Zero

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

 

"Let's see you do it, then," Squirrel half shouts in frustration and slams the knife on the table. She's spent the last week attempting to learn to use a blade to kill creeps without much success. There's definitely improvement. She's gotten the hang of wielding the blade properly, but hasn't successfully stabbed through bone.  Like me in the beginning, she lacks the muscle and the size to make up for it.

I chuckle dryly, only because she's seen me take down creeps like this many times. I don't need to prove that I can do it, we both know I can. Still, because she's frustrated, I don't feel like having the argument... and I've spent a week cooped up in the damn house while the capable people run on supply trips. I would have argued against the arrangement more strongly if I hadn't actually seen my hand. Sticking to our agreement, Hunter unwrapped his makeshift cast the other day to reveal that my hand only looked worse. The swelling was down, but the bruising was intense and just looked painful. A sign it's healing, Hunter said to me. I let him wrap it back up and agreed to actually take it easy until we leave the house.

"I bet I could do it," Bambi smugly points out.

Squirrel turns a glare on the smaller girl and looks like she might attack her... if she weren't so sweaty and tired. I give Bambi a similar look and she nods, agreeing to back off for now at least. I gesture for Squirrel to watch closely and pick up her knife from the table. A body of what was once a man and then a creep and is now just a rotting corpse is propped up on a chair. It's a little morbid and maybe disrespectful, but we couldn't think of a more realistic way for Squirrel to get some practice. Stabbing through bone isn't the same as stabbing into air or a stuffed animal, she needs to know what to expect.

"You're swinging too wide and keep hitting the tougher part of the skull," I tell her and gesture to the areas she's attempted to stab through. "The eye is obviously going to be the easiest path, but it's a small target in a panicky situation. You want to aim for the temple if they're facing you. You keep hitting about two inches back of that and hitting much thicker bone. The back of the head, by the base of the skull and the ears are good entry points too. But you need to learn to hit hard enough to get through any part because when there're three creeps around you and you need to take them out quickly before they take you, you may not have time to find and aim for the weakest points."

"I know all that," she says. "And it's not like I'm ever going to be alone and surrounded by lots of creeps."

"No?"

"No."

"You'd think she wouldn't be stho dumb after Birdie died," Bambi mutters to herself. I give her a sharp look, but share the sentiment. If losing Birdie taught Squirrel nothing else, she should have learned how quickly you can go from being together to being alone in this world. Her naivety is exhausting.

"Squirrel, what time do you think it is?" I ask conversationally.

"I don't know." She shrugs. "Late afternoon?"

"Exactly, that means that Hunter, Braces, and Atlas have been gone for probably eight hours now. That's at least a couple hours longer than they've been gone any other day. Do you know why they aren't back yet?"

"No," she trails off only now realizing that they've been gone longer than usual.

"Neither do I. There's every chance they're dead, Squirrel," I tell her to make a point. She flinches at the word dead like I just slapped her, but I don't let myself feel bad about that. "Say they don't make it back. It'll just be me, you, and Bambi. There is every chance you'll find yourself alone one day and you'll have no one to protect you but yourself. "