The Lake Diary

Chapter 11

It was night by the time Peter and I made it to shore. We'd been as quiet as we could, moving away from where Nicholas had made his last stand. Without a watch it's impossible to tell how long we swam but it felt like an eternity of slow progress as the sounds faded behind us.

The fading light had been a mixed blessing. We had gotten colder but the zombies eyes were no better than ours so in the dark we were able to slip away.

When we thought we'd gone far enough Peter and I paused, treading water just off the shore, shivering and listening. There were no sounds from the beach, it seemed we'd lost them. Not that it mattered either way, we were both freezing, we couldn't swim any further or wait any longer.

The shore was only about twenty yards away but we took our time getting there. We didn't know how much distance we'd gained on the herd and in the dark we couldn't see them. Inch by inch we edged closer to the shore, fighting the shivering of our own limbs, ears straining for any sounds.

The first step onto solid ground was amazing, the second was freezing. The breeze coming off the lake went straight through our soaked clothes, sucking away what little warmth our bodies were generating.

We needed a fire for the heat and to dry our clothes but that would have been suicide. There wasn't enough distance between us and the herd and a fire would be an instant beacon in the darkness for any of the creatures nearby. In the black forest there was no telling how many there were or how far away. We were freezing to death but we couldn't risk it.

The only other option was to keep moving, hope that we could generate enough heat to keep us alive until we reached somewhere safe enough for a fire.

Peter was as much a veteran as I was, he knew all that too. Without a word, who knew what was listening, we moved further away from where we had last seen the herd and into the woods. We had to feel our way along in the blackness. I had a flashlight and I'm sure Peter did too but that would have been just as bad as lighting a fire. No, we had move through the darkness.

My body was exhausted and freezing, my muscles didn't want to respond but I pressed on. Peter couldn't have been in any better shape than I was. We couldn't rush, each step had to be slow and deliberate, we had to feel our way with our hands. We had to move but we also had to be as quiet as possible. I followed the little sounds of Peter moving through the brush ahead of me.

Several times a branch caught me in the face or thighs. My hands and face were soon cut up by the vegetation. It was a small mercy that most of my body was numb by that point. Peter was too professional to yelp when he got cut but every once and a while I heard a sharp intake of breath and knew he wasn't faring any better. If we lived through the night we'd be hurting in the morning.

It was probably midnight when we stepped into a small clearing. It was a cloudy night but there was still some moonlight bleeding through. There was just enough of a glow to make out a small house in the middle of what was once a yard.

We waited at the edge of the forest, listening and looking for any monsters nearby. The forest was silent but that didn't mean much. Zombies, when deprived of any stimulus would often go into a kind of suspended state. If they didn't see or hear anything they would be directionless, they'd just stand there until something caught their attention. They could be ringing the clearing, as soon as we stepped out we might draw their attention.

There didn't seem to be any nearby though and we couldn't wait long to find out. We needed the shelter and quick. We waited as long as we could stand before walking to the small building, eyes and ears open.

It was a small wood cabin, maybe a weekend hunting or fishing shack back in the day. It was tiny but was up on short posts and appeared solid built. We walked up the few steps to the door, the wood creaking beneath our feet. We paused again at the door, listening. It didn't appear we'd attracted any attention.

Peter tried the door and we had our first stroke of luck in the past twelve hours, it was open. There could have been zombies inside but we didn't care at the moment, we needed the shelter. We stepped in quick and closed the door behind us.