Two
"How about a little friendly competition? Best score on a full magazine. Loser has to clean the apartment."
"You're on."
I slung a newly acquired rifle from around my shoulders and took a pair of earmuffs from Manny. If he wanted a competition so be it, I couldn't wait to watch him struggle to clean the mountainous pile of dishes in the sink.
We both walked to separate booths that were side by side. "You ready Abs?" He said and I gave him a single nod before looking down my sights. Shot after shot, I put holes in the target's head. I glanced over at his target to see a couple of shots in the chest, stomach, and a single shot in the groin.
"I think we have a clear winner," I said with a grin and he frowned knowing I'd rub it in his face.
"I'm requesting that gun next time," he grumbled.
"Yeah. The guns why I won." Recalling our agreement I laughed. "That reminds me there's an ass-load of dirty dishes."
"You're cruel," he said as we returned the muffs and headed out to meet Mel which of whom took Alice so me and Manny could gear up.
"Alice gets shotgun!" Manny shouted. Me and Mel both huffed in frustration, knowing what he was trying to do.
"What? Mel's pregnant," I retorted.
"Real subtle Manny," Mel grumbled and climbed into the bed of the truck sitting on the benches. I did the same but made sure to sit on the other side, not wanting to interact with her more than I had to.
We pulled out of the garage. Me and Mel avoided each other's gaze, not knowing what to say. I sighed and looked past her, out to the fields of grain.
"How are you sleeping these days?" She said quietly, probably remembering how I told her about my sleeping problems in the past.
"Not great," I grumbled, it was the truth. Falling asleep was mainly the problem. I just couldn't seem to get my mind to shut off sometimes.
"Do you want me to get you something from the pharmacy?" She offered. It was unusually kind of her, given our history. I really appreciated the gesture but it wasn't needed.
"Nah, I'm just gonna wear myself out. I've been picking up a few extra assignments."
"You and Owen," she whispered under her breath, I barely caught it.
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing," she said quickly and changed the subject. "Heard we lost a hatchery...any plan on getting it back?"
"No, Isaac says it's low priority. We're fishing up wild salmon now...what did you mean about me and Owen?"
She sighed. "Um. I haven't seen him in like two weeks. He keeps picking up open assignments. Has he talked to you, did he say anything?"
Like Mel, I had barely spoken to Owen since Jackson, after he told me about her being pregnant I just....didn't know what to say. I don't know why it had bothered me so much, it's not like we were still together I just... "No we haven't spoken, I've seen him in the mess hall but-"
I was cut off by a sharp whistle and the whiz of a gunshot "FUCK! AMBUSH! MANNY GET US OUT OF HERE!" I shouted. Suddenly cloaked figures on horses started coming at the truck. More whistles sounded out.
"FUCKING SCARS!" Mel said and despite her condition started shooting at them. I got my head out of the clouds and quickly joined her, aiming with a steady grip before hitting a couple of targets. I heard shots bounce off of the car and Alice barking as we raced to take them out. They fell to the ground with screams of pain. Manny swerved the truck, trying to dodge trees and find a way for us to escape. "TO YOUR LEFT!" Mel shouted and I shot down a couple of horses, their riders tumbled to the ground.
"HOLD ON!" Manny shouted and we turned into an abandoned alleyway, scars lined the tops of buildings holding what looked to be molotov cocktails. I tried to hit a few of them but missed every single shot. One of them threw their flaming bottle at the car which hit the windshield. "FUCK! I CAN'T SEE!" Manny shouted and attempted to blindly steer the truck. We narrowly missed trees. The last thing I saw was us heading for a ditch before everything went black.
"Fuck..." I groaned. My head was spinning. The sound of crackling fire and faint whistles filled my ears.
"Abs?" a blurry-looking Manny said. I looked up to see him hovering over me....just like this morning...
I shifted slightly, trying to sit up but immediately felt like I was gonna puke my guts up. "Holy fuck." I whispered because if I talked any louder I felt like my eardrums were gonna burst.
