Chapter 2: I have to make money no matter what it takes.
Room.
"stop joking around like that...", "the whole campus knows how crazy you are about Evelyn."
The atmosphere had gotten a little weird for a moment.
It almost seemed like Richard was in pain and couldn't convey anything but the look on his face. He would open his mouth from one moment to the next trying to describe his emotions.
But the fury had gotten the better of him, just by uttering Evelyn's name. Although it was not surprising with all the bad memories he had had with her.
Evelyn had become the demon that had caused his nightmares every time he closed one eye. That night was repeating itself as a punishment for his uselessness.
"I think we'd better stop talking about her...I think we should go see a movie."
Richard stood up, to put an end to that name that made him nauseous just hearing anything to do with her.
If he had her in front of him, he would possibly show a terrifying side of himself to Emma, and he didn't want that to happen.
He didn't want Emma to see him slowly strangling the cursed woman who had caused his death and that of the only child who had had a chance of being born after so much sacrifice in that cruel world.
"You look weird...besides it's 11 o'clock at night, do you think a movie theater will be broadcasting now?"
Emma as funny as ever. I try to reassure Richard.
"besides I already have to go to my house, I don't want my parents to think you're a playboy playing with their little daughter."
She put on her black Emma shawl, her delicate figure hidden in the darkness of the night, but with a quick step she went heading for the door of the house.
You could almost see the nervousness in her eyes as she remembered the scolding her parents were going to give her for being so late.
Now the excuse that she was with Richard was not going to work....
"Come on, I'll walk you."
Richard quickly replied without giving her a chance to reject his words. Not because she wanted him to go with her.
But because he was already standing next to her with his jacket on and the keys to his motorcycle in his hand.
"You'll get there faster if I give you a ride."
"that's what I didn't want to happen...goodbye to my excuse that I was with my friend Elizabeth", "I hope my father doesn't kill you if he sees you".
She scoffed.
Her laughter like birdsong at dawn was like a symphony.
"Please, Uncle Ethan loves me like one of his children."
That old man was like a tiger, but at least he could be considered the father he'd never had, not after her father ended up in jail for some crimes he couldn't remember.
Emma gave a resigned sigh.
"Well, at least they won't tell me I went partying or that I have a secret boyfriend."
".."
Night City.
"that last comment of yours really hurt me", "don't you know I can be your boyfriend too."
He tried to break the silence.
Emma's arms were around his torso, so, like a cute romance novel, it was the perfect moment for the start of the flirting.
"Please...I don't want you to let my father who raised you down by behaving like a playboy."
She turned her head Emma dismissing his words.
Although the acceleration punch the bike gave from one moment to the next made her reconsider ignoring him.
"You're so mean! I almost fell off!"
She got angry.
"I mean it Emma..."
Richard's last words were like a whisper, but they did their job when the whole road turned into silence.
All that was left were the beautiful views and the few stars that could be seen on the dark roads free of light pollution.
The stars were so beautiful, Richard had already forgotten when he had last seen the city so calm.
Rather. He had forgotten the last time he had let his guard down without fear of being killed by a careless creature or another human being.
"What a beautiful night...I hope it's not a dream."
He broke the silence.
"Are you all right? You've been acting weird for a while now, like it's not you...you didn't hit your head again did you?"
Emma scoffed, though it didn't stop one of her hands from trying to touch her driver's forehead to see if he had a fever or if he was unwell.
He had always been a shy boy. Maybe not like the antisocial ones who couldn't talk to any woman without running away or stuttering, but at least he was the type who didn't prefer to talk to people outside his circle of friends.
"I'm fine...rather, I'm better than ever," "by the way we're here."
Richard's comment surprised her.
She didn't know when was the last time she had enjoyed chatting with him without comment from his girlfriend, but today the time had flown by.
"Thank you...will you come in?"
She tried to invite him, but it wasn't the best time for a longer chat.
If the clock on their cell phones didn't fool them it was already 12 midnight and they had school the next day.
"If I go in, Uncle Ethan might kick me out a few minutes later."
Richard jumped on his bike and sped off to his luck, because soon after Ethan came out in a huff.
"that bastard got away again!", "At least say goodnight, brat!"
He yelled at the top of his lungs causing half the neighborhood to possibly put in a complaint on his behalf the next day.
"knock it off dad, he'll come over another day to help you with your bird house project!"
Emma pushed her father into the house.
Although her look did not go unnoticed by her father, who had a long talk to give Richard when he came back to visit.
"..."
"it's good to see you well again..."
The motorcycle's engine drowned out Richard's murmurs.
He had long since seen the date of the day he had appeared. It might have been a chance given by the heavens or an illusion, at least he wanted to solve the biggest regrets he had ever had throughout his life.
He wasn't going to let Emma's parents pass away right at the beginning of the tragedy and even worse that Emma would have to send them to rest.
He still remembered the pain she had felt when she had to survive a horde and see her parents there.
"I'm fine Richard...just leave me alone."
That day she had cried too much and he had lost those he considered his parents.
"get out of the way!"
She woke him up when she saw a car coming the wrong way startling him. Although the good thing was that he controlled the steering quickly, that was nothing to driving while being chased by a dead man.
The plan was to get enough food for a month of isolation.
The reason?
That is the time when the bloodbath would begin, where no one would survive, neither humans nor the beasts themselves, during that feast the amount of beasts would decrease for the luck of mankind.
It could have been a blessing or not, but it helped humanity too much.
Because to imagine that 80% of humanity had become a zombie and they were walking the streets was a death sentence.
Just imagining that mobs of tens of thousands were passing through a single street turned that place into a cemetery, imagining that that amount of undead could be roaming around made it thousands of times more dangerous than any man-made movie.
"..."
House.
Richard began to search through all his things for some valuable object, he had to get a lot of money to buy enough food for a month.
He couldn't just go to Emma's parents' house and tell them an apocalypse was coming and then ask them for money.
If Ethan didn't finish kicking him out of their house after saying that, his wife who was a karate champion would kick him out until he calmed down.
"Nothing..."
The ringing of his cell phone snapped him out of his disappointment. He still remembered that personalized ringing for the person who disgusted him the most.
So without answering or giving him any explanation he addressed her with the most beautiful words possible.
"stop calling me a bitch!"
With that things would calm down for a moment until she could come up with a way on how to get a lot of money.
"That's all I have left to do..."
If she wanted to come up with enough money, all that was left for her to do was to pawn the only thing her deceased parents had left her.
The house he was in was the only way he could get what he wanted.
In his past life that house had given him the opportunity to make it out alive in the first few months, so he was reluctant to sell it.
"Fuck it all!"
He took the deeds to the house. He would look for a safe area much better than his house later.