Chapter 2: Friend
After a four hour drive in the countryside, Wichita parked the car beside a massive barn on the side of the road, scanning the area with Little Rock just to be sure it was safe. It was safe, by god, and had no zombies, lots of food and several easily and well protected floors. Wichita supported the Flordan as he exited the car, hauling him up the stairs to the second floor and settling him down beside a window. After settling themselves in for a while stay, they girls could no longer hold in their amusement. They began to laugh as loud as their lungs could possibly allow. "What? It's true! Dammit, if I didn't know better, I'd say that zombie was protecting me!" Tally growled, clearly pissed. "Sorry, but when I hear "a zombie spared my ass and I'm the most dangerous killer alive", I would laugh too!" Little Rock howled. Together, the three amigos settled in for the night, bunking down in the heavily fortified second floor.
FIVE DAYS LATER:
"Why can't we move on? We've been here for days!" Tally groaned as he sat on his blanket. "Well, how about you ask your damn leg? Mister "I have to have that one goddamn Twinkie out there left", even if it kills me!" Wichita snapped back. "Hey, I'm still capable of travel!" Tally exclaimed back, throwing his hands into the air. "Then, drive the car." Wichita hissed back, smirking devilishly at him. "Dammit!" Tally cried, plopping backwards onto the rest of his blanket in a huff of annoyance. Little Rock smiled at him, egging him to snipe zombies from the other farms in the area. "Alright, just don't shoot unless I say, got it?" he asked, the girl nodding back to him. Two hours later, the girls had gone to bed, Wichita on her small cot and Little Rock curled into her side. Tallahassee was bored. The girls were sleeping and he was cleaning his weapons, again. He jumped at the sound of distant moaning from downstairs, when it finally grabbed his attention. "Damn." he whispered, making it to the window. Peeking outside, a larger group of about twenty or so bloody dead people were passing by, as expected. "And I have to be fucking invalid right now." he whispered, cursing himself. He could damn well just sit here and kill them all…..To his horror, the group stopped. They moaned and made choking sounds, followed by a short gurgle. Two zombies moved towards the house first, followed by the rest. 'Shit!' he thought, racing to the top of the stairs. And before he could warn the girls, two intruders were at the bottom of the wooden planks, shambling their way up. And guess who left the door unlocked? Cocking his shotgun, and with two clean headshots, both bodies hit the floor. He peeked over the railing, seeing at least a dozen heads peering up at him. Well, he had their attention now. Little Rock came running up beside him, gunning down the zombies that came for her with a rifle. Wichita was up, too, taking them out with a plain knife and machete. A few minutes of shooting later, and the few alive zombies left were shambling away into the night. Tally and Little Rock were gunning them down, in case they tried to get more to follow them for another attack. Before Tally knew what was happening, he watched the collared one get shot down. Somehow, it hurt to watch this one fall. It was quiet for awhile before Wichita got up and began dragging the bloody bodies out the door and into the cornfield, setting them on fire. Just as the last few bodies were dragged out the door, it began to rain. While the girls finished their job, Tally stood out in the door frame, letting the rain dribble off his hat and shoulders. He put buckets out so they could have clean water to drink, pausing when he heard a groan behind him. Carefully stalking forward, he found the collared one buried under a pile of burnt bodies, weakly struggling to escape. "You again?" he asked, gaining its attention. He chuckled as it clumsily pushed against the pile, letting out another groan. "Look at ya. Is playing dead your favorite game?" he laughed, dangling his shotgun barrel over its forehead. The creature was pinned on its back, weakly thrashing its arms as he shoved the barrel in its face. It squeaked and shoved a little harder against the pile, Tally watching it for a quiet moment. "Tallahassee? What's taking so long?" Wichita's voice called from the barn. Stowing his shotgun, Tally dipped his hat to the zombie, walking away. "Nothing! I'm coming!" he called back, walking back into the barn. He sat with the girls around a fire, eating some food to fuel up for the night to come. Each person froze when they heard the loud crashing of metal outside. "Another one?" Little Rock whispered, moving to pick up her rifle. "I think I know what it is. Let me handle it." Tally smiled, heading to the window to peek out. He grinned wider when he