Still breathing | Original story

Chapter Nineteen: Safety

Word count: 4471

"Hey sleeping beauty," a faded voice found its way into my ears and I felt myself being pulled out of whatever dream I was having. I sat up in the comfy bed with a groan and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. "Not a morning person are you?" Archie chuckled and set down a bottle of water and some cereal on the bedside table. A pang of sadness hit me as I thought of Connor and Pat coming to that same conclusion just over a week prior.
"Not particularly," I mumbled. Being at Archie's was like being back at home, before the apocalypse - except I didn't get breakfast in bed there. I felt like the outside world didn't exist which made me not feel the need to wake up and get moving before some apocalyptic riot happened. I picked up the bowl of cereal and began to eat quietly.
Archie was about to leave the room when I asked, "do you have enough food for everyone?"
He smiled at my question and nodded, "I'll show you later."
Before I could say anything else he left the room and closed the door behind him. I stared at it for a moment before turning back to my food. I managed to gulp the water down and actually keep it down.
After I ate I decided it was time to try and walk again. Archie probably wasn't going to be too happy because he kept wanting me to rest, but I felt helpless just sitting there. Before all this I loved lazy days, hated to do anything else with my day if I'm honest, but it's different. I've had enough lazy days and it was time to get up and start doing something.
I made the bed without any headaches occurring or vomiting so I knew I was better than the previous day. I saw some clothes on the chair near the edge of the room and they were the ones I had been wearing since the whole thing started but no weapon was in sight. I hoped I hadn't lost another one thanks to Tyler and Em. I picked up the bundle of clothes and went to find the bathroom. Next step was showering.

I tried the first door next to mine and came upon a room that was light red with pictures covering the walls and an acoustic guitar sitting in the corner. I walked over to it and inspected it; no dust so it had been recently played. It was a good make too, someone was serious about playing it. Logan used to play guitar, never in front of me though, he just talked about it a lot. Said he wanted to be in a band, I guess he couldn't be in one until everything blows over... if it blows over.
I looked at the wall next, a few band posters were dotted about (some of which I liked and others I hadn't heard of) and the pictures were all of a younger Archie with his friends and him before everything happened, not too long ago by the looks of him. As soon as I saw his pictures I felt awkward and like I was trespassing so I left the room as soon as I could. I didn't realise I was actually in his house, I don't think I could've stayed in my house alone for so long like he had. I guessed people react to things differently.
The next room had an unmade bed and lightly coloured walls. It looked like a boys bedroom but all memories had been stripped away, all that was left was football bedding and pin holes on the walls. I felt a shiver run down my spine, something bad had happened to that person, I could feel it.

Finally, I found the bathroom, without bumping into either boys' in the hallway. I could hear them chatting downstairs.
I stripped out of the clothes I was in; boys clothes. I had been put into shorts that reached my knees and were way too baggy on me and a band shirt which was also too baggy. I was pretty sure I had seen the same band on one of the posters in Archie's room and realised they were probably Archie's clothes.
Before I tried the shower, I saw a massive mirror on the wall and I wanted to see how much I had changed. I cautiously walked over to it and was surprised that I still looked like me; a much smaller and dirtier version of me. I noted that I could see my bones, if I wanted to I could easily count each and every one of my ribs. My collar bones stuck out and I began to feel the hardness that pushed up from under my skin, it was real. I was naturally skinny before but that was something else, that was unnatural. I also noticed that I had slight muscle showing... but I was mainly bony.
I wrinkled my nose up in disgust as I looked at all the dried up blood mixed with dirt on my arms, face and neck, I even had some stuck to my hair. I noticed the bruise where the drip had been was clear of any dirt. I had numerous cuts and bruises all over me... but no bites. Not a single one, unless a small one lingered underneath all the grime.
I became very thankful for the shower I was about to have. I used to wonder why people never mention the need of a shower in zombie films, they only say stuff when they are having a shower... I get that now. I guess no one's bothered about keeping clean when they want to stay alive. A shower becomes an unnecessary resource when the world has basically ended.