Chapter 11: Falling Through Permission Slips
I hadn’t talked to Shane since when he tried to kiss me in the tent, and it’s not like he made much of an effort to talk to me himself either. Despite having to sleep in the same tent, we had been avoiding one another for most of the past two days. It felt strange though; not talking to him was a pain. We’d become such good friends and one little screw-up caused our voices to drain. I wanted to talk to Shane, I really did, but every time I tried it would be awkward.
On the third day of the two of us “ignoring” each other I had had enough. I couldn’t do this for much longer and I realised how silly it really was. We were adults throwing a hissy fit over a kiss gone wrong. I sat by myself by the lake once more and began to laugh, despite the fact that there was no one around.
“Stupid, stupid girl.” I muttered to myself as I threw rocks into the lake, the rocks making a loud plop when they splashed into the water.
I forced myself up off the ground and took a deep breath before talking to myself again, “you’re an idiot Zel. The poor guy probably thinks that you hate him when you’re just the awkward fuck to blame.”
I took one last look at the lake and left the area, heading back over to the campsite where I knew he would be.
“Go and apologize,” I hissed, “now.”
I figured that I had done all the talking to myself that I needed to do, now ready to go and face Shane.
It was a slower walk this time around, the walk from the lake to the camp taking a good twenty-five minutes rather than the usual ten. As soon as I arrived at the campsite, I made my way over to the our tent, unzipping the entrance and poking my head inside.
“Shane.” I whispered, looking around, “you in here?”
No answer. He was not inside the tent.
I got back out of the tent and wandered over to the RV where Dale stood watch up on top of the RV. I called out to Dale to catch his attention and he looked down at me, his bucket hat soaking up the poisonous rays of the sun directly above.
“You see Shane around anywhere?” I asked him.
“Yeah, he went on a run down to the lake with Morales to get some more water for us all.” Said Dale.
“I was just at the lake, no one was down there.”
“He literally left camp like six minutes ago.”
“That would explain it,” I muttered, “thanks.”
Morales? I’d heard the name before and perhaps seen him around, but Morales wasn’t someone I hung around too often; not because he was a bad person, but purely because I didn’t have much reason too. Morales had his family here too: his wife, daughter and son. Him and his family where much like the Peletier family, just without all the abuse. The reason I compared the two families together was because, while they did interact with the rest of the group, they mainly stuck to their families, so unless you were on duty with them you didn’t communicate much with them.
I needed something to do, but many duties were already taken. I saw I wasn’t the only lazy ass around here as my eyes focused on Daryl who was simply cleaning the arrows to his crossbow.
“Need any help?” I asked him as I sat down on the dirty ground beside him.
“Nah, do you need help with anything?” he asked me.
“Nope. I got nothing to do and I’m bored shitless.” I complained, wiping the sweat that collected on my forehead.
“We could always go for a bit of a hunt around the forest,” suggested Daryl, shrugging his shoulders, “I doubt anybody in the camp would complain about extra food.”
“Cool, we can go look for some berries. The kids need something sweet every now and then.”
“Maybe we’ll find a deer if we’re lucky.” Grinned Daryl, getting up from the ground and setting up his arrows and crossbow, “let’s go then.”
I nodded and we made our way over to the RV yet again to alert Dale that we’d be off. He nodded, accepting our suggestion to go and do a spot of hunting. Elated at Dale’s approval, Daryl and I set off and into the woods. We weren’t bothering to take a car or even his motorbike as we wouldn’t be going far. Daryl and I had planned for the two of us to not walk more than thirty minutes from the camp, and even us going that far was unlikely.
“You alright?” asked Daryl as we trekked through the forest in what was previously silence.
“Honestly? I don’t know.” I sighed, “just having…. I don’t know… guy problems.”
“The world has gone to shit and you chicks still manage to have guy problems? Your species amazes me sometimes.” Snickered Daryl.
“Ditto to that.”
