by D, Hannah
‘Maybe Colleen can convince them to stay and fight with us’ Zoe thought.
Zoe nearly fell asleep when she was standing in the shower. The hot water was making her feel so relaxed. Her muscles were so tight from all the fighting and the uncomfortable position shed had to sleep in in the pub last night. She got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself and made her way sleepily to her room. She got into her comfies and crawled right into her own little made up bed. Zoe didn’t know if Jeff would spend the night with her tonight or Alex. She guess with Alex since he had spent the night away from him last night. Zoe closed her eyes and fell asleep almost instantly.
Zoe felt someone getting into her bed with her and she turned around to find Jeff lying down.
“You not spending the night with Alex tonight?” Zoe asked him.
“Nah, he wants to sleep beside Sophia and Arthur tonight. Is it okay that I sleep in here again tonight?” Jeff asked her.
“Of course” Zoe said to him.
Jeff got under the blanket that was their covers and faced Zoe. They looked at each other, non. Of them speaking. Zoe didn’t know who made the first move toward the other but they were getting closer and closer to each other until their noses were almost touching.
That’s when it finally happened.
That’s when Zoe and Jeff finally had their first kiss.
Chapter 11
‘Oh my god! This is actually happening!’ Zoe thought as she kissed Jeff.
Zoe had to give it to Jeff, he was a really good kisser, his lips moved against hers in perfect timing and the bonus point was that there wasn’t too much saliva, nobody liked that. Zoe liked the feel of being pressed up beside him, his arms circling her and moving against her back, her hands around his neck and moving her fingers through his hair which was really soft.
Jeff pulled his lips off of hers and looked her in the eyes.
“You’ve no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that” Jeff told her.
“Well, it took you long enough” Zoe said laughing.
“Hmm I think it was you who made the first move” Jeff laughed.
“You think whatever you want but it was definitely you who made the first move” Zoe told him.
Jeff laughed and started to play with Zoe’s hair, twiddling it around his fingers.
They stayed in silence after that, looking at each other. Zoe couldn’t believe they had finally kissed. Jeff was just as excited and glad as her. However, they still had to have the conversation of what they were now. Zoe didn’t know if she wanted this to be more serious or just a casual thing between them. She had promised herself not to get serious with him in case the worst happened and she lost him. Zoe wasn’t prepared for that.
In the few minutes it took for Zoe to think about this her mood had soured. She was so happy kissing Jeff but the more she thought about it, the less happy she felt.
‘Great, I ruined a great mood for myself’ Zoe thought frowning.
“Hey, you okay?” Jeff asked her.
Jeff had noticed that Zoe’s face had fallen and she looked sad.
“It’s nothing, I just got to thinking about Brian and his group, got a little worried” Zoe told him, giving him as much of a reassuring smile as she could.
“I kiss you and your mind goes to the Brian? Should I be offended?” Jeff asked her laughing.
“No of course not! My mind goes a mile a minute, sorry” Zoe said laughing back.
Jeff seemed to buy that and went back to twiddling Zoe’s hair absently. Zoe didn’t want to talk anymore, in fact she was actually really tired.
“I think we should both get some sleep now, we may have a busy day tomorrow making plans whether or not Michael and everyone stay with us to fight” Zoe said the Jeff.
“Yeah, good point, turn around and lets have a coincidental spoon this time” Jeff said smiling.
“Wait you were awake that time?” Zoe asked him shocked.
“Of course I was but I never woke you up until after I stopped spooning you so that means that you were awake too” Jeff said smiling.
“Damn, dropped myself into that one, it was comfortable okay!Q” Zoe said to him.
“Well turn over and lets get comfortable again” Jeff told her.
Zoe turned over with no complaint and Jeff circled his arms around her, pulling her close. Zoe was already beginning to get too hot since it was already roasting outside but she didn’t care, she liked being in Jeff’s arms.
Jeff fell asleep first and Zoe wasn’t that long behind him. It was the best nights sleep they’d both had and Jeff’s arms never left being around Zoe.
It wasn’t long before the sunlight streamed in through the blinds in the office Zoe and Jeff were in. Jeff could feel the heat hit his back from the sun. Zoe stirred and Jeff removed his arms from around her.
“Good morning” Jeff said to her.
“Hmm, morning.”
“Sleep well?” Jeff asked her.
“I did actually, I think we both needed that sleep. Any idea what time it is?” Zoe asked Jeff.
“Clock on this desk says it’s eight AM” Jeff told her.
This must’ve been the latest that Zoe had ever slept in in her life, the longest sleep she’d ever had. Zoe guessed she had Jeff to thank for that one.
“You want to go shower first or will we shower together?” Jeff asked her with a wink.
“Uhh.. let’s take this slow shall we? I’ll go first I think” Zoe said to him.
“I suppose I can wait.. for both” Jeff winked again and went to go and open the blinds.
Zoe left the office and went to the shower with a big grin on her face. For a second Zoe had forgotten about Brian and his group and the skin eaters. They were pretty much non existent to Zoe in that moment. Zoe almost sang in the shower but stopped herself just as the first lyrics were about to jump out her mouth, so she hummed instead along to Pharrell Williams song happy.
