Dead Living (10 page)

She left the house through the front door.
Scavenging was over for the day, at least for her.

She stopped when she hit the first step.

Both trucks were gone. The end of the street
where they came in was covered with walking corpses. A few stumbled
out of the homes across from her. They caught sight of Samantha,
and their pace picked up. It was a scene right out of her early
nightmares.

She calmly shut the door behind her and
clutched the knife tightly in her hand. She moved away from the
walkers, further up the street, keeping an eye on every open front
door.

Garrett and Ray are just
making another pass
.
Any second now, they'll come around the corner and run all
these bastards down.

She kept backing up. Thirty seconds passed. A
minute. She didn't hear the trucks on the next street over. She
only heard the cries of the undead.

No one was coming.

Samantha was alone.

“Fuck.”

She turned and ran. The undead followed her,
more than a hundred now. There were a few corpses at the other end
of the street. As she drew closer, their numbers started to swell.
They came from the neighboring streets, the scent of fresh meat in
their noses. She was trapped.

She had survived for years before she found
Lexington. She had done so by being smart, and staying away from
the undead. The old cities, and any major populated area, were dead
zones. No one could survive in the city, not for very long.

I can find somewhere to hole up. Then figure
out my next move.

The thought was ridiculous, but she held onto
it. She wasn't willing to accept death yet. She knew if she could
hide from the corpses, at least for a while, they'd lose her scent,
get lost, and wander away. Still, she'd never seen so many undead
in her life.

She felt for her Beretta. It was gone. She'd
left it, along with her second pair of sweatpants, back at the
first house. She couldn't get to it now. The undead were already
blocking her path.

She took a deep breath and ran to the closest
house. She was afraid she would see a corpse when she kicked open
the front door. She didn't, but there was one at the top of the
stairs. As it opened its mouth to wail at her, its jaw fell off.
She wanted to shut and lock the door, but the corpse fell down the
stairs and nearly collided into her.

Samantha ran through the house. She could
hear the undead behind her. As she passed the open basement door, a
pair of bony hands reached out for her. She screamed, more afraid
than she thought possible. She kicked the corpse down the stairs
and kept moving.

She burst through the door at the back of the
kitchen and into the alley. The alley separated one row of
backyards from another. Corpses were scattered around, but in lower
numbers.

Her lungs and legs were burning. Her run had
slowed to a jog. Still, she easily ran by one corpse, then another.
She could see the mouth of the alley ahead.

She never made it.

As she jogged by a backyard with no gate, a
corpse that had been behind an old shed lunged at her. They both
fell to the hard ground. She tried to stab it in the skull, but was
disoriented by a hard pull at her feet. She looked down to see
another corpse making its way up her legs. It would only be a
matter of seconds before it found a soft spot to sink its teeth
into. She kicked with her legs while trying to push the one on her
chest away. Its jaws snapped dangerously close to her face. She
could see three more walking slowly toward her. She felt the
strength in her arms giving away, while her sweatpants were pulled
down, revealing her thigh to the other corpse.

A shadow moved above her that was too fast to
be a corpse. She heard a violent crack, and the tugging at her legs
stopped. The shadow stopped above her, and she screamed as the head
of an arrow pierced the skull of the corpse on top of her, stopping
just an inch short of her nose.

She rolled the corpse off to the side and
looked up to see a figure standing above her. Her first instinct
was that it couldn't be a man. She was the only human in the city.
The sun was behind him, so she couldn't see his face. It was only
when he felt for her arm and pulled her up with a warm, strong grip
that she knew he was human.

He had a large compound bow and a quiver on
his back. He quickly shot the three oncoming corpses in the brain
with ease. Samantha was impressed.

She shielded her eyes from the sun with her
hand. He was definitely a man, maybe around the same age as her. He
was completely bald with bright blue eyes, and just slightly taller
than she was. He wore old blue jeans and a white tank top,
revealing a lean upper body. She thought he looked ridiculous,
totally without protection.

