EIGHT

A Chapter by Maddox

~Jake~

“Jake,” said Richelle gently. “You need to wake up.” She reached out and tenderly shook Jake’s shoulder. Shaking awake Jake looked around. They were driving slowly through an old town.

“What’s going on?” she burbled. She wiped the crusts from the corners of her eyes and sat up. Her left knee gave a disturbingly loud pop as she stretched it out on the seat. Richelle gave a small shudder and smiled at her.

“We’re running out of gas. The stations we’ve stopped at are all empty. We are coming up on a small store and then we’re on foot,” said Adrian. His voice didn’t hold any of the ice it had earlier. Jake glanced around at the forest surrounding the small town. Camping? In these woods? They might as well turn around and give themselves to the returned. She closed her eyes, shaking her head. She grabbed a black drawstring bag from the floorboards. She rifled through it. Pulling out two notebooks, a handful of pens, duct tape, a box of envelopes, an extra pair of shoes, the envelope containing her pictures, and extra plastic baggies. She threw the envelopes and baggies in the back, knowing they won’t be needing them. She unzipped and pulled off her calf length black boots. The sides of the boots were scuffed and starting to tear. Sighing she shoved them in the bag and pulled on her pair of neon orange knock off, converse high tops.

She replaced the notebooks, pens, and duct tape. She cradled the heavy envelope in her hands. What she had left of her parents could fit in this small bag. Jake dropped the envelope in her bag and stuffed the burnt unicorn doll on top. They had three drinks in the back of the trunk along with just a couple packages of ramen noodles and a can of spaghetti O’s. They would just have to pack them with the supplies they are going to get at the store. She sighed quietly as they pulled to a stop in front of the store. Quietly they all slipped out of the car and walked to the store’s front.

It was an old abandoned supermarket. Its automatic doors had stopped working. Jake remembered being in supermarkets with her friends before The First. Small children curled up in shopping carts to play their videogames; parents attempting to stack their groceries around them. Workers moved around, carting boxes to restock the shelves. Smells wafted around the stores; fresh bread from the bakery, perfume from the hygiene section. The nail polish displays streaked with people trying out the colors. Loud music blasted from the toy section where kids played with all the toys that littered the aisles. Teens crowded the Starbucks café cleverly built into the small book section. Jake loved the smell of coffee. She couldn’t stand the taste of it though, too bitter. But she and her best friend, Cassidy, would get a drink and sit in the book section for awhile. Cassidy didn’t drink coffee so she would just get tea or something else hot to give the appearance of similar drinks. When they left high school Jake went to Colorado and Cassidy stayed in Ohio. She studied at The Ohio State University as a forensic psychologist major. The main reason Jake was going to the Ohio Sanctuary was because Cassidy was there. They hadn’t seen each other since spring break a couple years ago. They had pooled their money and went to England together.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!” yelled Adrian grabbing her arm. He yanked her out of the way of the quickly approaching Returned. It had gotten a few feet from her and she hadn’t even reached for her gun. Adrian’s yank threw her on the ground. She watched Adrian gracefully slide his gun around and put two even shots in the Returned’s head. The thing fell back against the curb, an audible snap from its neck. Finished, Adrian spun and looked down at her. That’s when she realized that she was still on the ground.

Quickly she scrambled up. Sharp stinging in her leg made her wince. She looked down at her leg. From her knee to her ankle the pant leg was torn, already starting to be soaked in blood. She was honestly glad that she had taken off her boots and switched into her pair of knockoff high top converse.

“What were you thinking?” Adrian demanded.

“What does it matter? It not like it will make you hate me any less.” She said, not looking at him. After a long silence she looked up. He looked taken aback. Holding back her tears, she looked down and walked away into the store. Richelle was already in there gawking at the beauty supplies still in that department of the store.

Jake walked past her deeper into the store. She wandered through aisles before there was another tug on her arm. It jerked her backwards, bumping her shoulder against Adrian’s chest.

“What is your problem?” she asked turning around. She looked up at him.

“What is yours?” his voice was quiet but still guarded. “Do you think that is just going to go away? You leave it like that and it’ll get infected.” She looked around. She honestly was looking for the medicine aisle but she couldn’t find it.

“Funny since we are surrounded by infected. You want to help? This is why, I’m guessing, you followed me. You can help. Help me find the medicine aisle.” She said.

“That is not what you need,” he laughed. He put his arm around her shoulder and steered her in the opposite direction. She was disappointed as he led her past the alcohol aisle and into the home décor. He grabbed a plastic covered pack of washcloths and continued weaving through the store. Stumped she stared at him as they stopped in the unrefrigerated soda aisle. He avoided her stare and let go of her shoulders, heading towards the small section of the aisle that held cases of water. Pulling out a case he smacked it down on the ground and slid his shoe off. Shaking it over his hand, a Swiss army knife fell out. Curious, Jake limped over to where he was working over the case and leaned against the shelves. Adrian sliced open the package and pulled out a bottle of water.

“Sit.” He said. Cautiously she sat down, her back against the shelf. Adrian still had the knife out. He tore open the package of washcloths and scooted closer to her.

“You’re not going to kill me, are you?” she asked jokingly. He shot her a disgusted look and cracked open the bottle of water. Setting it down near her bent legs. Gently, he grabbed her injured leg and straightened it. She sat up and watched him. He started cutting her pants where the blood stopped, just above her knee. Tenderly, he lifted her leg and finished the slice behind her knee. She started to take her shoe off but he stopped her, gently pushing her away. Adrian cut down the length of the leg and pulled the square of fabric away. He dumped water on one of the washcloths and began wiping her leg.

Jake jerked away. It stung. She didn’t understand how the cut could be so deep; he hadn’t pulled her that hard. Shooting her a look that said ‘keep still,’ he continued cleaning her wound.

“I don’t get it. A few hours ago you practically called me an idiot and now you are cleaning my wound. Pick a side and get on it because you are seriously confusing.

“I don’t hate you.” He said quietly.

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