Author's Note: Just wanted to say thanks for the reviews! We've made it to fifty, woo-hoo!
The intersection of US-290 and Fitzhugh Road appeared before Belle decided to stop for the night. Although the building in front of them was almost entirely walled with glass, none of it was broken, and more than enough chairs and tables dotted the floor inside to provide a stumbling-block for any incoming infecteds. It also wasn't out of the question that the former Mexican restaurant had some canned goods in the back. Considering Arthur's shoulder was still too sore to accurately shoot down food, that alone was worth the risk. Belle didn't want to dig into her or Kiku's food stores if she didn't have to. Besides, if the building proved too insecure, they could always grab what they wanted from it and walk to the block of storage units across the road.
Trying to avoid the roaches—hopefully they had taken up residence after the restaurant had closed down—Belle pushed her way back into the kitchen. All of the counters and sinks were cleaned out. One cabinet yielded an open, fungus-eaten can of tomato something-or-other. Belle shut the doors quietly, as if allowing the layer of fuzz to sleep without disturbance would make it go away.
Sighing as the other side of the cabinet yielded nothing, she tried the shin-level cupboard farthest from the industrial sink. As her hand dragged across the top shelf, it found a can lurking in the back. Prodding it towards her carefully lest it have its own infection, she found the label faded but everything intact.
"What is it?" Arthur started, leaning over to look but too far away to read.
The sliding clunking of Kiku's shake flashlight sounded behind her, but Belle stood up with the can in hand. "Save it. There's still daylight."
Slipping into the main part of the restaurant, Belle rotated the large can in her hand until the largest letters saw the light of day. "Chiles Jalapeños Enter-r-r-ros," she announced before setting the can down on a table.
"Which means?" Arthur started, pulling up a chair after ensuring Belle had no interest in sitting down at the moment.
"Some kind of jalapeños," she said, "but one year of Spanish in school won't tell me any more than that. We'd need Antonio to translate the rest. Or it might be a bit easier to just open it and find out." Shuffling through her bag, she put a few drops of iodine on the top of the can and rubbed it down.
Arthur watched her for a second before leaning forward, elbows on his knees. "Who's Antonio?"
"Hm?" Belle glanced at Arthur before pulling out the knife she now kept on her belt. "Guy I work with."
"Oh, him." Arthur frowned, scratching his cheek.
"Yes, him." Belle hooked her foot around a nearby chair leg and pulled it up to sit. "Is that a problem?"
"What? No." Arthur folded his arms, watching the can as he jiggled one his right leg.
She started to pry at the tin lid before glancing up at Arthur again. "You know, you could at least wait until you actually have a girlfriend before you start going Othello on me."
Arthur crossed his arms tighter. "I'm acting nothing like Othello."
"You have read that play, right?" Belle responded. "I figured you did, being such a Shakespeare fan and all, but if you say you don't think like him at all..."
"I've read it and seen it," Arthur scoffed, watching the tip of her knife steadily progress around the can's rim. "The only thing I have in common with the titular character is a lack of confidence in my words."
"You did well enough with them at lunch," Belle pointed out, watching the lid tilt up at the side she'd already cut through.
"Only if you think so." Arthur tried not to wrinkle his nose at the vinegar smell spreading through the room.
"I do." Slowing down, Belle carefully held the lid and cut at the last part holding it to the rest of the can. "Will you hold this still for a second?"
Arthur nodded, scooting up to wrap his hands around the can. Belle finished opening the container and thanked him for his assistance.
"This is going to be an interesting meal," she started, pulling out one whole pepper by its stem and peering into the can. "You want any, Kiku?"
"I'm fine, thank you."
"Thought so." Belle held the jalapeño up to examine it, but the east-facing windows were rapidly admitting less light. "I don't see anything weird on them. Would it be safer to roast them first, or would that make a difference?"
"I have no idea whatsoever." Arthur grabbed the can and tilted it to see inside. "We should at least rinse them off, but beyond that I'm clueless."
"Let's scrub them and roast them, then," Belle decided, dropping her jalapeño back in the can. "There are some trees across the street, so I'll grab some branches from there." She turned to Arthur. "Do you have enough clean water to scour them all?"
Arthur shrugged off his drawstring backpack and got the bottle out. "This is almost full."
"All right, we'll do that and both drink my water. We won't want much if these are still spicy. Shame there isn't any milk."
"Yeah." Arthur dragged the can towards him, and Belle stood, turning towards the door. As she charged out of the building, he couldn't help but hope capsaicin would be the only thing to make her eyes water anytime soon.
Belle was ready to head out by the crack of dawn. With a handful of puffed cereal in her system, she pulled a few chairs away from the front door as Arthur hurried forward to open it. That gave some of the infecteds an easier path inside, but Belle saw no reason to shoot through the glass. Firing on the four right in front of her, she took a couple of steps and checked over her shoulder.
"Everyone ready?" she started.
"Yes, ma'am." Arthur followed her out and gave the door a push back for Kiku. With a nod, the swordsman followed.
"Great." Belle took one look around the intersection before starting down the road. At the soonest opportunity, she walked off the asphalt onto softer ground. She was tempted to drift much farther from the obvious route, but no one had crossed her path yesterday, and it was easier to check street signs than navigate through trees. Nothing was wrong with avoiding the houses situated farther from the main roads, either.
