When The Dead Came 2 (12 page)

"We
need to just wait,"Alex responded, wiping his face. He looked
out over the scenery, the smoke from the wreck below carrying the
scent of the dead through the air. He looked over at Avery, pulling
splinters out of her hands and he looked down at his own hands, cut
up from the glass from the wreck. His back ached, he had a headache,
he just felt pain everywhere from the constant running and fighting.

Jenny
and Holly reached the town and barely ran into any zombies. Yet. They
walked on down streets until they spotted the shelters Holly had
mentioned. They began to walk toward them,until a zombified woman
wearing a blood stained blue sundress with flower patterns on it,
spotted them. She began running at them, Holly and Jenny running away
from her.

They
ran over toward the shelters and jerked open the door of the closest
bomb shelter pronouncing a bright yellow sign containing the words ON
SALE in dark blue. Jenny ran in and Holly began to close the door
when the zombie ran up and reached its arm in at her. She screamed
and tried batting the arm away. Jenny ran over and jerked the door
shut, severing the damaged arm and she locked the door. The two of
them watched as more zombie faces appeared in front of the door,
Holly closed shut the peephole and locked it,sitting down on a medium
sized bunk bed.

"How
long do we have to stay in here,"Jenny asked.

"Forever
depending on what type of bombs they're gonna drop." Holly laid
down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"I
hate this,"Jenny said after a moment.

Up
in the mountainsides, a day later, Alex climbed back up into the
cave, carrying with him sticks and rocks. Earlier that day, the two
of them had climbed down in search of food, but they only caught what
Avery had shot, which was a small squirrel. And they didn't worry
about water or smaller snacks, since Alex remembered he had thrown a
little supplies in the bag Avery had had with her. Setting the sticks
and rocks down, he dusted his hands off.

"This
should be good for the fire tonight," he said. Avery forced a
smile and began to check the sticks in case of any water on them to
set them out to dry. Alex looked at her and felt sorry for her loss
of her friends. "I'm gonna get some water."

"Alright,"
she said and continued checking the sticks. He stood up and walked
over to their bag and began digging for the water bottles. Stopping,
he remembered his cell phone was in there. Looking over his shoulder
to make sure Avery was doing okay, he turned his phone on. He looked
at the time on it, reading 4:50 p.m., and it flashed, his battery's
about to die. Pausing, he realized he had a message.

Thinking
it was from before it began, he checked it and his breath caught in
his throat. The message read:"Alex, I'm still alive. N Chicago.
Justin." Immediately, Alex checked when he got the message,
which was two weeks ago. He looked over at Avery, who was now sitting
there, her back against the wall of the cave, looking out over the
view. Alex couldn't decide what to do. He knew she was in pain still
from the events in Ohio and from the wreck yesterday.
She'll
be a problem the whole way to Chicago
,
he caught himself thinking. She hardly ever sleeps and when she does,
she awakens from nightmares. She's likely weak from lack of food and
water. Her hands are useless right now from all the splinters. He
grabbed out his gun and checked it for how much ammo he had left. He
stood up and walked over to her," Avery."

She
looked up at him and stood up slowly, walking up to him too. He
rubbed her right arm,"We'll be okay," he reassured her,"
You'll be okay." Avery nodded," And ,you can always trust
me, no matter what."

"I
know," she finally said and added," what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing,"
he said," I'm just trying to figure something out. For our
safety" Avery nodded and turned away, a bit confused. He pointed
the gun at the back of her head as she stared out at the scenery,
smoke in the distance. Alex hesitated, ready to pull the trigger. He
aimed the rifle at her," I'm sorry for doing this."

"What?"
She turned around. And he turned the rifle; without warning, he hit
her hard on her head with the butt end of the gun, knocking her down
and out, cracking the end of the gun. He stood there, breathing hard
and he dropped the damaged useless weapon. Turning away, he ran over
to the duffle bag and threw out her crowbar, he zipped the bag and
picked up the crow bar, standing over her, he prepared to raise the
bar up and hit her a few more times; but stopped, thinking that the
one hit to her head likely killed her anyways. Alex dropped the
crowbar and walked out of the cave, making his way down to sides and
make his way to Chicago.

Avery's
eyes remained shut, even as blood began to trickle down across her
face, small drops falling onto the ground.