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her?
“Okay,” she resigned. “We’ll go together and we’ll come back for you, Albert.
If it’s the last thing we do, we’ll come back for you.”
     
    “Don’t say that, dear.” His laugh was grainy and
weak. “You’ll jinx yourselves.”
     
    Sarah smiled at him, tears forming in her eyes.
The sweet, old man in front of her filled her with love, she felt her chest
swelling. He reminded her of her own father; kind and always joking around. She
wished she could remember more about her life before she got infected, but it
was all still a blur. Her past felt like a dream.
     
    “Okay, then it’s settled,” Mark said, leaving the
table. He opened one of the small cabinet doors in the makeshift kitchen and
pulled out a piece of rolled-up paper. He unrolled it and straightened it out
over the table, it was a map.
     
    “Now, this is the road we’ll need to take if we’re
going to leave this city alive.”
     
     
    ~
     
     
    It had been decided they would take the back roads
out of the city which was, more than likely, the quietest road to take. Mark
had told her that the infected had been seen in large numbers roaming the
forests and farmlands but, since there weren’t many houses out there, it would
be easier to slip through without meeting any of the infected or anyone else
that wandered around the outskirts of Winding.
     
    Mark had given her a small rucksack and filled it
with water bottles and any remaining food that they could carry. It turned out
that Mark and Albert had quite a stash in the basement, enough for a few more weeks’
worth of food—probably double that with Mark gone.
     
    As Sarah sat trying to memorize the forests and
houses on the map, a wooden stake dropped onto the table in front of her.
     
    Mark stood there, smiling at his creation. He had
changed into a sleeveless, black jacket that had at least six pockets on the
front over a long sleeved black shirt, and over his shoulder he held a black
rucksack, seemingly heavily stocked.
     
    “Are there vampires out there as well?” Sarah
snorted, looking at her new weapon on the table with amusement.
     
    “Very funny, it’s the best I can do, unless you
prefer toothpicks?” Mark retorted.
     
    “No, this will be fine. I’m hoping not to run into
anyone to use it.”
     
    Mark put a flick-knife into the side pocket of his
jeans. “I think we should take a little detour to the sports shops, see if
there’s anything we can use.”
     
    Sarah looked at the stake and sighed. “Yep. That
sounds like a good plan.”
     
    So it was time to leave. Albert had given them the
map and lectured them on the infected; do not get close to them, do not let
them bite you or get any blood on you, just in case. Though for Sarah, he
didn’t think that would be too much of a problem. She was hopefully immune,
after all. He put some surgical spirit in the back of Sarah’s pack. “Just in
case,” he smiled.
     
    They said their goodbyes. Sarah pleaded with the
old man to come with them, a sudden wave of guilt washing over her as they made
to leave but Albert held his ground.
     
    “I have research to do. I may be the only person
who can,” he smiled warmly at her. Despite his brave face, Albert shed a tear
as Mark removed the furniture blocking the basement door and unlocked it. Sarah
hugged him tight and kissed him on the cheek.
     
    “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me, I
will never forget it,” she said, eyes misting.
     
    “You are welcome dear, good luck out there. I’m
sure we’ll see each other again soon,” he said and wiped the tears from his
eyes with his sleeve.
     
    “I’ll come back for you, I promise,” Sarah said,
determination on her face as she looked into the eyes of the man who saved her
life.
     
    Mark hugged his father and kissed him on the
forehead. “See you, Pops. Stay down here and don’t leave the house. If we make
it through, we’ll come back and get you.”
     
    “Stop worrying about me,” Albert