They Call Me Daring

Chapter 24

"Rise and shine." A pillow nailed me in the nose. I lay perfectly still, not even breathing. Maybe they would think I was dead and let me pretend to sleep some more.
"I'm making bacon!" The voice sang, and I shot out of bed. My eyes adjusted almost instantly to the dim light and I immediately familiarized myself with the surroundings. Which was my room anyways, so it was pretty familiar. "Hurry, though, before they all wake up or there won't be any left for you, and I doubt you'll be so content to snack on frozen crap. Right?"
Meg swung out of the room, the door slamming shut behind her. I threw open my drawers and then realized I hadn't showered since... well, the fact that I can't remember should tell you enough.
I bit my lip. I must have smelled terrible, considering I had slept in the streets the night before after tearing apart a number of rotting zombies. And after a day of sweating in the hot sun and digging ditches down in the moist earth... okay, I needed to shower.
Kicking into overdrive, I sprinted down the hall. I dodged doors that slammed open, revealing sleepy, half-awake refugees, who watched me like I was nuts as I hurtled around the corner and skidded into the bathroom, pulling the door shut behind me.
In a matter of seconds the freezing water was drizzling down my back. But now I barely comprehended it. The cold was comforting, and I scrubbed hard at ivory skin with a scratchy dish sponge until some pink had returned to my flesh and I felt raw.
I scrubbed soap into my hair, feeling the dirt from a two days worth of down-to-earth working falling away with the water. Closed my eyes and let the water hit me in the face like a cold smack. Six days in... still human... well, maybe not entirely, but I wasn't the other kind either.
Still Liam.
Toweled off, made a mad dash back down the hall so no one would see me running around like Tarzan in a towel. Saw me anyways, and stared awkwardly. Bolted into my room, slammed the door (slamming it is always so much more dramatic than closing.).
Pulled on torn jeans (they were going to get torn more anyway) and a red T shirt. Found my sneakers. Threw them away (They were shredded and muddy and in an overall crappy state.). Found new sneakers in a storage room. People were using the storage room as sleeping quarters, and girls shrieked at me as I darted back out, pulling on the shoes as I ran.
"Wow." Meg blinked when I skidded to a halt behind her in the kitchen. The warm, burning smell of frying meat filled the air. "That was fast."
"Yeah. I haven't eaten in over twenty-four hours. How would you feel?" I said, panting slightly, wincing at the screaming still coming from above.
Meg turned a knob on the oven and turned to me. She raised an eyebrow. "Made some new friends, I see?"
"Oh, yeah." I looked over my shoulder to make sure none of them were coming down the stairs with a rifle. "Everyone loves me."
The bacon crackled and popping in the frying pan, and I felt my mouth water. Don't drool, don't drool.
"Oh, crap!" Meg exclaimed suddenly, patting her pockets, searching for something. I raised an eyebrow, asking a silent question.
"The Doc came over earlier," She said, finally pulling a crumpled slip of paper from her sweatshirt pocket. "He gave me this to give to you. Here. Called it a 'shopping list'." She made air quotes with her fingers.
I scanned the paper in a mili-second, and sat back with a groan. I pressed my hands into my eyes until I saw stars, then white, and then my head was spinning.
"Maybe this'll cheer you up." The scent of still sizzling bacon reached my nose, and I opened my eyes, staring down at the paper plate before me. Within seconds I was gobbling it up.
Meat, warm, gritty, flesh. I tore it apart with my fangs, letting the burnt taste fill my mouth and overpower my mind.
"Sometimes you're really disgusting." Meg's voice wrenched me from my bacon heaven, and I stared at her, a stick of bacon half-way out of my mouth.
"You try starving yourself for a day and a half." I replied, but since my mouth was full, it sounded more like "Ootwithowfinkyowswelfforatayantahawf".
"Sorry, didn't catch that." She rolled her eyes. I swallowed.
"Never mind." I finished off the last piece and stared at the plate for a while, wishing for more. "You're not having any?"
"Nice of you to ask that after you inhaled it all."
I blinked. "Oh... sorry."
"God, Liam." She rolled her eyes. "I'm joking. I'm vegetarian, remember?"
"Apparently not." I tried to remember when she had informed me of that. But everything, even yesterday, seemed years ago. Life goes by faster when every day could be your last. And you learn to live that way.
I got up to put my plate away, but Meg got there first.
"Let me. You've got places to be."
I stood looking at her. "Why are you doing all of this?"
She paused. "What do you mean?"
"Helping me!"
"What else would you expect me to do?"
"I don't know," I shrugged. "Run from me? Hate me? Act like everybody else?"
"Why on earth would I want to act like an imbecile?" She stared at me like I'd lost my mind. Well, actually, I was trying not to.
"I... I don't know." I said hopelessly. "It's just... You know you don't have to do all of this, right?"
"I know. But-face it- you need me."
I opened my mouth to argue, but then stopped, because she was totally right. "But... but why?"
"Because that's what friends do." She sighed. "They help one another out."
"But I-wait, we're friends?" I questioned.
Meg blinked. "I thought so. But we don't have to be if you don't want to."
"No, no, no! No, I want to. I mean, I want to be your friend. I mean, I-"
"Liam?"
"Yeah?"
"Shut up."