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t//w; mention of suicide (non-graphic)
The twenty-minute drive back to the factory was silent. Ronnie had been quiet since you set off; you couldn't work out if he was lost in his thoughts or just uncomfortable with your driving and opting to be nice and say nothing at all, rather than critique you. Luckily after spending the week together, bouts of silence had become normal, comfortable even, a sign of the growing friendship, you hoped. Hearing Ronnie shift in his seat, you glance towards him, taking your eyes off the road momentarily. You notice him reaching out towards the car's audio system.
"Will that work?" you ask, returning your eyes to the road.
"I'm not sure," he says, turning the radio on. The sound of static filling the car. You glance down, watching him fumble with the dials trying to pick up a signal. You sigh quietly to yourself - you knew it wouldn't work. He carries on fiddling with the dial as you roll your eyes, starting to tune it out, until suddenly you hear something echoing, a small grainy voice comes across the radio.
"Hello? Hello? Testing, 1...2, 1...2, is this on?..."
Your eyes widen. A broadcast? You pull the car over, wanting to give your full attention to the voice talking. You watch Ronnie turn the volume up - he stays silent with his eyes glued on the radio. His hand reaching into his top breast pocket pulling out a small notebook, complete with a pencil. If you weren't so shocked about the broadcast, you would laugh. He was always so resourceful, in the most awkwardly adorable way.
"Hello to the land of the living. If you can hear this, no, you are not dreaming, your radio really is picking up a broadcast. This isn't a government signal, there is no government, no military, there is no zombie-free paradise and the worst, sadly, probably isn't over. That's the bad news. The good news is: you are not alone"
You frown, still in disbelief you were hearing this.
"The world might have gone to hell but small pockets of humanity have survived and we're still out here. The purpose of this broadcast is to give hope to whoever might hear it and to let you know you are absolutely not alone. No matter how bad it's gotten or how many horrors you've seen, you are not alone, so don't give up. Not for a minute, not for a second. The only thing that separates us from them is hope...... Alright, for those of you hearing this, we can provide for all, a community for survivors. We are located at the Rosarito Hotel outside of New York City, I repeat, OUTSIDE of New York City - avoid the city at all costs."
You glance at Ronnie, watching him as he hastily scribbles down the name of the hotel, his scratchy writing barely legible. The broadcast ends suddenly, filling the car with a loud static. You groan, closing your eyes as your hands instinctively cover your ears, protecting them from the loud noise before it slowly begins to subside. Your eyes pry open and you look towards Ronnie, removing your hands from your ears. He moves his large hand from the small volume dial of the radio, placing it back on his thigh, clutching at the notepad with his other hand. He doesn't meet your gaze. He stays facing forward, as calm as always.
"What the fuck was that?" you shriek suddenly, almost shaking, "What do they mean there's no government, no military?!" you ask with urgency, now glaring at Ronnie, desperate for answers. He doesn't give you any, still gazing forward, like he's lost in a daydream. In your panicked state you reach out, grabbing his free hand, grasping it tightly with the slightest nudge to break him from his thoughts. "Ronnie?" you ask softly, looking at him desperately. He breaks from his trance and looks directly at you, taking a moment before responding.
"I...I don't know," he says, glancing down at your hand grasping his tightly. He pulls back from your grasp, taking your hand, intertwining his fingers with yours "...but we're not alone, you understand?" he says, squeezing your hand tight as he looks at you. You nod at him, unable to form a response, feeling your nerves calm at his reassurance. "Good. Now let's get back to the factory, tell the others about this and make our way to that hotel, okay?"
"O...okay," you stutter as he removes his hand from yours, placing the notebook back into his breast pocket. You reposition yourself as you grasp the wheel, continuing the drive to the factory - you are only a short distance away now.
As you approach the factory you see the pickup truck Steve had driven off in, parked outside of the fence. You hear Ronnie chuckle slightly as you come to a stop behind the pickup, switching off the engine.
