Dead Bite

chapter 2

   I wake up energized and rested. I stretch and accidentally push Rubble off the bed.
   "Oops, sorry Rubble," I get up and pick him up off the ground. He is still half asleep. "And you need to go outside tubby."
   My dad should be home, maybe he would like to go to the park. Relaxing is good for the mind, right? I lay Rubble back on the bed then proceed to find the clothes that would be comfortable in for outside at the park. I put on a pair of Jordan's, sweatpants, and a loose crop top. I do not even bother looking at my hair, for I do not care. I love seeing my dad happy. When he is strict, he shows no emotion. When he shows no emotion, he feels like a robot. Maybe since he slept he will be more energetic than me, haha, I doubt it! I might as well wake him up now so if it does rain we are not caught in the middle of it. I skip into my dad's room to find Damien still sleeping on his bed. I walk back out into the hall and look around.
   "Dad?" I call. Maybe he went into a different room since Damien is sleeping in his bed. I open the door closest to my dad's room, hoping to see him in the bedroom.
   "Dad?" I call, a little bit more frantic. Maybe he could not find a comfortable bed so he went to one of the other floors. I run from floor to floor calling his name. I make it back to my floor. I hear someone calling my name so, I run into my dad's room and find Damien yelling for me. Rubble is now awake and yawning 
   "Are you okay?" He asks. I ignore him. I am now hyperventilating and squeezing my fist hard together. He sits up on the bed and tilts his head. I pace the room as he studies me. I try breathing but can not. My heartbeat accelerates. I lean up against a wall and tuck my head between my legs trying to control my breathing. Rubble comes up to me and licks my hand and face. I will not be this agitated if I had... I forgot to take my medicine. I stand up and stumble over to my dad's drawer. Inside I find my pills. I take my anxiety and anti-depressant pills in my hand and swallow them down with water. My head clears up a tad bit; I can now think more clearly. I run out of my dad's room and into my room. I grab my walkie talkie from under my pillow.
   "Dad? Dad where are you?" I cry into the walkie talkie. I wait for a response, any responses from him; however, I get none. Oh God, I think, my dad had gotten bitten or ganged up on by a group of bandits. Maybe he is asleep in an abandoned building still. Maybe he... My mind blows up with accusations about what could have happened to my dad; most of them were bad.
   "Kaylee," Damien call. I sigh and walk out of my room. Before I go into my dad's room, I took three big breaths trying to cool myself down. I stroll into my dad's room.
   "What?" I ask kindly. Then I hear his stomach growl as well as mine. "Oh, we need food."
   "Yeah," he huffs. I go to where we stored our food. My dad normally makes breakfast while I make lunch and sometimes dinner. I get Rubble his food since he eats the same thing every day for every meal. Now what were we going to eat for breakfast? Out of the corner of my eye, I see a box of cinnamon pop-tarts and pull those out. 
   "Do you like cinnamon pop-tarts?" I ask.
   "Yeah," he answers back. I bring the whole box out and set it on the table. He inches his way to the end of the bed as I rip open a packet of pop-tarts and lay down two for him. That is the amount guys ate, correct? He clears his throat so I look over at him. I had forgotten he is still bound together.
   "If you promise not to do anything stupid I will untie you," I sigh. He nods his head quickly so I untie him. He pets out a sigh of relief.
   "Damn you tie a tight knot!" He exclaims.
   "Well, I could not have let you get untied and kill me," I retort.
   "I wouldn't have killed you," I hear him whisper. "so," he says changing the subject," why didn't you kill me?"
   "Because you didn't attack me," I shrug,"plain and simple. Oh, and sorry about killing your friends."
   He shrugs as well,"no one will care. They didn't have any family or anyone. I; however, have a mom and a dad. My dad sometimes goes out on runs, but my mom was sick so he had to stay behind. I have, kinda, met your father, but where is your mom?" He asks. I tense up and look out the window.
   "She's gone, has been since the first day this whole thing happened," I say with a straight face. There is no reason for tears; tears will not bring back my mom.
