Dead Living (18 page)

“You say that, but you came back for me in
Baltimore.”

She took a breath and pushed a strand of hair
out of her face, to buy herself a second. “I only did that for
myself. I couldn't get here without you. I used you to get
here.”

Aaron said nothing. He considered that a
moment, if it could be true. He searched her face. He couldn't make
out her expression, the moon was behind her.

“I think you're lying. I think you're
actually a good, caring person. And you're afraid to admit it.”

“I only care about one person besides me, and
that's you.”

The words slipped out before she could take
them back. She felt her face growing hot, and was thankful Aaron
couldn't see her clearly.

“You know I'll watch out for you too,” he
said.

They were having a moment, but were too
inexperienced to realize it. There was some silence before Aaron
picked up movement outside the fence out of the corner of his
eye.

They both saw it at the same time. It was
dark, but they could barely make out the shape of a lone figure on
the street, walking toward the school.

Sam grabbed her Beretta, but Aaron put a hand
on her shoulder. She noticed the same thing he did. The figure
walked slowly, but the gait was steady.

“It's a person,” Aaron said.

Sam had no intention of climbing the fence to
check on whoever it was wandering the street. If it wasn't a
walker, she didn't care.

It was only when Aaron scaled the seven-foot
fence did she change her mind.

“Are you coming?” Aaron asked as he landed on
his feet.

She sighed and scaled the fence after him. He
helped steady her by the shoulders as she landed.

They both jogged down the street toward the
figure. They could start to make out some details. He saw long hair
and a female shape.

He grabbed her when he got close enough. The
girl couldn't have been more than sixteen. He recognized her,
seeing her earlier in the day helping to boil water. He didn't know
her name.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

It took her a moment to speak. “They're all
dead.”

He turned to look at Sam, who was standing
behind him with one hand on her Beretta and the other on his
shoulder.

“What's your name?” he asked the girl.

“Nikki.”

“Nikki, tell me what happened.”

“Some of us went out, like you've been doing.
We wanted to see what we could find in the old houses, and, they're
all dead.”

“Who
is all dead?”

“Bobby, Michelle, Ashley, dead.”

“You just can't go out like me. I'm not like
. . . Are you hurt? Did you get bit?”

“No. Bobby tried to bite me, but-” she
trailed off.

They heard a noise in front of them. Several
walkers tumbled their way out of a house, not too far down the
street. They tripped over each other, but finally managed to right
themselves.

The undead were coming their way.

“That's them!” Nikki cried, and tried to
run.

Aaron grabbed her firmly and held her in
place. He dropped to one knee and pulled her down with him. Sam had
the itch to move herself, but stayed behind both of them.

“Nikki, before tonight, have you even seen a
corpse?”

“No.”

“Where are your parents?”

“Dead.”

Aaron sighed. He knew the school was a great
place, but he could see a few of its faults. The kids would grow up
learning how to grow vegetables and survive with what they had, but
not be able to read or write, or kill a walker.

“Okay.” He gestured with his hand toward the
mass of corpses headed their way. They moved slow and steady. They
were still a distance away, but Sam was nervous. “I want you to
count how many you see.”

“I can't,” she cried, and tried to pull away
from Aaron again. He held her next to him.

“Aaron, we don't have time for this,” Sam
said. “What are you doing?”

“Rule number one, Nikki, is don't panic. Just
think. Watch them, look at how they move. You need to be able to
spot one if you're out in the world in a second.”

Nikki focused on the slow mob and tried to
focus her eyes in the dark. The moon provided just enough light to
make out their shapes.

“There's eight of them.” She hugged herself
to fight the chill she was feeling. “What is that noise they're
making?”

“Good. Forget the noise. It's scary, I know,
but ignore it. Now one or two, you can outmaneuver and work around.
Eight, you're either gonna have to run or kill them.”

Nikki was afraid, but Aaron and his calm
voice helped steady her nerves.

Sam leaned down next to Aaron. “We need to
move. We can kill them all behind the fence.”

