One
The humid air and brutal heat refused to break as Ashley and Grant hiked. Moisture gathered on their skin and their clothes stuck to their bodies. Ashley hummed as she marched onward, her hand clasped around a knife that she used to cut vines and leaves, and a shiny pistol bounced against her thigh. Grant's bow and his quiver of arrows were on his back and he walked calmly, looking at ease.
Birds chirped and the two heard water running. The steady incline that they were climbing was covered in small trees and weeds that tangled themselves around their ankles. A few deer leapt through the growth and squirrels hopped from tree to tree. The scenery was almost unreal from everything they'd seen lately. It was a quiet day and neither of them had seen much activity, but they were still on high alert.
Ever since Ashley's family was killed she and Grant had been living alone. They didn't know for sure what had happened to their town and their friends, but they knew what had happened to the world. The same disease that had plagued Ashley's family had taken over her and Grant's town, turning everyone into what her parents and brother had become. Ashley and Grant had fled after his family turned. They had packed their bags and left, driving down towards Georgia where they'd heard that the disease hadn't hit, until Grant ran out of gas and the gas stations were no longer in service. Everywhere the two went they saw broken people and cities that looked like they'd gone through a disaster. Of course, they had.
The forest was quiet. Grant focused on his breathing as he trudged along behind Ashley, toying with the tight string on his bow. It had been his pride and joy back at school and at archery competitions, but now it was his lifeline. He fixated on Ashley's figure as she walked. She was clad in a white t-shirt flowed from her shoulders and landed on her small hips, dark, dirty jeans that had gotten very loose from her wearing them so often, and had her pants tucked into worn brown combat boots that were tied tightly. On Ashley's waist was a belt that held her hunting knife (what had been her father's pride possession when he was alive) and a pistol that she'd stolen from a shop they had passed when they had gone through a ghost town.
Ashley glanced back at Grant. His green eyes were trained on her hips, and she grinned. Even though they were surviving together in the wild he still looked ridiculously good. Wearing an old grey jacket that he left unzipped with a white shirt underneath, he let the necklace that he'd taken from his dad's drawer before he and Ashley had to flee his house bounce against his chest. He had on faded jeans and hiking boots, and his dark hair was short from Ashley cutting it with her knife. He'd gotten leaner from not having as much food, and his cheeks were hollowed out. To Ashley he was even more attractive than he had been before.
They came across a small stream that had rocks scattered around it. Ashley stared into the water, slowly coming to a stop and sitting on one of the boulders. Grant plopped down beside her, staring into the stream, watching the fish in it hungrily. Ashley noticed how intently he was looking at them and offered him the handle of her knife.
"Bet you can't get any," she joked, ignoring the tremendous growl her stomach let out. Grant's roared in response and he grinned.
"Bet you I can,"
He peeled off his shoes and dirty socks, rolling up the bottoms of his pants so that they wouldn't get wet when he went into the water. Stepping in the cool water slowly, he stayed still and watched the fish swim around him, some stopping to nibble on his toes. He focused in on one particularly large fish that had stopped to check out his ankles and then, with lightning speed he'd gotten from living in the wilderness for six months, and stabbed at it.
"You missed,"
"I know that Ashley," Grant snapped, turning towards her. She shrugged and stood up, also taking off her shoes and socks so that she could step into the water. She held out her hand for her knife and Grant handed it to her, drawing his bow and nocking an arrow.
"I'll go further down and you yell for me if you got any, okay?" Ashley tucked part of her bangs that had come out of her bun back into it, rubbing her tired eyes. She smiled lightly at Grant and he nodded, not able to pass off the fake happiness and optimism that she had. Moving down in the water, Ashley disappeared around a bend, hidden by small trees and ivy that hung from their branches. Grant could barely hear her start to sing over the babble of the water on the stones, and that made him a little nervous. Pausing to listen to her, he guessed that she was fine; if she needed him she'd call.
