Nick was, of course, leading the way. He was easily the most intrepid of this group, and she, the most reserved. What a pair that made them, Ali thought, as she trailed her partner and group commander down the stairs. She wondered for a few moments why Nick had decided to be paired up with her. It was, after all, his call who was paired with whom; actually, Ali realized, everything this group did was Nick's call.
Anyway, why had he picked her? Did he think she was the least capable and most helpless person here, and that drove him to the thought that he had to personally protect her?
Was she that worthless?
Ali tried her best to shake off those thoughts, as she trailed her much larger companion down the stairs of a house that had belonged to people she had never met; belonged to people that no one she knew had ever met; in the middle of the apocalypse, no less.
What a strange day it had been...
And now, with a gun in her hands and a sizable hole in her heart caused in no small part by the events of the day, she followed a leader she herself had voted for and they were hunting for car keys, of all things. Apparently there were cars in the garage of this house that Nick might want to use. It'd almost be shame. Ali would miss the school bus that had become her and everyone else here's gift from God. The thing that was responsible for any of them being alive.
The bus that was supposed to transport her and her team--most of whom where good friends-- to a soccer game. That's what was supposed to happen today: a soccer game. That was it. Go to school, get ready with the team, get on the bus, go have fun playing a game, come home. Just a nice day out where she could miss school, hang out with friends and play a sport she loved.
Today, it was obvious that that simple chain of events had been too much to ask for. And the most interesting and heartbreaking part of this story, Ali thought, was that she was the only person to be on that bus at the time that this all happened. Well, except the bus driver, though the poor women hadn't stayed alive long enough to do much of anything.
Ali and Nick reached the bottom of the stairs, and were well on there way to the kitchen when Nick started speaking.
"Oh, shit," he muttered, adjusting his rifle on his back. An action that Ali assumed was to make it more comfortable. He was, after all, carrying the weapon which had to have weighed more then Ali's not to mention the amount of clips he had stored in the vest he was wearing.
She did the same, checking to make sure that the... MP5--she remembered the name-- was secure on her back as well. It wasn't a big weapon per se, but then again she wasn't a very big person, and the weapon was a noticeable weight on her shoulder.
She formulated her response.
"What's the problem?" Ali asked, very quietly.
"Me and Chad didn't check the pockets of the... Ashley's aunt and uncle before we cleaned the place up. I hope the keys weren't in their freakin' pockets," Nick muttered, frustrated, "I wish I had thought about that one before..."
Ali didn't respond, not wanting to think about what Nick meant by 'cleaning the place up'. She hadn't seen the result of what had happened there, and she really had no desire to see it.
The pair entered the kitchen, Nick first, Ali reluctantly but obediently following several paces behind.
There was a blue tarp on the floor, covering most of it up. There were also several covered trash cans placed in the corner of the room out of the way. Ali didn't need to be psychic to get the whole picture in her head.
"Now, if I was car keys..." Nick said, eyes flashing around the room, "I figure if this was the last place they were, they may have had their keys here if they were planning some sort of escape."
Ali didn't even respond, or take any notice of what Nick was saying.
Several minutes of silence followed, as Nick carefully inspected every inch of counter-top, with Ali doing a more half-hearted job.
"I'm gonna go out on a limb here, and say you don't talk very much." Nick said, not looking at her.
"You picked the right limb," Ali muttered back.
"Uh huh. Don't suppose you wanna talk about why you don't talk?"
"Just a preference," Ali said, looking up at him.
Okay dokey," Nick said, "Well, as of now, you're ordered to talk more."
Ali raised an eyebrow, halting her search for the car keys completely and turning all of her attention to Nick, "What?", she asked, in slight disbelief.
"You heard me. Someone as quiet as you is bound to hear quite clearly. I, as your leader, voted by you, am ordering you to talk more."
"You think that'll work? Maybe I just don't have anything to say."
"Well, that may be true, but lack of communication could put you, and any of us in danger. I can't allow that. You being afraid of us, or shy or whatever it is you are, has to stop. Now," Nick said, putting some edge into his voice.
"I'm not afraid of you," Ali said, meaning it. This guy had been keeping her alive all day. How could she be afraid of him?
