Alone Together

In times like these rain could be a blessing. It could clean your body, wash your clothes. It could quench your thirst. But not now.

The soil they ran on had become muddy in a matter of minutes and the noise of the falling rain camouflaged every sound that surrounded them. Their breaths, their voices, their steps. The steps of the dead.

It was impossible for Val so see anything ahead of her. The only thing keeping her from running into a tree or stumbling again, were her stretched hands and Daryl's shoulder that occasionally bumped into hers and made her stay on track.

Lights flickered, now more frequent than before, as their chasers got closer and the forest less dense. Something cold touched her arm, making her dodge it and almost scream. Roots and the slippery ground had made a corpse fall just before it could grab her. She had not seen it coming.

"Look." She heard Daryl's voice. She strained to see through the night and pouring rain, but her eyes finally focused on something ahead of them.

"Buildings," she simply said, not loud enough for Daryl to hear her, but he knew she had seen it too when her attitude changed and her feet became faster.

Her boots touched concrete again. Ahead of them, a big building of at least four stories high stood followed by smaller ones. Almost without realizing, they had exited the woods and now dove further into the town.

---

Val supported her weight on her heels, ready to run in case someone was waiting for them. Adrenaline flowed through her blood, originated by that familiar state of alert charged with electricity that she always felt before going on a mission.

Daryl crossed the threshold and peeked outside. "Let's go."

They ran through the long and dark hallway of what she assumed to be a hotel, which was still amazingly clean given the situation. A door closed in the distance and they stopped. Steps followed, but it was impossible to tell where they were coming from.

"They're walking down the stairs," he murmured. "Come on."

Daryl turned around and ran in the opposite direction. Val followed him, trying to camouflage the noises of her soaked boots against the floor.

After a few seconds he turned left, which led to a smaller corridor. Halfway through it, he stopped and opened the door to his left. He gestured for her to walk inside, but she shook her head, giving him a look that showed him she knew what she was doing.

He didn't question her, nodding and walking inside the room, closing the door behind.

She walked to the door on the opposite side. The doorknob turned. She gestured for Max to get in and followed him.

The room was empty, bathed by the darkness and it seemed to have the same layout as the other they had been before.

She closed the door as quietly as she could and walked towards the bathroom. The moonlight casting through the window was enough for her to see the sink and the mirror above it and a towel next to the shower. She grabbed the towel and wrapped it around her hand. Her eyes stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her face was covered in dirt and water rain. A cut on her nose bridge had appeared without her even knowing how.

She punched the right inferior corner of the mirror and pressed her towel wrapped fist against the broken pieces so they wouldn't fall. Then, she picked the largest one.

Returning to the bedroom, she leaned against the door. She could hear the sound of doors closing and opening, distant enough for her to know that they weren't still in that corridor. Her eyes went for Max, panting a few steps away from her. She rested her index finger against her lips and smiled.

Val palmed the doorknob and grabbed it. When she opened it, the sound of doors banging became louder. She held the large piece of mirror and shoved it on the door's opening, inch by inch, until a reflection of the corridor behind her was shown. It was still empty.

Another door closed. A shadow preceded the person, a smudged stain the elongated along the floor as a man appeared in the mirror's reflection. After taking a few steps, the man stopped and knelt down to inspect something on the floor. A smile formed on his face when his fingers touched the carpeted floor and Val immediately understood what he had found out. The rain water that had soaked their clothes had dripped down to the floor and formed a path. A path that would lead him to the rooms where she and Daryl were hiding.

The man started to walk, slowly and always examining the carpet.

Val pulled the piece of the mirror inside the room and closed the door with silence and precision. Now she couldn't hear the steps, but she knew he was getting closer.

"I'm on the first floor, west wing, I'm sure they're here. I'll wait until you get here, over."

Static noise coming from a handheld radio followed and a male voice answered. "Copy that, we're on our way."

Val led her hand to the doorknob. He was close, closer than she thought, probably waiting between the two doors. She held the doorknob harder and slowly started to turn it.

She wanted to believe his back was facing her, that he would be staring at the door of the room Daryl was in, but what if he wasn't?

Her other hand had dropped the piece of mirror and was now holding her machete, ready for anything and anyone she would have to face on the other side of the door.

The latch mechanism gave in and she opened the door a few inches. She could see the corridor and the first thing to catch her attention was the black hair and the back of a large and tall man. He was right in front of her. Facing Daryl's door. With a gun in his right hand and a flashlight in his left.

The door was now halfway opened. She knew she needed to act fast, it was just a matter of time until more people arrived.

She backed away several steps, trying to gather the impulse and courage. Her machete raised up next to her head, ready to hit the man in the back, but once she started to run he turned around.

The shock was clear in both their faces, but Val knew that there was no going back now. She lunged at him, the machete piercing the man's torso and making him stagger towards her. Although the large wound, he was still strong enough to fight her back, shouting names she didn't recognize and trying to aim his gun at her.

A loud scream of pain left his mouth when Max went for his leg. His large hand grabbed Val's arm before he could fall, making her hit the floor next to him. The gun flew through the carpeted bedroom. She tried to slide through the floor, tried to reach for his gun before he did. The biker had kicked Max on his nose and the action only stunned him momentarily. But it had been enough.

"If the dog bites me again, I'll kill it." The biker pointed his gun at Val, his eyes moving between her and the German shepherd.

"Max." She lifted her hand and he stood his ground.

"Now, you're -" Something smashed against the side of his head with a thud.

The man fell to the ground and stopped moving. Daryl still held the metal chair he had used to knock him over.

She stared at the man, lying on the ground between them, before speaking. "There's more coming."

"I know."

They started to run down the hall as a mess of voices and innumerous steps started to fill the floor they were in. At the end of the hallway Val opened a door that led to a set of stairs. At the end there was another door, big red letters above it letting them know they had found the exit.

Daryl could still hear the voices, but it seemed like they were now getting more distant. Once they pushed the exit door open the cold, harsh rain greeted them again.

They looked around. Nothing but darkness surrounded them. Val didn't know what to do, but before she could speak Daryl had started to run again.

There were no cars on the street and no signs of the dead. Only total darkness. The sound of the rain and nothing else.

They ran the entire block and then walked another and after that there were no more houses. The only thing ahead of them was a graveyard, full of broken gravestones, surrounded by trees. Without the attention it needed, grass and weed had grown up to Val's waist.

A small mausoleum, made of stone, had appeared to their left. "There." She pointed. "They won't find us in there."

She had to push three times with her shoulder for the metal door to open, its hinges creaking loud enough to wake the dead. Except they already were.

Max was the first to get inside and Daryl closed the door. For a moment, the darkness was overwhelming.

The moonlight that hit a colorful stained glass was the only source of light, still almost inexistent. They couldn't hear a thing due to the sound of the water falling on the bushes, trees and on the mausoleum roof.

Only now Val had realized she was shaking and her skin almost ice cold. She could feel Max's body against her leg and Daryl's breathing somewhere on her right side. Maybe now they were going to be okay. Maybe.