Dead Living (11 page)

Sam went exploring, although there wasn't
much to explore. Aaron's description of the upstairs was accurate.
The rear bedroom had a mattress with no bed frame, eight large jugs
of water, clothes folded neatly in open dresser drawers. It looked
rather clean, except for the wallpaper peeling off the walls. The
bathroom had an empty tub with a broken skylight directly overhead,
letting the sun in, and a medicine cabinet that was almost falling
off the wall.

She slowly peeked into Aaron's room. He had
blankets and sheets folded in the corner, with a stack of books in
another. He had pictures of himself along with some other people in
frames on the old broken down dresser.

This didn't seem like a temporary place for
him. He'd put a lot of time in it.

Does he actually live here?

*****

Aaron kept his eyes on Sam as she studied his
house. He could see the wheels turning in her head. She took
everything in.

The heat must have gotten to her, as she took
both of her bloody sweaters off. She leaned in the doorway, wearing
just her sweatpants and a white sports bra.

He smirked and looked back down to the
magazine he was reading. He thought back to a few months ago, to
the last time he entertained visitors. Two men and a woman were
trying to make their way through the city. The woman was named
Diane. She was very attractive, and thought she could seduce
supplies and help out of Aaron. He tried not to laugh in her
face.

Oh Aaron, look at my tits. Can we have some
water? Look at my ass, do you have any food?

It didn't work. Of course, he helped them,
until they got themselves killed on the streets. He didn't help
them because she was attractive, but because that was the person he
was.

He shook his head at the memory. Out of the
corner of his eye he could see Sam with her arms crossed, showing
off a curvy figure. She was quite beautiful, even with the huge
knot forming on her forehead.

“You're reading?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“What for?”

He smiled.
So much for seduction.

Despite her harshness, for some reason, he
liked her. “You sound like my Uncle Frank.”

“Is he here?”

“No. My family is dead.”

Sam nodded. That meant he was alone, and less
of a threat. She could kill him if he tried anything.

“So what brings you to Baltimore?” he asked.
“I'm guessing supplies.”

“Yeah. A truck run went to hell pretty fast
when two guys tried to screw me. I killed them.”

“So you said.”

“I need to get back,” she stuttered when the
word actually came to her. “Home.”

She was surprised at herself. She didn't go
out of her way to contribute at Lexington, nor did she have any
friends. It took being stranded with a million walkers before
realizing she thought of the school as home.

“Stay as long as you want. Leave when you're
ready,” Aaron said. “I have food, water, a change of clothes. I'll
heat up some deer meat later for dinner. They walk right on the
streets now.”

“You actually
live
here?”

“Yeah.”

“In a dead city?”

He looked over his magazine to shoot her an
agitated look. He didn't like her tone. “Yes.”

She couldn't believe what she was hearing.
“Why? How? Where do you find water? How do you even leave this
house? How did you find me in that alley without getting eaten by a
million walkers?”

He put his magazine down.

“That would go past the basics. You'd have to
get to know me, and we can't have that now, can we?”

Sam almost fired back a comment, but she kept
it in. She slumped ever so slightly in the door frame. Aaron picked
up on how exhausted she was.

“Take a nap in the other room,” he offered.
“It locks, so you don't have to worry about me.”

She turned and walked to the other bedroom.
“I'm not worried about you.”

“Well, that's good.”

“Don't be flattered,” she called back. “It
just means I could kick your ass.”

She shut the door behind her. Aaron laughed,
and went back to his magazine.

*****

Sam had a terrible nightmare. She dreamed
Murphy and Anderson were a little more successful in their rape
attempt. They managed to get her clothes off, but instead of raping
her, they turned into walkers and started eating at her bare flesh.
Legs, arms, breasts, face, was all food to them. She tried to get
away, but they had torn out the muscles in her legs. She couldn't
move. They continued to slowly kill her by feasting, and more were
coming.

She woke up and felt a hand on her shoulder,
gently shaking her.

“Sam. Wake up.”

She sat up with a start and held her knife
near her ear, ready to strike. It had never left her hand, even
during sleep. Aaron jumped off the bed and backed up, his hands up
defensively.

“Whoa, Sam! Calm down. You were almost
screaming in your sleep. You didn't lock your door either. See? My
dick is still in my pants.”

She took a few deep breaths. She noticed he
had a towel on his shoulder. She nodded, the closest she'd ever
come to showing meaningful gratitude.

“Come here,” he said. “Let me show you
something.”

She followed him to the bathroom. He pointed
to the tub with a smile on his face. As obnoxious as his smile was,
Sam realized she liked it.

The tub was half-full of water, a hint of
steam just barely visible.

“You put together a warm bath?”

“Yeah. I heat the water up on the roof with
my grill, then just pour it through the broken skylight. The drain
actually works too. No idea where it goes, but hey, whatever.
Anyway, it's all yours.”

She looked at him. “What?”

“I figured you could use one. Hell, you've
got blood on your face still.”

Sam laughed. It was the first time Aaron
heard her laugh. It was a nice sound.

She shook her head slowly, a smile still on
her face. She could hear the undead in the living room beneath her.
It seemed when she spoke, they made just a little more noise.

“Let me get this straight. You expect me to
take my clothes off, and take a bath, with a hundred walkers
downstairs, and you right outside the door? What's your game,
Aaron? What are you trying to do? Get off on seeing me naked?”

Aaron was hurt. He could tell gratitude
wasn't Sam's strength. Still, it wasn't exactly hard work, but it
took time to heat up two buckets of water, pour them through the
skylight, and then start over.

“Sam, I don't
expect
you to do
anything. You want to take a bath? Fine. You don't? I'll sleep
either way. You are a beautiful woman, but you're not
that
beautiful. I really
don't want to see you naked. I've got more important things to
do.”