When I sat up instead of having a book slide off of me, my rifle did. It clattered against the concrete as it fell. "What the?" I mumbled looking around, still in a daze from the crash.
"Abby we've gotta move, c'mon, we can probably get into this building." I looked over at a half-open garage door and stood slowly, trying not to agitate my injuries. Manny helped Mel walk over to it and together we threw the door open.
"How far away are we from the base?" I said softly as I shut the door behind us, locking it shut.
"It's a hike..." Mel mumbled and I glanced over at her. She looked exhausted, they really shouldn't have let her out.
I turned on my flashlight and looked around, it seemed like we were in a warehouse. Old tools littered the floor and like every other dilapidated building, there was rubble and discarded trash. The stench of rotten wood filled my nose making me slightly nauseous. That and my headache made me just want to lay down and get some rest but we had to find a way out of here. "Hey, Manny." I pointed at the rusty garage door ahead of us. "Looks like a way out, help me?"
"Por supuesto." He walked over to me holding two....pipes? "Look what I made, an old trick Owen showed me." He handed me one.
"Thanks..." I said studying the weapon.
"Pipe bombs."
I nodded my head and shoved it into my backpack, getting in position to open the door. "Ready?"
He nodded his head and together we lifted. The old metal creaked and groaned with every push, for a moment I considered the possibility of a horde being on the other side. But I didn't hear any of the infected's goddamn screeching and figured it was all good.
We were only able to open the door about 1/4th of the way, leaving a small gap open to squeeze through. When I saw the other side I was glad to see towers of crates and old metal shelves. "All clear," Manny said and went with Alice to look around for a way out.
I noticed Mel grunting from the effort of squeezing through the small gap. "Here," I said holding out a hand to her, she took it reluctantly and let me help pull her through. "How're you feeling?" I questioned.
"Fine enough," she said quietly. I watched silently for a moment as she adjusted her backpack.
"Regretting this yet?"
She glared at me. "Why would I?"
I quickly tried to back-pedal, clearly having said the wrong thing. "I didn't mean- just....forget it." I felt kind of hurt, why does she always take everything as an insult? She opened her mouth to say something but ultimately decided against it. "C'mon," I grumbled. "Let's go."
We had eventually caught up with Manny and Alice. Now we talked idly while looking for a way forward.
"I miss the days when we could walk through here safely," Mel said.
"Getting nostalgic about the truce?"
"Yeah, easier days for sure."
"Too easy. We let our guard down and they strung up an entire squad," Manny said, with a hint of anger.
"That was in retaliation to us shooting those kids," Mel defended.
"Okay, but those kids attacked our guys. What would you do?"
"I don't know, not riddle them with bullets?"
"I'd rather save our people."
"Manny they're kids. It's not their fault."
"Not our fault either," I mumbled.
"See? Abby agrees. Those deaths were on them."
There was a beat of silence before Mel scoffed. "Okay," she said and I heard her walk away.
I sighed and continued searching, checking doors. "It's quiet. Too quiet," I whispered. Manny hummed in agreement.
"We need to get around this damn fence." I turned to see Mel gripping the metal grate that blocked us from going forward. It gave a high-pitched creak as she shook it in frustration.
"Si, this building." I followed his eyes as he glanced at a metal electrical box it lay underneath an old wire, broken off during the decades since the outbreak.
"Perfect. I'll give you a boost up." I shimmied on top of the box and Manny followed afterwards. I waited patiently as he shouldered his shotgun and got into position. Kneeling slightly, I cupped my hands so that he could use them as a foothold to reach the wire. "Ready, set, go!" I pushed up, grunting from the weight of him stepping on my shoulder.
He let out a strained 'Okay' signaling that he had a hold on the rope. The weight on my shoulders slowly decreased as he climbed further and further up. It took a moment but he made it to the top, yelling from atop the building. "The cables caught on something give me a sec." In that time Mel had wandered back over with Alice and that's when it occurred to me that they couldn't climb the rope.
"Ah shit, Mel we'll uh, we'll figure out a way for you two to get through. Just hang tight for a second." She nodded and wandered off with Alice. Manny lowered the wire.
