"Y/N... Y/NN, wake up." The faint voice was bringing me out of my unconscious state and I slowly opened my eyes.
"Y/N, please." I heard her worried tone and I gasped slightly when I felt hands on my face.
I looked around the dark kitchen and frowned to myself not realizing how much of an impact I was leaving on the group. I groaned lowly into the air as I started remembering what had happened the hours before.
"Y/N." Her voice firm and I looked into those sea green eyes causing me to take a deep breath.
"What's going on?" I whispered through my exhaustion and I pulled myself up just to lay against the cabinet.
"You tell me." Her face full of worry and emotion as she tilted my head up so she could get a better look at me.
Her eyes trailed down my body making sure I hadn't been injured but I closed my eyes again feeling the exhaustion again. She softly tapped my cheek before wiping my cheek slowly, her eyebrows furrowed and sighed.
"What happened?" She questioned me as I just sat on the cold tiled floor.
"Another nose bleed, sorry." I whispered still feeling the metallic taste in my mouth.
She shook her head lightly as I wiped the dried blood from my nose and I grimaced at the fact I probably wouldn't be able to find a water source soon. I just wanted to bathe. I then looked up at her who was now sitting right next to me and she didn't necessarily know what to say.
"I didn't mean to disappear... I couldn't do this in front of Dinah. How is she?" I whispered again as my voice felt a lot more dry and scratchy.
"Here." Lauren gave me her thermos before informing me on anything.
I silently thanked her as I drank some of the water she offered, "So, she's okay, she's talking now. She kicked everyone out for a couple hours." She told me all the while I felt the soothing liquid slide down my throat.
"Where is she now?" I asked and she sighed deeply.
"Well... she wanted to know if you were okay so she sent me to look for you. But she's still in the room he was in last time I saw her." She then scooted until she too was sitting against the cabinet.
"Is he still-"
She shook her head cutting my question short and I nodded knowing it would've been hard seeing him go once more. I closed my eyes at the fact that she most likely needed me but that migraine hit. I just wished I understood what was happening with myself. It wasn't normal not even in the slightest bit and I was afraid if it was truly something bigger than any of us. I cleared my throat and looked at the girl next to me waiting for her to say something more.
"Austin and Shawn helped carry him out to the garage for now. They put a tarp over him and we're all just wondering what to do. Dinah doesn't want him to be buried in the backyard and she doesn't want him outside just in case any of the dead are around." She let me know before rubbing her hands together and looking directly at me.
"What are we gonna do about that?" She asked me and I just felt my head fall in defeat.
"I should've been there for her-"
"Not what I asked you, babe." Her eyes stayed right on me and I felt my heart stop for a second.
"You tell me what to do... I'll listen. What's the plan?" She questioned me and grabbed my weak hand just for me to close my eyes.
Different scenarios played through my head thinking about how much we can do in a night or a day. If we search all of the houses in the culdesac or if we branch out to the street next over; or the entire gated community. Little by little would work greatly. I cleared my throat again still feeling the irritation the blood caused.
"I slept pretty well for a few hours." I looked at her making that note and she listened intently, "I'll search the houses on this street, clear any infected, bring home supplies. I'll figure out a small barrier just for the night, we need to branch out tomorrow when we're all up. His body is going to start decomposing and we need to move fast if we wanna find an ideal spot for his body."
"Then we need to find a power source and running water." I tried to set up the game plan and she gave me a small smile.
"I'm coming with you tonight- and I don't give a shit what you say." She quickly added in and I bit my lip as I kept still.
"Okay." I gave in and she stared me down with a small quirk of her lips.
Her eyes focused more intently and I couldn't see anything else but herself next to me. My heart thudding with every second passing and I looked out the screen door past her head.
"We should get going." I gulped and she smirked fully before nodding.
"Yeah." She got up after that and I couldn't help but let my eyes wander as she stood up.
The tight fit of her worn out jeans shaped around her curves and how her shirt had ridden up in the slightest bit. I cleared my throat rather loudly and tried coughing up the irritation in which I heard a low deep giggle from her. The sound of her laughter echoed throughout the house and I felt myself yearning to hear more of that. It lit a fire inside of me as much as I didn't really want to admit it.
She opened up the sliding glass door and waited for me to follow suit, when I did I felt the warmth from outside consume me. I sighed in delight while we walked through the backyard of the neighboring home of Dinah's. I noticed the candle lit living room and followed Lauren into the RV that was half empty. She went into a bunk and started pulling out weapons that ranged from rifles to pocket knifes. It was limited due to the fact the group had probably taken theirs inside.
