Re: part 2 of 2 XD
It might have been wise to fear the woman with the machete. Wisdom wasn't feasible though; Jude felt the pistons in his brain steep in sludge, grinding to a jerky but complete halt. If she'd been undead, she would have had him. It would have been flat out smart to think she was undead too, considering that the first time he'd seen her, she was nursing a desperate looking bite on her forearm and clutching a pregnant belly.
Jude didn't know her, but he remembered her. It didn't matter that she didn't recognize him, because Christ, how could he have forgotten her? Back then, he'd had nightmares about her long after. They were gross amalgamations of real memory and fiction. He dreamed once that the baby inside of her became infected, eating through it's mother's womb and consuming it's way out. Most of the time though, he imagined that somewhere, she was a waker, pregnant belly deflated like a punctured balloon- crying out for help into a hospital corridor.
He felt the need to pinch himself. She looked essentially the same: her belly no longer distended from carrying her child, but flat and smooth. She was lucid now, calm, and no longer afraid for herself and her unborn child. She didn't look frail and she certainly wasn't helpless.
"Not a zombie," Jude repeated. She might have been a ghost, sure, but she was definitely not a zombie.
Before he could stop himself, he glanced down to her forearms, not remembering which one had been bitten, but hoping that they were bared enough that he could see the scar, anything to confirm that he hadn't actually cracked.
"There are three other immune around the building," he said before looking up. "We're making sure the Wakers haven't stirred up any interest before we started worrying about what's inside." Jude appreciated her take charge attitude, because it forced him to speak. "The girl said her brother ran in ahead of her, looking to help. She said there were at least four Wakers that she saw, but she couldn't remember how many voices she actually heard."
Jude took a brief pause to listen, hearing two distinct voices shout from inside.
"You bit again, jackass?" one of the other immune chimed in on the radio. Despite the overarching blase tone, there was enough undercurrent that Jude believed he might have cared. Maybe.
Jude brought up the radio, "Not yet, hope you brought ketchup, cause I'm just getting stringier with age."
He looks at Leah quickly, breaking down her height and glancing at her shoes. She was wiry. Lighter than any of the four men, without question. "I know this is rude, considering that I don't even know-" remember "- your name, but what are you? 130 pounds?" For some reason, he's thinking she's closer to 126. She's on the tall side for a woman. "I'm good at catching if you suck at climbing." He said, putting his hand on the fire escape. "It'll hold you."