Chapter 2

It didn't make sense to try and fight their way out to the next safe house with Dee's arm as weak as it was. Todd checked his watch. It was almost noon, just as his stomach had been hinting for the last hour. He quietly put his pants back on. Dee was asleep again, but she seemed to be far more stable this time. She didn't exhibit any signs of a concussion, just anemia. Fortunately, the gaping hole in her arm had begun to coagulate, so he was able to remove the tourniquet without too much worry. He watched the steady rise and fall of her chest and played her mumbled words in his head for the twentieth time.

Tell her like you told me. He'd heard that before, but he couldn't place it. Tell who what?

He shrugged into his shirt and dug through the meager remainder of their supplies. They had four pieces of jerky and a can of spam left. He bit into strip of jerky and hoped it would be enough to quell his protesting stomach. He lifted his shirt as he chewed and looked at the woefully apparent spaces between his ribs. Dee's were worse. The thought instantly soured the urge to take another piece of jerky. He set about cleaning their guns instead.

Dee's sleep was long but fitful. The burning in her arm woke her every time she attempted to roll onto her side. An uncomfortable lump had formed on the back of her head, too. Eventually, she gave up and opened her eyes. Todd was cleaning her pistol.

"You decided to put on clothes," she observed with a tired smile.

He blushed a bit and his grey gaze briefly met her face.

"I was trying to help," he said with a cautious partial smile.

Her past words popped unbidden into her head. Tell her like you told me. Maybe it was her brush with death, or maybe it was the idea that they were the last ones left. Maybe it was delirium from losing too much blood. Whatever the reason, her mouth moved on its own.

"It felt nice," she said, and bit her tongue as she awaited his response.

He was stock still for a moment. He blinked at her and straightened up, his mouth quirking as it tended to do. Her heart thudded hard and she felt blood seep faster into her bandages. Todd put the gun aside.

"You did? I thought you were freaked out."

"Well, a little. I wasn't exactly expecting you to be only in your skivvies when I woke up." Todd's face grew hotter and he dropped his gaze. "It still felt nice, though," she quickly amended.

Todd mumbled something too low for Dee to hear and picked up the gun again to finish cleaning it. Soon it was positively spotless, but he kept polishing it slowly and methodically, his expression miles away. Dee shifted under the sleeping bag.

"Did I say something wrong?"

Todd blinked and shook away his reverie. He smiled at her.

"Nope, just thinking."

"About what?"

"That you really should eat something," he said sliding the bag of jerky and can of spam across the floor to her. She frowned at him and picked out a thicker piece of jerky and began to gnaw on it. She closed the bag and made to slide it back to Todd. He shook his head.

"That's not near enough. You should have the rest of it… and the spam, too."

Dee bit down with her molars and tore off a bite of jerky.

"But what about you?" she asked, her words muffled slightly by the mouthful of food. She was hungrier than she had thought.

Todd shrugged a shoulder and put the gun aside.

"I already ate. Besides, we're going to get to the next safe house tomorrow. You'll need all the help you can get."

"Tomorrow?"

"We've spent more than enough time here. One more day, and we'll be completely out of supplies."

He was right. Three days in one safe house was a risk they probably wouldn't have taken if she hadn't gotten hurt. Now, thanks to that setback, they had about the equivalent of one medical kit between them, very little water, and barely enough ammunition to get them to the next safe house. To add to the fun, she was definitely going to be a hindrance now that she couldn't properly fire a gun.

"What time is it, now?" she asked.

Todd glanced at his wristwatch.

"Almost five. Why?"

"Well, I don't think the adrenaline has worn off completely yet. The sooner we go, the easier it will be for me to move."

"You want to go tonight," Todd clarified skeptically, "when you are still pale as a sheet?"

"It's either I travel with slower reflexes tomorrow, or run now while my body hasn't figured out how badly it's hurt."

Todd's face turned tense with concern.

"Just don't get hurt again, Dee," he said, finally, "I can only take so much of that in one day."

She wanted to say, well don't shoot me next time, but thought better of it. Instead, she tossed the can of spam to him.

"Here. I don't like spam."

Dee took the last few minutes before they braved the subway just outside of the apartment complex to jot down an entry in her diary.

November 14, 2031

A smoker strangled me, Todd shot me, and later he fondled me in his underwear. All in all, a good day.

She packed away the diary and bloodstained pen into her medical kit and picked up the rifle. There were no more cartridges for it, but she could swing it hard enough to do some damage. It was a lot better than trying to shoot straight with a bad arm. Todd finished reloading his standard, the AK-47, and picked off what zombies he could see. He checked the crumpled and worn map to the next safe house one more time before opening the door. A chill rushed over Dee. It always felt better to have the door closed.

The stairs down to the subway line were eerily quiet. Todd swept the staircase with the beam of his flashlight again and again with nervous energy. Still silent. Dee's muscles wound painfully tight with each passing moment of stillness. She felt her bandages start to dampen with blood again and couldn't help but think that the scent of it might be a beacon for the Infected. She tried to relax, but it proved impossible.

