Still breathing | Original story

Chapter Twenty Two: Tunnel

Word count: 1657

"Ready?" Archie questioned me the next morning. He smiled at me when he saw I had woken and quickly left the room so I could actually start to get ready. I walked out into the hall and made my way to the small bathroom so I could splash water onto my face, trying to wake myself up a little more. I gripped the sides of the sink and breathed in for a second, the day had finally come. I had found the safe place but it didn't seem very safe at all. I heard a knock on the door.
"Yeah?" I questioned and the door opened fully. Caleb appeared, rubbing his eyes slowly with balled up fists.
"When are we leaving?" He questioned me sleepily.
"Soon," I replied.
"Are you okay?" He questioned, for a young kid he was extremely inquisitive when it came to others emotions.
"Yeah," I replied and left the room quickly, leaving Caleb in the bathroom alone.
Truth was, I was scared. I had the feeling that we would never find Logan, I had the feeling I would die getting to him. I wasn't ready for that but at the same time I just wanted to leave right away, all I wanted was to get to the safe zone. If it wasn't safe than we could fix it up, make it safe right? Or we could move on and continue searching for the boy who is nothing more than a ghost of my memories.
I rushed down the stairs and saw Archie gripping his weapon - a crossbow. I wondered where he got it from.
"Nice weapon," I told him and he smirked, I reached down for my hatchet and smiled back. It was weird to smile over a weapon of all things but it felt nice all the same. "Where'd you learn to use that?" I asked. I didn't even know you could get a crossbow around there.
"I used to go to adventure places a lot. When everything happened I went there and got this! It was the thing I was best at," he told me and I nodded. I felt safer knowing that Archie was skilled as well as smart, he really was useful in the apocalypse. I felt like Daryl Dixon was accompanying me, except without the southern accent. I didn't even get a northern accent as Archie didn't really have much Manchester in his words.
"Caleb!" I yelled up the stairs. "Let's go."
He came trudging down the stairs as I was balancing my backpack on my shoulders. He looked extremely nervous so I reached out and gripped his hand. He looked up at me and I nodded softly, a silent gesture that it would be alright. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Archie smile at us before he cleared his throat, a grin still playing on his lips.
"Let's get going then," his voice was still thick with the morning but it somehow made him sound better.

We piled into Archies' car and got strapped in for the ride ahead. Archie called me up front to be his second pair of eyes and I couldn't help watching him concentrate as he drove. I side glanced at him the entire time and hoped he didn't notice.
A few minutes in I saw him glance my way and I shifted in my chair, face facing forward, eyes on the empty road ahead. I heard him chuckle lightly and turn away. My cheeks were heating up and only did the embarrassment sink away when I felt the car begin to jut forward.
"Petrol?" I asked almost immediately. The cars movements reminded me of Jacks car that day, the day Ella died. I breathed in a calming breath and looked over at Archie, expecting an answer. He replied by stopping and turning off the engine. His face was set into a grim line.
"Haven't had a chance to fill up recently," he told me apologetically, staring at the now dark dash in front of him. His eyebrows furrowed close together as if he could somehow will the car to move again.
"It's not far. We'll be fine walking," I reassured him. He looked my way and didn't seem too confident about it but in the end, he smiled half-heartedly at my optimism.
"Alrighty then. Let's head out." We both reached for the door handle at the same time and got out on opposite sides of the car. I walked round back to Caleb who was half asleep. I gently coaxed him awake and he groggily got out.
He stayed close to my side the entire way, not holding my hand but close enough that only mere particles stopped him from doing so. I looked ahead to see Archie turning left, right, front, back as he surveyed the area. His crossbow lay firmly at his side but I could tell he was ready for action and could shoot his weapon in a blink of an eye.
I couldn't help but think it was oddly quiet. I was waiting for the infected to come, expecting them to be hiding in the shadows.
"This way." Archie stopped in front of some stairs. He pointed his weapon down and took two steps at a time down. I gulped ever so softly as I followed and looked into the abyss that was the tunnel. He tore the metal caging off the front and set it aside.
He looked me straight in the eyes, my worries being washed away in his ocean blue eyes. "I'll protect you. No need to be scared."
"I'm not scared," I shook off his concern.
"Of course not," he said as sarcastically as he could. He winked at me and I involuntarily blushed before entering the long, dark tunnel. All I could think about was what could possibly be on the other end - all I could see was light as the winter sun hung low in the sky. We made our way passed two large bins and I'd be lying if I didn't expect something to jump out. Archie seemed to be the same as he held up his weapon to them.
He stopped suddenly and pushed my body backwards.
"Shh," he finally said, putting his hand up as a signal to stop. We did as instructed and it was then that I could hear them, the moans I mean. The sounds coming from all directions. One wrong move and we'd be trapped. I held my breath.
I heard Caleb's breath hitch in his throat and turned around to see his eyes open wide. He backed up as he heard the infected getting louder. In his panic, he tripped up over a discarded brick on the floor. I winced as the noise travelled down the long tunnel and to the other side. Caleb lay on the floor breathing heavily but that wasn't the only thing I could hear. Shuffling feet could be heard coming our way and shadows flickered against the stone wall at the end. They were coming straight for us.

I picked Caleb up off the floor as we began to run back to where we had come from, only to find more infected coming from there. The only option was to become the Hulk and smash our way out (which was pretty much impossible, especially given the time frame) or use what we had to our advantage. I saw the large bins that I had earlier been afraid of and ran towards them. By pushing them length ways they also filled the entire width of the tunnel.
"Bingo," I whispered. Archie noticed what I was doing and followed suit with the second one.
"Get ready! " He shouted to me as they approached. Caleb was terrified.
"Hide if you need to," I told him gently and he nodded. I glanced at Archie who had begun shooting already and decided it was then or never. I shifted the bin and managed to lift the lid, Caleb crawled inside. I moved it back to its original horizontal position, the bin significantly heavier with him inside, but I managed.

I joined the fight on the opposite side to Archie and gripped the metal of my weapon tightly as one tried to make its way over. I stuck its brain dead centre. Behind me, the whir of the arrows through the air was a comforting sound that seemed to drown out the usually overpowering moans of the undead. One was left but it seemed to be faster than the others. I quickly glanced at Archie who was killing his last one but as I turned back the infected was in mid-jump over the bin and I was thrown backwards.
I lost my grip on my weapon as the creature tried to tear me open with heightened speed and strength. The only noise I could make was the loud groan of effort coming from me as I tried to keep the creature away from me. I felt my arms giving in under the weight and I was so close to letting it fall onto me. Its teeth gnashing away as the horrific noise of death sent vibrations through my arms and flowed into my ears just to wrap around my brain. As the sounds got louder they tightened around my brain, cutting off any and all circulation.
The creature went limp in my arms just as I reached the point of giving in, and there was Archie standing above it, shoving an arrow into its head.
"Thanks," I gasped as Archie pulled me up. He smiled at me but then worriedly looked around.
"We should move before more come." I nodded in agreement.
I was heading towards the bin to retrieve Caleb when I found myself looking at the infected that nearly killed me. He didn't look rotten, just dirty. Recently turned probably. Maybe that was why it went so fast, it had been running. The infection hadn't caught up to it yet.