Locked Away [10k Z Nation]

9

The all too harsh sun stung at my eyes as soon as I had woken. I rolled over and buried my head into the musty, but soft, pillow. I just laid there and let myself be at peace for a moment, before pushing myself up with my elbows, and letting my bare feet hit the hardwood floor. I arched my back, resulting in some nice popping, and ruffled my hair lazily.
To no surprise, my fingers got entangles in the curls. I felt huge clumps of knots and tried my best to manually undo them, to no avail.

"Addy's in the backyard, and they have quite the setup going on out there." Warren entered the room, her hair wet and combed through.

"My hair hasn't felt this nice since 2013!" She laughed, flinging it into a low ponytail.

I jumped up with excitement and tried to navigate my way around the house and out the back door. After a few wrong turns, I found my way outside. All of the wooden paneled halls and rooms just seemed to blend together, making it seemly impossible to get anywhere.

Addy and Cassandra were standing over a tub of water, dipping their heads into it. Then, I saw Addy reach for a container of shampoo and finger comb it through her bright red hair, once she was done she handed it to Cassandra, who promptly did the same as Addy had before her.

I gasped in excitement, I could finally wash my hair! For the first time in almost forever my hair would be wet and smooth!

"Hello Cody," Addy spoke from between her knees, still lathering her hair in shampoo, "Would you care to join us?" She laughed, and I had to too, she looked so ridiculous!

"Would I ever!" I pulled the hair band out of my hair and instead of my hair flowing gracefully down my shoulders, as it would have if I were in some romantic comedy chick flick, it stayed in it's bun form! Oh my God, this is too disgusting.

Speaking of disgusting. "Cody," Addy called, "The shampoo is flea and tick dog shampoo, it's the only thing I could find." She apologized.

Before the apocalypse, I would have crinkles my nose and stepped away, but now, now I was practically crying gratefully.

I dipped my hair in with the others and almost fainted at how amazing it felt. I felt the water work its way around my scalp and through my curls.
Holding the shampoo bottle in between my knees, I lathered the tick shampoo into my hair, and let it soak it all up. The creamy substance felt amazing after three years of being dry and barren.

"Okay guys, on three dip your head back in and wash it out!" Cassandra said, "One, two, three-"

We all dunked our heads in and scrubbed our heads clean, before I brought my head up again, I removed my jacket, so when I flicked my hair back, only my tank top would get soaked.

"Good idea Cody!" Addy removed her sweater, but instead of a tank top, she was left in a sports bra. I wish I had that confidence, but I could never just be that exposed to the world. At the beach I couldn't even wear a bikini, no matter how much my friends tried to reason with me. I was sticking to my one piece, thank you very much!

I rung my hair out with my hands, trying to squeeze every possible droplet of water out of it. After a few seconds of this I flicked it back over my shoulders.
I shivered as I felt a stream of water run under my tank top and down my back. I hated that feeling, but it's a small price to pay for clean hair. Especially when I'm not sure if I'll ever have the opportunity to do it again.

I combed my fingers through my hair, not all the knots were gone, but my hair sure felt a hell of a lot better. Cassandra offered me a small black comb.