Chapter Text
“Bianca! You ready to go?” My brother yelled out to me as I sat at the pond’s edge. We’d been walking for days, non-stop before we decided to take shelter in a nearby cabin when we ran into a herd. A herd of the undead. It’s been, I don’t know, months since the apocalypse began and it’s just been my brother, Xzavier, and me. I mean, even before that, it was just us. Our parents died a few years back due to a house fire. I watched as the water rippled, the fish underneath, not a care in the world. I’d give anything to be one of those fish at this point.
“Bianca!” Xzavier yelled, now annoyed at my inability to answer. I could hear his heavy footsteps near me as I continued to ignore him, “Bianca, we need to go. I don’t want to have to stay in that cabin again tonight.”
Finally, I gave in and glanced up at him, “What’s wrong with that?” I asked, wrapping my arms around my knees, bringing them close to my body. I didn’t see anything wrong with staying another night in the cabin, it looked as though it was about to rain soon anyway.
Instead of answering, Xzavier plopped down next to me, his large body nearly landing on me. I looked over at him, taking in his disheveled appearance. His black locks, like my own, have grown in the past few months, framing his mud and blood covered face. His light blue eyes, peering into my dark brown ones, were filled with worry and exhaustion. His lips turned into a grimace, probably still upset that I wouldn’t move my ass.
“I want to keep moving.” Was all he gave me before turning his look to the pond and the fish.
“I don’t anymore.” I countered, becoming the stubborn, younger sister I was supposed to be. “I want to stop. I want to…” I trailed off, not really knowing what I wanted. Xzavier seemed to understand my loss for words because he didn’t urge me to keep talking, he just continued to stare out across the pond.
Instead of arguing anymore, I stood, bringing my bags up with me. Once I was standing, I wrapped my arms around my thinning frame, my dirtied, white crop top not doing much for keeping out the chilling breeze. Xzavier stayed still for a few seconds longer before following my movements, his joints cracking he stretched to his full six feet.
“Let’s go down the road a little further, if we can’t find anything in a mile or two, we’ll retrace and stay another night in the cabin.” He compromised, shifting his bags more comfortably on top his shoulders.
We began walking at a slow pace, Xzavier always one step behind me, watching my
back. We didn’t speak, we were quiet, listening to the breeze brush against the leaves on the trees. We no longer spoke to each other very much, there wasn’t
anything more to talk about unless it was a plan on how we were going into a building or making our way around the dead and even then, we just used facial expressions.
Xavier suddenly gripped my upper arm, pulling me back. I looked at him and followed his glare, seeing a dozen or so dead shuffling through the trees. I gritted my teeth before taking a step back. Quietly, we made our way around them and started in the direction they were coming from. After that, we only came across
stray dead and easily put an end to them.
About a mile and a half later, I spoke up, “Xzavier, there’s nothing out here that’s going to provide us shelter; we should head back.” Xzavier just ignored me,
trekking up past me. I sighed and followed him, trying to get his attention.
“Xzavier!” I exclaimed a little louder than I meant, “We have to go…” I trailed as I caught a glimpse of Xzavier’s face. He stared off into the distance with a
proud look on his face. I followed his gaze and sighed, realizing he was right, again. Just a few yards before us stood a large prison, a long chain link fence wrapped around it, keeping the dead out.
“Damn it, Xzavier.” I growled, “The cabin had comfy beds.” And we started our way to
the unhappy looking building.
“There could be people in there.” I pointed out as we hid in the trees on the edge of the woods.
“Doubtful.” My brother stated, studying the building with keen eyes.
“Uh, no, look at those dead-o’s. They are literally trying to climb that fence,
brother.” I insisted, “I think we should walk around to the front and see if there’s any movement.”
Xavier simply shook his head, shutting down my plan. He was being stupid, anyone could be in there, and who knows how many! I voiced my thoughts, even the insult, to him. I received only a glare and a huff before we finally made our way around to the front, keeping as camouflaged as we could by the trees. I searched the
entire place for any type of movement, landing on a smaller figure, a child,
walking across the field towards the fence where it meets another, larger,
figure that’s stabbing the dead, one by one at the fence.
“They’re keeping them off the fence.” I stated, watching closely.
“What do you want to do?” Xzavier asked, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. I thought hard. Nowadays, the living was more dangerous than the dead; there was a chance we could walk up to those gates and they welcome us with open arms. Everything was better than others, that was true. However, at the
same time, there was a chance we could walk up to that fence and be shot where we stood. I contemplated our choices in my head, weighing the pros and cons.
“Let’s go up and-“ I started but was interrupted by a very annoyed voice.
“Who the hell are you?”