Damaged

9

After grabbing all the supplies and a new vehicle, we were back on the road. 10k and I were standing through the sunroof of the big car, looking for any signs of trouble. The first thirty minutes were silent until I decided to speak what was on my mind. "Back in that room, were you jealous?"

His face turned red and he looked away. "I dunno what you're talking about."

I carefully moved closer to him. Our legs touching. "Were you jealous when Citizen Z complimented me?"

He took a second to answer but instead of saying what I thought he'd say, he said something unexpected. "Were you jealous when I was helping Cassandra?" My breath hitched in my throat. "Exactly." He said, with a slight grin.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, I was." I whispered, he must've heard because he leaned in. His face close to mine.

"There's no need to be."

"Oh really? And why's that?"

"Because I like you. I don't like her. She's just my friend and she's injured." His voice was quiet.

"Y-you like me?"

"Of course, or I wouldn't do this."

I was confused. "Do wha-" I was cut off by his lips on mine. Man, I'm glad the others can't see us. Our lips moved in sync, his hand grabbing at my waist. This kiss was different than the one at the morgue. That one was urgent, this one is assuring and sweet. They both had the same affect on me though. My insides were going haywire.

The truck started to slow down so we broke apart. We looked on the ground as we rolled by and saw a zombie kid squashed and unable to move. A little ways more down the road, 10k hit the roof of the vehicle. "Twelve o'clock." It was another zombie kid, except this time it's walking on the road and has a backpack on. We rolled to a stop and Addy climbed out the car. She went to mercy him but stopped midway. She got distracted by something. I grew anxious as the zombie neared her and she didn't move so I aimed my rifle.

"Addy!" Mack screamed, popping up next to me. This seemed to wake her from her trance and she whacked the Z in the head. I sighed and lowered my gun as Mack lowered himself back into the vehicle. Warren exited it and went to the redhead.

I watched their interaction carefully. Addy seemed to be jumpy. She jumped back into the car and we were off again. We went back down the road and saw another kid. Only this time, he's alive. Warren got out to talk to him and gave him some water. The kid, Sam, was going on about seeing his dad in Salt Lake City and that his friends were already there but I had a feeling that those friends were the z's that we saw.

Warren somehow convinced him to show us where he came from but the placed seemed abandoned. Mack went to go check it out.

"Get back in the truck." A woman's voice ordered. We looked around and saw her standing at the top of these hills but there were others like her, standing on the hills and eyeing us with their guns raised. But the weird thing was, they were all women. "You're not welcome here."

"That's odd." I muttered.

"They're all women." Warren said, she seemed to have caught on.

"Hold on, hold on!" Mack said, raising his arms. "It's okay. We're friendly. We just.." before he could finish, they shot at the ground near his feet. He jumped. I growled and poked my head back out the sunroof of the truck, my rifle raised. "Stop! Stop it! It's fine! Just listen to me for a second! We have-" she shot again. Mack ran to the truck. Pissed off, I aimed at the one that shot at Mack and shot at her. I missed on purpose, the bullet grazing her cheek.