When we reached the river I offloaded my bag and quickly dug out everything I needed. I wanted to
get this over with.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I'm looking for a black hole,” I replied, still digging through my bag.
“No really?”
“I'm having a quick wash in the river if that's okay with you? Not all of us want to stink.”
He held his hoodie out and sniffed inside the neck of it.
“That's so gross,” I said.
He leaned against a tree and pulled out his cigarettes.
“You're not washing?” I asked.
“I'll be the lookout, you can go first, I'll go afterward,” he said, smirking. “I'm good like that,” he
added.
I ignored his rude comment and laid out my towel, clean underwear, and socks, then found my body
wash and washcloth.
“I stood up and took off my denim jacket, watching Lane, not liking the idea of leaving my gun in
his reach or my bag which had all of my supplies inside.
“I'm not waiting for you. After I'm done here I'm off, so you either get in the water with me or you
can continue to stink for another couple of days. Your choice.” I said, lifting my hoodie over my
head, hoping he would take the bait.
He lowered his unlit cigarette from his lips and slipped it back into the pack.
I removed my socks and boots and looked up to see Lane was doing the same. I made it down to my
underwear and caught Lane staring at me.
“You lost weight.” he said.
“That's what happens when you don't have enough food.”
He undid his belt and unzipped his jeans and I turned away, feeling my cheek starting to burn.
“So how are we going to do this?” he asked.
“Um, stay there until I'm in,” I said, trying not to turn around.
I unclasped my bra, quickly covering my breasts with my arm, then picked up my body wash and
washcloth, and tiptoed to the water.
I took a moment to work up enough courage, I knew the water was going to be super cold. I waded
in until the water came up to my waist.
Far enough.
I thought.
I squatted down in the water until my chest was covered and then somehow managed to get my
panties off, keeping my washcloth and body wash under my chin.
I tossed my underwear back onto the side of the riverbank, where Lane stood scratching his chest.
“Is it cold?” he asked, still in his underwear.
“No, it's actually really warm.”
“I bet your nipples disagree.”
I looked away and started squeezing out some body wash onto my washcloth. I couldn't be bothered
with my hair today, and I'd lost my bottle of shampoo in the last river.
I heard Lane curse numerous times as he splashed his way over to me. He bopped down, then came
back up.
“I can't get washed with you watching me,” I said.
“I'll just draw the imaginary shower curtain.” he said, flashing me a wicked grin.
“Here, take this and start washing, keep your back to me, and no peeking, you understand?”
“Yes ma'am.” he replied, taking the bottle from me.
“Can I borrow your washcloth?”
“I'm going to assume you're joking. You can use your hand... I bet you're good at that.”
“Now who's been dirty?”
“Just start washing. It's freezing in here today.” I said, peeking over my shoulder to make sure he
wasn't looking, then I stood up and washed my other areas.
“It's actually really warm.” Lane mimicked me.
I took a few extra minutes, scrubbing my face and in-between my toes.
“Are you done yet?” I asked, afraid to turn around, in case I got an eyeful.
“Yeah I'm done.”
I turned around in the water keeping my front covered. Lane was stood in the water which just
about covered his lower half. He playfully splashed me.
“Stop that, I'm not in the mood.”
Lane rolled his eyes, he looked at the riverbank, then back at me.
“You need to wait there a minute. There's only one towel and I'm using it first.”
“Wanna bet?” he said.
I met his eyes, which had taken on a mischievous glint.
“Don't you dare,” I said, moving through the water, and Lane copied my movements.
“Lane, that's not funny.”
He laughed and waded past me.
“No,” I squealed grabbing his arm, but my hand slipped down his wet arm and into his hand and he
pulled me through the water with him.
When we reached the riverbank he dropped my hand and all I saw was Lane Walker's backside. He
scooped up my towel and turned around holding it out in front of himself.
“You're a douchebag.” I mumbled, standing on the same spot, shivering, trying to cover all my body
parts.
I diverted my eyes into the trees while he quickly dried himself down, and then he chucked the
towel at me. I managed to catch it, but Lane still got an eyeful of my breasts.
“Oh, yeah it's cold!” he said, laughing.
“Shut up,” I said, wrapping the towel around myself, turning away so Lane could get dressed.
