They walk, p.15
They Walk, page 15
Gabe takes the bags, with wide eyes and I can’t stop the thought that he looks like a kid on Christmas morning that got exactly what he wanted. It’s definitely a great look on him too. As he leans down to prod around the guns, I lean down to help and notice that Noah is leaving the room. I’m not the only one that does either though, and before I get a chance to ask, Sam beats me too it.
“Dude, where are you going?”
“Just down the hall, there is a communications room. I want to check if there is a signal on the CB radio, I’ll be right back.” He says over his shoulder.
“We shouldn’t go anywhere alone Noah, it’s not safe.” Claire says, as she makes as if she is going to follow him.
“It’s as safe as it’s going to be, but your welcome to join me. And Sam you should stay and help Gabe and Maggie.”
They both disappear from the door, and I notice that Sam looks hurt that he was asked to stay behind. To be honest, I’d feel better having Claire watching our backs while we dig around in the weapons, and not Sam. I know he’s been helpful, but he’s so squeamish sometimes, it makes me nervous with him as backup. But maybe I’m wrong to even think like that though, because he steps right in the doorway and scans up and down the hallway.
I guess people can actually surprise you sometimes.
“This is really the kind of weapons we should have in our situation huh?” Gabe asks, as I help him position the Uzi submachine gun into the open pack on the floor.
“No kidding, it definitely puts the odds in our favor.”
Once that one is safely inside the pack, Gabe grabs two sawed off shotguns, and I hold the second pack open for him. We are just standing back up and smiling like maniacs over our new booty, when we hear a scream cut through the room. At first we freeze, and our eyes shoot to the door, where Sam is leaning out of.
“Did that sound like Claire to you guys?” Sam asks as he slips out of the room, and raises his fire poker.
Gabe and I share a quick look, and it says yes we do think that sounded like Claire.
When she shrieks again, Gabe and I drop the heavy bags and push Sam out into the hallway. Somehow, I’m in the lead and the boys quickly follow behind me, as we start down the dark hallway. Down a ways I see a dim light coming from inside an opened door, and I quickly rush towards it. Reaching the threshold I raise my ax before entering, but end up coming to an abrupt stop, in alarm. Sam and Gabe run into my back and cause me to move inside with a whoosh. I stare in shock at what is inside, and I understand why Claire screamed. What I don’t understand is why she is just standing there, while Noah leans down over a body.
When the body clears its throat and moves around, I realize that it’s alive and not dead.
Chapter Thirty Eight
Still standing inside the door, I’m having a hard time taking my eyes off of the prone body lying on the floor. I don’t even move out of the way for the guys to come in behind me, because Claire is too shell shocked looking, for everything to be alright. The room they are in is small, and I don’t think it’s the communications room Noah was talking about. It looks more like a storage room or something, there are a couple unopened boxes lying around and a few cleaning supplies. Claire is standing off to the side on the left near the boxes, and the body and Noah are in the middle of the room. Noah is kneeling over the body, so I don’t really get a good look at him or her. But I do notice that on the concrete floor all around is smeared with already drying blood.
“Who is that, are they alright?” Gabe asks from right behind me, but he doesn’t force me to move.
Noah turns around then, like he didn’t realize we were even in the room, and so does Claire. They both share the same haunted look, and that is what forces me into the room to get a better look at the person on the ground.
“It’s all right; he’s not turned yet, so were safe.” Noah says in a low voice, as I approach.
“…for now.” Claire says under her breath.
When I step into the room, Gabe and Sam flank close behind me and we all have a look at the person together. It’s a boy our age, and is wearing a soldier’s uniform that is so dirty with blood and shredded, that I wonder how long he’s been hurt. He’s favoring his left arm, and I can see that there is a large portion of flesh missing from the inside of it. There is a discarded bloodied shirt lying beside him, and I figure he must have given up thinking that he’ll recover. His face is ashen and clammy looking, and he seems to be having a hard time keeping his eyes open. I keep checking to make sure his chest is rising and falling, but I still know that he won’t be alive for much longer.
