This is the End 2(689)

“Good lord,” she groaned. “I used to sleep in!”

“Are you still tired?” Nelson asked sounding surprised- like his twenty minute morning nap was enough to sustain him.

“Nelson,” Haley grumbled. “Look at where we slept last night. If we keep this up I’m going to be still-tired for the rest of my life! And worse I’m going to look like it!”

“Because of the premature wrinkles?” Tyler asked innocently and I cringed for her sake.

Haley was by no means vain. But that wasn’t exactly fair play from a girl that had yet to kill her first Zombie.

Haley sucked in a sharp breath and I could see her blonde hair igniting with the fire of her wrath. She had this expression when she was angry and it was, frankly, terrifying. Honestly, she reminded me of Medusa. Her eyes would bulge out of her head, and then her hair would almost take on a life of its own. I always pictured it rising off her shoulders like snakes ready to strike.

I avoided this Haley as often as I could- unless there were Feeders around, then I tended to utilize this Haley to our survival advantage.

“She didn’t mean wrinkles!” Nelson stepped in to rescue Tyler. “She meant laugh lines,” he finished with a placating superiority.

“Oh, no,” I moaned.

“Even I knew that was the wrong thing to say,” Harrison exclaimed.

“You think I have laugh lines?” Haley sounded so hysterical I wanted to giggle- obviously I didn’t, but I wanted to. “Reagan, do you think I have laugh lines?”

Ok, I so wasn’t getting dragged into this. Couldn’t someone just open the door already? Couldn’t we discuss wrinkles and laugh lines in the car?

“Haley, come on, we all know you’re gorgeous,” Vaughan cut in, effectively saving the day. “My brother’s oblivious and Tyler’s jealous. That’s the only reason they would say those things to you. Now, lock and load people, we have got to get going sometime today.”

Tyler’s angry retort came next, but it was somewhat drowned in the clicking and snapping of guns getting ready. Somewhat anyway.

“Listen here, you cocky bastard!” she marched after Vaughan who had stepped forward to open the door and then lead us back to the van.” I am not in any way jealous of any of you! You’re basically homeless people but you smell worse!”

“We smell worse?” Vaughan shouted down at her. “You can’t honestly-“

But his words died on his lips. Outside the store Feeders walked back and forth casually, as if on their way to errands or a leisurely stroll around the town.

Tyler stopped huffing too and Haley immediately got over her indignation.

There were at least ten Feeders that were making consistent loops in the parking lot where the van was parked. Through the dirty-glass we could see more in the distance. They seemed unhurried and mindless as they rambled aimlessly around and around.

But we all knew better.

The minute our fleshy-blood scent wafted through the air, they would become a frenzied, teaming horde, intent on eating our faces.

“I’m not going out there,” Tyler stated adamantly.

“Me either,” Miller joined the mutiny.

“Me either,” I added, just for fun.

“We have to get to the van,” Vaughan shook his head, then looked down at Page in his arms. “If we stay here they’ll find us. We won’t be able to stop them from destroying this store to get to us.”

“Oh, is that what they do?” I asked pretending to be confused. “I forgot for a sec.”

Hendrix nudged me in the back with his hand, and then let it fall to my waist. “Play nice,” he whispered in my ear.

I shot him a look over my shoulder, but he was right. Tyler would get over this attitude. She would. Or she’d die from a disease we couldn’t cure with expired Tylenol, a Feeder attack or from the elements. So…. there was that.

It was hard to hold a grudge during the Apocalypse.

Vaughan passed Page off to Nelson and pulled out guns. All of the Parkers- with the exception of Page- had mastered the two handed shooting thing. I couldn’t multitask like that yet. And either could Haley, although she could shoot better with her left hand than me.

Tyler and Miller were nowhere near the two handed attack. They were lucky if they got their shots fired in the general direction of the conflict. Miller was considerably better than Tyler, but where Tyler had never been allowed to hold or handle a gun, Miller confessed that he wasn’t that great for lack of practice. Apparently Miller had always been rebellious and his father never trusted him to learn how to use a weapon for fear Miller would use it on him.

From what I had seen that was probably a legit fear. But now we were stuck with the aftermath. A girl who would rather cower during a scary situation than try to fight her way free and a boy that could sometimes hit a target, but was more likely to shoot himself in the foot.