Infected the series Book 1 chapter 9

Sarah and I stayed up on the roof and joked until the sun rose. It was beautiful; I have not been this relaxed in such a long time. It was truly wonderful. At about five in the morning we climbed down and got to work. Sarah reminded me that leaders need to lead by example. Which is true, that meant no more sleeping late, even though I really like it. To be the leader I must be the first one up. Even that is not enough, I will have to work hard and be decisive and right now I choose to lead.

For the next two weeks we stayed at Doonsfield Animal Hospital and I was the hardest working person anyone had ever seen. I was the first one up and was finished cleaning and walking all of the dogs before anybody even woke up. I felt great about it. I even began sleeping some nights. Soon others were waking up early with me and cleaning with me. We were suddenly a unit and it was amazing. These two weeks passed as though they were nothing.

Suddenly my phone rang and this whole world which we had built came crashing down.

It was Brandon, his breath was heavy and he sounded tired. In the background I could hear the distant sound of crying.

“Sam” he heaved into the phone, his voice seemed haggard, afraid. It was very unusual for the normally cocky Brandon. “Are Nikki and I still invited?”

“Invited?”

“Yeah Sam, Are Nikki and I still invited?” His voice seemed to be lower than a whisper and his hoarse voice seemed to crash awkwardly into the speaker.

“Invited,” I repeat with a mix of fear and frustration in my voice “Invited to what?”

“Your group”

“Oh, yeah,” really, do I seem that petty? “What happened? Is everything okay Brandon?”

“What is the address?”

“5600 Route 9 South in Doonsfield NJ”

“I will call you when we get there.” That was it I would have kept talking but he hung up on me. I looked up from my chair. Everyone was looking at me. They knew it was something bad. It was hard to hide such a fear. There was something that bothered me about Brandon during that conversation.

“My Friend Brandon and his sister Nikki will be joining us in the next few days.”  Sean’s ears perked up at the mention of a girl. His eyes caught mine and I never saw such excitement on his face. His girlfriend died early on in the infection. He swore he would never love again. Apparently he lied.

“When are they getting here?” Nicole asked in between bites of canned cat food.

“I actually don’t know” I awkwardly smiled trying to make it not seem awkward. I failed, it was obvious that everyone was a little bit uncomfortable with the idea of new people joining our little group, but Brandon and Nikki were very important and provided knowledge, numbers and guns to our little group.

There was an awkward silence which seemed to fill the air. I found myself zoning out in the new fire which cracked under the fresh tinder. It had rained the night before which caused the wet wood to crackle and burn from the water. I don’t think I can stay here anymore it feels like we have waited to long and the Infection will eventually over run the wood boards that hold us away from the outside world. Also there seems to be something going on at the car lot next to us. I have brought Matt Freddie and Sean there twice to look to see if anyone was there but every time it seemed empty. It wasn’t though. I am almost certain of it. There is someone living there. Well at least one person, a young man probably about my age there may be others but I have not seen them yet. The truth is that at a time like this, staying still is not an option.

            My body slowly rose from the old plastic chair and moved silently towards the door. My knees cracked and creaked with each step, as I pushed myself back to the doctors’ office where I have been staying for a while. I collapsed into my chair and rolled over to the computer. I turned it on and wiped the dust off the screen. The internet in here was still active so I checked the stats. 14.3 to 86.7.

I have not spoken to Lucas since we left. He could be gone and this whole trip could be for nothing. So I had to call him up just for a check.

The phone rang once, then again, and a third time. My fingers tapped furiously against the table with each sound in my ear.

“Hey this is Lucas I am not available right now please leave a message after the beep.” His voice was high pitched and childish like when we were younger and for a second I hoped it was a joke. Then finally the long, high pitched beep of the recorder.

I was done after that, I hung up the phone and let my body crumple in my chair. His death meant that this whole trip was a waste of time. I knew that we should have left earlier; I let myself get too comfortable. Now because I failed my best friend is dead, his life a waste and destruction to the power of the Infection.

