The Last Coors Banquet in the Valley
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Chapter 3 of 6
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It had only been a few hours since they picked up their new companions as they were running from zombies across the lot of a car dealership, but Miguel had already given up trying to figure out what the hell was going on with his Sensei and Mr LaRusso.
As far as Miguel could tell they had known each other when they were about his age, but neither could agree on exactly what had happened between them.
Apparently there had been some bullying, or justified reaction to the stealing of a girlfriend, yet the girlfriend had already ended the relationship, so actually wasn't a girlfriend. There was a cliff, or a hill, that someone had been pushed down or gently tapped down, depending on who you listened to, and something about a knee and a kick, and absolutely none of it made any sense.
As they drove along tiny streets, avoiding the 405 that was choked with burnt out cars, Johnny and Mr LaRusso had argued the entire time.
"If Zombies eat brains it's no wonder you survived," Mr LaRusso said.
"You want a smack in the mouth, LaRusso?" Johnny snapped.
And it went on like that for TWO. HOURS.
"Hey," Miguel said, to the kid who sat on the back seat with him, cradling the black bag that had been thrown into the car. "I'm Miguel."
"Eli," the kid replied.
"Is he always like this?" Miguel asked, nodding his head to the kid's companion.
"Is he always like this?" Eli asked, nodding towards Johnny.
"Pretty much, yeah," Miguel replied with a smile.
"Daniel has been really good to me," Eli said. "I'd be dead without him."
"I know what you mean," Miguel said. "I'd be dead without my Sensei too."
"Your what?"
"My Sensei. Johnny is teaching me to be a member of Cobra Kai."
"He's what?" Daniel asked, turning to the back seat, then he looked back at Johnny. "Why is that kid wearing a Cobra Kai jacket?"
"Because I brought Cobra Kai back," Johnny said proudly.
"I hope you're not teaching him the same No Mercy bullshit that Kreese taught you."
"We're an elite zombie fighting squad," Miguel said indignantly from the back seat.
"Look, kid, I don't know what he's told you, but Cobra Kai was just a karate dojo for children. You shouldn't listen to him. He's full of shit and he's going to get you killed."
"Do you want dumping on the street?" Johnny asked.
"Was it you who painted a dick on my billboard?" Daniel asked.
Johnny let out a cackling laugh. "Man, if I'd known you were alive I'd have sprayed a dick on every single one of them."
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They travelled in silence for a while, winding their way down Mulholland Drive until they came to a white church perched on a hillside.
"It's going to be dark soon," Johnny said. "We should park here for the night."
"Is that wise?" Daniel asked.
"Gotta sleep somewhere," Johnny replied. "Me and Miguel can check it for zombies."
"Are you honestly taking a kid into a situation like this?" Daniel asked, as Johnny and Miguel got out of the car.
"Well yeah, we're an elite zombie fighting squad," Johnny said with a wink, leaning up against the car door.
"Get back in the car," Daniel said to Miguel. "It's our job to look after the kids here, Johnny. We're the adults, or at least I am, so I'm coming with you."
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30 minutes later Johnny and Mr LaRusso came out of the church, and high fived, which made Miguel and Eli look at each other in disbelief.
"Come on, kids," Johnny said. "Grab your stuff. It's safe now."
They walked through the extravagant church, carefully blocking the front door behind them with a cabinet, and went to explore.
In the office they found a couch, which Daniel suggested that Miguel and Eli should sleep on, while he and Johnny slept on the floor.
"Awesome," Johnny said sarcastically, spinning in an office chair, drinking a bottle of beer. "You'd think at your age you'd be wary of sleeping on the floor. You'll probably put your back out."
"We're the same age," Daniel said tersely.
"What year were you born?"
"1966," Daniel replied.
"Ha!" Johnny laughed. "'67."
"It's a few months, big deal!" Daniel said, as Johnny leaned back in the chair with a self satisfied grin on his face. "Whatever, come on, we need to look in the café and see what food's left."
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"The hell is this?" Johnny asked, as he picked up a jar of brown liquid with something slimy floating in it, then shook it at Miguel, and screwed up his face in over the top mock disgust, which made Miguel snort with laughter.
"It's Kombucha tea," Daniel replied. "Put it down."
Johnny lifted up the glass bowl that covered some mouldy muffins, and grimaced as he put it back down. "There's nothing here."
