Chapter 1: Another day in Paradise

I keep my rifle aimed at the infected, holding my breath. It shambles by, letting out a gurgled moan. I remain hidden in the nearby bushes. The infected continues to shamble a couple feet in front of me, gurgling randomly. I keep my gun aimed at it, where I then hold my breath, and fire. The gun makes a loud crack as the bullet whizzes from the bushes, and into the brain of the infected. The bullet hits it in the head, throwing it's brains from it's head and onto the grass.

I rise out of the bushes and head over to the infected. I poke it with my gun several times, where it responds by fidgeting.

Seems dead.

I sigh and roll my shoulders, looking around as I do. The forest colors do not seem discouraged by the fallen infected. The trees gently bend in the soft breeze as the leaves fall from them onto the ground. Despite the current situation, the area does look quite beautiful. I hear rustling behind me. I point assault rifle in that direction and I see a hat raised from the bushes. I lower my gun and motion for her to come out.

After I make the motion, out comes Christina, my wife.

"Shit, you alright, Steve? Heard the gunshot." She asks me, concern in her voice. I nod.

"Yeah, I'm alright, baby. Just had a run-in with an infected. He's dead though." I motion to the fallen infected behind me, who finally went still. Christina slowly nods.

"Great. Find anything?" She asks me, removing her cowboy hat to scratch the top of her head.

"Nah, nothin'. We can go home now." I tell her as I walk over.

We begin walking back to our base of operations, a nearby motel called the 'Stop N' Sleep'. We holed up there with other survivors and elected a man named Charlie Ramsay to be our leader. We continue walking back, mainly in silence to hear the infected until I decide to break the silence.

"So... You find anything?" I ask her as I look behind us, making sure we're not being followed.

"Nah. Tried getting one of the birds, but you know how that typically goes." She says with a soft chuckle. I smile as we keep walking.

Eventually we make it to a street, and across from it is the motel. It is surrounded by a small improvised wall that rises several feet from the ground with guards posted on it. Me and Christina walk across, where the guard's attention is turned to us.

"It's us!" I yell and raise my rifle, Christina raising her hunting rifle after. After this, we both sling our weapons over her shoulders. The guards nod and drop down a small step ladder, Christina going up first, me going up second and pulling it with me. They both nod to us as me and Christina hop down the other side, heading to the small office where Charlie lived and operated. I knock on the door and wait several moments until the door opens, revealing Charlie.

"Steve, find anything?" He asks me, his Marine uniform still crisp and clean, his bald head clear of hair, and locking his eyes to mine.

"No sir. Shot an infected dead with my rifle though." I say with a shrug and motioning to my rifle. He slowly nods. "There might be some deer in the area, though. I think I sighted one before it ran off." I say hopefully.

"Ah, I see. Good job taking care of that infected." I nod, feeling proud of myself. "We'll look in the area again later. Take the rest of the day off. You and Christina." He says as he pats my shoulder. I smile and nod. He returns the smile and nod, heading back inside. I look to Christina.

"Looks like we got a day off." I say with a smile. She returns the smile as I walk over and put an arm around her. I look over her. She wears her favorite green jacket with a pair of grass stained jeans. She adjusts her cowboy hat, another favorite of hers. I gave it to her as a gift and she often wears it every day. It seemed to fit her proud Texan attitude.

She puts an arm around my waist as we walk to our room, reaching the stairs and heading up. We reach the second floor, many of the windows open, showing some of the motel's inhabitants and their families. It always gave me a warm fuzzy feeling that things were going back to the old days of normality. Most, if not all lost their families to either the Hunters, sickness, military, or the damn cordyceps infection. Christina's family and friend Stella live here. The only person in her family she doesn't have here is her mother, who died a long while ago. The only childhood friend I have here is a Native American guy named Raymond. He's a lot like a brother to me.

We reach our room where I then grab the key from my pocket and unlock it, heading it. We enter, where I kick off my boots off onto the tan colored shag carpet. Christina removes her hat, revealing more of her blonde hair. She sets it onto the table with a sigh, walking over to the fridge after and reaching into it. I plop on the couch while I hear a couple clinking nosies from the fridge. A couple moments later she comes back with two opened Budweiser beer bottles. I smile as she hands one to me. We clink our bottles together as she sits on the couch. This is our usual way to unwind after a day of work.

We both take sips from the bottles. I look to her after.

"So..." I say as I take another sip from the bottle.

"Hm? What's up?" She asks with a smile as she takes a few more sips from her beer.

"That rifle been alright?" I ask, looking to her hunting rifle that sits on the table.

"Yeah, it kicks ass." She responds as she looks over to it, then looks back to me.

"Reminds me of the rifle my dad taught me to use." She notes as she rests her foot on one of her knees.

"My dad just taught me to use a pistol mainly." I respond honestly. It's been an extremely long time since I've seen my parents and brother. I lean back against the couch with a yawn before Christina lays her head against my chest.

I gently run my hand through her hair as she responds with a grin. I set my bottle aside and put an arm around her. She purrs and wraps an arm around me. I kiss the top of her head before grabbing my beer and taking a sip from it.

"Nice sunset, eh?" I ask her as I put my arm around her side.

"Yeah, really pretty." She responds as she looks towards the window and at the dipping sun. Several moments of silence pass. She suddenly stands and heads to the bathroom.

"Gonna take a shower, care to join?" She says to me as she continues walking. I blush a bit a head over after taking a final sip from my bottle.

We enter the bathroom and strip down. I look her over as she turns on the shower, marveling at her body. She enters and makes room for me as I go in after her. I sigh in pleasure as the warm water pours down as we wash ourselves. I grab the soap and begin soaping myself, washing the suds off after. Then I begin scrubbing Christina's back, looking over the tattoo that decorates her back. The tattoo is a wolf sitting passively sitting, but it's ears pointing up, alert.

We continue showering until I decide to talk.

"Did I scare you with that gunshot today?" I ask, continuing to soap her back.

"A little." She responds, washing the shampoo in her hair.

We continue washing until we dry off and get dressed. I get into a pair of boxers and my favorite T shirt, the logo of Guns N' Roses. I watch as Christina hops into her red and blue pajama pants and grey tanktop. I head to the bed and climb in, pulling myself under the blankets. I sigh and shut my eyes. I then feel Christina get in next to me and cuddle up to me.

"Love you." She whispers.

"Love you, too." I whisper back. I pull her close and let the exhaustion pull me under.

Tomorrow we have work, but it's good to be home for the time being.

So how did you guys like it? It's my first crack at fanfic writing and different from my usual writing style. Any criticism is appreciated! I will get to work on the next chapter.