Outlast (1) - The Walking Dead

Chapter 5

The little house had done us well for a day longer, however there were no other supplies around so we had to move on.

"I've never felt more disgusting." I cringed as I pulled on the same top I had been wearing for days.

"Hopefully we'll run into a clothing store." Evan said and I nodded. I pulled on my backpack which had increased in weight due to the water bottles. Evan found a small stream while he was out wood hunting which provided clean water. Along with washing to the best of our abilities without soaps, we also filled up as many canisters as we could find before moving on.

Sol was tacked up and ready to go, I mounted using the fence and waited for Evan to get his bike ready.

"Ready?" He asked and I nodded. The roar of the engine started and I followed him out the woods and towards the road. We rode for a while, and increasing amount of walkers littered the roads, I'd never seen so many all at once.

Evan led us to a small town which had loads of shops.

"Let's get food first, then clothes, then any other shop you want to go in." Evan parked his bike in front of a big food store. I jumped off Sol and untacked her so she could roam free, leaving her saddle and bridle with Evans bike.

I pulled out my gun from my pocket and held it in front of me. Evan held the door open and I went in first.

"Oh, wow." I looked at the mess of the shop. Shelves had been tipped up, juice and other liquids had spilled all over the floor, windows smashed and broken, lights dangling from the ceiling and walker bodies lying everywhere.

"Alright you take left I'll take right and remember, double check any corpses. We don't want any surprises." Evan said and I nodded going left.

A trail of blood gave me an uneasy feeling as I followed it. It looked like someone had been killed and dragged. I followed the trail until I came to a body lying in a pool of blood behind the till. Flies buzzed and surrounded the wounds. I almost puked at the smell but managed to conceal it.

There was a hole going through the persons head, I had no doubts he was dead.

Carrying on through the store I picked up and salvageable food I could; beans, crisps, cookies, rice and more.

"We good?" Evan and I met at the front of the store. I nodded and shifted my now heavy backpack on my shoulders.

We went to the store opposite which was a clothing shop. I guess the best part about the end of the world was not paying for stuff.

"Come find me when you're done." Evan patted my shoulder as he walked into the men's section. I nodded and went upstairs to the ladies.

What felt like an eternity but must've only been half an hour I had picked out as many outfits as I could fit in my bag. My old clothes were in my bag as they were still usable but just dirty.

"Ah how it feels to be wearing clean clothes again." I smelled the new fabric smell.

I had gone with some black jeans, a black sport vest, a denim jacket with a fluffy collar and some more boots.

Walking downstairs I saw Evan trying on a shirt in front of the mirror. I stopped and just watched him for a while, as creepy as it may seem I just enjoyed watching him. His muscles flexed as he did up the buttons, the fabric stretching taught over his broad shoulders. I looked away before he noticed and continued down the stairs loudly so he heard.

"Hey." I walked over to him. He turned around and smiled, I didn't miss the quick head to toe observation he gave me before turning back around.

"Got everything you want?" He asked. I nodded, he collected his stuff and we made our way outside.

"Hey. You hear that?" Evan grabbed my arm to stop me walking on. I focused my hearing and strained to hear voices talking lowly not too far from us.

"Hey boss. I found somethin'."

Evan pulled me back into the shop and crouched underneath the window which had a wall just tall enough to cover us. My back was almost touching his torso and u could feel his warm breath tickling my neck which sent shivers down my spine.

I peered out and saw 2 men examining Evan's bike along with Sol's tack. A third man walked over and they started chatting quietly, too low for me to hear.

"What they saying?" I asked Evan, as if he would have superhuman hearing.

"They're looking for us." He whispered. The 3 men parted, guns raised as they started scavenging the area.

"What do we do?" I whispered.

"Not sure, they could be harmless, or harmful." He shrugged.

"And if they're harmful?" I asked him uncertainly. I'd seen the military guys kill those people, but I didn't think I could murder someone myself.

"We run or fight." He whispered. A shadow appeared in the doorway, I could see the man was walking towards us. I stayed still, he would find us if we didn't move.

He appeared in the doorway looking left first, away from us, then turned left.

"Sweet baby Jesus! Y'all almost gave me a heart attack!" The guy jumped back in shock, fumbling with his gun but dropping it. Picking it up and looking back at us he realised we were human and not walkers.

"Er, sorry?" It sounded more like a question.

I looked warily at the gun the man hadn't put down yet. He noticed and holstered it right away.

"Sorry if I scared ya. Only use these on the dead, not the living unless they try ta' kill us." He explained.

"Hey Jones! You found em?" A voice yelled in the distance.

"Yeh! They o'here!" He yelled back. I cringed, if there were any walkers around they would surely come running towards this guys shouting.

"We just looking for survivors. When we saw ya bike we knew ya had to be around here somewhere. We gotta camp, not too far from here, other kids like yaselves, numbers keep us strong, the dead are easier to fight that way. Say, y'all could come join us for a bit see if ya like it, if not-"

"Jones, shut up." Another man walked through the door. He was taller, definitely over the 6 foot mark with more muscle compared to the other one who was short and podgy.

"Yes boss sir." Jones saluted to the 'boss'. I looked back at Evan who was trying to keep a straight face, but his eyes twinkled with amusement.

"My lieutenant is an idiot." He placed the big assault rifle on his back and held a hand out to me, I took it cautiously and he pulled me up.

"He was telling the truth though. We do have a hideout that keeps the dead away. We're just trying to help as many people as we come across. I'm Peter, I see you've already met Jones." I looked over to where Jones was uselessly sifting through clothes on the sale rail.

"I'm Chey, and this is Evan." I pointed back to Evan who just nodded in acknowledgement. For some reason he seemed tense. I could see it in his posture.

We spoke with the rest of the 'gang' for a bit and decided to go back with them. What did we have to lose? We agreed to meet them there as Sol would be slower than the cars.

"I don't have a good feeling about this." Evan admitted a while after the others had driven off.

"Don't you say that about everyone?" I questioned as I tacked Sol up.

"Not you." A cute boyish smirk played on his lips. I rolled my eyes and jumped on Sol.

"I'm flattered." Evan got on his bike and we followed the directions to this new place.