I avoided Devin for the whole day. It wasn't that hard really Courtney and Rebecca kept me busy. However whenever I would see Ruff he would give me a knowing smile. It was fair to say he is never going to let this go. Still, I felt myself getting less mad at Devin and angrier with Ruff for interrupting. I had to shake my head when I thought about kissing Devin. I had more important things to worry about.
I was washing my hands in one of the buckets after dinner and Claire waltzed up next to me. "Don't be ashamed. You have no choice in who you love. The Almighty takes care of that for you."
"Shut up Claire." I growled.
"Jen!" Courtney was running up to me. We had just finished rounds about an hour ago. "I heard you were making out with the boy!"
"No I wasn't doing anything." I lied and continued walking.
"Jennifer I heard you were alone with the new guy. Is that true? Erica would not approve." Rebecca strode up beside us.
"What the hell? Does the whole freakin' town know about this?!" I shouted.
"So it is true." Courtney smiled. "What was it like?"
"I already told you I didn't do anything. We were just talking." I tried explaining.
"Do not lie in the presence of God." Claire commanded.
"Claire I swear to God, if you do not drop the whole God thing I am going to strangle you!"
"Do not swear to me."
"Gah!" I screamed and stormed off. I was losing my mind I could tell.
"Jen, are you alright?" Ruff asked me. He was standing near some of the jeeps.
"Since when have I ever been alright?" I sighed and sat down in front of him.
"Fair enough." Ruff shrugged and took a knee in front of me. "Look I haven't forgotten my promise."
"Your promise? You mean about my mom?" I asked and looked up at his face.
"Yes that one. And we are still going to go find her. We just have to get out of here first."
"How are we going to do that? Erica said no one can leave."
"I figure, what Erica doesn't know won't hurt her." Ruff smirked a little. "I got a plan but we have to act tonight. Erica and her sister are going out to distract a group of zombies that are on a path heading straight for us. We should go while they are gone."
"And you want to take one of those." I pointed to a line of jeeps behind him.
"What? We aren't going to be able to just walk out of here."
"Are we going to have to cut the gas lines again?" I asked.
"Nah, I like these people. We are just going to have to get a good solid head start."
"Sounds good Ruff." I sighed and stood up. I was strangely looking forward to getting back on the road with Ruff and Devin. It was weird not being able to see them every minute of the day.
"You get some sleep now then. And I will see you in a few hours." Ruff stood up and pushed me forward towards my barracks.
I barely got any sleep that night. I was too excited. I don't know why I was excited about going back out into no man's land but I was. I got out of bed and looked over at Claire's cot. It was empty she was probably out doing some weird God thing.
"Nice knowing you God." I laughed quietly and made my way to the vehicle depot. Ruff and Devin were already there standing beside one of the jeeps. "Hey guys." I whispered while jogging up to them.
"Hello Jennifer."
"Oh no not her!" I cried out. Devin immediately clapped his hand over my mouth again. "Get off me." I said as I pushed him away. "Why is she coming?"
"Because she wants too." Ruff said carefully closing one of the doors after he loaded up with food and water.
"I am God, Jennifer. I will never leave you. I will be with you forever." I swear that little girl spoke like a 90 year old woman sometimes. Not sometimes all the time.
"Come on Jen, you can sit by me." Devin suggested.
"What if I don't want to sit by you." I groaned.
"You know you want to sit by me."
"No I don't know that."
"Yes you do."
"No I don't."
"Yes you do."
"NO I DON'T!"
"Will you two knock it off and help me out here? God you get up front and steer. Jen and Devin you guys can help me push now let's get moving before we get caught." Ruff ordered.
"You shouldn't call her God. It only encourages her." I mumbled as I steadied myself next to Ruff.
"It is just a name, Jen." Devin lined up beside me and began to push the backend of the jeep forward.
"I don't care if it is just a name we still shouldn't call her that." I began to push too and the jeep slowly started to move. Then Ruff with his mighty one hand started pushing and the whole jeep lurched forward under his pressure.
"Geez Ruff you are going to dent it." Devin joked.
"Shut up and push kid." So we kept pushing until we were out of the city or town or Amazonian village, whatever you want to call it.
