Surviving the Undead

Chapter 3

Luke and I trudged along side by side in the hot afternoon sun. A sheen of sweat had gathered on my brow, and I wiped it off with the hem of my grey t-shirt. My mouth curled in disgust as I saw I had left a sweat stain on my shirt. "Ugh..." I muttered.

"What's wrong?" asked Luke, looking over at me.

"Nothing," I said, quickly dropping the hem of my shirt. "How far away is your house?" I glanced at my solar powered watch. "We've already been walking for 15 minutes."

"Don't worry, just about five more minutes," Luke responded. He squinted his eyes against the glare of the sun, checking to making sure Aidan and Vanessa were alright. Even though Luke had said Aidan was really protective of him, he seemed to be just as protective towards both Aidan and Vanessa. I guess you have to be when anything can happen in moment.

"So, are you really all by yourself?" asked Luke. I looked up at him and noticed worry in his eyes.

"Yep, it's just me," I said as nonchalantly as possible.

"Don't you have any fam---"

I cut him off. "How did you, Vanessa, and Aidan all end up together?"

"Well, Aidan and I are twin brothers. You probably could have guessed just from our eyes," he said. I nodded. They definitely resembled each other, although Aidan looked dangerous while Luke looked almost serene. Aidan was also a couple of inches taller than Luke.

"Vanessa... Well, we saved her," he said. A dark expression clouded his face. "It was too late to save her brother, though..."

"I'm sorry," I said, seeing the pain etched into his expression.

"Ah, it's alright," he said. "I'm just glad we saved Vanessa." A smile grew on his face, although his eyes were still sad. "She's a great girl."

Suddenly he perked up and exclaimed, "There it is!" He pointed at a yellow brick, two-storey house. Our pace increased, and we soon reached the doorstep.

"You guys go in the front door?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. Living dangerously. Although I doubted it was on purpose.

"Well, yeah..." he trailed off. We entered the front hallway. The cool, dim interior felt nice on my sticky skin. I came to a swift halt as I noticed the staircase. It was completely intact.

Luke noticed me gaping. "We didn't think to destroy it like you did, and now it would make too much noise..." he said sheepishly. How had these people survived this long?

I decided it was in my best interest not to press the matter further. We headed towards the soft noises coming from somewhere further into the house. Vanessa was sitting at the kitchen table with a bottle of water, while Aidan retrieved one for himself from the pantry. When he noticed Luke and I, he grabbed another water bottle and threw it to Luke. Looking at me coldly, Aidan sprawled himself out in one of the chairs.

"Aidan..." Luke said wearily.

"We don't need her wasting our supplies," Aidan said coolly.

I swung my backpack onto the counter. Reaching inside, I grabbed a water bottle of my own. I shook it at Aidan, and remained standing.

Luke sighed. "You didn't have to use your own water, we have plenty. Aidan's just being selfish." Aidan narrowed his eyes at this remark, but held his tongue.

"I don't mind," I said with a shrug.

Luke smiled at me. "So what do you want for dinner?" he asked.

"Whatever you guys were planning to eat is fine, thanks," I said. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Aidan roll his eyes. I would ignore it, for now.