Amy closed her eyes and smiled blissfully as the wind roared against her skin. The only sound was the whizzing of the bike tyres and Duke galloping along side said bike, panting heavily, tongue lolling. She leaned into Reagan and draped her arms loosely around her neck before resting her chin on the top of the head of dark hair. It was important for Amy to savour moments like this. The small moments of peace that allowed her to keep her sanity and remind her what was important. Her family.
Duke's telltale growl bought Amy back to reality. It was a growl that she and Reagan had gotten used to over the last couple of years. A warning. Reagan bought her bike to an abrupt halt and immediately jumped into action, sprinting across the street while pulling her pistols from the back of her jeans. She swiftly raised them toward the undead's heads and pulled the triggers, taking them out in one shot. Amy cringed as the shots echoed throughout the air. It never got easier. Watching Reagan kill. It was necessary, but it still wasn't easy. If Amy was being honest with herself Reagan hadn't been herself for quite a while. Her almost annoying level of optimism was soon replaced with a ruthless nature that Amy didn't know she possessed. It had allowed them to survive but it wasn't how Amy wanted to live. Rarely she would catch a glimpse of the girl her girlfriend used to be. A quick smile or squeeze of Amy's fingers, but she would soon harden when she realised that she had let her defences down. It was her coping mechanism and Amy wished it wasn't, but it was the way things needed to be.
Reagan holstered her guns and knelt down beside the bodies that the undead had been ravaging. They were a man and woman, maybe in their late thirties. They were beyond help at this point so Reagan did the only thing she could do, loot the bodies. First she frisked the males body. He had a gold crucifix on a thin chain in his trousers pocket, a switch blade and a child's pacifier in his coat pocket - which Reagan found very curious. She moved onto the woman's body. There wasn't much. A couple of energy bars, $10 and picture of what appeared to be herself, the deceased male beside her and a young child. Just as Reagan was about to stand up she felt a hand brush against her ankle, she startled when she realised that the woman was still alive - barely. She quickly dropped back to her knees leaning in to hear what would be the woman's last words.
"Th- that's my…daughter," she wheezed.
"Your daughter? In the picture? Where is she? Is she here? Is she alive?" Reagan asked snatching the woman's hand.
The woman nodded meekly, blood trickling from her mouth at an alarming pace. Reagan knew she didn't have much time.
"Tell me. Where is she? What's her name?"
"Dai…sy."
"Daisy," Reagan nodded reaching for the woman's hand.
"Pl…ease do- don't let her be alone. We're all she…had."
"We'll find her. Don't worry."
Relief washed over the woman's face and her eyes immediately glazed over, her hand going limp in Reagan's.
Amy watched as Reagan tentatively closed the eyelids of the couple before dropping the new found loot into her backpack. Everything except the family photograph. Amy pushed the bike across the street, Duke close behind.
"Hey, what is that?"
"This is them," Reagan pointed at the photograph and then toward the still warm bodies on the ground. "And apparently this is their daughter, Daisy," Reagan said handing the photograph to Amy for her to examine.
The blonde bought the photograph close to her face and examined the baby in the photograph before turning it over and taking note of the date.
'22/08/2003'
"She's only 12 years old," Amy croaked sadly. "Is she still alive? Do you know where she is?"
"I'm not sure. But I think I know where to start," Reagan nodded, drawing Amy's attention to the trail of blood leading down the alleyway behind them.
Amy pedalled slowly with Reagan and Duke walking alongside her. Reagan had insisted that she needed to be on foot so that she wouldn't miss any clues that might lead them to Daisy. Although the blood trail seemed to be clue enough. They had been following it for at least 10 minutes now and it was just sinking in for both Amy and Reagan just how far the couple had run to protect their child.
"Do you think she is still alive?" Amy spoke, breaking the silence. "I didn't realise that they had come so far, how can we be sure that Daisy hasn't been taken or wandered off or something?"
"We can't be sure really can we? But I promised her mom that I would find her, so I have to at least try."