   "Oh, I'm sorry." We stop talking and eat in silence. Rubble sits beside me chowing down his food. Once we were done, I threw away our trash. Me and Damien sat across from each other, and asked each other questions.
   "So, what is your favorite color?" Damien asked.
   "Black, how about you?"
   "Blue," we did this for a very long time,  asking each other questions about some random and personal things. I try not going into detail with my life, but he pushes me to it. He is quite interesting. He has bright green eyes with short, blonde hair. He, too, has muscles; although, they are bigger than mine; also, he has some nice abs as well. I snap out of staring at him when I notice the room start to become darker.
   "Holy shit, how long has it been? It feels like we just ate!" I exclaim. Then I hear my walkie talkie. I sprint to my room, almost tripping on air, which I do quiet often. I grab the walkie talkie.
   "Dad!" I cry into the walkie talkie.
   "Well hello there girly," the voice chimes creepily. The voice is definitely male and is scratchy and harsh. I feel my blood boil.
   "What have you find with my dad?" I scream. I want to punch this guy and even more, kill him.
   "What are you talking about? I found some blood, a map, a bag, and this walkie talkie."
   "Liar," I growl.
   "Oh I am an honest man; I would not lie to a sweet innocent girl. Here, let me come and... help you. This map says you are in an apartment building just south of where I am," he snickers. I know he does not want to help me.
   "Come find me, you bastard," I hiss.
   "Oh I am already on my way. Once I get there you will be in good hands."
   "I doubt it, but I'll still be waiting." I chuck my walkie talkie down on my bed and scream. Tears are falling down my face like a waterfall that just had a flood. I lean my head against my bedframe. Now, I have no one. I have Rubble, but no one blood related. That is when my blood boiled over its kettle. I go to my anger room and start punching and kicking the wall. This bastard, killed my dad! Now I have no mom and no dad! No one! I let my anger out and take a deep breath. I turn around and see Damien standing in the doorway.
   "Got some anger problems?" He asks pointing at the room.
   "Shut up," I growl. "At least you have family." I push past him and into the hallway. I am going to hide and wait for this guy. I am going to kill this guy, but if I did not get Damien out of the way then he would just get in my way, but I don't want to kill him. Maybe I can just lock him in my room, I think to myself. 
   "Hey Damien, can you help move something in my room?" I ask in my kindest voice.
   "Sure, as long as you don't turn around and stab me in the back," he chuckles.
   "Hold on, I need to grab a different outfit because this one is a tiny bit uncomfortable." I grab a pair of short elastic shorts and a sports bra. This will be comfortable for killing the guy. I point towards the corner.
   "It is over there." I watch as he walked over to the corner. I quietly go backwards, and toward the door.
   "But there is nothing..." He starts turning around, and before he finishes I close the door. I hear him run up to the door.
   "Kaylee let me out!" He yells.
   "No, you will just get in the way when I kill the guy who killed my father!" I yell back. I lock the door with a strong rope that I tie to my doorknob to the door next to it. He pounds and kicks the door. He screams at me to open the door, but I refuse. I change out of the clothes I am in and into the clothes I picked out. I do a back handspring, an areal, and a front flip. This outfit is perfect for moving about more easily. I hear a door from the deeper levels creak open.
   "Damien, be quite until I'm done," I command. "Rubble, come here," I call him to my dad's room. I grab one of the bigger knives, and shut Rubble in my dad's room. I hear the guy mocking me.
   "Come on out little girly. Come out and play with me," he mocks. I hear him slowly making his way up the stairs. "Which floor are you on?" He ask.
   I want so badly to yell back at him but I don't. I want to find him first and possibly have an advantage over him. I am ready for him. I am ready to kill him and get my revenge. I hear him coming up the stairs to the seventh floor.
   "Oh, are you on the seventh floor?" He chuckles. I take a deep breath, preparing to strike. I hear him on the stairs right beside me and jump out swiping my blade. He grabs my wrist like it is nothing.
   "You think a hunter for half their life could not hear you?" He chuckled. He shoves my arm out of the way and I fall to my hands. I turn around and stand up.
