Orthodontics in the Zombie Apocalypse

6. The Street Rat Tags Along Indefinitely (1/2)

Mikah was all worried for nothing. The kidlet was just drying off when we burst through the door.

"Is your generation really that far behind? Ever heard of privacy?" she screeches, her obnoxious voice grating on my nerves.

I try to pretend my ears didn't just have a seizure from that and turn to Mikah. "See? She didn't become a cannibalistic snack."

Her deep brown eyes narrow, and the little girl makes the most amazing face I've ever seen: a half-pout, half-gonna-murder-you. I didn't even realize it was possible to look both hurt and murderous at the same time. I'm intrigued.

"Did that face come naturally or did you have to practice?" I ask.

Her glare darkens.

Mikah gingerly grabs me by the shoulders and turns us towards the door. "Let's give her a moment to get changed."

I hear it slam on our backs and a lock click into place.

"So...who is she?" Mikah asks after a moment.

I shrug. "Some street rat without a family. Apparently she just assumed I would be willing to house a charity case on my expedition."

"But you don't care about the fact that she would probably die on her own because all you want is to get your braces off."

I smirk. "Exactly. Besides, she hasn't died yet. I'm tellin' ya, that girl is a cockroach."

Mikah just stands and shakes his head at me. I glance over my shoulder at the door, which is still closed and locked.

"We should head out to your uncle's before she--"

The door flies open and the little girl steps out in the same grimy clothes as before.

"What was the point of showering if you just put on the same nasty rags?" I demand, irritation driving my voice up in volume.

"My bad! Did I offend you?" She walks right up to me, little chin jutting out into the air. "If you have an issue with my clothes, why didn't you find different ones?"

I am openly seething by this point. "Look, if you're going to be a problem, I don't want you tagging along. Shag off!"

She skips around to stand squarely in front of me, arms bent out and hands on her hips. "My name, just for the tiny shred of humanity in you to hold onto, is—"

I press my finger to her lips. "Shhhhh. Don't tell me. I may not ditch you, little girl, but I probably won't stop the zombies from eating you. So let's not get too attached to each other, okay?"

She makes the hurt-angry face again, pouting with a deathly glare. "At least come up with some name for me."

I glance at Mikah. "What about...Shithead? A friend of mine had a cat named that once."

Mikah rolls his eyes, head wagging back and forth. "You are unbelievable."

"Stinky? You do reek."

Again, no approval from Mikah.

I throw my arms out wide in exasperation. "What then?" I ask him.

He looks over the dirty little girl. Everything about her screams "dirt", right down to the color of her hair and eyes, even her fingernails have collected enough of the color underneath them. Her skin, too.

"Dirt. We'll call you Dirt, and that's final."

Mikah still shakes his head, but now he looks more bemused than anything. Dirt doesn't look quite as happy about her new name.

"Dirt?" she grumbles. "That's what you come up with?" Her arms cross over her chest. "I don't like it."

Mikah ponders this. The voice of reason, as always. Or, just a decent human being. "I think you'll be really helpful to us yet," he says to her. "How about Angel?"

I roll my eyes. "Fine. I don't think it suits the grimy kid, but whatever. Let's just get my braces off, shall we?"

Mikah walks to the door, opens it, and gestures for us to pass through first. "Ladies first."

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A/N

As you can probably tell, we'll be getting to know Angel a bit more as the story progresses. And, yes, she has brown eyes. I realized it said brown when she first came in but then it switched to blue in the last part, but I changed it all to brown. So don't be concerned about that detail.

What do you think so far? Is it really worth it for Piper to put such high stakes on getting her braces off?

Vote/comment if you enjoyed!