My body just lied there on the floor for what felt like hours. I don’t care anyway. I failed. My head was screaming at me and I wanted it to explode and cover this room. I closed my eyes and imagined it. Vibrations, I felt vibrations against my leg. It felt nice but it did not seem real or natural. I enjoyed it though, until I heard the crashing sound of plastic hitting the floor. I opened my eyes and saw the vibration was coming from my phone.

“Hello?” My voice trailed off.

“Hi Sam, how are you?”  The voice is clearly a young woman’s she seems like she is at least seventeen.

“I am good,” I wasn’t. I always feel that no one wants to hear anything else and if you tell them otherwise then they feel uncomfortable and hang up while you are talking. So I lied. “How are you?” I realized after I said this that I have no clue who this person is.

“I am great,” Her voice seems to be a little whisper but she sounds genuinely excited. “I am sorry I missed your call. Lucas is taking a little nap.” Suddenly I realized who this was. Danielle, this was Lucas’s girlfriend. I never met her but I knew about her from Lucas. “But yeah,” her voice trailed off for second “He is asleep.”

“Really?”

“Yeah he fell asleep on the couch about half an hour ago.” Really, that lazy easygoing life living lucky jerk, napping, he is napping. I have trouble sleeping and he can just nap the day away without a care in the world. Maybe I am wrong and people are not dying every day and I have nothing to worry about. I want to shout into the phone yet all I can muster is.

“Cool, tell him I called” In a half hearted and half smile, but mostly ready to kill him.

“Alright, bye Sam” She said bye. Yet he way she said it her optimism and joy seemed to make that word less agitating. I hung up the phone and leaned back in my chair. A smile fell across my face as I sat there and kept repeating that word, nap, I laughed, nap, Lucas is taking a nap. I laughed and spun around in my chair.

My ears perked at the sound of feet moving down the hall. There were many of them. At least three people, and by the sounds of the step I am going to guess that it is one girl and two boys. I turn the chair and stare intently at the open door as Sarah, Matt, and Freddie, come into view. Our eyes meet and there is a silence. It is a pretty awkward silence when suddenly Leila sneezes.

“God bless you.” We all remark, and then burst out laughing. Tension disappeared with that. Then suddenly it all rushed back.

“Sam, we don’t want Brandon to join our group.” Matt started off.

“Too bad,”

“We are serious,” Sarah joins in.

“Me too,” I smile.

“None of us know anything about him and we all get along.” Sarah continues.

“Well then we get to meet him and get to know him.”

“Sam!” Matt’s patience look like they are about to run out. “Cut the crap. We all agree we don’t want him here and you can’t just-“

“86 percent of the human population is part of the Infected.” I stand up from my chair and begin walking towards the door. “We need to protect as many as we can and that includes Brandon” Freddie and Sarah seemed to split a small path for me to walk through. I walked through the hall and heard the sound of Leila’s collar clanging behind me. Something about her makes me smile.

We walked outside; I stood by the door and watched as Leila tried to find some piece from Babe as she tried to use the bathroom.  I knew there were more of us, the survivors. There was clearly one following us. He refuses to come closer than where he is now but I know he is there. I just hope he is friendly. People tend to not become cruel and selfish during the Infection. I have seen it. Infighting as everyone wants to exist just like we did beforehand every luxury handed to us on a silver platter. Things like food were easy. People would mock the “third world countries” yet here we are, no different. We call ourselves civilized yet when push comes to shove people will do whatever it takes to survive.

Yet there is power in numbers. I would love to have a few more people. They won’t come to us though. So I believe I will come to them.

