Yesterday, Faye had proposed that we should get food and other essentials if we were going to wait for Daniel's mum. We all agreed when we called her and the number was switched off. He was obviously really worried but volunteered to go to the store after I did. Hae In also volunteered but Faye wanted her to stay behind because she was the only one who could use a gun other than Daniel and Faye. Faye swapped Zeke with Clareta after Clareta said she had something to do at home. So it was Daniel, Faye, Clareta and I going to the store.
I picked a cleaver from one of the duffle bags after Faye had packed some guns into a backpack. I wasn't looking forward to using it but it looked like I could actually use it.
Daniel was in the driver's seat as we waited for Faye and Clareta to come out. He had his phone in his hand and his forehead was creased. He's calling his mum again.
"Any luck?"
His eyes darted to me before he shook his head.
"Did you send a message?"
It's what Ezra, Zeke and I had been doing even though they hadn't replied. There were a couple of news stations still running but they all said the same thing, protect yourself and avoid contact with the infected. We also found out that the virus is global. I was really starting to doubt if my parents were okay but I kept telling myself they were.
"I have." He didn't seem like he was in the state to drive.
"We should stay in the back," I said. I didn't want to drive because they definitely didn't need me freaking out behind the wheel if we were being chased.
He nodded absent-mindedly and moved to the back. Roshni, my spotter on the cheer team, waves at me from her room's window and I wave back before getting into the car. His phone was on the seat beside him and he was tapping his foot on the floor.
I reached out my hand and placed it over his knee cap. "Everything will be okay."
It was what he'd said to me repeatedly last night. But as I said it sounded like everything will be okay, your mum's okay or everything will be okay if your mum's dead. I didn't know which one it was. He squeezed his eyes shut for a while and when he opened them, he smiled at me.
I smiled back, "What?" I asked when he wouldn't stop smiling.
He moved closer to me and leaned in. He nearly missed, his lips a tad too far right. We both laughed and I tilted my head. His lips brushed mine, softly, delicately, like butterfly wings, comforting in ways that words would never be. His kisses are black holes pulling you in until all gravity is lost under his touch. His hand rested below my ear, his thumb caressing my cheek as our breaths mingled.
We pulled away from each other when the car door was abruptly slammed. Faye was in the driver's seat and Clareta was turning around to face us in the passenger seat.
"Look. At. This." She was holding out an axe that looked like an hammer with glee in her eyes.
It looked awesome but I was concerned about her. When I asked her about her family, she had changed the topic. Faye just ignored me when I asked about her dad. She grinned and turned to face the front after my silent acknowledgement. Daniel made a sound that communicated yikes nonverbally and laced our fingers together as the car started.
------
We'd been driving for a while now. We couldn't stop at most of the stores we'd passed because of the amount of infected there. And we couldn't get to the other stores because the roads were blocked with abandoned cars, no one was enthusiastic about getting attacked while we lugged supplies back to the car.
We had seen no infected in the neighbourhood we were now at. There were bodies lying in the street and people being escorted by armed men were walking towards the direction we were headed.
"Where are they going?" Clareta asked as she rolled her window down. I was staring at the sign that read 'Price Club Supercentre' when the car stopped.
Five armoured vehicles and four buses were driving out of the parking lot and we had to wait till they were out of the way before we drove in. There were school buses and truck trailers in the parking lot while people were loading the trucks with boxes that they carried out of the store.
People were standing in queues for the buses as women in white coats and gloves checked them over. The people that weren't let into a bus were taken to the restaurant across the street. The whole setting was coordinated. They didn't look like they were in the military and it didn't look like a 'we just got together' coordinated.
"Let's get down," Daniel said before there was a sharp rap on my window.
An armed man peered at us through the window and Daniel leaned over to roll it down.
"Do you need something?" he asked. A tattoo of two intertwined snakes ran down his arm and when my eyes darted to his face, he winked and gave me a boyish smile. "Ciao Bella, what-"
"We need groceries," Daniel stated.
The smile didn't leave his face as he scanned our faces. "How old are you guys?"
Seventeen, I was about to say when Clareta said, "Twenty two."
Bullshit. There was no way she was two years older than Daniel and Faye.
He raised a brow at her.
Daniel glanced at Clareta who was looking at the window. "Why are you asking?"
He smirked and gave me another wink. "Shank," he hollered.
He opened the door and gestured for me to come down, "Bella."
Daniel shot him an exasperated look before we got down. The jacket I was wearing, which belonged to Ezra, slipped off my shoulders and I pulled it back into place. The man narrowed his eyes when Daniel held my hand and he decided to step closer to me.
"Lorenzo, leave them alone," a voice called out.
A girl that looked my age was approaching us. She had dark curly hair and dark skin. The guns in her belt made her give off bad girl vibes. She came to a stop in front of us and took us in.
