The Plague

Chapter nine

Beads of sweat rolled down the fear stricken man's face as he desperately tried to tie the zombie down to the chair.

"Quick David!"he barked at his son who stood at the far end of the room, tears pouring down his face, "get more rope", his son limped his way out of the room, clutching his wounded knee.

The zombie snarled and snapped at him, trying to break free of the tight ropes. It constantly tried to bite him but he was smart enough to keep a distance. It's once beautiful long hair now knotted and wild. The screeching coming out of its black toothed mouth was deafening.

He started growing impatient of the ragged being in front of him and yelled, "where are you boy?!" just then, the boy limped back with the rope in hand. "what took you so long"

"Daddy my knee" he said but his father clearly didn't care. He grabbed the rope and bound the creature once more.

"There, she wouldn't be getting out of that".

***

"Wake up lovebirds" Brad said, rapping at the passenger door. Lucy's and Tyler's eyes snapped open and they immediately realized how close they were. They jumped away from each other and sat up, their cheeks flushing red. " well since you two have rested well, get off your asses. We're trekking from here"

Lucy got down and stretched her arms, "good morning to you too, Brad" he raised a brow at her and walked further down, the rest already in front.

"Hey!, wait for us" Tyler hopped down and jogged to catch up with Dave. Emily walked slowly at the back and Lucy joined her. The first thing she noticed was her puffy eyes from the night before.

"Hey" she said despite their bad blood. Emily turned her face away clearly uninterested in having a conversation.

"I know you must be sad right now but ..."

"I don't need your pity party Lucy", she faced her and tried to put on a straight face "I already know what you're going to say so you can leave"

Lucy sighed, so much for trying to help, she thought but put on a little smile "I know I can, but I won't. It wasn't easy for me either when I joined this little group but it gets better you know"

She didn't respond but looked down at her feet.

"Emily ..."

"Thanks but I'd rather not talk, please"

"Fine, but I'm here when you're ready" Emily head snapped to her so fast, she was afraid it would break, her expression obviously indicating anger.

"Why do you care anyway?, I've never been a friend to you. Who put you up to this? You just want to laugh at my face don't you?" Lucy grabbed her hands and looked around trying to see if anyone noticed her outburst.

"Would you calm down?" she said, eyes wide, in a hushed tone when no one seemed to have noticed, "Is it so hard to believe that I actually want to help"

"Yes" she answered without thinking.

"Fine" She released her and caught up to Brad leaving a sad and confused Emily.

"Girl trouble?" Brad asked with a smirk.

"You have no idea" she frowned and looked away. "is it a crime to try and relate, she's just so stubborn and proud. Why did I even bother?"

"Give her time, she is sure to come around"

"Whatever" as if.

"So eager to join me, aren't you Tyler?" Dave said with a smirk to a breathless Tyler. He had finally stopped jogging to catch his breath. He gave a wry laugh, standing up to face Dave.