Chapter 7

But for the sound of the engine, everywhere was quiet. It was better that way. Lucy couldn't think of all the words the group had left unsaid. She couldn't begin to think about how they felt towards her and her mistake that could have cost them their lives. She sat still in the vehicle, ignoring her bruises and the pain that came with them.

Time passed and they began to fall back asleep. Brad stopped the vehicle and Tyler took the wheel. Lucy sat upright while the others lay down asleep. She didn't feel like she had the right to sleep again that night. She thought back to when she fell asleep and wished she could go back and change everything.

She looked in the rear-view mirror and saw Tyler with his eyes on the road in front of him. She remembered how his eyes burned in fury at her when he found out she fell asleep. It made her feel even worse about herself. Everything was falling into place. They were all starting to accept her. Tyler trusted her. They all did… and she disappointed them.

She thought back to how they shut her out of the vehicle; how she had to fight for her life, alone. She was scared but when she smashed that zombie's skull in, she knew she was strong; much stronger than the girl that was saved from her small town's zombies. She didn't want to be that girl again. She knew she had to prove herself to them one more time.

The morning came and after they were all awake, they saw how bruised and wounded they were. Brad began to clean their wounds and Lucy helped out in every way she could. They weren't very welcoming to her and she expected it, but at least they were giving her a chance. She volunteered to go on every hunting trip and she used all the things she was taught to bring back game. Her training sessions got harder and she tried her possible best to impress them.

Ruby was the first to make things go back to normal with her. She became as caring to her as before in a matter of days. Brad acted nicely and so did Helena after seeing her efforts to win them back. Lucy was shocked when Dave tasked her to take the first night watch alone after a little more than a week. She nodded, wordlessly and kept her eyes open throughout. A certain burden seemed to leave her when she went back in to tell Helena to take over. It was like she was finally certain that what happened that night wouldn't repeat itself. It took a while but when Tyler finally smirked at her again after one of their sparing sessions, she knew she had won them all back.

'We split up in twos,' Dave whispered. It was a month after the incident, night had fallen and they needed some sleep. Brad stopped in front of a motel and all of them except him and Tyler came down to sweep the wide area. Brad sat in the driver's seat, ready for a quick escape while Tyler guarded the vehicle. The rest of them went into the building with their guns and flashlights in hand.

They weren't immediately attacked when they entered the building so the possibility of them safely staying there was high. They checked the area, room after room. Shrieks and groans filled the air as a few zombies were shot down. Ruby stayed with Helena while Lucy stayed with Dave. Dave allowed Lucy to take the lead and she used all Helena taught her to find and kill the zombies.

Once the area was swept and they were sure it was safe, Ruby went out of the building to call the others in. Dave and Helena went off to a room while the others came in and Lucy took the first room she found. She turned off her flashlight and lay on the bed, exhaustion taking over her. As she started falling asleep, she heard the door open and she felt the bed go down as someone lay on it beside her. She was too tired to bother checking who it was and shortly, she fell into a deep sleep.

Sunlight seeped in through the windows, leaving a warm sensation on Lucy's skin. Her eyes fluttered open and she was able to see the wooden dressing table with a mirror in front of her. It had been a long time since she got a proper look at herself. She prepared herself to see the horror that was on her face when she felt something on her body. She looked down at her waist and saw a hand loosely wrapped around it. Her eyebrows came together in shock and confusion. She turned and saw Tyler sleeping peacefully beside her.

His hand flinched when she turned and it slowly went up her waist. His eyes opened, meeting hers and they immediately jerked away from each other. Lucy moved too far and fell off the bed and Tyler stifled his laughter.

'What are you doing here?' she asked as she stood up, her face red. He put his hands up innocently.

'I could ask you the same thing.'

Her mouth hung open at the audacity and that was when she remembered someone had come to stay on the bed beside her before she slept off. 'I was here first!'

'How sure are you?' He smirked at her, making her frown. It was just the week before that he started treating her the way he did Ruby. She aimed her gun at him during their time hunting and when she pulled the trigger, he ducked and fell on his butt. The zombie behind him fell, dead, but his reaction made her erupt into laughter. He narrowed his eyes at her and little did she know that simple gesture meant 'game on.'

She gave out an exasperated sigh and pointed at the door. 'Can you just get out, please?' She had wanted to win him back, but how much of him she won was a bit too much at times. He made a move to stand up from the bed but then lay back down and made himself comfortable.

'What if I don't want to?' He cocked his eyebrow at her.

'Tyler,' she said, looking at him dead in the eye and he made a humming sound with his smirk still on his face. 'Get out or I'll scream.'

