Guilt (A Zero Spin-Off)

Four - Kyle

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Here's chapter 4! 

Chapter 4 - Kyle

"You did good," Miles told Ella after we'd been on the road for about an hour and were waiting for Joel to catch up after ditching the zoms and the bike. Miles was mostly just being encouraging. In reality, she looked ready to collapse already. She moved slower than we were used to, spent most of the time so far in a state of panic, and looked like she might still dart back for the base any moment. But she did about as well as anyone in her position would. Ella shot a look at Miles. It was obvious she didn't believe him, so he tried to reassure her. "You know the first time Kyle saw one, he pissed himself."

Shaking my head, I rolled my eyes. I hadn't actually pissed myself, but I may have screamed like a little girl.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of, man. They're some scary fuckers," Miles pretended to console me but couldn't stop from laughing as he patted my shoulder.

Ella, who was trying to hide a tired smile, looked at me questioningly, no doubt wondering if Miles was bullshitting her. I could have denied it and told her the truth, but it was the first time she relaxed since we'd left. I liked the smile touching her lips, so I would let her believe Miles if she wanted to. Pulling a face, I shook my head to let her know I wasn't going to confirm nor deny and watched her smile grow. With the tension broke and a decided lack of dead people attacking us, she seemed to relax a little. It didn't take long for Joel to find us. We'd done this enough that we had it well paced.

"We good to go?" I asked.

Everyone nodded their agreement and Ella grabbed on the straps of her pack, repositioning the bag, or maybe using her hands to help with the weight. The bags weren't light. We always packed for an extra week because nothing ever went as planned out here and though we had a water filter, we packed enough water since we couldn't guarantee finding an alternate source. Going out less than completely prepared wasn't something we did, but that meant carrying forty or fifty pounds of gear of our backs. Someone who wasn't used to that was going to have trouble with it, especially if that someone was as small as Ella. She was average in the height department for a girl, maybe even a little taller than, but with her lean, willowy figure, I doubted she spent much time lifting weights. Or any time at all. I'd put money on the fact that she hadn't even seen the inside of a gym.

Despite not wanting to shoulder the extra weight, I knew she wasn't prepared to carry as much as us. It was why I'd spread out some of her gear between the rest of us to lighten up Ella's pack, but we'd only been walking for an hour or so and it was clear she was bothered by the weight already. I wasn't going to go easy on her, though; if she was going to be out here with us, she was going to be one of us. She to be if she wanted to survive. I could, however, help her out a little.

"Joel, you're in front. I'll bring up the back."

He took off without a second thought. He knew we'd be close behind. Miles dithered when he noticed Ella's slumped form and slow steps, but I nodded for him to go ahead. I appreciated him looking out for her, but taking on this special request was my idea and that made the girl my responsibility.

"Let me give you a hand," I said and grabbed on to the straps of her bag doing what I should have before we left Hudson. I lifted and adjusted until it was positioned on her body where it should be and then tightened the shoulder straps so that it would stay put. I tightened the waist strap so that it would support some of the weight instead of being entirely on her shoulders and then I buckled the chest strap she'd left hanging loose to the sides so that she wouldn't need to keep adjusting the shoulder pads. "Better?"