The Rabid Hour

Part 37 - Jess 'Molly'

My roommate was alright. He was small with glasses and about 60 years old. He was sleeping when I was pushed in, but he woke up when I hiccupped. He gave me his blanket and used the sheet for himself. There was only one bed and he offered to sleep on the floor but one look at the hard concrete made me immediately feel sorry for him if he had to sleep on that. We ended up top and tailing. I'd already looked around the cell and found nothing useful so I lay there facing the wall thinking about Eddy. I know it was stupid but I couldn't help but imagine what kind of future we would have maybe had together, if he wanted, if the situation wasn't so apocalyptic. There was no use in thinking about that now though. Or even of Eddy. I was locked in a prison cell, with a quiet old man, freezing my bum off with quickly disintegrating hope of escape.

Even though I tried not to, I dreamed of Eddy that night. It was when I first met him. He was hiding up a tree while we killed two rabids. When Hannah got him down I thought instantly that he was cute, even though he was wearing a face that could probably scare off bears. His eyes were hazel and he had soft, red patchy skin from the cold. He looked about my age and my heart skipped a beat as I thought of certain things. I was sure my face was red from blushing but I tried to act cool. My dream skipped to a few months after that when the zombies attacked the hospital and I had been caught behind. I'd gotten to know him so well and I felt for him. He lost his sister and I could tell it bothered him that so many people in the hospital hadn't been separated from their families.

I think it helped when I told him about my parents dying. I was grateful for their death, really. If they had died the way that Alice, Eddy's sister, did I would have been more torn, knowing I couldn't do anything to save them. It helped me too, knowing that even though I was trapped in that hospital with no future, Eddy was here and I was helping him. I don't know when I decided I wasn't going to leave him. I had been with the hospital group since it started; I had escaped from my auntie's house when I noticed she was turning and I met this group of people who told me to join them. Alisha had been so kind, but she was my leader, not my friend. We'd always had a kind of tension.

I wasn't sad about my aunt's death at the time but when Eddy came, I thought things through a little bit. I knew that my parents were dead, and I cried almost every night about it. My aunt was the only family I had left and I'd gone without even letting her know I loved her. I guess that was my instinct at the time; to flee. The truth was, I had been sheltered from the whole apocalypse basically from the get go. I'd fought off a few by myself before I reached the hospital but other than that I found it pretty easy settling in to life. Eddy kind of changed that. He made me feel like I wasn't some ex-rich sheltered snob with a connection to safety. I felt like a warrior with him, fighting beside him not behind him. With him, I could and did fight off a few dozen rabids with no fear.

Was it too late to tell him that? He'd been carted to another prison cell and I don't want to think about how cold he is or how worried. He didn't even have a jacket on because he'd given it to that rabid we caught. He was so kind, even though we didn't know if the zombie felt temperature he sacrificed his own comfort for her.

I hope we find a way out soon. I'll start tomorrow morning.