The Rotting Flesh Book 1: Escatology
Chapter 31: A safe place

The raindrops tapped lightly on the leaves above Tom as he walked carefully, trying to be as quiet as possible. Tanya followed behind him looking around to cover his back since he covered the front. The area they were in was infested with the undead, they had already stumbled upon seven in under five minutes.

“Where is this jeep you mentioned?” Tom asked

“We are almost there, I don’t like it out here” Tanya whispered feeling a bit nervous, being outside like this was not something she was used to

She kept darting her eyes in every direction and breathed irregularly. At one point a twig broke and she latched onto Tom like a leach sucking its prey.

“Calm down, if things get too messy we climb up” Tom said trying to comforting her

Tom could feel just from her grip that she was extremely frightened.

“That idea will never work” she argued

“Don’t worry it will, trust me” he said

“There over .......... there” Tanya’s jaw dropped as she saw the countless zombies that surrounded it

“Woah I doubt if you had been in there you’d still be part of this world” Tom commented while looking around “that tree, lets go there”

They sneaked to the tree and climbed up. At one moment Tanya slipped nearly getting them noticed but Tom caught her in time. With a sigh of relief he pulled her up.

“Th thank you” she stammered still trying to recollect herself from the shock

Being inside the camp had crippled her badly, unlike the rest of the world who had to fight and survive outside. She had not yet gotten over her fear of the undead, from the incident in Nance field to the time Rodrigas died, freezing in place had seemed to always be her reaction when things got tough.

“Breathe slowly okay” Tom said lightly rubbing her back

She did the breath in breath out drills until she finally calmed down. Tom smiled while looking at her

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I think I’m keeping you” he joked and giggled

She couldn’t keep track of his humor because her mind was filled with mixed thoughts about the situation they were in.

“What now?” she asked looking at the countless undead surrounding the jeep

“This is where these come in handy” Tom said pulling out three light sticks that he had taken from one of the class rooms “does your jeep have gas?” he added

“No it emptied here so i had to run to the school” she explained

“Okay wow, thats a long way from home” he commented “alright so we need gas too, mmmmmm i recall on my way here I passed a fuel station about a kilometer from here” he added

“A what, no we are not going there” Tanya protested imagining the danger they would be in

“Come one it’ll be good for your training, we need those fear muscles to loosen up a bit” Tom said getting down from the tree

Tanya followed him and they now stood a short distance from the zombies but in the shadows. In the distance the sun was slowly rising and soon they would be very visible

“Can you run long distances?” Tom asked

“Well yea I did madly relays back in high school but…..wait” she stopped realizing it was a trick question “why did you”

“Good, Hey you pieces of shit!!” Tom yelled immediately catching the attention of the zombies “we run north go” he added lightly tapping her on her shoulder

She felt so betrayed at that moment and a chill went down her spine. Her body froze in place just like the incident back in Nance field. All the zombies turned and began to approach. Tom seeing how deep rooted her fears were he yanked her by the wrist and ran. She followed him almost like a trailer stuck to a truck.

“Tanya!” he yelled trying to pull her out of her shock

He could clearly see that even though she was there with him, her mind and soul were elsewhere.

“Hey!!” He yelled and pressed her wrist

After what seemed to be forever of zoning out she finally returned to reality

“How could you do such a thing” she yelled frowning at him

“Calm down”

“Don’t tell me to calm down!!, if you didn’t want me around you shou-“

“Look behind you” Tom cut her off

Her heart skipped a beat

Shit she imagined the worst

Tom stopped and pointed behind her. She stopped but kept facing him not willing to turn around.

Oh no what did I get myself into her eyes waters

“Can you please trust me and just turn around” Tom said calmly

She took a deep breathe in and out as she turned. To her surprise, what she imagine is not what she saw. The zombies were far behind almost a hundred meters from them.

“No tell me, who is faster you or the zombies?” Tom asked

“Me”

“Who is smarter you or the zombies?”

“Me”

“So what are you afraid of?” Tom said gently letting go of her wrist “the only advantage they have is numbers but aside from that trust me, they are as good as fish” he added

She followed his hand and held it. The fear was still there

“Uhm sorry” she said and let go

Tom followed hers and held it firmly, she looked up at him, he was smiling

“Don’t worry Rome was not built in a day, you can hold on as ling as you want. Ill be here. I’ve got your back” he said

Even after being in this messed up world for so long, these thoughts had never crossed her mind. Nothing he was saying was a lie. Even though she had just met him a few days ago, she already felt very safe in his company. What surprised her was the fact that she could see they were not many years apart in terms of age but dispute all that she felt safe. The last time she ever felt this safe was with Rodrigas. Nomatter how hard she tried to fight the emotions, it was in her nature to trust, to trust even a total stranger.