A Walk Among The Dead

Chapter 13

I drifted awake to the sound of shuffling feet right next to my ear. I rolled my sore body to the side and stretched like a cat. The sunlight crept through the cracks in the barn and hit me square in the face, forcing my body to sit up and move away from it.

"Mornin'" Dad said from above me. I looked up and lazily looked at him with tired eyes. His face curled in disgust.

"Yeesh, kid. You look rough." He said. I backhanded his leg and he chuckled. He extended his arm and offered me a hand. Gladly taking it, I grunted and groaned as I stood to my feet. My eyes wondered to the make-do fire pit in the middle of the barn. Alex and Brady sat by the fire and cooked breakfast. Whatever it was, it smelled like heaven. I haven't had a hot meal in what seemed like forever, even though we've only been at this whole apocalypse thing for about two weeks.

Not only has it been roughly two weeks since my last hot meal, but also my last hot shower. My hair was a slip-n-slide of oily residue, and I smelled of dirt, hay, and grime. They don't show you the struggle of maintaining hygiene in the movies. The only thing we have is a lousy tube of men's deodorant to keep us relatively fresh smelling, but I'm definitely not complaining.

I slowly made my way over to the burning fire, following the scent of sizzling meat. My mouth was already watering.

"Smells amazing, what is it?" I asked to no one in particular. Brady didn't even bother to look at me, so Alex filled me in.

"Venison. Brendon shot it this mornin'" Alex said with a lazy smile. I'd never tried deer meat, but I'm not choosing now to be picky.

"Maybe you can be our new hunter after a few of my shooting lessons." Brendon snuck up behind me and patted my back lightly like I was one of his good friends. I watched him closely as he took a seat not to far from mine.

"I think it's gonna take more than a few lessons." I said jokingly. Brendon smiled as he stared into the fire. Alex started passing foil folded to be plates of venison around to all of us. As soon as I got mine, I tore into it like a kid on Christmas morning. The gamy meat practically melted on my tongue. I took a deep breath and sighed loudly as I enjoyed my hot breakfast. Brendon stared at me, amused. I could practically hear the laugh he was holding back. I insecurely covered my mouth with my hand and looked down at my feet.

"Sorry," I mumbled with a mouth full of food. Brendon shook his head and smiled.

"Don't be. I did the same thing when I had my first hot meal of the apocalypse." He said through his grin. I smiled and shrugged.

I looked around and noticed that Rachel, Amelia, and Dad had disappeared. My heart immediately started to race.

"Where's everyone else?" I asked, trying to remain calm.

"They went to clean up the mess from yesterday so you and Brendon had more daylight for shootin'." Alex said, taking a seat with his meal in his hand. I sighed in relief.

"Speaking of that, we'd better head out soon. We're gonna be there most of the day, so why don't you get a bag ready and we'll go." Brendon said, standing to his feet. I did the same and walked over to our little sleeping area to prepare a backpack.

I packed two handguns, a Beretta and a Taurus, both 9mm. I also packed the set of throwing knives we found at the gun shop, along with a few snacks, bottled waters, silencers, and extra ammo. I flung the bag on my shoulder and walked to the barn door. Brendon was waiting for me outside with a backpack of his own.

"Hope you don't mind walkin'." Brendon said. I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"It's only a mile, right?" I shrugged. Brendon half smiled and started walking down the field, headed towards the road.

The walk to the other field was awkward and tense. We didn't talk at all until we passed Rachel, Dad, and Amelia on the way. They kept going after a few minutes and left Brendon and I to be awkward again.

"So, where are you from?" I asked, trying to make things less weird and silent.

"Ohio, you?" He asked in response.

"Virginia." I said. Brendon smiled.

"I've been there, to Virginia Beach. But, we weren't really there for the beach, just a concert." Brendon said. I let out a small laugh. Brendon turned and looked at me, surprised. I raised an eyebrow and stared back.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing. It's just, I've never heard you laugh until now. It's, cute." Brendon said, hesitating on the last portion. My stomach fluttered at his comment.

"Thanks?" I said questionably. He smiled and nodded his head.

"Yep." Was all he said. Things got quiet again for a moment before Brendon started the conversation back up.

"Uh, if you don't mind me asking, what happened to your mom?" He asked nervously.

"I don't mind. She died when I was five from a brain tumor the size of a baseball." I said bluntly. Brendon looked at me with sad eyes.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." He said. I just shrugged.

"It's ok, I guess. I mean, she didn't suffer for very long so that's good." I said quietly. Brendon smiled in sympathy.

"Now, if you don't mind me askin', what happened to your parents?" I pressed. Brendon's smile faded and he stared at the yellow lines on the road.

"Well, my Dad got shot by the military when they first came in to try and control the sick ones. I was living in Maryland at the time, and my mom called me and started freaking out. So I drove up there and we headed out together. A few days later, and fucking corpse bit her in her sleep. I was the one that had to drive a knife through her skull when she turned." I looked at him, shocked.

"Oh my God, Brendon. That's horrible. I'm so-"

"Don't say sorry." He interrupted me. "I believe everything happens for a reason."

I grabbed his arm lightly, telling him to stop. We both stood there in the road and stared at each other.

"I'm sorry. I know you told me not to say it, but I had to. I can't even imagine what you went through." I said softly. He smiled a small smile and laid a hand on my shoulder.

"Thank you." He said. "Really, it means a lot." We both smiled sympathetically at each other and continued to walk down the road to the field.

"We're here." Brendon said after a few more minutes of walking. We walked to the center of the field and examined our surroundings.

"See any rotting people?" Brendon asked. I looked along the tree line in the distance and noticed a few wandering corpse's popping in and out of the forest.

"A few up there, but I don't think they're anything to worry about." I said, pointing to where I saw the dead. The woods were pretty far away from us, so I didn't think we needed to be concerned.

"Got some silencers?" He asked. I pulled the silencers out of my bag in response.

"Ok, we should be good. I don't think they can see us anyway." Brendon said, placing his hands on his hips.

"Alright then," I said. "Let's get started."