"Are you sure this is where he went?" The voice is low, a whisper in the quiet room.
"There's no one else around for miles. Of course it's him." Another voice, this one deeper as it reaches Serenity's ears.
She lets out a huff, nose scrunching as she closes her eyes tighter. Why is Zero up so early? They're in the middle of an apocalypse, surely they can afford to sleep in.
The scratch of his shoes against the floor board grates into the ear pressed against it, and she groans.
"Just five more minutes." She mutters out, pressing her palms against her ears.
"Sh," The sound is muffled, but she's happy Zero agrees with her, despite being up himself. At least he'll let her sleep in.
She smiles into the crook of her elbow, only to tense up. Her arms stiffen as her back goes rigid. She listens, loosening the push against her ears.
There's more scuffling of shoes on the floor, except Zero only has two feet, and as far as she knew, he doesn't walk on both his hands and feet. So why are there multiple shoes walking across the floor?
There's a hiss from the right, and then a shuffle on her left.
Zero also can't be in two places at one time.
Is it zombies? She disregards the thought as soon as it comes, it's too quiet. And she would've been bit already. They don't seem the type to care if their victim is awake or asleep, based on her first experience with them.
Then it has to be other survivors.
Her brows narrow as she peaks through her lids, but she can't see anything useful.
Heart racing, she grabs the bat next to her, and thanks herself for falling asleep with it. If she had left it anywhere else, she'd be in big trouble.
She scrambles to her feet, ignoring the rush to her head and doesn't wait to ask questions. Instead she raises the bat at the first person she sees.
"Oh shit!" The words come from somewhere behind her, but it's too late. The wooden weapon smashes against the back of her target, the force enough to push him onto his knees.
"Ow! Fuck!" Her male victim shouts, back arching at the sudden attack.
She lifts it up to swing again, and with a yell of a warrior brings it down against his shoulder.
"Stop! Damn it, someone stop her!" The man spins around, arms raised in defense. She finds brown eyes behind a thick frame of glasses. Dark brown hair sweeps across his tanned forehead.
Not put off by the stranger before her, she raises her weapon once more.
Before she can get another good swing, rough hands twist her arms behind her back.
Serenity cry's out in protest, her shoulder screaming at the sudden movement. Her wound throbs, and she loses the grip on her wooden bat.
"Ow, ow, ow," She whimpers, hands flexing behind her. No longer having the upper hand, she huffs out and takes in the two figures in front of her. The guy she wacked at rubs at his shoulder, eyes narrowed as he glares at her. Next to him, a girl with red frizzy hair watches with wide eyes and a smile. Freckled dot along every inch of pale exposed skin.
Serenity stares at her red strands, taking in how bright and vibrant it is. She notices that even her eyebrows are the same color, and she stands out besides the brown skinned man.
She twists her head to get a look at whose behind her. A black baseball cap covers shaggy black hair. Light brown eyes glare down at her, a sheen of sweat covering his skin.
"Hi." She blinks up at him.
"Hi?!" The guy she hit with the bat screeches. She winces at the high note, turning back to look at him. "You beat me with a bat and all you have to say is hi?!"
Serenity takes him in again, "I don't know you." She shrugs, the action difficult when the guy behind her still has her arms behind her back.
She takes in the rest of the room. Everything was how it was when she went to sleep, only Zero isn't anywhere to be seen.
"You're a pretty little thing, even has some bite in you." The guy behind her whispers in her ear.
Serenity frowns as the feel of his hot breath brushes against her neck. She raises her foot stomps on his toes.
"Shit, what the fuck?" He growls out.
"You deserved that." The red haired girl snorts and crosses her arms over her chest. "Honestly, Clavin, you sounded like a pervert."
Serenity nods her head, "Yup. Pervert." Serenity agrees.
The guy behind her, Calvin, grunts and tightens his hold on her.
"What? It's a compliment." He bites out.
The red haired girl raises a slim eyebrow, green eyes shining in the rising sun, "If you had told me that, I'd kick you in the nuts."
Serenity giggles, and then squeaks when Calvin shakes her, "Good thing I wasn't saying it to you." He sneers at his friend.
"Uh, hello? Injured person over here?" The tanned man waves a hand.
"Oh shut up," The girl snaps, "You're lucky all she had was a bat."
Feeling like this is going off track, Serenity clears her throat, "Hi. Me again." She does one last scan of the room and asks, "You wouldn't happen to have seen someone else here, would you?"
The girl huffs and turns away. Serenity watches as she rummages around in the trash. She tenses, but when she looks for Zero's backpack, she notices it's gone.
"You're a naive one, huh?" She asks.
Serenity narrows his eyes, "What did you do with him?"
Calvin chuckles and pushes her away. She stumbles on her feet, arms aching from being locked behind her. She shakes out her hands, eyeing her bat a few feet away.
"Oh no," The brown haired boy snatches it up and rests it on the shoulder that wasn't hit, "No weapons for you. You're dangerous."
"Where is he?" Serenity asks again, glaring from one person to the other.
"Sorry to say it, but who ever your talking about is long gone." The girl says. Not seeming to find anything interesting, she turns to the stares. It looks like she debates on whether to go up or not.
Serenity bites her lip, gone? Zero wouldn't have left her. He's been helping her. She stares at the spot his stuff had been, now empty. Even his sword is gone.
Did he really leave her?
The others scuffling around the abandoned house shakes her out of her thoughts. Whether he left or not, she has to do something.
"How'd you know I was here?" She asks, gazing at Calvin as he rummages around in a dresser beside the front door.
"That's a dumb question." He says, not looking away from the contents inside the drawer. "If you don't want to be seen, maybe don't use a fire. Smoke gives you away pretty fast."
Serenity frowns when a memory from last night flickers through her head. The three figures on the street must have been them.
"You're not going to leave me to die, are you?" She asks, remembering Zero's words. He says not all survivors are nice and will only have their best interest in mind. Though she doubted him at first, seeing these three scavenge around is starting to prove him right.
"What the fuck did you say?" The brown haired boy turns to her and glares.
Serenity narrows her eyes on him, "He said not to trust strangers."
"Oh did he?" Calvin turns away from the dresser and smiles, except its anything but comforting. "Who is this 'he' again?"
Serenity straightens her shoulders, feigning a bravery she doesn't feel. "My friend."
"Your friend?" The girl laughs. "You mean the one who left you behind? You really are naive." The humor leaves her face, leaving behind a darkness Serenity hasn't seen before. "No one has friends anymore, sweet heart. Look around you." She waves an empty hand around the room, "He is the one who left you for dead."
Her words drive an arrow into her heart, and Serenity rubs at the ache in her chest. She remembers telling him that she trusts him. And how he said trusted her too. Was it all a lie?
She bites her lower lip, he said if the world wanted to survive the apocalypse, we had to save as many lives as possible. Was that all it was to him? He saved her, and now he can go on his way?
Her hands curl into fists at the thought. He promised to help her though, to get her shoulder fixed up so she doesn't get infected. Subconsciously, she reaches up to poke at the tender wound and hisses at the throb of pain.
"Hey, are you bit?" Calvin snaps the question out, voice hard as he glares at the wrap on her shoulder.
"No wonder he left your ass." The girl murmurs, eyes glued to her wound. She reaches into the back of her pants and pulls out a metal weapon. Serenity hasn't seen it before, and she stared at a hole in a barrel, her fingers wrapped around the handle.
It wasn't anything like the blade Zero carries, or the bluntness of her bat. This is something entirely different.