Ten

After he drained the glass and set it aside, he looked me over.  Not in a creepy way like when we’d first met, but more of a “are you ready?” kind of way.  He confirmed that guess by heading toward the front door.

“Mya and Drav go outside,” he said quietly.

I watched him wrap his hand around the knob and knew what would happen if he tore the door open. The noise would attract any nearby infected.

“Wait.  I can open it,” I said, hurrying to him.

He let go of the knob but didn’t step aside.  I pretended not to notice the way he leaned in to smell my hair as he watched me unlock the bolt then turn the knob.

“Yes,” he said, carefully moving me out of the way again so he could open the door and leave first.

He didn’t go far.  His back blocked the opening as he scanned right to left.

After a moment, he reached back for me.  It terrified me to have to step out into the night, knowing what waited in the dark.  But, thoughts of my family gave me courage enough to lead the way as Drav and I sprinted for the first bit of cover.

The sound of his soft footfalls behind me eased some of the terror.  As much as I worried about what he wanted with me, I also realized how relieved I felt that I wasn’t trying to make my way home alone.  Bit by bit we moved through one neighborhood to the next, making progress.

I dashed across a quiet street and ducked behind a car in someone’s front yard to wait for Drav.  A sound had me looking up as a woman came around the side of the house.  Fear lanced through me at the sight of her.  I could see bite marks through the tears in her bloody shirt. Infected.  A small sound escaped me.

Her head jerked in my direction, her mouth opening and closing. She lunged at me, and a solid wall of grey-muscled Drav stepped in front of me.  He growled low and caught her by the head.

This time, I shut my eyes.  Even without the visual, the wet sounds and the soft thump made bile rise to my throat.

A gentle pressure on my forehead had me opening my eyes.  Drav’s forehead rested against mine.

“I promise Mya stay safe,” he said.

His steady gaze held me, and looking into his odd eyes, I realized what he meant by those words.  Drav would keep me safe from the infected.  But who would keep me safe from him?

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“Yes.”

He moved back a little but stayed crouched beside me as I watched the houses and decided the next stop.  Avoiding the infected who shambled along the roads posed little issue with a bit of stealth and patience. However, as the woman had just proven, they didn’t all stick to open areas.

It took hours before I found myself in an area I actually recognized.  During that time, we were discovered by an infected on six different occasions.  Drav kept each one away from me.  He also removed every head.

“We’re not even halfway across town,” I said quietly as we stood in the darkness between two houses.

Drav didn’t say anything in return, just watched the street and yards before us.  I wasn’t sure how far he’d run with me, but I felt sure he’d covered more distance with me on his shoulder than we had by doing this duck and cover thing.  Only the knowledge that he’d have no idea which direction to go kept me from telling him to carry me again.  That meant we would need to keep traveling as we were, and it would be well after dawn before I reached my neighborhood.

Unwilling to give up, I selected the next target and sprinted toward it, Drav right beside me.

Near dawn, he tugged my shirt while we watched the street from behind a parked car.

“Mya, don’t go outside,” he said softly.

Since I already crouched outside, I had no idea what he meant. I began to understand, though, when he looked at a house with a fenced in yard further down the block.  No sheets or paint indicated anyone needing help.  Unlike some of the other houses, the front door and garage were closed.  It would be a perfect place to rest for the day.  If I wanted to rest.  Which I didn’t.  I wanted to go home.

I turned to tell him we should keep going, but he tossed me over his shoulder before I could argue.  Seething, I kept quiet as he sprinted toward the house.  Behind us, the sky was just barely starting to lighten.  In the daylight, I could maybe manage on my own.

The sudden jump he executed made my stomach drop.  When he landed, I patted his back.

“Put me down.”

He stopped moving and set me on my feet.

“This time you go inside first and check for infected.”

He blinked at me, grunted, then went to the entrance.  I watched him put his shoulder to the door.  As soon as it gave way, he went inside.

I moved quickly to the fence and prepared to jump and catch the top.  A whisper of movement on the other side stopped me.  Leaning closer, I peeked through the tiny gap in the board and almost screamed at the sight of an infected looking straight at me. Slowly, I backed away and edged closer to the door and Drav.

Drav came out several moments later with a body and a head.  I almost yipped at his sudden appearance.

“Inside, Mya,” he said, after he dumped them over the fence.

I willingly turned from the fence—and what lurked beyond—and walked into the house with Drav right behind me.  He went to the kitchen to start searching cupboards, and I noted the thick blood that spattered his shirt in several places.  Tearing off heads was messy business.

“I need to pee,” I said, watching him.

He grunted and moved toward the hall.  I followed him.  As soon as I found a bathroom, I stepped in, closed the curtains, and turned on the light.

“Door open,” he said over his shoulder as he headed back to the kitchen.

Seeing the infected on the other side of the fence had killed any urge to leave.  Still, I kept the door open as I quickly used the bathroom and washed my hands.  By the time I returned to the kitchen, Drav already had several cans of food open.  I ate some chili and green beans.  He consumed three cans of tuna and tried a bite of peas, which he swallowed but obviously didn’t like, given the way he shoved the can aside.

“Not good?” I asked, trying not to laugh.

“Not good,” he said, agreeing.

Once we finished, I wandered off in search of a bedroom before he could start his nudging.  In the first one I found, I went to the closet to look for a shirt that might fit him.

“Mya, no,” he said, snagging me around the waist and turning me toward the bed.

“Drav, stop.  Wait.”  He let me go, and I turned to point at the blood on his clothes.

“You can’t sleep in that shirt.  It has infected blood all over it, and it’s gross.”  But more importantly…what if it got into his gash and he turned into one of them?  I wouldn’t stand a chance.

