Rotten World

Chapter Eleven

it's been about a week now and me and Logan have tried our best to stay out of each other's way, only making small conversations about our new member Eddie. I've spent most of my time with Eddie in his room, we just sit and talk about everything that has happened to us so far.

Eddie is surprisingly almost all healed, it raises a suspicion but it seems to come as a surprise to him too so I don't speak much about it, also who am I to suspect fast healing when I'm probably not fully human anymore?
"Hey, do you think you'd be ok if we got out for a bit, for like a walk or something? we're running low on food and it's hard to ask someone who doesn't eat to go find something. also, it might be good for you to stretch your legs after a week and a half of laying in this bed" I look at Eddie with something like nervousness written on my face, I was partly expecting him to reject the idea.

"first of all yes I'll go out with you , and secondly I have gotten up and out of bed though it was only to wash up and go to the bathroom" we both laugh at the last part, I then realize that he said he'd ' go out ' with me and I lightly blush and tell him that I'll wait for him downstairs so he could get ready to go in private as I'm sure he would like to get out of his shredded clothes.

*******

within about three minutes Eddie hobbles down the stairs and into the living room where everyone but logan was waiting to see him. " uh hey there, its uh nice to meet you deacon" Eddie says as he reaches out his hand to deacon for the big guy to shake. deacon not knowing exactly what the jester means instead engulfs Eddie in a huge bear hug. for a moment Eddie was stunned into silence, taken off guard by the hug. "nice to meet you too uh.." realizing that I forgot to introduce Eddie properly to deacon " oh uh Eddie his name is Eddie" deacon nods and gives a shy smile " uh ya Eddie". deacon nods in eddies direction before going back to the book he was looking at.

after asking deacon where logan got off to and him giving me a shrug, me and Eddie started in a new direction in search for food, I left Lexa at the house with deacon to give her some rest. " have you ever been out this way before?" Eddie asks from his place beside me, I give him a side glance and then say " no I don't think so, it looks new. I'm hoping that if we stay in this direction long enough that we'll eventually hit another town or something, the last time I and logan went out we found a town not too far from the house but it was mostly empty."

Eddie stays silent for a bit, trying to think of what to talk about I guess "I'm glad it's starting to get warmer now." he says. I just nod. ya, it's great that it's getting warmer, which means less chance of us being hit by redhounds. I remember my mother telling me that her mom used to say how the winters used to be a lot longer, I guess the heat from the bombs stayed a bit and are giving us shorter winters, but that's only a guess I truly have no fucking idea. I'm just glad that winter is coming to an end.

as we walk along on what used to be a railroad track, my and Eddy's hands gently brush each other every once and a while. neither of us says anything about it and I'm glad for that as if someone were to say something it may make it weird and no one wants that. we come to the end of the surrounding trees and take a second to just look around us, in search of something if not anything.

all of a sudden Eddie grabs my hand, instinctively making me jump and my hands heat up " ah shit, ouch. what the fuck is that." Eddie rips his slightly burned hand away from mine and takes a step or two away from me. I panic " I'm sorry I didn't mean to, shit, I'm so sorry. I uh...." I think to rush to him and look at his hand but I stop myself at the look on his face, one of confusion and what looks like disgust.

not wanting to look at his face again I run in the direction of a distant-looking town, the one I bet Eddie was going to show me. I run as fast as my legs will take me and sudden tears start to slip from my eyes. ' shit shit SHIT!!' first the thing with logan now this, is there anything I can't screw up.

I hear distant yelling from behind me but I don't dare look, I just face forwards and continue to run towards the town that is now starting to look like an ancient city. with high-built structures and roadways. I run into the nearest building not even caring to see what it was, feeling a huge wave of deja vu. once inside and am making my way to the second floor I realize that the building looks to be some kind of giant shopping market, it's filled with stocked old-time shops and food sections.

after walking through most if not all of the building I find what looks to be some sort of broken bridge connecting one building to another. feeling curious I cautiously make my way along the bridge, being mindful of the gaping holes in both the ceiling and the floor. I suddenly am knocked to the side wall as the bridge is harshly shaken by what can only be described as my worst nightmare, literally.

standing on the other side of the bridge is the redhound leader and his forever-growing group. ' well shit, this is not going to end well' the leader had that shit-eating grin plastered on his face as he called over to me " found you" just as in the dream my blood ran cold at the sound of his gravelly voice. I squeezed my eyes shut thinking that it was another nightmare, and my heart stopped when I reopened them and he was not only still there but also was now crouched right in front of me.

his sickly red and scabby nose was close enough to rub up against mine. I could feel his scolding hot breath as it scrapped over my face, and I could feel my soul being torn apart by his eyes alone. I couldn't stop the small whimper that left my throat or the trimmers that raked over my body. I was stuck and frozen in place as he just stared at me. " did you miss me? because I've missed you, I haven't been able to reach your dreams so I figured I'd come to see you in person." his grin widened at the glossy film that had started to take over my eyes. it took everything I had to not cry in front of this twat.

"fuck you" I growled, I was surprised by how strong my voice sounded despite me breaking inside. his grin slightly slipped and with an inhuman speed, he ruffly grabbed a fist full of my hair and yanked my head back so my face was facing up towards the ceiling. I strained my eyes to try and see what he was doing but I didn't need eyes to know, as a moment later a slimy wet hot object had started to drag up the length of my neck, his tongue 'fucking gross'

fighting the urge to gag I muster up enough bravery to focus on the burning heat in the center of my chest, once focused on it I try to move it throughout my whole body. and turn up the heat. after a second a sizzling sound is heard right before a screech of pain. my head is soon let go once again allowing me to look at the leader. he's holding his hands up over his mouth, 'gotcha asshole'. I smile as I see him shut his eye tight. my victory is short-lived though as his eyes shoot open and he lets go of his mouth, sticking out his red gray tongue to show the healing burns. 'shit'

" Nice try sweetheart but your gonna have to try a little harder than that" I look up at him and slowly rise to my feet 'challenge fucking excepted, bitch'. at the sight, his grin widens. I take the opportunity to breathe deep while also keeping control over my burning hot skin, instantly feeling the draining of my energy. once my lungs are full to capacity I outstretch my arms to fan out at my sides and open my mouth, for a moment time and sound seem to stop before being thrown into overdrive as I let out my loudest scream and watch as all laying rubble is lifted up before being thrown both at the leader and his group surprisingly taking out half of them.

with no more rubble to be thrown I use my remaining energy to break the small amount of glass before shooting them at the redhounds, taking out the rest of the group and finally bringing the leader to his knees as I fall to mine in exhaustion. tiredly lifting my head to look at the leader to see that the pieces of rubble had broken both his arms and had caused a gash on his head, the shards of glass had pierced close to his heart and one had landed in his left eye socket. he was covered in blood and was breathing heavily yet when he looked at me he still had that grin plastered on his face as he said: "now that's what I was talking about, too bad about my group but who needs them when I have you."

he talked like his wounds weren't fatal, and I guess they weren't. not with his healing abilities. it was a good try though. lowering my head in both defeat and exhaustion I could still hear his crooked laugh as he watched me topple over to my side. I have to fight with myself to stay awake.

i'm able to stay conscious long enough to hear rushed footsteps coming from behind me, but no yelling. I'm then gently lifted up by strong arms and carried away. The last thing I hear is the gravelly voice of someone in my head saying " see you soon sweetheart" before all time and sound is cut out as I'm dragged yet again to the land of unconsciousness