She turned her head back to me with a red in her eyes, “I don’t mean to sound depressing, and it’s what kept me up the whole night, but we can’t.” She kissed my chest lightly, “Even if we do manage to live here for a while, and Zach makes it to Kansas, the military will eventually win this thing. There’s nothing that humans haven’t been able to conquer in the entire span of their existence. Eventually the world will get back to normal, and we’ll have to adapt to it. I love you, Daryl, but our love is doomed.”
My chest felt as if it had been torn out. I knew what she was saying was the truth and not intended to hurt me, but it did. It was not Chelsea’s fault that it got to me though, but the fact is that if the humans win the fight, we go back to normal as Chelsea said. If the contaminated win the fight, we are just a couple condemned in our exile to death.
“That is depressing,” I replied. “But you forgot one thing, I’m not going to give in to either. And so what if we are doomed? The entire human race is doomed every day that we live our lives. To be living means to be doomed, but that does not mean that people have to give in to their fate. I’m ready to take the fates head on and show them who really creates the future. This guy!” I ended, pointing my thumbs at myself.
Chelsea laughed the sweetest laugh, “Thanks, Daryl.” She kissed me, smack on the lips. What a kiss. In our tired groggy and half depressed state, Chelsea managed to give me one of the best kisses that I could ever have. It was filled with hope and love and care and a future, no matter which path we were to take.
“We should go though, I think,” she said, resting her head on my chest again. “Maybe Zach has actually found some form of civilization among the ruins. We can spend a week or two to prepare and follow his lead. I mean if we try hard enough we can probably make Kansas City in a day if we drive without stop.”
I was a bit surprised at this, “So this means that you’re cool with Zach staying?” I asked.
“Of course. He gave us his gun and we’ve known him online for a while now. What does he have to gain by killing us?” She questioned.
Nothing, of course. He seemed fine enough, everyone has their secrets and I could not expect him to be fully open about everything. It is not as if I was dating Zach. “Fair enough. Should we see if he’s ready for our morning exercises?”
Chelsea smiled, “I think that would be an excellent idea. Besides, he has to learn how to kill the contaminated without making a noise, and needs to do it effectively.”
“This should be fun,” I said, smiling.
Chelsea and I got out of bed and did our morning routine of straightening up the room. We both went downstairs to start up breakfast, or the cake from the night before. I fed Coal to quiet her meowing and made some coffee. Shortly after the scent of coffee was flowing through the house, Zach found his way to the kitchen.
“Morning,” he said. His eyes were still puffy from sleeping. His steps were heavy and forced. He slumped into the chair and looked as if he would pass out from the effort. “I’m definitely not used to getting up this early.”
“It’s nine o’clock. Come on now, Zach. No need to be up so late on the computer,” Chelsea said in her best motherly tone.
He looked at her, surprised, but was too tired to reply so he merely groaned in acknowledgement.
I tossed a piece of cake onto a plate and placed it in front of him, “We’re going to take you out for a bit of exercise today. When was the last time you did that?” I asked, not trying to degrade him but out of curiosity.
He took a bite of cake, swallowed and spoke, “Long enough ago to know that I’ll be out of breath pretty quickly. Since the contamination broke out, I was cooped up in my house and never left until I came here. Other than that I can’t remember.”
“Good,” I replied. “You’re going to get a work out with us. Have you ever swung a baseball bat before?”
It was obvious that he had not. I doubt he even so much as watched a baseball game. “Hell no, sports weren’t my thing, but I’m sure that you can tell that about me. I watched a bit of baseball here and there along with football, but that’s it.” So he surprised me that he had in fact seen some baseball, but I doubt that would have helped with his swing.
“Okay then, we have a lot of work to do with you,” I said while trying to think up a plan for his exercise. “The key to what we do is get a cardio workout along with practicing the slaughter of contaminated silently. So we basically ninja them while getting a workout.”
The bags under his eyes seemed to droop lower at the mention of the contaminated, “Nu-uh. I’m out. Those contaminated scare the shit out of me. I’m no match for one of them without a gun.”
“Well good thing! That’s the whole point of the training,” I clapped him on the back as he finished his cake. “If you are to be a member of our group, then you need to learn to quietly defend yourself just like we can.”
“You kill the contaminated too?” he asked Chelsea.
She gave him a big smile and nodded,
