I had been awake before I truly processed that I was. The world had slowly found its way back to me in parts. First I heard the creaking of the aged wood floorboard beneath me. I also heard the shuffling of someone moving around near me. This put me on edge.
I tried to gain the strength to become more aware of the area around me. Starting to shift my arms and legs it became increasingly obvious how weak I really was. As the unidentified person shifted to walk toward me I halted all my movements and steadied my breathing to look as if I had still been asleep.
The person's actions stopped a few feet next to me and I heard the sliding of chair legs glide across the floor. Assuming they had sat down to watch over me I continued my acting feeling dread build in my stomach.
"I know you're awake. You're not fooling me." I hear a quiet yet steely voice speak. That led my throat to close up and my act to falter as well as my breathing to shift. My heart rate increased its pace leading my adrenaline to spike.
I cracked an eye open and stared at the stained, cracked ceiling above me. "I figured as much. I never was good at theater class in school." I whispered, my voice cracking from its lack of use. This reminded me of how dehydrated I must have been.
There was a creaking of the floorboard beneath me as I heard the legs of the chair slide once more. Footsteps, heavy and loud, drew closer as the view of a gloved hand holding an object above me obstructed my sight of the ceiling. My eyes examined the object in their hand only to then widen from realization.
"Here," they said softly, "drink it." And with that, the hand disappeared and the bottle of water was placed heavily beside my head.
Turning my head I examined the retreating figure before looking at the bottle with hesitation outweighing my thirst. "Don't be stupid." I heard the voice state from another room. "If I wanted you dead I would have let you there to die."
That brought back the moments before I passed out. This person had been the one who saved me. From a hoard of monsters nonetheless. Though I am curious to know how they managed to do that, I decided not to press my luck with questioning and just enjoy the fact that I was still breathing. That meant I still had a chance at finding my family.
With that thought, I gently lifted the bottle to my mouth and rid it of the water it held. The relief I'd felt after was something I had not felt for a long time. Struggling with surviving this world also meant struggling with things that used to come easy; food, water, and over necessities I took for granted became all too hard to come by. And though being alone protected me from a lot of variables, it also brought up challenges of its own.
I caught up to my breathing after chugging the water I had so desperately needed so quickly. The need for more surfaces on my tongue but I swallowed it down. Needing more help was the last thing I wanted. I had to set off on my own again before I started to owe my savior something in return.
A lesson I had learned towards the beginning of all this was that nothing was for free. If someone helped you it's only because they wanted something in return. I'd learned that the hard way and wouldn't be making that same mistake again.
Before I could get up the person returned to the room and it was then that I finally looked at them. It was a girl which didn't make much difference to my level of trust, but it did bring me a sort of comfort. At least I wasn't passed out and vulnerable around a guy. I shivered at the thought as a feeling of discomfort passed through.
Examining her further I saw hard dark brown eyes looking back at me. These were the eyes of someone who'd seen this world for all the bad things it had to offer. I knew because I saw that same look in my eyes when I gazed at my reflection. Something I had not done in a long while too scared of what I'd find looking back at me. And this was a world you had to grow with or die at the hands of. There was no in-between.
Her eyes locked with mine and it seemed as if she was trying to get a read on me. Her brown hair fell into her eyes. Looking at her more I saw her face and clothes just as dirty as mine, bearing the toll that time took on her from her travels.
"If you're planning on leaving I'd suggest you wait a day or two and hold up here. They are all over the place and the noises you made only seem to have attracted more of them." She looked off to the side with a hard gaze. Does this girl ever relax? I mean, I get it with the whole end of the world but who put salt in her cereal?
"What do you mean?" I asked her in return after hearing the news. She started to walk towards a window before peeling back the curtain.
"Take a look for yourself." She said while looking out the window herself.