"I have the key," he says, reaching into his pocket and pulling the keys out, waving them slightly.
You realise you had locked the gate when you left the factory last week and Ronnie was the only one who had a set of keys, meaning Steve wouldn't have been able to gain entry into the factory, unless he ...
"Has the fence been damaged?" you ask, looking at Ronnie. The amused look on his face falls as you assume he's realised the same as you. Had Steve gained access to the factory and if so, how?
"Let's find out," he says, exiting the car and grasping his machete. You follow behind him cautiously, now unsure if the factory was safe. As expected you find the fence damaged - the chain link had somehow been cut, making a large hole. Ronnie pauses as he examines the damage as your attention is caught by the faint sound of someone calling your name. You look towards the factory to see Lucy running towards you and Ronnie.
"Oh my god, I can't believe it! You're ALIVE!! " Lucy says excitedly reaching the fence, slightly breathless."Steve said the zombies had got you both!"
"Yeah we're fine, what about everyone else?" you ask, concerned with the group's safety with the damage caused to the fence.
"Yes, we're fine, now come on, let's get you inside!" Lucy says, gesturing for you and Ronnie to come with her. You both climb through the hole in the fence, leaving it exposed as you walk towards the factory.
"That fence needs fixing," Ronnie says to Lucy, pointing back towards it.
"It's fine, there's no zombies around here," she says, answering Ronnie, linking her arm with yours as Ronnie follows behind you both. As you enter the factory, Lucy removes her arm, shouting out to the others.
"Guys! Look who's back!" Lucy shouts out, causing the others to come together and congregate in the center of the factory. Steve pauses as he locks eyes with you.
"How the fuck did you manage that?" he asks, looking shocked as he throws his arms in the air in disbelief. Before you've even had a chance to respond he butts in. "You're lucky, it was suicide running back to that Grocery Store, y'know that?" he says, pausing slightly, crossing his arms, "You should've left with me."
"What?" Ronnie asks, looking at you. You realise you failed to inform Ronnie about that. "Why didn't you leave with him?" he asks, putting you on the spot. The entire group is looking at you now, making you feel uncomfortable.
"I...I...I told you," you say, words stuttering out, "I tried to get to you," you respond looking at Ronnie. His jaw clenches, looking angry, "I couldn't just lea-"
"Forget it," he snaps back. You can see the rage in his eyes as he looks over his glasses at you before turning to look at the rest of the group. You bite the inside of your lip, as you stand there quietly, embarrassed, anger building in you. Who does he think he is, talking to you like that in front of everyone? You weren't one for conflict - in all honesty you had never had the confidence to answer anyone back - but he was being infuriating. He was utterly frustrating; not even half an hour ago he had held your hand and calmed you down and now he had the audacity to act like this.
"No," you respond, crossing your arms, "I decide what I do, and if I want to save your ass, then I will!" you spit back, looking at Ronnie. He turns to meet your gaze. He's silent as he looks at you, maybe even surprised by your response. You walk off from the group, not giving Ronnie a chance to respond. Fuck him and his large soft hands.
You end up escaping to the factory roof - it is peaceful up there. No one has come rushing to find you, which you are thankful for. You need some time alone to process everything, especially what you had heard earlier in the car with Ronnie on the radio. It was overwhelming - the thought of no government and no military was hard to comprehend. There are no laws, no protection, no emergency services, no hospitals. Is anyone working on a vaccine, would a vaccine stop it? You had heard in news reports before things got bad that polar fracking was to blame, that it had disrupted the Earth's rotational axis. You didn't know what that meant, or if it could even be reversed. Then you remembered Ronnie talking about a friend being taken away by aliens. You still hadn't figured out if he was joking. With everything going on, you wouldn't be surprised if it was true. All you knew for sure was that you were still alive and that you didn't plan on dying anytime soon.
