Chapter 4 - Basic Needs

A/N it is a longer chapter because it is actually a reunion between two chapters… but one of them was too short… I am sorry if this is a problem… and I hope you like it. I know that the ending is a bit weird, I get it…. But I felt as if that should be added there :D. Oh… I truly hate plucking chickens(so not many details there because I truuuuuuly hate plucking chickens (I didn't do it but I googled it and I wish I never would had .) … Enjoy.

The next day was a slow one… just walking and worrying that Carver would catch up. Adeline, in special, was just testing her new bow with some luck she managed to shot a bunny, the arrow splitting right through its little brown furry chest… that became dinner and nobody actually mind to have some warm cooked meat to eat.

"As always… empty…"

"Did you check the glove compartment?"

"Yup… just a driving license… and a few girly shits."

"There is nothing in the trunk…"

"We need to find some supplies Luke…"

"I know…"

"I can see the signs of a small village… we could check it out…"

Luke, still lost in thought, took out a map from his backpack. "I thought that reaching those mountains over here could be the best choice… but right now I doubt it."

"Why?"

"I don't know… I just have a hunch…"

"What I learned from this crappy life is that hunches… are not just hunches… "

"But what else can we do? We are already on our way let's keeping on it and see what we get... About that village you were speaking of… it is pretty close… maybe it's worth a look."

"We should take Nick..."

"No, no, no… and no… I don't trust Nick to tie his own shoes right now… He'll stay behind… so don't say a word… "

After announcing the rest that they will take another route, Luke and Adeline were ready to search that little village, if you could call it that... It was more of an agglomeration of 5 or 6 houses… it shouldn't take long.

"Ok… Luke you take that house this one is mine…"

"I think we should stick together."

"What?"

"I know… that splitting would only mean covering more ground but… you know."

"Fine… let's start systematic… this one first."

With her bow fully drawn and ready, Adeline pointed out to Luke that he could open the door. As soon as the way was opened for them an arrow flow right through it and got stuck to the wall.

"Whoa, whoa! What?!"

"My bad… sorry." The tension got the better of her and in that split second of panic she let go to the string of the bow… ops.

Going in it seemed the entrance they choose was the back one as they stepped in to a kitchen. Looking around they realized the place was clean… nothing really for them. Moving to the next zone they got in to a living room. The walls were filled with pictures and memories of a time long since pass. Adeline always tried not to care too much about the inhabitants of a house she just happens to need because dueling on little things like the pain of others will just intensify your own but when they found the first bedroom the family that once dueled in that building demanded their acknowledgement.

"Damn…"

"You can say it again." Luke was quick to eliminate the first lurker that could actually get to them. But the other one was hanging from the roof, its neck going to definitely break from the body soon enough.

"Suicide." The lurker that was now death came from the bed, which was covered in what seemed like dried blood in the middle a small knife covered in the same thing.

"Seems like it…"

"So who cleaned this place out?"

"You saw the pictures… it was a big family… maybe just these two didn't want to keep on."

But as the couple reached the other bedroom they found another two of those things all tied up by the bed frame doing their best to get free. "found some chocolate bars"

"What… Luke? Those things must be bad."

"Check them out and tell me." Throwing them towards Adeline the first thing she did was to stare intently at the expiration date… but they've eaten expired food before so…

"Ohh… GOD… no good, no good."

"Too bad… I don't think we'll find anything in this house…"

"I guess from those two tied there, that someone else bested us."

"Guess so… yes."

"I will go and see what I can find in the garden… maybe there is something in the bathroom."

Maybe the only reason she wanted to check the garden was because she was already a bit overwhelmed by what she just observed… those two by the bed frame couldn't be more that 14 or 15… and somebody just left them to starve in there. Their thin arms and legs couldn't mean anything else… how much she hated all of this… why in times of peril, when humanity is on the verge of dying, do things like this happen… why, in place of helping each other we are killing ourself? But all of this happened long before the outbreak… The world wars are the best example… As Adeline thought of this something stopped her abruptly by a hard hit to the head. Looking around annoyed half expecting Luke to have made some joke she just realized where she was.

"LUKE!" He ran outside as fast as he could. "LOOK." And when he saw it he broke in to laughter like she never heard from him. There was an apple tree… filled with the juicy fruits. That is what hit her… just like Einstein and his fucking apple she just made the greatest discovery. It wasn't so important but fruits weren't everywhere anymore so this was nice. After both of them grabbed one of the apples they settled at the roots of the tree simply enjoying. The fruits were the sweetest thing she ever tasted; with a sly eye she saw that for Luke it wasn't much difference. But that little look made her unable to turn away.

