Word count: 2229
We rushed back to the house and when we got back I made sure the door was locked and looked out the windows, surveying the areas for any of infected. The streets were empty.
"What happened out there?" Archie asked me, his voice full of concern.
"I wasn't bitten," was my first response. That's what it comes down to in the end. Someone could die, I could be shot or have a leg chopped off and yet I would still make it clear that I wasn't bit, like being bit is the biggest danger. Archie raised an eyebrow at me. "I found a couple in the shop and next thing I knew more were batting down the shop door. I ran out the back and found a fence... around the hospital."
"What about it?" Archie implored.
"You never told me we were in Manchester!" I tried not to snap but all I could think was that Logan could be long gone. He could've seen the wall and bailed, I didn't know.
"You never asked." The room was silent for a moment. "What's the big deal? Did you have family back ho-"
"-Manchester infirmary is the safe place," I told him and he shut up instantly. His eyes widening. He touched my shoulder lightly. He bit his lip, I noticed they were cracking and dry. His eyes looked softer as they connected with my own.
"That place got overrun..." he said softly. I felt my chest tighten. "Someone inside must've gotten bit or died or something. Next thing I knew I kept hearing screams... that was a few days before I found you." I felt my head go light, yet another place infected. Archie helped me to the nearest chair and I plopped myself down in it.
"You- why weren't you at the safe house?" I asked. He placed a glass of water on the table for me.
"I... I couldn't leave this place," he sighed and did a lob sided grin. "Pathetic right?" I shook my head.
"Do you know a way in?" I asked. He nodded but he seemed a little wary. "I need to find my friend."
"Say no more," he put a hand up and went over to a drawer. He produced a folded sheet of paper and lay it out on the table in front of me. It was a hand drawn map of all the streets around the area. "I found it whilst you were out."
I shakily sat up and looked at his detailed drawing.
"You see these red areas?" He pointed at the streets, the supermarket was blotted out red. "These are my no-go zones." I nodded and I saw them spread out all over the map. He pointed at a grey dot, "these are my unsure zones, places I have yet to go." He then pointed at the green ones, "and these are safe." I paid close attention as he spoke. He really did know his stuff.
"What's the best route to the hospital? The way I went before?" I asked him.
"If we take this side street there are usually not many infected around, some of them cluster at this point. Don't ask why; I think they like the sun that shines through the buildings or something." He pressed his finger down onto the map. "Anyway, we can get to the hospital easily by taking the tunnel route. It was put there to help the crew come in and out of the place easily." He must have seen my worried and wide-eyed reaction because he carried on, "sounds dangerous but nothings there, it's sound quiet. But this does mean we'll have to be quiet too otherwise were open prey. The tunnel will lead us to the fencing around the hospital and we can climb over from there. We'll be in the car park by this point so we will be out in the open, but so will they. It's perfect!" He clapped his hands together happily as his plan formed. "Just past that is the opening to the hospital."
"Why have a hospital as a safe zone though?" I thought out loud. "Isn't that where most of the infected would've gone?"
"Exactly!" He exclaimed.
"I don't understand." I cocked my head to one side and tried to analyse his thoughts but I couldn't; he seemed to have built his own fence around his brain but this one was reinforced, only he could climb over.
"If all the corpses are in one building then it'll be easier to eliminate them, leaving a safe zone for the healthy population," he explained and I nodded my head at him.
"I suppose it makes sense... but why go to all that effort?" I asked.
"It's either kill them or wait for them to leave the building and have them kill us," he replied grimly.
"Do you think anyone's alive in there?" I spoke, I had meant to sound hopeful but my voice was dry.
"I don't know... it's a possibility. I haven't seen much-infected movement around there in a while so maybe the situations back under control?" It was more of a question than a statement. Silence filled the room. I was questioning the options that could fill my voice with the hope it was devoid of because I wasn't sure if I could afford to have it there.
I examined the map some more, everything was so detailed. I didn't know my own neighbourhood that well, he had every street labelled.
"How do you know so much anyways?"
"After my brother died I wanted to familiarise myself with everything. Then someone came to my house, we went out together and decided to learn the street names so we could meet up and not be lost," he told me, his eyes growing sad as he mentioned the person.
"What happened?" I asked quietly.
"She disappeared shortly after. We knew each other before all this actually so losing her was... it was awful."
"Girlfriend?" The word slipped off my tongue before I could filter it out. I actually shocked myself by asking and I wouldn't hesitate to crawl back in time and stop myself from letting the word tumble out. Archie raised an eyebrow and began to laugh at me, his whole form shaking with the action. I watched him and tried to keep my face from heating up out of embarrassment.
"Jealous?" He questioned and I instinctively shook my head... was I jealous? "and no, cousin. We went to the same school so we hung out a lot."
"Oh." I was bright red by that point, I couldn't believe I had asked that. I bit my tongue to stop myself from saying anything more.