He grunted and had his shirt untied and off in two blinks.  My brain malfunctioned slightly at the sight of all that chiseled, muscled flesh.

“Ohhh-kay.  Ah, I’ll just see if I can find you a new one.”

He blocked my step toward the closet then slowly moved toward me.  I retreated, until I realized he was backing me toward the bed.  Thoughts of how he’d pressed against me yesterday while I slept and his current exposed state had me scrambling for a way to distract him.  The red spotting his white bandage caught my eye.

“Wait.  I, uh, should check that cut on your side.”  I gestured at it.  “We should clean and change that.”

“Yes,” he said, stepping back.

Relieved, I hurried from the room to the bathroom, where I dug out what I could find for first aid supplies.  There wasn’t much.  With a tube of ointment and several knee-sized band-aids on the counter, I faced Drav, who waited in the doorway.

He didn’t make a sound as I eased the old bandage away.  One part stuck and I had to carefully wet the cloth before removing it.  After reapplying ointment, I put several new band-aids on.  He waited in the hall while I threw away the wrappers and washed my hands.

“I’ll get you a clean shirt,” I said as I joined him.

“No clean shirt.”

Crap.  I didn’t resist his nudge toward the bedroom as I struggled to think of another solution to my half-naked demon problem.

“There’s another bedroom if you’d rather have a bed to yourself,” I said.

“No.  You go outside.”

Damn.  Unable to think of anything else to prevent snuggle time without making him angry, I reluctantly entered the room.  Before I reached the bed, he tugged at the bottom of my shirt.

“Gross, Mya.”

I turned to face him, understanding what he was saying. Up to this point he had been relatively respectful when I asked him to give me a sliver of privacy, so I shook my head and took a step backwards.

Drav pulled at my shirt again.

“It has infected blood all over it,” he said, using my words.

Glancing down, I saw flecks of spattered dark brown blood mixed in with the grunge from falling, sweating, and other mishaps on the road. Yeah, my shirt looked pretty gross, but I wasn’t about to part with it, not with his fascination with my boobs.

“No, my shirt stays on.”

“No shirt.”

“Yes shirt.”

Dear lord, now I was arguing like him. Before he could say anything, a jaw-cracking yawn took me by surprise.  Drav stared at my wide-open mouth.  The yawn ended with his finger lifting my upper lip.

“What the hell, Drav?” I said as he bent down to take a closer look.

Drav’s lips parted as he slid his tongue down one of his long, sharp canines.

“Yeah, we have different size teeth,” I said, pulling back.  He dropped his inquisitive fingers and glanced at my top again.

“I will sleep easier with my shirt on.”

I climbed into the bed, and Drav grunted, which I took to mean he would allow me to keep my shirt.

Once I settled in on my side with my back to him—the safest position, in my mind—he lay down behind me and wrapped an arm around my waist.  His hand drifted dangerously close to the prize he’d held this morning.  I frowned as I realized it hadn’t been this morning because the sun was just rising.  Traveling at night and sleeping during the day was messing with my head.  How long had it been since the first attack?  Two nights ago?

His hand crept closer, his fingers brushing my underwire, and I quickly grasped his wrist.  The feel of something under my palm had me looking down.  A leather bracelet wrapped around his wrist. I tried lifting his hand, but he didn’t budge.

“No, Mya.” Drav whispered, his breath warm against the back of my neck.

“I’m not leaving. I just want to look at your bracelet.”

His tight hold on my waist loosened, and this time, he let me lift his arm. A beautifully crafted bracelet, leather bound with rough crystal with markings engraved on the top, circled his wrist. I touched the crystal, my finger tracing the marking.

Drav hummed and snuggled closer. Carefully, I set his arm back down where it had been. His chest expanded against my back as he drew in a deep breath.

“Sleep, Mya.”

After running through Oklahoma City the whole night, my body felt like lead.  Hoping I wasn’t making a mistake, I closed my eyes.

*    *    *    *

I was blissfully warm and well-rested when I woke, too cozy to want to open my eyes.  That changed the moment a warm hand stroked the bare skin of my back.

My eyes popped open, and I stared at the expanse of grey-honed skin before me.  At some point in the night, I had turned in my sleep and now lay chest to chest with Drav.  I looked up to find him watching me.  His hand didn’t still on my back as our gazes locked.  Uncertain if a roving hand on my back was any safer than an over the shirt boob grab, I tried to scoot backwards, but he held me tight.

“No, Mya.”

“I wish I hadn’t taught you that word.”

My stomach growled, which caught Drav’s attention. He glanced down between us with a concerned frown.

“Just hungry,” I said.

“Hungry, Mya.”

I nodded, and he rolled away from me, sitting up.  With some breathing room, I glanced at the windows and noticed the weak light peeking around the curtains.  Another day gone and another night waited filled with running from things that wanted to kill me.

“Did you want to put your shirt back on?” I asked when I finally looked his way.

“No.  Gross.”

He held out his hand, but I ignored it and slipped out of bed on my own.

After I made a pit-stop at the bathroom, where Drav again insisted I keep the door open, we ate a quick meal of canned food. Drav watched me carefully through our “breakfast,” and I avoided looking at him.  His bare chest was intimidating.

Once we finished eating, we made our way back outside where the sun had dipped below the horizon.

Without any warning, he threw me over his shoulder and jumped the fence, giving me no chance to warn him about the infected I’d seen that morning.  A second later, Drav landed and set me on my feet.  I looked around with wide eyes.  Thankfully, the infected person no longer waited on this side.  I was so ready to be done with this trip home.