The Walking Dead: Blood

Chapter 23: Dinner

Chapter 23: Dinner

"What the hell you got in that back room?" I shouted at Andy.

"Look." Andy made various hand gestures, attempting to explain. "We've got food here, but Danny and I still gotta do a lotta hunting to keep everyone fed. When we catch something out in the woods, we skin it and dress it back here." He could see the doubt in my face. "Mama doesn't like to make a mess in the house, you see? Nothin' to worry about?"

I still had my doubts, but I walked forth to the house for dinner, making sure to brush his shoulder on the way past him.

Andy opened the door to the house for me. I heard my group's voices coming from the kitchen. Larry was laughing. "Oh ho, Brenda! You're a peach!"

"Biscuits? Wow!" Duck exclaimed.

Lilly walked out of the bathroom on my left and walked through the hall to the kitchen on my right. There was a shelf sitting over the exit on the other side of the hallway. I pointed to it, but Andy answered before I even asked the question. "Excuse the mess. We had to block the back door after a walker got upstairs. Don't worry. That was a while ago, and they haven't been back inside since."

Andy and I walked into the kitchen. "Everybody sit down now, and I'll go get the meal! Ooh, this is a delight!"

"I could eat a horse!" Kenny exclaimed. I saw where Duck's impulsive nature came from.

I looked around counting heads. There was Lilly, Larry, Kenny, Katjaa, Duck, Clementine and...me. "Where's Mark?" I asked.

"Now don't you worry about him?" Brenda said. "I've already brought food up. You just let him rest."

I stood there, not saying anything...just thinking about Mark. "Mind if I wash my hands first?"

"Bathroom's right outside in the hall." Brenda answered. "And be sure to get under your nails. You've been mucking around in the dirt all day."

I nodded to her. I walked out into the hall, and quickly walked to the stairs, completely skipping the restroom. I inched up the stairs, careful not to make any noises.

As I approached the top step, I put my weight onto one of the steps and it creaked a bit. I froze in place, looking back towards the hall to make sure no one had heard.

I reached the top floor. There were three bedrooms; two on my right and one on my left. There was a hall closet on my left as well.

I went over to it and opened it. I almost tripped on a wire. I picked it up. It had a plug attached. As I looked through the things on the shelf I found another cord with the outlet for the plug. I connected them and a faint light shined out of a small hole in the wall. There must be a room behind this closet.

I looked through the rest of the contents of the closet. I noticed two large bottles with prescription labels on the side. What did they need so much morphine for? I also found some bandages and other meds. Someone must have received first aid recently.

I opened the door to the room to my right, assuming it was Brenda's room.

It was a small one person bedroom, with a bookshelf on the wall to my left and the one opposite from me. There was a queen bed in the center of the room. I looked out the window and heard thunder. It sounded like there was a storm coming.

Then I noticed the bed was empty. Where the hell was Mark? I thought he was up in this room resting. I noticed a smudge on the floor. I bent down and felt it. It was blood.

Something in the room hit me. There was a beam of light coming from just under the bookshelf. I put my body on the left side of it and heaved it out of the way. Just as I predicted, there was a door behind it.

I opened this door even more slowly than I opened the barn door. Just as I suspected, Mark was laying down behind the door. He had blood all over him. He glasses were cracked. "Oh my god! Mark, what happened?" I whispered to him.

I pushed the door open slightly more and found his legs were missing. He managed to mumble out four words. "Lee...don't...eat...dinner..."