I pulled out my phone and went straight into contacts. “HENRY GREENHUT” appeared in black pixels on the screen. A little smirk snuck across my face. Henry was one of my closest friend’s from camp. He also lived the farthest away. Henry was an acrobat and circus freak who spent most of his summer swinging on the camp trapeze. Although He was strong it never really showed as his fun loving and joyous nature always seemed to hide it. Henry. Lived out in California and always came to camp with Brandon and me in Pennsylvania. It was a far flight yet he seemed to enjoy it all. Henry had many noticeable features like his blue green eyes. However, all of the qualities he had seemed to be overshadowed by the one quality he did not have. When Henry was seven he lost his right pinky finger in an accident. The stub was the first thing I noticed when I met him, but that was a long time ago in a distant land where maybe for just a moment I was happy.

I put the speaker to my ear and waited. Each second made my heart skip a beat until finally.

“Yo, Sam.” Henry’s voice rang into the speaker.

“Hey Henry” A smile runs across my face. “Glad to see you are alive.”

“As am I of you good sir” Henry laughs. “So to what do I owe the phone call from the East?”

“Just to see what is going on and let you know that I have creating a group to survive the Infection and I was wondering if you would like to join us?” Henry laughed into the phone as if I was joking. It made me feel dumb for just asking.

“I actually just created my own group of survivors in LA.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, my friend Juddy and I started it.”

“Well we should all meet up in the future.”

“Yeah, keep in touch.”

“I intend too” I smile

“Wonderful” Then he hung up. Leila was standing at my feet with Babe. I knelt down and gave each of them a pat on the head and then walked back inside.

The sounds of barking dogs have almost become second nature to my ears as I walk through the halls. Only to here the sound of breaking glass, panic sets in. I run down the hall with Leila and Babe. The door and wood barricade had been broken down and the Infected have burst in. A large male in a gray suit and bright red tie locks onto me. I am unarmed. My adrenaline kicks in and I run into the doctors’ office and close the glass door and lock it. Leila and Babe have managed to disappear into hiding. I don’t really need to worry too much about those two right now. The mangled body of the Infected is now smashing against the glass I fumble with the P.A system in the hospital until I finally hear the high pitched beep. “Attention we have a break in by the staff lounge we have a break in!” I desperately shouted.

Crash! Glass crackles along the floor as the beast bursts in blood covered its face and its mangled body charged towards me. I felt around and found my gun sitting on the counter. I aimed and shot it in the stomach. The body stumbled back with a grunt, another shot to the head splattered blood and brain matter across the walls. There was a deformed body of what was probably a high school cheerleader in the hall in front of me. I grabbed the woodpecker scythe and prepared to strike when its head fell cleanly from its body. Sean stood behind it with his sword drawn. Then the crack of Matt’s bat against the body of another zombie echoes down the hall. I climbed through the broken door and saw the wave of the undead fighting to break in.

“Guy, get down!” Sarah and Nicole shouted from down the hall. We all dropped to our stomach as Nicole Freddie and Sarah unleashed as many bullets as they could against the undead.

“Matt Help me barricade the door” I tried to shout over the gun fire. Matt and I crawled into the staff lounge and grabbed the large table and propped it up against the broken door. Sean Matt and I held it up as tightly as we could.

“Freddie go into the supply closet and get the biggest nails you can find!” I shout with in seconds he was back with them and one of my war hammers smashing the nails into the broken door frame. After all was said and done we had gone through twenty bullets and forty five nails. We could no longer stay here and live this comfortable life we had all become so accustomed to. Bodies litter the hallway and blood has covered the light walls to a dirty brown color. I look around at the group; we all share the same stupid expression of fear. The hall echoes the sounds of our heavy panting. Babe rubs up against my leg and I almost jump from shock. All eyes are now on me, we have been put in a very tough situation. Brandon is on his way and the sun is going down. We can not just up and leave it would not be safe. This place has provided us with a lot, food, medical supplies, and shelter. To just up and leave all this in a rush would be suicide. Yet to pretend like this place would be a lie.

If I make the wrong decision we all die. All the eyes seem to be stabbing at me waiting for my next words.

