These Different Times (Nick Clark FF)

33.

Sometime during the night, I woke up needing to pee and after wrestling Nick's arm from me, I meandered outside and took care of business, using a little but of the water to wash my hands. 

My heart leapt into my throat when I heard yelling coming from inside the house and I quickly ran back inside. 

Nick was cowered back against the wall as a woman holding a baseball bat yelled and cursed at him in Spanish and standing in the corner, was a terrified little girl. 

"Nick?" I asked quietly and she spun around and began yelling at me.

"Woah, woah," he said, quickly crossing the room to stand in front of me, "Hold on, we'll go."

"I'll get the bag," I whispered, slowly reaching for it and the woman was quick to bring the bat down on my hand, making me yelp in pain. 

"Jesus, okay!" Nick yelled, grabbing hold of my hand to pull me out of harms way.

"Nick," I said sternly, "We need the damn water!"

"We'll find more." he muttered. 

I was skeptical but of course, I didn't say anything and just followed him through the night.

The morning brought the harsh heat of the sun and after hours of walking down an abandoned road, we finally came across some cars. 

There was an infected in the driver's seat but both of us had spotted the bottle of water laying on the dashboard. 

"Careful," I whispered as he reached in, dodging the woman and snatching the bottle, holding it up to see that there was very little in it.

"You have it," he murmured, handing it to me but I shook my head. 

"I had some last night. You take it." 

"We'll share it." he said 

"Nick, there's barely anything in there. Just drink it." 

He finally gave in and drank the small amount that was in it, making me smile. 

"Thank you."

"Hey, there's a radio." 

Instead of having him reach into the car again and risk being caught by the infected, I moved round to the other side of the car, cracking the door open and reached in to take it. 

He took it from me, fiddling with the dials and such to try and get a signal but I wasn't surprised when there was nothing but white noise. 

There was another car a few feet away and I went to look into it, shocked to find an old man sitting in the driver's seat. Alive. 

"Water," he rasped and I felt my eyes starting to water, "Please." 

There was the sound of an oncoming vehicle and I told the man that I'd be back and then jogged back to Nick. 

"Get down," he whispered, grabbing hold of my hand and the two of us ducked behind the car, watching as the car, a jeep, stopped and they hopped out. 

I smiled when they walked over to the old man's car, they'd have some water to share with him. Then I saw the largest man, raise his gun at him. 

"Don't look," Nick whispered, making me hide my face in his shirt and I jumped when the gun went off. 

We both looked down at the radio on the ground when it crackled into life and I lunged for it, trying to get it to stop. 

These people were not friendly. 

We could hear these three guys coming towards us and Nick started pulling me towards the side of the road, "Go. Go." 

The men yelled when we emerged from behind the car and seconds later, there were bullets being fired at us.

We ran into an open field, making me worry slightly. There was nothing to hide behind so really, we were sitting ducks, depending on how good their aims are. We zig zagged; splitting up and meeting back up in the middle. Doing absolutely anything that would help us in not getting hit. 

"Into the bushes!" Nick yelled and I followed his instructions, running into the dense thicket, where thankfully, we were covered by the trees. 

"Hold up," he said loudly, bending over to catch his breath, "I think we lost them." 

"You sure?" I whispered, looking over my shoulder, "Nick, they shot him." 

"I know," he murmured, breathing deeply, taking my hand as he passed by me, "We need to keep moving though. They could come looking?" 

"You think they will?" I asked.

"I don't know, maybe. But we're not waiting around to find out." 

I couldn't help but agree with him, following him as we continued through the thicket. 

**

The sun continued to beat down on us as we continued through the desert, the need for both food and water becoming apparent as we both heard our stomach's rumbling. 

"There's gotta be something around here we can eat." he whispered, "There's gotta be." 

"Look around, Nick." I snapped, "Do you see anything? I mean, all there is out here is a bunch of cacti." 

His eyes lit up, "Maybe we could eat that."

I shook my head, "I really don't think that's a good idea. It can make you really sick." 

"It seems like it's our only option." he said seriously before moving to stand in front of one of them, "What's the best way to do it?" 

"You're asking me? I dunno. Just watch the spines." 

Timidly, he reached out and tried to break a piece off, retracting his hand quickly when he touched one of them, "Dammit." 

"Careful." I whispered.

He pulled his shirt off after kicking a part of it off, pricking himself once again before he wrapped it up in his shirt, before he stood on it to try and break it in half. "Come on!" he groaned, "It's almost there!" 

I stepped forward when he finally succeeded in breaking it and he held it up over my head, "Open. We'll get the water." 

I opened my mouth as he held the two halves, patiently waiting for even a drop but nothing came, "Shit." 

"Hold on," he whispered, "Hand me that rock." 

I handed it over to him and he quickly began pounding it and I sighed, sitting down on the dirt. I may as well save my energy for now.