Amy looked over at Reagan who was on alert, scanning the area for any sign of trouble. She was constantly on. Always alert. Amy honestly wasn't sure the last time Reagan had 'turned off'. Even when she was asleep any tiny noise would cause her to jump up guns in hand. Reagan would never admit it but Amy knew she had crippling nightmares, which was the probably the reason why she ran on so little sleep these days. Many a time Amy would wake up to Reagan sitting in the corner of the room, crossed legged, guns in hand waiting for trouble to come. Anything to stop herself from sleeping and having another nightmare.
"Hey, you don't look so hot. When was the last time you slept?"
"Newsflash Amy. The world has been overrun by the undead, none of us are looking so hot right now."
"You're deflecting."
"I'm not deflecting. Look I sleep okay. Not for long, but I sleep. So stop worrying will you?" Reagan sighed.
Amy reached out and brushed Reagan's hand, "Never gonna happen."
"Wait, stop." Reagan warned, taking note of the what looked to be the beginning of the blood trail. "Looks like they put up one hell of a fight," she noted looking at the heap of broken glass covering the ground.
"Yeah no kidding. They must have ran at least what? Two miles."
Reagan frowned, spinning on her heel to check behind her. "Wait, where is Duke?..Duke!?"
Right on cue Duke trotted around the corner, smile on his face, a baby pink stuffed shark in his mouth.
"Aimes, there is blood all over his paws and are those…footprints?"
"Where'd you get that boy?" Amy asked plucking the toy from his grasp and turning it over in her hands. "Do you think this is…hers?….Reagan?"
"Amy come on!"
Amy lifted her head in time to see Reagan rounding the corner, sprinting after Duke who had taken off yet again.
"Oh shit." Amy sighed quickly getting on the bike and giving chase.
After a few twists and turns Reagan and Amy found themselves near a series of back gardens. Duke bounded into the garden that had clearly had it's fence broken down by something - something that clearly wasn't just the wind.
"Well this doesn't look too good," Reagan muttered walking across the splintered wood to join Duke. The entire garden was littered with at least 15 undead. Various guns and bullet shells littered the ground.
Amy lifted the bike and carried it into the garden, leaning it against what little bit of the fence remained. "Well I'm willing to bet that is why Duke has blood on his paws," she said pointing toward the back door.
"Holy shit," Reagan whispered creeping toward the bottom half of an undead body. The door was splattered with blood and guts and beneath it was a doggie door.
"What do you think happened? Amy asked, whilst peering over Reagan's shoulder.
"I'm not 100% but either the doggie door was booby trapped or they managed to stop it before it managed to get inside. My guess is a combination of the two."
"Well if it was booby trapped it isn't any more," Amy noted watching Duke slip through the door. "And I think it's the only way in."
Reagan glanced at all the boarded windows, they had several layers of wood blocking them. Between each piece of wood was a tiny slit. Just enough to shine light into the room behind. "I think you might be right."
"When am I ever wrong?" Amy scoffed dropping to her knees and pushing herself through the doggie door. "Are you coming or what?" she called from the other side.
Reagan pushed her rucksack through the doggie door before pulling herself through. When she finally squeezed through and picked herself up she was greeted by Amy staring at something ahead of her.
"Um, Amy what are you?…..Oh."
Strung above them were a variety of fresh raw meats. Skinned rabbits, skinned rats and deer parts.
"This must be pretty fresh," Reagan mused. "It's still dripping blood and they wouldn't have left it up there for so long in this heat."
Duke reared onto his hind legs and whined. He hadn't eaten a proper meal in days. Normally Reagan would let him go and scavenge for food but recently he had returned with an arrow in his front shoulder. Instead of finding food Duke had almost become food himself and since then Reagan hadn't given him the command to go and scavenge. So he was understandably losing his mind at the array of food in front of him. Reagan clambered onto the kitchen table, cut down the juiciest cut of meat on the line and dropped it in front of Duke. Duke circled the meat a few times before settling down, his tail now a blur and his grunts of contentment filling the room.
