Don't Whistle Past the Graveyard

Ch. Seventy-Four

Aaron smelled really bad.

It was hot, and he was covered in guts and dirt and sweat, and I was regretting the decision to hug him a lot. And he didn't hold that against me, either.

It was bad enough that by the time we reached the treeline, he had stopped to puke, twice. Granted, he didn't have anything in his stomach to actually throw up, but still. The smell was truly, truly awful, and I didn't know why it was so particularly bad this time around.

We had all seen our fair share of guts. We'd all been exactly where Aaron was at that moment, but seriously, I mean... ugh, just freaking rank. And I felt really bad for him, but I couldn't force myself to get any closer than three feet, and even that was a little much.

Once in the shelter of the trees, where the foliage would dampen our voices and keep them from carrying, he started to swear under his breath. Long and low and filthy, a string of words that would have made a sailor blush.

And no, sailors and Marines are not the same thing. I've never walked up to a Marine and had them tell me they're in the Navy, have you? Or... well, did you?

I don't think so.

Trying to bring him some comfort, I said, "We've only got like thirty minutes to go before we get back. Then I think we've got enough water you can get that stuff off you."

"Do you have something that will burn the smell out of my nose?" he asked grumpily, scowling at the trees in front of him.

I gave him a smile as I caught sight of the road we had taken to get into the town. As long as we just kept it at  our left, I didn't think we'd get lost in the woods making our way back. But with all the activity we had stirred up in town, both of us kind of wanted to avoid the road itself, just in case. 

After that, we walked pretty much in silence, the soft sound of our feet through the undergrowth the only noise.

The episode after his screw up in the house seemed to have cleared the air and settled Aaron down. I just hoped it would last once we got back to Shane and his death glare from hell. I sighed quietly to myself at the idea, but I was smart enough to know that Shane was just going to have to come to his own conclusions about Aaron.

Now, I'm just glad that Aaron had the patience to put up with Shane's rampant paranoia.

Because he saved us all again that day.

I was pretty sure we were getting close to camp, and smiled when I heard a voice up ahead. I couldn't tell whose it was, or what they were saying because the woods around us kept the sound from traveling too clearly, but I was just eager to get back to everyone else. I wanted to eat.

The ground swelled up in front of us at a gentle slope, and I sighed, Aaron giving me a relieved grin, his own steps speeding up. I'm sure he was less concerned about eating than I was. At least until he could get the zombie yuck off of him.

We had made camp in a small dell, just a shallow dip in the land that afforded some protection from anyone or anything seeing our fires at night.

That probably gave them some tactical advantage.

It was just that... we'd gone so long without seeing people after that last terrible group--by now, I refuse to call it Aaron's old group--that I don't think we were really thinking about it. We just liked the idea that the glow from the fire would be somewhat hidden and there would be less of a risk of a bunch of zombies being drawn by the light.

I had stopped for just a second, glancing suspiciously at a plant I was pretty sure Cassidy had told me a million times was edible. Aaron had kept walking, most likely the only thing on his mind getting cleaned up.