"You aren't gonna sleep?" Hoodie's voice came from her left, and Koby lay in his sleeping bag to her right, snoring lightly. Night had thoroughly taken over the sky and the stars were thriving without all of the usual light pollution. It was cold out and they were still surrounded by evergreens.
Ainslie shook her head and kept looking at the grass beneath her legs, "I don't want nightmares."
They were sitting just off the side of the path, not that anybody else would likely be using it. Though, somebody must've kept the grass here short before civilization collapsed, because it only reached just past the top of her thighs and the tip of each blade of grass was flat, brown scars forming along the shorn edge.
After a few seconds of silence, Ainslie tentatively looked to Hoodie, meeting his knowing gaze, before immediately looking back down again.
She picked a blade of grass to fiddle with.
"You didn't sleep yesterday, either." His tone wasn't accusatory, more concerned.
"Same reasons." The girl replied quickly, watching her hands tie countless knots in the grass.
"... Sure," Hoodie kept his voice quiet, barely louder than the gentle breeze that rustled the underbrush around them, "Y'know I can keep watch, wake you up if you have a nightmare."
Ainslie pulled her knees up toward her, considering. "... Promise?"
"Promise."
She'd left the blanket at the burning house, so she flopped backward onto the grass, thankful for her sweater, scarf and gloves to keep her warm.
Seconds passed before Hoodie began to hurriedly rifle through his backpack, "Ainslie..."
"What is it?"
"I have the gun from the bunker. I could've shot that zombie..."
Silence.
"Kicking it worked just as well." Ainslie suggested, it sounded more like a suggestion than a statement.
"It did, but it was more dangerous, I should have-" Hoodie cut his words off when Ainslie sat up, but didn't turn to look at him.
You didn't know you had the gun, you still killed the zombie, you still saved my life! Stop attacking yourself over something you can't change! Ainslie's mind shouted in lieu of actually saying anything, You know better now, and you'll do better if it happens again, that's good enough!
But she couldn't bring herself to say it out loud.
"I dunno, I mean, maybe I could've put the gun in a pocket where I would've seen it, and been reminded of it? I'm sorry..." She didn't react, "Hey, are you okay?"
Ainslie tensed at Hoodie drawing closer, so he stopped, "What's wrong? Can I help?"
She couldn't bring herself to say anything.
Silence fell over the duo for a few moments.
"I'm sorry if I said something that triggered you, I didn't mean to."
" 's okay."
Another while of silence passed before Hoodie spoke up.
"Is it because I was critiquing myself or because of the gun?"
"The critiquing." Ainslie still didn't look at him.
"Okay-."
"Not good for you." Her reply was muffled by her chin resting on her knees.
"Now, why do you think that?"
She pondered her answer, "Hurting yourself over something you can't change."
"... But I was worrying over the future, not the past."
"You can worry about the future without hurting yourself."
Hoodie was quiet for a few seconds.
"I'll try not to next time, but only if you get some sleep."
"...That's unfair."
"You need it." Hoodie chuckled softly.
It felt like hours before Ainslie got to sleep, and she woke up three times throughout the night to hear Hoodie humming an unfamiliar tune quietly.
...
Hoodie was quiet when Ainslie awoke the fourth and final time, though the morning birds were chirping like usual. Sunlight now flooded the pine forest, allowing the group to see farther into the thick treeline. Hoodie and Koby turned to face the other way, into said forest, while she got changed.
She replaced the white sweater with a desaturated green hoodie; that hoodie and the sweater were the only two she had brought with her, so she'd have to get new ones somewhere or make these two last.
"Okay, I'm done. Look, Hoodie, we match now!"
He turned and froze, paling a little, mouth open. Like he'd seen a ghost, but this book is about zombies, so that's out of the question. Recognition flickered in Koby's eyes.
"What's wrong? It's just a hoodie." Ainslie bunched the sleeves up in fists and hunched a little.
Hoodie shook his head, "Nothing, it- it just reminds me of something..."
Ainslie opened her mouth to say something about Dream, but stopped herself, stared at the path beneath her shoes, and replaced the sentence with an "I just like the colour..."
She looked back up to see Koby's eyebrows raised, then his eyes glazed over and he bit his lip. He turned away to hide his face, but his chest was still heaving uncontrollably. He could only croak; "Let's, uh, walk."
"Sure." Ainslie could swear she heard Hoodie sigh a breath of relief as the three of them fell in line, walking at a quick pace forward. He hadn't noticed Koby panicking, and Koby clearly didn't want to be spoken to.
I added a picture each in chapters 2, 3, and 4, on both Ao3 and Wattpad. I spoke about it on my instagram @joodlenootles if you wanted to see. Plotwise, the only thing I don't really like is the ending, I'd say we're about a third of the way through. Yay!
Highkey, I'm not writing enough :( Mental funk, plus I was already a slow writer. This chapter is shorter because of that, and also 'cause the next part is pretty big, and I don't wanna hold this chapter back for too much longer.
YOU ARE READING
Dream Team Zombie Apocalypse (DTZA) (SEVERELY DISCONTINUED I'M SO SORRY)
ФанфикDTZA Not like the title didn't spoil it but there's zombies. Ainslie, our protagonist, is a Dream Team stan and finds herself fighting for her life alongside a certain someone. Sure he reminds her of someone but she can't quite put her finger on it...
