The Road to Nowhere

Chapter 49: Realization

Chapter 49

"Cameron?" I hear from behind me. It doesn't surprise me though. I could hear the twigs breaking under his shoes from a mile away.

I'm getting really tired of hunting. I've only been doing this a couple of days, and I already cringe at the thought of spending my time wandering in the woods looking for animals to kill. I feel like an infected myself. I'm constantly starving, and aimlessly walking around trying to find food. It becomes exhausting. And mind numbing. I mean, that explains why infected are as dumb as they are.

I hate waking up so early in the morning. It's barely sunrise, and only a little bit of light is coming through the canopy of the trees. I was instructed to not bring a flashlight, so being half blind is annoying me.

Hunting has also had a told on my body; it's physically exhausting. I swear I have dirt and blood imbedded under my fingernails. The dirt in my shoes is probably under a layer of my skin. I tried to scrub it off of them for half an hour yesterday, but my feet still seem to be stained. My shoulders ache from hoisting up my rifle ten thousand times at every sound I hear. I'm in a constant state of paranoia, either thinking I'm going to get bit by an infected, or scare away our food. But the paranoia doesn't compare to how much my feet ache. I have so many blisters from walking around for miles, it seems. Or maybe it's just because we've been running away from our problems for what seems like weeks now.

Well here I am, sitting in the middle of the whatever forest looking for anything us humans can digest. In a way, it's kind of peaceful. At least I'm away from the many people back at Moen. The forest can be relaxing, but knowing there's monsters walking around kind of diminishes the fact.

"Yeah?" I ask as I pull the grass out of the ground and break it in between my fingers.

"See anything?" He asks.

"Nope. Nothing, you?"

"No, I didn't see anything either." He pauses for a moment. "Are you okay?"

I stand up from the log I was sitting on and turn to Darren. He's holding the strap of this rifle in one hand and the tails of a couple dead squirrels in the other. His face seems distraught, like he actually gives a shit about me and how I feel. I've only known him a couple days and I think he feels like we're best friends. I understand not having anybody in Moen to connect with, but he feels a little too clingy. Maybe it's because I'm skeptical about him. He seems too normal to trust. But then again, I don't trust anyone. So I could just be making it up in my head.

"I'm fine, just thinking I guess." I give him a small smile.

"Are you sure? You look really upset." He asks and drops the squirrels to the ground. Seeing their dead bodies flop against the dirt disturbs me, but I push it off.

"Yeah I'm fine." I say sarcastically but immediately regret it when I see the look on his face. He looks almost scared, or offended. I can't really tell. "Look man I'm sorry, just going through a lot I guess."

"Aren't we all?" He gives a small laugh.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, we're all getting used to the world we live in. The fact that there was an apocalypse. We're still taking in that we've lost our family and friends. I sure as hell know every single person I knew, and everyone that is still living, has lost someone they love to the poisoned." He sits down on the log I was sitting on before.