stay alive // jack metzger

two

"Cmon," I said to him as he followed behind me slowly. He had a little limp on one of his legs from a jump he had to do, but he was okay. "We've got a lot of ground to cover."
   I heard him behind me, a sound coming out of his mouth as a dead a few yards in front of us started to waddle towards us.
   "Calm down," I said to him, calming him down with a gesture. I jogged up to the dead man and quickly placed the sharp knife into the side of his neck, ending his second life.
   "See?" I said laughing as the corpse fell to the ground. "It's just one-"
   I turned around and saw the mass of the dead coming from the trees towards him in the road.
   "Max!" I called out to get him to run to me, but all he could do was try and process what was happening. "Max, come on!"
    He started in a run out of the hoard and I ran towards him, but a cold hand reached around his leg and he let out a wince of pain. It was the same injured leg from before.
   "Max!" I screamed as he was taken into the hoard without hesitation. The hoard was too busy to notice me standing there as they tore through him.
   I plugged my ears to block out the groans from the dead, the cracking of the bones, the simpering coming from him..
   I fell to the ground, my knees slamming against the cold asphalt of the road. My eyes squeezed shut as hot tears poured out of my eyes.
   I dug through my bag and pulled out a pen, marking on my wrist another hashmark by the others, making the death official.
   I'm the last one.
   I relived the memories as I sat in the basement alone. I stared down at the picture that I was fumbling in my hands, the small tears forming by my eyes.
   The little Polaroid mocked me. A picture of Max and I was displayed on the negative space, both of us with a huge smile plastered on our faces.
   I held Max in my arms. His golden fur and floppy ears made me smile. He was the best dog anyone could've asked for and he didn't deserve what happened to him.
   I stared at the photo, my trance that I was sucked into broken with the opening of the cellar door. I struggled to put the picture back in my bag with my duct taped hands.
   A man's figure came down the stairs holding clothing in her hands, she stepped down the stairs cautiously.
   "Hey," he said quietly, walking towards me. I realized it was Jack. "I have these for you."
   He set down the shirt and pants in front of me, trying not to make the whole borderline prisoner thing awkward right now.
"I tried getting the blood out of your jeans but it wasn't working so," he said, running his hand through his hair, moving his hat to do so. "I just got you a new one."
"Thank you," I said quietly, taking the clothes into my lap.
"Here," He said bending down to me and ripped off the duct tape on my hands. "Sorry I had to to that."
"I get it," I said to him as he ripped off the sticky tape. "It's just precautions."
"Well," He said, balling the tape up in his hands. "When you're dressed you can come up and meet everyone."
He flashed me a smile before running up the stairs, two at a time. I let out a small laugh and rubbed my wrists where the tape was before getting up.
I slipped on the jeans, cautiously pulling them over my wound on my leg. I buttoned the flannel up over my undershirt and slipped my low boots on again, stuffing my knife back into its spot from my bag.
I stood at the base of the stairs for awhile and let out a sigh. Honestly, I would pay Ryan to shove his knife in the base of my skull like he threatened yesterday.
I shook the thought off and walked up the wooden stair case to the light that was flooding through the house.
When I got to the top, I looked around to see a neat farm like house interior. The house was silent, but that silence was broken by a laughter spilling from my right.
I cautiously walked around the corner to the dining room where a big group of people were crowded in. Jack sat at the head of the round table with a girl in his lap and his arms around her. Ryan stood in a corner of the room with his arms crossed and a slight smile on his face. Adam leaned against the door frame to the kitchen with a girl leaning into him.
The air shifted in the room as I made my presence known. Everyone's eyes glued to me and I felt like an animal in a cage at the zoo. Jack saw my discomfort and introduced me.
"Everyone," He said, moving the girl off of his lap and walking up to me. "This is the girl. Ana Wilson."
"That's the girl you almost killed yourself over?" The girl that was sitting on his lap said in shock. Jack gave her a look as I looked at my feet.
"Aubrey," Jack said to her to shut her up. "We are all fine and we should be happy she is here."
"I'm Elisha," the girl by Adam said to me, sticking out her hand. I took it sparingly, shading hers in mine.
"Audrey," the one with bangs in the corner said. She had her arms around the shoulders of a guy. "And this is JJ."
One by one everyone introduced themselves. Ryan smiled at me a slight smile and continued to cross his arms in the corner. Aubrey was the only one with a sour face.
"So where are you originally from?" Amanda asked, propping herself up on the table with her elbow. Jack pulled up an extra seat and let me sit as he returned to his seat with Aubrey.
"Um," I said, trying not to sound awkward. "I'm originally from up north. We got hit first up there and my family tried to evacuate-"
"But it spread faster than anyone expected," JJ said quietly from the corner.
"Exactly," I said, matching the tone of his voice. "I came down to Pennsylvania first but with moving and being trapped, I ended up in New York somehow."
"Good thing we aren't close to the city," Ryan said, shifting his weight to a different leg. "I think it took a matter of days for the city to be completely eradicated."
"That's how it was in Montreal," I said quietly, trying not to remember the bad memories. "I feel like the world shifted in a matter of days."
"That's how end of world's usually go," Ryan laughed, no one found it funny.
"The world hasn't completely diminished yet, Ryan," Dylan said to Ryan. "There's still a chance someone out there is working on a cure."
"Someone," Ryan scoffed, uncrossing his arms. "I think that someone is eating the flesh of another someone, don't you think Dyl?"
"Ryan," Jack said to him, shutting him up and calming him down. "Have a little faith, why don't you."
Ryan gave a pitiful laugh and walked passed all of us in the dining room, leaving up to the second floor.
"Sorry about him," Maddie said from the other corner. "Ever since Cam passed, he hasn't seen the world the same way."
I looked down at my hands, picking at the skin on the side of my thumb in anxiousness.
"I've had a loss like that," I said quietly, looking up at them. "Haven't we all?"
The silence and awkwardness that was building up in the room was completely smashed down with the front door of the house being swung open.
"I've got dinner!" A female voice said, walking into the kitchen and coming into view from the dining room. She slapped a belt full of different forest animals on the counter.
"Gosh, Kiana," Audrey said plugging her nose. "Could you maybe clean them anywhere but the house?"
"Hey," Kiana laughed, sticking her knife in her pocket. "You should be thankful I got dinner for the night."
"Oh I am," Audrey laughed. "I'm just not thankful that I have to smell decaying carcasses when I'm trying to do laundry."
"That's the modern world, babe," Kiana laughed, wiping her hands on a cloth towel. She walked into the kitchen and stared me down. "Who is this?"
"Kiana, this is Ana. We picked her up on our last run," Jack answered.
"Great," She said, throwing her hands up. "Another fucking mouth to feed."
"And another set of hands," I responded to her comment. "And another person to help on runs. And another person alive."
   "Yeah," she laughed, picking up her catch off of the counter. "And another piece of bait."
   She smiled at me and walked out of the kitchen, leaving silence behind her.
   "Don't listen to her," Jack laughed, breaking the awkwardness. "Kiana doesn't really have a filter and jokes a lot."
   "It's okay," I said with an awkward smile. "So what can I do to help around?"
   "Welcome in," Jack smiled at me from across the room.