An outing

I walked around for a while with Harold, and he was shockingly quiet. It was rare for him to be this quiet. I found myself glancing at him, expecting him to say something, but he remained silent.

"Is there something on my face?" he asked, and I looked away but didn't respond. "You get embarrassed easily, huh?"

"I don't."

"You do."

"I'm not doing this with you," I said and walked in another direction.

"Stop running off on your own," he said, grabbing my hand. I drew back and stepped away. "If you keep this up, something might really happen to you," he said, and I raised an eyebrow.

"That's none of your business," I replied, turning to leave.

"It is, though," he shot back, but I didn't think twice about it. I looked around for anything that might be useful or a clear and comfortable place to sleep.

The sound of moans coming from an alleyway made me pause. I approached slowly and looked inside.

"I think they're stuck," Harold said in my ear. I pushed him away, feeling uncomfortable with the closeness.

"Someone must have blocked them off," I replied, turning to leave. He walked past me and went inside the alley. "Hey," I called, but got the usual smile in response.

I couldn't see much inside because it was dark. I stood by the corner with my arms crossed over my chest.

"It won't hold for long," Harold informed me.

"We just have to steer clear of this place," I replied.

"No, they won't come this way. They are blocked two ways, and the other side is an open barn," he replied, and my eyes widened. They were trying to get to the horses.

"We could use more horses now," I mused, looking in the direction of the alley. Why would you have an open alleyway to your barn? "How long will it last?"

"A few minutes."

"Talk about timing," I mumbled, looking around.

"I don't think we have time to navigate our way to the barn," he said.

"Then we lead them out and kill them," I said.

"Or put a barrier around them to stop them from coming out?"

"Save your magic," I said, drawing my swords.

"I think this would be more… never mind," he said with a loud sigh. "What is your plan?"

"Lure them out and kill them," I said.

"All of them?"

"Yes."

"A whole town's worth of people?"

"Yes," I replied.

"Okay," he said, shaking his head. He stepped closer, and I watched his every move. "Excuse me, Miss," he said, grabbing my waist.

"What are you…" We levitated and moved past the horde of hungry undead to the barn. "That works too," I said, pushing him away.

I looked around at the horses, counting them with my eyes.

"How will this work?" I asked, turning to look at Harold. He didn't respond. "Hey."

"Yeah?"

"How do we do this?" I asked again.

"Tie them up and lead them out?"

"I don't think those people want to watch that," I said, pointing at the alleyway.

"To start is to start," he said and walked away.

I watched as he tied up the horses and brought them out. It looked easy for him. 

*'I'm not even doing anything.'* 

The sound of wood snapping snapped me out of my thoughts. I turned and saw the undead were free and now approaching me.

I drew my sword and ran toward them. I slashed and stabbed through the unending horde, but there were more than I had anticipated.

"Time to go," Harold said, grabbing my hand.

"Are you done?" I asked.

"I'll have to apologize to the owner of this barn," he replied as we got to the horses. There were four horses tied together, two by two.

"We can't just leave those undead to run freely," I said, glancing back.

"I don't know why you want to kill them so badly, but you'd have to let out your frustration somewhere else," he said, and I tsked. 

I hated how right he was; it's like he could read people's thoughts. It was annoying!

We rode off from there and reached a large gate. 

*'There's an open alley, and you have the time to put up a large gate?'* 

Harold raised his hand and created a circle that easily destroyed the gate, but it attracted more undead. He rode out quickly and went through the narrow path.

Our path was blocked by a few undead, and we had to stop. We drew nearer, but the horses must have gotten scared because they went crazy and started running. Mine pushed me off and ran off. 

*'Bean is forever the best horse.'* 

I stood up, shaking the undead off me. I stabbed through them and moved aside. Harold's horse didn't push him off—good for him.

"From the… " 

"Cady," I heard Harold's voice and turned to see him coming back. He extended his hand as he approached me, but I ignored him and turned my attention back to my opponents.

I cut through them and struggled to get some off me. More seemed to be coming toward us. I swung my sword, preparing to fight back, but I was swept off my feet, literally.

Everything behind me exploded as I hit my back against the horse. I looked up and saw Harold's face without the usual smile.

"Why didn't you take my hand?" he asked once we stopped.

"Why did you come back?" I asked back.

"What do you…?"

"Let's head back," I replied, turning to leave.

"Are you scared?" he asked, and I turned around.

"Of what? I'm not scared of anything," I replied.

"I think Elton would be just fine; he's not so weak that he can be taken down by dead people," he replied. I shrugged and turned to climb onto one of the horses.

I am not scared, just frustrated. Okay, I'm scared, but just a little bit. We've been on the road for weeks, and it seems like finding Elton will be impossible. I don't even want to think of him being dead, because that would be ugly.

Harold and I don't know each other well. We've met a few times in the past, but we didn't know each other well. He was just another person I had seen before; our conversations never exceeded two minutes. 

Now that I'm stuck with him on a daily basis, I realized that he's more annoying than I imagined, and not in the way other people annoy me. Why is he always right? People don't usually annoy me with mundane things like this, but here we are.

I didn't say another word. I turned and left.