ZRP-2 Chapter 8: Survivors One and All

Sam arrived at the house, looking for Hibiki. She found her, checking on her gear and she broke the silence with "So, heading out to look for him?"

Estel said nothing, her only response being to sit firmly on the chair and wrap the blanket tightly around her.

"In the morning. Its too dangerous tonight." She replied. "We need more horses..."

"Yeah well we only have the one horse," Sam said. "Are you going by yourself?" she asked.

"Yes." Hibiki said. "But if you can find a fuelmefficient car, go find James and Marchs while I look for Eve and Estel."

Sam blinked at that, and said "You're not going to look for your husband?"

"Nomad can carry two kids Sam. If I go after James, what if he is with Marcus? The horse cant carry all of us. Me going after Eve and Estel on the horse makes more sense. It's not a matter od love or shit. Its a matter of resources and savi g who I can. Unless you want Nomad to go find Eve and Estel while I drive to find James and Marcus?"

"First off, Estel is hardly a kid," Sam said. "Secondly, Nomad won't be able to find Eve and Estel; he's a horse not a bloodhound."

"Im finding them, Nomad's the transportation. Second, either help me or not. But if I take the horse, I need to go for Eve and Estel since they are small. Understand?"

Sam glared at Hibiki slightly, and said "Alright, go. James and Marcus should be fine.......Eve and Estel not so much, if they haven't killed each other already."

"Not until morning. At night it is entirely too dangerous." Hibiki set her stuff aside. "We need rest." She collapsed onto the couch.
"I swear that man is gonna get slapped for putting me through this, and I'm spanking Eve. Unless you'd rather do that."

Sam went a bit red in the face from embarrassment, sitting down in one of the cushy chairs by the couch. "Nah, and you shouldn't slap James. He was just doing what he could to help, plus......we've been through a lot already. Slapping him won't help."

"Fine. Pound his chest all romance movie cliche. When you spank Eve, do me a favor and slap her once for me." Hibiki got comfy, getting ready to go to sleep.

"You make it sound like they need to be punished," Sam said as she got cozy on the chair. "Reality is.....they helped save our lives and ensured this town was armed to fight. Doesn't that earn something other than anger?"

"They are making me sick with worry. They get hero worship after I exercise my anger at them making me terrified."

"You don't think I'm terrified as well?" Sam said in a whisper. "He's my friend, and she's my......girlfriend. Now knowing if they're safe, or alive or dead is making me sick. The only thing I do know is that when they get back here, I'm not going to yell at them; I'm going to give them the biggest hug I have, and save any anger I have for the ones that are more deserving of it."

Hibiki sighed. "Everyone is different. Just make sure you give Eve a good welcome; the poor kid has gone through too much these past couple days."
Hibiki closed her eyes. "Wake me before the crack of dawn."

Abel stayed up into the night awhile, sitting at a wooden bench smoking the last of his cigars and reflecting on the day's events that had passed.  His shotgun and sword lied next to him on the bench whilst he hung his head in regret.  If I was watching better, if I saw the walkers coming.  These deaths could have been easily prevented.

Abel stood from the bench once his cigar had reached an unsmokable length and tossed it into the street.  He picked up his gear and started walking down the moonlit sidewalk.

Where she sat, Estel shivered beneath her blanket, feet still damp and toes cold. It was enough to make her wonder if getting in bed with Eve just for some added warmth was really a bad idea. After all, she wasn't going to have sex with her.

Eve rolled over. She shivered a bit.

Dammit, this wasn't the time to be picky. Estel sighed, and trudged over to the room Eve slept in. Every step she took felt like her feet were weighted with lead, and she wondered if this was really the best choice. After all she didn't want to send the wrong signals to the girl.....but she didn't want to freeze either, the thought running through her mind as she shivered again. The door was open, and she stood over the bed, looking down at Eve and her sleeping form and for a brief, brief instant that lasted as long as it took her to blink, she could not help but find the girl attractive. Bending a leg so her knee rested on the bed, she slowly, carefully crawled into the bed behind Eve on her knees as she held the blanket tightly around her. Then she lay down, on her side and opened the blanket to cover Eve as she wrapped an arm around the girls waist to pull her closer. Estels chest touched the rough material of the flannel blanket that was wrapped around Eve, and she quietly whispered "This doesn't. Mean. A thing."

Eve had nearly went crazy with fear, but she realized the hesitancy. So she didn't move, and when Estel whispered, she blushed.
"Of course not..." She put a hand on the arm around her anyways. "But to me...it means, you trust me just a little bit."

"Nope. Just wanted to get out of the cold," Estel said. "Believe me if there was a heater in this place we wouldn't be having this conversation."

Eve giggled softly. "Of course." She didn't press it...but snuggled a bit back into Estel, relaxing. "You can come under my blanket too. I know it would be awkward, but...it would be warmer."

"You know, I can go back to the chair Eve," Estel said seriously.

"I know...sorry, I'll go to sleep..." she relaxed, closing her eyes. "...please...don't let go?" She asked finally, not moving really, but letting sleep start taking her.

"Fine, I can at least promise that," Estel said.

Before long, night had passed and dawn was on the rise, though the light was blocked; dark clouds came in from the East ahead of the sun, grey at the edges and near black in the center. A storm was on the way, bringing with it a cold wind and rain.

