A/N: Hey guys! So I wanted to clear something up here. This story will have point of view switches! Sometimes they'll happen at the end of a chapter, sometimes in the middle, or in the end, or any time I feel it would be appropriate. These will be inside horizontal lines, infact, one starts off this chapter. Also, italics will be used when someone says something out of the story telling. Usually comments from US or UK while the story is going on. I hope this isn't too confusing and that you can tell who's saying what. If it gets to confusing I can figure out a better way. OK, let's get to the story, I've kept you waiting long enough.
"OK Mister 'UK', my turn to tell the story!" US smiled, pushing UK out of the way.
"No way, I'm telling the story you ninny!" The Brit argued back, trying to regain his control so he could continue.
"Nuh uh, my turn. You got to tell a fair chunk of it, it's my turn!"
Before the fuming European could say anything else, the American started talking. The green eyed one shut his mouth and slumped back in his seat in defeat, his face still giving of the impression he wasn't happy with this turn of events.
"Alright where were we… aha!"
So we were standing outside of this small wall of tall, kinda thin, and bushy trees. UK was standing next to me, looking at the trees. I don't know why, but we stood there for a bit. It gave me time to look at the incredible wonder that was the wall of trees! OK, I'm exaggerating a bit. Mister Eyebrows, "I thought you weren't going to call me that you git!" stared at those trees for a while. The guy was probably spacing out a bit, he had done that a lot on the way here. Turning my head, I looked around the place. Behind the wall of trees, were, well more trees. The interesting thing was that most wild life had started to slowly die. They weren't totally dead, they just weren't as green or colorful. Plants grew slower and not as much. It was part of the early stages of the zombie virus. I think the stuff kills cells and destroys them, I don't know, I wasn't the scientist of the family. Anyway, the weird thing about the trees UK was so interested in was that they didn't show any signs of stunted growth, or even the slightly dead look all plants now had. It was weird, though in this huge forest full of plants that were slowly (and I mean reeeeally slowly) dying, these lush green plants stuck out much more than a simple trail would. Without warning, the blond who had been standing beside me stepped forward. He parted the trees down the middle revealing a small passage we could walk through.
"Well, here it is. Keep close to me I can't have you getting lost in there." He didn't say anything else before stepping through the trees, I had to move quickly so I wouldn't be left behind.
While walking through the tree passage, I noticed two things. One was that the tunnel was dark. Even now that I had my glasses back, I still couldn't see anything around me. It was like we were walking along through space, except without the stars and planets and other spacey things. The second thing I noticed was the Brit walking in front of me. Back in the forest I hadn't gotten much chance to study him. I was too on edge looking out for the brainless monsters that might try to kill us. That, and I still didn't know if I could trust the guy who let me down. He was kinda rude, and temperamental, or maybe just regular mental. "I heard that you idget!" He interrupts people when they're telling stories. But he did save me from dying while upside down so that's a plus.
The Englishman was shorter than me, like by a bit more than half an inch. "Wait, should I give out the measurements using the imperial system or the metric system? I have no idea." Well for those of you listening that don't measure things the best way he was shorter than me by about 2cm. His hair was blond like mine, but different. His was pale blond, mine's a golden-brownish shade of blond. It also looked shorter than mine, though it may just have been that his was choppier and less even, and he was the one yelling at me about the state of my hair. I've been told I'm not supposed to mention the eyebrows, so I'll just skip over those. I'd mention his eyes too but he wasn't facing me at the time. UK was paler than me, not by much though. Somehow he had managed to not have his clothes torn to shreds. The clothes he wore looked like a cross between casual military and a wannabe rocker. He wore black lace up military looking boots that were just below the knee. Black jeans were worn on his lower half with the ends tucked into his boots. The pants were just loose enough to allow him to move with ease. He had a light weight, long sleeved white shirt underneath a sleeveless dark camo huddle covering his upper half.
It felt like he had been walking for hours. When I complained, UK stated that it had barely been three minutes before muttering something under his breath about a child. I leaned to the side so I could see around him, trying to look above his head just gave the view of the darkness surrounding us. But when I leaned to the side, I also saw a light.
"Are we there yet? Is that the base?" I asked excitedly, and I was. Excited to get to the Brit's base and clean up. Hopeful that once I got cleaned up, the two of us could have a conversation that didn't involve the way I smelled or how dirty I looked.
"For the first time since you asked that question I can finally give you a different answer." He let out a sigh of relief. "We're almost there. Honestly, how often can one ask the same question within a span of 5 minutes? Come on pick up the pace, you're the reason it's taking so long."
