Rebecca already had her knife out, pressed to the side of her thigh, and stood on the other side of Collin. He had his weapon in hand, and when she looked at him, she could see his gaze moving back and forth, taking in everything.
“We can go around and avoid them, but there might be something we can use in the buildings,” he said softly and then looked over at her.
“Where exactly are we going?” Rebecca asked just as softly.
“I don’t know, but I think the higher we go, the safer we will be. The chances of the sick wandering so far up into the mountains are slimmer, and I think a lot of the healthy ones still surviving will stay close to the towns.” He glanced at the small village again, if it could even be called a village. It seemed more like a community than anything else. “And this isn’t it.” He stared at the infected again, and then he crouched low, trying to maybe see another way around them.
It was easier to avoid them altogether. But the three infected were roaming in a circle, groaning and unaware of their presence. He was right though. They needed to at least see if there were any supplies in the buildings.
“What the hell is this place, though?” Rebecca asked and kept her focus on the infected. One of them turned toward them, groaned, and then that had the others turning and doing the same. They moved toward her and Collin, their flesh peeling, black congealed blood seeping out of their skin, and gouges missing from their bodies and faces taking up her entire view.
She didn’t think, just reacted. Moving forward, her knife raised high, she attacked the first corpse. The older man had receding lips and scabs littering his face. He was missing his left eye, and in its places was a pus-filled socket. Pushing back her gag reflex, she stabbed him right in that socket, drilling her knife through his skull and hearing the sickening wet, bone-crunching sound.
She looked over at where Collin was and watched as he finished off the infected. The bodies littered the ground, and then he was looking at her with anger and moving toward her.
“What the fuck, Rebecca?” he scolded in a very angry tone and looked down at where her knife was in her hand, blood dripping from the tip. “You cannot just run out there and start going Warrior Princess on their asses. You need to wait, and together we can do this shit.” He scrubbed a hand over his face and breathed out, clearly looking frustrated.
“What?” she asked just as outraged. “I’ve survived without you in my life and won’t just sit back while the big muscle man takes care of business.” They glared at each other for several moments, and then the sound of clicking had them both tensing.
Collin pulled her behind his body, and she listened hard, trying to see where the noise was coming from. The clicking started again, but it wasn’t as if someone were cocking a gun. It was a lighter, less threatening noise. It was strange, and one that she had heard before but couldn’t place now.
Then the sound stopped, and they waited several moments, trying to see if it was a threat or maybe a small animal going through debris. But when she saw a dark figure move across the window of the schoolhouse, everything inside her went on alert. She tugged on his sleeve, about to tell him what she had seen, but then he started speaking.
“I saw,” Collin said in a low voice. “You wait here.”
“No,” she snapped before he even finished speaking. He stared at her with a scowl and then sighed. They moved forward, keeping to the side of the buildings, and when they reached the front door to the school, they stilled. He looked at her, pointed to her knife, telling her without words to keep it at the ready, and she nodded. He pushed open the door with his boot since it was already cracked ajar, and when no one attacked him and infected didn’t come out groaning and moaning, they stepped inside.
The interior was small, with a main room that looked like something out of a nineteenth century schoolhouse atop a hill. There were benches for the children’s seats, a chalkboard that still had writing on it, and dirt and debris all over the floor.
The two windows in the building were busted open, and the glass was shattered to pieces on the ground and some of the benches. It didn’t look like anyone was in the room, but she had seen someone walk by the window.
She knew she had, and Collin had seen it too. And then there was the clicking again. They turned, faced the darkened corner, and waited for whoever was standing there to make themselves known.