09/03/2021: this chapter has now been re-canonized. A lot of familiar scenes with a lot of new stuff to go with! Thank you for your patience, and thank you for reading!

Three weeks after first infection

Why did her blanket weigh like, a bajillion pounds?

Divine was still waking up, her senses slowly returning, but the weight upon her was pretty noticeable. She was practically pancaked into the sleeping bag, her face smushed into her pillow. Above her, her "blanket" snored softly into her ear.

Oh for the love of… Not again.

"Zachary," Divine warned groggily. He made no sign of having heard her, simply snuggled up to her a little more. Which meant putting more of his weight onto her. And in comparison to her, he was fucking heavy.

"Wake up and get- Hnngh- Your ass off me," she huffed, wiggling her limbs free from under him. He grumbled sofly.

"I know you're awake, asshole," she hissed. "That's it- You have until three."

He grumbled again, less softly this time.

"Ready? Oooone-"

"Nnnnngh," he rumbled.

"Twooooo-"

He let out a low, throaty growl. She paused a moment longer than intended, ready to see what he'd do. But when he continued to not move…

"Three!"

Gathered under him, Divine pushed off the floor like a springboard, and they both went up and over, and she fell atop him. He screeched angrily, and her vision spun as he flipped them, and her back hit the floor. Zachary leaned in close and he snarled into her face, all sharp teeth and bad breath.

And in response, she screamed back into his face. He recoiled slightly, clearly surprised… But then he smirked down at her. Like he thought it was funny. And it was infuriating when he did that. So she wriggled her arm free to swipe at the top of his hood-

That got him off her, as he bounced away with a grumbled whine. The one thing she couldn't do yet- Freely push his hood off his stupid head.

"You're such a baby," she laughed as she got to her feet. "I barely touched it, you're worried about nothing."

He blew a raspberry at her from over his shoulder. Divine laughed again and meandered over to a box of rations and proceeded to start heating one up.

It had been a week since she found him. His leg had healed surprisingly well, mere ragged spots on his ashen skin that served as the only leftover of what had happened. Divine had expected it to get worse, but it quickly did the opposite. Which was strange, considering he was a zombie of all things, why would he get better from that, but not his own illness?

She had learned a lot about him, and the infected in general, in only that week- That contrary to her belief, human flesh didn't seem to actually entice them. Noise bothered all of them of course, but it seemed like all they did was… Attack? Stomp their feet and throw their fists around, but then lose interest once the "threat" has passed. Sure, Zachary seemed to enjoy licking her skin- Okay he liked to lick her face- But he didn't have an interest in trying to eat it. Or eat her, for that matter.

The first time one of his dagger-like teeth had snagged her, he had seemed intensely bothered by her crying, and subsequent yelling at him for it. He had been careful ever since, but it was still interesting all the same (even if it hurt like hell).

Divine had also finally found names for things like him- Hunter. It had been scribbled on the wall of the last safe house they sheltered in, alongside the names of everything else she had encountered so far. The regular normies shambling the streets? Commons. The rooftop dwelling grabbers with the cloud around them? Smokers. The horrifying crying woman? Witch. And the oversized puker?

Boomer.

She wasn't sure how the name correlated yet. Was "booming" a slang term for puking? Must be a local thing.

Even now as she cooked up their breakfast, Divine scanned their current shelter's walls for more information. Unfortunately, this one wasn't as helpful. Another debate on the origin of the Green Flu (aliens, government conspiracy, act of God), another angry message directed towards CEDA (they left us all to die), and a conversation that had quickly derailed between passing writers (there's no way this can be happening, but your mom totally was).

Cool story, bro.

"We got a big day ahead of us," Divine announced to her companion. He looked up and tilted his head at her. "We gotta find a new spot to sleep. And maybe get out of this city. One thing at a time though."

He hmm'd at her and then crawled over to start nosing around the meal she was heating up. She wrinkled her nose at him and pushed his dumb face away before he burned it.

"You just don't know jack about shit huh?" she commented. "You just eat, sleep, scream, and jump around like an asshole. That's all you need in your little zombie life, isn't it?"

He made a gargled noise from the back of his throat, as if that was an answer. Which it could have been, for all she knew. He still wasn't much of a talker. Just made a lot of little noises and growls that sometimes sounded akin to actual words, but still otherwise inteligible. Hand gestures were also a little hard to do with him, considering he couldn't actually see her doing it either. Maybe if he was "looking" real hard he'd respond.

