Chapter 7 - The City

An hour or so later, Heero and Relena searched another three houses on the same street, happily without encountering any more infected. They found a few useful items, some ammunition, a couple of blades, bandages, even some food. It was all better than nothing.

"Where did you learn all this?" Relena asked as they were taking a little break sitting in the neglected yard of one of the houses. She packed their stuff in her backpack and zipped it. "I mean, surviving."

Hearing her question, Heero didn't take his eyes off his rifle, attaching to it a stronger leather strap that found in one of the estates. When he felt Relena's expectant frown on himself, he decided to give her the short answer hoping it would end the topic. "My foster father taught me."

Unfortunately for him, it didn't end the topic. Quite the opposite. "Oh? Who was he? Is he still alive?" there went another question. Apparently, answering seemed like battling the Hydra.

Heero tightened the strap of the belt on his rifle until it came to a stop, then stood up, throwing the weapon over his shoulder. "Come on," he snapped, passing Relena by. "We still have a ground to cover before the night falls."

"You're very mysterious, Heero," he heard Relena's voice behind him, sounding a bit exasperated. "I wish I knew you better. After all, we must cross almost half of the continent together."

"There is no need for that," he replied. He stared at the space in front of him, still avoiding Relena's gaze, but although he couldn't see it, he sensed it. And it was nagging. "Better focus on surviving. You don't realize how many various dangers are waiting for you. If you allow yourself to be distracted, you'll die."

Relena was silent for a moment. "But you got the wrong idea," she continued, though he was still standing with his back to her. He could hear her taking a step in his direction. "It's not about whether I need to know you, Heero. I want to. I want to know something about the man who agreed to lead me so far. I guess that isn't strange, right?"

Heero stared at the dried grass under his feet, trying to think of an answer that would keep her at a distance. Various words came to his mind, tested on others and failproof, including several that could hurt, offend, or scare her. However, for some inexplicable reason, he didn't want to say these words to her. Her behavior, her persistent will to know him, was annoying. It was thoroughly bothersome. Just. He felt wrong mistreating her just for that, just because she treated him like nobody did for so long. That girl with honey-colored hair and oceanic eyes was gradually smuggling into his gray life flashes of normality, that he thought had died along on the day of the outbreak of the epidemy.

"I'm nobody special, Relena," he finally muttered, not turning to face her. In conformity to what he actually felt. "Nobody worth talking about."

"But why actually did you agree to help me?" he heard the question right when he wanted to take a step forward, excluding himself from further conversation. "The truth is, I didn't expect you to go with me. You're risking your life. Why did you agree?"

That was the one question that had no right answer for - at least that's how he wanted to explain himself.

"Because… maybe," he said after a moment, "you and your vaccine are the only hope that someday everything will return to normal. And that we will retrieve the world that had been stolen from us."

To his relief, she finally fell silent. He wondered if she understood that by saying "we" he meant to say "me", precisely. Because Relena somehow managed to keep and cherish a part of that stolen world in her. In contrary to him.

x x x

They had been crossing the brick labyrinth of Baltimore's buildings for the third hour already. As they passed through Bolton Hill, the sun began to set. Just as Heero had planned, they bypassed the city center, navigating the smaller streets and avoiding the major thoroughfares.

The city seemed too quiet. The quarantine zone didn't exist anymore - the only thing left as its trace were kilometers of high fence, hung with lots of information boards. But the people were no longer in the city. Here and there, they heard the sounds of the infected, locked in homes, shops, or garages. As long as they moved noiselessly, they managed to pass through unnoticed.

One thing was unusual in this city, and Heero quickly picked it up. There were corpses on the streets. Relatively fresh. Not torn apart by the infected, but with gunshot wounds. There were not many of them, they piled up only on the widest streets. Some had traces of tire treads. Heero had a premonition of what, or rather who could cause their deaths. He didn't like it. He didn't share any part of his concern with Relena. They hardly speak during that time. Only every once in a while, he would point her something or warned her about an obstacle; few times during their shortstops, Relena glanced at him expectantly as if she wanted to continue their conversation from the morning. He wasn't sure what she expected of him, so he found it most convenient not to think about it, focusing on the passage of subsequent city districts.

When the sun was setting behind the silhouettes of buildings and the wind roared in the alleys announcing the arrival of the night, Heero decided to look for a place to stay the night. Before the blushing, sunny globe completely disappeared over the horizon, he found a suitable location. It was the most ordinary of the possible houses, standing in an even row along the unremarkable street. Its antique door had the possibility of closing with a latch from the inside, which was convenient and possibly life-saving. After making a thorough check on the house, Heero held the heavy door open for Relena, and when she came in, he closed it with a latch, making as little noise as possible.

The night fell very quickly. Soon the interior of the house sank into the darkness. Like most buildings, this one also had broken windows. Heero used the flashlight as rarely as possible, to prevent letting anybody know that they were inside. Relena entered the living room on the ground floor, looking around with uncertainty. Dried lining rustled under her feet, and broken glass clattered. Heero followed her, slowly pulling his backpack and shotgun off his aching arms. He gave one final look at the room, ensuring that it was safe. The room was a complete mess; there was one sofa in the room, one knocked closet over the window and a broken TV.

