"You should have told me." Usopp repeated for the hundredth time, his back turned toward them.
"Sor-ry," Luffy drawled, snickering unapologetically, "we thought you were a zombie expert…"
"Shut up." Usopp spat, turning around just to glare at Luffy. "It's the fucking apocalypse and ya'll smartasses are who I'm stuck with…" Usopp shook his head, "Could've been Nicki Minaj or, if I dare to dream, Beyoncè…" Usopp muttered under his breath before clearly adding, "but I'm with some Chinese body builder and a crazy ass Mexican kid."
"Whoa, whoa…" Zoro spoke up, holding out his hands in a halting gesture, "I am Japanese."
"Cry me a river." Usopp replied.
"Would you care," Luffy asked around a mouthful of food, "if I said I'm actually Brazilian?"
"Negative, ghost rider," Usopp muttered, biting into his mostly delicious sandwich. He chewed quickly before adding, "I cared back before ya'll had important information ya'll didn't share with me…"
"What?" Luffy asked, shaking his head in confusion. "That was too many ya'lls for me to follow."
"I'm saying," Usopp clarified, spinning his chair back around to the table, "If you knew that zombies were in the store, you shoulda tol' me right away!"
Luffy and Zoro simply laughed. Usopp growled, turning his chair back around. Luffy scooted his chair around, beside Usopp's, "I'm sorry, man. But it was just really obvious. I didn't realize you didn't know. Do you want to know every time?"
"YES!" Usopp exclaimed. "I would like to know when I'm in fucking danger!"
"Okay," Luffy said, shrugging, "there's a zombie at the Asian place, two zombies at the pizza place, and three more in the 'AT&T' across from us."
Usopp's mouth dropped open; he looked around in shock before dropping his head into his hands, "Never mind."
"Never mind, what?" Luffy asked.
"Just never mind."
"Finish eating," Zoro instructed, his chair scraping against the tile as he stood, "I'm gonna go try and find a charger for my phone." Zoro stretched, stifling a yawn. "Anyone need anything while I'm in there?"
"Nope." Luffy answered.
"Usopp? You?" Zoro pressed.
Usopp shook his head, his face still hidden in his hands, "Nope. I won't need an iPhone in Heaven."
"Hey, Usopp?" Luffy murmured.
"Hm?"
"Any word from your Army guys?" Luffy asked.
Usopp wished he was able to laugh at Luffy's infantile choice of words, but he didn't have it in him, instead he sighed, "Nope. Radio silence."
"I'm sorry your friends left you," Luffy said, "you know, at the stadium."
"Those guys weren't Army, those were National Guard." Usopp explained, "they weren't my friends. The men and women of the 29th Infantry wouldn't run away. At least not away-away…"
"Sometimes the only thing to do is run away." Luffy replied. He seemed to think on it a moment before adding, "It only makes you a coward if it only saves you."
"That's deep, man," Usopp said, blinking his eyes. "You've been running for days and are trying to make yourself feel better, aren't ya?"
Luffy laughed, "Kinda. Maybe? I don't know…"
"Think he's okay in there?" Usopp asked, watching Zoro toss a zombie over the counter of the mobile shop.
"He's fine," Luffy sighed following Zoro with his eyes.
"How long have you two… you know…?" Usopp questioned.
"We met earlier this week." Luffy answered.
"What? Really? Ya'll seem so… I don't know… tight-knit or something…"
Luffy shrugged, crossing his legs, "I stopped to get something to drink. He was working at the time. Something about him was, I don't know, familiar, I guess. I asked him to come with me. He came. And we're here."
"Wow. That's unbelievable," Usopp shook his head in amazement, "Ya'll like coordinate in battle and shit."
"I guess." Luffy said, snickering.
"What did you do… before all this?" Usopp asked.
Luffy's leg bounced. He leaned back in his chair, his arms folded across his stomach, "I didn't do anything really..."
"You're still in school aren't you?" Usopp realized, laughing loudly. "Holy shit. You're just a highschooler with incredible fucking luck."
"I'm not, actually I-"
"Guys," Zoro called across the food court, "Come on. There's a 'Bed, Bath, and Beyond' down this way."
"Yeah. So?" Usopp retorted, making a face.
Zoro made an even more exaggerated face, "They've got beds, dumbass!"
"Oooh, beds," Luffy chimed, jumping to his feet, "beds sound nice."
Twenty minutes and twelve zombies later, Luffy was breaking through the roll-down grill at the front of the store. "Should I even ask why you are so skilled at breaking into places?" Usopp murmured.
"He can hotwire cars too." Zoro supplied.