As Zoe left the bathroom to go put her sleeping clothes back in her room she was intercepted by Michael.
“Ah just the girl I was looking for!” Michael said to her smiling.
“Well here I am. You okay?” Zoe asked him.
“Yeah yeah I’m grand. Look me and the others came to a decision last night, we want to talk it through with you and the rest of this group. You okay to gather everyone in that office we first went into yesterday when we got here?” Michael asked her.
“Yeah I can do that. We’ll meet you guys in there in say fifteen minutes?” Zoe replied.
“Sounds good!” Michael said smiling.
‘If Michael is smiling then that must mean that they’ve decided to stay with us?’ Zoe questioned.
When Zoe got back to the office room she only admired Jeff for a few minutes before telling him that he had to shower quickly as she gathered the rest of the group to hear what Michael and the rest decision was. Jeff kissed her cheek as he went past to go take a shower. Zoe knew that he had kissed her cheek because if he kissed her lips then they they would never stop.
Zoe knocked on everyone’s doors and grabbed Arthur who was out on watch and gathered everyone in the office.
“What do you think? Think they’re going to stay and help us kick some ass?” Arthur asked her.
“I hope so, lets go hear what they have to say shall we?” Zoe said to him.
“I can’t wait to kick some ass!” Arthur said as he bounced into the main office.
Arthur had too much excitement which wasn’t a bad thing but it wasn’t the best either when it came to fighting other human beings, especially a human being like Brian and his group of fifty other followers. Zoe hoped that most of the people in Brians group were unhappy being with him and would turn against him. It was a big hope to have but a hope nonetheless.
“Sleep well?” Sarah asked Zoe as she sat next to her.
“You know what, for once in my life I did” Zoe told her.
“I slept okay as well last night since Chris, some of that booze
you all brought back from that pub helped” Sarah said.
“I’m sorry Sarah, sorry that booze is the only thing that can help you” Zoe told her.
“I’m getting there Zoe, slowly but surely” Sarah said to her with a small smile.
More people started filing into the room with Jeff coming in just before Michael and everyone came in and sitting on Zoe’s other side.
The room went quiet as Michael and Mark stood at the desk. It really did feel like they were all attending an office meeting.
“We’ve came to a decision” Michael said.
There was a minutes silence as they all looked at each other. The suspense was killing Zoe and she was about to stand up and shout to Michael to hurry up and tell them when Mark spoke.
“We’ve decided to stay and fight with you but we do have some conditions” Mark said.
“Name them” Mike said.
“Firstly, if this fight happens and it gets overpowering on Brians side then we will run and you all won’t come after us for revenge for abandoning you” Mark said.
“Sounds fair, we’ll probably run too if we’re getting beat. What’s the next condition?” Mike said.
“Second, anything we find out on supply runs, yes we’ll share with you all but we keep some for ourselves” Mark said again.
“You won’t share it all like we do here?” Sue asked.
“No. Experience being in Brians group has made us realise that we want to keep some for ourselves. You’re all still strangers to us so we don’t fully trust you yet” Mark said to them.
“That’s fine I suppose, we don’t fully trust you yet either. Anymore conditions?” Mike asked.
“Just one more” Michael said.
“What’s that?” Mike asked.
“I get to kill Brian if the time comes for it” Michael said.
“He’s all yours” Zoe said.
Michael smiled at that. A big goofy grin. Since when was it normal for people to be happy about killing another live person? This was their reality now.
“Great! Then we’re all yours!” Michael said.
“I still think you all should stay hidden since we’re still being watched. The less Brian knows about how many people we have here then the better. Plus if he knows you guys are here, he’ll probably move in quicker before we have a plan since he’ll want revenge for you guys running. He’s already set up people to watch this place since I ran and brought him here” Colleen said.
“That’s a good plan, we’ll have the element of surprise” Jeff said.
“At least let us do something? We can’t just sit in here, we’ll get restless” Michael said.
“You can still do supply runs? They haven’t got anyone watching the back yet” Zoe offered.
“Sounds great, we know the way to some stores that we seen on our way up here” Michael said.
“I’ll come with you, help you scope out some stores we didn’t on our last run” Simone said.
“Awesome, lets go” Michael said.
Micheal, Mark, Mandy and Simone all left to go on the supplies run. Kirsty and Lewis had stayed behind. They seemed a little less proactive than the other three but they did look exhausted. Zoe didn’t know their story, in fact the most she knew about in this group was Michael and even then that wasn’t a lot.
“We can do some cleaning around here?” Kirsty asked them.
“That we could use some of right now, I’ll show you where the cleaning supplies are” Alice said as she led Kirsty and Lewis off.
Zoe exuded herself and said she would take watch for a while.
“I could use some half relaxing in the sun whilst I keep watch” Zoe had said.
Jeff was away to spend time with Alex. He used as much time as he could to spend time with his brother. Sophia was spending time with them as well. She had done great on their way to the pub and back ad had held her own. Zoe was proud of her. Zoe also hoped that they wouldn’t run out of drugs completely one day.
