This Beautiful World - Book #1 (BxB)

Chapter 9

Alex and I stayed close as we followed behind Arin. The other three were already upstairs like it was decided. It was quiet. We didn't hear anything come from above us, which I took as a good sign. The others must not have found anything, or they were taking care of things quietly as we intended. No gunshots were a positive. Hopefully, we would have the same sort of luck on this floor.  

There was definitely something up here, though. Tyler and Stella said that they heard a noise coming from this floor, so there was something lurking around here somewhere. If it actually was a zombie, it was deciding to stay quiet for now. There was nothing as we looked down the halls. This was a decent-sized apartment building. It would take us a while to look through every apartment, as long as we were actually able to get inside them.

Once we were sure that the halls were clear, it was time to finally search the rooms. This had my heart racing. I was scared that the second we opened up one of these doors then we would be attacked. Arin was taking the lead, which did make me feel bad. He was putting himself in the line of fire by being the one who was willing to go into the rooms first. He put his hand on the doorknob of the first room that we were going to check. He hesitated.

Despite putting on a brave face, he was just as nervous as we were. I took the spot beside him and put my hand on his. Even though I was a stranger and he didn't know if he could trust me yet, it seemed like this small action calmed him down a little bit. I wanted him to feel reassured that we had his back in this. I was scared, but that didn't mean that I was going to run away from danger.

"I'm right here with you, okay? We can do this." I looked up at him and gave him a small smile.

Arin returned my smile and nodded. This gave him the courage to finally turn the doorknob and slowly push the door open.

Nothing attacked us like I anticipated. We all had our weapons ready. The room we stepped into was a mess, but so far it looked empty. I did notice a dark room farther within the apartment. The sunlight wasn't able to reach that room and not knowing if something was in there waiting put me on edge. We didn't have a flashlight either. That would have come in handy to check these dark corners of the building. 

Alex must have been thinking the same thing as I was. He pulled out his iPhone and switched on the flashlight. I didn't even think about using my phone.

None of us got close to the room while it was dark, but now Alex was shining the light into it. It was a bedroom that was also messy, but otherwise, there was nothing inside of it. The people who lived here must have packed some things and left in a rush. Whoever they were, I hope that they were able to escape this madness.

We searched the rest of the apartment and thankfully, there was nothing. I could only hope that we would be this lucky with the rest of the rooms, but I doubted that would be the case. There was bound to be something, especially after the others heard that noise.

After confirming that the room was completely clear, we left to search the others. I decided to stay close to Arin as we searched. He shouldn't have to go in all of these rooms first and sacrifice himself like this. I felt bad for putting that burden on him to begin with. Alex, on the other hand, didn't offer this sort of support. I understood why he didn't. Not every person wanted to put themselves in danger like this. He stayed behind us for each room that we searched.

So far, things were going smoothly, which was a relief. Each room that we searched so far was empty or the doors were locked. We didn't try to break down any of the doors either. That would have made too much noise. It felt wrong to leave those rooms unchecked. We didn't know if there was something locked inside, but there was nothing that we could do about it right now.

As we continued our search, we stopped when we heard something scratching one of the doors. My heart picked up speed. I knew we couldn't have gotten out of this so easily. The scratching was coming from the apartment next to the one that we were about to check.

"Maybe we can check that one last?" Alex asked. He backed away from the door.

"I think that we should get this over with. You two should stand back," Arin said.

Alex already put distance between himself and the closed door. He didn't need to be told twice. I couldn't do that, though. I stood there ready to face whatever was behind that door.

Arin finally opened it.

Instead of a zombie running out, a small, fluffy white dog came rushing out and ran up to me. It seemed happy to be free as it wagged its tail and let out a few small barks. I was worried that the noise would attract any zombies, so I scooped the dog up in my arms. The dog stopped barking and began to lick my face.

"The owners must have left this little guy here when they were trying to escape." I was glad that we were able to save this dog from the apartment. I was still unsure about how must time has passed since this town was infected. For all I knew, this dog could have been trapped here for days. 

"I don't think that's what happened . . ." Arin was quiet as he looked into the apartment. I glanced past him to see what he was talking about. 

Propped up against the wall was a body of a man. The person was dead. They had a bullet hole in their head and a gun lay on the ground beside them. However, that wasn't the only body. There were two others belonging to children. The children also had a hole in their skull where they were shot.

"What the fuck . . . this is messed up." Alex had to look away. It was a hard sight to see. 

"Yeah. I guess he wanted a way out for him and those kids." Arin sounded sad. He let out a sigh, then walked into the room. Neither Alex nor I followed him, but Arin was back fast. He retrieved the gun, then shut the door once he joined us again. 

We didn't say anything for a minute. It was hard to process what we saw. Whoever that man was, he didn't want him or those kids to have to go through this new way of life. The future ahead of us was looking bleak, but things could change. This was only starting so there was a possibility that things could turn around and get better. Right? 

"We should keep going. We still have a few more rooms to check," Arin said. 

He was right that we couldn't continue to stand here, but now we had one extra with us. "What about the dog?"

The dog still seemed happy to be in my arms, but we couldn't possibly continue the search with it. I needed my hands in case we eventually did run into one of the undead. I also didn't trust the dog to run around on its own. I didn't want something to happen to it if it ran into one of those creatures before us. 

"I'll take it downstairs to the others and then I'll meet up with you again," Alex offered. He was looking for a way out of this. So much for sticking by my side. 

If Alex wanted to go, then I wasn't going to stop him. I handed the dog over to him. Alex took the dog, who was still too happy to have human interaction again. 

Before leaving us, Alex said to Arin, "Keep Aiden safe for me until I get back, okay? He can be a little reckless at times."

With that, Alex left Arin and me alone in the hallway. I was annoyed that Alex wanted to leave and I expected him to take his sweet time returning if he ever did come back. At least we were almost done checking this floor. And now it was time for us to continue our search. 

I did feel a little awkward being alone with Arin like this. He was a stranger, but he did seem trustworthy. He kept looking out for Alex and me while we were searching for monsters. Not many people would put their lives on the line like that so willingly for others. I was also grateful to him for rescuing my mom and sister. 

We were able to search a few more rooms before we heard the loud bang of a gunshot. It came from above us.