“Guys lets get cleaned up and get ready for dinner.” I say with as much command in my voice as I could muster. “Let us get this cleaned up and ready. Tonight we are going to have one person guarding this area at a time. Every two hours the person will change.  That means that you need to sleep when it is not your turn. I will take the first shift. Let’s get started.” Everyone still stood there dumbfounded by my decision. “Now,” I whispered. All the bodies began to move and rush through as they cleaned the corpses out of the hall. I stood by the door with my woodpecker scythe and pistol ready. Time passed and I was alone sitting in a chair bored and waiting. I looked at the clock along the wall. It had been a whole twenty minutes. Time was not my friend. As I sat in that chair the rotation of the earth began to make me nauseous. The barricade we made out of the large table in the staff lounge seemed to hold tight.

“Hey Sam, brought you dinner.” I heard a voice from behind me. It was obvious that it was Sean. His light sneakers made very little sound across the crimson colored floor. I turned around in my chair and saw him standing there with a steaming can of cat food. I did not want to eat the cat food. It made me sick.

“Sean can I ask you a question” I smile. Sean looks at me with a worry in is eyes. “What is up with that blade on your back?” He feels around and finds the sheath that has been sitting on his back for as long as we have been traveling. “You never even use it.” His hand clutches the handle but does not remove the blade. Then he lets go and brings his attention back to me.

“It is my prized possession,” Hey says with pride. “It is called a Buster Blade and honestly I have no need to use it yet.” The blade sheath covers Sean’s back yet he moves remarkably quickly with it. I wish I could see him wield this weapon. “Anyway, I am here to replace you.” I look at the clock and it has actually been two hours which surprised me.

“Do you mind if I stay with you, I am not really tired?” Sean shrugs as he takes is seat by the door. I grabbed my chair and rolled down the hall towards Sean.

I felt a vibration from my pocket followed by the sounds of my phone ringing in a loud upbeat tone. 732-453-8857 the number is new to me.

“Hello?” I delicately say into the phone. There is a sound of ruffling on the other end. “Hello?” The ruffling continues until finally I hear a light yet terrified whisper.

“Sam it is me, I need help” My jaw dropped and I began to feel nauseous. I can not believe this. Sean looks at me through his periphery then back at the door. I stand up and run into an exam room and close the door. “Sam, are you there?”

Infected the series Book 1 chapter 8

            I woke to the blaring sound of my phone exploding in my ear. It was too early to move. I fumbled with it as is screamed and shook in my hands. The front read out “KAYLEIGH.” Why is she calling so early?

            “Hello?” I dribble onto the phone.

            “You forgot to call me!!” Kayleigh voice shouted through the speaker. “Do you know how worried I was?! I did not sleep, I did not eat. What happened to calling us when you got to the Hospital?”  I did forget to call her but she is definitely overreacting. I still blame hormones. “I was going to send Casey and Erik out to see if you guys were safe, and then kill you.” I know that she worries but this is still a bit too much.

            “Kayleigh” She continues to babble. “Kayleigh”

            “God it is like dealing with a little kid”

            “KAYLEIGH!” Suddenly she goes quiet. “Thank you for worrying, I am sorry I forgot to call, things got pretty hectic last night.” My tone is calming and soft. I did not intend for it to be like that, I am just that tired. “We are all here and safe. How is everyone with you?” Who is everyone?

            “You mean Erik and Casey?” She is almost as confused as I am “They were worried, Casey was ready to leave and go find you guys.”

            “Why didn’t you call?” There is an awkward silence odds are Kayleigh did not think of it. When she gets excited or angry or upset she sometimes forgets stuff like that.

            “That is not the point Sam.” She definitely forgot “Whatever, as long as you guys are safe that is fine.”

