An (Incomplete) Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse: Chapter 11

March 14th, 1999 - 4:55 pm

"Wake up, Rachel," Tom whispers as he gently shakes her shoulder. She moans and presses her head further into his stomach, not wanting to open her eyes. Tom smiles softly, but continues rousing her. "We're stopping for the night and getting ready to head out and look for supplies, you gotta wake up and watch Katie."

Rachel groans and lifts her head, blinking blearily up at Tom. She's adorable, he thinks, and only wishes that she wasn't so tired because she was healing a serious head wound.

He reaches out and brushes a lock of hair behind her ear, letting his fingers linger on the warm skin of her face. He frowns, noting the warmth, and presses his palm to her forehead, hoping her skin is just sleep-warm and that she's not developing a fever. He's relieved to find her forehead cool to the touch, and he smiles as he helps her sit up against the side of the van.

"Where are we?" she asks, and Tom looks around. Outside the windows of the van lays a small town, close to the major city but not close enough for them to have to worry too much about herds of the undead.

"Somewhere outside of San Bernardino."

Rachel nods, and then drops her head tiredly into her hands. "OK. Which team am I on?"

Tom huffs disbelievingly. "None of them. Like I said, you're staying here with Katie."

Rachel glares briefly up at him, but chooses not to argue. Her head is pounding and she feels like she was hit by a bus. She's sore all over from being hit, dragged, kicked, and slapped the previous day, and knows she would be a liability if she were to go with them.

"Fine," she relents, and then searches for her knife and gun, settling them beside her. "How far are you going? When do you expect to be back?"

Tom shrugs. "I don't know. Our list is a little longer this time, a little more specific. We're hoping to be back by dark, but we don't know for sure. Tex and I are going to look for supplies, Kara and Danny are working on gas."

"OK," Rachel says, and her eyes follow Tom as he prepares himself. He tucks his gun into his waistband and a knife into each boot. He looks up when he's done, and meets Rachel's worried gaze.

"What?" he asks, and she bites her lip.

"Just be careful, please?" she begs quietly, and Tom pauses, glancing around the van. He finds it empty, so he shuffles forward, bracketing Rachel's body between his knees, pressing the material of his jeans into the soft skin of her thighs. She looks up at him from her position sitting on the floor of the van, and her green gaze is intense, searching. He reaches out and presses his hand to her cheek, meeting her eyes and offering her a small smile.

"I promise," he says, and then, feeling emboldened by the intensity in her eyes, leans forward and presses his lips gently to hers.

She gasps in surprise, but then winds one hand around his back, settling it on his shoulder blade while the other tangles in the front of his shirt.

Tom had meant for it to be a brief press of lips, but she hangs on and he takes it as a good sign, pressing closer, coaxing her lips open with his. The hand on Rachel's jaw brushes back and forth across her cheek, mapping the warm skin, while his other hand settles on her neck, pulling her closer to him.

It's several moments later that they break apart, and Tom presses his forehead against hers, breathing raggedly.

"I swear I'll come back," he says, voice hoarse. "Because that's definitely something that I want to try again, and soon."

Rachel nods, her cheeks pink, and leans forward again, kissing him softly, sweetly, one more time.

"I'll hold you to that," she says, and Tom lets his palm cup her cheek once more before he pulls away, eyes lingering on hers until he has to turn around to exit the van.

"Be safe," she whispers again, and then sighs, letting her head thump back against the wall of the van.


March 14th, 1999 - 5:09 pm

After Tex finishes taking Katie to the restroom and deposits her back inside the van with Rachel, he and Tom head off, an empty duffel bag over each of their shoulders.

"So you and the boss, huh?" Tex asks, and Tom sighs, turning to face the older man.

Is nothing sacred? he wonders. Is nothing personal anymore?

"Yes," he says simply, because he's not interested in having the same talk as he'd had with Danny. "Don't worry, I've already been appropriately threatened if I hurt her and all that. Danny took care of it."

Tex chuckles, and shakes his head. "Not worried about that. She could hurt you plenty if she wanted; she doesn't need our help. Pretty sure she could kill you and dispose of the body better than I ever could. I'm actually happy for ya. Everyone needs someone. I've got my little girl, Danny and Kara got their thing, and it's good that Rachel's got someone now, too. She's been alone for a long time, I think. Didn't let anyone close to her. Sucks that it took the world ending to make it happen, but what can you do?" he asks, and shrugs.

"Still wrapping my mind around all that," Tom sighed. "The world ending and everything. It seems like just days ago that everything was normal. I mean, I know it wasn't, and most times I'm fine, but..."

"It hits ya," Tex sympathizes. "At the most random times. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and panic because I think that I'm late gettin' Katie to school, but then it all comes back. There is no more school. There's not much of anything, anymore."

