Gray Matter

Chapter 2

We walk over to the mess hall where Jake is standing waiting for everyone to gather around for announcements. I notice Jeremiah walking beside us and he pats our shoulders as he walks by, making his way up to Jake. Soon Troy joins and our eyes meet as he walks up to his dad and brother. "Survivors of the ranch, today the world has gone silent. There has been news of the dead coming back to life and killing the living" Jeremiah begins and everyone begins to whisper in fear. "We have nothing to fear" he continues "we have our militia lead by my youngest boy Troy and we have a barrier set up around the ranch. If anything tries to come in, they won't be able to get through and if they are dead then they will be shot down" I look over at Charlene, panic clearly written on both of our faces as we join hands. Charlenes mother Pat soon notices us and rushes to us, enveloping is both in a hug before standing behind us and listening to the rest of Jeremiah's speech. "We will be on high alert until things seem to calm down. Being so close to the Mexico border we will be taking extra precautions. Thank you everyone" He says and then pats both of his sons on the back before disappearing back to his truck and heading back up to the house.

Charlene and I make our way over to the dinner line and wait. We get up to Gretchen and I smile a genuine smile towards her, she smiles in return. "It's so good to see you smiling again Audrey" she says and hands me my tray "it feels good to smile again Gretchen" I say and walk away to our usual table. "I don't know what you and Troy where talking about in the infirmary, but whatever it was it was obviously good because you seem like yourself again" Charlene gushes as we eat our dinner. We continued to talk and laugh until Jake came over and looked at me confused. "What?" I question. "Nothing. It's just so good to see you smiling and laughing again" he says and gives me a side hug. I return the hug and smile "it feels good to smile again Jake"

As we continue to eat, I notice out of the corner of my eye someone storm away. I turn my head and notice it's Troy. I quickly excuse myself from my friends and take off after the mad boy. I follow him for a few minutes before I see him stop a bit past his house. I slowly walk up to him and touch his bicep. He looks down at me and looks back out at the country. We stand there for a few minutes before he speaks. "Why'd you follow me" "because I wanted to make sure you where okay" I reply "why do you care!" And pulls his arm away before continuing "you're the one who left me 3 years ago" "Troy you know it wasn't my decision!" I y'all back at him "you had the right to choose!" "No I didn't! We where 15!" "Yet you still left me, you knew how I felt about you!" He shouts, walking closer to me. "And you knew how I felt about you." I say in a calmer tone. Locking eyes with him when he finally stood in front of me. We stood there in silence for a few minutes, just looking into one another's eyes.

He made the first move. Stretching one arm out to grab my waist, pulling me closer to him. My hands slid up his chest to rest on his neck, my thumbs resting on the sides of his chin. His eyes went from my eyes to my lips before he leaned down and connected our lips. My hands went around his neck to pull him closer to me as his wrapped around my waist to bring my body closer to his. He laid us down into the grass, his hands roamed my body as he leaned over and continued to kiss me. He pulled away and started kissing my neck, my hands pulled at the ends of his hair. My hips bucked up to meet his and he moaned against my neck. My hands went up and grabbed the hem of his shirt, pulling it over his head and quickly getting rid of mine. He connected our lips again, deepening the kiss as he started unbuttoning his jeans. As soon as he started on mine we heard a gunshot. Fear was plastered across my face as we looked at one another.

We quickly put our shirts back on and started making our way towards the gunshots. "Stay right behind me. Got it" he looked at me as I nodded and kept my hand locked with his. We approach the front gate and my eyes widened. There where several bloodied people clawing at the gate. I stopped in my tracks, causing Troy to turn to me. Fear was clearly written across my face and I was fighting back a scream. Troy immediately pulled me into his body. "Hey it's okay. I'm gonna deal with this, go find Charlene okay" I nod and he kisses me briefly before heading towards the front gate. "Audrey! Audrey!" I shook my head and looked towards the person calling my name. I saw Pat and Charlene and quickly ran to them. Pat hugged me immediately and rushed the both of us to their house where we would stay until everything was clear.