Kevin only sighed, putting his cigarette to his mouth again as his eyes surveyed everything around him with a tired look.
"I don't know who the Allfather is, or why he is doing this, or why he is even sparing me, but I swear I am going to kill him if I ever find him."
"You think we should leave this place and find him?" Max asked.
Finding the Allfather was a line of thought that Kevin had only subconsciously let out, but as Max asked the question, he was forced to ponder upon it. This house— He and Gina had saved up a lot of money to buy it, and it was dear to him despite its shabbiness, but he was not sure he could continue to stay there forever, given that there had been no more evacuation attempts since the first day.
"We should probably leave, Kevin." Max added, an afterthought.
Kevin only looked at him, tossing the butt of his cigarette away.
"I know, Maxwell. I know. I love this house so dearly, but it brings me a lot of pain to leave it, and even more to keep staying. Gina and I used to dream of having our kids run around in the spaces, and if I leave it, I will be leaving the dreams behind. If I stay, I will only be tormented by the memories."
"You said your girlfriend and friend pushed you towards the zombies?"
"I don't want to think about it, Max. I don't want to remember it." Kevin exhaled, rubbing his eyes as he spoke.
Touched by the pain the other man tried hard to hide, Max crawled over and put a supporting hand on his shoulder, handing him the cigarette and the lighter. When Kevin took his hands off his eyes to receive it, Max was thankful that he had not been crying.
But it was as Kevin was about to take the pack of cigarettes and the lighter that it dawned on Max.
"Your cubic metre space only keeps the zombies away. It did not stop me from coming close."
"True." Kevin said, lighting his cigarette again. "It could be as good as an imaginary space, until—"
With a yell Max felt himself being raised high into the air by some unseen force. He panicked, yelling until he saw Kevin chuckling below him. That was when he understood…
"Put me down, Kevin." He shot, unimpressed.
Slowly, and gently, Max was put down, Kevin still laughing.
"Do you have a car outside, are we taking mine, or are we going in two cars?" He asked when he gently let Max to the ground, exhaling smoke through his nostrils. "It's high time I left this bloody house of mine."
"Do you think we are ever going to come back?" Max asked, looking at his new friend.
"Maybe. If we survive all of this, who knows?"
"Of course we will." Max said, going to pick up his big bag.
Kevin stood up too, his eyes catching the five zombies Max had just shot down. One of them lay with its head broken open, and he could see the small crystal within.
"I should go upgrade my storage, Max." He told the other man, who watched him with interest as he picked up the crystal. The glow was not visible in daylight and certainly not when he was in no danger, so he slipped it into his pocket.
Desperate to get the others, he went to his chainsaw and picked it up, taking the four other crystals and adding them to the rest. After it, he and Max gathered some more stuff from his kitchen, with him levitating it as he moved it to Max's military van.
The sun was high and bright in the sky when he went outside, and he was forced to shield his eyes to control the burning they felt, having not seen the sun properly for hours. As soon as he loaded it into the back, Kevin surveyed the houses around, and instantly realised that his street had never been this quiet.
He missed the sounds— of passing cars, nightly music blasting from loudspeakers at teenage parties and even quarrelling couples a few times. Now all of it was awfully quiet, and he tried to imagine where they were, or what had happened to them. Hopefully, they would have been evacuated— it would be terrible for anyone to face the ravaging zombies and fall to them.
In the distance was his car, where he had carelessly left it in his attempt to keep Gina safe the previous day. It was still there, with the cracked windshield from the zombie's punches on it drawing his attention.
He tried to check his pockets for the keys, but they were long gone, most probably lost in the several fracas with the zombies he had gotten involved in. Out of options, he heaved a sigh until an idea came to his head.
His 3.5 cubic metre space.
He upgraded them with the small crystals, so that it became a 5 cubic metre space, appreciating the Allfather's genius with a silent nod. Despite his hatred for the man's playful antics, he was no fool, whoever he was.
Turning to look for Max, he saw the other man working on the things he had just put into the back of the van, his attention far off. Still determined to do what he had in mind, he went closer to the car and stood, making sure the front wheels were within his space.
It was an old fashioned kind of car, with the wheels utilising a Front Wheel Drive Technology. Taking advantage of this, he went to the front of the car and made the wheels roll forward. It looked as though it was following him, and he led it into the garage, opening and closing the garage with the Allfather's Technology as well.
When he returned, Max stood watching him with folded arms and a smile on his face.
"What?" Kevin asked, laughing.
"I envy you this power of yours. Maybe I should let a zombie bite me."
"It's fifty-fifty, lad." Kevin smiled. "You either become superhuman or become a zombie. Whichever way, you become something."
"Would you shoot me if I was ever bitten and turned into a zombie?" Max asked.
It was a question Kevin had not seen coming, and he remained silent. Max was a great guy, and it would be painful indeed to get to shoot him if he was ever bitten.
"We should not think about negative stuff." Kevin said, waving it off. "You will never be bitten by one of these things."
The other man nodded, throwing a machine gun at Kevin, which the other man deftly caught, forgetting his Spatial Manipulation ability for a second. "I've got all kinds of weapons in the back there, including a nice RPG in addition to food supplies and a few necessities. We know how to scavenge if we ever run out of stuff, don't we?"
"Sir, yes Sir." Kevin laughed with a mocking salute.
Max's only reaction was a smile. They were still smiling when they got into the van and Max connected the bulging wires, bringing life into the engine.
Together, they zoomed off into the sunny, bright, and still deathly silence of Middlestown, ready to face whatever was waiting for them out there.