I geared myself up and Lauren turned to me with a curious look, "You ready?" She questioned me as she grabbed a flashlight.
"Are you ready? I got my sleep in apparently." I crossed my arms after tucking my knife in securely.
"Don't you worry about me." She pushed past me with a teasing smile just to bend down and reach for a free pen and paper.
Again I tried my best to advert my eyes as she what I assumed was writing a note for the group. I looked out the window to just see my reflection due to how dark it was outside. When she finished up she stood up just to look at me again almost as if she were challenging me.
"What?!" I heightened my voice slightly as I threw my hands up, "I am ready, let's go."
She laughed mostly to herself and just decided to walk off out of the RV with me following her like a puppy.
"Alrighty then Mr. Krabs." She mumbled jokingly causing me to glare at her as we marched to the opposite neighboring home to Dinah's.
The house had a nice little welcome home mat on the door step and Lauren walked right up to the door, "Should we knock?" She looked at me with a held in laugh and I just blinked at her.
"I'll stab you right now, if you really wanna die." I suggested and her smile dropped a bit, "Yeah, thought so."
"Yeah, thought so." She mimicked lightly as she opened the door very slowly making sure it didn't make any sound.
I kept my mouth shut so I wouldn't over agitate myself and I then noticed the layout of the home was a bit different. The size was still the same but it was kind of backwards compared to Dinah's. I kept my eye on Lauren before making my way into the kitchen. There was nothing that sounded unusual or off and the atmosphere seemed a lot more light than anything I've encountered in recent times. My back straightened out and I made sure I wasn't missing anything.
But as Lauren walked freely through the living room and into the large kitchen she looked up at the cabinets. I analyzed our surroundings and I hummed in skepticism. Nothing seemed to be missing or out of place. It was like everything hadn't been touched, not even in the slightest bit.
"I'm not crazy right? Everything is here." I mumbled and I peeked the warm fridge open just to be hit with a horrendous smell.
"Oh God, you're not crazy, ew." She held her hand up to her nose and I backed away from whatever was rotting in that fridge.
"Let's go, we still have more to check out." Lauren grimaced and tugged me away from the kitchen.
The thought had bothered me until I piling anything useful into my backpack and we were marching up to the next house. We knew it would take us almost all night to be thorough with each property but we didn't wanna take any chances. Especially since the day was already a shit one, why make it worse when it could be prevented? As the time went on and each property was searched the more comfortable I had gotten with Lauren. We hadn't run into any sort of trouble let alone any sign of death or life in the area.
Taking our time with each home when we discovered more and more cool objects these past families had in their homes. One guy had a whole knights armor in his garage while another woman had a variety of sex toys in her closet; one person had the biggest movie collection I had ever seen in my life while another had a very fine collection of alcohol. Throughout our task at hand it didn't stop her from cracking jokes or teasing me about literally anything I did.
In which only had loosened me up a bit more, I hadn't felt this comfortable in such a long time that it scared me to think it wasn't going to last long. It was gonna be another bittersweet moment. I didn't want it to become a reality but it usually did.
Finally reaching the last home which was the house she had found me unconscious in, I breathed in deep. I looked around the culdesac just to see a box or a bag in front of each property. We couldn't carry all the supplies we collected so we figured we'd drag it over when we were done. The sky very, very slightly turning a lighter shade of blue while Lauren's eyes grew more and more tired. We had to hurry this up so she could get the proper rest for later on today. We had a lot more searching to do.
We walked in through the sliding glass door once more and I bit my lip, I hadn't checked the entire house and for all I knew there was probably one lingering about. Her boots echoing with each step causing me to suddenly stand still. Her flashlight was abruptly shined into my face when she turned around and she cocked her head.
"What now, Y/N?"
"Your shoes are insanely loud." I shared my distaste and she eventually rolled her eyes just to keep walking through the house.
"Your mouth is insanely loud." She mumbled again as she looked through the living room.
"I've been quiet this entire time." I lightly huffed and she took a small breath making sure she didn't make any loud noise.
"I'm gonna make your nose bleed again." She commented and I snorted before pushing past her with my knife out.
"I fucking dare you." I gave her one last look before very quietly making my way up the stairs.
I skillfully kept my back away from any openings and quickly but quietly checked each room that was near. Nothing. I looked behind me to see Lauren checking the other side of the hall and she peeked out to shake her head. Nothing.
