Free They Walk by Amy Lunderman

the stairs before Matt grabs my arm and turns me to face him. I make a squeaky girlie sound and he smirks and squeezes my arm to the point of painful. I don’t like what I see in his eyes. They are almost feral, with something dark underneath. Regretting coming out here with him, I try to back up and pull my arm free. This makes him pull me to him, I start to protest and he shoves me back into the wall. With a glare he moves in as if to kiss me.
    Having had enough I shove at him with my hands on his chest.
    “ What is your problem Matt?”
    He leans into me again, this time locking me between his arms.
    “ My problem is you.” He snarls. “You’ve been practically throwing yourself at him, and it makes me sick”
    He steps back then, shaking his head. His whole body is tense with anger. I don’t know why he’s so angry, but I think back to the past day and have I been obviously watching Gabe. I didn’t think I have been. We’ve been a little busy what with all the death.
    “ Who am I throwing myself at? I haven’t even done anything and you’re not making any sense.”
    “ You know damn well, who I’m talking about, that jackass Gabe.” He waves his arms in the direction of the bedroom behind us. “I see how you are with him, and I know you’ve been sneaking around behind my back!”
    Sighing, I start to walk downstairs. Matt grabs for me again, but this time I side step him and turn to glare at him.
    “ If you want to argue about fictional nonsense, fine. But I won’t do it where our friends can hear. They have more important things to worry about than you being jealous over nothing.”
    Going down stairs, I say over my shoulder. “Come downstairs if you want. Otherwise, just leave me alone.”
    At the base of the stairs, I don’t wait to see if he follows or not. I make my way into the kitchen near the back of the house. Almost to the afraid to get a drink, I freeze. Down here, I can hear the dead outside more clearly. They scratch and shuffle into the windows. They’re lifeless moans send chills down my spine. I’m about to turn to look out the window, afraid that I’ll see one of my friends now mindless. But I hear a quieter whimper, one much closer.
    My first thought, is that one of the dead got inside somehow, but then I look down. Under the counter island, Austin’s Pomeranian is hiding. I never did get its name, but I know how he feels. Probably something like terrified.
    I’m about to turn to the fridge, and I bump into Matt, who was standing behind me. I gasp, and bump back into the counter. Making the dog yelp and run out from his hiding spot. I glare at Matt, but he doesn’t say anything. He just stands there and stares at me, his arms are at his sides and his hands are clenched.
    His body begins to shake, and he narrows his eyes.
    “ You’re a liar.” He says as he steps closer to me. “I can’t believe I ever fell for your crap. All of this is your fault you know.”
    My eyes widen at this, but I don’t even know what to say, so I step away from the counter. Not wanting to get pinned again, I make my way towards a small hallway just off the kitchen in the direction of the patio. I doesn’t really lead anywhere though, just a door at the end of it. Thinking of it as a dead end I stop.
    Matt is right on my heels though.
    “ What, not going to defend yourself? Because you know it’s the truth. We wouldn’t be stuck here if you weren’t whoring after that loser!”
    I turn to face Matt with a cry of outrage, and find that he has stopped a foot away from me. Austin’s dog runs into the room then and begins whining and yipping at Matt. He doesn’t seem to notice him though his eyes are all for me. He’s shaking much more strongly now, and his eyes are full of rage. I know I should be worried or scared, but I’m angry at him too.
    Before I can tell him where to shove his stupidity, he gasps and hunches over.
    His shoulders are heaving, and he’s making a whining sound.