All That's Left Behind - ronance

chapter 9

“Hey, stop.”

Robin looks at her with question marks in her eyes. They’re driving through a desolate and abandoned town. Zombie population seems pretty low, which means this is a popular pass-through point for people like them. That doesn’t really make Nancy feel any better.

“What, do you have to pee or something?” she asks. (She thinks Nancy has a tiny bladder just because she pees twice a day like a normal person.) She scowls at Robin.

“No,” she says, “I just saw a bookstore.” Robin gives her a look. “Five minutes,” she insists.

To her surprise, the taller girl stops the car. “One of you go with her,” Robin says to the boys in the back. Nancy's pretty sure she didn’t mean Billy, but that’s who jumps out of the car to follow her.

There’s a couple of walkers hanging out in front of the door. Nancy’s stingy on bullets lately—they need to restock on ammo—so she just buries her machete in one’s head while Billy shoots the other.

“What’s so important about books?” Billy asks as he follows her inside.

“I like them,” Nancy says. Who doesn’t?

Billy, apparently; he shrugs and starts checking the aisles while Nancy wanders. There’s some blood spatter and whatnot on the lower shelves, which makes her think someone died here. She wonders where the body went. She hears a single gunshot from the back and thinks, Oh.

She unloads her previous books into a corner and picks out three new paperbacks: one murder mystery, one about a time-traveling alien woman with two hearts, and one about a 19th century doctor. She’s about to tell Billy she’s ready to go when she notices the history section. After a moment’s hesitation, she steps into the aisle.

She’s climbing back into the car three minutes later in a huff—a herd had gathered sniffing after them. (“Drive,” Billy hisses, and Robin hits the gas.) Her pack is considerably heavier, but she’s happier. “Here,” she says, tossing a book at Robin.

It lands in her lap. “What is this?” she says.

“It’s a book.”

Robin side eyes her, but turns it over to glance at it. It’s The Fall of Rome. There’s a pause where she’s forced to look back up at the road. She says, “Thanks, sweetheart.” with a small growing genuine smile.

There’s a heavy silence behind them; she’s pretty sure Dustin and Lucas exchange a look. “Sure,” Nancy says, and sinks in her seat to face the window because her face feels warm.

*****

"We've got to restock on ammo."

Robin’s been on edge lately, so part of Nancy doesn’t want to argue.

Except it’s getting dark, the hunting store is huge and probably crawling with biters and, as she points out, most of whatever ammo that was there is probably gone by now.

Robin just looks at her and repeats, “We need it.”

And Nancy agrees wearily.

“You two,” Robin points two fingers at Lucas and Dustin, “stay here. Keep the car running and be ready to punch it.” The two nod; they seem okay staying as far away from walkers as possible. Billy, she doesn’t address. Nancy guesses he’s supposed to come along, which he does.