Colt watched as the woman walked over and put the case of water up on his hood. He had to wonder if she thought that would stop him from driving off, well it wouldn’t.
She tapped on his window causing him to jump, when he first looked at her all he saw were the kids that begged him for a ride. He had been inhuman that time, what was stopping him now? Colt eased his foot off the brake, but then she smiled at him and said something.
He lowered the window and just looked at her wondering what the hell could make anyone smile right now. She was chit chatting? What the hell, does she think t
his is a game?
Colt took a deep breath; maybe she hadn’t seen and done things like he had. She offered him water and as if to prove she was honest she went and got her a
bottle and started drinking it.
Colt put the Rover in park and gently opened the
door;
he left it open
ed
as he walked around to the hood where she stood, “I got water! I ain’t helpless!”
She smiled at him, “I’m sure you’re not, I was just letting y
ou know I am willing to share.”
She held out a bottle of water to him, he thought about the water he had in the windshield wiper fluid bottles and took the one she held out, “Thanks.”
He twisted off the cap and took a drink, “I’m Colt, and my wife was bit and died.”
Colt had no clue why he told her that, that was none of her business. “Look Miss… What was your name, I’m sorry if you
already
told me, I
ain’t really altogether here.”
She
continued to
smile, “I didn’t say my name, nor did I say you were helpless and I’m sorry about your wife. So let’s start over ok? My name is Beth.” She smiled taking another drink waiting
for him to reply.
Colt stood there still holding his water, “Ok, well like I said, name’s Colt and I don’t really think it’s a good idea to stay out here. Is that y
our car? Why did you leave it?”
Beth placed the cap back on her bottle then sat it down on top of the hood. She didn’t feel comfortable yet to let him know
too
much about her and she definitely was not confident that he would give her a ride. For all she knew this may just be a stopping point and he could get spooked or something.
Last thing that Beth wanted or needed at this point was to be left without any way of getting out of the forest if for some chance she had made a mistake with her previous decision.
“Well, Colt…”, she pause and brushed her hair behind her ear and continued talking while presenting a small smile. “Yes, this is my car and I have driven a very long way to get
here
. I figured that once the cities were over run that hopefully the best chance, if there was any would be head to a forest or wild life recreation center.
”
“
You
know;
somewhere that was not as populated. The virus in the cities spread like a plague and not
too
many survivors were visible along my travels. In fact, Colt, you are the first pe
rson that I have seen in days.”
Beth could see that Colt was listening but she noticed that his body language was telling her that she may be talking
about things he had already dealt with. W
ith what he had been through with his wife the last thing he probably want
ed
to hear was her talking about the infected. For heaven’s sake she herself did not like remembering her family the way they were
but
how sh
e herself had to put them down.
Just then she realized that she could talk about that and hopefully that would show him a sense of understanding. Still standing there Beth continued speaking softly, “I too, have lost people…. My
Dad
sadly was the first person who got sick and within a few hours after he passed; he then woke and attacked my
Mom
and my little sister. So, with what I had seen on the news I did the only thing that I knew what to do.”
Bowing her head while tears began to fill her eyes, “I put them to rest…..then I packed up my stuff and headed out.” Wiping the tears from
her eyes Beth raised her head.
Colt stood looking at her like she sprouted two heads, “You killed them? My wife got bit and I protected her till she died the second time… How could you ki
ll them, didn’t you love them?”
Beth started to feel like she may have done something wrong but she remembered what Chad said. Quickly she thought of her response and continued, “I was with my
Dad
up until he died the first time. My
Mom
and sister went into his bedside and while we were all in there with him for a while I had gotten up to go to the bath room. I heard some screaming and when I went back into the room I saw my
Dad
sitting up in bed and attacking my
Mom
while she was trying to get up off the bed.
”
Beth shifted not really wanting to remember it in such detail, much less talk about it.
“
My little sister then tried to help and all I could do was just stand there. I was frozen right where I stood.
Mom
was screaming my name and my sister was crying and yelling. There was so much blood and before I could even think
Dad
was trying to get up and come afte
r me. I was not going to let that
kind of massacre continue.
”
Leaning on the hood and looking Colt straight in the eye, “
So to answer your question Colt, I had to kill them or they would have killed me and yes, I did love them with all of my heart and I was not about to let them suffer.
Dad
was not alive anymore and he was attacking my
Mom
and sister!”
She then walked from the side of the hood to the front of the hood and leaned back up against the bumper so she could be a little closer to Colt while she continued, “Colt, people do and make horrible decisions when they are faced with unimaginable terror. Yes, I did what I did and I didn’t know what else I could do but I damn sure wasn’t going to stand there any longer watching my
Mom
and sister being eaten alive then wait for them to turn. What’s more, I didn’t wa
nt to succumb to their demise.”
Colt took a long drink, looking around the forest. “Look let’s get in the car and try to find somewhere not so open, I don’t trust this place just yet.”
