Wake The Dead

Wake The Dead (Chapter 2)

Chapter 2

Alex spent the next morning playing with Shadow, trying to forget the horrors of the world in which he had begrudgingly become accustomed. He stared at the scar left by that zombie bite and grimaced, recalling the pain of it.

He tossed a ball back and forth off a wall inside the cabin and Shadow chased after it, recovered it and brought it back, dropping it at his feet. The wolf was getting used to being around him, it appeared, and had never even so much as snipped at him…yet. But he could not help but consider the possibilities of what might happen as Shadow got older.

Would his instinct to hunt and kill kick in? Of course it will. Alex realized at some point, that if the wolf were to remain, he would need to assert his dominance and make Shadow recognize that he was the alpha in their odd little pack.

He also hoped that during the course of their training, that Shadow would not make a mess of the place. So far, he hadn’t.

The cabin that he inherited was well built and in great shape, and in the middle of nowhere. It stood solidly atop a hill, where in the distance through the tree line, he could dimly make out his old neighborhood. In the distance to the south, adjacent to the front door, was a mountainside approximately a hundred yards ahead, full of trees and thickets.

The cabin was situated at the end of a trail with a slight but notable incline, and was secluded from everything. Other than the smoke rising into the trees as he burned firewood, it might never be found again, he hoped, and it was dumb luck that he even happened upon it when he did. No other living being or cabin was within a few miles plus in any direction, as he had done a sweep many times and found nothing.

He recalled that day, still wounded and haggard, when he had ridden for several miles into the forest before his bike had given out. Again, another daydream took him back to the time he discovered the cabin.

***

The bike had become useless, a clear victim to neglect no doubt, as the chain popped and the front tire, with its slow leak, had finally gone flat. However, it had gotten him to within sight of this place as he had followed a bike trail out here and up a series of sloping hills.

He initially intended to achieve a high vantage point with which to see the surrounding area at first, also hoping to find shelter. He hadn’t really thought it through, but he knew he had to get far from his neighborhood and from areas thick with people. That was when he saw the glint of sunlight through the canopy of trees, on what he would soon find to be a solar panel on a pitched roof. He was more than intrigued to investigate the source of the reflection, he recalled at the time.

That was the night he encountered Shadow for the first time, out here in the woods, as the sun was fading. He remembered being very tired. It was too far for Alex to make it there carrying the amount of gear he had with him and no bike now, and nightfall was coming in, darkness stealing away the light rapidly. So, he found a relatively secluded spot, surrounded by several trees with low hanging boughs just in case he had to get into a tree in a hurry, and did a quick inventory.

He removed the shotgun, then the bow, and then the quiver, and the few bags he had strapped uncomfortably over his shoulders, removed them all one by one, and placed them on the ground. He was never more relieved than to be rid of that extra weight.

He treated his wound again, which had begun to heal over the past week, and shifted the remnants of the sheet to a clean spot. He poured the last of the peroxide over the wound and retied the makeshift compress.

He had the duffle bag he’d recovered from the ground beside the bike, which was strapped poorly to the side of the bike. Inside the bag were some nice surprises and things he wanted to keep close. There was another heavy jacket, which he immediately put on, a thermos, some twine, two rolls of duct tape, a pair of boots and a first aid kit.