I spent a few minutes trying to dry myself the best I could without letting the towel slip.
“You know, I was done five minutes ago.” Lane said, walking over to me. “Alex, get dressed you'll
freeze. I promise I won't look.”
I gave him a pointed look.
“I already saw your titties,” he grinned. “Can I borrow that razor now?”
“In my bag with the shaving foam.”
“Shaving foam? You really do come prepared.”
“I just take whatever I can carry.” I said, carefully pulling on clean underwear underneath the towel.
Lane was still searching in my bag so I squatted down to help him.
He pulled out a few pieces of clothing I had stashed in there.
“You have lots of spare socks... don't suppose...”
“Yes you can have a pair, I'm sure you can squeeze them on.”
“What's this?”
“Err.. nothing.” I said, trying to pull it away from him, but he moved it out of my reach and looked
at it.
He unfolded the T-shirt and looked at me.
“This is
my
T-shirt.” he said.
“
Was.
You said I could have it, remember?”
“And you still have it?”
“I must have forgotten it was in there,” I said, lifting it out of his hand and pushing it back into the
bag and pulling out a different vest top I wanted to wear.
“I somehow doubt you forgot it was in there.” he said.
“Razor and shaving foam,” I said, pushing the items into his hand. “Go and shave, you look like a
gorilla.”
He stood up and I searched around for my bra.
“Where's my...” Something landed on my head.
I reached up to grab it and my towel slipped at the front and I flashed everything to Lane.
Lane laughed and I quickly pulled the towel higher. At least, I had located my bra.
“Nice rack!” Lane said, squatting beside the river.
I ignored him and finished getting dressed. When I was done I joined him by the riverside and knelt
down beside him as he dried his face.
“What do you think?” he asked.
“I think you cut yourself shaving,” I said, touching a spot of blood on his chin.
I realized he was watching me and my fingers were still touching his face.
“Looks better,” I said, moving away and rinsing my dirty underwear out.
I looked sideways at Lane, almost forgetting he was beside me, watching me while I scrubbed my
dirty undies. “Did you put your dirty underwear back on?” I asked, pulling a disgusted face.
“No, they're here,” he said, picking up a pair of navy boxer shorts from beside him.
“I'm going commando for the day.” he said.
“Just so we're clear, I'm not washing your underwear.”
He laughed and borrowed some body wash, which was what I was currently using to wash my dirty
clothes with.
Afterwards, I rolled them in the towel as much as possible and hung them up to air dry while we
shared a few crackers and some of my water, then I used a mouthful of water to brush my teeth.
Lane watched me as though he'd never seen a toothbrush before.
“Don't even think about it. You can have a little toothpaste on your finger, but I draw the line at
sharing my toothbrush with you.”
Lane stuck his finger out to me and I squeezed some toothpaste onto it. I laughed as he brushed his
teeth with his finger.
He spat on the ground and rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand.
“I thought you said you wanted to get out of here after you'd had your bath?”
“I did, but my legs are a bit sore from walking, oh, and I fell out of a tree which didn't help.”
It was a lie, my legs were only sore from walking.
“You're still mad at me?”
“What do you think?”
After a couple of hours rest and when our clothes were dry-ish, I decided it was time to hit the road
again. My stomach was rumbling loudly, bringing me back to reality, we needed to get back on the
road to find more food. That was my life, walking, sleeping, and finding food... and killing zombies.
We gathered our things and made our way back to the road.
Lane hadn't said much since we had left the river, I think he knew I was still annoyed with him.
“How can I make it up to you?”
“Huh?” I was completely lost in my own thoughts.
“You're still pissed at me,”
“No shit.”
“Is this because I stole your towel?”
“No, Lane, this is because you nearly got me killed last night.”
“You still hung up on that?”
I bit back what I really wanted to say and thought of something that didn't involve me shouting
obscenities at him.
“You know how you can make it better? How about the next zombie we run into, you can kill it.”
“If anything happens to me you'll feel really bad about it. You're the zombie killer. I'm not good at
it.”
“Well, you need to get good at it, I won't always be around to save you.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“What do you think it means? This isn't a game. If you get killed you don't get another go at it, you
get one chance and one chance only. If you're going to follow me then I need to know you've got
my back, otherwise there's no point in me keeping you around. I might as well just shoot you to
save you from getting bitten and turning into a flesh-eater.”
