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Bottom of the Food Chain (Chapter 1)

A Story by Dechlan Tomsett

By Dechlan TomsettPublished 3 years ago 30 min read
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A Story

Bottom of the food chain

Dechlan TOMSETT

Prologue

-

“I can’t remember when my neighbours weren’t trying to eat me, when I could step outside without looking over my shoulder or surveying my arcs every couple seconds or so. I was never a stranger to conflict or gunfire but this... this relentless enemy that didn’t follow your conventional fighting methods, now, I wasn’t used to this.” - Corporal Christian Mathers, 2024.

Chapter 1

Opposites Attract... Hordes of flesh eating creatures

“I was never a fan of being in a team, emotions make you weak and being weak is what makes you food.”

-

Christian Mathers had been walking for days if it wasn’t for the fact he had endured much harsher terrains and climates than the English weather before in his life, he would’ve succumb to the exhaustion hours prior. Christian was in his late-twenties with mid length dirty blond hair swept back and to the left to avoid it impairing his sight, or at least that’s what he’d tell you. He was adequately dressed in a beaten up MTP over shirt with his olive green undershirt peeking out from the neckline. His legs were covered by the same MTP pattern even though the mud and grime had made them look much less of your woodland pattern and more so just some dishevelled construction workers trendy work bottoms. His feet were clad in some dark brown boots, thick soled and with the look of neglect from the lack of polish and care over quite some time. Christian hooked his thumb into one of his rucksacks straps pulling it taut against his shoulder as he walked. A bundle of makeshift javelins clattered against the side of the dark green rucksack as he walked. He had crafted the javelins out of mid-length sticks, masking tape and pieces of shrapnel from a heavily damaged vehicle he had come across throughout his travels. In his right hand, that was hanging down near his waist, he held a large curved blade, a Kukri blade that he was so kindly gifted by a Gurkha rifleman whilst out in Afghanistan. This blade indeed became handy now and had stood the test of time. He also had a firearm in the drop-leg holster fastened to his left thigh but ammunition had ran dry within the early stages of his survivors tale and he had never been as lucky to run into anymore upon his journey. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing as gunshots and other loud noises just seemed to attract hordes of the creatures, now that... that was never a good thing.

Firstly, Christian had to navigate the back streets and alleyways of the town he had come across. His main goal was to avoid contact with the stragglers as much as possible. Christian had named the beasts stragglers as they didn’t run nor walk, they sort of hobbled around like they had disjointed limbs and weren’t quite constructed in the right way. Christian pinned this movement down to the fact they were indeed just rotting, reanimated corpses that only had one goal in mind... to feed. The former soldier was being especially careful as he moved at a steady pace throughout the backstreet, not neglecting to give each bin a quick check over as he passed it. In this world food was slim pickings and you never passed up the opportunity to take food regardless of if it had been half eaten beforehand. During the search of one of the bins he found a tin, unmarked with no label and a slight dent in its side... this will do. Christian happily unslung his rucksack and unzipped the main compartment placing the tin inside of the rucksack, it nestled itself on top of his sleeping bag which had been stuffed into the rucksack after the bag for the sleeping bag itself had been torn... wear and tear will do that. Christian kept the movement up as he slung the rucksack back over his shoulders to continue along on his way through the back streets. Christian had no idea where he was as whatever signs used to mark and designate the towns and cities of England had since been destroyed and used as scrap materials by scavengers and survivors alike.