"I found a few bags of organic sweet potato chips," Daniel replied.
"I've got Chamomile tea bags," Miguel said, holding up a box.
"I think I'll pass," Johnny said, rolling his eyes.
They carried on exploring the rooms of the huge building, then in a side room they found a cabinet.
"Well, holy shit," Johnny said, as he opened the doors.
"Oh my god," Daniel said, getting his knees and pulling out a can of hot dogs. "Why is this here?"
"Food drive maybe?" Miguel suggested.
"We're gonna need some bags to carry all this," Daniel said, as he started to pull the piles of canned food out, and passed them to Eli.
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After they'd eaten they walked out onto the patio area behind the church that had no doubt been more used to seeing outdoor worship, and high society wedding receptions, and looked out over the balcony. The view of the valley was spectacular, even though half the lights were out, and somewhere in the distance a fire was burning out of control in the valley, sending plumes of smoke into the air.
They settled in, sitting on some comfy chairs that faced the railings, making the most of the view, as the last colour from the sunset drained out of the sky.
"Here you go," Johnny said, as he handed a beer to Eli, and one to Miguel.
"You can't give children alcohol!" Daniel exclaimed.
"It's water."
"It's Bud Light!" Daniel shouted.
"Same thing," Johnny said with a shrug, as he slumped into a chair.
"I give up," Daniel replied, grabbing himself a beer.
They sat in silence for a while, then Daniel turned to Johnny. "Is that the jacket you used to wear in high school?"
"Yep."
"I'm surprised it still fits you."
"A starvation diet has done wonders for your figure too, princess ," Johnny replied, with a grin. He took a drink from his beer, then asked, "Where have you been living for the last 3 months? In the dealership?"
"We had a flat tyre, so went to get a replacement, but we got attacked, and we'd been stuck in the dealership for two days before you came along." Daniel said. "I have a house in Encino, so we'd been living there before that."
"Oh, yeah, us too. A big white mansion," Johnny said. "It has fences all round it so it's been pretty safe."
"Wait, its not the one on Valley Meadow Road, is it?"
"That's the one."
"The one with the big piles of corpses around it?" Daniel asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yup," Johnny said proudly.
"We avoided that place like the plague."
"Probably a good idea," Johnny said. "A few weeks ago I would have shot you before I even checked whether you had a pulse."
Miguel was puzzled for a second. "I thought you didn't believe in using guns, Sensei?"
"For him I'd have made an exception," Johnny said with a sly grin, and even Daniel let out a small chuckle.
"How come you left?" Daniel asked. "It looked safer than most."
"There's no food left in Encino," Johnny replied.
"That's not true. Eli and I found a stash of freeze dried kale just two days ago."
"Exactly," Johnny nodded. "There's no food left in Encino."
Daniel shook his head, looking up at the sky.
"Hey, kid, that's a cool scar," Johnny said, looking at Eli. "Did you get that fighting a zombie?"
"Uh, yeah..." Eli replied, quietly.
"Awesome," Johnny replied. "Do you wanna to join Cobra Kai?"
Eli went to answer, but Daniel got there first, "NO, he doesn't!"
"Look, I know you think Cobra Kai is bad," Johnny said, as he stood up, zipped his jacket, and started pulling on his leather gloves as he walked towards the railing. "But this is my Cobra Kai and it's different."
"In the few hours we've been with you I've seen you give alcohol to minors, and you tried to take a kid to fight zombies," Daniel pointed out.
"I'm just teaching them to take care of themselves," Johnny said as a zombie appeared, climbing up the railings. As Daniel, Eli, and Miguel raised their hands to warn him, Johnny grabbed it by the hair, then rammed his beer bottle through it's eye socket. As the zombie dropped from the railings he turned back to Daniel. "It's a valuable skill set."
"I wanna learn how to do that," Eli said, pointing.
"See, kids got sense," Johnny said as he pulled off his gloves, grabbed another beer and slumped back into his chair.
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Miguel half expected to wake up the next morning and find that Johnny and Mr LaRusso had killed each other during the night, but instead he found them huddled in the corner of the room, wrapped in a single blanket, looking at a phone.
"Hey Diaz, come see this," Johnny waving him over.
Miguel looked at the video on Mr LaRusso's phone. The quality wasn't great, but he still couldn't believe what he was looking at.
"Is that you?" Miguel exclaimed. "Eli, come look at this!"
