Chapter 7: Crossing Paths

BELLA

I was alone. That's all there was to it. The world had ended and I was the last one alive. It had been so long since I'd seen another living being that I'd started talking to myself just to fill the void. I didn't know whether it was months or even years since I'd been alone, but I wasn't sure I'd be able to take it much longer. What was the point of living if all there was to do was survive day to day, trying to avoid the monsters?

The monsters. They were everywhere. At first, I found myself watching them from the window, hoping that just one of them would be alive. Then, one day I saw my friend, Karin, staggering down the street with parts of her body missing and I stopped watching.

I first realized that something was terribly wrong about six months ago when I was at school. Forks High was a small school, so rumours spread quickly. No sooner would something happen, then through text messages and whispered conversations in the halls it was known by everyone. I knew better than most people about the rumour mill because as the newest student, the rumours were often about me.

Sitting in English class, the murmurings of something strange happening began early one Monday morning.

"Do you know Jessica?" a petite blond that I thought was named Lauren whispered to another girl in the seat in front of me.

The other girl Emma sighed loudly and said, "How could anyone not know the biggest slut in the school?"

Lauren giggled which annoyed the crap out of me, so I tried to tune out their conversation. However, snippets of their talk still got through.

"… got really sick…"

"… hospital… gone crazy…"

"… trying to bite people?"

I perked up at that because it was such a strange thing to say.

"Yeah, they tried to pin her down, but before they could get control of her, she got in a couple of good bites."

"God, that's messed up," Emma gasped. "Do you think she'll be back to school? I don't think I want to be around someone like that. Do you think she has rabies?"

"Maybe she's got some kind of venereal disease," Lauren snickered, but then the conversation was over as class started.

After that, I tried to focus on class. I'd read Wuthering Heights before and it was one of my favorites, but I just couldn't get into the class discussion. I kept picturing Jessica biting and snarling a feverish gleam in her eyes.

When I got home from school that night, I found Charlie in the kitchen with Billy and a couple of other cops. There was tension in the room that set every nerve in my body on high alert.

They were leaning over the kitchen table, staring at what seemed to be a map.

Charlie was pointing at different places on the map as the men around him nodded.

"We'll set up road blocks here and here," Charlie said, indicating two different places. "We need to set up quarantine zones while we're waiting for someone from the CDC to get here. They told me that they'd send someone as soon as they could, but that there were a lot of other towns that were worse off than us."

"What else should we do? If we don't get a handle on it today, then we probably aren't going to," Billy asked.

There was a tense exhale by the rest of them and a moment of silence as his words sunk in.

"We need to go into lockdown. All public places should be closed—schools, restaurants, anything where it can get out of control," Charlie said, breaking the silence.

Craig, one of the cops, leaned back and crossed his arms, a frown marring his face. "The hospital is going to be a problem. What do we do with sick people if the hospital is where all of the infected people are coming from?"

I stepped further into the kitchen, not wanting to seem like I was eavesdropping.

At the sound of my footfalls, all of the men's heads snapped in my direction and I was shocked to see that their hands went to their holsters. I stumbled back, terrified by the look in their eyes. But then Charlie's eyes cleared and he stepped towards me with an attempt at a soothing look on his face.

"Hey, Bells," he said, "How was your day?"

He tried to fake a smile, but it came out strained. He must have seen that the smile that he was using to calm me was actually making me more nervous because as soon as it appeared it was gone.

"The boys and I are just getting some work done here," he explained, gesturing towards the kitchen table "Bells, I want you to stay home for the next few days. I'm going to put out a message tonight saying that all schools are closed until further notice and that people need to stay in their houses," he said, none of his usual gruff self in his voice. He was speaking in a clipped official sounding voice, but his appearance was anything but the professional persona he usually gave off. The only way I could explain it was that he looked haggard. His eyes had dark circles under them and his skin was pale. His salt and pepper hair was sticking in all directions as if he hadn't had time to even brush it. He looked like he had aged ten years in just one day.

"What's going on Dad?" I asked as panic started to worm its way into me.

He stepped to my side and put his arm around my shoulder, squeezing it gently.

"We're not really sure, Bells. There's some kind of sickness spreading through town that is making people violent. We need to keep people away from each other so it doesn't infect more people. That's why I want you to stay safely inside," he said with a kiss to my temple.

I inhaled deeply at his gentle touch. Charlie didn't show affection often, but when he did, he made me feel safe.

"Everything will be all right, Bells. We're doing everything we can," he said, stepping away from me, but then taking me by the shoulders. "But you need to promise to stay indoors, okay?"

