Perish • Ben Parish

05

The old woman fell to the ground, her face freezing with a look of surprise. She tumbled on top of Zombie, the already broken table splintering more underneath the extra weight. 

Zombie let out a grunt and I dashed to the ground, using all the strength I had to heave her off of him. I pursed my lips, pushing her body to the ground. It rolled away, exposing her now blood stained sweater. 

"Zombie-" I started. 

He pulled me down to him, enveloping me into a crushing hug. "Shit are you alright?" he asked. 

"Yeah," I said, my voice muffled against his jacket. "And you're alright?" I confirmed, pulling back enough so I could see his face. 

I already knew he was alright. I wasn't trying to be full of myself or anything, but I had just killed the Other that had been two seconds away from killing him. I'd say he was doing pretty good considering how he could be doing if he'd come alone. 

He nodded. "Yeah, thank you," he said," You were amazing." 

I bit my lip, trying to suppress the smile I felt coming. I looked away, my gaze resting on the old woman. 

My eyes widened suddenly and I scrambled off of him. 

"Dumbo," I said eagerly. "C'mon, let's get going." 

Zombie nodded, stumbling to his feet. 

As much as I would've liked to revel in my success, we had people counting on us. There was no time to waste. 

After grabbing two of the Other's rifles, we were off, descending the steps to the deserted town road of Urbana. It was time to find the caverns, get Ringer, and then get our asses back to Dumbo before he bled out. 

After the incident with the old lady and all the time we'd wasting trying to get out of Urbana, the day had started to come to an end; the sun was starting to make its  descent, causing colors of pink and orange to take over the sky. 

Zombie and I walked in silence out of Urbana and then back onto the highway. I tried passing off the silence as a result of us being careful not to draw attention to ourselves. But I was pretty sure we weren't talking because neither of us knew what to talk about. More than anything, I wanted to talk to him- like actually talk to him. Talk to him about normal things and what the world would be like after we defeated the Others. 

But talking about those things didn't seem plausible in the slightest. Nothing was normal anymore and neither one of us wanted to talk about what our lives use to be. There was also no certainty that we would defeat the Others. If anything, there was certainty that the Others would defeat us. 

I looked over to my left, letting my eyes lift up to his face briefly. 

It was dark now - the moon the only source of light. But even with the limited light, I could still tell he was tense. His jaw was clenched and the way he gripped the rifle seemed screamed that he was on edge. 

I let out a small sigh, tearing my eyes away. 

My nose started to tickle and I could tell I was on the edge of a breakdown. 

I liked Zombie- I'd gotten to know Zombie, not Ben. But Zombie was always focused on what the next step was, always focused on the next battle in the never-ending, raging war. Ben, although not as strong, had smiled...had laughed. 

I missed that adorable, charming smile and that effortless, carefree laugh. 

I pursed my lips, flexing my fingers on the trigger of my rifle.