"I've seen it," Eli replied disinterestedly. "Many, many times."
"You showed him this video of me?" Johnny asked.
"It's a video of me that you just happen to be in," Daniel replied.
"Wow, you're obsessed with me, huh?"
"You literally climbed 30 feet into the air to paint a dick on my face. Who's obsessed now?"
"Whatever. Yours is worse," Johnny said. "Oh wait, watch this, I totally pop LaRusso in the face here. BOOM!"
"Whoaaaa!" Miguel said. "How old were you here?"
"What, like, 17?" Johnny said, and Daniel nodded.
"Watch this part," Daniel said, pointing to his younger self, standing on one leg with his hands in the air.
"Wow!" Miguel said, as in the video Johnny took a vicious kick to the face. "Was that even allowed?"
"Yes," Daniel said. "No," Johnny said, speaking over each other.
They both smiled, then as he tried to stop the video Daniel's finger slipped, and he moved along to a photo instead.
It was a photo of a family. Mr LaRusso, his wife and his kids, Miguel assumed. They looked happy.
Daniel put his hand over his mouth, then powered off the phone.
Johnny looked at him. "Sorry, man."
"We've all lost people," Daniel replied, then he let out a slow breath. "You?"
Johnny opened his jacket and took out the envelope. He pulled out the photo of the boy with a soccer ball, and handed it to Daniel.
"Son?" Daniel asked.
To Miguel's surprise Johnny nodded, then softly said, "He'd be older now, but this is the only photo I have."
"He looks like a good kid," Daniel said, offering the photo back.
"I don't know where he was when it happened," Johnny said putting the photo away. "I... I wasn't really in his life much."
"I'm sorry, Johnny," Daniel said quietly.
"He's a smart kid. He'll be out there somewhere."
-o-
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Late morning they packed all the canned goods into the trunk of the car, after Mr LaRusso and Johnny had argued about where to put them.
"We can put the cans in the trailer," Daniel said, as he dropped a box next to it.
"Trailer's full, man," Johnny said, as he opened the trunk of the black car.
"Full of what?" Daniel asked, and when Johnny didn't answer he moved closer. "What's in the trailer, Johnny?"
"Alcohol," Johnny said quietly.
"You're telling me that big trailer, that's designed for people who are moving house, is full of beer?"
"I'm not going on a road trip without beer," Johnny said, as he cleared some space in the trunk for the food.
"What else is in there?" Daniel asked, moving closer.
"Gas cans," Johnny admitted with a slight grimace.
"Gas cans?" Daniel asked. "How many?"
"A lot of gas cans," Johnny said.
"So we're basically driving around towing a potential fire bomb behind us?"
"It's not like I can pull up at a gas station and ask them to fill her up," Johnny said. "That's why it's in the trailer. I figured if it went up we'd at least have a little protection."
"If it's as much gas as you say I doubt it'll do much good if anything happened," Daniel said.
"Well, we'll be careful," Johnny said.
"No more drunk driving!" Daniel said sternly.
"OK, OK..." Johnny said, then he asked, "I can have one, though, right?"
As they piled into the car, Daniel said, "Will you at least put your seatbelt on?"
"No," Johnny said, shaking his head. "If we get into a car wreck I want my brains smeared all over the dashboard so I can't come back."
"What?" Daniel asked.
"If I ever turn into a zombie I want it to be one of the really cool, badass ones, not one of those sad losers you see stuck in cars because they are too dumb to work the door handle."
"How very adult of you," Daniel said, glaring at Johnny with a look of disapproval.
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Miguel had been relegated to the back seat, but he didn't mind as it gave him a chance to talk to Eli. He wasn't quite sure what to make of him at first. Eli was quiet and shy, but once they'd actually started talking he'd opened up little by little. Miguel was relieved to have someone his own age to speak to, and finally someone who not only knew what Instagram actually was, but missed it just as much as he did.
"Oh, I love this song," Daniel said from the front seat, as Simply Red came on.
"Diaz, back in the front," Johnny shouted. "LaRusso can't be trusted with the music."
Miguel laughed at the sour look Daniel fixed Johnny with as he pressed skip on the CD player.
"Do you think he'd teach me how to kill zombies?" Eli asked quietly, nodding at Johnny.
"He taught me, so I don't see why not."
Eli shifted in his seat, then whispered, "I lied about how I got my scar. It wasn't from a zombie."