I nodded but then thought of something.

"But Dad we need groceries, especially if we're going to be stuck in doors for a while," I said.

Charlie shook his head, a terrified look appearing on his face.

"No. I'll get groceries on the way home tonight," he said quickly. "Don't leave this house."

I nodded silently.

I was very afraid now. All the silly rumours flying around school seemed so much more real because Charlie looked scared.

"Okay, Bells. I need to get back to planning with the guys. Why don't you go and relax and we can have supper later," he said, turning away from me before he even got a response.

I hurried up to my room and shut the door firmly. Throwing myself onto my bed, I pulled out my iPod and the dog-eared copy of the book I was reading. I wanted to forget that this day had ever happened and the easiest way to do that was to immerse myself in my familiar modes of escape.

About an hour later Charlie stopped by my room.

"Bells, I'm going to the station now. Promise you'll stay inside?" he asked, coming to stand at the foot of my bed where I laid with my book propped up against my knees.

I put the book down and got up from the bed.

"I promise, Dad. Be careful, okay?" I asked, feeling hollow.

"I promise, Bells," he said, putting his arm around my shoulder and pulling me to his chest. "I love you, you know."

I love you too, Dad," I said, pressing my face into his chest for comfort.

And that was the last time I saw him.

That night I made supper expecting him to walk through the door and tell me that everything was under control and that it had all been an overreaction. However, by 8:00 I knew that he wasn't coming. I was tempted to call the station, but decided against it. If he was really so busy that he didn't notice that he'd missed supper, I didn't want to distract him.

To fill the time, I turned on the TV and flipped through channels.

It was a bad decision. Every channel was filled with talk of this killer disease that turned people into raving monsters. I stopped on one channel that focused on the Pacific Northwest. News reporters, looking less than their best, sat at the anchor desk with tired red-rimmed eyes and tense faces explaining how there had been numerous reports that this disease was turning people into cannibals.

I flipped past that channel not believing such a crazy thing. Then, my breath left my chest in a gust when I saw footage that someone had taken on their cellphone.

Whoever held the cellphone was hiding in an alley and directing their phone towards what was happening on the street. The person must have been shaking because every few seconds the video would blur before solidifying back on the chaos in the street.

People were screaming and running everywhere. I saw people fall and others trample over them as if they hadn't felt them underfoot. Then as if it was magic, the crowd parted and I saw what looked like a group of people hunched over something that was writhing on the ground.

The group shoved and pushed at each other trying to reach whatever was hidden under them all the while groaning. The sound sent a shiver down my spine as it seemed to do to the amateur videographer.

Then, as if sensing that they were being watched, one and then two of the people's heads shot up and looked in the cameraman's direction.

My first thought was that they were wearing Halloween costumes. Their skin looked pasty, with a bluish cast to it. It almost looked like wet paper towel in the way it sagged on their faces. The one closest to the camera looked like he had red open sores on every part of his skin that was exposed. All of that could have been faked, but the eyes were something different. The cameraman zoomed in on the one closest and I found myself staring deeply into the monster's milky sunken eyes. Yes, he could have been wearing contacts, but I knew deep down that he wasn't.

The monster slowly stood up from where he'd been crouched and turned his body towards the alleyway. He was absentmindedly chewing at something wet and shiny red that dangled from his mouth as he stared in the direction of the owner of the cellphone. My stomach lurched when I realized that it looked a lot like raw meat. I looked past the man and tried to see what the others were huddled over and with a sharp indrawn breath I realized that it looked like they were tearing apart a person.

Just before the video cut off, the cameraman burst from the alleyway and broke into a run leaving the carnage behind. With his phone hanging limply from his hand as he ran by, I could see through the blurry image that the monsters were everywhere. They were snagging passersby on the street and throwing them to the ground. They were crawling along the pavement, searching for blood. They were everywhere.

I turned off the TV at that point. I felt like my mind was slipping, falling into a nightmare world filled with real-life monsters.

I shook my head, deciding that it was just a lot of hype that the news stations were using for ratings. Charlie always told me that a lot of news was just propaganda. These days, special effects were pretty realistic, I told myself.

I got up off the couch and put the supper away, wrapping Charlie's plate in tinfoil so he could eat it when he got home that night.

Even though I knew that I wasn't going to school tomorrow, I still went through the same routine as I would on a school night. I did my homework, took a shower and settled into bed with my book. However, even the familiar routine didn't stop the feeling of fear from gnawing at my stomach.