I didn't think he liked what I had said as he didn't say anything. Instead, he took a step closer to me,
then another and another, until we were inches apart.
“What?”
“You're so tetchy, is it that time of the month?” he asked, looking down at me.
“Go away!” I groaned, pushing him sideways, and quickening my pace to get away from him.
After a few more steps of neither one of us speaking, Lane joined my side again.
“I thought I told you to go away?”
“Okay, you win, Alex.”
He didn't say anything else and turned around and started walking back the other way.
I watched him as he walked off, kicking a stone away.
“What, no goodbye?” I called, trying to keep my voice quiet.
“Goodbye, Alex. Look after yourself.” he said, waving his hand in the air, not bothering to turn
around and look at me.
“I will,” I said, stubbornly turning my back on him and walking the other way.
Was he being serious? Was he really leaving?
I walked a few more steps. Lane could hardly look after himself, he was barely surviving until he
found me.
I stopped walking.
What was I doing? I rubbed my face trying to sort my head out. If I stayed with Lane I would
probably wind up dead, if I never saw him again... I would probably end up dead sooner or later
anyway.
Fuck!
I spun around expecting to see him in the distance... only he was gone.
There was no sign of him.
The road was straight, where had he gone? Had he walked into the trees? Had he been dragged into
the trees by a group of hungry zombies? No, I would have heard them.
I found myself walking the way I had last seen Lane walking. After awhile I stopped, completely
stumped, and stood staring down the road not sure what to do.
“Lane?” I called, not wanting to shout because it would draw attention to me.
Then I did my best bird calling noise. I was so distracted wondering where he was and getting upset
over it, thinking I would never see him again... I didn't notice the tall figure creeping up behind me.
It grabbed me from behind and I squealed, flinching away from the arms.
I spun around swinging my weapon in its direction... narrowly missing Lane.
“Lane! What the hell!”
“Miss me?”
My lips twitched.
“Was that a smile?”
“No, there was no smile.”
“I think there was.”
“Well, you're imagining it.”
“Okay, if you say so.” he smiled.
“Is everything a game to you?” I asked, walking around him. “I've been standing here for ten
minutes wondering where you went.”
“I know. I was watching from over there while I had a smoke,” he said, trailing behind me.
I slowed down and turned around to talk to him, but he was looking down at the ground and walked
straight into me. I put my hands on his chest and gently pushed him back a step.
“I don't want to die. I've survived for too long, and I'm not gonna risk my life for you again, just so
we're clear on that.”
“You've made yourself perfectly clear Alex, and I'm not asking you to do anything else for me. I'm
just asking to be your friend.”
I realized I still had his hoodie bunched up in my hands, and so had he. He looked down at my
hands, which were at present reluctant to let go of him. He reached up to touch one of my hands,
but I quickly dropped them and stepped back.
“I don't want any friends, they only end up dead. I don't want to get attached to you.”
Lane raised an eyebrow at me, I quickly looked away from him and started walking again.
“Oh, and Alex,”
“What is it now?” I asked, keeping my eyes on the road ahead.
“I happen to be walking the same way as you,” he said. “and possibly sleeping in the same tree as
you.”
“You better not snore tonight.”
Lane chuckled. “See you're already warming up to me.”
We walked for a little while beside each other, in step, in silence. I glanced sideways and found
Lane looking back at me, this went on for awhile.
“Stop doing that!” I said.
“Doing what?”
“You know what. It's what you used to do for the whole of Calculus class.”
He laughed. “You noticed.”
“Yes, I noticed.”
“But you ignored me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?” he asked.
“Because you were
you
.”
“I don't understand.”
“You're Lane Walker.
The
Lane Walker, everyone knew what you were like when it came to girls.
Why would you ever think I'd be interested in someone like that?”
“People change, Alex.”
“Yes, they do... into zombies.”
“That's not what I meant.”
“It doesn't matter, anyhow, that was, like, a million years ago, let's not go there again, okay?”
“Okay... Alex?”
“What is it now?”
“Can I ask you a question?”
“You can ask me anything, it doesn't mean I'm going to answer it, though.”