"Hey Zach," she called to him, and when he turned his head in her direction, she made a clawing motion at him with a soft "rawr" sound. He continued looking at her for a few more moments before trying to dive back down towards their breakfast, and she scrambled to push him away again.

"Can you just wait for one fucking second?!"

x-X-x-X-x

Okay if she was here, and the blue line and the purple line connected on Barker Street… Which could take her to 5th Avenue and then… Wow she could not read a bus line to save her life. That, and they were so far from campus at this point, she may as well have been in another country, as opposed to another part of the city.

This is what happens when you only move to a city for school and don't venture too far from campus. You get lost real easily. That and she was always terrible with directions. Fuck.

"I guess we'll just keep walking," Divine sighed. "I mean, we'll reach the edge of town eventually, right?"

She looked up to see Zachary perched atop the bus stop, nails tapping lightly against the overhang's edge. His head was turned to look down the street, and then it slowly swiveled to look the other way.

"It's also possible we're going in a circle," she continued. "And that's its own special kind of hell. But we haven't hit the same safe room twice, so I think we're doing okay. Don't you think so?"

He lifted one of his knees to rub under his chin. She wasn't quite sure how that worked, but his incredible flexibility was quite impressive.

"Let's keep going then," Divine said. She hefted her new rifle up and started walking. A rush of air announced Zachary's arrival next to her. On all fours, he came up to just above her hips, and it seemed to be his preferred mode of "walking". He was quite speedy crawling along the ground despite how awkward it looked. Another one of those things that made her think deeply on the Infection, and just what exactly it did to someone.

Which was kinda weird, as she also casually mowed down anything that came flying at her. Wild, screeching people, blitzed out of their minds, and all it took were a few bullets to put them down. It was a "me or them" type situation, that they wouldn't hesitate to beat her into a pulp if they got the chance.

And then maybe another part of her thought, perhaps it was a kindness to put them down. They were never gonna get better… Were they?

She had already seen a handful of times some of the Infected just… Drop dead. One second, a common was just hanging out, the next, they were falling to the ground and not getting back up again. Somehow that was more frightening to her. That this really was just a regular old disease, and wait too long to treat it, and bam, it'd kill you like anything else. The first time that happened, she had definitely kept a careful eye on Zachary, terrified the same would happen to him.

Hunters were a little bit tougher than that though. Two days ago, they had encountered another Hunter, and while Zachary got out of it just fine, it had been a real tussle. And if Divine hadn't shot it when she did, it was entirely possible her companion would have lost that fight. Zachary had bounced back from that just fine though, further proving the point that he wouldn't go down easy.

(So long as he didn't run into any more bear traps when she wasn't around, of course.)

Divine had just put down another Common when Zachary suddenly stood up beside her. He had done this only once before, and she was still just as shocked. Now back on just two feet, her eyes rested firmly on his chest, and she had to look up to see his face. His nostrils flared, nose scrunching as he inhaled something… Unpleasant. His whole face scrunched up in displeasure.

Then she heard it, a sort of… Gurgled bellow, and pained moaning.

Oh shit.

She had her rifle ready this time, quickly looking around for their adversary.

Zachary growled in warning as a large figure stepped out of the alley. It was just as… Concerning looking as the last one. Now that Divine got a better look at it, she couldn't help but grimace.

There was no way anyone was that kind of fat naturally. Especially not with giant pustules and tumor like masses bulging off its flesh. Pink skin had turned a sickly green-gray, and the one eye it did have left was small and discolored. It sort of groaned at them. If it was trying to say something, then she couldn't tell what it was.

And if it was still sentient? Well…

"Hey pal," Divine greeted it cooly, her finger slowly wrapping around the trigger. "How's it going?"

The Boomer made an intelligible noise.

"Yeah man, I get it, it's been real rough for everyone," Divine went on. "Listen pal, this can go one of two ways, so why don't you just move along and we'll keep things reaaaal cool, huh?"

The Boomer grumbled, and it… It turned its head to look from her… To Zachary, it seemed like. He hissed menacingly at it. And that seemed to be answer enough for the Boomer, because it started to rear back like it was gonna puke-

BANG! Went her rifle.

And KABOOM! Went the Boomer.

Bile and blood splashed all over them, like she had popped it like an ugly zit. And she had her mouth open this time too. Divine gagged as she spat at the ground, whimpering and crying to herself. Zarchary howled in equal disgust and frustration.

