Nash

Deux

"What?" I asked, confused. Nash started pulling me towards the trail. "No! My camera!" He stopped pulling me just long enough to shush me and pick up my camera hurriedly. I fought his grip on my arm.

"I'll explain once we're in a safe place," Nash said, not letting go of me.

"No. Tell me now," I said, trying not to let him pull me any further. He let go of my arm and turned around.

"We don't have time for this Mona," he said. "Please, let's go." We were interrupted by the sound of someone walking, but it wasn't normal footsteps. This person sounded as if they were trying to remember how to walk. Nash froze and whispered some sort of obscenity. "Don't move or make a sound," he whispered as quietly as he could. We stood in absolute silence, and the deranged footsteps stopped. Nash glanced around without moving his head, confused. A figure lurched out from the trees and between us into the clearing we were standing in, nearly knocking Nash over. I screamed, and Nash grabbed my arm pulling me full force through the forest, not stopping to look back.

"Where are we going?" I asked, running as fast as I possibly could.

"I don't know," he answered. "Anywhere but there."

"There's an old tree house out this way a little. Would that work?"

"Splendid," he said. "Take me there." I picked up my pace and led him through the woods until I found the big, old tree where the tree house sat. "You first," he said, glancing around. I climbed as fast as I could, not wanting to trap him there if that thing had been following us. I got up to the tree house and opened the trap door, lifted myself in, and sprawled out on the floor boards. Nash was in seconds after me. He closed the trap door and sat down next to me. The tree house was actually pretty big and empty except for a shaggy old rug, a plastic chair, and two old, yellowed windows.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Just fine and you?" he said, not looking at me.

"I'm alright. What was that thing?" I responded. He chuckled.

"You're not going to believe this, but that was a zombie."

"A zombie?"

"I watched the news this morning before I came to meet you and there was a News Alert. They were talking about these test subjects that had escaped and they were 'displaying behavior similar to that of a zombie.' So, yes, pretty much zombies. I came to make sure you didn't get eaten, I doubted you'd have watched the news,"

"We have to go back for our parents,"

"Mona, we can't do that,"

"Why not?"

"It's too dangerous; we could've been killed back there. Not to be blunt, but there is a possibility there's no one to go back to and save," he said, carefully. I sat up, me and my parents were pretty distant for living together for fifteen years, but I didn't want them to die. The sudden thought that nothing would be the same hit me, and I felt panicked. I scooted closer to Nash and rested my head on his shoulder, holding back tears. "It'll be alright," he said, reassuringly. "We're going to need supplies though. You've lived around here longer. Where are the closest places to get food and well, weapons?" I took a deep breath and thought for a minute.

"If we walk down the bluff, there's a small town down there and I'm sure they'll have something," I said. Nash stood up.

"We should leave now so we have plenty of time. I don't think the disease could have spread too far, the test subjects only got out last night, but I see an epidemic coming. We are going to have to steal," Nash said.

"Well...this'll be interesting," I said, standing up too. I checked out the windows for anymore zombies, on the side of the tree house closest to the bluff was a small field, and on the opposite side was a large pond. "Looks all clear to me."

"I'll go first," he said, opening the trap door. I let him climb down the tree a little ways and started after him. He dropped to the ground and motioned for me to wait while he double checked. After confirming it was safe, he motioned me down. "We have to be quiet," Nash whispered as he helped me down from the tree. He motioned for me to lead the way. I took his hand and pulled him through the field, moving as swiftly and quietly as possible. We came back to the bluff and since it wasn't too steep, we carefully walked down, constantly checking the surroundings for the monsters. When we finally came to the forest at the bottom of the bluff, Nash stopped and stared at me. "Where's this 'small town' of yours?"

"Just through this forest. It's pretty thin," I answered. I started for the woods and Nash followed. I was terrified, but I couldn't let Nash know it. I wanted him to think I was stronger than I really was. We were through the forest in no time - I did say it was thin - and standing just at the edge of someone's yard at the edge of town. I was just about to walk through the yard when Nash stopped me.

"There could be zombies in that house. We don't know how far it's spread," he whispered. We crouched behind a bush and watched for a while, but there was no movement in the house or anywhere really. Nash stood up slowly. "I'll go first, stay close behind," he said. He started through the yard and I watched behind us and checked the other yards. We came up to the house and Nash looked through the windows. "Nothing," he breathed.

"Should we go in and get food?" I asked quietly.

"I'll go in. You stay here. Yell for me if you see anything, okay?" Nash said. He jogged around to the front door and went in. I stood by the side of the house and strained to listen while watching for any signs of movement. I heard some cabinet doors opening and closing. My eyes darted to every possible place I could be attacked from. Back yard, front yard, neighbor's house, and repeat. Several minutes passed. My heart was pounding; I doubted I could take on a zombie by myself without a weapon of any sort. Hurry up, Nash, I thought. I wanted to call for him to come back just to calm my nerves but I knew making any sound could put us in even more danger. I waited for a while longer and started shaking. What if something's happened to him? I thought. No, no I would've heard it. "Bloody hell," I heard him say. Then there was a gunshot, and my eyes widened. I heard someone run out of the house and I froze, praying it was Nash. I didn't dare make a move to see who it was. I heard the person running towards me, but I still couldn't move. I didn't want to look. "Look what I found!" Nash said cheerily. I looked to see him holding up a pistol and backpack.

"What's in the bag?" I asked. He unzipped the backpack to show me the contents: crackers, water bottles, peppermint candies, and beef jerky. It seemed like an odd assortment to me, but it was better than nothing. Nash zipped the backpack back up and threw it over his shoulder. "Zombie in the house?" I asked. He nodded.

"I'm assuming about one-quarter of these houses have zombies in them or are empty, and in the other three-quarters, people are quietly hiding. I mean, it's only the beginning. Now let's see what else we can get," he whispered. We moved through yards until we found ourselves on Main Street. I had never seen it so empty; it was like everyone had just gotten up and left. We moved through grocery stores - only running into a couple zombies, which Nash took care of - and picked up food that wouldn't spoil. We found a shady looking gun shop and stocked up on ammo. I grabbed a gun for myself and we got out of there. "Are we staying in the tree house?" Nash asked as we walked down Main Street. We had our guns up in a ready position.

"I guess. It'd be the safest place to sleep," I answered, glancing around. Nash nodded in agreement. "I think there's a thrift store just up here, we could get pillows, blankets, and some changes of clothes."

"Sounds good to me," Nash answered. We found our way to the thrift store and found the glass door was locked. I glanced around and swung my gun at the door as hard as I could. The glass shattered and I stepped through the metal frame.

"After you," I said. Nash stepped through the metal frame and motioned for me to stay. He held his gun up - ready to fire - and walked through the aisles of clothes. When he felt sure no one was there, he motioned me over. I walked in and picked up a large backpack. I began shoving as much random clothes and blankets in as I could fit. When the backpack was just about full, I shoved a small pillow in for good measure. I walked over to Nash, who had made his way to the door and was guarding us. "I've got as much as I can fit in this backpack," I said. He nodded and we were just about to head out when we heard something coming behind us. Nash turned around faster than my brain could even register the footsteps and fired three times. Two thumps followed.

"Shit," Nash said.