            “Alright Kayleigh well I have to go make breakfast, talk to you later.” The Conversation ended. My head hit the pillow hard. The sun shined onto the back of my neck. It was warm and tingled on my hairs. I could not help but smile at the delicate feeling like fingers running softly down my neck. A beautiful voice of a woman whispers my name softly. I turned and no one there. The clock on the wall read out eleven A.M. In the distance the sound of dogs barking and jumping slammed up the hallway. My body slowly began to twinge to life and rise off of my tattered mattress of dogs beds that seemed to fallen apart along the floor. I can see a light reflection of myself in the window. I look ratty my face is developing a few zits and stubble. There are some bags under my eyes but the worst of all are my clothes. They were caked with blood dirt and mud. I have not changed at all since our trip began. My clothes smell, I smell.

            I needed to shower. All we had was a dog bath. It would have to do, as I changed into a clean pair of cargo shorts and a red shirt. Down the hall was the bathing room. It also served as a storage room for cat and dog food. In the corner sat a large stainless steel tub. On the side of it is a long hose that is hooked up to a series of shampoos and soaps. I began to pull off my shirt when I suddenly noticed. The door was glass. Anyone could clearly see me from the hall.

            I ran and grabbed a large sheet and two towels from the laundry room. I draped the thin white sheet it across the glass door. Finally away from the outside world I stripped out of my clothing and climbed into the tub. It was bitterly cold. The bright stainless steel stuck to my body and sent shivers up my back. I turned the handle and water began to flow out of the hose and onto my legs. The water was cold; it was not a nice cold like my shower back home. It was degrading almost as if I was not even human enough for some warm water. I sat there and sprayed myself down with water and soap. It all came from the same hose and it all smelled horrible. I hated every moment of this. I lifted myself out of the tub which groaned with every movement I made.

            After toweling off and dressing up I went out to the back where everyone sat around a new fire. They all turned to me and smiled. I was the last one out. Even Cleo, Leila and Babe made it out before me. They were all eating from cans of what looked to be dog food. Sean handed me a can, its lead read chicken and rice. I opened it and tossed it into the fire where it cooked and bubbled.

            There was an awkward silence about this meal. It seemed like no person wanted to say something. Sarah looked at me then quickly away. She was hiding something. I don’t know what but she definitely was not telling me something.

            I won’t question it. It is not worth it, I will find out eventually. “So, I am thinking that after we eat we should walk all the dogs.” I break the silence as I carefully pull my steaming can from the pit of flames.

            “Already did,” Matt nonchalantly remarks as he shoves a piece of mystery meat into his mouth. “We cleaned all the cages and fed every animal too.” He did not even look at me. It was no big deal to Matt, not one at all.

            I wanted to say something, something witty and smart. I wanted to really let him know that I don’t even care that they don’t need me but all I could muster was “Oh, ok”

            I sat there and looked at the burned label hanging onto the can, there was a phone number printed onto the charred white paper. Suddenly something came to me.

            “I will be right back” I jumped out of my seat and ran towards the door ignoring the sound of my chair falling over onto the ground. My body flew through the halls and hit the wall as I slid around the corner. My cell phone flew into the air and landed back into my hands.  My back collapsed onto one of the chairs and in a frenzy of fingers, the phone rang. My fingers impatiently tapped against the desk.

            “Hello?” a feminine voice rang from my speaker. My face lit up with excitement, on the other line was my friend Nikki. Nikki was a short girl, with a dark hair that seemed to be lost somewhere between red and brown. I had not seen her for a while so my idea of exactly what she looks like may be off by about two years.

            “Hey Nikki, it is Sam,” I start off the conversation with excited whisper. There is a lot of static on the other end of the line but barely made out her say,

            “Sam who?” Well with that my heart sank. She did not remember me, and to top it all off that means she also deleted me from her phone contacts.

            “Sam, from camp.”

            “Oh Sam, it has been so long, how are you?” I am great my family is dead, zombies are destroying the human race, I live off the flesh of dogs and cats, but other than all that I am just perfect.