"Sweet." I felt a lot more relaxed now that there wasn't any of the living dead in the house I was casually unconscious in.
"Okay fucker. Put the shit you find in this." Lauren called out and I peeked my head out from a bland office room.
She threw down a duffel bag and had a backpack in her hand as she slid a bottle of shampoo into it.
"I don't appreciate that appellation." I crossed my arms jokingly and she gave me a look.
"Please... shut the hell up." She turned back around to search for any more of any kind of supplies or simple necessities.
I puffed walking down the stairs again taking the hint she was exploring the upstairs first. Taking my time with each little corner of this house I finally reached the garage and slowly opened it. We hadn't checked it just yet and when the door slowly creeped open and my figure was made known, my mouth dropped. My eyes lit up and I couldn't help but stammer over my own feet as I walked into the room.
"Holy shit." I let out as I looked at stacks and stacks of water bottle cases.
It was just tightly in a row of about six with eight cases on top of one another causing my heart to just drop. Then behind the mountain of water bottle cases I had noticed even more of a goldmine. Canned food. Not as much as the water but fuck, it was a lot to get us through the upcoming season. I couldn't even focus on anything else in the room I just knew we could be okay and comfortable for a little while. When it was right next door.
I sat down peacefully and looked around the room to see the walls decorated with metal shelves and cabinets. Towels and blankets stacked on each of the shelves and I just laid back against my hands with a small laugh. I shook my head at my thoughts.
This was comfortable, this was enough.... why wasn't this enough for him? What happened so wrong he took his own life? I clenched my jaw as my brain tried its best to think of different possibilities and dissect it. Why wasn't there any bodies? Why wasn't there any infected? Let alone a sign of them. A sign of anything. Why was he the only one here on this street? Was he the only one here in general? There was no way this place remained untouched for a year... or could we be that lucky?
"Holy fucking shit, Y/NN!" She spat out and I remained quiet in my own thoughts.
"Plus all the shit we found in these houses on only this street? Imagine what's out there! We could definitely be set until even next summer! We need to kickstart the garden now, this is fucking amazing!" She ranted and quickly looked back at me when I hadn't said anything.
"Hello? Are you dead?" She poked a case open and tugged out a water bottle and I bit my lip.
"There was a note on the table." I simply let out and she gulped down the water bottle.
"What do you mean?" She gasped for air with her skin slick with sweat and her lips glistening with the water she just drank.
"Dinah's dad." I hugged my knees as she too sat down, her back pressed against the wall of water bottles.
"Dinah didn't say anything about that?" She frowned in confusion and I bit the inside of my cheek.
"I don't know if she looked or even noticed it- I put it back but- okay, it's weird." I started and she listened intently to my words, "He said something on the lines of, I'm sorry, all I wanted was safe haven, then he literally fucking writes, live free by the water. Like what the fuck is that supposed to mean?" I frowned as I started to think about it on more of a deeper level.
From the girl in dreams to the British man to the location of the British man.
"Maybe it's a Polynesian thing?" She sipped her water and I shook my head.
"If it was I probably would've heard her say it before. But I haven't and it's fucking weird how everything correlates with each other." I tried explaining it to her since she was the only one I could truly talk to at the moment.
She stayed silent as confusion became apparent and I straightened out a bit, "Okay, here me out."
"There has not been one infected nearby. Not a single soul. This is a fucking suburban gated neighborhood in Santa Ana, California. How the fuck is there no beings around?" I questioned and she listened closely.
"Yeah it's one street but we haven't heard a fucking thing outside. It's completely silent. And even you saw it with me- no one has touched these houses in months. Everything is the exact same and it looks like people just up and left? How? Why? Where the hell did they go and why was Gorden the only one here? Why did he just die? It doesn't make sense." I tried to explain and she nodded when I finished up.
"What are you trying to get at?" She questioned and I knew that she knew what I meant.
I bit my lip and shook my head, if I said it I'd either look crazy or it would make absolute perfect sense and I wasn't ready for the truth.
"There's only one city I can think of that has come onto our radar that is completely surrounded by water. While the man who is located there has the same last name." I let her run with it and she breathed out slowly.
"Seattle."
"Seattle."
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Another one downnnnn within a day 🥴 gimmmMeee moneyyyy I love you gUyS SO MUCH FUCK
anyways I hope y'all enjoyed and if you didn't you just simply lack taste and if YOU lack taste so does ur parents cause they raised a bland ass bitch who is undeserving of happiness and flAVOR
Have a great day or night beautifuls x
- Maddie