"What do you mean I'm the reason?!"
"If you weren't so slow we would've been there much sooner."
"Hey I'm stuck behind you, I can't go much faster." I didn't want to mention that I'd rather be closer to the guy and not running through what seemed to be a creepy dark hole. Even if I wasn't scared of the dark (you never know what's in it!) I don't know how anyone could be so calm walking in the complete darkness, it didn't even seem like we were moving. But now that I could see the light, it wasn't so bad. "Well if you wanted to go faster you should've said something!"
I pushed the other man aside and took off, running past him. He yelled something back at me, but I couldn't tell and didn't care. He started to run after me, but I didn't look back. I was dead set on getting to that light. It didn't take long since I was running. Bursting through the lit opening like a football player running through that paper thingy. I stood there for a second, my eyes blinded, trying to adjust to the light. When I could finally see again, I was blown away.
What was revealed was breathtaking. A small haven compared to the outside world. It was like a magic garden. The trees near the entrance the plants were at full strength, no signs of the wilting that the rest of the world's ecosystems showed. Looking upwards gave a view of the sun. At the time, the sun was a rare view, usually clouds blocked it off but here it shone warmly though the tree canopy covering the clearing. Near the corner of the space was a pond, it even had running water! The water was almost crystal clear, another rare thing to see. The place wasn't gigantic, about the size of a regular lot where one could build a decent sized house. Which the Brit did, sort of. It wasn't a house exactly, more like a fancy shelter since it was larger than one usually would be. It was well constructed, even out of planks almost like a real house with walls and a roof to boot! It Looked to have multiple rooms. There was actual grass on the ground, most of it had already died in other places around the globe. There were also flowers and trees making up a small orchard, a garden with vegetables and lettuce, it was just so unreal.
Suddenly, I was pulled out of my awe when I heard that the other guy managed to catch up, moving so he stood next to me.
"You bloody wanker, what made you think you could run off like that?!" From the tone of his voice it sounded like he was pretty upset.
"How?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"How, this, this whole place! How does it even exist?! It's like a small pocket of space where the zombie virus never even existed."
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you…" His voice dropped, stopping for a bit before continuing on. "Anyway, let's get to what I brought you here for. You can clean off in the lake, I don't have any soaps or shampoos though, so you'll just have to scrub. Don't worry about the water, it's in a moving system so it'll clean itself. If you give me your clothes I can wash them and patch them up. Now hurry up before you stink up my home."
Before I knew it, I had been stripped of everything but my boxers and shoved off to the lake. UK had taken my clothes, my glasses were set by the edge of the water. When I looked down I remembered about the bandage wrapped around my stomach. A zombie had managed to swipe at me and it cut a slash diagonally over my gut. The bandages were dark red because the blood had dried. Carefully ,I unwrapped the strips, checking to see if it was safe to take them off. The wound wasn't deep thankfully, so it had healed leaving a decent sized scar. I unwrapped the bandages the rest of the way before dipping my foot in to test the water then immediately pulling it back out, the water was freezing! Sitting down on my knees, I carefully leaned over the pond. It wasn't that deep, about 6 and a half feet. You know what that means? The best way to warm up in water is to jump in! I took three big steps back and sucked in a deep breath. 1... 2... 3!
"Cannonball!" I yelled before plunging into the pool. The chill was fast and instant. But the rush of the jump kept me slightly warm. By the time I resurfaced I was adjusted to the chill of the pond.
"You bloody twat! Did you just do a cannonball into the pond?!" UK yelled from somewhere in the hut. I don't think it's necessary for me to mention he was mad.
"Come on man chill!"
The angry englishman stormed out of the house. In his right hand were my jeans, still wet from washing. "You're going to ruin my pond! That's the only source of clean water I have!"
"Didn't you say this is connected to some system. Shouldn't the water fix itself?"
"You nitwit, it takes a while for the water to replenish itself if too much of it is displaced!"
"Oh... my bad."
"Indeed your bad." He said huffing. "Now hurry and wash up!" UK stomped back to the hut mumbling under his breath.
