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-Erica's POV-
"What do we do?" George asks as Harry lays her down on a table. Arthur shouts that he has something and runs to his bed. We all wait for him in anticipation as Kyleigh's arm continues bleeding. Harry's hands are pressed down on a blood-covered rag to try to slow it down.
Arthur comes back quickly, "I grabbed this but I never in a million years thought we would use it for this," he says handing it over to Chris. Harry grabs the first aid kit and gets the disinfecting materials out.
"I can't watch this," Chip says walking away with Ethan and Arthur to give us space. Chris's hand is resting on her head as he stares down trying to compose himself. I can't imagine how he feels watching her as she's unconscious.
"She's going to be alright," I assure him. Harry uses almost all of the first aid kit supplies before nodding at Chris. He gives me an unsure look before threading the needle, "You got this," I whisper as he makes the first suture. As he continues closing the wound she starts to stir awake. I put my hands over her mouth so she doesn't scream. Her eyes move frantically trying to figure out what's happening as I block her view. The last thing she needs is to see her arm as it's being stitched up.
"You're gonna be fine. Dr. Dixon is cleaning you up," I joke as she drops her head back down. Her eyes are focusing on a window pain behind her to get distracted. Her breathing is getting quicker every time he tightens the thread.
"It's done," he says. I turn around and see five uneven stitches to keep the wound shut. It will work. I grab some bandages from the bag and wrap them around the wound before taping it off, "How does it feel?" He asks his sister.
"I hate that stupid dog," she groans still sounding a little groggy. I leave the two siblings alone for a second to grab her some water. I know nothing about bedside manners. I'm just happy that Chris kind of knows how to stitch. Maybe he will be designated medic now. I don't even know how he feels about what he just did. It was pretty amazing.
"How is she?" Harry asks handing me some crackers for her. We look over at the two hugging and smile, "I should have scared the dog away," he says as I shake my head.
"You know how she gets with dogs. She would have chased after it to make sure it was okay," I point out, "Her arm looks better already. We just have to make sure it stays clean and dry," I tell him as we walk back.
"Gotta get your strength up," Harry says as we pass over the food and water.
"Do you mind keeping an eye on her?" Chris says as he motions to the blood on his shirt, "I gotta change," he says. I look down at my sleeve and frown at the red stains.
"I'll be back," I smile going to where our bags are. I push a small blanket out of the way and crouch down to fish a shirt out. I chose a random long-sleeved one and quickly put it on. I hear Arthur, Ethan, and George walking past to check on Kyleigh. When I stand back up to walk out of the closed-in-bed area, the sheet is pushed to the side. Chris walks in and gives me an exhausted look.
"Thank you for helping me earlier. I don't know what I would have done if..." he says trailing off at the end. I wrap my arms around his waist and he pulls me in resting his head on top of mine.
"Don't think like that. She's a trooper," I smile as he pulls away. I'm surprised when he leans down and gives me a simple kiss, "Although this does make me feel a little bad," I tease motioning toward us.
"She will find out eventually," he says after another kiss, "I think some of the guys were talking about going back to the building we cleared out," he says.
"That's a good idea. I can stay back with Kyleigh and go through everything we grabbed already," I smile.
"Or...you could have Harry stay here and we could go scavenging," he says.
"Or...I stay back with my best friend, aka your sister, and make sure she's good," I tell him.
"I guess you're right. Maybe later we can sneak off for a little," he whispers starting to walk out. He winks at me before dropping the sheet making me blush as I play with the sleeves of my shirt. I hear Arthur call my name and hurry back to the main area where everyone's gathered around Kyleigh.
"Ready to babysit?" She jokes as I rest my hand on the table. Harry hurriedly holds his hands out as she starts sitting up, "I'm fine," she assures but nobody is convinced.
"Did everyone dump out their bags?" I ask right before seeing the mound of shit on the floor, "Never mind," I mumble. The guys start gathering their scavenging gear again as I start organizing. One by one everyone says bye to Kyleigh as I continue working. Chris walks over breaking my concentration with a tap on the shoulder.
"Hey," I whisper as he holds onto the straps of his backpack, "Be careful, yeah?" I tell him.
