FOUR

A LONG WALK

The air outside was warm, the warm spring air brought some comfort to both The Ranger and The Healer. It was the 9th of May. 'Almost my birthday' The Ranger thought. The Healer had finally broke the maddening silence with "How are you?". "How am I?" The Ranger shot back, he laughed at the simple question considering the circumstances, "Oh you know, just your average post apocalyptic day, you?" The Ranger said sarcastically. She laughed at his sarcastic humor and replied "Well I'm just as lovely thank you for asking". They both sort of grinned and looked into each others eyes for a moment. To The Ranger, the moment seemed intense and flirty yet somewhat romantic. He watched her smile and again thought about how beautiful she looked, even in this post apocalyptic hell she was always gorgeous, and not just physically. He always noticed she was never freaking out, she had always seemed to remain calm and smile through everything, that, he also found beautiful.

"Do we even know where we're going?" The Healer asked. "Not really now that you mention it, radio The Sniper and ask him where she is" The Ranger replied. She took out a walkie talkie and pressed the call button to The Sniper. "Hello?" his voice came in, The Ranger grabbed the walkie talkie and said "Thank you for calling AT&T customer support, we are currently doing a special 'apocalyptic' phone plan if you're interested, can I help you?". He smiled waiting for a response "Uh technically you called me-haha-so what's going on? why'd you guys call?" he asked.

"You never told us where The Gatherer was" The Ranger replied.

"Oh, yeah, right, that might be important".

"Yeah so whenever you want to share that info...it'd be much appreciated".

"Yeah she said she's in a corner store East of our 'fortress of solitude'".

"On it, over and out".

"Yeah yeah".

The Ranger and The Healer nodded to each other and started walking East. The ground they were walking on seemed to be a mix of asphalt and dirt, and when they were on road it was broken down and cracked. They stayed silent for a long time until The Ranger finally asked "So how are you holding up?", "Is that a serious question?" She shot back

"Yes it is actually" He replied.

"Well in that case, I'm doing okay I guess".

"That's good".

"How've you been holding up yourself?".

"Eh, just thinking about a lot".

"I can tell".

There was a pause as The Ranger was sort of shocked at her response, he usually wasn't the easy one to read, usually he was the one reading others. "So you read people now? How much do you know about me then?" He asked.

"Well I know more than you think I know".

"Like what?".

"I know that you, like me, feel lonely, I know you get into deep thought, I know you regret some of the things you have to do, I know a lot of things".

"Is that all?".

"Well I know you check me out when you think I'm not looking".

He immediately looked in a different direction to hide the grin that broke through. He felt somewhat embarrassed but tried to cover it up by pretending to be the dick he was, he heard her laugh quietly next to him and heard her footsteps approach, she stood on her toes up next to his ear and whispered "I just wait until you're not looking" She laughed again and slid away and he felt somewhat relieved now knowing that she was checking him out as well.

They kept walking, smiling and looking at the city around them but not speaking. They didn't know how to interact and react to each other now, they felt like 3rd graders. She finally stopped and turned to him and yanked him into a tight hug, he hugged her back and they both felt a significant warmth in the pits of their stomachs, the hugged seemed to last 10 minutes, the hug loosed a little and he slid his hands down to her hips, he was now embracing and hold holding her romantically. She moved her hand and placed them on his chest, she stared into his eyes for a moment and then leaned in for a kiss.

Just before their lips could touch they heard The Gatherers voice shouting for help in the building a few feet from them. They backed up and looked in the direction of the the voice for a moment and ran towards it. The Gatherer saw them running and yelled "No don't! Infected!", The Healer stopped but The Ranger grabbed his bow and ran faster, six infected grunted and turned their heads and started moving towards him, he jumped and stepped of a wrecked car and immediately shot two infected. He landed and rolled forward, spinning around tossing a knife at a third. The Healer, seeing The Ranger already fighting, drew her katana and ran into the fray decapitating one infected and stabbing another through the chest. They both stopped for a moment assuming the fight was over but before much thought could pass an arrow whooshed by The Healers head penetrating an infected forehead saving The Healer's life, she looked at the hooded wielder of the bow, small drops of sweat trickling down his brow, she went to speak "You could've killed-". "Ah ah ah, don't mention it" The Ranger cut her off.

Together, The Ranger and The Healer pulled The Gatherer out of the twisted wreckage that had tumbled on top of her. The Gatherer simply stood up with her bag of supplies, looked at The Healer and then The Ranger and said "Hey...", They all stared at each other for a moment and started laughing at nothing. They walked out of the hole in the wall of the store and continued west towards their home, saying nothing in their stunned, adrenaline pumped silence.