And then more howls joined in on the chorus. The street came alive with screeching and screaming. They had no time to really act, other than to just start running and gunning.

"I'M SORRY!" Divine cried over the gunfire. "I DIDN'T KNOW!"

The Hunter merely responded with angry cries as they fought their way out of this mess.

It was only once they were down the street, around the corner, panting against a wall when Divine turned to her companion and asked, "Do you think we can find another one?"

x-X-x-X-x

Their next target, swarmed by regular Commons a few blocks over. It was hard to get close without alerting anyone. Sadly for her, Divine accidentally kicked a soda can, and a few Commons came racing for her. And a few turned into a lot more as she opened fire. Which turned into, without any warning, being overwhelmed again as the Boomer let loose a volley of vomit and escaped into the alley as the howls and screams of Common came flying in. They barely escaped with their lives, and at least this time, Divine had remembered to keep her mouth shut.

"Okay I know he's around here somewhere, I can hear him.."

"...Mrp?"

And Zach pointed a finger towards the sky. Divine looked up to see a large figure standing at the edge of a building, and she could hear it burping at them.

"Wow how did he get up there? That's crazy, he climbed up? That's amazing, but damn that's a good vantage point though, let's get out of here before- What is he doing? Oh god he's falling, OH SHIT ZACH RUN-"

A second later, they were knocked off their feet as bile and blood rained on top of them. Divine only groaned as a small horde of Commons came running over to start kicking her.

"You know, ow, I think, oof, I deserve this," she commented between groans of pain.

There was still light out as Divine plopped herself down on a street bench, and she slumped down with her feet kicked out. She was out of ammo in her rifle, and needed to dig out another clip but god she was just… Too fucking tired. The Boomer bile stunk to high heaven, and it clung uncomfortably to her skin. Her clothes were practically glued to her. The desire for a good, hot shower had never been stronger.

Grumbling in equal amounts of exhaustion, Zach crawled onto the bench next to her and flopped down, limbs dangling over the side and across her lap. He let out the longest, most tired sigh she could possibly hear from something.

"I feel you brother," she said, and then after a moment, she shuddered and lolled her tongue out. She still had the taste of Boomer in her mouth. That would forever be burned into her taste buds. They sat there, basking in the late afternoon sun, letting their bodies settle…

When a Boomer came stomping over with a menacing groan. Both their heads lifted and turned towards the Boomer, and they all just stared at each other. The Boomer looked ready for a conflict, but it's single little eye slowly went from "combat ready" to "seriously rethinking this" as it observed the absolute malice in the glares they shot at him.

With a big frown on her face, Divine lifted a single hand to flip him off. She squeezed her eyes shut as the Boomer, appropriately as an insult… Coughed up a single stream of bile into her face, then waddled away.

And that honestly just made all the sense in the world.

x-X-x-X-x

The afternoon soon turned to an early evening, the shadows lengthening across the ground. And in the growing darkness, there it was- A lit window from the second story of a building. The building itself didn't look like much, definitely not a safehouse. Half-lit neon lettering flickered above broken windows on the ground floor. Lottery numbers were posted in the one window that hadn't been shattered yet. Liquor store by the looks of it.

The front doors weren't locked, also once made of glass that had also been broken. Divine pushed a door open with incredible ease, and a small bell jingled above her head. She paused, hoisting her rifle up as she looked over her shoulder. But thankfully, nothing had been alerted. She supposed it would take a little more than a bell to bring the horde running again.

"Watch the ground here, Zach," Divine warned him quietly. "Don't slice your hands open."

The glass tinkled as his claws scrapped past, and he quickly rose to two feet, keeping his hands close to himself. Together, they creeped inside. Fluorescent lights buzzed from the ceiling, at least for parts of the store. The rest of it was lit by the rays of the setting sun seeping in.

There was an odd smell inside the store. Something had died here maybe?

Or someone?

"Zach, stay close to me," Divine started. "Let's scout this place out before- Zach?"

He was gone. She looked around wildly for her missing companion, and then startled when there was a loud crash as a shelf full of chips fell to the ground. A second later, there came a very pleased "Oooohooo~".

"Ohh my god!" she hissed as she rounded a corner and saw his handiwork. The Hunter sat on the floor, already chewing on a bright yellow bag, tearing it open to dig into its contents. "Zach are you insane?!" she stomped over, swiping the bag out of his hands. He made a displeased noise. "We could be jumped by something any second now, and you're worried about snacks?!"

