Dead Living (14 page)

“Do you have any idea where we're going?” Sam
asked. She sat near the edge of the wide-flowing river and stuck
her foot in the water.

Aaron said nothing. He sat on the ground and
leaned back against a tree. He breathed deep, then took a drink of
water from a bottle they'd been sharing. He tossed it over to
Sam.

He pulled the map out and sat next to her.
“This river doesn't run parallel to 295. It runs away from it
slightly. There's a bridge on the road your home is on?”

“Yeah, right before you really hit the
walkers.”

“Well, this runs to the bridge. So we're
gonna pass your place by a bit. We can try to guess where it is
through the woods, or just hit the bridge and use the road.”

“How far away?”

He shrugged. “I don't know. It's getting
dark. I want to camp here tonight. We'll definitely be there
tomorrow.”

She leaned away from him. “That's the dumbest
idea I've ever heard.”

“It's not safe to try this in the dark. I
don't want to go spraining any more ankles, and we're both tired
and hungry.”

“It's not
safe
to sleep by a river
with who-knows-how many corpses out there.”

He ignored her, not in the mood to fight. He
climbed to his feet. “I'll go fish up dinner. Do you think you can
get a fire going? Just the wood around us will do.”

“You're gonna get us both killed,” she said.
“I don't know why I thought you coming would be a good idea.”

Sam regretted what she said. She knew she was
angry, tired, and her ankle still hurt. She took everything out on
Aaron.

Aaron was frustrated. He was doing everything
he possibly could to keep her alive, and she still had nothing good
to say. He looked down at her, almost with a look of
disappointment.

“You know, you keep saying
how you don't want any friends. I think you got that
backwards.
They
don't want
you
. I honestly doubt you have a hard time pushing people away.
I bet no one wants to get close to you.”

He tossed her the lighter from his pack. Then
he removed his shoes and walked into the cold river, which came up
to his waist. He waited patiently for a fish to grab.

Sam opened her mouth. Seeing that look he
gave her was worse than any sprained ankle.

Aaron, I'm sorry.

She couldn't say it out loud.

*****

Hours passed. Sam hobbled around and gathered
enough wood to start a fire. It took Aaron's lighter ten tries to
start a flame, but it beat having to start the fire by hand. Sam
hadn't done that in years.

Aaron hadn't said a word all night. He caught
a good-sized catfish with his bare hands, and went about the task
of gutting and cleaning it. He thought back to the many nights he
and his father would catch fish. Aaron wished his father was with
him, instead of a woman who didn't appreciate his company.

He didn't have anything at all to help cook
the fish. If he were home, he'd just grill it on his roof. Here in
the woods, a small tree branch sharpened to a point would have to
do. He impaled the catfish onto the stick and hung it over the
fire.

The night was overcast. There was no moon to
keep them company. The only light was from the fire. It threw wild,
dancing shadows on the trees. He wasn't sure if it was dragging Sam
through the woods for hours, or the hypnotic fire, but he was very
tired.

He dug out some fish meat and handed it to
Sam. She took it without a word.

She finally worked up the courage to speak
after taking a drink from Aaron's last bottle of water.

“What's the plan?” she asked.

Aaron stuffed fish meat into his mouth. “The
plan. The plan is to get you to Lexington at first light. Then I go
back home.”

“You should rest first at the school.”

“Yeah.”

Her voice hardened. “Aaron, I'm only saying
this once, so you'd better listen.”

He rolled his eyes and
looked at her.
What now?

Her features softened, and she looked
confused. “I, uh, well-”

“Spit it out, Sam.”

She was embarrassed and afraid. She took a
breath and tried to calm down. She spoke clearly and carefully. “If
it weren't for you, I'd be dead, a couple times now. Thank you.
Thank you for saving my life.”

He was quiet, not quite sure if his ears were
playing tricks on him. “You're welcome. You came back to get me at
the gas station. So we're even.”

