Forgetting the Apocalypse

43. First Watch

Boaz's Pov*

How's my day going? Well let me tell you.

First, I cut my hand helping Fredi ration out the deer meat  that my sister and Mara brought in. Now technically it wasn't deep, it didn't bleed as much as I thought it would. However, as I've now been informed, zombies are worst than sharks or piranhas.

One drop of blood and they can sniff you out within at last five to six miles.

That was terrifying to hear. My sister and I were ready to take off but Roone, or as I like to call him Sir Badass, just took a rag and got as much of my blood on it as he could before going outside.

I looked to them in question, hoping they can fill in the blanks for me.

Mara came and started cleaning  my hand, applying pressure with gauze to stop the bleeding. "Zombies can smell fresh blood from great distances. There's no wind so as long as we can keep this from bleeding more," she applied antibiotic cream on a clean piece of gauze, "if there are any close by or any animal predator then they should pick up the rag before they do you."

She finished wrappign up my hand and tapped my knee, letting me know that I was good to go. It reminded me of a nurse.

"You're really good at that. Done this before?"

As soon as it left my mouth I wanted to take it back. I don't know why I said it in that tone either.

They all turned to look at me. Fredi stopped cutting the meat. Riva and my sister had their jaws dropped and Mara... Oh god!

She had one eyebrow raised and was actually smiling. I didn't like it. Her smile could scare the devil. What I didn't notice though was that she was looking behind me.

So that brings me to the second thing.

Just my luck, Sir Badass had walked in just as I had asked Mara the question the way I did. You know when you're hanging out with your friends and you kinda make fun of someone by doing an impression but none of them decided to tell you that that said person is standing right behind you.

Yeah well it was worst than that. I wanted the ground to swallow me up. No, scratch that! My heart could've finally exploded and I would have been fine with it.

No one said anything as he came up to me tossing his huge arm around my shoulders and asked if I have ever taken watch before.

That's what I'm doing now. Or at least what I am getting ready to do. I'm not leaving the room where we're spending the day, thank god, but I do have to be by the door.

I need to see and hear whatever comes at us ahead of time to give enough warning to the others. If I needed to check something then I could only be out the door no more than three feet.  Otherwise, something could get around me, kill me or get to the others without my knowledge.

As I get comfy on the chair wih my new gun in hand, I noticed Roone standing and coming towards me with his dog. I tried my best to not shift in my seat but seeing that corner of his mouth twitch a little I know that he's noticed.

Giving a silent command to the half pit half collie, she comes and sits by my legs. Her huge head leaning on my knee which obviously prompts me to give her a rub behind the ear.

"You're never going to be able to stop that now that you started." he mused.

I smiled and moved to her other ear, whispering how cute she is.

"Saphira, will help and keep you company. Our dogs are usually the first warning we get against anything that comes our way," he picked up on the question I was going to ask, "Don't worry. She won't go crazy barking loudly or anything. Her hair will raise and she'll nudge you with her snout."

He told me a little bit more about her indications, what I should keep an eye out for so that I know what she's trying to tell me. Once we were done conversing, he went back to his spot and got some rest.

It was weird.

Not just being on watch but being awake during the day. For the briefest of seconds, it almost made me feel like it was before. Sure there were nights where I stayed up way too late but I was no night owl. I thrived the most when I was in the sun.

I had even shifted my chair a bit closer to the window by the door. It wasn't enough that I would be seen outside but just enough that I could catch the few rays of sun starting to leak through. Feeling the warmth of it on my skin helps me forget the horrors I hear beginning to roam the streets outside.

Saphira nudges my knee slightly, letting me know that she hears them too.

Opening my eyes, I check out in the hallway. Our barricade is untouched and I don't see or hear anything in here.

Sitting up straighter, I mentally shake my head out of the daze and resume my focus. I gently pat Saphira's head. Other than the little nudge she had given me, she's been quiet. Honestly, if it wasn't for the wieght of her on my legs I'd think I was the only one up.

My hand instinctively goes to pet her again when I hear some groaning coming out the window.

Daring to take a peak, I angle my head to get a look. Below our window, there were at least four of them. They were just shuffling around. Bumping into each other or the empty cars parked around the street.

Both Saphira and I tensed up when one of them let out a loud snarl. An unwise bird had flown to low and caught their attention. With a sqwuak it flew up higher and away from them. The four, wait, five of them started after it in vain.

"It's ok girl, they're leaving now." I whisper to her.

When I turned back in my seat, I saw that the other three dogs had woken up. They were still laying down but their ears were pointed straight up. It took about five minutes of pure silence for them to lower their heads and go back to sleep.

Little by little, the room was getting brighter. I checked my watch and saw that it was almost nine a.m. I had to do a double take. There is no way that it has been four hours already.

With the last five minutes of my shift, I got my gun and went to gently wake up Mara. Fredi was closer to me but they told me that she always takes the second shift so that she can get go back and get more sleep before she hunts for breakfast.

"Psst. Mara, it's your turn" I softly tuch her shoulder to wake her.

Slowly sitting up, "Anything to report?"

I tell her about the fou-five that were out on the street but have since been gone thanks to an unfortunate little bird. Other than that it's been quiet.

Nodding, she grabs her bow and pats her legs so that her own dog follows. Looking over at Roone, I see that Saphira is already sleeping soundly next to him.

Without another word or glance in my direction, she goes to my chair and sits on it. She looks soo freaking awesome. Getting off my knees, I head over to where my spot was and lay down.

It takes a while to fall asleep. The shades do help with eliminating the brightness but I couldn't help but steal another glance at Mara.