Those Who Remain

Chapter 30

I woke up to the sound of rain softly hitting the window. It was light enough outside for me to realize that I had slept until around midday.

I sat up to find the door slightly ajar, so I figured that someone had recently come in or gone out. I got up and walked over to the door and heard some voices downstairs talking, so I decided to walk down and join them.

I found Lee and my father in the kitchen just talking, so I sat down on the stool by my dad.

"You look a little worse for wear," Lee commented as I rested my elbows on the counter, "Did you sleep at all last night?"

"At least I'm not starting to resemble a q-tip," was my snarky, yet joking reply, which caused Lee's mouth to open and my dad to muffle his laughter behind his hand. "I'm sorry. It was a rough night."

"Well, I can make your day a bit better," Lee said and I raised my eyebrow in question, "Lockdown is over. We found the zombie floating around in the water."

"Where was it in the water?"

"It was starting to float up near the beach. It was face down, not moving, so we threw something in the water and lured it up towards the beach."

"When did this happen?" I asked as I stood up to go grab a snack from the pantry.

"Right around sunrise this morning. We used a car to lure it outside of the gate, and then shot it with an arrow."

"So arrows are the method of choice now?"

"Yes, because it doesn't really make a lot of noise. It also doesn't require us to get too close."

"Fair enough," I grabbed a protein bar and walked back out of the pantry to join them in the kitchen once again. "Where is everyone?"

"Probably out enjoying not being on lockdown," dad replied, "I don't think anyone really cares that it's raining."

"I certainly don't," I said looking out the window, "Once I'm done eating, I'm gonna go on a walk, then go to work."

"I'll join you," I heard Ridge say as he opened and closed the front door and walked over to join us in the kitchen.

"I don't think any of us expected anything less," my dad said, patting him on the back, "You two were always inseparable, and it's even worse now."

Neither of us replied, with words. I just smiled, while Ridge lifted up one shoulder in an indifferent shrug. "I can't say that is a bad thing," Ridge said.

I continued to eat my protein bar and grabbed Ridge's hand under the island as dad and Lee continued to talk. I'm sure Lee was glad about this change since he had been on high alert due to the lockdown. He had to be exhausted and bored.

Once I finished my bar, I said to Ridge, "I'm gonna go change and then we can take a walk."

"I need to grab a rain jacket out of the closet so I'll head up with you real quick," he replied and we both stood up from the stools and made our way upstairs leaving Lee and dad in the kitchen.

Once we were inside the room, I walked straight into the bathroom to brush my hair since it felt like it was really tangled. Looking in the mirror, I became minorly embarrassed at the state of my hair and face. My hair was really frizzy, probably due to the humidity of the air since it was raining, and I had little lines across my right cheek where I was lying on the bed. No wonder Lee made a comment when I came downstairs.

After I finished brushing my hair and started to french braid it, Ridge popped into the bathroom. "Can you grab me a hair tie? I forgot to get it before I started braiding."