He had the string on his bow tight. Grant stared into the water intently, waiting for the right fish to come along and pause to look at his skin wonderingly. Even though he was focused as much as he possibly could be, Grant's mind started to wonder. He couldn't help it, after all, because it was his ADHD and ADD that affected him to make him so jittery and hyper. He stared to think about Ashley.
Everything about his best friend intrigued Grant, from her mind to her body. Spending so much time with her without anyone made him yearn for her even more than he had when they had been in school together. Maybe he'd been too separated from other girls (after all, the only relationship with anyone he'd ever had was taking one girl at band camp behind the bleachers to kiss for a while) for his entire life and had always had feelings for Ashley that he didn't fully realize. But now Grant wanted to have more of a relationship with her than he had before.
That's stupid, Grant told himself. You're running together, there's not time for stuff like that.
A large fish stopped by his foot and he shot at it, his arrow going straight through the fish's head. Victoriously, Grant swiped it out of the water and took a good look at. His stomach growled in agreement when the thought of how good this would be for dinner. Just as he stepped out of the water, Grant heard Ashley's high pitched scream break through the still air. His heart thudded against his chest and he sprinted towards her, shoving the curtain of ivy away so he could see her.
Ashley's pale face was splattered with blood. Grant pulled his bow tight again, notching another arrow as he ran towards his friend. A walking corpse dragged its leg as it struggled towards Ashley, growling and snarling, snapping its teeth viciously. She swiped her knife at it, trying to reach its head without leaving the water. The thing's companion lay dead on the ground, a knife shaped hole in its head from where Ashley had killed it-she'd known better than to use her pistol, it would just attract more of them. In the serene setting of the forest they were in the two zombies seemed oddly out of place, like something you'd see in a bad horror film.
Grant shot his arrow, watching it sink into the zombie's left eye and spurt blood and brain matter. His hands shaking, he pulled Ashley out of the water and wiped a bit of blood off of her face, checking over her. "Were you bit?"
"No," Ashley sighed and looked over at Grant. She held up a fish bigger than the one he had killed while she tried not to look at the bodies that lie in small puddles of blood. "But at least I got this."
"Come on, let's make a place to sleep and eat," he told her, pulling her out of the water. She wrinkled her nose as she passed the body, but otherwise showed no discomfort. They were very used to killing those things by now, but Ashley was still wary of taking their lives-Grant usually had to do the dirty work for her. She was adapting, though, and had killed three so far. Four, counting the scene by the stream.
"Did you get anything?" Ashley asked as she gathered dry twigs to make a fire. Grant had dropped his fish on the ground when he saw the zombie and he picked it up again, wiping dirt off of the scales and showing it to Ashley. She nodded in approval. "Mm, I just want to dig in now…but I'll get a fire started instead."
"We could eat it raw," Grant offered, but Ashley shook her head.
"No, we're not savages. We'll wait until it's cooked and we'll eat it that way."
Grant could tell that Ashley wanted to wait to eat the fish about as much as him, but he did what she told him to and waited, helping her start a fire and boil water for them to have with the fish. He paced as the fish cooked and Ashley stoked the fire, patiently waiting for the food to be ready. Her thin face looked peaceful since she'd wiped off the blood that had been adorning it, but her eyes were hungry and fierce. She was starved and hated having to wait.
Grant, whom was impatient, looked through both of their backpacks, taking inventory of what they had. In Ashley's backpack was a huge sheet of plastic that she'd folded up so it was tiny and could fit in the smallest pocket, a large Ziplock bag full of granola and nuts that she'd gathered, a good water bottle, the maps of North Carolina and Georgia stolen from convenient stores that the two had passed on their journey, two flashlights with multiple packages of batteries to keep them working, a jacket, and an extra shirt and part of jeans.
In his own backpack were extra magazines for Ashley's gun, three knives, an extra set of clothes for him, four large bags of nonperishable food, some extra arrows that were strapped to the outside of the bag, and flint to use for fires. He figured that they were better off than most, but Grant and Ashley were always in need of more supplies-whenever one of them got a cut they had nothing to cover it in to make sure they didn't get an infection. In the world they were living in, that could be deadly.
