"State your business."
He spoke as though he was reciting some protocol. This was a line he'd been instructed to deliver to strangers. Which led me to the conclusion that he had others- whether he was with them right now or not- who were looking out for him. I was glad for his sake to realize he wasn't alone. I mean, he was pretty young.
"Just passing through. I've been traveling west for some time now, and I plan on continuing that way."
"Where are you going?"
"Nowhere in particular. Just trying to find a place to stay. But I promise you I don't plan to encroach on your area here. I'm not here to invade. I'll go as far away as you need."
Silence. The kid was trying to figure me out. Hopefully he decides he can trust me at least enough to let me go in peace.
"What's your name?"
We're in.
"April. And you?" I decided I could start asking questions now without him getting too defensive. But I had to go slow.
"...Tommy."
"Tommy. Nice to meet you, Tommy."
He nodded slowly, and I could sense him relax a bit.
He took a deep breath and looked around, almost as if he was waiting for something. "Look, you seem nice and all, but I gotta send you on your way. I don't think we can risk having anyone else around right now. I don't know if you've noticed, but not many people live around here."
"I have," I replied, my curiosity peaking.
"Yeah, and there's a reason for that. The mountain's full of cave systems. Crawling with zombies. Don't wanna draw too much attention to us with another persons sticking around, ya know? And you'd probably prefer to get some distance, for your own sake Cause, y'know, the zombies here."
Okay, so that's why this place is vacant. I realized it was a good thing I ran into this kid- I might've unknowingly tried to camp in a cave and gotten eaten in my fucking sleep.
"Alright then. I'll be on my way then," I said, nodding towards my stuff to ask permission to retrieve it. He nodded, his expression looking much friendlier, and I threw my stuff back on. "I wish you the best, Tommy."
"You too, Apr-"
He was cut off by the sound of yelling in the distance. We both looked in the direction it came from- further up the mountain. Tommy looked full of dread, and he was readying his pistol, walking towards the noise.
As it got closer, the voice became clearer.
"TOMMY!!!"
It was another boy. The voice wasn't quite as deep as Tommy's but it sounded somehow older. I could hear speeding footsteps approaching.
"Tubbo?" Tommy called out.
"Tommy!" Tubbo hollered back. And then, I shit you not, this kid came jumping down from on top of the seven foot tall wall of rocks in front of us, rolling to break his fall with a surprising amount of agility.
I didn't have much time to look at the kid, because a zombie came crashing down from the wall immediately after him. It was much less graceful than the boy, so we had time to distance ourselves.
"Tubbo what the fuck! I said not to get their attention!" Tommy blurted at his friend.
"It's just the one, I promise," Tubbo hastily replied, not even noticing me as he staggered to his feet and tried to make his way over to Tommy. But before he could, the zombie swiped at his leg from behind and sent him toppling to the ground.
"Tubbo!" Tommy exclaimed, rushing toward his friend's side, too concerned to notice that the zombie was getting ready to jump on top of his fallen friend.
"Fuck," I mumbled under my breath, making the split decision to save this random kid's ass. But I didn't have time enough to even draw my weapon.
I sprung forward and threw myself inbetween Tubbo and the zombie, nearly crushing the kid in the process as I absorbed the zombie's tackle and felt its teeth sink into my right shoulder.
"Fuck! April!" Was the only thing I heard before the sound of a gunshot sent a deafening ringing through my head.
I fell back onto the rock, the zombie falling over in the opposite direction. I immediately saw both boys leaning over me, panic and confusion on their faces.
"Who the fuck are you?" Tubbo asked, looking apologetic.
"This is April, I just met her, she- shit, April why did you do that? Are you mad?"
I began to panic, scrambling to find the best way to explain myself while ignoring the growing headache and stinging in my shoulder.
"Seriously April, we were fucking fine, we had it under control!"
"Tommy, it was about to bite your friend!" I shot back.
"We were fucking fine, April, you didn't have to do that!"
"You didn't see it coming, Tommy!"
"No, no, no, April why the fuck did you-"
"Tommy, it's okay, I promise-"
"No it's not! You're fucking dead now, you know that, right?!! You're fucking infected! You're gonna fucking turn- unless you fucking die first- I-"
"Well, Tommy, we could-" Tubbo started.