"It's a certain skillset I have," Luffy said with an impish grin, "that's all." Luffy ran over to the side of the entrance, "Ta-dah," Luffy exclaimed, yanking the cords out of the alarm system, "We're in."
"Not like the police will show up for the alarm anyway," Usopp realized, still amazed at how quickly the world had changed.
"It's not the police I'm worried about," Luffy said, dropping the rolling security bar back into place. He rubbed his hands together before picking up his newly obtained weapon, a Smith and Wesson collapsible baton. "Divide and conquer, we'll meet up in bedding."
"Wait, what?" Usopp snapped, following after Luffy and Zoro.
"We need to clean house before we can sleep," Zoro explained. "I'll take the office upstairs, Luffy you check the outside entrance, we'll meet in bedding."
"I'm not sure, uh, that I am, uh, comfortable with this arrangement," Usopp murmured, grabbing hold of Luffy and Zoro's arms.
"Come with me, big baby," Zoro groaned, yanking Usopp along by his heavy gear. "I'll protect ya."
"I am a sniper with the 29th Infantry of the Unites States Army," Usopp declared, freeing himself from Zoro's grip, "but if ya don't let me use my bangbang, I can't very well feel comfortable."
Zoro only laughed. "You picked a quiet weapon, right?"
Usopp shrugged, "Yeah, but…"
"Use that for now."
Usopp made a face, "A fucking slingshot?"
"You picked it," Zoro pointed out, "besides, it won't be long before we're completely surrounded and outnumbered again. I'm sure you can use your 'bangbang' to your heart's content very soon."
An hour later Zoro and Usopp met up with Luffy. He smiled, scratching the side of his head absently, "I've got good news and bad news."
"Bad news first," Usopp requested.
"The beds aren't real beds," Luffy said, pointing to the miniature display.
"And the good news?" Zoro asked.
Luffy's smile widened, "There are three and if we lay sideways and curl up, I think we can all fit…" he ran over to one and leapt onto it, demonstrating how he could fit.
"I think I'll just make a bed on the floor," Zoro murmured, tossing throw pillows into a pile. "Plenty of sheets and shit to make it comfy."
"Any trouble?" Usopp asked, dropping his heavy pack to the ground. He groaned, rolling his stiff shoulders backward until they popped.
"None. You?" Luffy asked, pulling an entire smashed box of Slim Jims from his hoodie pocket.
"Nah. It was fine. Where'd you get those?" Usopp asked, taking one of the Slim Jims before Luffy could protest.
"Front registers," Luffy answered, rolling onto his side to protect the Slim Jims from further theft.
"They have grilling machines and all sorts of stuff here," Usopp realized, "Maybe we can head back to the food court in the morning, bring it back here and make some breakfast?"
"We can't stay long," Luffy murmured, sinking sleepily into the fluffy bed comforter.
"Well, yeah, I know, we'll run out of food soon. And we're lucky the electricity and water isn't down, and there isn't a shower… But look, it's a pretty sweet set up. Hundreds of lockable doors in this place…"
"I agree, it's cool," Luffy said, his eyes closing, "but it's dangerous… If I don't keep moving…" and then, no more than a whisper, but enough to scare both Usopp and Zoro, he added, "they'll find me…again…"
"Is he asleep?" Usopp asked, leaning over Luffy uncertainly. As if to answer, Luffy let out a snore. Usopp shook his head, "What the fuck? I don't know why but that was fucking creepy…"
"The moment you find your unit," Zoro instructed, ripping open a package of bedding to spread on the floor, "You need to hightail it outta here."
"Well, of course," Usopp agreed with a nod, "if I don't go back they call that 'desertion'. The U.S. Army doesn't really take kindly to it, either."
"I mean it," Zoro pressed, "even if you have to walk across the whole city alone; as soon as you can, you need to leave."
"Why?" Usopp asked, highly offended. "You don't like me or something?"
"That's not it," Zoro said quickly, shaking his head, "it's not that."
"Then what is it?" Usopp hounded. "I think you just don't like me… Well, let me tell you something, Zor-o, I-"
"He was bitten." Zoro finally blurted. He gestured to Luffy sleeping on the bed and then folded his arms over his chest, aggravated. "Okay? It's not you."
"When?" Usopp asked, reaching for the rifle resting on his gear. "How do you know?"
"Whoa! Wait!" Zoro barked, stepping between Usopp and Luffy. "The day we met he was bitten on his forearm, just above the wrist. It's been six or so days already…"
"But, then he shoulda-"
"Yeah," Zoro confirmed, nodding his head, "He should've turned long ago. But he didn't."
"Why?" Usopp asked, lowering his rifle.
"I don't know," Zoro admitted, "I think the clothes he was wearing were too thick to transfer the infection or whatever it is…"
"Really?" Usopp whistled lowly, "that's some luck."