He looked to his right as he heard a noise, a low groan. Christian spotted a straggler with their upper body jutting out from the pile of bricks. The straggler clearly didn’t have the energy to come after Christian ferociously as their dishevelled, rotting hands scrabbled at the concrete floor beneath them. They we’re trapped. Christian believed in mercy and he couldn’t walk away with a clear conscience knowing he had left some poor soul in this constant hell of being trapped for eternity as an immobile monster. He took a few steps forward, took the handle of his Kukri in both hands raising it above his head and with one sudden downwards motion he had silenced the creature and hopefully released the poor soul from this futile existence. Christian sighed as he placed one foot on the motionless creatures shoulder blade and pulled his blade free from their skull much like King Arthur and The Sword in the Stone. The way this Kukri had kept Christian alive in this nightmarish world he now lived in, it wouldn’t be an overstatement to refer to it as ‘Excalibur’ from now on. Christian couldn’t help but let a small smile spread across his lips at this thought but that smile left his face just as sudden as it appeared, he continued on his way through the back streets. Coming around the corner, Christian could heard a sudden commotion. Without hesitation Christian had pressed his back to the wall and slowly began to peer around the corner to investigate the sudden sounds. His eyes widened at the sight, at least twenty stragglers were surrounding a large bin. He could hear the muffled screams coming from within the bin and for a brief moment... Christian was impressed. Trapping yourself into a seemingly impenetrable space was both the smartest and dumbest tactic Christian could think of. On one hand, you were safe from the threat of being eaten alive by these monstrosities but on the other hand, you were now trapped inside of an unhygienic environment surrounded by relentless creatures, that want nothing more than to feast on your flesh, with a limited supply of food and fluids. It was a sure fire way to maximise your suffering. As much as Christian wanted to turn away and use this to his advantage to escape and go loot the various stores around the town... he just couldn’t. Curse this impeccable moral compass.

Christian began to look around his immediate surroundings to figure out a way he could save the doomed survivor trapped inside of their own metal coffin. Christian knew it wouldn’t be wise to try to fight that large of a group of stragglers, it would only end in his untimely demise. There was one idea that he had but it would mean wasting a crucial resource that he had very limited of. If Christian didn’t have a conscience this choice would’ve been easy but he knew he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he didn’t at least try to save this person. He unslung his rucksack and pulled out a small red object, it closely resembled a snub-nosed revolver. He pulled a singular cartridge from his pocket this time the object resembled a shotgun shell, specifically a twelve gauge. The item in question was a flare gun. He loaded the red revolver with the flare and cocked it with his thumb. He took one step into the opening itself and aimed just above the stragglers heads and across the street into a nearby window of a two storey house. He closed his left eye, took a deep breath and depressed the trigger to the first pressure point. Upon the exhale of his breath he allowed his index finger to pull the trigger all the way. The recoil made him take a step back as the flare shot off narrowly avoiding the stragglers and striking the house window across from them shattering the glass and emitting a bright light across the street. The combination of light and sound was enough to draw the attention of the stragglers towards the building and soon enough they had given up on trying to break into the large metallic bin and were approaching the house as fast as their unorthodox movements would take them.

Once it appeared to be clear Christian had moved with purpose towards the large metallic bin, the screaming had subsided and he worried the survivor had passed out or even worse... took their own life. He hooked his fingers underneath the lip of the lid and pried it open slowly lowering it down towards the back of the bin to avoid making any loud and sudden noises. He peered into the bin and the sight was not what he had expected at all. The survivor was laid across the various torn black bags of rubbish and waste clutching a navy blue rucksack to their chest. They had their eyes closed and they were seemingly shivering, they were terrified. Suddenly their eyes opened, their mouth opened to scream but no noise came out. Their look of utter terror became one of pure confusion and surprise as Christian extended a hand forward to them. The survivor, who was a female, took the hand hesitantly and with no lack of effort on either side they had brought her out of the large metallic coffin and onto their feet on the concrete floor below.

“Th-thank you.” She said, her voice sounded out of breath and timid.

“No problem, we need to get out of here and fast.” Was the only response that left Christians mouth.

