Ive been given more inspiration for this story, and I'm ahoy to say that it is going to be longer due to the way I'm going now, it's slightly different but will have the same conclusion.
I will warn that this chapter isnt my best and a bit cheesy but it will hopefully be better after this.
Thank again for the amazing response, youre support always pushes me to do more chapters and I'm so thankful I cannot but it into words! ^^
I knew most of you had already guessed who the 'Mystery Man' was...still uncertain on what I'll do with that yet.
With that done, on with the chapter...
"Life is made up, not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things, in which smiles and kindness, and small obligations given habitually, are what preserve the heart and secure comfort."
Humphry Davy
The rain lessened a while later to a slow patter, the darkness that had hung over the area now broke away to reveal the warming sunshine that purified the Earth that had been tarnished by the thunderstorm. It was no longer quiet as birds began chirping high up in the canopies, celebrating the triumphant return of the sun.
April's sleep-encrusted eyes gingerly opened to see the ray of light pass over the hollow. Memories of the days events engulfed her, and she groaned as a headache formed in between her eyes.
"Don't tell me you froze to death. Wouldn't that be ironic."
"Screw you." She mumbled at Gareth's sarcastic comment, sitting up from her position on his shoulder, his arms untangling around her so that she was free to stretch her tingling muscles. Pins and needles exploded in her arms, causing a small irritation but it was the headache that attacked her brain that caused the most discomfort.
Blood still polluted her hands, and it took all her strength not to crush them into fists.
"You okay?" Gareth asked carefully, eyes never leaving her face as it held an unreadable stare.
Like hell she was okay.
"My head feels like it's being squished, my legs ache, my arms are pins and needles and my daughter is more than likely dead. But yeah. I'm peachy."
His eyes snapped to the floor at that, guilty of what he had said, silently hoping she would somehow be able to forgive him. She turned to see the blame on his face, and smiled lazily, mind not completely in motion yet.
She had to act normal again, fool him that it was just a moment of madness.
"I'm not angry. It was a wake up call if anything. Let's just find Mary and Alex." She said, tilting her head so that the thick roots of the tree didn't bang onto her head, and she saw the Cold Body still dead on the forest floor. "Thanks for..." She uttered, motioning the Cold Body with a hand because it was easier as her vocal chord felt as if it would tear.
"Anytime" he mumbled back, standing up as April picked up her knife and wiped it clean with the trim of her shirt. Remembering that his jacket was still around her shoulders, April shrugged it off and tossed it to Gareth, who caught it just before it hit the water-clogged mud.
They galavanted their way back to the train tracks. They were incredibly lucky, it wasn't difficult to find the clearing again and the tracks weren't covered by a river. However, just as April was about to walk forward, Gareth's hand gripped her arm gently. She turned.
"Wait" he croaked, sleep deprivation easily detectable by the dark bags under his eyes and the barely understandable voice. "We are not going anywhere until we talk about the deal again." He said with a commanding voice that April registered as there was no discussion they we having this talk. Still she tried to avoid it.
"Gareth I-"
"April I want you to stay with us." He interrupted her, so quick were his words that it made April's head spin.
Maybe she hadn't heard it right, maybe this was just a test to see how weak she really was.
"What?"
"When we do eventually find out what is at the end of the tracks, even if there is nothing at all...I want you to stay with us." He tried again, making the words as clear as possible so that April couldn't confuse it. She stared blankly at him. Why say it now? Why even consider it after what had happened earlier? A guilty conscious maybe?
"Why? Why would you offer me that?" She asked suspiciously, thinking there was an ulterior motive. Gareth sighed with irritation. Did he really have to spell it out for her?
"Because we wouldn't have survived this long without you. Sure we have no clue as to where Mary and Alex are, but he would have been dead in that house if you hadn't of done something. These last few weeks. I know now that we can't survive on sheer luck alone, that we have to take risks, suffer the consequences, even if it's something we would have nightmares about before everything happened."
"You showed me that. And..." He trailed off, unable to finish. It seemed so pathetic of him, acting like a schoolboy in the middle of an apocalypse. Her expression didn't make it any easier, expectation of an explanation that he could all but stutter inaudibly.
Screw it. He thought.
Without any time to prepare or think twice, he stepped forward and hastily pressed his lips against hers. It was over in a second. Gareth pulling back to see that April's expression was aghast, unable to form words to counter his move.
"And that." He finished breathlessly.
April stood wordlessly, head and heart pounding as she tried to understand what had just happened.
"Well?" He asked expectantly.
What exactly was he expecting her to say? Yes, this is a brilliant idea, considering how only a few hours they were at each other's throats like competing wolves.
With her mouth ajar, eyes shifting as she tried to search for words that weren't hurtful but got the message across. But there were never right words. That hadn't changed.
"I can't do this." She whispered finally, surprised by the words as if they hadn't even fallen from her lips. His face fell into disdain, feeling so stupid to even consider something so trivial as that. Truthfully he was expecting that reaction, in fact, he expected worse, but still it cut him deeply than what any knife could do.
"I get it. We've only known each other for five minutes and most of that was rally matches." He answered, but it was impossible to hide the disappointment in his voice. She heard it and internally kicked herself as she stepped forward and looked him in the eyes.