   "Oh, you're a feisty one, aren't you? I like them feisty," he purrs. Chills go up and down my back.
   "You are not getting out of here alive with me," I smile. He holds out his rope and knives.
   "You cannot beat a grown adult with experience, sweetheart," he laughs. I charge at him again and this time, I cut his sleeve but nothing else.
   "Wow, you're getting closer princess." This guy is pissing me off.
   "Fine, if you are so tough, come get me," I growl. He sets down his bag and puts his knives down. All he has in his hands is the rope.
   "You are going to be mine, honey." He rushes towards me so I do an areal and swipe my blade. It make contact to his eye and cheek. I land and observe as he crumples to the ground in pain. He holds his eye as blood pools in his hand.
   "Told you I could get you," I laugh. He growls and lunges at me. He catches me off guard so my only option is to tuck and roll. In the middle of rolling he manages to grasp my hair. He pulls me back by my hair. I yelp at the sudden pain.
   "Kaylee! Let me out!" Damien yells. The guy wraps the rope around my body and goes back to his bag. He comes back with a knife.
   "Is that your boyfriend in there?" He teases .
   "He's not my boyfriend," I growl between gritted teeth. He grabs my hair and pushes the knife against my cheek. I hiss at him.
   "Maybe I can toy with you before I go after your boyfriend and take you home with me," he chuckles . He puts the knife close to my eye. "Your eyes are pretty, it would be a shame if I were to stabbed them. " I try pulling away, but he holds my hair firmly. He pushes the knife lightly into my cheek. It is like a paper cut. I do not make a sound or any facial expressions. If I do that then he would surely harm me more.
   "Tough little girl, are you?" He smirks. He pulls the knife away and puts it on my neck. Damien continues to bang, and pound on the door trying to escape the imprisonment I put him in.
   "Seems like your boyfriend is getting agitated. What would he do if he heard you scream?" He pushes the knife into my neck. I grit my teeth to hold back the screams. He pulls it across my skin which caused me to scream.
   "Stop! Please stop!" I cried. Damien was now frantically trying to open the door.  Why does he care so much if i get hurt? The man pulls the knife away and I hear him start to chuckle.
   "I think you were the most fun to capture, besides losing my eye. All the other women just screamed and kicked with little fight. Me and the boys will have fun tonight!" He laughs. "Say goodbye to your boyfriend."
   "Damien!" I manage to grab my knife and throw it at the rope. It hits the rope and cuts it a bit. The man starts pushing on my pressure point. I start passing in and out of consciousness. I see Damien bust through the door, and he stab the guy behind me. I fall flat on my back and gasp for air. My vision is still blurry. I feel Damien pick me up, and unlock the door to my dad's room. Rubble jumps up on me and licked my cheek. The first thing that comes back fully to me was my hearing. I hear something downstairs.
   "Damien, something is downstairs," I moan, still in pain from the cut in my neck. I am in so much pain and I ache. Damien leaves the room. When he comes back he starts packing a bag.
   "There are a lot of zombies downstairs. I threw the guys body down the stairs to hopefully distracted them for a while. He starts  packing all of my clothes, and then starts getting the weapons.
   "Let me help you," I smile weakly. I stand up and start putting my pills into a bag along with my personal care stuff. I start hearing them come up the stairs.
   "Damien, here they come!" He looks at me.
   "To the eighth floor!" He grabs the bags and my hand. I whistle for Rubble and he follows us. Damien runs ahead of me and pulls me into the first door where I had found the body in the tub. He starts blocking the door with a fridge and a few other bigger objects. It is kind of cold in there. I wrap my arms around myself to keep my warmth in. Damien turns around and sees this.
   "Here," he says holding out his shirt. He looks so hot without a shirt. Wait, what was I thinking?
   "But won't you be cold?" I ask.
   "I will be fine," he smiles. We both look at each other once we hear the flow of infected flood into the hallway. There was probably ten  infected out there. There is no sure way of telling. My hair keeps getting into my cut.