“We can’t leave him like this.” Gabe says.
“I know.” Noah says so softly that I almost don’t hear him.
Noah reaches behind him, and grabs his handgun from his belt, and turns it on the boy.
Before anyone can yell for him not to, he puts the guns barrel to the boys head and pulls the trigger. The body jerks, and then stops moving with a sigh and I know he’s dead now. Noah simply replaces his gun into his belt and gets to his feet. Claire is turned away and is crying, and I can hear Sam throwing up as he turns away too.
I can’t look away from the body though, how can I?
What have we become that a life doesn’t matter, even one that is dying. We might have done him a favor by ending his life and saving him from turning, but is it even better? I can hear the others move about the room, and maybe even leaving it, but I can’t move from the spot I’m in. I glare up at Noah as he walks past, and I can’t stop the flashes of Matt that cover him, but mostly it’s my hot rage that I see.
“How could you do that?” I say through gritted teeth.
He stops right in front of me, and returns my glare easily with a sigh.
“It had to be done.”
“Did it? He couldn’t even move, let alone talk. We don’t know what he could have wanted.” I raise my voice, and can feel it shaky with unshed tears.
Gabe steps closer behind me, and I can feel his arms aching to wrap around me, but I stay just out of reach. Noah though, his glare deepens and he takes half a step closer to me.
“And what should I have done, Maggie, huh? Just toss him outside and wait for him to turn? Then sneak up on him and kill him anyway, how is that different?”
“Noah.” Gabe says as a warning and steps around to face him too.
“It’s just not fair to that kid, he wasn’t even dead yet and here you are just treating him like a piece of meat.”
“Nothing is fair Maggie; it’s just how it is. He was a hazard being in here, and could have infected anyone of us before we knew it. Do you want that on your shoulders?”
My eyes go wide, and I can’t make anything slip out of my lips, nothing. Not even to stand up for the dead kid who couldn’t speak for himself. I know Noah is right, but I can’t just change everything I am and let go of a life. Everything can’t be so different these days, where nothing matters. But I know the truth, and I’m just lying to myself.
“That’s what I thought. Now if you all don’t mind, I’d like to round up all the weapons we have together in the mess hall.” Noah says as he steps around Gabe and me and walks out the door.
Sam is wiping his mouth and turns to go with him.
“Why the mess hall, shouldn’t we take them out to the car?”
“We wasted too much time in here, and it’ll be dark soon. We’re bunking in the mess hall until daylight.” Noah says as he disappears out of the door.
“Oh.” Sam says as he gives us a nervous look before he follows after Noah.
I still rooted in the same spot, still staring at the body of the boy and I don’t know what is wrong with me. I’ve already killed dozens or more of the dead, but this one hits deeper for some reason. I guess it could be that he was alive a moment ago, or the fact that I keep seeing shadows of Matt lately. I thought I already got over killing him, but it wasn’t even that long ago, so maybe not.
“Maggie, I hate to say it but Noah is right. It’s wrong to kill him like he did, but he was going to turn any minute.” Claire says as she walks over to Gabe and me, and gives us both sad looks.
“It doesn’t make a difference, but thanks for saying it.” I saw in a whisper.
She lowers her eyes, and with hunched shoulders she leaves the room, and goes after the guys I’m guessing. My sudden anger is leaving me slowly and I’m left feeling shaky and cold. I realize I’m standing in a small room with a dead body, and it’s already starting to smell. In a panic, I spin around to get away and bump into Gabe’s arms. He holds me tightly, and whispers soothing things in my roaring ears and leads me out of the room. We don’t stop moving until we are safely out in the hall, and he closes the door behind us, and only then do I let out a shaky breath I didn’t know I was holding.
