If there was one thing bad about traveling with a living human it was the pacing. Despite her attempts, Weiss's body could only go so fast, after all, she could only manage a quick shuffle, which was barely comparable to a brisk walk.
"Hurry up, Rice! We're almost there!" Ruby did not walk, she zipped around. One moment she would be running in one direction and then the next she would be running the other. She never beelined for her next destination. Several times she had to angrily grunt at the girl for stopping by and looking through trash cans or looking through nearby stores. Ruby had even stopped to climb a tree because she spotted a squirrel.
Weiss couldn't help but scoff, the girl continuously questioned her status as a zombie and yet she herself acted much like an adorable puppy. All this time Ruby had been pushing her forward towards their destination, a small suburb of about fifty houses that was her meeting point with Yang, and yet the girl refused to go straight there, allowing herself to get distracted by anything and everything.
"Hey, Rice! Can I have a bottle of water?" Ruby panted as she ran back to her, eliciting a grunt from Weiss. She had planned to use it for her coffee later on but decided to hand it over to the girl anyway. It's not like Weiss would die from lack of her delicious caffeine. "Thanks, bestie!" She could do without the nickname though.
It wouldn't be much longer till they made it to their destination, they had been traveling for half a day now, but they were going to need to stop by a store and find more water. Weiss would be fine without it, given her undead status, but she didn't like the idea of Ruby dehydrating, and with how quick the girl was guzzling down her bottle…
"Stop," Weiss grunted as she grasped Ruby's hand in her own, leading the girl towards a nearby shop.
"What's wrong, Rice?" Ruby asked, allowing the zombie to pull her along.
'What an obedient puppy,' Weiss thought with a smirk. She opened the store's door and passed through with Ruby, looking around. "Water," she muttered simply.
"Ah, you want water for your coffee," Ruby nodded with a smile. "Got it, bestie! I'll find a couple of bottles for your backpack, but you're going to have to hold off until we find Yang, okay?"
'I'm doing this for you, you idiot!' Weiss thought angrily, grinding her teeth as she glared at Ruby.
Ruby sighed, shaking her head at Weiss. "Look, I know you love your coffee, but it's important we don't get sidetracked."
'Says the idiot who rummaged through trash cans earlier,' she thought, sighing angrily before nodding. Let Ruby think whatever she wanted to, fewer headaches that way.
"Great!" Ruby smiled as she zipped off into the store. "Ooh, Rice! I found a backpack!"
'Great, she can start carrying things around too,' Weiss thought as she adjusted her show white backpack into a more comfortable position.
It didn't take Ruby long to find the supplies they needed. She put six bottles of water inside of Weiss's pack and six into her own, a small, basic medkit, and she even found a box of Pumpkin Pete's cereal.
"Wow, good call on this store, Rice! We're practically millionaires with all these supplies!"
'Yippie,' Weiss thought unenthusiastically as she made a V sign with her fingers. A millionaire? Ha, back in her day she was a billionaire. Sure, it was her father's money, but she would have inherited it sooner or later.
"Yeah! Victory!" Ruby sang as she mimicked Weiss. At least one of them was having fun. "Welp, enough boondoggling-"
'I wouldn't call this boondoggling.'
"Let's hit the road!"
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Only an hour later the two finally made it to their destination, the suburb. Weiss took a long whiff in the air, a growl escaping her lips.
"Carrreful," she muttered to Ruby, who looked over at her in concern. "Othersss, zommmbies," she finally spat out, proud of herself for speaking more coherently.
"Got it, bestie," Ruby nodded as she took Weiss's hand. "If Yang's here already she'll probably be in a house. She'll probably hide in a yellow house since her taste is really tacky."
'Well, that narrows down our choices,' Weiss thought as she surveyed the area. There were only a few yellow houses, if Yang were here they would find her quickly.
"Let's go," Ruby whispered as she allowed Weiss to pull her along.