Colt grabbed the case of water as Beth got her backpack, they both got in the Rover, and he tossed the water in the back seat. Colt threw it into gear heading down the dirt road. They drove in silence for a little till Colt digested what she said. “Well, I guess I did have a little different than you. My wife was bit and she wanted me to shoot her, I just couldn’t. I loved her so much that I
just
couldn’t do it. She begged me
to;
she even told me she would hate me if I didn’t kill her.”
He glanced over at Beth, “I think she did hate me in the end, and I still couldn’t do it. Do you know I even wondered if I was being
even
crueler
by not putting her to rest? I sat there day after day watching as she starved to death.”
He was quiet for a minute, “Do you know I thought about feeding the neighbors to her? Now how sick is that? I loved her so much that I wanted her there even if it meant I fed my friends and neighbors to her. So I guess I shouldn’t be so quick to pass judgment
on you huh?”
He gripped the wheel tight, “I just really thought that CDC place that the news kept talking about would find a cure and I would get her back and our lives would be normal again.”
Just then they both saw the sign that pointed to cabins and Colt turned right and found three cabins sitting in an open area. He smiled, “I thin
k we are home…. such as it is.”
Beth got out of the rover and was now very quiet. She felt the pain and anguish from him about what he had to go through. However, when he made his remark about the CDC Beth knew right
there and there
that if she told him anything about her being connected with the CDC that he would probably go postal and she didn’t want
or need
that right now.
She did know that the truth would come out and Beth thought that the sooner the better but right now she just wanted to make sure that the environment that they
found themselves in
now was contained and not infected.
Turning back to see Colt, she smiled once more and continued, “ Well, any place right now that is secure and a place to rest would be like a resort to me. Let’s go check out the cabins and make
sure that for now we are safe.”
Colt went to the back, lifting the back hatch, “Hey I got this
stuff from a sheriff’s office.”
He dropped the bag on the ground and unzipped it showing her all the weapons. He grabbed one of the hand guns and handed it to Beth then took one himself, “ummm I haven’t cleared anywhere before, do we stay
together or each take a cabin?”
Beth chuckled as she grabbed the Colt 45. It was quite apparent that Colt had little experience with things that were outside of the norm to him, and she found his innocence cute to say the least.
With everything that he had been through and
his love for
his wife up until the very end he showed Beth that he was very
much a
virgin to the outside world.
Beth d
idn’t want to leave him alone, t
ucking the 45 down the front of her jeans then pulling her shirt over it, “
I would feel more comfortable if we stayed together.
If it’s alright with you let’s clear all the cabins and hopef
ully one of them have two rooms
.”
Beth wanted to make Colt feel some sort of security in numbers and didn’t really want to be left alone
either
. She didn’t know one hundred present what was going on. However, what she did know was that together they could help one another. Hopefully there would be more survivors but right now all Beth knew was that there were only two people left in the world and with her being one; Colt was the other.
Colt look at his gun to make sure it was loaded and the safety was off. After they took a couple of steps he turned back to the bag and grabbed another gun and shoved it in the back of his jeans. He started back toward one of the cabins. “I think we should each take a cabin, that way if there are any of those monsters in
one
or all three we
will
attack them at once. If either of us finds the cabin we’re in is empty
,
we will have two choices, one is to move to the third but if the other has gun fire we go to the cabin they are in and help, deal?”
He looked to the cabins, “If both the ones we check got monsters then we do our best to get it clear. But….”
Colt looked back to Beth with the saddest look, “If I get bit you shoot me the minute you know, send me to Jessica as fast as you can.”
Beth nodded but didn’t reply. Colt began walking toward the cabins, pointing to the far left one, “I got this one, you take that one.” as he pointed toward the far right one.
“I’ll meet you in the middle.” Licking his lips he said a silent prayer
that the cabins were deserted.
Stepping onto the first step, hearing the creak of the wood and smelling the pine made him wish that this was a
just a simple
vacation
with Jessica, it was beautiful here. Then he looked to the door and knew this was far from a vacation, there could be monsters on the other side just waiting to turn him into one.
The cabin was well maintained, the porch was the length of the cabin with each board placed just right. As an added touch there was a wooden rocker that reminded him of the ones he sat in at Cracker Barrel restaurants. The windows were dirty but in tacked, the two in the front had curtains hanging in them but with the dust on the panes he couldn’t see past the curtains.
Standing on the porch with his hand on the door knob he looked over to the other cabin, the front door was out of sight and so was Beth. He wondered if she were stronger than him and had just gone right in. Taking a deep breathe he turned the door knob and cracked the door just enough for him to slide in.
Now standing in the front room he let his eyes adjust, everything looked normal so far. The couch was an overstuffed
,
easily six
feet, and
made of logs. The print was a bit over kill with pine trees. There was a huge rock fire place with wood stacked on the side, Colt looked in the fireplace and noticed there were burnt embers.
That made him uneasy; someone had been here and very well could still be here. The question now was if they were monsters or someone waiting in the shadows waiting to sh
oot him.