The sun is coming up. I can just make out the red streaked sky through the thick foliage. I lean my back against the trunk of a rather uncomfortable tree. 'Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning,' I think to myself, then proceed to think that there probably wasn't any sailors out there worrying about weather on the ocean right now. My stomach suddenly growls, and quite loudly judging by the way Maximus looks up at me, and I double over in pain from it cramping. The cramps were starting to get worse, they felt like teeth tearing through my insides, exactly how I'd think it'd feel if my body was literally eating itself.
"Its okay boy," I pat Max on the head. "I'll be okay."
I chant it a few more times I think hoping that I will start believing it myself. I drop my pack off my shoulder while sinking to my knees with it. On the very top was my very last box of granola bars; I had been saving them because they were my favorite, chocolate covered coconut. I rip open the box, then the individually wrapped bar and stick the bar in my mouth while I continue digging in my pack. I've finished munching my granola bar when I finally retrieve the last four packs of dog food I have.
"Gonna have to find a house to loot pretty soon, boy," I tell Maximus as I tear all four pouches open and dump them on the ground. He starts chomping away at the pile as I open another bar and begin to chomp on that myself. We hadn't found a house to ransack in a week, I was running low on water and I was desperate for a real bed to sleep in. I lean up against the tree while I finish off the box of granola bars. Max finishes his food in record time and sits down in front of me and just stares at me licking his chops.
"I don't got anything else Max," I tell him, giving him scratch under the chin. He used to be a pretty buff dog but since we've been separated from the rest of our group he's lost quite a bit of weight. And he's in serious need for a bath, the poor dog at one point had been white and now he's mostly brown from dirt and grime but a lot of it is dried blood especially around his muzzle. I pick up my bow and quiver and lay it across my lap so there will be room for Max to sit next to me. He curls up as close to my thigh as he can get, resting his head on top off my thigh.
The sun as brightened and it was starting to get a bit warmer, soon I will be sweating my ass off trekking through these damn trees. My stomach growls softly, like it was reminding me that it would not be silenced. I pull out a pack of cigarettes from the front pocket of my jeans and pull out my last joint, leaving my last two cigarettes for later. Quickly, I stuff all my garbage back into my pack before zipping it and slinging it onto my back. I just get stood up and was lighting the joint when suddenly Maximus's ears lay flat against his head and he growls very quietly.
"Fuck," I whisper as I, too, hear the faint rustling of the foliage caused from corpses forever wandering.
"Come," I add, even more of a whisper then before. I walk as silently as I can manage, continuing west following the sun's path in the sky. Maximus keeps close to my heels and his eyes alert.
Its been several hours, the sun shines from directly above me now, and I think I've finally lost the wanderer. I unhook a gallon jug of water from my waist and take a long drink from it. I only had one more full jug after this and my cottonmouth wasn't helping preserve any water. Max sits down and stares at me waiting for his own drink, from a side pocket of my pack I manage to slide out an old whip cream bowl. Max's tail whips back and forth when I drop the bowl and fill it to the top with water.
I untuck the rest of my joint from behind my ear and lit it so I can finish it while Max drinks. Its not the best tasting stuff I've found but at least I didn't cough up a lung with every hit. That always sends corpses stumbling in my direction. I smoke it down to almost nothing before I snub it out against a tree and stick it back into my pack of cigarettes. Max drinks the entire bowl of water, which makes me feel a bit guilty for not stopping and giving him some earlier, but I pick up the bowl and I'm stuffing it back into the pocket when there is a crash from behind me.
I have an arrow knocked and draw it back while Max's hackles rise and his lips curl in a silent growl. Even though I stand completely still, all of my senses in complete alert, when the corpse stumbles out from behind a tree I hesitate. Every time I see one all I do is remember the first time one stumbles out of nowhere and trips over its self trying to get to me. I shake away the flashback and release my arrow straight into the corpses' head. Max leaps forward and bites into its neck before fetching my arrow.
"Good boy," I whisper taking the arrow from him and nocking it a second time. The woods are insanely quiet, I really miss noises. I start walking still following the sun's path, Max follows me without having to say anything.