"Should we check out the rest of this place?" Amy suggested already making a move.
The first room they checked was the living room. Furniture was sparse. There was a couch, a couple of chairs and a single coffee table. The main feature was a fire place that definitely had been used recently judging by the smokey smell in the room. A few vintage pin up posters were scattered on the walls.
"This one is you," Amy decided pointing to a poster which featured a dark haired woman, who had a pistol in either hand and her eyes squinted shut while she stuck her tongue out.
"Literally you," Reagan decided pointing to a picture of a blonde on bike, her long red dress flowing behind her as she sat side saddle. "Let's go check upstairs," Reagan suggested, drawing her pistols and cautiously stepping up the creaky stairs.
They crept silently down the hallway, stopping at the first door and carefully opening it. It was the bathroom. Reagan stepped in and Amy followed gently closing the door behind them.
"Why are you closing the door!?" Reagan asked in a hushed whisper.
"I can't search the house if I don't have a weapon!" Amy responded.
Reagan clenched her jaw and took a step toward Amy. "And who's fault is that!? I'm constantly telling you that you need at least a pistol but you 'don't want to be a killer'. You know those undead aren't people anymore right? The people they once were are long gone, killing them is actually doing them a favour. It's putting them out of their misery. And I think the sooner you realise that the better Amy. If I've learnt anything today it's that neither of us will be here forever and I don't want to leave behind someone who won't even fight!"
By the end of her speech Amy was now pressed against the bathroom door, Reagan mere inches from her face.
"..…"
"What?"
"….Is it bad that I'm a little turned on right now?"
"Wow!" Reagan gasped pushing Amy out of the way and barging out of the bathroom door.
"I'm not going to apologise for being attracted to you!" Amy scoffed rushing to catch up with Reagan.
"When did I say you should apologise?" Reagan asked sliding into a master bedroom guns trained on the corners of the room. "I just think it's a tiny bit inappropriate to be horny while I'm discussing my concerns for you."
"The heart wants what the heart wants. Or in this case the vagina wants what the vagina wants." Amy shrugged.
Reagan diligently swept the walk in closet before lowering her weapons and walking toward the king size bed that resided in the room. "Wow, this is a bed. An actual bed. Haven't seen one of these in a while."
"And it's pristine too," Amy interrupted. "Obviously this house has been well guarded for years."
"When we are done here I'm gonna nap so fucking hard on that bed." Reagan grunted before raising her weapons and sliding back out of the room.
The next room was pretty much empty aside from a work bench, scrap metal and a small cache of weapons.
"Well I guess we're done here?" Amy shrugged noticing that there were no other rooms to check.
Reagan shook her head pointing directly above them. Amy tip toed and reached up to pull at the string, pulling down a set of ladders and motioning for Reagan to climb them. Reagan obliged climbing the stairs, guns still at the ready.
The attic was pitch black and didn't have the weird musty smell that a lot of attics did. Another sign that this house was well taken care of. Amy scrambled up the stairs behind Reagan, blinking rapidly to try and adjust her eyes to the lack of light. It worked just enough for her to catch Reagan's figure walking along the outside of the room feeling for some sort of switch. Amy bumbled across toward Reagan grabbing her arm and squeezing it gratefully.
"Are you feeling me up right now?" Reagan asked cheekily.
"Do you want me to be?"
"Depends. Ah. Got it."
Reagan flicked on the light and when she did she noticed that Amy had gotten completely stiff. Probably because in the opposite corner of the room was a girl who had her cross bow trained on the both of them. Amy's grip on Reagan arm became much tighter to the point it was actually beginning to hurt, but Reagan had bigger things to worry about. Like maybe an arrow penetrating their faces.
"What are you doing in my room!?" The girl demanded. "And what is she doing with Charlie?"
"Charlie?" Amy frowned. "The shark? This?" Amy asked realising she still had the plush toy in her hand.
