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My eyes bounce between Reed, the mallet, and the zombie growling at us.I can’t do this.When I threw the mallet at him it was because I was upset. I wanted him to pay attention to me.

“I can’t even hit a bullseye. Honest, when I threw that at you, I was mad at you; I don’t like being ignored. Reed, I?—”

“Then be mad; hate that thing,” he points behind him.

“Don’t ignore me,” I whisper, hating the whininess in my voice.

“Okay.”

“Promise me.”

“I promise.”

Tightening my grip around the mallet's handle, I swallow the fear that inches itself into me. Reed moves to my side, giving me a full view of the dead thing walking.

I close my eyes and lift the mallet. Here goes nothing.

CHAPTER20

Noah

The moment the thing leaves my hand, my eyes snap open. I hold my breath as the mallet flies through the air. Time stops. Everything around me seems to fade away as I wait for the thing to bounce off the zombie's head like it did to Reed's back. Only it didn’t.

The mallet's rubber top imbeds itself into the zombie's forehead.

“Holy shit.” The words fly from my mouth. “I did it.” I actually did something that I was supposed to do. I jump around, facing Reed once more.

“Did you see that?” I pump my fist into the air, jumping. “Holy fuck, I did it. I didn’t think I would, but man.” Tossing my hands on my hips, I scan over the dead things lying around the parking lot. Sure, I only killed one, but I threw the mallet, and it killed him.

The thought that maybe I could survive by myself out here hits me. Once we get to Georgia, to wherever Reed is stopping, I can move on. I can do it alone.

“Good job,” Reed mumbles. The corners of his eyes crinkle, letting me know that he’s at least smiling. It might not be much, but I’ll take it.

I follow behind Reed as he starts to head towards the strip mall. As we pass the one zombie that I killed, I bend down and pick my mallet up.

“Hey, did you see the guy?” I ask, searching around. It’s like he was never there.

“He left while you were jumping in the air.”

“Hmmm,” I hum. Sadness falls over me; it’s the first time we’ve come across another human. I wanted to say hi, or at least get a thank you from him. Not that I needed one, I just wanted to speak to someone else besides myself, especially since Reed hasn’t been mister chatterbox over here.

“Come on, we’ve got at least another two, maybe three days left before we get to the cabin.” Reed tells me as we enter the hunting store.

“Cabin?” I ask.

Reed glances over his shoulder at me. We stop by a row of topical antibiotic ointment.

“Uh, yeah, that’s where we’re heading. It’s in the woods.”

“You do realize that sounds like you’re going to murder me, right?” I raise a brow at him.

If Reed wanted to kill me, I’m sure he would’ve done it already. I’m almost positive he’s at least thought about it. There’s no way he hasn’t.

Reed doesn’t say anything; he just stares at me. While he wears a mask over the bottom half of his face, it’s like he wears another one. A see-through one, one that has no emotions, a colorless void. Not a flicker of joy, sadness, or even anger. If I didn’t just travel with him for over a week, I’d probably tuck my tail and run. But this Reed is a different Reed from the one that kissed me just days ago.

“So, we’re getting some topical antibiotic ointment?” I reach down, grabbing two boxes. “These would come in handy.”

“Yeah, stuff three boxes in your bag.” Reed orders.