The End is Near

Chapter Five

~Keith's POV~
We've been walking for a couple minutes when I hear Cassie's voice ahead of us. A few seconds later I can see them walking. I motion to Karson, pointing at them and then motioning to be quiet. He nods and we go silent. Then I hear what Cassie is saying.
"I don't think we should take a car, it would be too much noise. It would draw unwanted attention. It might take a while, but I think we should walk." She's smart, as always.
"Yeah, that's probably the best thing to do. Do we have enough food? It's gonna be a long trip, a really long trip. What are we gonna do when we run out of food? And water? We need a plan." Julia sounds scared and panicked. Cassie touches her friends shoulder, trying to comfort her.
"Julia, calm down. We are going to be fine. Nothing is going to happen to us, I won't let it. I can hunt, and we can scavenge and loot. We'll have to at some point, anyway. Don't worry." She sounds strong and confident, just like she should. She was obviously born to be a leader, she handles stressful situations perfectly. I have no doubt she's going to be the leader of our group when we rejoin them.
"Is hunting a good idea? We don't know if animals can get infected by whatever is making this happen." Cassie nods her head.
"Then we'll just have to ration our food and scavenge when we have to." They stop talking and walk in silence for few minutes.

     "How did you know Keith? You acted like you've met him before." Julia says, looking over at Cassie. She smiles, her cheeks turning a light shade of red as she smiles, before it drops.

     "He...he was the boy I was telling you about yesterday." She admits quietly. I hold in a gasp as a smile breaks out across my face. So I wasn't the only one that was affected by that morning. Julia must have been the friend she was meeting at the mall.

     "Really? The one you like? Oh, Cassie, I'm so sorry, you should've told me earlier, we could've stayed with them. I know he's the first guy you've ever really trusted since Drake." My eyes narrow. Who's Drake? But then the rest of her words register to me, she trusts me. I smile again, wishing that I were with her instead of a ways behind her.

     "It's ok, I doubt anything would've happened anyway. I mean, did you see him? He could have anyone he wants, why would he want me? There are a ton of women out there that are way prettier than me." I clench my jaw, narrowing my eyes. How could she talk about herself like that? She's perfect! With her auburn hair that shines in the sun, her sparkling blue eyes that light up when she's happy or passionate about something. I saw that light when she was talking about her weapons. And her smile, gosh, I could go on and on about her smile. The way it lights up a room, dazzling everyone and everything in range of her, the way she throws her head back when she laughs and her smile gets bigger than it was before, I could just stare at her smile for hours. I never believed in love at first sight until I met her. She's absolutely amazing. They stop talking and walk in silence for a couple minutes.
"What do you think happened? What started all this? What even are those things?" Cassie says, quietly. I don't think Julia can tell, but Cassie is trying to keep her voice from shaking. She's scared, but is being strong for her Julia. She is definitely the leader of their small group.
"I don't know. But I think they're zombies." Julia laughs quietly at how ridiculous that sounds.
"That would make sense, but I don't want to call them that. Let's call them..." She thinks for a minute, "walkers. Let's call them walkers. It sounds better than zombies. And remember, when you kill them, aim for their brain. Hitting them anywhere else won't do anything. And don't make any sounds if you see them. Ok?" Julia nods while Karson looks over at me, smirking.
"For not watching any zombie shows, she sure seems to know what she's doing." A laugh escapes me, I couldn't hold it back. We immediately duck behind some cars as the girls fall silent when they hear my laugh. I motion to Karson and we both crawl under the cars.
"What was that?" Julia sounds scared. "Is someone following us?" I hear the sound of Cassie's katana being freed from the sheath. I know it's her because Julia would be too scared to.
An image of Cassie forms in my head. Her standing next to Julia, hair swinging around in her ponytail as she looks around, her amazing blue eyes fiercely scanning the area looking for the threat. She's so beautiful, so incredibly beautiful.
"I think it came from this way. I'm not sure if we're being followed or if we're just on edge." She tells her friend, standing by the car. She's silent for a minute, then she slowly gets down on one knee.
She's going to look under the car. And she's going to find us. Oh no.
~Cassie's POV~
I get down on one knee to look under the car, but stop myself.
"What am I thinking? A walker wouldn't be hiding under a car." But a walker wouldn't laugh either. I get back on my feet, lowering my katana.
I start to walk back to Julia, who is cautiously looking around, scared. She's not going to be much help, I'm going to have to protect her.
I get to her and we start walking. Weaving through all the cars. We can't see ahead of us, because it's blocked by all the cars, so I always have my bow out and ready to shoot. I'm in the front, with my bow, and Julia is walking behind me.
"We should find somewhere to spend the night. It's getting dark and I don't want to travel while I can't see." Julia immediately nods.
"Ok." I resist the urge to sigh. She isn't going to be much help. We walk for another hour, quietly, Julia lost in her thoughts while I listen for any sign of what laughed earlier. I find a large semi truck to climb and help Julia up, then hoist myself up.
     "We'll stay here for the night. You go to sleep, I'll keep watch." Julia nods and lays down, putting her head on her bag and quickly falling asleep. I close my eyes, feeling helplessness rise in me. With no help from Julia, I'm going to have to do everything, I'll have to keep watch, find food, fight all the walkers, how am I going to do that on my own? I'm only one girl, I can't do everything by myself.