I got up, flinching from the soreness my body had felt, and walked towards the window. Standing next to her I turned to gaze out of it. Examining the outside I understood what she meant. They had been scattered around the street in droves and those were only the ones I could see. Who knew how many were out there that I couldn't? This thought of the unknown scared me. Especially since I realized how close I was to losing it all.
Luckily I had been saved by a stranger. This was something I would have never expected with the world the way it is now. Turning my head towards her I noticed how stiff she was beside me. I had assumed the amount of dead outside lurking had put her on edge too.
Her body was rigid and she took slow, heavy steps back away from me. She began to shake her head and turned away from me holding it. "Look," she said through gritted teeth, "you can leave in two days and you should be fine. Hold up here, you should have enough to get you by even another day or so if you feel it is still too risky." She stated gruffly with her hands clenched into fists.
I looked at her in concern. I may not know her but I do know that she saved my life. To me, that had to count for something. So I took a step forward with my hand outstretched. The purpose was to comfort her but this had become something distant to me since this all began.
The girl before me somehow sensed my movement and turned quickly, backing away from me. "I'm fine." She simply said in a tone I wasn't brave enough to argue with.
"Okay," I said and respectfully retracted my hand back to my side. Looking back into her eyes I thought I saw a flash of red. That shocked me and I stumbled back almost crashing into the window before I caught myself. My eyes went back to hers but all I saw was the brown they normally were. Shaking this thought from my head I simply looked to the side.
"So we're stuck here together while waiting for them to leave?" I questioned, still looking away. I had not been around another person in a while. So I blame the end of the world for my lack of social skills in this regard.
"No, I'm leaving now. We are going our separate ways. From what I saw you travel alone, I can say the same for myself. I'm not good with any form of company or maybe it's that company isn't good with me. Either way, traveling with other people never works out for me." She explained while collecting supplies and placing them into her bag.
This shouldn't have bothered me given the fact that I wanted to travel alone. For some reason, I guess I just missed the interaction even if she didn't seem to be the most open person to have discussions with. And she had saved my life becoming the first person who didn't attempt to trick, kill, or use me. Maybe it brought out that little hopeful side of me who had a heart and cared for everyone.
I guess that side of me didn't learn her lesson. That in this world hope was as dead as the monsters lurking about and that she had to bury any part of her previous side that held positivity and trust. In the end, from her previous experience, she'd only gotten hurt.
"That's fair. I respect your decision not to travel with me. I get where you're coming from. Try to stay safe. I mean, you did save my life so I do hope the best for you." I smiled at her. She seemed to not know how to react to my words. Shifting and looking everywhere but at me.
Before she could say anything I heard gunfire coming from outside the building. The girl ran to me, grabbing my arm and dragging me to the wall beside the window. "Get down." She whispered before dawning a serious face. The sudden movement sent pain to radiate throughout my whole body and I took a sudden quivering intake of breath.
With shaking hands, I lifted my shirt to see my wound bandages had been replaced with new gauze. It looked better though I noticed the bruising around it. I looked up at the girl knowing that she was the only one that could have taken such action and I grew uncomfortable that she had been that close to me without my knowledge. Yet, before I could say anything about it I regarded her current look and decided to focus on the present situation.
Her teeth were gritted as she looked towards her hand holding my arm. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath she let go of my arm. She then shifted to look out the window to observe what was going on. I saw a look of fear grow on her face leading me to become scared as well. If this girl wasn't scared of jumping in front of a hoard of monsters to save me then whatever was outside had to be bad.
"What's going on?" I whispered trying to keep my voice steady. The girl looked from the window into my eyes. A plan was forming in her mind I could tell. She seemed hesitant yet decided against such hesitation.
"Look, these people are bad. We need to get as far from them as possible. I've seen what they are capable of and they are not people you want to come across." She ordered me sternly. Never lets her guard down for one second, does she?
"I can get us out of here but I need you to do exactly as I say. Can you do that? I promise once I get us out of this mess we can part ways." She told me with determination. I simply nodded my head just wanting to not let my second chance go to waste.