Zombies'n'S**t Ep. 56

Awkward Reunion

Carl snapped, "Who's there?!"  I rolled my eyes as Katherine stepped through a curtain of rain into the structure.  While Carl blubbered ineffectively, I turned to Katherine and asked, "How much did you hear?"  Katherine walked in, flicked water out of her hair and sat down at the fire, across from me.  Carl continued his flustered babbling as I sat down and Katherine finally responded, "I heard you talking about abandoning someone and not being able to.  Who's your friend over there?"  Carl recovered and looked at me in askance.  I struggled to come up with something.  Should I tell her the truth?  Or should I lie?  Maybe I could distract her.

I committed and was about to change the topic when we heard rustling, I snapped my head around and looked on in horror as Sophia slowly rose, rubbing an eye drowsily, "What's all the commotion?"  She yawned and saw Katherine.  A she gave a sleepy smile and waved as she walked over and sat next to me, shivering and holding her hands close to the fire.  I slowly turned my head to look at Katherine.  Katherine's eyes were wide open as she gaped at Sophia.  She recovered quickly and started acting mindless, moaning and scrabbling forward.

Sophia laughed, "Someone else you know, John?"  I put my head in my hands and groaned, "Yes.  Sophia, meet Katherine.  Katherine, Sophia.  Katherine is my sister, for lack of a better term."  Katherine had froze and was quickly flashing me a panicked look.  I grabbed her and sat her down, "Easy.  She knows.  No need to act."

Katherine recovered far faster than I would have guessed.

She clouted me on the side of the head.

"Dumbass!"  She growled at me.  I rubbed my head and stuck my tongue out at her.  She promptly clocked me again, shoving my jaw up and severing my tongue.  While I scrambled to collect it, she lifted herself to her knees and said, "You're supposed to introduce people to your girlfriend, a*s."  She held a rotting hand out to shake, which Sophia did, albeit gingerly.

"Sche's na ma girfrind!"  I spewed.  I shoved my tongue back into my mouth and rolled it around until it was back in place, resuming my seat.  Katherine rolled her eyes and heaved a long suffering sigh, "You are so dense, brother.  You up and disappear, reveal yourself to a Normie and now I find you, miles from home with a Normie in tow.  Jesus, I can't take you anywhere."

I flipped her off and spat out dirt and worse onto the ground.  She beamed at me.  Carl looked distinctly uncomfortable and Sophia positively glowed with malice as she watched, riveted.  Katherine gave me a level look, all humor gone, "What are you doing?"  I worked my tongue, testing its stability before I responded, "Look, things went a bit south during the attack,"  I ignored her snort, "I was.....detained by them."  I laid out everything that had transpired since then, much to Katherine's amusement.

Why does everyone laugh at my suffering?  I mean, c'mon, can't a guy get a smidgen of pity?  Based on the smiles I was getting from everyone, I'll take that as a no.  Blow me.

I toyed with a bit of rubble when I finished, silence beside the popping of the fire and the venting of the storm.  When I looked up, Sophia was grinning like an idiot and Katherine and Carl were watching her carefully.  I broke the long silence, "Kat.  What do I do?"

Sophia's eyes widened and darted between Katherine and I.  She took her time to respond, "I don't know, John.  There isn't exactly a manual for this kind of thing.  Your memories have always been lost to you, but something may be returning.  Or getting worse, based on what you told me.  These lapses you mentioned, do you feel more,"  she paused abruptly, took a steadying breathe and nearly whispered, "feral?"

Feral.  Jesus, I hadn't even considered that.  What if my memory was degrading more and more.  I didn't want to turn into one of those guys; no control, no mind, just hunger.  I shivered, I didn't have much.  Hell, I didn't even have a name, but what little I had, I did not want to lose.  The lapse I had was short, so I wasn't confident I had the same level of control as usual.

I looked up at Katherine, but could not speak.  She nodded and rested her hand on mine.  I swallowed, suddenly afraid.  I mean, really afraid.  I thought I couldn't feel anything but these mocking emotions, but I was wrong.  Fear seized the pulped mass that was my heart and sent a vicious chill through me.  For once, I realized, I could actually lose everything.

Reviews

[unspokenguilt]

And i was right...katherine! Oh snap it's getting good!