Discernment

Chapter 2

           After I set the girl in the passenger's seat, I started driving off. Knowing I'd run out of gas soon, I kept driving. I didn't know where I was going, I just headed down the lifeless road, seeing your average dying grass, leafless trees and dead biters. 

           We pass a few miles and the truck starts to slow down. We were out of gas. So, I pull up to an abandoned house, and parked in the driveway. I look over and she was still unconscious. I mumble to myself as I get out of the truck and I walk over to her side, picking her up and bringing her to the porch, setting her on the bench that was sitting there. I wiped the dirty window and looked in the house for any threats. I seen none, so I did my next method, and banged on the door loudly and waited for any sounds from inside. After all, these things and most survivors are attracted to sound.

           There were no sounds coming from inside and I look around for some type of weapon, just in case there was something in there and none of my methods had worked. After looking around for a few minutes, I seen a pipe. I walked over there and I picked it up, before walking back over to the door. I prepare myself and kick the door open, looking around and the pipe is ready for me to swing. As I open the door, a strong stench hits my nose.

           I walked in a bit more and looked around. As I was trying to find where the stench was coming from I heard groaning. I followed the groaning and the smell got worse. I walked into the master bedroom and on the bed was a biter, feeding on a corpse. I grabbed it by the hair and I threw it onto the ground, bashing it's head in with the pipe. I then look at the biter I had killed, then at it's meal, wondering what their story was. After all, that's one thing that somewhat enlightens the outbreak.

           After that, I dragged the bodies out back. Then I go back out to the porch. The girl was still not moving, but she was breathing. I carried her inside and I set her on the couch, after closing the door behind us. I sat on a chair, across the room, facing the couch where I had put her. I studied her features, her hair was dirty blonde, she had a few freckles on her cheeks, a long scar on her chin, and she was wearing a filthy hoodie and jeans. I got up, after looking over her, and I walked around the house.

           I saw a few pictures on the wall, looks like that biter and his meal were actually husband and wife. It's sad, that this is what the world has come to. Eating your spouse when you die. And there's no way to stop yourself from turning into one, except having someone damage your brain severely before you actually turn, or after. I go into the kitchen, after all, I was starving and I didn't want to stay at the gas station too long because that explosion and that man screaming would only attract biters.

           Biters are odd. They are attracted to sound, heat, and and a strong sense of smell. They have all of that to find survivors to munch on, and they can't even run. Yet these fuckers still find out a way to kill a strong, healthy survivor. 

           So, I was in the kitchen, looking for food finding nothing except a can of asparagus. Man, I hate asparagus, but it's better than nothing. So I opened it up and started eating, walking out of the kitchen and back into the living room, sitting down on the chair. I continued to eat when the girl started groaning. Not like a biter, just a tired groan. I still had to take precautions and ready the pipe. I stood up, walking over to her.

           As I walked over to her, I stood about five feet away, in case she was a biter and she got a hold of me. I tilted my head very slightly and I leaned over a bit. "S-Stop! Please don't hit me!" She cried, after her eyes bolted open. I jumped back at the sound of her voice. "I ain't ganna hurt ya'." I mutter, trying to comfort her. She got startled and climbed over the couch, hiding and peeking out at me.

           "P-Please don't hurt me.." She kept repeating to herself. "What's wrong with you, miss?" I ask.  She sat there, behind the couch, doing nothing. Nothing except repeating herself and staring at me. I set the pipe down on the floor and I walk over to her. "Hey.. Trust me, I ain't goin' to hurt you." I say, gently grabbing her shoulders. "What's your name?" I ask, trying to calm her down. She looks up at me and stops crying, and wipes her face. "My n-name is Jess." She replies.

           "What about you?" She asks. "My name is Thomas, you can call me Tommy if you want." I say with a slight smile. "What happened to the man with the red truck?" She asks. As soon as she asked that, I looked down, with regret. "I-I killed 'em.." I say, with a gloomy tone. "Good.. That son of a bitch deserved it." She says with a stern voice. "What did he do to you?" I asked, hoping it wasn't too much. "If.. You know want to tell me." I said. She then looked up at me. "I.. I don't want to talk about it.." She says, before getting up and looking around the room. "Sorry for asking.." I say. "It's fine.. Let's just go.." She says walking towards the door. "Woah, hold up right there.. The truck's out of gas. We can't go any where.." I reply.

           "So what do we do? Just sit in this house and rot?" She says. "That, or in the morning we can go looting." I say, sitting on the couch. "So we'll stay here for the night?" She asks. I suddenly realized that we're grouping and I know almost nothing about this girl. I just went with it, and if anything bad were to happen with her, I'd be ready. "Yeah, that's what we'll do.. We'll just stay here for the night. I suggest you don't sleep in the master bedroom though, found a two of them in there, one dead, the other eating it. I killed both and disposed of the bodies so don't worry." I say, pointing in the direction of the room.

           I then go up to the fireplace, where I seen a rifle. How could I have not seen this before? It was in plain sight? "Look what I found, Jess." I smile and pull it down, along with the bullets under it. She walks in from the kitchen and nods. "That's good, we could use that." She says, before going into the hallwayand into another room. I set the gun and the bullets on the coffee table. "Stay put, Jess." I said. "I know, I know.. I'm only going in here.." She replied. I then sit on the couch and continue to eat the asparagus. "Jess, are you hungry?" I call out to her.

           I wait there as there was no answer. "Hey! Jess! Are you hungry?" I call out again. Still no answer. Starting to get worried, I get up and go in the hallway, with the pipe that I'd found readied. I open the first door, leading to a den, there was nothing in there. I then proceed to the next room, it was the bathroom, and she wasn't in there. As I was going to the last room of the hallway, I noticed the door was slightly opened. When I reached the door, I hoped she was in there, and if she was, she wasn't going to chew my face off. I opened the door slightly more than it already was, before I peeked in. When I seen the bed, Jess was already coverered up and asleep. As I was relieved, I smiled and went back in the living room, sitting on the couch and falling asleep.