Chapter 4

House Hunting

The rest of the drive was done so in silence, especially when they had gotten to Frazier Park. They saw nothing but madness, everywhere they looked. Broken glass, overturned cars, debris, it looked like the world's biggest riot had taken place.

It was getting late however and they knew better then to be staying out so late at night.

So they decided to head north and deeper into the small city. Coming into a high society gated cove styled community on Lockwood Valley Road, that had the gate wide open, Jesse turned into it slowly. It was 178 acres with fifteen houses on the property, all flat useable land nestled between mountains, a small forest, a blue sky and a lake.

"What are you doing?" Kendra asked as she took in her surroundings.

"I'm finding us a place to stay for tonight." he replied and then he caught her true meaning to her unasked question. "Look the place is gated and as long as there aren't that many walkers here and assuming we can get that gate closed we should be able to stay here for awhile."

Off her look, he ammended. "I'll make a deal with you. We check this place out and if you don't like it, we'll leave. I just want to remind you though that's it's getting late and we shouldn't be out on the streets then."

Giving him the okay, they slowly started to creep down the two lane street. As they passed a few houses all was quiet, with only a few signs of there ever being a disturbance in the neighborhood. Not seeing or hearing any zombies, they knew that they were relatively safe.

"So far so good." Jesse whispered.

As they were about to pass the big house on the top of the hill he spotted something he had been looking for, for weeks. Ignoring it for now he circled around and drove back to the front of the gate.

"What do you think?" he asked, as his fingers tapped the top of the steering wheel.

"I tink this place would be easy to defend and fortify." she said enthusiastically. "All we have to do is close dis gate and clean out a house and any other house dat might have geeks in it."

"I already have a house picked out." he said as he opened the door to the truck and got out. "Now let's concentrate on getting the gate closed."

As they examined the gate they saw that although the gate closed by electricity, with the added bonus of Kendra's Slayer strength, they managed to get it closed easily enough.

Getting back into the truck, they headed to the house that Jesse had spotted earlier. At Kendra's insistance, they decided to do a perimeter sweep first. Starting at the front of the house, which was boarded up with what he hoped was red paint on the door that read PLEASE FATHER FORGIVE US.

"That's never a good sign." Jesse mumbled to himself.

Now knowing that there would be something grim inside, they circled the house and peered in a window and saw an empty kitchen. Continuing on to the other side of the house they gazed into the window... and nearly threw up at what they saw inside.

It was a family laying sprawled on the floor of the den. Their faces turning dark and grim they saw that they were all shot in the head, with flies and all manners of bugs crawling on thier bodies.

Looking up from them they saw a man, long dead, with a shotgun dangling loosely from his hands. He was sitting on a couch with the back of his head blown off and brown blood splattered on the wall behind him.

"Maybe we should choose anodder house." Kendra said as she backed away from the window.

"I...I chose this one because it looks like it's the only one with a set of generators." he said startled himself. "It'll get dark soon, so we need to take these bodies out and burn them. Then we'll unload our stuff and get settled in."

After sometime they took out the bodies and stacked them up in the backyard. Gathering some wood and dousing them with a little lighter fluid, he lit a match and threw it at him. Not holding it in any longer, Jesse threw up, but not out of disgust but the sheer fact of how easy this was getting to be.

Sensing his discomfort, Kendra lightly squeezed his hand in support. Squeezing back he held her hand a moment longer then she was comfortable with and she suddenly jerked away from him.

Watching her walk away, he suddenly looked back at the bodies. "I'm sorry this happened to you." he whispered as he went to the truck and got the canister of gas.

Checking one of the generators he saw that it was completely empty. He put a smile on his face however as he checked the other one and saw that it was half full. Filling it up with the rest of the gas he had he walked to the back of the house. Letting out a much needed breath, he looked out at the lake. It just seemed so peaceful. It was if the world hadn't gone to hell at all. Snapping back to reality he cut on the generator and started to walk towards the truck.

After a couple of hours after unloading the truck night descended and seeing what they had, Kendra started to explore the house as Jesse mustered up some courage to go back into the den. He was surprised that even though the smell of death had spread to the rest of the house, it wasn't as bad as it was before they had removed the bodies.

'Or maybe I'm just getting used to the smell?' he thought to himself. 'God, I hate this world.'

Forgetting about that for now he opened one of the windows a crack to let some fresh air in. Not to draw to much attention to the house, they used sheets to cover up the large windows of the house and they made sure to get good use out of the the dimmer switches.

