[Doug's POV]
I finally get Cassie to leave around 2:34am. Why did she want to stay, anyway? Why did she even care enough to check up on me? I still don't understand why. I don't really like her, but I care enough about her to not get her killed. Which sounds kind of dumb, doesn't it? I go back in the house and collapse on the couch.
-
"Hey wake up!" Grace screams in my face.
I make a discontent noise and I somehow find my voice. "Hmmmm.. Wha - what?" I ask, rubbing my eyes.
"You slept in," the blond tells me, as if that should explain everything. I sit up and comb my hair with my fingers out of habit. I scratch my back before standing up. Oh no, I think as I look at my hands. I wipe my hands on the couch, trying to be discreet but hasty.
Now remembering Cassie, I walk to the door and look outside. Nothing, good. I let out a soft, relieved sigh. "Something wrong?" Grace asks with a concerned tone, noticing my odd behavior. I smile at her fondly, happy that I have friends that look out for me.
She looks at me funny when I flash her the dumb smile, and I shake my head before rubbing the crust out of my eyes again. "No, it's nothing," I reply with a humorless chuckle.
The curvy girl rolls her eyes at my antics, still a bit sour from our precious argument. "Whatever, let's go." Grace uncrosses her arms and starts heading into the kitchen. I follow her without hesitation. I am greeted by the sight of Rick, Daniel, and Rebecca eating fruit. I grab a half eaten can from yesterday that someone already set out for me and enjoy the rest of it.
Rick sees my bed-head and chuckles. "Well, hello there, sleepy head. Nice of you to finally join us," Rick teases. I look at the black-haired boy and roll my eyes. Rebecca gives Rick a warning look. "Geez..." Rick says under his breath, clearly disliking Rebecca's death glare. I swallow, and wait for Rebecca to look away. When she does, I stick my tongue out at my friend and Rick follows suit.
After I finished the can, I announce, "I'm going to go throw this away." I stand up and push in my chair, causing it to screech in protest. Rebecca's head whips back to face meet, and I halt in my steps.
"Be careful, Doug; we still don't know where that corpse ran off to," the African American says cautiously. I nod at her seriously before I realize her gaze is lingering, and I decide to lighten the mood.
"I'll be fine, Becca. Besides, nine lives, remember?" My free hand claws the air in a graceful, swift movement, and I utter one of my famous cat sounds. They all laugh at the long-time inside joke and I smile back at them playfully.
I grab everyone's empty fruit cans and start heading towards the front door. Before I'm out of range however, I hear Rick mutter fondly, "You and your freakin' cats, Doug."
I walk to the end of the front yard with a smile still fresh on my face, and put the cans in the garbage bin. My grin drops when I feel someone watching me. Cassie, my mind supplies. I walk backwards cautiously, looking left and right. I hurry back to the kitchen, finding everyone already absorbed in a new discussion. "...I'm going to go salvage some stuff from the other houses." I proclaim absentmindedly, my mind buzzing at the thought of seeing that zombie again.
I begin to get my stuff together, since we keep all of our supplies in the kitchen, it doesn't take me too long before I'm ready to go. However, just before I'm out of the eating area, I hear Daniel's voice ask, "Can I join?"
I can't help but sigh annoyingly. My thoughts stir restlessly, How am suppose to find Cassie with Daniel breathing down my neck? But, I realize with a start, it will be suspicious if I decline or hesitate. These thoughts cause me to anxiously spit out, "Sure." He rises to his feet before heading over to me. I shake my head at him and he stops in his tracks. It sends a chill down my spine, but I manage to add, "Bring your gun."
This time the blond shakes his head at me. "I'm out of ammo," he informs before turning to the black girl, "Rebecca, can I borrow yours?" Daniel asks reluctantly, knowing she is very possessive of her weapons. The brown-eyed girl waves a dismissive hand at the blond, not even making eye contact.
"Take Grace's," - she chuckles - "there's no way you can handle a shot gun," Rebecca replies.
Happily, Grace tosses her S&W SD40 to her boyfriend saying, "Here." Grace proceeds to get up and she runs to Daniel, engulfing him in a hug. "Be safe, okay?" Grace tells Daniel before gives him a kiss on the cheek. They rest their foreheads together. "I love you," Grace tells him softly.