"It doesn't matter to me how you got it," Miguel whispered back, smiling. "He doesn't have to know that though."
Eli smiled back at him, then a new song came on the stereo, and both men in the front seats started cheering.
"What is it?" Miguel asked.
"Did you know you can play music from phones in cars?" Johnny asked.
"Well, yeah..."
"LaRusso has a ton of awesome songs on his phone. A lot of shit ones too, but yeah," Johnny said, then as piano chords started playing, he shouted, "You like Speedwagon?"
"What kind of man doesn't?" Daniel asked.
They both started singing in out of tune falsetto. "I can't fight this feeling any longer, and yet, I'm still afraid to let it flow."
They sang along, harmonising in all the wrong places, then Johnny shouted to the back seat, "You know this song?"
Eli and Miguel shook their heads.
"Well, get ready," Johnny said, "'cause here comes the chorus and it is awesome!"
"And I can't fight this feeling anymore, I've forgotten what I started fighting for!" They sang at the top of their voices, although to Miguel's ears it was more like a cat having it's tail stepped on, "It's time to bring this ship into the shore, And throw away the oars, forever."
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They were driving down a boulevard next to the 405. Johnny was nodding his head to the music, one wrist on the steering wheel, then without warning he pitched his beer bottle out of the open window and threw the car into a sudden turn onto a side road.
"What the hell are you doing?" Daniel shouted.
"Country club!" Johnny shouted. "You know what that means?"
"You want to play golf?" Daniel asked.
"Showers!" Johnny said. "Hot showers, club rooms, a restaurant, a BAR!"
"You're seriously pulling off the road for a shower?" Daniel asked.
"It's been two days for me," Johnny said, then he sniffed. "When did you last have a shower?"
"OK, shut up," Daniel said indignantly, as they slowly drove along the road.
The drive was long, surrounded by open flat golf courses and grasslands.
"This looks cool," Johnny said, as they slowly drove up to the club house. "Nothing will be able to sneak up on us from the valley here. You'd see it a mile out."
"I'm more worried about what's inside," Daniel said.
"Easy way to test that," Johnny said, as he pulled the car to halt outside the entrance, then leant on the horn.
"What are you doing?" Daniel shouted, as Johnny kept blaring the horn. "You're going to bring them right to us."
"That's the point," Johnny said, as he opened his car door and got out.
A single walker staggered round the corner, moaning loudly, and Daniel said, "Get back in the car now!"
"Why?" Johnny asked, closing the car door behind him. "It's just the one."
Daniel waved his hand to the back seat, and Eli pulled a handgun out of the black bag, handed it to him, and Daniel cocked the gun.
Johnny rolled his eyes, and said, "Put that away, moron. We don't kill zombies with guns. It attracts too many at once."
"Like leaning on the car horn doesn't," Daniel said, rolling his eyes.
"Sound of a gunshot travels a hell of a lot further than a car horn, but if you want double the number of zombies we have to fight then go ahead and be my guest."
"OK, OK," Daniel said, as he put the gun in the glove compartment.
Johnny took off across the parking lot, and Eli said, "I have a bad feeling about this."
"It's only one. He can handle it," Miguel said confidently, as Johnny casually walked up to the zombie, and kicked it under the chin, sending it's head flying across the lawn.
"Fore!" Johnny shouted, as the zombie collapsed in a heap.
"Very funny," Daniel shouted. "Now stop showing off and get back over here."
Johnny stopped, and turned his head. "Shit!"
"What's wrong?" Daniel asked, then Johnny took off at a run, and a group of walkers staggered round the corner.
"Oh for god's sake," Daniel said, as he opened his car door. "You two stay there."
"I can help", Miguel shouted after him. Then as Daniel ran after Johnny, he turned to Eli and asked, "Why won't he let me help?"
"You're a kid," Eli said.
"I can handle myself," Miguel grumbled.
Johnny came flying back round the corner, closely followed by Daniel. Johnny pointed, to his left, and shouted "Split them!"
Daniel ran left, and Johnny ran right, and the zombies peeled off in different directions, in two smaller groups.
Johnny sprinted across the parking lot, and kicked an abandoned golf bag, he picked up two clubs, then ran back towards Daniel, and threw him one of the sticks.
As the Zombies shuffled towards them they raised the clubs, then began smashing them into the zombie's heads, until they lay, a heap of unmoving corpses on the ground.