Putting on some yellow rubber gloves he gathered some bleach and other cleaning materials and started to clean the room. He was at-least thankful that these people had hardwood floors or he would have never gotten the blood up.

Hearing the den's double doors open, he jumped a little, but relaxed as he saw that it was Kendra.

"I'm sorry if I startled ya."

"It's okay." he said as he started back to cleaning.

"I checked every room of dis house and I didn't see anything unusual. I also threw out everything in the refrigerator because it spoiled." she went on. Not getting an answer from him she tried another way. "Do you need any help?"

"NO! I mean no I got this."

"O...okay." she said as she turned to leave. "I'll see about getting us something to eat."

"Kendra wait." Jesse said as she turned around and looked into his eyes. "I... I'm almost done here. I'll help you fix us something to eat and then I wanted to talk to you about some stuff."

"I'd like dat." she smiled thinly, as she walked out of the room.

Smiling himself he went right back to his grisly task, only for the silence to be shattered as he heard Kendra yell his name. Yanking off his yellow rubber gloves he picked up his baseball bat and tracked her voice into the kitchen.

As he skidded to a stop in front of her, he nervously looked around, his knuckles turning white as they gripped the bat.

"What's going on... where are they."

"We're not in any danger." Kendra told him, a hint of excitement in her voice. Taking his hand she put it under the water she had running in the kitchen's double sided sink.

"Ow!" he yelped as he jerked his hand back. "That water is scoulding hot."

As soon as he said that his eyes went wide and he looked at his partner. Seeing the glee in her eyes he knew that she was thinking the same thing.

Walking into the mansion's Master bedroom the two stood in awe at how big and expensive everything looked. Ignoring it for now they went into the bathroom and gave each other a look.

Going into the black and chrome standing shower, Jesse turned the handle. Putting his hand under the water he waited for a few seconds before he smiled and looked at Kendra.

"The gas pilot is still lit."

Wearing robes and basking in the aftermath of the first shower they had in a long time, Kendra and Jesse went into seperate rooms to get changed into the clothes Jesse had gotten them at Wal-Mart.

She wore some nice jeans, that fit a little snug, and a nice striped black and white shirt. He on the other hand wore a pair of khaki's and a plain black t-shirt. Their stomach's grumbling, they went into the kitchen to fix something to eat. For the first time in a long time they had felt clean... they had felt human.

Going over their food supply, according to Kendra, with just the two of them they had enough for maybe a month. Trusting her logic, she gave him a can of vienna and crackers to still his palet as she made them some soup with ramen noodles and a couple cans of Campbell's soup.

For the first time in well.. he couldn't really remember when he was able to eat till he was full. He had asked her how she became so good at cooking and she had told him that she had cooked for her Watcher, Mr. Zabuto for years.

As they sat in the living room together, finishing off what was left in their bowls he looked at her and then looked away. Doing it again she caught him that time and the two stared at each other for a moment. It was Kendra who broke the silence though.

"I...I wanted to know... I wanted to know why you kissed me?"

It was Jesse's turn to look like a deer caught in headlights when he heard that question. Shaking fear out of his mind he knew he couldn't play this game anymore. He couldn't be that same loser that never spoke to Cordelia in high school. The world just ended for Christ's sake. What did he have to lose.

"Because I always wanted too." he replied after a full minute of inner debating and silence.

"I... why?"

"Kendra I don't know what you see when you look in the mirror." he said looking up to meet her gaze. "But you're one of the most beautiful women, I've ever met in my life."

By that time her cheeks were a beet red.

"You're everything I could ever fantasize about in a woman." he went on, before he could lose his nerve. "You're strong, you're smart, beautiful, you're... a great kisser. The world fell apart and I still can't really think of my family or friends that I lost. All I can think about is you."

As he started to inch closer to her, she scooted back some. She was in a need of space. Feeling dejected and like his heart was crushed he was about to stand and walk out of the room, until she finally spoke.

"I... I was never allowed to talk to boys." she admitted as he gave her a look. "Me Watcher was very strict. I admit dat I have feelings for you, but... I just need time to... to understand them." she said at a lost for words.

"I understand.. you just need your space." Jesse replied, feeling a little better. "But just remember something, I might be the last guy on earth now."

As they shared a smile, Kendra did remember something else that she wanted to ask him.

"What did you really get at, Wal-Mart when you went back into the store?"

Before he could answer her question the strangest thing happened next. Someone knocked on the front door.