7.

"This is like a road trip from hell." Haymitch complained. "I hate you."

"If you had let them drive, they wouldn't be so annoying." Effie shot back, inspecting her newly golden painted nails. He should have kept the damn nail polish to himself, Haymitch thought, that would have taught her.

On the back seat, Katniss and Prim were very busy singing – if that could be called singing – in tune with the blaring music coming from the CD player. The girls almost had a stroke when they realized he had a working CD player in his truck. Annie's didn't work and Johanna's was so old it only took tapes. Haymitch had found himself with a band of unruly teenagers who wanted to ride nowhere but in his car.

"Nobody drive my truck but me, sweetheart." he grumbled. She lifted an eyebrow and he amended. "And you. Doesn't mean they can screech like bloody cats on the back seat."

"Come on, Haymitch, it's Taylor Swift." Katniss laughed, hitting him on the shoulder to make her point across. "Everybody loves Taylor Swift."

"He's a bit old for Taylor, dear." Effie mocked.

"You're both lucky I like you." he replied.

Prim started singing the next chorus as loud as she could and that was it for the conversation. There was no talking above the girls' singing. He had half a mind to switch the cd player off but then that would mean whimpering and pleading and Haymitch was reminded everyday of why he didn't want kids.

Seriously.

He had thought Effie was probably the only person not taking this apocalypse thing seriously but he had been awfully wrong. Johanna wasn't much better, she actually counted the zombies she took out. She and Gale had a bet going on about who would kill the most of them. As for Katniss, Haymitch had taken an immediate liking to the girl, she was trying to do right by her sister, she was strong and generally speaking he could tell she was a survivor but really… Her choice in music sucked.

"Remind me why I came back again?" he asked Effie between two songs. He had asked himself that very same question every morning since he had joined their little group. Haymitch never liked people and he didn't work well with others since the death of his former CIA partner. He hated being told what to do. The first time Finnick had tried that, it hadn't gone well at all. It was his way or none at all. His way was better anyway.

Other than that, those people were bearable.

And he wasn't really there for them anyway. The second the urgent warnings about the south of the country had began to be broadcasted like crazy, he had found himself trying to find Effie again. He didn't know why exactly, he didn't want to look at that can of worms too closely. He had felt like a man possessed. He had needed to find her, to make sure she was safe, to…

"Because you missed sharing moments." Effie teased, sliding closer to him on the seat to rest her head on his shoulder. She didn't see the need for a seatbelt when he was driving at a snail pace and, more sadly for him, almost sober. Katniss didn't let Prim in the car if he wasn't and he would rather take the two girls than Johanna, the two lovebirds or, god forbid, the two boys. Johanna and Effie bickered endlessly, Annie and Finnick were so in love it was sickening to watch and the boys seemed stuck between being friends and rivals which created a tension that made everyone uncomfortable.

"We're not sharing a lot of moments." he commented. "If we've been alone for five minutes in the last week, I would eat my beanie."

She threw a contemplative glance at the black woolen hat on his head. "Is this a serious offer? Because I think it's more around five minutes and a half."

"I like the beanie." he countered because he knew where this was going. "Stop trying to dress me up."

"I'm just stating that if you want a hat that much we could probably find you something more appropriate in the next shop." Effie sighed, defeated. "I already promised Peeta I would find him a better jacket."

"What's wrong with Peeta's jacket?" Prim asked, suddenly losing interest in the soppy song playing much too loud in the car. Haymitch took the opportunity to turn the volume down to a low murmur. Much, much better.

"He wants another one." Effie told the girl.

"Why?" Katniss frowned. "The one he has is still good…"

"It's a windbreaker." Effie sniffed, as if the word had personally offended her. Haymitch and Katniss exchanged an amused glance in the rear-view mirror. Katniss shared his bemusement at Effie's priorities, the others had mostly accepted that they needed to take regular trips to Laundromat and that shop raids meant new clothes. They all had their quirks after all. Haymitch wanted alcohol, Annie could kill for chocolate, Finnick never passed an opportunity to get his hands on poetry books, Prim's latest obsession was to get CDs, Katniss loved to roam the woods they passed by in search of dinner, Gale ransacked stores for bottles of soda, Johanna was a bit obsessive in her collection of sharp objects and Peeta never missed an opportunity to find notebooks and pencils to draw with. "It's shapeless and the color… I told him I would find one befitting a young man. He wants some leather he said."

