Walking was slow with all the new equipment.
Every step was seemingly with a heavier load on the trip to the stadium, the date rendezvous.
"C'mon guys, just one more block!" Cassie encouraged. After the short spill of her emotions, her mood had increased exceptionally.
"You didn't kill him." Natasha pointed out, barely audible. Although Cassie didn't hear it, Nicolas shuffled over to Natasha.
"What was that about?" He grunted. He had assumed the rape would be an unspoken subject from now on.
"You sure looked like you wanted to hang him from his own guts, but you let him go free." She continued, talking as if to herself.
"It's not my place to decide life and death."
"You killed the boy in the school." She pointed out, still looking ahead. Nicolas gave her a glare, wondering who told her that.
Probably Sora, girls tell each other everything.
"He asked me too, plus what was I supposed to do? It was either that or live in hell as a zombie for eternity."
"This is pretty close to hell, but you let that man live." She continued to pester, annoying him.
"Who am I to judge life and death? Me and that man? We're no different. I may have been raised a little better, but physically, we are the same." Nic looked up to the clear sky for a moment, and began to chant quietly.
"We all bleed red, we all taste rain. We all fall down, and loose our way. We all say words that we regret. We all cry tears, we all bleed red."
"Ronnie Dunn." Natasha said quietly.
"You see my point of view now? Zombies are dead, but people are another story."
"Yoo hoo! Nicolas!" Cassie called out, interrupting Natasha. She was about to point out that the man had done terrible things, and that Nicolas was ten times the man he was. Nicolas slowly walked over to Cassie.
"I feel bad anyway; he's in hell with one hand. He won't survive a week." Nicolas said quietly in the last moment he could say something out of Cassie's earshot. Natasha's jaw dropped.
He feels sorry for the jerk! How could he- Why would he- Ugh! Natasha grunted in frustration, it made no sense.
"Nicolas, where are we going?" she said it exactly like someone who's head just came out of the clouds.
"We are meeting my friends."
"Ooo!" She suddenly became very interested in different company. "Who are they?"
"Well there are two of them. You will really like Sora; she's bright and very nice. Eric is the other one, he can be a bit annoying but you can trust him with your back." He made sure he was careful with Eric's description. If he told her of Eric's habit to look down shirts and up skirts she would think of the incident.
"Where will we live?" she asked. Cassie was the last person Nicolas thought would ask a question that stunned him.
"I-I don't know Cass. We will find an abandoned house, a big place with a wall, or a penthouse apartment. I'll ask everyone if they know a place we can stay." He explained awkwardly.
"Oo! Oo! Me!" Cassie raised her arm in the air and wiggled around.
"Um, yes Cassie?"
"My family owns a big apartment! It takes up the whole top floor and we never use it!" she announced. Nicolas was awestruck.
Perfect! I was worried about looking for one, but now we have a penthouse and we know exactly where it is.
"Is there a lock?"
"Yes! But I know the code! Its 4-"
"That's okay." Nicolas cut her off, using normal courtesy.
"There!" Natasha interrupted. Olympic stadium loomed above them as they eagerly ran to the parking lot, where a single red truck was parked.
000
"Are your little friends showing up or not?" Leo checked his watch impatiently; it was 20 minutes after the deadline.
"There he is!" Eric flung open the door and raced across the parking lot, soon followed by Sora. Nicolas saw him ahead of time and waved furiously.
And he brought a friend. He thought with a smirk and he eyed the new girl.
"Dude you made it!" Eric said happily, he reached out his hand and Nicolas grabbed it, doing a guy hand shake that looks like an arm wrestle.
"Barely." Nicolas panted as he dropped his pack to the floor.
"What happened?"
"Let's just say we have a lot to talk about on the way."
"Way to where?"
"Again! On the road!" Nicolas chuckled. Eric saw he was tired so he grabbed his pack for him. Nicolas thanked him gratefully.
"You guys gonna kiss or something?" Leo said impatiently. "Then just get in the truck?" Nicolas frowned.
"Who's that?"
"Leo! Sid! Come out here, there's some introductions!" Eric called out. Nicolas stealthily pulled Eric close by his jacket collar.
"Cut the pervert crap around the new girl, I'll explain later." He whispered into his ear. Eric turned and gave a small nod. He didn't know why Nicolas would ask that,because with guys you usually let eachother do their thing, but he trusted his judgment and knew he had a good reason.
