I have nothing to say about this one.

Chapter 14

They drove for another two hours, heading due east along a highway that wasn't too overcrowded with broken down vehicles. Zoro left the pavement once to avoid an old collision involving a semi-truck that blocked all for lanes, but other than that it was fairly smooth travel. Sanji rolled the window down and smoked a few cigarettes, enjoying the breeze against his face. Zoro didn't talk much and just enjoyed the quiet, the stillness of the road, and appreciated the fast and easy travel of an actual vehicle.

By midafternoon, Zoro turned off the highway where Sanji instructed and headed northeast toward a minor city line. A few buildings pushed at the sky in a clump surrounded by smaller, more industrial type structures. The scene had probably been beautiful once, with the greens of palm trees dotting the landscapes contrasted with the infinite blue of the sky. But not now, now, everything was gray. The buildings were run down, some were crumbling. There was no color, no life, only the remnants of what had been and a memory of what might never be again.

"What city is that?" Zoro asked.

Fresno.

Clumps of cars and barricades were more prevalent near the city making travel harder than it had been out on the highway, but Sanji navigated Zoro through a series of back and service roads that got them through and past. When Fresno was in the rearview, the roads turned residential and the way cleared again somewhat.

After twenty or so minutes of travel through gray streets and dead, drooping palm trees, Sanji tapped the map excitedly and guided Zoro into a turn. The swordsman hmm'd at the houses that lined the intricate walkways. This place had been rich with gated, three story houses, two and three car garages, and no doubt a large pool in every backyard.

"You think we're gonna find food here?" Zoro asked.

Sanji nodded.

They chose a property set back from the street, with a high wall and metal gate. The gate had been padlocked, but Sanji remedied that with the bolt cutters from the kit in the back seat. Zoro pulled the truck onto the property and Sanji closed the gate and wrapped the chain around the bars just to be safe.

Parking right up front by the doors, Zoro cut the engine. When he stepped out, he stood for several long minutes listening, checking for anything that would indicate they had alerted someone or something in the area. But there was nothing.

Sanji grabbed a few duffle bags from the back and tossed one to him. As they made their way up the steps, Zoro slid his sword from her sheath and readied her at his side.

"How do we get in here?"

When Sanji thrust his notepad in his face Zoro read, No power. No security.

Zoro cocked an eyebrow, "You know how to pick a lock, cook?"

Don't you?

Not only did Sanji know how to pick a lock, he happened to have an entire lock-picking tool kit with him. As the tumblers clicked and he pushed the door open, Zoro gave him a look that must have translated as something terrible because the cook chuckled silently and mouthed "Usopp", holding up the kit.

"Ah," Zoro muttered, "not surprised."

Zoro moved inside first, blade at the low ready. He heard Sanji close and lock the door behind them, but his footfalls were silent as he followed the swordsman into the dark house. A long entryway greeted them with a wide staircase rising to the second floor from the left side. Zoro could make out a set of dark wooden chairs around a long dining table through a doorway at the end of the space. It was incredible, just this entryway was bigger than the entirety of his apartment back home in Japan.

"Going up," he said softy, and Sanji tapped an affirmative between his shoulder blades.

The staircase curved, taking them from the left side, to the balcony on the upper right. Zoro moved swiftly from the apex and bent around the corner of the first doorway on the right. Sanji moved to the opposite side and peered into the first room on the left. A quick sweep through the small study and Zoro was back in the hallway, meeting Sanji with a nod to continue on to the next set of rooms. The two of them cleared the upstairs in only a few short minutes, working efficiently together with simple hand signals and quick nods of the head.

"We're good up here," Zoro said softly. "You want to search the bathroom?"

Sanji nodded and stepped over the threshold. The bathroom was long and wide, with two sinks set into marble countertops, and a bathtub separate from the shower.

"Damn," Zoro murmured, "I thought the entryway was ridiculous." When Sanji shot him a questioning look Zoro shrugged, "This bathroom's bigger than my whole apartment back home."

Teeth flashed and Zoro was sure he heard the cook snicker as the medicine cabinet was opened. Bottles of pills, toothpaste, and band aids went into the bag Zoro held open, and then the cook squatted to check under the sink. Cleaning supplies, an unopened box of feminine products, and trash bags followed.

When they finished cleaning out the bathroom, Sanji took out his notepad and wrote a few words for Zoro to read.

