Ellie Dixon

Don't Believe Him

Me and James were walking down the street to the in-town pharmacy. There weren't any walkers on the street, my guess was that any strays joined the herd or were locked away in their apartment like James said. "So, where you from?" James asked.

"Atlanta." I responded, dismissively.

"Cool. I'm from Kentucky." He told me.

I hummed. "You sure that store is safe?"

"That back room certainly is. She's safe, don't worry." James comforted me.

"All I do these days is worry about her." I stated.

"Maybe you should relax a little from time to time." James put his hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. I glanced at him, so he removed his hand. "Who were you with at the beginning?"

"My dad and uncle. They came go get me and my mother and we joined this group on top of a mountain. One thing led to another, and now it's only me and Sophia left." I responded.

"I'm sorry." James said, quietly.

"Thanks." I muttered. "What about you?"

"Me and my girlfriend got out together after our family were eaten in this supposedly safe camp, we were taken too... But then, six months ago... Well, ya know... Shit happens." James explained.

"Sorry, you had to go through that." I told him, putting on my best sympathetic voice I could.

"There's nobody alive today who doesn't have a story." James shrugged as he then pushed open the door to the pharmacy. 

I nodded. "I didn't think I'd ever find a sentence to sum up this shitty world we're living up. But, there you just said it."

James grinned at me before chucking me a pack of sweets from behind the counter. "Sophia looks more fed than you do. Giving her all the food?"

"She needs it more than me." I nodded, eyeing the sweets in my hand.

"You can't take care of her if you're weak. We have plenty of food. Just eat them, would ya?" James requested. I scoffed, a small smile playing on my lips before I opened the bag. I walked behind the counter and started browsing the shelves and I quickly ate the chewy sweets. "Whenever me and my sister were on the road, she made me look for those sweets they, were her favourite."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Your sister? I thought you and your girlfriend were on the road."

From another isle, I could see James freeze. "Slip of the tongue. I had a little sister. We did a lot of travelling growing up. Rich parents, ya know?"

I forced a laugh. "Mixing up your sister and your girlfriend are two people I wouldn't want to mix up." I stated, watching him carefully as I spoke. James didn't respond, just cleared his throat before looking at the bottles for the medication names I'd told him.

We pretty much found the medication, left the pharmacy and walked back to the store all in silence. We walked into the store where we were staying, and I went straight to the back. I knocked on the door, slowly I heard shuffling footsteps before the door unlocked. "Hi." Sophia's eyes were bloodshot, her face was tear streaked, she was pale, but her cheeks were a rosy red.

I sighed sadly as I realised that she'd been crying. "I got you more meds." I held up the basket of medication for her to see. "Got plenty because we don't know when we'll next find a stocked pharmacy."

She smiled sadly before walking over to the bed and getting under the covers. It was a small room, one window shining light onto one half the room where the bed was, a chair in the corner of the room where there was no light shining onto it and a mirror opposite the chair. James passed me a bottle of water as I handed Sophia two of the pills she needed to take. She put them in her mouth before I gave her the water to help swallow them. "Thanks." Sophia said before wiping her mouth and putting the bottle on the nightstand.

"How was the soup?" I asked.

"Cold... It was good to eat something other than a protein bar though." Sophia smiled at me, curling more into the covers.

I ran a hand through her hair. "You'll be better soon. You just need some real rest." Sophia kept the smile on her face as she closed her eyes and quickly drifted off to sleep. I put the back of my hand on her forehead. "She's burning up."

"I'll crack the window." James said.

I nodded, before taking over the basket and putting it in front of the mirror. I squatted down in front of the mirror to sift through our stash. I looked at my appearance... Bags under my eyes, my hair in a high ponytail with hairs that had escaped the bobble surrounding my face, chapped lips, there wasn't much difference in my weight yet, but I felt lighter... Probably because of the weakness, the dizziness and the nausea. I also noticed James in the mirror, he was leaning on the wall next to the window, he was staring at me, but not my face in the mirror, or the back of my head... He was looking down? Was he looking at my shoes? Maybe he liked my low-rise black cargo trousers? He was probably debating finding himself some cargo trousers. Yea... That had to be it, right?

I turned around and sat on the floor leaning against the mirror. However, as soon as I started turning around, James moved his attention to his nails. "What did you do before this?" I asked. He dropped his hand and looked back at me.

"I was a cashier... I grew up poor so most my time I was spending getting part time jobs to help my parents with the bills. Missed too much school to get a good education and therefore a good job." James explained, sitting down against the wall opposite me.

I raised my eyebrows. "I thought you said you had rich parents?"

"What?" He looked taken aback.

"In the pharmacy... You said you had rich parents." I stated.

"I had rich grandparents. Sorry, it's been a year. My memories are a bit foggy. Hey, your lips looked cracked. I'll get you some lip balm from the counter." James quickly jumped up before making a hasty exit from the room.