As quickly and quietly as they could, Todd and Dee made their way down the stairs and into the lobby of the subway station. Fluorescent lights flickered and buzzed erratically above them, casting strange shapes on the walls that seemed to move. A thread of blood unraveled from Dee's wound and splatted onto the floor before she could wipe it away. Somewhere in the lobby, something growled.

Todd cringed and pushed Dee up against a wall behind him. He crouched, looking around frantically for the source of the growl. Dee held her rifle like a baseball bat, ready to strike if the Infected decided to attack. The shadows continued to flutter wildly around the lobby. They couldn't be sure which one had teeth, and staying still was wasting time. They had to press on.

There was another set of stairs leading up out of the lobby. They passed silently through the turnstiles without too much incident and made their way up the stairs. Halfway up, they heard something clatter against the arms of a turnstile and a screech of frustration. The Hunter had given away his position. They ran up the stairs and were met with another fairly sized room with the subway tracks running along the opposite wall, but this one did not have shadows to worry about. It was entirely dark.

Todd checked around the corner that led to the subway tracks while Dee watched the large room and stairs. All seemed clear, so they scurried down the tracks and through abandoned subway cars. That is, until the ground started to shake and a sound like an angered bull echoed somewhere in the tunnel. A Tank. The two burst into a sprint down the tracks, hoping that they weren't heading toward their monstrous foe.

A snarl came from somewhere over Todd's shoulder, followed by resounding thud of the Hunter landing on top of one of the subway cars. Todd turned and fired, but their pursuer ducked at the last moment. They had to keep running. The thundering vibrations from the Tank were getting stronger by the moment. To their left lay a loading station and flight of stairs. Todd was up on the ledge of the loading bay helping Dee up when they finally saw the hulking beast charging down the tracks.

The Tank's upper body was massive and covered in blood and grime. Its comparatively small face was nestled deep into its enormous surrounding muscles and glaring evilly at them with inhuman intent. It roared and bent to tear a section of track out of the ground to throw at Todd and Dee. They flung themselves into the stairwell just as the beast was able to rip the track free and hurl it against the doorjamb.

"Good, it blocked its own path," panted Todd as they sprinted up the stairs and into a large electrical generator facility.

The massive room was dark, but that suited them fine. At least, it did until Dee slipped on some unseen object on the floor and almost toppled a large plywood barricade left by the people who had gone before them. Luckily, the offending item beneath her foot turned out to be a pipe bomb, probably put together by a survivor that had gone before them. That could come in handy.

On the other side of the generator room lay a metal door that had been ripped quite forcibly off of its track. Below, it sounded like the Tank was doing its best to bulldoze its way up the stairs and the Hunter was howling in frustration that the big brute wouldn't let him through. They slipped through the metal door and took the stairs in front of them up to the second story where a cluster of offices sat in utter disarray. There was no time to lose. From the slams and roars they heard, the Tank was succeeding in bashing its way into the generator room.

Past the offices was another flight of stairs that led down to the lobby of the generator facility. Through the large windows of the lobby they could see the task ahead: a wide street positively flooded with Infected. Dee nudged Todd and handed him the pipe bomb that she had so clumsily found. He activated it and threw it, drawing the majority of the Infected with its beeps and small flashing lights. Behind them, the Hunter sprang through the door to the lobby.

They ran. Hard. According to the map, the safe house was only a couple blocks away in the back room of an old pawn shop. They could see it easily at the end of the street. The pipe bomb exploded and dispatched the hoard that had been milling about on the street. The Hunter, however, was unfazed and angry and not going to give up its prey. It climbed part way up a wall, leaped sideways, slammed into Todd, and took him down in a split second. Dee's heart stopped as she watched his AK-47 go clattering across the pavement, too far from reach. The creature started to rip at Todd's stomach with its horrible claws. Dee hammered at the monster with the butt of her rifle, striking it again and again on its blue-hooded head. Todd was able to shove the Hunter off while she had it distracted and grab his pistol from his side.

He was a little woozy. One shot ricocheted off of a nearby lamp post, but the other bit deep into the Hunter's shoulder. It screamed in agony and scuttled away down an alley. They took the opportunity to run like hell. Dee's arm was on fire from swinging the gun and blood was dripping down Todd's ruined shirt. They had to keep moving. The Hunter was tailing them, ready for more. They couldn't slow down. A Tank roared in the distance. There wasn't time. The gurgles and moans of the damned were drawing together in an uncanny chorus. Another wave was coming. Todd scooped up his AK-47 and the Hunter's claws narrowly missed him.

Finally, after what seemed like ages of pushing their burning muscles to move faster, Todd slid the lock bar into place behind them. The Hunter slammed in frustration against the reinforced door of the safe house. Dee attempted to get rid of the thing with a bullet from her pistol, but her shot went wild when her arm spasmed in pain and she only managed to scare the creature deeper into the shadows. No matter. They were safe.