“I have a vehicle not far from here, it’s uh... this way! Follow me.” She motioned for him to follow her and they took off further down the backstreets, fortunate enough that the stragglers hadn’t caught wind of their escape just yet. They manoeuvred through the lanes and alleyways of the once-bustling town towards the intended destination of the female. Even though there was never any verbal affirmation of a said alliance, it was assumed by both parties. The female indeed owed Christian her life and this was enough to allow Christian the peace of mind that he could trust her for the time being and follow her along her way to the aforementioned vehicle. They didn’t run but they walked at a pace that would not have been reasonable if they weren’t in the situation that they had found themselves in. Soon enough they had come to a halt, the female had crouched down letting one knee rest against the ground below as her right hand braced itself against the wall. Her body moved ever so slightly forward as she peeked around the corner allowing herself to survey the open area surrounding a small parking lot. Most, if not all, of the vehicles, appeared to be downtrodden and non-operational, they clearly would not pass an MOT anytime soon.

Before long the girl had looked up towards Christian and nodded towards the parking lot as she stood up. They began to walk into the parking lot in silence. Christians right hand clung tightly to his Kukri blade, which shall now be known as Excalibur, as they crossed the open area. His head seemed to shift from left back to right much like a security camera surveying the programmed arcs. In his experience, before the whole nightmare scenario they’d been thrown into and during this crazy life, walking across open areas was a big no-no but, if it was to get to a fully operational vehicle then that was a risk he was willing to take. Before long they had arrived at the vehicle; an old beaten up Ford Mondeo... looking at it now Christian couldn’t even make out the year of manufacture, the number plates weren’t anywhere to be seen and the bumper was hanging on for dear life but, it was a vehicle nonetheless. They both embarked on the vehicle with Christian placing his rucksack between his legs and pulling the seatbelt over himself plugging it in. Safety first. After two attempts the engine finally started and they were well and truly on their way out of this straggler infested hellhole that seemed to have been picked clean of anything useful. Christian simply let his gaze wander out of the dusty windows that had lost their full transparency many months ago, they were now translucent but, maybe that was a good thing as no one wanted to see the world they, sadly, lived in nowadays. He made sure to make a mental note of any noticeable and recognisable features they drove past. Petrol station at approximately four minutes down the road... noticeable barn-like structure about four hundred meters away on the hill to the right approximately seven minutes down the road. Those were just brief examples of the mental picture Christian was creating in his mind of the route from the town to wherever the destination may be.

It was her who broke the silence first.

“So, may I know my saviours' name?” He couldn’t quite place her accent, she could’ve been from London just as much as she could’ve been from Manchester... her accent was as confused as Christian was.

“My name is Christian.” Christians’ reply was blunt and to the point, a clear reflection of his personality.

“It is nice to meet you, Christian, my name is Katherine.” She said. Christian didn’t acknowledge the fact she had even spoken or told her his name for the time being as his gaze stayed focused on the outside. A few brief moments of silence passed before Christian could be heard taking a deep breath.

“So... Katherine, where is the destination?” He asked as he turned his head to look towards her.

“There’s an old Holiday Inn not too far down the road, that’s pretty much where I’ve been residing for a lot of this... pandemic.” Katherine almost winced at the final word. This was so much worse than a pandemic but there was no other way to describe it. In a literal sense, it was just that, people got ill and the ill infected the healthy at an alarmingly high rate. All that was needed now was for the World Health Organisation to put out a Public Service Announcement and this would officially be in the history books alongside Covid-19 and the Plague. Sadly, there was no World Health Organisation anymore, heck, there wasn’t a world anymore. Just carnage, terror and flesh-hungry creatures that would chase you to the ends of the Earth if it meant they got their next meal. Christian had never spoken up to acknowledge Katherines’ response to his question, he was content just staring out the window and collating the mental picture of the route to the Holiday Inn.