Within the compound, Sam had slept lightly, and when she finally woke she nudged Hibiki awake.

At the island in the river, James and Marcus, along with their new acquaintance Cristine, had taken shifts sleeping and keeping an eye out, less for any of the undead and more to make sure neither tried anything funny. They were woken however, when not only did a strong breeze pass over them, but the first telltale signs of rain landed on James' face, and he blinked his eyes open at the wet touch.

A few rain drops fell onto Cristina and her eyes opened swiftly, wiping the water from her face she sat up slowly grabbing her rifle as she did so. The rain was not a good sign, especially if they where to be travelling far today. The idea of travelling with heavy, rain sodden clothing did not appeal at all to her. Yet they could not afford to stay put on the Island in the middle of the lake... There was not enough shelter on the island. She slid into her boots and did them up with quick precision. Soon it would be time to get moving.

"Great, now it's raining," Marcus said sourly as he stood up. "Yeah well, complaining won't help," James countered as he started moving for the river. "Look we should start swimming to shore now, otherwise the rain will make the current too strong for us."

Estel woke to the sound of rain, tapping a light, steady rhythm on the roof of the shack. Grumbling slightly, she opened her eyes and found herself still......spooning with Eve it seemed, a fact she quickly remedied when she let go of the girl and stood up, leaving the room to collect her already dried clothes. She slipped them on, buttoning them and debating if she should wake Eve.....or leave. Not much left for her to go back to the compound really, not with Aiden dead. She had no plans on dying, but living on her own was slightly tempting.

"Yeah... It seems we are to get soaked again yes? I believe you would say tough luck" Cristina said in agreement, making a move towards the shore. She scanned the other side for any visible signs of the undead. All seemed peaceful for now.

Marcus could only sigh, as he too walked to the shore, shoes sinking into the mud as he made ready to start swimming. James jumped into the water, and began moving his arms and legs to swim through the water, twisting his head back and forth as he took in deep breaths.

Cristina slung her rifle over her shoulders and followed them into the water. Great, another swim just the thing anyone would want first thing on a dreary looking day.

There was one bright thing about the cold water: it certainly woke James up. Making it to the other end and onto shore, he stood up, gasping and shivering as another cold breeze blew past and over him.

Cristina emerged from the water, running her hands through her hair and tying it into a loose ponytail. It would help to keep it out of the way, un-slinging her rifle she looked at the two gentlemen and asked. "So where are we heading now?"

"South," James said. "Our compound is located south of here, but we'll need to follow the road we came from; even then......if we can't find a car, it's going to take us some time to get there. Took us maybe two hours to drive this far, so if we're walking....." he let that hang in the air.

"Time to move then" Cristina answered, pointing out what they all knew well. "How much ammo you guys got?"

James and Marcus checked, grimacing at the results. "I've got two magazines left for the pistol," James said. Marcus responded "Twenty-four bullets for the revolver."

"Thirty rounds of point two two" Cristina said grimly. "Let us try not to run into a fire fight"

"Should be easy enough," James said as he started walking. The water beside them was already starting to reflect the weather, turning mildly choppy from the wind and the drops of wain on the surface.

Cristina was silent about that, her eyes warily scanning the undergrowth, the with the water on one side they had an effective barrier. But that still left three avenues for approach by the undead, front, rear and their flank. At least if needs dictate they could swim for it, thought Cristina would rather that they would not have to swim again. At least for a while anyway.

"Cristina, take the front," James said. "I want you looking out ahead of us, see if there's anything we can't. Marcus and I will take the rear, watch our backs and sides."

"Oh I bet you will" Cristina commented sarcastically. She took point moving forward softly, her finger resting gently in front of her trigger... Just in case any undead dared to show their faces.

"Ha, cute but I'm married," James said as if that settled things. Granted, in his mind it did.

"I was joking but that is good" Cristina replied though she did not look back over her shoulder to talk, focusing on the job at hand now.

James and Marcus moved to the back while Cristina stayed ahead, and they both craned their heads often enough to keep an eye out for any trouble. The rain started to pick up in intensity, and pretty soon they had a light shower on their heads. "Will you be able to see okay?" Marcus asked.

"Well enough" Cristina answered slowly her pace somewhat. She was struggling to see with rain blasting into her eyes so she was forced to rely more on her other senses. Hearing, smell and perhaps a large portion of luck.

So far, they didn't encounter any undead as they kept moving. Either the rain was suppressing their scent, or the noise was making them wander aimlessly, no one really knew. They're path was clear, and that was what was important.

The birds where quieter in the rain, they often brought early warnings about the zombies... With them being quiet Cristina was rapidly losing the advantages. At least the rain provided some form of protection. "We should stay close together it would be easy for them to sneak up on us"

"Yeah, will do," James said.....right as a walker rounded from behind a tree and lunged at James. He shouted, bringing his arm up and pressing it between the walkers chest and himself, as it lunged forward with its head, mouth snapping repeatedly to bite him.

"Oh shite" Cristina turned bringing her rifle up to fire. She did not have an clear shot so lowered the rifle, drawing her screw driver, rushing forward to his aid and plunging the screw driver into the back of it's skull with sickening sound.

The walker died, jaw hanging open as the body went limp. Marcus had his knife out, though he didn't need it at that point, and the only thing he did was help James push it away. "Thanks Cristina," James said.