An Era Of Zombies

Part 4: To Kiss and Punch

Asia finally awoke. She was being carried by the arrow boy. He was carrying her. She remembered him shooting her with a tranquilizer dart when he saw her arm. The fact that she had been scratched finally settled and she freaked out. She tried to move and then fell on the ground with a grunt. The stranger instantly brought up his tranquilizer dart.

Asia groggily stood up and brought out her stick. It was bloody and looked like it was about to snap off but then he tackled her and brought her down to the ground. Her arms were held down by his arms. Dear god, his arms were like metal bars, she thought. She looked up at him. Really looked at him.

He was very handsome she supposed. His skin glowed and his face was absolutely flawless. His dark brown hair was messy but in a very handsome way and his eyes were like small emeralds. His cheekbones were sharp but not too sharp that his cheeks might look sunken in. He seemed very familiar though as if she had seen him many times before. But Asia couldn't pinpoint where she had seen his face. She had probably never seen him before though.

"I'm not a zombie yet, so you can let me go," Asia said trying to sound very innocent.

But she knew that he wouldn't. If she were him then there was no chance of her letting go. He just looked at her. He was trying to find anything to confirm that she was a zombie.

"From the way you held that stick I don't think you'd have hesitated to kill me," he said.

"But you just saved me against that other zombie!"

"I didn't know that you were forsaken."

"By the grave! What the hell is a forsaken."

"A person who has been scratched and therefore, doomed."

"So where were you bringing me?"

"Back to Fort Resilient," he replied like it was super obvious.

"Why? I thought I was doomed," she asked.

"Look at your arm," he said and got off of me.

"By the grave what do you-," she started but then stopped talking once she saw her arm.

The scratch was gone. That was impossible. The scratch had zomtoxin in it. She then realized that she hadn't shown any of the side affects that were supposed to show, her nails hadn't turned black and she wasn't going crazy.

"Why?" she half asked half yelled at him.

He just answered, " Well, that's what we're going to find out. But I want to get back to Resilient before 12 hours have passed. It's only been about 30 minutes since I found you, so plenty of time."

And then he moved to carry her again but she just swat his hand away and said, " I can walk."

He shrugged and led the way back to the fort. Asia got suddenly annoyed and said, " What's your name?"

"Will. And you?"

"No last name?" Asia asked.

"Will is my name."

"Hmmm," Asia said not convinced. She was about to ask something else but then Will began to talk.

"Your name?"

"Asia Slade," she replied.

They walked for what seemed like forever. Will never talked and whenever Asia asked him a question, he just ignored her. And she had first thought he was cute. What a jerk. But Asia kept finding herself staring at him, and liking what she saw. Will , the guy who she wanted to both kiss and punch.

They arrived at a cave. It was covered by vines though. Se had never seen this cave before. But she had gotten a little lost while thinking about Fey. She had fortunately arrived at a store still. It was a different one that she had planned to go to originally. Will pushed away the vines and then they were in a valley that was walled by huge cliffs. The valley wasn't pretty and green like she had thought it would be. Like in the movie Tangled. No, this valley was mostly dirt and had small patches of grass. There were tents set up around the valley and there was a wooden fort in the very center of the valley.

As they walked to the wooden fort, she saw faces of people staring at her. She was probably hideous looking. Asia noticed that these people were nicely dressed. They didn't have amazingly neat clothes but their t shirts and jeans looked washed and their faces weren't covered in grime.

"Will! Where have you been. I'd sent Wade, Ford, & Darcy out to look for you!" A woman said as she stomped toward them.

Her tone sounded angry but Asia could detect the worry in her face. The woman was a bit shorter than Will and she looked like she was in her mid 20's maybe. The way she told the others to call Wade, Ford, & Darcy back suggested that she was the leader.

"Sorry Janelle. I was too busy saving damsels in distress," replied Will as if he were very tired and then said in a more serious tone, "she was scratched but it isn't showing Janelle. I think she might be immune."

Janelle looked at Asia. Asia looked at Janelle. Janelle was wearing all black and a weapons belt was strapped to her waist along with a tranquilizer dart. She had orange hair and a short figure but she looked very confident.

"Let's have Dr. Ashton check her out, and in the mean time get her bathed and suited Will," ordered Janelle.

"My name is Asia Slade by the way. Thank you Mrs-"

"Janelle will be fine dear," Janelle said quickly and smiled before leaving.

Asia turned around to find Will but he was walking into the mass of crowd of people walking around. She was definitely alone and lost. Then she was bumped into and fell to the ground. The girl had ash blonde hair that was slightly wavy and her hands were fumbling to put her glasses back on.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't see you. My name's Sonnet, I don't think we've met," said the girl who had bumped into her.

Sonnet put her glasses back on and looked with curious blue eyes as she waited for Asia to say something.

"It's okay. My names Asia. Will saved me from a zombie in the woods," she replied.

"And he left you here?" she said, not sounding very surprised.

"Yea, could you help me out please?"

"Of course," she replied and took Asia's hand.