“Teach Nikki how to shoot.”

“What? Are you kidding?”

“No. She needs to learn.”

“Aaron,
you
don't even know how
to shoot a gun. This isn't the time or place for this.”

He stood up and nocked an arrow. He released,
and his aim was dead on, even in the dark. A corpse near the front
of the mob fell as the arrow pierced its skull.

“Don't need a gun.”

Aaron flashed Sam a smile. Nothing about a
mob of undead shuffling toward them frightened him in the
least.

Sam had the feeling that Aaron was hiding
something.

“Shit, what the hell am I doing?” Sam
muttered as she knelt next to Nikki.

Aaron watched as Sam gave Nikki the quickest
crash-course on firing a weapon in history. She told Nikki to use
both hands and aim for the head. There was also recoil she had to
watch out for.

Nikki killed every walker. She hesitated at
the walkers she recognized, whom not even ten minutes ago were
alive and her friends. The last one she shot was only a few feet
away. Sam had her hand on her combat knife the entire time, but
there was no need for it.

She grabbed her gun from the shaking teen's
hands.

“You did great, Nikki,” Aaron said. “You
should never be outside the school at night, or any time for that
matter. At least not until you get some training.”

Nikki was crying. Aaron put an arm around her
shoulders and gave a gentle squeeze. Perhaps Sam was right, it was
the wrong time and place, but Nikki needed to know how the world
worked beyond the fence.

He felt guilty as he helped her to her feet.
The kids were watching him, trying to imitate him, and it cost a
few of them their lives.

Aaron and Sam walked Nikki back to the
school. They found Richardson and explained what happened. He took
Nikki to the cafeteria to calm her down while Aaron and Sam grabbed
a few torches to burn the corpses. They stopped by the forge to
light them.

“What the hell was that about?” Sam asked.
They walked across the parking lot back to the front gate.

“Someone needs to teach her. Everyone's too
scared to gather the kids and take them to the Pit, teach them
about walkers.”

“So what did you get out of that?”

“Nothing. Hopefully Nikki got something.”

Sam was quiet a moment. “I, uh, wouldn't even
have climbed the fence if you weren't there.”

“Really? Why not?”

A sudden wave of anger overcame her as old
memories flooded back. She faced him as they stopped near the dead
corpses.

“Because no one would have done it for me,”
she said. “When I was her age, I looked out for myself. If the
corpses weren't closing in, the fucking sick rapists and slavers
were. Everyday, a fight to find food and water. I don't need anyone
to take care of me.”

He shook his head as he put his torch to the
first corpse until it caught on fire. “I got bad news for you.”

“What?”

“I'm
looking out for you now. So get used to it.”

She was quiet as she
watched him move from corpse to corpse. She replayed the scene with
Nikki in her mind. Aaron didn't hesitate to help her. He never
hesitated to help
anyone
. In a world full of walking
corpses and bad people, even apathetic people like Sam, Aaron tried
to be the best person he could be.

She didn't like how she was starting to
feel.

Aaron knocked on Sam's door. He waved to
Scott as he passed by in the hallway. Scott gave him a pat on the
back for how he handled Nikki's situation last night. People were a
little nervous that eight walkers were just outside the fence, and
some of their young lost their lives, but were still glad Aaron and
Sam were on the fence to handle it.

Everyone already liked Aaron, and couldn't
stop talking about him.

“Sam?” he said to the door. “You in
there?”

He slowly opened the door. He could see Sam
wrapped under a sheet on her mattress, one leg sticking out.
Judging from how much leg he saw, he guessed she wasn't wearing
anything. For the first time, he saw a scar on her right thigh. He
had no doubt she had her share of scars.

The morning sun threw light across her room
through the curtains, but she was sound asleep. Aaron couldn't
blame her, as he was tired himself. He nudged her by the
shoulder.

“Sam. Wake up for a second.”

She pushed his hand away, then shot upright
when she realized she wasn't alone. She looked at Aaron with wide
eyes and pulled her sheet to her chin. “Aaron, what the hell are
you doing?”

