Holy cow thank you for all the reviews! I can't believe you readers like this so much! It makes me feel so good hearing the things you like, and again, I love reading all your ideas and thoughts and theories!

Okay, on to questions: I don't have a specific idea of how the apocalypse started, not for this story anyway. There are so many great ideas out there, and while I am a lover of the virus origin idea (for example chemical or biological warfare), I can't really get behind any of the plausible scenarios. I don't really think it matters all that much though since it's unlikely our protagonists would know how everything happened anyway. I will leave it to your imaginations. As for Chopper, it's really unrealistic to have him be a practicing doctor in his teens, and I wanted him to have some experience before this all happened, so yes, he is a little older than Sanji and Zoro in this story, but only by a couple of years. No, the inspiration for this story was not any one particular zombie media, I take the parts I like from pretty much everything I've ever watched/read.

Keep bringing on the ideas of why Sanji doesn't/can't talk! I love reading them!

Chapter 5

Day one-hundred ninety-one.

It was like a dance.

Sanji watched as Zoro's blade sliced through another rotting, walking corpse, and the thing fell gracefully at his feet like some kind of choreographed waltz. A second, and then a third went down, all from a smooth series of short, flowing strokes. Zoro was a master at his art, the blade being just an extension of his body. It was incredible to watch, soothing really, enough that Sanji had started to wonder about his mental state. What did it mean when, besides cooking, your favorite pastime became watching someone cut through dead bodies like they were made of butter?

Usopp pulled the truck through the gates and Zoro started loading Deadies into the bed. Once the group was gathered up, Usopp and Zoro would take them to The Pit, an eighteen foot trench about a mile up the road. There they would unload the bodies and burn them. This process had to be done a few times a week to prevent the Deadies from piling up outside the compound. The more Deadies in one place, the more likely there would be more coming. Best to keep the numbers under control.

Zoro had volunteered for gate duty, which had not surprised Sanji once he really thought about it. Zoro was good at what he did, and so it made sense for him to have a job where he could excel.

"Hey there, Sanji!"

Turning from his perch on the wall, Sanji plucked the cigarette from his lips and waved down to his friend Ace as he passed by. The man's dark hair fluttered in the gentle breeze as he grinned underneath what seemed like a thousand freckles.

"Zoro!" Ace called, "Hey, I got it!"

Zoro stopped in the middle of situating a body in the back of the truck and turned to meet Ace's enthusiastic greetings.

"Hey, Ace."

Zoro had only been with the camp for a week, but he had fast become something of a celebrity, first, with the story of how he had saved their beloved leader and the rest of his team, and then with the element of his hair being actually green. Apparently, most people had thought that was a biological impossibility until recently. The fact that he could kill a Deadie quicker than most was a nice bonus.

All of those things were great, the green hair was interesting, and Deadie-killing skills were definitely a nice bonus, but Sanji's interest in the camp's newest addition was a little different. To Sanji, Zoro was a breath of fresh air. He was tactful and minded his own business when it came to certain personal matters. Zoro had never asked Sanji about why he didn't talk. He had never mentioned the fact that Sanji wore a scarf twenty-four hours a day, and had never asked him why. That small bit of space, that tiny bit of privacy in a world where telling your life story to strangers was sometimes a way to keep yourself alive, was so important. Sanji was so grateful for it.

Puffing on the last bit of cigarette, Sanji crushed the butt out between his thumb and middle finger and watched his friends talk excitedly over a new sword sling Ace had made for Zoro.

"This way it won't slide down when you reach up," Ace explained. "This part here will go across your chest and hold the whole thing in place."

Smiling, Sanji tossed the butt and climbed down the ladder.

"Sanji?" a small voice made him turn around. One of the camp's children, a little girl by the name of Apis, was waiting for him at the bottom of the ladder.

Sanji hopped to the ground at her feet and waved a hello.

"Hi Sanji. Miss Robin sent me out of class to see Dr. Chopper because I have a cough. He gave me this."

She held up a small slip of paper and Sanji took it.

She needs lemon tea. – Chopper

Sanji nodded, smiling at Apis and motioning for her to follow him to the kitchen. He gave her a few bags of the dried lemon tea and brewed a cup to take back to her bunk. After writing a note for her mother he sent her off with a hug.

"You sure like kids."

Sanji turned and met with Zoro's soft smile. He had his sword strapped into the new harness. The buckles across his chest and the thick leather of the straps, combined with the black, long sleeved, military sweater, made him look nothing less than completely bad ass. It wasn't fair.

Glancing over to where Usopp was parking the truck, Sanji pulled out his notepad and scribbled a few words.

That was fast.

Zoro shrugged, "Ace helped. He said Law wanted to talk to us as soon as possible."

Eyebrows lifting, Sanji turned and started to head toward the infirmary, writing as he walked.

We in some sort of trouble? What did you do?