Your thoughts were interrupted as you hear the door leading onto the roof open. You glance towards it and see Ronnie approaching. You look away from him, sighing slightly - lucky for him, he had been smart enough to give you some time to calm down.
"Hey ..." he says sheepishly. You notice him keeping a slight distance from you as if he's testing the waters.
"Hi," you respond coolly, not engaging further. If he was coming up here to apologise, then he was going to have to work for it. Normally you'd be more apologetic, more forgiving, more of a push over. You had been that way with your ex-partner and that obviously hadn't gotten you anywhere but this was a new world. You knew you had to be stronger and that started by standing up for yourself. Ronnie would have to understand that you wouldn't leave him. Your friends had left you and it hurt more than you cared to admit. Plus, you enjoyed having Ronnie around, when he wasn't being a jerk, that was.
"I'm sorry about earlier..." Ronnie says, pausing slightly "...It's just, y...you didn't tell me that you could've left with Steve ..." he says softly. You stay quiet, taking in his words. "If I hadn't got out of the grocery store and rescued you then you'd be dead, and that would've been my fault." He pauses again slightly like he's waiting for you to respond, but you stay quiet. "I guess, I'm just trying to figure out why you did it?" he asks, stepping closer to you. Honestly, you still hadn't figured that part out fully yet, but you couldn't tell him how you felt a pull to him, how safe he made you feel. You were trying to ignore those feelings as much as you could - they were dangerous, they could get you killed and he wasn't helping you forget about them. By holding your hand and being protective of you he was strengthening those feelings instead of erasing them.
"Because you're my friend," you answer back. It wasn't untrue, but it was a simplified justification.
"Oh....okay," he says quietly. You glance towards him, wanting to gauge his reaction, but he's looking away. You can sense the awkward tension in the air between you both as silence fills the gaps between your long pauses. You know you were holding back the truth but it felt like he was holding back from something too. He runs his hand through his hair, brushing back loose strands that had fallen forward before looking up at you. "And you're my friend too..." he replies with a half-hearted smile, looking slightly deflated, "...Which is why I don't want anything bad to happen to you. I've already lost the majority of my town's residents and have had to kill my Chief," he says with a deep sigh. Admittedly you had forgotten he had to shoot his Chief the night you rescued him in the cemetery and that you were still in his hometown, meaning each zombie you came across he might have known. You were able to understand his point of view better now - even if he didn't show it, he had experienced loss and it must have hurt him. If he considers you a friend then maybe he is fearful of losing you too?
"I understand," you say softly, approaching him, closing the distance between you as you reach your arms around his upper torso, embracing him. He stands tense before relaxing and giving in to the embrace, wrapping his arms around you as his hand rubs your back. "But don't talk to me like that again," you say sternly looking up at him as you pull away, smirking as he meets your gaze.
"Yes, sorry about that," he replies, dropping his arms back down to his side.
"Anyway, we should probably tell the group about that radio broadcast," you say, changing the subject.
"I already have," he says, placing his hands on his hips.
"And? How did they take it?" you ask, curious of their reactions.
"Well, Steve thinks it's a hoax and doesn't want to go, so I think him and his family are staying here. Lucy and Sarah are having a think about it. I guess it's a lot to take in. We're about a hundred and forty miles from New York City so providing there's no issues en route it should only take a couple of hours to drive there," he replied.
"Do you think it's a hoax?" you question. You hadn't considered that. What if Steve was right?
"No way of knowing, but it wouldn't hurt to get out of Centerville and explore," he answers. You have to admit you are intrigued about the world outside of the town; you have a small hope that maybe it wasn't as bad out there, but you would only know for sure by leaving. You wrap your arms around yourself to help keep warm - you had been so engrossed in your conversation with Ronnie that you hadn't noticed the sunset, causing the temperature to drop. "Do you wanna go back inside?" Ronnie asks, glancing at your arms wrapped around yourself. You nod, exiting the roof with Ronnie; you head back down to the main factory floor to reunite with the others.