"What about you?" Archie asked as my face starting cooling down.
"What about me?" I questioned.
"You said you were looking for someone."
"A friend, we were meant to meet up but when I got to the place there was nothing but blood. He's probably dead..." I muttered and crossed my arms protectively over my chest, feeling my eyes burn up with the potential of tears.
"That blood could've belonged to anyone, don't give up hope...if he's there, we'll find him," he told me and I smiled half-heartedly. "What about family? "
"I don't know where my parents are," I told him about the hospital, about my mum being ill, about the voicemail. I couldn't help but think they were probably dead too.
"You were on your own?" His question caught me off guard. I thought about Ella, but I wasn't ready to think about her death, let alone talk about it. I thought about lying to him and wondered if it would be easier. After a short moment, I nodded my head. That was it, the lie had left me. As the lie floated into the air, I felt pressure hit my chest and weigh me down. "Caleb's all I've got now..." I told him, trying to hide my lies behind some truths. I smiled lightly, looking down at the floor.
"You have me." My head sprung up and I saw Archie's face slightly heat up. "If that makes things any easier. Damn, I'm sorry that was cheesy." He put his head down and chuckled nervously. I laughed softly after.
"Don't be sorry. Cheesy's good." I smiled and held not so awkward eye contact with Archie for a long while. I swallowed before speaking "I should get some rest, though. We leave tomorrow?"
"The sooner the better..." He looked around the room and sighed, "I kind of don't want to leave this place... I know it's not far but still."
"I can see why." I breathed out as I looked around too. Boards were in the windows but it didn't make the place feel like a prison; if anything it made me feel comfier, safer. The rooms were always kept clean and it was a proper home. "This place is like heaven."
"Heaven is a weird concept now all we see is hell," he reminded me.
"Touché," I responded and walked out of the room. I didn't want to think about that, I just wanted to breathe in the smells of this house and get high on the euphoria of something good in the messed up world. I could feel Archie's eyes boring into me but ignored it as I kept walking.
I went up the stairs and opened the door to Caleb's room, he was still wide awake and ran up to me.
"Remi!" He yelled and flung his arms around.
"Happy birthday fella," I said and he giggled happily. "I have something for you."
He pulled back and looked up at me expectantly as I pulled my bag down off my shoulder. I unzipped it and the cookies poked out. Caleb's eyes widened. "It's no cake but it's the best I could do." I passed it over to him and he reached for it slowly like it wasn't real.
"These are my favourites!" He hugged me again and he gripped onto the pack. "Thanks!" He grinned and when I went to walk out the room again I felt him tug my arm. "It's my birthday! Please stay for a little longer. Can you tell me a story?" He looked up at me with his large puppy eyes. "I'll share my cookies with you."
"There yours," I said and smiled warmly at him, although I was seriously craving them. "I'll tell you a story for free."
"Yay!" He exclaimed and ran over to his bed, I sat down on the edge.
"Okay," I thought for a second about what to say and went for a generic story that kids seemed to like. Memories of my mum telling me stories flooded my brain. "So this is a story about a little boy named Caleb who was the strongest dragon fighter in all the land." I started as Caleb giggled. "When he was younger all the other boys in the village used to say he wasn't brave enough, that he couldn't fight. He began to believe them, he would stay up late and imagine what it would be like to be like those boys in the village. He wondered if he would ever get the chance to fight and then one day the dragons attacked. The boys were so scared that they ran away but the main bully was taken by the biggest dragon, the meanest one. The young boy faced this beast. In the heat of battle, he forgot about all the words this bully had thrown at him and replaced the words with courage to save him. For he was a kind boy with a heart of gold. He managed to slay the dragon with one mighty blow of his weapon and saved, not only the bullies life, but the lives of everyone in the village."
Caleb was absorbed in the story, I could almost see him taking in my words and changing them into images so clear you could display them on a TV screen. We shared cookies, because he insisted, and even talked about school.
"What is your friend like?" Caleb asked.
"Logan?" He made a noise, too tired to reply. I thought back to the day I started Highschool when Logan had taken me under his wing without me needing to ask. "He's great. He was my first friend in Highschool, he made me feel not so lost." When in the winding corridors of a never-ending world of education, I was glad to have a friendly hand gripping me tightly and pulling me along. I would've been lost without the little friend, even if back then we didn't talk much, it was like having Caspar the friendly ghost showing me how to survive. Just transparent enough to know he was there but not quite solid enough to keep a hold on forever - eventually we both made new friends and separated, only to rejoin when the confusing school systems became as natural to us as breathing.
"Better than Archie?" Caleb yawned, I stroked his hair softly.
"It's not the same," was all I could think to say but it didn't matter because Caleb had fallen asleep. His light snores filled the air as I carefully got off the bed and covered him in the duvet before leaving him to sleep. It was nice to talk about the good things again.