I open my eyes to the sound of my trash bag moving around and see the kid practically inside it.
I frown and stand up quietly. I walk behind him and after a few seconds I ask "what are you doing?"
The boy jumps startled taking a minute to let go of the bag and back away from me as fast as he can. I take my bag
"I'm sorry!" He says "I was just..."
I look inside my bag. Everything is there, including the bullets, but one of the bottles has less water than before. I take it and raise an eyebrow letting him know I noticed he ever put the cap on as quickly as possible when I spoke
"I'm sorry!" He repeats while I let go of the bag and approach him with the bottle in my hand
When I'm close enough to him I hand him the bottle causing a confused face coming from him "If you keep being polite about everything you'll die" I say and put the bottle closer "You steal from someone, you don't say sorry afterwards."
The boy is about to take the bottle carefully seeing if I'm not going to hurt him "than..."
I pull the bottle away from him for a second "Don't thank, Just take it."
Then I hand him the bottle one more time. He nods and takes it
He drinks desperately
I go get the canned food in my bag before sitting next to him and getting my knife out to open it. He looks at me while I do so.
"Can I.. Have some?" He asks me when I open the can and look at him
"Are you seriously alone?" I ask him
He nods sadly "It was just me and my mom, but... There were a lot of them..."
"Of who?"
"The dead... Its just me now..."
"When?"
"Few days ago..."
I think for a moment and hand him my can of food. I tell him he can eat half of it and he does the same he did with the water
After watching him devour almost half of my green beans I ask "Whats your name?"
He notices he's acting like an animal and stops eating. He gives me the can back slowly. "Jared" he replies mumbling with some food still in his mouth and cleaning his himself with the back of his hand
I use my finger to get food out of the can and put it in my mouth before thinking for a moment
Yeah... I think he can come with me. If I find Rick I don't think he'd argue about it.
Its a good idea
"How many walkers have you killed?"
He looks confused "walkers? you mean the dead?"
I nod
"Why?"
"Just answer the question" I say
He hesitates "some... Never counted, but my mom helped me"
"How many people have you killed?"
"Killed or tried to kill?"
Wow... "Both"
"Just you"
I raise an eyebrow "why?"
he shrugs and mumbles "Because I thought you wanted to hurt me"
"Do you want to come with me?"
Jared frowns "with you? Where?"
"To look for my brother. I lost him the other day and I need to find him. I thought I told you that last night" I explain patiently
"Yeah but you mean.. You Lost him? Or you just lost him?"
I think for a moment emptying whats left in the can "I just lost him. And I need to find my way back to my group. There's other kids and adults that can protect you better than me. You'll be safe."
Jared thinks for a moment and says shyly "I don't need protection... Or learning how to shoot. I need a new gun"
"You just need to take the safety off"
"I can't, its broken" I noticed that before. He does need a new one
I nod "Then we'll find you one or fix yours"
He bites his lower lip. Damn, Mini Daryl
He says "Ok...but you're putting your shirt back on, right?"
I chuckle "yes. Don't worry about that"
"Where are we headed?" Jared asks walking by my side with his beretta on his hand.
"Macon" I reply with his backpack on since he let me put all my stuff in it.
"But my gun..."
"The less people the more supplies there are. I think we can find you a new one" I say and stop, holding my weight by putting my hands on my knees for a minute to catch my breath "hold on a second"
Jared stops walking. He throws his gun to the woods and stares with confused eyes "are you ok?"
"Yeah" I cough slightly trying to think of why he just threw his gun like that "why did you do that?"
He shrugs "Are you sick?"
I hesitate and think of what to tell him. I nod "A little"
"Bad?" He asks moving closer and changing his expression to concern and somehow fear
I nod once more "It was pretty bad a few days ago"
"Are we gonna die?"
I only look at him
What...?
"We?" I frown
"If you're sick then I can get sick too. My dad died when he got sick. Are we gonna die?"
"No" I tell him
We are quiet for a moment.
I keep staring at him with a weirded out expression. I stand straight and put down the backpack on my shoulders
I'm not that kind of sick... Well, we all are, but I'm not turning. Is that what he calls sick?
He's been in the darkness for the past two years apparently. He knows nothing
I open the bag and take a bottle of water. While opening it I ask "what do you know about the dead?"
I drink water before he talks and I put the plastic object back in the bag. Gotta make it last...
Jared shrugs "You gotta shoot them in the head or run. More than 5 is a threat worth avoiding if you're alone. If you're sick you're gonna die, and then you'll turn."
"Are you sick?"
"No"
"And who is sick then?" I put the bag back up on my shoulders and tilt my head slightly
"Whoever is bitten. You are, and if you turn I'll have to shoot you too."
Those words confuse me. 'Shoot you too'
Apparently he killed someone else before... Or something other than the walkers? He lied to me
I keep staring at him but keep quiet.
About the infection, what should I tell him?
How do I explain to him... Were all infected. It is not the bite that made me sick because it wasn't a walker, but still. However you die, you turn...
How can I tell him that?