His smirk turned into an open-mouth grin and he rose his hands up in mock surrender. 'Calm down, I'm going.' He slid off the bed and walked out the door, leaving it ajar. She rolled her eyes and went to the door, slamming it shut.

She walked back to the mirror and when her reflection looked back at her, she believed she was looking at a stranger. Her blond hair was dirty, matted and sticking out in random places. Her face was black with dirt and her teeth almost resembled Brad's. Her body was stained with dirt and blood and was decorated with bruises and cuts. The clothes she had got from a store about two weeks before were already messed up and ragged. Living on the road in the apocalypse really took a toll on her.

She opened the door beside the dressing table and it led her to a bathroom with a shower and used towels. She walked over to the sink and with her fingers crossed, she turned on the tap. It made a gurgling sound and after a few seconds, brown water began splashing out in short intervals before it began to flow. The water slowly turned clear and she happily cupped her hand under the tap and drank the water.

She stripped out of her dirty clothes, relieved to finally take them off and she stepped into the shower. She smiled widely when she saw some bathing soap, it felt too good to be true. She turned on the shower and the dirt on her body flowed down with the water, forming a pool of black water at her feet. She took the chance to wash her hair too, feeling refreshed as she stepped out of the shower and covered herself and her hair with towels. She took toothpaste and a used toothbrush from a cup-like container fixed to the wall beside the sink. The old she would have been disgusted using someone else's toothbrush but beggars can't be choosers. She brushed her teeth hard and repeatedly till they felt clean enough.

She stepped out of the bathroom and went over to the small wardrobe in the room. She casually stepped over a dead zombie on the path, surprised about how much it didn't bother her anymore. She opened it up and looked through the few clothes in it. None were her size. She looked around the room, hoping she didn't have to wear her dirty clothes again and then a travelling bag kept beside the bed caught her attention. She walked over to it and zipped it open, seeing a good number of clothing choices.

She decided on black ripped jeans and a red tank top. She looked at herself in the mirror and couldn't believe it was the same person that looked at her about 30 minutes before. She was clean and her cuts didn't seem too bad. The jeans made her curves more prominent and her tank top revealed her perfectly starve-induced flat stomach. She looked even better than the way she was before the apocalypse. She was slimmer and fit. No doubt that all the exercise she did with Tyler and Dave paid off. She removed the towel from her hair and with the comb she found on the dressing table, she combed her hair out nicely.

When she was all done, she began to wonder where the others were. She went out of her room and walked down the corridor to the lounge where Ruby, Helena and Tyler were. She couldn't stop herself from staring at them. They looked very much different. She got closer to them and she couldn't help but notice how fresh the air around them seemed.

Helena and Ruby were complimenting each other. They both looked gorgeous with their hair neatly done, clothing changed and the usual dirt on their body gone. Helena had a blue T-shirt and bum shorts on. Her hair was let down and her skin glowed. Ruby was on deep-blue jeans and a pink turtleneck tank top. Her hair was held up in a full large bun and they both had sandals on. Lucy turned to see Tyler with his eyes on her. Immediately their eyes met, he blinked and looked away.

She frowned at that but couldn't help noticing his change in appearance. His stubble which had grown over the weeks, was gone, leaving his face young and fresh. He had trimmed his hair and neatly held it in a half-low ponytail. He wore a black T-shirt on carton-brown trousers. She took her eyes off him so it wouldn't appear like she was staring and went over to Ruby and Helena with a smile on her face.

'Sweetie!' Ruby shrieked, running over to Lucy and hugging her.

'You look nice,' Helena commented with a small smile on her face. Lucy smiled back and thanked her.

'What about Brad and Dave?' she asked, looking around the lounge.

'The place has generators, they're trying to turn on the power,' Ruby said and shortly after, there was a low hum and everywhere around them got illuminated. They looked at the light bulbs and were wowed. Hardly any place they took shelter in still had light. The ones that did mostly had flickering lights.

'You guys have got to see this!' Brad shouted from another section of the motel. They all cautiously stood up and followed his voice to find an indoor swimming pool. 'Let's swim!' he said, enthusiastically and Helena rose her brow at him.

'Brad, really?' The pool's walls were brown with dirt and some brown water about two feet high was in it.

'It just needs a little cleaning and a change of water and we're good to go,' Dave said beside Brad, smiling convincingly. Helena brought her lips in, considering it.

'Come on, we've been killing zombies around, trying to get to Alka. We need the break,' Brad pleaded.

