Road Trip

Chapter One

Poppy looked up at Wolfe, who was gently dragging his hands across her hair. The setting sun cast its buttery reflection across the sea as they watched it sink behind the horizon. It was peaceful and quiet, a rarity for the two.

"You ok?" Wolfe murmured to Poppy.
Poppy's eyes crinkled into a smile and she nodded.
Wolfe grinned back, the sides of his mouth creasing into dimples. "What're you thinking about?" He cocked his head to one side, still gazing at Poppy.

She sighed. "Do you think this'll ever end?" Her face fell a little. "Will it ever just be us again? Will we ever be safe?"
Wolfe's brow furrowed and he spoke gruffly. "I honestly don't know, but I know that we have to keep moving, we have to keep doing what we are doing. We are safe in our van..."
Poppy broke his gaze, glancing across the cliff, out to the waves peaking and breaking on the sea. "I just don't want this to be our whole life..."
Wolfe nodded. "I know. It's okay. Someday, all of this will blow over and I'll find us a home, we can build it up however we like, have a nice little garage for the van..."
At his words, Poppy looked up at Wolfe again and smiled, closing her eyes.
"We can eat together every night and watch stupid shows on TV, and I'll get us a huge bed..." He continued. "I know you like the cushion pile but imagine... A proper bed... I'll make sure we are safe Pop. I promise."
Poppy opened her eyes. "I love you." She whispered, taking his hand and stroking her thumb across his.
"I love you too." He grinned at her.

He leans down to kiss her, but before their lips even met, an almighty crash resounded behind them and they spun around to see a figure stumbling towards them. The shiny red barbecue was on its side, presumably the source of the sound.

"Oh fuck!" Poppy sprang up, grabbing her bat. She had plenty of weapons tucked away in the van but her bat never left her side. It was a worn old baseball bat, accessorised with nails and shards of glass sticking out of it at angles. It was splattered with blood where she's got several good hits, but in generally good condition. It was weighty, but she swung it with ease, and she raised it above her head.

The figure stumbled closer, dragging its feet across the grass. It was bony and decrepit, and rotting away in several places, one arm had very little flesh left and the bone was clearly visible, and he wore a tattered, bloody shirt and jeans. His hair was bedraggled and falling out and his eyes were white and clouded over, as if they'd rolled into the back of his head.

Wolfe grabbed his hammer, a large wooden mallet. It was heavy, but Wolfe carried it as if it was hollow. He swung it over his shoulder.
"I'll let you get this one darlin, I'll pack up." He jogged over to the barbecue, nimbly avoiding the zombie, and gathered it up. He began packing it into the purple VW camper van that the couple called home.

Poppy raised an eyebrow at the grunting walker. "Interrupting my romantic evening?" She lifted her bat over her head with both hands, braving herself. "Well here's what I think of that." Starting quite suddenly, she sprinted towards the walker before jumping into the air and bringing the bat down onto the zombies head with considerable force.

It hit the creature in the face with a sickening crack, blowing it to the floor. The zombie groaned, still twitching slightly, as gooey, congealed blood began to seep out of its skull onto the grass.

Poppy was about to walk away, but decided that she should double check, just to be safe. She raised her boot and stamped, hard on its chest before smashing it in the face a second time with her bat. The sound was softer this time, but several globs of blood splattered up onto her jeans and tee shirt, staining the Blondie logo with dark red.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" She rolled her eyes, exasperated. "I washed this this morning!"

Wolfe chuckled, sat in the drivers seat of the van. "Be careful, if you get blood on these seats it'll never come out."
"I know I know!" Poppy laughed, climbing into the back of the van and pulling off her clothes. "You're so precious about this thing..."
"It's gorgeous! Wouldn't want to ruin it!" He glanced over his shoulder at Poppy, stood in her underwear, pulling on one of his old tee shirts as a nightdress. "Not as gorgeous as you though."
"Shut up you sentimental old fool." She chortled, climbing over the seats to sit in the passenger seat next to him. "Now get driving. We don't want any walkers to follow that guy and find us."

They trundled along peacefully without words, passing the odd walker, lumbering slowly with no place to go. Their truck must've reeked of human flesh, as each zombie turned its head as they sped past.

"We really should desensitise this thing." Poppy  said, patting the dashboard.

"Nuh-uh." Wolfe shook his head adamantly. "Covering this beaut in zombie guts? No thank you."

"Look at them though. They can smell us a mile off." Poppy pointed at the latest walking corpse, which was staring straight through the van, but stumbling towards it.

"Crap, this ones right on our trail..." Wolfe murmured.
"See?!" Poppy raised her eyebrows, exasperated.
Wolfe pushed his foot hard on the accelerator. "I'd better mow it down."

Within seconds there was dark blood trailed along the side of the van and a decrepit hand caught in the windscreen wiper. Wolfe turned them on, attempting to loosen it but it only served to smudge more blood across the window.

"We'd better stop soon, wipe all this off." He announced.
"Wolfe!" Poppy gasped, rolling her eyes. "It's disguising us! Look, they aren't noticing us as much anymore."
"But it looks disgusting..."
"At least wait until we're back through wasteland. It's Zombie Central round here, I've seen at least five over the past mile."
"Fine. We'll try and find somewhere quiet to pack up camp."

"Last time we did that, we were very rudely interrupted." Poppy smirked.
"I know, and we were just getting to the good bit." Wolfe raised one thick, dark eyebrow so that it almost disappeared beneath his lazily flopping hair. Poppy couldn't help but think that he needed to re-gel it.
"Oh? And what bit was that?" Poppy flirted, placing a hand on Wolfe's forearm.
"Uhh..." Wolfe blushed. He had never been that good at this part. "The bit where we kissed?"
Poppy threw back her head and giggled. "Were we just going to kiss?"
"I guess not... I dunno..." Wolfe grew even more flustered and wouldn't tear his eyes from the road.

Poppy's giggle settled into a merry chuckle and she grinned at Wolfe. "Dammit. you're so cute!" She pushed playfully on his shoulder and he feigned injury. "Shut it you wuss." 

After around an hour of driving, the area seemed void of walkers.
"I haven't seen one for about three miles." Wolfe observed. "Now might be a good time to rest. We gotta pick up some supplies tomorrow."

Poppy nodded, stifling a yawn. She clambered over the leather seats, past the cramped kitchen to the living room area of the van, which had been sacrificed to make room for their bed, a huge pile of cushions, blankets and duvets. Poppy flopped onto it and wriggled down, the higgledy-piggledy mess melding around her in blissful comfort.

Wolfe wasn't far behind. Pulling off his jacket, shirt ,shoes and jeans, he slid into the den, pressing his stomach against Poppy's back and wrapping his arms around her waist. He grabbed a loose duvet and pulled it over them and despite the wind blowing across the hills outside, they were cosy and asleep in seconds.