"But I'm not afraid of you." I hear his brave boy voice saying "I know you're fighting it. Maybe you can beat it. Maybe you're different"
I look down for a second feeling bad about him and bend once more. I pull my knife out and hand it to him since he has no weapon right now
Jared thinks for a second and takes the knife carefully. I put my arm around his shoulder.
"Come on," I say softly before I start walking. "We gotta get there before its dark"
Jared nods
We've been walking since... I don't know.. Noon maybe
Poor Jared looks really tired. I am tired too and we're now in Macon, we just need to find somewhere to stop.
He's got the flashlight on to see where we're going in one hand and my bloody knife in the other. We encountered a car wreck and had to deal with some walkers.
At least we got food. Could say we hit the jackpot
Hours have passed since we found it and it's almost completely dark. The sun can't be seen anymore but the sky still give us some light covered by the thick cloud
Its gonna be a rainy year... Lucky for us it is not raining yet
On our way here we've passed more stores but all of them have been looted. We only found ammo in one of them
Not long after that we stop in front of a big two story house surrounded by tall grass and old cars just like the ones by its sides except the others are smaller.
Second floors mean better view around it specially being the only house like that in the neighborhood. It has more rooms to clear, but it also has more places to hide if we find we're not alone here.
With the bag on my back I make sure none of the walkers roaming lazily in nearby areas can see us. I can see one down the street so others could be close as well.
I walk inside the house first with Jared following me close behind. The door broken on the floor as if someone forced an entry here.
I don't think it has a meaning. Anyone could've done it while looking for supplies.
"Give me the light." I whisper to the kid since I'm in front of him and need to see where Im going. He quickly does as he's told and asks if I see something
"Not yet. Stay close"
We walk into the living room carefully only to find it empty. No furniture, no supplies, only a broken TV on the floor. Looks expensive... Was expensive...
The fire place is still intact. Maybe we can find something to burn and stay warm tonight.
Grabbing up the fire poker I give Jared an evil smirk jokingly. He laughs triumphantly
This might come in handy
We move to the next room.
We move upstairs. The coat closet was clear, there is no basement and the other rooms are clear too. So is the kitchen. Not a single cookie was left in it.
Jared makes sure to look under the beds. I smirk when I see him do that.
He was serious when he told me to do it yesterday
I do my best to cough silently when I cant keep my itching throat from doing it, but I know It's just the remaining of the illness and it'll go away soon.
We check a bathroom and it is as well empty.
At the end there is only the master bedroom left unchecked so we walk in and the first thing I see is Jared's hair and shirt being grabbed by a walker and the kid pulled inside the room
I widen my eyes and rush to help him
Despite everything happening only within a matter of seconds, only once he hits the wall as he fights the walker with a tight jaw before I use the strong iron weapon I got downstairs to stab the walker's head in no time and checking on the kid feeling a little worried
"Fuck" I say kneeling in next of him, who is sitting on the floor with a blank expression on the face "are you okay?" I ask trying to check on him "Are you alright?"
He keeps staring at the wall in front of him as If I wasn't there
"Jared!" I call him once more
"I..I dunno" he blinks a few times finally focusing on me and says with a shaky voice "I think so."
Using the light I check him as fast as I can just to make sure
Nothing. No blood, no scratches, no bites. The only thing out of the ordinary seems to be how hard his heart pounds in his throat.
I let out a relieved sigh "you're good"
He looks down still shaken by the moment while I look around. I put my gun next to his hand trying to make him feel safer
"Room's clear now. stay here" I tell him and get up "I'll go double check the house."
Again he stays quiet until I speak louder
"Seriously, stay here"
Jared stays there without moving other than his head to nod as I walk out of the room. Not even the slightest sound comes from him.
I'll let him calm down and clear his mind for a moment.
Kiddo is still on the same place when I walk back inside the room. I close the door slightly putting the poker next to it just so it makes noise to alert me if someone or something comes in.
I sit on the side of the bed watching how he just observes my beretta carefully still seeming to be in shock.
I take my boots off and step down kneeling to check under the bed as a way of saying 'hey, look! Here, I listen to you. Everything is fine.'
He notices what I'm doing. I feel his eyes on me and finally get back up to get close to him
I sit by his side and see how his breathing gets heavier and heavier until he finally lets tears running down his cheeks.
What? Why?
I stare for a second and take the gun carefully from him.
"Listen," I tell him "These things happen, you just gotta fight them. You gotta be strong..."
"I shot her," he mumbles making me stop and widen my eyes
"What?"
"I had to..."
I wonder who he's talking about
"She couldn't stay like that. Not her"
"Who?"
"You talk about your brother. About family. You know I couldn't just leave her there" He looks down and cries a little harder
I am so confused right now
"Come here" I put my arms around him feeling really bad while he continues sobbing gently "Its ok..."
He hugs me back
By the looks of it this kid has been through real bad shit lately.. Poor thing...I know what a living hell feels like
"It's okay, Jared"
Happy new year. Let 2017 begin
