Trust and kisses

You regain your composure and clear your throat. The evening air sends a chill down your body, leaving goosebumps in its wake. "We should divide into two teams, one to keep watch and defend the van. And another to go stealing."

"Stealing?" Claire furrows her brow in thought.

"Well yeah. We're just assuming this is a zombie apocalypse. Could just be an isolated incident of... I don't know. Maybe rabies or something?"

"Fuck that, it's definitly zombies and we're gonna crush them. So team one, follow my lead. Let's go hunt some zombies!" Charlie roars; marching toward the shop, shotgun resting against one shoulder and his fist in the air. Claire, Dwayne, Jimmy and Megan group up behind Charlie leaving the rest behind.

You turn around and face the older woman, up close and with some light you see she doesn't appear to have any wrinkles at all even with only a light bit of makeup present on her amber coloured skin which is half hidden under a side parting of thin black hair. Her almond shaped eyes held a pair of cloud grey eyes which reflected a golden glow from the last rays of the evening sun. She had an angular face, surrounded by central dimpled cheeks leading around to thick - lipstick covered - maroon coloured lips. Your eyes drop to see a giant pair of boobs just before she walks away, at least double D maybe even an E cup.

"Why don't you get on the van, see if you can't spot anything further down the roads, get Ryker to help." You instruct Linda. "Hey... uh... twins, you two-"

"We have names... you... you... idiot." The slightly shorter twin sticks her tongue out.

"Forgive my stupid sister," The taller one says with a gentle slap to the back of her sister's head. "I'm Maria. Maria Jackson. This is my slightly less intelligent sister; Chloe." The twins both have a lot of similarities such as their similarly looking heart-shaped heads, but noticeable differences presented themselves such as the smaller twin was more tanned; with a sandy skin colour, compared to her paler sister. Chloe held the curls of her honey blonde hair back in a loose ponytail, keeping it out of the way from her animated face, whereas Maria left her dark blonde hair hanging loose around a pair of baby blue framed glasses. A major similarity between the two was the sparkling arctic blue eyes, despite Chloe's half glaring at you.

"Maira, Chloe... I'm Michael." You say hoping to remember this time. "Can you two watch the sides of the road, we don't need anything sneaking up from the tree line."

"Can do boss man." Maria gives you a playful salute raising her average sized breasts under her plain t-shirt, another similarity. The twins walk away together, with Chloe whispering in a hushed tone in her sister's ear as you watch their skinny jeans sway with each step.

"Well, well the freak really does have a plan." You get nudged from behind by Jake grinning ear to ear. "You seriously did think about this quite a lot didn't you? Anyway, where are you setting me up?"

You nudge him back. "You better be glad you got me as your friend, I've got plans and tips to keep your sorry ass alive." You both have a quiet chuckle before scratching your head. "Keep the group organised, anyone spots anything, get them to contact you, use the radio and let me know."

"Sure thing Michael. And... I'm sorry about your brother." You feel a twist of emotions inside which you quickly bottle up and compress it deep inside. You give a firm nod in response and join the group already heading into the shop.

You give the new pistol a quick check as you proceed to the shop door. It's a CZ P-09 pistol: a lightweight, semi automatic, highly accurate pistol capable of holding 19 shots in a single magazine. It's small size would make it useful for indoor use, and it even comes with a leather holster you can attach to the utility belt you're still wearing. With everyone else already inside you decide to holster your gun.

The automatic doors slide open and set off a small series of beeps from inside as you enter. The shop already appears to be in a state of being looted as there are multiple cans on the floor, by the door and down the aisles, as well as the partially empty shelves. Against the wall at the back of the shop is a set of double doors that appear propped half open. Thankfully your group was already busy grabbing essentials without your input so you head straight down the first aisle and ready the baton to enter the backroom.

The door leads to a plain-looking wide corridor with a door further down on either side, at the very end was a left turn. You slip past the double doors and cautiously proceed down the hallway. You try to keep your focus on any sounds from further ahead but the constant buzzing from the fluorescent lights overhead make it difficult. You grip the hilt of the baton tighter as you prepare to check the first door. Cautiously you push the heavy fire door which opens with squeaky hinges. Not hearing any sounds you step in, body tense, once inside you stand frozen before releasing the breath you didn't realise was being held in.