"Hi, I'm Carina," she said.
"You mean Shank," Lorenzo added.
She made a silly face at him, "Beat it, stronzo."
He waggled his eyebrows at her and begins to walk backwards, blows me a kiss and jogs to the exit of the parking lot. Daniel instantly scowls and I squeeze his hand.
"I'm guessing you guys are not coming with us."
"Yes," Daniel said.
"And you need groceries."
"Yes."
She leaned on the bonnet of the car, looking way out of her comfort zone. "You'll be safe with us... unless you have somewhere safe you're staying."
"We do," Faye said.
She regarded us for a while. "Do you have weapons and can you use it?"
"Yes," Daniel replied.
She must have assumed he was speaking for all of us and waved someone over. "I didn't get your names."
We introduced ourselves as a man came up to us. "We've already packed everything in the store, we're just loading up so two of you should follow Carlo. He'll take you to who knows what's in the boxes."
Carlo had the same tattoo but didn't look as friendly as Lorenzo. Clareta and Daniel followed him to one of the truck trailers.
"That's a lot of people," Faye said, gesturing at the queues. "Where are you guys going?"
"A safe place."
"What about the people that are being taken to the restaurant?" I ask as I watch a woman and a child that were being escorted there.
Carina reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a KitKat, "They've been bitten."
Faye glances at me and turns her attention to Daniel and Clareta who are loading cans of food into a duffle bag.
She peeled the wrapper off the chocolate and brought another one out of her pocket, handing it to me.
"Thank you," I mumble and peel the wrapper off. I broke a piece off and was about to put it in my mouth when Carina smiled at me. It was a really big smile and it was quite alarming.
"Sorry, it's just... my friends just bite into it directly. Like animals."
I let out a laugh at the look on her face, "My brother does that too."
"You're not the military," Faye cut in as a couple of men come up to the car and put six bags and packs of bottled water in the boot.
"No shit," Carina replied.
"Excuse me."
There was a girl standing next to us. It took me a second to register that she was talking to me.
"Uh," I said after a while, "Hi?"
"What is it Viviana?" Carina asked and the girl gave her a look.
She looked back at me. "Well, my brother," she pointed at Lorenzo who was a couple of feet away from us, "wants to know if you're single."
I raise my brows at him when he turns around and waves at us.
"Why?" Carina asked. "He taking a survey?"
"I'm not." I answered and she smirked.
"He thinks he's some kind of hotshot because he's a lady killer," Carina said after the girl walked away.
A lady in rags shambled towards the store, I realized she was infected when Lorenzo shot her in the head.
Carina's mouth twitched, "Poor choice of words."
"Well," Carina said when she saw Daniel and Clareta heading back. "If the person you're waiting for ends up showing, give me a call if you need somewhere to stay."
She extended her hand and I placed my phone in it before finishing the chocolate. She punched her number into it and handed it back while Daniel and two men kept more bags and some boxes in the boot.
"How did you know we're waiting for someone?" I looked at my phone and saw she saved her contact as Shank.
"Half of the people that have come and gone today are."
"Thanks," Faye said, "for the stuff."
Carina flashed her a smile which she returned before she got into the driver's seat.
"Shank?"
She shrugged. "Maybe I'll tell you the story one day, maybe I won't."
------
Daniel and I maneuvered to the front seats after Faye and Clareta got down. We were parked in front of Clareta's flat building. Daniel was the getaway driver if shit happens since he wasn't checking his phone every two minutes. The street was eerily quiet and it made me nervous. Clareta had told us what she wanted to do at her place during the drive over. Her mother and younger brother were bitten and she left after they died. She didn't want to leave them as zombies any longer. Hearing her say that made me think of my parents and if they were still alive. It wasn't a pleasant thought and I told myself again 'They're okay.'
I kept my eyes trained on the road out of the street. The other way out had been blocked by cars. If our way out got blocked, there would be no getting away.
Daniel made a noise as he fiddled with the gun in his hands and I looked at him.
"What?"
He glanced at me before giving me the silliest look ever. "Cha Bella," he mimicked and I belted out a laugh.
"What the hell?" I managed to say while laughing.
"Not that you're not a Bella... That means beautiful, right?" he asked, his brows furrowed when I wouldn't stop laughing.
Cha?
My phone vibrated in my pocket and I stopped laughing when I pulled it out. Mum.
I immediately hit receive and bring it to my car, "Mum."
"Eniola, sweet- "
I waited for her to speak again and when she didn't, I pulled the phone away. No network coverage. The hell.
"What's wrong?" Daniel asked as he leaned closer to look at my phone.
Movement from ahead caught my attention and I looked up to see a cell tower crashing to the ground.