Perish • Ben Parish

02

I didn't have to sit there alone for long after Evan and Cassie left before Zombie showed up.

"Sorry, Nugget wanted me to read Green Eggs and Ham twice," Zombie said, coming into the living room.

My lips split into a smile and my eyes lit up at the sound of his voice.

"Well you can't pass that up. Green Eggs and Ham is a pretty fine piece of literature," I said, looking up at his approaching figure.

Zombie sat down next to me on the couch, a soft laugh escaping his lips.

"Oh yeah," he said, nodding. "For sure."

I smiled, looking back down at the blanket I had draped across my lap.

Everything was quiet for a moment before Zombie coughed lightly.

"So uh, what I wanted to talk to you about...I wanted to run something by you," he said slowly, scratching the back of his neck with one hand.

"mm yeah?" I asked, looking up at him. "What is it?"

He met my eyes for a second before resting his elbows on his knees, clasping his hands together. He looked out at the fire, every curve and angle of his face illuminating with its light.

"Well, we haven't seen or heard anything from Ringer and Teacup weeks and If they're still out there, maybe they know something..."

"To defeat the Others, " I clarified, my voice soft and slow.

He nodded, gazing over at me before turning back to the fire. "Yeah, to defeat the Others," he said.

I nodded slowly.

I was pretty sure I knew where this was going. And it didn't particularly bother me that he was worried about Ringer and Teacup, but it did bother me that this is what he'd waited all day to talk about. The past couple hours and with Cassie just minutes earlier, I had theorized about him giving some heart-filled declaration of how much I meant to him. Not one part of me thought he'd bring up the single most distasteful person I'd ever met.

"So, I want to find them," Zombie continued. "We know Ringer was heading to the caverns. It's quite possible they're there."

Or they're dead, lying alone on the forest floor, with dried blood covering their frost-bitten skin and crows picking at their rotting flesh.

I tried to not find too much pleasure imagining the glorious Ringer dead.

I shook my head softly. "Ok..." I trailed off, waiting for him to say more.

"I want to head to the caverns. It's not going to be easy. But if Ringer learned anything and she's still out there, it'd be worth it. I don't know exactly how it'd work, but I'm thinking I take one or two people with me with everyone else staying here, where it's safe. We'd take one of the guns, some food, and some knives-"

"You don't need to convince me to let you go," I said, cutting him off.

As much as I hated Ringer, I was worried about Teacup and Zombie was right. If anyone had any idea how to get to the Others at this point, it was Ringer. If she was alive, then it'd be worth our effort to find her.

"If you want to find Ringer, then I think that's what you should do," I said, picking at the ends of the blanket again.

I kept my gaze trained steadily on the threads I was pulling out. "You know how I feel about Ringer, but she's still a part of the squad and she might know something," I confessed.

He didn't say anything so I decided to continue. "What worries me is that you just healed from that bullet wound...and there are silencers everywhere...this isn't going to be some quick and easy mission where you'll be back in 24 hours."