GARDEN OF THE UNDEAD - A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE ROMANCE & ACTION TALE

chapter eight

"So you're in the army?" Alexia acknowledged, leaning back reluctantly in between Femi and Armani who sat either side of her in the minivan.

"Not all of us. Kaiden and I are. Femi was a personal trainer at our base. We were just given holiday leave and were at Betty's diner when it all went down. We met the other guys there" Ryan called from the drivers seat.

Betty's Diner was Rob's Diner's biggest rival, I laughed at the irony of the situation. You were either a Rob's Diner regular or a Betty's Diner regular in this town. There was no in-between. I guess they were Betty's regulars.

What's even more funny about the rivalry between these two diners was the relationship between Rob and Betty. They were actually married for ten years and their diner used to be called Rob and Betty's Diner. When they got divorced they both opened their own restaurants and became bitter rivals ever since.

"There's more of you guys?" I asked from the backseat with Joey, squished with all the supplies that they had found in the grocery store earlier.

"Yes, two other guys. Travis and Chen" Kaiden replied from his front seat riding shotgun as Ryan drove.

"What did you guys do before the apocalypse?" Ryan asked us curiously, "Of course Joey was still in school right?"

"I was a writer, I was almost published but I didn't get the chance to because of the end of the world of course" Alexia solemnly explained out as she sat uncomfortably hugging her elbows in between Armani and Femi with a book in her hand, looking at the ground then turning to look at me behind her.

An uncomfortable silence filled the car as everyone looked to me and Armani, waiting for us the share what we did. Of course our outfits sort of gave away what we did, although Armani was now wearing Kaiden's jacket and I refused to take anyone clothes. After all it was freezing and I didn't want to be the reason someone was shivering whilst I was warm.

"I was just trying to make ends meet any ways I could, working as a stripper" Armani explained softly coming out of her conscious rest warily, "I didn't have any other options that could fund my troubles"

"Rob's Diner" I chipped in, keeping my words minimal hugging at my knees protectively. It was clear of the damage that Jackson and his men had caused us. We could no longer fully trust anyone, especially men and it was clear to everyone in the car as we sat in uncomfortable silence.

"Its okay, you don't have to explain why you worked the job you did, work is money and money keeps you fed with a roof over your head" Kaiden said as he practiced loading and unloading his gun. From what I could barely see from the backseat, his eyes looked distraught as he stared coldly at the pistol as if he was remembering a bitter memory...

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After driving for about thirty minutes enduring the screams of the infected desperately chasing after us, we pulled up in front of an abandoned apartment complex. Femi had explained in the car that they had found refuge on Day zero in the security office of the building on the ground floor and had sealed off the entrance, elevator and stairs as there could still be the undead up there.

Hoisting the supplies out of the car with the rest of our team was hard but we had to move fast. Although we were in a suburban area, there were still a few zombies around and they were not going to be merciful at the sight of us.

A flashlight shone out of a small window that was mostly boarded up. Following this, the metal double doors creaked opened fast and a shorter, lean Asian man with spiked hair emerged from behind the door.

Following him was another middle-eastern man with long wavy brown hair and chocolate brown eyes, they both wielded hunting knives and helped to carry in the supplies not even acknowledging our foreign presence.

Once everything was in, Ryan parked the car in a secure location and joined us inside the reception of the apartment building before Femi and Kaiden sealed off the doors.

They were so organized and coordinated, I wonder how many supply runs they had been on to have such a precise, easy flowing routine. It looked like they had been doing this all their lives although it had only been less than a week since this all started.

"Who are these people?" the wavy-haired man asked raising an eyebrow as he looked at Kaiden for answers.

"This is Eden, Armani, Joey and Alexia" Kaiden explained placing a hand on my shoulder as he stepped forward. Without thinking I flinched, causing an even more confusing and awkward scene.

Kaiden removed his hand from my shoulder abruptly as if I had just scalded him before continuing, " We found them on a supply run"

"Well can they pull their weight? They don't look pretty useful. Or strong" the other unfamiliar guy spoke up running his tattooed hand through his spiked hair, "Dead weight gets you killed"

"Chen, they haven't had it easy man" Femi pleaded, trying to mitigate the situation at hand peacefully.

"Nobody has had it easy Femi. Rob's girl and her entourage aren't the only ones that had suffered" Chen protested staring at me as if he had just seen a ghost.

"I assure you, we can pull our damn weight, you look pretty fucking average to me, I don't think we're the dead weight here, Chen" I spoke up, standing face to face, inches apart from him. Well, face to chest.

Chen looked down at me with a sparkle in his eye. He stared at me silently as a small scowl crept onto his curved lips and he retreated to the supplies we had brought in and started counting them like he was taking stock.

"Well, I'm Travis" the other man sighed running his hand through his hair, "Are any of you injured?"

"No, we're fine" Alexia replied, helping Armani over to a brown, beaten-up leather sofa in the corner of the security office.

"What's with the limping? Are you sure you're okay?" Travis asked persistently, "I'm a paramedic". When neither Alexia, Armani or I replied, he looked to Kaiden, Ryan and Femi for answers. Kaiden replied silently with a slight shake of his head, signaling him not to say anything further.

"Well it's very late, we should all get some sleep. I'll take first watch with Joey, girls take the couch", Kaiden directed, "Femi, Ryan, Travis take the sleeping bags and Chen you take the cold, hard floor"

"But-" Chen protested.

"Shut the fuck up and sleep Chen, you're doing my head in" Kaiden breathed, stationing himself at the window by the door before dimming out most of the lanterns that sat around the small office.

Silence filled the security office and over the course of a few minutes everyone, even Chen was fast asleep.

Finally.

END

A/N: Whats Chen's problem? Ugh, I hate guys like that. Vote and leave a comment!