"No, absolutely not Tubbo, we're in enough trouble as it is-"
"But she just jumped in front of a zombie for me!"
"Yeah but she didn't have to! You would've been fine, you fucking know that!"
"Hold on!" I hollered, trying to pause their yelling match. "Why would he have been fine? What do you mean by that?"
"I'm immune! You didn't have to do take the bite for me," Tubbo replied. I could read it on his face that he was just now putting this all together. "Holy shit, you just died for me and you didn't even have to," he was tearing up now, avoiding eye contact, "Oh my god I'm so sorry, I-"
"No, no, it's okay!" I exclaimed, reaching up to the boy.
"It's not, though," He stammered, his hand shaking as it reached to cover his mouth. Tommy was just watching with a look of horror glued to his face.
"Kid, I'm immune too, it's okay!" I frantically reassured him.
"What?!?" Both he and Tommy exclaimed.
"I'm immune. I'm gonna be fine, it's okay," I repeated, sitting up and staring at them.
"Wha-how-huh?" Tommy stammered.
"OH THANK GOD I DIDN'T JUST KILL YOU!" Tubbo exclaimed, grinning with relief.
"Well I'm the one who jumped in, it's not really your fault," I laughed, the adrenaline in my body finding no way to dissipate other than to laugh.
"Psshh, yeah it is," Tommy, chuckled, immediately coping with all this by teasing his friend, "She might be immune but that's still a nasty gash on her shoulder." He elbowed Tubbo.
"Eh, I've had worse," I shrugged, "and besides, I knew what I was doing. It's okay."
"Okay," Tubbo smiled back at me.
We all sat in silence for a second, catching our breath before Tubbo shook his head and turned to me again.
"Wait, so why are you with Tommy?"
"This is April, she's passing through," Tommy explained, "I just met 'er."
"Nice to meet you Tubbo," I said.
"Well, you too, April. And thank you. I mean, I know you're okay and all, but still. Thank you."
"Of course, dude. Lemme just patch myself up real quick, though," I replied, grabbing some alcohol, gauze, and medical tape from my bag.
"Oh, you can probably do that at our camp! It's only temporary, but it's nice! And if you want to rest up for the night you can stay there, too! We've got this cool set up in a cave, and-"
"Wait," I cut Tubbo off, turning to the blonde boy, "Tommy I thought you said they were crawling with zombies?"
"Oh, most of them are, we just found one that was shallow enough that none were there," Tubbo explained happily. But I was still focused on Tommy, who was staring down his friend with a look of unease.
"Tubbo, I don't think we're quite able to accept visitors right now," Tommy narrowed his eyes.
"What?" Tubbo looked confused.
"Just... Tubbo, we- look, I don't think April would love to have ran into our camp right now," Tommy explained, emphasizing his words weird. And why was his grammar so shit all the sudden?
"Ohhhhh, fuck," Tubbo's eyes widened.
Okay. So clearly they were hiding something. None of my business, though. I had no need nor desire to find out what was going on. "It's fine guys. I prefer camping out near the trees for quick escapes if I need them, anyways. I'll just stay right here to clean myself up and then I've gotta head out."
The boys both looked relieved to hear it, and offered to help me out. Tubbo tried to distract me while I poured the alcohol on my wound to clean it. It still hurt like a bitch, but I appreciated the kid's efforts. As Tommy bandaged up the bite, I tried to focus on Tubbo to ignore the pain. He wore a white tee shirt with a green button up over it, but the buttons were done wrong and there were patches all over it. He had quite a few scratches coving his limbs and face, and he had two different shoes on. And he was a few inches shorter than me.
After I was cleaned up, I pulled my jacket from my bag, as the sun was setting and it was getting colder out. When I was all ready to go, I sent a smile to the boys.
"Well, thanks for the help guys."
"No, thank you. Really," Tommy said to me, patting my good shoulder as Tubbo nodded alongside him. "Look," Tommy continued, "I know you're headed west. We're making our way north, so I don't know if we'll see you again, but... it'll be nice to see a friendly face if we ever cross paths again, ya know?" He said kind of awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head.
"Absolutely Tommy," I smiled.
"I hope we do see you again, though!" Tubbo smiled.
"Me too. You guys stay careful out there, okay?"
They both nodded in response. And with that, I was off.