“Piece of crap!” he moaned.
“The bike was fine, it just ran out of gas, stop getting so worked up. You knew this would happen.”
“I thought we'd get a little further down the road.”
I dropped both the bags onto the road, and limped to a tree, leaning against it, Lane noticed.
“What happened to your leg? Why are you limping?”
“I tripped down the stairs on the way out. Why do you think I was taking so long? It's not like I was
admiring the view.”
“I thought the water bottles were slowing you down.”
“No.” I grumbled.
“Let me see it, where have you hurt it?”
“Lane, no, it's fine. I think I just twisted my ankle.”
“I'm still taking a look.” he said, crouching down near my foot.
He undid my boot and pulled it off to inspect my ankle, moving it around at all angles. I kept my
eyes on the trees looking for movement.
“Can you wiggle your toes?”
I wiggled all my toes and Lane looked relieved.
“That doesn't hurt? Or when I do this?” he asked, moving my foot around again.
“No, just when I put pressure on it.”
“I broke my ankle when I was twelve, it was painful to move, and swelled up real bad afterward.
I'm hoping you have only sprained yours.” he said, putting my boot back on my foot. He stood up
and rested a hand against the tree beside my head, he looked down at my foot, concerned.
“What are we going to do?”
“We'll manage.” I replied.
“You can hardly walk, what happens if you need to run for your life?” he said, kicking the tree.
“Lane, stop that. It's done, there's nothing we can do about it now, it will be better in a day or two.”
“Or a week or two. This is all my fault we should have turned around as soon as we got there. I
should have listened to you.”
“Yes, but you were right about that place, we've now got enough supplies to last us for another two
weeks.”
He looked at my face, I could tell he was worrying about me, then he looked at our surroundings.
“Back to living in the woods again? What if there are more of those things out here? There were
loads of them back there.” he said.
“It only looked as though there were loads of them because they were all grouped together in one
place. They were probably the survivors at one point. Stop worrying so much, you'll start me off.”
“Are you done yet?” Lane asked, not bothering to wait for a reply, walking around the tree.
“Jeez! I can't even pee in peace.” I said, standing up, pulling my panties up.
“Can we take a break?”
“Fine, make it quick. I don't want that group back there to find us.”
“I think they were too busy stuffing their faces with rotten deer.”
I joined Lane on a tree log and he pulled out his cigarettes. I unscrewed my water and took a sip.
We had two medium size water bottles left, one was nearly all gone, though. Our food was
dwindling and we only had a couple of packets of pre-packed
mush
left. Well, that's what I called it
anyway. Lane held his unlit cigarette up, staring at it.
“What's wrong?” I asked.
“This is my last one.”
“Oh, that sucks for you. Maybe now would be a good time to quit?”
“Looks like I don't have a choice.” Lane said, lighting it.
“Do you want some water?” I asked.
“No, I'm good. When do you want to camp?”
I looked at my watch, it was amazingly still keeping time.
“We've got a couple of hours before sunset. We might even reach that gas station we saw a sign for
awhile back, and I want to put some distance between us and the undead back there.” I said.
Lane didn't say anything. He looked fed up and bored, and to top it off he was out of smokes which
meant he was going to be grouchy until we found some more.
“So what do you want for dinner tonight?” I asked.
“Steak and fries... Oh and some onion rings.” he replied sarcastically.
“I feel like eggs and bacon tonight.” I said, playful bumping my shoulder into his.
“Mushy shit it is then,” he said, laughing. “Do you think we'll ever get to eat real food again?” he
asked.
“I don't know, but if they ever do get a handle on this whole zombie thing there isn't going to be
many of us left. I don't think there will be any fancy restaurant or anything like that, well, not in our
lifetime anyway. They're going to have to rebuild first and repopulate.”
“I don't have a problem with that.” Lane gave me a lopsided grin, his cigarette hanging out of his
mouth.
“I'm never having kids.” I said.
“What if you change your mind?”
“I won't. It's hard enough trying to stay alive as it is without having to care for a baby.”
“I meant after.” he said.
“After?”
“After we've survived zombie suburbia.”
“I'll probably be dead then.”
“Alex,” he scolded. “I hate it when you talk like that.”
