Melt With You
Chapter 1
I stumble around, already knowing I probably won't make it. I'm losing more and more blood with every step. I'm alone again- not a soul (or walker) in sight. I can hear myself breathing heavily every time I move and my thigh throbs with overwhelming pain from where I was injured. Finally, out of the corner of my eye, I see a tall building with a tall fence. Assuming the fence is to keep the walkers out- there must be people inside.
As I approach the fence, I realize it's taller than I thought. I think about my leg and the pain I'm in but my hopes for people to help overrides the hurt. I brace myself for what I'm about to feel and make my way over the height. I land on the ground with a loud thud and I squeeze my eyes shut.
"Lady- what're you doin' here?" A tall, scruffy man with a large gun asks not so nicely.
"Listen-," I start.
"No, you listen. You can't just barge in here like you belong." He starts getting closer with his gun and I start scooting backwards.
"I just need help," I begin, "I just- I'm hurt. I've got no one. I just need help." He keeps getting closer and then grabs my arm to pull me up. "There's no one with me, I promise. I'm not going to hurt anyone."
"Name."
"Excuse me?"
"Are you fucking dumb? What's your damn name?"
"Mackenzie," I say reluctantly. I already regret trying to be nice. This guy's a piece of shit. He pulls out a walkie talkie from his back pocket of his ripped jeans and presses the little red button.
"Bill," he starts, "a new one just showed up. Her leg's bleedin' pretty badly."
"Um- just put her with the others."
"Got it."
After a short while, we arrive in this warehouse type facility. There are multiple other people here looking in rough of a shape, or worse than I do.
"Welcome to the pen, Piggy." The guard says as he roughly pushes me toward the others. I sneer at him and limp forward.
"Hey are you okay?" A man asked in a heavy accent. He reaches his hand out toward me and I flinch backward. "Shh," he says, "It's okay, I'm a doctor."
I silently look around, sort of uncomfortable with all of the stares. "My leg," I say. Although I am mostly confident and sassy, being in this apocalyptic nightmare can make anyone skeptical. "I got shot. On the way here- there was, there was a man. He shot me. He thought I was going to h- hurt him. Kill him." Everyone looks sympathetic. I am not asking for pity. "I'm okay, really I am."
"Let me bandage it." I hesitate for a second before giving in and walking towards the man. He motions for me to sit down on the hard ground and I comply. "I'm Carlos," he says as I pull down my running pants just enough to expose my wound. "My daughter- her name is Sarah." I small girl paces over to her father's side- smiling. Oddly optimistic for the situation at hand.
"Hi! I like your hair!" she exclaims. I wince and she takes a step back.
"Oh, I'm sorry- the leg just hurts. Thank you so much," I reply, trying to force a smile. This is when I realize the guard, I never caught his name, left us. These other people must be a group. They look to be in-prisoned here. What have I gotten myself into?
"How long ago did this happen?" The doctor asks.
"I don't know- maybe a day?"
"It's pretty bad- what was your name again?"
"It's Mackenzie," I quietly respond. The group is kind of just shuffling around awkwardly in the background. My pants are down. This is weird.
A tall man, probably around 25 or 26, walks up and crouches down so we're eye level. "Hey, shorty. How's it hangin'?" His accent is heavily southern and his hair is all mussed.
"You know," I smirk. He shakes his head and looks down at my leg.
"Hearts," he smiles, "cute." He's referring to my panties. Kill me now. I glare up at him causing him to get back on his feet and chuckle.
"That's Luke," Carlos says, finishing up tying my bandage. The cleaning hurt the most and the bandage is really tight around my leg but I am thankful for the help.
"Ain't he something."
I pull up my pants and adjust my white (well, not so white anymore) t-shirt. Back on my feet- I'm now starting to become more comfortable with the whole situation. I walk over to some plastic chairs placed in a circle. There are multiple people seated and a dark-skinned woman gestures for me to sit down. I smile at her kindness. "Hello, baby. How old are you?" She says, quite maternally.
"I just turned 18." She smiles at me and bows her head- I know what she's thinking. I'm too young to be alone. I know.
"I'm Rebecca," she says, resting her hand on her belly. "This is my husband, Alvin." I raise my hand and slightly wave.
"I'm Nick- Luke's best friend. And this is my uncle Pete," a farm boy says to me.
"Mackenzie," I reiterate. Everyone is so friendly here- although this place reminds me of a hardcore fucking cult- I'm assuming they have had it pretty good up until this point. Luke walks up behind Nick and puts his hand on the back of his neck and then knocked Nick's hat off.
"Watch it, dick head." I shake my head at their "best friend" antics.
"How long you been by yourself, kiddo?" Luke rolls up the sleeves of his light brown shirt.
"About a week, I think. I had a group- at one time- I'm the only one left. I was, I was with my mom and her best friend, Lucy, and Lucy's husband and son. My mom, she got bit really early on and Howard had to shoot her. He couldn't deal with the guilt anymore so he killed himself. It was just me, Lucy and her kid for a while but Lucy was pregnant and just couldn't make it anymore." Rebecca looked down and started rubbing her protruding belly again- probably not the right thing to say. I continue. "So, it was Garrett and I for a while. But, about a week ago, he was younger than me- I think 14, we were moving from our post. I couldn't take care of the both of us- I tried to save him- I really did. But he got bit by a walker. Right on the neck- I had to shoot him," I point to my small pistol sticking out of the waist of my tight Nike running pants. I look down and start to fiddle with my fingers. "I've never killed anyone before- not anyone I knew." Everyone remained silent.
"We've all been through it, sweetheart," Pete says. His eyes are soft with empathy. I put my hands on my face and rub- tiredness hitting me all at once.
Another guard- this one a woman and red-headed- walks into the warehouse. "Hey guys," she says loudly, "y'all should try and get some sleep- you're workin' hard tomorrow." This guard, who I will come to know as Bonnie, seems much nicer than the former man who was in here. Everyone begins to shift and nod and yawn. She shoots a small smile my way and puts her gun on her back- walking out. We're left alone again. This might be okay.