Chapter Text
3 years, 5 months, and 16 days since the beginning of the Apocalypse. Angel sketched another tick in her leather bound journal. “God, it’s been almost a year since we’ve seen another living human, King” the 26 year old turned and looked at her only companion of the last 10 months, an 11 month old black pit bull that she had rescued from a band of hungry Z’s. Those bastards were quick too. The pooch seemed incredibly grateful though, following her all the way back to her truck and sticking close to her ever since. King gave a short whine then went back to staring out the window. Angel snorted, “Amen, brother. I would seriously kill to talk to someone with two legs instead of four. No offense” she chuckled.
She placed her journal into her messenger bag and began to reach for the key in the ignition of her well-used black SUV when she heard the loud bang of a gun off in the distance. Angel couldn’t help but to smile, “Well, boy, looks like we’re finally going to meet some actual humans today”, she cranked the engine and gunned off towards the sound, taking out a few Z’s that were moving too slow in the street. King began barking as a small group of people came running towards the car, a fairly good sized group of Z’s behind them. Angel stopped the car, grabbed her M4A1 out of the backseat, and stepped out onto the street. She was able to take down about six of the Z’s, condensing the remaining group to only about five. A young man, looking around seventeen or eighteen with spiky black hair and carrying a nice sized sniper rifle, took out three more before the group reached the truck. “Get in. Hurry” just as Angel took out the last two, a new group of the brain eating beasts rounded the corner a couple of blocks away. “Shit,” there were too many to count. The small group she was now rescuing slipped into her SUV quickly, Angel followed and gunned the engine again, peeling backwards and making a sharp turn to swing the car around to face north once more. “Hold on, it might get a little bumpy” she told them, seeing a few more Z’s in the distance. Angel couldn’t help but to feel a little bad when she ran over the Z’s. She’d rather just shoot them in the head and give them mercy. Also, body parts tended to get stuck in her wheel-wells and made it harder to steer straight. “Did you all have a car you needed me to take you to or were you back packing it?” she asked, keeping an eye on the road. “We’ve got a car just on the north edge of town. We went in looking for food and water and all those damn Z’s came out of nowhere” an older man with white hair and a hippy persona answered her from the back seat. “Yeah, they seem to like to stay in swarms around these parts. I came here looking for provisions too. Found a good stock of them in a convenience store a few blocks from here. You guys are welcome to some of it. It’s just me and King back there so we don’t need a whole bunch” Angel swung a left at the light and headed towards the outside of the small town. Why the hell Z’s tended to like the mid-west, no one knew. Maybe they like the heat.
Angel could hear someone ruffling through the food bags already. “Hey, Murphy! Save the woman some food too would you?” a young girl looking of Asian descent balked at one of her male companions. The guy looked almost like a Z with his slightly green skin and thinning spots throughout his hair which was already shaved fairly close to his scalp.His eyes were kinda creepy too, almost yellow, like a cat’s. “What?” he said, already munching on some of the goldfish crackers she had scavenged. “She said we could take what we wanted. Thanks a lot for that sweetheart” his voice almost patronizing. Angel bit her lip. Now was not the time to get in an argument with a random stranger. “You must be the asshole of the group?” she mumbled, smiling to herself when she heard King growl at the man from further in the back. “Murphy! Would you please shut up? You’re not helping right now” this remark came from the woman sitting next to Angel in the passenger seat. Angel could practically feel the authority pouring off of her in waves. A certain Badass attitude that Angel found really sexy. She glanced out of the corner of her eye and almost slammed on her brakes in surprise. The woman was gorgeous, absolutely stunning even with the slight dark circles under her dark brown eyes and the zombie blood spattering her smooth chocolate skin, white tee-shirt and green army jacket. Her raven hair was pulled into two braided pigtails tied at the end with leather strips and her lips colored a deep rich brown. ‘Damn it’s been a long time since I last had sex’ she mused as she caught sight of a black Chevy Silverado sitting alone on the dirt road leading out of the town. She pulled up beside it and unlocked the doors so her passengers could exit the vehicle.
