It was dark. There was only the red light from the inside of the ambulance. The lights were flickering. She looked at him. He knew what he had to do.
She waited.
He couldn’t do it.
She knew he couldn’t.
His hand was trembling.
With a one hand she covered his on the pistol.
She pressed her head to the barrel.
“What is your name again?”
He stuttered, “W-Will.”
“Will. It’s ok.”
“What?”
“Will can you make me a promise please?”
“Y-yes.”
“Please take care of her.”
“I-I”
“Promise me.”
“I promise.”
She smiled.
“Thank you.”
She helped his finger pull the trigger.
***
Will gasped and found himself sweat covered in the Pub’s ex-owner’s bed. It was a big king size with new sheets that Will and Thomas had scavenged a week prior.
He shook his head, and ran his fingers through his hair pulling it back out of his face. His watch beeped, making him jump. He checked the time, to be immediately astonished at what it said. It was two o’clock, the day after the next. He had managed to sleep over 24 hours. Surprisingly, he wasn’t completely pissed at himself. He actually needed this. The past two shit shows of days had taken their tolls, and if Will hadn’t slept, he might literally have passed out on the road. Obviously waking up in cool white sheets was way better then not waking up in white hellish snow.
Why am I even thinking that?
Will yawned and fell back into his pillow, trying to pretend that none of this had happened. He liked to pretend he was home again, having a lazy morning after long nights of playing video games, or late night talks on the phone with his now ex-girlfriend. He smiled and looked at the little streaks of mid-day light peeked through the tiny holes in the scrap metal on the windows. His mother and father would have made breakfast already.
He could almost smell the rich cinnamon bread and recently cooked eggs. He would have to microwave them both since he slept right through breakfast. He would walk in, without a single responsibility in the world, eat both, and go lay back down in bed to watch online videos all day.
He smiled. Lazy Saturdays were the best.
Will rolled over and onto his feet. He sat on the edge of his bed for about five minutes staring ahead at nothing. Reality always seemed to hit like a train. He slipped on his fading jeans and dark brown flannel button up. He rubbed his face as the light hit it when he walked out of his room. Everyone was up but not everyone was accounted for. Thomas and Malcolm were gone, and Jack was keeping watch at the door. Samantha and Victoria were helping Liam go over rations and mark spots on the map. Jessica was playing with a couple of toy’s by one of the heaters.
“Hey sleeping beauties awake!” Victoria said with a smile.
Will chuckled, “Dude that joke was stale before the outbreak.” He glanced at the map they were working on. “Thomas and Jack?”
“Out on a run for ammo.” Victoria replied. “We’re keeping comms with them at the moment.”
She pushed a lock of wavy dark brown hair out of her face and looked back down at the map to point out a location for Will. “We figure this discount mart will still be safe from looters since it got hit pretty hard in the bombings. We just want to have an idea on how bad it was hit.”
“Do you think we could dig some stuff up?”
She shrugged, “Who knows. The chances of us finding construction equipment in Heller isn’t exactly slim, but that’s a huge risk going to those populated areas.” She glanced over at Liam. “I don’t suppose you know how to use any construction equipment right?”
Liam chuckled, “I ran people over with a forklift in a GTA a couple times.”
That made Samantha giggle a little bit. Liam glanced over with a surprised look at that. The kid probably wouldn’t have had a chance of anything with her before the outbreak. The two had grown pretty close over the past couple weeks. In fact, Liam had been the one to bring her to the group in the first place. They were together when Will found them. What happened before that was anyone’s guess.
Will patted Victoria on the shoulder, “You guy’s keep it up. I’ll be checking on Malcolm. Has he checked in today?”
“He said he was onto something a few hours ago. After that, I’ve heard nothing.”
Will nodded and strode to the police walkie that was hooked up to a charging station on the bar.
“Buck, this is Shepard, what do you see? Over.” Will let his hand off of the button.
A few seconds later the response was heard. “Shepard, this is Buck, I see a lot of white. I’m about 5 clicks out from Den right now. Trying to maintain radio silence. I think I’ll be out for a while.” There was a pause. “Over.”
His voice was pretty course and strained, as if he hadn’t talked in hours. Will wasn’t very surprised. He had only been on one run with him, and he probably talked more to himself, then he actually did with Malcolm.
Will pressed the button on the walkie. “Copy that. Try and get back before dusk tomorrow. We have some things to go over. Thomas and I ran into those marauders on our last trip. I’d rather not lose our best hunter.”
There was a pause.
“Copy that. That’s actually kind of heartwarming, over.”
“That’s why we do it… Out.”