Why was she paying so much attention she didn't knew but that bite he took, his teeth sinking through the skin of the apple tearing it to reach the flesh made her gulp. She almost stopped breathing when she heard the cracking of the fruit and her dark eyes couldn't stop in following the small little drop of juice that slid down his neck. Refocusing on her own meal she could finally pay attention to her own white and tender flesh… juicy and sweet… mildly aromatic… There is a God after all!

"You know something?"

"Huh?" Finally Luke broke the silence as he was simply staring at me. "What is it Luke?"

"It is nice." His finger came to my cheek which almost instantly went in flames, I guess that little trail of juice that I followed on his neck didn't miss mine either because his finger went down until it touched my collarbone where it stopped to push my chin up. "…to spend some time without thinking about everything… just about apples."

"Just about apples huh?"

"Just about apples."

But Adeline had to break this weird contact… as she jumped up.

"I can see that the most apples from the base are gone so I will need a little boost to reach the ones up higher." Luke laughed to himself as he got up to offer that boost. "Ok… I will throw them down at you… I grabbed a backpack from the house… put them in there."

"You thought of everything…"

"I'd like to believe that. "

After several apples Luke announced her that they had enough so she started climbing down the tree only for her attempt to end badly as one of the branches cracked and broke… as on slow motion she realized she was going to fall but she also knew she can't do anything to prevent it so she simply went down like a boulder… right on Luke which catching her, because of the weight, went crumbling down on the green grass shortly starting to laugh. Still red Adeline got up as fast as she could only to go down again, this time pulled by Luke's strong hands.

"What the fuck are you doing? "

"I am trying to prolong the moment."

"Luke! The others are waiting."

"I guess you are right… " His lips brushed hers… quickly, like a child kissing their grandma. Kind of disappointed he grabbed the backpack. "Should we check the other houses?

"There...There might be something the looters missed... i Guess... I don't know... Luke..."

"Ok."

Well long story short the looters didn't miss anything… They easily found the group which was more than delighted to see the bag of apples. Nick was still down in the dumbs which made Adeline have a chat with him… maybe more or less because she didn't want a chat with Luke.

"Hey Nick!"

"Yeah…"

"Wow… that is some enthusiasm right there…"

"Just leave me alone." After some more attempts to get to him she finally gave up. She knows how it is to lose somebody important... death never comes easy. It is not like in the novels where the main character dies for a greater good, his life being meaningful for generations… no… most of them are simply putting a waste, an entire person, its sole purpose, dreams and believes down the drain, they fight and fight… just to end up in some hole for no one to actually remember them for long. Such is life now… a line of disappointments, suffering and disasters that simply cuts and abruptly ends… maybe this is why Adeline started believing in God so much since the outbreak… it is her way of believing there is still something after this life, it is her way of clinging to some makeshift string of fate and keep on living. She wanted to end her life, such an easy escape… so many times Tom had to stop her… so many times the man had to beg her, to make her understand that life is more than this wretched constant pain… she just had to find the silver lining. Still she might had blinked and missed its precious touch as she never found it before.

"Hey Clementine… Why are you all alone?"

"Sarah is talking with her father… "

"Then I guess you don't mind some company." And so the woman started walking next to the little girl. As they talked she slowly realized just why she had the feeling of pitying the little girl.

"Hey… having fun without me? " Luke just popped up from nowhere, with one apple in his fingers. "Did you eat Clementine?" She nodded with a tiny smile on her lips… that made him take a bite, he knew she wouldn't be shy, if she wanted another one she'd ask but as Adeline would soon find out he was more interested in her. Soon Sarah called Clementine to show her some bug she found.

They had a really frustrating conversation in which Luke was simply trying to read in to her past but she'd only answer monosyllabically so it only ended up with both of them kind of angry at each other. Adeline pressing on the fact that past is in the past and Luke saying that she needs to open up a bit.

And so the day ended.

The next day all of them were already on the road by sunrise. Nick told them he might have seen some moving around in the woods and if those signs of life would actually prove to be Carver that would be bad so they quickly packed and went on their way… Adeline and Nick where this time in front of the group to scout. There were a few lurkers but nothing they couldn't handle. A few lose arrows and some knife swings and they were done. After some hours the awkward silence between them soon finished when, finally, Nick managed to say something.

"I'm sorry…"

"This time no joking but for what?"

"For being a dick… with you."

"Nick… you don't have to be sorry, trust me. I've had and been worse than just some intense silence and depression."

