Save Me (11 page)

"You gonna be able to do this?" Will looked at me skeptically. He knew that the one thing I hated killing more than forest creatures was zombie kids. I'm sure it wasn't his favorite pastime either but when it came down to it, we both knew Will would be able to make the shot if he needed to. I looked back at the mother and daughter. The kid looked like my cousin Sophie.

"Can't
you
do it? I can take the mother." My eyes pleaded with Will. He wasn't big on sympathy these day, but I hoped he would make an exception. He thought about it for a moment, then handed me the bow.

"No. I got the last one. It's your turn." He nudged me up. "Let's go they're getting closer." Will took aim and fired at the mother. His arrow landed dead on, right through her forehead, dropping her to the ground. "Your turn".

The kid didn't even notice as the mother dropped to the ground, twitching. Forward she hobbled, hell bent on ripping us apart. Will stood behind me, waiting, his expression unreadable. I don't know why he was being such a jerk. He knew how difficult this was for me. Why did he need to push so hard?

"Now, Andi." Will repeated, frustration growing in his voice.

I brought the bow up, taking aim at her head, and released the arrow toward my target. I missed by about two feet. Will sighed and even though I couldn't see him, I'm sure he rolled his eyes. I looked back at him, hopeful that my miss would prompt him to take a shot. It didn't.

"Try again. She's getting too close."

Jerk. I pulled the bow back up and took aim once again. She was about ten feet away. It was either hit her or run at this point. I pulled the trigger once again, determined to hit her this time and made my shot. I hit her in the neck. Damn. Will pushed me to the side, knocking me to the ground just as she lunged for me. The little brat was about to take a chunk off my leg when Will yanked her up by the hair, throwing her backwards. Before she could get herself up, he buried a hatchet into her small head, spraying her dark, dead blood onto the rock I had been sitting on.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Will yelled, wiping zombie guts off the hatchet onto the grass.

"Of course not!" I pushed myself up from the ground and went to retrieve my lost arrow. Will followed a few yards behind me, not wanting to let too much distance get between us. I'm sure he thought I'd just go and get myself into trouble again. He really was being an ass. How long did I need to be punished for one little mistake? He was being a little ridiculous now, holding a grudge this long over me going upstairs without him knowing. It just didn't make sense. If I was that much of a pain in the ass to him, why was he sticking around? He already saved me enough times not to feel like he owed me anything. Part of me wanted to tell him to just go already, to stop dragging it out. Of course, the part of me that desperately wanted him to stay, stuck her damn nose into it and vetoed that. I just wanted it to go back to the way it was, to hit the rewind button and go back to that night in his arms, to the night I thought he might kiss me. I was starting to think I imagined the whole thing now.

I brought the arrow back, sticking it in the bag with the one Will pulled from the Mother and Kid. At least I didn't have to pull the arrow from her dead little neck.

"Are we done now?" All I really wanted to do was go back home and take a shower. Splattered zombie blood was not the fashion statement I wanted to make.

"You think there's a chance you are going to actually hit anything today?" The irritation in Will's voice clearly evident.

"Probably not." I wasn't about to argue that it certainly was not intentional right now.

"Then we're done." Will gathered our bags and started off for home. I had to practically jog in order to keep up with him. Being about a foot taller than me, his stride easily covered twice the distance than my much shorter legs would carry me. That coupled with his intentional fast pace, left me having a difficult time just staying ten or so yards behind. He didn't usually let us get so far apart. Poor little Andi, she just might get herself killed, or kidnapped, or infected by flesh eating zombies. This pace was too much for me to keep up all the way back to the basement. I was about to call ahead to Will to slow down when I realized my mother's charm bracelet was missing from my wrist. It was there when I took the shot at the kid zombie. I remembered pushing it up my arm a bit to keep it out of the way. My heart beat hard in my chest. I couldn't lose my mother's bracelet. I had to find it!

"Will, stop!" I yelled out to him, unable to actually move from the stop I was standing in.

"What's the problem?" He turned, raising his bow, scanning for any danger in my direction. I was afraid he would be angry with me but there was no choice. I had to find that bracelet. When I didn't speak, he walked toward me confused. "Andi, what's wrong?" Confident we were alone, he lowered the bow. I opened my mouth to speak, but words refused to come. I couldn't bear losing my link to my mother and having Will mad at me at the same time. "Andi?" Will repeated, a little concerned this time. All I could manage was to point to my wrist where the bracelet had been, before I broke down, tears streaming down my cheeks. Everything that had happened in the last couple of weeks boiled up to the surface, leaving me a crying mess in the middle of the street. Will knew right away what was missing. He didn't like me wearing it to begin with. Anything that didn't help us survive, was unnecessary in Will's book. I was sure this was about to turn into a fight. There was no way I was going back without it.

"Your bracelet?" Will asked, his voice more gentle this time, no irritation at all. The most I could manage was a small nod, tears still streaming down my cheeks. Will lifted my chin, looking into my tear soaked eyes, surprising me with his sudden gentleness. "It's okay. We'll find it."

"Really?" I managed, just barely audible. Trusting this unexpected kindness after the past weeks frigid shut out, was difficult.

"I promise." He said, wiping tears off my face and smiling sweetly. It was like the old Will was suddenly transported back, which for some reason, only made me want to cry more. He wrapped his arms around me, holding my tear soaked face against him. "We'll find it Andi. I promise."

We traced our steps back to the field where I remembered last seeing the bracelet. Neither of us spoke since the hug. We searched a good 45 minutes in the grass before Will found it under the dead zombie kid. I'm not sure I would have been able to flip her over to check even if I'd been certain it was there. Even Will put off looking until we felt confident we had searched the area thoroughly. He poured the last of his water over it, washing away the thick, dark blood, and handed it back to me.