“I knocked this time,” he said. He sat in the
chair opposite her mattress. “I really did. You didn't answer.”

“That's cause I was
asleep
. We were up all
night. Shit, how are you even awake?”

He tried to keep his eyes steady. “Do you
always sleep with nothing on?”

Her face grew hot. She pulled her leg under
the sheet. “I'm getting sick of you seeing me naked. Turn
around.”

He complied as she got dressed.

“How's the girl? Nikki, is that her
name?”

Aaron thought it was strange that Sam barely
knew anyone.

“Yeah, she's fine. She's with Susan, at the
garden. Just trying to keep her head on straight.”

“Hell, aren't we all?”

“Yeah. Listen, Sam, I need your help with
something.”

“What's that?”

“I need you to teach me how to drive a
truck.”

Sam laughed. She grabbed him by the shoulder
and turned him around. Aaron gave her a nod. Even with only a few
hours sleep and bedhead, she was beautiful. She ran a brush through
her hair.

“What are you talking about?”

He held up a piece of paper. “I've been
asking people about things we need. I'll go get everything, but I
don't know how to drive.”

“That's not gonna happen, Aaron.”

“Why not?”

“Everyone likes you. I know that. But you've
only been here a few days. Richardson isn't gonna let you drive.
Besides, he only gives the keys out to Garrett and his little
puppet Ray.”

“I saw what happened the last time they took
the trucks out. You got left with me.”

“I know. I don't like the rules. I'm just
saying, forget about it.”

“I'll go talk to Richardson.”

Sam smiled. ”This I gotta see.”

They found Richardson near the back gate of
the school. He was chopping down a tree while Larry split wood.
They had an audience. Some of the kids were playing and watching
them.

“Hey Richardson,” Aaron called. “Can we talk
for a second?”

He buried his ax into the tree and warned the
kids not to touch it. He approached Aaron and Sam while wiping
sweat from his forehead.

“Best time to cut wood,” he said. “It's not
too hot yet. How's Nikki doing?”

Aaron shrugged. It was strange how everyone
thought he knew everything. “She's with Susan. She'll be alright.
Listen, I want to take one of the trucks out.”

Richardson chuckled. Aaron was irritated at
everyone laughing in his face.

“No can do, Aaron.”

“Look. Just tell Sam to teach me to drive.
I'll go out alone, no big deal. No one gets hurt.”

“And what if you get yourself killed? You
think about that? Then we're out a truck, and a person everyone
looks up to.”

“I'm not gonna get myself killed.” He paused
a moment. “People look up to me?”

“No one ever goes out alone, Aaron. That's
why we have teams, led by Garrett and Ray.”

“Assholes.”

Richardson tried to hold in his laughter.
“Anyway, ask them if they'll let you join them, if you want to get
out that bad.”

“Aaron doesn't go without me,” Sam said.

Aaron turned to look at her. He knew they
were friends. She was his best friend. Still, her loyalty was
surprising. It wasn't long ago that Sam told him to his face she
would leave him to die if she had to.

“Sam, thank you, really, but I'll be better
off taking the truck out alone. Just teach me how to drive right
here.”

“You go out, I'm going out with you.”

“No.”

“You don't tell me no. I do what I want. Who
do you think you are?”

“Hey!” Richardson said. “How old are you two
again?”

Aaron and Sam looked at each other. He went
first.

“You said the corpses first rose up
twenty-three years ago? I'm twenty-three then. I was born on the
first day.”

“And I'm twenty. Maybe twenty-one?”

Richardson shook his head. The joke sailed
right over their heads. “Look, I know you think Lexington might not
be as bad as Baltimore, and you might be right. Still, there's no
way you, by yourself, even if you could drive, can get anything
from around here.”

“You'd be surprised.”

Richardson rolled his eyes. He couldn't
believe he was going to waste gas for this. Part of the reason he
was compromising was Sam. Aaron was bringing a side out of her he'd
never seen before. She was focusing that strength of hers on a
friendship, instead of what deals she could make.