Wake of the Dead | One

Chapter twenty

All Jasper could hear was the soft chatter of his companions behind him. The man wasn't even sure where this town was exactly, hoping that if he just followed the road they'd reach it before nightfall. Every one of his muscles were tensed and on edge. None of the group had been in this direction before, it could be dangerous beyond what everybody was assuming. It was very likely he was just paranoid, but paranoid and alert was better than confident and dead. Jasper's heart nearly exploded in his chest when somebody set their hand on his shoulder.

"Bit jumpy there, eh?" Darren said with a teasing smile curling upwards at the corners of his mouth. Jasper glanced down at his friend, narrowing his brows together into a frown. "Oh, jumpy and angry." With the other man's playful teasing, Jasper couldn't help but smile. He and Darren had been good friends even before all of this happened. Of course they hadn't seen each other since high school, but it was comforting to see a familiar face no matter how long it had been.

Snorting with amusement Jasper replied, "Just...habit." Reaching up, Jasper rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously. He seemed to be the only one on edge, all the time. Not once had he ever joined in if the group happened upon some alcohol and decided to drink, not once had he ever relaxed when keeping watch or traveling. Every nook and cranny could be hiding something that was dangerous. Every bush, every shadow; now even the ditches at the side of the road was looking a bit sinister.

The softness and understanding in his friend's eyes was pleasantly surprising. It had been several years since Jasper was ever settled in to a regular civilian life, made even worse by the fact that at any moment a biter could shamble out of nowhere and turn him into its dinner. The question of the century though, would he prefer biters over armed men in a battlefield? He honestly wasn't sure. "Adachi," The moment Darren spoke his last name, Jasper stiffened up his posture on instinct. His cheeks heated up a bit whenever Darren chuckled. "Alright soldier, listen up. You're the one leading this mission, yea?"

Jasper glared down at Darren, his nose wrinkling into a snarl of annoyance. He absolutely hated when people mentioned what he was before all of this. He would never forget the things he had done; the people he'd saved, the people he'd killed, the horrors he'd witnessed. But at least when he was alone and nobody mentioned it, he could pretend that all was a distant memory that he could move past. "Yea," Jasper muttered. "That's why somebody has to be alert and focused instead of chattering like a bunch of gulls."

Letting out a long and frustrated sigh, Darren elbowed Jasper in the ribs. The man winced, wondering why everybody just liked hitting him whenever they were annoyed--specifically Aubrey, Killian and Darren. Was he really that elbow-able? "I know you're a bit paranoid one of us will get hurt, then you'll be responsible for it. Right?" Darren prompted, completely ignoring Jasper's current annoyance. "So just-"

The crack of a twig made Jasper jump into action, immediately taking his gun and clicking off the safety, firing in the direction where the sound had come from. A biter that had been prepared to chomp down on Keagan from behind dropped dead. Keagan's eyes were widened with shock, Aubrey was holding back a startled yelp, but Darren's face was stuck in its annoyed expression. "Relax." The man finished his previous sentence bluntly. Jasper had only registered what had happened until Darren finished talking, and realized the gun was still pointed at Keagan's direction. Clearing his throat loudly, he put the safety back on and immediately set the gun at his hip again.

"Right." Jasper muttered. The realization that Keagan was almost bitten had finally processed in his mind, and the man raised his voice so the other two could hear him from the back. "Stick with Darren and I. We don't need something like that happening again." Keagan and Aubrey exchanged reluctant glances, then jumped when Jasper made his tone more strict and demanded, "Now!"

Keagan jogged up to Jasper, her brown eyes looking up with an anxious apology. Jasper sighed, with his breath blowing on his hair tuft. "This is why we stick together," The man tried his best to lighten his tone, take a deep breath and calm his racing heart. "It's also why we pay attention to our surroundings, right?" Keagan wrapped her arms around Jasper without warning, and the man's eyes widened with surprise.

After a quick hug, Keagan headed off in front of Jasper, with Aubrey laughing and jogging after her. "Wait for me, dummy." The young woman said, her ginger curls bouncing on her head along with each of her footsteps.

"Don't go too far ahead!" Jasper called after them worriedly. He would be lying if he said Keagan's hug hadn't caught him off guard. Sure, he'd saved people before and earned a few hugs here and there. But he hadn't in a long, long time. Something about that little gesture of appreciation made his heart melt.

Darren chuckled softly, shaking his head. "You don't give yourself enough credit." He tilted his head to the side, his eyes sparkling with amusement. "Maybe you're used to being given orders, but I know you're a better leader than you think."

Shaking off the other man's comment, Jasper refused to entertain that idea. He'd saved Keagan from being bitten, but he'd also fired a gun in her direction blindly and without any warning. He was lucky he hadn't shot her instead. That would have ended badly for every one of them. That had all happened because of his current paranoia, the little ticks that set him off.

Stopping as the group came across a large billboard with the town name plastered sloppily on the front, Jasper read it out loud. "Swanston." Narrowing his brows he muttered, "It must be small. I've never seen it on a map before."

Keagan suddenly jumped back as a biter began attempting to drag itself out from under a tangle of dying rose bushes meant to decorate the billboard. Jasper wrinkled his nose with disgust as he saw pieces of flesh ripping off and sticking onto the thorns. Even more horrifying, he could just catch a glimpse of a ribcage hidden somewhere in the rose bush, and a bloodied arm entangled in some vines that crawled up the walls of the sign. It seemed as if somebody had tried to hide from the biters, but got entangled in the rose thorns and was eaten by the one crawling at them.

Keagan reached behind her and pulled out a tire iron--her weapon of choice--and slammed it down on the biters head. The creature snarled again and reached towards her, but Aubrey jumped in and swung her baseball bat into the side of its head. When the head rolled away from the body, Jasper winced and looked away as Aubrey crushed the rest of the skull like a watermelon. Darren watched them closely, tilting his head to the side. "If there's a biter all the way out here, then it probably means there's no food left in the town." He muttered grimly to Jasper.

There was no telling what sort of instincts drove these creatures to do what they did, or what was keeping them from all just rotting to death. Some of them had evolved enough to sprint, Jasper had realized that much. Some seemed to be better at smelling than others. The biters weren't just shambling anymore, but was it possible that they could realize there wasn't enough food in one place and start heading to look for another? He doubted it, but it was still something to consider.

Jasper nodded and replied quietly, "So you think there's a good chance that place is full of biters, the-" His voice broke off as an ear-splitting bang split through the air and echoed off of the nearby buildings. The two exchanged wary glances as they heard the unmistakable sound of a gunshot. What followed was a blood-curdling, hair-raising shriek that took Jasper's breath away. Now, Jasper and Darren's exchanged thoughts had turned from not what was left in that place, but who.