Where did you live in Japan?

"Near Takachiho in the Miyazaki prefecture. It's about as far south as you can go."

What was it like?

Zoro shrugged as they left the bathroom and returned to the staircase.

"I lived out in the country, so it was quiet. Hot."

You train out under waterfalls and stuff?

Zoro cocked an eyebrow at the cook. "How do you know that?"

Sanji grinned. Saw it in an anime once.

Rolling his eyes, Zoro descended the stairs, moving quickly but carefully. Sanji stayed close behind, following the swordsman's lead silently. When they returned to the entryway, Zoro got turned around for a moment. He wasn't sure if the door he was looking at was the one they had entered through, or if there had been another door on this level that he had missed the first time.

Luckily, Sanji seemed to know where they were supposed to go. He touched Zoro's arms softly and gestured down the space towards the dining room. Oh, that's right, there was that dining room.

They moved through the wide doorway, Sanji going left towards the kitchen; Zoro going right into a dark living room. There were two large couches facing each other on either side of a low table. The walls were decorated with various forms of modern art and every flat surface served as a base for something either glass or crystal. Nothing had been disturbed, nothing seemed out of place or disrupted.

Through the living room were a set of double doors that led into a large library. It was circular, with no doors. Nowhere for anything to hide, and so Zoro closed them and headed back toward the kitchen.

Sanji met him back in the dining room, his face grave and his jaw clenched around an unlit cigarette. He held up his notepad.

Something you should see. Move slowly.

Zoro did not question and followed Sanji through the dining room and into the kitchen. The cook motioned to the large sliding glass doors leading to what looked like a balcony, and Zoro came forward around the large island cautiously.

The glass was smeared with finger and handprints. A few trails of crimson ran in tiny rivulets near the latch. Just outside the doors Zoro saw the wood of the patio was stained the distinct rust-brown of old blood. He took another few cautious, slow steps, his hip sliding along the edge of the marble countertop. It was obvious what had happened, the question was just how many of them were there?

When Zoro neared the doors, finally getting a clear look into the backyard, he froze. The scene before him was not one that he had been expecting. Not once since the world had ended had he seen anything like this.

A feeling of clear, cold dread welled up inside Zoro's chest and moved slowly, heavily, down into his stomach. The swordsman had only known terror once in his entire life, but he remembered the sensation well. It had returned. What Zoro saw in the backyard that day was the single most frightening thing he had ever seen, and for a moment, he had no idea how to rationalize it.

"What the hell are they doing?"

Two figures stood on the porch only a few feet from where Zoro and Sanji were watching. There were three more on the steps, and one in the grass below. They stood with eyes wide and unblinking, mouths slack, hands hanging limply from their sides. Not a single movement, not a single wheeze or twitch, between the six of them. Nothing. The cold bodies stood like statues, staring up into the heavens as if pleading to be allowed redemption from the curse of forever wandering the earth undead.

He felt Sanji at his side and glanced down at the notepad when the cook nudged him.

Dormant?

It took a moment for Zoro to find his voice. "What?"

Sanji took back the pad, scribbling again. His hands shook and his face was paler than Zoro had ever seen it.

It's like they're hibernating or something.

Zoro turned back to the patio, his hand gripping his sword hilt so hard his wrist was creaking.

"But… can't they see us?"

Maybe they're triggered awake by smell or sound.

Zoro took a breath and started to get a handle on his thoughts. There was something here, he and Sanji were currently witnessing something important that no one else that they knew of had witnessed. Maybe there was something they could learn from this, something that could help them.

Sanji put his hand to the glass, glancing at Zoro out the corner of his eye, waiting for approval. The swordsman gave it, nodding, amazed that the cook had been thinking the exact same thing he had.

Attention returning to the glass, Sanji lifted his finger and tapped. Once. Twice. Three times.

The deadies did nothing. They did not move. Not one breath or even one click of their broken jaws.

Glancing at him again, Sanji reached for the latch. He moved slowly enough that if Zoro wanted to, he could easily stop him. But Zoro did not.

Hands still trembling, Sanji pushed the latch to the unlocked position, and grabbed the handle. He took a breath, and pulled. The seal broke and the cool air from the late afternoon slipped into the kitchen. For a moment, nothing happened. Both Zoro and Sanji stood so close, only two or three feet from bloody, rotting flesh, their hearts slowed to near stopping in dreadful anticipation.

