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6
EMILY
The smell is awful. It’s the most foul thing I’ve ever smelled in my life, and I’ve survived nearly a year of the dead walking the earth. I miss my little colony and the safety it provides, but most importantly, I miss never having to smell so many rotting corpses in such close proximity.
It’s too much, and I end up vomiting. Unfortunately, it’s right on top of the rotter that I’m dragging over to add to the growing pile. That’s extra disgusting. Well, at least I won’t have to do any extra cleanup for it. Bright side and all that.
After waking up and forcing Max to let go of me with the promise that I’ll at least wait until after breakfast before trying to stab him with the knife he gave me—much to his disappointment, having to wait—the smell was so overpowering that I nearly threw up in his lap. It made it impossible to even think about breakfast, so we all went straight to work on tearing down the campsite and now we’re piling all the dead rotters together to burn them before driving away. I don’t know why we can’t leave them here like this, but William prefers to burn them. He says it’s a way to cleanse the earth by having a few less of them rotting around. So here I am, dragging dead bodies across the ground while simultaneously throwing up on them. But with the lack of food, it’s mostly water. I regret making that promise with Max. Stabbing him would have been so much more fun. It’s probably not too late, though. He’s the reason I’m still here. Therefore, I dislike almost as much as Griffin right now.
The man occupying my current thoughts grins at me from the other side of the pile that I finally reach. His grin is so wide, it almost reaches his vibrant green eyes. His dark hair is still wild and untamed, much like the man himself. I imagine pulling the knife from the belt holster William loaned me and throwing it through the air right at his stupid face, but my aim isn’t good enough for that yet. Although I bet he wouldn’t mind being a target practice for me. I think nothing is off the table for that man. I want to make him mad, but now I’m thinking that’s not possible.
Max tosses another body onto the pile and waggles his eyebrows at me. “Nothing I like more than a good party. Let’s do it again tonight.”
“Draw rotters in like that again and you’ll be joining them,” Griffin threatens when he heaves a torso on top of the pile right before William throws the legs on top. I turn my head and dry heave.
William is by my side in an instant, holding my hair back for me. Once I’m done, he pulls the hair tie off of my wrist and gently pulls my hair back. It’s still tangled, but he does his best to smooth my hair back before wrapping my hair up in a ponytail.
“She’s got nothing left to throw up. Speaking of which, Willie, I promised her you’d make her waffles sometime,” Max helpfully states.
“It’s William. Does she even like waffles?”
“Who wouldn’t like waffles?”
“How are you talking about food at a time like this?” I dry heave again.
“Gotta keep our appetite up. Doesn’t burning, rotting flesh make you hungry?” Max asks. “Or maybe it’s the killing. Well, they were already dead, so killing the dead. Regardless, we can’t forget about the waffles.”
William rolls his eyes and touches my arm. “Come on, let’s get you away from here. We’re almost done. Max can finish up. I’m sure this mess is mostly his fault, anyway.”
“I take pride in that,” Max calls after us while William leads me to the car.
“Don’t even think about trying anything. I still have the key,” Griffin adds before walking away to join Max in collecting the last few rotters.
I rest my forearms on the trunk of the car and drop my head down, struggling to breathe. The odor is far too great. We’ll have to drive for a while before it goes away. It’s in my clothes, in my hair, in every particle of the surrounding air. Two hundred and sixty-six days in this rotter apocalypse and I still haven’t gotten used to the stench.
A rough hand rubs gentle circles against my back while I fight to keep the nausea at bay. It’s a nice feeling, and I think it might even be working. It’s weird to have someone else try to take care of me. I’m always the one who winds up taking care of everyone else. That’s how I landed myself on this mission in the first place; I’m responsible for so many lives. It gets exhausting sometimes. The weight of the world presses down on my shoulders. At least when I’m outside the colony, it seems to lift a little.
Air struggles to go in and out of my lungs.
Zoey is counting on me, and if I fail, then there might be no one able to take my place. Sure, there are plenty of people to go out and scavenge, but none as dedicated as I am. They would probably try the same areas we’ve scavenged and go back into the colony with their palms facing up and say they tried.
“Emily, breathe. I know it’s hard right now, but you need to breathe.” William’s voice is low, strong, and calm. I do as he says and force air into my lungs, no matter how rancid the air is. He doesn’t stop rubbing circles into my back, even when footsteps approach. He speaks to someone over his shoulder. “Start the fire and let’s get out of here.”
“Move, I need to open the trunk.”
“I’m not going back in there,” I bit out to Griffin. The nerve of him. I would even choose to ride on top of the car rather than in the trunk. I ought to stab him with Max’s knife for even suggesting it.
“Actually, I was going to put the rest of the gear in there, but putting you in there instead isn’t a bad idea,” Griffin says thoughtfully.
“Fuck you.”
“Wait, is that a threat or a promise?” Max adds, reaching for the box of matches that Griffin holds out. When I don’t respond, he shrugs his shoulders and runs over to start the fire.
Shaking my head, I push myself away from the trunk and walk around the car before lowering myself into the passenger’s seat. I’m riding in first class today. Maybe I should put Griffin in the trunk, see how he likes it.
Max has the fire roaring in a matter of moments and comes running back to the car to join us, but I do my best to ignore him. All of them.
I pull out hand sanitizer from my pocket when the doors open and shut as everyone joins me inside the car. After squirting some into my palm, I’m sliding it back into my pocket when Griffin snatches it from me. “Hey, what do you think you’re doing?”
