"So how long have you been working at that store? I've been their quite a few times but your face still looks unfamiliar to me."
"That's probably because I was only hired a week prior."
"Ah, makes sense. Is it safe to assume you were the only one working today?"
"Yeah, my co-worker called in sick a few hours prior. Lucky for him I guess, unless he turned into one of those things." Sage muttered the last part.
After I agreed to give Sage a place to stay, we decided to grab 2 more baskets of canned goods before setting out to my house. Though she struggled to keep up with my pace, her green eyes shined with determination as she pushed through. She tied her ginger hair into a ponytail as it would sometimes stick to her forehead because of all of her sweat.
What should've been about a six minute journey took eleven minutes, due to the frequent stops made whenever we crossed paths with a walker, all wasn't bad as I was able to earn myself exp along the way.
Arriving at the house, Sage's eyes lingered on the trail of dead walkers on the road before shaking her head in disbelief and stepping inside.
"How did you kill so many of those things so easily?" Her voice sounding more confident as she witnessed my killing spree.
"I've been practicing martial arts for as long as I can remember. It just comes naturally." I replied while reminiscing about my first time wielding a toy spear. My dad had gotten it for me as a Christmas present, it was the only toy I played with for that whole year.
"That's pretty cool, I wish I learned to fight or something, then I'd be more useful." her confident tone fading as she sighed.
As I walked past her toward the kitchen, I briefly rested a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll find something for you." I glanced back at her, quickly assessing her frame. "Probably something with a bit more range, though."
We both laughed and placed the baskets on to the ground before heading back outside. If I were to try to transfer everything alone, I had no doubt I would be able to transport everything before nightfall. Having someone to chat with along the way was a plus side, along with it being slightly faster.
After reaching the shop we filled up our baskets once more with canned goods and water, we decided to focus on these for now and if we had extra time we would come back for the snacks and other drinks.
It didn't take long for us to transport all the important goods, it was about 5:56 and the sun began to set early due to daylight savings. We decided to make a few more rounds for other things that we forgot like health supplies, electronics, batteries, *cough cough* snacks.
If we planned on toughing this out, it would probably be best if we kept our moods up as well. So after a few more trips we were finally able to clean out the sore for everything we "needed". The trips also took less time than the previous ones, as all the walkers that would normally cross paths with us were dead from previous encounters, causing us to barely make it before nightfall.
After entering the house, we locked the door, and both sighed in relief. With all the supplies we garnered, lasting for year wouldn't be impossible, well in the case that the electricity doesn't cutoff, in that case the supplies would last us a little over 9 months.
"Question, does your showers work? A little sweaty after all that." Sage asked with an awkward smile, her former uniform was replaced with a cropped white shirt and some blue jeans, that was now drenched in sweat doing little to nothing to cover her body.
My gaze lingered on her hips for a few seconds, before locking back onto her eyes. "Yeah, there's a guest bathroom down the hall to the right that you can use. There should be shampoo and everything in there, if there isn't give me a holler."
"Oh, are you not gonna shower too?" She asked with a questioning gaze.
"I'll take one after you get done, otherwise who's gonna be here if something happens?"
On the off chance, if someone were to break in and steal our resources while we were both in the shower, all the hard work and labor would be for naught.
"Right, sorry, I just didn't wanna be the first one to shower when you did more work than I did. If you want you can shower first and I'll-
I cut her off before she could ramble on any longer. "It's fine, and to be honest I didn't sweat much, I'll just take one for the team." I joked, lightening the mood.
With a visible smile, she made her way to the bathroom, "Alright, I'll try not to take long!"
After hearing the bathroom door close behind her, I sat down on the couch and began dazing away. Everything that's happened so far feels like it came straight out of one of those novels I usually read. Bizarre, but I was here for it.
About 20 minutes went by, before I heard the bathroom door click open. A low shout could be heard from inside.
"Uh, Winter. Sorry to be a bother, but can you please grab me a towel, there aren't any in here!"
Whoops, seems we forgot to restock the towels in the guest bathroom. "Yeah, I'll go grab one from upstairs, give me a second!"
I hurried upstairs, grabbing a towel from the closet before heading back downstairs to the bathroom.
*Knock, Knock*
"How do you even forget about a towel before you undress?"
"Shut up, just leave it on the handle and I'll grab it."
I thought to myself for a second before shaking my head, "Won't it just fall off if I leave it on the handle? I can just close my eyes, and you can grab it from my hands, if that's what your so worried about."
