Utopia

Chapter 4

"Bring it in!" I yelled to everyone as we finished clearing the old Taco Bell that was part of the small strip mall that we found in a plaza heading back to Utopia on our second day out. We decided to circle around on our way back, hoping that something looked promising enough for us to pick through. This strip mall contained five other stores aside from this Taco Bell.

There were around twenty deadheads in the parking lot when we got here. They were easy enough for us to take out but some of the gunfire was going to draw every geek for a mile so I had Axel pull the truck around back and after pulling a few blankets out of the truck we put a board over both exits.

Everyone gathered around me where I was standing in the back workroom.

"Ok, we have this place cleared so while Axel and I pile the bodies up somewhere y'all should look for anything that seems edible. Look for anything that we might be able to use. Batteries, flashlights, candles, just whatever looks promising, but your top priority is food." I looked around at everyone's blood-splattered faces and clapped my hands together. "Lets get to it."

Axel and I decided to pile the bodies up in a corner in the front of the restaurant.

Axel shoved a body onto the pile and then looked at me while dusting off his hands.

"What?" I asked looking up at him as I dragged a lifeless body to the pile.

He opened his mouth as if to say something but closed it just as quickly, looking toward the pile of bodies and shaking his head.

I give a small chuckle, "Well, if you want to talk then you know where to find me."

"Its just... Do you really trust these people?" He said scratching at the back of his head absentmindedly, giving me a really good view of his perfect arms.

I noticed that I was staring and looked away toward the back of the store where Jax and Jesse were milling around looking in the cabinets and drawers like I asked. I noticed Ever and Janice had propped the large, walk-in freezer open and were walking around inside while Mason started sweeping the little walk-way between the order counter and the counter behind it filled with a soda machine, a computer, and a small glass cabinet that contains some rancid apple pies.

"Well they havn't really given us a reason not to trust them as of yet, so I cant say I dont." I said turning back to Axel and lowering my voice just a little.

"But have you seen the way those two men stare at you and Ever?" He said giving me a concerned look.

"You mean like they are 'interested'?" I said. Yes, I have noticed that Jesse stares at Ever whenever she bends down to pick something up, and Ever has wiggled her eyebrows at me and stated that 'someone likes what they see' more than once since yesterday, gesturing towards Jax.

"Nevermind." Axel stated and then went to turn away, but I grabbed his arm and turned him back towards me.

"Axel... Are you... Jealous???" I said smiling widely at him and trying desperately to hide my laughter.

He just pulled his arm away and looked at me with an angry expression, before walking away.

"Axel wait-" He put his hand up and silenced me and continued on his way away from me.

I just put my head down and looked at my shoes for a minute. Now I felt like an asshole. I shouldn't have laughed at him. I knew Axel has felt something for me for a while now. I just didnt know what I wanted yet. I have to much going on to get caught up in a relationship right now. And plus, you never want to get attached to anyone nowadays. If you lost them then you got crazy with grief and no one can afford that right now, you get stupid thinking you cant live without them, and sometimes you dont want to so you go off and get yourself killed.

I shook my head to myself and went to help Mason, who seemed to be struggling putting blankets down, make a mat for all of us between the two counters.

Just as the little boy flicked the blanket I caught it in the air and helped lay it down straight.

Mason just smiled at me and uttered a 'Thanks' before grabbing another blanket and handing me one side.

After we finished making the mat, I walked over to Ever and Axel who were standing by a small door that probably led to an office of some sort.

"Whats the matter?" I asked.

"The door is locked, we cant find the key and we dont know if we should really open it right now. There could be a few creeps in there."

I walked closer and put my ear to the door to see if I could here anything moving on the other side. Sure enough, I heard a few shuffles and a small grunt.

"Theres something in there all right, I dont know if there is more than one but either way that door stays closed for tonight." I tried the door knob to see if it was really locked and when the knob didnt so much as turn I knew we would be okay for tonight as long as we didnt get it to riled up.

"Everyone just needs to be sort of quiet for tonight so we dont aggravate it. The door is locked up tight so it shouldn't be a problem for one night." I turned to Ever, "What did everyone find?"

Everyone gathered around one of the tables in the front part of the store that seemed to be holding all of their findings.

"Well," Ever started, "Janice and I found some seriously stale granola bars in the freezer along with a few gallons of water."

"Jesse and I found some really old crackers that are more like tile than crackers. We also found two packs of batteries and a flashlight." Jax said moving around the box of crackers and batteries as he named them off.

"Thats good, it will hold us over for the night, no matter how stale." I looked through some of the boards on one of the windows and didnt see any light coming from outside so I decided to call it a night. "Ok everyone, lets get some rest. I'll take first watch, Axel, I'll wake you in about three hours to take second. Ever, you get last and you get to round everyone up in the morning, so its your call for what time we head out."

Everyone just nodded their heads and went over to the pallet of blankets. I followed along and tossed the box of granola bars at Ever that I grabbed off the table after grabbing one for myself. She nodded her head at me and started passing them around to everyone.

I walked back to the front and grabbed a chair, kicking my feet up in another to wait out my three hour watch.