Surprise! [Braden]

[Braden Parker]

“You’re mean! And cruel! If I die, I’ll haunt you forever, you meany!”

Braden lifted an eyebrow as he heard the girl’s insults being shouted after him. Ooh, he was so scared, practically shaking in his boots. He listened, waiting for her rant to finish so he could try to help her again. She was loud though, and his ears started to hurt after a few minutes of her shouting. She needed to shut the hell up, because if she kept yelling like that she would attract the zombies. Braden wondered how she had managed to survive for so long out here. Not only was she crippled, but she was noisy and seemingly defenseless. She must have some pretty skilled people babysitting her. He waited, trying to be patient, until the girl’s shouts had died down, before turning to look over his shoulder and question her about the appearance of her school.

“I don’t know what it looks like! And I’m not going to find out any time soon either, because my sole purpose after death will be to torment the jerk who indirectly killed me!”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Braden muttered in confusion. “You don’t know what your own school looks like?” His voice took on an incredulous tone as he asked the second question. For god’s sake, did she know anything? Had she even heard what he’d asked, or had she been too busy shouting? Braden sighed, rolling his eyes at the girl’s immaturity. “Whatever. Come on then. We’ll find it,” he muttered, beckoning her to follow him with his hand. “You can walk, right? I mean, if you can slay zombies, surely you’ll be able to keep up with me.” Braden waited patiently, glancing over his shoulder to make sure that this girl was going to follow him. Once he was sure she was coming, he started moving again. He was planning on walking with her down to the safe zone. If he didn’t know what her stupid school looked like, that was the next best bet. He knew there was a school down there, and even if it wasn’t her school, she would at least be safe there.

Braden walked slowly, trying to keep his pace reasonable so that the girl could keep up with him. Had she told him her name yet? No, he didn’t think so. He’d originally been calling her ‘miss,’ but for some reason that title didn’t seem appropriate now, probably because she was acting like some immature kid rather than the young woman that she was. “So, girl, what should I call you?” he asked in a bored tone, looking around as he walked, paying little attention to her. His eyes were scanning their surroundings. He silently cursed to himself as he saw how low the sun was. Shit. It wouldn’t be long until sunset now, and once the sun set, that would be a problem, as humans couldn’t see well in the dark.

“Oh yeah,” Braden suddenly added, remembering something from before. “And my gun doesn’t have a name. That’s just stupid.” He reflexively readjusted the grip on his weapon. It had indeed been with him through a lot, however, he thought that naming it would just be ridiculous.

[Kiley Harris]

“What the hell are you talking about?” he muttered in confusion. “You don’t know what your own school looks like?” His voice took on an incredulous tone as he asked the second question.
Kiley blinked and tried not to look embarrassed. So that’s what he’d asked! That did make a lot more sense than her previous assumption.
“Oh… that’s-”
“Whatever. Come on then. We’ll find it,” he muttered, beckoning her to follow him with his hand. “You can walk, right? I mean, if you can slay zombies, surely you’ll be able to keep up with me.” the man glanced over his shoulder to make sure Kiley was going to follow him. Once he was sure she was coming, he started moving again.

Kiley just frowned at him before following like a rebellious child who’d just been scolded by their parent. She was sure her parents would’ve been a lot nicer though, unless the war had really changed them, which she hoped it hadn’t.
Kiley loved her parents, and it was moments like these that made her realize that even more.
“Yes I can walk…” she muttered while simultaneously picking up her pace to walk next to her ally. Though she tried desperately to think up some clever comeback, her mind was completely blank at the moment, and so she just took to glaring and mentally insulting him.
She’d intended to walk past him, just to prove that she wasn’t completely helpless, but sadly, she really was that helpless. She could keep up, but only just. If he were to go any faster, she might break something trying to match his stride.
“So, girl, what should I call you?” he asked in a bored tone, looking around as he walked.
Kiley rolled her eyes and didn’t answer right away. It was obvious he didn’t actually care about her or her name, and if there was anything she hated, it was false interest. She really wasn’t in a position to tell him that though, as she was pretty sure he was already quite annoyed with her, and she couldn’t push much further before he decided to tell himself ‘screw this’ and finding someone else to help.
So she sucked up her pride and tried to sound as nice as possible, “Kiley.” She answered shortly, “And you?”

Kiley smirked to herself when he mentioned naming guns was a stupid practice. It wasn’t so much that she liked his comment, but her mind made up all sorts of ridiculously childish responses along the lines of ‘well, so is your face’.
She merely smiled because she hadn’t said them out loud, though perhaps that would’ve lightened the mood, and maybe he would get that stick out of his ass.
Her silent smirks quickly turned to snorts though, and she hurriedly brought her free hand up to silence herself. Maybe she should just stop thinking entirely until she got back home, as there were more important things to worry about at the moment.

She cleared her throat quietly and remained silent for a while as she looked around. Nothing seemed familiar yet, and the fact that it was getting darker didn’t help ease her nerves. She didn’t relish the thought of running into a zombie when night finally fell.
“I really do appreciate your help…” she finally told him after a while, feeling it would be good to get on his good side before something bad happened, and it was too late. Proud though she might be, Kiley wasn’t stupid.
“I’ll be quiet from now on.” She promised, though she probably shouldn’t have. She’d made that promise before in the past, and up to this day, she’d never been able to keep it.