Fight for your life

Chapter Thirteen

Throughout the rest of the day, we stay close to each other, looking around a little more, but we slowly start to separate. Donnie and Puck eventually settle outside, with the animals, and Scout settles by the pool. Barrett went off to talk to some of the guys, leaving me and Murdoc alone in the hall. "I'm going to go to the gym," I say after a long moment of silence that should have been awkward.
He nods, and I start to walk towards our room, when he stops me. "Jones- we're still going to talk about this."
"This?" I ask, not sure why I'm bothering to play dumb.
"You," he answers firmly, his intense gaze unwavering. I press my lips together and nod, closing my eyes for a second before turning back to the door.
"Of course," I whisper to myself, pushing the door open and grabbing my non-essential things I left in the room. After a moment of rifling, I pull out an old nike sports bra and spandex shorts, curtesy of Scout- a very unnecessary gift I got when she first found my old baggy gym shorts, and change. I pause to look at myself in the mirror, and nearly don't recognize myself. My dark hair is very shaggy, almost to my shoulders, and I realize it's just long enough to pull back. My skin is actually lighter than I thought, the dirt and blood must have protected me from the sun, and made me look darker- instead, my copper, bronzes skin still looks like a spray tan on my tiny, shapeless body. Nobody would guess I'm half Brazilian, going on the stereotypical look- tall and tanned, with exotic and perfectly toned bodies. Instead, I'm skinny enough you can see my rib cage, and my cheeks are hollow. I never saw myself as being very attractive or pretty, but I was better than this. Before all of this, these clothes could have suited me, but they sure as hell don't now- they just show off my miserable scrawny figure. After a moment of hesitation, I put my sweatpants and tank top back on before leaving the room. Murdoc looks at me in silence and raises an eyebrow, but remains silent. I pass him quietly, determined to put off our conversation for as long as possible. If I play my cards right, I'd could probably put it off for a few days, but eventually we'd be alone together. Or he might just get impatient and decide to call me out in front of the others. No, I think. No, I can't just run away. I got myself into this. I'll talk about it tonight. My decision leaves me feeling uneasy, but I ignore it, knowing it'd be the same either way. I also don't like the idea of our group scattered, but I can't make them stay together. Instead, I try to focus on the gym. I'm pretty good with running, but I don't think I have much upper body strength, which can be an easy downfall, and if I remember correctly, there are several treadmills, a few sets of weights, and some machine that I should probably know the name of, that I'm pretty sure is for sit-ups, along with two stair walkers, two bikes, and a bench press. The gym is on the top floor, near the pool, which puts me at ease for a moment, knowing I'll be close to Scout, but my ease disappears when I realize- two of the walls are all glass, out looking the street below us. When you're in the pool, you can't be seen, but in the gym, you definitely can. I try to tell myself it doesn't matter- the big fence is an obvious enough beacon that we're here, but the thought of parading myself in front is not exactly ideal. I decide to start my exercise with basic stretching, away from the window, but half way through my first five minutes, movement outside immediately catches my attention. I crouch down and inch my way forward, peering down at the street, where a single zombie stumbles past the fence. I watch as it crosses slowly, stupidly- until it stops, my heart stopping with it. It shouldn't have any reason to- any reason to stop, to stare towards the hotel, yet it does. My mind immediately jumps to Donnie, who's outside, and I want to run to the other side of the floor, to look down and make sure she's still there, and she's safe, but I stay planted, watching it closely to see if it makes any sort of advancement. I watch for a long moment, until it slowly looks up and stares, and even though I know it can't see me, it can't know, I swear it makes eye contact, and I can hear my heart pounding in my ears.
"What kind of stretch is that?" I jump and jerk my head towards the noise, terror ripping through me until I see David, laughing a little at my reaction. I quickly turn back to the zombie, who's moving again, walking past the fence as it had been, and I wonder for a second if I was seeing things.
"Um," I say, turning back to him slowly and standing. "I was just..." I close me eyes and shake my head a little, trying to clear my thoughts. "Nothing."
He raises his eyebrows and grins stupidly. "Okay then. Mind if I join you?"