I got up finally and picked up my cell phone, dialing the number for the station. I knew that if I could just hear Charlie's voice then I would feel better. He would tell me that I didn't have anything to worry about and that he was just finishing stuff up and would be home soon.

I waited for the call to pick up, but was greeted instead with a busy signal. I felt the fear come back, but this time it was almost overwhelming.

I called the station again, and again, and again, but it was busy all night. Finally, I gave up and crawled into bed, pulling the covers over my head.

It was close to dawn when I heard a scream from across the street.

The high pitched shriek was like an electric current that shot through me, tearing me from a restless sleep.

At first, I thought it was part of a nightmare, so I just lay in the dark breathing and trying to calm myself. But then I heard it again, a breathless scream coming from the Henderson's home. I slid out of bed and crept on my hands and knees towards the window. There was barely any light coming through it because it was a new moon. We lived at the end of a street, so there were no street lights to blare down on us besides the motion activated lights that used to annoy me. Now, I was desperate for them to click on.

I inched my way up along the wall, so that I could peak over the window sill. However, I couldn't see anything in the dark.

Still, I stared in the direction of the noise, hyperaware in the darkness of every sound coming from that direction.

The Henderson's weren't a large family. Mr. Henderson worked on a freight ship, so he was gone for months at a time. That left only Simon and his mother. Simon was thirteen and had been the bane of my existence since about the age of ten when he got a crush on me. He would follow me around like a puppy dog whenever I was outside and after one awkward moment I had to always remember to close my curtains when I was in my room. One night as I was getting ready for bed, I looked out my window and saw Simon perched in his window watching me as he ate a bag of chips.

My mind snapped back into focus when I heard a quiet sound coming from what sounded like the side of Simon's house. It sounded almost like a breathy moan which had a rasp to it that sent a chill down my spine.

I felt a whimper forming in my throat because I was desperate for some kind of light. I couldn't stand hearing something like that but not being able to see it.

Then, almost as if it heard me, the motion detector light flicked on.

I jerked my head down from the window, hoping that whatever caused the lights to turn on hadn't seen me.

Then, inch by careful inch, I raised my head to look outside.

At first, I didn't see anything. The Hendersons were one of those families that collected junk in their front yard—old tires, rusted tools. So, what looked like a pile of rags didn't stand out. Then, with a quiet moan, the pile of rags moved.

I held my breath and watched as Simon's head rose up off the ground, his head lolling left and right searching for something. He barely looked like the kid that had bugged me for the last couple of years. His face was spattered with what I could only guess was blood and his skin had that same bluish tint to it that the monsters had on TV.

Not finding what he was looking for, Simon began to drag himself along the ground, heading towards the nearest house on his side of the street.

Then, I heard another sound which came from the side of the house where I'd thought that I'd heard the scream earlier.

My head whipped towards the sound and I gulped back a whimper when I saw that it was Mrs. Henderson. She staggered forward, stumbling with arms outstretched. It looked like something had bitten into the side of her face, tearing the flesh away.

I dropped to the floor, unable to see more.

I realized that everything that I'd seen on the news was real.

I grabbed my cell phone and dialed the station with shaking fingers.

With a sigh of relief, it began to ring. But then it just kept on ringing and no one ever picked up.

With a sob, I pressed end.

I tried to squash the feeling that my father was dead, but it was hovering in the background.

I started to cry softly, muffling it with a blanket that I'd dragged down off the bed.

I was alone and no one was coming to help me.

Then, Renee came to my mind. She was never much of a comfort to me, being less of a parent to me than I was to her. But at least I would know that I wasn't alone. So, I dialed her number.

An automated voice said that all circuits were busy.

I dropped the phone on the floor with a clatter and crawled up into my bed, burrowing my head under my pillows and sobbed until I fell asleep.

After that day, the monsters began to fill the street in increasing numbers.

I scoured the house for food but was too afraid to eat anything that would require cooking. And then I had no other choice because the power stopped working.

I stayed away from the windows as much as possible because it didn't take much to catch the monsters' attention. Something as simple as a plastic bag tumbling down the street in the wind could stir the monsters. Their moaning would become almost deafening as they searched for the source of the disturbance.

So, I stayed in the house eating everything I could get my hands on and then I starved until I knew that if I didn't go out and find food I'd die.

I decided that I would try the neighbours next door. The Monroes were rarely home, both commuting for work a few towns over which meant they came home late every night and left early every morning.

So, I grabbed my backpack and securely fastened it across my chest before cautiously walking to the backdoor. I planned to creep across our backyards and in through their sliding glass door.

