No. 21

I was an idiot.
With Ben’s dramatics and the sound of gunfire in the distance, I didn’t hear the footsteps. I should have. I should have heard that we were in danger because I had forgotten that we were always going to be in danger. The world had shifted and I was making half-ass meals for a bungling former two-bit criminal instead of making sure we were safe.
Three fucking days and I’d already forgotten.  Three days and Ben and I were living like we were at Boy Scout camp with our parents waiting just over the knoll if anything were to happen. I stared at a tall man in camouflage. He wasn’t one of them.
I wasn’t sure what he was.
I didn’t hear him though. There was no time to kick my ass and I reached for my gun for the second time that day. I stared stupidly like a cow, looking at man in army fatigue standing in front of us. His uniform dirty, covered in crimson patterns that were splattered from what I could think was the walkers, and his hand holding on to a gun of some kind.
Everything was in slow motion as we saw the first undead human in three days and Ben spun around facing the soldier holding his gun shakily in his hand.
He reacted more quickly than I did. I was going to have to learn to be better instead of thinking things through. Shit, I didn’t know what to do.
The man slowly lowered his gun, “Hold on. I’m not one of them.”
I had reached for my gun at this point. This man was one of them. The gunshots in the distance increased and Ben lost his focus just for a second.
That’s all the guy needed to jump him and take his gun away pointing it at him steadily.
“All I want to do is talk,” he said looking at me. “That’s it, Lucy. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“Take the gun off of Ben.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” he grinned. How the hell could he grin at me? I lifted my gun, slowly, remembering how Clint Eastwood was always so clever with his patience in Dirty Harry.
I repeated myself, “Move your gun away from Ben.”
Ben was staring at the ground. I couldn’t think of his emotional state at this moment, you could feel his failure wafting of him. He would have to deal with that himself. There was not time.
“Listen, I’m hungry,” the soldier said not moving his gun. “I’ve been without food for three days. I just need a shower and I need to talk to other people.”
“What do you know?” I said.
“I know we are in trouble,” he said.
I pointed my gun to the ground.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Ben howled.
“I’ll feed you and we will listen,” I said. I hoped I was making the right choice but I didn’t see anything else I could do. There were zombies walking around, army in the distance and we remained unhurt. Something was going on, and maybe this guy could provide some clues. It was a calculated risk and I knew it but I didn’t know what else to do.
“Will you let Ben up now?”
He let Ben go and I grabbed at the back of his shirt so he wouldn’t attack him.
“My name is Nick.” He said. He smiled with the whitest teeth I’ve ever seen.
We looked at each other for a moment, weighing out this new development.
“How the hell did you know her name?” Ben growled.
I was wondering the same thing myself but there would be a time without guns to discuss this later.
“Come inside,” I sighed. “Bathroom is at the end of the hall. When you are done, there is bread and sandwich meat in the refrigerator.”
He nodded and we followed him inside, Ben’s eyes sending laser beams of hate toward Nick. And me, for that matter as I could feel without him saying that I had betrayed him for deeds I did not know.
And then there were three.

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