"Yeah," Tom agrees, and casts his gaze around as they turn a corner. They clear the street, and then he sighs, turning back to Tex. "But it's a little different, because I was in a coma for the beginning of it all. It just seems like a bad dream most of the time."

Tex just nods, and Tom falls silent, focusing his energy on making sure that they're not taken by surprise. They run into a few zombies on their way, but no herds, and the ones they do come in contact with are easily taken care of. They're shuffling slowly, more slowly than the ones that had followed them the previous night, and Tom finds himself wondering what the difference is. Why are these ones slow? Why were those ones fast? Does it have anything to do with how recently they've eaten?

He shudders at the thought and decides it doesn't matter; he plunges his knife into it's face regardless, and keeps moving forward when it falls to the ground, unmoving.

"We're close," Tex says, and motions toward a Radio Shack in the distance.

"To our first stop at least," Tom responds, and then sighs as he sees a grouping of three of the undead slowly lumbering toward them. "I've got the ugly one in front," he tells Tex, and grips the handle of his knife tightly. He moves forward and sticks it in the zombie's eye as Tex takes out the other two. The older man throws his knife, and it sails straight through the softened skull of the first zombie, going straight through it and into the face of the second. They both fall, dead, and Tex leans down, pulling his knife from the pile of gore.

"Fuckers," he grunts, and wipes his knife off on his jeans. "See any more?"

Tom shakes his head, and then does the same, wiping the blood and decaying flesh off of his knife before sticking it back in his boot. "No, and we're close. When we get there, we'll clear the building before beginning to search."

"Sure thing, boss," Tex agrees, and they walk in silence the rest of the way. When they reach the Radio Shack, they're relieved to see that the glass and doors are still intact, which bodes well for them finding what they need.

"Cover me," Tom whispers, and Tex nods, taking both of his knives out and following Tom as he opens the door, flicking on his flashlight and shining it around the perimeter of the room. They don't see anything except shelves and shelves of dusty electronics, but Tom is cautious, walking up and down the aisles, making sure there are no surprises hidden in the corners before finally turning back to Tex.

"Clear," he says, and Tex nods, grinning as he grabs a shopping cart.

"All right then. Let's go shopping!"

Tom chuckles and shakes his head, but joins Tex as he starts to roll up and down the aisles. They find flashlights easily, and Tom adds every single one he sees to their cart. Tex raises an eyebrow, but Tom's not taking chances with their good luck. He'll find a place to store them; they're too important to leave any behind. Next, they head toward the battery aisle, and Tom double checks which kind the flashlights take before dropping armloads of AA and AAA batteries in their cart.

"We'll need to come back here after we find Walkie Talkies," he says. "They probably take C or D batteries, but I don't want to guess and be wrong."

Tex nods, and Tom points to a sign hanging over one of the aisles near the end of the row.

"Check that row out. I'll check over here," he says, and he points to where he knows the adapters are, crossing his fingers for good luck as Tex heads to the opposite side of the store. Tom moves quickly, wanting to see if his idea will even be possible before saying anything to Tex about it, and peruses the aisles carefully.

"Yes," he whispers, grinning as he reaches out and grabs what he needs off of the shelf. A 12 volt inverter should be more than enough to power a small fridge, he thinks, and double checks the packaging to make sure that it has a battery life as well, to help run the fridge even when the van is off. It does, and it boasts that it can hold a 24-48 hour charge. Tom grabs all three of the inverters he sees on the shelf, and tucks them under his arm.

He can't wait to share his plan with the group.


March 14th, 1999 - 7:55 pm

By the time the sun is setting, Rachel is about to climb the walls of the van. Kara and Danny eventually return with food, water, and four more cans of gas. She helps them store everything away, tying the cans of gas to the roof, before starting a fire for dinner.

They haven't heard from Tex or Tom, however, and Rachel is growing more and more worried as the minutes pass.

"I'm sure they're fine," Kara reassures her as she opens a box of spaghetti noodles and dumps them into the pot of boiling water. "They had a bigger list than we did."

Rachel nods. She knows that Kara is probably right, but she can't help the anxiety.

"It's harder than normal, isn't it? Since he's out there," Kara asks quietly, and Rachel nods slowly, not meeting her friend's eyes as she stirs the noodles. "I mean, I know we all care about each other, and I'd be devastated if something happened to any one of you guys. I am devastated," she corrects herself, remembering Eric and how they'd had to leave him behind. She sighs and shakes her head, continuing, "But for me it's different with Danny. I love him, so when he's not with me it's paralyzing. I don't know how I would cope, if something happened to him."