Katherine was already having a hard time trying to wrap her head around Christians’ whole demeanour and his outlook on the situation they were in. He seemed cold and straight to the point as well as holding a constant stoic facial expression which, on one hand, was very useful in this world they found themselves living in but, Katherine didn’t exactly see that as an attractive and comfortable mindset of a person she’d be sharing a lot of her time within her attempts at surviving this pandemic. Christian was already irked, to say the least, by Katherines’ more open and talkative personality. That was not a desirable way to be within this world, if anything, it would only lead to conflict and tension later on down the line if their views on what to do in a difficult situation differed as much as their personalities seemed to. Christian kept his eyes trained on the outside through the translucent window trying to keep the mental picture building with each passing landmark. Bus stop on the right approximately twelve minutes down the road. As a matter of fact, how long was left on this journey? How much fuel was left in the vehicle? Did Katherine know how to siphon fuel or did she have the means of siphoning fuel available to her? Those were all very important questions to Christian and if Katherine hadn’t even thought of these eventualities then she was naive and not well suited to Christians’ way of thinking. Katherine had found the silence uncomfortable and eerie as they drove so she decided to speak up.

“So, Christian, how long have you been around this area? I thought I knew everyone who was still... healthy around these parts.” Her words were spoken hesitantly as she constantly worried about saying something that would anger the puzzle of a man before her.

“I was just simply passing through, I was on my way to Haven. Have you heard of it?” He asked as he finally let his gaze break away from the outside so his piercing blue eyes could study Katherine. Katherine shifted uncomfortably under his gaze as she drove.

“Haven? I thought that place was just a myth.” She admitted, Katherine was a naive individual but she was sceptical about the existence of this stronghold they had labelled ‘Haven’. Christians’ brows furrowed at her statement.

“A myth? You aren’t as naive as you look but, regardless, I believe it’d be worthy to check out. It is only fifty-five miles, I’ve planned a route on my map but walking that distance is an ambitious goal.” Christian stated as he felt the car begin to slow down.

“We are here.” Katherine remarked simply as they began to pull into a small parking lot outside of the Holiday Inn that had deteriorated without proper maintenance in months. The building itself was dilapidated with the exterior paint dishevelled with bright green moss growing within the brickwork. The whole place had completely been abandoned for quite some time and obviously, housekeeping was the least of Katherines’ concerns. Katherine kept the car moving at a snails pace as they went around the side of the building. As they turned around the corner Christian easily noted the intended parking space just outside of the fire exit. Soon enough, the car came to a halt and Katherine pulled up the hand brake.

“Well, this is quite the place.” Christian commented, he wasn’t disappointed, to be honest as it was shelter and it was probably a hell of a lot warmer than the woodlands he had spent most of his time camping out in. Katherine scoffed at his comment with a shake of her head.

“Come on princess, let’s get inside.” She stated with a roll of her eyes as she reached out behind herself to the back seats and grabbed a hold of the straps of her rucksack. Christian had pulled his rucksack up from between his legs and exited the vehicle closing the door quietly behind himself. He waited for Katherine to walk ahead of him so he could follow her in through the fire exit which he had closed behind them both as they entered the old worn down hotel.

They passed the small reception area and Christian stopped for a brief moment to observe the desk hoping that there would be something worth taking. He noticed a pen on the counter and reached over, taking it for himself. He held it between his forefinger and thumb as he observed it for a moment, a ballpoint pen with black ink... that would be useful for his cartography efforts with his map to Haven. He only had a rough route planned and he didn’t have the luxury of being able to do reconnaissance beforehand of any changes to the roads on the way to Haven, if it did exist after all. Christian brought his attention back in front of him to where Katherine had made quite the distance between them. He brought up his pace ever so slightly to make up for the time he spent idling by the reception front desk. Soon enough they had exited the foyer and entered a stairwell, Katherine stopped at the bottom step and turned towards Christian.

“My hideout is on the fourth floor do you think you’ll be able to make it?” Her comment was playful and challenging, that sort of joking fashion was an uncommon occurrence nowadays. Christian looked to her cocking his right brow.

