After grabbing my new gun, I stopped by a few more stores but found them to be picked clean. Feeling proud of my discovery, I head back home. As I walk back up the hill to my house, I get a feeling of being watched, but as I spin around, I find nothing behind me.

“Man, I’m already paranoid.”

Turning around, I look at the revolver in my hand and store it fully loaded in my inventory just in case. You never know, I may need a good surprise weapon. I’d prefer something smaller, but I’d like to have something with power as well.

Coming back up to the densely packed suburb, I see a small horde of about 12 walkers far down the road to my left walking towards my house. Good thing the windows are blocked off. Unless I make a lot of noise, they’ll ignore me.

——————————

[Narrator POV]

“Shit, she got eyes in the back of ‘er head or somethin’?”

Dickie quietly yells at Paul.

“Nah, we good. She ain’t spotted us. She musta heard somethin’.”

The two wait for her to turn back around and continue walking before slowly creeping up behind her. They walk up the hill, ducking behind cars, buildings, and anything they can. They stop as Penny suddenly stops, looking to the left. They see her take a deep breath and continue on. As they reach the peak of hill, they look to the left and see the small horde of walkers.

“Well, shit. Dickie, we’ll have to set up in one of these houses and wait till tomorrow to get ‘er. I ain’t risking gettin’ a horde on us for one girl. Ain’t worth it.”

Dickie nods his head and says,

“Yeah, good idea.”

The two wait for Penny to go into her house, seeing her at the front door looking both ways once again, looking for anybody following her. Paul speaks up again,

“Goddamn. Dat girl’s got some good sense.”

Dickie nods his head and says,

“Y’know, maybe we shouldn’t do anything to her. She seems like she knows what she’s doin’. Last girl was doe eyed and couldn’t hurt a fly.”

Paul shakes his head,

“Nah, when they fight back’s the best part. That last one was too passive. None of the guys really liked her all dat much.”

Dickie nods and follows behind as the two clear out a small house quietly on the other side of the street.

—————————

[Penny POV]

Getting into the house and locking it behind me, I’m greeted with the familiar silence. I head over to the kitchen and begin cooking myself up one of the new MRE’s, it’s Mexican rice and refried beans. I also use a bit of the two liter soda. I’ll probably miss soda the most when it’s gone. Well, hey, at least I can drink booze now. Maybe I’ll go to a bar tomorrow. It’d be nice to try something other than the shitty beer my dad gave me when I was a kid. Fuckin’ dickhead.

I pour out the water used to cook the MRE and start eating. It’s not very flavorful, but I managed to find a packet of taco seasoning in the spice cabinet which added a lot to the meal. But, it seems my American taste buds will have to get used to flavorless food. It’s fine… just think of it as a long… long trip to Britain… 

Standard anti-British jokes aside, my meal is over just as that small horde begins to make its way past my house. Their quiet moans filling the room. Seems my theory on walker silence is rather wrong. Or well, partially wrong. They are indeed much quieter when they have no prey in sight. It’s like turning the volume down to six when you’re not actively listening and just want music on in the background.

Strangely, I find it kinda relaxing. Almost like a thunderstorm. I always liked sleeping with white noise. I usually had the window AC running at night, but when I didn’t have that I’d listen to LoFi girl or ten hour rain compilations. I look down at my watch.

[8:06pm]

I still have some time to burn, so I decide to do some strength exercises. Push-ups, sit-ups, squats. I find it interesting that after a few minutes of exercise, my muscles will get tired, but then about a minute of rest later, they’re fine. I guess I kinda have turned into a video game character, huh? Let’s just hope I’m not limited to sprinting about twenty feet before losing my breath.

Of course, eventually, the soreness sets in to stay after about twenty minutes of workouts.

[AGI +1]

Agility? Oh, because of the squats or something? Well that’s good! It’s always good to be faster! Though, I wanted to get a point in strength. I feel like strength would be more important against walkers considering… Y’know… They walk.

But, anyways. Now that my body is sore, I believe it’s time for some sleep. So, I strip outta my armor and clothes and plop down on the bed, melting into it like a pile of slime. Slowly drifting off to sleep while listening to the moving horde of undead.

----------------------------------

AN: The first 20 chapters are up on the Patreon. You can join for as little as $1 a month.