A Zombie's Heart

Chapter 23

The camp is calm today. Everyone quietly does their own thing. There is small talk here and there, but other than that, it's calm and peaceful. I lay on a bed in the tent next to Taehyung as he snoozes soundly. I hear the truck pull into camp and sit up. Yoongi and Abbi are finally back from the city. I walk outside and they both hop out of the truck. 

"Hey Celeste, why don't you help put some groceries in the cooler. Then you can help me with dinner," says Abbi as she opens the tailgate. 

"Sure! What are we having?" 

"Tin foil dinners." We put everything away and she gets a folding table out of the truck and sets it up, placing the vegetables on the table. She has Jungkook heat up the coals and Suga tears sheets of tin foil. Then Abbi hands me a bag of onions. "Here, cut these." 

"Abbi, I hate cutting onions," I complain. 

"Fine you big baby. Namjoon! Could you cut these!?" she calls to him as he passes. 

"Uh, sure." 

She puts me in charge of cutting potatoes while her and Jimin were in charge of putting together the dinners. Jin comes over a couple minutes later. 

When he sees Namjoon cutting the onions, he gets annoyed. "No no, that's not how you do it. Here." 

Namjoon moves aside and Jin cuts the onions for him. Me and Abbi laugh. 

"So Celeste," she says, "How are things with you and Taehyung?" 

I smile. "They're good. We're finally on good terms with each other again. So how was your date with Yoongi? If you would call grocery shopping a date. Did you run into any trouble?" 

She shakes her head. "No. Come to think of it, there were no signs of any zombies anywhere. We actually had a good time." 

"Hm, that's weird that there were no zombies. Usually every city is crawling with those bast-" 

"Language Celeste. Language." 

I throw a piece of potato at her. "You're one to talk Abbi. I heard cursing your lungs out when you got pinched by that little crab." She shrugs her shoulders and laughs. 

"That's the last of it. These are ready to start cooking," says Jimin proudly before taking a bite of one of the extra carrots. We take them and set them in the fire pit.

***

For the next half hour, all of us, except for Taehyung who's still sleeping, joke around the fire pit. 

"Namjoon, Jimin, do either of you know when Kayla and Karissa are coming back?" I ask. 

Namjoon answers, "They should be back anytime soon. I called Karissa yesterday. They got into some trouble after Kayla shot a survivor she thought was a zombie. They're working things out with the family, who doesn't want to join us apparently, because of Kayla." 

"Oh... Wow." 

Jin checks the dinners. "They should be just about done."

 I stand up. "I'll get Taehyung up," I say as I walk to the tent. I step inside and look at Taehyung. He looks calm as he sleeps. I wonder if he's been getting enough sleep lately. I sit down on the bed and gently shake his shoulder. "Taehyung, wake up dinners done."

 He slowly opens his eyes and smiles at me and then stretches out his arms. I smile and then lean over and hug him. "What's this for?" he asks and hugs me back. 

"I don't know. I'm just happy to see you." I lay down next to him. He looks into my eyes and smirks. "What?" 

"You look...different. It's a good different. Your eyes look brighter and you don't look so tired. You look pretty."

 I laugh shyly. "Thank you...?" He pulls me close and I close my eyes, listening to his heartbeat. It calms me, just like it did in the dream. 

Hoseok walks in a few minutes later. "Hey, I thought you were just letting him know that dinner was done. I didn't know you were planning on cuddling too or I would've joined." He laughs at himself. "Anyway, dinner is done now, so if you're done being all sweet and sappy, come get some." He leaves the tent and me and Taehyung get up and walk out too.

***

We all finish eating and socializing and it gets dark. Everyone goes to the tents to get some sleep, except for Abbi. I go outside about an hour later, wrapped in a blanket. 

"Hey, are you planning on sleeping at all?" 

She stares at the fire. "Yeah, I just...nevermind. I'm going to bed right now. You should too." She stands up and starts walking away and I sit in the sand by the fire. She looks back at me and I look up at her. "What are you doing? You're going to be up alone?" 

I shake my head. "No. Something's bothering you and you're going to tell me." 

She sighs. "I have a feeling you aren't going to let me sleep until I tell you." I pat the ground next to me and she walks over and sits next to me. "It'll sound weird, but when I went to the city today...even though there weren't any zombies or people around... I felt like we were being watched. Like we were being followed by someone. I know it sounds crazy, but I feel like whoever was following us is familiar. Like I know them. Someone like..."

"Someone like who, Abbi?"

She looks at me worriedly. "Someone like Kyra."