"There had better be some goddamn Cheetos, or I'm gonna be fuckin' pissed," Mike said with a childish grin on his face as he entered the kitchen with Molly and Tracy in tow. Nick and Ali would be along any moment, as they were off getting a chair so Molly wouldn't just stand around waiting to collapse. She was really starting to look tired, and it was obvious that her illness, whatever it was (Everyone assumed flu) was really starting to get to her.
Mike smiled even broader inwardly than he did outwardly as he thought of how proud he was of his girlfriend; on this day especially. She had been roused out of bed, not feeling good, saw her mother killed, jumped from a second story building onto a school bus, had her hair cropped off (All the girls had to go through this, but still) and had been marauded by zombies all day. And not once had she complained, or freaked out, or did anything that was at all unhelpful. She was a saint, Mike realized, and with greater satisfaction thought, she's my saint.
"Cheetos would be good, but I'd be happy with Doritos," Molly replied, trying to smile, but starting to look pretty pale.
"Psh. Don't settle for anything less, m'dear. Cheetos kick Doritos' ass in like fifty thousand ways," Mike said, turning to his girlfriend, "Everyone knows that."
"Fine, then," she shrugged, feigning a look of indignation, before breaking out into a small fit of giggles.
"I'm not saying their bad, I'm just stating the simple obvious observation that Cheetos are far and away better," Mike then turned to Tracy, "Alright, how 'bout you? What's your poison?"
Tracy assumed they were still talking about various chip products, and quickly thought which one most appealed to her at the moment, "Um, I'm gonna go with Frito's."
Mike nodded, then tilted his head back to Molly, "Smart woman. Like her taste. Well, they ain't gonna find themselves," Mike muttered the last part mostly to himself, as he picked a cabinet, while checking that his 870 shotgun was secure on his back, yet ready to be used at a moment's notice. Mike took a step to the cabinet he had picked: a dark brown one (Like all the cabinets in the room) that was over the sink, next to the kitchen window (Which had the curtains pulled. Mike didn't remember doing that) and he opened it; it was filled with various dishes; ceramic, it appeared. Bowls, plates, some mugs; a nice matching gray, with tan speckles set. But it wasn't quite what Mike was after. It may be useful later, he figured, and tagged the dishes for possible later use.
"If I were Cheetos..." Mike muttered, picking the cabinet next to the one he had just opened to be the one he would open next, "Well, spread out and dig in, guys!" Mike said to the girls, "Cheetos don't find themselves."
The girls were just about to do as Mike said, and begin opening cabinets of their own, when Nick and Ali arrived.
Mike heard them approaching, their feet crinkled on the blue tarp that had been laid on the floor by Nick and Chad, and he started to turn to greet them, "Well, anything ne---" Mike stopped short when he saw that Nick was now competing with Molly in who was paler. He carried his M4 in his right hand, a dining room chair in his left, and he looked like he had just seen some kind of freaky thing, that Mike could only guess was some kind of zombie. Ali just looked somewhat puzzled. God, she was so hard to read.
"What, dude? What the fuck's goin' on?" Mike asked, turning to completely face Nick, who had just deposited the chair in a spot out of the way, and had motioned Molly to come over and sit down.
He was lost in some kind of trance that Mike recognized immediately from past experience as Nick's "deep thought" persona. Whatever was going on, Nick was thinking it through.
"Nick, what, the fuck, happened?" Mike said, getting serious.
Nick snapped out of his thoughts, and replied, "There's someone in one of the houses across the street."
Silence took over the room as the three teens who not yet heard this absorbed the information.
"What do you mean someone's over there? Is it a person or one of... them..." Tracy asked, curiously, with a tinge of surprise.
"Dunno," Nick replied, "They dropped out of sight after about a second."
"Well, what do you think?" Mike asked his leader.
"I think it's a person," Nick snapped up, becoming grim, "I think there's someone alive over there."
Nick raised his voice slightly so everyone would be sure to hear him. "I think they saw us get here, and are watching us. I mean, a school bus is fairly noticeable, right? So they saw us get here, and are keeping an eye on us. Maybe they're gonna try to get over here, or they'll try to get us to notice them."
"Well, it worked, I guess," Molly cut in. She had sat down on the chair and was looking more tired than ever, but still pointing out that the group may have been noticed by someone across the street.
"Yeah, it did," Nick said quietly.
"Okay," Mike said, coming up with a different assessment, "But what if it's one of those fuckers?"