He did something that caught Samantha by
surprise. He smiled. Then he said something even stranger.

“Good afternoon.”

Her mouth hung open. Her instincts told her
something was very different about him. “This city is full of
walkers.”

“Walkers? The walking corpses? Well, yeah.
You just notice that now?”

There was a loud crash not far away. They
both looked to see walkers pushing their way out of the house
Samantha ran through. They were at both ends of the alley too.

“Wow. Looks like you really got them riled
up,” he said calmly.

Samantha looked at him. The brief hope she
felt when he pulled her to her feet was gone. Physically, he seemed
fine, but something wasn't right in his head. They were surrounded
by death, and he didn't seem bothered in the least.

He's insane. Out of his mind.

She'd seen it before at Lexington. The world
wasn't easy, and some people just couldn't handle it. Everyone
lived in a world ruled by monsters. It was easy for a mind to
snap.

She turned to run. He caught her by the arm,
and she quickly pulled free.

“Whoa. Where you going?”

“Somewhere safe, where there aren't any
walkers. And don't touch me.”

He laughed, again putting
Samantha on edge. “Good luck with that. Listen, see that backyard
there, with the grill on its side? Run through that house to the
next street. Look for the house with
The
End Is Near
spray-painted above the
door.”

“I can't read.”

He gave her a look. “Can't read? Well, can
you count?”

“Yeah, I can count, asshole.”

He smirked. “Fourth house down from the end.
You should see it as soon as you hit the street. I'll meet you
there.”

“What are you gonna do?”

“I'll slow them down.”

Samantha turned and ran. She knew she owed
the stranger her life, but she wasn't going to wait around for
him.

He wants to be an idiot and get himself
killed, fine by me.

Aaron Thompson watched the beautiful
dark-skinned woman sprint away. She pushed a stray walker to the
ground and jumped over the grill. She vanished inside the house he
directed her to.

He rubbed his head. He was as curious about
her as she was about him. What was she doing in Baltimore? He heard
the trucks moving about while on his afternoon walk. He didn't
think much of it, he'd heard them before, but this time he noticed
the undead all funneling in one direction. He guessed they were
after a live meal, and he was right.

Very pretty lady, even if a little rude.

He was impressed with her. She wore two
sweaters, and a cap to cover her hair. The woman obviously thought
ahead.

He shook his head as he passed the undead
mob. “No lunch for you today, guys.”

He picked random corpses in the mob and just
tripped them. Walkers started falling over each other, like the old
game of dominoes Aaron used to play with Aunt Denise.

As always, the undead made no move to harm
him.

Aaron walked through the long-deserted house.
He noticed a chair knocked over and an old lamp busted on the
floor. No doubt the clumsiness of his guest.

He left through the open front door and saw
something that made him pick up speed. At the door to his home were
about twenty walkers. Three or four were pounding at the door while
others were trying to climb in through the shattered windows. A few
undead had spotted Samantha entering the old home, and a few undead
turned into many.

“Hell, lady, what are you doing in there?” he
whispered to himself.

He didn't run to the front door. He ran past
the undead and the three other homes on the street. He rounded the
corner and grabbed the fire escape ladder on the side of the last
house. He always left the ladder down, although he pulled it up
after him this time. He knew the undead weren't coordinated enough
to scale a ladder, but with a live meal nearby, he wouldn't take
any chances.

He sprinted up the winding metal staircase
and jumped to the roof. The roof access hatch of his home was
already open. He seldom closed it, except when it rained.

He quickly climbed the wooden foldout ladder
down to the second floor. He heard the moans of the undead all
around. The stairs leading downstairs were gone, taken out years
ago by whoever lived in Aaron's home before him.

He saw Samantha.

She was near the front of the house. She
stabbed a walker that had climbed in through the window. She tried
to slide a couch in front of the splintering door.