Although he continued to walk closer to Belle than Kiku, Arthur looked back at his roommate. "You didn't bring any textbooks along, did you?"
Kiku shook his head. "I was tempted, but I'm carrying enough weight already."
"Yeah?" Arthur carefully stretched his right arm. "What subjects have you been studying?"
"Mostly zoology lately. I've already run out of engineering books." With a small sigh, he kept walking.
Laughing quietly, Belle turned to comment, her baggage swinging around her from the momentum. She put her arms down to stop them before she abruptly fell over. Arthur yelped and scampered to her side.
"I'm okay," she started, pushing her duffel off her stomach before letting Arthur pull her up.
"Are you sure?" Arthur looked her over, his eyes stopping at the rip over her knee.
"Yeah." Getting her bags in order, Belle shook out her leg and turned around. "Yeah. Sorry. Still a little tired." She smiled at him and resumed walking, her eyes on the ground.
"Oh." Arthur took another second to catch up. "Did you not sleep well?"
Belle scratched the back of her neck. "To be honest, yeah. Too much to think about, you know?" Exhaling, she made it a few more steps forward before a monster stumbled out of the brush.
"Here, I've got it," Arthur said, pulling out his bow and an arrow.
Belle stepped out of the way, glancing at him over her shoulder. "Are you sure?"
He nodded. "I'm certainly bruised, but no longer so sore." After a moment of aiming, he let the arrow fly, hitting the infected in the chest.
"Bruised but not sore," Belle murmured, keeping up as Arthur went to retrieve his arrow. "Could say that for both of us." She crossed her arms. "Dumb Gilbert."
Arthur laughed lightly as he slowed down near the infected body. "Really, though—" waiting for the monster to stop twitching, he turned back towards Belle—"are you all right? We could always stop and close our eyes for a little while if it would help." His gaze dropped to her knee again.
Trying not to laugh, Belle investigated the choppy line of red that could have made it there at any time without her noticing. "Goodness, Arthur, this doesn't even count as a scratch. I'm not going to let myself fall into any worse, either." She grinned. "You treat me like such a fragile flower sometimes."
"I—no! You're not... There's nothing frail about you; that's half the reason I—" Cutting himself off, he knelt to rip his arrow out of the infected.
Belle stopped herself from asking what he was about to say. She had a hunch about the end of that sentence, anyway.
"Let's keep going, then." She did a quick sweep of the area while he was occupied, but Kiku was the only other biped in sight. "I promise I won't fall over again, okay?"
Arthur blinked, looking a bit perplexed. "Okay." Wiping infected blood off on the dried mud, he stood and stowed the arrow. "I'll, um, hold you to that, though."
"Fine." Belle checked her direction and started walking. "But, in exchange, you can't let anyone else shoot you with your own arrows."
Arthur fingered the slash over his collarbone, throwing a glance back to make sure Kiku was still following. "I assure you I'll do my best. Although I'm still trying to figure out how he managed to swipe one without drawing my attention."
Belle eyed the fletchings sticking out from the quiver just below his elbow. "Yeah. I'm surprised he didn't try to take your bow, too."
"Maybe he's used to a different kind." Arthur shrugged. "I was tempted to see what he had used, but..."
Belle chuckled, looking at her toes. "But I was already freaking out and running away?"
"I-I wouldn't phrase it like that..." Arthur rested his bow against his shoulder. "Um, besides, I wouldn't want to cheat on Portia, anyway." He stroked the curved wood with his free hand.
Belle snorted. "You named your bow Portia?"
Huffing, Arthur crossed his arms. "What, you haven't named your gun?"
Belle tapped her fingers on her rifle. "Hergé," she admitted.
"See, don't act like it's eccentric. I'm peculiar enough without you trying to make me sound worse. Kiku, what's your sword's name?"
Kiku hesitated. "Kotetsu."
"See? Perfectly normal. Goodness."
"Okay, okay," Belle laughed. "You win."
"And it's about time, too." Arthur gave a stiff nod of assent before having to dissolve his stance to shoot another infected.
After a moment more of walking, Kiku started, "Belle, if it would help, I do have some sleeping pills in here."
Arthur looked back at his roommate petulantly. "Oh, I tell you I've been an insomniac for years, but you don't mention the pills until she says something?"
Kiku flinched back. "No, but I thought your condition would give you too high a risk of addiction, so I wouldn't consider that of the least help to you..." Mouth staying open, he wrung his hands.
Arthur stomped down on the infected to get better leverage on his arrow. "Well, I know that, but you're at least supposed to offer them to me. How else can I generously decline so that I ensure there will be enough for Belle should she need them?"
Kiku watched Arthur clean off the arrow for a moment. "Say, Arthur, I have a few sleep aid pills. It's not much, but since you've been having issues with insomnia, I thought you might like to try some."
Arthur put his arrow back in the quiver with a flourish. "I thank you for the offer, my friend, but I must decline. Belle, would you be interested in any sleeping pills?"
Belle was giggling to hard to reply. "You're a dork," she finally managed.
Arthur sighed. "I was aiming for 'gentleman,' but I suppose everyone has different interpretations."
Allowing herself to stand still until the laughing fit passed, Belle covered her mouth, looking at the two in front of her and smiling more just because she wasn't walking this alone.