Authors note: Hey, thanks for taking the time to read this, I hope it lives up to expectations. I know it is really slow starting but I'm enjoying building the characters and don't want them jumping into bed (hehe) together right away. If you're looking for instant gratification come back in a few chapters:) Thanks again for all comments; they really help my focus and motivation. Also I knocked this one out in the middle of the night so if it's a bit incoherent I apologize. Well here goes...
***
Sunlight streamed through the windows and seemed to shine straight into my face. After hiding my head under the covers for thirty minutes wishing that the sun would just turn off, I extracted myself from the bed and grabbed a pair of running shorts out of my bag.
It had been a long time since I'd gotten any real exercise, living as a recluse in an apartment building for 2 months hardly gives you a chance to show off your athletic prowess. After I was dressed... well sort of dressed, a pair of shorts, shoes and hydration belt, I was ready for my third run in as many days.
I was never exactly the most fit person on the planet, but just before the outbreak I'd been training for the half marathon and was finding it easy to get back into the swing of things; almost ironic really: my entire life gets turned upside down and my body hardly seems to notice!
I slipped a bottle of water into one of the two bottle slots and my crowbar into the second slot; it was just far too unwieldy to run with a shotgun and if what Zoey had surmised was correct, then there really was no danger.
After a few minutes struggling with the chest of drawers barricading the door, apparently it was easier to move it into place than out of place, a quick stretch and a selection of upbeat running tracks from my iPhone, I was ready and took off for a more personal tour of the town than I'd had the chance of the previous night.
The town itself was small, even for rural Australian standards. I doubted if there were more than two or three dozen houses and about half that number businesses. I laughed inwardly to myself, so typical of these towns, don't have a doctor's office, supermarket or even traffic lights, but still manage to have a pub: true blue.
I was enjoying the slight burn in my hamstrings and shortness of breath that accompanied the exercise, like I said it had been far too long since I'd gotten my heart rate up with anything beside stimulants or terror.
After what I imagine would be three or four K, I was just finishing up my loop of the town and returning back down the main strip when I ran into Zoey... literally. I was fiddling with my iPhone, trying to get the music to pause when next thing I know I go from a slow jog to a rather hasty fall.
"Wow shit," I said, arms pinwheeling violently trying to stop myself from going over.
"Haha, easy there big fella," Zoey remarked as she disentangled herself from my sweaty body and backed up so a few feet were between us.
"Sorry, I didn't see you there," I pulled out my right head phone, the music still pumping, and panted softly.
"That's alright, no harm no foul right? Anyway, I'm not sure what your food stocks were like so I thought you might be interested in breakfast?" she held up a picnic basket which, judging by the way she held it, was anything but empty.
"You, my dear, are a shining star,"
"A shining star? The first complement I get in months and that's what it is?" A smile played across her face to match my own. There's nothing like a bit of human interaction to warm the cockles of your heart.
"Well am I wrong? I mean after all you've brightened up my day," I nodded at the picnic basket she held in her left hand.
"Men," she scoffed, "all you ever think about is food."
"Well, I mean you do have certain other qualities like a star I'm sure. Let's see you're golden hair is certainly a match, you appear to have a strong inner fire and... oh yes ofcourse! You're incredibly hot!" I was feeling giddy up until this point but as the color drained away from her face and she took another step back I sobered up immediately.
"Oh god sor-"
"Don't move!" She cut me off and quick as a flash she had whipped out the old army service revolver she had tucked in the back of her jeans. I just stood there, the gun pointed in my direction, a grin still fading from my face.
My breath was racing, only in part due to the exercise, and I still had music pumping into one ear. I raised my hands slowly and started in a slow calm voice, "Woah there.."
That was as far as I got, next thing I knew her finger squeezed around the trigger and I saw a flash of light.
***
Zoey woke up feeling content, she had fallen asleep on top of her covers and lay naked in all her glory as the sun streamed through the window and played across her young supple body. She reveled in the warm touch of the fiery orb for several long minutes before finally dragging herself out of bed.
She glanced at the watch she had left on her chest of drawers the previous night and was shocked to find the time to be 9:13. She rummaged through her cloth drawer and finally emerged from her bedroom clad in her worn and very comfortable jeans with a white tank top to match, it looked like a warm day.
She spent several minutes going about her normal morning routine, brushing her teeth, using the facilities, that type of thing, before heading down into the kitchen to root around in the cupboard for a suitable breakfast.
"I wonder if Charles would like to join me?" she mused aloud, rummaging through the bags and boxes and cans of preserved food she had built up over the months. Eventually she decided upon a bag of muesli, a large carton of long life milk she'd been rationing carefully, half a box of digestive biscuits, a couple of oranges picked from neighbors trees the previous day and two boiled eggs.
She headed briefly into the back garden to restart the fire she kept in a pit there, and when the flames were licking healthily long a couple of short logs, she hung an old fashioned kettle over the center to heat up.
"What about a picnic?" Zoey asked no-one in particular half way through packing the bounty into several large green-reusable shopping bags. For some reason the idea appealed to her, perhaps it was the weather or the newly found company, but regardless she then spent the next ten minutes hunting around in the cellar with a torch looking for the old family picnic basket.
When Zoey eventually found the small little wickerwork basket, it took several minutes and a lot of sneezing to dispel the dust from where it had laid for several years but eventually the hamper looked good as new.
She packed the basket carefully, lining up the boxes and bags so they all fit snugly and the basket was fairly evenly balanced. That was something she had always loved doing since a little kid, even when they went on holiday her favorite part seemed to be packing and unpacking, it was like a puzzle for the real world!
When the hamper was packed she ventured back into the back yard to find the kettle boiling away nicely, a few minutes later she had a large canteen filled with tea and was ready to leave the house. She was halfway out the door before she remembered she had clean forgotten the gun.