Zoro scoffed, "I didn't do anything. If anyone's in trouble it's you, shit-cook."

Law's office was in the infirmary and down the hall from Chopper's. Before Dead Day, Law had also been a doctor, but his area of experience had been pathology and so his medical role in the camp was more of a backup. He tended to injuries and was available for consultations, but his days as a full time practitioner were over—especially since the people of the compound thought of him first and foremost as their leader.

Zoro knocked on the office door but Sanji paid no mind to interruption and went right in. Sitting on the cushioned chair in front of Law's desk, Sanji slipped his hands into his pockets and hunkered down. Hopefully this would be interesting enough that he wouldn't fall asleep. It wasn't that he had no respect for Law, quite the opposite in fact. Law and Sanji had the utmost respect for each other. It was just that Sanji was alive because of Law, and Law was alive because of Sanji. Relationships like that tended to look past basic formalities. Besides, he was tired. Sanji was always tired.

Zoro however, waited politely at the door until Law invited him in with a smirk and a tilt of his head. He sat down next to Sanji and rested his elbows on his knees.

Rubbing at his eyes, Law leaned back in his chair. "We have a small problem."

Sanji straightened. Law was very understated most of the time and so it was possible "small problem" could mean "small catastrophe".

"There's a minor lung infection going around. Chopper and I didn't think anything of it at first, it was just a cough, but five people are bedridden already. We need antibiotics and we need them fast. This thing is going to spread until there's no one left to properly defend this place."

"Where the hell do we get antibiotics?" Zoro asked.

"Most of the pharmacies in the big cities have been cleaned out," Law said, "we've checked. Chopper says there are clinics in some of the smaller towns north of here that might have what we're looking for."

Dreading what Law was probably about to tell them, he pulled out his pad and scribbled a few words before flipping it around for Law to see.

"Yeah," Law nodded after he read what Sanji wrote, "Red Brook or North Grove is exactly what I was thinking."

Sanji sighed and nodded as he slipped the pad back into his pocket.

"What's wrong with those towns?" Zoro asked.

"Nothing's wrong with the towns," Law explained, "It's getting there that's a bitch. Between here and where you need to go is pretty much badlands, nothing but biker gangs and doomsday cults. That's why I'm only sending the two of you. A group of people would attract too much attention. You'd have to take a car or a truck and most vehicles can't get anywhere on the interstates. If it's just you both, you can take Sanji's bike and travel the I-5. A motorcycle can get through most of the jams, and if it can't, you can off-road it. You'll be harder to track and even harder to follow."

Sanji let his head fall against the back of the chair. Travelling through the badlands was not his favorite pastime, but there were worse things. He glanced over at Zoro who was staring thoughtfully down at his knuckles. What kind of things had Zoro seen since Dead Day? What kind of events had shaped the swordsman's current life?

"What about East?" Zoro asked.

"It's all Deadie territory. Nevada is completely overrun. And if you manage to get past that you'll head straight into high radiation zones in Utah and Arizona."

Zoro nodded thoughtfully. "Okay, so north is the only option. What if these clinics Chopper is thinking of have been cleaned out already? What if we get all the way up to Washington and there's nothing?"

Sighing softly, Law lifted his hands in surrender. "You're just going to have to keep going until you find something."

Sanji watched the two as they talked. Throughout the conversation, Sanji had detected a tension setting into Zoro's shoulders and now that tension was so strong the cook could feel it himself. It was almost as if it radiated off Zoro's body like heat.

Struck with a thought, Sanji sat forward and wrote something on his pad. He flipped it around for Law to see and waited impatiently as Law took it in.

What about Zoro? He's not obligated to do that for us. How can you ask him to do something like that?

Sighing, Law ran a hand through his hair. "He has a choice," he murmured, looking from Sanji to Zoro.

"What?" Zoro asked, frowning.

Slumping into his chair, Law held up his hands in a surrendering gesture. "You've only been here a week, and you sure as hell don't owe us anything, but I can't ignore the fact that you handle yourself well. So I'm asking you if you'd go on this mission with Sanji. Asking. You can say no."

Zoro's eyes were dark and faintly intense as he turned to look at Sanji. The cook held his gaze for several long seconds. He didn't want to sway Zoro's decision, and he in no way wanted to make the swordsman feel like there was any obligation on his part, he had after all saved them, but he couldn't keep himself from pleading silently. He had felt more comfortable in the last week with Zoro than he had in months. He felt safer, happier.

Zoro seemed to understand him better than anyone else since the world had gone to shit, and Sanji wanted him to stay. He had already lost so much; he did not want to lose that too.

Pulling his gaze away from Sanji, Zoro turned back to Law and nodded.

"I'll go. Cook's a fucking idiot and would probably get himself killed."

Sanji leaned back in the chair and hid the grin that tugged at the corners of his mouth behind his scarf.

TBC