To Be A Leader

Chapter 11: Lessons In Love

"Both of you, stop," Paula says firmly. She rubs her temples before looking at me, and I have to resist the urge to scrunch my shoulders up to my ears. "Five, listen to this: Max volunteered us for a mission, on a date night-not just yours, but ours too, a date night where I was planning to make latkes-because she has a crush on Xena flipping Warrior whatever."

Maxine rolls her eyes. "You've never seem Xena: Warrior Princess. And we need to make that right immediately."

"Yeah," Sam says, drawing out the words. "Guys, before you get Xena: Warrior Princess, you're going to have to make it past that playground full of child zombies. I think they must have been trapped in the school until the storm the other day."

I cringe at the sight of tiny corpses climbing over the chain link fence surrounding the playground. "Ugh. Child zoms are the worst. Come on. Run!"

I pick up the pace, the screaming growls of the children sending shivers up my spine. Child zombies are something I'll never get used to. The sight of children, hands outstretched, teeth bared, eyes dead and soulless-it makes me sick to my stomach. It reminds me of what Willis would have become had I not... killed him. I try not to look back as I run. I see Maxine and Paula are doing the same.

I believe now is one of the times they are thankful their daughter is immune. It's one of the times I'm thankful Phineas and Adora are.

I keep my eyes ahead, but my mind keeps going back to what Maxine said to Sam. What did she mean by 'done this when you were supposed to'? Done what? The date? Was there a certain time he was planning on doing it but put it off? I know he was very... fidgety about this date, but I was the one who suggested us making the prompt book into a date.

Unless there's something he's planning on doing on the date...

Something he was planning before I brought up the prompt idea.

Whatever it was he was going to tell me on Valentines' Day perhaps?

I ignore the butterflies that suddenly appear in my stomach, although I'm thankful the thought gives me good feelings instead of dreadful ones. It might mean something, considering how my feelings do sometimes indicate how things will go, but like always, I never can be sure when it comes to my... powers.

If I can call them that.

The screaming and snarling eventually dies down, the sound slowly become nothing but faint noises that ring in the back of my mind. Those noises will haunt me tonight when I try to fall asleep.

"You're losing them," Sam sighs, relieved. "It's weird though. That school playground's been safe for months. I've got the report here. We sent in runners to check it clear, room by room, last month."

A flash of worry crosses Paula's face. "You think it could be deliberate deployment then? By the coms station?"

"Mmm, maybe. I mean, it's a bit weird for a coms station, to be honest. Not only are they broadcasting Xena, their building used to be a distribution center for Geek King. You know-you know, the retailer."

"Yep, which is why they have access to Xena DVDs," Maxine says, smiling, a giddy look on her face. The look causes Paula to roll her eyes.

"I'm surprised it hasn't been cleared out before," She says. "People always want DVDs and stuff. Remember a few months ago when some woman tried to stab Five over a Lord of the Rings collection she found?"

"'Ah, but one does not simply get DVDs during a zombie apocalypse,'" Sam says, imitating Boromir. I bite my lip to hide my smile, although my attention quickly turns to Maxine, whose lips are pressed together into a thin line.