Andy entered the central room where Olive was and sat across from her. For a long moment, she remained silent, unable to summon the courage to lift her gaze.
"I've been thinking, and I realized you're right," Andy began, sighing as she raised her head to look at Olivia. "My current shelter isn't as safe as I thought... So, let's find a new, safer home. We'll make a plan and start searching in the morning, or perhaps we can meet other survivors who might be willing to take us in."
Olivia looked at Andy and nodded, her fingers sadly flipping through the pages of her notebook.
"Let's decide what to take with us and which direction to go," I replied softly.
The two women began discussing their next steps. Andy brought out a map of the city, and they deliberated over it. Their first plan was to check out some private houses and assess the situation there. Andy wasn't thrilled about traveling with someone else, having grown accustomed to solitude in both joy and danger. Fatigue gradually crept up on both of them, but Andy showed no sign of it. Once their discussion ended, Andy retreated to her room. If exhaustion hadn't caught up with her, withdrawal certainly had. She tried to suppress her emotions to avoid a breakdown, but unfortunately, she gave in slightly and found herself craving cigarettes again.
Olive sat in a chair for a while, contemplating the next day. Ten minutes passed, and the brown-eyed girl heard a rustle from Andy's bedroom. "Is she on watch again? I wonder when she slept while she was alone?" Annoying thoughts tangled in her mind, preventing her from drifting into the realm of Morpheus. She rose from the chair and approached the window, trying to peer into the darkness. Olive turned toward Andy's room door, approached it, and gently turned the handle, which obediently opened the door. The red-haired girl peeked inside.
The door opened quietly, and Andy paid little attention, assuming Olive was up to something and continued her task. She held binoculars in her hands, staring into the darkness. It was unclear how she could see anything, but she was undoubtedly keeping watch. Her foot tapped nervously on the floor, a clear sign of anxiety.
"Andy, you're still awake?"
Olive approached the window where Andy stood. The redhead's hands rested on the windowsill; her facial features were hard to discern, but they showed no malice, only calm and peace.
"Are you nervous?"
Andy didn't even flinch when Olive approached her. Perhaps it indicated she trusted Olive.
"Why aren't you asleep? You were the one who suggested leaving," Andy responded, not answering any of the questions, seemingly intentionally avoiding them. She continued to look through the binoculars, monitoring the surroundings.
"I can't sleep. You know... it's like trying to fall asleep before an important event. Don't worry, I'll wake up on time," Olive said, looking out the window, then back at Andy. "You need to sleep too."
Andy smirked and tore her gaze from the window.
"And who will keep watch? I think if something happens now while we're here, it won't be good. So I have to ensure our safety, and you go read yourself a lullaby and get some sleep," Andy said with a slight smile, returning to her binoculars.
Olive chuckled softly, covering her mouth with her hand. She leaned her elbows on the windowsill and said,
"What do you take me for? Maybe I do like reading, but certainly not lullabies. Besides, I can keep watch too."
While Olive awaited a response, numerous thoughts raced through Andy's mind, one of which was: "She finally smiled..."
"And what do you suggest? Keeping watch together?" Andy said, placing the binoculars on the windowsill and stepping back slightly. "Better go to sleep. I don't think you have the strength to keep watch. Besides, I don't know if you'll stay awake or just fall asleep."
"So that's what you think of me? Maybe I'm not great in combat, but that doesn't mean I'm completely useless. A day without sleep is nothing. You remember the conditions you found me in. We can keep watch together, why not? You're unlikely to trust me with this job." Olivia looked into Andy's eyes, green like a forest where one could easily get lost and lose their way.
"Alright. If you insist, we'll keep watch together," Andy said, handing her the binoculars. The binoculars were special, equipped with a built-in thermal imager, allowing them to see the outlines of zombies and animals. Zombies emitted some heat, which was unusual, but they weren't as warm as humans. Andy crossed her arms and leaned her back against the wall.
"This might be inappropriate, but I'm curious. When all this started, many people died, especially those unable to survive. It's been several months, and you're still afloat. You don't seem strong, especially considering how you got scared of a couple of zombies back then. So, how did you survive these months?"
Olive looked through the binoculars, observing the slowly moving silhouettes. She murmured quietly, pondering the question, as if she'd never thought about it before.
"I don't even know, I never thought about it. Probably my cunning and my nomadic lifestyle, moving from group to group, helped me. Though, over time, I was kicked out, but that was for the best. I was in groups that had already fallen in battle or disbanded," Olivia spoke thoughtfully, recalling the events of the past months. "I think I need to reread my notebook. What about you? It's surprising that you're alone; someone like you would easily be accepted into any group."
"I was in a group, but they turned out to be fools, so I left them. It's better to wander the world alone than with someone; no one needs saving, and no one can hurt you. After all, they say 'Close ones hurt more,'" Andy said, looking at the clear night sky, full of stars and moonlight. Andy lied to her. She didn't dare to say that she was kicked out by mistake; she didn't want to seem weak to her. "I think you're right in some ways; not all groups are as good as they seem. Some groups have people worse than these corpses."
Olivia laughed, then returned to her serious demeanor. For a while, they discussed minor things, seemingly enjoying their time together.
