Save Me, page 16
"Andi, if you don't want me to sleep in here..." Will sat up, sensing my apprehension.
"No, no. I do." I forced my feet to step into the room and close the door behind me.
Maybe I should have left it open.
"Then what's wrong?" He looked confused.
"Nothing. I just... I wasn't expecting you to be here. That's all."
I pulled the hair tie off my wrist and began twisting my hair into a braid. It was something I used to do before bed all the time, but since I met Will I only remembered occasionally. I sat down on the bed next to him, my heart still beating a little too hard. Will put his hand on my shoulder and I'm sure he could feel me tighten up.
"Andi, relax," Will's voice was soft, soothing.
He took my chin into his hand and nudged my face to the side to look at him. His green eyes sparkled in the dim light and his lips were turned up slightly into a small smile. He kissed my forehead and climbed over me, and situated himself into the bottom bunk bed.
"Will, you don't have to go," I said, feeling guilty about I don't even know what.
"I don't want to make you uncomfortable, and we both know, you were. So I can sleep here."
"I'm sorry, no it's fine."
I felt bad making him think I didn't want him there with me. The truth was, so many times I had wanted nothing more than to crawl up next to his warm body and sleep flush against him. Only, I wanted to sleep with him, as in rest, unconscious, dreaming. Anything more and I didn't know if I was ready. After the way he kissed me earlier though, I was afraid that he had more on his mind than sleep.
Will switched off the lantern without another word, leaving me sitting on the bed in the dark. Part of me wanted to tell him to come back and explain why I sort of freaked out a little. I was sure Will knew I was new at this stuff so I think he would understand. It would probably be a good idea to have a talk with him so he knew I wasn't ready for things to go past kissing just yet. That was the mature thing to do. Janet would either be proud, or she would think I was being immature even for thinking like this. Yeah, I bet she would go with the latter.
"Andi?" Will whispered, jolting me from my neurotic thoughts.
"Yes, Will?"
"I was only gonna sleep there. You know that, right?"
"Of course," I lied.
At least I can stop worrying about that, for tonight.
I slept better than I had in awhile. I was nineteen now. I had my first real relationship, unless Mike Johnson in the seventh grade counted. All we ever did was hold hands in the hallway between classes. That was until two weeks later he decided he wanted to hold hands with Becky Mills, not that I cared. I only agreed to go out with him because Amy pressured me into it. I guess I was late starting with my interest in boys. The only guy I ever really fell for before was Zach and that didn't turn out so well. I was trying to stay positive though. I mean, sure I was living in a zombie apocalypse, and all my friends and family were now dead, but I had to move on. I met new friends. Plus, there was Will. I was going to at least try to have a little optimism going forward. If only I could lose that little voice in the back of my mind telling me to stop being stupid because everything would still turn to shit sooner or later.
Since I was the first one awake, I figured I'd make breakfast for everyone. I did owe them big time. Not only for what they went through looking for me, but for giving me the best birthday I've had in a long time. Much better than I expected or deserved. There wasn't a lot to choose from as far as breakfast was concerned. There was still quite a bit of dry oatmeal and some powdered egg junk. We ran out of cereal ages ago. There was probably a few stale protein bars lying around but those were best saved for out on the road. This guy I met once, Al, used to smoke his own bacon from fresh pigs that he raised himself. He had a farm and let the group I was with at the time stay with him for awhile. It smelled incredible but I never could bring myself to eat any after seeing their cute little faces every day for weeks.
After a bit of searching, I found Mom's old stash of dehydrated blueberries. Score! I couldn't do much about the same old oatmeal but at least I could dress it up a bit. I soaked the berries to plump them back up while I got the oatmeal ready. When everything was finished, I scooped the hot mush into four bowls, added the berries, sprinkled on some cinnamon and added a dash of sugar. It looked a lot better than I expected.
I knocked on each of the bedroom doors to alert them that food was ready. Janet was the first one out, with her bleached blonde hair, spiked up in its usual messy-perfect manner, typical military fatigues and black boots, laced up and ready to go. The sight of her so put together made me wonder if I was actually the first one to get up after all. I wondered what Janet had been like before the outbreak. Did she dress like a normal twenty-something, relaxed and casual? I knew she had a husband and young son. I had trouble imagining her with a baby in her lap reading nursery rhymes or making silly faces. In another world, maybe Janet would have been like a big sister to me like she was to Will or Dan. Obviously, she must have some redeeming qualities for the guys to like her so much.
"Are those blueberries?" Janet asked poking around in the bowl.
Oh shit, I hope she likes them and isn't allergic or something.
"Yeah. Is that okay?"
I was still trying to be on my best behavior with Janet, not only for Will's sake, but for myself as well. I really didn't want to keep fighting with her.
"Yeah, that's amazing. Thanks."
Okay, something I actually did right. That was a first.
Dan made his way out next, padding bare footed down the hall, into the kitchen. He was dressed only in his jeans, which hung deliciously low on his hips. His hair was a mess but on Dan, it only made you want to lose your hands in it. I don't even know how Janet could manage to see him walk in a room like this and not catch herself drooling. I was glad Will came in after Dan so he didn't see my face. As much as I cared about Will, it was impossible not to notice how completely hot Dan was, especially when he was only half dressed.
