Author's Notes: Apologies. This was rushed.
There was very little movement between the two besides Zoey's occasional bumps from her crying. Rochelle stepped away from her a while ago so she could give Zoey some breathing room. She wasn't sure how long she would be like this, so she thought about maybe having a quick nap but quickly pushed the idea away because it would leave them vulnerable to any infected or to one of those specials. And she also wanted to be there when she was ready to talk again.
To her surprise, during her thoughts, Zoey stopped crying and started wiping her tears away.
Zoey changed her sitting position by crossing her legs in front of her. "I… I'm so sorry" still trying to wipe any stray tears on her face. "You must think I'm just some overly emotional teenager, right? If you do, I don't blame," looking down in embarrassment.
"Zoey sweetie, I wanted to help you in any way I can. If it means that I need to sit and listen to your problems, then I'm glad to do it. I feel that I learned a lot about you."
"I just feel bad though. I mean… You probably went through as much as I had right? Losing a loved one or your own town."
Guilt built up in her chest again. "Actually…" sounding very uneasy, "I don't know what happened to my family or my hometown."
"What? Aren't you from here?" Zoey asked.
"No, I'm from Cleveland… I was sent here about, I guess about a week ago, from my news station to report on the infection that was appearing in the Savannah area. That's where I got caught up in this whole fighting zombies and fighting for my own survival thing."
"Oh." Zoey stared at the ground and back at Rochelle with a sad expression. "So... You don't know what happened to your city. Or your own family?"
"No. I guess I don't. I never heard from anyone since I got here" Rochelle replied with a depressed tone. I can't believe I didn't remember about my family back home or even my city. Recalling the map they saw for a brief second back at the Vannah hotel, all the cities around Cleveland have been overrun by the infected. How could I be so selfish…
Hearing that she never heard or knows the welfare of her family or the state, especially being miles away from her house, Zoey couldn't help but apologize.
"Oh sweetie. There's no need for you to apologize" shaking her hand in front of her.
"But, still… I just want to apologize for that" Zoey said softly.
"Oh come on. It's not like it's your fault." Rochelle laughed.
"You may never know. Maybe it is…" Zoey said under her breath as she remembered that happened at back in Millhaven, where they were branded "Carriers." We were possibly passing on this infection to so many innocent people everywhere we went. I know it's not possible but-
"Hey Zoey."
Breaking her out of her thoughts, she perked her head up. "Yes!"
Her quick response earned a giggle from Rochelle as she walked back to the railings. "Did you ever notice how beautiful the night sky is?" as she stared at the vastness of space above.
"Well, no." Following her to the railings. "Why do you ask?"
"Just wondering. From my hometown or rather my city, I could never see the night sky because of all the city lights. But since this zombie apocalypse started, I soon started to see and fully appreciate the things we always take for granted. Like tonight's sky."
Unsure what she meant, Zoey followed her gaze up to the sky. There she saw a breath taking sight of the numerous stars that glittered the sky with the moon barely visible in its small crescent form.
"Wow. You would have thought during traveling around, shooting zombies and fearing for our lives we could take a minute to enjoy the little things we tend to ignore in our past lives."
Changing her gaze from the sky to Zoey, "Haha. Yeah. But I'm sure you've had a lot of things to worry about and probably went through more shit than my group did."
"Oh come on Rochelle. I'm sure you guys been through as much as we have."
"Well… not really…" she responded in embarrassment. "I mean, we all just started doing this zombie killing just a few days ago. All did so far was run out of a burning hotel full of those zombies after CEDA left us, only to end up in a mall which we found to be a deserted evacuation center. Then with little choices, we drove out of there with our car. Nothing much happened after that besides some car problems that's probably not worth mentioning."
She didn't want to look at Zoey because expecting a disappointment look followed by "That's all? My group has been more shit than you guys did in our first few days and that's all you did? "
Though she ran through a list of what she expected younger survivor would say or do, she risked looking and saw an unexpected response: her mouth wide open and a sparkle in her eyes.
"THAT'S SO COOL!" she said, loud enough to show her excitement but not loud enough to attract any stray zombies nearby. "It sounds like you guys were in a movie!"
