Its been two days since the hunter brought me back to his...nest. After I realized his reason for sparing me I became a little more trusting of him. It wasn't much of a give, just enough to allow us to live in close proximity to each other without tearing at each others throats.
My back was healing. I don't know what was in his saliva, but the hunter's spit had been the elixir I needed. The scratches were healing and the pain was mostly gone. My fever broke yesterday afternoon. It left me feeling more energized than I had since this entire situation began. But that came with its own downside.
I was bored.
After weeks of shooting zombies and fighting for my life every day, being forced to sit and do nothing was killing me. So far the only thing I had been able to keep myself occupied doing was rearranging what little furniture was left in the room and cleaning up some of the mess. The hunter hadn't been happy with me at first, but I made the point that if he was going to keep me here then it had to be suitable.
So far I'd straightened up the bed, put the sheets back on it and cleaned up the blanket. There was another bed in the other room but it was ripped to shreds on one side with a few blood stains. I didn't like the thought of it, but I was tired of the floor and wasn't going to share with the hunter, I didn't trust him that much. With much huffing and swearing I managed to flip the second mattress over and drag it into the other room. It wasn't much but it was better than the floor.
But now that I had made myself a bed and had straightened up my new home I didn't know what to do. And I was hungry. I had already searched the small kitchen and wasn't surprised to find it empty. So now, along with being bored out of my mind, I was hungry. Normally I could go scavenging to find some canned veggies or soup, but there was no way out. I was five stories off the ground with only the balcony as my way out.
Plus it was locked from the outside. The fucker had locked me in before he left this morning! I had learned pretty early that he didn't want me near the door. Anytime I stood in front of it for more than a few seconds he would growl and nudge me away from it. It didn't make sense at first, but I finally realized that he was afraid that something could snag me through the glass door. It wouldn't be too unthinkable for a Smoker to grab me with its tongue or another Hunter to break in and rip me apart.
I guessed that was the reason why he had locked me inside in the first place, so nothing could get in and get me. Although if they wanted me bad enough I was sure they could figure out a way in. That or he was afraid I'd jump off and just end it all. I'd admit that it had passed my mind a few times before, but I figured that if I made it this far it was too late to stop now.
In the back of my mind I wondered if the Hunter had ever tried to kill himself. It was obvious that he still retained some of part of his humanity. He obviously was angry about being left behind and he was able to understand that I was in the same position. He had helped me and brought me here and was keeping me safe. Maybe, just maybe, the human who was once the hunter was still in there, somewhere.
Or maybe he was just a sick fuck who just enjoyed playing with my head.
Said twisted zombie chose that moment to come back. I could hear him scratching at the makeshift lock outside (a giant chain he'd tied over the handle) as he let himself in. I glared at him as he crawled back in, dragging something behind him.
"I was beginning to wonder if you were going to come back." I said as I watched him scramble into the room. "I'm starving and there's nothing here. I need to go find something to eat."
The Hunter just looked at me and dumped his treasure at my feet before curling up on his bed to rest. I watched him in curiosity before looking back down at the backpack. I started digging through it and slowly began pulling things from the bag's cavern. There were cans of food, more clothes, and a heavy blanket. It wasn't much but it would get me through the next few days.
And that wasn't the end of my little surprise either. At the very bottom of the bag were two pistols and the front pocket was filled with bullets. Normally it wouldn't get me far, but somewhere like this it would do. I looked over at him and couldn't help but smile. He had willingly leveled the playing field. It was his way of saying that he trusted me.
I had a feeling that the door would still be locked in the morning.
"Thanks." I said softly as I pulled out the blanket and stretched it out over my bed. It was so soft and barely had any blood stains on it. The hunter just grunted his welcome as he stirred around on his bed again. Obviously going scavenging for me had taken a lot out of him.
I left him in peace and went to the kitchen to store the food. There really wasn't too much, a few cans of fruit and some soup. It would probably get me through the next few days, but after that I would need more food. And I had a feeling that waiting for the hunter to go and get me food every few days was going to get old. Maybe I could get him to take me with him so I could get some more.
Another problem would be heating the food. There was a small stove but it was electric, which was the same story for the microwave too. I guessed it wouldn't be too bad having to eat soup cold. Right now room temperature wouldn't be too bad. But before long the temperature would start to drop. The night had already started getting colder.
