~
Zack noticed that the days did seem to pass more quickly with the company of Anna, even if he had a bit of a hard time getting along with her every so often. One of the bigger issues was getting her to cut off a good chunk of her hair. Zack even considered giving her a bald look, like his, but Anna was very adamant against the idea. Even after explaining that it was only a joke, Anna was still upset at him.
In the end, they were able to agree to give her a bob-style haircut, which Zack believed he had constructed quite well for her initially. However, after five minutes, he felt that he had made a mistake in trimming the girl’s hair. He had forbidden her to look into a mirror until he was completely done, simply because he didn’t want her to flip out while he had the scissors in his hands. In the end, much of the ends were jagged and it looked very uneven. Her cut her bangs as well, but those didn’t come out any better.
“It…alright,” Anna sighed when she was finally allowed to take a glance at the work the boy did on her. Of course, this was going to be the last time that she was going to trust him with a pair of scissors anywhere near her head.
The jerky was a different story though. While this was Zack’s first time making the jerky on his own, it came out better than he expected, but not as good as when his mother made it. Still, it was jerky and it had plenty of flavors. When Anna took a piece from the first batch, it took her two small bites before she had to reach for a piece of bread. Her taste buds weren’t used to how spicy the chilies were in his recipe. Begrudgingly, Anna ate the rest of the jerky, ready to take a second piece as she finished. No matter how much bread she would have to go through, she couldn’t deny that it was delicious.
Another thing that Anna learned about Zack over the next two days was that he was really into movies. All of the DVDs that were lying next to the television were all from his personal collection that he carried around with him. During the two days, the two of them stayed inside the shelter; while there no longer any cable, there was always a movie playing in the background. With each one, Zack had something to say about it, whether it be how much he loved the story or how he admired a character, whether they be the movie’s protagonist or antagonist.
Anna also enjoyed watching movies, but more for the entertainment value, but Zack seemed to enjoy them on a deeper, artistic level. While she hadn’t seen any film she liked in that sort of light, she couldn’t help but admire the boy’s enjoyment for the medium. There were points where she just wanted to tell him to shut up, but he was so passionate about the subject, she couldn’t bring herself to do so.
Late into the eighth night together, as a movie was about to end, they noticed the light in the living room start to flicker on and off. Both of them knew what this meant, but neither of them felt like saying it. Thinking about moving to a new hide out, one with electricity, was something that could easily wait for the next day. The only words of this subject came out from Zack as he went to completely turn off the light.
“We’re going to have an early day tomorrow.”
Anna simply nodded as she wrapped herself in the blanket on the couch as Zack took a place on the floor. While Anna was very comfortable, she knew that this was unfair to Zack. She had once brought up the idea of him sleeping in the master bedroom, but he said he found the floor much more comfortable. Anna entertained the idea of sleeping in the large bed herself, but having so much space to lie down made her feel very lonely. In truth, she missed her friends and her family. Hell, she even missed the noisy girls at school who would never shut up and interrupt ever class she was in with them.
The next morning, they waited for the first bit of sunlight in order to get ready. They took turns washing themselves while alternating the packing. They had the basic stuff that they carried in their backpacks, but they also had to figure out what other things they wanted to bring along for the trip. They brought along a few water bottles that they have saved over the past few days, as well as a small bag of grapes for the two of them. There were also three giant zip-lock bags of jerky that Zack had made over the past few days, which he felt was the reason for the lack of energy that was forcing them to move. Still, it was a nice thing to have, and was a nice change of pace of the other food that he had been eating over the past several days.
It was well passed dawn when the two of them left the apartment complex, the both of them keeping an eye out for any of those who wish to end their lives. Of course, there were zombies that they had to be wary of, but there was also the possibility that there could be other survivors who are not as kind as they were. It was lucky that the two of them ran into each other on their journeys, but there was also a chance that they could encounter someone who would wish to rob them, or worse.
Unluckily, they weren’t able to go an hour of traveling without having to deal with an encounter with a zombie. When it came to that, they usually took turns taking out the creatures. At one point, they made it a bit of a game, to see who can take on the most zombies at one time and who can acquire the higher kill count by the end of their journey. The two of them would have to team up at certain points when the crowd was obviously too big enough for only one person to handle, no matter how much one of them would boast that they could handle it by themselves with one arm tied behind their back.
“Just don’t hold me back,” Anna teased as she cleanly chopped a zombie in half.
“Hopefully you’ll be able to keep up,” Zack would fire back as he slit across a zombie’s throat, causing their head to go flying into the fray.
Fighting off zombies wasn’t only a survival tactic for Zack anymore; it was also to protect Anna. While over the past several days he had found her annoying, rude, and sometimes a pest, he couldn’t help himself but to grow attached to her. Maybe it was due to the fact that she was the only living female for probably hundreds of miles, but he was able to see that she wasn’t a completely terrible girl.
Growing too close to her was dangerous, though, or that was how he figured things. It was easy to find her in a wasteland such as this, so it was obviously as easy to lose her if he even made the smallest of mistakes. He had already lost his family and the very few friends that he had made over his few years living in California; he just grew too used to the reality of what survival sometimes meant. No matter how much this logic ran into his head, he couldn’t help himself but be infatuated with the girl.
It was obvious to Anna too, although she didn’t wish to burst the boy’s bubble by telling him that she could easily read his emotions. In truth, she found him to be arrogant, short tempered, and unbearable at times, but there was a kindness to him that she couldn’t ignore. Falling in love at the end of the world though; it was too much of a cliché that it just didn’t feel right. If she was going to give in to these feelings, she wanted it to be genuine, not because either of them were lonely or the idea of survival was playing games with their hormones.
As the two of them wandered through the empty streets, there was a familiar sight to Anna. She stopped herself, looking at the giant building, one that she had visited many times over the years. It was the place where she and her old friends would visit when they were bored and had nothing better to do on a Saturday night. For a girl her age to be so interested in the mall played off like an old stereotype, but Anna couldn’t help herself and fall in love at the site of it. She wasn’t much into shopping, but she would go there just to spend time with those she called her friends.
Zack stopped when he noticed that Anna’s pace had slowed down a bit. He looked at her, also spying the mall across the street. It had been a number of months since he had last visited that particular spot himself, well before the outbreak. It was here where he was able to find bargain DVDs and other things when he was able to get his hands on some money.
“Is something the matter,” Zack asked, unclear if Anna wanted to go in and explore the building.
It was already noon, and they still hadn’t found a good place to hide out for the next few days. It was
best to find something nice before nightfall, but it wasn’t completely necessary. It was also possible that the abandoned building could just be a home for probably hundreds of the undead. Still, he felt that he could use some new running shoes if Anna found it necessary to go inside for maybe an hour.
“It’s nothing,” Anna said, waking from her self-inflicted trance. Even though she really wanted to go inside to explore for a couple of minutes, there were too many good memories in there that would only be painful now. A tear started to roll down her cheek, allowing it to fall onto the warm concrete instead of just wiping it away. “We better hurry; this stuff is starting to wear me down.”
Instead of leading the two of them again, Zack put down the things in his hands and embraced the girl. At first, she was a bit surprised by his actions. I guess we both suck at hiding our emotions, Anna thought as she allowed herself to free more tears to escape from their ducts. She hugged him tightly, not wanting to lose the last friend that she had in this world. While living in this terrifying aftermath was bad enough, being alone…It was at least a little comforting to have someone else by your side, even if the two of them were together just for convince and comfort.
Immunosupression Page 6