“It's true. I live in the real world, Lane, not make-believe, there is no happy ending for us. The most
likely outcome is me blowing my brains out because I don't want to live another day in this
nightmare.”
“You're so morbid sometimes.”
I stood up and lifted my bag over my head.
“You ready? Or are you going to sit there all day dreaming about rainbows?”
Lane stood up in front of me. I had to crane my neck to look up at him.
“I'm not going to let you blow out your brains.”
“Well, you don't get a choice in the matter. I'm the one in charge of the gun and I decide who blows
whose brains out.”
“Wow... that is possibly the sexiest thing I've ever heard any girl say. You know when you talk like
that it drives me crazy.”
“I'm confused... are we still talking about the same thing?”
I saw the glint in his eye and was about to slip around him, but he was quicker and grabbed my
shoulders, and crushed his lips to mine. He tasted of cigarettes.
“We should go.” I murmured against his lips.
He quickly took my face between his hands, parting my lips with his tongue. I complied with his
request, meeting his tongue with mine.
“We need to find some toothpaste or, at least, mouthwash.” I said killing the moment.
Lane pressed his forehead against mine. “I know what you mean, your breath is starting to smell
like rancid zombie breath.” he joked, kissing my nose.
I playfully shoved him away. “You're an asshole!”
He laughed and followed me back to the road.
I could see a turning coming up ahead. I took a few moments guessing what the next corner would
bring.
Zombie, dead deer eaten by zombies, squirrel, random shoe, zombie, gas station with something
useful inside (would be nice), random bottles of water littering the ground (I wish!), zombie,
humans, possibly dead humans, zombie again...
“What are you thinking about?” Lane interrupted my thoughts.
“Just wondering what's around that corner in front.”
“Hmm...” he thought about it. “I bet there's an abandoned car.” he said.
“There's always an abandoned car.” I said.
Not long after, I heard the familiar sounds of Lane's warped mind.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
He was making a noise which was a cross between a deranged goat and someone throwing up.
“I hate it when you do this. It always freaks me out and makes me squeal unnecessarily.”
He continued making the disturbing noise, speeding up to chase me. I spun around and took off
along the road with Lane hot on my tail. During our time together, Lane had started coming up with
ways to entertain himself as we walked. One of his latest things was chasing me, he called it
practice, training for when we couldn't fight and needed to run, I called it twisted and fucked up. It
didn't matter how quick I was, I never got very far because he was too damn fast.
I ran as fast as I could, jumping over a fallen tree in the road. My ankle was all better now, but I
think he was going easy on me today.
“Lane, stop... it,” I called over my shoulder, laughing at the same time.
I raced around the corner and my feet slowed down until I came to a complete stop. Lane crashed
into the back of me, wrapping his arms around me in a backward bear-hug.
“You're not meant to stop until I catch you, Alleycat.” he said, nuzzling his face into my hair.
“Lane, look,”
“Looks like I was right about what was around the next corner.” he said smugly, walking around
me.
“Be careful,” I called to him, still trying to catch my breath.
In front was a black transit van. I slowly jogged the rest of the way to the van. Lane was looking
through the driver's side window.
“Any zombies in there, Walker?”
“Nope. It looks empty.” He tried the door handle and it opened.
I braced myself for any nasty smells, like gone off food. The van did smell, only it was a nice
smell... like cinnamon.
“Huh? The keys are still in the ignition.”
Lane hopped into the driver's seat.
“The hood is up for a reason you know.” I said, looking at the propped-up hood.
“Oh, ye of little faith.” Lane said.
I leaned against the van and pulled out my water bottle, in mid-gulp I heard the van's engine
grumble.
I lowered the water bottle and watched Lane turn the key again. It didn't turn over, but it still had
some life. He tried once more but with no luck.
“It was worth a shot,” I said. “At least, we have somewhere to camp tonight.... that's if there isn't a
decomposing corpse in the back. I looked over Lane's shoulder and saw a partition, separating the
back.
Lane ignored me, jumped back out and went around to the front to look under the hood. I wasn't
bothered about what was under the hood, it was obviously broken. I was more interested as to what
was in the back, and what was that nice smell? I climbed inside and looked at the partition. It was a
small square door with small gaps, just big enough to peek through, and it had a lock.