Like the too big jacket Katniss was carrying everywhere or Gale's for instance, Haymitch surmised. In short, he thought leather would help him get Katniss' attention.

"Oh… Could you find me another pair of jeans too, then, please?" Prim asked. "Those ones are rugged at the knees…"

"I will find you some." Katniss offered but her sister winced.

"Don't take it the wrong way but… Effie chooses the best clothes." the girl argued.

"At least someone appreciates my efforts." Effie triumphed and Haymitch rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah… It's a relief to known if we die we will be the best dressed zombies out there." he snorted.

Katniss snickered, Effie sulked and Prim bit back her amusement.

Two clicks broke the sudden silence and then Johanna's voice, slightly distorted, boomed from one of the walkie-talkie they had found in a ransacked sheriff office a few days ago. One in each car, they had thought it would be easier to communicate that way. It worked well for now.

"Haymitch car, did you see the advert?" Johanna asked.

"An advert?" Effie frowned, grabbing the talkie.

He snatched it from her hand. "No way, sweetheart." he told Johanna.

He had seen the sign advertising the motel but he didn't think a motel lost somewhere on a road bordered by woods would be a particularly good idea.

"I told you already." Johanna growled in the talkie. "Last warning, Haymitch. Call me sweetheart again and I rip out your balls."

"Doesn't change anything." Haymitch replied. "We're not stopping."

"Where does she want to stop?" Katniss asked, confused.

"There's a motel down the road." he explained in a shrug.

"But, Haymitch, a bed…" It wasn't Johanna's but Annie's softer voice now. "Just think about it. A bed. With your name on it…"

"I wouldn't mind a bed…" Effie commented with a hopeful face.

"Would you mind getting eaten by zombies?" he retorted.

"We're game." Peeta said in the talkie. "Not that anyone is asking Gale or me…"

Peeta and Gale were in Johanna's car, trapped between the two trucks. They hadn't found a car to replace Johanna's yet. They were all busted or had been taken apart by people like them.

"We're game too." Johanna had obviously taken the talkie back from Annie. "I'm sure Trinket wants a bed."

A short battle for the walkie-talkie followed but Haymitch was outnumbered and very much focused on not crashing the car so he had to release the radio to Prim's grabby hands. Damn this kid.

"I want a bed. Effie too." Prim stated.

Katniss leaned over her sister's shoulder to be heard in the other cars. "I'm with Haymitch. It's too dangerous."

"Of course, you are." Johanna mocked. "But you two chickens are also outvoted. We're going."

Haymitch cursed but reluctantly followed the trail of cars to the little road leading to the motel, prepared for the worst. "Get the guns, at least." he ordered Katniss who nodded her assent. The girl shouldered her quiver and readied her bow, she gave one of Haymitch's handguns to Prim even though it was useless because the kid couldn't shoot straight and passed a rifle to Effie.

There were four cars on the motel parking lot and trees all around them. Haymitch didn't like it one bit, it reduced visibility. The sun was still high in the sky but the trees were making everything look darker.

"Alright, let's be clever about this." Finnick said, as soon as the cars stopped and they had all gotten out. "Haymitch, grab one of Jo's shiny toys. You, me, Johanna and Katniss are on cleaning duty. The rest of you stay by the cars. Use the gun in last resort only, I don't fancy alerting the army of zombies probably busy rotting in the woods."

"What did I say about you not being the boss of me, boy?" Haymitch grumbled, but it was a good plan so he did take the cutlass Johanna handed him. He also shouldered the rifle just in case. By the time they were ready to go, the first zombies had crawled out of the motel. They were obviously old and decaying, it wouldn't be a pleasing task to get rid of them but it wouldn't be hard either. None of those were mutts. Katniss was already shooting arrow after arrow, a boring and repetitive task.

Effie placed a hand on his arm when he passed by her. "Be careful."

