'I'm sorry' the words replayed in Ruby's mind, the words she heard right before leaving Nicole. Maybe not exactly the last words, but.. she felt guilty. She was the last person that should be feeling that way.
"Ruby?" Axelle called from the very back row of seats.
Silence.
"Ruby? " she called out one more time.
Yet, Ruby was in a trance, her eyes out the window as Christian continued driving. No answer, leaving everyone slightly worried.
"Rub—"
"What?" she answered, a bit bitterly. She let out a soft sigh before glancing back at Axelle. "Yeah?" she spoke, this time her tone a bit lighter, realizing she sounded kind of mean the first time.
"Are you…" Axelle started, her voice ultimately trailing off. She already knew the answer. So why even bother to ask?
"You already know the answer. None of us are alright." Ruby mumbled.
In silence, the break of dawn appeared in a haze. Darren, Dave, Eli and Rexine sound asleep. Ruby was still lost in her thoughts. Maverick and Axelle playing a game on Maverick's phone. Perry? You could say she was contemplating her life. Zombies? Losing Nicole? If you asked her which one felt less possible, it'd be the latter.
The silence wasn't broken by anyone, Christian kept driving, the rest doing their thing.
"Hey, shitty face?…" Christian uncharacteristically quietly called out.
Perry snapped out of her thoughts, glancing at Christian. "…What?" she replied, half curious, half irritated.
"Do you think… Anything will ever go back to how it was before? I mean, us being neighbors again, hanging out. Just the four of us, if Nicole ever decides to come back." he asked, his tone giving away his vulnerability, but he couldn't care less right now.
"…It's hard to say. Who knows if there's even a cure out there, nonetheless, the chance of the world going back to normal." She sighed through her nose, unable to give a straight, opinionated answer. It was true, though. There was no telling.
"For once… yeah, you're right." he agreed, no anger or frustration in his tone, unlike usual.
Perry was surprised by his ability to actually agree with her. But she didn't say anything about it.
•───────•°•𐦂𖨆𐀪𖠋•°•──────•
The sun was hidden behind many, many dark grey clouds as though it was already noon. Now parked around a convenience store, near an area with less zombies around. The last person to drive was Perry. Christian agreed to go inside the convenience store with Rexine and Dave to get food for the rest of the group.
When they got back into the van, they seemed to have at least a good stock for around a month. It was a bunch of snacks.
"This'll last us a while, for sure.." Rexine mumbled.
It wasn't too long before everyone realized who the big back in the group was—alright, maybe that's a bit harsh. But if you're wondering; none other than Maverick.
It also wasn't long before there was rain ambience heard in the back, as the majority started to eat in silence. Dave— who was still sound asleep didn't, for obvious reasons. Or, reasons unknown; your choice.
"...Was it just me or did anyone else see a middle aged couple walk past us?" Maverick casually revealed, his voice muffled due to his mouth being stuffed with vanilla wafers.
Rexine looked like she was physically about to lose it. Teeth gritted, jaw clenched, she tried not to snap. Eli noticed and sighed. "Rex, chill out.." he quietly ushered her.
"And you didn't tell us earlier, why?" Rexine asked in a firm and irritated tone.
"I didn't think it was that important, alright, Rex? keep it calm." Maverick raised an eyebrow but quickly went back to downing those vanilla wafers. Mind you, he's already eaten two packs of them.
"Maverick, don't you dare—" Christian slapped Maverick's hand away. "You've had enough. Eat those spicy chips or something." Christian said, snatching away his vanilla wafers that he wanted.
"Give me some," Perry asked, holding her hand out, expecting him to give it to her.
"What? No, I claimed these first." He stuck out his tongue at Perry, opening the packet of wafers.
"Sharing is caring.." Perry quickly realized she was using that phrase on the wrong person.
Christian snickered. "Good thing I don't care, frogface." he took a bite out of one wafer.
"Give. Me. Some." Perry demanded, almost making it sound like a threat.
"No. I. Will. Not." Christian smugly answered, voice slightly muffled.
Perry sighed. She then proceeded to lean forward and suddenly snatch the packet, taking some for herself.
"Guys.. Oh. My. God. Are you seriously fighting over some vanilla wafers?" Ruby looked unamused, glancing between the two.
"Hey, I totally understand guys. Those wafers are delic—"
"Maverick, dude, not helping." Waylen butted in the conversation, biting pocky sticks like how a rabbit bites carrots.¹
"Give those back. I rightfully took them, Shitty face."
"No. They're 'rightfully' mine now."
"There's not a single thing rightful about stealing others' food and claiming it as your own!" Christian fumed. He tried snatching it back, but Perry held it up with one hand before he could, then stuck out her tongue at him.
"Cry about it, Shitty hair." Perry insulted, finishing the last of the wafers in the packet, and to rub salt on the wound, she threw the packet at Christian. He gave her a scowl.
"You go cry about it." Christian mocked, rolling his eyes. He then turned around.
Axelle raised an eyebrow, taking a pocky stick from Waylen's box. Waylen just gave her a nasty glare but didn't pull the box away. After all, he was lazily sitting with his legs over Axelle's lap, leaning his head against the quarter glass, his gaze forward.
There was silence.. until Darren saw what Maverick was doing. "Ok.. Mave, what the hell are you doing?"
Maverick was putting the wrapper of a snack in between the slit where the window goes, and the window itself, rolling it up, so the wrapper stayed in place stuck at the top. "Well.. there's no trash bin. I'd rather keep it there than litter." he explained carelessly.
"Weird dude you have.." Darren whispered a bit quieter, to Rexine this time.
•───────•°•𐦂𖨆𐀪𖠋•°•──────•
¹: The video I was referring to;
https://share.google/57VJixWI6zkyllGg7