Will to Live

Chapter 3: Rescue

Hey guys, long time no see eh? Sorry for the long update but I experienced a bit of writers block and began another story which won't be posted for awhile. But yeah, Mere can finally get off my back with the whole lack of updates thing. *coughs* anyways enjoy this chapter and I will try to put up the next one as soon as I can. Enjoy~

We took a detour through the neighborhood behind Tyler's house; it was filled with zombies, dead bodies were laying on the road. On more than one occasion I felt the chilling bump of running over one and had to keep myself from throwing up.

The houses here were in worse condition than the ones we had seen earlier. I literally had to swerve from hitting obstacles in the way. Tires, bricks, and other debris littered the streets making it almost impossible to navigate through. All the while my fingers were tapping on the steering wheel and I was sweating buckets, nervous at what I might arrive to. I constantly had to keep myself from swerving into one of the houses or from getting us in an accident.

I turned to Terra, and immediately regretted it. She was holding my machete and her axe in her right hand and kept looking around. Her hair was messed up, and sweat was starting to drip from her forehead. I hadn't noticed before but her clothes were ripped all over and a piece of blood stained cloth was wrapped around her right forearm. Immediately I stopped the car.

She looked at me in confusion, I stared at her in disbelief. She traced my glare to her right forearm as realization dawned on her.

"It's not what it looks like."

"Oh really? Because it looks like you got hurt during that fight with those zombies and you just didn't tell me." She flinched at my harsh words.

"Look, let me just show you I wasn't bitten." She moved to take off her bandage. As she took it off, I closed my eyes and turned away not wanting to see the surely bloody wound.

"Stop acting like a baby, I already took it off." Slowly I opened my eyes and turned to face her.

A thick angry red line curved on her arm and it was still bleeding a bit. She winced every time her arm moved. It started bleeding again as she was tying the now filthy piece of cloth around her arm. Sighing I stopped her and tore off the sleeve and some of the shoulder of my shirt. I slowly got close to her and held my left hand out with the cloth in my right arm. At first there was hesitation but eventually she gave me her arm. Careful not to cause her more pain, I slowly wrapped the cloth around and tied it in a tight knot to apply pressure and keep it from slipping. I leaned away to admire my work and turned back to face the road. I could feel Terra staring at me, as I stared at the sight before us.

Once white houses now splattered with blood, the mysterious green goo, and scratches lined both sides of the street and ended in a cul-de-sac. A horde of zombies could be seen at the end of the street, in a circle attacking whatever was in the middle.

I turned to Terra pleading to her with my bright sea-blue eyes. She pursed her lips in thought and turned to see the zombies again. She knew exactly what I was thinking without even asking. Finally, after what seemed like forever, she turned back to me and gave me a slight hesitant nod.

I drove slightly closer to the zombies to where I was certain we could get back fast and get away. I parked the car and we both got out, slowly, but firmly, closing the doors. Terra handed me the machete and took her axe in both hands. We inched our ways forward, the gravel slightly crunching beneath our feet. A few zombies turned and began making their way to us. Anxious to get back to the car safely I ran ahead and beheaded two of the flesh-eating monsters. Allowing me to catch my breath, Terra ran in front of me and took down three more. By this time, the rest of the zombies started to take note of us, but at least a fourth of them continued to ignore us. Now, as more of the repulsive creatures walked towards us, we could see they were attacking a small black car, smaller than ours. I took down more zombies and got closer to the car. I chopped off the heads of the remaining zombies and looked through the window of the car.

There was a little black haired boy laying in the back of the car in the fetal position. He was shivering in his blue plaid shirt and black skinny jeans. I tapped the glass as hard as I could. He turned to where the noise came from and we met eyes. I realized he was barely a teenager, probably just entering high school. His dark brown eyes held fear and then widened more than I ever thought possible. I gave him a confused look and as kept pointing at something behind me. At last I saw the zombie approaching in the reflection of the window. I spun around, swinging the machete with much force and met my target.

I looked for Terra among the undead nightmares, and found her taking care of herself just fine. I returned my attention to the young teen and found he had gotten closer to the opposite window. I motioned to him that it was okay to come out and he just shook his head. Understanding when he would come out, I joined the fight and helped Terra take down the rest.

We walked together to the car and she stood on the other side of the car. The boy looked up at her with a terrified look on his face. I looked up and understood why; she was giving him one of her bone-chilling death glares. I gulped and took the car door handle and gave a sort of signal to unlock the door. He took another look at Terra. Making up his mind, he unlocked the door. As soon as I opened it, he engulfed me in a hug and started thanking Terra and I for saving him. I hadn't even realized until my shoulder was soaked with tears that he had been sobbing. Not knowing what else to do, I hugged him back and stroked his head trying to calm him down.

Finally Terra came up behind him and shushed his cries.

"Um hey whatever your name is, I think that's enough crying for now since we are outside and don't really know if there are anymore zombies around. As far as introductions, my name is Terra and the guy you're squeezing the breath out of is my brother's friend, Alec." When she got to brother, she choked back a sob. Not wanting them both crying I pushed the kid away and continued the introductions.

"As she said my name is Alec, but I would prefer if you call me by my middle name, Ethan, instead. So what's your name and how old are you?"

"My name is Josh, I'm 14 years old," he began in a shaky voice, "thank you again for saving me back there. I had already given up but it's nice to see that there are still good people out there." Rubbing the back of his neck with his left hand, he shook mine and Terra's hand with his right.

"So, Josh, are you all alone?" Josh grimaced at my question and solemnly nodded.

"I'm sorry to burden you anymore, but I wouldn't survive on my own for more than a few minutes. C-co-could I mayb-be stay with you t-two?" he asked, stuttering the question.

I looked to Terra with puppy eyes as if asking, Can we keep him? She thought for a moment and slightly nodded. Turning back to Josh I nodded as well and lead him by the shoulders to our car.