Chapter Text
A buzzing sound flew past my ear and I swatted in agitation, grumbling. “Ugh, is this really necessary?” I my voice rang angrily at Jessie as we trudged through some mud. She blew heavy air and glared at me. “Yes, Celest, it is. We’re low on supplies, so we need to gather some more supplies in order to survive. Make sense?” She sarcastically smiled at me. I nodded and spoke through gritted teeth, “Yes, darling. That makes total sense.” The buzzing flashed past my ear once more and I threw my arms up in angers and frustration. “Gah! Stupid fucking pests!” Jessica glanced at me in amusement and smirked. I huffed air in and out heavily until I saw the little bloodsucker take it’s place on my arm. I chuckled evilly and whispered under my breath, “Nothing more than nuisance…” I raised my hand and slapped my arm swiftly. “Aha! I got-“ The mosquito buzzed and flew around my face erratically. “Ah! You fuckin’ motherufucker, fuckin’…bitch!” I roared in anger and just sprayed the bug with pesticide. Jessie giggled and we continued on until we reached a gas station.
‘Sip ‘N Go’ the sign hanging over the roof read. It shook from the light wind and the chains rattled. The structure of the building was all beat up and we could hear the monsters moaning inside, their voices slurred and light footsteps tracing through the automatic door. I looked at Jessie and sighed. “Really? You’ve got to be kidding me if you say we’re going in there.” She chuckled and nodded. I griped and groaned, slouching and whining. “Aw, c’mon Jess, seriously? Can’t we just find somewhere else to plunder?” I pleaded. She forced the pistol that was in my pocket in my hand and pulled me close to her by my shirt. Her breath hit my face as she spoke harshly through gritted teeth. “We have been walking for fifteen minutes! And I’ll be damned if we have to walk for another quarter hour, possibly more, just to find nothing!” She let go of my shirt roughly and I stumbled back a little with wide eyes. “Okay, okay, we’ll check it out, sheesh.” I huffed, straightening out my shirt, and then we both walked in slowly, with caution. The old, rusty automatic door creaked and scratched against each other before they opened fully. Jessie and I looked at each other and I sighed. “So much for stealth,” I grumbled. “Yeah,” Jessie chuckled as we went deeper into the small store. I looked over at the cashier station and smiled. “Too bad money doesn’t have a currency now, am I right?” I looked over at Jessie for a response, but to my surprise, she was gone. “Shit,” I whispered. “Jessie. Jessie!” I shrieked, even though I was whispering. That’s when I heard a yelp and some screaming. My eyes darted over to the direction of where the voice was coming from and I sprinted over there, trying my best to tread quietly with my sneakers on.
My legs ran past a few aisles until my eyes caught a glimpse of two ghouls haggling over my girlfriend, one tugging on her arm and one thrashing at her face as she tried to get away. I gasped and took aim, inhaling and holding my breath. I exhaled slowly as my arms moved swiftly to the left, put a hole right between the sucker’s eyes that was pulling on Jessie’s arms, and then I put a bullet in the back of the other goon’s head right as he lunged at her. Of course, he fell on top of her and she shrieked like a little girl. I laughed and drew a few steps closer to her and stooped down to take the corpse off of her and she was still screaming like a little girl. “Okay, that’s enough, Beyoncé, God knows what others you could’ve attracted with your beautiful singing. Gosh, did I ever mention how angelic your vocals sound?” Jessie was breathing heavily and even shaking a little until she punched me in the arm and got up. “Ow! What the hell!” I rubbed my arm. “That’s for being an asshole,” She scolded. I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “I saved your life, didn’t I?” Jessie glared at me and growled. “I saved your life too!” She barked. I put my finger to my lips. “Shh!” Jessie grumbled and I chuckled, whispering teasingly, “I saved your life more.” I laughed a little. She pushed me back lightly and walked on. I followed her to help loot the store. We opened up an ice chest and I gasped. “Oh, my god, I can’t believe they still sell these!” I whispered at the top of my lungs. “What, Twinkies?” Jessie scoffed. “Those taste like crap.” I gasped horridly. “They do not!” I protested and leaned in to grab one. “They must’ve froze them here to preserve their pure and delightful, delicate state.” Jessie rolled her eyes and moved on to loot some more while I took care of the frozen good. I stuffed all the Twinkies in a bag and the ice merely melted in my hands. My mouth watered just thinking about stuffing my face full of Twinkies. “Ahh, just wait ‘till we get home, my little angels.” My eyes moved onto the rest of the items left in the chest, including popsicles, animal meat, and, well…ice.