We walked on for a bit more, stopping at some bushes every now and then and checking to see whether the berries were poisonous or okay to eat. Daryl knew how to tell the toxic berries apart from the healthy ones, so it was great to have him along with me. You’d be shocked how many berries that look like blueberries are actually deadly to eat; same goes for blackberries. We picked almost a small basketful of raspberries within around a good twenty minutes of walking about, knowing how delighted the kids of the group would be to see the number of these.
“So we got heaps of berries and barely any meat.” Frowned Daryl as he held up the singular woodchuck that he’d shot down with his arrow.
“Mmmm, that’s no good.” I said flatly, “where do you think all the animals have gone?”
“We probably ate them all.” Joked Daryl as he slung the rope of woodchuck over one shoulder.
“Maybe we’ll find something as we head back to camp.” I smiled, picking up a juicy red raspberry and popping it delicately into my mouth.
Daryl nodded and we were on our way yet again.
We had walked quite far out from the camp, maybe 25 minutes or so. That wasn’t a good sign as it was indeed getting a tad dark. I still had something I needed to do today, and that was apologise to Shane. I felt like a bitch with the way I was ignoring him and I had to make things right. It wasn’t his fault. He plucked up the courage to kiss me and I chickened out and walked away without further ado. And it’s not that I didn’t want to kiss Shane for I most definitely did. He was very good looking and I was a sucker for his bad-boy personality.
We were only about ten minutes or so away from the camp when Daryl spotted a deer feeding on something. His face lit up at his positioned his crossbow at the beautiful creature. I crouched down to help me remain silent.
“Dinner.” He grinned as he shot the arrow directly into the deer’s neck. I was standing here and thinking about how lucky it was that Lola was off somewhere with Amy and not with me, for she’d probably have a fit and break down at the sight of the majestic animal dead on the ground, bleeding profusely from its neck.
“I’ll go help you carry it.” I said, getting up from my crouching position and beginning to walk up ahead when the sound of shuffled footsteps echoed through the forest, the feet accompanied by a strange gurgling noise that sounded like someone was being strangled.
“Stay back!” hissed Daryl as he stretched his arm out in front of me and pushed me back gently.
Out of the bush across from the deceased deer on the opposite side of us slumped a dead-one, its foot twitching with each step. The dead-one’s eyes were hungry for anything they could get their hands on. It’s arms were stretched out eagerly as it approached the deer with a constant limp, the growling noises it was making only growing louder with its excitement.
“Holy shit,” I whispered as the dead-one kneeled clumsily by the deer and tore into it, “they… they never come this far up.”
“Must be running out of food in the city,” frowned Daryl as he loaded another arrow into the crossbow, “and you know what that means.”
“We’re about to become their next source of food.” I whimpered, clamping my hand over my mouth in fear, trying to stop myself from crying. I didn’t want to move; leave again. I was sick of living a nomadic lifestyle and just wished to remain in one place for longer than two weeks’ time.
Daryl aimed his crossbow at the dead-one and fired, hitting the thing right in the head, the arrow piercing the brain as a bit of blood spatter occurred, the undead creature falling lifelessly to the ground and on top of the deer.
“Son of a bitch,” spat Daryl as we made our way over to the deer, “that was my deer!”
I didn’t say anything but stare at the dead-one on top of the deer. I bent down and grabbed it by the leg, pulling it off of the fallen animal and kicking it in the head out of frustration.
“Look at it,” sulked Daryl as he gestured towards the deer, “all gnawed on by this filthy, disease-bearing, motherless, poxy, bastard!”
Daryl left the deer’s side and jogged over to the dead-one I had just removed and began to kick it repeatedly due to his anger at what was going to be a fabulous dinner now spoilt.
“Do you think we could cut around this chewed up bit right here?” asked Daryl.
“There’s no way in hell we’re risking that.” I muttered, shaking my head, “whatever disease the dead-one is infected with has already entered the bloodstream of the deer, it’d be a mistake trying to save it.”
“Shame.” Frowned Daryl as we left the spot where the deer had been killed and headed back to camp.
By the time that Daryl and I had gotten back to camp, the memory of the dead-one so close to the camp was far behind, my concern for Shane and I’s friendship taking its place. I handed the raspberries to Lori and Carol who both gave me kisses on the cheek and hugs for fetching them for the kids. There were so many that everybody in the camp could probably have about seven or so each with extra for the kids. I told them to thank Daryl as well, for if it hadn’t been for him we wouldn’t have found so many.
