Espera!

Jack did NOT want to fight this little girl. Aside from the guilt associated with bludgeoning a child to death with a pot lid (he couldn't afford to waste bullets) there was the potential to draw a horde on his head. But she wasn't attacking yet. Just staring. His acting must have paid off. If he could just make it back up the road, he could get out of this. Or at least only have to fight her...

He stopped staring at her directly so as to not give himself away, but kept her in his peripheral vision. He couldn't afford to turn his back to her, couldn't afford to drop the act, AND couldn't afford not to make his exit before she caught on. He had only walked a few steps around the cover provided by the nearest house. He had to go a few feet backward and to the left. Jack started to hype himself up. This was his moment. The time to win his zombie-brand Oscar. He was a bright shining star.

He started lurching slightly to his left, in a subdued but ugly manner. His best interpretation of a young undead, new to the world and rife with social anxiety. He needed to ensure that she wouldn't attack at his first movement. Nothing. Jack couldn't see much of her expression, however he could tell that she hadn't moved. He was a natural. Confidence building, he took a more daring shuffle backwards, this time channeling a still introverted undead but one who had mustered up the courage to ask his hellish crush out to the prom. He might be young, but he was a zombie man now damn it! ...Still nothing from his onlooker, but he could feel her blank eyes burning a hole into his face. No doubt full of curiosity and the darkest hunger.

Jack took a deep breath, mustering his courage. He pushed his focus to the limit, running through everything he had practiced on the walk here. He started to shuffle backwards, never truly letting the threatening girl out of his sight. His arms, limp and unguided, bounced about with out his control. His jaw was slack, drool running down his chin. His pupils darted slowly in various directions looking for prey. He must have looked like a combination of an extra from Mikeal Jakson's Triller video and an Egyptian hieroglyphic, but it was WORKING. His channeled zombie young man was confident and successful now, having married his crush and gotten a high profile job at the undead stock exchange. Jack fought his urge to let out a groan of victory. It would still be too much.

However, as he rounded the corner the little girl took a step forward, keeping within line of sight. He took another step backward. She took another step forward. They both repeated the pattern a few times. Jack dropped the act and started to sprint down his street. He had broken line of sight with the other zombies, so his acting mission was complete. Award accepted. Jack thought he could take the young girl in a fight but would still prefer to hold off until in safer territory. He heard her speed up behind him in pursuit, feet matching his panicked rhythm. He pushed himself to go as fast as he possibly could, as every bit of distance meaning that much more safety. Jack got about 2 houses in down the street before he heard a strained voice call out behind him, "Espera!".

He slowed his running and took a good look behind him. The creature spoke? That was off script. "Wait. Mister. Please." Instead of horrific groaning, he saw her start to beg, fear in her eyes totally indicative of the real child she definitely was. Shit. Fuck. No wonder she was terrified. She just had to chase after an actual mental patient like him. Now she was staring at him as he had a panicked internal dialogue.

"...Mister? You... you are still normal right? Not one of... them?"

Oh god. She wasn't sure. He- Get out of your head Jack! You are scaring the girl!

"...Yes. Hi. Sorry about all that. Small child. How are you?... Obviously not well. I... Sorry."

She clearly unsure of how to respond to that. Hands on her knees and breathing heavily she looked up at Jack with a wary look. Her parents clearly had told her to be wary of strange men, and he was a very strange man. Jack had to get her to safety before she decided that the zombies were the safer option.

"That's a lot of blood. Are you hurt?"

She seemed surprised by the blood on her clothes. Eyes tearing up, she made eye contact for a brief moment before jerking her head away and shaking her head.

"What's your name"

A pause. "Lily."

"Ok Lily. I'm Jack. Listen, my house is nearby. It's safe. It looks like... you've been through a lot. We can talk more there, ok?"

The little girl took a moment to process the concept of safety. Lily really had seen some shit. Jack cursed himself for wasting so much time crying today. Maybe if he had started searching sooner she'd be covered in less blood. Motherfracker. He pushed off the guilt growing in him, and lead the little girl to his home.

"Welcome..." He murmured. "It's not much but it's home." Jack tried to make a joke to lighten the mood. Lily did not respond. Jack quietly disarmed, setting his shotgun, pistol, and pot lid down near the door. He also removed the leather jacket to try and limit his intimidation factor. He was still far larger than her, but figured anything he could do to reduce that would be worth pursuing.

"Ok Lily, you have a lot of blood on you. I need to make sure you really aren't hurt, ok?"

Lily still didn't respond, but didn't resist when Jack started to check her arms and back. There was a LOT of blood, and holes in her clothes, but really were no wounds under the cuts in the fabric. He couldn't believe her luck, and increased the intensity of his triage. It was only as he was combing through her hair looking for any head wounds that she started making frustrated grunts and pushing him away.

"Sorry." He apologized and took a step back. "Lily, do you want to talk about what happened?"

Lily paused a moment to shake her head.

"...I'm guessing you don't have family... around. Right?"

She shook her head again.

"Ok. You are pretty dirty right now. Why don't we get you a bath and I can wash your clothes? I'd give you fresh ones, but I don't have any in your size."

This time the pause was longer, but eventually she nodded. Jack took her hand and led Lily to the upstairs bathroom. Once there, he showed her the bathtub, filled it with hot water, and identified the soap and shampoo. He made sure she had access to a clean towel, then left the bathroom and asked her to hand him her clothes through the door. Eventually she did, immediately slamming the door and locking it after passing them through.

Jack sighed, mostly out of anxiety, and took them down to start another load of wash. He grabbed anything dirty from his hamper to fill the washer. This wasn't just the apocalypse, it was turning into laundry day. ...What the hell was he going to do with a little girl? His head was already starting to hurt.