Flesh Eaters

Sacrifice

Chapter 44 - Sacrifice 

*Murphy's POV*

I lay quietly beside Grey listening to the silence of the cold night. My mind spins with thoughts. Grey has hope that Safe Haven is real. She said hope has the power to rule over fear. I guess that's true. If we let our fear control us we wouldn't be safely sleeping on this roof top right now.

Sighing I close my eyes and rub a hand across my face. Even though it's almost impossible for anything to get us up here I find myself as tense as ever. Irritated at myself, I sit up. The small fire has burned itself into nothing but glowing embers. With the main source of heat gone I realize just how cold the night really is.

I tuck my hands in the pocket of my hoodie as I look over at Grey. She shivers while curled in a sort of fetal position. For a moment I consider relighting the fire but decide against it. Instead, I quietly scoot closer to her sleeping form. Laying down beside her I gently wrap an arm around her. In response to the warmth she inches closer, lightly pressing her back against my chest. Slowly her shivers die down into small trembles before fading away completely.

Finally I find myself beginning to relax. I feel my eyelids grow heavy as exhaustion hits me. Before I know it, I'm asleep.

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It feels as though no time has passed when I'm jolted awake by a shoe roughly bumping against my back. Groaning, I let go of Grey and roll over. I find myself squinting against the early morning sunlight as I glare up at the dark shadowed figure who woke me.

"Wake Grey. We should get moving," the shadow grumbles as it crouches down next to the open suitcase. As my eyes adjust to the light I realize it is Matt.

"No need, I'm awake," Grey yawns. "But how exactly are we getting down from here, I'm mean the latter isn't an option," she adds as she stands.

"We'll go down through the apartments. Gather supplies along the way."

"Sure that's the safest thing to do," Matt challenges. "I mean you took advise from a child you just met, thought staying up in the rafters was safe and look how that turned out."

"Did anyone die or get hurt," I ask as I stand.

"Not this time, but it'll happen."

Growing irritated I let out a breath as I roll my stiff shoulder, "do ya' got a better suggestion Matt. Do ya' know a better way ta' get down from here? If so, please, do tell." When Matt remains silent I turn to the rest of the group. "Gather whatever ya' have 'n' lets get goin'."

With that I turn and head to the apartments staircase. As I walk away I hear two sets of feet tagging along. Glancing over my shoulder I find Grey following with Tess skipping along behind her. "You two ready," I ask as I pull the door open.

"Yup," Tess proudly declared as she skips ahead of Grey. She inches forward stopping at the top of the stairs. "My bags always ready to go. My dad taught me to always be ready to leave, no matter how safe you think you are," she states as she stares down into the darkness before her.

"Your dad sounds like he was a smart man," I tell her. "He raised a smart kid too."

Tess looks back at me and smiles, "He taught me a lot of other things, like how to fish and set traps for animals." Dropping her gaze she adds, "he also taught me how to kill them."

"Eaters?"

Tess nods and looks straight ahead, "he said I need to be brave enough to kill them. He said they're not who they used to be."