I pulled the trigger and the crossbow bolt shot forward and slammed into the corpsers face. It dropped like a stone. Next to me, Tori pulled the trigger and her rifle barked several times. All around me, the Hollywood misfits fought off the herd. An eternity later, Beck called out that it was clear. We walked out, apprehensively, checking each corpse to make sure it was truly dead.
I yanked the bolts out of the corpsers. Not even bothered by the gore that often came with it.
Beck looked mad over this recent firefight. No surprise, it used up ammo. And it's not like we had a lot to begin with. I went around, badgering the others into revealing how they felt and what their thoughts were. Once I gathered all the information, I walked over to Beck.
Beck was leaning against the side of the car, eyes closed and facing up to the sky. Andre stood next to him, shaking his head.
"Am I interrupting something?" I asked.
Andre gave a chuckle one might hear at a graveyard.
"No. Just wondering where this herd came from and when the hell we would be able to get some rest"
I nodded, and all at once all of the exhaustion of the past few weeks or days came crashing down on me. I didn't remember how long it had been since we hit the road from Eden. I leaned back and fell into the arms of someone. I looked back at Tori, who gave an exhausted smile. I couldn't bring myself to return the smile. After we fled the rich neighborhood, we had been chased around the entire area. Every time we thought we had a place to stay, beings dead or alive would chase us away. Combined with the almost constant ambushes on the road, we were reaching the end of our rope.
"Where to now Beck?" Jane asked.
Beck sighed and tried to suppress any signs of exhaustion on him. It might have worked on anyone else, but we all saw through him. No one, not even me dared to comment on how tired he was.
"Hit the road, keep driving. Find a place to sleep for a bit."
"So the usual then?" Jane snapped.
"Unless you have a better idea, I suggest you shut your goddamn mouth" I snapped. Jane stepped forward and I stepped out of Tori's arms towards Jane. Before anything could happen, everyone crowded around us and separated us.
I didn't put up a fight to that simply because I didn't have the energy. And from the look on Jane's face, the resistance she put up was all just for show. I gave a halfhearted growl from Tori's arms, but made no other movement. Jane glared from Trina and Andre's arms, but she too didn't do anything.
Beck sighed and said "Tori and Jade with Cat and I, everyone else in the pickup truck. Follow my car; we'll be heading towards the suburbs to find a place to stay."
With great resignation we headed to the cars. I took the drivers seat and Tori sat in the passenger seat.
"Can't stand to be separated from me Tori?" I asked. I waited for the customary denial and whining voice, but when I glanced at Tori, she was knocked the hell out. I chuckled and grabbed a blanket from the back seat and draped it over her.
Beck and Cat slid into the car and Beck almost immediately fell asleep. Cat grabbed a pillow and leaned against Beck. She was struggling to stay awake.
"Don't stay awake on my account Kit. Get some sleep. I'll be fine."
Cat glanced at me as I started the car. "You sure?" she asked softly. I nodded and waved my hand in a dismissive motion. Cat leaned back and a few minutes later, she was out. Twitching every so often.
We drove for what seemed like forever. When the danger of me falling asleep behind the wheel became to great, I pulled off the road into this massive clearing. I glanced around the car, and everyone was still asleep. I shook Beck's leg until he woke up. I quickly explained that I was too tired to go on, and I was taking a short nap.
Beck nodded, and he directed me to park near the trees, in order to hide the cars from passerbies. A quick check on the others in the pick up truck, and I fell back in the car. Exhaustion quickly claimed me. We all slept for several hours; and felt slightly more alive. It was as good as sleeping in a bed, but it's better then nothing. Beck took over driving, and we went back on the road.
Hours passed before we came to a gated community. Breaking the chain, we drove through before closing it. Turning around, we ran into the community people. They all had weapons aimed at us. We aimed ours right at them. An old woman who called herself Sykes managed to defuse the situation before it turned into a blood bath.
We got an abandoned house to call our own, and we agreed to help defend the place should anything happen. We reached the house, and explored the place from top to bottom. Only then did we allow ourselves to even consider relaxing. Glancing outside showed that the members were watching us. That was to be expected. We ignored them.
I headed to one of the bedrooms and collapsed on the bed. Tori came in and collapsed right next to me, with her head on my lower back.
"Can't stand to be away from me Tori?" I asked.
"Not right now no, you make a good pillow"
"I don't know if I should be flattered by that"
Tori chuckled. "You should. You" The rest of her sentence was cut off by a yawn. I couldn't stop myself from yawning as well. I got up and slowly changed out of my clothes. I got down to my bra and underwear before declaring a loud "Fuck it" and sliding into the bed. Tori got her shorts on and a sleeveless shirt before getting into the bed.
I was out the moment my head hit the pillow.
I don't know how long I slept. All I know was that it was past eight hours. When I finally woke up, I didn't make any movement other then to roll over and stare at the ceiling. How long would it be before we were chased out of here? How long before we had to take to the roads again?
Jane came in at that moment.
"Andre and everyone else are still out. The community seems leery of us, but they wont do anything. Old Lady Sykes seems to be a power here. Convinced the rest to leave us alone."
I grunted but didn't say anything.
Jane slid down to the ground and said "Beck says that we should be able to get a couple days. Or something like that. He mumbled into the pillow. Poor guy is still out like a light. Cat woke up a couple times but that was it."
I smirked and fell back against the bed. Tori was still there, asleep as well and twitching violently in her sleep.
After a few minutes of talking, I shooed Jane out and wrapped my arms around Tori. She twitched in her sleep and seemed to be fighting off something. I pulled her close and closed my eyes. Hoping, for the only peace left in this hellish world, the peace called sleep.
Exhaustion, what I'm feeling now since I really wanted to type this instead of going to sleep. Probably not one of my smarter moves. Meh.
-C.H.