I didn't worry that much that the doors would be locked. As is the quirk of many small towns, people in Forks often didn't lock their doors. It drove Charlie crazy because it didn't seem to matter how many times he lectured the town's residents, they continued to leave their doors unlocked. Coming from Phoenix, I thought they were all insane, but now I was extremely grateful.

So, with one final deep breath, I slowly slid the sliding glass door open and took one step outside, trying to look everywhere at once. When I didn't see any movement, I stepped gingerly off the deck and peeked around the side of the house.

They were still there, milling around the streets, bumping against each other and moaning, but none of them had ventured behind our houses yet.

I waited till I felt that none of them were looking in my direction and slipped quietly across the small stretch of yard between our houses. I was amazed when I made it to the house and didn't hear the tell-tale moaning become louder as they noticed my escape. Charlie had always said that I was stealthy and would have made a great spy if I didn't have ridiculously clumsy moments at the most inopportune times. When I turned off my mind and freed it from worry and stress, I was surefooted. It was only when my thoughts got in the way that I found myself tripping and dropping things.

Now, I called upon every part of myself to compartmentalize my fear, allowing myself to move quietly.

Creeping up onto the deck, I quickly stepped to the sliding glass door and slid it open. The air inside smelled stale which meant that none of the windows had been left open. It made me think that Mr. and Mrs. Monroe had never made it home. I stepped into the kitchen quietly and froze, waiting to see if I heard any movement. It was at that moment that I thought about how I should have brought some kind of weapon.

I'd never even thought about what I'd do if one of the things found me. The monsters looked like they were already dead, so I wasn't sure if they could even be killed.

When there was no sound of monsters in the house, I heaved a deep sigh of relief and started to look through cabinets and drawers for food that didn't need to be cooked.

There wasn't much. It seemed like the Monroe's diet comprised of raw vegetables, which had rotted in the fridge, and frozen dinners.

I scavenged what I could and stuffed it in my backpack. I was just about finished packing when I heard a sound behind me, a kind of reedy whining sound.

I whipped around just in time to come face to face with a monster. His face was so mangled that he wasn't recognizable. His forehead was split open to the bone and blood had cascaded down his face, obscuring his features. I was stunned for a moment, being so close to one. However, when one almost fleshless finger grazed my arm as the monster took a swipe at me, my paralysis broke.

I screamed and I spun around the island in the kitchen, putting it between me and the monster.

With surprising speed, he lunged right and then left as I tried to dodge by him. However, on one of my attempts to get around him, he caught my arm in a painful grip.

I scrabbled at the island, trying to find a grip on anything that would stop my feet from sliding across the linoleum floor as he pulled at me. However, I only managed to knock things over and onto the ground. I grabbed a hold of something and clenched it in a tight grip, but the sharp pain it caused made me yelp and let go. I realized that I'd grabbed a hold of the blade of a knife from where I'd knocked over the butcher's block and scattered knives across the counter.

The monster's constant whine now turned into a growl as it smelled my blood. I cried out in fear and pain as its grip on my arm became even tighter.

I reached out again and was able to grab a hold of another knife just as the monster yanked me away from the island.

I spun around in its arms and tried to stab it with the knife in my hands. The monster was a lot taller than me and I only succeeded in hitting it in the chest. My arm reverberated with the hit and I found that my weapon was stuck. I yanked at it with a sob, yanking it back and forth trying to pull it free. All the while, the monster's hands were scrawling bleeding marks into my arms and then neck as he tried to pull me towards its mouth. Just as I felt like I was about to lose consciousness, the knife came free from its chest. With one last jab, I rammed the knife upwards, trying to stop it from biting down on me. With a shock, the monster suddenly went limp and we both collapsed to the floor in a heap. The air came rushing back into my lungs and I felt light headed. With thready gasps of breath, I pushed my way out from under the monster.

When I was finally free, I sat still stunned by the fall and by the near death experience. Everything was deathly quiet besides my wheezing gasps.

I stared at the monster anxiously, waiting to see if it lurched back to life, but it never did. Therefore, I hesitantly reached for it and with a great deal of effort rolled it over on its back.

With surprise, I realized that I'd shoved my knife up into its upturned chin.

Still afraid that it would grab at me at any moment, I reached for the knife I'd buried in its neck.

With amazing ease, it slid out of its neck and into my hand.

It was not in fact a knife, but an ice pick. It was a deadly looking thing like a large sharpened screw driver.