The energetic response put Rochelle into complete shock. She froze there trying to process what she just heard. Once it finished, she just blushed, turning her head to the side. "Haha, I guess that's one way to look at it. I never looked at it that way. But, you guys probably have been through more stuff than us."
"Well, yeah. But nothing like that! I wish I could have been there. Watching, learning and directing a movie is one thing. But being something like that. That's so cool!" Zoey wore a big smile on her face.
Rochelle couldn't help but smile at the similarities between Zoey and Ellis. They were made for each other, those two.
Showing some curiosity for herself, Rochelle returned the question. "What kind of stuff did your group go through since the apocalypse started?"
Hearing the question put Zoey in an uncomfortable situation. She wanted to tell her about their journey but talking about would bring back memories of her time with Bill.
After a minute, Zoey looked up at Rochelle with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry. Can I tell you some other time? I'm still… trying to get over our lost."
"Oh, right." Blush started to reappear out of embarrassment and shame. "H-h-how very insensitive of me. I am so sorry!" She pleaded bowing her head in shame.
Seeing the older survivor does all of this for forgiveness greatly surprised her. Patting Rochelle's back, she bent down to where her head was. "You don't need to be so formal" she said with a small laugh. "I forgive you and I would love to tell you of our adventure, if you can call it that. But I just need some time to heal is all. But one day, I'll tell you everything," giving her a warm smile.
Seeing the smile, she nodded.
"Oh, Rochelle, by the way, how is it being with those guys? You know, being the only woman of the group and I'm guessing they are around your age."
Rochelle first responded with a sheepish smile. "Well... I really don't think our age matters during the apocalypse. But its okay I guess. Though I have to admit; Francis comment about Coach being my dad. One of the most memorable things I will remember from all of this."
"Haha, yeah. Well you can't blame Francis; he looks older than he is."
"Well yeah. And as for being with them… Though we all just met, I think I got to know them all too well during our run around Savannah and our ride here from that mall. They seemed to be a very… colorful bunch of people."
"Really? How so?" showing much curiosity in her voice.
"Let's just say, working with a friendly and talkative mechanic, a cynical conman that doesn't want to share his past, and a former football player now coach who is always on the lookout for food for the past few days is, in a way, never boring. But it does get tiring trying to keep up with all their arguments between each other and trying to keep the peace in our group."
"Well it can't be anything too bad right? Heck, I worked with a gruff war veteran who became really important to me, a tough biker who hates most things on this world, and a completely optimistic IT worker."
"Well, I guess you got me there," Rochelle mumbled.
"But I think it can be agreed that the men of our group don't like each other much. Though they secretly care," Zoey said and Rochelle nodded in agreement.
"Though they keep threatening each other out of dislike, I think it's our job to make sure that they don't shoot each other to death."
"You got that right sweetie!" Rochelle laughed with Zoey joining her.
When the laughter echoed through the town and gradually disappeared, both women watched the ocean dance with stars reflected on its dark surface.
"I guessing we have a couple more hours till the guys wake up…" Zoey calmly said out of the blue.
"Yeah."
"You tired?"
"Not really. You?"
"Ha, not at all."
"So…" turning her head to the other. "What else do you want to talk about?" accompanied with a smile.
With a smile on her face as she turned to face her, "Well…"
A/N: Super rushed, super rushed, la la la~ I'll edit it later if I get some complaints. So, sorry that this story wasn't that great. My mind is everywhere right now.
For the stargazing part, I have to thank my sister for that. She told me to come outside to look at the clear night sky. The past few nights were okay, but it was nothing compared to that night (so much stars and so much SPACE! [ah, Portal])
Gonna apologize that I might not put up the possibly last chapter anytime soon. I didn't start on it yet and though I really don't want to, I gonna put this story on a bit of a hiatus; at least until I can get time from classes and stuff. The earliest I can put it up is maybe the MLK day or President's Day. If not, maybe Spring Break. But I am unsure. But I promise! If I don't put anything up, I will get back to it when the semester ends in mid-May (if nothing bad happens during the semester that is).
Please bare with me because being an Architecture major is very time consuming and I pretty much have no social life because of it. But I am not calling quits on this. I aim to complete every story I write, though this is my first full story.
So please review, favorite, alert or do whatevers you do on FanFiction, and I will be back soon. And thanks for reading! :D