Undead

Chapter 7: Happy Talkin'

Thomas held the door open as Lisa and Anne walked out. The morning's cool breeze had turned into a sweltering heat as noon approached. They walked together, this time passing the gardening shops. After the line of art stores and garden emporiums stopped, they arrived at an intersection. The path forward led deeper inside the city, the right path to more ruins, and the left path to the outskirts. 

"We should keep going forward, we'll be more likely to find supplies inside the city." Thomas recommended.

"Yes, but more danger as well." Lisa rebutted, "I say we go left. See those buildings?" Lisa pointed to  a line of four buildings on the left road. 

"Yeah, I don't think we're gonna find much there, though." Thomas felt skeptical.

"Maybe, but it does mean we'll be in and out much faster. I don't think we should spend hours searching for food in this heat." Lisa started walking to the left with Anne, not waiting for Thomas' response.

"Were you just gonna leave me?" Thomas asked as he began to follow Lisa.

"I knew you'd follow soon enough." Lisa smirked. Anne laughed.

Thomas looked at Anne, "Why are you laughing?"

"Well, you are following her." The little girl responded with a giggle. 

"I... Well... Damn." Thomas was left without words. He heard Lisa laughing heartily. 

"Lisa-one, Thomas-zero."  She exclaimed. 

"Well I saved your life, twice, so that should be more like Lisa-one, Thomas-eighteen." He responded.

"Eighteen? Where do you get your numbers?" She asked, laughing. 

"Four points for saving you the first time, another four for the second time, and then ten bonus points for being an all-around great person." 

"Didn't I have to convince you not to shoot me?" Lisa asked him.

"Okay, Lisa-one, Thomas-zero." Thomas replied.

He followed behind Lisa and Anne until they reached the stores. Thomas entered the first building before Lisa and Anne, his new knife out and ready to strike. An undead lay on the floor motionless. Thomas neared it. He looked at it, his knife pointed at its skull. 

"Ah!" Lisa shouted, scaring Thomas half to death and making him drop his knife. Anne began giggling. Thomas scowled.

"You know, I could have stabbed you." 

"Would've been worth it." Lisa replied.

"And you dropped your knife, scaredy-cat." Anne added.

"Oh jeez. If I knew you two were gonna be such pests I wouldn't have saved you." He joked. Thomas felt something grab his leg and growl. He turned around, the dead man was awake, pulling itself toward his foot. Its iron grasp was inescapable. It bit his left foot, gnawing on the leather of his boot. He felt more pressure as the bite intensified. Suddenly, he was splattered with blood as a knife landed squarely on its head. With a long wheeze, the undead froze.

"So much for a pest, huh?" Lisa asked, handing Thomas his knife. 

"We wouldn't have vaccines if not for pests." He replied. 

"Yeah, yeah. Get your digs in while you can." She walked over to Anne, who was browsing through some cheap coloring books on a shelf. Thomas looked for food, finding only a few candy bars and bags of stale potato chips. He handed some over to Lisa and Anne, who immediately started feasting on the junk food. Thomas didn't feel hungry, especially after what had just happened. Standing against the back wall he found a fishing rod, still in good condition. 

"Hey, look what I found." He announced.

"You're a fisher?" Anne asked.

"Somewhat. My dad liked to go on fishing trips. Camping, one-on-one talks in a canoe, fishing puns, that kind of crap." Thomas replied, "It'd be a pretty good way of getting food. Maybe I should take you on a fishing trip later."

"Why don't we just go now?" Anne asked, strangely excited.

"We have to finish looting." Thomas responded.

Lisa scratched her chin, "I'll finish here, you two go fishing." She said.

"Really, mommy?" Anne asked.

"Yep." Anne responded.

"Wait, and split up? Are you serious? That's a pretty common horror movie mistake, and you know what happens in those when people split up." 

"This is real life, Thomas. I'll be fine, I can take care of myself."

"I don't think you can." Thomas responded, perhaps naively. 

"Excuse me? I have killed more undead in one night than you have since all of this started. Don't go patronizing me, cause I don't need your crap."

"Uh... Okey-dokey. Sorry." Thomas turned to Anne, "Let's go fishing, I guess."

Lisa was silent and kept looting. Thomas and Anne left the store and walked farther away from the city, following the left path. Shortly, they approached a small lake. It was beautiful, somehow untouched, virgin nature. Thomas sat by the shoreline, Anne plopped herself down next to him. He cast the line, sending the hook straight into the middle of the river. Anne was quiet, waiting patiently.

"What's your favorite color?" Thomas asked her.

"Yellow." She responded flatly.

"Mine's green. Who was your dad?" He asked bluntly.

She was silent for a second.

"That's not a good way to ask a question like that." She said.

"I know, but might as well just ask." He responded.

"My daddy was an accountant. He was always nice, but that changed. He made mommy change too. I don't think she loved him anymore. I wouldn't blame her. He was mean at the end." 

Thomas gulped, surprised by the little girl's sincerity. 

"Can't say my dad was much different." Thomas added.

"You said before that he took you on fishing trips and went camping with you." 

"Yeah, but I gotta make you feel better." He smiled.

"That's a stupid way to do it." She frowned.

Thomas shrugged, "I've never been very good at this sort of stuff. Lost a lot of girlfriends because of my lack of eloquence." 

"You mean you got them in the first place?" The little girl teased.

"Hey!" Thomas responded, laughing. She laughed too.

Thomas reeled the line back in. 

"Can I try?" Anne asked.

"Sure." Thomas responded, handing the fishing rod back to her. He guided her and soon enough she was fishing.

"Why aren't we catching anything?" She asked.

"We don't have bait." Thomas responded.

"So why are we here?" 

"I don't know, for fun?" Thomas scratched his head.

"Oh. Well, thanks, it has been fun. I'm just curious, but do you like my mom?" The little girl asked.

"What? No, of course not. No, no. No." Thomas responded, blushing slightly.

"You don't think she's pretty?" She continued mockingly.

"I never said that! She's very pretty."

"So you think she's pretty?" 

"Oh my god. No, I have no opinions. I am completely neutral. She means nothing to me." He responded.

"So I should tell her she means nothing to you?" 

"Okay, this conversation is over. Let's go, we're leaving." Thomas took the fishing rod and stood up, walking back to town. She followed him, giggling the entire way back.