She let King out as she stepped down onto the ground, taking a moment to stretch her aching muscles, the bottom of her black tank top rising a couple of inches and revealing her toned midriff to her new friends. When she looked around, she couldn’t help but smirk when she saw the teen boy enraptured by her body. When he looked up and saw that she had caught him, he looked away so fast Angel was worried he would spin his head right off of his neck. She chuckled a little, “My name’s Angela but you can call me Angel”. The hot chick with the pig tails held her hand out and Angel shook it, “Roberta Warren, thanks for saving our asses back there. That’s Doc, Cassandra, 10K, and the asshole is Murphy” she pointed to each member of her group as she said their name. Angel nodded at all of them before she whistled for King, who had wandered a few feet away. He turned and rushed back to her, rubbing up against her leg as if saying he was sorry for leaving her. They had a rule that he wasn’t to wander more than five feet off just in case of sudden Z attack. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen an animal that wasn’t also a zombie” Doc said, his head tilted in wonder. Angel couldn’t help but chuckle while giving King’s head a good rub, “I know what you mean. Rescued him as a puppy from a band of hungry Z’s somewhere in Ohio I think. He’s been my best bud ever since. It’s been a while for us since we’ve last seen real humans. Ain’t that right, bud?” she smiled when king gave a bark in agreeance.
“How long have you been on your own?” Roberta asked before taking a quick sip from her nearly empty water canteen. They were gonna have to find some water soon or face going through the whole dehydration situation again. “A little over a year now. I was with my brother for two years but he got an infection in his leg from some rusty barbed wire” she had to clear her throat before she continued. Talking about her brother always made her a little emotional. “We didn’t have any antibiotics and neither of us wanted to become a Z so I had to give him mercy. It’s been just me, myself, and I ever since. Well, and King of course. Just cruising along. What about you all? You heading anywhere specific?” she asked, moving to the back of her SUV and opening the back hatch. She grabbed a couple water jugs and held them out for the other group. The Z-man, Murphy, moved forward quickly and snatched one of the jugs from her hand, opening it and taking a large gulp before anyone could say anything. Angel raised her eyebrow, “Your welcome”. She saw the other shaking their heads, Roberta seemed to be eyeing Murphy like she wanted to kick his ass so bad. Murphy shrugged, “What? She was offering”. “We’re heading to California. Mr. Asshole over here might just be able to save the human race from extinction” Doc reached for the other water jug and went around to place it in the group’s trunk. Angel nodded, “Zombie vaccine? Sounds cool. Mind if I tag along with you guys? I’m going stir crazy on my own” She chuckled as she handed the others some of the canned and dried food she had found over the last few weeks. “Uh, yes, we mind. There isn’t any more room on this train Darlin’. Sorry” Murphy moved to get back into the Chevy when the back door was slammed shut by an irate Roberta. “Do you want to walk to California? Because you’re being a real dick right now and I’m in the right mind to leave your ass standing here along the Interstate” giving the man one last glare, she turned back to Angel and gave her a small smile. “You’re welcome to join us. Do you mind if one or two of us hitch a ride with you? It’s getting a little crowded in our truck”. Angel couldn’t help but to smile back, “Hop on in. I’ll follow whoever is driving. King, inside” she pointed at the backseat and the pit bull followed her finger, jumping back into the SUV without so much as a whine that his outdoor time was over.
The two teens, 10K and Cassandra, both hopped into the backseat with King. Roberta turned to Doc and gave him a look. “I can’t deal with that fool right now. I’ll be with Angel, comm me if you need me” she climbed into the SUV without another word, leaving Doc in charge of their “package”. Angel smirked to herself and climbed back into her car. She grabbed her Ray Ban Aviators before pulling out behind the roving Chevy. ‘Off on another adventure. California, here I come’ she thought to herself.