Kings of the World: Last Coors Banquet Series Part 3 | Lawrusso

Kings of the World Chapter 4 / 15

They were on Van Nuys Boulevard in the black car, towing the trailer behind them. It was filled with a mix of tools, fertiliser, and seeds.

Daniel's plan to pull up the tennis court and plant a vegetable garden had seemed impossible when he tried to dig a test hole and realised the hard surface was at least a few inches of solid asphalt on top of a deep bed of broken bricks and rubble. Even if they could physically dig it up, it was going to make so much noise it'd attract zombies from all over the valley.

Daniel had been disappointed at first, wondering how they were going to cope without any fresh food, but Johnny had surprised him one morning.

"What's this?" Daniel asked, as Johnny took him to the fence at the side of the courtyard and opened a new shiny bolt.

"Your vegetable garden," Johnny said, as he pushed open a section of the fence, and led him into the back yard of the house next door. "The house was already secure, but I made the gate yesterday while you were showing the kids that history documentary."

Daniel looked around, at the banks of trees and rolling grass, at the brick raised flower beds, then he asked, "Is that a mini golf course?"

"It's only two holes, but yeah," Johnny said. "I figured you could dig it up and plant your green stuff in there."

"This is amazing, Johnny," Daniel said, barely able to believe his eyes. He wrapped his arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug, then said, "Maybe we can keep the golf course for a little while?"

"Oh, yeah?" Johnny asked, pulling back.

"We can have a few beers and pretend we're at Golf N Stuff," Daniel said with a grin.

"You asking me on a date, LaRusso?" Johnny asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I am," Daniel said softly.

They were driving slowly, looking for bars that hadn't been checked and through the windows of every store. Daniel knew Johnny was still looking for Shannon, hoping that she might have some information about where Robby was on her. They'd been searching for so long that Daniel was honestly starting to doubt it'd ever happen.

Johnny stopped the car.

"What is it?" Daniel asked, as Johnny sat motionless in the seat.

"Stay here," Johnny said, as he opened his car door.

"I'm not staying in the car," Daniel said, as Johnny disappeared into a cake store.

Daniel took off his seatbelt then jumped out, slamming to door behind him, and went into the store.

Johnny had a zombie on the floor, holding it tightly by the back of its neck, as he pinned it to the floor with his knee and searched its pockets.

It was a female, tall and thin, still with patches of long blonde hair attached to her scalp.

"Oh, my god, is that-"

"Yeah," Johnny said, as he reached into her other jacket pocket, then pulled out a cell phone.

"Holy shit, you did it," Daniel said. "I can't believe it."

Johnny put the phone on the floor, then looked down at the struggling zombie. He watched her for a second, then looked up at Daniel. "Can you find me a knife?"

"A knife?" Daniel asked.

"We weren't together long, but she's the mother of my kid, man. I don't like seeing her like this," Johnny replied. "I don't wanna punch her, so get me a knife."