Two Alive, стр. 83

Burrows stood up straight and wiped his mouth. “Holy shit!” He picked up his gun and pointed it at the infected creature stumbling towards the group.

Miles ran over and grabbed his sleeve. “No guns! No guns! If you shoot it, you’ll draw more to you! If you shoot and miss… if you shoot and miss, you’ll draw more to you and waste ammo!”

“Well what the hell?! That thing is coming right for us!” Burrows was in a panic.

Clint and Lance hadn’t said anything, but they felt the same terror. The slow moving creature, with strings of hair hanging down its vacant face was still at least nine feet away and stumbling barefoot on the concrete. The clothes it was wearing were tattered and its skin was a purplish gray, either from trauma or from the long-term effects of the virus. Miles could tell the creature had turned a long time ago and the body was all instinct with no muscle to back it up. It was dangerous and harmless at the same time.

“One of you can kill it with a knife or a hit to the head. Like I said, a knife or blunt force traumas. You can’t shoot. Nobody shoot.” Miles turned to Julia. “What weapons did you bring?”

Julia, a little thrown off by the question, was ashamed to answer. “I… I didn’t bring anything. I just brought a knife but it’s pitiful.” She pulled a Swiss army knife from her back pocket and flipped it open to the two-inch blade. Miles made his way over to inspect it.

Burrows kept looking between Miles, the know-it-all-kid, and the still coming freak. “So, kill this thing or not? It’s gettin’ closer and closer!”

“Yeah, kill it if you want to. You don’t have to. We bout to leave. You can leave it if you want.” Miles played with Julia’s small knife and tried a few striking attacks at the air. “Do you know how to shoot a gun?”

Julia shook her head and chuckled. “You know, everyone has tried to convince me that I should learn, but I just haven’t gotten around to it.”

“You don’t know how to shoot a gun?” Miles was legit surprised.

“Sorry, no I don’t.”

“That’s too bad. Do any of you know how to shoot a gun?” Miles turned around and his question was aimed at Clint, Lance and Manson. He even eyed Burrows and wondered if he really knew how to use his weapon.

“Firing a gun isn’t something I’m particularly interested in learning.” Manson continued backing away from the slow approaching freak. “That’s why we have these fine gentlemen with their guns.”

“You point the gun and pull the trigger. How hard is that?” Clint pulled out his revolver and nearly dropped it.

“If you let me, I can show you. I’ll use my gun on this freak right here!” Burrows raised his gun again.

Torrez pushed past Burrows and used the blunt end of his shotgun to bludgeon the infected monster. It went down easy. “Puta! He just said don’t shoot.”

Miles stood in the middle of the group and looked around. “Have any of you killed an infected before?”

Clint swallowed hard and rubbed at his eye patch. “I killed one before I got to the quarantine, almost two years ago. The damn thing got my eye before I got him, though. Just some poor bastard off the road that I figured I’d give a ride to.”

Miles nodded and turned to the other men. When Manson turned up his nose and Lance looked away, the boy turned to Julia, who again chuckled and shook her head. The boy then turned around to Burrows and waited for his response.

Burrows was insulted. “Yeah. I killed a bunch of them before.” He wiped his mouth again.

Miles frowned and started counting fingers. “One, two, three, four. Maybe five. We just have to buddy up and protect people. I’ll keep Ms. Julia safe. And Mr. Burrows can keep--”

“Burrows can stay close to me if we’re pairing off,” Manson cut in. “I trust him to keep me safe.”

 Miles nodded. “OK. Then Mr. Toros can be with Mr. Clint.”

Torrez took a moment to recognize who he meant, then went to stand by Clint after a short chuckle.

“And Mr. Castle can keep Mr. Lance safe.”

Julia smiled, “Well, you sure are taking the lead.”

“I have to. I’m the map.” Miles looked up at her.

“Alright. We got our buddy system. Now can we go?” Lance was growing increasingly impatient.

Julia just sighed. “C’mon.”

Miles pulled his phone from his pocket and imitated scrolling through his playlist. He decided on Bootsy Collins I’d Rather Be With You. As the tune began playing in his head, he followed after Julia and the others.

Julia saw him playing with his phone. “Does that phone even still work?”

“No. It died a long time ago. But I remember the songs. I remember the songs.” The boy began to sing, “I rather be with you-ooh! Yeah!”

Julia smiled and continued heading with the rest of the group for the blue van with the word “Costco” on the side. Torrez, Burrows and Castle got to the vehicle first and did a lap around the van to ensure no freaks were nearby. Julia walked to the driver’s door and opened it, unlocking the other doors so everyone else could climb in, through the automatic sliding door. Castle got in the front passenger seat. Burrows, Torrez and Clint took the middle row of seats. Lance sat in the front row at the window and Manson moved in next to him and held his bag in his lap. Miles was the last to get in. When he sat down next to Manson, Julia started the van and looked back at him.

“Can I see your phone Miles?” she asked with a sweet smile. Miles was hesitant