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The female crawled out of the car, the once white dress she wore covered in rust-colored stains, holes, and dirt. Her blonde hair was missing in chunks on her head, and the stringy strands stuck to parts of her face. She wasn’t so badly decomposed that her flesh hung from her bones or the necrotic tissue started to take over. Sparrow had seen different stages of the infected, ones who looked like they had crawled out of their coffins they were so badly decomposed, but then for whatever reason, others took forever to die, figuratively speaking.
“Stay here with her.” Mason moved his hand away from the gun at the small of his back and grabbed his hunting knife that was strapped to his outer thigh in the same fashion Asher’s was. Asher still had his hand on her waist, and Sparrow couldn’t help the small tingle that warmed at the point of contact. Mason started moving closer to the female, who now had her back to him as she looked off into the opposite line of trees. He was stealthy and ultra-quiet as he moved closer and closer to her.
“We should go with him.”
Asher tightened his hold on her and turned to look over his shoulder. His blue eyes held hers, and she swallowed at the intensity of them. “It’s okay. Mason’s got this.” He smiled and turned back to watch Mason stop at the edge of the tree line. They should have just kept moving. She never engaged in the sick, even if it was just one, but clearly Mason and Asher wanted to take them down. Another twig snapped beneath Mason’s foot, and the female turned around. Her mouth opened in a low moan, and immediately black, congealed blood oozed out. She moved closer to him, dragging one of her legs behind her, which Sparrow just now realized was broken and twisted at an odd angle. How the female even managed to stand upright was beyond her.
In a swift move, Mason was before the female and had his knife raised high. He plunged the blade into the side of her neck, causing the infected to gurgle out a ghastly sound. He pulled the knife out and stabbed it in the eye, and the infected fell to the ground. After he pulled his blade out of its eye, he wiped it clean on her dress. But before he could make a step toward them, another one came from out of the trees across from them. This one had his arms out in front of him and green-and-black goo coming from its eyes.
Sparrow had her weapon in her hand, a thick steel pipe that did a lot of good when brought across the heads of the sick, but before she could move, Asher tightened his hold on her. “He’s got it, Sparrow. You’ll just distract him running out there.”
And Asher was right. Right when she thought the walking corpse would have grabbed Mason, he had him on the ground and his blade buried right in one of those nasty, dead eye sockets. Mason pulled it out and wiped his blade clean once more, turned and scanned the area, and then came back to them. He stared at her for a moment before grunting something out to Asher.
“Come on, let’s see if there’s anything useful in the car. Just stay behind me and close.” He tried to take hold of her hand, but she took a step back. He stopped, which had Mason doing the same. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” She looked between the two of them. Mason had that perpetual scowl on his face, as if her stopping them was wasting their time. “I just want you guys to know I can handle myself. You don’t have to watch over me like I’ll break.” She held up her weapon. “I’ve killed plenty of them, and joining you means I want to help, not be a hindrance. I can hold my own with you guys and carry my weight.”
Mason grunted, and Asher sliced an irritated look at him.
“We found you nearly getting eaten and clawed to death by one of those fuckers,” Mason said low with a hint of anger in his voice. “So excuse me if I’d rather you do what we say instead of getting in our way.”
What. An. Ass. Sparrow tightened her hold on the pipe and glared at him. She had learned over time that keeping her mouth shut was for the best, but there were some things that just needed to be said.
“If I am such a burden to you, which your attitude seems to claim, then why in the hell did you even ask me to join you?” Sparrow had never been one to speak her mind. She was perfectly content in doing what she wanted, and if someone didn’t like it, they could go fuck themselves. But for the last few days of being in Mason’s company, seeing the glares and narrowed-eyed looks he gave her, and the overall icy disposition he wore like a damn chip on his shoulder, he was pushing it. “I survived this whole time without you, and I certainly can manage it again.”