   "Here, let me help you," Damien laughs. He walks behind me and starts messing with my hair. He starts twisting and weaving it around each other. I think he is braiding my hair. Once he is done he puts a piece of cloth on my cut that he found on the ground. I look at it; he has French braided it.
   "How did you do that?" I ask admiring it.
   "There are little girls at our place. I have to know how to do hair so that when they want their hair done I can do it when everyone else is busy," he smiles back proudfully. I chuckle. My laughter went away when I hear infected banging on the door. I jump back.
   "Well, looks like we stayed too long. Time to go." Damien says grabbing the bags. I grab my bag and go next to Damien.
   "What is your plan?" I ask.
   "I don't have one. The goal is to avoid the zombies and being bitten." I prepare myself for the adrenaline rush I am about to get. Damien moves the objects blocking the door and the zombies burst in. Damien runs ahead of me and I am not far behind. Rubble runs along side me, snapping at any infected that gets too close to me. We both jump down a flight of stairs and then run down the other five flights of stairs. Rubble barks at me and I turn to see a group of infected charging at Damien.
   "Damien watch out!" He sprints faster and is barely missed. I am now cut off from Damien. "I will go around!" I call running down the hall the infected just came from. I round the corner and bolt down the straightaway. I hear Damien yelling for me near the end.
   "I am almost there!" I call. I round that corner and see Damien waving his hand at me. Infected are in the way of the door. I pick Rubble up, although very heavy, and full on sprint at the door. I manage to push past them and outside to Damien. I set Rubble down and put my hands on my knees panting.  Damien locks the door. It is chilly outside so I open my bag and rummage through my bag and pull out a a pair of leggings and a sweatshirt.
   "Turn around so I can change," I smile. He sighs and turns around obediently. I take off Damien's shirt and inhale the smell. He smells of my favorite smell, chocolate axe. Did all guys wear chocolate axe? I wonder. Damien turn around and smile at me.
   "You look good," he chuckle. I throw his shirt into his face.
   "Turn around!" I laugh," and put on a shirt."
   "Oh, but do you want me to put it on?" He put it on and I finish putting my clothes on. Now I am warm and comfortable. He has such a cute smile.
   "Thank you, for saving me," I murmur under my breath. I hate admitting that I am stupid. I hate admitting that I am weak. I hate admitting that my father is gone. I walk up to Damien and wrap my arms around him. He hesitates at the touch. All I want to do right now was cry. I breath his scent in which relaxed me. I was so sleepy ; yet, I am too angry to fall asleep. If that guy had not killed my dad he would still be here. I did not get to kill him myself. I want to punch something. I push away from Damien, and start walking towards the side of the building. I land blow after blow to the side of the building. Rubble begins barking at me and then Damien wraps his arms around me, restraining me.
   "Damien let go!" I screamed. "Why should you care?!" He holds me tight so I can not punch anything. I squirm in his arms and try to escape; consiquently, he holds me tighter. I am probably going to end up killing my dad just like I killed my mother. Damien falls back onto his back, but still has a firm grip on me. He puts his legs around my legs so I cannot kick him. Rubble barks at me. I quit and give up fighting him; all I do is cry. I turn around so I was facing him and I cry into his arms.
   "I dont want to find my dad as an infected. I can't kill him too," I cry. "Please dont leave me too," I whisper into his chest. He is the only other person I know now.
   "I wont leave your side. Since you did not kill me and you are all alone I will stay by your side for however long I need to." He holds out a ring to me. "Here," he smiles.
   "What is this for?" I sniffle.
   "It is to show that you are mine and in my care. No one is allowed to touch you or take care of you except for me." I put the ring on and admire it. It looks like it could be very expensive, when we used to have stores. It has a saphire gem in the middle and it is a pretty big ring. It barely fits my middle finger on my right hand.
   "Thank you," I smile.
   "We need to find a place to stay the night," I smile at Damien. I start walking away from Damien but then turn around," oh, and I never formally thanked you so thank you," I grasp his hand and pull him to his feet. We both start walking away, side by side. I smile, maybe I do need someone by my side. Maybe, just maybe, I am not strong enough to survive in this world by myself.