Next, it was time to do what I needed to do: make things right with Shane. I saw Shane was up on watch for the time being; perched up on top of the RV observing the other civilians of the camp. I climbed up the ladder to Shane and sat down next to him, dangling my feet over the side of the RV.
“We need to talk.” I whispered, the awkwardness creeping in at this point.
“Yeah, we do.” Frowned Shane as he combed his hand through his dark brown hair.
“Do you think you could get someone else on watch for a little? I think we should talk a little more privately.”
“This is private, no one can hear us.” Sighed Shane.
“Okay, let me rephrase that: let’s go somewhere nice and chat to break down the awkward stuff in the air.”
Shane nodded and called out to Rick, motioning for him to come over with his hand.
Shane and I climbed down the ladder of the RV as Shane asked Rick whether he could take watch for a bit. Rick agreed and we set off, me taking the lead. Before we left off, the two of us grabbed some weapons. I shoved a handgun in my pocket and my trusty pocket knife that I carried around everywhere, Shane deciding on taking a shotgun with him just in case of anything major happening. Shane wasn’t sure where I was taking him, and for a moment, neither did I. Seeing as the sun was going down, I wanted to take Shane somewhere pretty where, like I said before, it wouldn’t be so awkward. I decided that I would drag him over to the lake a few minutes away from the actual camp. It appeared to be that neither of us actually cared whether we would miss out on dinner or not so we took our time with the walk.
As soon as we had arrived by the lake, we sat down next to each other on some rocks by the water where Carl and Shane were mucking around a few days ago.
“Okay, first things first, I’m sorry.” I said, heaving a sigh, “I was an idiot Shane, I really was. I’m so sorry.”
“Naw, I’m sorry too.” Muttered Shane, shaking his head, “I was being a douchebag, thinking you’d want to just kiss me like that.”
“No, you weren’t a douchebag to think that.” I said firmly, “you were right. I wanted to kiss you Shane, and I still do.”
He looked up at me, his sorry eyes widening with my words.
“I was just scared you know,” I breathed, “I was scared that if I kissed you, I’d fall in love with you and this apocalyptic world doesn’t have a place for love.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because everyone you love dies.”
Silence overcame the two of us as we stayed quiet and watched the burning sun set agonizingly slowly in the sky overlooking the lake.
“But you don’t get a choice who you fall for,” I continued, “and I’m too late to turn around now. I’ve already fallen and I can’t see myself getting back up anytime soon.”
Shane looked back to me and then down at the rock where both our hands were laying side by side. He slowly reached out and held my hand, giving it a gentle squeeze to let me know he was there and maybe, just maybe, he always would be. I didn’t let go of his hand. I kept it next to me, I kept holding onto it and not wanting to release it for it was comforting.
“I’m down Shane. I’ve fallen.” I mumbled, “I’ve fallen for you.”
I leaned my head in closer to Shane as his head converged on mine. Our noses were touching, brushing up against each other slightly and all I could hear was my kick-drum of a heartbeat and Shane’s heavy yet barely audible breathing.
“I’m guessing I’ve got permission to kiss you now?” he smirked, a sly smile that I missed to badly whipping onto his face.
I withdrew my head a bit and let out a giggle, “yes Shane, you have my permission.”
With that, his lips crashed into mine and my heart felt like it was about to burst at the seams. I could feel my heartbeat in my ears as we kissed, our lips dancing in the sunset. I could taste beer as I was kissing him, but a bit of mint as well. It went together quite nicely actually and made him pleasant to kiss. I smiled all the way through the moment, and I could feel he was smiling too.
Suddenly and completely out of nowhere, a females scream echoed in the distance. Shane and I broke apart, the two of us slightly out of breath from the kiss as we looked around trying to identify the voice. Unfortunately, it wasn’t only a single scream that we were hearing, it was a whole chorus of wails and outbursts and it was coming directly from the campsite.