"You too." he ordered, nodding to the gun in her hand. "You see a zombie, you shoot. Don't try to get close." She wasn't good with a knife and he wasn't sure he wanted her close enough to one of those beasts to take a good swing anyway. "If shit hits the fan, take the truck and go, Princess."

She didn't answer but her stern face was clear enough. She wouldn't leave without him. He rolled his eyes but moved to join Finnick. Johanna was helping Katniss picking up her arrows so Haymitch supposed it meant he was to team up with their golden boy.

They cleaned room after room methodically. Some were empty, untouched by the apocalypse. It was almost surreal to see beds neatly made, lamps still on night tables and cheap paintings still hanging on walls…

"You know this is stupid, right?" he asked Finnick, as they were busy trying to get rid of a couple of zombies that had been trapped in a room without getting bitten or lose a limb in the process. "We're risking our lives for a bloody nap in a bloody bed." His car suited just fine. Or at least, it had until teenagers had started to squat the back seat.

"More stupid than driving at random until we're out of gas?" Finnick shot back, lashing out with his harpoon at the zombie on Haymitch's right.

"We're not there yet." Haymitch retorted, taking out the last one. He wiped his sweaty hands on his pants. Effie wouldn't be happy to see the state of his jeans.

"Maybe we should start talking about it before we actually get there." Finnick replied.

Thing was, the boy wasn't wrong. They wouldn't be able to siphon gas and raid stores forever, they would have to turn to scavenger hunts soon enough as it was. They were already mostly eating whatever animals Gale and Katniss managed to catch or Finnick and Annie to fish…

Getting rid of all the zombies roaming the motel took an hour, triple checking that they hadn't forgotten one took almost as long and by the time they had all agreed on who would take which room, Haymitch was sipping from his bottle of whiskey and ready to collapse on a bed, carpet or even the floor if that was the only thing left. Effie, however, had no intention to camp out and extorted them what must have been the best room – mainly because it was one the zombies hadn't touched – with two queen size beds and an en-suite bathroom. It had apparently been implied that Haymitch was to share with her so he followed her, barely listening to how the others were splitting. Johanna was all for having a room on her own, Finnick and Annie were taking another and the four teenagers claimed the other big room similar to Effie and Haymitch's.

Effie was delighted by the prospect of sleeping in a bed, in an actual room with four walls around her and a roof over her head. He let her wander in the bathroom while he pushed the heavy dresser against the door just in case. As for the window…

"Haymitch!"

The shriek made him spin around. He was running before he even realized it, cutlass in hand. Had they missed a zombie? Had they made a mistake? He barged in the bathroom, ready to stab the first grey-skin thing he'd see but there was no one except Effie in the bathroom. A laughing, very happy Effie who was wet from her head to her waist and was half standing in the shower, her hand on the tap. "There's water!"

That made Haymitch frown. "There must be a water tower in the next town. Or a cistern, maybe…"

"Who cares? It's water." she grinned, pushing her wet hair out of her face. For a second, he was enthralled by how attractive she was and he wondered what she would do if he just pinned her to that shower wall, all caution be damned.

He put his hand under the steady stream instead. "Freezing water."

"It could be popsicles and I would still take that shower." She eyed his blood stained clothes with obvious disgust. "And you certainly need one too."

"Is that an invitation?" he teased but he didn't let his thoughts wander too far in that alley. "Take your shower, I will watch." Her eyes widened, she looked surprised and a bit guarded. He rolled his eyes. "Take your mind out of the gutter, sweetheart. I didn't mean you. How many times a day must I remind you about the zombies?"

"There are no zombies here…" she said uncertainly. "The door is boarded up…"

"Effie." he growled "Don't play games."

She frowned, obviously angered by that comment, and pulled her damp tank top over her head. He had seen her in her underwear quite a few times – there was no privacy on the road – but it was different this time. There was a challenge there when she met his eyes and it was enough for his breathing to quicken. Her boots were next and then her belt. He watched as she wriggled out of her tight jeans and then nudged them aside with her foot.

"This is called sharing a moment, Haymitch." she taunted, her hands disappearing behind her back to unclasp her bra. "You are supposed to act at some point, you know. This is just as much a two-way street as friendship is. Honestly, you would think… Umph."