“I think I can handle a few flights of stairs darling.” He remarked, clearly not exuding the same energy or humour as Katherine. Katherine shrugged and turned back towards the staircase and they began their ascent. The stairs were luckily built sturdy so there was no creaking as they made their way up, the only sound that could be heard was the quiet footsteps of their footwear against the metal of the stairs as they rose to the first floor. Katherine made sure to check from left to right before advancing on to the next set of stairs. Christian noted that she could indeed be careful and that was a positive compared to the talkative and open nature of the female he had observed moments prior. There was dried blood at infrequent intervals on the staircase itself and even though it was dry Christian made sure to avoid stepping on any bodily fluids when he could. The last thing he wanted to do was leave a trace of where he’d been or was heading towards, he didn’t trust the living as much as he trusted the dead.

Soon enough, Katherine stopped dead in her tracks and Christian had to stop just as suddenly to avoid knocking the poor girl over.

“Why on Earth did you-” Christian was cut off short from his sentence by the presence of Katherines’ finger to his lips.

“Listen.” Her voice was a mere whisper as she spoke and she slowly removed her finger from his lips as Christian simply nodded and tried to zone in on exactly what she was hearing. The noise eventually made its way to his ears and it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. The low guttural groan was disturbing, to say the least, and it marked the presence of the last thing you wanted to encounter in an enclosed space such as a stairwell or corridor. The recognisable noise marked the presence of stragglers. Katherine took a few steps back and soon enough half of her body had found its way behind Christian, it was almost as if she was cowering away. Christian immediately realised the dynamic that had been established between the two, he was the protector. He brought his right arm up slightly and moved on the balls of his feet up the staircase creeping slowly forward, inch by inch, to investigate the noise further. There was no doubt in Christians’ mind of what he was about to see as he rounded the corner at the top of the next set of stairs. Then, the monstrosity came into his vision. The straggler had seemingly not had many successful feeds in recent time. Their body was decayed significantly with their whole spinal column showing, protruding like talons from the rotting flesh of their back. His eyes trailed up to where his head and hands met, the dishevelled hands were clinging tightly to what appeared to be some sort of human limb... he couldn’t identify whether it was an arm or leg but it met the characteristic of some sort of appendage from the human body. Christian stayed deadly still, could they surpass this entity without being detected. That surely was a desired and optimistic option but, the creature had to be dealt with. Christian gave Katherine a glance over his shoulder, the female looked petrified, to say the least, and Christian knew he had to take charge in this situation. He raised his Kukri higher as he took a few more tentative steps forward prepared to do the deed. Suddenly the limb dropped from the hands of the creature and their head snapped to look directly at Christian. Their eyes were completely glossed over and a pale white colour like rotten milk yet that was still the least rotten part of this reanimated corpse that was ahead of him. It amazed Christian that the straggler still managed to chew on the limb with the state of their jaw. Their teeth, or lack thereof, were decayed and jagged, crooked even. Their jaw almost hung slack as they released a loud snarl and suddenly lurched forward. The suddenness and speed of the action took him off guard and he swung his Kukri towards the head of the beast. He felt it collide with the intended target but the beast didn’t stop there. They fell into Christian and they crumbled to the floor their limbs entangling amongst each others. An audible gasp could be heard leaving Katherines’ lips as she watched the encounter unfold before her.

Christian brought his arm up, placing his left forearm against the throat of the creature bracing it upwards to keep as much distance between him and the creatures feeding hole as possible. His right hand scrambled around trying to get a hold of the handle of his Kukri that had gotten lodged into the left temple of the creatures decaying skull. Fragments of whatever the straggler had been feasting on sprayed in every direction, droplets and segments scattering themselves among Christians’ facial features. To say Christian was disgusted would’ve been a massive understatement.

“Katherine, do something!” He yelled out in frustration and mild panic. Katherine, however, was not zoned in as she began to shut down out of a mix of fear and the mere sight of the trauma happening directly in front of her. Christian had eventually grabbed a hold of the handle and he began to try to wrench it free but, it was well and truly stuck. Every time he pulled the beasts’ head would just follow suit. Christian could feel his arm already getting tired from battling the relentless onslaught from the straggler that wanted nothing more than to claim another victim for its supper. The whole situation was getting worse by the second as Christian began to feel as if he was suffocating under the pressure from the beasts decaying body, dead weight, and the rotten, horrid matter escaping its jaws and falling all around and on Christians face. Christian brought his hand off of the handle and let it fall flat to the floor but, with one swift movement, he had brought it back and used his palm to hammer the handle of the Kukri sending the creatures’ head to the side but not enough to disrupt their balance enough to knock the creature off of him.

