Get Your Words Out

Garth stared at the person, and he could tell that they had the body of a woman but much shorter than he was. Behind the mud and what looked like entrails that adorned her body, she looked nervous, darting her eyes around the room. Yet when he looked into her eyes, he saw excitement.

“Hello, I’m um,” he says, trailing off to remember his own name. It had been days since he’d even spoken out loud, even before the outbreak the most he’d ever say was the occasional swear whenever he got killed in his games, and that was to nobody. “I’m Garth. And who are you?”

Garth held his hand out for the woman to shake it, but she ignored the gesture.

“You can call me Scout, on account of my role back at the camp.”

“That’s a funny name, what was your name before?” Garth asked her, feeling his shoulders untense.

“Oh, I used to be known as Harper,” she said. “But then the world died, and Harper died with it. Once I found the other survivors in the park, I was reborn into this brand-new world.”

Garth nodded and noticed the bags hanging off her shoulders. They were empty.

“You looking for supplies or something, for this camp of yours?” Garth asked. Scout nodded as a reply.

“I was fixing to loot a few units in this building, and then I saw you sneaking your way down Main,” she said.

“Well I’ve been living off of food in a nearby complex and needed somewhere else, do you mind if I loot with you?”

Scout laughed. Garth couldn’t remember the last time he had heard such a noise. Perhaps it was one of those last days he had seen Margaret, he had fumbled over his words accepting her plate of cookies and she burst out with a short cackle.

“I’d be happy to let you accompany me Garth,” she said. “Actually, if you’re looking for somewhere to stay, I can bring you to the camp. We always have need for more scouts.”

Garth felt himself relax and smile at the words coming out of Scout’s mouth. While Garth had been unarmed, relying on his environment to serve as an aide to his untrained melee fighting style, Scout carried a slender crowbar coated in all kinds of mud and blood. The elevator is out of power, but the overhead lights still flicker, so the new duo begin climbing the dark, desolate stairwell to the third floor.

Unlike the luxury condominiums, this building was flush with groans. One door had been broken out of its frame, only hanging on by the locking chain. Only a couple of zombies meandered through the hallway and the opened- or busted- doorways into the apartments. Most of the groaning and moaning came from behind secure doors. Scout attempted to turn the handle of one and created a sound loud enough to attract the attention of several zombies that were undoubtedly hiding behind it.

The onslaught of groaning further attracted the wanderers’ attention, and Scout and Garth prepared to fight. Before any of them got close, Scout ran up to the nearest one- a few doors down- and beat its skull in with her chosen weapon. The zombie collapsed in a heap. Garth also advanced but was intercepted by one of the wanderers leaving the unit. Garth ducked out of the way and managed to work his way behind the zombie. Before it had a chance to turn around, he kicked the back of its knee, and it fell prone. With a heavy stomp, Garth crushed its skull into the laminate floor.

Garth looked up from his dispatched corpse to see that Scout had taken down another three zombies in the time he had handled the one.

“Maybe I should get me one of those,” he said, nodding at the crowbar. She nods and then puts a finger to her lips.

Together, Garth and Scout systematically looted each apartment they entered. Non-perishable food, first aid supplies, even toiletries and clean clothes. After a couple of hours of looting, all their bags were nearly full. The final unit they entered was very clean. The door had been locked from the outside they had surmised, as no chain was holding the door shut. Whoever had lived here had left and hadn’t had a chance to return.

After a quick sweep of the kitchen for food, Scout headed into the closets and bathrooms for medicine, Garth began looking through the bedrooms for clothes they could use. He entered the first bedroom, and the walls were lined with signed photos of drag queens and the closet held an array of men’s and women’s clothing. Garth sorted through the racks for any thick fabrics, like wool or corduroy, and found quite a lot. He turned around to pack the material away into his bag and saw a sleek portable gaming console. His own setup had been left behind at his apartment, and without it Garth had found himself bored to the point of meditating and reading himself to sleep. His bags were full, but they were full of so many clothes, surely the camp wouldn’t miss a few wool sweaters for a bit. Plus, they could always return with more bags- or more people even- they could clear the whole building for themselves.

Garth took out some of the thinner fabrics he had packed away from previous units and threw the console and its charger into the bag, hiding them underneath the overalls and coats and sweaters. Scout entered the bedroom, waving her heavy bag loaded with painkillers and canned food, indicating that it was full, and they needed to leave. As they descended the stairwell, Garth found himself lagging just a few steps behind Scout. Probably for the best, since she knew how to find the camp.