If Tomorrow Never Comes

Chapter 26

The cold wind carried shards of ice that whipped my companion and I on our exposed skin. Masked by the darkness we carried on into the night ignoring the weather conditions. These days we can't afford the luxury of comfort. It was 2 months ago that Baylor and I, the rowdy teenager I teamed up with were stunned into that realization.

In the last two months we've been through hell and came back soaked in blood. We realized the world isn't as it used to be and to get what we needed we had to take it. Though I know even in the apocalypse nothing comes for free. I had to learn that the hard way. Baylor lost half her pinky because of that fact, and me? Well I lost my sanity.

  We never made it to the airport. We hardly made it out of the neighborhood we wandered into not knowing exactly what it housed. I shook at the thought of the exposed muscle and bones my eyes feasted on, and the undead that did as well. Baylor and I could do nothing but watch as what was left of our innocence was ripped from us in those last few moments of denial. Denial of what the world was becoming and what it quickly became. Death.

My shoulders were sore from carrying supplies on my back as we fought through the harsh weather. I had already began regretting this decision to go on a supply run in the dead of the night, but we needed to. About a week ago Asher became very ill. Terrible fever, vomiting, refusal to eat or drink anything, it's awful. He needed medicine badly. What kind of medicine well I'm not sure, because I have no idea what's wrong with him. Somehow I wish I had access to his medical file. This mystery illness may have something to do with his presence in the hospital that fateful night.
My dry cracked lips were arranged in an ever present frown these days. Surprisingly we made it this far. We'll see how much further we can take this.
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"Is there any more?" Baylor asked referring to the bowl of rations in my hands. I looked down at the granola and potato chips and sighed. "Yeah," I said handing it over to her. "You hardly touched it," she remarked as she shoved a handful of chips into her mouth. "I'm not hungry," I said getting up from my spot on the cold cement and walking over to the window of the barn we took refuge in. "You're never hungry," she said in annoyance. "Stop worrying the kid is fine-" I cut her off. "No he's isn't!" I raised my voice slightly. "He's pale and he vomits everything up, he's always running a fever," I ranted putting my head in my hands as I crumbled to the floor again. There was silence among us two castaways. "He's dying" I said barely above a whisper as tears filled my bloodshot eyes. "Maybe it's for the best." I glared at Baylor. I couldn't believe she'd say such a thing. "What's wrong with you?!" I shouted. She had been such a pain in my side even before we separated from Landon and Axel over two months ago now. I still think of them from time to time. "It's a miracle you've kept him alive this log Exora. No one was meant to survive this, especially Babies. Do you really want him growing up in this mockery of a planet?" she said in disbelief. "I have to try," I said after a moments hesitation. "And you did," she said coming over to where I was crumbled up on the floor. "What do you want me to do Baylor? Give up?" I sneered as I crawled over to where little Asher lay asleep wrapped in blankets in the boat that sat in the middle of this barn. His once chubby cheeks were now hollow and there was no rosiness to them like before. "You're not the only one losing him Exora, I've grown attached too. Trust me when I say this is killing me to say, but I think you need to be realistic and start thinking of your options." I clenched my teeth and tried to hold back from lashing out in frustration. "And what would those be," I whispered as a tear fell from my tired eyes. "The way I see it," she started hesitantly. "I think you need to start coming to terms with this." Just then we heard a thumping noise coming from outside. We looked at eachother with furrowed brows and then ran over to the window. "I can't see anything-" "shhh," I rudely interrupted her. She wasn't quite tall enough to see out the window. In the distance 4 horses trotted towards us each with a man on their backs. I swallowed hard and backed away from the window pulling Baylor with me. "We have to hide," I said sternly as I rushed to pick up Asher into my arms. "What is it Exora what's out there?" She asked following me out of the barn and into the shed beside it. " 4 men on horses," I said quietly. I set Asher down on a board on top of a stack of old tires. "What are we gonna do?" She asked while I quietly latched the shed closed and ushered her to start piling things infront of the door. This was our plan we concocted upon taking shelter here. Ever since the incident at the house we always make an escape or in this case hide plan just in case. "We stay quiet," I whispered backing away from the door and going to sit near Asher's sleeping body. I could now hear the men nearly upon us. This must be a supply run. We've been here three days and we hadn't seen any men on horses here.

  I took Baylor's hand in mine seeing her scared expression. She had been anxiously biting her nails as we waited for the men to pass. She looked up at me from her spot on the floor and a gave I her a reassuring half smile. We are gonna get through this. I have to believe that. The men had been obnoxiously noisy in their pursuit of supplies. It was as if they didn't know we were in constant danger of the undead and more. Perhaps they had never come in contact with what Axel and I had seen. I flinched almost falling off my seat when I heard the shed door being tampered with. They weren't satisfied with the barn they had to see what the is small shed housed. I suddenly noticed this action of the rustling of the latch woke up Asher and he was growing finicky. I took a shaky breath and released Baylor's hand as I stood up and took the sickly child into my arms. Baylor stood next to me placing her arm around my shoulders and moved to comb her fingers through Asher's hair. "What's our play here Exora?" She whispered. I looked down at Asher who was starting to make a fuss. Thankfully these guys are quite loud. "What's going on Clayton?" I heard one of the men ask. "Damn  no door's jammed" he said in a sort of country accent. "Maybe we ought to leave it." I began to feel hopeful until I heard a familiar "click" sound. "Got it!" One of them announced. A sickly groan suddenly vocalized beside me and I jumped in fright. I looked at Baylor like she was crazy when I realized it came from her. She gave me a 'just go with it' look as she continued to make growns and snarls like those of the undead. "Did ya hear that?" I heard one of them ask. The men stopped their pursuit of the shed and silence fell among them as I too started growling and hissing like a zombie. "Alright boys light it up." Baylor and I looked at eachother in panic as we both paused our acting.

  There was only one last option for us, and hopefully it would work. I didn't have time to think. I just hoped this would be better than sudden death.

"No wait stop!"

"We're in here"

"We're human"

"Please don't shoot us!

"Click"

A bright light started to illuminate the small shed as the doorflew open.