Flesh Eaters

The Man with Many Arrows

Chapter 3 - The Man with Many Arrows

*Grey's POV*

I wake up tied to the tree branch with the moans of eaters growing louder. I look down and see them hungrily reaching up toward me. I sigh and untie my sweatshirt and slip it back on. I slide my feet underneath me so I'm crouching on the branch.

I didn't think this through to well. I pretty much trapped myself up on this branch. I pull my knife outta my belt and glare down at the eaters. Maybe I can stab them from up here, no, that won't work, I'll loss my knife on the first one. "God, I'm so stupid," I shout in frustration. Instead of dying from an eater I'll die from being stranded in this dumb tree!

I look up and see a man standing behind a trailer watching me. What the hell is he doing. He's got a crossbow, he can take the eaters out without drawing any attention to himself.

"Don't just stand there dumb ass, do something," I shout. I see anger flare on his face but he raises his crossbow and starts to take them out, one at a time. Gotta say, he's a pretty good shot. An arrow pierces the last eaters skull and I start to climb down the tree.

I jump to the ground as the man rips one of his arrows out of and eaters eye socket. He looks at me but says nothing, just moves on to the next arrow. I watch him for a moment then say, "Thanks, dumb ass."

I see the anger flare in his eyes as he glares at me. He yanks out another arrow and says, "Your just lucky I had the heart to stop." Then moving to the last arrow, "What'd ya think your doing up in that tree anyway?"

Jeez, he really is a dumb ass, even sounds like one with that hick accent. "What the hell do you think I was doing? Playing with eaters? I was surviving. You really are a dumb ass."

Suddenly he whips around so he's facing me. He holds his arrow up to my face and says, "call me that one more fuckin' time and I swear..."

I swear I can see fire in his eyes but I'm the type that likes to poke the rapid dog. I cross my arms and take a step towards him. "You'll what? Hit me? You wouldn't hit a defenceless girl, would you," I taunt him.

Now the fire really roars. He glares for a moment then says, "screw you" and storms away from me. I watch him go, not really sure why I treated the first living person I've seen in months like that. He could be the last person I ever see on this planet. Honestly, I don't want to be alone anymore.

"Hey, wait," I shout after him. He keeps walking so I jog after him. Soon I'm jogging next to him. He says nothing, just sighs and adjusts his crossbow. I get it, he's pissed at me. I wait a little while before the silence just gets on my nerves. "Where you headed," I ask as I look up at him.

"What'd you care?"

Good question. "I don't. You just don't see many people passing through here is all. Besides it's not very safe in that direction," I answer. I should know, I barley escaped alive. Stupid eaters, there's a hoard back that way. Maybe they spread out by now, I don't know.

The man slows his pace and says, "and why's that?"

"Eaters," I answer simply. I don't know why but I add, "I'm Grey by the way."

He snorts but keeps walking. I look up at him and see a thoughtful expression on his face as he stares straight ahead. I sigh and sort of mumble, "sorry."

He continues walking but glances down at me. Adjusting his crossbow again he says, "I'm Murphy." I laugh to myself and smirk.

"What's so funny," He says as he look down at me.

Still smirking I say, "Nothing just an interesting name for a hick like you. I was expecting something like Danny or Todd."

He laughs once and says nothing. We walk in silence as the sun gets close to setting. I notice the groups of eaters are getting thicker the farther we walk. Murphy must see it to cause he pulls his crossbow off his back. We walk around a trailer and freeze dead in our tracks. A hoard of eaters stands before us, stumbling around and moaning hungrily. "Fuck," Murphy says under his breath and steps back behind the trailer.