I tried to stay positive about the whole thing, but after two hours of walking I was beginning to wish the Tank had got me. I was very thirsty, but we'd left the village and I knew neither of them would want to go back. Cyrus didn't seem to be enjoying it either, as he was breathing heavily. Hunter was completely fine, however.
"How much longer?" I whined and stopped so I could sit down on the floor and take my shoes off which were rubbing uncomfortably on my heel.
"Thirty minutes, maybe, until we reach the next town." Cyrus sighed. It was cold, yet both of us were still sweating. I tensed at the sound of a gunshot. Then I realised what it meant, it meant there were other people, survivors. I jumped up, grabbed my shoes and started running towards it.
"Rose, what are you doing?" Hunter shouted, and started running after me, followed by Cyrus.
"They could help us," I yelled back. I spotted four people in the middle of a field and sprinted at them, tripping over but I hauled myself off the ground. I waved my arms at them, and they noticed me. Then a bullet flew past me.
"Get over here quickly!" one of them called to me. I fell over at their feet, and they helped me off the ground. I saw what they were shooting at, and I saw Hunter leaping about wildly.
"No stop, don't shoot him." I knocked the gun out of their hand. The other three lowered their guns, but still watched Hunter carefully.
"That's a zombie, it's going to kill you," they said, as if I hadn't noticed. She pressed a pistol into my hand. "You're going to need this."
"He won't kill me, he's my friend." I shook my head and gave her the gun back.
She looked at me like I was mad. "It's a zombie, now let us kill it and you can come with us," she said and looked through the scope of her sniper rifle. I covered my eyes with my hands, and felt a tap on my shoulder.
"You going to ask them for help yet," Cyrus whispered in my ear. The four people whipped around and raised their guns. Cyrus put his hands in the air and smiled.
"He's my other friend." I stood in front of him protectively.
"We're not traveling with a zombie. Good luck," the girl said and the four of them walked away. Cyrus put his hands on my shoulders.
"It's better it being just us three," he said. We carried on walking, Hunter joining us when we reached him. I put my hands in the pockets of my jacket and looked down at the floor as we walked. I liked Cyrus and Hunter, but I couldn't help being somewhat scared of them. That girl was right in some respects, they were zombies and they could kill me. It was hard to remember when I looked at them that they were normal people.
We reached the next town, and Cyrus suggested that we rest somewhere, pretending it was for my sake. The house we chose was locked, which was odd, but once Hunter had broken a window and we climbed through we could see that there was no one in the house.
"What time is it?" I asked and sat down on the white leather sofa. It was strange, I was breaking into people's houses yet it didn't matter.
"Half past two." Cyrus flopped down onto one of the chairs, and Hunter sat with me, on the far end of the sofa. I patted the space next to me and smiled. He drummed his fingers on his knee and shook his head.
"Come on, I don't bite." I playfully bit the air. Hunter shook his head again and then looked away from me.
"You don't? That's a shame." Cyrus grinned. I laughed, hoping he was just joking. But the look his eye indicated otherwise.
"So, uh, how do you two know each other?" I tried to change the subject.
"Well me and Hunter were sort of friends before, never really that close. He was just that little kid who would hang around with me and my mates," Cyrus said.
"I'm older than you," Hunter interrupted.
"You're like a whole foot shorter than me and you giggle whenever you hear the number sixty nine, you're a kid. Anyway, the day the infection hit we bumped into each other and started to turn at same time, together. And when we realised we were still normal, we decided that we weren't going to find anyone else, so we thought we'd just stick together," Cyrus finished explaining.
I wished I'd known the two of them before the infection. Then we probably could've been friends. Maybe more than that.
"I think I might go and get some sleep. Could you wake me up in a few hours?" I said and went upstairs. I pushed open the door to one of the bedrooms and when I saw the large, soft double bed, I jumped onto it and rolled off, it was so springy. I was quite tired, and couldn't be bothered to get up off the floor. The bedroom was right above the living, and I pressed my ear to the floor to listen to Cyrus and Hunter talking.
"Why do you keep flirting with her, she's obviously not interested," Hunter said to Cyrus.
"Just because you're not confident doesn't mean that no one else is. It's a bit of fun," Cyrus replied.
There was a pause before Hunter spoke again. "Cyrus, do you really think we'll be evacuated?"
"Why wouldn't we be? We're still sane, so they've got to help us."
"But we're infected."
"Shut up Hunter," Cyrus said sharply. I sat upright and leant against the wall, had they dragged me along with them without even knowing if their plan would work? What would happen to me if it didn't? I doubted whoever was running the evacuation process would be pleased with me bringing along two infected, even if I managed to convince them they were friendly.
I climbed up onto the bed and lay down, looking up at the ceiling. I closed my eyes, and soon fell asleep, dreaming of the many possibilities on how our journey would end.
I would've had this chapter out yesterday, but I had to go to sleep because I'm back in school now. I don't know how this will affect my writing of this story, but hopefully it won't be too much. Also, later on in this story there will be minor romantic elements, but not enough to count as a whole genre.
I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and tell me what you think.