“Katherine!” He yelled out again, what on Earth was she doing? Katherine was still not present in the moment as she just stared on in horror. She took a few steps back and simply began to curl up into the furthest corner covering her face and praying that this was all a dream. A childish and insane thought but, Katherine had been relatively sheltered from all this horror for the duration of this pandemic due to the people that had been able to keep her safe up until now. Christian realised that Katherine was not coming to his aid and he let his hand fall flat once again to the floor before bringing it towards the handle of his Kukri again like a hammer hitting a nail. Upon making contact with the Kukri again he thrust upwards with his hips, as the creatures head jerked harshly to the side Christian had managed to roll them. He had the high ground now and he wasn’t offering an inch to the beast, he grabbed ahold of the handle of his Kukri once again and with one last movement he yanked the Kukri free from the decaying prison it had previously been trapped in mere moments prior. Christian didn’t hesitate and he brought it up above himself before plunging the blade directly between the eyes of the creature. The straggler suddenly fell limp and Christian just stayed perched on his knees, his laboured breathing heavy in his ears as he stared down at his most formidable enemy yet.

The feeling of pure elation and victory was quickly taken over by anger. He pulled his Kukri as he placed his left hand on the creatures’ forehead prying it free from the stragglers' clutches. He stood up straight and turned on his heel marching towards the cowering Katherine. He had grabbed her wrist and before he knew it he had hoisted her up to her feet and backed her into the corner without missing a beat.

“What the fuck was that?” He barked out like a Platoon Sergeant berating the recruits on their first day of training.

“I save you from a horde of those beasts and you can’t step in when one of them is trying to turn me into their next meal?” He was furious and his face was flushed red as he felt the all too familiar warmth spread across his cheeks and forehead like a wildfire. Katherine looked back towards Christian practically frozen in fear and maybe even a little shame from not reacting appropriately in the slightest to that situation.

“I... I’m sorry... I panicked.” She let out, a pathetic excuse on her part but, she has been fortunate enough to avoid this specific horror up until now.

“You panicked?” He asked before scoffing and letting go of her wrist and stepping back.

“Take me to your room, you can explain yourself there.” His voice had gone back to the emotionless, blank tone that Christian seemed to favour. Katherine nodded frantically and stepped past Christian continuing on their ascent to the fourth floor. Katherine felt guilty and downright down in the dumps that she had let herself just panic and begin to shut down when Christian desperately needed the assistance. Christian could’ve easily have been injured or worse, killed, in that situation if he wasn’t a capable individual who could think on his feet. She knew she hadn’t made a good first impression on Christian especially after that situation, besides having a vehicle and having a shelter... she offered nothing in terms of their chances of survival. A sudden thought crept into her mind and she didn’t like it one bit, if Christian decided he didn’t want to stick around with Katherine but he wanted the vehicle and shelter to himself, well he would have made the safe assumption that he could kill her within mere seconds and most likely without any undue effort. That single thought scared Katherine and filled her head with despair.

Katherine had snapped out of her thoughts as she noticed the sign on the wall indicating that they had indeed reached the fourth floor and were almost at her little hide-out. She turned back to Christian.

“Down this corridor, we are almost there.” She stated, Christian barely grumbled in response as he continued to follow her as they walked through the doorway, the door seemingly non-existent. This floor seemed to have been less affected by the pandemic, it was still just as poorly maintained as the rest of the Holiday Inn but, there was a clear absence of any bodily fluids along the floor or on the walls. This will do just fine. They stopped abruptly as Katherine pulled on the door handle and opened a door to the left. The door sign read ‘Room 407’, a twisted reminder that once upon a time this place would’ve been an attractive option for travellers and tourists alike for the luxury and facilities available. Now, it was merely seen as warmth and shelter... security. Katherine walked through the doorway and Christian followed suit.

