Chapter Sixteen

(Dennis)

The next day we woke pretty exhausted, but still rested. I stood and stretched, groaning as my sore body parts moved around.

"Mm, so today we have to look for a new car to drive around it right? Maybe this time we should get separate cars so were not all trapped together" Tom suggested.

"Yeah that's actually a good idea, especially since there's still some obvious tension between all of us. So maybe that will help it simmer down" I concluded.

We grabbed our stuff from the corner it had been sitting in for all of yesterday. We checked and made sure everything we could remember was in there.

We had no ammunition, just food and other supplies like flashlights and old batteries that hopefully might work.

"Fuck, ok hopefully wherever we go there will be something edible" I said, beginning to notice the hunger that plagued my stomach.

"Yeah me too actually, I don't think I've ate anything since we met" Tom told me. I sighed and shook my head, "Alright" I slung my bag over my shoulders. "Let's go wake up the others if they're not up already, and find a suitable car" Tom and Dipper nodded in agreement and followed me to the door.

We stepped outside and were greeted by Daniel and Jean killing a few straggling zombies. Daniel spotted us and waved, "oh hey guys! Klancy and Blaire are still asleep inside but they said wake them whenever were ready to find a car" Daniel informed us while cracking open the head of a zombie with a brick.

I hummed in response as we descended down the stairs. I looked around searching the empty lot we were in, there weren't any cars around when we got here but I guess I just wanted to check anyway.

"Ok, go wake those two up I have a plan on what we can do to look for a working car" I said to Jean. He nodded and headed to the house they stayed in.

I looked at Tom rubbing his side subconsciously, guilt rushed to my stomach as I vaguely remembered what just recently happened. I walked up to his side and stood next to him.

"Hey, uh hows your side?" I asked him with a sheepish smile. "Its, better I guess. I've never been stabbed before tho so I dont know what to make of it" He said. I could feel his eyes boring a hole into my head.

He placed two hands underneath my chin and lifted my head to look up at him. He searched my eyes for something before speaking up. "You're still not stressing over stabbing me right?" he asked but I didnt respond.

He sighed, "look Dennis, I told you it's fine. I know you were frightened and didnt mean to but I'm not angry at you for it ok?" he reassured. I nodded my head and hugged him shortly, I still felt a little guilty but I'm mostly over it now.

Klancy and Blaire walked out of the house with Jean, their bags on their shoulders and guns in their hands. As Jean threw Daniel's bag to him, Blaire asked about the plan.

"So you said you have an idea of where we might get a car from?" I nodded, "well go on then" she said. "Ok, so while we were being chased by that thing yesterday, I had noticed tons of cars of all sizes just sitting around" I informed them.

"We can go back into the town and search the cars to see if any of them has gas and keys. This might be a long shot but we could always walk I suppose" I finished.

"I'm willing to take my chances looking for a car, walking in this heat sounds disastrous" Jean said. I agreed and so did everyone else.

"Alright then its settled, since there is 7 of us this should go a lot faster then if there were any less. The car arent that spread so we can go off in groups" I stated. "Alright let's go" I waved them on and began walking towards the overgrown town.

We passed groups of zombies that most of stumbled from somewhere. We didnt kill them because we want to save what we half left and not waste anymore resources. Passing the place where I killed that thing, we made it to a park.

Around the abandoned park's general area, there were a shit ton of vacant cars just like I said, some of them didn't even look old like someone had just been here.

"Hey how come half of these look brand new?" Daniel voiced my thoughts. "I have no idea, do you guys think people from the government might be in this town?" I asked.

"It could be a likely possibility, I mean you did find that hidden area" Tom reminded. "Yeah that's true, let's tread carefully who knows what might be here" I said as we walked up closer to all the vacant cars.

We searched for a bit, some cars had keys but no gas and electricity, other cars had nothing at all. In the trunk of one car in particular, there were a few cans of diesel gasoline. 4 of them to be exact, two were full, one was half full and the other, was empty.

"So it looks like we wont be having a bigger car to share, but I think we can split up into a few cars and drive that way yeah?" I said hold two of the cans.

"I'm down to do that, just as long as we don't have to walk in this stupid sun" Klancy grumbled. "Alright, you guys can take that Honda and we'll take this Ford" I informed.

"I hope you guys don't mind the cramp but we gotta space ride out." I told them. "No it's fine, I mean I dont mind right guys? we were riding cramped before" Daniel said positively. The others agreed with him and I smiled.

"Ok then it's all set, let's get to pouring this gas and then we can be on our way" I said walking toward the Ford. I opened the gas tank and poured the sour smelling liquid into its holding spot.

I kept it flowing until half of the can was empty, opening the trunk and putting them inside and closing it.

I opened the door and pushed my bag into the back with Dipper. I looked behind us and saw that the others were done with putting their stuff away.

"Hey you guys ready" I asked trying to be quiet. "yeah are you guys??" Klancy yelled back, "yeah let's go!" I said ducking into the car and turning it on.

I pulled out making sure to dodge the cars before driving towards the opening into the town. I looked I'm the rear view to make sure the others were following.

When I saw they were, I continued out of the parking lot and back on the road happy to get out of this dumb town. It was nice to look at its beauty tho.

"I haven't asked you guys how you feel, and Dipper you've been awfully quiet these few days, how are you guys?" I asked in a soft tone.

"O-oh, I guess I've been trapped in my head for this entire t-time. I've never felt the p-powerful you know? It was crazy" he said looking at his lap.

I gave him a look of pity, "hey it seems like we both have the same problem so dont ever feel alone ok? Me and Tom are here for you, even the others" I smiled at him, he looked up and nodded reciprocating a smile.

"Well what about you Tom?" I asked him. "I dont know to be honest, the whole apocalypse feels like a fever dream, I mean so many people have died and it's only be a couple of weeks" He said.

"I'm still terrified of zombies and now we have the others who probably hate us at this point" he said rolling his eyes. "Now here we are! Out of food and struggling" I wasnt sure how to take this, it seems like he was angry.

"A-Are you ok?" I asked him carefully. I heard a choked sob followed by some sniffles and looked to the side to see that Tom was, crying.

"No I'm not, t-this shit is eating away at me and I dont even know how to take it" he cried. I took one of my hands off the steering wheel and rubbed his back, "hey hey hey" I cooed.

"Its gonna be ok Tom, I know it's hard as fuck right now, trust me we all know, but we can get through it together if we just keep it together for lord knows how long" I told him. "Just know that Dipper and I are both on your side for this entire apocalypse no matter what" I smiled fondly at him.

He sniffed some more, but nodded and rubbed my thighs sensually. I wiped away his tears with my free and and sighed. "Welp feel free to take a nap you two, its gonna be a moment before we get to another town" I informed them.

They nodded and looked out the windows at passing trees and rocks. 'At least we got cars' I thought to myself.

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