Preciliano wasn't feeling sick anymore, but he did
feel like his body was completely exhausted, our of energy and just laid there on the bed with William and Leslie still shocked that Tracy kissed him, until Leslie breaks the silence and asks with nervous laughter.
"is it normal for you guys to kiss on the lips?"
he replies honestly, because he feels relaxed that he survived a sickness that could have killed him.
"no, it just kinda started happening recently."
Preciliano sighs and close his eyes.
"thanks for keeping an eye on me, but I should probably rest, since I feel like my body is about to shut down due to exhaustion."
Leslie stands up and approaches her husband for a kiss.
"we should let him rest and get to know Troy and Kelly some more, if we are traveling with them."
William replies.
"yeah will do, and even though me and Troy almost got into it, when he mentioned you two, he seems like a dependable enough guy."
Leslie agrees.
"yeah, he seems more sociable than Percy."
they leave the bedroom so that Preciliano can rest properly, and they see that their daughter Dayjanay is sitting next to Tracy on the couch talking with huge smile on her face, Leslie whispers to William.
"looks like she made a new friend."
William notices that the passenger seat is empty and said to his wife.
"I'm going to chat with him a bit and see what is the plan since no one really told us where we are going."
Leslie sits down on the cushioned seat across from where Kelly is sitting and she asks.
"so how do you know Percy and Tracy?"
she replies.
"Tracy is my son's girlfriend."
Leslie remembers when Tracy kissed Preciliano and thinks to herself.
"oh my, you crazy girl, you already have a boyfriend but you are acting all lovey dovey with your brother."
she asks.
"what about Percy?"
Kelly gazes outside the window.
"I've just met him a few hours ago."
she lowers her head and looks at her hands.
"my husband Ryan was bitten, and when I went to check on him in the middle of the night, he had already turned and he attacked me."
she sighs.
"Percy risked his life and protected me."
she sniffles holding back tears.
"I can't imagine what would have happened if Percy wasn't there."
Leslie asks.
"and your son Troy where was he?"
still sniffling she answers.
"that poor boy, he froze in fear when he saw his father attack me, but I don't blame him one bit, it all happened very fast."
she asks while holding her hand to comfort Kelly.
"how are you feeling about your husband Ryan?"
Kelly runs her eyes to wipe the forming tears.
"I'm still processing what happened, it just all feels so surreal."
Leslie sighs.
"yeah I know that feeling, the dead coming back to life and chasing down the living to do the same to them."
she then asks, hoping Kelly will let her know where they are heading just in case Troy doesn't tell William.
"so what's the plan here?"
Kelly responds.
"we plan on riding this out at our vacation home int he mountains."
Kelly the grabs Leslie hand.
"and of course you and your family are more than welcomed to join us, we could use the extra company."
Leslie smiles and thinks to herself.
"that is smart, to leave the city where people will be killing each other for resources."
she replies.
"thank you Kelly, me and my family appreciate the invitation."
Tracy continues to talk to Dayjanay, even if her mind is currently occupied by Preciliano's well being.
"so you would still like to visit grand canyon even with the current situation?"
Dayjanay nods.
"of course, especially with how things have become, I wouldn't want to miss the chance on getting to visit it."
she then said to Tracy.
"you mentioned that your birthday was yesterday right?"
Tracy looks at the clock that is hanging above the window where Kelly and Leslie are sitting at, so she doesn't waste her cell phone battery life and sees that it is around three in the morning.
"yeah, I turned nineteen and the world starts to fall apart."
Dayjanay replies.
"well I've been watching things in the internet and
everything that you are seeing now has been happening for a week now, even though the governments of the world were doing a decent job trying to cover it up with the fake flu virus, but people around the world were posting videos of what's been happening."
Tracy sighs.
"I never noticed anything, until yesterday when me and Troy went to see the city and witnessed them chasing people down and eating them."
Dayjanay responds.
"I don't blame you, since I thought people were faking the videos, but the two days ago my middle school was attacked by a group of them and that is when I finally realized that what was happening was true, I then called my dad since the cell service was still up and he rescued me."
Troy who is still focused on driving realizes, that he is close to George's house, where him and his friends planned to throw a surprise party for Tracy and he thinks to himself.
"it wouldn't hurt to check if they are alive since, they were gonna wait for us there."
Troy makes a right turn and William asks.
"this isn't the way to the mountains, where are you going?"
he answers.
"I need to check if my friends are alive."
William replies.
"I don't think that is good idea kid."
Troy responds.
"if you and your family want to join us in my house, then you do as I say."
he thinks to himself.
"from this point on, I need to assert myself as a leader and make sure everyone knows that."
William sighs.
"alright kid, if there is a chance that they are alive, I'll give you a hand."
Troy continues driving past groups of the undead, who seem uninterested with the moving vehicle, until he spots a couple of people on top of George's roof waving at them, he grins to himself.
"they must have climbed up to the roof to keep themselves safe."
William notices this as well and said.
"holy shit, I wasn't really expecting to see any of them alive."