Finally, Ashley took the fish off of the spoke they'd been speared with and pushed them on to the two pieces of plastic that she and Grant carried with them for food. He jumped towards his and grabbed it taking a large bite out of the flesh and savoring the taste of meat. Ashley also tucked right in, abandoning the manners she usually used. They both ate their dinner ravenously.
"I told you it was worth the wait," Ashley said through a mouth full of food. Grant shrugged and pulled another piece of the fish's meat off of its bones.
"Just think how good it'd be with salt," he told her. She laughed and shook her head, continuing to eat.
"Be grateful for what we've got, Grant, because we could be dead."
He grinned and took a sip of the water Ashley had boiled and poured into his water bottle, his raw throat finding temporary relief. Ashley, whom was hunched over her food, picked at the bones of her fish since all the meat was gone and pulled a rib off of the spine. She studied it and used it as a toothpick, turning her gaze to Grant.
"Where should we head to next?" he asked, antsy under her stare. Ashley pulled her backpack off of her back and took an old, worn map from out of the front pocket, unfolding it and spreading it out on the dirt between her and Grant's legs. Darkness was falling fast, but their fire gave them warmth and light.
"I'd say we should keep going towards Atlanta," Ashley murmured as she chewed on the end of her fish bone. "I mean, last we heard that was the only place the disease hasn't hit. There will probably be survivors there that we can pair with and hopefully find a place to stay permanently."
"What if the disease has hit there too?" Grant asked, moving closer to Ashley and peering over her shoulder at the wrinkled paper. She seemed to deflate and her shoulders moved up and down as she rolled them, exhausted.
"I have no idea…let's just hope for the best, okay?"
"We can't just ignore the idea that it could've hit there, Ash."
"Well we can't just focus on the bad either, Grant! We'll keep moving south and maybe we'll find a safe place to live." She put her cool hands over her eyes and leaned against Grant, relaxing when his arms wound around her waist and pulled her close.
He rested his head on top of hers. "We're gonna be alright,"
"Yeah, I know," she said without enthusiasm. Ashley brought her feet up to her chest and let Grant play with the hairs that were loose from her bun. Silently, the two stared up at the moon and listened to the sounds of the forest around them. Ashley's stomach made a noise as it digested the food she'd just had, and Grant chuckled. She turned her head to look at him, smiling. "What're you laughing at?"
"Your stomach made a weird noise,"
"Ugh, you're such a child," Ashley laughed and turned around so she was facing Grant. He extended his legs on either side of her and she put her hands on his ankles so she could sit more comfortably.
"You have no idea how childish I can be," he told her. She smirked and poked his dimples playfully. Grant caught her wrists and pulled her towards him, making her mouth drop and the corners of her mouth pull up in a surprised smile.
He was strong enough to hold her steady with only one hand, so he put both of her small wrists in the palm of his hand and held them tight, placing his index finger on his other hand in his mouth. Ashley's face lit up with comprehension of what he was going to do, and she started to pull against him. He just shook his head and chuckled darkly.
"Grant, I swear if you put your finger anywhere near me I will murder you while you sleep," she threatened. Slowly, he popped his finger out of his mouth and moved it towards her ear, ignoring her noises of protest. "No! Grant, stop it!"
"Wet Willy!" he laughed when Ashley squeaked and yanked her wrists out of his grasp, flying backwards and coming close to falling in their fire. She glared at him and hit the ground angrily. "You really thought I'd do that? Well, I am insulted!"
"Oh shut up," Ashley rolled her eyes and pushed Grant, moving back to sit a couple feet away from him. Even though she looked angry, Grant knew her well enough that he could mess with her and she wouldn't be too upset with him. He scooted closer to her, putting a sad look on his face.
"I didn't mean to make you mad,"
She scoffed and turned from him, a hint of a grin gracing her face. "Bull."
