Decaying Hearts

Kieran

The man remained unconscious, but alive through the rest of the day. The atmosphere remained tense, especially around Isaac and Jerry. Isaac has fortunately taken my advice and has done his best to ignore Jerry. Preventing a full on fist fight in camp.

I sighed angrily tossing and turning in the bed. I've been laying here for a couple hours unable to sleep. The distant crack of thunder melodically filled my ears. My eyes followed the sound of footsteps against the camper roof. Jacob must be on watch.

I slipped out of the camper, the cool breeze whipped through my hair, in anticipation for the storm coming. The faint smell of oncoming rain circulating with the wind. I covered my eyes as a bright light beamed down at me from the top of my camper.

"Mouse," Isaac questioned lowering the blinding beam to the camper roof.

He stood perched on the camper, Jacob's hunting rifle in his arms. He gestured with his head for me to come up the side ladder.

"I thought Jacob was on watch tonight?" I inquired, pulling my hair back into a low bun. 

"Traded him," Issac answered, keeping his eyes on the darkness that engulfed woods around us. That we'd be plunged into if it weren't for the glowing lantern beside the lawn chair. "What are you doing?"

In the distance through the trees the dark cloudy sky lit up, before a rumbling thunder echoed through the open air.

"Couldn't sleep," I shrugged, wrapping my arms around myself. "How is that man doing?"

"Carrie is more hopeful now, since he's lasted this long... he still hasn't woken up yet," Isaac took a seat on the white lawn chair he brought up here for watch duty. He placed the butt of the gun against the camper roof before relaxing back into the chair.

My head snapped towards the sound of light moans on the far side of John and Jerry's camper. These weren't like the infected's soulless moans, rather pleasure filled ones.

"I get what Jacob means now," Isaac whispered up to me. "They sneak out the bathroom doors in the campers, since they face out of our triangle... Guess that's one way to blow off steam."

I scrunch my nose at the thought, and various noises we were hearing. A light laugh emitted from Isaac's chest.

"What," I mumbled, lowering myself to a sitting position against the cool camper metal.

"It's cute when you scrunch up your nose like that," his eyes were burning through me. I felt my cheeks heat up. Quickly I looked away, focusing my eyes on the silhouettes of clothes that were thrashing on the clothing line. Another crack of thunder boomed in the distance, growing closer.

"You should head back in. It's going to rain before too long." Isaac deapanned. He's been extra tense since we brought back that man, and since his quarrels with Jerry.

"Twelve," I quietly said. Recalling the little game Isaac created for us, to hold onto our good memories in stressful or bad times. One would say an age, and the other would have to recount a good memory from that time.

He faintly smiled at what I was attempting to do. He appeared deep in thought before his mouth opened. "My dad pulled me out of school on a random Friday morning, and drove me two hours to a lake," his eyes stared off, as if he was there in the memory. "We spent the entire day fishing. My dad was a man of few words so we didn't talk much, but there was no need to. I ended up catching the biggest fish I to this day have ever caught. That was one of the few times he was actually proud of me, he even had the fish mounted," a half hearted smile formed on his lips.