Now They Walk

Picking Up Strays

——————————Jake—————————

I looked out the window as Lemmy and the others climbed in the Humvee. Maria was the only one to look back, having an extremely sad look in her eye. I sighed as Nate came and sat beside me. "sucks that they aren't going to stay and come with us"

I kept staring toward them as I heard the humvees engine come to life. I felt a small ounce of anger toward him. When I need him the most he decides to leave, cause we aren't doing what he wants. "We're gonna be fine" I answered

But I can't blame him. Our paths must have never been meant to cross and now our fates are correcting it. I will never see them again.

-3 weeks later-

I pulled my shirt off as Nate came closer. His hand touched the spot where the bullet when in, it being almost healed. A dark bruise and a small area left of the wound was their, surrounded by a scar.

"Looks good" He said "dinners ready too" he smiled pecking me on the cheek. I could feel the whisper of his lips on my cheek as he walked away.

I walked into the kitchen, seeing that the small black tabletop camping grill that Nate found was burning hot. He found a metric Fuck ton of canned ravioli a week or so back and we've been eating it everyday since. I'm kinda damn tired of it now. I came up right behind Nate and wrapped my arms around him. I planted a kiss on his neck and squeezed gently.

"I told you I would've cooked tonight"

"I told you that I got it" he said turning around and putting his arms around my neck, letting them dangle as he held on loosely with his fingers. "Oh someone put on his big boy pants" I said tauntingly as I rested my hands on his hips. "Someone has too" he said. "Oh really" I said coming in to kiss him. I stopped halfway there when I heard a scream.

"Nate stay here" I ordered. "I'm coming with you" I heard him say, but I can't let him "you heard what I said, get upstairs". He nodded and took off for the stairs. I paced slowly into the living room and grabbed my pistol and the knife that Lemmy left me. It had a worn golden handle and it was double edged. The handle has  "knuckles" where my fingers go in and it's pretty damn handy. Haha funny pun.

I remained close to the wall and edged to the window. I slowly peeked out, not knowing how close the infected was. A scene of horror hit my eyes as it came into view. A horde of the infected coming this way. I shoved my gun in my waistband grabbed the gun bag and a gallon of water and took off up the stairs.

I ran into Nate as I went up. "Upstairs, now" I said. "How many?" He asked with a worried look. "More than we can handle" I said as we both ran back up the stairs and went into the first room on the right. It had a walk in closet and I pushed Nate into it. "We will stay in here, I'll try to check out the window over time... right now we hide"

I walked in after Nate and closed the door. I took my pistol out of my waistband and set it on what felt like small stool. The person that stayed here had a fuckton of clothes. They had about 60 slots for shoes, 10 feet of hanger space, tall cabinets.. must have been nice.

I sat down and unzipped the gun bag, feeling around in the dark for the candles. Took me a minute but I found them and set them around the room. I had a few tall ones but mostly the short round ones.

"Jake... I'm scared" Nate said in almost a whisper. I scooter closer and grabbed his hands. The dim candlelight gave me the privilege to see his eyes. I can see that he is scared, but his eyes are so cute that I kept staring. I moved closer and leaned my forehead into his. "Well I'm scared too.. but I'm here to protect you.. always" I said. I can feel the words  burning in the back of my neck.. threatening to jump out even if I want to say them or not. "I love you". He sighed and laid his head into my shoulder, wrapping his arms around me. "I love you too" he said into my shoulder.

Something came running up from the stairs, ruining the moment. I stood up and moved silently to the door. I can hear footsteps.. not uneven stomping steps like the infected make when they walk.. but a scared trying to hide type.

"Momma we need to hide somewhere" I heard a small child say. I assume it's a kid by how pitchy the voice is and how innocent it sounds. I looked back at Nate, trying to decide what to do. His eyes met mine and I could see that we were both thinking the same thing. I nodded and put my handle on the handle of the door and turned it quickly. I pushed it open, automatically catching the attention of the two people in the room. "Get inside, now" I said.

I can see the panic in the moms eyes. She's run out of options but she still doesn't know whether or not to trust me. "Come on" I urged. She pushed her son forward into the closet and I closed the door behind them, slowly turning the knob and closing it gently. I listen to the tumblers as I turned it back. "How close were the infected?" I asked. She was sweating bad, droplets formed on the top of her forehead and I can see trails where it cut through the dirt on her face. I moved closer and crouched in front of the kid "how close buddy?" I asked sincerely

"They almost touched us, but momma closed the door to slow them down" he said sounding so scared. "Ok, Thank you" I said putting a hand on his shoulder.  "We've been running for a while" he said

I noted that he wasn't as tired looking as his mom. Could it be that she is just that much older or maybe this kid doesn't tire as easy as other kids I've seen. "Are you hungry buddy?" I asked. I guess the thought of food made him so happy. "Yes.. please" he said

I pointed to Nate "if you ask him nicely then he will give you somethin to eat" I said as I grinned softly. He walked over to Nate.  I looked back at the woman. "What about you?"

"Save it" she said almost crying. "What's wrong?" I asked. She looked at me with red puffy eyes "promise you will take care of him.."

I stared into her eyes. I figured out why she asked that. She showed me her stomach. It was so dark that I couldn't see the blood on her blue shirt.

"Your bit"