As the troop gathered into the house Bill, Francis and Nick began barricading the doors with chairs and tables while Zoey and Rochelle covered the windows with bookcases and shelves (even though they were already covered with iron bars).
"The house is zombie proof now." Coach said. "Now time to break out the food!"
"My kind of guy, I'm starved!" Francis said. "What do you guys got?"
"I don't know what Louis and Ellis grabbed but I got butterscotch, white chocolate, dark chocolate, raspberry, mint, York peppermint, caramel, and strawberry."
"You know what, I don't hate dark chocolate!" Francis said with a smile.
"Here you go man!" Coach said as he tossed Francis a dark chocolate bar.
"Mmm….thanks Chris!" Francis said.
"It's Coach."
"Oh yeah, sorry."
Coach gave a small chuckle.
Rochelle began venturing around the house with Zoey when they came across a washing machine.
"Oh my god, I pray they have running water!" Rochelle said in excitement.
"I'll go grab the detergent." Zoey said as she bolted for the bag of soap.
Rochelle then went back to the remaining six people.
"Fellas! We found a washing machine!" Rochelle said.
The men all looked around confused as they gorged themselves on chocolate.
"That's code for we need to wash our clothes!" Rochelle said.
"C'mon Rochelle, this suit's a thousand dollars." Nick said.
"Do you want to keep walking around with Boomer puke and Spitter goo on your suit?" Rochelle asked.
"Fine, I'll wash the pants and the shirt but not the jacket." Nick replied.
"Whatever." Rochelle said.
The group then all undressed down to their socks and underwear and tossed their clothes into the washer. They all sat out in the living room trying not to make eye contact with each other, more importantly, underwear contact.
"Well this is not as good as I thought it would be." Rochelle said as she did her best to cover herself from the other seven.
"I'm sure these people left spare clothes around, we can just put them on." Ellis said.
"Good idea!" Zoey said as she sprinted out of the room.
"I'll go help her." Ellis said as he began walking down the hall.
"Not on your life lover boy." Rochelle said as she went to go help Zoey.
"Damn!" Ellis said.
"Forget it Ell. That girl is way out of your league." Nick whispered to Ellis.
Rochelle then entered the master bedroom to see Zoey unpacking all the clothes from the dressers.
"It seems like only a fifty year old man lived here." Zoey said. "All he's got is polo shirts, slacks and sweater vests."
"Well it's only temporary" Rochelle said with a chuckle.
"Thank god!" Zoey laughed.
Zoey and Rochelle then carried the pile of clothes back out into the living room and laid them out on the table.
"Okay, there's a shower with running water, we'll each take turns taking a shower, who wants to start?" Rochelle asked.
"I'll go!" Zoey said as she jumped up and ran for the bathroom. The door began to close slowly as Zoey undid her bra. Ellis and Nick leaned as far as they could to watch as much as they could.
"Nick you're such a pervert!" Coach said.
"Hey, I'm a man and I have needs." Nick said.
Eight showers later it was 8:30 and everyone was clean and ready to go to bed.
"Okay it's wise if two of us stay up to keep guard, we'll alternate in two hour shifts. Who wants to go first?"
"I'll go." Rochelle said.
Francis saw his opportunity and took it, "I'll go too!" He said. Zoey began to giggle. Francis gave her a mean look and she stopped as best she could.
"Alright, I'll take the twin bed in the kid's room." Bill said
"I'll take the second twin." Coach said.
"Zoey and I can take the futon in the couch." Nick said quickly.
Ellis quickly glared at Nick. Nick winked and smiled back.
"Are you alright with sharing the master bed with me?" Louis asked Ellis.
"Yeah. In fact, there was this one time where me and my buddy Keith accidentally set this bed on fire when…." Ellis said as his voice began to fade as he entered the bedroom.
Francis and Rochelle slipped away into the kitchen and shut the door. Nick and Zoey were all alone.
Zoey knew Nick's intentions but wasn't frightened by him, in fact, she thought he was hot.
Zoey slid into bed and pulled the thin red fleece over her. Nick slid in beside her.
"Ugh it's so cold." Zoey said as she sat up and rubbed her bare shoulders. She was only wearing one of the man's over sized sweater vests.
"Here, take my jacket." Nick said as he draped it over her shoulders.
"Thanks." Zoey said and gave a small smile.
Nick then put his arms around Zoey and drew her in. Nick was almost positive Zoey would get up and slap him, but instead she buried her head under his chin and quickly fell asleep. Nick then carefully drew his face in and kissed Zoey lightly on the lips. Zoey didn't respond. Nick then pulled the covers over him and quickly fell asleep.
Meanwhile, Francis and Rochelle were in the kitchen eating chocolate and poptarts.
"So where are you from?" Rochelle asked.
"Well I was born in Arizona but spent the last three years in Pennsylvania. What about you?"
"Born and raised in Dayton, Ohio." Rochelle said.
"Dayton, you know Bill, Louis, Zoey and I passed through there before the EVAC helicopter brought us to Savannah." Francis said.
"Was it still okay up there?" Rochelle asked nervously.
Francis gave a nervous grimace.
"Oh." Rochelle said as she began to tear up.
"Well they could have evacuated that area, because I know it was a huge EVAC center before we got there."
Rochelle nodded, being given that information consoled her.
"I'm just so worried about my parents and my brother. They're the world to me."
Rochelle said as she began to bury her face in her hands and cry. Francis then moved his chair closer to her and held her close to him. She began crying into his borrowed polo shirt. Francis felt bad that he felt so happy in Rochelle's hour of need but he never felt this way about a woman before. Rochelle was something special.
"I'm here for you Rochelle." Francis said as her drew Rochelle closer to him.
"Thanks." Rochelle said.
The rest of the night was relatively peaceful. Only two zombies and a hunter lurked around outside, but everyone inside the house was safe from them.