State of Decay✔️

Chapter 28: An Anomaly

Marcus opened his eyes.

He found himself staring up at a pitted, old ceiling bathed in golden, morning sunshine. For a long moment, he didn't move, wanting to enjoy this. He felt good. It was probably the best he'd felt since stumbling out of that forest with Ed several weeks ago, finding that the world had gone completely batshit insane during their little vacation.

Maya shifted in the bed beside him.

He looked over at her. She was naked beneath the blankets. She was sleeping on her back and the blankets had fallen away, revealing some her bare chest. Her mouth hung open and she snored slightly. It was cute, and kind of endearing, but most of all it made him feel happy for her. Because he'd seen her sleep over these past few weeks, and she always slept on her side, scrunched up, like she was guarded, ready to wake up a moment's notice.

Of course, they were all like that, because there were zombies and worse things around. But it was nice to see that, just for once, she could sleep peacefully. She felt safe. He thought she deserved to feel safe, and happy...

Distantly, he heard the crack of a gunshot.

It was like a reminder that yeah, the world was going to hell in a handcart and yeah, he should probably get his ass out of bed. Obviously the sun was up and he'd slept in. As Marcus sat up and pulled the blankets back, he caught a whiff of himself and grimaced. It wasn't like they'd had running showers or even really a chance to bathe. Some of them had taken to washing themselves down with a wet cloth, the water garnered from water bottles. He'd done it himself a few times. He supposed now was one of those times.

He rolled over and scanned the room, wanting to be sure they were still alone. But the door was closed and intact, and he could hear nothing moving around in the house. Good. He reached down, grabbed his pants and fished out his radio. Time to let the church crew know that all was well, that he and Maya had survived the night.

"Hey Lily, this is Marcus. Just wanted to let you know that me and Maya are okay," he said, then he released the call button.

"Good to hear...did you and Maya have fun?" Lily replied, her voice teasing.

Marcus frowned. Did she know? How could she know? "Uh...sure," he replied cautiously.

"Good! You coming back? Something weird happened last night."

"What?"

"I'll tell you when you get back."

"Oh. Okay. Yeah, we'll be back within the hour."

"Okay, good. See you then."

Marcus replaced the radio and rolled over. He saw that Maya was awake.

"Hey," she said, grinning at him.

"Hey...was last night like...planned? Does Lily know what happened?" he asked.

Maya laughed. "Well aren't you Mister Direct all of a sudden?" She shrugged, a little uneasily. "It wasn't exactly what you'd call planned. But I had joked with Lily about, you know, finding a reason to hole up for the night and really give you a chance to, you know, put the moves on me."

"Put the moves on you?"

Maya laughed and chewed on her lower lip. "I liked you. I do like you. I just wasn't sure how you felt about me. I thought you did but I didn't know for sure. I was hoping you'd, you know, step up. And you didn't, so I stepped up. I'm not really a patient person."

"I can imagine. To be honest, I like you a lot, you just intimidate the shit out of me."

Maya burst out laughing. "Really?"