15.

She encircled his bike, passing her hand over it gently as if it was an extremely delicate thing. The incredulous expression on her face made him smile. He realized he was staring at her and averted his eyes, feeling rather silly about it. Good thing she couldn't see him.

"This is a motorcycle?" she asked.

"Yes."

He pushed a couple of bottles into the rucksack and attached it to the bike.

"So we are going for supplies with a motorcycle?"

"Mhm-mm."

He packed a gun and re-checked his bow, then hopped on his bike and turned on the throttle.

"C'mon," he called to her.

"Umm…." She stood by the bike, looking awkward.

"Is there a problem?"

"It's just…well, I've never been driven on a motorcycle before."

"Just get on it."

"Umm, okay." She searched for his shoulder and squeezed her fingers around it quite tightly, then stretched her leg way more than needed over the bike and with several adjustments finally sat behind him. Her movements were clumsy and he could feel she's constantly trying to balance herself on the seat.

"What do I do now?"

"Put your feet on the foot pegs."

"On what?"

"See those small two bolts sticking out on the sides?…Right..." She doesn't see them.

He bent downward, grabbed her by the calf and led her foot onto the peg. He wanted to do the same with her other leg but she pushed him away and after one failed attempt found the peg herself.

"Ok, now just hold onto me and you'll be good."

The moment he twisted the throttle and the engine roared, she wrapped her arms tightly around his waist and glued herself to his back. The strength of her embrace surprised him, pleasantly. For once she seemed compliant and not being smart ass about it. He smiled smugly and drove off.

He couldn't tell whether she enjoyed the ride or not. She clung as close to him as it was physically possible, from the start till the end. When he leaned into corners she tensed up and went against the bike until he told her to stay with him. She quickly adapted and for the rest of the ride she was a perfect passenger. She didn't spoke a word the whole time and when they stopped and dismounted the bike, her face could not be paler.

"I take it, you enjoyed the ride?"

"I did," she replied, disguising relief with a smug smile.

"Good. I usually take the bike when going out. It's easier if there's some walkers or wreckage on the roads."

"I understand."

"I drove slowly now, so you can get used to it. Way back, we'll be much faster," he teased her.

She swallowed down the sudden lump which had risen in her throat and said in hoarse voice: "No problem."

"Okay. Let's go and see if there's anything useful around here."

They walked past several abandoned shops. He made sure he was always a step before her and had the bow aimed. Overcome by an intense feeling of responsibility, he didn't want to make any mistake.

She walked behind, resting her hand on his shoulder. From time to time she released him and when that happened he always glanced back to make sure she was following.

"You know I could take my sword from your back, right, if I wanted to?"

"Yeah? Why don't you try?"

"It's silly, you, carrying my sword, instead of just giving it to me."

"Should have checked you for pencils too."

"That's low. I'd never do you any harm."

He threw a glance at her. She regained her usual paleness and it looked like her gift of speech returned too. "And I should just trust you on this?"

She made a sudden stop, pulling him back by the shoulder. "Yes, you should," she said in all seriousness.

He saw his face in her glasses for a brief moment, then she turned her head turned towards one of the shops and the reflection was gone.

"Two zeds… to the right…"

He looked at the small convenient store she was pointing at. "There ain't no walkers-"

A growling sound cut him off and soon after one walker and then another stumbled from shattered windows of the store towards them. He aimed the bow and shot twice.

"How did you know?" he asked as they proceeded down the street.

"Hmm?"

"How did you know the walkers are coming…before I heard them or saw them?"

"Oh, I heard them."

"You said it was two."

"Yes."

"How the fuck could you tell?"

"How? What do you want me to say? I heard them, that's all."

Right, 'cause that's just another "normal" thing about her, he thought to himself, slightly annoyed by another one of her evasive answers.

They arrived to a large shopping mall. The big revolving door was stuck but apart from that there was no damage to it. He looked through the window, then pushed onto the door. It moved just enough to let one person through.

"Wait here," he ordered her once they were both inside and went on to check around the hall. It looked like a clothing store, which gave him little hope to find anything useful.

"It's safe, you can come in," he shouted from behind the cash desk. When he looked up, he saw her roaming through rows of clothes.

"I think I could use a new t-shirt. I'm pretty sure these stains won't wash off from this one." Indeed, since that encounter with the horde in the corridor, her white t-shirt was anything but white.

"Is this one any good? What's the exact colour? I can only see that it's kinda vivacious."