"Awoom," he frowned sadly at her… Then picked up another bag and started over again. Divine slapped a hand to her forehead. Of course she got stuck with the most single minded zombie in all of the apocalypse.

"I guess you can have this," she sighed. "After ya know, today."

A ferocious coughing agreed with her from across the store. Her blood turned to ice as she recognized the sound.

Oh no. Oh shit.

Zach's head turned and he let out a warning growl. No further noise came from the other side, but it confirmed that they weren't alone. After a few seconds of silence, Zach seemed to lose interest and went back to ripping apart his chips bag. Divine blinked in confusion.

How could he just… Forget? Or not care? There was a dangerous ass zombie in here with them? Hello?

Oh… Unless… Maybe they didn't see each other as threats? After all, the Boomers today hadn't really attacked Zach, they had attacked her. So maybe this was the same thing. They were "friends". But that still didn't help her any!

"Sorry dude, your pal might have to go down," Divine whispered, and she started across the store. She creeped alongside the rows of shelves for cover, following the wheezing that grew louder, and the smell… Of a cigarette.

There, next to the register…

A pair of legs rested atop the counter, folded at the ankles. A newspaper obscured the rest of the body. Two hands- Gray and a little lumpy, held it up in place. She could just barely see a tuff of hair poking out over the top from beyond a green cloud.

It was… Not what she was expecting. But it could be a trap?

Divine carefully stepped closer, tense and ready for any unusual movement. But there seemed to be no sign that he even cared that she was there.

From behind the newspaper came another coughing fit.

"Sounds like you could use a drink," Divine said, real cool like, finger hovering over the trigger of the rifle.

"I'm good," he replied. "Wouldn't be much use to me now."

"Guess so," she agreed. "...You're talking to me."

"And you're talking to me?" he said. "Congratulations?"

"Well you're not supposed to?"

"You spoke first?"

"That's not what I mean."

"Girl, you're crazy," he huffed. "What do you even want?"

"I… Don't know anymore," Divine sighed, completely deflating. "I didn't think this was… Gonna happen."

"Sorry for ruining your day with a conversation?"

"That's really not what I mean."

"Then what?" he asked, and flipped the newspaper down. A single yellow eyeball narrowed down at her amongst a greyed face. The good side of it, anyway. The other side had been completely taken over by lumpy, greenish bulges of skin. Dirty blonde hair stuck up in a mess atop his head. And a long-

Long purple tongue slid down from the corner of his mouth. A cigarette somehow managed to stick itself next to it. How he was able to speak so eloquently with both was beyond her understanding.

The eyeball squinted at her at first… Then it widened in some sort of… Recognition? Then glanced downwards at the gun in her hands and widened some more as the threat registered.

"Hey, what the fuck," he said, his remaining brow shooting up to his hairline. "Are you robbing me?"

"No, I was gonna shoot you just in case," she answered honestly.

"That's even worse!" he cried. "The hell is your problem?"

"I have a lot of them," Divine rolled her eyes and lowered the gun, pulling her finger far away from the trigger. "Where do you wanna start?"

"Shit man," the Smoker shook his head. "Take whatever you want, just don't hurt me."

"Well I thought you were gonna hurt me first," she explained. "Cause the last time I ran into someone like you, he almost killed me."

"Oh so we're all just the same to you huh?" the Smoker scoffed. "Wow, says a lot about you."

"Do you even know what you are?" she asked. "Like for realsies, are you aware that you're a zombie?"

"I've been a little more tired than usual but that's nothing new," he shrugged. "I dunno what that has to do with anything."

"Don't you wanna like, eat my flesh?" she asked. "Or my brains? Or just like, pummel me into next week?"

"Maybe I should since you almost tried to shoot me?"

"Please actually don't, I'm already pretty beat up."

"I'll say," and he laughed. "You look- And smell like ass. What happened to you?"

"A lot," she answered, deadpan. "Look, don't you want to like, hurt me? At all?"

"Well, no?" he replied. "I mean, not really? All things aside, you don't look very menacing? Uh, your friend on the other hand-"

And suddenly Zach was hovering over her shoulder, caging her in as he reached out to set his hands on the counter, and leaned in over her. His teeth were out, and he hissed in warning. It seemed like he just now realized what she was doing over here. The Smoker was a flurry of limbs as he kicked and scrambled back away, his back hitting a row of cabinets behind him.