            “Good, I actually called to talk with Brandon is he…” My voice trailed off I don’t want to say is he alive. “around?” the static on the other end of the phone seems to be getting louder and more violent I can hardly hear Nikki’s response.

            “He is outside, with my dad,” the sound is barely legible I’ll go get him wait here.”

            “I am not going anywhere” I half heartedly respond.

            “Hello?” The voice on the phone now is much more masculine. I knew it was Brandon’s he had something very distinct in his voice that made it very noticeable. Brandon and I were in the same cabin at camp as long as I could remember. He was short with blonde hair and very large muscles. He worked out a lot and it was very intimidating. His personality was completely different though, he was a very exciting and vibrant guy. He was more often than not in a really good mood.

            “Hey Brandon, it is Sam from camp.”

            “Oh, hey man”  His deep voice echoes confusion “What is up?”

            “I have been working on getting a group of people together; do you want to join us?” Suddenly a series barrage of static slapped against my ear.

            “Sorry my dad and I are up on the roof playing a game of target practice against the infected.” So the gun shots must have been creating all of the static. See this is why we could really use someone like Brandon. His father worked for the Department of Homeland Security before the Infection broke out. Brandon was strong and it was a very noticeable strength. Even when were kids at camp he always seemed to have these huge muscles that seemed to rise out of his pale white skin. It was how he was raised living around weight training and guns. He could shoot really well and could operate any gun proficiently. That is why we need him.

            “So, do you want to come with us?” There seemed to be a long silence. Brandon was definitely talking with his father and that is never a good sign. If I was Brandon’s dad I would not let him go.

            “No man,” his voice dropped to a near whisper, “I’ll talk to you bout it later man,” Suddenly the conversation ended. ‘I’ll talk to you about it later’ what does that mean.

            I sat there in silence, just thinking about what Brandon said for what felt like hours, now what. Clearly my group did not need me with them. So I just sat there. When, the hospital phone rang. It caught me by surprise as I walked over to the little black box. I pushed the speaker phone. It seemed we were not the only ones who thought of this place.

            “AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!” The speaker blasted the deep screams of terror through the room. There was a shuffling like the sounds of running and screaming as a random man who seemed to be trying and make a last ditch effort to find safety from me. The sound was so shocking it knocked me straight onto the ground. My body trembled at the horrible sounds that seemed to float about the room. I wanted to hang up but I didn’t. It was intriguing. Foreign yet so primal and close to us. Those sounds of fear as we desperately try to cling to life, we all know it. There is something amazingly beautiful.

So no I sat there and let the tears roll down my mind’s eye as I imagined this man he could not be more than twenty three. I bet he was tall, probably with brown hair and eyes. I bet he had not shaven in weeks but his gruff beard seemed clean and fresh, not gross and dirty like his shirt. I feel like it must have been a dark blue covered with the scent of blood and fresh, with raw tears in it. I sat there as it became eerily silent. I waited on the ground for about a minute waiting for some last minute closure, there wasn’t any.

With that I stood up and walked over to the little black phone with the red flashing light and pushed “END.” I was not alone in the room. There was this feeling of another person here with me. I turned and Sarah was just standing there looking at me. I caught her eyes. There seemed to be a little bit of fear in them, something I rarely saw from someone like Sarah.

“How long were you standing there Sarah?”

“Just for a little while, I heard the entire thing though.”

“There was nothing we could for him”

“You did not even want to”

“Even if I did, then what?”

“We could have gotten to him-”

“Just in time to need to kill him as part of this Infection. We need to protect ourselves. I can’t let us just go out and get ourselves killed for nothing.”

“So that is it?” Sarah looks to be getting angry. “We just let everyone else die and just care about ourselves?”

“Yes” Boom! Sarah’s fist hit my face hard and knocked me to the ground.