Her face was blank for a
moment, then he thought he saw the hint of a smile. She reached out
and grabbed the towel from his shoulder. “My name is
Samantha.
”

It was his turn to smile. “Soap, razors, and
I think some shampoo is under the sink. There's girl clothes in the
rear bedroom in one of the dressers.”

She laughed. “Girl clothes?”

“You know, bras, panties, stuff like that.
This door locks, too.”

She smiled and nodded, then closed and locked
the door.

Aaron took a
breath.
That is one exhausting
woman.

He listened at the door for a moment. He
heard her peel off her clothes, then climb in the tub.

Good, now I can go to work.

He did have other reasons for getting her in
the tub, but it had nothing to do with her being nude. He had some
things he needed to get from the first floor, and the last thing he
needed was for Sam to catch him walking with the undead.

He wouldn't know what he'd tell her.

He set the ladder up and climbed down to the
living room. He tried to breathe as little as possible as he walked
through the mob. Dangerous to him or not, they were disgusting. He
leaned down to grab his fishing rod, and felt something hit the
back of his head. He knew it was a maggot or worm, and quickly
brushed it off.

“Maybe you all should be the ones taking a
bath.”

They moaned at him in response.

He gathered a few more things and went up to
the roof.

It felt strange to have another guest after
all this time. He could tell she wasn't too fond of him, but at
least she was honest and didn't hide it. She was probably planning
her trip back home, wherever that was. He knew he would help her
however he could, probably even give her the keys to the car. Then
he would be alone once again.

She was certainly intriguing. Aaron could
honestly say he liked her, but he remembered the last time he had
guests. He had to watch everything he said and did. He couldn't go
on any moonlight walks with Sam staying with him.

The sooner she left, the sooner he could get
back to his normal life.

*****

Sam hated to admit it, but as horrible as
things were going, she couldn't remember the last time she felt so
relaxed. It had been a long time since she had an actual bath. They
had makeshift outside showers at Lexington, but nothing like a
bath. The warm water loosened every muscle. She washed her hair and
took her time shaving. As she dried off she could hear footsteps on
the roof.

She still didn't know what to make of the
cute bald man. At first, she thought he was crazy, but he didn't
seem to be out of his mind. He was actually intelligent and
thoughtful.

Still, she couldn't shake the feeling there
was a lot more to him than a hermit in the city.

She wrapped the towel around her and went to
the bedroom. She picked out some undergarments, a black pair of
shorts and a white tee shirt with words on it she couldn't read. It
was nice to wear some clothes without holes in them.

She took another look at the undead in the
living room while grabbing the roof ladder. They still waited for
her. Sam had no idea how she would get back home, and tried to push
back the hopelessness she felt.

But she knew she
wanted
to go
home.

The cool breeze touched her face as she took
a step on the roof. The sun was setting, giving the sky a pretty
orange hue. The only thing that ruined the sight was the sound of
the undead all around them. Once again, her jaw hung open when she
saw what Aaron had done. He had yet another mattress, some
lawn-chairs, a grill, some plastic sheets, more water bottles, a
few end-tables, a stack of wood, and a large umbrella.

“Wow,” she said. His back was toward her as
he worked on the grill. “You got a little paradise going on up
here.”

He turned to face her with some deer steak on
a plastic knife. He was surprised at what he saw. She was beautiful
before, but even more so now. Her wet hair clung to her face. She
had decided on a pair of shorts, and her legs were very nice and
shapely. He smiled at the Baltimore Orioles shirt.

He caught himself staring, and mentally
slapped himself for it.

“Want some dinner?” he said, handing her the
steak. “It's actually pretty good. Salt and pepper will fix
anything. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find salt and
pepper.”

She took a bite. He handed her a glass of
water. It was quite good.

Sam gestured around them. “Where did you get
all of this?”

“Just around,” he said, grabbing a steak for
himself. “There's plenty of stuff here.”

“Yeah, and there's plenty of walkers too. How
do you do it? You don't even seem afraid. I know people back home
who cry themselves to sleep every night.”

He bit into his steak.
“We're moving out of the
basics
again, Sam.”

“Samantha,” she corrected once more.

There were sixty people at Lexington, and Sam
figured she'd met twice that many people over the years on her own.
Never once did she feel the need to explain herself to anyone. She
kept to herself, people left her alone, and that was that.

With Aaron, she wanted to talk.

“I know how I come across,” she said. “I
really do. I know I'm not very friendly. It's just that I don't
really trust people a whole lot.”

He smiled and gestured around them. “Look
where I live. I understand. I've got people issues of my own.”

She nodded. Something about Aaron made her
feel at ease, took the edge off a little. “You can take two people
who have been friends forever, put them in a room of undead, and
they'll kill each other trying to get out. Friendships end very
quickly. So there's no point in having friends.”

Aaron swallowed hard as he thought back to
his family. “That's not true. My family died because we wouldn't
run from each other.”

“Then they were idiots.”

He stopped eating and froze completely,
holding her gaze. “Excuse me?”

“There's nothing wrong with not having
friends,” she said. “Nothing wrong at all with looking out for
yourself. That's why I'm alive today.” She was trying to convince
herself more than Aaron.

“Sam, please don't call my family idiots.
Also, the reason you're alive is because a complete stranger saved
your life.”

“Which was a stupid thing to do. You don't
even know me. Hell, even if you did. I wouldn't risk my life for
you.”

He shrugged. He didn't exactly risk his life,
but she didn't know that. “My family was killed by a man looking
out for himself. But that doesn't mean that everyone out there is
like him. I'm not a people person either, but I haven't given up on
them yet. It's a shame you have. If I can save someone's life, I
will.”

She was quiet for a moment, and just watched
him. There was a calm, a peace about him that was almost
contagious.