Final Hours

Chapter Nineteen

I got up and walked down to the sitting area where Eric was.
    "Did you finish it?" I asked walking into the room.
     "Yes ma'am." He said with a sly little smile, looking at me and then down at the empty bowl. I smiled and grabbed the bowl taking it into the kitchen. I walked back into the sitting area and sat down in the chair next to the little couch. Looking out at the wooded area I could see Chris sawing small wooden trees with an old rusty saw and stacking the limbs.
     "You worried about him?" Eric asked looking over at me, his tone had changed and it seemed like he actually cared about my response.
     "Ya...I don't like him doing this alone after everything that's been happening." I responded, still watching him.
     "I'm sure he'll be fine, your brothers a strong guy...smart too he'll be okay." Eric said, trying to console me. I smiled with a nod, finally making myself look away from him. 
      "So...how are you feeling?" I asked, turning my attention to Eric.
      "Sore, really regretting grabbing you." He laughed looking over at me.
      "I...I'm sorry, I just- I didn't know it was you." I tried to plead my case while still apologizing for stabbing him.
   
     "No...no don't be, I'd rather be laying here for a couple days with a stab wound then having you dead due to some lunatic redneck." He smiled looking down at his wound. I didn't know how to respond to that but it made me smile. "Is there anything to do around here?" He asked, looking around.
    "I don't know you own the place." I responded sarcastically looking around the room as well.
     "No actually...this used to be a museum of sorts, I loved the place as a kid and it just happened to be the first place I went when the world went to hell." He smiled carefully sitting himself up, he winced in pain lightly as he laid his back against an upright pillow. Standing up and walking over to a bookshelf I examined what was inside of it and reported back to Eric.
      "Tons of old books...to no surprise, and dictionaries." I said scanning down the bookshelf.
      "What types of old books exactly?" Eric questioned, I turned to face him and stood back up looking at the top of the shelf.
       "The Great Gatsby, Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, The Odyssey...a very weird selection." I answered turning to face him while I waited for a response.
       "The Great Gatsbys, well...great." He laughed at his own joke thinking he was the funniest person in the world. Walking back over to the chair, I handed him the book and laid back in it, kicking my feet over one arm and leaning my back against the other so I faced Eric.

     Eric read the book out loud while I laid back and relaxed, I hadn't relaxed since all this went down and finally doing it felt amazing. We got halfway through the book by lunchtime and I got up to make us lunch while Eric continued reading. Lana and Georgia were in the kitchen cleaning vegetables and preparing lunch.
     "So...Jennifer, what happened to that handful of spinach we had saved for dinner?" Georgia asked snarkily as she walked past me.
    "Eric needed them." I said quietly trying not to go through anymore drama then I had to.
     "We all needed them, you shouldn't touch things without asking." She said angrily, staring daggers at me. That's it...I'd had it up to here with her, I'd never done anything to her and yet she targets me.

      "Fine! Georgia if you need the damn spinach so bad then next time tell me...I'll pull out a makeshift needle and you can give him the blood cells and iron he so badly needed!" I snapped at her, "he was dying Georgia! And for god's sake you're a grown woman stop having petty fights with me...you have your own child to raise so do it!" I finished grabbing a small bowl of canned beans and vegetables and storming out of the kitchen.
     I slammed the bowl on the coffee table between us and slumped back into the chair, Eric had stopped reading the second he heard Georgia address me. I looked over at him, he had a large smile as he tried not to laugh.
    "Don't...I'm not in the mood to listen to you poke fun at me." I rolled my eyes leaning back against the chair.
Eric cleared his throat to stop himself from laughing and looked over at me.
     "That...that took guts I'm proud of you." He said, trying to make up for laughing. I rolled my eyes and looked out the window. I couldn't really tell what I was seeing. Two figures rolling around on the grass and one being pinned, it finally registered what I was seeing.
      "Shit! Christian!" I flew out of my seat and bolted out the front door, I raced over pulling my knife out of its sheath as I ran. Christian was pinned beneath a walker, another one walking up behind them as he struggled to pull out his weapon. "Christian duck!" I yelled as I neared closer to them. He flattened himself against the ground as I dove towards the walker knocking it over and rolling with it. Christian jumped up as I pinned the first walker and dug the knife into its skull. It dropped against me as the other one dropped beside me, Chris standing above us.
     
        I took a couple deep breathes, I'd just ran at least a mile or so it felt, in under two seconds and wrestled an overpowered undead being. I lifted the lump body off of me and flung it over on top of the other walker. Chris placed his hand down and I took it as he helped me stand up,
       "Thanks...it all happened so fast." Chris said breathing heavily. I looked down at my shirt that now had two large red stains.
        "I'm coming out here with you tomorrow no excuses, nobody's allowed over here without somebody else anymore too many casualties." I looked back at the house, Lana and Georgia were watching in the window. "Let's head inside, it's gonna get dark soon anyways." I added looking back at him. He nodded and we walked back together. I kept taking deep breaths as I struggled to regain my air, I'd knocked almost all of it out of me when I tackled the walker.
       
        "Damn." Eric said looking over at me as we walked through the door. "Did you just football tackle a walking corpse?" He asked with a little laugh. I shrugged and looked back at Chris who was smiling. "I'd draft you on my team." Eric joked, I rolled my eyes and walked into the sitting area. Georgia still stared at me, it wasn't her normal stare that was cold and spiteful, this one...even I couldn't read it kind of scared me. I dropped down into the chair and leaned over my legs still trying to catch my breath.
       "Hey hey you ok?" Eric asked, noticing me struggle. I felt my head getting dizzy and everything I touched felt weird.
       "Jen...Jennifer? Christian!" I heard Eric yell as I fell forwards from the seat. I still felt fuzzy as I hit the ground in front of me. Two hands quickly scooped me up, Christian held me in a cradled position on the ground as I spaced out. I'd never been asthmatic or had problems but I felt like I couldn't breath.
       "Jenny...Jen-Jennifer?" Chris said rocking me in his arms, but I couldn't bring myself to respond. I couldn't bring myself to do much, other than blacking out.