Return of the dead

Chapter 9: What's wrong with Beth?

 We walked deeper into the dark forest and my feet began to ache. Beth had waken up and was walking on her own. I looked up and saw a bush ahead of us. It was covered in berries. My stomach grumbled and I heard a bunch of other stomachs grumbled. Beth smacked her lips and began to run towards the bush.
"Beth, no!" Charlie shouted.
Beth let out a shriek and we heard a splash. We all ran and saw her sitting in a dirty lake. The water was dirty but that wasn't what terrified us. A few feet away from a startled Beth was a dead man. He looked up when he heard the splash and got to his feet. Beth's eyes were wide open and she began to crawl back. If we fell, we would cause him more noise and probably get bitten. I was trying to think as Beth turned pale and shook. Matt slide past us and landed on the wet soil. Beth tried to run but she slipped and landed face first into the water. Matt grabbed Beth and gave her back to Charlie. The dead man was feeling around. His eyes were gone and so was his jaw. His body odor was horrible and my eyes watered. I slowly and carefully gave Matt the shovel and he gripped it tightly. The dead man groaned and Matt swung. The shovel got stuck in his head and the dead man began to thrash his arms around. Matt was ducking to avoid getting hit with the shovel handle. I looked around and saw a a big fat stick. I picked it up and ran back a bit. If I did this right, I would be able to stab the stick right through the skull. If I missed, I would get bitten or break my leg. I took a deep breath as the dead man grabbed a handful of Matt's clothes. I ran forward and jumped, stabbing the man in the head. He dropped Matt and Matt ran before the man fell on him. He smiled at me and gave me a thumbs up. I was out of breath but smiled back. I looked at Beth and she was rubbing her eyes.
"What's wrong? Do your eyes burn?" I asked, picking myself up and bending down next to her.
"My eyes sting a bit. It's probably that dirty water. I'll be fine." She said, smiling.
I shrugged at Charlie and he shook his head. Mary pushed me away from Beth and glared at me.
"I'm starving! When do we eat?" She asked.
"There's a fresh new body there. Help yourself." I said, rolling my eyes and walking away from them.
"You think you're so cool just because you helped us. We could do this on our own. We wouldn't be in this bad situation if it weren't for you." Mary said, turning me around. 
"Of course not. You would be dead back at school and killing other people. You want to do this on your own? Fine, but I might not tell you that the bush your hand is leaning on has Poison Oak on it." I said, grinning.
Mary gasped and pulled her arm away. Her arm was a bit red now. Her face turned redder with anger as she glared at me.
"You stupid bitch!" She shouted, and raised her arm to slap me.
I ducked and pulled her arm behind her back. She yelped in pain and tried to free herself. Beth gasped as everyone watched.
"You think you can treat me like dirt. I helped you even after you took away the most important thing in my whole life. Because of you, I had to suffer as I watched you made him forget about every meaningful day we spent together." I said, gripping her arm harder.
"That's enough! Katie, let her go. You have done far too much damage." Henry said.

My heart broke a bit. Even after my little speech he didn't care. I looked down and let Mary's arm go. Henry grabbed her and began walking away, Charlie and Matt followed close behind. I couldn't help but let the small little tear that had escaped my eye fall down my cheek. I let out a little whimper and felt someone pull softly on my shirt. I looked down and saw Beth. She gave me a small smile and wrapped her tiny hand around mine. I smiled back at her and walked next to her. For a little kid, she was alright.

 We walked until we felt like we would pass out. Beth's hand was sweaty and she was breathing heavily. Her eyes were a bit red from the dirty water. After two more minutes of walking, Beth collapsed. Matt helped me and carried her on his back as she breathed heavily. Charlie was worried. One of the symptoms of the infection was high fever. I walked a bit faster to catch up with Charlie and he looked away.
"You're thinking about it too aren't you?" Charlie said harshly.
"Charlie, What if she is infected? What are we going to do?" I whispered.
"Nothing. She isn't infected. She hasn't eaten or had anything to eat. Mix that with that dirty water and you might get a fever too." He said, walking away from me.
I sighed and walked back to Matt. He gave Beth to me and I held her on my back. She was practically gasping for air. I felt a tang of guilt. Mary's words echoed in my head and I felt like it was my fault. Just as I was about to think of something else, Mary began to flag us down.
"There's a tent. Maybe they have some clean food and water." She said, pointing to the big green tent.
I looked around but didn't see or hear anything.  I looked at Charlie and he gave Beth to Henry. Henry smiled at us and nodded, but I looked away. We inched closer to the tent and Charlie raised the shovel. I opened the tent flap and expected something to pop out like they usually do in movies. Nothing. I doubled checked but didn't see a single thing. Luckily, there was no bloody stains or dead bodies in there so we beckoned for everyone else to follow. Henry put Beth down on the big sleeping bag while we searched for food. I kicked something I looked down. A wallet. Money was worthless now but you never know. I felt bad for snooping but this is how we had to survive. I opened the wallet and almost dropped it. There was the picture of a man with his wife and two kids. The man looked a lot like the man we had seen at the lake. Was this his tent? Had he gone out to look for something and gotten bitten? If that was true then that meant that more walkers were around us. If that was true, we would be surrounded.
"I found food and water." Matt said, showing me three big lunch boxes filled with it.
I put the wallet down and opened a bottle. I bent down next to Beth and made her drink some. I wiped away her sweat and dropped a bit of water on her forehead. She smiled slightly and closed her eyes. We decided to stay a bit longer until Beth felt better. She opened her eyes and squinted at me.
"Katie, is that you?" She asked.
"Yeah, what's wrong? Why are you squinting?" I asked.
"My eyes hurt. Can we go outside for some fresh air?" She asked, sitting up.
Henry was sitting with Mary at the far end of the tent. Matt and Charlie were asleep until their time to keep watch. I opened the tent and Beth stopped. She was rubbing her eyes and squinting again. I looked at her eyes but they seemed fine. Then I saw it. A small swirl of blue was forming in her eyes. A sign of blindness. Was Beth losing her eye sight?
"Beth, do me a favor. Can you see that tree?" I asked.
"A bit. It's kind of fuzzy. I feel dizzy." She said, wobbling a bit.
"What about that bush. Can you see it?" I asked.
She shook her head. My heart dropped and a lump formed in my throat.
"That's enough fresh air. Let's go back inside." I said.
Beth couldn't see the bush that was only four feet away. In no time, she wouldn't be able to see at all. What were we going to do? Charlie looked at my worried face and I made him go outside. We talked and he looked angry. He leaned against a tree and shook his head.
"No. Please no." He said, and hugged me tightly.
Beth was only a kid. If something happened and if she got separated from us, she would become easy bait. Even if her eye sight was gone, nothing would make us abandon her.