By the time Will made it to breakfast, Janet was already finished and washing her bowl.
"Good morning beautiful," Will purred in my ear as he wrapped his arms around me from behind, causing poor Janet to drop her bowl in the sink.
That was so not how he usually said good morning. Even Dan looked up, eyebrows raised, at the blatant show of affection. By the way they eyed us both, I was sure they figured Will's behavior was due to getting lucky last night.
"Yeah so, if you two love birds can tear yourselves off of one another, I was thinking we should give some thought to a two-day scout. With the four of us, we can go further and spend a night. This way we can maybe find some supplies that haven't already been picked over. This area has been pretty well cleared out."
Dan nodded at Janet, "I'm in."
Will looked to me, as if asking what I thought, or more like if I thought I was ready for this. I think he forgets that I wasn't hiding here in this basement for the last year. I have been on scouts before.
"Sounds good," I finally answered, both for Will's sake and because Janet was starting to get impatient.
"Great."
Janet pulled out an old worn map of this section of the state and went over where she thought we should go. I wasn't really paying attention to her. I didn't care where we went honestly. The guys were going to listen to her either way and I would follow along with whatever they said because I just didn't care. Sure, we needed some new areas for scouting but unless we went closer to a city, we were unlikely to find much more than what was around here. Probably one of the reasons I managed to stay alive this long was because I stayed away from the cities. Hordes were a major problem in those areas and anything I could do to avoid a horde, you can be damn well sure I was gonna do.
After they had a plan, and the guys went to get ready, Janet pulled me aside to talk.
"Look, if you're not sure you can handle this, you can stay behind. We can do this without you."
She wasn't being mean this time. She was serious, almost concerned.
"It's fine. I've been scouting before. I can handle it."
"I'm not trying to be a bitch or anything Andi, it's just that I don't want to bring you if we are going to have to worry about taking care of you."
"No one needs to take care of me Janet," I clenched my teeth together to keep from saying anything I would surely regret."I managed just fine on my own before I met Will."
She shrugged her shoulders and flashed me a 'whatever' look, leaving me standing there. I took a few deep breaths and reminded myself I was determined to stay positive and make things different from now on.
We spent all day walking, only stopping once for a short break. If it were up to Janet, we wouldn't have even had that. Will insisted we stop, probably because he could tell I really needed it. I wasn't about to be the weakest link and ask for it, but I was damn grateful to have it. Janet and Will stayed a few paces ahead again, leaving Dan and I enough behind them to have some quiet conversation to kill the monotony. Without that, I think I would have lost my mind. Even when I was on my own, I couldn't walk in silence. I would either sing, or talk to myself. I just couldn't take the silence. Janet turned around every so often to give Dan a dirty look for the chatter, but this time, she managed not to direct her irritation at me. She really was trying harder than I ever would have given her credit for. I wonder what Will said to her to bring about such a change in her. I was definitely going to have to ask him about that!
We had a relatively uneventful day. We ran into about fifteen flesh eaters in total, but they were spread out so we had no trouble taking them out. Janet tried her psycho knife through the eye at close range, tactic again but after seeing my reaction, Dan started taking them out with the crossbow as soon as he noticed them.
"Why does she do that?" I asked Dan quietly, not wanting Janet to know we were talking about her.
Dan looked away with a sad frown on his perfect mouth.
"We all deal with the shit that's happened in our own way, ya know?"
I guess I did know.
"I get that, but she is so crazy about being safe and doing everything a certain way, but then she does something so stupid."
"Yeah, it freaked me out too at first. I just figure, I'm not gonna judge her. She has to find her own way. Will and I always have her covered though. There's little real danger with only one or two of the bastards."
"She didn't do that with the horde, did she?"
Visions of Janet surrounded by undead, trying to take them all out with a hunting knife, flashed through my head.
"We all used whatever we could, guns, bows, knives, whatever. I'm glad you weren't there for that."
"Yeah, poor little Andi. Can't take care of herself."
"Sweetheart, that's not what I meant. I just would have been distracted, worrying about you and you know Will would have too. I understand why you left. I might have done the same thing, if I were in your position."
"How much further you think it is until we stop for the night?"
My feet were aching and my stomach was ready to send out a pitchfork and torch wielding mob if it didn't get some food soon.
"My guess would be a couple more hours. You need to take a break sweetheart?"
"No, just wondering."
I lied. Dan didn't believe me for a second.
"I think I have a solution," he said kneeling on one knee and motioning for me to climb on his back.
"No. I'm fine. I can't."
"Well, I'm not getting up until you climb on. I can carry you sweetheart. You weigh less than the buck I carried fifteen miles last week. I'm sure I can handle one small girl," he laughed.
Janet and Will turned around, stopping to look at us impatiently. I figured it was either hop on, or risk Janet's irritation turning into anger, ruining the progress we'd made.
