It had been almost two hours since Miranda left to look for food. That's when the screams started. I heard M ( that's what I called her) screaming at the top of her lungs. I sprinted off in the direction the yells were coming from. I had known her long enough to know that if she was screaming, there was a good reason behind it.
"This damn forest is like a fricken maze," I muttered under my breath. It would make it impossible to reach M before she was severely injured or even dead. I heard a growling sound behind me and I turned around to see a tiny zombie not more then three feet tall following me. The zombie may be small, but it was still deadly. I sprinted faster then I had ever done before. We had found that small zombies were more then three times as fast as the grown ones. My foot caught on something and I face planted in the rough dirt.
"OW!" Something behind me squealed. I turned and saw M lying in a pool of blood that covered more ground then she did. I helped her to her feet and she collapsed again quicker then I could take a step.
"We have to go NOW!" I yelled. M looked up at me and I saw the fear in her eyes. She clearly couldn't walk so I scooped her up and ran towards the rotting cow carcass in the field up ahead. The zombie was catching up and more were joining it from the shadows in the woods. I poured on the speed and dodged the cow. I knew that if I went down now, we would both die.
"Ow! What the hell?" I yelped as M dug her fingernails into my arm. It was no use running now. There were more then two dozen of them on our tail. The only chance would be to go back to my original camp where M found me weeks ago. When I reached the bush, remembered the small room where she and her little bother had lived since....the first attack killed their parents. M moaned like this was the last place on the planet she wanted to be. I dashed up the wooden boards, jumping over the one that had snapped under her brother. The broken board would keep the zombies following, but it wouldn't prevent the ones inside from finding us.
I lay her on the floor just inside the hole. I ripped off my shirt and wrapped it tightly around her bruised and bloody arm. I grasped her hand tightly and I didn't dare think about what I would do if I lost another person I cared about. The minutes dragged by, each one feeling like an hour or more. I begged her to wake up, I cried, I yelled, but I never left her side and I never let go of her hand.
Finally, I saw her eyelids twitch and flicker open slowly.
"Hey," she said. Her voice sounded so weak and she couldn't even sit up yet, but she was alive. "Why did you bring me back here? This was the only place I never wanted to see again."
"It was the only safe place I could think of," I replied quietly. I handed her the water and she gulped it down quickly.
"Thank you," she said.
"For what,?" I asked, confused.
"For everything," she replied and she pushed herself into a sitting position, wincing with pain. I moved over and sat down next to her. This was the first time I had noticed the color of her eyes. Dark brown, like the color of tree bark.
"Thank you," she whispered so quietly I could barely hear her. M leaned in and kissed me slowly and I kissed her back. It felt good knowing that she loved me and I had felt that way since I first met her. I had never kissed anyone before, but then again, I had never known anyone like her before. We spent the night in the dark, quiet of the jail cell. It felt like if I closed my eyes and wished and hoped and dreamed enough, this horrible nightmare called life would turn into a daydream.