"Aye aye captain," he nods nudging my shoulder with his arm. I smile as he turns back when he gets to the door. When I notice Kyleigh looking at me I turn back to the various cans of food in front of me. So far the piles are of clothes, food, first aid, and two stuffed animals. I don't know who grabbed them but they are two cute bunnies. One of them is black and the other one is white.
"I think I saw George grabbing those," Kyleigh says walking over. I quickly get up as she sits down in a chair next to me.
She gives me a look as I scold her, "You shouldn't be moving around so much. You lost a lot of blood," I tell her.
"Miss girl I moved not even five feet," she points out.
"You know Chris would kill me if anything happened to you," I counter.
"What's up with you and him anyways? Anytime I look you two are always together," she says as I stiffen up a little.
"I um...."
"I guess almost dying kind of creates a bond. Maybe I should find the dog and we can be besties," she says making me laugh.
"What did you want for dinner tonight?" I ask trying to change the subject, "We have a fresh new can of," I announce trying to find the best one, "ooooh you're favorite mystery meat," I tease handing her the can.
"Is it bad I'm intrigued?" She asks reading the only half of the label that's left, "the first ingredient is beef so it can't be too bad," she points out.
I finish cleaning up the supplies and putting them away an hour before the guys get back. All of them are covered in sweat and blood, "What the hell happened?" Kyleigh asks going to stand up. George motions with his hand for her to sit and she just rolls her eyes listening to him.
"No big deal. What's that amazing smell?" Harry asks walking over to where we are cooking. The guys start dumping their stuff on the floor I just cleaned making me frown.
"I can help you later," Arthur says with a slight nod, "I'm going to go get cleaned up," he adds grimacing at his dirty clothes.
"I can do some laundry later. There's a stairwell to the river not too far from here. I can be there in back in less than an hour," I tell them. The sun shouldn't be setting for a little bit.
"You're not going alone," Ethan says, "We can do it in the morning," he tells me.
"She might be right. The smell of these clothes is putrid. We don't want to attract anything," Chris says, "How about I bring you to the river and you do all the washing?" He offers making me raise an eyebrow, "Or I bring you there and do half the washing?" He says changing his offer.
I hold my hand out and he grabs it for a handshake, "you've got yourself a deal," I smile, "Now let's eat. We are wasting daylight," I tell everyone. As I start plating the food the guys run to change into clean clothes, except for Chris. He checks up on Kyleigh to make sure her arm is feeling okay. George scares the shit out of me as he walks over.
"What's going on with you and hobbit boy?" He asks as I glare over at him, "It's hard to ignore the way he immediately jumped in to help," he points out.
"Nothing is happening. He's just being a nice guy," I tell him.
"Something happened when you were locked in that apartment, didn't it?" He asks. I sit down next to him and shake my head as he giggles to himself.
"How was scavenging?" I ask.
"This is just making you more guilty. Whatever as long as we both know what's going on here that's fine," he says making me laugh at his relentlessness, "scavenging was good. We didn't find a whole lot more that's useful, but it's good we went," he says.
"I'm starving," Harry says sitting down to grab a plate. Everyone gathers around and starts eating. Most of the conversation is carried by Chip as we all stuff our faces.
"This is kind of crazy," Ethan says leaning back on a small table.
"I know," Arthur whispers putting his plate down, "I don't think I'll ever believe this is reality," he states.
"It makes you think about all the things you should have done," Chip says, "I always wanted to go to Australia," he laughs.
"I wanted to go to New York," I say thinking out loud.
"What if this isn't in the States yet? It could only be here," Harry says sounding hopeful,
"There would be something that would tell us that though. Like a helicopter or plane," Chris says.
"Or we can just lie to ourselves and think everyone else is fine and we will be saved eventually," I say getting up off the floor, "we should get going," I mutter grabbing my jacket from where we sleep. When I come back out everyone is still talking besides Chris. He's standing by the door to see if the coast is clear.
"Be safe...and don't trust any stray dogs," Kyleigh jokes as I slip on some gloves, "Also, the guys mentioned something about making everyone their own sleeping corner. Are you cool with that?" She asks. I nod my head and make a quick joke about cuddling at night making her laugh. I grab the bag of dirty clothes and sling it over my shoulder. Chris is already outside by the time I walk over.
