Francis shifted the metal bar aside and opened the safe room door. Anticipation burst within me as I sprinted out of the room, my dual pistols raised as I scavenged the store. "There's no infected in here!" I alerted Francis.

"Would you relax Zo, we're only going next door. Keep it down." He spoke with a hard voice, but I knew he must have been keeping a smile. I ignored his orders and struggled to maintain a steady walk as I skipped down an aisle toward the front door. A sight of clothing stopped me dead on my feet. Jackets, jumpers, polo shirts, shorts, track pants and hiking boots. I smiled with glee as Francis joined me.

"We'll grab some after we get the food." He must have noticed my smile, otherwise he wouldn't have thought twice about obtaining new clothes. I turned around to thank him, but he was right behind me. Even with a smile on his face, I still imagined the stranger from my dream. I fought to avoid cringing against him, so I mumbled something unintelligible and stalked near the front door. He followed me obediently but held me back just as I was about to clasp the door handle. "I would usually say ladies first, but in a situation like this I think its best if I go first darlin'." I forced a giggle as he shoved open the door and peered into the open night. We had already gone through a whole day locked up in that safe room. No wonder I was going nuts.

"It's deserted." He whispered. I stalked out after him and raised my pistols, trying to spot any miniscule hint of movement evident in the street. But there was nothing. I didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing.

We stopped just outside the doorway of the grocery store. Francis turned around to face me, "We're only going to spend about fifteen minutes in here. I know we don't exactly have the time, but we can't hang around for too long without attracting any unwanted attention." I nodded as he pushed open the door. Part of me waited for an alarm to screech throughout the store so we could have some action around here, but that would most likely lead to our deaths.

I resumed stealth mode as I stalked aisle after aisle, shooting a few of the common infected dead. Along the way, I grabbed at what I could, most of it was canned food and bags of chips that would most likely be stale, but I would eat anything in this situation. Francis was in the aisle to the left of me as I heard his voice struggling to say something. I ran down the end of my aisle and left into his as I saw a Smoker's tongue twisted around his neck, the Smoker was on the opposite end of our aisle, attempting to drag him closer to his death.

I sprinted up to Francis as he was fighting to rip the tongue off his neck. "Hold on!" I shifted my weight onto my knees to get a better aim and pulled the triggers as the bullets ripped through its chest and face. The Smoker let out a struggled sigh and exploded in a cloud of thick smoke and fog that incapacitated my lungs. I darted back to Francis and untwisted the tongue before collapsing onto the floor with a sigh. All I could feel was the bruising in my stomach… maybe it was a good idea to stay put in the safe room. I looked up and down our aisle, as the last few infected in the store were sprinting towards us. I took the right and Francis took the left as we finished them off effortlessly.

"Next time," He panted, "We kill every vampire first, and then we get the shit we need." He joined me on the floor, sitting opposite me as he leaned against the haphazard products. I avoided his gaze and kept my eyes to the floor, noticing all our items left scattered along the linoleum.

"We should get going. We could have drawn attention outside." I stood slowly, grasping the stand of the aisle to support my weight. Francis still remained on the floor.

"Why don't you look at me no more?" He said.

"What?" I whispered as I spun my head in his direction, taking in his pained look.

"I said, why don't you look at me no more?"

Because you shot me.

"I do look at you." I whispered again.

"No you don't. You avoid talking to me, or even smiling at me!"

Because you shot me.

"I'm talking to you now." I said, strengthening my voice.

"That's 'cause I'm directly asking you questions. You just seem so cold around me, and I wanna know why." He stood up this time.

Because you shot me.

"I'm not being all cold around you." I scolded.

He walked right up to me and bent down, glaring into my face. I flinched. "Oh. Really?"

He shot me. He shot me. He shot me.

"You know it all started after that nightmare you had. Did I have anything to do with your dream?"

Yes. You shot me.

"What… no!" I didn't dare move away from him.

"Then what the hell is going on Zo! What have I done?"

You shot me. You shot me. You shot me.

"You haven't done anything." I whispered.

"Bullshit." He reached to place his hand on my cheek. "Tell me what's goin' on Zo. I'm worried about you."

You shot me.

