Fucking Zombies

Chapter 2

"So you think that we should start heading inland? Why are we going to do that when we could find an island or something?" Bo fussed.

When I let them in earlier, they agreed to form a group with me, so long as we had equal say in everything. I immediately agreed, considering that this would be my easiest option. I would have somebody to watch my back and keep me from going even more insane.

"Are you going to answer me or what?" Bo jolted me out of my thoughts.

I nodded. "Yeah, yeah. Sorry. Going to an island? What do you think people are going to do first thing? They are going to go to the coast to try to get on a boat or to an island. Away from this. And lemme tell you something, it's not gonna work!" Some laughter spills out before I can stop it. I shove my face into my hands. Why can't I be normal for once? "Sorry, I-I am slightly insane."

Bo laughs a little. "Everybody is a little crazy. Are you telling me you're different? Sweetheart, I spent all my life with everybody telling me that non-binary isn't a real thing!"

I laugh along with them. "Well, don't worry about me dissing you because of your fucking gender."

The room has darkened significantly since Bo dropped in here. I stand up to make sure the door is secure before closing the blinds on all the windows and grabbing some food out of the fridge. The power ran out earlier this afternoon, so I kept the door closed as much as possible to keep the cold in. My eyebrows furrowed slightly. "We need to leave the city soon. The amount of zombies and the lack of food is seriously worrying me."

Bo rolled their eyes. "Well, how do you propose we do that? Fucking walk out and immediately get eaten by those freaks out there?" As they said this, they gestured towards the door with their hand. 

"Well, how else would you expect us to sneak through them?" I asked with a wild smile.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The last thing both of us expected was to be shuffling through the hordes covered in the guts of one of the undead.

But here we were! Covered in undead human guts and walking through the crowds with no problems. Bo held onto my hand with a death grip. I'm pretty sure if they held on any tighter, my hand would fall off. The smell was truly horrendous though, and the pain in my hand was a welcome distraction. 

We finally managed to get to the outskirts of the city. I could see the massive car pileup on the roads out of the city, so we decided to head out of the city most people would come in through. Once we made it far enough away from the city to have a decent headstart if the undead saw us, we took a break and drank some water. Droplets ran down my neck, cooling in the warm summer breeze. I knew that sooner or later we would have to find a place to hunker down and take refuge during the harsh winter months. Bo finally spoke up after we had been sitting for a few minutes, "Where should we go to? Keep the plan to head towards the coast or go north? Or maybe south?"

I shrugged. "At this point, we could go anywhere. I have a feeling that most people would head out to the coast, so maybe going north would be a good idea. But let's just see where the road takes us."

We just sat there for a while with the sun beating down on us from above. A little while after, I heard some clacking on the pavement. Bo looked to me with curiosity in their eyes. Once it started getting closer, our heads whipped to where we heard the unfamiliar noise. My mouth twitched up slightly before I grabbed my knife and opened my mouth, "Well howdy officer, what are ya doing 'round these parts?"

He looked startled as if he didn't expect us to talk. "I'm looking for my wife and son. Lori and Carl? Have you seen them?"

Bo shook their head. "No, we haven't, but if they were in Atlanta, they would most likely be dead. Sorry officer, it's a death warrant going in there," They gestured between us. "We only made it out because we covered ourselves in the undead guts. It's nasty, but it works."

The officer got down from the horse and walked towards us. He cocked his head. "What are your names ladies? I'm Rick Grimes."

Bo shook their head and laughed, "Who said I was a lady? Bo Henderson, I actually go by they/them pronouns. Sorry if that's confusing," They stood up and walked over to Rick and shook his hand before speaking again, "It's nice to meet you, Officer Friendly."

Rick looked over to me as if he was encouraging me to tell him my life story. His face was so genuine that I almost would have if that's what he wanted me to do. It was my turn to cock my head. I laughed slightly and brushed my red hair away from my face.

"You can call me Mars."