Surviving

Chapter 11

We walked through the night, not wanting to stop and be seen again. We kept our weapons out, ready to attack anyone- corpse or person- that threatened us. My feet were aching, and the bags I was carrying weighed down my shoulders and arms. Roland had offered to take a bag for me, but I declined. I could handle this myself.

"You guys, I need to stop," Travis said. I turned around to look at him, Roland doing the same.

"Why?" I asked, exasperated.

"I need to go to the bathroom." I rolled my eyes at him. "I'll only be gone a bit, just wait here."

"Be quick," Roland said after him as he started.

I sat down, glad to be off my feet. Roland sat across from me, resting his head on his hands.

"You want to tell me what happened in that clothing store?" Roland asked. I looked down, but could feel his eyes studying me in the dark.

"Not really," I replied. "But I assume you want to know anyway."

"You assume correctly."

"Fine. There was a woman in the store who had been attacked by a corpse. I killed the corpse and gave her an easier way out than a slow death. Happy now?" I looked back into me eyes, and his expression was an unmistakable apology.

"Sorry you had to go through that," was all he said, launching us into an awkward silence.

After what seemed like forever, Travis was back, dirt smeared on his face.

"What took ya so long?" Roland asked.

"Ran into some trouble. Several times. We need to get back on our way." Travis started off, and we got up and followed.

                                   •••

We finished the long trek up the mountain a few hours before sunrise. We parted, silent as not to disturb our sleeping friends. I made it to my hut, dropped the bags I had been carrying on the floor, and collapsed on the makeshift band. It only took a couple of minutes to fall asleep, exhaustion taking over my body.