Staying Alive

Chapter 3

PJ's POV

I backed away, but my back was pressed against the rock wall. Two zombies had found and chased me; I was nowhere safe.

But suddenly, he came out of nowhere, running towards us with a panicked look on his face.

Chris stood in front of me, and I saw that he had my shotgun in his hands. I was stupid enough to forget my only weapon in an apocalypse.
He shot one of them, and I thought he had come to save me. Maybe he still loved me. Humans didn't have any knowledge about the living dead after all, so why couldn't it be true that they weren't the cruel creatures we always thought they were?

"He's mine," Chris said when the other one came closer and shot him.

Uh-oh. Maybe I was wrong.

Chris turned around to face me and I pushed myself further against the wall. He held out his hand, but I was too scared to take it. He was going to finish me, I was sure.

"You don't... trust me..." Chris said and I noticed the sadness in his voice. "Like... I said, PJ... I still... love you. I'm not... going to... hurt you."

"How?" I managed to say. "Isn't my brain the thing you want?"

"So that's... what you've been... thinking about..." he said and smiled faintly. "I want to... keep you... safe."

"Why?" I asked. "And how do I know if I can actually trust you?"

He shrugged. "Do you... have a... choice?"

 

 

 

 

 

Chris took me back to the bunker. I figured he was right: I didn't really have a choice. I could run away from him, but my chance of surviving would be really small, or I could stay in his bunker and be little safer. If he did want my brains, I guess it didn't really matter; I would end up dead either way.

Besides, there was food in the bunker. I had nothing edible myself.

 

Chris' POV

"You... hungry?" I asked and he nodded. I warmed up a little bowl of soup. I hoped it didn't taste too bad as it was already expired.

PJ seemed to be starving, so I didn't think he noticed though. I watched him eat the soup until he was finished. He didn't seem uncomfortable this time that I sat there with him, but I guessed that was because he was so hungry. My stomach protested by the smell of the soup, but I would eat later; PJ didn't need to see that.

"Thanks, Chris," PJ said, putting the bowl down.

"Any... time," I said, trying to smile.

"Do you have to eat brains?" he suddenly asked.

I was slightly overwhelmed by his question. Didn't see that one coming. "Uh... any part of the... human body... will do..." I said hesitantly.

"Then... why do you want the brain so badly?" he asked.

"It's difficult... to explain," I started. "What you... have to... understand about me... is that I... am dead. I feel... dead. But when we... eat someone's... brain, we... see their... memories.... It makes me... feel alive... even though it's... just for a little... while..."