Save Me (4 page)

"Andi?" He looked at me expectantly, as if he needed me to respond in some way he wasn't sure I was capable of.

"I'm going back to bed." I pulled my hand from Will and slammed the bedroom door behind me. I heard his footsteps come up to the door and pause. I remember that sound so many nights before, when things weren't so bad. At least one of the adults would come up to the door and listen for a moment to see if everyone had settled down for the night. It was comforting to have someone there to protect us and care that we were all safe and cared for. Those days were over now. Now the sound just reminded me of what I lost. For a minute, I thought he might come in. Maybe he wanted to sleep in one of the beds this time. He didn't though. He just stood outside the door for a few moments, then walked back to the sofa. It was just as well anyway. In a few days he would be gone from my life forever.

~Chapter Three~

"Who is the sound sleeper this time?" Will laughed, enjoying himself a little too much. Not only had he managed to come in the room, but he was sitting on the bed beside me, without me noticing a thing. I hadn't been able to sleep that soundly since before leaving the basement.

"You know, I've been sitting here for a good five minutes and you didn't even twitch once. I even had to say your name three times before you started to open your eyes." Clearly, he was proud of himself.

"Creeper," I said flatly, pushing him off the bed, sending him tumbling onto the floor.

Will rolled over, laughing, still amused with himself. I wasn't happy that he managed to sneak up on me. I didn't want to let my guard down and trust anyone. I did have to admit though, I hadn't been able to sleep that soundly since before I left the basement. Honestly, I don't know why I was able to now with this strange boy here, but something about him told me I was safe with him. Even though I wasn't sure I wanted to keep him around, it was kind of nice having a knight, even if his armor did come with a pink pony. In my old life, B.Z.A. (before zombie apocalypse) as Amy and I used to call it, that would have been a good thing. I probably would have had a huge crush on Will and Amy and I would have talked for hours about how to get his attention. Life was different now. This was A.Z.A. (after zombie apocalypse), and I had more important things to be concerned about.

Will laughed again and got up from the floor rubbing his imaginary bruises from the fall.

"Okay brat, breakfast is ready so get yourself dressed and come out." He gave me one of those irresistible crooked smiles and left the room. I couldn't help but smile at him.

Will had prepared some oatmeal with dehydrated apples that didn't come from the basement. He even managed to find one packet of powdered milk that he mixed with water and had in a glass in front of my breakfast. I didn't know if he was trying to be nice giving it to me, or if he just couldn't stomach the stuff himself. Even in a zombie apocalypse, some people had their limits. Will was halfway through his breakfast when I sat down and he was reading a book that had been sitting on the table since the last day I was here. It was strange how I could remember almost every detail of the place, including what books were on the table, after not being here in so long. I also noticed that Will was dressed in different clothes that I didn't recognize. Maybe it was something that he had with him or it could have belonged to Mr. Allen. They were about the same size now that I think about it, though Will was a bit thinner.

"Come on princess, eat up. We have work to do." Will motioned to the food in front of me.

"Work?" I ignored the princess comment, for now.

"Have you looked at the food supply in here? We should do some hunting, catch something fresh for dinner. You like rabbit?" Will asked, as he got up to wash his dishes. Fresh meat did sound good but hunting was never something that appealed to me. Dad, Zach and Jacob used to go sometimes after we started leaving the basement. Zach never did catch anything but Dad and Jacob always managed to bring back enough for everyone. Sometimes it was deer or rabbit or squirrel but I never really wanted any details. It was easier that way. Now Will expected me to not only go, but participate in this killing ritual. I had never killed anything, well, nothing that wasn't already dead anyway, and I wasn't sure I wanted to start now.

"Uh, I don't know Will. I've never really--"

"Well at least come and be an extra set of eyes, for security. Plus, I can teach you how to use the bow. It's much quieter than that gun for yours and a hell of a lot better than that hammer." Will took my empty bowl and washed that too. Hmm he cooks and cleans up too. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all.

