Driving down an old road, we caught sight of an abandoned warehouse, "Let's stop there." The General announced, and the rest of us gathered our bags and stuffed our guns into our pockets. "Looks like there's only a few dead in the front," Moses said when he joined us from around the other side of the van, "but we can't take any chances. Everyone should be on high alert with the size of this warehouse." I nodded, but the General grunted, "I say what goes here, buddy. It looks fine to me; let's split up and try to cover as much ground as we can." The General and kid immediately split from Moses and me, but the two of us held back. "It's too quiet." I whispered to Moses, "There has to be something coming." He nodded in agreement.
We stuck together and slowly walked through the busted side door. Our flashlights showed us shelves knocked over, and the ones left standing had a thick layer of dust. Something about those shelves bugged me, but I couldn't figure out what.
We continued walking until we stumbled into the General, and the kid joined us a few minutes later. His bags were overflowing, "We hit the jackpot!" He held up a can of peaches, and the General grabbed it from him. "Make sure to grab as much as you can carry." He walked away down another aisle. I placed my gun back in my pocket, and I opened my pack. Moses followed my example, "Might as well get what we can, but stay alert." He whispered as we filled our bags with the cans and supplies.
I opened a box that was full of chocolate bars, "I can't remember the last time I've had something sweet!" I laughed, and Moses grinned. It felt good to see him smile, and it left butterflies in my stomach. I heard footsteps from behind, and I flew to look, but there was nothing there. "What is it?" Moses asked, pulling his knife out. "I thought I heard something, but I'm just paranoid." I shook it off and continued scanning through the shelves. I came across another box covered in dust, and I looked down the row to see that they all were. It finally hit me, and I turned to look over at the shelves that were knocked over. None of them had any dust covering the boxes, "Moses, someone was here and recent." He grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the door, but we were stopped by the sound of shouting. "Get the fuck out!" The kid screamed as he ran towards us from the exit, and behind him was a herd of the dead. They were groaning and stumbling towards us. "Run!" I screamed, and we all did just that.
We passed a row, and the General joined us. Running through a door, we found ourselves cornered in a courtyard surrounded by a chain fence. Turning around, I saw that the herd blocked us from going back the way we came, "We've got to climb!" I ran towards the fence and began scrambling up the side of it. Moses followed, then the kid, and lastly, the General. I made it to the other side, and I dropped down, falling on my back. Moses was close behind, and we waited on the other side for the rest. "Hurry!" The General shouted as the herd had begun to gather underneath the fence and grabbed at the General's feet. The kid tried to climb faster, but he only became more unstable with his climbing. The fence began wobbling as they both tried to beat each other over to the other side. "Stop grabbing him!" I screamed as the General pulled at the kid's legs again. "You can both make it!" Moses agreed. More dead gathered, and the fence began to tilt with all the weight and movement, "For Christ's sake!" The General muttered, and he grabbed the kid's leg and tossed him back into the herd. I stood on the other side watching the General, safely, climb over while the other was torn apart. When he made it over, he stared into our shocked faces, "Don't look at me like that! You know I had no other option." Moses almost growled, "You know damn well you could have both made it." The General began to laugh, "One of us was going to die, and I'm damn glad it wasn't me." He whistled on his way back to the van.
Deep inside of the General poison grew, and it had always been there, long before the dead ever walked. It hid inside, waiting to be watered and fed, secretly growing over the years. The General wasn't even aware it was there, hid so well he'd never realized until it was too late.
"Nora," Moses whispered. The three of us laid around a dying campfire, and smoke swirled through the sky, polluting the air. The General's snore continued, so Moses continued to crawl towards my sleeping bag. "What?" I whispered back. If the General was to wake to see the two of us whispering, who knew what he'd do or what he was even capable of doing. "We need to get out of here," Moses whispered finally, once we were both sure it was clear to continue. My stomach turned because I'd been dreading the day Moses would bring this up ever since the last incident. Id wanted nothing more than to leave the General, but he was dangerous, and who knew what would happen if he caught the two of us trying to escape. "I-, I don't know..." The General had been with me since the beginning of everything. Would I even have the strength to leave him? "It's only a matter of time before he pushes one of us into the line of fire! Come on, Norah, I know you're stronger than this." The words cut deep because Moses thought so much of me. What would he do when he found out I was only ever a fake? I wasn't good underneath it all, but he was.
"How do I know I'm strong enough for this world?" I asked, my eyes staring into his. "You don't need to be strong enough. I'll hold you up when you're not. " Moses grabbed my hand, "I could never ask you to do that, Winters." His eyes were intense, and I could see how sincere he was about this, "I'm not asking. I'll do whatever it takes to keep you safe." My heart began to beat faster, and I thought it might leap out from inside me, "Promise?" He grinned, "I promise." He leaned in closer, and his lips grazed mine. The touch was electrifying. Our foreheads leaned against one another, and his cold palm ignited with my hot cheek.
His touch left a trail of fire along my body, and it sent my senses into overdrive. "Kiss me," I whispered, my lips hungry for his. He grinned before obliging, and we spent the night tangled in one another's arms.
The next morning I woke up with my arms empty. The sun was trying to sneak its way past my closed eyelids, and I rubbed the tired out of them. When I sat up, I saw the General holding a gun to Moses's head. "Good morning, sunshine!" He laughed. Moses was lying unconscious, and blood dripped from the side of his head.