It was a worry that had been sitting idle in the back of my mind, too unimportant compared to the trials of every day life. Now, however, it was starting to eat away at me little by little. Winter was coming and it wouldn't be too long before it got here. The infection had first spread in the heart of summer, making the air palpable. The stench of decomposing bodies had permeated everywhere. It had made existence miserable.
But that had been weeks ago, almost an entire month. I had tried to keep count, taking time out of every day to count back, to try and remember how much time had passed. It was sometime in mid September, I couldn't even begin to guess the exact date. The days were still blistering hot but I could feel the chill in the air, and with no central heating it was going to be difficult to find a way to stay warm. Hell, there wasn't even any hot water!
I pushed the thought from my mind as I managed to find a spoon and popped open the top of a soup can. Pull tab cans were the best damn things to happen to soup since the can opener. I walked back into the room and sank down onto the bed, greedily shoveling food into my mouth. I knew I was hungry but I hadn't realized just how desperately I needed food until it entered my mouth. I don't know if I even stopped to catch my breath.
As I ate (or, rather, inhaled my food) I looked back at the hunter. He was laying curled up in his blanket, a soft rumbling sound coming from his chest. It reminded me of listening to my cats purr when they slept.
This wasn't the first time that I'd compared the hunters to cats. They way they stalked their prey, waited until the last minute to pounce and claw at their victim's throat. They used camouflage and their growl was so vicious that it could strike fear into even the bravest survivor. They were the feline killers of the zombie world.
And, apparently, just like cats, they needed some attention every now and again then too.
As long as he didn't start dragging dead bodies up to our little hovel then I could deal with it. There wasn't exactly anywhere to bury bodies way up here.
I finished eating and took the can back to the kitchen, washing it out. It wasn't really too uncommon to find running water but it was a miracle if the water came out hot. I figured we could save the cans to use as small candle holders. This way, if we had to build a fire, we could take it with us. Like a poor mans flashlight.
I sat the can down on the counter and then walked back out to my room and started cleaning the guns. They needed it and while I didn't have all the tools I could make due. I was glad that there had been at least one gun buff in our little group to teach me how to handle a weapon. Before this the closest I'd ever come to holding a gun were the plastic pistols in the arcade at the movie theater. I laughed darkly when I remembered how often I used those guns to play the zombie shooter with an old boyfriend. We used to say that killing zombies brought people closer together. Boy had we been wrong.
My laugh startled the hunter out of his slumber and he growled softly as he rolled over, looking up at me with annoyance. "Sorry." I muttered, going back to cleaning the gun. "Just remembered something funny. Well, more like ironic, really."
The hunter shifted his head to the side slightly questioningly; he wanted to know what was so funny. I tried to explain as best I could. "My ex boyfriend and I used to play a zombie shooter game every time we went to the movies together. We used to say that it brought us closer together. I was just thinking how ironic that was."
The noise the hunter made sounded like a mixture of coughing and shrieking. I decided that was his version of laughter. It made my hair stand on end at first but I decided it wasn't nearly as bad as a scream or a witches' crying.
"Its my cousin's fault, really. He's the one who got me started on shooters. Whenever he would come in town for the summer we would spend the week playing video games. After he left I would get lonely so I ended up picking it up as well. Next think ya know I'm as big a gamer as he is. That's how I met my ex." I told him, looking out the door. I kept talking, babbling about my ex and how we met and all the fun times we had before we broke up. And, to his credit, the hunter listened to every word. At least he appeared to. He kept his focus on me until I finally was finished.
"What about you? Do you remember anything about your life before all this?" I asked as I looked down at him.
He shifted a little nervously, his lips pulling back in a small snarl. He fidgeted and started growling and I couldn't tell if he was trying to remember or didn't want to.
"Hey, its okay." I said gently, holding my hands up to him. "I didn't mean to upset you. I was just wondering. You aren't exactly like the rest of your kind."
He looked at me curiously, although I could still sense his agitation.
"You haven't tried to kill me." I explained with a shrug. "You brought me somewhere safe and gave me food. I don't know of any other infected that have kept humans alive."
The hunter seemed to be a little embarrassed about that and shrugged, looking back over at the sealed doorway.