"Zach he's cool," she mumbled into his chest. "Lay off."

Which just caused him to lean in closer, and squish her into the counter.

"Hey man, listen to our girl here," the Smoker said, backing away with his hands up defensively. "I was literally doing nothing, I swear."

Divine felt the rumble vibrate through his body as Zach growled. Deep, low, and threatening.

"Zachie go have more snackies?" she suggested in a sweet voice. "Zachie wants snackie?"

The Hunter's mouth clicked shut as he sniffed loudly. She reached up and patted the side of his face.

"Snackies? Yummy snackies? From our nice friendie?"

"Y-yeah, all you can eat," the Smoker nodded quickly. "All yours. Big sale. All free. Haha sound good?"

A few tense moments passed… And with a long breath of air, Zach slowly pulled back. Divine grimaced as her lower back was finally freed from the edge of the counter.

"You're probably soooo hungry," Divine continued, forcing herself to keep sounding sweet. "You had a looong day, huh? You need some snackies."

She grabbed his arm and gently tugged him away. His gaze was still pretty transfixed on the Smoker, but he let her lead him back to the fallen chips. She reached down and picked up one of the bags, popped it open, and shoveled out a handful.

"Yummy!" she encouraged, eating a few and crunching on them loudly. "Mmm! Okay hold out your hands!"

Silently, he did so, and she dumped the chips into his waiting palms. He took a curious sniff… Then a moment later, plopped down to the floor to start eating. The tenseness dropped out of his shoulders as he ate noisily. Crisis averted, for now.

Divine took a step back and wiped her brow in relief. That sure could have ended a certain way…

"Wow," the Smoker commented. "That was something."

She almost jumped as she looked over her shoulder… And had to keep looking up as she realized he towered over her. Like, she turned and she was chest height just about on him. His shirt had seen better days, a little grimey with some dark splotches down the front. She probably didn't need to guess where those came from. The gassy lumps traveled down his neck from his face, and he seemed to be off balance by a little. And of course, the toxic cloud still hung around him.

This is what had almost gotten her a week ago? God, and to think she had been real lucky…

"Yeah uh, I guess he goes hard on stranger danger," Divine commented. "H-he he's just trying to protect me."

"Yeah I'll say," the Smoker said, scratching at the "clean" side of his face. He glanced back to her- And there it was again. That look. "Who… Even are you?" he asked.

"Uhm, I'm uh… I'm Divine," the survivor introduced herself, a tad shyly. Saying that out loud suddenly sounded… A little more embarrassing than she thought it would. "Uhm, and that's Zach. We're traveling together."

"Where are you traveling to exactly?"

"Uh, ya know… Anywhere. Out of the city, for right now. Somewhere safer, I guess. Wh-what about you? Who are you?"

"I'm uh-" and he paused, looking down at the floor… Then at the ceiling. "I'm uh… Oh shit I just had it. I'm uh… Well I'm me, for starters."

"Okay but that is?"

"Uhhh shit hold on, I literally just had it," he insisted, turning and looking around as if "himself" would just pop up in front of them. He turned his back to her, and then she spotted it, something square bulging out of the back pocket of his jeans. "I swear it was just- Whoa! Coughcough- that's my butt!"

"Sorry," Divine apologized as she fished through his pocket and pulled free a weathered looking wallet. "I think I found it?"

"Oh really?" he asked with interest, turning back around to peer at the wallet in her hands. "Uhh, that doesn't look much like me."

"Just a second," she murmured, and opened it up. A wad of cash, a few different cards aaaand aha- A driver's license. She pulled it out from its slot. And there he was.

"Ryan Smallwood," she read out loud. "Hair blonde, eyes blue-"

Formerly, anyway.

"Six feet… Sure okay, yeah used to be. You're from around here… Aaaand let's see… 1980 which means… You're a whole twenty-nine years old. Congratulations, it's a boy."

He blinked at her, slowly. Like the information didn't quite register. He leaned back, hooking his thumbs into the belt loops of his jeans, and said, "Huh."

"Are you surprised?"

"I guess not just… Well I dunno how I forgot all that. Seems too important not to remember."

"Well it's been a few, long weeks I imagine," Divine said. "You've been through… A lot, by the looks of it."

"I'll say," he huffed. "But I'm still just as handsome, right?" and Ryan flashed her a half grin. She couldn't help but laugh.

