Blood Bonds

Prologue

 She slams the door shut with a thud leaning her back against it; she feels the layers of sweat drip down her neck making her red hair stick to the nape. Her body aches, her katana resting on her lap drenched in blood and what remains of her once proud cheerleading uniform hangs in shreds over her slender form. Panting she can’t believe they just barely made it, again.

 “Booyah! Tha’ what they git fer messin’ with us!” a tall slender man with messy brown hair underneath a black bandana shouts celebrating despite the aching tiredness.

 “Yeah and it was all thanks to Vie. God knows what would have happened if you hadn’t be there girl. Now Ray my man, let’s get you fixed up. Hopefully there should be some supplies left here.” Another man with light African skin smiles and helps a smaller bleeding male to his feet guiding him to the bedroom.

 “Ouch! Yeah then it’s time for some food, I’m starving!” Ray hisses through his teeth. Vie sits on a tattered couch using an old rag from her small pack to wipe some of the sweat away from her exhausted features. Placing the rag back she pulls out two worn out maps along with some crumpled paper and a pencil and a pair of reading glasses, one of the US and the other they’re current location Savannah and spreads them out over the three legged coffee table. As she drawls over them the slender man plonks down on the couch next to her placing his head on her shoulder yawning. Vie doesn’t notice and continues to scribble things down about which direction they should head in, how many supplies they have and so on.

“Hey, Y’alright? Looks like somethin’ botherin’ you.” He asks pulling his face into a concerned frown. Vie stops her hand frozen in mid-sentence.

“Keith. How much longer can we do this?” she asks her voice a soft whisper.

“What’chu mean?” Vie sighs, shoving his head off her shoulder gently and moving her glasses so they perch on her forehead.

“You know what I mean. How much longer can we keep running from place to place? You saw what happened out there today. We barely managed to get Ray away before he had his throat ripped out by a hunter.” She starts to explain.

“But Ray wasn’t. It’s all because you trucker’d on through, dragging us along behind and look we’re still ‘ere aren’t we?” Vie stands up quickly and calmly stalks off to make notes on what supplies they have remaining and what they need for the next journey. She vigorously rubs something out gritting her teeth in anger before repeating the action then going back to her previous position. Keith just sits there staring at her the whole time his eyebrows turning swiftly into a harsh frown. She suddenly half slams the notebook on the table and runs her hands through her crimson locks. 

“ Look that’s not what I meant and you know it Keith. We’ve been barely scraping it through each day, how many times have we all nearly been killed so far? A lot Keith,” Pinching the bridge of her nose she groans stressfully the black circles under her eyes all of a sudden seeming a lot darker then before. “I’m tired, I’m tired of running away from everything, and very scared that one day my decisions will get somebody killed. We can’t keep doing this forever. Sooner or later that day will come, the day we’ll be kissing the floor as we either bleed out or scream as we get out flesh eaten straight off the bone.” Silence follows rendering the air thick and uncomfortable if it wasn’t already from the sweltering heat. Vie starts searching through the packs while all Keith can do is frown even more at the messy floor unable to think of anything that will help the mood.

 “You know you guys fight like a married couple but without the shouting and the screaming and the ‘You cheated on me! I’m going to file for a divorce!’” Jacob emerges from the darkest trying to mimic Vie’s voice. A piece of weeks old pizza comes flying straight at his head from one very flushed Vie.

“Buzz off Jacob! We do not fight like a married couple!” Jacob simply waves his hand dismissively.

“Yeah, yeah, keep saying that and I bet you you’ll be agreeing with me in time.” The laughter shortly dies down leaving another uncomfortable silence hanging over everyone’s heads like a ghost. Enough of Keith Vie joins Jacob in the hallway. 

“How’s Ray?” She asks peeking her head round the broken door to the bedroom at Ray sleeping soundly on the cleaness mattress they've found so far.

“He’s fine. Some deep cuts to his back and arms as long as he keeps his distance from any infected as well as the common illnesses he should be back to normal in at least week. He’s very lucky. If he lost anymore blood he would have never made it here.” Jacob looks down at Vie and sighs loudly. He ruffles her hair shaking his head slowly. “Stop worrying stupid!” She brushes his hand off biting her thumb.

“I’m not worrying.” She grumbles quietly. Keith suddenly bonks her gently on the head.

“You always bite yer right thumb when yer worried.” He states. Vie blushes and quickly moves her chewed thumb away scowling when the two men start to laugh at her embarrassment.

“Come on you two,” Jacob stretches and ushers them into the kitchen. “The sooner we cook dinner the sooner we can eat it. I dunno about you guys but I am hungry!” Soon everyone’s tummies start rumbling in the thought of some food.

“Yeah besides you need a break Vie, yer always drillin’ away in tha’ notebook of yours, have a break for once and sort it out later, ‘kay?” She nods her head and rolls up her sleeves ready to do something other than tearing her hair out over their plans for each day. Yet she still can’t let it the feelings of dread go. Sooner or later she’ll run out of ideas and someone will pay the heavy price. Guess that’s what you get when you place everyone’s lives in your hands and think it will all just be sugar and rainbows.