“If you can’t keep up, I’m gonna leave you on your own,” Mercer stated as he quickly stepped and Genna following a few paces behind doing her best to keep up.
“Well maybe if you would slow do…”
“No,” he interrupted, “That was a big group of walkers back there and the best thing to do is put distance between me and them.”
“What about everyone else?” Genna questioned.
“Look, if they got out… Which is a big IF then they should be headed to Houston.”
The ascending sun exposed more littered asphalt along with a green road sign that read Lufkin 18 miles.
“At least the next town is close,” Genna announced as she read the sign.
“Towns cvmean people, which means infected or worse.”
Mercer and Genna continued along the black top weaving in and out of abandoned cars occasional stopping to search through them for supplies.
“When we get to Lufkin, we need to be prepared,” Mercer stated as he unholstered his 1911 then ejected the magazine and loaded more .45 caliber bullets into it, “Got any weapons?”
He turned to look at Genna as she removed a small pocket knife from her jean’s pocket.
“I don’t think that’ll do anything,” he admitted bleakly and halted to pull a much larger folding pocket knife from his own pocket and placed it in Genna’s hands, “Have you ever taken one of the walkers down before?”
“No,” she answered quietly removing the knife from its holster and unfolded it; the blade reflected the bright sun’s rays as the wood and brass handle fit slightly big in her hand.
“Well if you’re going to survive, you need to learn how.”
“My sister always says, ‘In the head as hard as you can’.”
“And that’s very true… But your sister won’t always be there to protect you, so you need to learn.”
“Okay,” she replied, and they continued to walk in silence as they moved through the scattered vehicles.
The littered vehicles began to thin when Mercer took notice of a creature trapped underneath a lone car; it grasped at the black top as it attempted to pull itself from underneath the driver’s side front tire. Its hands bloody and fleshless from its constant attempts to escape and its organs spilt around the sides of the tire.
“Looks like this is going be your first,” Mercer stated approaching the half creature, they moved to each side of it.
Gaining its attention from its feeble attempts to escape the tires, it lashed out at Genna’s legs with a wheezed gasp only to miss as she moved out of range.
“Don’t be scared,” he said laughing then proceeded to stomp on its outreached arms, the crack of the bones breaking made Genna wince where she stood, “Now, take out the knife and put it in its skull.”
She did as she was told, removing the knife from its holster and unfolded the blade inching closer to the trapped half creature, releasing a snarl as it struggled to move under the weight of the tire, she drew a deep breath and tightened her grip on the handle of her knife. She turned the knife downward while advancing toward the creature then drove the shining blade into the top of its skull. Instantly giving its struggle and fell to the asphalt with the knife still in its skull, Genna reached down and gripped the knife proceeding to yank it free.
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“See that wasn’t too hard was it?” he asked beginning to restart their journey, “Next time remember that it won’t be that easy, now let’s get going.”
“Do you know how much longer will it take to get there?” Genna questioned staring at the bloody blade before wiping it onto her jeans then folded the knife and holstered it.
“We should make it there before dusk, which means we will need to find a place to hold up for the night.”
They walked for several more hours before arriving at the outskirts of Lufkin; halting a few miles out from Lufkin.
“Hmm,” Mercer contemplated as looking at the sign, “I think we might be better off waiting till tomorrow before we go on in.”
“Why?”
“I’m not sure what to expect and I’d rather be rested than tired.”
They moved off the road to a small house to the right of the back top, its exterior dirty but still intact while tall grass sprouted from its foundation as vines grew over its wrap around porch. Continuing to the steps and up them, each step gave a creak before arriving at the front door, Mercer upholstering his 1911 as he stood next to the door then gesturing Genna to open her knife and be prepared. Gripping the knob and twisting it, the door groaning as he pushed it open then took the lead stepping inside the dork shadowed house.
“Stay here,” Mercer commanded in a hush tone as stepping into the darkness.
The darkness swallowed him, in which he stood still, letting his eyes adjust to the absence of light listening in the silence of the house. The traits of the forgotten home began to reveal themselves; a small living room plastered with floral patterns form the walls to the single couch against the wall perpendicular to the door. Another entrance leading to reflective linoleum floor and a staircase that led to a second story; he advanced toward to the linoleum floor into a large kitchen and a dining table with four chairs, running his finger across its surface through a thick layer of dust. He retreated from the kitchen into the living room once more then to the staircase. Cocking the hammer and beginning his ascent up, slowly taking his steps up the staircase to the top and arriving to a short hallway with two doors.
Drawing closer, Mercer took notice of completely open doors; anxiety beginning to fill his chest accompanied with a quickening heart rate with each step he advanced. He peered into each room for any undead assailants, venturing into the room to the left finding it uninhabited as he hoped. Mercer moved from that room to the next, the moonlight leaking through the blinds of the window onto two withered creatures lying side by side on a made bed. Neither of the creatures moved, just lying there in stillness as Mercer inched further toward them, replacing his 1911 in its holster then unsheathing a knife that residing at his lower back while stepping to the side of the bed. Mercer proceeded to drive the blade into both unmoving creatures and exited from the room then back down the staircase to the living room.
“It’s clear!” Mercer called.
“Any trouble?” she asked stepping through the threshold.
“Well not anymore, there were two upstairs so unless you wanna see a couple of dead bodies.”
“No thanks.”
“Let’s get some light in here,” Mercer stated moving to the small fire place adjacent to the small floral couch.
Mercer began placing the dry wood evenly across the length of the fireplace then rose and moved into the kitchen, returning to the fire place with a roll of paper towels.
“Wouldn’t happen to have a light, would you?” Mercer questioned.
“Yeah,” Genna replied removing her backpack then she reached deep to the bottom, pulling a box of matches from it then handed them to Mercer.
He began lighting several sheets of paper towels and placed them under the logs as Genna took a seat on the floral couch. Watching the logs struggle slowly to take the flames then Mercer removed a leather covered flask from his inner jacket pocket, proceeding to pour some of the liquid onto the logs. The flames erupted with the liquid and engulfed the logs rising from fireplace and took his seat on the couch.
“Well this is gonna be where we are going to crash,” Mercer stated.
“Okay,” Genna replied moving from the couch to the floor and began to unroll her sleeping bag.
“I’m gonna lock the doors and secure them,” Mercer told Genna rising once more from the couch while Genna laid within her sleeping bag as slumber claimed her.
Mercer moved from the living room to the kitchen, pulling a chair from the dining table then jammed it under the door’s handle after locking the deadbolt. He retrieved another chair and carried it to the main entrance and doing the same as the back door. Mercer shifted to the window peering through the blinds to see heavy freshly driving rain; through the sheets of rain, he could make out the shapes of bodies that stood still within the driving rain.