The t-shirt she picked was bright pink and had a mouth with vampire teeth printed on the front, with the inscription "Bite me" above it.

"It's fine…" he muttered.

"Cool, I'm gonna try it on...and this one as well…and this jacket too." She grabbed them all together and tapping her hand on the top of the hangers walked till the end of the row of clothes. "Can you see the sign for the changing rooms?"

"Turn right and keep walking."

"Thanks! I'll be right back!"

He wondered if he should follow. Just as a precaution, of course. He gave only a quick glance inside there before and a walker could still be hiding behind one of those doors.

He peeked into the small hallway with changing rooms on each side and waited. He checked his bow again, adjusted the arrow and just as he aimed at one of the mannequins, he heard a sound. He acted immediately and kicked the doors of the changing rooms open, one after another, until he found her behind the fifth one. She was with her back towards him and without a shirt. Despite being unable to avoid a glimpse at her naked breasts, which she immediately covered with her arm, it was really a large scar, which extended diagonally across her back, from her shoulder to her hip, that consumed his stare. The thick line of reddened flesh lay in the exact opposite direction of the scar across her cheek, splitting her back in half. It was not a fresh scar but whoever patched it up certainly wasn't very much concerned with minimizing its visibility.

"Get out!" she shouted. A t-shirt flew into his face and the door smashed into him. He moved backwards and closed it.

"I thought I heard a noise."

"Of course you did, it was me…was humming a song, god dammit."

"It sounded like a walker's growls…"

"Haha, how funny."

He chuckled, but almost immediately got alert again. Niko stuck out her head from behind the door. "Did you hear that?"

"Yes," he whispered. "Stay here. I'll check it out. And I mean it…stay here…you get that?"

She nodded and slowly closed the door.

He tiptoed out of the small corridor and peeked from the corner. He didn't see anyone, but he could hear distinctively somebody walking around. His finger on the trigger, he slowly proceeded from around the corner and hid among the rows of clothes. The sound was coming from upfront, near the entrance. He was almost there. He stood up and aimed his bow in the direction of the sound.

Nobody was there, but now he heard another sound – that of a hammer clicking back.

"Easy with that bow…mmm, put it down…. now turn slowly…mmm…really slowly…"

It was a woman's voice. She spoke softly and in a rather seductive manner. He wasn't worried, he still had a gun behind his belt, and if worse came worst, there was Niko's sword on his back. Such encounters were an expected occurrence on a supply run. Must be some poor, desperate soul, who wandered into the town by chance, just as they did. Hopefully, he will deal with her quickly, maybe even without killing her.

He was wrong. The woman that materialized at the end of the row, holding a pistol with both hands, was no poor soul on the brink of survival. She looked like some femme fatale from a bad ass comic book. She had a big pistol all right, but she also had legs, which, in very tight, black, leather pants just went on and on, and, beneath a short leather jacket, a tiny and very revealing top, which looked like it will burst open every time she squeezed her fingers around the pistol. She tilted her head to the side, so that her long, blonde hair fell over her shoulder, and aimed at him with one eye closed.

It almost made him laugh. Aiming like that clearly meant she has no clue. Perhaps she was just a nutcase, who saw too many movies. Anyway, he had no time to waste. His right hand moved towards his belt.

"Aaaa….keep your hands as they are… I don't mean you any harm. You wouldn't kill me, would you? Mmm?" she begged him in an exaggerated tone of pleading. Her left hand left the pistol and she pushed her hair from her shoulder to the back, flashing him a daring smile. All of a sudden, she turned the pistol point to the side and started to walk towards him.

Fucking unpredictable amateurs, he muttered to himself. "Stay where you are, lady," he warned her, even though she was the one holding the weapon. Her luscious, dark red lips were smiling at him as she drew near. That's it, he had enough of this shit. He pulled out his gun and aimed it at her, but she didn't even flinch and continued towards him like some kind of a fearless, beautiful animal with a super toned body, swinging her pistol leisurely in her right hand.

"I mean it!" He was the one pulling back the hammer now. It was only due to some deeply rooted southern manners that he refrained from simply blasting her face off.

"Okay, fine." She stopped and hoisted herself up on a counter. The black boots with high hills seemed like a natural extension of her legs. She sighted, deeply, which was seen, very prominently, in the movement of her chest and batted her long eyelashes at him. "I'm all yours. What do you want me to do?"

Thanks for reading. Leave comments, I'll be happy to read them.