She wasn't expecting him to pin her to the wall so violently, he could tell, but she responded to his kiss hungrily. It was a messy kind of kiss, all tongue and teeth and he didn't know exactly if they were kissing or fighting. She tore at his shirt but had troubles removing the tee-shirt he was wearing underneath because that would have implied to stop kissing her long enough to get it over his head and that wasn't working for him. The blood-stained tee-shirt dangled around his neck stupidly while he kissed her jaw line, nipped at her neck... Her head fell back, his hands moved from her waist to her breasts… Her moan shot straight to his groin.

He barely registered her hands undoing his belt, popping his jeans open… He very much registered when she pushed him back, all the while kissing him like he was the only source of air available in the room, and pinned him to the opposite wall. The sink was there and it dug painfully in his back as she flung the tee-shirt away from his neck and to the floor before kissing her way down. That was pure torture. Sweet, painful ecstasy…

"God…" he breathed out.

She had tugged his jeans down to his ankles and her mouth was teasingly kissing along the band of his boxers. When he looked down, almost whimpering with need, she was staring at him with a smug grin that almost made him come right there. He pulled on her arm, dragged her up again before he could do something embarrassing like come in his underwear… The sink was at good height and he lifted her by the waist, perched her there and got rid of the last barriers of clothes that still existed between them. Her hands tangled in his hair, pulled him close…

"Condom." she panted in his ear.

Condom, the word was foreign to his lust induced brain. She lifted her arm, felt behind her for the little cabinet… He finally got her meaning and rummaged around, careful not to bang her head against the door. There was a lot of shit in that cabinet : small bottles of shampoo, soap, toothbrushes still wrapped in plastic… He threw the lot on the ground, not even caring about the mess he was making… "That's it, I'm stocking up on that next chance I get." he vowed, dropping a brand new pocket hairbrush on the ground.

She propped her chin on his shoulder, her fingers dancing along his sides, brushing and teasing… "Find them quicker." she whined, pressing her whole body against his. She nibbled his neck, one of her hand trailed on his back and the other… He breathed in quickly when she squeezed, his sight flashing white for a second. "Sweetheart, you do that again, we won't need a condom."

And just as he said that, his hand found a square little package. He had never been as glad to see one in his life, he made a quick job of dealing with it. He went slow at first, as much for her sake as his but she urged him faster. He didn't last long.

Her disappointed sigh was much more than his ego could take, however. Fortunately for her, he had very talented fingers. She came apart with his name on her lips and that brought a smirk to his. He kissed her shoulder as she came down from of her orgasm, a bit unsteady on his feet himself. Her head had fallen on his shoulder, he brushed the mane of curls aside so he could see her face. He kissed her slower and gentler than he could remember having kissed a woman in a long time.

Deep chuckles weren't the kind of answer he was hoping for.

"Laughing after sex." He tried to sound detached but it was hard when she was still naked and pressed against his body. "You sure know how to make a man feel great, sweetheart."

"I am not laughing at you." She kissed his neck. "It's just… You do know most people have shower sex in the actual shower?"

He found it easier to breathe. "That water is freezing."

"And that won't excuse you from taking a shower." she argued, clutching to his shoulders to get down the sink safely. He made sure she didn't fall. Common courtesy, they did just have sex after all. "Be a dear and go fetch our bags."

"What am I now, your servant?" he snorted.

"If you're into that kind of things…" she joked. She winked at him in all her naked glory and… really, what else could he have done but go fetch the bags? He also peeked behind the curtain to check no zombies were wandering that way but the whole parking lot was clear.

She didn't give him much of a choice about the shower. She tried to force him under the spray but he resisted, she tried to drag him but he stood his ground, she struggled to push him which only made him laugh but the second she started kissing him, he lost all common sense and she got her way. The water was freezing and he didn't linger as much as she did. It didn't matter much. In a matter of minutes he was covered in her strawberry soap and shampoo and he was cleaner than he had been in months.

He got dressed quickly and went back to the bedroom, grabbing the rifle on the way. The parking lot was still empty, he made sure the talkie was still working and went to lay down on the bed closer to the bathroom, figuring the second bed could be used to slow the zombies if need be.