"Yeah, can we do that?" she said in a slightly apologetic tone.
"Sure. Alright, I'm closing my eyes now, you can go ahead." I said while holding my arm against my eyes.
The door clicked open for a moment, it almost felt as if she was watching to see if I would pull my arm away and sneak a peek. After a few more seconds of awkward silence, she grabbed the towel, apologized once more, and quickly closed the door.
I made my way upstairs into my parents room and grabbed her a white button up and a pair of denim from my mum's side of their closet. I went to the restroom once more and knocked on it before placing the clothes neatly folded in front of the door.
"I left you some clothes folded in front of the door, hopefully they fit, I got it from my parents closet."
A small laugh could be heard from behind the door, "Thanks, even if it doesn't, I can probably make it fit somehow."
As I began to walk away, I remembered seeing a brown leather belt in their closet. Just as I turned around to let Sage know, the bathroom door opened.
She was crouched over, causing her breast to hang as well, my eyes lingered on her body for a few seconds before a shout caused me to turn the opposite direction.
"WINTER!!" Sage shouted.
"RIGHT, SORRY! For a second I forgot you were still undressed." I excused myself before raising my hands in surrender.
Scoffing, I felt Sage drilling holes into the back of my skull. "Yeah, right. I bet you just wanted to cop a peek."
But before I could speak, Sage continued, this time her voice laced with sultry, "But since you did help me with a place to stay, I'll let it slide this time.~"
As I went to turn around, she was already back in the bathroom, taking the clothes with her.
I looked back at the door and thought to myself. "What a tease."
After a few minutes, Sage exited the bathroom dressed in the clothes I left out for her. The white button up didn't serve to cover up much, showcasing her cleavage and stomach in the process. And the blue jeans hugged her legs, showing off curves in all the right places.
"Alright since your done, I'll go take a shower now. Holler at me if you hear anything." I said walking up the stairs.
As I entered my bathroom, I closed and locked the door behind me out of habit. I undressed and tied my locs into a ponytail, prepared to take a shower, when I heard a knock on the bathroom door.
"Hey Winter, I'm gonna grab some snacks, if that's cool with you?" Sage asked wearily.
"Go ahead, Sage." Laughing, "You don't have to tell me before you eat. On the contrary can I ask you a favor?" I questioned. Something in my gut told me to do it myself, but I figured it would be easier if she did it for me since she was already out there.
"Yeah, shoot."
*Sigh* "Can you grab me a towel from out my closet, please."
It suddenly went quiet outside. No, it only seemed like it went quiet. If I listened closely enough, I could hear Sage snickering, trying to contain her laughter.
"Are you seriously laughing right now?"
"No but now I am." The quiet snickering turned into an annoying laughter created from the pits of hell. "Also weren't you the same one that said, and I quote, 'HoW dO yOu EvEn fOrGeT AbOuT A tOwEl BeFoRe YoU UnDrEsS?'?"
My annoyance was slowly bubbling, but I tried to keep it cool by laughing it off. "I guess we all make mistakes. Can I please get that towel though?!?"
Not to my surprise, she continued to taunt me. "SURE! Do you want me to put it on the handle? Actually, won't it just fall of when turn the handle?"
I deeply wondered if she had a sibling, if she did, I regarded my prayers to them. Because this was a skill, a very annoying skill.
"Know what? I'll just grab it myself." I grabbed my boxers and put them on before opening the bathroom door.
Walking to my closet, I didn't even spare her a glance, clearly annoyed by her taunts. If I had, I would've seen her staring at me with a sultry gaze, as I grabbed my towel and went back into the bathroom, shutting the door behind me.
She muttered to herself, a small smile tugging at her lips, "I didn't realize he was so attractive."
*******
After getting out the shower, I pat myself down before applying moisturizer. To my dark complexion folks, if you know, you know. Undoing my locs from its ponytail, they began to fall wildly, many falling over my forehead, covering up half of my face in the process. I popped my piercings back into place before putting on my necklace.
As I walked out the bathroom, I noticed Sage sitting at my desk messing with my Harry Potter collectibles.
"What are you doing?" I asked, sliding my glasses on.
With a slight jump she turned around swiftly, "NOTHING!"
Watching her get scared, slightly made the 'anger' in my heart go away from earlier. "Haha, what's with the jumpiness?"
"Nothing!" she replied, and just as quickly as she answered, she was gone.
"Hope I didn't open up my house to a weirdo."
*******