"Thank you." It was the most grateful I had ever been in my life. More grateful than the time he saved me from sure death in the dog cage, or even when he had found me in the cabin. This bracelet was the one thing that helped me feel like part my of mother was still with me like she said in her letter. It was also the reason Will had gotten so angry with me leading to this unbearable distance between us. If I lost it, not only would I be losing part of my mother, but ruining my friendship with Will would have been for nothing.

"No problem. We better get back now. It's gonna be dark soon" He started turning to leave.

"No, really. Thank you." I stressed it, trying to convey just how much this meant to me. Will looked back at me, one eyebrow raised. He wasn't used to seeing genuine gratitude from me.

"It was your mothers?" He asked.

"Yeah. It's what I went upstairs to find that day."

He opened his mouth as if to speak then closed it again, looking down toward the ground in thought. "You...didn't already have that?"

"No. I saw the photo album you left out and it made me think of her. I was missing her a lot and just wanted something personal of hers. She didn't really bring anything like that down with her. It was upstairs in the safe, with a letter."

"Letter?"

"She wrote me a letter the day we moved into the basement, something I would find after she was dead." I fought back a tear at the memory, not wanting to break down again in front of Will.

"That's why you were crying when I found you?" He grimaced at the memory. I managed to nod, not wanting to risk speaking for fear tears would follow. "Oh Andi, I'm so sorry." He took my hands into his. "Why didn't you tell me that?"

"You, you were yelling at me." My voice cracked, threatening to betray me.

Will closed his eyes, hanging his head, his hands warm in mine.

"I'm sorry about that. You really worried me. When you were with the cousins, I was so afraid. I couldn't stop imagining all the awful things they might do to you." Will swallowed hard. "When I got you back, you were a mess. I was afraid to sleep because I didn't want anything else to happen to you."

"It wasn't your fault Will."

"But it was! I'm the reason you were out there to begin with and if I had been more careful we wouldn't have been exposed like that." Guilt burned in Will's eyes. "I promised myself that night I got you back that I would do everything in my power to keep you safe. Then you go and do stupid shit like taking off on me while I'm asleep and I don't know how the hell I can keep you safe. If you are going to purposely put yourself at risk, how am I supposed to protect you?" Will squeezed my hands tightly, desperation in his voice.

"Look Will, I'm grateful for everything you've done for me but you don't owe me anything. I'll be fine on my own. You can leave any time you want." I slipped my hands from his and started walking back toward home. I might as well let him off the hook now rather than dragging out the inevitable. Will caught up with me, pulling me by the arm hard to a stop.

"Is that what you think?" He demanded. "You think I want to leave?" He looked confused, maybe? Hurt? Suddenly I was the one confused. If he didn't want to leave then why was he being such an ass to me? "You really don't get it do you?" Will laughed, but it was more of an angry laugh.

"No!" I shouted. "I don't get it. You act all sweet and wonderful and you're staring into my eyes like..." I stopped, turning away from Will. "Then you act like I'm some problem you have to take care of." Tears once again threatened, burning my eyes. I hadn't cried this much since the outbreak began. This boy was ruining me. Will tried to pull me back around to look at him. When I resisted, he walked around to face me.

"Andi," He took my chin into his hand, gently lifting it to meet his sparkling gaze. "The last thing I want to do is leave you." A tear escaped down my face and he wiped it away with his thumb, pulling me against him. I could hear his heart thump loudly in his chest and smell that familiar scent so unique to him. I wanted to stay there like that forever, forget the rest of the world. Will took a long deep breath into my hair and nudged me back to look in my eyes. "You don't want me to leave, do you?"

"No." was all I could manage. I wanted to tell him I couldn't bear the thought of him leaving, that I didn't even want to leave the middle of this street for fear of the distance that had been between us this week would return. He leaned down closer, his breath warm against my face, his lips almost touching mine.

"Good." Will gave me one of his signature crooked smiles.

"Will?" An unrecognized voice called from behind me. Will raised his bow, pushing me behind him for protection. I peered around his shoulder to see a tall, short-haired blonde in camouflage. She had a gun slung over her shoulder and a crossbow pointed in our direction.

"Janet?" Will lowered the bow slightly, recognizing the girl. I scanned my brain. Janet. I had heard that name before. The girl dropped the bow to her side and jogged over to us, smiling. Leaving me standing there, Will walked ahead to meet her. "My God, you're alive!" He threw his arms around the girl, tightly embracing her. A pang of jealousy washed over me, but I quickly pushed it down.

"Danielle said you were dead." Finally, he let her go.

Now I remembered. Janet was the other person from his group that was killed at the cabin, or not killed apparently.

"I'm sure she thought I was. I was hit pretty bad, but I pulled through. She was awfully sorry about that when I saw her. "

"You saw Danielle? How is she?"

"She's fine. We better get off the streets though, it's a long story and it's getting dark."

"Yeah, of course. Our place isn't far from here."

Great, he was inviting her home with us.

~Chapter Ten~

After a quick introduction, we were on our way. I walked behind them the whole trip back to the basement, unnoticed. Janet kept her bow up on alert as she walked, scanning back and forth. She was more paranoid than Will. Neither spoke until we were safely in the basement.

"I still can't believe I found you!" Janet flung herself down comfortably on my sofa, like she had spent all her life there. "What were you doing making so much noise out there? Didn't I teach you anything?" She was serious, yet teasing him at the same time.

"Yeah, yeah." Will sat down next to her, a little too close if you ask me.

"Man, I'm starving!" Janet plopped her feet up on the coffee table like it belonged to her.

"Hey Andi, why don't you find us something to eat?" Will called over a little louder than necessary for someone who was only five feet away.