Weiss already had a feeling where Ruby's sister was. She could smell a large group of zombies gathering in one spot, most likely due to their next meal. What she hadn't expected were the many corpses they came across, all of which were zombies.
As they entered the first home Ruby passed by her, taking the lead.
"I don't want her to accidentally shoot you," she muttered, beckoning Weiss to follow her lead. Weiss did as she was told and silently followed Ruby, making sure to take deep breaths with her nose in order to alert herself of any others of her kind.
"Yang? Yang, you in here?" Ruby whispered aloud, hoping to elicit a response.
"R-Ruby?"
"Yang?!" Ruby shouted in surprise, quickly dashing off towards her sister's voice. "Yang, I'm-"
"Behind you!" Yang shouted out as she pointed her lever action shotgun at Weiss.
"Yang, no!" Ruby shouted as she dashed in front of Weiss. "Don't shoot! She's my friend!"
"Friend?!" Yang gasped out in shock, looking back and forth between the two. "Sis, why...why are you with a zombie?" Yang asked, narrowing her eyes at Weiss before slowly lowering her gun.
"Look, sis, I can explain," Ruby said as she walked over to Yang, taking her first aid kit out of her backpack and removing the bandages, wrapping it around Yang's leg.
"Uh, Rubes, my leg's-"
"In serious need of attention!" Ruby admonished as she stared at Yang's leg, which had a long scrape on it. It wasn't deep, it didn't even draw blood, but Ruby still felt her sister was in danger of getting a nasty infection. "Anyways, this here's my friend, Rice-"
"Weiiiiisss!" Weiss corrected, hoping that Yang would catch on and get rid of that idiotic fake name.
"Rice!" Ruby glared over at her. "She's my sister, you don't have to be jealous!" she said as she finished bandaging Yang's leg and stood up, walking over to her zombified friend. "You saved my life. You fed me your supplies. You were there for me when I needed it…" she trailed off, looking down at her feet. "...You're my bestie, Rice."
"Weiiiisss!" Weiss cried out desperately. 'I'm not jealous, you idiot! I just want to be called by my actual name!'
"What do you want me to say?!" Ruby cried as she threw her hands up in exasperation. "What am I doing wrong, Rice?! What did I do to upset-"
"Weiss, sis," Yang said as she put a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "I think she's saying her name is Weiss."
"...Is that true?" Ruby asked, staring at Weiss with an embarrassed blush, who only nodded. "...Oops," she chuckled as she shyly looked away. "S-sorry, Ri-er, Weiss. I'll uh...try to get your name right in the future."
"Thank you," she garbled out, trying not to be too mad at the girl. Weiss was the one whose speech was slurred, no need to take it out on Ruby.
"...Still besties?" Ruby asked shyly, fidgeting in place as if she were a child taking a nasty scolding. It broke Weiss's undead heart to see the girl so upset.
"...Supper besssties," she muttered back, causing Ruby to gasp as she looked up at her before a giant grin came forth.
"Better than the resties!" Ruby finished as she pulled Weiss into a giant, bone-shattering hug. If Weiss were still alive this would have no doubt-
'Nope! Hurts! Still hurts!' Weiss thought in shock. Evidently she still indeed felt pain and she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.
"Okay, sis. Glad you're still on good terms with your girlfriend-"
"She's not my girlfriend!"
"But can we get out of here already? I'm tired of-" the low moans of nearby zombies resounded throughout the house. "Ugh, hold on, I'll be right back," Yang sighed as she cocked her shotgun and headed into another room, the sounds of her shotgun blasting through bodies and the screams of the dead following after her.
After a few seconds passed by Ruby looked into the room where Yang entered. "We good?"
"Yup!" Yang replied as she came back, looping one arm over Ruby and the other over Weiss. "We good."
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Thank you all for the kind words and support! I'm sorry if I don't reply to individual comments, it's just that most of the time I really have no idea what to say, but I'll try to get better at that!
