He stops and looks at me, “Is that water?”
I shake my head, “Sounds like it. Come on.” and we head toward the sound.
We come upon a river with some swift moving water and I tell Andrew, “We can clean up here. Stay in the water. They can’t get you in the water.” and I put my stuff down and wade out washing my face and hands and dipping my hair in the cold water. I perch myself on a rock and try to gather my thoughts. I feel like someone is staring and I look at Andrew who quickly looks away. I smile to myself and continue to soak up the sun. He starts to fill up his canteen and I stop him, “Don’t use this water. We don’t know what’s in it or what’s been in it. We will find some fresh water. We should be coming up on another city soon. We should probably start heading south west though. That way we are right on the coast when we hit California. My mom didn’t say where in California so it could be anywhere.”
He is hanging on my every word. I think to myself, ‘It wasn’t that interesting. What is he staring at?’ I look behind me to make sure something isn’t sneaking up on me and there is nothing. “What are you looking at?”
He quickly looks away, “I’m sorry. You just...I was...I’m sorry.” and he blushes slightly.
I wade out of the water and grab my stuff, “We need to get moving.” and he follows behind me.
We head south west through the woods and once on the other side of the forest we come across a small town. I turn to him, “We need to restock some food and water. We do this together. No splitting up.”
He smiles at me, “You aren’t getting rid of me I promise you that.” and we head for a cafe.
Once at the door he walks up on the porch and reaches for the door. I whisper loudly, “Andrew! What are you doing?”
He looks at me in a panic and comes back to my side. “Andrew you can’t just go barging in. What if there are dead in there. You wouldn’t stand a chance. We have to be smart about this.” I hand him an extra knife I had and tell him, “Stay here. Let me check it out.”
I walk quietly up to the cafe and peak in the windows. Nothing is stirring. I turn and motion for him to join me. Once by my side I tell him, “I don’t see anything but we don’t need any surprises.” and I tap on the windows with the butt of my knife. Still no movement so I carefully open the door and he follows me in.
He leaves the door open and I giggle slightly, “How did you survive this long? Close the door that way we don’t have any surprises while we are looking.” and he closes the door just smiling at me.
I instruct him, “Grab anything you think we will need that we can carry and won’t slow us down very much. I’m not sure when we will find anything else.” and we split up.
I’m bent down digging through a cabinet when I hear a board creak behind me. I draw my knife and spin around looking at Andrew standing over a body, “He almost got you. I saved your life this time.” he says with a satisfied look on his face.
I smile at him and give him a hug, “Then I guess I owe you this. What did you find?” He is beaming with pride when he shows me an axe. I laugh, “Okay but I mean food, water, stuff like that.”
I look through his backpack and tell him he did good and we set out again. We haven’t gone far before he asks, “So what did you do before all this?”
I wanted to lie and tell him because being an unemployed non college student just didn’t sound good but then I realized it really didn’t matter anymore, “I just graduated high school. Was getting ready to start college. What about you?”
He laughs, “I was starting an acting career.”
I laugh back, “Yeah okay.”
He shakes his head, “Seriously. I had flown to Portland to do a tv spot and everything fell apart. I’m actually from Los Angeles.”
I don’t even know what to say to that so I just stay silent.
He interrupts the awkward silence, “So what were you going to study in college?”
“I hadn’t really gotten that far. Both my parents were in the medical field but I hadn’t made up my mind to be honest.” I hesitate before asking, “So how old are you?”
“I just turned twenty five.” He chuckles, “My birthday wish was to survive.”
I laugh heartily, “Mine to. I turned twenty. I should have graduated way before I did but I got held back a couple times. It was a real disappointment to my parents.” my tone saddened.
He puts his arm around me, “I’m sure you weren’t a disappointment to them. What happened to them?”
The tears start to well in my eyes and he never moves his arm, “My mom took her own life and my dad was a doctor and he got bitten so well...you know.”
As the first tear stained my cheek he stepped in front of me, wrapping his arms around me, “I’m so sorry. I know that has to be really hard.”
I dry my eyes and quickly pull away from him, “Yeah it wasn’t any fun. What about your parents?”
We start to walk again and he quietly states, “They died years ago. I’m almost glad they didn’t live to see this.”
I look at him, “So is there anybody in Los Angeles you care about?”
He hangs his head slightly, “Well I did have a fiance but...”
I cut him off, “Its okay. Do you want to make LA our destination so you can find her?”
He tightens his grip on me slightly, “Honestly I don’t think that would be a good idea. I mean I loved her but I’m pretty sure she didn’t make it.” He hesitates, “And after all of this I’m beginning to think she wasn’t the right woman for me all along.”
He moves his arm and puts some distance between us almost like he is ashamed of what he just said.
I smile at him slightly, “Sometimes it takes a life threatening situation to make you realize what is real and what isn’t.”
He hesitates, “You were a tomboy weren’t you?”
I look at him disgusted, “What are you trying to say?”
He starts to apologize, “I didn’t mean anything by it. I just meant the way you seem to know to survive and aren’t scared to get your hands dirty.”
I shake my head, “I guess a little.”
He laughs slightly, “So you were into football and hunting and all that stuff weren’t you? I bet you had the guys lined up.”
I look at the ground, “I loved football, fishing, and hunting but...” My voice trails off.
He pushes, “But what? I would have loved a woman that loves all of that and still looks...” and he starts to blush, “I mean...”
I stop and look at him, “Are you hitting on me?” I almost joke.
He shakes his head, “No I mean maybe...” he looks confused, “I don’t know...”
I put my hand on his shoulder, “Trust me, you don’t want me.” and as I walk off I mumble, “Nobody else ever did.”
He catches up to me and the awkward silence is back. Neither of us spoke another word the rest of the day.
The sun was starting to set and we came upon a small town. “We should find somewhere to stay for the night. Look for a house with a gas tank near it.”
He looks confused, “Why?”
I smiles at him, “Well if they have a gas tank they might have lights and even if they don’t have lights they might have a stove that works and we could have something warm to eat and hot water.”
He looks impressed, “Wow you really know your stuff don’t you?”
I sigh, “Most of it. If only I knew how to hot-wire a car we might really make some time.”
He gets a strange look on his face but never says a word.
Walking through town and you see the doctors office with bodies burned in the street in front of it, “I guess burning them works to but I wouldn’t want to get that close to them.” I joke.
There are dead walking around but they are far enough off they won’t make it to us by the time we find somewhere to stay. Finally we find a house that meets my requirements. At the bottom of the steps leading up to the porch, Andrew stops, “Are you sure about this?”
I look around and there are a few dead slowly coming our way, “Well if you don’t want to come in then you could always stay out here and make some new friends.” I giggle.
We get to the door and I explain, “When we go in we need to make sure the house is clear. I will take the upstairs and you take the downstairs.”
He shakes his head, letting me know he understands and I slowly turn the knob and carefully open the door. We slowly walk in and he disappears while I head up the stairs with my knife on the ready.
Continued...