Miguel got out of the car, followed by Eli, and they walked over to where the two men stood.
"Man, that takes me back," Johnny said, as he ground his heel into a zombie skull, making sure it was well and truly dead.
"You used to play golf?" Miguel asked.
"Almost every Friday night, yeah," Johnny replied.
"He means Miniature Golf," Daniel said with a laugh.
"It's still golf," Johnny replied with a smile.
Daniel slapped him on the back like they were old friends, then said, "OK, how are we going to clear out the inside?"
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It turned out that clearing the inside meant blocking all the doors except one, then making as much noise as possible until it attracted a zombie. Miguel would hide behind the open door, and then close it as soon as the walker had shambled far enough into the parking lot for Johnny to smash its skull open, then Daniel and Eli would drag its corpse out of the way.
It took an hour to attract all the loose zombies to the kill zone, and after that they entered the club, and Daniel said, "We need to sweep each room. Make sure we haven't missed any."
"This place has CCTV," Eli said, pointing up at the camera above their heads. "Why not use that to check where they are?"
"Eli, you are a genius!" Daniel said.
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When they located the security office they checked the CCTV on every room, writing down which doors were locked, which were open, and the location of every zombie visible on camera. They found a set of two way radios, and took one each, using them to coordinate their attacks. Once the building was clear of the undead, they checked all the exits were securely locked, and went to explore their new surroundings.
"A bar! A bar!" Johnny shouted, as he walked into the clubroom. He ran behind the counter, opened a can, downed most of it in one long drain, then started scouring the fridges. "Come on... dammit!"
"You looking for something in particular?" Daniel asked.
"I want a Coors Banquet," he replied.
"Do they still make that?" Daniel asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah," Johnny said incredulously. "I drink it all the time."
"There's plenty of other beer," Eli said, pointing at the fridge.
"It's Budweiser," Miguel said. "It's closer to water than a ducks ass."
Daniel looked at Miguel for a second, then turned to Johnny. "Did you teach him that?"
"You know kids," Johnny said, still rummaging through the fridge. "They pick stuff up."
"Why are you looking for it?" Eli asked.
"There's a Banquet in a bar somewhere in the valley, and it's not just any bottle of Banquet, it's the last bottle of Coors Banquet that anyone will enjoy in the whole universe," Johnny said, "and you better believe the person drinking it is gonna be me."
"Even if the zombie apocalypse hadn't happened you probably still would have been the last person drinking it," Daniel said, rolling his eyes. Then he said, "Come on, let's go find some food."
"OK," Johnny said, grabbing a can of Coors light.
-o-
"I'm going to cook," Daniel announced, when they found the freezer at the back of the restaurant, and after testing the ovens and burners still worked.
"I'd kill for pizza," Eli said.
"Oh, yeah, pizza would be amazing," Miguel agreed.
Johnny nodded in agreement, then added, "Just don't be putting vegetables on it and shit like that."
"Pizza it is," Daniel said.
-o-
Daniel found flour, and yeast, olive oil, and powdered milk, but no eggs, but it was enough to make a basic pizza dough. At the back of the walk in freezer he found a frozen pan half full of left over tomato sauce that had been stored and forgotten about, which still tasted pretty good when defrosted. Then he found the holy grail – an unopened tub of Mozzarella cheese that was only out of date by a week or so.
He made pasta from scratch, throwing it in the left over tomato sauce, with a few pinches of spices and some dried herbs that had been at the back of a cupboard, and when Johnny wasn't looking he topped up the pan with a can of ratatouille vegetables from the canned food drive.
As they tucked into the pizza everyone groaned with delight at how delicious it was, but Daniel noticed one bowl was going untouched.
"You aren't eating your pasta?" Daniel asked, and Johnny shook his head.
"It's really good," Miguel added.
"I saw him sneak a can of vegetables in there," Johnny said. "I know he's trying to fool me into eating them."
"Come on try it," Daniel said holding out a fork full of pasta.
"I don't want it," Johnny said, turning his head away.
"Come on just one tiny bite," Daniel said, holding the fork to his lips.
"Oh god, if it'll make you stop I'll try it," Johnny said. He opened his mouth and Daniel fed him the pasta. He chewed quietly.
"Well?" Daniel asked.
"Shut up, you know it tastes great," Johnny huffed, as he dug into the bowl.