At least thirty seconds passed, and finally, just as Zoro was about to tell Sanji to open the door the rest of the way, the deadie nearest to them twitched. It's head lolled to the side and it's jaws snapped in Sanji's direction.

"Smell…" Zoro murmured.

Sanji nodded, the look of fear slowly ebbing from his features. He seemed focused now, determined, much like how Zoro was now feeling.

This explains how they appear out of nowhere. They go dormant when there's nothing around, then wake up when we get close like back at the pharmacy.

A bloody hand slapped against the glass and both Zoro and Sanji startled. The deadies were all moving now, shambling toward them, fingers reaching and jaws clicking. Zoro readied his hand around his sword hilt and braced himself, ready for Sanji to pull the door open. Whatever woke them, smell, heat, magic, it was fast. The switch from the statue-like dormancy to the shambling undead things they were used to was merely seconds.

"Stay inside," Zoro said.

Sanji pulled and Zoro moved, bringing his sword up and through rotting flesh. He pushed the twitching body out onto the porch, sending all six bodies tumbling down the steps. It was an easy dispatch. Zoro ended all of them before they had even regained their footing.

When it was over, he wiped the blade of his sword clean with a tattered piece of old shirt and turned back to the steps. Sanji stood waiting for him on the porch, hands in his pockets and his mouth a thin line of annoyance.

"What?" Zoro asked.

I'm recovering. I'm not an invalid.

Zoro nodded, "I know, but I got it. Let's go find some food."

Sanji rolled his eyes and headed back into the house. Sliding the door closed, Zoro flipped the latch and followed the cook through the kitchen and into a back room that served as storage.

"Shit…"

The place had been fully stocked at one time, and while there was not an abundance of food, there was enough to classify it as a lucky find. Canned and dry goods lined the walls and a few jugs of water filled the space on the floor underneath the shelves.

A thought struck Zoro as he started pulling cans from the shelves. "How'd you know these houses were gonna be stocked and empty?"

Sanji wrote, A lot of the higher-class, rich families were evacuated to the bunkers in the beginning. I remember watching the news when stuff first started going down, like before we knew what it was. And all the Hollywood types were paying big bucks to go underground.

"What about looters?"

Sanji shrugged. We got lucky with this neighborhood I guess.

They filled the duffle bags and brought them and the jugs of water out to the truck. As Zoro closed the bed he turned and found Sanji locking the house back up.

"Why bother?" he asked when Sanji descended the front steps, but the cook just shrugged and shook his head. Apparently he didn't know. Maybe it was a habit.

They moved through another two houses without meeting any other dormant deadies. They talked a little, teasing and badgering each other as easily as life-long friends. By the time the sun started to set behind the high rooftops the supplies almost filled the bed.

"One more?" Zoro asked.

Sanji nodded. We'll clear out one more and then rest. Take advantage of these king-sized couches.

Zoro agreed. Some of the furniture in the last place had seemed fit for royalty.

The next house in line was a three story, Spanish style. A high gate surrounded the yard, the same as the last few, and nothing seemed to be out of place or disturbed, but Zoro felt a strange sense of foreboding as they closed the gate and climbed the front steps.

Inside, it was immediately apparent that the occupants had not been evacuated right away. After moving through another long entryway, Zoro glanced into the living room and counted four mattresses set up on the floor. The family had definitely stayed here for at least a few days. Open packets of jerky and chips littered the floor and the fireplace was black and dirty.

Sanji tapped his shoulder and motioned for him to follow. The kitchen was enormous, with a high ceiling and beautiful dark wood cabinets, but it was dirty, cluttered. The island was covered in containers that had probably held water a long time ago, but now they stood empty and dry. Dishes and Tupperware were stacked on the counter, and bags filled with garbage were piled on the opposite side of the room.

"You think we'll find anything here?" Zoro asked.

Sanji shook his head, but he pulled out his notebook and wrote, Probably not food, but I bet there's medical supplies.

"Okay," Zoro agreed, "Let's clear the rest of the place. It's likely they're still here."

Sanji pocketed the notebook and followed Zoro as they checked the rest of the first floor and then started up the stairs to the second.

The smell hit Zoro's nostrils about halfway up. It was musty and metallic; old and stale. There was death in the house and it was definitely on this second floor. He held up a hand, motioning for Sanji to stop.

