never speaks.
When we make it back to the meeting tree,
we both take a pause and listen. I lead across the open field with a sprint.
We make it to the edge of the field. I
crouch down to look out for any signs of life in the driveway. The barn door
swings open and shut.
They're back. I know I sealed the barn
door completely when I left. I can hear Will's breath on the back of my neck as
I watch the house silently.
I turn and whisper, "Let me go look
first."
He shakes his head and points to the barn
door. I turn and look again.
I almost jump as I see them. It feels as
though they're watching me. As the barn door swings open and shut a pair of
eyes watch from inside. Stains of bloody tears streak the gaunt cheeks below.
My stomach twists and turns.
I back up but Will puts his arms on me to stop me from
running away.
"Stay still."
His words make my skin shiver, as his hot
breath lands on the back of my neck.
I don’t move. The barn door opens and
closes several more times. Then suddenly it opens and the eyes are gone.
I look up at the loft window to see the
thin figure pass by it. The window over looks the field perfectly. We will be
seen. Suddenly I'm on the ground, in the hay and wrapped up in Will's long
body. He holds me close to him.
The wind plays with the hay around us, it
whispers to us.
I can feel his heart beating against my
chest. We are face to face but my eyes dart around us. I hear footsteps. I hear
something else, it’s the way an exhale sounds when your throat is a ragged
mess.
The infected are near us. I want to pull
my shirt up over my face. I want to run. I need my mask but I've left it
behind. Another rule I've broken.
Will strokes his thumb along the back of
my neck, where his left hand lays. He's trying to calm my nerves, before I give
away our location.
In the gusts of warm wind and the calm
silence of the ragged exhales, I hear a sound I don’t expect. It's the
hollering of men and the high moans of the infected.
The footsteps leave the hay around us.
The moaning and ragged breath becomes harder to hear, as distance is put
between us and them. It's always us and them.
Will whispers into my forehead, "Oh
my fucking god." We lay in silence for a moment.
He peeks his head up to look around, but
I pull him back down, "One more minute."
He frowns but as I speak it the barn door
closes several times hard. A raucous noise fills the air, different types of
commotion begin after it.
"We need to leave now." I
whisper into his throat.
His jaw nods against the top of my head.
He pulls back a bit and looks at me,
almost through me with his intensely blue eyes. He tilts my chin with his free
hand and lightly feathers his lips against mine. His kiss isn’t intense like
Jake's was or soft and uncertain like Mary's. It's somewhere in the middle and
filled with more of everything. He kisses beside my mouth and whispers into my cheeks,
"We're going to crawl from here and then make our way to the forest on the
other side from where we came. We don’t want to lead them to the camp."
He kisses once more just along side my
lips and lets me out of his firm grip. He moves away from me and slithers
backwards, away from the farmhouse. I follow him. The hay slices along my skin
giving me small cuts. When we get to the halfway point between the forest and
farmhouse, he stands and walks hunched right over. I do the same listening
intently to every sound.
We make our way into the forest where he
breaks into a run. I follow him until we reach the bigger trees. He climbs one
of them quickly. I look around and start to feel uncomfortable. I don’t like
being on the ground without Leo. I climb the next largest tree. I scramble up
the branches until I'm as high as he is.
The farmhouse, my farmhouse, is nearly
the entire view. I can see the field I've crossed too many times to count. Pain
creeps around inside of me as I imagine my bunker and my rations and my clean
little spaces, all torn apart by the
When we make it back to the meeting tree,
we both take a pause and listen. I lead across the open field with a sprint.
We make it to the edge of the field. I
crouch down to look out for any signs of life in the driveway. The barn door
swings open and shut.
They're back. I know I sealed the barn
door completely when I left. I can hear Will's breath on the back of my neck as
I watch the house silently.
I turn and whisper, "Let me go look
first."
He shakes his head and points to the barn
door. I turn and look again.
I almost jump as I see them. It feels as
though they're watching me. As the barn door swings open and shut a pair of
eyes watch from inside. Stains of bloody tears streak the gaunt cheeks below.
My stomach twists and turns.
I back up but Will puts his arms on me to stop me from
running away.
"Stay still."
His words make my skin shiver, as his hot
breath lands on the back of my neck.
I don’t move. The barn door opens and
closes several more times. Then suddenly it opens and the eyes are gone.
I look up at the loft window to see the
thin figure pass by it. The window over looks the field perfectly. We will be
seen. Suddenly I'm on the ground, in the hay and wrapped up in Will's long
body. He holds me close to him.
The wind plays with the hay around us, it
whispers to us.
I can feel his heart beating against my
chest. We are face to face but my eyes dart around us. I hear footsteps. I hear
something else, it’s the way an exhale sounds when your throat is a ragged
mess.
The infected are near us. I want to pull
my shirt up over my face. I want to run. I need my mask but I've left it
behind. Another rule I've broken.
Will strokes his thumb along the back of
my neck, where his left hand lays. He's trying to calm my nerves, before I give
away our location.
In the gusts of warm wind and the calm
silence of the ragged exhales, I hear a sound I don’t expect. It's the
hollering of men and the high moans of the infected.
The footsteps leave the hay around us.
The moaning and ragged breath becomes harder to hear, as distance is put
between us and them. It's always us and them.
Will whispers into my forehead, "Oh
my fucking god." We lay in silence for a moment.
He peeks his head up to look around, but
I pull him back down, "One more minute."
He frowns but as I speak it the barn door
closes several times hard. A raucous noise fills the air, different types of
commotion begin after it.
"We need to leave now." I
whisper into his throat.
His jaw nods against the top of my head.
He pulls back a bit and looks at me,
almost through me with his intensely blue eyes. He tilts my chin with his free
hand and lightly feathers his lips against mine. His kiss isn’t intense like
Jake's was or soft and uncertain like Mary's. It's somewhere in the middle and
filled with more of everything. He kisses beside my mouth and whispers into my cheeks,
"We're going to crawl from here and then make our way to the forest on the
other side from where we came. We don’t want to lead them to the camp."
He kisses once more just along side my
lips and lets me out of his firm grip. He moves away from me and slithers
backwards, away from the farmhouse. I follow him. The hay slices along my skin
giving me small cuts. When we get to the halfway point between the forest and
farmhouse, he stands and walks hunched right over. I do the same listening
intently to every sound.
We make our way into the forest where he
breaks into a run. I follow him until we reach the bigger trees. He climbs one
of them quickly. I look around and start to feel uncomfortable. I don’t like
being on the ground without Leo. I climb the next largest tree. I scramble up
the branches until I'm as high as he is.
The farmhouse, my farmhouse, is nearly
the entire view. I can see the field I've crossed too many times to count. Pain
creeps around inside of me as I imagine my bunker and my rations and my clean
little spaces, all torn apart by the
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