23 Hours by Kevin Riley

Chapter 1
     
    “Damn that kid,” I muttered under my breath; not that he’d really understand what I was saying. And besides, it wasn’t his fault; he didn’t ask me to save him, if that’s what I was really doing. For all I knew I was just going to cause him to die an even worse death, maybe even at my own hands. Then again if it wasn’t for him I’d have already been dead. I went into that shack with absolutely no intention of ever coming out. My plan was to drink myself stupid over and over until the whiskey ran out and then, with my last bullet, save myself from that hell. So maybe it was him who had saved me, or doomed me to a more horrible death.
    He gently tapped me on the shoulder and I hesitated before turning around. I knew what he wanted and sure enough the hunger showed in his eyes and in his grumbling belly. I tried to hide the anger I felt. It wasn’t his fault; he didn’t know any better. I mean he couldn’t have been more than 3 years old.
    “Not now,” I said, shaking my head. The disappointment in his eyes was brutal but that was something I was just going to have to live with. When I went into that cabin I wasn’t supposed to need any more supplies and I’d used up what I had just trying to keep him from dying. Somehow I needed to get us some more provisions, especially food, and that meant going to the Town. Not that it would do any good. Food would keep us going a little longer, but the hospital was about a day away on foot, even more if we stopped by the Town. Judging by the bite marks on my arm we didn’t have that long. On top of that I really had no idea what kind of shape he was actually in. His fever wouldn’t go away, and his leg was badly mangled; there was no way to know exactly what happened to him before I came along. Even if I somehow lasted the whole trip, I didn’t know if he would.
    “It’s time to go, buddy,” I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster.
    We were both exhausted but even with the bum leg he jumped on my back with the agility of a little monkey. I had to smile at that. I’d never had any kids of my own, and I wouldn’t think of bringing one into the world after all that mess, but something about that little boy’s attitude was almost contagious.
    With him on my back I grabbed the burlap pack containing everything I owned. When push comes to shove, it’s amazing what you can get by with.
    I also had to grab Excalibur; at least that’s what I called it. It was nothing like the mythical blade, I mean I made it from a wooden handle and an old lawnmower blade, but I liked the name. It was somehow fitting now that I was off on my own crusade.
    The sun was just rising as I stepped through the doorway of that dilapidated shack, searching for any sign that one of the stragglers might be there. The shack was deep in the woods and most of the infected kept close to the cities but I still didn’t want to take a chance. Fighting one was difficult as is, with the boy it would be damn near impossible.
    Hearing and smelling nothing, I took off down the trampled path. The infected weren’t usually bright enough to set an ambush on a game trail, mostly because that wasn’t the kind of game they were after, and the compacted earth made a hell of a lot less noise than wandering through the underbrush so I decided to keep following it as long as possible.
    As we made our way through the trees I realized that under different circumstances it could have been almost beautiful; a peaceful walk in the woods with a bird or two chirping as the sun continued to rise. The gentle warming as the cool dew still hung on the leaves was actually quite nice. If it wasn’t for all hell breaking loose everywhere and death quickly catching up with me, I could have almost enjoyed it.
    I froze mid stride as the birds suddenly went silent and my skin began to crawl. Instantly I ran to the nearest tree, swinging the boy off my back and hoisting him to the branch, just praying he