-o-
After they had eaten they went back to the bar. Johnny took the caps off two bottles of coke, then placed them on the table with two glasses, and nodded to Miguel.
"Thanks, Sensei," Miguel said, as he tipped them into the glasses, and handed one to Eli.
Johnny handed Daniel a beer, then walked over to the large windows and looked out over the golf courses and courts.
"Takes me back, being in a place like this," Johnny said, over his shoulder. "I mean, if you ignore that zombie caught in a Tennis net over there..."
"Yeah, Miguel, did you know that Johnny was a regular at a country club?" Daniel said with a grin. "From what I remember he used to do a lot of ballroom dancing."
"Shut up, my mother liked it, not me," Johnny said defensively, as Miguel laughed. "And I seem to remember you visiting once, and wasn't their some incident involving pasta. Why don't you tell them about that?"
"And that's a memory I'd like to forget," Daniel said with a laugh.
"What happened?" Eli asked.
"Yeah, we wanna know," Miguel added.
"You remember that big tub of tomato sauce we had tonight?" Johnny asked, and Miguel nodded. "Well, imagine that all over a white shirt and white trousers, and someone flailing in a puddle of it on the floor."
"Whattttt?" Miguel asked with a laugh.
"Yeah, it's funny," Daniel said. Then he smirked. "Funny that you remember every detail of what I was wearing that night."
Johnny fixed Daniel with a look for a second, then said. "Funniest thing I ever saw, man. Not likely to forget that any time soon."
"Yeah, that's what it is," Daniel replied, still holding his eye contact with Johnny.
Miguel inadvertently yawned, and Johnny pointed at him. "The kids are tired. It's time for bed."
-o-
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After an uneventful night, with no zombies attacking in the darkness, they decided to rest up at the club for a few days. The food and alcohol were in plentiful supply, and for now everything was safe enough, so it seemed like a good opportunity to take a break from life on the road.
There was a Yoga studio with mats and mirrors next to the gym and Miguel and Johnny spent time training, while Eli watched on the side lines.
Daniel sat in on their training sessions, for lack of something better to do Miguel assumed, but on the second day Daniel turned to Eli, waved a hand and said, "Go on."
"Seriously?" Eli asked. "I can train with them?"
"If it's OK with Sensei Lawrence, it's OK with me," Daniel replied.
Johnny smiled at Daniel. "Always room for one more on the mat."
As Eli lined up next to Miguel, Johnny said, "The first thing to know about fighting zombies is that in a one-on-one fight, a live human will ALWAYS have superiority over a single zombie."
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It was evening and Miguel had just finished taking a shower after a long day of training, when he overheard Daniel and Johnny talking in the corridor outside the locker rooms.
"You're really good with them," Daniel said.
"You surprised?" Johnny asked.
"I am, yeah," Daniel replied softly. "I don't want you take that the wrong way."
"What other way am I supposed to take it?" Johnny asked.
"You know I'd never agree with that Strike First bullshit in the normal world, but the world isn't normal anymore. Maybe Cobra Kai makes more sense here."
"Guns are for amateurs and pussies," Johnny said. "The way of the fist is going to keep us alive, and them."
"God, you are such a drama queen," Daniel said with a snickering laugh. "'The way of the fist.' Can you even hear yourself?"
"Shut up, you know you love it," Johnny teased back.
"Maybe I do," Daniel replied.
-o-
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They were in the bar again, after another spectacular meal that Mr LaRusso had prepared, and Miguel couldn't believe that he was in a place like this. If it wasn't for the zombies he'd never have made it past security at the front door, but here he was, sitting on a spacious balcony overlooking the whole valley, watching the smoke from a fire that was burning somewhere in the distance curl up into the darkening sky, and tucking into expensive candy from the vending machine they'd smashed open.
"You know lots of famous people come to places like this," Miguel said. "Wouldn't it be cool if we bumped into zombie Justin Timberlake?"
Eli laughed, and said, "You know who is definitely alive right now?"
"Who?" Miguel asked.
"Chris Evans."
"Definitely alive," Miguel agreed. "Chris Hemsworth, also alive. He could punch a zombie to death."
"Who are these people?" Johnny asked, looking at Daniel for an answer.
"OK, let's go old school," Miguel said, remembering that his Sensei had said he'd never seen a Marvel film. "Arnold Schwarzenegger."
"Alive," Daniel said, and Johnny nodded.