"You smell it?" Zoro asked.

Sanji nodded solemnly, understanding.

When they reached the second floor, Zoro held Sanji back and checked every doorway himself. If the cook was put out by it, he didn't show it. He merely followed behind, putting a hand up to cover his mouth as they neared the end of the hall where the smell was strongest.

They situated themselves on either side of the master bedroom door. Sanji's face was dark, his features tense as if he knew what was coming. Zoro might have known as well, but he chose not to actively think about it.

"Ready?"

Sanji nodded.

Zoro opened the door.

The smell hit them hard in a rush of putrid air that filled Zoro's nostrils and burned his eyes. He covered his face, coughing against the urge to wretch. Sanji fared no better, covering his face with the sleeve of his jacket and turning away.

Inside lying on the master bed, were four bodies. The two larger forms curled around the two smaller in the middle. There was blood splatter on the headboard, and a handgun lying on the floor by the side table.

Zoro had expected something like this, but actually seeing it let loose a lot of unwanted and complicated feelings. He stayed in the doorway, taking in details that he did not want to process. The blue of a ribbon in dusty brown hair, superhero socks on small, decayed feet, the glittering gold of a wedding band hanging from long skeletal fingers.

The brush of Sanji's shoulder against his pulled the swordsman from his thought. The cook moved into the room and over to the closet, pulling a sheet from one of the top shelves. Carefully, he unfolded the crisp, white cotton and motioned for Zoro to help him spread it over the family. Zoro obeyed, numb in his movements. As they covered the small bodies, Zoro felt that old despair pulling at him, the same misery he had felt when he had found himself alone, and thought that he might be the only person left alive.

But then he looked up and found Sanji's blue eyes filled with such softness and compassion that Zoro felt himself oddly comforted. The cook smoothed out the sheet and then straightened, his gaze running over the bed one last time before he took a breath and stepped away.

Zoro followed, suddenly compelled. There was something about Sanji in that moment that seemed to fill holes and repair wounds that the swordsman had not even realized he possessed.

He shut the door behind them and followed Sanji down the stairs.

"Do you think…" he started, not entirely sure what he was trying to say.

Sanji turned around, and after studying the swordsman's face for a moment, seemed to understand what Zoro was trying to ask.

He took his notepad out and wrote, They went together, and now they're together in a better place.

Zoro read the words slowly, taking in the meaning of what Sanji was saying, and finally nodded. He looked back down the hall to the door, closed on a private tragedy. It was a terrible, incredibly heartbreaking thing, but somehow Sanji saw the beauty in it. Those children went in peace, probably in their sleep, never knowing the terrifying and agonizing deaths that so many had experienced over the last year.

He heard Sanji continue on down the hall, and the swordsman turned to watch his back. Calm settled over Zoro, starting as a gentle warmth in his gut and then spreading out to each of his limbs. He felt it in his chest, his heart.

Sanji was incredible. So many horrible things had happened to him, and yet he was still able to see the good where most would see nothing but death and hopelessness. He cared so much for people, friends and strangers alike. He was completely selfless underneath his scarred, haggard appearance. The kindest person the swordsman had ever known. There was so much to be admired that Zoro didn't even know where to start. It was staggering.

Steadying himself against the wash of newfound feelings coursing through him, Zoro cleared his throat and followed the cook down the stairs. When they reached the ground floor, Sanji did not return to the kitchen. He opened the front door and stepped out into the cool evening.

"What now?" Zoro asked, locking and closing the door behind him.

Sanji scribbled and handed the notepad over.

I'm finished searching for today. Let's find somewhere to stay tonight and I'll make something to eat.

"Sounds good," Zoro murmured.

When Sanji moved down the steps, he lifted the back of his jacket and slipped the handgun from the bedroom into the back of his belt. Zoro hadn't even seen him pick it up.

"Aren't guns dangerous to use against deadies? They can hear it for miles."

Sanji smiled and hopped into the truck. When Zoro slid behind the wheel, Sanji already had his notebook out for the swordsman to read.

Guns aren't for deadies. Guns are for people.

Zoro had to agree with that. Deadies were mindless. They didn't really fight back so a knife or sword or any strong, blunt object was a good offense at close range. However, someone living was best dealt with from afar, with no risk of them taking your weapon and turning it on you.

Zoro started the engine.

"All right, cook, where are we sleeping tonight?"

TBC