The Virus

Thirty Nine

I wake up late, the sun is already high in the sky. I skip breakfast and rush to get everything disassembled. Kay didn't come back during the night. I'm now completely alone. I hope she returns soon because I feel lonelier than ever.

I spend the rest of the day looking for her. Now that I don't really need to look for a building I can spend my time searching. It approaches midday when I hear something stops me completely in my tracks.

The roar of human laughter.

It's a man. Relatively old by the sounds of it. Or a heavy smoker. His voice is raspy. He's very loud so he must be in a larger group and very confident, the sound felt wrong now. It felt out of place here. 

I listen carefully, making sure they're not too close to see me. They sound about eighty metres off. I slowly make my way towards them, if anyone will have Kay, it'll be them. She was a loyal dog, if she wasn't being used for companionship, then she was still useful as a weapon. I'm careful not to make any noise as I get closer. 

I see a clearing. They're in a camp. A small barn and some tents are set up. There's a group of women and children around the other side, playing and chatting without a care in the world. The men are sitting behind the barn smoking, most of them anyway. Sure enough, Kay sits obediently by their side tied up to a post. Her eyes search the treeline, sniffing the air, looking for me. I keep my distance only coming close enough to get a good visual on them.

They don't seem overly violent, especially if they have women and children. The men talk confidently and with deep, scary voices. They sit around talking for a moment, when there's a noise far off. The old man's head snaps up as he strains his ears to hear it again. I have no idea what it is, but it is mighty interesting to this man.

"Boys! Up! We got hunting to do." He orders to all the other men. He's leader. I duck into the bushes several metres away to ensure they don't see me. One of them goes to take Kay. "Leave it! It'll just give us away." He bellows. They all begin sprinting into the woods towards whatever that sound was. I'm out of sight of the other inhabitants. I see a chance. I sprint out of the bushes and pull out my knife to cut the rope. Kay jumps up excitedly. I hear the man's shouts in the distance, calling his followers away, ready to attack whatever was over there. 

Kay waits for me to severe the rope before finally jumping up at me in excitement. I calm her and order for her to follow me and quickly, we had to leave before anyone spotted us. We shoot back into bushes and begin heading away from the sound of the man's voice. Far, far away.

For the rest of the day, I try to get as much distance as possible between Kay and I and the group of survivors, running through the trees, tripping on bushes and roots. If they ever come across me and their dog that went missing, I don't doubt that I'll be in big trouble. Although, hopefully I wouldn't live long enough to worry about it. There were worse things they could do than kill me.

By nightfall, there has to be at least five miles between us. Hopefully. My food supply is dwindling and with Kay found, I decide hunting for food or finding it, is my next priority. I fall asleep late and have to rise early for hunting. I use my bow to hunt, it's quieter and I can hunt things like birds. Kay is silent throughout, she watches silently.

It takes me a while but I manage to get five birds and a rabbit for Kay and I. I expect Kay will receive most of the rabbit. I don't mind. Kay deserves a hearty meal, she had probably been scared the entire time she was missing. 

I start making my way back to our make-shift camp. We get about a hundred metres when I hear a terrified scream. Instinctively, I run towards it. I trip over myself as I get closer, I pause for a moment, realising what I may be stumbling into. I approach as quickly as I dare, hiding behind a tree, trying to see what's going on. A young girl, no older than sixteen is standing on a small look out attached to a tall tree. She seems unarmed and hiding from several Roamers that stand below her clawing at air.

I make my way over and kill all three easily and quickly, hearing her panicked whimpers from above. I get a closer look at her. She's got a round, baby face with long black hair. Tears streak her cheeks and her hands are shaking. She makes her way down, thanking me the whole time. As she steps onto the ground, I raise my knife. "You with those settlers a few miles back? If you are tell me now!" I demand.

She gives me a puzzled look and then shakes her head slightly. "No, I'm not. I'm Marley." She says.

I nod and allow her to step forward. "Ophelia. Weapons?" I ask. She shakes her head.

"You mean to tell me that you've survived over fourteen months in an apocalypse with no weapons." I say.

 "It's not quite like that. I-we had weapons." She says sadly.

"We?" I ask carefully.

 "My family." She replies.

 I begin looking around cautiously. "They're dead." She says.

I nod. "Sorry kid. How old are you?" I ask.

"Fifteen." She answers. She really was young.

"You live around here?" I ask. She shakes her head.

"We lived just outside London. My mum was a lawyer and my dad owned a camping shop. Lived with my brother, Kendrick, too. We were there when it happened. My parents climbed Everest years ago, they know how to survive outside and my brother was training to be a marine at the time. We made our way across the country. Had a camp for a while. We were overrun, my mum died. I got split up from my brother and my dad. Came back and they were dead. I ran away from the things and climbed up there." She explains sadly.

I shake her hand. "Sorry about your family. I've had people die too." I say. She takes my hand.

"Is that why you're alone?" She asks.

"You could say so, yeah." I reply. I look at her, "you should be more careful," I warn her. 

"It's kind of hard. They all just want to kill you. It's a whole lot of running," she mentions. 

I shake my head, "of survivors, I mean. I could have killed you as soon as you got down that tree, be careful of the living too," I tell her. 

She pauses, looking at me, before finally nodding.