No Rest For The Wicked 2

Martina had expected an empty pantry or rats eating all the food. Maybe a portal to Narnia. Anything but a tiny guy raiding the cupboards, staring up at her with wide green eyes.
She wasn’t really thinking about her actions while snatching him up. Her baseball bat clattering to the floor didn’t even register in her brain.

Crazy cannibal virus? I can live with that. But tiny dudes, seriously?!

He dangled upside down in front of her face. She was thinking what exactly one should ask a tiny pantry-raider when he surprised her:

“Put me down, damn you!”

Of course he speaks English on top of everything!

Martina wasn’t sure if he was naturally ghostly pale or just scared of her. This was a disconcerting thought, considering she was barely over five feet tall, baby-faced and hadn’t intimidated anyone over ten years old so far. But it seemed reasonable for someone six inches tall or so.

The tiny guy looked like any normal human, besides the size, with simple dark clothes and a matching backpack. And he was so detailed! She could see a scar across his nose, and short black hair, and a frowning slowly reddening face…

Now that she thought about it, being suspended upside-down over a drop ten times your height seemed fairly uncomfortable.

BAM!

Her thought process scrambled itself up into a panicked mess when she saw the infected man sprinting towards her.

***

Keith was ready for a painful death at this point. He didn’t quite expect to be dropped on his rear back into the cupboard. Before his eyes, the human girl fumbled for her weapon, but didn’t grasp it in time.
The thing tackled her to the ground, shrieking in unison with her frightened yelps.
She held it at bay with a foot and both her hands, but it kept struggling and writhing and biting thin air in its frenzy. If she reached for the bat, it would surely get at her. He could see tears glistening in her eyes.

His right hand found the familiar handle of his boxcutter and gripped it hard. The other one gathered his hook, rope and pulley.

I've always had a thing for damsels in distress.

He threw his hook on the freak and it caught in its shirt. It didn’t even care. After briefly testing his knot on the cupboard hinge, he grabbed his pulley one-handed, braced himself and zipped down his rope onto the thing’s neck.

This was a very unstable surface as the freak was struggling madly under him, so Keith crouched and grabbed fistfuls of fabric to avoid being thrown to the ground. Once he finally got to the back of its neck, he plunged his blade in with all his strength.

***

Martina had to see what happened.
She had a minor heart attack at meeting its bloodshot eyes. It seemed to be only twitching weakly. Martina threw the infected man to the side, panting from the recent effort.

Her hand found her baseball bat and gripped it hard. She blinked to clear her vision.

The tiny dude just stabbed the crazy cannibal and paralyzed it. That’s… Fine. My life makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?!

“Hey there, Freckles.” He sounded wary.
“… Thank you.” Martina said once she broke out of her shock, touching her nose in reaction to the nickname.
“You’re welcome…” The tiny guy kept his eyes on her as he slowly backed away from her.
“Wait!” She exclaimed, startling him. “I’m… I’m Martina. Who are you?”

“… Keith.” He looked ready to bolt under the fridge behind him.
“Nice to meet you…”

Keith flinched when his exit was suddenly blocked by a human hand. He glared up at Martina.
“Sorry… Just, please stay?” She bit her lip as his frown intensified.
“You just saved my life, for god’s sake! There are freaks just like this one all around now!” An idea popped into her head. “Come on, we could help each other. Cooperate?”

“… What do you mean?” He seemed to unwind a bit and his frown softened.

“I mean, you can sneak around, scout the territory, do stuff like this…” Martina yanked the boxcutter off the freak’s neck. “And I can do this sort of stuff.” She smashed its head with the baseball bat and ignored her own shudder.

It’s not a person anymore.

Keith considered the proposal. They were both teens, all alone in the world where they’d have to scavenge, run, hide and fight for survival. Martina, being a human, would obviously be a big help to him, and he’d just proved himself useful as well. She didn’t seem so bad.

It could be a trap. But then, I got nothing to really live for anyway, and staying still here is just…

“Alright, Freckles,” He openly stared at her, leaning against the fridge and crossing his arms. “You can tag along with me.”

Martina rolled her eyes and offered him a finger for the awkward version of a handshake.
Keith fist bumped her.

“Good enough.”
She lay down on her back.
“What are you, by the way?”

“Your worst nightmare.”

“Oh no... Not an emo goth!”
He’d never admit he laughed at that.