Eating my experiences (8)

TOME 9

We set out early in the morning, the dew from the night prior quietly dripping from nearby trees. It was cold and we were unprepared for this walk, but I could not be dissuaded from leaving. "Come on Alex!" I said walking briskly in front of him as he was wiping the sleep from his eyes. We were about a fourth of a mile away from our new house, and completely alone amongst the sound of frogs.

"Okay, okay, it's just so early... how do you have so much energy anyway?" he asked with the hint of a slur in his voice.

"I'm excited to maybe see Zach again!" was all I seemed able to rationalize at the time. We walked in silence for a little as Alex continued to wake up, I had pushed him out the door half asleep, something I would usually feel bad about, but we had limited time to find our friend. The ground was rough and rocky in this area, but I did not take note of it at the time.

We had walked for half a day, when Alex swung his banjo into his hands and begun strumming. I smiled warmly at him before singing along to the song I recognized all too well as one o our songs. Before all this zombie stuff happened, we were creative partners, we wrote music together, produced music together, planed out a web series, and read everything the other wrote. We had a friendship unlike that of any other friendship I had experienced. I was very glad in that moment that it was Alex that was left with me. He made me feel safe, he always made me feel like I had a true friend in this world, even when he was a state away, he was my best friend.

We walked till dusk, when we set up a small camp, too scared to set a fire, we simply stayed close and hoped for the best. It wasn't terribly cold, yet I shook, I feared what we would find in town. We hadn't been to town in some time, I want to say nearly two months now, this bizarre pandemic of undead has been about three months, we moved out of town quickly. Morning came quickly, and with it my energy returned despite my sleepless night.

It would be at least one more night before we reached town so we didn't worry ourselves with how poorly we had slept, allowing us to continue on. Alex looked weary, in that moment I knew he understood the fight we may face. Were we willing to die to get Zach out? Was a question that lingered in my mouth, not able to slip it past my teeth, scared of the answer. I was ruminating on this question when I heard an odd sound, one that I had come to dread.

"Alex! We need to run, now, Zombies!" Was the best I could manage before breaking out into a sprint Alex shortly behind. We ran as quickly and long as we could, before I collapsed onto the ground wheezing.

"Are you okay? Do you need your inhaler?" Alex asked, posed to retrieve my inhaler from my bag.

"No, no...I'll be fine, gotta save it" I huffed

"Hmm, maybe we can get you another one in town? They aren't really keeping tabs on those like psyche meds" A brilliant point, I would need to look into that.

"Let's go, we have a long journey" I was still panting, yet felt uneasy sitting still this much closer to town, a hotbed for Zombie activity. We would need to be cautious, likely we would need to sleep in a tree tonight, and hope if one found us they hadn't eaten too many people yet. The thought gave me pause as I finally felt the weight of overlooking Zach that night. If only I had realized his blood had not been spilled on the property, maybe I could have gotten him back.

I held my tongue as we walked, not wanting to worry Alex, he needed to know he could depend on me through the coming few days.