"Then we don't have to worry. If it was one of them, and it did know we were here, it would've probably found a way to get at us by now. Since it hasn't, let's just keep laying low, and it hopefully won't come near us."
"But what if it's a person?" Ali said quietly, joining the this conversation for the first time.
Nick thought about this for a moment, while the four other teens waited tensely for his response. If it was a person-- an actual person, not one of the creatures-- what would Nick want done about it? Would they be rescued? Abondoned? Nick contemplated this for a long moment, finally saying, "If it's a person, I don't even know. We don't know what it was, hell I may not've even seen anything. Maybe I'm losing it," Nick shrugged, "We'll keep an eye on it, anyway. If it's a human, they'd have probably noticed us, and again, are probably trying to figure a way to get our attention. I say we just wait, and see what they do."
Mike smiled, "You wouldn'tve said anything unless you were sure, so I'm gonna scratch the 'insane Nick' theory right now."
"Flattery will get you nowhere," Nick said, smiling, "Alright, so we'll worry about what's across the street later, and I'll get Chad and Ashley's input on it as soon as we get upstairs... You okay, Molly?.." Nick had turned at was looking at Molly with a concerned expression that was mirrored by everyone else in the room. The girl looked almost completely asleep, her head rolled slightly forward and her eyes clasped shut.
Molly nodded, weakly and gave a thumbs up with both hands, "Yeah, holdin' together. But would you all hurry up, please?"
Mike returned her nod, "Yes, dear," he turned to Nick, "She's so needy."
"Fuck you, darling," Molly said weakly, grunting slightly with restrained laughter.
"That's the spirit! Now lets grab some eats, and get upstairs, right?" Mike said.
"Yep," Nick confirmed.
The four teens (Molly stayed where she was, just about asleep) proceeded to search the room top to bottom (Minus much of the area where certain bodies where filed away) and they uncovered plenty to eat. Nick had ordered any dry goods along with any canned that could be eaten cold to be put into brown paper grocery bags (Something Tracy had found stacked neatly in one of the cabinets) to be carried upstairs.
There was much rejoicing when Mike had found a family pack of Cheetos (The bag was nearly half-empty, but still) and he quickly laid claim to them. And overall the mood was pretty light; people are always less distracted and far less prone to panic when there is a task at hand. And foraging for food was doing a great job at that task.
It was between ten to twelve minutes of searching and seven paper bags filled with various eatables that Nick decided it was enough and the group was to move upstairs with the rewards of their kitchen scavenger hunt.
Mike grabbed four of the bags easily (Including his beloved Cheetos) saying he was "ready to rock" as he moved towards to doorway of the kitchen.
Tracy and Ali each took two of the bags, and followed Mike out of the room, leaving Nick to be the one to help Molly, he had nodded off several times during the duration of the food search. It was certain that Mike wouldn'tve trusted too many people besides Nick to be the one to assist Molly, and even then he had reluctantly agreed, knowing he would be of far more use taking a few grocery bags upstairs first, and then being free to cover everyone else-- including Molly and Nick-- as they made their way upstairs. It made sense to Mike, so even if he would've preferred to help his girlfriend, he went with it.
"Alright, Molly," Nick said, helping the girl to her feet, "Let's go."
By this time, everyone else was on their way upstairs, and Mike was nearly to the master bedroom, that was now the unofficial base of operations.
Molly wrapped her left arm around Nick's shoulders, and he wrapped his right around her waist, his M4 held ready but safetied in his left.
"I'm sorry," she muttered, ashamed that she couldn't seem to keep up with everyone else at the moment.
"Nah, don't be," Nick replied, smiling warmly, "I'd expect the same treatment from you."
Molly shook her head slightly, "I don't think I could carry you. You're too heavy."
"What, are you calling me fat?" Nick inquired with a wonderful act of disbelief that was hilarious.
Molly laughed, and noticed it made her feel somewhat woozy to do so, "Shut up," she muttered.
They had made (with surprisingly little difficulty) it to the base of the stairs, and Nick looked up to see Mike arrive at the top, back from the master bedroom where he had dropped off his groceries. He nodded, "Get my girlfriend up here, ya bastard."
Nick nodded once, and the he and Molly began the ascension up the carpeted steps, past the large couch wedged to block the front door, to the second floor.
Believe it or not, I'm actually getting somewhere story-wise.
Eventually.