"My arms are about to fall off. Can't we just start driving now?" I complained dropping my arms as Devin and Ruff continued to push the jeep along. I wasn't helping much anyway; they could have done it by themselves.
"And risk them hearing the engine? No we keep pushing until we get to the road." Ruff instructed.
"That'll take forever! How come little Miss God gets to drive and we are pushing." I went on falling back in step.
"Because she is God. Duh." Devin was trying to be funny. Let's see how funny he thinks it is when I clock him upside the head. Ruff started scolding Devin when I heard a funny sound coming from behind us.
"Did you guys hear that?" I whispered to Ruff and Devin.
"Hear what? The ghosts? You do know this place is haunted right." Devin snickered.
"Shut up Devin I am serious."
"I didn't hear anything." Ruff answered. If Ruff didn't hear anything then it was good enough for me so I kept marching behind them and the jeep. Then I heard the noise again it was almost like a shuffling sound followed by a dull roar.
"Tell me you are hearing that!" I turned around to see if I could see anything in the darkness.
"She is losing it." Devin whispered to Ruff but he did it loud enough so that I could hear him. If the zombies don't get him I will.
"I'm not kidding! Someone or something is following us!"
"Oh you mean like that zombie right behind you!" Devin screamed and pointed behind me. I screamed and ran to get behind Ruff. I wasn't scared or anything, Ruff just has more experience with this sort of thing. It was the logical way to go.
"Hahaha! I can't believe you fell for that!" Devin was cracking up.
"That wasn't funny you asshole!"
"Oh calm down Jenny I was just trying to calm the mood." Devin continued to laugh.
"Don't call me Jenny." I growled.
Devin sobered up immediately. "Jen, don't look behind you just run over here."
"I'm not falling for that again. What do you think I am stupid?" Apparently I was stupid.
"Jen you don't have time just run over here." Devin's voice was calm but I was sure he was going to break at any second.
"Oh no is there a big scary zombie behind me?" I mocked.
"Jen run!" Ruff shouted.
Turns out there was a big scary zombie behind me.
"Ah!" I screamed as it jumped on me. I fell onto my back. Instinctively I put my arms up for protection and caught his shoulders. The zombie's tongue was dangling out of its mouth and dripping blood all over my face. "Get him off of me! I don't want to die!"
The zombie pressed all his weight onto my arms as he wriggled his face closer to mine. His teeth snapped together dangerously. This was it. I was going to die. Then thanks to a miracle all the weight was gone. Ruff had grabbed the zombie and flung him a few feet away.
"It's about time!" I shouted as Devin helped pull me up. Ruff stood waiting for the zombie to get back up. They were going to fight. "Go Ruff! Show him who is boss!" I cheered.
"He is going to lose his other hand." Devin sighed.
I scoffed. Like he even needs both hands. Ruff is a badass. The zombie staggered towards Ruff slowly. A loud gun shot rang out and Devin and I ducked down. By the time I had looked back up again the zombie was dead and Erica was standing in front of the jeep's headlights.
"Hello Erica, we were just out for a little stroll." I coughed.
"Don't give me that crap. If you wanted to leave you should have just told me." Erica walked past me and up to Ruff. Uh, I did tell them I wanted to leave but does anyone listen to Jennifer? No.
"I would have given you a better truck at least." Erica said to Ruff.
"That's alright we can make do. We just didn't want to offend anyone. Your group has been so good to us." Ruff shook her hand with his.
"We aim to please." Erica gave a faint smile. "If you all need anything further from us don't hesitate to come back and ask. Of course I am going to ask you not to tell anyone of our little hiding place."
"Scout's honor." Devin raised his hand up. Erica rolled her eyes and him and turned back to Ruff. "Good luck out there. Hopefully we will meet again."
"Hope so." Ruff smiled. "Good luck to your ladies as well."
"Watch out for more zombies. We lead a bunch away but there could be stragglers."Erica nodded and motioned for Jane to follow and they disappeared into the night.
"What a woman." Ruff sighed watching them go.
"Gross Ruff is in love." Devin groaned.
"Does this mean we can drive now?"