"I ain't gonna let ya"

The Dead groaned loudly and banged against the glass doors at the sight of us. The murky glass kept me from seeing past the first 2 rows of Dead, and those alone would be more than we’d ever faced in the past year that we’d fought together. Was he as nervous as I? I decided I didn’t want to know. If he was nervous then that meant things were really bad.

Maybe he could see my heart pounding against my ribs or my stiff legs as I walked closer to the doors, but when I looked back at him he gave me a reassuring nod. Right. We could do this. The food these Dead were guarding wouldn’t just be for Drake and me, it would be for everyone back at camp too. Little Annie, and her brother. Ms. Kathrine with her big pregnant belly, and Mr. Joe whose jokes could still make everyone laugh, even in times as dark as these. ‘You got this Mary.’ I thought sternly to myself. 

I took a deep breath and grabbed the rim of the sliding door, heaving it open… just a crack. The terrible chorus of Dead groans and cries magnified as the first dead man stumbled out. A terrible wretch. Chunks of hair had been torn from his scalp, skin drooped off his rib cage, and one of his eyes was missing, leaving an empty socket behind. Drake promptly shot an arrow through his head, dropping him as I crept over to his side. Two of the Dead managed to wiggle through the doors this time, a decrepit woman, and what used to be a young man. Drake dropped another one, and I stepped forward to thrust my dagger through the woman’s skull. 

When I looked back up, 3 dead had managed to wiggle out, and more were pushing the doors open as they squirmed out. I threw a look over my shoulder at Drake- they had opened the door faster than we had anticipated. He didn’t say anything but turned back to the Dead in front of us, we’d go on as planned. I stabbed my dagger through the eye socket of a dead man and then yanked it out just in time to slash and stab another. Two more and the humid air had me slick with sweat. My hands were shining with blood, and my arms ached, I’d barely gotten a moment’s rest, and was falling back towards the street. In a split second, I glanced over the shoulder of a Dead One and saw a flood of Dead gushing from the wide-open doors. I killed another. Drake was holding his own. He had a long-distance weapon which gave him a wider safety zone than me, but he was running out of arrows. Soon he’d have to grab some out of his dropped ones or resort to his dagger. I slashed a gash deep enough in a Dead One’s neck that its head tipped backward and ripped off, plopping onto the ground. I killed two more before having to take another step back. There were too many. I was starting to lose.  

Time passes oddly when you’re fighting for your life. The only measure you can rely on is the amount that you kill. So it was when 37 more bodies were crumpled around my feet, that I was finally able to take a moment and look at the doors again. I could see that only a final few were trickling out, we were nearing the end! “Yes.” I breathed in a second of relief. 

A terrible second in which I let down my guard. With a terrible cry, a Dead One grabbed onto my shoulders, and lunged towards me! I screamed, and dropped my dagger in my hurry to shove him off me! I pressed my forearm against his neck and got him barely an arm’s length away! I could feel his ancient windpipe collapsing under my arm, his neck conforming like putty around me. Just as I thought I was getting a hold on the situation, I stepped off the curb, and toppled into the street! The Dead’s snapping teeth were inches, no- centimeters from my neck, it took all of my dwindling strength to keep him off me, all the strength it would have taken to call for Drake. How long did I have until the other Dead were on me? 

I grunted trying to push the stupid thing off me, but it wasn’t working! The Dead’s teeth were getting closer. Closer. Its slimy blood crusted teeth scraped against my neck, I couldn’t lift it off. I couldn’t- 

Shink 

It went limp against me and was shoved away. I saw Drake, standing over me, blood shining on his blade, and sweat plastering his hair to his forehead. He spun around and slew an advancing Dead One, shoving its limp body against another and stabbing a third, before finishing the second. He stabbed, then slashed another, finally decapitating the last. 

I sat there, panting, looking up at him as he looked around at the bodies lying on the ground, trying to find his breath. Then as though he had just remembered me, he turned and sank to the asphalt.

He grabbed my wrists, running his hands up my arms, checking for bites. His eyes met mine for a second, silently asking for an explanation.

“I don’t-“ my voice shook, “I don’t know what happened. I looked away for a second, then he was on me. I lost my balance on the curb and fell.” I suddenly felt like crying. My fragile life was almost finished back there. The snap of teeth, the grit of asphalt. It was too real. 

“You bit?” His eyes traced my neckline and across my shirt looking for blood. 

I shook my head, lips trembling. Why had I let myself get distracted? I had always known that was dangerous. So why had it happened? That was real. The Dead weren’t just actors or animatronics. That creature would have eaten me. 

Drake must have been satisfied with my lack of wounds because his eyes finally bounced up to mine and that’s when I lost it. Tears spilled over my lids and I looked at my lap. “I almost died,” I said quite obviously. 

“You didn’t.” 

My weak voice barely let me whisper, “I could’ve.” 

“I didn’t let you.” 

I looked up at him and saw his honesty. He didn’t, he wouldn’t. More tears clogged up my throat, and I threw my arms around his neck, burying my nose in his shoulder, sobbing. I didn’t know when but, eventually his hands rested on my back, and I heard him say, “I ain’t gonna let ya.” 

I tried to compose myself, “I won’t let you die either.”