spotted his prey, moving to the top of the stairs. "I knew it." he said, dashing down the wooden planks as quickly as he could. The girls followed, curious of the situation. As expected, he walked to the front door, unlocked and yanked it open, only to see the zombie kneeling on the ground over the bucket. It was drinking hastily, as if trying to down everything in one shot. "And? What is it?" Little Rock asked, peeking outside from Tally's armpit. Wichita poked her head outside through the hole left by Tally's hip, a strange expression crossing her face. "Is that even a zombie? Is that the one you were telling us about?" she asked, Tally nodding. "We should bring him in with us." he said, Wichita giving him a threatening stare. "Are you insane? We don't want a mutated zombie sitting with us!" Little Rock cried, her shrill voice startling the zombie. Tally watched as it sucked in too much water, coughing excessively to rid itself of pain in being startled. "You take care of the buckets, I'll take care of him." he said, reaching into his pocket for his secret weapon. Slowly walking up, he held out the package to the zombie. "Hey, remember me?" he asked, gaining the zombie's attention. It slowly turned around, humming at him in recognition. He held out the package to it, watching as the other's eyes began to shine. Reaching out, it tried to take its prize. Tally drew slightly away, hoping to lure it into following him. "Want to eat it?" he asked, taking a step back. The zombie stood up, letting a tiny click echo from its teeth. Backing slowly away, Tally drew the zombie into the house, keeping the Snowball in its sights just in case. It followed him soundlessly, eyes locked on the food. The girls paused in their job, watching him force the creature to sit on the ground beside him. "Here you go." he finally said, handing the prize to the zombie's eager hands. "What are you going to do with it?" Little Rock asked, sitting beside him. "Maybe, train it like a dog?" Wichita asked, causing the both of them to chuckle. "There's only one way to find out if it's actually a zombie. You two get a washbin ready. Our friend here is getting a bath today." Tally smiled, glancing at the zombie as it munched on the Snowballs. The first part of the plan went smoothly: the girls got the water into an old tub while Tally tried to undress the newcomer. At least, he tried to. The zombie flailed and cried as he peeled off the old clothing, barely managing to hold onto him. "Stop it, ya damn baby! Be a man and take your fucking bath!" Tally shouted, slamming the newcomer into the bathtub water. Once the zombie was fully situated in the warm fluid, Tally turned to the girls. "Okay, now get me some soap and help me wash him!" he shouted, holding the zombie in the water. "Ew, no! I'll get you the soap, but you're washing him!" Wichita exclaimed, throwing some towels and several bars of soap into the room. Little Rock walked in a little while later with a toothbrush and toothpaste, placing it on a stool next to the tub. While Tally was washing the kid's hair and backside, the kid picked up the toothbrush and paste, brushing his teeth. When he finished, they were pearly white and perfectly straight. When all the gunk was out of the kid's hair, Tally finally noticed some fresh blood gently oozing out of the side of the kid's head. He gently touched it, jerking backwards when the zombie turned and snapped at him with pearly teeth. Not long later, the girls were sitting in the living room around the fire when Tallahassee entered the room, followed by the newcomer. The boy was very clean now, his skin nearly all white while he wore too large sweatpants and a too large long sleeve. The old, bloody, ripped clothing was thrown away. "Let me introduce to you, Snowball, healthy unbitten human." Tally smiled, giving a bow in the direction of the teen. Said teen growled slightly in annoyance at his name. "Why "Snowball" anyway?" Little Rock asked once Tally sat down. "He likes them." he smiled back, holding up a small package of the treat. The zombie grabbed them and literally swallowed one whole. Wichita looked the newcomer up and down, eyeing his body. "A zombie is okay with being skinny, but a human shouldn't look like this. With clothes on, he looks like there's no flesh on him at all." she whispered to Tally, who nodded in agreement. Together, they sat by the fire, the zombie staring intensely at the flames, humming monotone notes. After a little while, Little Rock hummed the notes back to him, turning to him. The corners of his lips flicked upwards in a small smile, humming louder. With his monotone notes mixed with Little Rock's, they sounded like a pretty good song. The three partners eventually fell asleep to the zombie's humming, leaving Tallahassee to drift off last.