The cake:z

That was the best sleep I've had in days. I passed out as soon as I lay down on the bed. The bed had a faint smell of something rotten, probably because of zombie Mr. Samson. So I had to remove every sheet and check the closet for new bed sheets. Luckily there was a clean one on top of the shelf.

I woke up refreshed as ever. I was out maybe about 7 or 8 hours. It's 9PM. I was still a little bit thirsty. I opened up one of the canned fruits and drank the juice. It was so sweet that I ate all of it down in one sitting. Time to leave this place! I'm giddy just thinking about it. I should check my supplies one more time before leaving. So I open up my bag and scatter everything inside it on the kitchen table.

I put tools and food separately on each side. Whatever I grabbed from the supermarket today is not enough to last even 2 days. I guess I was in a hurry to leave and didn't count what I grabbed. I can go back and get more from the store. Ughh, but I don't want to run into them again. I can eat one meal a day and starve myself rather than socialize with them. I put all my stuff back into the bag and check the kitchen for anything that's useful. Wow! Mr.Samson had all kinds of alcohol stacked up on the top shelf. Most are almost finished so I just grab one unopened wine from the shelf. It might help me sleep some nights. I also take one blanket from the bedroom just in case I get cold while traveling during the night.

I'm ready now! The door is locked exactly as I did. I think maybe I should put the freaky keys back downstairs. I quietly open the door and check the corridor. It's very dark outside but I don't want them to see that I was leaving so I didn't use the flashlight. I can bring it out when I'm in the woods.

I head to the park Jerry mentioned that has a river and it's not that hard to navigate through the street since I know the way there. Moonlight was bright since there were no clouds in the sky. I can almost figure out where the river is by the sound in the dark. I approached the river sound and I was right! I fill up my water bottle and put it in my bag.

As I was getting up I heard a "snap" from behind me. Someone or something stepped on a branch not that far behind from me.

- "Who's there!" I ask as I quickly take out my knife.

- "It's me." she says. It's Zoe! Great fucking day.

- "What are you doing here? Are you following me?!" I ask fiercely.

- "I was just waiting for you here for a while. Jerry told me that you'll stop by here. I made you a cake! I wanted to apologize for what happened today" she says in a sweet tone. No matter how pleading she sounds now I keep remembering that crazed face when she lunged at me. And that asshole set me up here.

- "I'm leaving now, so don't be bothered. Also stay back!" I warn.

- "Hey, I'm sorry for what I did this morning. I got startled after hearing the door open, I thought you were with someone else and might hurt me if I didn't act first. I should've thought things through. I'm sorry!". She sounds genuine but whatever these two agreed upon their excuses are not adding up.

- "Well, Jerry said you wanted to scare me a little. So which one is true?" I ask mockingly.

- "He said that?... Jerry got very upset with me and sent me here to set things straight." she says while looking down at the ground.

She's still holding the cake in front of her. I can smell the freshly baked smell and I tried to remember the last time I ate a cake. Not in 2 years apparently. Damn, I would love to try just one bite of that thing. I grab my flashlight and light it toward her. She squinted and held one hand in front of her face to cover the sharp light. I can see that she has no weapon on her. She's also wearing a loose white nightgown. There's no way she could hide anything underneath those clothes.

There was something wrong with one side of her face though. Even if she tried to hide it I can clearly see that her right cheek is swollen red. Did Jerry do that to her? I put my flashlight down.

- "Can I have some of that cake?" I ask as I approach her. She clearly started to look happy.

- "Sure! Here! I brought some forks you can eat with". She handed me a small fork and asked to sit on the bench beside us. It was a chilly night. Why would she go out in such thin clothes?

- "Here." I say as I hand her the blanked I took from the apartment. She's confused but says thank you and wraps it around her. The cake was sublime! Sweet and soft. Exactly how I remember a cake should be. The only sad thing is how quickly I ate it.

- "Oh my god! This is delicious! How did you find the ingredients?" I ask with my mouth stuffed.

- "I'm a farm girl. We have chicken to get the eggs from, flour and milk are fresh too. And I love to bake. I can give you some of the bread I baked if you visit my home!" she says enthusiastically. I was not sure about following her to their home. No matter the bait Jerry was an abusive cheating husband, and Zoe here is a little unstable.

- "I would love to but I gotta leave today" I say. She clearly looked scared after I said that. Would Jerry take out his anger with her if I don't come with her?

- "Please! I can bake you some food for your travels! I'm sorry I jumped at you today. That won't happen again I promise! You have to come!" She's clearly begging me now. So she's dead set on taking me home with her. If I say no one more time she might even start to take me by force. I can see that she's desperate.

- "Did he do that to you because you attacked me this morning?" I ask as I point to her face. She looks away to the other side embarrassed.

- "No! It happened during our struggle in the supermarket. Don't worry." she says while still looking away. She's bad at lying. It's obvious what I said is true. Poor her.

- "Fine! I'll stay with you guys for one night. One night only. I'll be leaving in the morning!" I say warningly.

- "Yes! I can make dinner for you if you're hungry! Are you hungry?" she asks energetically. I'm speechless for a moment. Nobody asked me if I wanted to eat something or to have dinner in years. Surprisingly, I sort of feel warm inside.

Their house was to the west close to a forest. Little far off from the town center but you could see almost the whole town from there. She's still wrapped up in the blanket I gave her. What if I didn't come out at night? Would she have waited for me until morning?

As we were walking to her house she told me where she was when the outbreak happened. She used to run a cafe in Crowell city and was in the community that survived. She met with Jerry there during that time and quickly fell in love with him. Zoe is 27 and Jerry is 20. I knew he was young and that they had some age difference but I did not expect 7! I asked why they left but then she turned silent without answering.

- "Jerry asked me if I passed by there too. About a year ago when I went through there were a bunch of zombie hordes in the city center.", I said to her. She stopped walking and her face was pale. Maybe I should not have said that, I think.

- "Hey. You guys left before it got invaded right? It's not your fault" I tried to calm her down. She regained her senses and wiped her tears with her hands.

- "Yeah. You're right! We left before it happened. I was just shocked to hear that everyone I knew is gone. Sorry!" She continues to guide me to her home. I feel sorry for Zoe. She followed a man to another city just to hear the news that her hometown is gone and everybody she knew had died.

We stay silent until we reach their house. It was on a hill right next to a forest. Good! I can escape there if things go wrong, I think. I didn't notice but we were pretty high up and I could see the whole town in the moonlight even though it was dark. The only house with the light was their house. Such a silent town.

- "Welcome! To our home. I think Jerry's inside." she says as she head inside the house.

I brace myself for the worst and head inside.