost someone close to me. I knew realistically we could be killed any day or one of us could become infected. I didn't want to spend another year grieving Lane. It wa
s best not to get attached, which meant I always kept him at arms length. There were the odd moments I let him get close to me, but I regretted it afterward, feeling guilty when I saw that glimmer of hope in his eyes. “Lane, stop. Get off me.”
He sighed heavily, let go, and walked ahead.
I started to follow him, but my feet soon slowed down and I spun around on the spot trying to locate the sound. I turned my head slightly, not sure if I was hearing things.
Lane had noticed I'd stopped and was on his way back over to me.
“Do you hear that?” I whispered.
He was already on high alert checking the trees around us.
“No. Up there.” I pointed to the sky.
After another ten seconds, the noise grew louder.
“Is that...”
“Yeah,” I replied, taking off into the trees.
“Hurry, we need to get back onto the road.” I called back to him.
In a matter of seconds, he overtook me and darted through the trees ahead of me. We had trekked through the woods to the river to clean up this morning, but we were almost back to the main road.
I hurried as fast as I could, I could see Lane had already made it through the trees and was standing on the road.
The plane flew overhead, I couldn't see much from in the trees, I could only hear it. I was out of breath by the time I reached Lane. I doubled over, sucking in air.
“Did you see it?” I asked.
“Yes, it was making a drop.”
“Drop?”
“When I was living in the safe house facility they used to get regular drops. Supplies, food, medicine, that sort of thing.”
“So there's a safe house around here somewhere?”
“Somewhere,” Lane said.
“Did you see it drop anything?”
“No, it flew that way, though.”
“Do you think they saw you?” I asked.
“If they did they're not likely to stop, and I guess from up there we probably just look like zombies, but that means there are other people alive around here.”
“Before when the safe houses were set up it was only for the selected few.” I said, and Lane nodded. “Do you think they'd let us in now?”
“At the last safe house I was staying in, when the people on the inside started becoming infected and the numbers started to die down, they started taking in other survivors.”