I watched him angrily march off. Once he was out of sight I set to do what I was in the cold pond for. I sucked a breath and plunged deeper into the water. When I opened my eyes I looked around feeling my hair swish around me as I turned. It was hard to tell if the water was cloudy because of my poor vision or the dirt that was covering my body, might've been a combination of both. Would've been nice to have my goggles. Looking at my arms and legs I realized that the brit was right, I really was dirty. Needing more air, I resurfaced, happy to fill my lungs with air again. Without a soap, a rag, or one of those poofy shower things all I was left to just rub my hands to get the dirt off. While I cleaned myself off my thoughts drifted. I thought about my life 6 months prior, before all of this apocalypse junk happened. I thought of my family, well what was left of it, mainly my cousin Matthew. We were more like brothers than cousins. Was he still alive? I hadn't heard from him at all. Though it's not like I was able to text or e-mail him, the internet shut down a few weeks after most of the planet had been infected, and cell phones didn't work anymore since no one was around to run the grid. There was my friend in Japan too, Kiku. I think I mentioned him before. We became pen pals though the school system. We would write back and forth in English as a part of his english class, and we still kept writing after the school year was over. We were good friends, I hope he was still alive as well. I thought of a bunch more that were less interesting while I cleaned up. Taking another breath, I submerged myself in the water again. Running my fingers through my hair, I shook it up and combed it back out doing my best to get all the earth out of it.
Feeling I did a good enough job, I breached the surface one more, throwing my head back then shaking it in a poor attempt to dry my hair. I swam over to the edge of the pond, well more like paddled since the side wasn't far. Pulling myself out of the water, I shook again to dry. It was sorta fun, no wonder dogs did it this way. While shaking my head more and trying to knock the water out of my ears I called the Brit.
"Yo! UK, do you have any towels or something?" I yelled towards the little house he made.
"Alright US you had your turn. I get to tell the story now."
"I didn't get to tell nearly as much as you did though!" US whined.
"The way you're telling the story is giving me a headache. Honestly I don't know how much longer I can listen to you, who taught you English?"
"Hey I may not know your fancy-shmancy English, but I think I tell the story fine."
"Whatever, it's my turn now. Sit tight, maybe if you don't complain like you did last time, I'll let you tell the story sooner." The Englishman sounded as if he were simply stating a fact, that there was no need to argue the point any longer.
"You sure you want to tell this next part?" He replied, sounding unsure of the other's decision.
"Yes I'm sure, now quiet down." The American opened his mouth to say more but quickly closed it again. He was getting a taste of his own medicine, he wasn't too happy about it.
When the boy got back to my house, he was sopping wet and dripping all over my floor; at least he was clean now. I looked over him again, the American stood in the entryway, leaning against one side of it nonchalantly. His hair was shinier, the light from the open door created a halo on his head. The blond locks were weighed down by the water, his cowlick still stuck out, albeit limply now. The lad was indeed stronger than first thought he was. His loose shirt and bomber jacket hid his slightly muscular structure. He wasn't incredibly brawny, but in no way was he pudgy. Lightly defined arms and abs made up his upper body. He held his glasses in his right arm which was holding him up against the door frame. His boxers, their colors making up the flag of his home country, were heavy with water clinging to his skin and doing their best to hang on his hips with the weight trying to pull them down. US's legs were equally toned, water dripping down his body creating a small pool at his feet.
"UK, dude you have a towel or something I can use to dry off? Judging by the looks of it, you're not happy with the puddle I'm making."
The American was right. My hands were balled into fists held stiffly against my sides, my face was hot with fury, teeth clenched, I was fuming. If the boy was good for anything it was making me mad. "Of course I'm not happy about it! Do you have any idea how long it took me to make this shelter? Now you just come in here and wreck the place!" I sighed, pausing my rant and trying to calm myself down. "Yes, I have something you can dry off with." I said trying my best to calm my tone. "Wait right there and don't move."
Relaxed as I could, I pushed my chair away from where I was sitting. I set the lad's shirt, which I was mending, down onto the table I was seated at, carefully tucking the needle in the cloth so I wouldn't lose it. I made my way back to the closet, grabbing one of the two towels I had, then went back to find the American still standing in the doorway. He had put his spectacles back where they belonged, perched on his nose. When he saw me, his smile widened slightly. Still slightly upset with him over the puddle, I angrily thrust the towel at his smug face. "There, now dry off." I tried to make it sound like an order. "Hurry up, I don't need a second pond."
A/N: Yay third Chapter done! So I've decided that a one chapter a week will work. I'll try to get the chapters uploaded every friday. Please don't forget to favorite, follow, and review! Especially review, I love to get feedback, so if you have anything please let me know. It also lets me know you like it (or don't and you want to help make it better) and with that it helps with the motivation to keep writing. Also, if there's enough demand I may be able to get it up to two chapters a week, but this depends on if my lovely beta thelostdoitsu can handle that. Anyway, please review. Until I write again, see you later!
