It was too hot. Slowly prying my eyes open revealed a hint of the dawn creeping in through the ruffled curtains on the window. The arms that were wrapped around me too tightly were the only thing keeping me from tumbling out of the bed that wasn't really big enough for two. A smile made an appearance on my face. I was rapidly getting used to waking up in similar situations each morning.
Ever since the night that he had first made room for me in bed next to him, and made me feel safe, we'd been sharing whatever space Shawn ended up sleeping in. It was nice, not waking up alone. I didn't even mind that he alway crowded me.
Shawn was really clingy in his sleep, always making some sort of contact, and following me unconsciously if I moved away even a few inches. I was starting to get used to waking up overheated and half way smothered. It was too hot most of the time to stay that close, but that didn't seem to bother him at all. If I was honest with myself, I was more than ok with the affection, even if he wasn't awake when he was giving it.
A low thump came from somewhere else in the house, and Rex jumped up from where he had been laying on the purple carpet. Ears that were too big for his head perked up and he glanced my way before trotting to the closed door.
"Alright. I'm coming," I whispered. Prying myself free from Shawn's death grip was always a feat. He usually woke up first, but on the rare occasion I was up before him, I took great pains to try not to wake him up. We were all pretty tired, he needed any extra rest he could get. I finally managed to slip from the bed and stretched the shoulder that was cramped from laying in such an awkward position for too long.
If the dog wanted out, then that must have meant that Luna was awake. Rex would want to go to her. He adored the little girl and kept an eye on her as well as any watch dog that I'd ever seen. Stifling a yawn, I opened the door for the dog to slip out. Instantly, he dashed out and was through the door across the hall. Charlie was going to regret not closing that door tight in about a half of a second. The thought made me smile again.
Luna had climbed under the blue covers of a top bunk over there shortly after we cleared the house. Completely exhausted, we had trouble convincing her to even eat something before she went to sleep. I had glanced in on her a few times during my turn on watch. The kid had barely moved all night.
She was awake now. And giggling. I looked in to the room to find Rex dancing around the girl in circles, tail wagging madly, one of her sneakers dangling from his jaws.
The hint of a smile on my face threatened to grow when Charlie grumbled from the bottom bunk, "You two pests go do that somewhere else." She yanked a blanket with dinosaurs on it over her head.
Still giggling and looking unapologetic, Luna wrangled her shoe from the dog before the pair slipped past me and ran down the hall. I followed them at a more reasonable pace, and by the time I made it to the kitchen, Luna was already seated at the bar with an open box of cereal in front of her.
This house had turned out to be one of the few we'd seen that appeared completely untouched. It had the typical disarray that you expected of a house with multiple kids, but nothing inside or out gave any indication that the world had ended. The family must not have been home when it happened. I hoped that meant that they were all together somewhere, maybe staying safe on some tropical island that had escaped the zombies.
Probably not, but a girl could dream.
Rex was waiting by the kitchen door. After a quick check outside, I opened it for him to go out. The town appeared completely deserted and zombie free, but a chill worked it's way down my spine anyway as I lingered by the door waiting for the dog. There was something almost unnatural about the place, with it's dead silence and foul smell. We wouldn't be staying long and for that I was grateful.
Back at the bar, I helped myself to a bottle of water someone had found in the pantry the night before. It had been a relief to find, but as dehydrated as everyone was, the water wasn't going to last very long. Sliding onto a stool I noticed that Luna was sitting quietly, staring at the box of cereal with a far-away look on her face. She hadn't eaten any of the small O's that she'd poured into a pink bowl.
"You ok, kid?"
I must have startled her, because she jumped a little. Nodding slowly, she reached into the bowl and popped a piece into her mouth. "I don't like cereal," she told me around the bite. The tone of her voice was all wrong.
There was something there, some part of the story that I didn't know, but I didn't get a chance to pry.
Just then, the others began to filter into the kitchen, drawing my attention away from the somber girl.
"We're going to need to find some more water before we go. And hopefully a new ride," Maggie was talking over her shoulder as she walked in to the kitchen. Colton was just behind her. She noticed the two of us at the bar and smiled, "Morning, ladies."
"Hey," I grabbed a handful of cereal from the box and pushed it back in front of the girl. It was stale. I could agree with Luna on this one. Cereal was gross, and stale cereal was even worse. But it was food, and beggars couldn't be choosers any more.
Maggie leaned against the edge of the bar as she continued talking, "I think we should split into two groups to cover more ground. We should be able to find what we need and get back here in an hour, tops. Hopefully there are more houses like this one, with most of their supplies still inside. Then we can move on."
I nodded agreement as I chewed. As much as I just wanted to get out of there, we needed water. Over the next few minutes, the rest of our group wandered into the kitchen. We passed around the box of cereal and talked in low tones, eventually dividing into three groups. Alex would stay behind with Luna while the rest of us went in search of supplies. His ankle was slowing him down too much, and everyone agreed that the kid was safer waiting in the house that we had already cleared. Looking sideways at the nurse, I decided to leave Rex with Luna too. I knew the dog would protect the girl if need be. He'd already tangled with a nasty zombie once to do so.