"Yes. How did you get him?"
"Our dog bought it to us," Reagan explained. "And then he led us here, to this house."
"I don't believe you."
And right on cue Duke bounded up the stairs, blood stained muzzle, teeth bared and growl in place.
"Wow. How do you do that?" Amy asked gratefully holding Duke by the collar.
"I- I- Is he rabid?"
Reagan took offence at such a rude question and scoffed. "What!? N-"
A hard nudge from Amy knocked the wind out of her sails. "Yes. Yes he is rabid. And he is trained to attack on cue. So I'd drop the crossbow if I were you."
The girls shaky hands slowly lowered the crossbow, not fully - but enough.
"What are you doing in my room?" she asked again, voice trembling.
Amy glanced the room. On closer inspection it was clearly a bedroom. A little girls bedroom. The room had pink carpet, colouring books were strewn on the ground along with various toy trucks which held action figures. A pile of comics rested on a bedside table, next to the bed that the girl was standing on and an array of weapons rested in the corner of her room. Amy noticed that all of the weapons had clearly been modified to suit the girls small hands. A Tank Girl poster hung above the weapons. But the most telling thing about the room was the banner above the bed that read 'Daisy'.
"You're Daisy?," Amy breathed.
"How did you know that?" Daisy spat quickly raising the crossbow again.
Amy flinched and Reagan pointed her guns at Daisy. It felt wrong to do that to a child but it was just a safety precaution, sure she was a killer now, but not a killer of those who are still human, not a killer of children.
"The banner above your bed but also beca-"
"We're friends of your parents. They sent us." Reagan lied - kind of.
"Bullshit. I know all of my parents friends and you aren't one of them." Daisy replied adamantly.
"Okayyy, so we weren't friends. But they did send us to find you."
"You're lying."
"I can prove it. I'm going to reach for my bag. Don't shoot me okay."
Daisy tightened the grip on her weapon but nodded in acceptance.
Slowly Reagan placed her guns on the ground in front of her, before sliding her backpack off her shoulders and reaching inside. Tentatively she removed the crucifix, photograph and pacifier holding them up in the air for Daisy to see. Tears welled up in her eyes as she recognised her parents possessions.
"They're gone aren't they? They said if they weren't back in 2 hours then I had to leave. It's been way over two hours and I was hoping…."
Amy averted her gaze and Reagan shook her head solemnly, "I'm sorry."
Daisy slumped onto her bed. Duke whined sensing the sudden change in atmosphere. Reagan looked at Amy panic flaring in her eyes. Reagan wasn't a huge fan of kids (unless they were her family), sure she could tolerate them but she didn't seek them out. Which is why this whole thing was kind of foreign to Amy. A few years ago Reagan would never have done this, seek out a child, especially one she didn't even know. But yet here they were…
Amy shrugged helplessly - she had never been great with kids either.
Reagan sat on the bed and pushed herself back until she was level with Daisy.
"Erm…so you said earlier that you had to leave if your parents didn't come back. Do you know where you have to go?"
Daisy nodded, dropping her head into her hands.
"Where?"
"Michigan."
"Michigan huh. Is someone waiting there for you?"
"My aunt and uncle and cousins. Three of them." Daisy said perking up a little bit.
"That's nice, it's nice to have people to rely on, especially in situations like this."
"Do you any family left?"
"Just those two," Reagan replied throwing a quick glance Amy and Duke's way. "And we're going to take you to Michigan."
"I don't even know your name," Daisy whispered.
"I'm Reagan and that's Amy and he is Duke."
"He isn't really rabid is he?" Daisy watching curiously as Duke's tail thumped against Amy's leg.
"No, she just didn't want you to shoot me in the face! The blood on his muzzle is from some of the meat downstairs." Reagan made a move to get off the bed. "Okay, we should make a move before it gets dark."
"Actually I think we should stay here until morning," Daisy suggested. "It's already getting a little dark and you look….tired."