"Still… sorry for getting kinda aggro on you…"

"It's ok… I am happy you finally managed to snap out of it. You've been through so much… how are you actually feeling right now?" Nick's raised his gaze from the ground to look at her. "I mean really… how are you? "

"I've been better… "

"Come on…" The man simply shook his head in a way for her to understand and let it go. "What about a game… an answer for an answer?" He simply shrugged. "So answer my question."

"No… I will have the first round."

"Fine by me."

"Why are you refusing to talk about you past?"

"The past stays in the past…"

"Then why do you expect me to answer any of your questions?"

"Because I asked you how are you feeling not what happened to you."

"Fine. Sometimes it's just hard to keep movin' all the time… I'm not build like that. I can't just forget everybody I grew up and died… it all happened to them."

"You don't have to forget them… God knows I've tried."

"Who?"

"No, no… you asked me two questions… I still have another. You still haven't told me your actual feelings."

"I feel as if everything is going to happen to us as well. We're all so fucked! The whole world is fucked! I mean what's the point? We'll just march to some new place and someone else will die…it's never gonna stop and eventually it'll be our turn… This is what I feel… Happy?!" Definitely he's been thinking about this for some times, he had that look on his face as if he recited from memory as if he'd memories every word.

"Nick… I know… and I am not going to feed you some shit about some Nirvana out there and that we'll all make it because I don't believe in it. Most of my thoughts are quite alike yours to be fair with you."

"Then why haven't you done something about it?"

"Why haven't I killed myself? I tried… believe me I tried… but it seems fate itself wants me to keep on going… so I simply keep on going, even though everybody stops on their tracks behind me."

"How was it the first time? In the first day they came?"

"You first."

"The first time we saw one of them was actually pretty fucked. I and Luke were dead drunk. You can imagine the two of us walking the street with a man coming towards us. I started yelling at the guy to stop staring… he was annoying until the moment a girl ran away from it. As drunk as we were… we ran away from it just because that girl did."

"That's stupid!"

"Your turn."

"Fine… here is some history lesson from me. When all of this happened I was in school… in my desk… actually doing math when the gym teacher came through the window and started eating the math teacher… I always hated that bitch but never that much to see her being munched to death. We all ran… somehow we got to the gym… finally believing that we are going to be ok. It was just some of my classmates, two teachers and some other kids from school… I don't think we were more than 20… but one stupid… bitch, I can't call her anything else, Jenny fucking Pitcher made an OD. The next morning her best friend went to check on her… let's just say from that point from 20 we went down to 10… and I was just smart enough to leave that group. When I went back home… You'll excuse my lack of details… I was all alone and that was my first attempt at escaping all of this… I grabbed a knife and I slid my wrist right next to my sister's death cor-corpse... "

"Fuck."

"Yeah… now you get it why past should remain in the past?"

"I am sorry…"

"Anyhow… from here it seemed like some fucked up TV series. This guy comes in to my house… he was my uncle's best friend and he saves me if you can believe it. He just wanted to see if my uncle was ok… and he knew we had a car unlike him. Tom Wilde… I never saw him as he truly was before all of this crap. He was just a stupid swim teacher… but he knew what to do and when to do it."

"So you remained with this guy?"

"Yup… until half an year ago. Everything… happened to all of them… to quote you. My question now? Are you going to act on it?"

"That little girl… Clementine… made me think more about it."

"Good."

"What about you? Why didn't you do anything? You were alone for half a year."

"Fate and a promise still stop me."

"Hey! You two what are you chit chatting about?"

"Existential crisis… wanna join us?"

"Uhh… no. I can hear some water in the distance... if we find a river it should be the best place to make a camp. Let's go check it Adeline… Nick stay with the group."

"I'll come too."

"No... Stay with the group."

"I can back you up, Luke."

"Just stay with the group… we still need someone to watch them… two of us away are just enough. Come on."

After making sure they were far enough for Nick not to hear them Adeline just had to ask about the boy.

"Why leave him behind with the group?"

"I already told you… Nick was never truly dependable… and now is just worse… We have to keep going and sure as hell I am not leaving him behind… but…"

"I talked with Nick for a bit… He reminds me of myself."

"How's that?"

"It's just I was pretty useless, I was holding back this guy I was with… until he actually stopped protecting me. That is when I learned to look for myself Luke."

"What's your point?"

"Nick will never learn shit if you don't offer him an opportunity."

"No… its better this way… trust me I know Nick better than you do… Look at that." Almost instantly he ducked behind a bush pulling Adeline in there as well. And she soon realized why.