I didn't look at its face, afraid that I would lose it if I recognized who the monster used to be.

Burying my fear, I clinically examined where I'd stabbed it.

Thankfully, it didn't bleed. It looked more like the fetal pig that I'd cut into in Biology class. Angela always said that I was cold blooded when it came to dissection. The first time I cut into the pig, Angela had to run to the bathroom and throw up. However, I'd been fascinated.

The stab wound that seemed to have killed it had gone up through its soft pallet and probably into its brain. Pulling open the monsters shirt, I looked at where the ice pick had punctured his chest. It hadn't gotten stuck in one of his ribs. It had actually found its mark and hit somewhere close to or in his heart.

I could only guess from this that the monsters only died if I hit their brains.

With a nod of understanding, I pushed myself to my feet

Only then did I allow myself to look at the monsters face. I looked at it for only a second, recognizing Mr. Monroe and then stepped away.

I needed to be strong and remember that the monsters weren't people anymore and they weren't un-killable.

I continued that way for months, wandering from house to house, building to building looking for food, but also searching for any other human beings.

The loneliness was unbearable. It was a suffocating longing for another person to share my thoughts and feelings with. I'd even started talking to Charlie in my head and to my surprise and relief he started to respond.

Can I be the only one left alive, Dad? I asked.

That wouldn't make sense, kiddo. You just need to hold on a while longer, he said.

I don't think I can take it, Dad, I said, tears clouding my vision.

You're strong, Bells. You can survive this, he said, gently. How about we check out the schools today?

For the most part, I was able to evade the dead. As long as you kept your sound to a minimum and stayed downwind from them, you could creep from building to building with little fuss.

I decided to start with the elementary school, thinking that they might have food and snacks that no one thought to take when the dead overwhelmed the town.

As I walked through the parking lot, I could almost see the little kids streaming past me in yelling, running groups.

Crossing the playground, I ran my fingers across the swing-chains to make them jingle, not caring in that moment that I was making noise.

Surprisingly, the school was empty of the dead. It was rare to find a building without at least one wandering the halls. However, besides some crackers and Cheese Whiz that I found in the kindergarten classroom, there wasn't anything else.

Instead of going home, I decided to take a walk in the woods. On the days that it was just too much to be surrounded by the dead, the thickly lush forest could help me to almost forget what had happened to the world. The birds still twittered, the wind still rushed through the trees; the world lived on even though people didn't.

Even with the crisp fall air, I would sometimes swim in the river. It was freezing, but it made me feel alive. The pins and needles as the blood returned to the surface of my skin, the throbbing ache of the beginnings of frost bite all reminded me of the fact that I was alive.

There was a wide open glade that was a few miles from my home, which I loved to visit. I loved how great waves would ripple through the tall grass pushed by gusts of wind. When I laid down it in, I felt comforted by how it surrounded me.

One time in the woods, it felt like someone was watching me. Strangely, instead of frightening me, the presence was comforting. For a brief moment, I felt like I wasn't alone. I knew it was only a figment of my imagination, but it was a great figment.

Eventually, I always had to return to town when hunger became too much for me to ignore.

On this trip back into town, I was shocked to hear the sound of loud music with a heavy base.

The sound could only mean one thing. Someone was alive out there.

I hurried in the direction it was coming from. All I had to do was follow the hoard of dead because they were on the lookout for the same thing that I was.

As I ventured further into town, I quickly realized that the music was coming from town square.

I made the decision at that point not to follow the hoard because whoever it was wanted to attract the monsters probably to kill them and I didn't want to become one of them.

As I got closer, I silently crept to the building closest to the square, which I'd cleared a few weeks ago, and went through the back and up the stairs to the roof.

When I reached the roof, I had to slam my shoulder against the door to get it to open on its rusty hinges. It opened with a shriek of metal which made me cringe in fear. In any other circumstance that noise would have attracted the monsters for miles, but thankfully the music drowned out the harsh sound.

Instead of walking to the edge of the building, I dropped to my stomach and crawled across the roof to avoid being seen. I didn't want the person or people to see me before I had the chance to see them.

There were a around fifty dead in the square. Their moans sounded almost excited as they converged on the radio which was propped up on a bunch of boxes that someone had left near the ornamental fountain in the center of the square. Mrs. Wellington had donated it to the town in her will. It didn't suit the rustic town, but Charlie couldn't deny her dying wish. So, there it sat looking gaudy amongst the large fir and maple trees.

I couldn't understand the purpose of placing the radio there until I saw movement from the top of town hall.