"Love you too, and I always am," Daniel confirms love stricken. I roll my eyes and grab my gun, pulling Daniel out of the house to join me with difficulty.
-
"Okay. Which house?" Daniel asks me when we reach the center of the street. I look around, trying to avoid looking at the yellow house. I rub the back of my neck as I scan the houses indecisively.
"Umm... How about we start will the neighbors?"
"Okay," my friend agrees.
My leader instincts kick in, and I find words flowing out of my mouth with ease as I point to the neighbor house. "You take the first floor. Look for any food and useful weapons. I'll take the top floor," I instruct.
"Got it," Daniel replies, voice like a soldiers.
When we approach the house, Daniel and I manage to kick the door in after a few tries and I head upstairs as discussed. No sign of humans. Or Cassie, my thoughts ring. I look in all the rooms and find nothing worth looting. With a sigh, I run my free hand through my hair before heading downstairs to meet up with Daniel.
I find the blond digging around in the kitchen pantry. "Dude, look! Doritos!" Daniel explains excitingly. I snatch the bag from him, searching for the throwaway date. I roll my eyes at what I find before tossing it back to him.
"It's like six years expired, stupid."
"Right..." Daniel breaths chestfallen. I pat his back out of commiseration before I ask optimistically, "Find anything else?"
"No. You?" he says with a hopeless tone.
"Nope."
"Okay, next house." I say before patting his back. We spend the next two hours searching houses - except the yellow one, since I managed to convince Daniel I was in there yesterday with Rebecca and we couldn't find anything of value - until we search the last house. "Finished." Daniel states exhausted as we walk into a backyard. A moment of tense silence passes before, "Can we talk for a minute?" Daniel asks me.
I panic for a second before shrugging it off. There's no way he knows, I remind myself. "Sure..." I say, unaware of whatever problem we're about to discuss.
"Here, let's sit under this tree," Daniel suggests, motioning to the small evergreen in the corner of the yard. I nod in agreement as he walk over to it, plopping down onto the grass. "Okay, listen, I got to ask you." Daniel starts, and I gulp anxiously. "You have been acting strange lately, and I just... What's going on?"
I pause. Should I lie again? What would happen if I told him? Would he tell the others? He tells Grace everything. And God knows Grace can't keep a secret. What should I tell him? Daniel's my friend, and a very understanding friend at that. And if I lie, will it come back to haunt me? Will it ruin our friendship? Why is it so important that I don't tell him? After all, I might never see that gi - ...that corpse again, anyway.
"Hello?" Daniel says, breaking me out of my daydream-like state. I quickly realize I have been staring at the grass saying nothing.
I rub my forehead, feeling a headache coming on. "Sorry," I say to the blond.
He continues to press. "Tell me," Daniel insists, leaning rather close.
I finally make up my mind, meeting Daniel's eyes. "Okay, this is going to sound crazy but, you have to believe me, okay? And don't tell anyone," I instruct, "not even Grace."
He hesitates, but after a moment he manages to promise, "I won't."
I take a breath before beginning, knowing that this will be a long story.
-
Five minutes pass before Daniel can even make a sound. "How? That's not... Wha -... Ummm... Why..." Another beat passes. "I believe you, but... Where is she?" he asks with squinted eyes.
I give our surroundings a once over before shrugging. "I don't know," I respond.
He takes a long, deep breath. "We have to tell them," Daniel states as he rises to his feet.
My eyes widen with betrayal. "No! You promised!" I yell at him as I grab his pants leg.
He looks down at me guiltily, his expression not matching the following words. "I'm not going to tell them, I'm just saying that this is... crazy! This is life-changing! We might get the world back!" Daniel exclaims as he parts his dirty blond hair. I suddenly notice his hair has gotten flatter since we left the city. He used to have natural tiny spikes, I think, drifting off again. I shake myself out of my thoughts.
"I know, but let's wait until I see her again," I say, trying to appease him.
He seems to think this over for a moment. "Fine. But I want to meet her, too," the blond boy says, trying to make a deal.
I roll my eyes, "Okay, sure. Only if she wants to meet you, though," I tell him.
I stand up. "Deal," Daniel says, putting out his hand for me to shake it the second I am eye-level. I shake it with reluctance. We both grab our bags of canned foods and spare ammo and head back to the light green house. What did I just start?