"And you shouldn't be. But I, however, am somewhat afraid of you," Nick said, also halting his search for the keys, and giving Ali his full attention.
This remark caught her completely off guard, "What?..."
"People tend to fear what they don't understand, right? Well, I don't really understand you," Nick said, "And that is because of absolutely no communication from you," Nick paused, and then smiled, "So fix it."
He turned back to scanning the counter top for the keys, "God, I hope it ain't in their pockets."
Ali just stared at Nick while her turned his back and began his search again. She had no idea what to say. She wondered if Nick was actually afraid of her, or if he was just saying to to entice her into talking. It was irritating.
"Alright, I'll lead," Nick said after a few more moments of silence, "What's your story?"
"My story?" Ali repeated.
"Yeah, your story. Tell me about you."
"There's no much to tell, really."
"Oh, that's a lie and you know it. Everyone has a story."
Ali sighed inwardly, "What do you wanna know?"
Nick turned back to her and smiled, before resuming his work. He either didn't notice or didn't care that Ali wasn't helping him look at this point, "Start with basics."
"Like what?"
Nick rolled his eyes, "You're really not helping me... Um, what were you doing on that bus?"
Ali was pretty sure he already knew, what she answered regardless, "I'm on the soccer team. That was our bus."
"Really? Wasn't that the varsity team?"
This seemed awfully familiar territory, but Ali indulged it. Having already discussed this with Chad on the bus, Ali really didn't want to go over it again. But hey, if she talked a bit, maybe Nick would leave her alone eventually, "Yeah."
"You any good?" Nick asked.
Ali just stared.
Prompted by the silence, Nick one again stopped looking for the keys, and turned to her, flashing a grin so large Ali wondered how it was manageable under these circumstances, "I mean at soccer. How good are you at soccer?"
"Good enough to be on varsity," Ali replied.
Nick preformed a theatrical sigh accompanied by an equally dramatic roll of the eyes, "Oh, come on. Is this really that difficult?"
Ali just stared back blankly.
Nick sighed again, this time for real, "Alright, I'll leave you be."
A sudden flash of an idea washed over Nick's face as a thought hit him. He smiled, and again turned to Ali.
"To be continued," he said, quickly exiting the room, fiddling with the M4 on his back once again as he left.
It took several moments for it to sink in that Nick had suddenly vanished from the kitchen, but when the thought finally processed. Ali decided it best to follow.
She left the kitchen, walked a few steps down the hall, and came across Nick, who was busy moving several coats on a wall coat hanger aside to reveal a wall key-holder. The key-holder was about at Nick's shoulder level, and it had numerous keys on it.
"Pay-fuckin'-dirt," Nick muttered to himself, smiling.
He turned to Ali, grinning wider, "I just remembered I thought I saw one of these when we went out to the garage."
Ali looked a few feet beyond Nick to the door that stood like a dark monolith behind him.
"That's the--"
"Garage," Ali finished for Nick, shooting a glance at him.
Nick smiled again, as he began to shift through the keys looking for any that could possibly be for an automobile, "Very perceptive," he said.
There was a moment of silence as Nick looked through the dozen or so keys hanging on the key holder, taking them one by one an examining them before putting them back.
"You, um... need me to do anything?" Ali asked, once again not wanting to be the fifth wheel.
"Nope, just stand there and be beautiful," Nick replied, not looking up from his task, "Ah there's one of 'em," he said, snagging a key that had a Ford symbol on the black plastic handle portion of it. He reached quickly for the one next to it grabbed it, spotted the Chevy symbol, and gave a massive smile, pumping the hand (his right) that now held the keys into the air as some sort of victory dance.
Nick regained his composure, and opened his hand to scan the keys over once again, "There's no keychain on either, so these must be extras, or something," he muttered, pausing for a moment, "Either way, it'll work."
He turned to Ali, "Mission accomplished. Let's check on Mike."
--------------------
I'm alive. And yes, something WILL actually happen in this story soon. I'm building it up. I don't think there's another Dawn of the Dead story here that less has happened in. But something WILL happen soon... Maybe.