'I've cleaned up my fair share of pools,' Ruby said, enthusiastically. 'I can handle this, but I'll need help.'

Helena sighed. 'Fine. I'm sure they keep their swimsuits for rent somewhere around here,' she said looking about. 'Lucy, help me look?' Lucy nodded and they both started searching around the poolside while the rest began cleaning up the pool.

About three hours later, the females had worn their swimsuits and the guys were already at the pool in their swim trunks. They stepped out of the changing room, showered, and Dave gave a low teasing whistle when he saw Helena. She stepped into the pool, swaying her hips and Dave caught her by them and brought her close, giving her a long lingering kiss. Ruby stepped into the pool in the same manner and Brad let out a snort.

'Careful Ruby, you might hurt yourself,' he joked and she furiously splashed water on him.

'Aren't you going to do something about this?' she asked, giving his belly a smack and he feigned hurt. 'Take a look at Dave and Tyler, don't you feel a little intimidated?' She mockingly rose her brow at him. In contrast to Tyler and Dave who looked like models in their swim trunks, Brad had his hairy potbelly covering almost half of the front of his swim trunk.

'Oh shut up, cut me some slack,' he laughed.

Tyler lay on the deck of the pool near the 6ft deep end with his feet dangling in the water. Seeing the other four occupied, Lucy stepped into the pool and swam over to him.

'What's wrong Tyler? Can't swim?' she teased and he chuckled proudly.

'You don't stand a chance against me.'

'Prove it.' She cocked her eyebrow, smirking.

'Go disturb someone else,' he said, his eyes facing the ceiling. She frowned at him and thought of a way to annoy him. She cupped her right hand in the water and splashed it on his face. He sat up instantly, sneezing and coughing the water out. He glared at her but once he got a good look at her and how good she looked in her swimsuit, he couldn't help but gawk.

She caught him staring and sent another splash of water right at his eyes. 'Hey!' he shouted and she gave him a silly face. 'You're so going to pay for that.' She giggled and swam backwards.

'Not if you don't catch me first.' He frowned at her and then jumped into the pool, taking up the challenge. Lucy quickly swam away from him, avoiding Ruby who was wading into the water. Tyler didn't see her on time and he bumped into her.

'Hey!' she screamed and he turned away from her.

'Get out of the way Ruby!' She narrowed her eyes at him and began chasing after him.

'Come back here!' she shouted. She came to a stop near Dave and Helena who were cuddling each other. She cupped her hands together and splashed them. They turned to her with angry looks and she smiled widely. 'Join in on the fun!' Dave was the first to smile. He splashed some water on a still frowning Helena. She gave a shocked expression and tried to splash him back but he swam out of the way. Furious, she began chasing him and before they knew it, everyone was swimming widely in the water and splashing each other.

Tyler caught up to Lucy. He held her firmly, drew her to him and put his mouth to her ear. 'Found you.' Before she could think of what to do, he pushed her head down into the water. She got a hold of his arm and pulled him down after her. They laughed in the water, unintentionally letting air bubbles escape from their mouth. They held their breaths and smiled. Their smiles faded when they realised their faces were floating closer to each other and they didn't do anything to stop it.

Tyler seemed to lean forward to her and before their faces could get close enough, Ruby's leg came down on his head. 'Sorry!' she said, giggling and the two of them swam back up. Lucy laughed at him as he held his head in pain, ignoring the fast beating of her heart against her chest. He frowned at her and they resumed their pursuit.

At night, they all sat around a table at the eatery in the hotel. Helena sat beside Dave and Brad sat beside Ruby, and Lucy and Tyler sat beside each other.

'This looks delicious,' Ruby said, picking up her fork to eat but Brad gave her a look. She nervously put her fork back down and joined hands with Dave and Tyler. They closed their eyes and Brad bowed his head.

'Lord, thank you for today, thank you for all of us and thank you for this food.' They all chorused 'Amen' and began to dig in.

When they were done eating, Dave cleared his throat and stood up. 'Being here has been fun,' he began, with a broad smile on his face, and then he sighed. 'But, tomorrow morning we have to leave.'

'Oh, come on,' Brad said, sulking, portraying everyone else's emotion.

'We can't stay here forever,' Helena said with a hint of sadness in her tone and he slowly nodded.

'Let's get some sleep, we have a long journey ahead of us,' Dave said and they got up one after the other.

'I'll help with the dishes' Lucy said, packing the plates and Ruby joined her. 'Goodnight you all,' she greeted as they left the place and they greeted her back.

'Dream of me,' Tyler replied, turning back and winking at her. She snorted at his retreating figure.

'As if.'