will it ever end!?

title of your story

chapter 10 - sean

I hear six shots from inside the compound and tear outside, buttoning my pants and pulling on my t-shirt as I go. I notice a few of the women laughing at me as I run by, but I don’t care at the moment. I throw open the door to the dorm and see my sister across the quad, Jamie catches her and pulls her roughly into his embrace. A soldier whose name I don’t know yet gingerly removes a gun from her hand. He is shaking his head with what looks like a mixture of confusion and admiration.

Sarge has come out as well and, like me, is headed toward them at a run. We arrive at the same time but Jamie and Sam don’t notice, too busy checking each other’s tonsils. Behind them, through the door, is the girl we rescued, her face has blown off from all of the bullets Sam shot into it. Go Sam. Beyond the girl is Carson, his throat has been torn out. Needless to say, blood is everywhere.

“What the hell happened?” asks Sarge, looking at the couple intensely.

Jamie drags his mouth from my sister. He says something in her ear and she starts to walk away. He follows her and gives her an intimate hug, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind, saying something else to her that I can’t hear. She seems to be in a daze as she nods and heads to the safety of the dorm dreamily. I look at Jamie, “Dude, what happened?”

Jamie looks at Sarge and me, “The girl we brought back was a zombie. She was smart and probably pretty newly turned. We couldn’t tell because of her injuries. It was a ploy. She saw us in Laramie and wanted to find a new feeding ground. She sacrificed her own to get to us.” He paused to take a breath and ran his fingers through his hair like he always does when he’s trying to figure something out, “Carson wasn’t supposed to be here. He was supposed to be taking food into the kitchen. He must have finished or something and started on the clinic supplies. The girl was sleeping in here, away from everyone. I should have known she was different. I’m sorry Sarge. I take full responsibility for this.”

Sarge looks at Jamie carefully, “You okay?”

“No, I’m not okay. My girlfriend just shot a zombie in the face five times because I was too in shock to react. The man I brought here to be reunited with his children was eaten. I spent the night taking care of a wounded girl who turned out to be a zombie. I’m sure there is more, but right not, I’m too tired to think of it,” Jamie snapped at Sarge. Immediately after it was out, he regretted it. “Sorry, it’s been a rough couple of days,” he said with an apologetic look at both of us.

Sarge nods, “I see that, maybe you should get some sleep, kid.”

“Don’t patronize me, old man,” Jamie responds without his usual quick grin. Did I mention that he’s pretty gutsy? He is. The only thing that scares him is my sister.

Sarge grunts, “Fine. Take care of this mess then. I want to see you in my office when you’re done. We need to discuss this in depth.” He looks at me, “Both of you.”

“Jamie,” I tell him, “This wasn’t your fault. You aren’t the one who stopped the trucks and got out to shoot zombies. That was me.”

“No,” he says, “but I was the one who ran over and brought her back to the trucks.”

“Dude,” I start, “You can’t blame yourself for not knowing. We all fell for her act. You should…”

“If you boys are done playing the blame game, how about we get this mess cleaned up,” I hear a chipper voice come from behind me. I turn and see one of the Rawlings survivors watching us with a great deal of amusement in her familiar silvery gray eyes. Her straight dark brown hair is pulled into a couple of ponytails behind her ears and I see streaks of purple and electric blue peeking out, giving her the appearance of a teenager. I remember that she has a daughter around ten or so, so she is definitely older than she looks. Her curvy body is encased in a snug black Tinkerbell t-shirt that says "Kill the Wendy bird!" and even snugger faded Levis. She is also sporting a pair of worn out Chucks. If I weren’t so crazy about Thia, I would definitely be interested. I feel like I know her from somewhere, but I don’t know where.