I climbed up just as Manny had done. I took a deep breath as I lifted myself over the edge of the building, the height getting to me. "Woah...." I said under my breath and closed my eyes. I slowly counted to three just as my father had taught me in his quest to help me get over my fear of heights. It helps but I still can't help but feel absolutely terrified sometimes.
"Abs, look." I opened my eyes and saw Manny pointing at our destination. The base.
"Just past that rail yard."
"Still no sign of scars...maybe they gave up," he muttered.
"You're funny."
"No, I'm optimistic. C'mon, just down here."
There was a large hole in the ceiling of the building, the broken glass around the rim of it suggested that it used to be some type of sky window. Now it was our way down. Manny took the wire from before and used it to slide down into the building.
"Careful," he said referring to the shattered glass on the floor. It crunched under my boots as I dropped down and walk towards what looked to be a door leading outside although it was blocked.
"Mel? You still there?" I shouted.
"Yeah!" I heard her say.
"Hold on a sec!" I grunted and started trying to move the large filing cabinet that blocked the entrance. I lifted with my knees and soon the heavy metal shifted with a groan. Mel was able to open the door wide enough for her and Alice to squeeze through. "Fuck," I cursed as I set the thing back down.
"That looked heavy," Manny deadpanned, walking over with...scissors and tape in his hands. What the fuck.
"Yeah," I said scoffing at him. "Thanks for the help. While you were busy picking up trash I had to do all the heavy lifting yet again."
"Trash? Abs, Abs, Abs, SOMEONE has to search for supplies and that person just happened to be me."
"Through here," Mel said before Manny could say more. We followed her through a door.
"Woah," Manny said and 'woah' was right. the area was huge. It looked to be some sort of garage. "A boat workshop?"
"Let's remember this place. Command's always looking for spare parts."
Boats hung from the ceiling, suspended by metal cables. There were workbenches everywhere and tons of loose bolts and screws which I happily took. Maybe I could use them to mod my guns. "Alright," I said to myself as I approached a yellow crank. As I slowly turned it the green garage door before me slowly opened. I was super loud and heavy. I only got to open it a little bit before I decided that was good enough. "I'll hold it here," I grunted.
"I find something to brace it with." Manny climbed under along with Alice. Mel was about to go too before the gears suddenly gave way. I fell forward from the force of the crank snapping in my hands. Mel had jumped back just in time before the door came down with a big bang, separating me and her from Manny and Alice.
"Holy shit," she said breathlessly from the near-death experience.
"Mel? Abs? You guys okay?" Manny shouted from the other side.
"Yeah...the damn crank broke," I grunted and threw the now useless piece of metal to the side.
"What now?" he said. That's when Mel looked up and pointed to light coming in through the ceiling.
"A hatch," I said quickly. "Manny just hang tight. We're gonna find a way up to the roof."
"Okay!" he shouted and I assume, went off to find his own way out.
"I'm...sorry," I muttered, looking over at Mel who was dusting herself off.
"Not your fault," she said simply and started walking.
I figured I'd better start up a conversation since we were going to be stuck with each other for a while. "Glad you hitched a ride with us?" I followed her as she began to search around.
"Right..." she said quietly. "Remind me to thank Manny for that one. I am glad I'm here with you guys though. I'd hate to hear you guys got hurt and I wasn't there to help."
I smiled to myself at the kind words but then frowned. "Hey...why have you been avoiding me?"
"I wasn't avoiding you," she said too quickly.
"C'mon," I said not buying it. "You've barely spoken a word to me since Jackson."
She sighed and turned to glance at me. "I don't know...I just...I guess I was shaken by it all."
"You don't think Joel got what he deserved?"
"I think he deserved worse I just...I just wish I didn't take part in it."
I huffed, still feeling weird over how it's been between us. I wanted to put everything out on the table, to ask her what she really thought of me and why she seemed to dislike me so much...but I didn't.
I walked over to the flight of stairs leading to the upper level of the building. "Let's see if there's a way to the hatch."