Two Alive, стр. 2
“He got anything? A knife or some shit?” Antonio called from the deer.
“No. He don’t got nothing.” Miles checked his shoes but they were too big for him and too small for Antonio.
“Well what he got? Take his shirt at least or somethin’!”
Miles shushed him and looked at the man’s clothes more closely, “It’s all bloody. It’s not worth it.” He turned the body over.
He looked at the man’s face all bashed and bloodied. Someone did all this to him before he started to turn. The bite mark near his neck was still “mildly” fresh but the bruises were almost a day old. Someone really put a hurting on this guy.
“Aye, come help me with this deer.” Antonio shouted.
“What? I ain’t even gon eat it. You carry it!” Miles shouted back.
“Man, hurry the fuck up and get over here and help me! Damn!”
Miles begrudgingly went over to help his older brother. He didn’t want to help but he also didn’t want to argue. He pulled his phone with the cracked screen from his pocket and Eddie Money’s Take Me Home Tonight started playing in his head. The cord to his earbuds was tucked under his turtleneck shirt.
“Grab the head and I’ll hold the ass.” Antonio laughed.
Miles helped lift the dead animal, not responding while he did, just humming the song in his head.
Antonio went on, “You think any other freaks out there? That one came out of nowhere.”
Miles kept humming as the two headed in the opposite direction of the man he had taken out a second ago.
“What the fuck happened to him anyway? He got bit? Did he turn?” Antonio asked, but Miles still didn’t reply. “Man I know you can hear me!”
The two continued in silence, the only sound between them was the crunching leaves under their feet. The hideaway was five miles out but their bikes were hidden at the edge of the woods. Once Miles helped get the deer there, he’d let Antonio deal with getting the dead animal home. This hadn’t been much of a supply run, they gathered some apples and potatoes from their hidden garden, but a lot of the fruits and vegetables weren’t growing. The deer would have been meat for at least a week and a half if Antonio didn’t get greedy but Miles wasn’t sure about eating the possibly tainted venison. Apples and potatoes weren’t going to hold him over for long and the bigger issue was that they weren’t able to maintain the garden. The old man would be pissed.
There was supposed to be carrots, lettuce, and tomatoes but all of that was going to shit. It might have been due to overwatering, which is what Miles believed the problem was. Antonio, as usual, was blind to the idea that anything he did had negative results. There was no way the garden’s issues were his fault. He made all the best calls. He was always right. He was the self-proclaimed leader after the old man. Miles still wasn’t so sure about how he felt about that.
“Yo!” Antonio dropped the deer, talking loudly but trying to whisper.
Miles spun around and pulled an earbud out, then quickly went to kneel down when he saw Antonio was low.
“You hear that?” Antonio was whispering now.
Miles took his phone out and turned his music off to really listen. The wind was rustling leaves and branches overhead creaked, but another noise was less natural than the woods. Voices. Close too. The words, never be found came to mind and was another rule the old man made. Infected people were dangerous but normal, abled bodied people were even more dangerous. That’s why the old man took the boys out here to these woods where they lived and where they hid. Sure small groups would pop up from time to time—and they kept track of each one of them—but the old man and the boys had been able to stay hidden for two years after the infection spread.
“Who’s that?” Antonio stayed low and moved behind a tree.
“I think it might be a new group.” Miles slid behind another tree.
Antonio pulled his gold pistol from the holster on his side and took the safety off. Miles was berating him about bringing the flashy weapon and was trying to convince him to put it away. He tried reminding him how much noise a gun made and how it would just make things worse if lurkers came wondering out. But Antonio wasn’t hearing it. He was itching to use the solid gold Beretta they found two weeks ago just sitting against a big rock. It wasn’t too far from a man who was probably killed with it, but whoever had used it just abandoned it. What a waste. But the brothers found it and Antonio claimed it at first sight. Miles didn’t care. He didn’t want the flashy, shiny, golden weapon that made you look so cool holding it.
“Put that away.” Miles said.
“No fucking way.” Antonio checked the clip then reloaded the gun. Always check your ammo, the old man would say. The brothers got so good at it they were able to count shots on the fly.
“They sound like they arguin’.” Miles whispered.
“Yeah. So we should just go over there, see who it is and see what they arguin’ about. And this, this is just in case shit get crazy.” Antonio raised his weapon