He walks me into the walk of the dark hallway, and I let him press into me, feeling his weight as a shield from everything. With one hand I wrap it around his neck and pull him tighter to me, my other one is still holding the ax too my side.
He must have gotten rid of his gun at some point because both of his open palms are around my hips.
“I don’t agree with Noah you know, but it could have been dangerous to have that boy in here with us.” He says so softly, wonder if I even imagined it.
But I nod my head into the space between his shoulder and neck, and I feel him grip me tighter.
“I certainly don’t agree, with how he said it either. I want you to know that I’d keep all these away from you if I could.”
With a sigh, I lean back a little so that my head is leaning on the wall, and so that I am staring up at him.
“You can’t protect me from everything Gabriel, but it’s sweet of you to want to.”
I give him a small smile and a light squeeze to his neck with my hand. He bows his head so that our foreheads are touching, and he holds me tighter too.
“I know I can’t, but I’m going to try. We just have to get where we’re going, and then everything will get better. It has too.”
“I know, and it will.” I say as I lean up to him so that our lips lightly touch one another.
I can feel him sigh, as he smiles into me and deepens the kiss. We both pull back at the same time and hold on to one another, like we can’t get enough or can’t get closer. I know I told him that I thought things will get better, but I wonder if he knows I’m lying. After all we have gone through; I don’t see how anything could be better. At least we aren’t alone, so that has to count for something.
An hour later found me laying on a loveseat, which was dragged into the mess hall, and am trying to sleep. Trying, being the operative word here, since it hasn’t worked for the last twenty minutes. There are two other similar couches that Claire and Same are occupying, and from the snores, I know they had no problem falling asleep. The room we are in is the biggest by far, but we had to move tables and chairs along the walls to fit the couches. When I thought of mess hall I thought it was going to be a cafeteria that smells like old food, but there isn’t even any soda machines. So I guess it should be called a break room, but whatever.
Gabe and Noah both refused to rest or even sleep, so they are staying awake and keeping watch. They are positioned in two chairs by the door, and I can’t help listening in too their conversation, while I can’t sleep.
“You know, I hate to say this, but you might not like what we find at the Collisee.” Noah says in a whisper, but I can still hear him loud enough.
“What do you mean, why not?” Gabe says as he leans forward with his hand on his knees.
“We haven’t found another living person yet Gabe. I can’t help but to worry about the condition of the place after a week. If they weren’t prepared, then who knows what we could be walking into?”
“You really didn’t pick anything up on the CB radio?” Gabe asks.
When we first came into the mess hall, Noah had explained he was trying to get a radio to work before Claire walked in on the boy. He said that it was battery powered so power wasn’t a problem. He said it was just static interference and nothing else. I hate to agree with Noah, but it doesn’t exactly sit well, the fact that there is no communication of any kind going on.
“It was just silence. You know I wouldn’t blame you if you and your friends wanted to go back to the apartments with the others. It could be more dangerous the father we go.” Noah says intently.
“I promised Maggie that I would get her to her parents, and that is what I’m going to do. I’m not letting the unknown scare me away.”
I can hear Noah shrug his shoulders and sit back into his chair.
“It’s your choice. I just hope she’s worth all the risks your taking.” Noah says.
“She’s worth this and more to me. Isn’t your sister?” Gabe says softly.
Noah doesn’t say anything to that, and I wonder if any of us will find who we are looking for. They don’t say anything else to one another, and I feel the welcome embrace of sleep pulling on me. As I drift off though, I think of Gabe and how he said I’m worth it to him. I hope I don’t let him down, because he is worth it all to me too.
Eventually my body goes numb with sleep, and I’m free of thought, as least for a little while.
Chapter Thirty Nine
The next morning, I wake up to Gabe standing over me with a cup of something that smells like coffee, and I instantly sit up with a smile.
“Is that what I think it is?” I ask dreamily ogling the cup.
He smiles and sits beside me on the loveseat, and hands it over to me.
