We sit in the dark, waiting for a noise or a movement. I never turn the lanterns on. I rarely use fuel for anything. If anything is here it's followed the smell of my smoke.
Suddenly, in the dark of my cabin lit only by the glow of the fire there is a sound.
The sound at my door is worse than anything I've ever heard. This category includes women being dragged into trucks while their children scream on the side of the road, abandoned. Worse than listening to the infected eating people, who are still alive. Worse than the sound clothing makes when greedy fingers tear it.
It is a knock.
A simple yet slightly quiet knock. A timid knock.
It feels as if the person knocking is afraid to knock, but has no choice in the matter. It's like their failing bravery can only muster this tiny pathetic little tap.
In the same breath it is pathetic, the knock is also more frightening than anything I've ever encountered.
It might as well have been one of the infected, clawing at the door and making the high pitch moans they make. Either way it means I've been discovered. It makes my stomach hurt like it used to, before I found the cabin.
Leo looks at me. He too seems confused by the weak little knock at our cabin door. The very cabin where I found Leo outside whining and scared of everything in the world, just as I was. The cabin where we sat together hiding, hoping, praying, we would be left alone.
I stand frozen, holding my gun and tremble.
Leo slinks into the shadows of the coat and boot closet. I slide up against the wall and take my breaths slowly.
I don’t move. I watch Leo's yellow eyes. They are hypnotic the way they never move. They relax me with the way they wait, focused and calm.
I nod at him, which makes him crouch lower, ready.
I put the chain lock on, making no noise just like I've practiced.
I put my hand to the knob.
I step back slowly and position my gun.
I put my finger on the trigger.
Commanding my hand not to shake, I turn the knob of the door and open it silently.
I've positioned one foot behind the door, in case whoever it is decides to kick the door open.
In the tiny crack of the door I see two eyes, blue eyes. They belong to a girl, young than me. She's maybe fifteen but no older. She has dark hair and a gaunt face. Tears clump her black lashes together, which makes the pleading look she gives me tremendously convincing.
"I-I-I'm s-s-sor-ry pu-pu-pu-lease d-d-d-on't hurt m-m-e." Her lips tremble. She is shaking in fear.
She sniffles.
I close the door and click the lock. My stomach sinks. I know I'm in for the fight of my life.
She is bait. If ever I've seen bait, she is it.
Leo cocks his head, saunters to the door, and sniffs. I think about just opening the door and freeing him on her, but his tail wags. This makes me doubt his ability to eat the adorable girl.
I see his sloppy wolf face emerge and I raise an eyebrow at him. He retreats moaning.
"Please miss. I need your help. Please." She shouts, no longer stuttering.
Her voice is desperate. She bangs on my door, "Please he's dying, my brother is dying, please."
I have watched children left on the road screaming. I've watched teenage girls dragged into the woods and been forced to listen. I've survived because I watched and listened. I've ignored everyone at every cost. Several times I have lain under a truck with my eyes closed and waited for it to end. Waited for the screaming to stop.
She is bait.
I close my eyes waiting, but the banging gets louder. If they aren’t already here they will hear the banging.
Dejectedly I open the door again, putting the tip of my gun through the door. I am ready to shoot. Again I feel the path of the coward before me.
"If, if you kill me, please just go find him afterward. He's hurt. They’ll find him. He's in a hole south of here. Please."
Her words aren’t a plea. She is resigned to die for him. She isn’t a coward. She isn’t like me.
I slump and pull the gun back. I close my eyes for a second and let myself acknowledge that this is a bad idea. I will no doubt regret this.
I open the door.
Leo walks cautiously to her sniffing and circling.
"Please if you must kill me just go to him. He's back a ways down the big hill. He's fallen in a hole and broken his leg I think. He isn’t conscience."
I watch her eyes, they never dart. She speaks the truth.
I grab the bundle of rope I keep on the storage shelf and close the door.
"Thank you so much. Thank you. My name is Anna." She holds her hands together like I've saved her life. Her tears still pour down her face. She is small and weak, but she appears stronger than I am. Braver.
I look at her, choosing to ignore her. After I have gotten her brother out of the hole, she will be on her way.
Leo rubs himself against the girl.
"He's not going to bite me?"
"He might. Let's go. Stay in front of me where I can see you."