"Rest," he suggested quietly, darkening the light of his flashlight by covering the bulb with his hand. "You need strength. If everything goes as smoothly as today, we'll leave the city tomorrow."

He didn't wait for any of her answers and turned his steps together with the bland light of his flashlight toward the room on the opposite side of the narrow hallway. It was a study; a wide armchair laid overturned against the wall just next to the door, thankfully still dry and not damp. Heero put the flashlight on its tip on the ground and raised the furniture up, then dropped the backpack next to him and slumped in the armchair, letting out a fatigued groan. He rubbed his eyelids, feeling them burning under his fingers. All these years, whenever he was out of the zone, he never allowed himself to leave his guard for a long time. Reaching the safe hideout at night was never a reason to reduce vigilance. The world was dangerous. He could only afford a short rest, like now, when he tried to force himself to rest for several hours, during which he was still on standby. Ready to act in any situation.

"Heero?"

Relena's soft voice surprised him. He looked up at her, his eyes aching, blinking quickly to regain visual acuity. She stood at the threshold of the door to her room, covering the flashlight with her hand, just like he instructed her, and looked at him with worried eyes. "I know it sounds weird, but... couldn't we sleep in one room?"

Heero raised his eyebrows but didn't move. "What happened?"

The girl clenched both hands on the flashlight, hugging it to her chest. "We have never slept in separate rooms so far. I just feel... insecure."

"Don't be afraid," Heero picked up his rifle and rested it, as usual, on his shoulder and between his legs. "I can see the entrance to your room from here, and the door to the house is locked. Try to sleep."

Relena's gaze, though dimly visible in the light of the flashlight, seemed full of uncertainty. For a moment, he was sure she would protest. "Well then," she finally replied, her voice audibly hesitant, slowly turning to her room. "Goodnight, Heero."

He followed her with his gaze until her figure disappeared into the darkness of the room on the other side. After a moment, he turned off the flashlight, letting his eyes get used to the dark and crossed his arms over his chest. Soon he fell into a shallow sleep.

x x x

The infected's face exploded inches from his own. He didn't have time to cover himself, and he felt the hot liquid splash on his chest. The headless body landed just at his feet. The bang of the weapon almost deafened him. All he could hear was a loud ringing in his ears.

His body felt limp, his eyes still fixed on the dead woman's body lying a few meters in front of him. She told him to run. But how? Where? He can't leave her… He doesn't want to…

Then somebody grabbed him by his coat up and dragged back. He finally regained his hearing again as a tall man in a trench coat was shaking him by his arms. "Hey! Boy, get yourself together!"

He looked up at the unfamiliar man as he straightened himself up abruptly, aimed, and fired its big shotgun at something. Then the man looked down on him again. "You can't stay here!" the man murmured, wrapping his arm around his belly and pulling him off the ground. After a few seconds, the man threw him inside some car, squeezing him under the steering wheel.

"Stay here until it's all quiet. Close yourself from the inside. I will be back for you. I promise."

Then the door closed with a loud thud. The boy obediently raised a hand up enough to click the lock-up, just like the man said. The place was narrow and dark. He could sense the smell of blood on his clothes. The interior of the vehicle was illuminated by the blinking light of fire raging in the buildings around. From the outside, he could hear the drowned screams of hundreds of people fleeing in various directions, the sounds of gunshots and explosions, ambulance signals... and above all, this frightening howling... of those things... that ate her alive. He covered his ears.

"Mommy," he whispered, but he didn't cry. "Mommy…"

x x x

What torn him from his nightmare was a strange and unexpected sound; a mixture of rustle and silent giggle, coming from Relena's room. He quickly got up from his armchair, stretching his neck and arms, then approached the living room. The room was already filled with the warm light of the rising sun. Relena was sitting by the window on a wooden closet and held a furry ball on her lap.

"Relena?" Heero called her name. Hearing his voice, two pairs of eyes glanced at him: oceanic blue and yellow eyes of a cat.

"Heero, look who came by to say hello," Relena smiled and petted the striped, moggy cat. The animal purred friendly and licked her hand, making the girl squirm and giggle at the touch of his rough tongue.

"You shouldn't touch it," Heero made a few steps closer to her, stopping by the sofa, where Relena apparently slept the night. He blinked, blinded a little by the sunlight; Relena's silhouette darkened at the background of an open window. Something just wasn't right; he could subconsciously sense it. "You don't know if it has rabies."

"I'm sure she doesn't. She's used to humans."

When those yellow cat eyes stared at Heero one more time, his thoughts started to gallop in his head as he realized something.

The zone of Baltimore closed at least fifteen years ago. Since then, it was supposed to be a ghost city.

Then to who this cat could get used to?

All these corpses on the streets...

The last thought rang all alarming bells in his head in the exact same moment when he noticed a shine in the building across the street. Then a curved silhouette of a shooter in its window.

And Relena's head right on his line of shot.

TBC

Oh yes, the cliffhanger. What tigers like the most.