The End is Near

Chapter Six

         ~Cassie's POV~
     I tense, getting a tighter grip on my weapon. He shoots, but not at me. He points the gun slightly to the right and shoots. It's so close I can feel the wind rush by my ear as it flies by.
     I hear a thud and turn to find a walker, dead, on the ground, with a hole in its head.
     "Your welcome." I turn, raising my sword. The boy raises his hands in surrender. "Hey, I just saved your life, a thank you would be nice." He says, sarcastically. "And I'm not going to hurt you. I want to help you." He adds in a gentler voice. "You're scared. I can tell, and I want to help." I don't believe him. I just met him, I don't even know him. How do I know I can trust him? I lower my sword, but keep it out, just in case. I look at the boy, skeptically. He's my age, with short, stylish brown hair and brown eyes. He's tall, about 6 feet, much taller than me.
     "I don't know if I can trust you." He smiles and nods. I narrow my eyes, somethings not right with this guy. He's too nice, too friendly.
     "That's understandable and smart. I'll earn your trust, just wait." I scoff.
     "Good luck with that. Anyway, how did you even find me, this place is a maze of cars."
     "I heard a scream from this way. So I went to check it out and found you getting attacked by a horde. I came at the right time, too. You were almost overrun." I nod, yeah, that scream was really loud. Wait, loud scream. Julia. I gasp, my eyes going wide.
     "That scream didn't come from me." That's all I say before I take off running in the direction of the woods. I can hear footsteps behind me, but ignore them and keep running. I feel a hand grab my arm and hold me back. I spin and glare at the boy. "What? Don't you see that I need to do something?" I say, harshly, trying to wrench my arm from his grip. He won't let go.
"I want to help you, so let me help." I narrow my eyes at him.
"How am I even supposed to know I can trust you?" He smiles.
"Let me help you, if I help you with this, you can trust me." I look at him, contemplating, then sigh.
"Fine, but don't expect me to trust you immediately." I spit at him, then I turn and start walking again. I look at the ground as we walk, looking for any tracks showing which way Julia went.
"So who are we looking for?" The boy asks, looking over at me. I glance at him, then back at the ground.
"My best friend, Julia. She's the one who screamed. She saw the horde, screamed, and ran." I sigh, quietly, as worry fills me. She has to be around here somewhere, she has to be safe. I hear a branch snap behind us, and whirl around, lifting my katana. My eyes narrow as I survey my surroundings, looking for the threat. I let out a loud breath when I see that it was just a squirrel that snapped a twig. I take a deep breath, and try to get rid of the small ounce of panic still in me. I put my katana and get out my bow, nocking it with a purple-tipped arrow. The boy, whose name I have yet to learn, looks over at me and laughs. I narrow my eyes at him, one eyebrow raised.
     "Something funny to you?" I ask, coldly, as I glance back to the ground, looking for any sign that Julia passed through here.
"It's just funny how many weapons you have, a sword, a bow and arrow, what do you have a hunting knife strapped to your thigh or something, too?" I raise an eyebrow as I quietly pull my knife out and pretend to clean off the already spotless blade. He looks at the knife and sighs dramatically. "Of course."
"You were somewhat right, it's not strapped to my thigh, it's on my hip." I say, smirking at him. I look back to the ground and stop dead in my tracks when I spot something on the ground, tracks. And there Julia's tracks. We're heading in the right direction. A flood of relief washes over me, as I smile and start walking again.
"You're pretty when you smile, you should do it more." The boy says, looking over at me. The smile falls from my face as I narrow my eyes at him. He sighs and shakes his head. "Totally should have seen that coming." A grin tries to break its way onto my face, but I force it down before he sees it. What he said was funny, sure, but I don't know him and I won't trust him.
"Only my friends see me smile." I hear him sigh and silently chuckle. What an idiot, he thinks he's my friend. We've only just met.
"We'll become friends soon enough, just wait." I roll my eyes and look over at him, raising an eyebrow.
"Right, one day we'll be best friends." I say sarcastically, looking at the tracks on the ground. He laughs.
"That's the spirit. Anyway, what's your name? I don't know anything about you. How do I not know anything about my best friend?" I roll my eyes and keep looking at the ground.
"Cassie. I went to UVU, I was studying to become a doctor, I guess I'll never get to do that though." We're both silent as that sinks in. My whole life changed because of this. I was supposed to become a doctor and work at an awesome hospital, go home at night to a loving husband and amazing kids, have a life. Now that's all changed, now, I'm fighting an army of the undead. "What about you? What's your name?"
"My names Blake. I was a student at the U of U. I was studying to become a businessmen. I wanted to start my own business when I got out of college, I guess I'll never get to do that, either." More silence. "I'm on my way to Montana, I heard there was some community there that's taking anyone in, as long as you're not infected, anyway." I raise an eyebrow, seemingly uninterested, but inside I was contemplating whether or not he should come with us.
