Still breathing | Original story

Chapter Sixteen: R

Word count: 3000

My eyes felt heavy as I woke up, stinging from the late sleep. I was alone in my bed and grabbed the covers so I could wrap them around myself. I snuggled into them in the lightroom, not caring about getting up. I could hear someone snore and knew I could still rest for a little while. As I gripped the covers for warmth, my mind seemed to wake up and my eyes opened wide in panic. I threw the covers off me as my muscles woke up all at once, my heart beating too fast and my face getting warm with anxiety. Caleb. He was there earlier. I jumped out of the makeshift bed and circled around the room but couldn't see him anywhere; there was just Em and Tyler asleep on the bed. I even looked under their bed but all that lay there was a dirty old sock that probably belonged to the owners and my hatchet.
I was about to rush out the door when Caleb appeared, two bowls in his hand. My whole body froze and I felt a flood of relief swarm my body.
"Oh my god Caleb! Don't wander off," I said seriously, worry consuming my voice.
"Sorry mum," I arched an eyebrow at him to figure out if he was being serious or not but I couldn't tell. I figured he was probably mocking my reaction and I was just trying to read too much into a nine year olds words. "I was looking around and found cereal under a table so I made you some as a thank you."
He handed me a bowl and I lightly smiled at him.
"Thanks... but don't wander too far without me again," I told him as I walked back over to the makeshift bed.
"Sorry," he mumbled a second time and joined me. I left it there. I didn't have the energy to start up an unpleasant conversation, he apologised what more was there to say?
"It's okay." I ruffled his hair with one hand and a smile broke out on his face. I couldn't be too harsh he just didn't know the dangers...
We began to eat the dry cereal. Surprisingly, they were pretty good dry so I wasn't too fussed about having no milk. Besides dry cereal is better than wet cereal with lumpy milk in it.
"What was your dream about last night?" I asked Caleb after I swallowed some more food.
"Um..." he started a bit awkwardly. "I dreamt zombies came in. They took you first and then the others. I couldn't do a thing... it felt so real." He looked up from his bowl and looked me straight in the eyes, "I wish I could fight like you."
In that moment, it dawned on me that I didn't even know how to fight. Before all of it, I barely went outside never mind getting involved in close up combat. My dad used to encourage me to go to martial arts classes but I never paid much attention when I went and so my dad stopped sending me, he instead opted to teaching me a few self-defense things in the hopes I would be able to fend off any kidnappers that happened to cross my path.
"It's mainly spur of the moment for me. I didn't think I could fight but you get the hang of it," I told him. "But you won't need to because I'm here."
"I'd rather learn... So I can protect you if I need to."
"I'm supposed to be the one to protect you silly," I said, even though that actually wasn't my job. I had no idea what I was signing up for when I saved Caleb that day but it appeared that I had accidently signed a contract that bound me into making sure nothing happened to the boy. I took note that Em had stopped her look-out job but I couldn't really be mad at a pregnant woman. It was still hard to knock out the thought that we had been open to attack for who knows how long... I thought for a bit and came to the conclusion that teaching Caleb might be a good idea, just in case something happened to me or in case he decided to wander off again and got himself into trouble. "I guess some training would put my mind at rest. We'll eat this and I'll teach you a few tricks yeah?"
"Yeah!" He exclaimed and began to shovel food into his mouth as I looked on in amusement. "Hurry up," he told me with his mouth full. I shook my head laughing and began to eat.

"What's first?" he asked when we got into the living room. We decided to move so Tyler and Em could get more sleep.
"Firstly let's start with some trivia," I told him as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. He stayed quiet as he waited for me to continue. "Where do you aim?"
"The head," he said without hesitation, I nodded.
"If there's a group of them what do you do?" His eyes widened and he stuck his tongue out slightly as he thought.
"Um... run?" He said, a bit unsure.
"Good!" I rewarded him. The other option was to try to go around them quietly if he could or even fight them, but I made the quick mental decision that running would be his best chance of survival.
I couldn't think of any more questions so I just went on to the next thing: fighting without a weapon. "You'll want to use their body weight against them," I said, reciting the words my dad used to tell me if someone tried to hurt me. "Try and knock me down," I said and pretended to be an infected, Caleb started giggling so I snapped out of character and gave him a hard stare. He stopped and positioned his body in a karate kid style. I shuffled towards him again. He ran forward and scooped his foot behind my leg. He pulled it forward and I felt my body go down quickly. I stared up at him in shock.
"I used to cheat in football..." he trailed off and I burst out laughing. I leaned up and Caleb helped me up the rest of the way.
"Okay, I think you'll do fine," I breathed out. "Just remember. If one goes on top of you, hold its arms away and put your head to the side away from it," I told him as I remembered the one from yesterday, "and with a weapon just aim for the head, simple as that."
"How do I hold my knife?" He asked me and I titled my head to the side. He got the tool out of his pocket and opened it up. He held it awkwardly.
As I tried to help his positioning I heard footsteps getting closer. A fast, rhythmic sound. I whipped my head up to see Tyler.
"Remi! You're needed," he said as he kneeled over out of breath.
"Whats happening?" I asked confused.
"We found a room and well..." he trailed off looking for the right words and finally settled on, "look for yourself. "
Caleb and I rushed up the stairwell after Tyler. I nearly tripped up the steps trying to match his speed but just kept going, it was obviously something important. I saw Em standing by ladders that led to the attic, one room no one checked - until then obviously.
"I think Caleb should stay down here," Em said and Tyler nodded. I told him to stay put as Em stood to the side and allowed me to go up the metal steps. I tried to prepare myself.
I made my way up and heard the metal creak as another body joined me into the attic. As we all stood in there, I heard metal click against wood. The attic smelled of a house riddled with damp; a dusty smell mixed with the odor of rusted over metal. Tyler pulled a cord and a yellow beam shined down onto a figure.
It was thin and had centimeter thick blonde hair that went down to its shoulders. The thing itself was covered with almost transparent grey skin that clung to fat covered bones. What I noticed most was that it was chained up.