1 | I Am a Survivor of the Zombie Apocalypse | ✅

Chapter 5 - A Cold, Wet Idiot

"He always does stuff like that," Seth says to me as he finishes his half of the candy, "When we started running out of food, he rationed it for just me and Kacey. I made him take some, of course, but he wouldn't take much. He did the same thing with the water. When you showed up, Kacey and I had had water the day before, but he hadn't had any for about two and a half days. I'd give him some, and he'd keep giving it to Kacey, tell her he'd already drank. Hadn't eaten for about a week, either."

"Oh," is all I say. That explains why he looks so much worse than Seth, "He's been doing that since the whole thing started?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Seth says, looking over at Doyle, who is still staring out across the hills, "Off and on, depending on how much food or water we have. I don't know how to thank him. He won't let me, anyway."

"You could cut his hair, like you did your sister's," I suggest, joking.

Seth laughs, "He wouldn't let anybody near him with a pair of scissors to save his life."

"I didn't think so."

Kacey starts coughing horribly, so all of Seth's attention is turned to her. I decide to go over and ask Doyle what he thinks about going to this supposed "safe haven" Seth told me about.

I sit down beside him, but he doesn't acknowledge me. "Hi," I say, looking out across the hills. Geese fly is a neat V in the darkening sky, "Nice view, huh?"

He still doesn't say anything and keeps staring straight ahead.

I clear my throat, feeling slightly awkward. "So....Seth and I were talking, and he wants to go to this place up north – some safe haven or something."

Doyle watches the geese in the sky. "Yeah, Finley."

"Is that what it's called – Finley?"

"Mm-hmm," Doyle replies. He's still watching the geese, though they are now just tiny specks on the horizon. "We need to get better food."

"I know," I agree, "But it appears that we are temporarily in the middle of nowhere."

Doyle stands up and picks up his pack. I stand, too. "And we need to find shelter," he says, "I can feel the rain coming."

"Okay," I say, and we rejoin Seth and Kacey.

We head down the road once again and lapse into silence.

Gradually the clouds get darker, heavier. The wind picks up. It gets even colder. And we're still in the middle of nowhere.

I have no clue what time it is anymore, because I can't see the sun. It's probably around mid-afternoon when I feel the first raindrop.

It starts to sprinkle. We're under some trees right now, but they don't provide enough shelter. Seth sets Kacey down, hurriedly removes his coat and helps her put it on. He pulls the hood over her head, and starts to lift her back onto his back.

Doyle, who was behind me, passes me and stops Seth. Without a word, he removes his pack, then strips off his plaid shirt and hands it to Seth. He walks away, ignoring Seth's protest. Now Doyle only has a thin T-shirt.

Seth stands there, holding the shirt in his hands.

Doyle turns around and glares at him. "Put it on."

Seth shakes his head. "Are you crazy? You'll freeze."

Doyle doesn't answer, he just hoists the backpack onto his shoulders and starts walking down the road.

Seth reluctantly puts the plaid shirt on and lifts Kacey onto his back. Doyle walks ahead of us now.

I jog up to him and start tugging on the Velcro straps that hold the blankets in place.