Dead End [#Wattys2016]

CHAPTER 8

"Who the hell are you?"

Her voice was steady and held no emotion, like she was internally preparing herself to kill me should things head in that direction.

She had deep brown eyes that showed nothing but the lack of trust she held towards me. Her pale skin contrasted greatly against her dark brunette, almost black, mane that was naturally curled down her shoulders and framed her face. The expression she wore matched her voice, emotionless. She wore one of those gloves for bows that only covered three fingers so her skin didn't get caught on the string of the bow she held expertly. Overall, she looked like one of those beautiful, tough girls you'd see in films and TV shows.

I gulped down the fear that was rising in my throat accompanied by a scream and only seemed to be able to focus on the razor-sharp arrow head that stared at the middle of my face.

"Well?"

The sound startled me out of my frightened trance and I managed to glimpse at her expectant eyes, waiting for my response.

Response... Response! Words!

"Uh... Avery." I rushed out to her, almost forgetting my name.

It's official, I'm stupid.

I saw amusement dance across her facial features as she hesitantly lowered her bow. Her eyes still swam with mistrust but she seemed to decide that I wasn't a threat.

Should I have been offended?

Her eyes flickered to my hand cautiously and that was when I suddenly remembered the lethal weapon that was clasped in my palm.

I let my widened eyes meet hers as if to give her reassurance that I wasn't going to cause her harm as I slowly rose the sword to my sheath. She followed my every movement, eyes like a hawks. I noticed her hands gripped tighter to her bow as my katana was now eye level. Gently placing it where it belonged I rose my hands in the air, showing her that there were no more weapons in my hands. Seeming to be more at ease, the mysterious girl had fully lowered her bow so that the arrow was in a slightly more loose hold as it faced the grass.

"And you?" I asked her, curiosity eating me alive in my vulnerable state of shock.

"And me what?" She answered my question with another question, clearly needing me to expand.

"Oh. And what 'bout you? Who are you?" I sputtered out. I swore I was losing my ability to talk after not having to use my voice in so long.

"Oh, um, my name is Alice."

There was a small pause of awkward silence as we looked anywhere but at each other.

"It's nice to meet you." My voice was quick, desperate to say something before I randomly burst out laughing because I wasn't able to handle the uncomfortable muteness that surrounded me.

She let out a small laugh before replying to my hurried comment.

"Yeah, it's great to meet me, you to, but mainly me."

Soon both of us were laughing, genuine, happy laughs that hurt my cheeks because I hadn't smiled in a long while. The ache felt refreshing, nice, since I knew why the pain was there. I was laughing.

I don't know how it happened, but soon both of us sat with our legs crossed looking out at the lake as we shared our zombie stories. It was fascinating to hear what happened to Alice and how she managed to survive.

"I found this bow lying around in a hunters store on the outskirts of town with the quiver of arrows by it. It was quite lucky because the only weapons I know how to wield are bows and throwing knives. I had to kill about five walkers to get into that store in the first place so I'm quite glad it was worth the effort."