I knew it was right to tell him. I also knew it wasn't fair to treat him like this. He wasn't at fault; I was just making a big deal out of the situation. I knew the real Francis wouldn't want to hurt me like that. He would understand, and he could even help. I sighed. "Okay."

His eyes lit up. "Yeah?"

"But not here. Not now. I think we have some trouble up front. We wouldn't want Bill dragging himself out… along with Louis." I actually smiled up at him.

He smiled back down at me. "Let's give these bloodsuckers a show."

We stumbled and picked up our new belongings and went to the front of the store. Yes, we had attracted attention, but not enough to get us both killed. I grabbed two bags from the register counter and placed everything inside. Francis leaned just beside the door and waited until I gave him the signal. I smiled and nodded as he opened the door to the ravenous infected that lurched inside. I shot from the counter, my aim was beyond perfect as I caused five headshots and seven in the chest as Francis helped finish them off. After killing the last infected, we shut the grocery store behind us and stealthily snuck back inside the sports store.

Francis marched right up to the safe room door with the bags just as I grabbed pieces of each clothing before we entered the room.

"Took your time." Bill grunted.

"We got into some trouble." I responded as I set the clothes on the wooden table.

"Here's the food old man. You're cookin' tomorrow." Francis guffawed before settling down onto a sleeping bag. I knew I wouldn't be able to delay telling him, so I spread the clothes out and soon after I joined him on the floor.

"That was kinda fun." He smiled and put his arm around me.

"Yeah." I agreed. "I needed to get the hell outta this place. Thanks for letting me come along." We were both silent for a minute.

"You wanna tell me what the dream was about?" I didn't look up at him, instead I nestled into his chest and he hugged me tighter.

Where the hell do I start with this? I didn't want to remember the vivid dream, but I already promised to tell him. I couldn't go back on my word; I wasn't that kind of person. But we had to clear the air between us, things were getting shaky. I sighed and started, "I was… I think I was infected… because the infected weren't attacking me. They were killing all of the humans that were trying to escape. But there was this one girl with an entire horde all around her. I bent down 'cause I would have tried to save her but…" I stopped for a second and gathered my thoughts. I didn't want to run through every single piece of information, so I cut it down to avoid my own breakdown. "Instead, I tasted her blood. I ripped her apart and ate her flesh." I felt Francis flinch as he held me tighter. "The sad part was… I actually liked it. And I couldn't stop. I know what you mean now when you call them vampires." I tried to emit a laugh out of him, but it was as if a part of him was dead next to me.

After a minute he replied. "Zo, I'm sorry to hear that." He bent to kiss my greasy hair.

"That's not all." I regretted opening my mouth. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Yes. Zoey tell him. "You, Bill and Louis found me on the street and your guns were raised." I choked and caught a breath to continue on, "I don't know if you guys actually realised or knew it was me, but you shot me dead." I whispered the last part as a tear trickled down my cheek.

"I'm so sorry Zoey. You know I would never do that though, right?" He shifted me around so I could look into his eyes.

"But I was infected. It was the right thing to do."

"No Zoey. I couldn't kill you. That's not the right thing to do. There's no way in hell I could do that to you." He bent down and kissed my forehead. I blushed a blood-red. I looked into his face and I knew he was telling the truth. We stared at each other for endless minutes as the night wore on. Bill must have limped back in as I could hear a second muffle of snores protrude from him.

Francis saw me eying the men. "I think its time we slept. You need to rest." He caressed my cheek.

I grunted. "You're the one who was almost choked to death, stupid. You need the rest." I joked as he grabbed another sleeping bag.

I felt a shiver crawl down my spine and I leapt from the floor and took hold of a red jacket that looked similar to my own. Upon placing it on, I stumbled back towards Francis in the darkness, trying to reach for him. My hands came across his sculpted chest, and my heart did a somersault. I knew I would have normally let go, but in this circumstance I kept my hands where they were and reached all the way around to his back and pulled him in for a tight hug. His powerful arms enclosed around my waist as he picked me up and held me.

"Um, Francis…"

"Hold on." He chucked and set me down into an open sleeping bag. I giggled as he joined me and covered us both. Francis had somehow set up the sleeping arrangement so that we could gather warmth from the both of us, as well as the sleeping bag that covered us as a blanket.

"How did you…?"