Eric put a protective arm around Sidney and she rolled her eyes.
"Guys, this is Sidney, my sister."
"Hi!" Sidney gave a small wave.
"Sidney, this is Nicolas, Natasha and?"
"Cassie!" she butted in, announcing herself to the world.
"And Cassie. This is Leo, who helped bring my sister here."
"We are all great friends, hurray." Leo said emotionlessly. "Now can we all just get in the fucking truck?" Cassie frowned and recoiled at the unnecessary use of a swear, but she was tired of walking and ran towards it. Only after throwing their packs in the back did they noticed they didn't have enough room.
"Cassie in the front and Sidney sits on my lap." Eric decided quickly, choosing the best plan, and everyone agreed. It would be a little awkward if someone else had to sit on a lap, but Sidney was Eric's sister.
Everyone piled in, albeit scrunched, and Cassie started giving directions.
The group was together for the first time, and it was perfect.
Sidney found her brother, so she was happy. Girls outnumbered boys, so Eric was pretty joyful. Leo didn't really care, as usual. Sora was just happy that they were getting along and working together. Nicolas and Natasha were just happy to be part of a social group again, and Cassie was in heaven because she had brought her cow sleeping bag to lie on in the truck.
000
"Once we grabbed all we could carry at the Cabela's we ran as fast as we could here." Natasha concluded the events that happened in her and Nicolas's absence. Sidney ad Eric had both told their much shorter stories first. When Natasha had spoken, she specifically left out the incident for Cassie's sake.
Cassie's shivered, scared like a child in the dark. The subway story frightened her, she was glad to be with other people who could protect her and make sure that didn't happen.
"A left here Leo!" She instructed happily, for they were nearing the destination.
"So how big is this place?" Sidney turned and asked.
"Big enough for all of us for sure!" Cassie responded happily.
"Is there a TV?!" Eric flung out suddenly.
"Yes!"
"How many bedrooms?" Natasha inquired, not thinking about relaxation.
"Is there cows?!" Cassie asked excitedly, but then stopped because she realized she owned it. "Oh yeah, there isn't any..." She looked down sadly.
"Is it on the top floor?" Sidney asked, kindling another bombardment.
"Is there a lock?"
"Can They get up?"
"Is there a pool table?"
"Air hockey?"
"Foosball?"
"Is there a nice stove and cooking set?" Everyone raised an eyebrow and looked at Leo, for he had asked it with excitement.
"What? Is there something wrong with that?" He challenged. He was answered by a chorus of "no"s, "of course not"s, "I like guy's who cook"s, and one "Do people eat cows?"
"Underground parking." Sora pointed out the open door that led under the building. Leo drove inside, got out, and forcefully closed it.
"None of those suckers are getting past there." He said as he parked the car. With seven people it only took one load to empty the truck, it helped that nearly everything was in bags.
Leo somehow took three full five gallon water jugs all on his own up seven flights of stairs. Just saying, that's pretty boss.
"This is it!" Cassie squealed, getting there first. Everyone had taken a little extra so Cassie only had to take her backpack. She walked up to the only door, flipped opened a cover from a keypad and quickly typed in the code. A door unlatched and Cassie opened it.
Everyone rushed in and threw the supplies on the floor, eager to explore.
When you walked in, there was a kitchen and dining room. On the other side of the wall there was a large living room with, as promised, a large TV, as well as plush couches.
There were 3 master bedrooms, each with their own bathroom and walk-in closet. On a normal occasion, Sidney would jump on the best bed she saw and "call" it, claiming it, but how would the rooms be divided with seven people?
"Hey Eric! You can check out the TV later, help me unload!" Nicolas called out jokingly, Eric soon came as called. They slowly assigned different cupboards to different types of food. Luckily, Montréal's power was from dams, so electricity would continue to flow during the apocalypse and power the fridge.
"How are rooms going to work out?" Eric called out.
"I don't know, there's only three, but we'll figure it out." Nicolas promised as he put in the last can of beans. He strolled into the living room and called everyone there, sitting on the comfy-looking chair. Eric and Sidney sat on the love seat, Cassie, Natasha and Sora all jokingly piled into the sofa while Leo stood.
"Where are we as far as rooms?" Nicolas asked when everyone was settled down.
"I don't care; gender specific though." Sora shot in, visibly deflating Eric.