I gave it a push... it didn't open. I gave it another forceful shove, but it didn't budge. I pulled out my
flashlight and shone it through the door. I didn't know what I was expecting to find, I was slightly
surprised to see a mattress on the floor with a couple of pillows and blankets. I sunk back into the
seat, I was about to go and see what Lane was up to when I noticed the keys dangling in the
ignition. Hmm... there was more than one. I pulled the key out of the ignition and looked at the
keychain, there was a photo keyring attached to it. An attractive man had his arm around a lady with
long blond hair, and a small girl sat in his arms, she had the brightest blue eyes I'd ever seen, with
hair so blond it was almost white. I turned around and inspected the different keys and tried the one
I thought would fit.
Bingo! The lock turned and the small door opened. I dumped my bag on the side and dropped my
gun on top of it. Picked up my flashlight, then I lifted myself up and squeezed through the small
hatch. I landed awkwardly on the other side... luckily the mattress broke my fall. I looked around
with the flashlight.
The walls had been covered with drawings, all done by a small child. I searched around in the
boxes. One had scented candles in, which explained the smell. The other had cutlery, plastic plates,
and cups. Stacked in one corner was a pile of board games and a toolbox. I continued to look
around and found a can of red spray paint. I sat down on the mattress, wondering what had
happened to the family. I only hoped they had found safety. I heard Lane back in the front seat.
“Where are the keys? They were just here. Alex...? Where are you?”
I went over to the hatch. “I'm here, and here are your keys.” I handed them back to him.
“What's back there?” he asked.
“Mattress, board games.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I think it belonged to a family with a small kid.”
I tried to lift myself up through the hole but it was impossible, I wasn't that agile.
“You know you can open the doors from the inside, right?”
I turned around and flashed my light at the door.
“I knew that,” I said, jumping over the mattress.
I managed to get the back door open and jumped down onto the road.
“So I think it just needs some water and it'll run.”
“Don't you think if it was that simple they would have found some and topped it up?” I said.
“Maybe. Maybe not. There are a few loose cables. I really need some tools, but I'll see what I can
do.”
“There's a toolbox in there.” I said, pointing.
“What! Where?” he asked, getting excited.
He looked through the toolbox and pulled out a couple of tools.
“Since when are you a mechanic?”
“My uncle is-was a mechanic, and he used to let me help out at his garage when I was younger,
before we moved.”
We both walked back to the engine. “Where's your bag?” he asked.
“Err... no, you are not topping this thing up with our water supply. Anyway, it probably has a broken
radiator, or it blew a gasket.”
“No, I think it will really run.” he said.
“It probably has a broken ball joint... or needs a new space box.”
“Okay, now you're just making stuff up.”
He left the tools and went around the side, lifting my bag off the seat.
“Lane, I said no!”
“I know. I just want the bottle.”
“For what?”
“I can use the bottle to go and collect some river water.”
“River water? No. We are not walking back to the river now.”
“How far that way do you think the river is?”
“I dunno, like a thirty-minute walk.”
“We've still got nearly two hours before nightfall and I'm going to fill up this bottle. You coming?”
he asked.
“Lane, no, that's a bad idea.”
“If you don't like it you can stay here. You should be safe inside the van. I need to empty this little
bit of water out first, though.” he said, sloshing the water around inside the bottle.
“Why not wait until tomorrow?”
“Because if I can get this thing started tonight we can drive out of here if we have any problems
later.”
“You just said the van was safe.”
“It is. It doesn't mean I want a load of zombies pawing at it.”
“Look, we're headed to the river in the morning anyhow... I'm due a bath. We can get your water
tomorrow, then you can spend all day fixing the thing if you really want to, okay?”
“Alex,” he groaned.
“No, Lane. We wait until tomorrow.”
“Fine,” he huffed. “It will start, you'll see.”
“Yeah, yeah. I'm ready for dinner. How about you?”
He grumbled some more. “Don't sulk. You make terrible decisions. I'm only doing what I think is
best.”
He dropped the hood down and gave me a mischievous smile, his mood changing in an instance.
“Yep, ready for dinner... and dessert,” he said, winking at me. “C'mon, show me our new
apartment.”