"It's not that. Nothing to do with that. Even if Kaitlyn is dead. I know that someone has to be alive. Andrea, Amy, my friend Jim and his kids...someone is out there, and I have to find them. I don't know, maybe if things were different...don't let this make you think I don't like you, because I do. You, Mary and Alex reminded me that my family is out there too." She explained, hand reaching to rub the plastic dolphin with her thumb. She smiled at it as the clear material glimmered in the newly returned sun.
Amy was so pretty, the perfect prom queen girlie girl. While April had only inherited their mother's blonde hair, her horse-like long face and green eyes were her father's for definite. Amy was always wanting to play dolls whereas April would want to go out to look for critters in the undergrowth of their garden. Amy would be in a sparkling sequin dress whereas April would appear at the back door caked in mud. They were always chalk and cheese. And yet they had been bonded beyond most sisterly relationships.
At least, that was what April fantasied.
"Amy's my twin." April proclaimed, looking up to see that Gareth was slightly surprised by the news, the look made her smile. "No where near identical, and none of that empathy linking crap. But we equally shared our abandonment when Andrea never came to visit on our birthday. Or at anytime of the year. It'll be our birthday tomorrow." April finished thoughtfully, the idea of turning twenty-four hadn't crossed her mind, seeing as it seemed so pointless. But it would be the first that Amy and April wouldn't be together for it, and it made her feel disconnected.
Gareth had listened to every word, understanding, and realised that what he was proposing would never be enough. She needed her family. Just like he needed his. He twitched a smile, rolling his tongue over the plaque of his teeth. He would hate to see her go off alone, but there was no changing her mind. He could offer her a birthday, he could do that much.
"At least stay with us tomorrow, and then you can go and find them. But what about the deal?" He added, and April just shrugged her shoulders.
"I'll find a town, I always do. And whatever is at the end of the tracks is all yours, you deserve it." She answered, thinking it was best to tell a lie with mostly truth. And it was true. Gareth deserved the shelter with his family, no matter what hurt he had caused along the way.
"Okay, we better start walking again if we're going to catch them by tomorrow." Gareth said after a long pause, ignoring her compliments as they turned and walked side by side down the dull tracks once more. It was mainly silence, but not the awkward kind, just a content silence that both had come to an agreeable understanding without harsh words.
They both knew that the world was too unpredictable for that. Emotions of that sort could drive someone crazy, like family, only they had the choice to avoid the damage. You can't get attached. That's what they knew. It was just difficult to stick that in their mind the closer to Alex and Mary they got.
It was obvious that Gareth was still disheartened, even more so that April was leaving, and so he savoured the moments at lot more. Quick glances, shifty eyes, and short talks where they explained some things about their lives before. April had given way too much information of herself, he had hardly given anything to her, it wasn't as if he had done something life-changing before the outbreak, far from it, but there was no point in talking about the past if there was no chance of a future to reflect on it.
Still he tried.
"I was an IT technician before, not a very well-paid job but it had some perks. The office drones depended on you a lot, so they would literally do anything to get their work through to the big bad boss. That's how I met that guy, Philip, I'd see him pottering around the offices all day every day, same old boring job trying to work for someone younger than him. I may have been pretty new, but I knew where I stood, and it was better than being humiliated by a pompous brat. Still, I spent most of the money on getting drunk. Just for the thrill of it. Especially after our mom died." He added solemnly, waiting for April to voice the question.
She didn't speak a word. She didn't have to.
"It was before all of this, back when me and Alex were...eighteen? I think, anyway. Didn't take long for Dad to meet Mary, the barstard hated being alone. She was good to us, Alex liked her but I just stayed out of the happy family for the most part. It was just easier. Regret it now though." He sighed, staring up at the sky, seeing all the clouds that remained the purest white even with the discoloured grey and red of the world beneath them.
"Can't imagine you as a rebel, let alone an alcoholic." April snorted in good humour, and Gareth joined with his own chuckle, it made the tense moment less saddening.
"Just because I liked an extra drink or two doesn't make me an alcoholic. But I must admit, I gave Mary a hard time, that hasn't changed since the outbreak." He mumbled, yawning wildly as the sleepless nights began to take its toll.
"She'll forgive you, you didn't abandon her when many others would." She replied, this being the last thing they said as a few minutes later they were met with the sight of a small town.
The tracks ran alongside it, the large houses all lined up on the left with their green lawns, pieces of rotten flesh biochemically fertilising the earth. There were a few Cold Bodies scattered around, stumbling as usual.
"You think they'll be there?" April asked, eyes never leaving the Cold Bodies, one being that of a young girl around the age of six. It was dressed in ripped pyjamas stained red from the white it used to be. They were Hello Kitty pyjamas, a night gown draped over the dead flesh, teddy in one hand hanging loosely. She resembled Kaitlyn, and it made her mind flicker with thoughts of what had happened earlier on the same day.
It spotted them, it being so close to the tracks. It began to steadily growl towards them, snarling as dead eyes targeted them with a lusting need to eat. April stepped forward, unsheathing the knife and slammed it into the top of the Cold Body's head, a half-hearted moan escaped before it slumped to the floor.
She pulled the knife out and wiped it clean on her t-shirt, still smothered with the dried blood of the other Cold Body. There was no emotion now. You had to do what you had to do.
"Only one way to find out." Gareth replied, the click of his gun sounding in April's ears.
They carefully began to enter the town.
