Italics: OC's thoughts

CHAPTER 2: SOMEDAY

"Let's git the hell outta here 'cause door ain't lastin'." I said pointing and the moaning door. He struggled to stand up, so I grabbed the closest tool from the box and stood beside the man in case he lost balance. No time for the rest. I wrapped his left arm around my shoulder and my right around his waist. I was rather petite next to him.

"We gotta stop this…" he raised his handless arm. How? What can we do to stop it? We slowly jogged towards the side of the rooftop. I looked down the fire escape and saw some walkers. I cursed and turned us around, my left hand over his chest.

"Come on, come on," I chastised myself for being slow. I tried to focus on the rooftop past the moans and the semi-conscious guy I was holding. "Here." I adjusted his weight and we walked towards a bridge that connected two building's rooftops.

We quietly stepped inside the next door building, walked through the aisles and checked in every room for something to close the wound or at least cauterize it. I heard a few steps, irregular ones and I stopped walking. The very particular moans made me realize there were walkers inside too. "Hey, hey," I patted the man's chest. "Wake up, there's walkers," I unwrapped his arm and he stood up properly. "Don' kno' how many. I need ya awake now." I handed him the tool I stole and reached into my backpack to look for anything useful. Nothing but clothing and some supplies. Damn it. I looked to my side and noticed the man was gone. A loud thud got my attention and I took a step back. I stood there in silence and some minutes later walked into the room. I half expected to see the man on the floor being eaten by walkers but instead, I saw two geeks on the floor, smashed.

"Damn," I nodded surprised. "'m impressed." He grinned. I wiped the sweat off my forehead with my sleeve and checked out the room. After a while we heard more moans, getting louder by the second. "Lemme ge' this one," I said grabbing the wrench from his left hand. I played with it and tightened my grip around its butt with my left. I turned one last time to the man, "You chill. Passin' out 's no' good." Eliminating the walkers with nothing but a wrench took me a little longer than him. Once I was done we kept on searching.

"Hey, bud," I called at the door and he stepped inside the room. "We gotta hole up 'ere. Gotta gi' sum sleep y'kno'." The man looked at the darkness outside and agreed. I took a look around, at what used to be a conference room. I closed the doors just in case and dropped my bag to seal it. "How's the pain?" I tilted my head. I noticed the wound bled less, so I believed he might make it through the night.

"Bitchin'," he spat as he ripped the cushions of a chair.

"'ere," I threw a bottle of pills at him. He raised his head and grabbed it confused. "'s fer the pain. Take i'."

First glimpse of light and we were back on our feet. "Hey, I found this," he said moments after we entered some sort of kitchen. I followed his voice and my eyes opened wide at the sight of a stove. Holy shit. "Look," He pointed, "Ya thin' it migh' still work?"

"Nothin' else?" I asked a bit disgusted at the thought of what we'd do with it.

"Naw," he answered shortly. He sniffed and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. "Gotta git over i' now. Can' be worse than out there." I nodded. He tried to get the stove to work; after a few attempts he gave up so I tucked my hand in a pocket and pulled out a silver lighter. I threw it at him and he started the fire. He threw the lighter back at me and nodded. We stood silent, staring at the shining piece of metal heating.

After the piece of metal was red enough I grabbed it and turned to him. "Ok- Imma- Imma push this to yer wris'... Stan' still 'k?" I ordered. "Towel?" He put it in his mouth and stepped firmly on the floor. We pushed. He bit the towel, tears losing themselves between sweat. I scrunched my face at the smell. Once it was over he dropped himself on the floor, I mirrored. I rested my head on the furniture behind. The man had lost too much blood; he was in no condition to survive this way.

"Ya need blood," I said after I recovered my breath. "Or rest… Lay low fer awhile."

"Would ya gimme sum?" He smiled and rested his head on the wall.

"I would. Bu' there's no stuff 'ere," I massaged my left knee. After all the running it was started to hurt. "'s a damn office."

He looked around and breathed in deeply. "Fuck, Imma loo' 'roun' later. Jus' gimme a secon' and I'll be fine." We sat in silence for some hours, both too disturbed to chat. I pulled my bag closer and opened one of the side pockets. I grabbed the pack of pills I had and sorted out. I raised my eyes and caught the man staring intently at the bottles of pills on the ground.

"We gotta get goin'," I stood up and tucked the bottles back in the pocket, leaving some out. The man stood up, helped by the wall behind him. I looked back down at the pills and grabbed them. "'ere. One of each."

"Join me?" He offered and stretched his hand. It was a dangerous question. I stared at his hand for a while and instead put the pills in it.

"Naw, thanks man," I waved a hand and adjusted the backpack on my shoulder. "Don' need me no more..." I shrugged. "Ya'll be fine."

He half smiled and tucked the pills in his pockets. My eyes followed as he walked towards a window and looked down. Broke it and stepped outside. "Why?" he questioned as his head popped back inside the room.

"Same reason anyone would've done i' before the en' of tha world... Plus," I ran a hand through my short hair. "Someday… Someone, anyone migh' do the sam' thin' fer me."

"No one would've done i' fer a bastard redneck like me," he instantly replied. "Bu' thanks man."

I half smiled and waved, "'till we meet again." He nodded and tapped the windowsill twice. And like that, he was gone.

I sat back down on the floor, trying to figure out what to do next. I needed weapons. Swinging my backpack or grabbing whatever I found close around wouldn't last forever. I stood up and bit my lip. I took a tour around the building, stepping inside every room in every floor to find something. Useless. The building had clearly been looted before, so there were no weapons or forgotten canned food left behind. Not even clothing or another axe. Ok. So next door it is. I went back to the rooftop were I had found the guy. Silence.

"Check it out. Green light." I commented sarcastically. I walked to the front of the building and looked down to the street; there were more geeks staggering around. I headed to the rooftop's door and tried to open it. I raised my brows at the sight of a chain around the handle. It was thicker than the metal piece the man was handcuffed to, so not even the saw would break it. "Damn it."

I climbed down the fire escape ladder and entered the convenience store at the base of the building. I carefully walked around the store after I noticed the main door's glass was broken. I headed towards the men's clothing department and grabbed pants, baggy T-shirts, some button up shirts, socks, and underwear. I shot a glance outside and saw a car with no geeks around. Come on, come on be useful. Tools, tools.

I wrapped a cloth around my left hand and broke the car's window, hoping its alarm won't ring. It didn't, without a second thought I slid in and l rummaged inside. Nothing. I looked outside, quickly stepped out and I opened the trunk. "Please, please, please." I begged. The only things I found were a crowbar and rope. I sighed loudly pissed off but took them nonetheless. In defeat I automatically returned to the office building, a safer place.

Once back in the building's kitchen I heard some noises and quickened my pace. I bit the inside of my cheek and walked apprehensively while my grip around the crowbar tightened.

"Merle!" A man with thick southern accent yelled. Merle? I quietly followed the voice. Then I heard a thud.

"What's that?" There was another person.

"Skin." A third voice spoke. I cursed inwardly. I listened and slowly walked closer to them when I accidentally bumped a desk. Fuck, fuck. Shit it hurts. I quickly raised my head to see if they had heard it too.

A gun barrel was pressed to my forehead.