Chapter Two: Lucky Break

"So you can't remember at all why you were in the woods?" Billy asked gently as the two of them continued walking down the road.

Ara still held onto his hand so she tugged nervously at her blood-drenched dress with her free hand. "No. I don't remember anything... all I remember is opening my eyes and suddenly being aware that I was in the woods. I called out... just incase there was someone with me... I was thinking maybe we had taken a walk and I veered off the path and got lost from them and somehow forgot where we were... but then I realized that I didn't know who I was calling out too... or where I was... or where I had been for the last few months. So I started to walk... and I saw... I saw..." Ara stopped talking as tears began to well up into her eyes.

"It's all right, you don't have to tell me." Billy said, not wanting her to bring up things that may upset her.

"No. I have to talk about it. Talking will help and it won't make me feel so damn insane." She told him, looking up at him.

Billy looked at her uncovered brown eye and nodded. "I understand."

She nodded herself and continued with her story. "I was walking and I saw someone walking ahead of me. They were walking as if they were drunk. I don't like drunk people and I hate how they act... but I thought that maybe this person would have a cell phone and I could borrow it to call someone for help. So I walked up to them, making sure not to startle them... though I was the one who was startled when the person turned around. She was a woman in their late thirties. Her face... her face was peeling off in so many places that I could see her bone underneath. Her eyes were completely white. She saw me and moaned in a really creepy way as she raised her hands and stumbled toward me. I thought she was sick, so I wanted to help her. I tried to talk to her, but she kept coming at me. I asked her to stop, and stay back, but she did not listen and she kept coming at me. I wasn't sure what to do and I didn't want to leave someone sick like that alone in the woods to die alone. I stood there trying to think of what to do and I didn't notice how close to me she was until she touched my shoulder."

Billy began to wonder if the blood on her was her own and if she had been infected or not. He hoped she wasn't. He really did not want to put down a friend.

"And the moment she touched me with her cold wet hands, I knew that she was dead and that she was somehow still moving. The first thing I thought of was that she was a zombie. I couldn't believe it. After she put her hand on my shoulder, she leaned forward to bite me, but I quickly sidestepped and she lost her balance and fell to the ground. She started to get up, but I started to run. I didn't care where I ran to as long as I got away from her. I didn't look where I was running and I thought I saw a log up ahead so I went to go jump over it... but then it was a zombie and it moved, causing me to trip and land on... on... what it had been eating. It was a human, at least what was left of it. The head was gone and a lot of the insides were missing. The zombie tried to grab my leg, but I quickly got up and ran as fast as I could. I climbed up into a tree to sleep last night. Then this morning I came down and started walking again, trying to find someway to get back to civilization." Ara told him. Suddenly at thought hit her. "How can you be infected? Can you turn into them just by touching them?" She let go of Billy's hand and took a few steps away. "Billy, you shouldn't be near me if I'm infected. I don't want to turn into one of them and hurt you or anyone else."

"You're not infected. The way you get it is by getting bit, or being injected with the virus, or being scratched by the infected ones. You're fine." Billy said, stepping toward her slowly.

"A-are you sure?"

"Yes." He told her.

She sighed in relief. "I'm sorry. I... This is a nightmare." She looked down at the ground as tears began to fill her eyes.

Billy stepped forward and hugged her. "I know. Things will get better though. There is a S.T.A.R.S. team working on this right now. So don't worry."

She nodded as she hugged on to him.

They stood there for several minutes until her crying was out of her system.

When she was finished she let go of him. She smiled up at him as she said, "Thank you, Billy. I guess I needed to cry for a little bit."

"No problem, glad to help." He told her.

She wiped her eyes.

"I'm just wondering, but why do you have the left side of your face covered by your hair?" He said, reaching out to touch a strand of her hair.

Ara jumped back, as her hand went up to the left side of her face, matting down the hair to make sure it was covering her face. "I... don't know. I feel safer this way... I guess... Don't ask me why though."

"Ok." Billy said, wondering why and how she felt safer like that.

"I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry about." He said, smiling at her.

Her hand lowered and she stepped back next to him.

"Shall we continue?" He asked her.

She nodded and he took her hand again as they started their walk again.

Later that night they finally found themselves in the nearest town to Raccoon, Latham.

"Now that we're here... what do we do? We should find somewhere to sleep for the night. I don't know about you but I'm exhausted. No matter what someone tells you, sleeping in a tree is not the best place to sleep." Ara said as they entered the town.

Billy was glad that she was getting over her shock and being her normal sarcastic self-back. "Let's try to find the least popular motel. That would be our safest place to go, must likely."

"That sounds like a good idea. My aunt and uncle live in this town so I kinda know my way around. I think, I could be wrong though, that the motel we want is that way." She said, pointing to the road going west.

Billy realized their biggest problem at the moment and could have punched himself for it. "That's great and all, but we don't have any money."

"Ah-ah-ah." Ara said, waving her pointer finger in front of his face in a teasing way. "Never underestimate a woman." She put her hand in a small pocket by her hip that Billy had not noticed earlier. She pulled her hand back out to reveal a small wad of money. "Aren't I convent? I counted it while I was in the tree. There is like, seventy dollars here. That should be enough for a room, right?"

"Yea." He said, amazed at their luck.