I knew what he was trying to say. You are like me.
"I know, we do have a lot in common." I said as I looked at the door. The message that had been written on the safe room wall was still fresh in my mind. It was something that would stay in my mind for a long, long time.
The hunter looked up at me for a minute and nodded before he curled back up on his bed. It was only mid afternoon but this hunter was intent on getting to sleep. Just another cat like characteristic. He would be more active after the sun set. It was my experience that Hunters usually attacked when it was dark out. This time I let him sleep before I ventured off into the bathroom. If I was going to be stuck here then I was going to figure out a way to get a hot bath dammit!
I sat in the bathroom, turning my flashlight toward the ceiling so that the light bounced off the walls and what was left of the mirror. Apparently the hunter hadn't liked what he saw after he had turned. I frowned as I thought about it. If I thought being left behind simply because I was sick was bad enough, how bad must it have felt to woken up to find your friends gone and yourself turned into a monster.
With a heavy sigh I started work on the tub. I discovered that after leaving the water running for nearly fifteen minutes would, eventually, get something resembling hot water. It was only luke warm but it was better than nothing. There had to be another way though. I doubted the water would ever get any hotter and I refused to get through the winter in the middle of a zombie fucked town without a hot bath.
I spent another hour thinking and plotting and experimenting but didn't make much progress. I wouldn't be able to do a damn thing without power tools and those made a lot of noise. Even this high up I didn't doubt that it would draw some unwanted attention. Besides, I really didn't know what I was doing.
I was certain of one thing though; I was going to have to go scavenging.
Convincing the hunter of that was going to be a difficult task. If he wasn't comfortable with me standing in front of the freaking door then I couldn't imagine that he'd be happy taking me out of the room. Besides, I would probably make him more open to attack from others of his kind. But I needed my hot bath!
I started counting off all the things I needed and quickly discovered that I needed a list. After some digging I managed to find the pad and pencil that were essential for every hotel. It had been saved by being stored in a drawer somewhere. I started scrawling out items as quickly as I could think of them and before long I was writing on the back and almost working on another sheet. This was definitely going to take more than one trip. Maybe we'd get lucky and there would be a WalMart nearby, that way we wouldn't have to go looking all over the city.
Circling the things that were the more important I went back over the list to make sure that I wasn't forgetting anything. I checked my gun and loaded it before grabbing some extra ammo. I quickly changed into what I considered my work clothes (my blood soaked shirt, jeans, and shoes) and threw my gun over my shoulder. Instantly I went to grab a health pack and mentally slapped myself. It was so easy to fall back into the same pattern, so easy. But the game had changed now and with it so had the rules.
I lowered my gun from my shoulder and set it against the wall. First I had to wake the hunter up and I knew he wouldn't appreciate seeing the weapon on my back. I didn't figure he'd appreciate being awoken at all but with all of this fresh in my mind I couldn't not go.
"Hunter. Hey, wake up." I said as I walked over to the bed, standing a small distance away. I had a feeling he might try to attack me for waking him up. But my voice did little to stir him. I grimaced a little and kicked the mattress gently. "Hunter. Huuunnnnttteeeerrrrr!" I sang; still nothing.
Sighing heavily I leaned over his sleeping form, intent to shake him awake. But the angle that I gained by leaning closer to him gave me a glance at the face he kept hidden under his hood, a face I'd never seen before. Curiosity got the best of me and ever so gently I began to push the hood back from his face.
A second later I was pinned back against the floor, the hunter leaning over me growling deeply. He wasn't happy and it wasn't just about me waking him up.
What the hell do you think you are doing?
"Sorry." I said quickly, holding my hands up as best I could. "I was just going to wake you up. There are some things that I need to go get."
The hunter snarled a little but quickly climbed off me, sitting back a little as he looked at me with a angry look. He didn't understand what it was that I could possibly need.
"Look, winters coming and before long its going to be too cold to keep going out and getting food every few days. There's no way I can catch up to my friends now and I'm not stupid enough to try and survive out there on my own. So we're going to have to spend this winter together, its the only way we're going to make it. And if we want to survive then we need to go ahead and start preparing." I explained as I help my list out to him. I had no idea if he could actually still read but it didn't hurt to try.