“If you think it’s slightly warm instant coffee? Then yes, it is.”
Grinning as I take a sip, I can’t help feeling self-conscious of my morning appearance. I put my long hair up into a knot before laying down last night, but it must have fallen out since, I can feel it around my shoulders. I feel myself blush, as I refrain from straightening out the rat nest that is my hair. I notice that he too, looks a little less than fresh. Whereas I look well rested, he looks like he hasn’t slept in ages. His eyes are a little too wide, and glassy, and he has dark circles under them.
His posture is stiff, but not in alertness, more like he is forcing himself to keep going.
“I think you need this more than me.” I say as I offer the coffee mug over to him.
He simply takes it and sips from it before returning it to me, and sits back with a sigh and closes his eyes. After hearing him sigh, I realize that it’s far too quiet in the mess hall. I look around to see if the others are still asleep, but the room is empty aside from us.
“Where is everyone?” I say, as I turn back to Gabe and find him watching me now.
“They are loading the car with the loot we got last night.”
“Oh. I didn’t mean to oversleep.” I reply as I lean back into Gabe’s side.
He lifts his arm and is about to place it around me, when I hear the sound of gunfire coming from outside. I instantly just to my feet, and scan the floor for where I placed my ax last night. Seeing it resting near the foot of the loveseat, I start for it in a hurry. Gabe stops me by grabbing my arm.
Wide eyed, I don’t understand why he isn’t freaking out.
“Don’t worry, I just told them to wait until I could wake you up.” He says quickly and a little guiltily.
“Wait for what?”
“There were a few dead that wandered here in the night, and they had to take them out on the way to the car. I should have mentioned that right away, I suppose, sorry.” He takes his arm away, and actually lowers his head like a puppy waiting to get smacked.
“It would’ve been nice to have been warned, but at least no one is in any real danger. Thank you for letting me rest.”
I step forward and lift his face up with my hands gently holding him. He stares up at me with a seriously, and he wraps his arms around my waist.
“We should get going, I told them we’d be right out after I got you up.” He says softly as he pulls me closer to him, so that his chin rest on my stomach.
As I stare down at him, I wish we were in another place and time, and that we could have a moment of peace together. Since leaving the apartments, we’ve been sneakily touching whenever we think no one notices. But the longer we keep getting interrupted, the more I want of him. Maybe it’s the feeling that our lives are slipping away and we might not have enough time together, but it’s like I can’t get enough of him. I know that now isn’t the time for such thoughts though, so I nod at him and let my hands slip away from his face. Stepping away, I lean over and grab the only item of belongings I have with me, the ax. Gabe is on his feet now.
Together we walk out of the building and into the early morning light towards the others at the car waiting.
Ten minutes later found me in the backseat of Noah’s car, with Claire and Gabe on either side of me again. Noah is driving and Sam is in the passenger seat like yesterday. We’ve only gone done a little ways of the road, but it’s more of the same, but in the opposite direction we started at before. There are less tree’s on either side of us and more open space, but the farther we go the more side streets we pass, and the better idea of what we’re getting into. The mile all the way down Alfred A Plourde Pkwy is an empty one, but we pass a few buildings that couldn’t have lasted past the first day. It looks like they were ransacked by the living, but none are around now unfortunately. There are a few dead that wander around, but not enough for us to care about them. We’ve already almost got to the end of the street when Claire interrupts the tense silence of the ride.
“So, you guys were inside alone for a while.” She tries to say in a whisper as she leans into my ear.
I can feels my cheeks warm when Sam turns in his seat and grins at us, and I can definitely feel Gabe shift embarrassingly beside me.
“Yeah, what’s that about?” Sam asks in mock horror.
“I, ugh” I stutter out looking between Claire and Sam, knowing my cheeks must look like a tomato.
“Sleeps like a rock, this one. Had to practically shake the couch, and then she just cracked an eye open.” Gabe interrupts.
