I started to walk away, when a thought struck me. I turned around and looked at Ross. "Why did you take off my clothes...?" I asked, unsure. He grinned, "A little paranoid, are we?" He laughed. I didn't move, I just stared at him. He saw my face and stopped laughing, but his grin stayed. "I had to take off your clothes to search you. Make sure you weren't infected or a bandit." He explained. I rolled my eyes. "Are you sure you didn't just take advantage of me? What, you see a young woman go by, and drug her to satisfy yourself for a little while? To forget that we're living in a real life horror movie? Huh?!" I snapped. He stopped smiling. He walked towards me. "If you think I tried to do that," he started, still walking towards me, making me back up slowly. "Then you have made a very very wrong assumption, Blaze. Don't be so naïve. People are dying right outside of these walls. You lose focus for even a second, and you're next. There's no time to do that. Besides, even if there was," I was against the wall now, and Ross's face was inches from mine. "I wouldn't do that." He whispered. I looked into his dark eyes. They were focused and fixed, but there was so much emotion in them. Fear, anger, confusion, loneliness, loss... they screamed out all of the things he was too guarded to say. They were beautiful. I looked at bare myself. How little space there was between him and I. I took a breath. "Okay." I said, pushing him off, and walking away towards my room.
After I'd put my clothes on and put my hair up in a high pony tail, there was a knock on my door. "Hello?" I called. "Food." I heard Ross say through the door. I walked over and let him in. He came in with a cup of water and a little plate with berries and some sort of meat. He set it down. "Deer and wild berries. Shot and cooked myself." He shrugged. "Thank you." I said. He nodded. There was a moment of silence, when finally Ross said, "Well, eat up. We have to test your skills in about an hour, at dusk." My eyes shot up. "What?! Where are we going?!" I blurted. "Well, this is a safe haven. No runners or clickers. Except for the basement. They're in the basement. We have to keep them from getting up here at night." He explained. I was suddenly scared. Ross sighed and walked towards the door. "Where are you going?" I asked. "To the basement." He answered. I looked back at my plate of food. I'd taken a few bites. I grabbed a little piece of deer, a fistful of berries and ate them. Ross had left. I could hear him walking towards the stairs. I sighed. "Ross, wait!" I called. I could hear him stop. I grabbed my gun and ran out to catch up with him. I approached him. "I'm going with you."
Ross and I walked in silence to the basement door. Ross slowly unlocked the door. "Stay close, and stay alive." He whispered. We crept into the room, slowly walking down the stairs. Light was scarce in the basement, but there was enough to spot anything. Ross reached he bottom of the stairs and moved to a crouch. I did the same. We hid behind an old couch. Ross peeked around the side. All clear. We continued forward. We heard something, and stopped. Clickers. Ross reached into his backpack and pulled out a brick. He threw it, and the clicker went running. After this, 5 runners came bounding towards us. I got out my gun and shot two. Ross, grabbed something and threw it. It began to smoke, to the point where I couldn't see. Ross took off running. As it got clearer, I saw a runner. I ran up behind it, and wrapped my hands around its neck. I bent and pressed and squeezed until the runner dropped to the ground, dead. I'd just strangled a zombie. Ross looked up at me with a sly look on his face. "You're good." He mumbled. He smiled and then kept moving. He peered into the next room. "All clear." He said, nudging me to go first. I took a deep breath and walked forward. We walked through the old room, which must've been an office at one time, because there were desks and chairs and cabinets everywhere. I walked over to the door and put my head up against it to hear into the next room. Just as I was about to open the door, I was being grabbed and moved away. "What the f-" before I could finish, a hand covered my mouth. "Shhhhhh" it hushed. We moved under a desk nd sat quiet. I looked behind me. Ross, was holding me, keeping me pulled into him. A bunch of clickers then broke through the door, sniffing and listening. They'd sensed us. Ross kept me close, but then let go. He ran out from under the desk and jumped onto the clicker's back. He got out his knife and began standing the clicker several times. He kept stabbing and cutting at the clicker until finally it squealed and fell to the ground. Ross stood above it and looked at the blood on him. He sighed. But then the rest of the clickers came running towards him. I quickly grabbed my gun and shot from under the desk. I shot rapidly, hoping I could finish the clickers and not hit Ross. When I stopped, I looked out. All of them were dead! I'd done it! But then I heard Ross yell and groan. I looked over, and on top of Ross was a clicker. The clicker was inches from his skin, as Ross struggled and pushed to get away. I grabbed the knife out of Ross's hands and jumped on the clicker. I began stabbing at it, as it got off of Ross and struggled to get me off. I stabbed at it again and again, cursing and finally it collapsed. I looked down at the clicker, and Ross grabbed my arm and began running. We ran until we reached the door. We locked it up and barricaded it. Ross leaned up against the door and sighed. His skin was glowing with sweat and blood, as he closed his eyes and caught his breath. "Not bad, rookie." He said. "Not bad? NOT BAD?! I f***ing saved your life back there and all I get is a 'not bad'?! Unbelievable." I scuffed. I walked upstairs to the bedroom to get set for bed. I walked into the bathroom and changed into the skimpy nightwear, er, lingerie, Ross had gotten out for me. I walked back into my room and got into the sheets. Just as I was about to turn out the light, there was a knock on the door. "Come in." I said. Ross, in an oversized t-shirt and his boxer's, came in and sat down at the foot of the bed. "Will you be able to sleep alright?" He asked. "Because of the infected? Yeah. I'm fine, I've been doing this for 3 years." I snapped. "No, I know. But are you comfortable?" He asked, genuinely concerned. "I'm perfect. Thank you. For all of this." I shrugged. He was silent. "I'm sorry about earlier. It was them or me. So thank you." He said. "You're welcome. Now, if you'll excuse me..." I coughed. He nodded and stood up. He got to the door. "Sleep well, Blaze." He said. And with that, he turned off the light and I drifted to sleep.
