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

chapter twelve

Someone was nudging me quite forcefully as I stirred from a much needed sleep in the car. From what I could recall, I dozed off during a conversation gone awkward between Armani and Kaiden. A cold breeze fanned my whole body sending sparks of chills that threatened to jolt me from my peaceful slumber. Wait, wind?!

Instantly jolting from my sleep, like a reflex my right hand reached for the knife attached to the belt at my waist. The entire car door was open and the figure of a man stood leaning in front of it. Nobody else was in the car, Kaiden and Armani were missing. They'd left me behind, I thought.

"Not a Zed yet sweetheart, it's too dark to be on the roads now, we're staying at the checkpoint tonight so move your ass before you and I become dinner" Chen grumbled, removing my seat belt and grabbing my hand as he pulled me out the car by my wrists. The otherwise gentle sounds of tree leaves rustling together would've calmed me, but now they were alarming. Like a warning system that something was lurking in-between the trees, waiting to pounce at the unlucky souls that would fall victim to them.

"Get off me!" I shouted wincing at Chen's forceful pull at the raw rope burns on my wrists. I had finally snapped at Chen's childishness, "What the fuck has been your problem with me since we met. I've done fucking nothing to you, but you just seem to get off at being a dick to me!"

"You've had it easy, I can tell just by looking at you" Chen snapped back, "No scratch marks, no signs of fatigue or stress, you're clearly not ready for this new world, you're going to get all the guys pussy-whipped and then they're going to get us all killed"

"You don't even know anything about me" I spat, meeting his eyes with a sickened glare, "I'm sorry I was too busy being raped to get ready for this new world! Look at my fucking wrists Chen! I'm not trying to play victim or ask for pity but use your fucking head!"

"Raped?-" He started before Ryan emerged from the forest without word and punched him in the face.

 "Real fucking nice Chen" Ryan scolded harshly, "This way Dee. Stay alert", he smiled whilst guiding me away from what seemed to be a straight, long country road into the forest. Chen followed closely behind cursing at himself quietly.

"Dee?" I questioned not quite sure why he had called me that. The forest didn't seem to have any zombies lurking inside, I had come to the conclusion that wherever we were hadn't been hit as bad yet or the zombies were quietly stalking us through the forest letting us lead them to a full course buffet of human flesh.

"My nickname for you", he whispered in my ear whilst knocking on the door in a rhythmic pattern, "Nice isn't it?"

"I guess s-"

"Eden! Finally you're awake" Alexia chuckled as Chen pushed past into the house folding his arms, "Kaiden wanted to let you sleep longer so he put Chen on Eden watch till you woke up"

"Oh, I see" I replied as I watched Alexia's smile fade slightly, Chen was bringing morale down tenfold with all his grumbling. He was like a really bad hangover bottled into a person, affecting whoever he deemed unacceptable or not good enough.

The house was too small to contain nine people, but it was fine because we were only staying for a night and we would be on the road again in the morning. Stepping through the door would lead you straight into the living room. An elderly couples photos were hung across the wall, one of them was of them on a fishing trip showing off the big fish they had caught.

They seemed happy, probably dead by now but happy.

"There's only two bedrooms and a bathroom so we're going to have to get cozy" Femi announced coming from the narrow hallway which I assumed lead to the bedrooms, kitchen and bathroom.

"Where is Kaiden?" I asked Travis quietly who sat on an armchair tending to an almost fully recovered Armani. Her health had improved drastically in such a short span of time. She was walking without a limp now and was fully awake and aware of what was going on around her. I don't know how she didn't feel reluctant around so many guys after what had happened to us but it seemed as if she was coping. Better than me or Alexia despite having it arguably the worst.

"He's on the roof trying to get signal on a radio we found in here, see if anyone is broadcasting" he replied. As soon as he finished his sentence, a knock came from outside the door. 

"How the hell did he get on the roof?" Armani chimed in.

"He's been in the army since he was 18, duh" 

Alexia went to open the door but Femi pulled her back gently before cautiously stepping to open the door, taking the safety off the gun in his right hand.

"Woah! Just me" Kaiden exclaimed raising his hands and flashing a toothy smile, I hadn't seen him smile like that ever. Wondering what had him smiling so much I asked,

"What has you smiling so much?"

"What a guy can't smile?" he joked standing in front of me resting his hands on my shoulders. This time I didn't flinch and he smiled, "Nah I'm playing, I got signal and managed to make out someone speaking"

"What did they say?" Ryan asked pulling him into a celebratory hug.

"They said Texas is the worst place to be right now, too many people too many zombies. Best shot of surviving is moving north, then it cut off"

"Okay, but does that mean we will be fine here in Ohio, we're pretty close to New York and that's probably a zombie hotspot too" Joey piped up

"I'm not sure, it seems we'll be okay for now but when we get to the farm we'll discuss alternatives" Kaiden responded.

"I'm tired, where's everyone sleeping?" Femi asked yawning loudly whilst stretching his arms.

"I need to be close to Armani to monitor her so I was thinking I'll sleep in this armchair and she can sleep in the sofa bed here with Alexia?" 

"Sure" Armani and Alexia chorused at the same time before smiling at each other.

"I'll take Mr. Grumble here, I'm sure my cheerfulness will drown out his unlikable personality" Femi laughed grabbing Chen in a playful chokehold before disappearing into the hallway.

"Joey with me?" I suggested, "you're small enough to not complain about me hogging the blankets right?"

"Okay" he squeaked before going off into the hallway. Following him, I entered the bedroom. It was small and had one window that didn't seem to open. 

Kicking off my boots and putting them by the bedside, I opened my backpack and pulled out my shorts from the diner.

"Are you going to watch me change?" I teased, laughing as Joey's face went red and he turned away burying his face in the covers.

Changing, I slipped into bed next to him and closed my eyes in an attempt to sleep.

END

A/N: Hope you're all enjoying the story so far. I can't wait for you to read the next chapter, its about to get a bit spicy in a new point of view, can you guess who?

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