"What makes you think I don't know how to use a bow already?"

Typical guy, assuming I didn't know how to use weapons.

"Because you think I could shoot myself in the face laying on top of it," Will said flatly.

Okay, so I didn't know the first thing about a crossbow. Dad had taught me to shoot a gun long before the streets were taken over by the undead. He was sure it was something we would all need one day. Mom refused to learn. She stayed home despite his repeated attempts to persuade her to go with us. Instead, she baked cookies every time trying to keep her mind off the fact that her little girl was learning to use a gun. I was pretty good too. Dad said I was a natural. He never did teach me to use the crossbow even though he had a few. I know he knew how to use it because he taught Jacob and Zach during the first few days of life back out of the basement. I think Dad secretly always wished he had sons.

"That reminds me, I have something to show you."

I led him over to at all mahogany closet in the bedroom that my parents shared. I forgot to show Will the weapons last night like I planned. Since we were in this together, for now, I figured he should have access to what was in there. Many of the people I had met up with since I was on my own probably would have cleaned it out and disappeared in the night. For some reason, I didn't think I had to worry about that with Will. I wanted to trust my judgment but I had been wrong so many times before. I guess this was one way to test out if I was wrong yet again.

I opened the lock with the key Dad kept in the ceramic bowl I made him for Father's day in second grade. It was a pathetic thing really, uneven and puke green but he loved it. Of all the things he thought to bring down to the basement that first day, this was the only item that wasn't necessary and practical. It always made me smile when I saw it sitting there on his dresser.

The closet was lined with an assortment of handguns, rifles, a few crossbows and larger, full size bows, hanging on the double doors. On the inside of the closet were shelves filled with ammunition of various sorts, arrows and bolts, hatchets, hammers, just about everything you could use to take down anything, living or not. Will's eyes opened wide at the sight of so many new toys. He looked like a little kid on Christmas morning. He was speechless. It was quite amusing. I couldn't help but laugh, though I don't think he even cared. He was too mesmerized. After he looked over everything, he turned to me with this look on his face that begged for permission to touch them.

"Take whatever you need." I stepped back giving him room to try some of the guns out, shaking my head in amusement. Boys and their toys. Will found a handgun, rifle and a few knives he was happy with. He gathered the appropriate ammo as well as another crossbow and some small arrows to fit. He also grabbed a canvas bag that sat on the floor and loaded it up with enough stuff to kill a dozen hordes of undead. He grabbed a second, smaller, bag and put the crossbow and a dozen or so arrows in it.

"Here take this," He said handing me the bag.

I looked at the bag thinking maybe this wasn't the best idea.

"Andi, you need to learn to use it. It's much quieter than a gun. Please?"

It was too difficult to say no to that face. As much as I didn't like it, I couldn't help but give in at least a little when he looked at me like that.

"Fine." I took the bag from him and went to get my boots and backpack to get ready for what I was sure would be a miserable day. Though I did have to admit, a miserable day with Will might be just a bit better than a normal day on my own. Even if this arrangement was temporary it didn't mean I couldn't try to enjoy it, at least a little.

Will wasn't from this area but he seemed to know his way around well enough. He even knew how to get to the state park animal reserve area where we were most likely to find something worth shooting at. I guessed that he had spent some time around the area before we met up. It was a good eight mile walk to the reserve so we would probably be gone most of the day. The idea of dragging dead animals eight miles back to the house wasn't sounding like the best idea so I secretly hoped we didn't manage to hit anything, besides, I wasn't exactly fond of the idea of killing my own meals. The stale oatmeal from breakfast was beginning to sound a lot more appetizing at this point.

"So what's it like being an only child?" After nearly a mile in silence, Will couldn't hold back anymore. He sure was a chatty boy.

"How do you know I'm an only child?"

I hadn't told him anything personal so how could he possibly know that?

