“Quick, we need to find somewhere to…” Miguel stopped dead in the middle of a road, causing Raegan to body slam into the back of him.
She could feel those zombified monsters descending on them and her panic levels rose.
“What the hell are you doing, Miguel?” She couldn’t keep the tremble from her voice. Too much had happened too quickly. “Keep going.”
Miguel shook his head slowly before he moved again. This time, his actions felt slower and more deliberate. Whatever had caused him to stop like that, was obviously playing on his mind. Raegan wanted to ask him what was wrong, but the need to get somewhere safe—or even off this nightmare planet if at all possible—was more pressing.
“High up,” he muttered, almost to himself. “We need to get high up and out the way.”
“How…?” Raegan started to ask, but he carried on chattering.
“Walls. We need walls. We need…” His voice trailed off as he continued to run.
Raegan was already growing tired, which had much more to do with the wound than her. She was much tougher than this and as soon as her body was back to normal, she’d be able to keep up. Trailing behind Miguel—who was clearly not a tough person—was not much fun for her. It hurt her pride, more than she cared to admit.
“Okay, here!” Miguel yelled, please. “This is it!”
Seven
Both of them panted as their bodies hit the hard plywood flooring of the small shack Miguel had found. It was neither high up, nor behind walls, but it did have a moat around it.
“Zombies…” Miguel gasped. “Don’t do well in water…”
“How do you know all of that?” Raegan was shocked, confused, and impressed all at once.
“I used to watch really bad horror movies at my friend’s home when his parents were out,” he said simply as if this was a reasonable explanation. “We loved to scare one another with things like zombies so I know what you can use to fight them.”
“What do you mean? That doesn’t make it fact…”
“Doesn’t make it false either,” he retorted, shutting her up. “We don’t really have any facts to go on, do we? We need some way to keep us alive against the undead.”
Raegan forced herself into a sitting position, wrapping her hand over her wound as she did.
“Does it hurt?” Miguel asked, concern evident in his tone.
“No,” she immediately snapped before guilt flooded her. She was just put out because he knew something that she didn’t. Her pride had been hurt, but Miguel wasn’t to blame “Okay, yes,” she admitted only seconds later. Lying was going to get her nowhere in this situation.
As he checked her over, Raegan stared at his deep, chocolaty eyes that seemed to be filled with a never-ending kindness. Her heart yearned, again she found herself flooded by emotions that she didn’t quite understand. She wanted to speak, to break the silence, to do anything to detract away from the moment, but as it turned out she didn’t need to.
A growl from outside took care of that for her.
“Do we need to get them in the head then?” Raegan whispered as they both sat still as statues.
“I’ll do it,” Miguel replied. He sounded uncertain but also determined. As if he needed to do this, but he wasn’t sure it was feasible. “I will go out there now and do this. It sounds like there is only one…”
“No, I will…” Raegan didn’t want to leave anything to chance, but Miguel held up a hand, shutting her down. He spotted a shard of something—glass, maybe—on the ground by his feet and he bent down to grasp it.
This was it.
His chance to prove himself.
He needed Raegan to know that he was worthwhile.
He’d spent much of his youth playing ‘zombie killers’. He’d spent a lot of his time talking about the zombie apocalypse with his friends when he was just a child. Now was his chance to do it for real. He couldn’t allow Raegan to protect him again. He had to be brave somehow, and this seemed like the perfect time to do so.
He took in a few deep breaths, grasping the sharp material between his fingers, the shard almost piercing his skin.
“Come on, Miguel.”
“I can…” Raegan started but seeing his face stopped her from finishing that sentence. The horrible feeling that Miguel was about to get himself killed was overwhelming, but at the same time, she knew that she couldn’t stop it from happening. Just like the others—nothing she had done had saved them either.
An image of Wade’s dead body hanging from a piping fixture filled her mind. A friend from way back when in the early days when she was young. Wade had been a man in his mid-thirties, who was looking for his wife. He’d survived for so long, and Raegan had seen that he was smart enough to go the whole distance. She’d held utter faith in his ability to continue living. Until he’d made a mistake about an exit hole. She’d tried to tell him that she wasn’t convinced, but he’d dived in anyway, falling right into the trap.
She’d watched the blood dripping off him for hours, before callously turning away and continuing with her own journey. She was ashamed to admit that this was the first time she’d thought about him since. She knew that she had to be that way, for self-preservation, but that didn’t make her lack of humanity any easier to bear.
Don’t die, she thought to herself. Miguel, I would never say this aloud, but I don’t want you to go.
He burst from the building, with her not far behind. The zombie was waiting on the water’s edge for them both—proving Miguel right. Zombies really didn’t like water.
“What’s the plan?” she whispered, watching the disgusting creature roam hungrily.
Its skin was grey, its veins blue and protruding. An eyeball hung down by its rotting cheek and an arm hung loosely from its body. It was a total mess. Its teeth were yellowing and filled with remnants of flesh. Raegan wondered what it naturally ate without humans around, and how long it could survive without and sustenance.
“I’m going to… kill it.” Miguel sounded uncertain now. Afraid almost.
Raegan flicked her eyes over to him, worried. He needed this to go well. So, did she. If only she knew anything about zombies, then she could give him some pointers about killing them!
She watched him storm forward. “Be careful!” she found herself crying out, without even meaning to speak.
Miguel heard these words and used them to spur him on. Raegan might not have been aware of it, but she was already showing him some vulnerability. Although he knew he couldn’t pursue her, it didn’t stop him from wanting to survive for her, to help her, to protect her.
He ran sluggishly through the water, his heart racing the whole time. He held the shard up, feeling a roar burst from his belly. His warrior cry. He needed to kill this zombie now. He couldn’t end up like the characters he watched in those dumb movies, shuffling beasts forever.
Raegan was hurt, she wasn’t her full self. He wouldn’t let that be her either.
He heard the shard slice through the monster’s head, and almost felt relieved until the snapping started up once more.
“No!” he cried out, realizing he hadn’t quite done it right. Either that or every zombie film he’d ever seen had lied to him!
He tugged at the shard, having to keep removing his hands from it, every time the zombie’s teeth got close. The splash of the water burst out behind him, meaning Raegan was coming to join the fight. No, he couldn’t have that.