The Rot

Chapter 10

 Seeing the tall back fence of Miguel's house was a sight for sore eyes. Cynthia and I ran up to the fence started our climb up the gate. We weren't even near the top when the back door to Miguel's house flew open, and Miguel ran outside to greet us.

"You two damn near gave me a heart attack," Miguel told us. I could hear the relief in his voice.

"And we had about several ourselves," Cynthia responded. She hopped down first and Miguel gave her a huge hug.

I decided to stay atop the fence for a moment. Miguel looked up at me just sitting there atop his gate. "What are you doing, Reid?"

"I'm going to jump down into your loving arms," I replied.

Miguel shook his head and sighed, "I'm going back inside."

"I thought you missed us?"

"Yeah, I did. Not anymore."

"Fine." I climbed down. I didn't get to jump into Miguel's arms, but he did give me a pat on the back as we walked into the house.

'It's good to be back," Cynthia said as she sat down at Miguel's kitchen table.

"Where in the hell were you two?" Miguel asked us. "I hardly got any sleep. I kept thinking the dead things got you guys or something."

I hopped up on the kitchen table and grabbed a piece of bread to eat. "Miguel, you're not gonna believe this shit."

"The dead are coming back to life and eating the living. These days? I'll believe anything."

I looked at Cyn, "Do you want to start? Or should I?"

Cynthia sat up in her chair. "You go ahead, Reid. I'm changing out of these wet clothes."

"Can I dry off your feet?" I asked Cyn. Cynthia replied in kind by giving me the finger. My hot streak with the ladies continues.

Miguel laughed. "I missed you guys. So anyways, what happened? Did you guys check out that market?"

"We did," I answered.

"I take it the place was screwed."

"Yeah, it looked pretty bad, Miguel. The parking lot had some abandoned cars in it, and the corpses looked to be going in and out of the store. Well, I saw one eater for sure."

"Huh? 'Eater?'"

"I'll get to that. So, Cynthia and I didn't want to come back home empty handed. I remembered that there was Sampson's bakery nearby."

"Oh yeah, that's right."

"When Cyn and I made it there, the place looked to be empty. I popped my head into the bakery and even called out to see if someone was inside. When I didn't get a response, me and Cyn went inside. Unfortunately, the place was all out of donuts."

Miguel shook his head. "Bastards."

"I know. Anyway, as it turns out, there was someone inside the place after all. Another survivor. A guy named Peterson, he was a real charmer that one. He thought Cynthia and I were trying to steal what food was left in the place. He held us at gunpoint, Miguel."

"Shit," Miguel gasped. "So that's where you got that gun?"

"Huh?" I asked. I didn't even realize that I still had Peterson's assault rifle slung around my back. I took it off and handed it to Miguel. "There you go. Merry Christmas."

Miguel took the gun and set it down on the kitchen table, "So then what happened?"

"Peterson held us hostage for a bit in the back of the bakery. It didn't take long for me and Cyn to realize the dude had snapped. Understandable, given the circumstances. Peterson killed one of the eaters outside, and his shotgun blast alerted all of the nearby corpses. I don't know what that prick was planning on doing with us, but Cynthia and I didn't want to wait around to find out, and we managed to give him the slip."