“No, we're not. You've given me food and
water, and let me stay at your home, when you didn't have to. And I
haven't been nice to you. I'm sorry.”

Sam hoped he appreciated
how hard this was for her. She was opening up, and that was
something she
never
did. He would ruin it with one of his stupid
jokes.

He smiled. “It's been my pleasure.”

He has such a cute smile.

Aaron finished his meal and pulled his framed
pictures out of his backpack. He propped them up so his family
could be nearby when he slept. He put the backpack on the ground to
use as a pillow.

“We'll share this,” he said. “We'll sleep in
a line. I won't touch you or anything, I promise.”

She nodded. “I believe you.”

“Sleep with your feet pointing to the lake,
as close as you can get.”

“Why?”

“Cause if corpses come, I want you to be
close to the water. They won't go in the water. I'll be in between
them and you.”

She said nothing, just kept an eye on him as
she positioned herself near the river. Aaron laid across from her,
trying not to touch her. The crackling fire was a nice lullaby, a
little different than what he usually fell asleep to at night.

“So that's your family there, in the
pictures?”

“Yeah.”

“Tell me about them.”

“I thought you didn't want to get to know
me?”

She turned to look at him, but only saw an
ear. “Well, I do now.”

Aaron smiled, and told Sam about his family,
about his two aunts, uncle, and father. Sam was jealous, as she
could tell he truly enjoyed growing up. She spent her early years
just surviving, moving from one place to the next.

He told her how they all met on the day the
undead rose, and how he was born on that very same day. He talked
about how they shaped who he was. He rambled on until the fire
nearly died, and he heard very quiet snores from Sam.

He leaned on an elbow and looked at her. He
couldn't help but smile. She looked so peaceful, and beautiful.

Sam was a strong and tough woman. Aaron knew
she had a tough life, and that made her who she was. Cold and
distant, only looking out for herself. They couldn't be more
opposite.

But when the choice came to run, or come back
for Aaron, she chose to put herself in danger.

He brushed a strand of hair out of her face,
then put his head next to hers and fell asleep.

*****

The stench of death pulled Aaron and Sam
awake at the same time. They were both unaware that Sam had moved
her head closer to Aaron, and slipped a hand under his shoulder. He
helped her to her feet.

It was still night, but dawn was approaching.
The fire had burned out.

Six corpses walked through the trees. Aaron
quickly gathered his pictures and bow and quiver, and helped Sam
take a step toward the water. Her ankle still hurt, but at least
she could put more weight on it.

“They just never give up,” Sam
complained.

She sucked in a breath as she sank into the
cold water. She had left her shoe near the fire. Her bare foot hurt
as she stepped on rocks and pebbles. She almost slipped twice.
Aaron kept an arm around her waist.

They crossed the river. Aaron stole a glance
at the corpses, and was angry with himself when he recognized one
of them.

The corpse that used to be a cop, that Aaron
first saw on 295, was there. The other corpses with him just moaned
and stared at Sam, hungry for flesh, but the cop looked at the
river, trying to figure out how to cross it.

“Son of a bitch,” he said. “A damn
thinker.”

Sam held onto his shoulder. “A thinker?
What's that?”

He stepped away from her and nocked an arrow.
He drilled the thinker between the eyes. “Let's get going.”

They kept following the river, putting
distance between them and the corpses on the other side. Sam walked
on her own, but slowly. Aaron kept pace with her. The sun was up.
He didn't think they were far from Lexington.

“Aaron, what was that? What's a thinker?”

He sighed, still angry for not seeing it
earlier. He knew he'd seen the undead up close more than anyone
alive, and he shouldn't make mistakes like that.

“Some of them can think,” he explained. “I'm
not saying they can sit and play a game of chess, but some of them
can open doors, use tools, figure out simple shit. The other
corpses will always follow a thinker, like some kind of herd. Very
dangerous.”

“I've never seen anything like that. And I've
seen a lot of walkers.”

“That's cause people always run from them,
and not look.”

“And you don't?”

He was quiet.