"Is that a fucking turkey?!Oh my GOD!"

"I know. Shh… use that bow of yours. Come on before it runs off."

She positioned herself on one knee her shoulders pulled so she can stay straight as she took slowly and arrow. Drawing the string close to her right ear she could hear the silent cracks of the wood from which the weapon was made. The bird, as if feeling something was going to happen raised its head up looking panicked all around making that all too familiar sound of a turkey.

"Wait…" Luke raised his head next to hers and with his arms on her waist positioned her. "Like this it will be easier to target." And he was right, when she released her hold; the arrow flew and split the air as it went straight for its target. The poor turkey didn't even realize what happened until Luke was on it pulling out the arrow from its chest and sliding its machete to cut its head. The poor bird tried to start running around but tying it by its frail legs it simply started tumbling on the dirt as the couple went forward towards the river they could clearly hear now. "I used to go to these camps my parents sent me… there, the only activity I loved was practicing with the bow…"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"It is much better to learn by your own… you grow your own style… it feels natural that way."

"Thx."

They found a small stream, not wider than 2 or 3 meters and deep as the ankles go.

"Ok… so I was right. I will stay here and look around for any of our lurker friends… you go and bring the others."

"Ok." As she returned with the rest Luke was already making a fire for the first steps in preparing that turkey they got. After a few hours of excruciating turkey cleaning they were finally actually cooking it.

"So much easier with the refrozen ones at the supermarkets." Luke joked as he cleaned his hands.

"I would pluck a walker easier." Adeline had to add as this was her first bird ever to prepare, and the plucking part was so gross…

"Ehh… all the pain will be for the best in the end." They were lucky with Alvin helping around; Luke knew how to do it in theory so it was quite a mess. The two girls Clementine and Sarah earned one turkey feather each now roleplaying some Indians from what Adeline could see. This peace of mind as they were butchering a poor little bird was kind of nice… and the turkey was little indeed, not fruitful as she imagined turkeys should be, it was thin and frail… so pitiful… but enough for them tonight. The taste was good and quite fulfilling.

Then everybody got ready for sleep. Some of them washed in the steam some of them didn't… somehow only Luke, Nick and Adeline where the last left. Adeline exercising for a bit on a tree gave her place at the stream to Luke as Nick didn't feel like having 'pneumonia' as he said it. The girl was still pulling at the bow in thought. Then she simply dashed throwing the weapon on the ground she ran towards the stream.

There she found Luke of course… he was just about to wash a little so his shirt was lost on some stone and his jeans were unbuttoned with his hands holding the zipper, his eyes attentive right at Adeline which stopped right in front of him. Her hands came to his chest as her moist fingers touched his ear.

"No strings attached." He got everything she meant from those few words.

Does any of you know about Maslow's hierarchy of needs? If you do you'll realize just what actually happened between the two of them… simple basic need. Physiological to be more exact: They had air to breath, food as scarce as it was it wasn't a true problem, plenty of water, sleep as much as they could get but what is next? That is what pushed the both of them to give in to their primal instincts. No love or attraction for any of them to actually take in to account just sexual longing. For Luke the group came first and not some fetish he has once in a while, he can't indulge in emotions like love for just one person not until he finds a safe place for them to stay, and that fast because Rebecca was soon to give birth… and for Adeline… she simply couldn't give in to this again… she simply couldn't keep her promise if she once again left her feelings free to do what the fuck they wanted with her but she surely could indulge in to a few hours of pleasure as could her friend.

The water was freezing cold but refreshing… it didn't mean much for us anyway. We we're too distracted by what we we're doing to mind the simplest of things. I simply enjoyed that brief insanity of mine… I was consciously unconsciously… I left all of my perceptions behind and thought that I was insane… But as Luke stepped on to his own boundaries I realized that maybe... just maybe we are all insane.

As anything else, I realized that night that the moment when our cracks become exposed is close to a breeze that suddenly becomes a storm… it is unstoppable… yes we are broken inside… each and every one of us… and we try to find any kind of glue… but none of them does the job so the cracks simply become visible. And the most fucked up thing is the fact that all of our secrets just come pouring out through those gaps like the most wretched sins came from Pandora's Box… Our pain can no longer be ignore and my solitude can no longer be denied… in that night I felt so lonely that all the past that I thought would remain in the past overcame me… and I was too tired to fight it anymore. It wasn't the best thing to talk to Nick… that little chat just reopened old wounds. Keeping everything boiling in becomes unbearable as Luke told me… so I searched for him to confide in… we both live in this world after all… and what we did that night didn't truly have to become something too important I thought.