I hear rustling and at one point even the horrible moans of a corpse nearby. Suddenly, Max snarls and lunges past me where a corpse falls out of a bush he grabs it by the throat just as I let my arrow fly straight into its glazed over lifeless eye. Again Max pulls it out and returns it to me, and I nock it a third time. I start walking again but I only get a few steps when I trip over a branch laying on the ground and fall to my face. I have to bite my lip to keep from screaming, crying, and cussing my lungs out. I roll over and use the thick branch I tripped on to help myself up.
My first instinct is to whistle once to call Max and keep him close but I know the whistle will carry further then my voice so I just say his name through gritted teeth. He is on my heels regardless, as I should have known he would be, as I now limp my way forward. I sling my bow over my shoulder and stick my dirty arrow with the rest in my quiver, I figure using my pistol would be a bit easier. I really hate using the loud thing but desperate times cause for desperate measures. Every step is horrific, coupled with the fact I had no idea how many corpses were out there hunting me, I was really feeling desolate.
Finally after feels like months, but when I look at my watch its only been an hour since my last stop, I lean my back against a tree and take another long drink from the water jug. My ankle is killing me. I don't hear any noises around me at the moment so I take a chance to roll my pant leg up to look my ankle over. I have to untie my boot but I don't have the strength to pull it off, but I fold the sides down to see my ankle already turned blue and dark purple and its twice as big as the other one. Max's ears perk and he let's out a low growl, but for once I ignore him and reach for the hidden pocket that I keep my looted drugs in.
I pull out a large orange prescription bottle. Ever since the beginning of the end, after we left the bomb shelter, my friends and I kept an eye out for marijuana. It wasn't until we came across a Mr. Merle Dixon that we started saving other types of drugs we came across. For awhile he was even our biggest customer, trading pills for fresh meat, fresh water, ammo, or whatever he had we wanted. And there was a few other groups or individuals we came across that was happy to see what we had to trade. Merle was a smart man, untrustworthy, slimy, and a bit of a sadist, but a smart man.
"Whatever kind of shit hits the fan you can always rely on two things, Lil Miss," he told me the last time I had ran across him, which had only been a few days after Max and I got separated from everyone else.
"And what would they be, Dixon?" I inquired with a slight smile.
"There will be people that want drugs and people that have drugs," he chuckled tucking the orange bottle I had gave him into his pocket.
"Ever thought you'd be on the other side?" I asked as I picked meat of of the squirrel he had cooked for us.
He just laughed and patted me on the head, he was always condescending like that, especially to me. It would drive Dylan up the wall but I would just shrug it off, at least he wasn't hitting me. The last I had seen of Merle was his back as he left me and Max alone.
Max growled again, bring my attention back to the present, I quickly looked around and didn't see a corpse baring down on me so I figured I still had a minute. I open the pill bottle and dump four of the yellow pills into my hand before throwing them into my mouth. I take another swig to wash them down, stick the bottle into the pocket on my skirt before tying my boot again as tight as I can get it. I hope that my boot will stop my ankle from swelling anymore and thankfully, it doesn't take long until I feel my stomach churn as the pain killers kick in.
Eventually, the sun drops and we are stuck walking blindly in the dark. The moon is almost full so at least it shines enough light on us that I would be able to see a corpse in enough time to hopefully take it out. Normally as soon as the sun set I would climb a tree and sleep up in the branches but with my ankle swelled I knew I wouldn't have a chance climbing. I stopped one more time to swallow another couple pills, they really helped numb the pain in my ankle and I needed all the help I could get. 'Just make it through the night,' I repeat over and over in my head, not daring to speak out loud.
The night drags on and I just get weaker. Every step I take I rely even more on my walking stick. I dig the prescription bottle back out of my bag and swallow a few more pain pills. This time they don't make my stomach churn nearly as bad as the first hand full I swallowed but they definitely start to affect my head. I think I can see the sky getting a little lighter when I finally have to just stop. I ease myself onto the ground and gather some forest debris about me to cover my legs. I really hope the sudden drop in temperature signals that it is in fact the sun coming up. I remove my pack and bow off of my back and lay down, still clutching my pistol in my right hand.
"Watch it, Max," I mutter as I cover more of my body in dead leaves and let my mind succumb to the pill high.