Walkers Of The Waste: A Post Apocalyptic Story

Water

Light begins to shine when I finally wake her up. She looks surprised that I'm still there, but quickly brushes it off.

"Did you sleep at all?" She asks, I shake my head. "Why not?"

"Not tired." In all honestly I'm exhausted, but I don't trust her enough to sleep with her around. Especially when she could potentially kill me in my sleep.

"You look it." I stare at her, what does she know, I look like this normally. I grunt and she sighs.

"Water." I tell her checking my canteen and she shakes hers as well.

"Yeah, I'm also almost out. Do you know of any where near by where we can find water?" She asks and I shake my head. She pulls out a compass and places it on the ground in front of her, I watch as the needle spins around, signifying north is the way that I tried heading yesterday. "Want to try heading east?" I shrug my shoulders, it doesn't matter what way we go, if we run out of water we'll be dead not long after. She places the compass back into her bag, slinging it over her shoulder again. I get all my weapons into their correct places and sling my duffle over my shoulder. We leave, heading east.

About an hour into our journey we encounter a Wendigo, once a human the creature was mutated by radiation. Wendigo will scent out and eat any human that stray into their hunting grounds. If you're bitten by one and survive, without the cure, derived from the Wendigo that bit you's saliva, you start to become one. I remember back when one had attacked Havenstone, three people were bitten, thankfully the town healer managed to cure two of them, the third went on a rampage and killed twelve people before he himself was killed. I take down this Wendigo easily enough, it's only a small one. I kill it with an arrow to it's head, the tip piercing the eye and entering the brain.

Lucy and I follow the Wendigo's tracks back to it's den, inside we find piles of bones, a few torn up bags here and there and a few weapons. One takes my interest, nestled in the remains of a skeleton a long sword lies, still in its scabbard and tied around the bone waist. I pick it up, shaking out the bones and tying it to my own waist. I watch as Lucy looks around the cave picking up various items and placing them in her bag. I do the same, but only for ammunition for my weapons, and any water that might be in other containers. Finding little usable ammunition, and not a drop of water, I motion for us to leave.

"Water." I remind the girl and she sighs, but follows me out of the cave nonetheless. We camp underneath several dead trees that night. Carrying on in the morning. Lucy runs out of water first, I give her what little of mine I have left. Another day passes by and the only sign of water is a dry river bed. Food was easy to find, we came across a few wild dogs, on the verge of dying, the meat should last a few more days. The next day I start to feel the effects of dehydration. I try not to let it show, but Lucy seems to catch on, scolding me for letting her have my water. I just shrug my shoulders and carry on. Another day, and another. If we don't find water soon, we'll become another victim of the wastes. I don't want to die from something as stupid as dehydration. Day five since we left the house in search of water, and we finally come across evidence. A large number of footprints litter the ground, ranging in size and type. We follow the tracks and sure enough we're lead to a large watering hole, surrounded by large creatures I've never seen or heard of before. They stand on four legs, their hides covered in a black fur. When one raises it's head, it's fangs become visible, each is at least a foot long. We stay a fair distance away from the pack of what ever they are, waiting for them to leave. Sure enough, after a few hours they move on, giving Lucy and I a chance to get to the water. She goes straight for the water, ready to dip her head in to drink, I pull her back. Holding up a finger I signify for her to wait. I dip a hand into the water, nothing bad seems to happen, I take a sip. Plain. Not badly contaminated. I nod my head and she dunks her head in drinking that way. I roll my eyes at her, grabbing my canteen and filling it up. I grab the three Lucy now has, two empty ones she found in the Wendigo den. I fill her canteens, and place them in her bag. I cup some more water in my hands and drink, always keeping my ear out for any danger.

"Do you ever relax?" Lucy asks me, wiping the remaining water from her face. I just stare at her.

"Relaxation is death out here."

"You know, that's probably the most I've ever heard you speak at once." She says with a laugh, I glare at her, causing her to laugh more. I harden my glare, and she holds her hand up in mock surrender, I look back out at the distance. "Do you think we could build a home here?" I shake my head. "Why not?"

"Need to keep moving." I tell her, she looks at me confused.

"Why, we've found water, what else do we need."

"Not safe here." I point towards a rising dust cloud in the distant north, most likely caused by a group of something big moving at great speeds through the sand.

"Oh, how long do you think we have?" She asks, staring off into the distance.

"Hopefully long enough." I tell her, and she pales, we pack our stuff as quickly as possible, and head east, hopefully these creatures won't be able to track us and we'll be okay. If not, then we're dead. I give Lucy my shot gun, and hold my bow in my hands. She holds the weapon nervously, like she's never held one before. We run, she keeps her head forward, I keep looking behind me. They don't seem to be following, but one can never be too sure. After we're a good distance away from the creatures we slow to a jog. I stay alert, waiting for the moment something attacks, ready to protect Lucy, and myself. No, protect myself, why am I trying to protect Lucy, I only met her a few days ago. Yet I gave her one of my weapons, I shared my water with her, I made sure she ran in front of me. Since when have I been so willing to give my life for anyone, let alone a girl I barely know.

"Are we safe?" Lucy asks, snapping me out of my thoughts, I nod my head in confirmation. She hands me back my shot gun and I swing it over my shoulder. "Are you okay?" She asks me, I nod, I'm not injured, so therefore I am fine. But something about the way she asks, it's almost as if she isn't asking about physical well being. I shrug it off, continuing to walk through the wastes, away from the setting sun. As night falls Lucy takes first watch, much to my annoyance, but I let her anyway. I wake up after only a few hours of sleep, I don't need much, and I don't trust Lucy enough for me to take more. I look over at her, she's staring at me.

"Sleep." I tell her, and she lies down, curling into herself underneath a thin blanket. The nights seem to be getting cooler, perhaps the cold weather has come early. If that's the case we'll need to find a suitable place to take shelter in during this time. We. I said we. As in her and I. Why did I say that? Don't I want to get ride of her? She is clearly untrained and a liability, but I find myself trusting her and protecting her.