"Told you so!" Amy smirked, happy to gain a point against her girlfriend.
"Okay, I'll keep look out while you guys sleep."
"Why?" Daisy asked confused. "Aren't you going to be tired tomorrow?"
"No, I'll be okay." Reagan reassured her.
"Reagan, come on." Amy pleaded. "When is the last time we slept on something that wasn't a filthy mattress? Just sleep. Just for one night. Please?"
"But what about the undead? They breached the house plus there are a ton of bodies out there. It's clear that someone is occupying the house. I just don't wanna be caught off guard."
"They only came in because my Mom removed the barrier from the doggie flap."
"Wait what?"
"She wanted to go out and forage for some scrap metal and they were just….there. One of them grabbed her and she yelled for me to get my dad. He told me to hide and said if they weren't back in a few hours then I should start making my way to Michigan."
"Alone?"
"Yeah. We have a map, I can read it really well."
"I just don't understand how they expected you to do it alone."
"I hunted most of that meat that's in the kitchen. They've trained me for the day that I might be left alone. I can do it."
"Well now you have us," Amy chimed in trying to lighten the tone of the conversation. "So at least you won't be alone. Reagan you should go and lay down while me and Daisy seal the house."
"But what if-"
"I'm a good shot I swear!" Daisy reassured walking to the pile of weapons in the corner of her room and grabbing what Reagan identified as a Ump 45. "This should do it," she decided cocking the gun and staring down it's sights.
"Are those all yours?" Reagan asked in awe. "That is a lot."
"Can you really have too many weapons at a time like this?" Daisy asked - although it felt more like a statement. "So me and Amy are going to do the seal now."
"Okay," Reagan nodded, following as they descended from the attic. She carried on following Daisy and Amy toward the main stairs.
"Where are you going?" Daisy questioned Reagan with raised eyebrow. Amy laughed to herself, amazed at the similarities between the two of them.
"To sleep on the couch. Where else?"
"No. Take my parents bed. The couch sucks. Trust me, I know first hand."
"Oh..that's kind of-"
"Weird? I know. But whatever." Daisy shrugged turning on her heel and heading downstairs.
Amy perched on the kitchen counter as she watched Daisy fussing around the kitchen. Soon all the meat which was once above them was now laid out on any available surface space.
"What are you going to do with all of that? Eat it right now?" Amy asked.
"No. We don't- I don't eat at night. Food is rare and eating in the evening is a waste because you will wake up hungry anyway. Better to eat while you're active rather than when you don't really need it right?"
Amy nodded thoughtfully as she pondered this theory.
"We don't usually get this much meat," Daisy explained, pulling a butterfly knife from her pocket and proceeding to slice the meat into manageable chunks. "So I don't know what I'm going to do with it all." As she spoke she produced three metal jars and a container of salt. Dumping the salt into each container she continued to speak. "We would normally just fill these containers with meat. One each. And anything left over my parents would sell. But I guess they won't be doing that anymore."
"They fought hard for you," Amy said firmly. "By the time we found them there were only two left. I just wish we had found them sooner. But they fought for you. I just thought you should know."
"Thanks," Daisy whispered taking strips of meat and dropping them into the jars laid out in front of her. There was a comfortable silence as Daisy went about her task, a task which was obvious to Amy she had completed many times before. Amy couldn't help but notice how Daisy didn't look her in the eye, rather she kept her eyes trained on the door ready for something, anything to happen.
"Do you have a family? Parents?" she asked suddenly, pushing a jar toward Amy. Daisy started shaking her jar vigorously and Amy followed her lead.
"Yes. No. Maybe? I'm not sure. I lost contact with them. We got separated, I haven't seen them in years," Amy admitted.
"What about your girlfriend?"
"My what?"
