Don't Get Eaten

Chapter Seventy Three

"Zared."

Jinsen?

"Zared. You need to wake up."

Wait. Jinsen, don't go.

His voice fades as the words keep repeating to me over and over.

Groaning, massive pain throbs on the side of my face while my body aches all over and begins shaking of its own accord. Opening one eye a flash of bright light hits me and the strong smell of wet dirt and fresh green grass hits my nose.

The shaking doesn't stop, however. Grabbing my head I try to turn onto my back, but something was preventing me from doing it. Turning my head to look behind me, I blink to see no name kneeling beside me, his hands on my shoulder and elbow as he continues to rock me back and forth with a face full of concern.

I soon realize he was the one who had gotten me to be conscious again. Then it all hits me of what had happened. Kyle! I look around to see that he was nowhere in sight. The hose was flushing out water from the river which explains the wet dirt beneath me. I try to scramble up, but my side wouldn't allow me to move all that fast.

"Kyle? Where's Kyle?" I clench my teeth as my body screams in pain as I make it go faster than I should have.

No name just shakes his head.

"Fuck. That bastard fucking attacked me." I mumble, trying to get my bearings as he helps me to stand on my feet.

I wince as the throbbing in my head continues on and I was afraid I had been out for too long. I quickly look up into the sky to see not much has changed. I hoped that was a good sign. Looking to the guy next to me, I ask,

"How long were we gone?"

"Thirty minutes, give or take." He mumbles in a low tone, and I was actually shaken that he spoke.

This was the first time he said any words at all to any of us. I really wasn't expecting an answer from him.

"I found it odd that it was taking you guys so long. The bunker is soundproof so I didn't hear any commotion, but I figure maybe some sun wouldn't hurt. But I came out to find you passed out on the ground with that thing next to you,"

He points at something on the ground. It was the flat head shovel Miles used on me.

"And Kyle is nowhere to be found. I knew something was off since the water pump isn't fixed and there's that too." He points somewhere on the ground further away from us.

I look to see drag marks disrupting the grass and dirt. And it heads straight into the forest. My heart begins to pound. Why would he take Kyle for? Why hit me and take only the kid? For what purpose? A heavy sinking feeling bottoms out in my stomach and I look over to no name.

"Miles. It was Miles who hit me with that and took Kyle." I tell him with panic rising in my chest.

His face turns grim and a little angry. "I was afraid of that. I had my suspicions about him since day one. He doesn't sit right with me. It's the reason I avoid him at all costs."

First off, he didn't sit right with any of us. And second, he was avoiding us all. But I don't say any of this out loud. Because right now I needed his help in finding Kyle. I was afraid of what that dickwad was going to do to him.

"I need your help." I say and before I could get any more words out he turns on me and jets back into the bunker.

Um, okay. Guess I got my answer on that. Holding my injured side, I bend down to pick up the shovel that Miles, for some reason, left behind. I wonder if Kyle gave him hell and he had to drop it and forgot all about it. Looking at the tracks left behind it wasn't hard to tell that the kid made it hard for him to drag.

But why not just knock him out like he did with me? It would have been easier, no?

I look out at the forest and felt an uneasy feeling shiver throughout my entire body. I was on my own with this one. I couldn't sit here and wait for the others to get back tomorrow. Kyle needed my help and if it hadn't been for no name my ass would still be lying on this ground completely out for God knows how long.

By the time I would have woken up on my own it would have been too late.

I go to take a step, bracing myself of what I may come across when no name comes rushing back out. I look over to him to find that he grabbed a few items. The rifle that Barnes leaves for Kyle when they go out and a machete I was sure the guy wasn't quite sure on how to use properly.

"I was trying to find the ammo, but the box is empty. There's only one bullet in the chamber." His tone was grim as he hands it over to me and takes the shovel instead.

"Guess we'll just have to save it for when we really need to use it then." I sigh looking inside the chamber to see he was right.

"Come on-"

Just then a loud piercing cry shook the trees just ahead of us, drawing our immediate attention as fear and horror filled every molecule in my body.

"What the hell was that?" No name whispers, his tone laced with the same fear that I was feeling.

"I don't know. But it's daylight, so why did that sound an awful lot like a..." I didn't even want to say it.

"Monster." He finishes for me with a set firm jaw and eyebrows furrowed.

He looks right over to me. "There's something I haven't told any of you and I know I should have, but when you see what I have since being here...there's a reason I haven't spoken and kept my distance from everyone."

I stand there looking at him, truly flabbergasted that he was talking so much when before we couldn't even get a single peep out of him.

"People are always dying here. Never lasting more than a few days or weeks. Your group is the first I've seen lasting more than just a month. When I overheard Barnes tell Zelene how long you've been here and surviving a wound that should have killed you...I've been thinking that maybe being with you is our best shot at staying alive here."

Now that was definitely something I didn't want to hear. Like Jinsen said a long time ago, I didn't want to be a leader or looked at as a leader to a group of people who were scared and believing that you could keep them all alive.

"I'm only alive because Barnes, Casey, and Kyle saved me in the nick of time. If it wasn't for them I would have died that day." I tell him truthfully.

He nods slowly. "Yeah, maybe. But from what I heard you got hurt saving someone important to you. You sacrificed yourself to keep them safe. For as long as I've been here no one does that."

Another loud piercing scream rents the air, just a little further away now.

"Sorry, lost track there. As I was saying...there's a creature out there...a creature of its own kind that can move around in the day." He whispers, staring out into the forest.

I stare at him with wide eyes. "What did you just say?" Little sharp breaths were starting to overtake me.

He slowly turns his head back to me, a sheen of wetness in his eyes now. "I saw it once. It moves in the shadows mostly but can brave the sunlight to a bearable exposure."

"What does it look like?" I ask in a whisper, afraid of his answer.

A single tear slips down his cheek. "Like one of us."