Zoe sat down on one of the old bus chairs and settled herself in. She saw a skin eater down near by the gate but she decided that the skin eater could wait for now to be killed. She’d killed enough skin eaters the past few days, she deserved a break from it. One skin eater was no threat for the time being.
It was another ridiculously hot day, it seemed that summer was never going to end in Scotland. Zoe felt like she could almost smell death in the air. Then again, she may have been imagining it since she knew the world was overrun by the skin eaters.
Zoe was thinking about how out of loop they had been and had actually no clue of what was going on outside Edinburgh never mind the rest of the world. That’s when she remembered that someone in there must have a mobile phone. The one thing that everyone couldn’t live without, that could detail what was going on in the world could be sitting there in someone’s pocket right now.
Zoe jumped up and ran back inside.
“Who has a mobile phone in here?” Zoe asked as she ran into the main office.
“I do, but it has no charge. Hasn’t since we left the school” Sarah said.
“There must be a charger in here somewhere for it. What phone have you got?” Zoe asked her.
“iPhone 6 plus” Sarah told her.
Zoe got looking for the charger for her phone. Zoe can’t believe it had taken her this long to ask if someone had a phone. Zoe’s was lying in Catherines house still. They had all been too focused on the skin eaters and then Brian and his group to even check to see what was happening in the world or to even try and phone to see if there was any help out there.
Zoe wasn’t getting her hopes up for them to be able to call anyone for help, the phone lines had been pretty much dead when Zoe tried to call for help in Catherines house. Zoe just wanted to know how bad this epidemic was and what they should be expecting in this world now.
Zoe was hunting through all the desk drawers and cupboards and finally got her eureka moment when she found an iPhone 6 Plus charger inside one of the filing cabinets.
Zoe went over to Sarah and held her hand out for Sarah to give her her phone so Zoe could charge it. Sarah handed her phone over without a second thought. Zoe plugged the phone on charge and soon it lightened up, showing that it was charging.
“I’ll cover your watch” Sue said.
“Thanks” Zoe said distracted as she watched the phone, waiting to see when the lock screen would pop up.
“You mind telling me what this is all about?” Sarah asked Zoe.
“I’m hoping that we’ll be able to find out what state the world is in. I’m hoping the internet has given up on us yet” Zoe said.
“I hope so. Would be interesting to see what’s happened to the world” Sarah agreed.
Zoe wasn’t expecting to see anything that would lift her spirits, in fact she was expecting to see a complete shit show of a world. Zoe continued to stare at the phone. Sarah was staring at the phone as well. Finally the lock screen popped up. Sarah picked up the phone and typed in her passcode.
“Well there’s no 4G but it is asking me if I want to join the WiFi here” Sarah said.
“I take it there’s a password for this WiFi?” Zoe asked her.
“Unfortunately there is” Sarah said.
Zoe looked around the office for a sign of where the password would be written down. It had to be here somewhere, everyone wrote down the WiFi password because who would ever remember it, nobody could surely have that good a memory.
Zoe looked in the diary and found the password written there, right at the front.
“It’s GHRE45XT” Zoe told Sarah.
They both sat and waited, to see if it would actually connect.
‘Come on, please work’ Zoe thought.
“I can’t believe it, there’s still working internet in the world” Sarah said.
“Quick, check something, see if it works” Zoe said to her.
Sarah went onto facebook and it loaded for a few minutes before opening up onto the newsfeed. Sa
rah clicked on the icon for most recent news feed and up popped the stores people had been sharing.
“How can the internet still be working weeks after the skin eaters came around?” Sarah asked.
“I have no idea” Zoe replied.
It was surreal. How could this even be possible? You’d think that the internet would go down maybe a week after the skin eaters came around but apparently not.
Facebook was horrifying. The videos and pictures people had been taking of the skin eaters were terrifying. Some people were being stupid filming the skin eaters when the skin eaters were so close to them. Zoe had been shouting in her head to these people to run, to stop filming and being stupid before they got eaten.
“Lets search on the internet for different places in the world. See what it looks like” Zoe said to Sarah.
Sarah opened up safari and started typing in words like skin eaters. Zombies, Biters, Walkers. Some recent news articles popped up from places around the world in the UK, America, Italy, Turkey to name a few. All the news articles detailed the undead now roaming the streets and eating people. Zoe started to read the headlines on the internet page after Sarah had typed in undead walking.
These headlines were;
“The Walking Dead,Is It Real?”
“People Being Eaten Alive!”
“World Epidemic, Where To Run To?”
“Wait click on this one” Zoe said to Sarah as she was scrolling down.
Sarah clicked on the last headline Zoe had read, the “World Epidemic, Where To Run To” article.
The news article didn’t really detail much. The only details it gave just proved Zoe right about her theories. There really was nowhere safe left in the world. Everywhere was overrun with the skin eaters. Zoe had no idea what to do. She started thinking that there might have been a secret island somewhere, where all the important people went or that secret underground city she thought of at the start where the important people ran to. Zoe also started to think that there must be an island out there that wasn’t even on the map that was safe from this epidemic, there just had to be.
“Try typing in something to see if it tells us how this started” Zoe said to Sarah.