Aaron laid on the floor and extended one arm
down while bracing himself against the wall with the other. He
didn't have time to setup the ladder he kept nearby.

“Hey lady!” She turned and looked up at him.
“Grab my hand!”

She tucked her bloody knife in the back of
her sweatpants, then got a running start near the door. She jumped
and clutched Aaron's hand. The front door burst open as he
struggled to pull her up. A corpse missed her foot only by a few
inches.

Aaron and Samantha both rested on their backs
for a minute, out of breath. The song of the undead grew louder as
more of them filed into the house. When Aaron pulled himself up,
Samantha was already on one knee. She had tossed her cap off, her
hair down to her shoulders, and leaned against the wall. She
pointed her blade right at Aaron. He went to help her up, but she
recoiled defensively and thrust the knife out.

“I just killed two people,” she said.

“Uh, good for you?”

“They couldn't keep their dicks where they
belonged.”

“I will try to keep my dick in my pants.”

“Good. I have no problem killing you.”

“Okay. You're welcome, by the way.”

“I didn't thank you for anything.”

“I know. It's called sarcasm. Kinda like a
joke.”

“I know what the hell sarcasm is. I'm not in
the mood.”

“I can see.”

He moved in to help her up. She shoved him
away. “I said don't touch me.”

“Okay, okay, lady, relax. Calm down. I'm
Aaron. Aaron Thompson.”

“Samantha. No last name.”

“Samantha.
Sam
. I like it. Pretty
name.”

She looked at him with narrowed eyes. Fifty
walkers were beneath them, and he was talking about pretty names.
“Is it safe here?”

He laughed. “Is
anywhere
safe?”

“Would you please stop laughing? It's
annoying me.”

He laughed again, although more subdued.
“You're in a city of the undead, and my laugh is getting to
you?”

She closed her eyes and barely held in a
scream. Aaron already drove her crazy, and she'd known him less
than five minutes. “Would you, please, just shut up, and answer the
question?”

He shrugged. “Sure. They can't get up here.
The roofs are all connected, but all the other hatches are closed,
and they can't climb ladders. I pulled the fire escape up. We're
safe.”

“Good.”

Samantha leaned against the wall. The
adrenaline was wearing off, and her body began to ache. She was so
tired. She still kept a solid grip on her knife. She didn't think
Aaron would try to hurt her. He could have already done that, but
men were weird creatures. She knew Murphy and Anderson were scum,
but didn't think they were capable of rape. If she was wrong this
time, Aaron would end up with a blade in his gut.

“Where is your family from?” Aaron asked.
“I've never seen anyone with your color before. Spain? Mexico?
Egypt?”

“I don't know. Is it important?”

“Nah, just wondering. You don't look like a
Sam, either.”

She opened her eyes to
look at him. It was hard to hide her annoyance. “I know. That's
because my name is
Samantha
. You don't look like an
Aaron.”

“Oh really? What do I look like?”

“You look like a stupid son of a bitch who
asks a lot of dumb questions. Look, I don't want to be your friend.
I don't want to get to know you. Let's just stick to the basics,
okay?”

She immediately regretted her words, but
couldn't help it. Everything about Aaron was unusual, from his
carefree attitude all the way down to his laugh. He bothered
her.

Aaron didn't even flinch. “Well, okay then.
Sounds like that's my clue to leave.” He pointed to both ends of
the hall. “We've got two bedrooms up here and a bathroom. The
bathroom still works, believe it or not. Just gotta fill the tank
up with water. I've got supplies in both bedrooms, but there's a
mattress, too, if you want to rest.”

He walked past her to a bedroom. She watched
him grab a magazine from a pile in the corner and stretch out on
the mattress.

Finally, he's not talking.

At first she thought that was a good thing,
but then she heard all the undead below her. She looked down at the
fifty or so that had squeezed their way into the living room. They
reached up to her with wide eyes.