DEAD: Reborn Read Free Page B

moment.
    As I ducked through the trees and into the actual picnic area, I habitually checked my weapons. I had my machete, a big knife, and a wicked axe that had the blade on one side and a five-inch spike-like thing on the other.
    Not for the first time, I considered just taking off. After all, my best friends were dead. There wasn’t much reason for me to stay other than I had been with some of these people since the beginning. The problem with that was that none of the people that I connected with were still around.
    From the group that walked out of that FEMA rescue facil ity, it was down to Melissa and Thalia. Everybody else was gone.
    “Holy crap,” I said out loud.
    It is one thing to endure all of these losses; but to have fought so long and so hard to be the last one left from all that I knew before this nightmare began…hurts. I sat down at one of the tables and, against all the rules that we have made, I put my head down on my arms. I doubt I could have seen anything anyway for the next few minutes as I cried like never in my life.
    I cried for everything that I have lost the day this started and everything that I lost since. I cried for my friends who I knew didn’t make it and for those who I had no idea. Then I cried some more. Never in my life had I felt so empty as I did in that moment.
    I was not sure if it was ever going to stop. Thankfully, after who knows how long, I felt myself start to level out. I wiped my eyes on my shirt as I tried to figure out what I would do next.
    I knew that I could not just up and leave these people. For better or worse, this was my new family. This is where I belong. Besides, I’d been out there a few times on my own and it wears you down in a hurry. You don’t realize how much you rely on other people to watch your back until nobody is there.
    “Can I join you?” a voice said from behind me , causing me to jump.
    I spun around with my knife in my hand before I was even really aware of what I was doing. Standing about ten feet away was Shelly. Her long dark hair was limp from the light rain that had started falling at some point.
    “Join me? For what?”
    “You gonna go hike to Proposal Overlook?” she asked.
    At some point, that was what folks had taken to calling that rocky outcrop that looked out over the grounds of the camp. It is where Steve had asked Melissa to marry him.
    “I hadn ’t thought that far ahead,” I admitted. She was looking at me with her head sort of cocked to the side, like she was studying me. I got a chill. For just a second I remembered how those child-zombies did the same thing.
    “Well why don ’t we start up that trail and see where we end up,” Shelly said as she walked past.
    Considering the fact that I didn ’t really have a plan when I stormed off, it seemed like as good of an idea as any. We made our way up the trail. As I hiked, I remembered the day that I had taken everything up here for Steve and set it out for him. Of course, that memory only made my throat tighten.
    We finally reached the big rock that jutted away from the face of the foothill. I realized that I hadn ’t been up here since that day. Looking out over our camp, it seemed so small. I couldn’t believe that so many of us lived in that cabin.
    “You thinkin ’ about leaving?” Shelly asked, breaking the silence and a flood of memories that I was helpless to fight off.
    “For less than a second,” I admitted.
    “Good,” she said with a nod, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Being out there alone can really suck.”
    “I guess I am just tired of everything…and I don ’t know what to do about it.”
    “Yeah…I don ’t recall any of the movies showing long stretches of absolutely nothing. You start to get inside your head and can’t find a way out.”
    I sighed, partially out of relief. I was worried that I was the only person who felt this way. I guess everybody feels like they are the only one experiencing a certain feeling or emotion. Pro bably