Love and the Undead (gxg)

Chapter 5

I wake up, and feel Iris's soft breathing against me. I sigh, and bury my face deeper into the back of her neck. I so do not want to get up. We'll have to leave here today, but I really don't want to. Being here with Erebus and Iris has been so easy, almost like a little vacation from all the horrors of the world. Gently, so as not to wake her, I scoot away and get up off the bed where I am greeted by a happy Erebus.

"Hey buddy." I whisper, patting his head.

Grabbing a cigarette and lighting it, I head downstairs to go check on the rest of the meat that we smoked. It looks really good, and I toss Erebus a piece before I start packing it into my bag. There's enough to last us about a month if we're sparing with it, which takes a ton of stress off of my shoulders. After I get that all packed, I decide to go for a walk with Erebus while I'm waiting for Iris to wake up. Judging by the sky, its probably only like 8:00am. We walk out to the woods, and follow some trails that circle the house. I stay close so that I can just see the house through the trees, ensuring that we dont get lost. After about 30 minutes we stop by a tree and I sit down against it, lighting up another cigarette. Erebus plops down next to me, and nuzzles his nose into my neck making me laugh.

"Come on, Erebus! That tickles." I laugh, pushing his face away.

He takes it as a game, and continues to push into my neck as I laugh. He's so big, I cant really push him off. I start wrestling with him, and he wrestles back though I can tell he's being gentle.

"Erebus, I swear you better kno-"

All the sudden I get cut off by a piercing scream coming from the house. My stomach drops and I jump up and start sprinting as fast as I can with Erebus running in front of me. He gets to the door first, though not by much and we bound up the stairs. When we get to the room, I see 3 infected, one with erebus attached to its throat. I see another one trying to get at Iris, and she's barely fighting it off.

"Iris!" I yell to her.

"Raine, help!" She cries.

She doesnt have any weapons and she's struggling to kick it away, but to get to her I'll have to fight through the one that is now coming at me. I snarl, and lunge forward. I dont have anything on me to use as a weapon, so I just reach out and snap its neck. It falls to ground, still biting but unable to get up because I also snapped its spine. I jump forward, and grab the shoulders of the undead that's attacking Iris. Putting one hand on the back of it's head, I slam it down onto the corner of the bedside table once, twice, and then a third time before it finally stops moving. I look over at Iris wide-eyed. I could have lost her. I step over to her, and immediately pull her into my chest in a tight hug.

"I'm so so sorry Iris, I just went for a walk I didn't think about what could happen you were just sleeping and I didnt want to wake you up I'm sorry I let my guard down it'll never happen again I- I cant lose you." I say in a rush, breathless.

"Its okay." She says, "you didnt know this could happen." 

She's so compassionate and kind, she could've died and here she is reassuring me. I hug her tighter.

"Its not okay." I whisper. "What if you had gotten bitten?"

Oh, god. I think. I didn't even check.

I pull back, and start checking her over.

"You werent bit were you??" I ask while frantically looking her over.

"Raine, stop." She says sternly.

I stop, and look down into her eyes.

"I am okay."

At that I start sobbing, and now its her turn to pull me in for a hug. I cry softly in her arms, thanking any and everything out there that she's alright.

"Oh, Raine." She says softly.

I pull back and look at her again.

"I- I'm sorry." I sniff. "I just cant help but think of what could have happened and all because I left you here alo-"

She cuts me off, saying sternly.

"Why think about what could have been? Everything is okay, so focus on that."

At that I give a small smile. Look at her, so strong and brave.

"Okay." I whisper.

I hear a whine, and see Erebus looking at us concerned. I sit down on the bed next to Iris and pat the spot in between us, calling him up. He jumps up and licks both of our faces before stretching himself across our laps. We pet him for awhile in silence, until I remember we need to get to work.

"So, I was thinking that we should leave here today." I say to Iris.

"Okay," she says. "When do you want to leave?"

"Well, I've gotten all of the meat packed, and everything else is already in my bags. So we can leave as soon as you're ready."

She jumps up and looks at me expectantly.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" She says excitedly. "We've got adventures waiting for us!"

I chuckle at that, and follow her to the door. I think i'd follow this girl anywhere.

-next chapter soon-
Much love,
Me