"Sylvester Stallone," Eli said.
"100% alive," Johnny said, and Daniel nodded.
"Bill Murray," Daniel said.
"Definitely alive, duh," Johnny said.
"Robin Williams," Johnny said, and when everyone looked at him he asked, "What?"
"He died like four years ago," Daniel said. "Didn't you know?"
"Way to ruin the night, LaRusso," Johnny grumbled.
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Late in the evening, after dark had fallen, they heard a scratching sound coming from somewhere on the terrace. Johnny was on his feet immediately, his head turning to try track the sound, then he let out a shriek as a Raccoon trotted across the balcony.
"Wow," Daniel said sarcastically. "You're my hero, Johnny Lawrence. You saved us all."
"It could have been a zombie," Johnny snapped back.
"Yeah, I'm sure the zombie would have been impressed by your girly scream," Daniel said, then he ducked, laughing as Johnny sprinted over to him and started poking him in the ribs.
"Oh yeah, you like that, huh?" Johnny said, as Daniel screamed when his fingers found a ticklish spot. "Who's the girl now, huh? Huh?"
"Time out! Time Out!" Daniel shouted, breathlessly.
"Yeah, I'm only stopping cos every zombie in the valley can probably hear your high pitched screaming like a dog whistle," he said with a smile as he grabbed a beer.
The Raccoon came out of it's hiding place, sniffing the air around them, seemingly unfazed by their presence. Johnny reached for a pack of marshmallows, and threw one to the curious creature. It came closer, reaching out with its tiny hands, and took the marshmallow, then scampered to safety.
Every time it finished the treat it moved closer again, holding out its paws, as if asking for more, and Johnny tossed it another.
"Don't you think the Raccoon has had enough?" Daniel asked. "You should be eating those instead of wasting them."
Johnny looked up at him. "How am I wasting them?"
"We barely have enough food for us most of the time and you're feeding it to the wildlife," Daniel said. "I'd call that wasting it."
"But it's making me happy, so it's not a waste," Johnny said.
"You're sat there in a jacket that you used to wear 34 years ago when you were seventeen," Daniel said. "I think that alone should tell you that you need the marshmallows more than the Raccoon does."
"Yeah, but if I give the marshmallow to the Raccoon, and seeing it eat it makes me happy, and I need that more than I need the marshmallow," Johnny said, then he threw the packet on the table, and fixed Daniel with a look, as he continued, "And if the last three months have taught me anything it's that you have to take any chance for happiness, no matter how small because you never know when everything will go to shit and you'll end up dead, or even worse the only one left alive."
They stared at each other, then Daniel cleared his throat, and said, "Can I see you private for a second?"
"OK," Johnny said. He stood up, then turned back to Miguel holding up his radio. "If anything happens, call immediately, OK?"
Miguel nodded, as they disappeared of down the side of the balcony and out into the tree line, he turned to Eli. "Wonder what that was about?"
-o-
-o-
Eli and Miguel headed inside after the night air turned chilly, sitting in the bar sharing the remains of the disputed marshmallows.
"How long have they been gone?" Miguel asked, looking at his phone. "I hope they're OK."
"I'm sure they're fine," Eli said, taking another marshmallow.
There was voices and laughter in the corridor, and Johnny and Daniel walked back into the room, both looking pink cheeked, and a bit dishevelled.
"Was there a fight?" Miguel asked, as Johnny grabbed a beer, and sat down next to him.
"No, why?" Johnny asked.
"You both have mud on you," Miguel pointed out, then he reached up into Johnny's hair and pulled out a small twig. "What were you doing?"
"Sparring," they both said, at the same time, almost as if it had been rehearsed.
"Cool, can I watch next time?" Miguel asked, and Eli elbowed him in the ribs.
Johnny and Daniel both laughed, then Daniel got up. "I'm just going to go clean up."
Johnny watched him walk towards the door, a strange smile on his face, and Miguel asked, "Is everything OK, sensei?"
Johnny kept smiling, watching as Daniel left the room, then said, "Yeah. It is now."
-o-
-o-
Notes: I decided to change the Speedwagon song that they sing bond over because the 80s station I listen to at work plays I can't fight this feeling anymore almost every day and it makes me think of these two idiots every time I hear it :-P
Also I know the ages and birthdates on google are wrong, and Johnny is actually older than Daniel, but I just couldn't resist Johnny being all smug over being the younger one lol