Decay (Book 1): Civilization by Linus Locke Page A

back so she could wrap herself in his warmth.
    Occasionally a fiend would shamble past the building. Emalynn found it confusing that she felt awful for them. They are monsters now, but before all of this happened they were people who loved and cared. They had families and friends. She lost herself in thoughts of her own family and friends.
    “Bradley’s out?” Roger’s voice startled her as it broke the quiet of the building. His voice wasn’t necessarily deep or powerful. It was soft with a strange gruffness that sounded as if his throat was dry, which it might have been.
    “Y- Yes,” she replied as she moved to her feet.
    Roger had lost about half of his weight over the last year. Weighing around 170 pounds now, his faded blue button up shirt hung off of him like a blanket, and he had to add notches to his belt to hold up his now baggy pants. The waist of his tan khakis was bunched up under the belt. Bradley offered on several occasions to bring back fresh clothes for him, but Roger only grumbled, “Just bring food and water.”
    “Whatever,” Bradley would say, and with that he would pass by the men’s clothes unless he needed something himself.
    He stared down at Emalynn with almost lifeless eyes. He started to lose touch with reality early on, and he always made Emalynn feel uncomfortable. Recently, however, he has become far more reclusive. When he did come out it was only briefly. His mouth hung slightly open and he looked like he had not slept in days.
    Although he lost the weight well, there was still extra skin that hung loosely from the bottom of his face. He probably stunk a little, but Emalynn and Bradley were acclimated to it if he did. Roger was much dirtier than the other two. Caring much less how he looked, he sure as hell wasn’t wasting water, or even time, to clean himself up.
    “I thought I heard you crying. Is everything alright?” No concern showed on his face.
    Emalynn slowly started to slide her way along the wall and out of the corner. “Yeah, I’m fine. Thank you. Bradley should be back any minute,” she lied. She could hear it in her own voice and hoped that Roger didn’t catch it. “He was only going a couple blocks to look for food for the next couple of days.” Roger wasn’t much taller than she was, and even though he didn’t weigh what he used to he could certainly overpower her quickly.
    Roger nodded while continuing to stare at her. If there was any thought process happening at all he didn’t show it in his cold, emotionless face. “How long can we keep assuming he will come back? One of these trips out will be his last. He is going to have to go further to find food, and that is when they will get him,” Roger spoke softly, running his hands along the makeshift ladder that hung from the window by a four-by-four Bradley had found on the roof. “Bradley’s been going further and further each time, only to find less and less.”
    Chills ran down Emalynn’s body as he talked. The voice coming out of the man standing just a few feet in front of her seemed to come from a source far in the distance. Like every word he spoke was just a memory. Noticing the tremor that crept through her he stepped forward and placed both dirty, sweaty hands on her shoulders. This close, Emalynn inhaled the smell drifting off of him, and it caused her to gag. She could taste it on her tongue.
    “I can keep you safe too, you know?” The expression on his face never changed. “I just want us to be friends.”
    “We are friends, Roger,” Emalynn replied forcing a smile, yet the terror in her voice couldn’t be hidden. Tears rolled down her cheeks. She thought of kicking the man hard in the balls and running for the window. Taking her chances with the fiends out there seemed like it would be better than dealing with the fiend in here.
    Before she could act Roger stepped backed. He looked at her once more with that blank face, than turned and walked away. Emalynn slid to the floor and