toast made on the barbeque was my favorite."
I imagine the cherry pie filling for a half a second but catch a glimpse of Leo in my peripheral. He's crouched with his hackles up. He stalks into the long grass.
I imitate him and crouch low. Anna follows along, not from watching me but from seeing Leo. Her eyes haven’t left him.
"What?"
I groan, "Get down." He ducks along with us, but he's too large to actually hide in the grass.
I raise an eyebrow at Anna who rolls her eyes. It makes me snicker. I've never actually snickered before.
"How are you still alive?" I whisper.
She laughs quietly. "Luck. Not even kidding."
I glance back at a red-faced Jake and smile.
"Nice to see you have an actual personality, Em."
I stick my tongue out at him until I hear it.
The high moan.
I feel my eyes close in fear and disappointment. One of us is going to die. Whoever can't run fast enough will die.
Leo looks back at me for a second. I see the worry. I nod. He creeps forward along the grass. I lick my finger and put it in the wind. The breeze is behind us and carrying our smell down the hill. They are the survivors that don't seem to die. We are screwed. They hunt like an animal.
Anna licks her lips. I can see worry and fear crossing her face like clouds moving in the sky. Her heartbeat is pounding in her neck. I can watch it increase. She looks around and points to the trees behind us.
I shake my head. Climbing only puts you in a tree surrounded by the infected. I look for another option, and my brain flexes under the strain.
"The river," I whisper.
Jake looks at me, unconvinced. "How far?"
"A mile."
"Emma, your leg and mine won't make it outrunning the infected for a whole mile."
I know he is right. I know this to be a truth but I don’t have anything else.
I pull one of my guns from my sack and pass it to him. I look into his blue eyes, "Don't shoot unless you have to. Don't shoot me or yourself either."
Anna takes the rifle with the scope, which she has grown fond of, and takes the right flank. Leo stalks down the middle of the field and I take the left. We leave Jake on the hillside. His injuries are worse than mine.
The bullet never made its way very far into my leg. The new stitches, lavender, and tea tree oil have made it heal fast.
I look at Jake's dark head of hair poking out of the long grass and sigh. He is too big to try to hide. He will be the death of us all. I know I will leave them if I have to. I force myself into the agreement. No matter what happens, my father didn’t die so I could waste my life on strangers.
They don’t feel like strangers anymore, though.
I focus my thoughts and scan the grassy thin forest.
Bile rises when I see them. They're slumped over something. They look disgusting and diseased, even from the distance. One shoves the other and the high pitch moan shrieks out across the emptiness. It takes up all of the space. I feel the walls of fear closing around me. I see a hand come up and down on whatever they have on the ground. One of them is striking it. It is still alive. It is sick now, infected like them. They are the closest things to zombies. Not real zombies. They are human, but they live with the sickness in a way that would never be considered survival. Their skin is covered in sores, open and scabbed over. Their hair is falling out where the sores have taken over their scalps. They cry tears of blood like the fantasy movies that were out when I was nine. The first thing the virus destroys is the throat. The high moan is from the scarring in the throat and the brain damage the high fever causes.
I look toward Anna and hope she isn’t scared. I force the thought from my brain and look back at the infected dinner party. The last time I worried about either of them, I got shot.
I pull my mask from my back pocket and slide if over my face and loop it around my head. It's not a guarantee, but it's better than a gamble.
It's a rule. I wear it whenever they are around. The
I imagine the cherry pie filling for a half a second but catch a glimpse of Leo in my peripheral. He's crouched with his hackles up. He stalks into the long grass.
I imitate him and crouch low. Anna follows along, not from watching me but from seeing Leo. Her eyes haven’t left him.
"What?"
I groan, "Get down." He ducks along with us, but he's too large to actually hide in the grass.
I raise an eyebrow at Anna who rolls her eyes. It makes me snicker. I've never actually snickered before.
"How are you still alive?" I whisper.
She laughs quietly. "Luck. Not even kidding."
I glance back at a red-faced Jake and smile.
"Nice to see you have an actual personality, Em."
I stick my tongue out at him until I hear it.
The high moan.
I feel my eyes close in fear and disappointment. One of us is going to die. Whoever can't run fast enough will die.
Leo looks back at me for a second. I see the worry. I nod. He creeps forward along the grass. I lick my finger and put it in the wind. The breeze is behind us and carrying our smell down the hill. They are the survivors that don't seem to die. We are screwed. They hunt like an animal.
Anna licks her lips. I can see worry and fear crossing her face like clouds moving in the sky. Her heartbeat is pounding in her neck. I can watch it increase. She looks around and points to the trees behind us.
I shake my head. Climbing only puts you in a tree surrounded by the infected. I look for another option, and my brain flexes under the strain.
"The river," I whisper.
Jake looks at me, unconvinced. "How far?"
"A mile."
"Emma, your leg and mine won't make it outrunning the infected for a whole mile."
I know he is right. I know this to be a truth but I don’t have anything else.
I pull one of my guns from my sack and pass it to him. I look into his blue eyes, "Don't shoot unless you have to. Don't shoot me or yourself either."
Anna takes the rifle with the scope, which she has grown fond of, and takes the right flank. Leo stalks down the middle of the field and I take the left. We leave Jake on the hillside. His injuries are worse than mine.
The bullet never made its way very far into my leg. The new stitches, lavender, and tea tree oil have made it heal fast.
I look at Jake's dark head of hair poking out of the long grass and sigh. He is too big to try to hide. He will be the death of us all. I know I will leave them if I have to. I force myself into the agreement. No matter what happens, my father didn’t die so I could waste my life on strangers.
They don’t feel like strangers anymore, though.
I focus my thoughts and scan the grassy thin forest.
Bile rises when I see them. They're slumped over something. They look disgusting and diseased, even from the distance. One shoves the other and the high pitch moan shrieks out across the emptiness. It takes up all of the space. I feel the walls of fear closing around me. I see a hand come up and down on whatever they have on the ground. One of them is striking it. It is still alive. It is sick now, infected like them. They are the closest things to zombies. Not real zombies. They are human, but they live with the sickness in a way that would never be considered survival. Their skin is covered in sores, open and scabbed over. Their hair is falling out where the sores have taken over their scalps. They cry tears of blood like the fantasy movies that were out when I was nine. The first thing the virus destroys is the throat. The high moan is from the scarring in the throat and the brain damage the high fever causes.
I look toward Anna and hope she isn’t scared. I force the thought from my brain and look back at the infected dinner party. The last time I worried about either of them, I got shot.
I pull my mask from my back pocket and slide if over my face and loop it around my head. It's not a guarantee, but it's better than a gamble.
It's a rule. I wear it whenever they are around. The
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