"It's all in Sleeping Bags for Dummies darlin'." He pulled me closer so that I was inches away from his face, as the rest of my body hugged his body perfectly like a jigsaw piece. Francis grabbed the back of my head and pulled me closer until our lips touched. He kissed me softly and tenderly as his hand slowly slid down my neck and ran along my back, igniting goose bumps along the path he had touched.

I lifted my hand and caressed his back, digging my fingernails in as the kisses became deeper and as we hungered for more. Our breaths were ragged as we stopped for a minute, trying to steady our breathing as to not disturb the others. They were both snoring as loudly as they had been prior to Francis kissing me. I couldn't help but laugh.

Francis held me tighter, "You're not going anywhere," he whispered into my ear. It tickled and sent a shiver throughout my body.

"Don't let me go anywhere then," I kissed him one last time before he cuddled me closer and held me throughout the night.

I woke to the sounds of cutlery scraping against the china plates as well as a rumbling vibration that I felt behind me. I opened my eyes and noticed Francis's arm locked around my waist. I smiled and sat up, groggily taking in the scene in front of me. Bill and Louis were both eating into their beans on toast as I realised they had been watching their own display of Francis and I cuddling. They both noticed I was awake and mumbled something to each other, both chuckling. I felt my cheeks redden as I turned away.

The rumbling increased behind me as Francis sat up next to me, "Could you two keep it down! Some people are trying to sleep!" His eyes shifted towards mine and he smiled, "Well, good morning darlin'." I smiled back as he grabbed a hold of my hand.

"You two better get a move on. Grab something to eat and load your weapons. We're getting out of here."

"What time is it?" I asked as I jumped from the sleeping bags and pulled on my grimy converses.

"It's about late afternoon. We should get a head start just before night falls and hopefully aim to make it to the next safe room before morning in two days." Bill grabbed the town map and examined it carefully. I grabbed a can of beans and toppled them onto my toast. Okay, so it wasn't quite nutritious or appetising, but it was all that would take to satisfy the hunger I planned to replenish.

"How're you feeling Louis?" I asked.

"Not fully healed. But girl, I'm definitely ready to kill some zombies!"

We waited until the sun was low enough so we wouldn't be as easily detected by the zombies. Bill assumed the next safe room was almost twelve blocks away, which we could easily cover within a day if we didn't stop to rest, or if we didn't run into any trouble…

"Clear?" Bill grunted.

"We're good to go." I sounded as I turned the corner into a deserted street. I lead the way with Bill behind me, and Francis and Louis watching the back. We'd steered clear from major trouble, only capturing the attention of a Hunter that missed Bill by a few inches. Francis took it out before he pounced, for which I gave him a grateful look as he winked back at me.

We continued on for another block until a chill picked up. A frosty breeze swirled around the street as trees began to tremble with a strong force of wind and the trash collated in the street blew up in a gust. There was a far off echo. At first I thought it was the gale, but as the sound was increasing in volume, I failed to recognise the familiarity. I couldn't quite put the sound to the object.

"Do you guys hear that?" I whispered as we stopped by a corner shop.

"Sounds like gunfire to me." Louis leaned against the brick, trying to catch his breath.

"It's a chopper." Bill clarified.

"A chopper?" Louis asked.

"A helicopter, you moron!" Francis rebuked.

"Shut…"

"Is it a rescue?" I interrupted in their uproar as I turned towards Bill.

"We'd better hope so." He threw his cigarette to the ground and stomped on it until the fire flickered out, "Either they summon a broadcast or we'll have to make a show of our own."


A/N: Hey guys, another slow chapter for which I'm sorry for, I just had to develop a few of the characters and I had get them out of that boring safe room!

I promise there'll be a load of action within the next few chapters, as I've already written them. I'm just taking a few days to edit and to chop and change a few parts to make the story better for you guys.

Again, just a major thanks to everyone for the reviews and favourites, it really helps me to continue writing and I hope you guys are enjoying the story. There's a major twist coming up within the next two chapters so stay tuned :)

Also, just wanted to know what you guys think of the story so far. Do you like it, or not? What would you like to happen? Or not to happen? I'd just like to hear your thoughts, and even tell me a little about yourself too.

Anyways, enjoy! :)