The Ruins Of Tomorrow

20. A Quick Run

I kept getting headaches every morning and bad dreams. I would wake up with sweat drenching my back and clothes. And always, I would wake up around the same time every night, feeling restless. At least Thomas was sleeping fine and he no longer woke up with nightmares. Maybe somehow, I pulled out all the bad dreams from him and had them pass on to me.

It was better that way.

I kept going back to the barbed wire fence. Hopefully to see somebody again or something different. But whoever it was, they were trying to be sneaky about it. The only thing that was worrying us was the dead finding their way towards Terrenceville.

Dean wasn't happy because soon enough we would run out of supplies before we could get through the winter without a problem. The generators weren't working to their fullest potential, so many folks couldn't use any warm water.

What will happen once we run out of everything?

For some reason, I couldn't shake off this guilt on my shoulders. I thought being inside a nice-built community would make things easier for me and Thomas, but it was far from that. It kept us away from the dead, but eventually we will have nothing.

I suppose this was the feeling of having 'high hopes', but not everything can last well. You can't have everything and you can't expect things will always go great for you. Sometimes your plans don't work out because something else comes pushing them to the side. And then you end up drained and lose more hope.

I clenched the fence and sucked in a cold breath.

There was a biter walking towards the fence as its arms wiggled. It stood so close that I could examine the scratches and cuts on its pale face, without worrying that it would bite me. It snarled, hoping it could reach and eat me alive. But it couldn't.

I stood watching it until I heard a twig snap behind me and I turned around to see Dean.

I breathed out as my breath came out foggy. "Are you spying on me, too?"

He crossed his muscular arms over his chest and shook his head. "Look kid, Noah told me what you said-"

"Well, I thought he wasn't planning on to," I rolled my eyes. "He thought there was no point. Saying some dumb stuff as if we can't decide for ourselves."

"He didn't mean it like that," he said. "We have a lot of things going on and I'm just hoping whatever you saw won't become a problem for us."

"Oh, that some stranger walking with the dead isn't going to be a threat? More hordes find their way here. Somebody is stealing supplies. We are running low on things and the generators are giving us problems now again. It's like one thing after another."

"I just get the feeling whatever I say you don't care about," I said.

Dean sighed. "Scarlet, it's not like that."

"I'm just telling you how I feel."

"Maybe we should talk the rest of this inside, Scarlet," he said, peering over my shoulder.

The biter pulled and yanked at the fence, shaking it a little bit as a few more joined him. I was trying to move out of the way, but felt a hand grab the back of my jacket as I hit the fence. I felt more hands try to reach through.

Dean tried to pull me back, but their strength was something else. It was as if glue was on my back and they didn't want to let go. I tried finding my pocket knife as I saw it fall to my feet when a hand made me drop it. I saw Dean swing a hatchet towards my right and saw a hand fall on my shoulder as it hit the leaves on the ground.

Eventually, he pulled me away and I fell on my bottom. I touched my neck and face, trying to feel for any marks on my skin. Dean went down the line and stabbed the biter's until there was none remaining.