Rotting Bodies

Chapter Three: My Little Secret

     When I wake up, I just lay there, admiring Lance's soft, sleeping face for a few minutes. Soft, slightly tan but still pale skin. Their long dark, faded dyed hair, is soft to the touch whenever I run my fingers through it. They look so peaceful in their sleep. I hate days like this, when I leave and make them worry. But I know that I must do it.

     I get dressed in my hunting clothes (faded brown sweater, worn black jeans, and worn leather boots), grabbed my bow and quiver of arrows, and left before Lance woke up. I hate leaving them so early in the morning, especially if it's because I just sneak out for a while. No one knows that I leave, well except Mera, because usually I'm back before Lance freaks out when he doesn't see me at breakfast.

     I always go hunting if I know that we won't have enough food. When Mera started to notice that I've been doing this we both decided that it would be best to not tell anybody. It's our arrangement, I secretly hunt more food on my own, and she cooks it and says nothing to no one. A secret between friends. And I'm grateful for the time that I get alone. It helps me to think and plan.

     I gently close the door to our room, and sneak out of the front door. That's always the easiest part. The harder part is sneaking out to the forest. I know a loose spot in the wall that I never told Mills about, but it's hard to get to. It's up by the gas station, and around this time Vanna would be going there to drop off the empty jerrycan.

     So I walk quietly up to the gas station which takes roughly ten minutes. I listen out for the footsteps of my friends, but specifically Vanna, even though I know she doesn't come this way. I don't hear anyone or anything but the racing of my own heart. When I get to the weak spot in the wall I hear a sound and turn around quickly.

     Vanna is standing there, arms crossed. She's glaring at me suspiciously, and everything about her body laughing tells me that she's not impressed.

     Well shit.

     "What are you doing here?" She asks in a slightly harsh tone.

     My heart pounds in my chest after being caught, and I look down slightly. "There's a weak spot in the fence wall thingy."

     She walks over and inspects the wall. Vanna runs her hand over the sheet metal and pulls on it a little, and gasps when it pulls back enough for someone (or something) to get in, or, in my case, out. When she lets it go it makes a little sound before it crashes against a piece of plywood.

    "Fucking Mills must have forgotten to screw this." Vanna turns to me. "How long have you known about this, huh?"

     "I... I've only known about it for a couple of months! But I promise that I was going to tell Mills soon!" I frantically wave my hands around.

     "And what exactly were you planning on doing this morning?"

     I pause. I don't want to tell her that I was planning on hunting by myself. And luckily (not really) for me, I don't have to. She looks at my quiver and bow and clues in. Hopefully she won't stop me, because I know that those two rabbits won't last us until our next hunting trip. And she must know that too.

     "I'm coming with you, it's too dangerous to go alone." The tone in her voice tells me that it's not up for discussion.

     In truth, it is dangerous to go alone. I've just been putting it to chance all this time. Almost died, like, seven times. Thank the gods Lance doesn't know, he would never let me beyond the walls of the Hot Tub again, and seven is his lucky number. It's fine though, because for me, risking my life to potentially better my friends lives is worth it.

     I sigh and pull back the sheet of metal. "After you."

     She goes first and I follow close behind. We walk in silence until we reach our usual hunting spot. But even then we're quiet. It's a good thing, the last thing we need is to scare off all the animals. I crouch down low behind a bush while waiting for some unlucky animal to run by as Vanna quietly goes and checks the traps that she set yesterday, and to our surprise, we caught a chicken. Lance is going to love that.

     By the time we heard the noise we had gotten one rabbit and one chicken. It was a rather unpleasant noise. Like if someone were to gargle maple syrup, but with chunks, mixed with the sound of vomiting at the same time. The sound almost makes me gag. And the worst part is, I know exactly what made the sound. The infected.

     Me and Vanna watch as one of the infected walks by. She has to cover my mouth, because I recognized him. Kris. Ade's friend that snuck out four years ago. I don't want to see him suffer like that. No one deserves the fate of being infected. His face is decayed and looks like it's melting, his eyes are gone, and he's missing an arm. His clothes are torn and dirty with blood and various melted body parts. But I see it wrapped around his limbs, white, fungi like rope.

     I ready an arrow. And after taking a few deep breaths, and trying to convince myself that I'm doing the right thing, I send it flying to find its target. Before it hits I close my eyes, and all I heard was the sickening thud as the arrow found its target.

     "Bullseye." Vanna whistles and stands up.

     I can't bring myself to look. I can't even bring myself to breathe in. I passed out.

     "Nik, Nik can you hear me?"

     I slowly open my eyes. Issac is standing over me. His long dark hair is pulled back out of his face, and his pale skin looks like it's glowing, but I might just be hallucinating.

     "What the fuck are you doing in the forest!?" I sit up, too fast, and fall back down. "You're supposed to be mixing up medicine and treating Ade!"

     "Bruh," Issac laughs, "Vanna dragged you back inside the wall, you're in the infirmary, the drug store. You didn't hit your head, did you!"

     I groan and turn to lay on my side, closing my eyes again. Images of Kris flash behind my eyelids as I remember the events that took place before I pass out.

     "You're crying, what's up?" Issac sits on the stool in front of me.

     "I killed Kris," I manage to choke out, "I know it wasn't him, not anymore, but still."

     "I didn't like him anyway." Issac crosses his arms. "Vanna told me a lot of stuff about him."

     Vanna hates Ade and his friends, and I'm honestly not surprised that Vanna has voiced her displeasure to Issac. Before the outbreak Vanna and Issac were always on calls together. I can't bring myself to speak. So I do what I normally do and push back my tears and pain, and wait until I'm alone or with Lance to finally cry. I go numb, and completely ignore everything.