They walked for another two hours, until Sam
finally saw something she recognized.

The woods cleared out to their left, and she
saw the back of a house. It was a different angle than she usually
saw it, but she recognized it as a house on her street.

“Aaron, we're here.”

She broke away and checked out the backyard.
Just beyond the house was Honeyton Road.

She was almost home.

“Just another ten minute walk down the road,
and we're there,” she told him, a bright smile on her face.

Aaron looked at the backyards around them.
Everything was in shambles, everything deserted. Like Sam told him,
he didn't see any corpses. He could still barely smell them, so
they couldn't be too far away. They had to get moving before they
picked up her scent.

Honeyton Road didn't run next to the river.
He wondered if the people of Lexington even knew they had a fresh
water source not too far away.

“And you doubted me,” he said with a
laugh.

She gave him a serious look. “I won't
again.”

It was more like a twenty minute walk down
the road. Aaron was tired and Sam's ankle was killing her.

But they made it.

Lexington High wasn't hard to spot. The
similar houses stopped, and gave way to a large building on the
right side of the road. Aaron saw the tall fence surrounding it,
and two moving trucks near the front gate. He actually heard
voices, some laughter even. There was some banging, like someone
was working with a hammer and nails.

Sam's pace picked up, despite her ankle.

Aaron slowed down.

“It's good to be back,” she said. “We'll get
some nice cold water from the spring-house, then-”

She turned to look at Aaron. He was no longer
next to her, but ten feet behind her.

“Aaron? You okay?”

He didn't move, and Sam was actually worried.
She took a few steps closer to him.

“What's wrong?”

He looked past her. He had no idea what was
beyond those gates, inside those walls. “Sixty people, you
say?”

“Give or take, yeah.”

He was quiet, then looked Sam in the eye. “It
was a mistake to come here. But I really enjoyed meeting you, and
helping you get here. You have a good life, and take care of
yourself.”

Sam's jaw dropped as Aaron turned around and
started walking away. He didn't even look back.

The old Sam wouldn't have cared. She was home
and safe. She would have walked through the gates without a second
thought, leaving Aaron to whatever life he wanted to live.

But the old Sam was slowly disappearing, and
Aaron was part of the reason why.

“Whoa! Hold on!” She hobbled up to him and
spun him around by the shoulder. “What's going on?”

“I can't go in there,” he said. He wiped some
sweat off of his bald head.

“Why not?”

He shrugged. “I'm afraid.”

She couldn't believe her ears. “Is this
another of your weird jokes?”

“It's just a lot of people. I've never seen
that many people in my life.”

“You were in a house, surrounded by a million
walkers. You could have died at any second. And you're afraid to be
here with people?”

“I know the undead, Sam. I know everything
about them. I know nothing about this place.”

“You can't just walk back to Baltimore.
You'll be dead before the end of the day.”

He smiled mysteriously. “You don't know me
very well.”

“Well, how can I if you just leave?”

He gave her a confused look. It almost
sounded like she wanted him to stay.

“Aaron, listen. You need food and water. Stay
here for a day. You don't like it, fine, then go. You'll barely see
anyone, and I'll watch your back.”

Aaron's stomach growled.
He
was
hungry.
Maybe a short rest wouldn't be such a bad idea. “Okay.”

“Good.” She gave him a smile and put a hand
on his shoulder. “You'll be okay. I promise.”

It was the first time she offered a promise
to anyone.

*****

There was always an armed guard at the front
gate, and this day was no different. Larry saw the two people
approaching, and recognized their walk as human. That didn't stop
him from pointing his gun.

It was only when he recognized the beautiful
woman that he relaxed.

“I don't believe it. Samantha? Is that
you?”

“It's me, Larry.”

“Holy shit. Garrett told us you died.” He
unlocked the gate.

Aaron studied everything he could, trying to
keep his nerves in check. He saw people walking in and out of
school, and disappearing around the side. He actually heard
children laughing somewhere. Two men were leaning against one of
the trucks, just talking.