The World Could End With You - Novella

Chapter 7 - Purple wrappers and run like the clappers

The noise of the herd is near deafening now as they swarm the farm, stumbling through fences and scrabbling at the house. Their nails screech against the brickwork and laboured rasping breathing and groaning fills the air. 

Occasionally a sound or movement seems to catch their attention and they stumble towards it in unison. Noises rising to snarls as they move through the space. Their movements are almost mindless and then one of them will do something that seems totally ordinary, like open a gate and they all seem so surprised. Disorientated and confused by their own behaviour. It makes me wonder if they still retain some of the knowledge they had before they became this? Or is it muscle memory perhaps? Are the people we've lost still inside them. 

My fingers twist in the frayed edge of my shirt and I wish I had grabbed something to put over this. It's already getting far too cold and my coat is unhelpfully hooked over the back of my chair in the office, instead of somewhere useful, like on my back.

"You cold?" Dec asks.

"Not really, just a little." I whisper back.

Ever the gentleman, he is shrugging off his jacket before I can protest. It's still warm when he slips it onto me and I snuggle into the softness of it. The arms are so long it takes a minute before I can get my hands out of the sleeves. 

"Thank you." I murmured, "For everything. The jacket, helping everyone, coming to save me." 

"I would do anything for you." He promises.

I just smile and turn my attention back to the grounds and the people who are no longer people outside. Most of them fill the space around the house now. I can't see any movement inside of the treehouse, a fact I'm thankful for, because if I can't see them, neither can the monsters below. I hope they can keep the children quiet. It's not exactly like they come with an off switch afterall.

My eyes drift back to the house and I spot a glint of something silver shining from the propped open attic window. It's the barrel of a gun, I realise. A thin, olive skinned arm is visible against it and I follow it's aim to see it's trained on the base of the tree. 

Paul. Ready to defend his family at a moments notice. 

I wonder if he can see them from where he is? The house is much closer to the treehouse and his angle will allow him to look down into it as long as there aren't branches blocking it.

"What are you thinking?" Dec asks softly. 

I glance sideways at him and see he is staring at me with this weird little smile on his face. "Nothing. What? Is there something on my face?" I ask self-consciously touching it.

He grins, "You mean aside from radiant beauty."

I roll my eyes at his teasing tone and pull the sleeves of his jacket down over my hands to keep them warm. Busying myself so he doesn't see how much his words have affected me, "Weirdo."

"I just have a new appreciation for how much I like looking at you since I nearly lost you." His voice loses all the teasing now, and draws my eyes back to his face.

How, with all that is going on around us, can we be having what is perhaps one of the most intensely romantic moments of my life?

"I'm sorry I scared you." I reply, reaching out and linking hands with him.

His fingers dip into the sleeve to grab mine and I smile down at them. "I love you Brianna Parker," He whispers, "More than I think I ever even realised." 

I open my mouth to respond. To tell him that I love him more than life. That there's no one I would rather have at my side at the end of the world. Then a zombie slams violently into the side of the barn and I let out a little gasp.