It was so strange to see another human being that at first he didn't even look real. I'd almost forgotten what a living person looked like. Everything about him glowed with life. He was tall, but young, probably close to my age. He had the oddest color of brown hair that shone as the sun danced off strands of red and gold giving it a bronze tint. His cheeks were flushed with cold and his breath misted the air as he breathed heavily. All signs of a body teaming with life.

I thought about standing up and getting his attention. The building I was lying on wasn't far away, so I'd easily be able to get his attention. However, something told me not to.

I watched as he scrutinized the hoard surrounding the radio from every angle and then crouching down, he grabbed one of his arrows that he'd bungee corded to his backpack. The tip of the arrow was wrapped in some kind of white material. He then grabbed a bow that he'd left on the ground slid the arrow into the notch. Once the arrow was securely placed, he reached back into the backpack and pulled out a lighter. Leaning forward, he lit the lighter and touched it to the arrowhead causing it to leap into flame.

Then, picking up the bow he raised it and took aim. After a couple of deep breaths, he released it.

The bolt shot down towards the mass of dead and struck the box closest to the center. With a whoosh, the box burst into flame, quickly spreading to the others. Then, with another whoosh the whole area erupted in flames consuming the monsters within it.

It was an eerie sight.

The dead seemed to not notice the fire even as it melted them. They stumbled around confused as their clothes caught flame and their hair crackled.

I was so hypnotized by the disturbing sight that I hadn't noticed the guy leave the roof.

I was startled to see him at the edge of the hoard, not running or hiding, just standing there waiting for them to notice him.

A whimper escaped my throat. He was the first living person I'd seen since the world ended and now he was going to die before my eyes and there was nothing I could do about it.

As he stepped into the hoard, he raised an axe and began swinging at the monsters closest to him. It was not graceful, but I felt almost in awe at his ferocity.

With wide downward arcs, he cut down the monsters around him, seemingly not scared of the danger he was in. Shockingly with every thunk of his blade, every spark from his axe striking the pavement, he would let out a laugh or a whoop of excitement

However, as time went on the laughing died out as anger started to take over. Instead of laughing, he began to shout, "I'm a killer!" as if it was his mantra.

By this point, many of the monsters had turned towards him, but they were no match for him as he swung his axe.

Anyone else who saw this man for the first time would probably think that he was just another kind of monster with the way he cut down corpse after corpse as they approached him, all the while screaming out his rage. He snarled and spit and hissed as he slashed at them, solely focused on the kill.

But I didn't see him that way. What I saw was someone who was truly alive.

Eventually his anger drained away and I saw him losing strength. With one last slash at a monster that was within arms-reach, he stumbled back and away from the remains of the hoard. He'd taken out a good number of them, but the fire was attracting more by the second.

His arms hung limply at his sides, his axe dragging on the ground as he stumbled down an alleyway. I hurried to the other side of the building following his route, wanting to see where he would go.

When he reached the other side of the building, I realized that he had no clue what building was safe. He stared frantically from left to right looking for a safe place, but the monsters were close behind him.

He'd set up this trap for the monsters, but had not thought about planning an escape route.

I'd cleared the three buildings directly ahead of him, but only one had an exit out the back that he could use.

I agonized for a moment, terrified for some reason to let him know I was there. Finally, though, I couldn't hold off. I stood up on the roof, standing in clear view if he looked up.

"Tssst," I hissed at him.

When he didn't look up, I stepped closer to the edge.

"TSSST!" I hissed more loudly.

At the sound, the man's head snapped up towards me. His eyes widened in shock as he took me in.

I pointed at the lawyer's office. It was the best place for him because I'd barred all the windows and only left the front door unlocked. I'd also stashed some food in the kitchen for any survivors that might come to town. I'd set up places like it all over.

His head snapped towards the building I pointed to and then he looked back at me with a suspicious look on his face.

The look made me smile. Here I was showing him a place where he could hide from a pack of zombies who were searching for him and he looked suspicious?

He must have thought the same thing at that moment because he looked away and bolted towards the building.

Once he reached the steps and was moments from safety, he looked back at me with an unreadable expression on his face.

I felt strangely anxious as our eyes held each other's. I wanted nothing more than to go to him, to be with another living person again, but I was also desperately afraid.

This mix of feelings gave me the irrational need to run away from the only other living person I'd seen in close to a year.

I held his gaze for a few seconds longer, my emotions waging a war inside me. But fear won and with one final look I waved goodbye and bolted.

I ran until I reached the safety of my home and didn't leave for three days.