"I'm going there too." I don't say anything else, but he looks at me, excitedly.
"Really? That's awesome! We could travel together!" I narrow my eyes at him.
"Don't get your hopes up. I still don't trust you." His smile dims, but it's still there. Something flashes in his eyes, it looks like anger, but it's gone so fast I'm not even sure I saw it.
"You'll trust me, just wait." There's a threatening undertone in his voice that makes me narrow my eyes as him, tightening my grip on my weapons. But then he smiles, brightly. "We'll be best friends one day, the kind that braids each other's hair and gossip." I almost laugh at that, but force it down. I look back to Julia's footprints and stop dead in my tracks, any sigh of laughter leaving me as I stare at the ground with wide eyes. Julia's not alone.
~Julia's POV~
I can't believe I left Cassie with all those things. I'm the worst friend in the world. But I don't want to go back. I can't look at those things. I just couldn't. Looking at their pale and rotting skin, missing limbs, white, opaque eyes, and the teeth, oh, the teeth, rotting and sharp, like fangs. I'd freeze. I know I would, I froze back at the campus, when my roommate, Emily, attacked me. I would've died if Cassie hadn't of saved me. She's gonna be a good fighter, she already is.
Maybe it'd be better if I was dead, I wouldn't put Cassie in danger like I did. I shake my head, no, I can't think like that. Cassie would be alone if I wasn't with her, I couldn't do that to her.
I stop running and look around. I can hear a rushing sound, like running water. I must be close to a river or a creek. I start walking, trying to catch my breath, when I hear a twig snap behind me. I stop and turn around, my heart stopping.
"C-Cassie?" I stutter. Please be Cassie, please be Cassie, please be Cassie. I keep running those words through my mind, praying that they will come true, when I hear it. A low growl, followed by moaning, then a shuffling noise. Oh no, it's definitely not Cassie.
Five walkers come into view, all of them heading straight for me. I hold in the scream threatening to come out, and start running again. I need to get away from those things.
I get to the creek I was hearing and my heart sinks. It's way bigger than a creek, it's more like a lake. I won't be able to get across it, I can't swim. Tears form in my eyes as I realize that I'm probably going to die. I take a deep, shuddering breath and turn around to face the monsters coming after me. As they get closer, I can't hold in the blood-curdling scream that cuts off into loud sobs. I'm going to die.
"Julia!" Cassie? I smile, I'm going to live.
"Cassie!" I scream, so she can hear where I am. My smile drops, though, as the shuffling monsters get closer. I don't know what comes over me, a flood of bravery maybe, but I pull out the sword on my back and get ready to fight. When they're closer I slash out, killing three of them. I'm turning to face the fourth one when an arrow slices through the air, hitting it right in the temple. I turn to see Cassie, breathing heavily, as if she has been running, and smile. She doesn't smile back, though, she looks horrified.
"Julia!" She screams. I understand what she was looking at. I had forgotten the fifth walker. Hands grab my shoulders roughly, and I can feel the final walker bite into my shoulder. I scream in pain, trying to get away, but the walkers grip is too strong. An arrow flies through the air, hitting the walker in the forehead, killing it immediately. It falls to the ground, and I follow soon after.
"Julia!" I hear Cassie shout, pain evident in her voice. I can hear her run to me and kneel down beside me. "Jules, please, open your eyes. Open your eyes! Please!" I struggle to open my eyes and focus on her.
"Cassie, I'm so sorry, we'd both be alive if I hadn't of run away." I break off, coughing loudly, I cover my mouth with my arm and release a shuddering sigh when I see blood coating my arm and hand. The virus works fast, really fast. I look back to Cassie, who is sobbing loudly, tears streaming down her face. "Don't...cry, Cassie." It's getting harder to breath and speak. The virus is already almost to my brain. "I...love you...Cassie. You've always been...like a sister...to me. You always will. Get...to that...safe place. Live your life, fall in love...have a family. I'll always be there with you, you just won't see me." I pause for a second, catching my breath. "Don't let me be one of them. When I die, kill me. Please." I smile weakly at her and Cassie tries to smile at me, through the tears falling down her face. I can feel tears dripping down my face as well.
"I love you too, Julia. You'll always be my sister. I'll get to the safe house and try to live my life, I don't know about those last ones though." She chuckles weakly, and I laugh, but it turns into a cough. "I'm so sorry this happened to you, Jules." Cassie sobs, putting her head down.
"It's ok. This isn't your fault." My eyes start to drift closed. "I love you Cassie, goodbye." Cassie's sobs grow louder.
"No! Julia, please, you can't leave me! Please!!" I try to say something, but I'm too far gone. My eyes close and I wish I could say that that would be the last time they'd open. But I know that's not true. They'd be open again, soon, but they won't be my eyes. They'd be the eyes of a monster.