We still had a few hours of daylight to burn and had to lock up the house. First, we had to get the bodies out of the house and preferably off the yard. We started bringing them from upstairs towards the front door. I kept the axe in its holster at my side, the handle hit my knee with a heavy pat with each step. A body was slung between us or over Hiccup's shoulder. We had found remnants of what used to be the family's dog… before the walker got to it, there wasn't much left to get rid of from that.
The man went first, we lugged him down the hallway to the locked front door and stopped cold, gently putting the body down as Toothless sat, whimpering and starring at the door. There was loud scratching from the other side and looking through the peep hole there were two walkers. They snarled that terrible animalistic snarl as they scratched and banged on the door. Hiccup turned around and put a finger up to his lips for silence.
'What do we do?' I mouthed to him. Hiccup looked around the room even when he kissed my forehead.
'I'll take care of it.' He whispered to me and signaled for Toothless to sit next to me. There was a side door from the mud room to the right of the house that was in close proximity to the front door. Hiccup traded his gun for a knife from the kitchen and slipped out and down the concrete steps. The ivy was overgrowing onto the side of the house and the grass turned the lawn into a jungle.
Hiccup held the knife down beside his thigh and he tread with caution through the tall grass, trying to be as quiet as possible. The dry foliage crunched and cracked under his steps but not loudly enough to attract the attention of the two simpletons on the porch. The wooden steps, however, creaked with a sharp complaint and he was prepared to have them turn around. The bigger one turned first followed by the other. Hiccup side-stepped, stabbing the closer gruesome guy in the head and letting it tumble down the steps followed by the ladder. Scoping his immediate surroundings he found only a few stragglers staggering along the street but none in range. He knocked twice on the door to signal it was clear, assuming Astrid was watching through the window or peep hole, she complied with a reply of two knocks. Hiccup wiped blood off of his face with his sleeve as the door silently opened.
"Good job, babe." She kissed him lovingly and handed him back his gun which he slid into the holster on his left side.
"Thank the silence of kitchen knives." He held the bloodied knife up and waved it a bit, blade facing down. The beautiful alabaster skinned blonde brightened at his light heartedness and tucked her bangs behind her ear and wiped sweat from her forehead.
"Ready when you are, Chief." She nodded towards the bodies stacked at the bottom of the stairs.
Blood spattered the pavement of the walk way. Now to deposit the bodies elsewhere. The icing on the cake of a particularly harrowing day, but each member of the trio reveled at the thought that sleep was only a few hours away.
Toothless stayed at Hiccups heels the whole time as he had been trained to do. Hiccup had trained the dog himself from a puppy. His father was in the military and Hiccup imitated the dog training so that in a fighting stance Toothless would walk under his legs following his steps front and back, left to right. They listened to one another like they both spoke a common language and had a respect that was unmatched. He no longer barked around walkers or when he heard something, instead he pawed or growled under Hiccup's instruction. Toothless didn't just protect us, we protected him. That's how we met, our families lived on the same base.
With a heave we let the final body down on the grass in the other yard. All six were lined out, the family together and the other two a few yards away. We couldn't burn them, because it was too much of a spectacle and we couldn't burry them with more important business to attend to. Hiccup and I stood over them. That same sick feeling clung in my stomach and pinched my throat, the two children were in between their parents, cold with bullets in their skulls.
"I'm fixing them." He murmured, bending down and placing ones hand over the other and so on until they all had their hands linked. It was morbid, but the closest to respect we could give them. Astrid wasn't paying attention, which was her first mistake.
Toothless growled and I turned to see a single walker heading onto the yard. My axe was out of its sheath and in its cranium without a hitch. When I pulled it out, blood splattered from the head and onto my shirt and the grass. It crumpled like dead weight, further cracking its' disgusting head on the pavement. Toothless keened up at his allies in worry. "Good job, bud" Hiccup encouraged, rewarding the large dog with scratches under his chin.
"Thanks, Toothless." She rubbed his head and wiggled his head.
I used my hand as a visor and looked out at the sun, pointing the blade of my axe just off center in the sky and counted downwards. "It's about 5:30." She said, lowing her axe and picked some grass to rub the extra blood off.
Hiccup was at her back, he was significantly taller than her by a whole head and kissed her temple.
"Gotta set up base for the night." A few walkers were picking up on the street as the hot South Carolina air cooled. The sun was going down and soon the street would be swarmed until dawn. We retreated back inside the safety of the immaculate house, it was a miracle it wasn't sacked. We separated to draw all the blinds and rummage for candles, everything we found, we put out on the kitchen counter. Candles, water, all sorts of medical supplies, and different canned foods.
I opened all of the cabinets, knowing the prior family had a dog meant that there was food to be found somewhere. Under the sink was a pack of dog food and Toothless spun in circles for it. I opened a can and put it on a paper plate from the pantry. As Toothless ate 2 cans of dog food I went through cabinet after cabinet, putting jars of peanut butter, canned peaches, beans, and GODS- A JAR OF NUTELLA onto the table. Hiccup brought down two more cases of water and drank an entire bottle of water. I eyed him as he stood in the middle of the room, chugging down water that spilled down his chin a little.
"We'll check the basement tomorrow." I got the gist of what he said but was captivated by something else. He had changed his shirt, now he wore a thick cotton tunic that was a forest green. It clung to his form, showing off the muscles of his abs and definition in his arms.
I looked down, grabbing a spoon from a drawer and stuck it into the Nutella jar. I needed new clothes too, my shirt was thread bare and ripped, and also, a new pair of underwear would be great. Victoria Secret didn't quit cut it in the apocalypse.
Hiccup fell back onto the couch and a grunt and sigh. I sat next to him and pulled my legs under me, tilting the jar towards him.
"Nutella?" I asked, putting some more on the spoon. Hiccup looked at the jar and laughed, happy I found my favorite thing in the world. He opened his mouth and I spooned it in. The house was almost too dark to see in now and candles would be lit soon. It was the best place we've had in a while. It was nice to finally be back in a nice house.
I ate another spoon full and adjusted myself to lay my head down on his lap. Hiccup played with my hair as we sat in the silence, every once in a while pulling my wrist up to give himself more of the chocolate hazelnut treat. It was the closest to normal we've experienced at since this all went down and neither of us intended to break the moment. However, about half way through the jar, reality came back.
"Do you think they are still out there?" Hiccup was brushing my cheek and looking somewhere into the darkness of the room. I took the spoon out of my mouth with a smack.
"Of course they are. They are probably wondering the same about us." I nestled into his stomach. Hiccup thought for a second.
"But what if they're not? What if Legs is alone or something? Or something happened to the twins?" His head flood with worries and 'what-ifs'. The world was a dangerous place, but if anyone could take it on, it would be our friends.
"Hiccup. They have the best chance of making it, between, Eret, Gobber, and your dad they are probably well stocked, locked and loaded." I tried to keep my hopes up. We last saw them in Charleston before a turf war exploded and walkers took over. We were holding up in the old jail but got separated in the market. We haven't seen any sign of Fishlegs, Snotlout, the twins, Eret, Gobber, or Stoick since.
"Think they made it out of Charleston?" He looked down at me but it was too dark to see his face clearly.
"Without a doubt. Maybe they are closer than we think." I nodded to myself and Hiccup looked back out.
"Maybe." He sat up and so did I, taking my chin in his fingers he angled it just towards the blind covered windows. I had to squint and saw an unmistakable sign of hope. In a boarded up house just across the street there was a single light coming from the inside. My heart skipped and sprinted. It could be our friends.