“Hey, babe!” Jessie whispered with cupped hands around her mouth. I turned my head just after raiding the ice chest and whispered back, “What?” She gestured me to come over to her by waving her arm towards herself. I got up off my knees and walked to her aisle with a full bag in hand and my arm being pulled down by its weight. She looked up at me and then at the aisle. Almost every one was empty except this one. This one seemed to have a load of goods to take. I rubbed my hands menacingly and chuckled. “Oh-ho, yeah. The mother load.” Jessie smiled and whispered, “Yeah.” As she started stuffing everything into her duffel bag. Everything was fine and dandy until we heard the automatic doors scrape against each other and then close. Jessie and I both froze for a second and looked at each other. “Stray monsters?” I asked. She shrugged and looked at me with concern. My back pressed against the shelves and I peeked past the aisle all the way over to the center of the store. I gasped and turned back quickly. “What? What is it?” Jessie grabbed my arm. “It’s people,” I hissed. “People with guns.” I continued. Jessie’s eyes widened and she leaned back slightly, filled with fear and intimidation. “What do we do?” Her voice panicked. “I-I dunno.” I shook my head, and then I paused. Then, a light bulb flashed in my head. “Wait, wait, I got an idea.” I glanced over at Jessica’s duffel bag. She noticed the direction my eyes went and whispered, “What, what is it?” her words passed quickly. I took two cans out of the duffel bag and handed her one, then kept the other can in my hand. “Here, take this. We’re gonna use these as a distraction, and then take them out.” Jessie nodded but then she paused. “But wait. What if they’re…actually good guys?” I sighed and looked down. “We can’t take that chance, Jessie.” I looked back up at her and she leaned forward, closer to my face. “Baby, yes, we can. Just know that whatever happens, we’ll go through it together, and I know we’ll make it out alive, like we always do.” She reassured me. I exhaled lightly and stared at her for a second before sighing deeply. “Okay, okay, I’ll give it a shot.” I assured her. She smiled at me and caressed my cheek. “I knew you’d make the right decisions, honey.” She hummed. I rolled my eyes and nodded. “Yeah, yeah, it’s not over yet, sweetheart.” I mumbled.
I looked down at the can in my hand and sighed lightly. “A perfect waste of beans if you ask me.” I rolled it across the floor and we heard four guns cock. “Who’s there?” A girl shouted. I hesitated and exhaled calmly. “Um, it’s just us two.” I replied with an equal sound of voice. “We were kind of just, uh, you know, scouting the place for some supplies.” The group of four looked at each other and then from where the can rolled out from. “You find anything?” A guy hollered. I glanced at Jessie for a second. “Uh, yeah, in matter of fact, we did.” I heard the group murmur to each other briefly. “You plan on sharing?” A second guy asked and I sighed lightly. “We’re coming out with our hands up, okay? Don’t shoot.” My voice was calm, but my caution was sharp. Both, Jessie and I put our hands up slowly, a gun in one hand and our gatherings the other, and then we showed ourselves. The opposing group of people exchanged glances and then looked at us directly. “So, um,” I said awkwardly. How exactly are we going to-“ I got cut off from a desperate plead. “Please, man, we’re hungry! We got nowhere to go! It’d be really kind of you if we could just…tag along?” I looked at Jessie and she smiled at me. “See? They’re good guys.” She winked. I scoffed and grumbled, “We don’t know that yet.” I turned my attention towards the quadruplet of people. “Alright,” I said firmly. “We’re gonna have to disarm you, just as a precaution, until we’re sure you’re not a threat. Rest assured, though, we will see about letting you come with us.” The girl of the group cheered and hugged a much older looking man next to her, presumably her father, and the two other boys smiled.
Jessie and I stepped closer to the four, cautiously, patted them down after putting our supplies on the floor and nodded to each other after confirming they were empty of anymore possible weapons they could harm us with. “Alright, you guys seem good to go. Follow us.” We picked up our bags after placing their weapons in them for safekeeping and walked out the store with the four people smiling behind us. A short fifteen minutes later, we arrived. The mystery people behind us looked in awe as they feasted they’re eyes on the mansion and I turned my head back towards them with a smile on my face and chuckled. “Yeah, it’s really something, isn’t it?” They all nodded quickly and agreed. I could tell by their ragged, filthy and beat up clothes that they’ve endured through some pretty tough things, and it looked liable enough for them to be going by their word. “Alright, guys, we’ll lead you inside, but be prepared if some of our people greet you with the barrel of their gun.” I chuckled nervously.
Jessie followed me up the porch while the other people stayed behind, and I knocked on the door in a rhythmical manner. It was a password. To let the others know it was us. We could hear the door unlatching from the other side and then it opened up a creek, just enough to see Shane’s green eye. I smiled and chuckled. “We have some guests.” I said lightly. A second later, the door opened and the inside of the mansion had been revealed, and we all walked in, one after the other. Everyone else was having lunch until they noticed the others walking in. That’s when everyone stood up quickly and locked eyes with our guests. “Um, who are those people?” Mary asked hesitantly. I was the first one to say, “Um, well,” then I chuckled nervously. Jessie chimed in after me. “They’re people we encountered during the supply run. We were busy looting the store until these four showed up. They had more firepower, but they still surrendered in return that we help them. They seem to be starving and friendly. This was all my idea, by the way. I kinda had to persuade Cel to go along.” She chuckled nervously.” John growled and stood straight strongly. “I don’t care whose idea it was. Since when is it a good idea to bring over people that we have absolutely no idea about, into our house, our place of security, our place of-“ Shane nudged John’s shoulder and he paused to listen to his whispers. “It might not actually be a bad idea to let these folks in, I mean, I get where you’re coming from, John, but…we kinda need the extra hands around here, and, well…Jessie’s right, they kinda do look innocent. You know I have an eye for that sorta thing.” Shane went on and John nodded to the rest and stared at our four new friends. He grunted and walked towards his room but stopped at his doorway and turned to us. “But the first thing I see odd about those four, they’re out.” The group of four looked at each other and then the girl nudged my arm. I looked at her and she murmured in my ear, “Is he always like that?” I chuckled and shook my head. “No, not always.” I replied. Jessie gave the girl next to me a sharp and witty squint without her noticing and grumbled. I Looked at Jessie and smiled. “Hey, let’s show them around the place, huh? You know, give them a good sense of home.” Jessica’s eyes popped at me and she stammered. “Oh, why, yes, of course.” She chuckled.