She nods and tucks her long brown hair into the back of her jacket. She is thin, everyone is thin, but she is thinner than anyone I've seen in a while. I frown at myself. Who have I seen in months? No one.
Her gaunt face tells me her brother and her have been alone since the beginning, like me. And Leo. No one takes care of her. She fights for everything she has. This makes her my enemy.
I know the exact hole her brother is in, if he is really in there.
I keep my ears sharp. Thankfully she never speaks. I know she is a survivor, she has common sense. She walks silently as I do. Her breathing is even.
As we approach the hole I wait at the far side, assuming I am being led to be pushed in. I have a bad feeling they will take my cabin and leave me to die. She gets onto her knees and crawls to the edge, "Jake?"
"Anna?" A guy's breathless voice rises from the hole.
She starts to cry, "Jake we got rope, I found her. She's back now. Everything will be okay now."
My hackles rise at the words 'she's back', "How long have you been following me?"
She puts a hand out, "Let me have the rope."
I take a step back as Leo takes one forward. He senses my agitation.
"Just let me have the rope please, he's hurt." She pleads.
I shake my head and point my rifle at her face, "How long have you been following me?"
She slumps, "Two months. We stayed in the woods outside the cabin. We needed the well water. I'm sorry."
I want to feel nothing but I know, I know I'm lucky. My father told me about the cabin in the woods his family owned. I knew I had somewhere to go when it all ended. They were, no doubt, left with nothing. This doesn’t take away the sick feeling I have in my stomach, knowing I have been spied on for two months. I glance at Leo and raise an eyebrow. He slumps slightly under my scrutiny. He is ashamed but doesn’t know why. He knows my looks.
"I am sorry. We didn’t mean to scare you. We saw how many guns you had and we knew you had the wolf. We wanted to leave you alone but we had no where to go."
The voice speaks from the hole, "Look don’t hurt my sister, just pass me the rope and I'll pull myself out. We won't bother you again. I know you're scared but we really are just regular people like you."
Like me. I hear my father's voice, 'it's us and them Em' and remember there are no regular people.
I lean my gun against the tree. Leo stands beside it at the ready, just like I trained him to. I turn and tie the rope around the tree next to me. I toss the remainder of the rope down the hole. When they're gone I will set up booby traps. I won't be caught by surprise again.
"Tie it under your arms." I say toward the entrance of the hole.
I can see the rope moving as he ties himself up.
"We will pull you up just try to help a little okay."
"Okay."
I look at Anna and wait for her to come help. She looks back at me expectantly.
I frown, "I'm not pulling him up alone."
She laughs slightly. It feels weird for me. I don’t know when I heard someone laugh last.
She gets up and walks to me. Neither of us trusts the other. She eyeballs me, as much as I do her. We each take the rope in our hands. I wrap it around my hand and she does the same.
"Ready?"
She nods, just as he calls up from the hole. "Ready."
"One, two, three."
We dig in with our feet and pull hard. I can see her neck straining against the pull.
It is the hardest thing I've ever done. I grow frightened of just how big he is. He weighs a ton.
I watch a huge hand reach up out of the hole and claw at the dirt. Anna drops the rope and runs to it. Another huge hand pops up and digs in. She reaches down and pulls on his arms. I try not to gasp as a massive man crawls from the hole. I can tell he's thinner than he should be. His frame towers over Anna.
He smiles at me, "Thanks. I never thought I would get out of there. I honestly didn’t think you would help us."
My heart does something it has never done before. It skips a beat. His dark shaggy hair hangs around his forehead at eye level. His blue eyes sparkle, even in the faint moonlight, up through his hair. His smile is devastating, with chiseled features and a strong jaw line. I imagine the feel of his lips against mine for the faintest of seconds.
"Uhm hello?"
I shake my head, seeing the smile cross his lips, "What?"
He laughs, they laugh a lot.
"My name is Jake and this is my sister Anna." He stands on one leg resting his arm over Anna's shoulder, supporting his hurt leg in the air.
"You'll need that set." I point at his hanging leg.
He smiles again and I feel a fire somewhere inside of me being lit. "You can do that?"
I nod my answer and try to calm the disturbing feelings I am riddled with. I point to the cabin, "Let's go." I pick up my rifle.
"What's your name?" He asks. I like his voice.
I walk to him trying not to stare, "I will help you, I think I'm stronger than her." I don’t trust myself around him, but the faster I help them the faster they can leave.