The infected examined my list, tilting his head to an angle much like animals do when they are confused. It was so cute that I almost laughed, almost. I wasn't that stupid or suicidal. Whether he could read it or not I didn't know but by the way he growled at it I knew he didn't like how much I had written there.
You want me to go get all of this?
"We don't have to get it all now." I explained quickly, folding the note and putting it in my pocket. "But there are some things that we need now. And of course I don't expect you to get all of this yourself. We can get much more if we go together."
I knew he wasn't going to be happy when I suggested it, but the magnitude of his reaction wasn't what I had expected at all.
He roared an honest to god roar that made me take a step back. He stood onto his feet so that he was towering over me by a good foot and pressed his snarling mouth into my face as he pinned me up against the wall. His arms caged either side of my head, giving me no escape. The growl was vibrating throughout his entire body and cutting through the air around us.
His message was clear.
NO!
"But why not?" I asked quietly.
The hunter snapped at me, literally snapped his jaws at me, before he shoved off the wall and started to pace around the room on all fours. He was still growling and snapping, trying to explain to me every damn reason why I didn't need to go outside.
"I'm not that weak!" I told him, gaining a little bit of my courage back. I stepped away from the wall too but didn't approach him.
He turned to me sharply, his nostrils flaring as he huffed. I could tell he was staring at the blood stains on my shirt, reminding me of the condition I had been in when we first met.
"Oh come on! It was a Witch! Who the hell could get away from a Witch unscathed besides a Tank?" I yelled in exasperation. I hadn't even been the one who startled her!
He seemed to give me that as I saw him shrug a little but he was still unconvinced, staring at me with the disbelieving eyes that I couldn't actually see.
"Listen you, I've been making my way through this God forsaken city for a week and I travelled from another one two weeks before that! I'm not new to this zombie business. I've survived this long and I'm sure as hell not going to die now." I calmed down a little and cracked a small smile. "Besides, the fact that a zombie saved me has to give me some points as far as 'fate' goes, right?"
For a brief moment I swore I saw him smirk before he looked out the door, contemplating just how dangerous it would be to grant me my wish.
"What, do you think you're going to loose some zombie reputation points with your buds by dragging some human chick along with you?" I teased.
He laughed. He honest to God laughed. It wasn't the same shrieking noise he had made earlier that day, although it was still raspy. This prompted my next question.
"Can you speak? Do you remember how?"
The hunter shrugged, still looking out the glass door.
I don't know. I've never tried.
"Can you say my name? Avery." I couldn't recall if I'd ever even told him my name before now.
His face distorted a little as I saw him struggling with his vocal cords to make the sounds. He was trying to figure out how. After a few moments of testing he tried, his attempt coming out as more of a low key battle cry. But at least he covered the "a" and "ry" sounds. Making the "v" was going to be a difficult task for his damaged vocal cords.
I gave him a small, encouraging smile but I knew he was already aggravated so I didn't push it. He tried a few more times before growling and twitching.
"Hey, that wasn't half bad." I told him to try and comfort him. "Just keep trying. In the mean time we need to think of something to call you."
He looked over at me curiously, not understanding why he needed a name.
"Well I can't go around calling you 'Hunter' all the time. That might be what you are, but that's not who you are. Besides, what if I see another hunter? If I shout you're just gonna turn around thinking that I'm yelling for you." I explained as I racked my brain. The truth was I had been thinking about this since my first day here but I hadn't come up with anything good.
"I don't guess you have any suggestions do you?"
The hunter's stare was almost comical. I knew what he was thinking.
What the hell do you think?
"For now why don't we just stick with Hunt? Easy for both of us to recognize but different enough so we don't get confused. Sound good."
Hunt nodded a little reluctantly although I got the feeling that he wasn't too happy about his new name. It wasn't permanent, I told myself, just until we thought of something better.
"So, Hunt, should we get going?" I asked as I shouldered my gun.
He seemed to sigh in defeat and nodded as he headed for the door.
I'm glad to see that at least a few people like this story. I'm trying to keep it original and interesting.
Keep in mind that everything in italics aren't the hunter's exact thoughts but what Avery is assuming he's thinking. I'm trying to use this as a way for him to speak without really talking.
Thanks for your support guys. Reviews make Hunt want to take his hoodie off!