"Luck runs out," Zoro finished, "which is why I'm warning you. I don't know if he'll turn. I don't know if I'll be alive tomorrow to know. But I do know that you're not obligated to wait around with us."
"For right now," Usopp said simply, "I have nowhere else to go."
"But when you do," Zoro began.
"I may never," Usopp interrupted. "Like you said, we just don't know."
"You can't tell anyone," Zoro suddenly blurted, "about Luffy's bite, I mean."
Usopp nodded, "Makes sense."
"You won't say a word?" Zoro pressed.
"Of course not," Usopp agreed, bumping his fist against Zoro's. "Clearly he's not infected."
"Right." Zoro mumbled, nodding in agreement.
"But, well, uh," Usopp stammered unsurely, "what do you really know about the guy?"
"About the same I know about you," Zoro retorted, his eyes narrowed coolly.
Usopp nodded, "Fair enough."
"Goodnight," Zoro barked, kneeling in the middle of his makeshift bed.
Usopp looked around nervously, an involuntary shudder passing over him, "You're really about to sleep? Like right now? Just like that?"
"Yup."
"Wow. That's a talent…" Usopp breathed out, "I'm just not sure I can do that. I mean, we checked, yeah, but don't you think someone should stand watch, just in case…"
"Knock yourself out."
"Okay, I'll take first watch, then I'll wake Luffy and he can take middle watch and then" but Usopp's plan was interrupted by Zoro's loud snoring. Usopp let out an anxious squeak before sitting down on the half-bed display. He closed his eyes, pressing his hands together in prayer, "Sweet Jesus, don't let me get eaten by zombies at 'Bed, Bath, and Beyond'." He opened his eyes and then shut them again quickly, "Or anywhere else, really."
…
He dreamt it again.
The dream always started in a cold, dark room. He wasn't alone in there, but the others, faceless and nameless, didn't frighten him. He could still feel the warmth of another's body against his, but he couldn't recall the face even while dreaming. He tried to focus on the person calling out to him; he pictured the earth and the color brown and it was comforting for a short while.
He was taken from his dark, small space and dragged down hall after hall. Everything was grey there. Grey, cold, and impersonal. And finally they'd take him down the stairs. And he could already feel the bile rise threateningly in his throat. Sometimes he would become over anxious and vomit on the floor; this dream was one of those times. He always refused to cooperate at first, even knowing he would then be punished, every single time he dreamt it.
He was in the wet box, they called it. Underwater, breathing nodules in his nose and a needle valve in his arm. It was like being in a watery coffin, he didn't like it. He didn't like the detached way the people outside watched him. He blinked slowly, but the film would never clear from his eyes. There was a burning sensation in his arm and heat spread from his IV and through his veins. He opened his mouth to scream, bubbles of air struggling to escape.
"LUF," a man called out, walking around a row of seated researchers to stand in front of the glass. "How are you feeling?"
This is where the dream varied most often. Sometimes he would simply cry. Other times he would beg for it to stop. But in this dream, this time, he said only two words to the man, "Fuck you."
The man's face twitched, the corners of his mouth turning downward. He scribbled something down on his clipboard before turning to one of his assistants, "Administer an additional 150 ccs."
"Hey, you alright man?" Usopp asked, shaking Luffy gently by the shoulders.
Luffy's large eyes stared up at Usopp, blinking slowly, before he finally found his voice, "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"
"You fell off the bed," Usopp explained, pointing to the bed above him.
"Why am I stuck?" Luffy demanded, sleep evaporating from him.
"You're all tangled up in the sheets," Usopp elucidated with a humored grin, "Calm down, I'll help."
"You're even noisy in your sleep," Zoro breathed out between reps, using a kettlebell to exercise.
"Yeah," Luffy groaned, jumping to his feet as Usopp freed him, "Sorry about that."
"No prob."
"What time is it anyway?" Luffy asked, rubbing his stomach hungrily.
"Almost two." Zoro answered, adding more weight into his workout.
"In the morning?!" Luffy groaned, sitting back down on the messy half-bed.
"Nah, man," Usopp clarified, "Two P.M."
"Oh, shit. I slept all fucking day…" Luffy realized, using a sheet to dry the sweat from his hair.
"Have plans?" Zoro asked, eyeing Luffy.
Luffy snickered, tossing the damp sheet to the floor, "May-be…"
"You know," Usopp said, grinning as an idea came to him, "I worked at a certain movie theater for two summers… I could probably figure it out again."
"Really?!" Luffy exclaimed in excitement, nearly bouncing off the bed.
"Yeah," Usopp said, beaming proudly, "Who wants to see a movie?"