“Take your shoes off, I’ve just hoovered.” She let out, she turned to look towards Christian as she said this but, her small smile immediately left her face upon seeing that same stoic expression nestled across Christians’ facial features.

“It was a joke...” She trailed off as she waited for Christian to fully enter and close the door behind himself so she could push the chest of drawers in front of the door in case any stragglers tried to enter the door even though, she doubted they knew how to work a door handle. Christian took in his surroundings, a small room with one single bed and a small chair that looked to be of blue fabric material. There was a kettle on the side but the brew kit that would’ve been stored nearby had already been picked clean either by Katherine or whoever found this place beforehand. He knew the kettle wouldn’t operate due to the absence of electricity, curse this world that had so quickly crumbled under this newfound enemy. Christian had unslung his rucksack and let it rest against the small chair before letting himself slump back into it with an elongated sigh. Katherine stood there like a stranger in her own little... home? Was that even the right word to call this place? Well, it was close enough. Christian turned to look at Katherine and his eyes narrowed.

“So, you owe me an explanation. What the hell happened back there? Where was my support?” He practically spat the words out as if he was disgusted he had to even think of uttering them. Katherine shifted uncomfortably at the question trying to look anywhere but at Christian as his cold, icy blue eyes stared into her. Eventually, she took a deep breath and looked towards him.

“Christian... I am so sorry about that. I just, I haven’t been exposed to that level of horror or gore before and... I froze up and I just felt like I was shutting down. Please, I promise I can get better and next time I’m sure I can help you.” Upon the conclusion of her sentence, Katherine let out a long, exasperated exhale. She felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders as she finally explained herself to Christian. Christian stared back at her perplexed by her statement.

“How have you made it this long without witnessing this horror we have found ourselves in?” He asked, it was a burning question. Katherine shook her head biting her bottom lip harshly.

“That is an explanation for another day, you must be hungry though, right?” She had brought in the distraction of food and the mere mention of eating something caused Christian to completely forget about the topic at hand as he simply nodded. Katherine smiled softly, clearly pleased her diversion tactic had succeeded.

Twenty minutes later, Katherine had finished preparing their meal; a tin of baked beans heated over a little portable stove and poured into two clear plastic containers stained by whatever meals had been poured into them prior. She extended one of the containers to him.

“I don’t have a second fork, I don’t suppose you have cutlery on you?” Katherine seemed rather sheepish and embarrassed she hadn’t prepared for guests to her little humble abode. Christian nodded and reached into one of the chest pockets on his overshirt, he retrieved a rather dirty looking plastic spork. For the past seven months, this spork had been used for every single meal Christian had consumed and had only ever been licked clean. It was fair to say Christian had quite the immune system. Katherine wrinkled her nose at the sight but decided it was best not to question his methods. Christian looked towards Katherine as he finally took his meal.

“Thank you.” He uttered the simple phrase before tucking into his portion of baked beans piling a large spoonful into his mouth letting out an audible moan of elation from the sensation of hot food finally making an appearance. Katherine couldn’t help but observe him out of her peripheral vision not neglecting to take a mental photograph of the rare occurrence of Christian showing even the slightest bit of emotion. She smiled softly to herself as she began to eat her meal with better table manners than Christian, of course. She was a lady after all, well, she liked to think so at least. After their meal it seemed to be time to rest as Christian began to unpack his sleeping bag, truth be told, Katherine would not have complained if she was to share the single bed with Christian but it seemed that idea wasn’t even a thought in his mind. There were no pleasantries exchanged but Katherine was going to stay true to her friendly, open nature.

“Goodnight Christian.” She let out as she cosied up under the covers and allowed herself to drift off to sleep with the warm fuzzy feeling that the real-life action man was watching over her.

Horror
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