You notice Steve having a heated discussion with his wife, and you wonder if it has something to do with the broadcast as Lucy and Sarah approach you both.
"So, is the lovers' tiff resolved?" Lucy asks with a prying expression on her face, her head slightly tilted, wanting answers. Sarah rolls her eyes at you, mouthing the word 'sorry' silently.
"Ohhh! No, no, no, we're not lovers!'' you answer quickly, correcting her as you laugh slightly from the embarrassment of the upfront and personal question.
"Nooo!" Ronnie responds, slightly high pitched, almost as quickly as you, supporting your response.
"Hmm," Lucy replies, her eyes squinting, as if she's trying to study you both.
"Anyway, did you guys decide if you were coming with us?" you ask, wanting to change the topic.
"Yes, we're gonna come with you, if that's okay?" Sarah answers.
"Yeah of course, we'll set off in the morning. Providing the route is clear, it should only take a few hours," Ronnie replies, as you notice Steve rushing towards you all with his family. You notice his daughter Katie crying as his wife Alice tries to console her.
"We've got a problem!" he blurts out, his eyes widened in alarm. You all look at him confused. "Zombies. Outside," he says as his voice cracks.
"Okay?" you respond calmly, shrugging your shoulders at his behaviour as you grasp your bat, prepared to take them down.
"No! You don't understand!" he shouts, now concerning you with his behaviour. You look at Ronnie as he walks towards a window, stopping suddenly.
"Shit!" Ronnie shouts, "I knew that fence should've been fixed!" he says, rushing back to the group, "Why didn't you fix the fence Steve?! You've put everyone in danger!" Ronnie says, his voice almost exploding out of him as he points his finger at Steve.
"Me?! This is your damn fault, you led 'em here!!" Steve argues back, charging towards Ronnie throwing up his forearms, preparing to fight.
"Woah!" you exclaim, coming between them, "Does somebody want to tell us what's going on?!" you ask urgently as your eyes dart between the two of them.
"There's a horde outside the fence, must be at least a hundred, they're filtering in through the damaged fence. If we don't escape now, we'll be trapped here," Ronnie says calmly to you, as if he is trying to spare you the panic, but you can see the fear in his eyes and just from that you can tell the situation is dire.
"What are we gonna do?" Sarah asks, panicked, looking at Ronnie. You can see him thinking, trying to come up with a solution. You know the fence surrounds the factory, there is only one entrance that Ronnie has the keys for, but the horde is coming from that direction meaning you can't escape that way. It also means your transport is unreachable, meaning if you do somehow manage to get out you'd be escaping on foot.
"Steve, what did you cut the fence with?" Ronnie asks, looking at him.
"Bolt cutters," Steve replies, his eyes widening slightly before rushing over to his belongings. He returns quickly with the bolt cutters in hand.
"Right, we're gonna have to cut through the fence behind the factory and escape that way. Luckily the fence at the front is holding off the majority of the horde for now, giving us some time. We'll need to take out the zombies that have got through the damaged fence, and cover Steve whilst he concentrates on cutting the fence, okay?" Ronnie says. The group nods before splitting off momentarily to gather their weapons.
Ronnie pulls on your arm gently, pulling you into him. "Don't do anything stupid, okay?" he asks softly, almost whispering, his eyes transfixed on you. You look up at him, meeting his gaze. You can sense the tension between the two of you as adrenaline rushes through you, causing your blood to quicken as the feeling of electricity makes your skin tingle. You can feel Ronnie's heart rate increase. Was it normal for your body to react this way with a friend or was it just your body preparing to fight? As the group returns he loosens his grip on your arm, letting you go as he walks ahead slightly, leading the group towards the exit with his machete in hand. You follow, bat in hand, preparing to take down the zombies that had already made it through the damaged fence. This was going to be your toughest fight so far.