Fight for your life

Chapter One

"Jones, come see this," Barrett whisper-yells, and I creep after him, to the room marked with a smeared bloody hand print. Turning the corner, I grit my teeth and smack him in the back of the head. There are no active zombies, just an inactive child and woman, probably her mother, both shot in the head, laying on the floor. The mother has a festering chunk from her arm, she must have been bit by her kid and shot herself before she turned.
"For the last damn time, don't show me shit like this," I snap, turning around in the door frame. "And if they aren't active, don't whisper." As soon as I finish, my heart skipped a beat. In seconds, the door next to me flies open, smacking my foot and tripping me, and a foul smelling girl jumps out, tripping onto me, snapping her jaws madly. I put a hand on her chin, and the other on her forehead, but both hands slowly sink into her skin, making me shudder. Barrett shouts and kicks the zombie in the head, causing it to spin sideways, her neck snapping. Adrenaline fills me as her entire body goes limp, but her jaw keeps snapping by my shoulder, and I push her off of me as fast as I can, jumping up and wrinkling my nose as I stomp her skull in, getting blood all over my boots.
"You were saying? Something about whispering?" He asks, smirking. I have the urge to spit on his shoe, but I have a feeling a 23 year old military commander would not do that, even if 17 year old military school drop out the Frances Kuhn would. Ricky Jones is a mature leader. And so, I hold my spit and storm into the room the zombie had just come from, and smile as I see a small selection of supplies that we could use.
"I guess she didn't have the balls to shoot herself after she got bit," I comment, bending over to retrieve the small pistol that lay discarded on the floor.
"She sure is... attractive," Mudz Murdoc comments, stepping over the girl and pushing past Barrett.
"Yeah, and a quiet one too," I answer, grabbing the dingy pink backpack from the floor. "A few cans of beans, some granola bars, protein bars," I keep digging. "A few bottles of water, aaaaand a first aid kit. That's not a terrible haul, right?" I ask, turning around.
"It's about three days worth of food, right?" Mudz asks, shrugging as he threw himself down onto the girls bed, then jumped up, giving a loud shout. Barrett started to laugh, leaning down to pick up a large knife that was covered by a slightly bloody sheet.
"Yikes," Scout steps over the body and into the room, followed by Donnie, who gives the body an uncomfortable look.
"Can we sleep at a different house tonight?" Donnie asks, looking a little pale. Nearly a year into the apocalypse, and she still gets sick over some blood. I don't know how she made it on her own for so long, she's only been with us for a month and she pukes about four times a week. She's not allowed to eat until she's about to go to bed so we don't waste food. "I don't want to sleep with these here..." She glanced down for a moment, to the body, then quickly back to me.
"Of course," I say, nodding. I'm not too keen on sleeping in a house full of the dead, active or not, either. "There's still some daylight, we have time to search the next house." I add, filling my voice with confidence and authority. I close the back pack and toss it to Barrett, then give the gun to Mudz, seeing as he's the best shot.
Scout takes it upon herself to raid the poor teens bedroom before we leave, shoving various items into Donnie and I's bags. "I'd go crazy if I was the only girl here," she rants, shaking her head as she shoved a bra into my bag, and then a few feminine products into her sparkly-pink slightly-muddy duffle bag. "Even if you don't really act like a girl, Ricky. Ooh!" She jumped up, smiling excitedly, a box of pink hair dye in her hands. I groan as she jumps next to where Donnie and I lay on the bed. "Let's dye our hair!"
I laugh and shake my head, smiling a little. "If you want to dye your hair, fine, but you aren't touching mine."
"I like my hair how it is," Donnie adds.
She whines and throws herself down between us, holding the box in her arms. "We could be matching," she adds and I roll my eyes.
"Did you really think that would work in your favor?" I ask while Donnie laughs.
"But-"
"No way in hell. But if you do happen to find a new tank top, I'll take it."
"And I'll take a pair of tennis shoes, size 7," Donnie says, standing up to raid the closet.
And so, one new bra, grey tank top and pair of pink size 7 tennis shoes later, we were on our way to the next house. Mudz and I moved quietly to the front door of the next house, which was locked.
"Nice shirt," he says quietly as I knock on the door.
"Thanks," I snort, rolling my eyes. After no answer, Mudz grabbed a pot from the porch and raised it to shatter the glass in the door, but I grabbed his arm in silence, lowering it and gingerly shuffling the dirt to reveal a small key. "Violence isn't everything," I say quietly, before leaning back and throwing a thumbs up to the others at the side of the house. They all rush in, and me being last, I make sure to look around for any side of the dead or living before I rush in after them, locking the door behind me. If we're quiet, this house might be a safe place to stay. Scout, Mudz and Donnie all search the first floor, and me and Barrett take the second. I scan the doors for usual signs, blood, warnings, written or scratched into the doors, or feet at the door, or any sort of movement. I give a soft knock at each door as well, to make sure they're empty. Once me and Barrett check behind every door, we go back downstairs.
"One bedroom down stairs, a big bed too, a pretty decently stocked kitchen, never been raided, a nice couch, and , completely dead-free! There's a note in the kitchen about cleaning or something, I think they were on vacation," Scout relays the details to me, looking excited.
"Three bedrooms upstairs," I report, a small smile finding its way onto my face. "Two twin beds, and two big beds, with no sign of the dead." Scout beams, and now that I know I can lay down, exhaustion tears through me, making it hard to even stand. "Someone should take first watch..." I shake my head, yawning. "And it's not gonna be me... I'll take like, third shift or something," I mutter, heading up the stairs. "The usual sleeping arrangement," I add, glancing to Scout, who nods and starts to follow me.
"I'll take fourth shift," she adds as we make our way up the stairs. After a moment, Donnie follows us. We all strip down to our tank tops and shorts, then climb into one of the big beds. Donnie and Scout lay on either side of me, where they both scoot close. I place a protective arm around Scout, knowing it helps her sleep. I remember when we first met, she was running out of a burning, zombie-infested mall, all for some make up. She joined up with Mudz, Barrett and I, and from the first night she slept close. It wasn't until we started raiding houses, and separate rooms where possible that she told me she was too scared to sleep alone, that she was plagued with nightmares, and scared of the dark. From that night on, she's always slept close by. Since Donnie has joined us, I assume she's the same way, the way she sleeps close as well. Along with the sleeping arrangement, both girls seemed to stick closer in the day time. As I drift off to sleep, I wonder exactly what the girls dream about.