"This isn't the kind of alone time I thought we were gonna have," he says making me smile shyly at the ground.
He holds his hand out and grabs the bag lifting the weight off my shoulder, "What a gentleman," I smile. I go to say something else but there's a small group of walkers up ahead. He goes to grab his knife out but I motion to go around. I don't want to risk another injury today. He tries to argue with his eyes but I ignore him and duck behind a car.
"There's not that many. We could kill them no problem," He whispers holding my arm to stop me from moving behind another one.
I look down at where he's holding me and then look at him, "It's not worth the risk. There's a clear shot past them," I tell him, pointing to the small path protected by cars. He peaks over the car and looks at the zombies and back to me. By the look in his eyes, I start moving forward making sure I don't make any noise. We are almost past them when Chris kicks a glass bottle in the direction of the undead. I turn back to him and we both have wide eyes. I stand up from the ground with my knife and hear the bag of clothes drop to the ground. He double-taps my hand before moving forward towards the closest walker. I loosen my grip on the knife handle and brace myself for the zombie walking in my direction. The sound of my knife sinking into its skull makes my stomach turn. Blood splatters onto my face making me scrunch up so it doesn't get into my eyes. I use my sleeve to wipe away the excess getting pushed over by a walker. I hear Chris scream my name as I stab it through the eye sending even more gore onto myself.
The body is being pushed off of me before I can clean the blood of me, "You just had to kill them, didn't you?" I joke as he grabs a dirty shirt from the bag. He holds my arm as he smudges the blood.
"If it makes you feel any better. You look pretty hot when killing zombies," He says making us both laugh.
"I'm so happy that me almost getting murdered turns you on," I tease as he grabs the laundry bag off the floor and puts the shirt back inside.
"Let's get you cleaned up," he says putting his arm around my shoulder as we continue walking down the street. When we stop at the water he takes a cleaner shirt and wets it more. I tell him I can do it but he says he's got it, "It's my fault you're covered in blood," he points out. It's weird seeing his face this close-up. He has really nice eyes. Anytime he makes eye contact with me I panic and look away really quickly.
"I can't tell if the red is the blood from the zombie or if you're blushing," he says making me blush even harder. I push him away as he smiles at me with a cheeky smile. I go to grab the bag from the ground to start cleaning but he pulls me back. My hands land on his chest as his hands move to my lower waist, "I'm kidding....kind of," he says making me let out a small laugh.
"Stop. You're making me regret letting you come with," I tell him as he rolls his eyes, "If we get this done...I might let you sleep in my bed tonight....and if you keep quiet...maybe," I tease. Chris quickly grabs the bag and tells me to stop messing around and he dumps the clothes on the ground. I laugh at his eagerness and kneel down to help him clean, "You just gotta hope they don't put me next to Kyleigh," I point out.
He gives me a disgusted face at the thought before throwing the small bottle of soap at me, "You are nasty," he states.
"How are you though?" I ask as he turns to look at me confused, "About earlier? I know seeing Ky like that couldn't have been easy for you," I tell him.
He turns back to the water and stays quiet for a while. He's deep in thought and I feel bad for bringing anything up before he speaks again, "I'm happy you're here," he says making me stop what I'm doing to listen to him, "It makes me less worried knowing that if something happens to me, you will be here for her," he says making me confused.
"Don't talk like that. Nothing is going to happen to you or Kyleigh," I tell him.
"I know but today really showed how anything could happen. You know I'd do anything for you, right? Everyone we are with. I'd protect them with my life," he says becoming serious.
"That's not all on you though. We are a team. I know not all of us were the best of friends before the dead started attacking but now we are a little ragtag group of survivors," I joke to try and lighten the mood.
"Just promise me that no matter what you'll look after her. She's my best friend and everything I had before this was because of her," he says making me emotional.
