An Apocalyptic Pack

Chapter Two: First Night

"It's starting to get late, how about I take the first shift?" William asks after I agree to the deal. We even shook on it, making it official. I wanted to make the terms of our alliance clear and how we would part ways once we reached the south. I didn't tell him this, but I don't want to be tied down. 

I shake my head, "No, I'll take the first one." 

He shrugs his broad shoulders in an indifferent way, "If you insist." He starts pulling out a sleeping bag, one of those small black compact ones hikers use. 

"Wow, where'd you get that?" I ask in disbelief. He turns to me with a proudful grin that stretches his face. 

"My dad gave it me when I turned fourteen," his eyes have this distant look to them, like he's thinking of his dad. After a moment of his reflection and silence, excluding the sparks of the fire and song of the breeze, he clears his throat. "I um, he gave me a lot of camping supplies. Never knew how useful they would be." 

"That's good, almost everything is looted these days," I reply. 

He nods in agreement and lays down in the sleeping bag, not zipping it up. He pulls his bow slowly towards his left side, leaving it there in case he needs it. "You'll be alright? Won't fall asleep?" He asks, looking at me propped up on one arm. 

"Yeah, I'll pay tend to the fire, keep myself occupied," I nod. "I'll wake you once the moon is in the middle of the sky." 

"Sounds good," he nods. I sit up on the log, trying to not get comfortable. 

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Staring at the embers and doing multiplication tables in my head carried me through the night. The fire occasionally needed a new stick or needed to be reduced but there was seldom things to do.

I, in a not weird way, mostly just stared at William. He's grown a lot in these years, both in height and maturity. He had a kind of baby face back in high school, with clear skin but soft cheekbones. Puberty, or maybe the apocalypse, seemed to catch up to him. 

His face is thinner, his jaw sharper and cheek bones peeking through. The very dim light from the fire reveals small wrinkles in his forehead and acne scars on his cheeks. He's still the same type of guy that he was in high school, light hearted and outgoing. It's comforting in way, despite everything that happened to the world, people can still be the same fundamentally. 

I'm not sure I could say the same about me.

My thoughts are interrupted by a small creak a few meters away. I whip my head to the source of the noise. I grab my knife that I keep in my hunting boot, a six inch kitchen knife my mom used to make her famous pork chops with. Slowly and quietly, I inch toward the sound.

I pounce, rapidly jumping over a tree log and past a large bush. Angling my knife to sink into zombie flesh, I stop when I hit the ground and a rabbit scurries away. 

"Dammit." I mutter, "stupid critter." I turn back, knife in hand, to my camp. I step back over the log and into my camp. I stare at my feet, mumbling to myself. 

"Everything alright?" 

I jump back, startled and look up. I relax when I realize it's William up and alert in the middle of the camp. "Jesus Umar, you scared the shit out of me," I softly exclaim as I pocket my knife back into my boot. 

"Sorry Brooks," he lightly chuckles. I give him a mild glare causing him to laugh more. 

"But, yes, everything's alright, just a dumb rabbit." I sigh, "Sorry for waking you up." I sit down on a mossy log, twisting my back to make a soft pop. 

"Oh that's alright, besides it's my shift any way now." He says as he points to the moon. I look up, and sure enough, the moon is roughly in the middle of the sky. 

"Great," I plop beside the log, letting my back rest against it. "Wake me up if you need anything." I tell him as I close my eyes. 

"Wait, Brooks? What are you doing?" William asks me full of disbelief. I open an eye, meeting two confused brown ones. 

"Sleeping?" I respond. 

"Do you not have a sleeping bag or anything?" He inquires.

I shrug, "Nope. I'm fine though." 

"No, I can't let you do that. Use mine." He gestures to the black one still laying on the ground. "Partners right? We can share." 

I purse my lips, too tired to shared pleasantries like 'oh no I couldn't possibly' and 'please I insist.' If he's not going to be using it, then sure can I? "I suppose." I get up from my seated position and William walks over to a log, perching himself on top. 

I crawl into the bag, not zipping it up, just like how William did it. "Goodnight." 

"Goodnight."