"Really, we barely know each other, so it would make sense for the siblings to be in one room." Natasha put in and everyone agreed. Eric didn't though; he had shared a room with her all his life and now he was stuck with her again?
"I can stay with Sora." Natasha announced, looking away from her short conversation with her.
"The last room is separated double beds, I can go with Leo." Cassie explained.
"Well I guess I'm sleeping right here!" Nicolas patted the leather of the chair and everyone laughed.
Everyone dispersed to go entertain themselves (giggity) but Nicolas tugged on Sora's sleeve and stopped her.
"I have something for you." He announced as he brought her to the kitchen. She raised her eyebrows in surprise as he brought out a sleek black SOG tomahawk.
"You're so thoughtful!" She said, taking it.
"To think weapons have replaced roses as the new romantic." Nicolas joked and she laughed lightly. They sat there awkwardly for a second before Sora politely excused herself.
"Eric! Come here!" Eric turned around the corner and widened his eyes when he saw Nic polishing a silver crossbow.
"Million dollar question, do you like crossbows?" Nicolas joked.
"Yes!" Eric played along.
"Well I happen to have one here!" he brought up the sheath beside it.
"Dude! You can't be serious!"
"Dude!" He imitated jokingly. "I'm serious!"
"You're the best! I owe you!" He said gratefully as he took the weapon from him.
"Kill a couple zombies with it and we're even." He said with a smile.
"Eric!" Sidney called from his room.
"Got to go! Thanks man!" he ran away, taking the weapon with him.
"One more thing!"
"What?"
"Your sister brought your guitar!" Eric raised a fist in the air and whooped loudly before running to his room.
000
"What's up with Leo?" Natasha asked out of the blue. Sora and she were both sitting cross-legged on their bed.
"I don't know, he acts like he doesn't want to be here, but who in their right mind would want to be solo?" Sora said.
"Yeah, we are really lucky we got a group together."
"We can thank Nicolas for that." Natasha raised an eyebrow.
"How so?"
"You don't see it?" Sora asked, almost dumbfounded. "He's a born leader! He always encouraged grouping together, if he wasn't part of it I don't think we would be here together." Natasha pondered it and decided she was half right. She didn't have an opinion of his leadership yet, but he had definetly encouraged teamwork. She smiled as she imagined herself, a sweaty, tired stranger who had asked to join them out of the blue, and Nicolas had happily accepted her in. She didn't know where she would be if he had said no.
000
Eric walked in to Sidney cleaning her rifle. When she saw him she instantly set it aside.
"Eric, there's something I didn't tell you." Sidney started out blunt as Eric closed the door behind him.
"What do you mean?" Sidney bit her lip. There was no other way to say it.
"I was with Grant when it all happened." Eric's expression lightened immediately.
"Where is he? How did you split up?" Sidney hated to bring him down like this, but he needed to know.
"He didn't make it." Eric's smile faded. He stumbled for a moment and caught himself on the bed.
"You mean?" Sidney nodded.
"He sacrificed himself to save me Eric, Grant died a hero." She said sadly. Eric dropped his new crossbow and suddenly threw himself into the vast amount of pillows. He lifted himself up to speak.
"No! You're lying! You always did this when we were kids! He's still alive!" Eric said as he started crying. One look from Sidney was all he needed to know she wasn't kidding. He shoved his face back into the pillows and cried, sobbing heavily. Sidney scooted over beside him and laid a comforting hand on his back. For the first time ever, Sidney played the part of the older sibling. She was only not crying because she had let it all out before Leo found her.
Eric got up and looked at Sidney. She instantly brought him in a big hug, sharing certain emotions only siblings can understand.
000
Everyone got tired very quickly. With the recent events, they all needed a good rest. They all retired to their rooms, but Nicolas sat awake on the sofa.
Cassie had showed him to some extra blankets and a pair of sweats to sleep in that had to be her dads. He had happily accepted and made his bed instantly, but now he found it hard to sleep. He reached forward and grabbed his cousin's katana from the coffee table. Two days ago it held coffee, but now it held cold, killing steel and other weapons.
There was so much grief. He had recently heard Eric's brother was dead, plus Sora told him all of Leo's best friends were killed. Put that on top of the majority of the world's population made it a pretty sad day.
But amongst all of this sadness, hope had emerged. People had been saved, survivors given care and comforted. In eternal chaos, they had found order in the form of a small group.
