Monday

What can you do for strangers?

"You're a girl." was all the dude said when I removed my headgear.
"And you've got a penis." I replied. "Now, are we done with the sex ed or do you need further proof?"
"I'm just... I didn't know... I mean... with all that stuff on you... and your hair." He motioned towards my face.
"There are fucking dead idiots shambling around outside and are you really upset about genderbending?" Instantly, I'm not pleased.

"Both of you. Shut the fuck up." She spoke with such distraught, detached anger we both instantly looked at the floor and away from each other.

"What should I call you guys?" I ask, attempting to break the awkward silence. "You can call me E."
"Well, E, this is Kore and I'm Knox." The man instructed.
My eyebrow raised, "Kore? As in Queen of the Underworld?"
The girl, called Kore, looked up to me, "You read?"
"I've got plenty of time." I felt my face form into a smile and instantly I forced my lips back into a scowl. "So yeah, there is food, a wash basin in the other room and we should be safe here for a few days"

And we were. We were safe. For a couple days. Then it became too much. The smell, the craziness, my uncomfortable disposition of where I was. I couldn't take it. I told them to stay in that attic and I would take a peek and see if it was safe to stretch our legs. If it's just me, I have enough hidden nooks around the neighborhood that they wouldn't have to worry a bout me. I got this.

I'm freaking the fuck out. They knew each other for only a couple days. Knox met up with the trio somewhere in Kentucky. Knox is called Knox because it's short for Knoxville, the city in Tennessee he is from. I've never been there-- but from what he says I never want to now. Both groups were going east to the coast. They heard there were a fleet of abandoned boats here just up for the grabbing. From there they could take those boats to an island somewhere and be safe. Somehow they ended up in North Carolina and in my town. In my neighborhood. On my street. I'm four hours from the coast. My parents are residents in the coast. I promised myself I would never go east, only north. It's colder up north and I could only imagine how sluggish it would make the shambling idiots and how much easier my life would be. But that would mean uprooting, being a nomad... something I'm not ready for... a year after everything has settled into the way it's just going to be.

"I don't want to know your stories." I said. I got it. Big Man and Brother were related to Kore. Knox had a pregnant wife with him when this started. A pregnant wife and two other, younger, children. His pregnant wife had brought along her brother. As a group Knox tried to get them to the east, to these imaginary boats. No one knew that his wife's brother was sick with Infection. It took a full week of travel before Knox realized that his brother in law was infected. When he tried to abandon his brother-in-law his wife became angry and they had a fight. Long story short, the wife chose to stay with the brother-in-law and Knox abandoned his entire family on the curb. Knox feels guilt and anger over the situation. The story spilled out of him like a busted water balloon. I couldn't shut him up fast enough. Kore zoned in and out during the story. Obviously she had heard it a few times.

Later, Kore thanked me when he wasn't around. "I've heard that story countless times. You'd think he'd be sick of hearing it. I think he has decided it's a daydream and not real, so the more he vocalizes it the more it is legit and not pretend. He's trying to get a grasp of him abandoning his small children.... I think he didn't mind leaving his chick behind so much." She shrugged and pushed her hair behind her ear. "Thank you, by the way. About... uhrm... earlier? That thing that happened? You saved us."

I remember taking a huge gulp. She said it. She said I saved them. There is no saving in this situation, only prolonging. I told her just as I told you just now...

thank me when it's over, for right now it's just begun.