Effie's teeth were chattering by the time she got out of the bathroom, fully clothed in clean jeans and a pink top that made him smirk. Only Effie Trinket would wear pink in a zombie apocalypse…

"Boots on the bed, really." she clucked her tongue disapprovingly.

"You will be glad to have your boots on if we're attacked." he replied. The rifle was propped against the night table too. Everything to allow them a quick exit if they needed to. Haymitch wasn't sure he liked being indoor much. The car was one thing, it could move and outrun mostly anything but in this room they would be trapped.

"True, I suppose." she sighed, toweling her wet hair some more. It was already starting to curl. She disappeared in the bathroom again – probably to hang the towel properly – and when she came back, she looked uncertainly from him to the other bed.

"Do we need to have the 'it's just sex, no need to overthink' talk, sweetheart?" he snorted, tapping the space next to him on the bed. "Come here. We share a bench seat, we can share a bed."

She seemed a bit relieved and lied down next to him before closing her eyes, delight washing her face. "Can we take the bed with us when we leave?" she asked, before frowning slightly. "Wait… could we stay here?" She turned on her side and propped herself on her arm to study him. "Do you think we could? Perhaps if we're very careful and…"

"We can't hold the motel." he interrupted her before she could get her hopes up. "It's not secure enough."

She toyed with the hem of his shirt absent-mindedly. "Will there ever be a location secure enough? We can't stay on the road forever, Haymitch."

"Yeah, I know. We should start looking." He combed her hair with his fingers thoughtfully. They were all thinking about finding a place to settle down, he was sure, but no one wanted to actually suggest it yet. Moving on was what had saved them until then. Moving on was all they knew now. Settling down would be dangerous and for more than one reason. Settling down meant caring about people and caring about people meant getting hurt. "You should go to sleep, I will take watch."

She hesitated a bit but then she seemed to throw caution to the wind and snuggled against him. She put her head on his shoulder and hooked a leg with his. He wrapped an arm around her for practical reasons only or at least that was what he told himself. It was cold and the shower had been freezing.

"Did I ever tell you how grateful I am to you for helping me when we met?" she whispered after a few minutes.

He couldn't help but chuckle. "I think the sex covered the thank you part, Princess. Don't worry about it."

"I am serious, though." she insisted, drawing silly patterns on his chest. "I would be dead if it weren't for you. I want you to know I am grateful. And I am glad you decided to come back."

"Well… Believe it or not, I was missing your annoying voice." He touched her chin softly, her lips stretched in a smile and she closed the distance between them for a slow kiss that left him out of breath. "Plus, it would have been a shame to leave all that sexual tension unresolved."

She giggled and kissed him again. It wasn't as messy as it had been earlier. It was less frantic, less desperate too… He deepened the kiss, one of his hand sliding under her top just to feel her skin. He loved her skin, it was soft. "You think Finnick and Annie have condoms to spare?" he joked, kissing his way up her jaw to nibble on her earlobe.

"You can't ask them that!" she protested, whacking his shoulder playfully. "They would know."

"And what do you believe they think we're doing?" he chuckled, rolling her top up to kiss her stomach. He regretted not taking his time earlier. She had a body that called to be worshiped. She had the kind of body poets wrote sonnets about, kings started wars for and women envied. He wanted to kiss every inch of her skin until she quivered in need… He didn't need condoms for that.

"Screaming at each other, probably." she argued as he popped the button of her jean open, her breathing quickening.

"Well, you're going to scream, alright, sweetheart." he winked.

The tapping at the window startled him but he reacted quickly, rolling off Effie and grabbing the rifle before he had even fully realized what was happening. She was no less quick in feeling around for the handgun she had put on the night table. There was a human shape figure behind the curtains. They exchanged a glance and they were moving. Effie buttoned her jeans, put her jacket on and grabbed their bags while he approached the window warily.

A peek was enough to reveal Johanna, bags on and axe in her hand. She gestured at him to be quiet and to let her in so he did, pushing the dresser out of the way as silently as he could.

"We have mutts on our hands." she said, as soon as the door had closed behind her.