Play Your Cards

Home Sweet Zombie

Ace lies asleep on a couch while 10k sits in a chair next to her, reading a magazine, acting as though all is normal. Doc and Murphy play cards, Mack and Addy take watch, and Warren and Garnett drink coffee while they all stay tucked away in their peaceful-looking home.

Mack and Addy come inside, not bothering to take off their shoes as they welcome themselves in.

"You're up!" Addy says, shocked to see Garnett up from his nap.

"All good?" Garnett asks, taking a greedy sip from his mug.

"Peaceful night," Mack answers with a smile, swinging his arm over Addy's shoulders.

"Ace's stalker said there's a storm front coming in. How does it look out there?" Warren asks, tipping her head to the side to peer out the window.

"Cloudy with a chance of zombie."

"Okay, you two get some rest," Garnett says, waving them off.

"You got it."

Ace churns in her sleep, turning over while the blanket slides off her and onto the floor. In an instant, 10k gets up to put the blanket back over her.

As he is tucking her in, she flips over with a knife, nearly slashing his wrist, before 10k pulls himself out of her reach. For a second, both teens look just as shocked as the other before Ace's expression melts into a skeptical one. Her eyes glance over him for a moment before locking eyes once again.

"The...blanket...I was just...sorry." 10k stutters, pulling himself back towards his chair.

Ace pulls the blanket closer to her, looking him up and down once more before turning back over to try and sleep, keeping the knife tucked close to her chest.

"Scared of that one..." Murphy says as he sits at the table playing cards with Doc

"Best not to mess," Doc agrees.

"You know if we breed those two, it'd be all over for the zombies,"  Murphy says in a whisper

"I can hear you, jackass." Ace growls from over her shoulder.

"Why are you called Ace anyway?" Murphy calls from across the room, acting as though he's mocking her nickname.

The entire group, excluding Murphy chuckles at that question. All of them refused to answer his question.

"What?" Murphy questions.

Doc sighs, looking over towards Ace. "If you're up... I have a deck of cards. But only if you're willing to bet on something." Doc says, waving his stack of cards in the air.

Ace sighs and throws the blanket aside, rolling off the couch and stepping into the kitchen. She walks over to them as Doc shuffles the cards, plopping herself down at one of the empty seats.

"Deal 'em," Ace says as she rubs her tired eyes, hardly noticing as 10k follows behind her to try to understand the commotion.

Doc deals himself, Ace, and Murphy the deck.

Ace picks up her cards and smirks for the whole table to see. Before the game even starts, she flips her cards around to show the ace of spades and a few other cards.

"So? Don't show your cards yet!" Murphy says, clearly misunderstanding the point. He snatches all of the cards and shuffles them again, then deals them.

He slides the Ace of Spades down his sleeve as he shuffles.

Ace picks up her new pile and shows them three aces and a suicide king. Though, before Murphy gets the chance to say anything about her ace of spades trick, she flicks her hand down and reveals the card he could've sworn he hid.