Ghost Town

Chapter 7: Adrenalin

"Adrenalin." I said. "Or maybe I was just scared."

We walked through a jewelry store, attempting to not step on the broken glass from the display cases.

"Scared? For me or for you?" Ioh ruffled his black hair. "I hope you weren't planning on leaving me back there." 

I elbowed him. "Ya know, I thought about it, but you'd probably just haunt me, and you're already annoying enough as it is. I don't think I could handle you for a week, let alone all of eternity." 

He laughed, then paused, standing still. I took a few steps forward before I realized he had stopped. "Are you okay?" He didn't answer. "I didn't mean it, you know. I wasn't going to leave you. That's not who I am."

"Heh... Yeah I know." Ioh shook his head slightly and looked up, smiling at me. "Lets keep going."

Ioh walked farther ahead of me, towards the stores front entrance. "The city ends pretty close to here. The highway leads down onto a bridge overlooking this huge river and forest. If we go now we could probably make it there by sundown."

Adjusting bag, I called after him. "Hey, hold up." He turned to face me. "I drove here yesterday to get some supplies, that's why I was in the camping store. My car was in the parking lot, and I still have the keys. If we can make it back there, it'll be easier for us instead of just walking everywhere."

He crossed his arms, seeming to ponder my suggestion. After a few minutes had passed, he looked back up at me. "Yeah, okay. That sounds a lot better then walking." Ioh looked around. "I know how to get back to the store from here. Do you still have the keys?" I nodded and pulled them out of my pocket. "Good. Stay here, I'll go get the car." The skepticism must have shown on my face, because he started to justify himself. "I know we haven't known each other for long, Quinn, but you're going to have to trust me, okay?" He held out his hand, waiting for me to hand the keys over.

The look in his eyes told me he was clearly desperate to get away from the city, to find safety somewhere else. I handed him my keys. "Just... Promise you'll come back for me." He said he would, and with that he left. I swept away the glass shards from one of the corners and sat down, waiting for Ioh to return. I could hear the distant shuffling and growling of the zombies outside, sometimes stopping at the door, but eventually loosing interest and moving on. About twenty minutes had gone by when I heard a car engine rumbling closer. I stood and pushed the door open just as Ioh was pulling up. A zombie made its way to the car and started bashing on the drivers side window. "Get in!" He yelled. I opened the door and got in, the tires squealing as we pealed away from the city.

                                                                                   ***

We drove for a good hour, the whole ride silent except for when I told him which way to turn. I stared out the window at the open road, watching the occasional zombie meander through a field. Luckily, we made it back to my neighborhood without incident.

"Turn left up here, by the green house." I pointed ahead. He turned.

Silence.

"Turn left again." I said. He turned.

Silence.

"It's the white house, the one with the red fence." He turned into the driveway and parked.

We didn't get out. We just sat there in silence, both of us staring through the windshield. I wanted to say something, anything, just to break the unbearable quiet. It was horrible. Ioh not saying anything, it was the worst of all. I knew what he was thinking.

"Look, Ioh, I-" He raised his hand. "Quinn, I understand. It's alright. You don't need to explain yourself to me." He paused. "I'm a stranger. You don't know what happened to me, you don't know anything about me. And that's okay. I feel the same way about you."

I turned to face him. "How... How do you feel? About me, I mean."

Another pause. "Unsure. Like I don't know if I can trust you. But at the same time, I also feel like I can. Maybe it's just because you helped me, or maybe..." He stopped, voice growing quiet. He shook his head. "Just unsure." 

"If we're going to stick together, you're going to need to stop doing that." I undid my seat belt. 

He glanced over at me. "What?"

"That thing you do, where you go to say something but don't, then shake your head. Just say what you're going to say. It's the end of the world, Ioh. Getting my feelings hurt by someone I barely know is the farthest thing from my mind right now." Now it was my turn to pause. "I didn't mean for it to sound so harsh. You probably don't even notice that you're doing it. I'm sorry." I didn't wait for him to respond. I opened the passenger side door and got out of the car. Ioh still sat in the drivers seat. He didn't seem to want to get out, so I just left him there, but I took the keys from the ignition slot. Grabbing my bag from the back seat, I unlocked the front gate and walked up the stairs to the front door. I turned to see if Ioh had gotten out of the car yet, but he still just sat there, staring blankly ahead. I felt bad, like it was my fault. It probably was. I was harsh when I said those things; I didn't take his feelings into account, didn't think that I might draw something up in his memories, something he may have wanted to forget. God, why was I acting like this? I was never this horrible to people. I was shy. I didn't talk to people unless I absolutely had to, but I was still nice. Hell, I apologized to someone if THEY ran into ME. So, why the all of a sudden brutality towards people?

I shook my head, gathered my thoughts, and entered my house. The bags of food were still near the front door, so obviously no one had broken in and stolen anything. I took one last look outside at the car, then closed the door. I left it unlocked for the remainder of the day, but Ioh never came in. I peeked out the window every two hours to make sure he hadn't left. He caught onto my patterns though, because when I'd look outside, he'd look at the window and wave me off, indicating that he was fine. When the sun started to go down, I got fed up. I made a quick snack of crackers and apple slices, put it in a container, and went outside. I marched down the stairs and opened the gate, making a b-line for the car door. I opened the drivers side and started my rant. 

"Ioh, listen to me. I know we just met, and I don't know a lot about you and you don't know a lot about me, but we need to start working together. You can't just sit here and be upset all day. I'm worried about you. You haven't eaten since last night, so I made you this." I showed him the container. He looked up at me, then down at the food. "Don't try to tell me that this isn't necessary or that you aren't hungry, because I can literally hear your stomach growling." He started to reach for the food, but I pulled it away from him. "You can only have this if you come inside with me." 

He stopped and looked up at me again, his big brown eyes staring down into my soul. I was so lost in his gaze that I barely heard him say "Alright." I snapped out of it and moved to the side as he got out of the car and quietly closed the door. His gaze shifted to his feet and he took my hand in his, leading me back to the house. Before we went back inside, he stopped me at the front door. He placed his hands on my shoulders and looked into my eyes. "Thank you, Quinn." He whispered, and pulled me into an embrace. "Thank you."