"You're impossible," I mumbled, climbing on his back.
"You're difficult," he chuckled, lifting me from the ground and continuing on.
After a brief look of jealousy from Will, and a dramatic eye roll from Janet, we were back on our way.
It was getting late in the day and we hadn't even reached the town we were headed to. I was expecting the trip to be another misery fest, but having Dan there really made a difference. He kept the mood light and despite Janet's occasional dirty looks or sounds of irritation, talked almost the whole time, keeping my mind off just how miserably long this trip was.
"We are gonna stop here for awhile," Janet announced out of nowhere.
I scanned our surroundings. We were in a small residential area in a poor section of town not far from the orthodontist I saw in middle school. This wasn't the kind of area any of us would normally stop. There were too many open areas and places for both undead and living to hide and too many directions to approach from.
"Are you sure?" I questioned.
Janet shot me a 'Don't question me' glare, pulling the map out of her pack to go over it with Will. Dan placed me back onto the ground and went to see what she was up to. Glancing around at the thirty or so small houses that lined the street made me uneasy.
"Why are we stopping here Will?" I directed my question at him this time, trying to avoid any further interaction with Janet, since she was obviously having a moment.
"Don't worry your pretty little head about it princess. The adults can figure it out."
The old Janet was back. Will shot her a warning look and her face softened a bit.
"The road we planned to take back there was the one with the bridge out. We thought we could come this way but now it's not looking like it will work out," Will explained, despite Janet's irritation.
"Well maybe you should have mentioned this to me. I have lived here my whole life ya know. I could have told you where this led to."
Dan shook his head, dropping his eyes to the ground.
"So now what?" I asked, waiting for some perfect idea to come from Janet who couldn't ever possibly be wrong.
Janet threw the map down. "I have no idea," she spat, frustrated.
I'd never seen Janet not in control, not exactly sure she was right and not knowing what to do. We were kind of screwed here, but I was enjoying it just a little. Okay, maybe a bit more than a little.
I closed my eyes and thought for a minute. I tried to trace the routes in my mind. This wasn't an area I went to often since my braces were off, but I've been out here enough to remember most of the routes in and out and where they lead to.
"Okay, look," I said picking up the map and holding it up for the guys to see.
I explained to them the options, as I remembered them anyway. The best one seemed to be backtracking a few miles then going east. It would lead to a small strip mall and the dental complex where my orthodontist was. It wasn't the best choice, and we couldn't know for sure if it was even an option until we got there, but it was probably going to be the best place to hide out for the night. At this point, we'd never get back before dark and none of us really wanted to risk being out all night. Janet wasn't happy that not only did she screw up, but I was the one who had a possible solution.
By the time we got there, we were all exhausted and hungry. The sun was low in the sky, preparing to leave us for the night. I used to love watching the sunset, but now it was just a reminder of increased danger. Most of the storefront windows were broken out in the strip mall leaving wide-open entryways for anyone or anything that wanted in. The dental complex seemed like the better choice.
"Drop the weapons!" yelled a voice from somewhere unseen.
Janet and Will weren't about to give up that easy.
"That ain't gonna happen!" Janet wasn't the giving up kind.
From around the side of the complex, came a large guy and two girls. The guy, bronzed skin and husky, with overgrown black hair that hung straight on his head, coming down over the tops of his eyes, held a shot gun on us. The girl on his right, a thin blonde waifish girl, held a handgun with trembling hands. The girl on the left, a taller, dark haired, Italian chick, gripped a blood stained baseball bat.
"This place has already been claimed. I suggest you be on your way," the chick with the bat called out.
Dan stepped forward slowly, his bow down at his side in a nonthreatening manner.
"Look, we are just looking for a place for the night. We got lost awhile back and now here we are."
The three eyed him suspiciously. My attention was drawn to the blonde waif. Something about her seemed familiar but I couldn't quite place it.
"Well you can't stay here. You need to move along," he motioned with the gun toward the highway.
My mind raced with thought. I knew that girl from somewhere...
"Nikki?"
It had to be.
"How do you know my name?" she looked at me, her eyes narrowing.
It was her! She was older now, and much thinner, but it was Nikki. She was my best friend through middle school. She was the orthodontist's daughter actually.
"It's Andi, from middle school?"
She looked me up and down suspiciously before a wide smile spread across her mouth.
"Oh my god, Andi!"
The girl stuffed the gun into her jeans and catapulted herself into my arms. I guess we had a place to stay for the night.
~Chapter Twenty~
At Nikki's whining insistence, her friends agreed to let us spend the night with them. I could tell the guy, Mike, had a thing for her by the way he relented. The dark haired one, Rose, eyed us suspiciously, keeping her hand hovering over the knife in her belt. She didn't look like the kind of girl you wanted to mess with.
Nikki and I had been inseparable until the summer before eighth grade when her parents moved across town and sent her to private school. They insisted she cut ties with all her old friends. They even monitored her internet access to make sure she wasn't having any contact with anyone from her old life. I was heartbroken. A few years ago, I found her on a social networking site and sent her a friend request, but she never accepted.
