OCEAN AND EVANDER

Zev's eyes were beginning to close, perhaps it was due to the sleep he felt, he could barely hear Luna's comments, some of her words echoed in his head.

"Are you listening to me, are you?"

"My name is Zev," he said tiredly.

Luna was starting to get annoyed so she left him in the dark and went back to her room, Zev walked to his room without making a sound, ready to lie down and lose himself in a deep sleep. He closed his eyes feeling slightly dizzy because he couldn't take it anymore, he needed to sleep.

Although one sleeps, the brain doesn't always rest, many times it stays active and that's what happened that morning with Zev, his eyes were closed, apparently resting but his mind didn't have time to close. He repeated images in his head about the commander's conversation, Ocean's face, her figure, and behind her, as if protecting her, was Evander's shadow.

"None of this could be happening," the boy murmured to himself, still asleep, "nothing."

When he opened his eyes, he found himself in front of the restaurant where he worked, everything in order, the birds singing and the sun illuminating his face, the heat touching his skin during a beautiful summer day. He looked everywhere, people walked naturally doing everyday things, however something wasn't right, something in the environment felt distant, like a pause after the storm.

He tried to take a step forward but it was hard for him to move, his legs felt heavy and suddenly dark.

"What the hell is happening?" He raised his hands to his head as a sign of despair, "why do I feel like this? Why do I feel like I don't fit in?"

A slight sound reached his ears, distant but irritating, the alarm to wake up was ringing, apparently everything had been a dream. The headache was so strong that he heard an endless beep running through his ears.

"This can't be good!" A soldier spoke as he ran carrying a weapon.

Milo went looking for Zev, apparently some of the walkers were very close to the bunker so everyone had to be prepared for anything that might happen. The citizens felt nervous and scared, it could be their end, only if everything got out of control.

"They are close," mentioned the soldier Ronda.

"But if the bunker is underground, can those creatures find us?" asked an elderly woman.

"It's a possibility but we're too low, maybe they can't dig that deep on their own," she said.

Suddenly everyone fell silent, straining their ears in case something was heard but everything was completely silent. Five minutes passed and still nothing bad happened.

"How far are they, Commander?" Ocean asked from a corner of the place.

"According to the machine, they are five kilometers from this base," he observed the data displayed on the computer.

"And, how many are there? She looked askance.

"Eight."

The people were surprised, there were too many walkers and at the great speed they were going they would find them quickly.

"I'll take care of them," Ocean said, very determined.

Zev upon hearing her was surprised as well as worried about her.

"You are crazy? There are too many! You can't go alone, they're going to kill you, you're not that strong," Zev's thoughts came out, he spoke so loud that all eyes were directed towards him, mainly Evander's.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing? Don't talk to her in that tone, don't give her orders, you weakling," Evander said, pushing Zev to the ground with great force.

In his ears the beep that he had been listening to since morning rang until it exploded. After being violently thrown by Evander, one of his ears stopped hearing for a long time.

Zev saw how Ocean began to move away to the surface so as he could he stood up and ran after her to prevent her from coming out.

"¡No, Ocean!" He grabbed her forearm.

"Hey, what's your problem, weakling?" She glared at him with deep rage after pulling away.

"I don't want you to hurt yourself," he said with a low tone, "Evander should go, so you'll be safe."

"Leave me alone! You're so weird, better focus on yours and don't bother, try to be useful."

Ocean turned her back on him ready to leave and still he tried to stop her once more but other soldiers stopped him. Zev's eyes filled with tears, he really seemed worried but he didn't know exactly why.

"Zev, calm down, you're acting so weird" Luna murmured, pulling him away from the crowd.

Milo approached them to try to revive his older brother.

"Hey, nothing will happen to her, she can defend herself perfectly, I don't think someone would let her die if she's in danger, especially Evander," he smiled as he put his hand on his lap.

That comforted him, she was someone important to those soldiers and they wouldn't abandon her, if something happened the first to leave would be her boyfriend. It took a few minutes for Ocean to get on the radio.

"I see them, I'm going to get them away from here."

"Go ahead Ocean, do it," Commander Kylen replied.

"Without so much oxygen I won't be able to produce enough gunpowder," she paused, "the idiot from a while ago was right, I won't be able to do it by myself. Evander, could you come?"

"Yes love, I'm going there," he spoke on the radio.

Zev didn't say anything, he just watched him, the movement of his lips pronouncing the word "love" moved something inside him, he soon saw him move away and surface to go after Ocean.

While the military analyzed the situation from their computers, Zev couldn't stop imagining endless scenarios between Ocean and Evander, how many kisses had been given, if he had touched her skin, how many times they went out for a walk or how long they had been in a relationship.

His skin paled as his head exploded with a headache.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" He thought.

Milo noticed how bad Zev was feeling so with Luna's help they went to the infirmary, surely something there would help him feel better.

On the outside, Evander had caught up with Ocean, the girl had lied, she alone could easily defeat the wanderers, however, calling her boy was a small plan so they could do something important. The bunker was a long way from the Aurora, but she and Evander were both very fast, so it would be easy to get away in a matter of minutes and no one would notice.

"Kylen is very busy rescuing people, I think that's the reason why they haven't had time to make our oxygen," mentioned Ocean.

"I don't think this is a good idea but since we're out let's do it."

"You need it more than me, I'll give it to you, you don't have to go in if you don't want to" she smiled kindly.

Both of them had planned to go to the base of the community, enter and steal more alien oxygen capsules, especially since Evander was the one who needed it the most due to the power he had developed, however, they were unaware of the fact that the agents from the base were looking for them.