I nod my head and promise him I will as he gives me a small smile and turns back to the clothes. Laundry doesn't take as long as we decided to hurry up cause the sun was starting to get lower in the sky. Chris suddenly pulls me into his chest as he tells me to be quiet. I got to ask what was going on when I heard chattering coming from down the block. I try to listen to what they are saying but something about their tone isn't right, "We should hurry," he says as I quickly agree. Chris grabs the bag from me and grabs my hand as we start running in the opposite direction of the two guys. Right as we make it to the building the sun just sets making everything eerie. When we walk in everyone looks relieved, especially Kyleigh.
"We saw people," I announce as we walk over. Arthur takes the bag to hang up the washed clothes.
Everyone quickly gathers around when they hear my statement, "What were they like?" Harry asks as I take in how different everything looks since we were last here.
"We hid. They were off and I didn't want Erica in that kind of danger," Chris says making me look at him, "I could only hear so much but they were looking for supplies. They mentioned something about a grocery store a couple of miles west of here. It sounded pretty stocked but I don't think it's worth the danger. Especially if they are there," he says.
"That's just what we need though. We could get there first and get out of there before they show up," George says looking at our medium-sized pile of rations.
Ethan starts shaking his head when he hears what George says, "We have no idea when they would be there. It's not worth it. I agree with Chrissy".
Kyleigh goes to stand up but everyone tells her to relax before we continue our conversation, "I think the best thing to do is to wait a couple of days and just grab whatever they leave. If it's just the two of them then they wouldn't be able to grab too much," She points out.
"She's right," I tell them as I move to stand next to the chair she's at. Arthur pushes an empty clothing rack out of the way to finish setting up the clothing line. A lot of the clothes in here are still meant for summer and fall weather. Most of what we found for winter is shoved in boxes in the back. The tank tops are my favorite to use as pillows. Something about the material makes me excited to sleep. Everyone is kind of split on what we should do but the majority says it's not worth it. When we come to the conclusion of going to the store in a week I'm yawning. George and Chip are excited to show off their hard work on our new bed setups.
"This is Casa de Dixon," they announce unveiling a small corner in the right of the store. I'm surprised when I see my bed right next to his until I see the look on George's face. That cheeky mother fucker.
"Why couldn't I be near Erica?" Kyleigh asks as Arthur brings her over to in-between him and Harry.
"Cause I don't want to hear them snoring all night. So we put the loud ones far away so we don't get murdered in our sleep," George says making us both look at him offended.
"It's nice to know how valuable our lives are to you," Chris says kicking everybody out of our little area. His little bunk is maybe six feet away from mine. There are racks surrounding our area to make it more of a room. I smile seeing a sheet draped over my section like a fort. This had to have been Chip's touch.
"See you in a bit," He whispers double tapping my hand. With one last look, I disappear into my little area. I kick my shoes off and kneel down to change. There was a change of clothes laid out for me which I appreciate. I feel like I'm in a hotel. I jump when I see my makeshift door moving to the side. I must have been lying down for nearly fifteen minutes. He puts his hand over my mouth as he moves over the top of me to stop me from laughing.
"You're going to get us caught," he whispers as I wrap my hands around his neck. He leans in and softly touches his lips to mine. It's like a dream I never want to wake up from. I feel like I've been into him my entire life and I know I shouldn't have been but I couldn't help it. I try not to think about how he's only with me because I'm the only girl around besides his sister. I know he would deny it but at this point, I don't really care. I can be naive and happy during the end of the world. It's like the world fades away whenever I'm in his arms. I feel insane but I can't help the way I feel.
"We should probably get some sleep," he mumbles in between kisses. I gasp as he flips us over so I'm straddling his waist, "I have to wake up before everyone else so they don't see," he points out. I shake my head and brush my lips against his jaw. We both pause our movements when we hear George saying my name. I quickly get off of Chris and rush to the main room. George sees me standing there and gives me a questioning look.
"What's up, buddy?" I ask as he moves closer. He looks past me and to where I just left with a smirk. He motions to Chris's bunk and then mine mouthing, "Is he in there?". I drop my head and he just laughs to himself before walking away.
When I walk back into my area I lay down next to Chris and he turns on his side to face me, "He knows doesn't he?" he asks. I shake my head and he laughs as he pulls me into his chest. I wrap the blanket around us before closing my eyes. Even in the apocalypse, Chris smells good, "Night," he whispers kissing the top of my head.
"Night"