Troy parks the winnebago in front of the house and clicks his tongue when he sees a huge number of the undead surrounding the house.
"how are we going to save them, Kelly and Tracy leave their seat and ask Troy.
"why did we stop?"
Troy replies.
"we are at George's house, I remembered that we were planning a party for you, and I wanted to check if they were still alive."
he smiles.
"it looks like, George, Alex, John, Paul, Ashley and Lisa are up on the rooftop."
Troy asks Tracy.
"can you give me Percy's bat, I can't leave them like that."
Tracy agrees.
"yeah, we can't leave our friends."
Kelly then said.
"be careful son, those things put there are dangerous."
William sighs and readies is pistol.
"I did say, I would help if you if they were alive."
Leslie gets up from her seat and asks her husband.
"what do you mean?"
he intentionally ignores her question and makes a suggestion.
"alright kid, I'm going out first and make some noise to attract their attention, while you bring your friends here for safety."
Leslie pleads to her husband
"no, please don't go out there again."
he replies.
"they are kids, I wouldn't be able to live with myself if we abandoned them."
before she got a chance to protest him, William leaves the passenger seats and starts shouting.
"fresh black meat over here you fuckers!"
while the sounds of the undead growling and gunshots fill the air, Troy thinks to himself.
"I may hate that bastard Percy, he has a point that I can't afford to freeze up like when my mom got attacked."
he takes a couple of deep breaths and rushes out of the driver side and makes a mad dash towards the side fence separating George's house and the neighbor's house, he looks up to signals George with the black buzzcut, wearing his blue varsity jacket and jeans to come down.
"hurry, he's buying you guys time."
he tells the others.
"you heard him let's go."
George is the first to carefully climb down the roof, and gets down on the ground using the fence.
"shit has been crazy Troy, fucking people are eating others."
Alex with the light brown fauxhawk hair, wearing the blue varsity jacket, with black jeans, John with the blonde wavy shoulder length hair, wearing the blue varsity jacket, with khaki jeans, and Paul with the black crew cut haircut, a partial goatee, and a stud ear piercing, wearing the blue varsity jacket, with gray sweatpants, climb down soon after, Troy
sighs.
"I'm glad you guys are still alive."
Lisa a natural red head, with curly bob hair, wearing a gray hoodie, and black yoga pants, climbs down and hugs Troy.
"I though you were a goner when you didn't show up."
and last but not least is the ice princess herself Ashley, with her long wavy pink dyed hair, wearing a black unzipped sweater, over violet tube top with straps, and tight blue jeans, climbs down and
asks Troy.
"is Tracy with you?"
he nods.
"yeah, now come on, we need to move now."
he leads them back to the winnebago, and after they all enter he waits outside looking around for William, the upon entering they are met with Tracy
who begins hugging all of them saying.
"oh my god, you are still alive."
until she gets to Ashley, who embraces her with a tight hug, and whispers, trying to hold back tears.
"when we gathered for the party, they came and killed, Jake, Logan, Trevor, David, Crystal, Robin, Jacqueline, Christina and Zoey."
Tracy sniffles.
"I can't believe they are dead."
Kelly looks at them and said.
"don't worry kids, you are more than welcome to join us, we are leaving the city."
they all chatter to amongst themselves, and the Ashley asks.
"can't you take us to our families? they are still in the city."
Tracy shakes her head.
"it's not a good idea, me and Troy were in the city and it was a complete shitshow."
George sighs while rubbing his head.
"I'm coming along either way, since my parents went on a business trip together two weeks ago and I have no idea if they are still alive or not."
they are suddenly interrupted by William who opens the door and slams it shut, completely put breath.
"get us out of here kid!"
Troy nods.
"Roger, let's get out of here."
George heads to the front and sits in the passenger seat.
"thank you again for saving us buddy."
Troy replies.
"it was an unexpected detour, but I'm glad that some of you were still alive."
while the group introduce themselves properly to Kelly, William, Leslie and Dayjanay, Ashley asks Tracy.
"did your parents make it?"
she shakes her head and cries softly.
"no, when I came back for them, they have already
turned, and were eating my little brother Thomas."
Ashley hugs her and strokes Tracy's hair to comfort her and then asks another question, that is dreading the answer
that she is going to get.
"what about Percy?"
Tracy pulls away and whipes her tears with a smile.
"he is with us, but he is resting right."
Ashley heart flutters, but avoids smiling so the others don't see her like that, Tracy continues.
"he was bitten by Troy's dad earlier, but he survived the fever and is in bed recovering."
Ashley looks over to the closed door, assuming that he is in there, she then whispers.
"may I check on him?"
Tracy hesitates since she knows that Ashley has feelings for Preciliano.
"okay, but try not to wake him, his body needs rest."
Ashley enters the bedroom with Tracy keeping her company, she approaches the peaceful sleeping Preciliano and caresses his cheeks, she gives him a quick peck on the forehead and whispers softly.
"I was afraid of what people might have thought about me liking you, but now none of that matters, I'm going to tell you my real feelings when you wake up."
the girls leave the bedroom, so that Preciliano can
sleep without any further disturbances.