The Time Within

The Trip

We left the avenue by climbing over the fences in the back gardens of the other houses which then lead to a backstretch alleyway, I'd never noticed how quiet the world was until then, no birds chirped, no crickets, no animals; nothing. The whole planet seemed to be dying with the human race, or even mourning that fact. Walking in silence was difficult, silence was something I just couldn't stand, I began to let my eyes wander to the side of the path, most of the hedge was either dead, or dying, but there was spots of healthier hedges the closer I looked, and the closer I looked the more berries I could see dotted around, most were dead, but there was at least two handfuls that were semi-healthy at least. I made Amber sit down on the side of the path, not that it mattered, there was nobody still mentally capable of walking by or cycling, but I guess old habits die hard. I grabbed as many of the healthier berries as I could, which wasn't many and divided them between us, I knew they were probably not for human consumption, but it's not like we had a lot of choice.

Not that it matters, she'll be dead soon

NO.

"Eat up, keep some sort of immunity going"

Amber nodded, and followed orders silently, normally I wouldn't have been able to get her to shut up, but then, well neither of us could think of anything to say other than the small talk. I dropped to my knees and wrapped my arm around her.

"Ya know, if this was 8 or 9 years ago, we'd be running around the park playing tag or football?"

That got her to smile a little. "Yeah, with Jesse, and AJ"

Jesse and AJ were two out of a triplet, but their sister died at birth, so there was only two of them, but, I think that was for the best, they were fantastic twins, scary too, wore the same clothes, had the same hair style, same voices and they always finished each others sentences, or spoke in perfect unison, only difference between them was, Jesse was a boy, AJ a girl. Ironic huh? But Jesse was still just like his sister, even wore dresses, he was crazy about her, maybe because he realised just how precious she was, being one of two sisters, still, they were our best friends, aside from each other of course, they filled up our childhood, that was until they moved to Switzerland of course, after that, we were on our own.

I smiled at the memories of them. "I wish we could contact them, see if they're still around or something"

All of a sudden, Amber brightened up and grinned "I have their number"

I looked around, obviously there was no phone poles around, or phones, she pulled out a dusty looking cell phone and smiled hopefully. We checked it, half battery but no service.

"Right, time to move, let's go!"

I helped her up, keeping my arm wrapped around her waist to support the weaker leg, we half walked, half limped to the end of the alley, which turned onto a main road. Amber checked her phone; one bar, we were still out of range for a proper conversation. I took the phone and walked ahead a little, impatient to get the phone ringing, just to cheer her up even a little. About half a mile down the road, with Amber limping a good 20 foot behind me, we had full service. I grinned and gave the thumbs up, I saw her face light up, she was genuinely smiling and started walking as quickly as she could until she reached me.

"Do you want to or shall I?" I smiled reassuringly, or at least I hoped it looked reassuring,with all the grime on my face, I was pretty sure it looked like a creepy grimace. Amber took the phone, disabled the number, then hesitated.

"You do it" she pressed the phone to my chest and nodded, I could see the doubt in her eyes. This could be completely pointless,they could already be meat bags, but there was still thAt small flicker of hope. I hit call.

Silence

I bit my lip nervously, praying.

Come on... please

Silence......

Come on...

ringing

I breathed a sigh of relief and nodded at Amber to assure her it was working.

" hello?"

I laughed and grinned. It worked! They're alive!

"Is this AJ and Jesse?"

I heard a sniff, a sneeze, then a sigh.

"I'm sorry, AJ is dead. She's... one of them"

I felt my face drop... Amber looked at me questioningly and leant against the phone, trying to hear.

"Is this.... Jesse?" I could feel Amber trembling, I couldn't believe it. Jesse could never be without his sister.

"It was. I'm not going to be for long. I can't live without her. So ill be just like her."

Amber gasped and shut the phone on my fingers.

"Ow! What'd you do that for?"

"Didn't you hear what he said? He got bit. He let her bite him, he's gone insane!"

I shook my head. Jesse wasn't insane, he was devoted. He loved his sister and would do anything to be with her, if that meant becoming a sticky. He'd do it. He'd do anything for her. She was his world, in the way that I'd do anything for Amber,

except... I wouldn't... if I did... I wouldn't be thinking about putting a bullet through her skull.

I shuddered. I was disgusted at myself for thinking such a thing. She's my best friend, I couldn't kill her.... could I?

"Scott... we need to move if we're gonna head north"

I stayed silent and nodded, turning around to head north, it was quiet, it gave me time to reflect, and remember.