"Yeah, still handsome," she giggled, folding his wallet back up and handing it to him. "Hey uhhh, is there an upstairs to this place? I saw a light on from the second story window. Which is kinda why we're in here to begin with."

"Well you know, ya could have just said that earlier instead of like, threatening me," Ryan said, stuffing his wallet back into his pocket.

"Okay I'm sorrrryyy, ohmygodd. I didn't know!"

"Heh, I'm just saying," he chuckled. "Alright okay uh… I think it's over here. Bring your friend if you uh, heh, can."

"Zach leave the chips alone, let's move," Divine ordered. The Hunter let a low whine from his pile of chip dust and shredded bags. "He'll follow. Lead the way."

"Sure sure yeah it's… Yeah there, let's go," and Ryan started across the store, albeit on very wobbly legs. She watched the way his knees kept bowing in and his steps looked incredibly uneven. She followed slowly behind him.

"Are you like, okay?" Divine asked.

"Totally fine," Ryan said, latching onto the wall to prop himself up. "Why do you ask?"

"Because you're walking like a newborn deer."

"I've just been sitting down for a little too long, it's fine," he waved her off.

"How long was too long?"

He didn't answer. Instead he just continued along until he neared the register again, and disappeared into a doorway covered by a curtain. She hadn't noticed it before… When she had been holding him at gunpoint. A closer inspection revealed that beyond the curtain revealed a shadowy staircase. At the top, she could see faint light seeping out from a doorway. The second floor!

"Yup, just where I left it," Ryan commented, and started an agonizingly slow ascent. Divine carefully went up after him, hoping and praying he didn't slip and fall on top of her. From her point of view, she could see the way his pants clung on tight to his thin frame, and she had a great view of his skinny ankles poking out from the bottom.

"I think you might need new pants, dude," she said.

"Probably," he grunted ahead of her. After a great effort, they finally made it up about twenty steps and stumbled into the room above. Instead of some storeroom or something, Divine was surprised to find a whole, fully furnished apartment. There was a loveseat in front of a boxy tv atop a small cabinet. There was a kitchen crammed into the corner with a table and chairs. A few bookcases crammed with books, DVDs, and all sorts of knick knacks. And pictures hung on the wall.

And the strangest thing of all…

It felt like someone still lived here. The basket of laundry by a closet door. A haphazardly pile of shoes by front door. A set of car keys hanging off a hook to the left of the doorway. The lights were still on, of course. It felt like the owners had just stepped out for a moment, and would return any second now.

Ryan wheezed and coughed into his elbow as he wobbled inside. He looked around the apartment with… Not quite recognition or familiarity, just with a sort of vague interest. This had to have been his home, right? A quick look at some of the framed photos on the wall…Aha, there.

There was one of a clearly pre-infected Ryan, dressed up very nicely, with a shorter woman holding onto him. They were smiling. She was looking at the camera. And he was looking at her. They looked so happy. But if Ryan was still here…

Then where was she?

"Well this is it then!" Ryan declared, breaking her train of thought. "Guess you could stay here as long as you want."

"You don't mind?" Divine asked. "Isn't this your home?"

He paused, and blinked slowly. He slightly glanced away, then looked back at her.

"Sure I mean… Well I guess I ain't using it much anyway," he shrugged. "So you can stay as long as you want."

"And it's just you?" she continued. "Only you?"

"Well, you're here now," he said. "And… Your friend, Zach there."

She felt a bump against her legs as the Hunter pushed past her to start giving the room a good sniff. But she kept staring at Ryan. The girl in the photograph still smiled at them from over her shoulder. All of the sudden, she felt the weight of the day come crashing in on her.

"Yeah," Divine replied tiredly. "You're right. I'm just… Gonna make myself at home then."

"Cool," Ryan said as he plopped down into the loveseat with a relieved sigh. "Oof, didn't realize sitting in that old chair made my ass so sore."

"Oh yeah, you rest up too, I bet ya need it," Divine commented. "I'm gonna go look for a shower, god knows I need one. Come on Zach, let's get cleaned up."

"Brrp?" Zach beeped at her curiously.

"Whoa you're gonna like, shower with him?" Ryan snorted.

"No, but I'm gonna try and get him a little less gross! You would not believe the day we had," Divine groaned as she opened the first door she saw. It led into a bedroom, and she could see another door across the room.

"Oh man, hot water, here we come!"