"Aw, come on," he hugged her to her chest, making Ashley giggle. She pushed Grant off of her again but sat beside him, staring into the fire as she took her hair down and let it cascade over her shoulders. He stared at her with a light smile and put his hands behind him to lean back and stare at their fire.
The flames licked up the logs and twigs that Ashley had scrounged. Grant had felt the calluses on her hands that she'd gotten lately; when they'd been in school she had the nicest, smoothest hands, and now they were ruined. Her eyes that had always twinkled with the merry light that made everyone smile were darker and more hardened from living in the wilderness and having to kill zombies. Grant wished he could take away all her pain, all the memories that she carried, but he already had far too many horrific ones that took up the space in his mind.
When Ashley's family had been killed by the police she was devastated. Grant and his parents had taken her in and let her live with them. She didn't go to school for a week and she was the talk of the town-everyone asked Grant what had happened to get the realest account they could, but, like any other place, rumors flourished and people became suspicious about what had really occurred. Why would the police shoot Ashley's family if they hadn't done anything? And everyone that had been at the location had heard their shouts about 'the disease', and they wanted to know what that was.
Constantly hammered with questions, Grant soon avoided school too. His parents had to do all of the shopping because he refused to go out of the house since everyone asked him so many questions. He and Ashley stayed home together, constantly giving each other the consolation and sympathy they needed when one would burst out in tears; sometimes they exchanged theories about what her family had been suffering from, but that was a painful subject for Ashley and she'd usually walk out of the room crying.
Of course Grant was hurting just as much as her; Jake had been one of his best friends. Even though he had tried to act like he was strong, late at night Ashley would come into his room to find him crying into his hands, and she'd start crying too, and they'd comfort each other. He had been sobbing particularly hard one night and had divulged his fears to her: that she'd turn out the exact same way as her brother and her parents.
Ashley had been thinking about that too, and she told him as calmly as she could that, if it happened, he needed to call the police and make sure that she didn't hurt anyone. Grant tried to push that memory out of his head as he watched Ashley stoke their fire, but it stuck. She had stayed with him in his room that night and they'd fallen asleep talking about the happier aspects of their lives, something Ashley said she needed to focus on. When Grant awoke early in the morning he had found Ashley clinging to his side as she slept, her hands holding on to his shirt tightly and her legs wrapped around his.
"Grant," he jumped back and his eyes widened when Ashley laughed at him. "Who's got first watch?"
"Oh, um, I'll take it," he murmured, clearing his throat nervously. Ashley grinned and nodded, grabbing one of the last working flashlights they had from her backpack and handing it to him.
"Use this," she said. Grant took it and watched her silently as she pulled out a blanket to wrap around herself while she slept, grabbing a second and throwing it to him. Their fire continued to burn, and Ashley laid down so her back was pressed against Grant's legs. Something like an electric shock went through his body, but he tried to ignore it and pretend that it was his imagination.
"Do you still know the constellations?" Grant asked quietly, twirling a piece of Ashley's smooth hair between his fingers. She nodded.
"Yeah…well, sort of. They're difficult to remember because I never really committed them to memory. I know a few, like…" she pointed up at the stars through the trees' leaves and traced one with her finger. "That's the Big Dipper,"
"Everyone knows the Big Dipper,"
Ashley hit Grant's thigh. "Shut up, it was the first one I saw. That one over there," she pointed to another cluster of lights. "That's Orion."
"And what's the story behind that?"
"I know he was Greek. I think he was some awesome hunter that was killed by a giant scorpion, then the gods raised him from the dead into the sky to become a constellation." Ashley sighed and interlocked her fingers, staring aimlessly up into the black sky. Her eyes followed the stars as she picked out people and animals from myths. "There are so many cool stories that I can't remember. It sucks that we won't be able to learn them."
"We can make up our own now," Grant said as he sunk lower, still playing with Ashley's hair. She considered that for a moment before nodding.
"I like that idea," she whispered. Her eyes slowly slid shut, and Grant heard her breathing slow down and soften. His only company was the fire, and he knew that the night would be long without Ashley to talk to.