Rachel hums in agreement. She doesn't know if she loves Tom (she hasn't known him long enough) but she knows there's something there, and Kara is right. It does feel different. She's worried about Tex, of course, but thinking about Tom being bitten or hurt makes her chest hurt and her breath catch.

"Yeah," she finally relents, sitting back on her heels as Kara stares at her in the low light of the fire. "It is different. It's new, this thing with me and Tom, but I care about him. More than I've ever cared for anyone else, as far as I can remember." She pauses, and remembers that she's only known the man for less than a week, and scoffs, shaking her head at herself. "Which is stupid," she says. "I've only known him for a few days."

Kara just grins and shrugs. "When you know, you know," she says simply. "And yeah maybe he'll turn out to be a huge asshole and you'll need to dump his ass, but for now, you like him and he likes you and it really can be that simple sometimes. Don't overthink it."

Rachel is about to roll her eyes at her friend, but is interrupted by another voice joining their conversation.

"Who's an asshole now? Not me again, is it?" Tex asks, laughter in his voice, and Rachel spins around, her eyes immediately searching for Tom. He's following right behind Tex, and Rachel feels her anxiety disappear as she rakes her eyes over him. She sees no obvious injuries or blood, and finds herself grinning as she meets his gaze.

"Tom," she says in relief, and Tex rolls his eyes knowingly as Rachel stands, brushing the dirt off of her jeans. "Need help?"

Tom smiles and nods, reaching out and brushing his fingers across Rachel's cheek. He seems to be considering something for a long moment, and then abruptly comes to a decision, leaning down and kissing her gently. It's sweet and chaste and over in seconds, but Rachel feels her cheeks heat. Everyone saw, she thinks, and then on the tail of that thought immediately follows fuck it, and she leans up, kissing him again.

"I'm glad you're safe," she whispers against his lips, and Tom smiles.

"Me too. Hey, I have something I want to run by you before I tell the others; wanna help me unload this stuff?"

Rachel's curiosity is piqued, and she nods, taking the bag Tex is holding as she follows Tom into the van. She keeps trying to peek into the bag Tom's holding, but he won't let her, and by the time they start unloading flashlights, batteries, and walkie talkies, she's about to burst with anticipation.

"What do you want to tell me?" she asks, and Tom chuckles, reaching into the bag and pulling out a small box. He hands it over, and looks nervous as he begins to talk.

"I was thinking," he begins, as Rachel lets her eyes flicker over the packaging. It's a 12 volt inverter that plugs into the cigarette lighter of a car, and she's confused until Tom continues. "I was wondering if that might be able to run a small refrigerator, so we could keep Katie's insulin cold this summer."

Rachel looks up at Tom in shock, her eyes widening as the implication of his words settle over her. "Oh my God!" she cries, and then she's flinging her arms around Tom, holding him tightly. She buries her head in his neck, breathing in the scent of woods, sweat, and something that's just Tom. "Oh my God, you did it," she says, and Tom realizes then that she's crying. Her tears are warm against his skin, and he pulls back from her, brushing them away gently with the pad of his thumb.

"Hey, why are you crying?" he asks softly.

Rachel grins and shakes her head, sniffling and holding up the box he'd handed her.

"You figured it out. How to save Katie's life," she says in wonder, and then sets the box gently down before throwing herself back into Tom's arms. "I don't know why that didn't occur to us before, but this is perfect. We can keep her insulin cold, and it'll last forever. All we have to worry about is finding more; we don't have to throw it away every month now. Tom," she whispers, and then she pulls back, meeting his gaze with her own tear-filled eyes. "Thank you."

Tom is surprised when she leans forward and kisses him again, her hands on his cheeks to pull his face toward hers. He smiles against her lips, and then reaches up, taking one of her hands into his own, entwining their fingers. He cups her cheek with his other hand, tilting her head so their lips slot together perfectly. She hums into the kiss, and Tom coaxes her lips open with his. Rachel groans softly in her throat, and Tom presses harder against her, already addicted to the taste of her mouth and the feel of her tongue against his.

The need to breathe finally separates them, and Tom pulls back slowly, leaving his hand on her cheek, and meets her gaze. Her eyes are glazed over, and there's a small smile on her lips.

"I like you so much," Tom says, and Rachel laughs softly. "If the world had to end, I'm at least glad I got to meet you."

"Who knows," Rachel says, and brings their clasped hands up to kiss Tom's knuckles. "Maybe we would have met another way, some day. Some other horrible disaster that we could have solved together."

"Maybe," Tom agrees, and then kisses her again, slow and soft. "But I'm glad I met you now."

"Me, too," she agrees, and then lays her head against his chest, enjoying the warmth of Tom's body, the closeness and the intimacy. "Me, too."