Days of the Dead

Chapter Three

                I awoke screaming. Not from the horrid dream which I had had again, but from searing pain. My eyes shot open. There was a figure to my right holding some sort of large knife and tweezers. “Don’t move. I’m not trying to hurt you” the figure said just before I rolled away. Now I wasn’t as dazed as I had been before and could clearly tell that the figure was female. “I’m trying to help you” she said.

                “Wha- What are you doing to me?” I asked. 

“I’m trying to take out a bunch of thorns that you fell into while I was trying to get you here. I’ll tell you details later, but right now I need you to stay still and relax” 

“How do I know that I can trust you?” I replied. 

“I haven’t killed you yet have I” she said back.

 “Fine. I’ll try. But how about you tell me how we got here all the way from the parking garage on Carlton. That’s almost five miles” I said.

                “Deal. Now hold still. Now where do I start?” She said.

 “How about you start with your name. I’ll even go first. I’m Jack. Now your turn” I replied.

“Okay. I’m Kody. Nice to meet you Jake” Kody said.

“Likewise. Now how about you tell me what you were doing at the car garage. How did you know where I was. Were you following me” I asked her.

“No. I wasn’t following you. It was actually just dumb luck that I found you. I was being chased by a hoard of deadies” as she said that I snickered.

                “What’s so funny” Kody asked as she pulled a really big thorn out.

“Ow. Nothing. Just what you called them” I said.

“If deadies is such a funny name, then what do you call them” she retorted.

“I call them Rotters. For obvious reasons”  “Fine, whatever. I was being chased by a hoard of ‘Rotters’” she said as she rolled her eyes. “Anyway. I saw the car garage and thought that it would be a good place to hide. I hoped that someone had left their  car unlocked, because if it was then I could hide in it. I saw the car you were in and noticed that someone (you) was in it, but I thought you were a Rotter so I didn’t go near you. Then I heard you scream and honk the horn. I was going to go over to you, but the noise attracted some of the hoard that had followed me.” Kody paused to tell me to roll over so she could get the thorns in my back.

                “Wait. Some. There were more” I said in disbelief.

“Oh yeah. That wasn’t even half. Anyway, continuing the story. I hid behind some concrete slabs and they passed right by me. Once they were all past me, I stood up and pulled out a pistol I had found a while back. That was when you started the car. I started picking some off as best I could. Then you ran into that pillar” Kody said.

“Yeah. I would know. And just an FYI, crashing through a windshield isn’t as fun as it looks” I said.

                “Dually noted. Now I’m going to continue my story, so hush. Where was I? Oh yah. So I ran up to you and saw that you were barely conscious. So I picked you up and put you over my shoulder and took off. It took about the whole day to get here because we had to stick to the back roads and alleys and such, but when we got here, I laid you down and made the makeshift bed you’re on now, and then laid you on it. Then I crushed up some sleeping pills and gave them to you, which wasn’t easy I might add, but you kept waking up on and off. One time you screamed and tried to get away. Do you remember that?”

                “Yeah. I remember it” I replied. “Well why did you try to get away?” Kody asked.

“Well nine years ago me and my dad stayed in this spot because we thought it looked safe. He was asking me what I remembered about the before time. Before the nukes were dropped, before the virus, before everything. Anyway, we got onto the subject of my mother and my dad started crying, so I tried to comfort him. But his sobs drowned out the noise of the Rotters. They came out of the shadows and attacked my dad” I said as I started sobbing.

                “He told me to run. There was nothing I could do. He became one of them, and he still is. I never put him down. Not from lack of chances no. I was never strong enough; I’m still not strong enough” 

“It’s no wonder why you tried to get away from this place. Is this him?” she asked as she held out a photo. My hand shot to my pocket. “Sorry. I went through your pockets when we got here so that when you woke up you wouldn’t have anything to attack me with. Sorry, here you go” she said as she handed me the contents of my pockets; a lighter, a small note pad and pencil, an old compass, a map, a music played that had long since dies, and the picture.

                I notice the absence of three items; my hunting knife, a combat knife I found a while back, and the pistol that I had taken from my father.

“You can have the weapons back when I can trust you not to attack me”

“Sounds fair enough. And yes, that is him” I said as I yawned.

“You need to sleep” Kody said.

“No. I need to stay up and help” I argued.                   

“You need to rest. I will wake you if anything happens. You have my word. 

“Fine. But I won’t be able to sleep” I said as I drifted towards sleep.