Daisy rolled her eyes and raised an eyebrow mockingly at Amy and for the first time since they encountered this girl Amy noticed that she was literally a mini version of Reagan. From her mannerisms and attitude to her appearance - which was weird because her pale skin and blonde hair would suggest that she looked more like Amy. She wore denim dungarees, paired with a plaid long sleeve shirt and battered converse - very Reagan. But it was all in the face and attitude. The same upward turned brown eyes. The slightly chubby yet angled face. The mannerisms and the snark.
"Your girlfriend." Daisy sighed rolling her eyes once more.
Definitely the snark.
"My…girlfriend?"
And all at once it occurred to Amy that she had never called Reagan her girlfriend out loud. Sure she had thought it in her head but she had never said it out loud, never properly introduced her to her friends, never introduced her to her Mom, never got the chance to show her off. And now this new world had snatched that from her, or maybe she had done that to herself.
"Erm, I think you can stop shaking that now." Daisy suggested watching Amy shaking her container with a vacant look in her eyes. "I'm sorry for asking."
"No, it's not that…it's….nevermind. Her family? Honestly I don't know. I don't know anything about her family?" Amy admitted.
"Wow. Worst girlfriend ever," Daisy muttered.
"Yeah…I fucking suck."
After a few more minutes they had finished their first task.
"Okay, now we seal the door."
Daisy took a sheet of reinforced metal from the cupboard and slid it into a slot in front of the the doggie flap.
"Wait. That's it?" Amy scoffed unimpressed.
"That's it."
"So you didn't really need me down here did you?"
"Not really," Daisy shrugged. "But if you had stayed upstairs Reagan would never have gone to sleep because she would be too focused on watching over you. But give her a few minutes of space and her body will finally give into sleep."
"Not to sound condescending but you are super smart."
"My parents ar- were professors. They taught me everything I know."
The gentle jingle of Duke's collar interrupted their conversation. He whined while looking at Amy. He could never go to sleep until everyone else was sleeping and he was clearly ready for bed.
"I know buddy. It's bedtime. Let's go." Amy sighed.
Duke trotted up the stairs, Amy and Daisy trailing behind him. But instead of heading into the master bedroom he bounded straight up the attic stairs.
"Duke! No!"
"No it's okay," Daisy said quickly. "Is it okay if he stays with me? I'd like that."
"Sure. I'll see you in the morning alright?"
"Goodnight Amy."
"Goodnight Daisy."
Amy watched as Daisy descended the steps before heading to the master bedroom.
Reagan was definitely sleeping, but she was sitting upright, knife clutched tightly in her hand, guns on the window sill behind her ready for any intrusion. Amy crept quietly toward her, knowing that any loud noise will send her into high alert.
Amy cringed as a floorboard creaked below her feet and Reagan's eyes shot open.
"Hey," Reagan smiled sleepily loosening the grip on her knife. "You okay?"
"I've been doing some thinking," Amy blurted settling down beside Reagan. "I'm sorry for never introducing you to my friends, or my mom, or holding your hand in public or-"
"You weren't ready Amy. You didn't know that this would happen. None of us did."
"But I should have been ready. We were dating for months. I should have been ready."
Reagan wiggled down until she was laying her side and closed her eyes. "Amy I'm not being funny but this is literally the first time I will have slept properly in a long while. I can't believe the only night we have a bed to sleep in is the night you decide to get all confessional. So typical," she smirked.
"You're right. I'm sorry." Amy said settling down beside Reagan.
"Come here you idiot," Reagan mumbled pulling Amy toward her.
It had been a while since they had spooned and Amy melted as Reagan draped an arm around her stomach. She closed her eyes and smiled blissfully as the Reagan's breathe blew against her skin. The only sound in the house was Reagan's breath and Duke's snoring. Amy leaned into Reagan and linked their fingers together stroking the scars that littered Reagan's hands. It was important for Amy to savour moments like this. The small moments of peace that allowed her to keep her sanity and remind her what was important. Her family.
A/N: This wasn't a prompt. Just something I was working on and had never finished, so I decided to just finish it. You can tell because it starts super detailed and just drops off. Sorry guys haha. And no I haven't forgotten about Landmarks!