Dawn was just beginning to break. The sky turned a reddish-pink hue. The houses and everything around them took on color. As morning arrived, they gathered everything they might need. They decided to head to a neighborhood with private houses. There were zombies, but fewer than where they currently lived. As they moved further, the number of zombies decreased. They noticed a house that looked very sturdy but was locked. Andy skillfully picked the lock, and they entered. The house looked as if people had lived there, but layers of dust indicated that no one had been there for a long time. The house was generally tidy; nothing was lying around, everything was placed on shelves or in drawers. But it felt like no one lived there, given the dust and cobwebs everywhere.
"I don't think anyone lives here... at least not anymore. I can assume they went on a supply run, but it didn't go well..." Andy said, inspecting all the rooms. Olivia nodded and ran her hand over the table, noting how dirty it was. She turned to Andy.
"I think we can stay here for now and... I think we need to clean up a bit. I don't think we can eat in such an environment, and we need to eat," she said, looking into her bag to find something to cook.
"Yes, we should clean up here. You can take care of that while I go get the rest of the things we need," Andy said, leaving the bag she was carrying and heading out, leaving Olive alone.
She found a broom in the corner of the room, and, armed with it, played for a few minutes, imagining herself as a samurai destroying "enemies."As soon as the girl finished dealing with the cobwebs and their tiny inhabitants, she began looking for something to wipe the table with.
Suddenly, Olive heard the click of a door:"En left not so long ago — she couldn't be back this fast," Olive thought.She quickly grabbed the bags and hid in the wardrobe that she and En had previously looked into.
Two men, a woman, and a girl entered the house.Through the crack in the wardrobe door, it was hard to see them clearly, but by their voices, it was clear — they weren't the nicest people.
"You bitch, did you really think you'd get away with this?!" the woman shouted, throwing the girl onto the floor.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to happen like that," the girl said in a melodic voice while the men inspected the room.Ol covered her mouth with her hand to keep from making any sound.
"Jade… It's pretty clean in here," said one of the men with a deep voice — it seemed that was the woman's name. She looked away from the girl lying on the floor.
"Yeah, someone's definitely been here. You can see marks on the table," she noted, glancing at the fingerprints.
"Ugh! Not again! I should've jumped out the window… This is scary…" — rushed through Olivia's mind.
"Ted, tie this idiot up so she doesn't run off," the woman continued inspecting the house, while the men spoke quietly to each other — either the wardrobe muffled the sound or it was the pounding of Olivia's heart.Her back had gone numb, so she tried to change position but hit her head on the shelf above.Footsteps became louder and quicker.The wardrobe doors flung open.Ol saw an annoyed tall girl — the same woman, it turned out. She had long chestnut hair and light makeup that emphasized her features, giving off a mean and arrogant vibe. The girl looked at Ol with anger while Ol gave her an awkward smile. Jade grabbed her by the arm.
"Tie her up too..."
A while later, Olivia was tied to a chair next to the girl Jade had been yelling at.
"Jade, get some water. You're way too nervous. We need to deal with these girls, and I don't want my girl stressing out," said one of the men, handing her a bottle.She snatched it, took a sip, and passed it to the other guy.
"So what, we lost most of our supplies…" he started to say, but was interrupted by the girl tied up next to Olive.
"Just supplies?! We didn't just lose stuff! We lost Max, CJ…"She paused."And it's all because of this slut!" she yelled, pointing at the girl.
Olivia sat tied up, confused: "Where the hell am I now?"They argued for a while longer until Jade suddenly felt weak and collapsed to the floor.The man who hadn't joined the argument tried to catch her, but the so-called Ted — the brunette girl's guy — hit him, and he fell.Ted quickly untied the girl next to Olive, grabbed the bag of supplies, and they both ran out of the house.
Ol sat there in shock: "Sooo… what do we have here? I'm tied up, our bags are in the wardrobe, and there are two bodies nearby? I'm literally in a movie now."
About ten minutes later, En walked into the house.She realized something had happened and picked up her Glock, slowly entering. She carefully approached the room, saw the two bodies lying there and Olive tied to a chair.En walked up to her and cut the rope with a knife.
"Is anyone else here?" En asked quietly, expecting someone to either get up or attack.
"What even happened here? And who are these people?" En asked and nudged one of the bodies with her foot to see the face.
As soon as she saw the girl's face, Olive noticed En's reaction — her eyes widened, and then her brows knit together, showing disgust. Her face clearly showed she felt revulsion towards the girl.
"No, it's just us. But wow, you won't believe what happened!" — Olive began explaining everything from the start,"And then they ran off with their own supplies. Well, we kinda robbed them a little. Our supplies are safe — they pulled me out of the wardrobe without them," Olive said as she stood up and walked over to En.
"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Olivia looked at En with concern.En was surprised by the question but figured she asked just out of politeness and nothing more.
"Yeah. No, I'm fine," En replied, looking down at the bodies. Her face was full of anger and disgust."We need to find a new place… this one doesn't work for us anymore."En took the bag of supplies out of the wardrobe and placed it next to the other one.
"En, do you know them? You don't look okay," Olive asked, picking up some of the bags. Then she turned to the bodies behind her and walked over to check their pulse."By the way, they're still alive."
"Alive? I thought those bastards were already dead!" — En's voice was full of aggression, as if she wanted to finish them off. Instead, she hit the nearby wall.Suddenly, she saw one of the men move and writhe in pain.As soon as she noticed, she kicked him in the head.
"Can't even die properly!" — En's breathing became heavier, and her heart pounded with rage.