Besides, Boden and Nolita were soldiers. Not only could they handle themselves, but it was their job to protect people. Bishop had a gun, and she was bad ass. Daniels had almost killed both me and Max, so in a way, he kinda owed me.
The only one I really had to feel guilty about was Teddy, but I tried not to think about that. The world was overrun with zombies. There were no guarantees of safety for anyone.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Teddy asked me after we’d walked for a while. He normally kept his conversations with Bishop, but I was walking faster now, almost next to Boden.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said tightly, still refusing to look at him. He’d picked up his pace, moving away from Bishop and walking next to me.
“You just seem a little shaken up after the thing with the zombie,” Teddy went on. “Have you killed a zombie before?”
“Yeah, I’ve killed plenty of zombies. You don’t survive this long without getting a lot of green blood on your hands.”
“Yeah, that’s true.” Teddy looked down at the ground and scratched the stubble on his chin. “It’s been awhile, though, since I’ve had to fight them. I’m sure that’s true for you, too. Is that why you’re upset?”
“I’m not upset,” I insisted.
“Well, if you were, I wouldn’t blame you,” Teddy said. “Nobody would. It never gets easier dealing with all this crap. You’d think it would, but I guess you can never really get used to monsters.”
I didn’t say anything to that, so Teddy continued, “And getting to hide away from it for a while actually probably it made it worse. Especially for you, since you weren’t even interacting with people. Dealing with zombies now must be a real shock.”
“I’m not shocked. I’m fine,” I said through gritted teeth.
“It has to – ”
“Teddy!” Boden snapped, cutting him off. “She said she was fine. Can you drop it now?”
“Oh, right.” Teddy looked embarrassed and fumbled with the straps of his backpack, then fell back in step with Bishop behind us. “Sorry.”
When we reached the large wooden sign outside of town, it was still light enough to read the familiar slogan written there: “The Best Little Town in the West.” The sign was riddled with bullet holes and splattered with zombie blood.
Already, the death groans were audible. Boden and Nolita drew their guns, and we all moved in close together. We couldn’t see the zombies, but there were plenty of trees and houses to hide them.
“We have to be careful,” I told Boden in a hushed tone. “Last time I was here, there were marauders who shot at us.”
He swore under his breath, then muttered, “Delightful.”
“Marauders?” Nolita asked. “What do you mean by that?”
“I mean be as quiet as possible so we can make it to the compound undetected, and we won’t have any problems,” I said.
Nobody shot at us as we made our way into the town, so that was something. I didn’t see any signs of marauders, but that didn’t mean anything. All the houses had been damaged, lawns were torn up, and the streets were littered with smashed cars and broken furniture, as well as body parts and corpses.
A low rumble came from a tree next to us, and Boden turned toward it, aiming his gun at the monster in the branches. I looked with him and saw that it wasn’t a zombie, but something that made me much happier to see.
“No!” I shouted and pushed Boden before he could shoot her, and his gun went off, shooting emptily in the air.
“What the hell, Remy!” Boden yelled, but I ignored him.
“It’s my cat,” I said, stepping away from the others to see her.
Ripley leaped out of the tree and raced toward me, her ears poised happily. She almost knocked me down when she reached me and threw her paws around me in an awkward bear hug. Then she walked around me, rubbing her head against me, reminding me very much of the housecat she wasn’t.
The lioness was much bigger than when I’d seen her last. She was growing fat on a zombie diet. I ran my fingers through her course fur, and I actually couldn’t recall a time in recent memory that I was happier. Ripley rarely let me pet her, but she seemed just as happy to see me as I was to see her.
“I remember the lion,” Nolita said. “She was at the quarantine for a while before she escaped. I didn’t think she was friendly.”
“She’s not usually this friendly,” I admitted, scratching her behind the ears. “But she’s pretty tame.”
Nolita reached out and tentatively petted her back. Ripley let her and nuzzled her head into my stomach. It hurt, but I didn’t complain.
“I don’t mean to cut your reunion short, but we really ought to find shelter before dark,” Boden said. “Where is the compound?”
“Over that way. I think.” I pointed to the left. “It’s on this side of town. I know that much for sure.”
“Great.” He stepped to the side and gestured for me to go. “You lead the way.”