Head Full of Ghosts

Chapter 7 - Nothing's Waiting Around the Corner

"And the rat just came straight toward me across the parking lot. So I kicked it away, and it got right back up and headed straight back toward me. And I was just like, 'are you serious right now, rat?' I mean, if it's going to come straight at me, I'm just going to kick it again, you know?"

Kevin sat completely motionless, his spoon in his mouth, hand still wrapped around the handle, staring at the stranger with a completely blank expression. He wasn't sure if this random story was supposed to be funny or not, but he wasn't having it. He was in a foul mood.

At the station they had made him strip off all of his clothing to make sure he wasn't concealing any weapons. At the least they had allowed him to shower - in a shower with hot water, even - and had brought him new, clean clothes. And he had to admit, it was actually really nice to wear clean clothes for the first time in a very long time.

But none of that stopped the entire process from being completely humiliating, especially considering that they had watched him with an eagle eye the entire time.

And he couldn't help but worry that it was only more suspicious that he didn't have any weapons on him. He hadn't thought he'd need any in the short trip from depositing his stuff, but he couldn't really explain that to them. Thankfully they decided not to ask about it, but Kevin couldn't help feeling that the already unfriendly expressions of all the others only deepened further with suspicion as they watched him.

And that just made him more worried about the stuff he left behind. He should have never left it. He should never have allowed Zahra to talk him into coming.

Then, to top everything, he had discovered that he was now a vegetarian.

Well, at least theoretically.

There was a point, shortly after this had all started, when he dreamed of delicious, juicy cheeseburgers, but now, when he was in a town where they actually had cows, and apparently were slaughtering them for fresh meat, he couldn't stomach the thought of eating them.

Just watching those red patties slowly darken on a grill, watching others stuff the once living meat inside their mouths and chew... it was enough to make him want to vomit.

It was too much like being back out there. Watching the zombies as they devoured the flesh of another human, while that still living thing squirmed and screamed and begged and bled.

So instead he'd grabbed a bowl of soup, doing his best to not know what was in the soup, and headed off to a corner where he could be alone. The sheriff and his men had, thankfully, decided to allow him a little space.

But now here was this random person who had come up to him and wanted to tell him all about some time he was mean to some poor rat, and Kevin was just not having it.

So he continued not to move a muscle and just stare at the stranger, which was producing the desired effect of making the man uncomfortable.

"Uh, who'd you say you were again?" the man asked.

Kevin continued to not move.

Mills decided it was time to intervene. Stepping over he put an arm around the newcomer and said, "Ah, Richard, I see you've met our guest."

"Guest?" Richard echoed, confused. "But... I thought... what?"

"This is Kevin. We found him at gate twelve today. He was hungry and alone so we offered him a hot meal and a place to stay."

"You mean... there's others? Other survivors? People... out there?"

"So it would seem," said Mills, nodding. He began to pull Richard away, and the man offered little resistance, still reeling at this unexpected news.