Echo

Progress

"Really? why?"

I smiled, "I promised you i'd protect you. Part of that is teaching you how to protect yourself. I'll teach you everything I know." He smiled lightly and played with the little bow tie on his teddy.

I packed up all the food and water and threw the backpack over my shoulders. "You ready to learn some stuff?" he nodded excitedly, which made me smile. I'm glad he's talking more, he shouldn't have to go through this alone.

I saw some duck tape behind the counter and grabbed it, "Put out your arms." He set his teddy beside him and stuck his arms straight out, "First lesson."

I wrapped the duck tape around the sleeves of his jacket, "This is like a knights armor."

"So the monsters can't hurt my arms?" I tried not to smile at the way he said it and nodded, "Do you have knight armor?"

I showed him the inside of my leather jacket tape lining the inside of the sleeves. Then I showed him my boots, "Can you put armor, on my boots too?" I finished wrapping his arms and wrapped his hiking boots too.

The few times i've almost got bitten this tape saved my life. I've found that walkers teeth aren't as strong as they seem when it comes to duct tape. Too bad commercials aren't a thing anymore.

I picked him up off the counter and set him on his feet, "You ready to find a car?" He nodded and handed me his teddy to put away. I think we are making progress and he's starting to trust me more. I put his teddy in the bag and grabbed his hand and made our way out the door.

I grabbed an empty gas can from outside the gas station, and let Olli hold it.

We walked across the street to a Toyota truck and a van parked by a music store. I pulled a plastic tube that was cut in two out of my bag and unwrapped it. I checked the battery in the truck and saw that it wasn't in bad shape. The truck was also unlocked so i'll have to teach Olli that some other time.

I saw a walker walking slowly towards us, "Stay right here for a minute." he looked scared but nodded anyway and turned around. I pushed the dead guys arms down with one arm and stabbed him with the other.

I walked to Olli and he turned back around and looked at the body tensely, "Come here, i'm going to teach you to get gas." I said trying to distract him. He looked at me and followed me around to the filler of the van.

I opened the cap, "You put the tube in until you feel it hit the bottom, see?" I grabbed his hand gently and put it on the tube and moved it slightly so he could feel it hitting the bottom.

"Do the same with the other tube," I let him feed the other tube in the same way, "Now put one of the tubes in the gas can," and he did.

"How do you get the gas out?" he asked confused.

"That's the hard part, put the other tube to your mouth like a straw and blow as hard as you can," he blew as hard as he could an a drop of gas came out he breathed in and sighed at the hard work.

"It's too hard," he said defeated.

I smiled at him and patted his back, "You did awesome, it just takes practice." I brought the tube to my mouth and blew really hard and gas starting to pour into the gas can.

"Woah," he said quietly.

When the gas stopped pouring out I blew one more time to make sure, a few pours came out and the gas can was three quarters full.

I walked with him to the trucks filler, "Now we pour this into this one," he nodded and held the bottom to help as I poured it in.

I gave him a high five and he looked proud of himself, he should be.

I picked him up and set him in the passenger seat , buckled him, set my bag under his feet, then closed the door. I went around to the driver side and got in.

"Sometime there will be a key left in here; but rarely. Sometimes you have to hot wire it, but we will save that for another time since this is an older truck, we can use a flat head screwdriver. You know what that is?"

"Yeah," he said with undivided attention.

"Try to find it in the bag for me?" To my surprise he found it right away and it made me proud, he's very smart for such a young kid. "Goodjob," I smiled and he smiled back with a gummy smile.

"Put it where the key goes, and push it in hard and turn." I did just that and the engine roared to life, "Cool right?" he nodded enthusiastically.

I drove for awhile until I found a dirt road and pulled over, "You ready to learn to drive?"

His eyes got big, "Really?But i'm not tall yet."

"That why you'll just learn to use the steering wheel for now." I pointed to the petals, "You only use one foot, this is the gas and this is the break. This thing in the middle here, it what parks it and makes it go backward and forward. The wheel; which is what your going to do, works kind of like a bike. You ready?" he smiled and nodded so I unbuckled him and sat him on my lap.

I put the car in drive and and put my foot on the gas softly, "Keep both hands on the wheel, and when you turn, do it smoothly or the car will jerk, you understand?" he nodded and focused very hard.

He held the wheel straight until we came to a turn and he did it smoothly just like I said.

"Maybe you should teach me how to drive." he giggled softly and focused back on the road.

I'm glad i'm not alone anymore and i'm glad i'm not just--here. I'm glad I have somewhat of a purpose, a mission.