That's why human have survived so long, our spirit. Nicolas smiled to himself. We have been killed, infected, and eaten, but we will not give in. We will fight to the end, making our last stand smashing in zombie heads
"Nicolas?" he heard being whispered quietly, recognizing it as Cassie.
"One sec! I'm not decent!" he quickly found his shirt and threw it on before calling her in.
"Not having a shirt on is still decent." She said with a smirk. She had peeked inside quickly when she first walked up to make sure he was awake. She was wearing a grey t-shirt, cow pajama bottoms, and she was barefoot.
"To other guys, but I would rather wear a shirt." He said, sitting back down on the sofa and inviting her beside him.
"Well that's opposite of most guys." She smiled.
"Yeah, well there not much to see." He said flatly, she realized he was a little self conscious about it and quickly ended the conversation.
"What can I help you with?" Nicolas said.
"Can I ask you something?" Cassie asked a little shyly.
"You can ask me anything." He answered sincerely, smiling.
"About today..." she said, and he instantly knew what she was talking about.
"There's nothing wrong with wanting to talk about it." She looked at him and nodded slowly.
"I lost a good friend last year. The best treatment for hard emotions is just to talk it out." He added.
Nicolas looked up to the roof solemnly; he kissed two of his fingers and raised them up. He had done this every night for the last year, saying goodbye to his friend.
"Take care of our little guy." He added in a whisper, which he did rarely. He looked down and his eyes started to water. He forced his emotions away and looked towards her.
"Nic, thank you, I didn't know how you did it. He had me at knife point, but we walked out safe and he walked out nearly dead."
"The only reason I didn't try that sooner is because I needed to know more about him. I figured out one of his major flaws, and acted upon it."
"Nicolas... You didn't look, did you?" she asked. At first he was confused, but then he understood.
"No! Gosh Cassie, of course not!" She smiled and let out a sigh of relief, it had been bugging her slightly.
"Cassie, I would never look at you like that." He said. He thought it would be comforting but he could tell she sounded disappointed at the statement.
"Unless you let me?" He said it almost like a question, still not knowing what he did wrong. Luckily she smiled at this.
"I just..." She looked down and put her arms over her breasts; Nicolas could tell what she was thinking. He gave her a second to say anything more.
"Just the way he... I'm just glad you ended it before he could actually rape me..."
"Did that happen the first time?"
"No, I got away. I'm sorry you had to deal with him Nicolas. The way he talked about you-"
"That's no problem Cassie! Take a look at me; I don't think that was a big secret." Although it had surprised her, she didn't say anything.
"Does anything hurt?" Nicolas asked, but regretted it. It would probably spur a rather awkward conversation. He blinked once and focused. There was no awkward anymore, it was time to act like an adult.
"My cheek." She placed a hand on the exact place he had hit her.
"And my... breasts still hurt; lots." She held them protectively again. Guys didn't understand, they really hurt. He had attacked them they were still sore now even though it happened hours ago.
"Was he, err, rough?" He asked, Cassoe looked at him strangely confused at his attempt to comfort her.
"Yes, he practically attacked them, they are very sore."
"Well there's nothing I can do about that." He added a lighthearted joke
"Yes there is." She added seductively. Nicolas looked at her strangely for a second before he realized she was kidding.
"Nic... do you mind if I-"
"Of course not." He said sincerely. Although he didn't know what she was offering he wanted to help her in any way possible. Cassie curled up into a ball and gently rested her head on Nicolas's lap. Before she fell asleep, he put his legs up in a comfortable sleeping position.
He rested his left hand on her shoulder and gently played with her hair. He grabbed a blanket from behind him and rested it over top of her.
When he couldn't sleep he just sat there and watched Cassie sleep. She looked so peaceful when she was sleeping. Her skin looked soft and smooth, her hair was silky, and her breathing was so cute. Her small mouth let out little breaths, almost the way a kitten would breathe.
Cassie would have stayed awake all night because of the incident. But beside Nicolas, she instantly felt safe. The way he had threatened the thug had reaffirmed her that he really cared for her, that he wanted to protect her. She felt so comfortable around him, he was so perfect, she couldn't describe the feeling. She easily drifted to sleep on his lap.
000
Eric sat in his room, quietly strumming his guitar. He ran his fingers over the strings and a flurry of notes came off. He slowly sang,
"This is a sign of the times
Another mountain to climb
The sun burns as hot as the flame in the devil's eyes."
As the final note came off the instrument, he set it under his bed and went to sleep.