"I saw a photo album last night while you were asleep. There were a lot of pictures of you and your parents, but no other kids. So unless you have siblings that your parents just didn't like, it would seem likely you're an only child. You were a really cute baby by the way." He chuckled and tripped, nearly falling again.

Serves him right.

"Yeah I'm an only child. It was, I don't know, lonely I guess. Do you have siblings?" I asked partly just trying to keep up the conversation but I found myself actually wanting to know. Something about him drew me in, making me want to get to know him.

"Yes. I mean, I did." Will's voice cracked in his throat a bit. "I had a younger brother and sister and an older brother. I haven't seen my older brother, Jack, since the early days. The younger two were with me for a while but..."

He trailed off not wanting to speak what happened out loud. I knew that look all too well. Will had endured the same kind of pain that most of the survivors had. It was hard to meet anyone who had not endured similar trauma of losing their loved ones. Somehow after all he had been through, Will still wanted to make new relationships. He was still willing to risk the pain of losing more people he might grow to care for. That was difficult for me to understand. I worked so hard at not getting close to anyone these days so I didn't have to go through the agony of losing anyone else. Will however, seemed to welcome the opportunity, setting himself up for the inevitability of more pain and loss.

"I'm sorry." I knew it would provide little comfort from losing his family but nothing I could say would help that.

Will nodded. "I try not to think about them, you know? Like if I keep all the bad stuff from my mind it can't truly be real." Will swallowed hard and I was sure that if I looked into his eyes I would see tears there. "But then I don't want to forget them either. If I don't remember them then it's like they never existed at all. I can't let their lives be that insignificant."

"Is there anyone else left to remember them? Any other family?" I asked, wanting to do or say something that would bring him the tiniest bit of comfort.

"Not that I know of. Just me." He kicked a rock on the road and took a deep breath.

"Well then, tell me about them. Then we can both carry their memory."

Will stopped and looked at me as if I just said the most amazing thing he ever heard. One side of his mouth curved up into a smile. The tear I suspected, escaped down his cheek.

"Okay," he nodded, quickly wiping the tear away and taking one of my hands into his.

Will found a place for us to stop and take a rest and told me all about his three siblings, Jack, Nicholas and Lilly. We didn't talk about their death or even a single bad memory. Will recounted all the family holidays, silly pranks, and unique personalities of each one. He told me all about Lilly's ballet recitals and Nicholas' baseball games. I learned that Jack was in college and wanted to be a doctor. After about an hour I felt like I had known the three for real. For that one hour it was like the world was normal again. Just two people talking and laughing and enjoying each other's company. The way his eyes lit up into sparkling emeralds when he talked about his family made him even more endearing. I fought back the urge to reach up and touch his face. I let my guard down, sitting there with Will, and just enjoyed spending time with him. I could imagine a normal life again as we sat there in the tall grass, lost in each other.

Suddenly, Will jumped up putting himself in front of me and readying his bow. He scanned the area for danger. I looked around unsure of what had gotten his attention, but then I was more interested in looking at his face than our surroundings.

"There," he said pointing about twenty yards away at a single flesh eater hobbling in our direction.

It was slower than usual, clearly not a fresh one. All the flesh was missing from its right leg and it had no left hand. It wasn't even possible to tell if it was male or female at this point. The afterlife had not been kind to our approaching undead visitor.

"Time to learn," Will said handing me a bow.

He showed me how to aim and fire, demonstrating the proper way to hold the bow. This was certainly a better use for hunting skills than shooting rabbits or squirrels. When it was my turn, Will stood behind me with his arms around my body, positioning me better. My brain focused more on his scent, a mixture of soap and something uniquely him and the feel of him against me, than the target in front of me. It took me three shots to even hit the thing. And by hit, I mean I landed an arrow into its handless arm. I pushed Will off, trying to get my head in the right place. My fourth try however was dead on, literally, straight through the brain. I fired once more with nearly identical accuracy just to make sure the last shot wasn't just pure luck.