“I don’t know what happened to you Sam but I don’t like it.” Sarah stormed out of the office. I felt a little bit of blood drip from my mouth. I spit it up on the ground and stood up. She really just hit me. Has the whole world gone crazy?! Are we not in the middle of the zombie apocalypse? It is only one in the afternoon and I have been disowned as leader forgotten by my friends and hit. I sat them grumbling on the floor for hours. Until I finally just made myself tired and fell asleep.

I woke up, my jaw was throbbing the darkness of an empty room. It was cold, the hair on my neck stood up on end. I felt a hand on my back but there was no one there. I was not alone. I reached for my knife but it was gone. So were the war hammers, chain whip and knuckleduster. In the distance there was glimmer of light that seemed to flicker like a small dying flame. My legs began to move towards the light when something blindsided me. I hit the ground and saw my shadow standing over me with all of my weaponry in hand. Slowly his form came into shape his eyes similar to mine. He smiled quietly and just watched me. Jacob wrestled with his shadows back in Genesis. It was a battle to destroy fear. Fear of his brother and of himself. Jacob was one of the founding fathers and he was afraid, of himself. The battle lasted all night but Jacob came out victorious with two broken ribs and a broken hip. The next day Jacob confronted his brother who was just happy to see him. Jacob was stronger from his victory. A man wrestled with god and won.

The night held a new feeling for me, a feeling of growth and comfort. I am here and I am who I am. The clock read that it was one in the morning, I was not tired anymore. I am not going to fall asleep for the rest of the night. In the corner my bag glowed in the darkness. I grabbed my bible and looked for a place to read. The hospital seemed to be unbearably warm. I can’t stay in this building any longer, I am burning up.

I climbed the ladder up to the roof. It was a little bit chillier out here but best of all a slight breeze flew through the air. There was a small light placed perfectly along the wall that provided just enough light for me to sit there and read. Exodus1-1 “-“

“Sam?” I turned and Sarah stood halfway through the door “what are you doing up here?” I held the book up in the air to show her exactly what I am doing. She smiles and pulls herself up onto the roof. She was in a bright pink tank top and sweats and shivered at the chilly wind that comfortably caressed my skin. “Sorry about before”

“No, you were right.” I smiled from the pages of my book. See it was almost always like this with Sarah and I. People used to think that we would end up dating but, that would never happen. She was like my sister and our relationship was something compared to an old married couple. We would always joke laugh and argue, most times the arguments were stupid. I remember I once told her to suck on a railroad spike, I don’t know why but I did. The thing that I think I liked most about Sarah was that she was always willing to let me know when I was being an idiot, which was often.

“So, why are you up here reading?”

“Well, I am not tired and I did not want to bother anyone.” She is not really focusing me as much as the wind in the distance. Are you okay Sarah?” she turned to look at me. “You seem a little bit nervous.”

“Nervous,” surprise runs over her face “Sam, we have all lost so much” she paused “how can I not be worried about losing anything else.”

“We are all nervous Sarah”

“You never seem nervous” Really I thought that everyone else saw me as an emotional wreck. I did not answer that with words, I could not find the words without ruining the moment. I just hugged her. She squeezed me back tightly. It was honestly a slightly awkward hug. Sarah was shorter than me so I could clearly see over her head.

That is when I saw him in the distance. His bright red hair stood out along the black of the night sky. A young man stood atop the roof of the car lot. He just stood there watching us; his eyes seemed glassy and sparkled in the pale moon light. There was no expression on this guy’s freckly face which shattered the silhouette of calm in the air. He seemed to be in a light leather jacket and jeans which hung over the side of the building.

“Sarah, do you see that guy over there?’ Her body cautiously turned towards the boy’s location but when she looked up he was gone. Sarah eyes gave me a curious and worried look. A wind blew by creating flaps in my tee shirt and sent loose leaves swirling through the air. I know I saw him there but I must have been wrong. I shrugged it off as my mind playing tricks on me. That was all it was.