You let out an awkward chuckle at your own nervousness as you scan the room, which appears to be a type of staff room. A few lockers hang open with a few personal belongings scattered along the floor, along with the hint of dried blood around the foot of the lockers. Not noting anything worth taking you turn around to leave and take a step out and into the arms of Claire.

"Easy there, you should be keeping your head on a swivel." She tuts playfully as she stops you from walking into her. You step back with a flush of heat quickly spreading over your body.

"Yeah. I mean no, I was listening out for any sounds I forgot to check." You chuckle while idly scratching your head. Claire leans back on one leg and holds a finger to her check, eyes squinting at you. "So any reason you came down here?" You ask, the initial surprise cooling.

"I just saw you come down here and figured you might need someone watching your back." She keeps squinting. "Tell me, what's with the others? You're not friends but you ended up together?"

"Well that was just a lucky coincidence... lucky for them anyway." You mutter the last bit. She straightens up and moves her face closer, the sweet smell of shampoo hitting your nose.

"So how can you trust them?"

"They may be dickhead's, some of them anyway. But right now we have no idea what is actually happening, hell we don't even have an actual plan yet." You sigh. "But they're just dickhead's, I'm pretty certain they wouldn't betray us. At least not yet." You laugh playfully and step past Claire and toward the other door.

"How can we trust you?"

With your back facing her you can't see her face but you're sure you heard a quiver in her voice. You ponder your response for a few seconds. "How can you ever truly trust someone? We've just met, most of us have just met and now we're being **** to work together in order to survive against uncertainty like this." You turn and pull Claire close, her eyes wide as she stares up uncertainly at you. "You either accept that we need each other to survive and trust in that. Or take your time to trust us independently, some of us you may, others you might not. But that's down to each separate person, not the group as a whole." You notice your heart beating heavily once you finish.

Shit. She was probably just looking for a simple affirmation of being trustworthy. Why did I have to ramble like that?

"Then..." She nervously starts. "Let me start by trusting in you... You kept us safe Michael, and you stepped up when we needed you. So..." She's almost speaking in a whisper as her eyes dart from your eyes to your lips and back as her own pale blue orbs begin to close. She catches your lips as you stumble backwards into the other door along with her. Thin lips trade spit with your own despite the loss of balance, a hint of strawberry being passed over.

It takes almost a minute for the kiss to end and you both to catch your breath. You're left speechless, as was Claire for a moment. "I think... I trust you now." Your mouth curls into a smile, almost laughing. Her gaze shifts over your shoulder and out of the window in the room. "Is that a caravan?" You turn and clearly see the parked trailer caravan.

"Looks like it. What's so special?" You question perplexed at her sudden interest in an automobile.

"We're gonna need a place to sleep right? Why not one that moves?" She picks up a pair of keys off a desk in front of you.

"I suppose-" A spine chilling growl creeps up from the doorway, without thinking you swing your still gripped baton at the noise, spinning on the spot as you do. You connect with the mass of the sound as it's thrown to the ground. The hulking mass slowly starts to pick itself up clumsily off the floor. "Go." You tremble, knuckles turning white around your weapon. The thing towers over you in both height and mass, easily dwarfing you. Claire sprints for the door behind you as the massive zombie lunges at you. You once again redirect it with another firm hit from the baton. This time it crashes into the desk in the office looking room you're in.

You back up to the doorway but catch your foot on the edge of the frame causing you to tumble onto your back. The hulking brute already recovered again and was stomping over. It lunges once more to which you catch its mouth with your baton held sideways between both hands. It's teeth clang and scrape against the metal as you struggle to support it's shifting weight. It's head lowers to your right shoulder, your arms burning as you hold on.

"Michael!" You hear someone yell, you're not sure whom, as your body tenses and strains. Until a piercing bang deafens you suddenly, in the same instance the mass becomes weightless for a brief moment and you roll it to the side away from the noise. Your ears ring as the thing stares dead-eyed at you. You unholster your gun and smash it into the side of its head before firing three times, the noise being slightly muffled from the direct contact of the barrel.

The gun drops from your hand as your arm loses all feeling. Looking down you notice the top around your shoulder starting to get covered in a dark red. Blood red...

You feel faint as you kick away from under the now fully dead zombie. "Michael." You hear someone say, you can't tell if it's the same person, and at this point it doesn't matter as your vision goes black.

Your consciousness fading with it...