"Go ahead," I say, nodding weakly as I glance out the window again, long enough to see the zombie wander across the road, after a small plastic bag that drifts slowly in the breeze. There's no way it saw you, look at it.
"So," he says, drawing my attention once again has he sits on the small silver bench. "Ricky. You were in the military?"
"Yeah," I lie, nodding and moving to sit next to him, leaving a good two feet distance before watching the zombie stumble in his chase before tripping and hitting the ground. "I was."
"Was there a uh, Mr. Jones, then?" He asks, and I hold back an eye roll.
"No, there wasn't. I'm not much of a romantic," I add. "It was never the time then, and it sure as hell isn't the time now."
"That's a lonely way of thinking," he says, leaning a bit closer.
"No," I say, standing quickly. "It's life. It's the end of the world, it's not time to settle down and have a family."
"You don't need to settle down to be in love," he says, and I sigh, starting towards the door, until he grabs my wrist, causing my uneasiness to spread. "And you don't need love to-" He stops as the door is abruptly thrown open, and I look up to see a very wet Scout and a very angry Murdoc standing in the doorway. The later of the two storms over, and with surprising gentleness slips an arm around my waist and pulls me away, while he grabs the boys wrist.
"Sorry," he says bitterly, "but I'm going to have to ask you to refrain from ever touching her again."
"Or any of us, for that matter," Scout adds, wringing out her hair. David stands, his eyes cold as he smirks at the two.
"She's an adult, can't she speak for herself?" He asks, matching Murdoc's bitterness.
"Oh she can," Scout says, nodding. "I just got the feeling that you weren't going to listen."
"And she," I snap, annoyed as I slip out of Murdoc's grip, recovering from my momentary confusion. "Is right here- and I'm sorry if I somehow lead you on, but I'll say it again. Now is not the time for romance, and it won't be any time soon."
"I'd say that to your friend," David starts, but I cut him off.
"I'm saying it to everyone," I hiss, not looking at Murdoc, who I assume is unaffected. I've said it before, he knows my stance on the matter. After a brief nod to Scout, we all turn, heading through the door, Scout in front of me and Mudz behind, where he angrily slams the door.
"What a creep," Scout says as Murdoc growls.
"I'll kill him if he touches you again," He snaps, more to himself that to us.
Scout ignores him, continuing. "I mean, he seemed sweet. I guess being a virgin in the apocalypse will do weird things to a kid."
"I'll kill him," Murdoc repeats as Scout goes on.
"Or maybe he was just weird before- do you think Joan knows? Should we tell her? She might not take to kindly on us telling her her little brother is a weird sexually harassing deviant."
"He didn't sexually harass me, he just grabbed my arm-"
"Because we came in," Murdoc snaps, louder this time. "But what if we aren't next time? What then, Jones?" He grabs my arm and stops, making Scout and I turn around. I look down at his hand and raise an eyebrow, and he quickly lets go. "This is different-" he looks a little panicked- a face I've never seen on him. "You know I'd never hurt you-"
I reach out quickly and touch his arm reassuringly. "I know," I say, looking into his large brown eyes, watching his worry disappear. "I trust you with my life, Mudz."
He stares down at me for a long moment before slowly wrapping his arms around me- a position that can't be comfortable with his height, and catching me by surprise.
"And I'll protect you with mine," he whispers, loud enough so only I can hear him.
Scout immediately worms her way into my arms, soaking my shirt and saying, "I'm a part of this family too," in an annoyed but amused voice, and I'm surprised to hear Murdoc laugh a little.
We sit this way for a second, before the door opens, and we hear Barrett sarcastically ask, "What fresh hell have we stumbled upon, Donnie?"
"I don't know," she answers as we pull apart. "But I think we've been transported into a different world- this can't be our real friends." Scout laughs a little, walking towards them happily, her usual bounce in her step returning.
"Ashley said she thought you guys where up here," Barrett says, nodding as Puck pushes past his feet. "I didn't like the idea of being separated for too long."
"Me either," I admit, nodding.
"Me either," Murdoc says quietly, scowling at the door we just came through.
"Lets go back to the room," Donnie suggests, and she's met with unanimous agreement.