Daryl's Girl

Chapter 2

"Lily, wake up!"

I fluttered my eyes open to see Tyler standing in front of me, looking down at me with some sort of a weird, yet concerned look on his face. It confused me, because for as long as I've known him, he never normally wakes me up, unless it's for something important. So I just looked back at him, almost copying his facial expression.

"You...yell...Are you..."

"What?" His voice seemed distant as I rubbed my eyes and allowed them to adjust to the light from the sun beaming through the open curtains. Tyler must've gone round and opened them whilst I was still sleeping to keep watch.

That's when it hit me. It all came flooding back and I realized where I was. The boat. The explosion. The corpses. No matter what I did, I couldn't seem to stop the rising panic. "Wait, are they getting in? Has something happened? Did-"

"Hey. Hey. Hey." He said, resting his hands on my shoulders as I began frantically trying to climb to my feet. "We're alright. You started calling out in your sleep. I woke you just in case any of those things are still out there." He then glanced out of the window. "Looks like we're in the clear for now." And turned back to me. "Are you okay?"

It was like some sort of relief passed through me as he spoke, but, no amount of reassurance could hide the shudder that rocked my body at the thought of explaining my dream. The both of us had already some how managed to live through what had happened and our clothes were still damp from the swim. 

"Sorry." I nodded, trying my best to hold back the tears. "Just a bad dream. I'm...I'm fine." But I wasn't, and I knew Tyler knew I was lying.

I just sighed and looked down, clutching the photo of my best friend. "Do you think we'll find them? I mean...we don't know if they made it to the beach. We don't even know where we are." I said. In the back of my mind, I knew it was highly unlikely of us finding them, but I had to hold onto that slither of hope. Someone had to. What was the point if we weren't going to at least try?

"I'm not gonna lie. I don't know, but I hope so." Tyler replied and he didn't have to say anything else for me to know that the thought had never once crossed his mind. That he was never gonna agree to go looking for them. I could see it written across his face. He was falling back into his 'hard core' survivor mode. The same one we found him in when we first met. The vulnerable side of him I'd seen the night before was gone. "We should get moving though. It's not safe around here. Another one of those herds could pass through."

I didn't really have any other choice, so I nodded and he helped me to my feet. Once Tyler went into survival mode, I had no say. It was either his way or no way at all. Be it just the two of us now, there was no point arguing. 

In the light, the cabin looked old and dusty. It was as if someone hadn't been here in a long time, which it wouldn't surprise me if they hadn't. There was an old sofa in front of a fireplace with a single shelf and a clock above it. It had stopped at twenty passed four. Also above the shelf, just below the clock was a circular wooden board with what looked to once be where a shot gun of some sort had been displayed. It was gone now. Other than that, there was nothing we could use. The room had been picked clean, but lucky for us, there were two other doors to check. Tyler took the first and I took the second.

On my way over, I picked up a rod from next to the fireplace, and stopped once I reached the door. I then glanced over at Tyler to see him watching me carefully with his gun to hand. He gave me a nod and I turned back to the large wooden door. The rod out in front of me as I turned the handle and stepped into the room.

Inside, there was an old tattered bed, a bed side table and a wardrobe, nothing that could jump out at me and no visible corners where one of those things could be hiding.