"I-ah, really don't know how that money got into my pocket. It was just there." She told him.

"Does it really matter?" Billy asked happily.

"No, I guess not." She said, smiling. "We need to come up with a new name for you. We can't have people knowing that they have a wanted convict in their motel."

Billy nodded.

As they walked to the motel they thought of names they could use for him.

Ten minutes later they walked into the Mew Motel's main office to get a room. Behind the desk was a man at least sixty years old, white hair and blue eyes, standing as he looked at them oddly. He had a nametag on his shirt that read Wilson.

"Hello, we would like a room." Ara said confidently.

"All right." The old man said. "That will be twenty-five dollars."

Ara grinned, thinking that it would have a lot more than that. She handed him the money.

"I'll need your names so I can put it on the computer." Wilson told them, turning to the computer and opening the program he needed.

"I'm Ara Sinclair and this is-" Ara began.

"Billy Sinclair." Billy finished.

"We're married." Ara said as she hugged onto his arm.

"Good for you." Wilson told them as he finished with their names. He reached under the desk and handed them a key to room seven. "Room seven is just around the corner on the bottom level."

"Thank you." Ara said as she and Billy turned to leave the office.

"Miss?"

Ara turned back around. "Yes?"

"Are you all right? You appear to have blood on your dress there. Do you need medical help?" Wilson asked gently.

"Oh, no. See we are extras in a movie they are filming over in Raccoon. I forgot to change my outfit before we left the set." Ara said, coming up with the first thing that came to her mind.

"They're filming a movie there?" Wilson asked, amazed.

"Yea. It's a little film. Nothing big, but you never know, it could hit theaters some day. One should always think positively, right?"

Wilson nodded. "Yep. Well, good night then. Good luck with your movie."

"Hehe, thank you. Good night to you as well." Ara said as the two of them left the office.

As they left the small building, Ara had to bit her lip from laughing from the pure stupidity that had processed her to say something crazy like that.

When they came to door seven, Billy unlocked the door and the two of them entered the room. He then closed and locked it behind them.

"Ah... Billy..." She said, poking him on the arm.

"What?" He asked her as he scanned the room and realized what she was going to say. "We didn't ask for a room with double beds."

"Nope. We didn't. But does it really matter? It's not like we are going to... you know, do anything." Ara told him.

"Yea." Billy nodded.

"We once had that chance, but we didn't take it." Ara said as she yawned. "I'm going to take a shower, if that is all right with you. Ever since I fell on that body I haven't thought of it... but I think, well know, that the blood soaked through this dress and got on my skin. You don't mind if I go first, do you?"

"No, go ahead." He told her.

"Okie dokie. Hey, tomorrow do you think we could get some different clothes for me? I don't think the whole movie prop will work for everyone."

"Sure."

"Thanks." Ara smiled as she ran into the bathroom and closed the door. Moments later the water was turned on.

Billy walked over to the night table and placed his handgun on it. He noticed that the drawer was slightly opened and something was peeking out. He opened it some more and found a pair of pink shorts. He couldn't tell if they were for a kid for a kid or for a teenager. He set them aside as he realized that there was more in this little lucky drawer. Under the shorts was a matching pink tank top and pink socks.

"Hey, Billy. I was thinking maybe the person whom had this room before us left some clothes here. Can you look in the drawers of the dresser the television is on?"

"Will do. I already looked in the night stand and I found some clothes."

"You did?'

"Yea." He told her what he found.

"Hm. I wish it was a different color. I despise pink, but it's better than this bloody dress. Slide them under the door for me." She said.

"You're going to wear these? They're for a kid." He said, but walked over and slid the clothes under the door anyway.

"Yea, I can fit in them. Just you wait and see. I'm going to finish my shower now. Later."

Billy grabbed the television controller off of the nightstand and sat on the edge of the bed as he began to watch the news to see if they would say anything about what had happened earlier that day. He had a feeling it would be too early for that, but who really could say when such crazy things had been happening in the last day.

Fifteen minutes later Billy was so wrapped up in the television that he didn't hear the water turn off in the bathroom.

When Ara was finished in the bathroom she stepped out wearing her new pink outfit. The shorts fit her, but barely. They were rather snug, but anything was better than that dress. The shirt was a little short on her and it showed off her flat stomach. The only thing out of the three that seemed to fit perfectly was the socks.

"I never thought I would ever see you wear pink." Billy said, somewhat shocked that he kids clothes fit her.

"Yea, and this will be the last time." Ara snapped.

"Have you lost weight? You seem a lot skinnier than when we were back in high school. Not that you were fat or anything, I'm just saying you look smaller." He added the last part quickly, knowing how most females were sensitive about their weight.

Ara sighed. "I guess I have lost some weight... I don't know when though... maybe during these past few months that I can't remember a second of I went to a dieting camp and they erased my memory so I could not spread their secret method of weight loss." She teased him. "Well, I'm going to bed now. Good night."

"Me too."

She walked over to the right side of the bed and pulled back the covers as she laid down she pulled them back over her. Billy did the same on the left side. She laid down with her back to him so the left side of her face would be covered.

"Good night." He told her as he turned off the lamp on the nightstand.

"Good night." She told him again as her eyes closed and she drifted off to sleep.

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