It was still early in the morning when we walked out the front door.
Colton, Shawn, and I headed back the way we had come when we walked in to town. The others turned to explore the area we hadn't been in yet. The yards were small and the houses close together, and it took only seconds before we approached the first door.
This house hadn't escaped the chaos of the zombies. The front door stood open, a look inside showed us that belongings had been tossed around. Whoever had lived here appeared to have gathered a few things and left in a hurry.
Colton led our group as we searched quickly for anything that may have been left behind. My backpack was soon loaded down with cans that dug uncomfortably into my back. Shifting it to a more user friendly position, I looked into the garage in hopes of finding a vehicle.
The garage was already empty. Turning around, I headed back to meet the others by the front door.
"Looks like one of us made out alright," Shawn greeted me with a smile.
"Yeah. No car in the garage, though." I bounced the backpack again. "But a closet in the kitchen had a lot of food still in it."
"It's alright. There's bound to be something we can drive out of here somewhere," Colton came down the stairs. "Was there any water in the kitchen?"
"No. I took all of the food, but didn't find any water."
Nodding, he gestured towards the door. "Let's move on."
The next two houses were the same as the first. We found a few useful things that we stuffed into the bags. One house had a half of a case of bottled water in the fridge. I held my breath against the rotten food stench as Shawn and I scooped the bottles into his bag as fast as we could.
The bad mood that had been plaguing me lifted just a fraction as we hefted the full backpacks. If the other group made out as well as we had, we had enough necessities to keep us going for a little while.
"Found some water," I reported as we left the house.
Colton grinned at me, "That's great! I grabbed some medical stuff out of the bathroom. Looks like we're almost out of room." He gestured at the full bags.
"Yeah. Still no car, though. You would think that we would have found one by now."
He looked back the way we had come. "I think we have time for one more house. Maybe this one will have a vehicle left behind," he flashed a sardonic smile and I saw a glimpse of the old Colton in the expression.
I smiled back. "Ok," and followed behind Colton as he stepped over dead flowers to climb onto the porch. It was a relief to see a bit of his personality trying to return. What had happened had not been his fault, but we all knew that he was blaming himself.
Loaded down with a couple of heavy bags, Shawn brought up the rear of our small procession. Both the front door and garage doors to this house were still closed, and I hoped that meant that we would find what we were looking for inside. It couldn't be possible that the entire town had no working vehicles left at all.
The door was unlocked, and after knocking to make sure no zombies lurked inside, we walked in. The three of us had developed a pattern over the last few houses, and we split up to start our search. Finding the kitchen, I began opening cabinets, but someone had already beat me there. There wasn't anything edible left in the kitchen, just a bowl of long gone bad fruit on the counter that swarmed with tiny bugs.
Shawn had walked through the downstairs rooms, before going down into the basement. Done with the empty kitchen, I heard his boots coming back up, so I waited next to the open basement door.
"Nothing useful here," I reached up to brush a cobweb out of his hair. The basements were unanimously dark and dirty, and I was relieved that he always was the one to check them. The dark freaked me out.
He probably knew that, and that was why he always volunteered.
"Yeah. I didn't find anything good either. We can check the garage on our way out, but it looks like this house has already been picked over."
I was brushing the cobweb that was now stuck to my hand off on my pants when a sudden thump from over our heads made us both look up in alarm.
"Colton, you ok?"
We stared at each other for a second, waiting for Colton to call down, but heard nothing. The silence was total as we held our breath, listening.
Easing his backpack to the ground as quietly as possible, Shawn sent me a meaningful look, before walking to the bottom of the steps. He wanted me to wait downstairs but that wasn't going to happen. Following closely behind him, I adjusted my suddenly sweaty grip on my machete. The house wasn't that big. Colton would have heard my call.
The steps were carpeted and dark, and we crept up them without making much noise. The silence continued from upstairs, and I bit back the urge to call out to Colton again. The blood pounded in my ears by the time we reached the top step.
Shawn hesitated in front of me. I knew him. I knew that he was trying to figure out how to get me back down the steps, but couldn't figure out how to do it without making noise. There was no way that I was letting him go without someone to watch his back, and we both knew it. Frustrated, he glanced around. He was looking back at me again when a voice came from somewhere down the hall.
"Play with me."
What the hell? The voice was tinny and sharp, with a surreal quality that raised the hair on my arms.
Equally confused and alarmed, we crept slowly toward the noise. The two doors nearest to us were open and led into dimly lit bedrooms. No one seemed to be in either room, after a fast look around, so we moved down the hall.
The room at the end of the hall was brightly lit by the morning sun. The door stood partially open. Colton had to be in that room.
"What the..." Shawn stepped into the room.
I tried to see around him, and caught a glimpse of an almost completely empty space. Empty, except for the naked doll that sat crookedly in the middle of the carpeted floor.
"Play with me."
The creepy, childish voice came from the doll.