The Strong Will Survive

Chapter Eleven - Lilith [EDITED]

 Cheeks burning, I yelled for KC to stop as she chased Benji around with her scissors. She had suggested that Benji and I would be a cute couple, after all!

I wasn't sure how I felt about that.

"Jared, help!" I begged, but he was laughing so hard, he was doubled over, clutching his stomach and gasping for air. I struggled to quench my smile as well. It had been so long since we had loosened up and laughed that I couldn't find it within me to be truly angry.

Benji, using some strong language, finally dove behind a couch and shouted, "Okay, listen! Let's compromise, all right?!"

KC, after using a few obviously colorful words, calmed, although I could tell by the look on her face that she was still tempted to sit on Benji while hacking away his hair. "Talk fast, kid."

Benji still looked uneasy, but he plowed onward. "How about you give me a trim and a hair tie and we call it good?"

KC thought about this for a moment. "Fine!" she finally snapped. "Can it be a generous trim?"

Something dangerous flashed through Benji's eyes. "I wouldn't recommend it."
I could tell KC had seen the look, too. "Jeez," she muttered, not getting too offended. "Just trying to help make you look better." I could tell by "look better" she meant more respectable, more trustworthy.

"I look fine!" exclaimed Benji indignantly. I giggled.

It was true, but for his hair's health if nothing else, he needed a haircut.

Benji sat, tensed, through the whole trim. He seemed more relaxed shooting zombies than getting a haircut, which I found hilarious. To be honest, though, I would be a little nervous with KC madly snipping away at my hair, too. I watched them over the top of a book I had found in the back of the Costco.

Afterwards, his hair was still about the same length, but he looked more well-kept - less like a "wild child." As a finishing touch, KC pulled as much as she could back into a ponytail. A few thick strands fell away and framed his face. I couldn't help noticing it was a good look for him. A very good look.

Stop it, brain. We're in the middle of the zombie apocalypse and I'm thinking about boys?!

Benji glanced over at me, grinning, and I fought to control a blush, paranoid that he somehow knew what I had been thinking.

"So," he asked, "when are we going to get on that end-the-apocalypse thing? Because I think that would be really cool." There was a jokey tone to his voice, but underneath was something cold and hard. I could tell he was just as eager to get started as the rest of us.

"We need to run some experiments on the zombies," KC said. She looked ready for business, her arms crossed and feet spread. Jared stood close beside her. A little too close for friendship...

Finally. Something to tease her with when she starts going on about Benji and me. My lips curved upward slightly.

"Okay. What can big guy, Lilith, and I do?" Benji demanded, gesturing between the three of us. Jared only looked slightly offended at being referred to as "big guy."

"Um...I don't know. Sing songs and talk about your feelings." KC shrugged.

"You're kidding." Benji raised his eyebrows.

KC grinned impishly. "Bye, weirdos! Jared, come with me."

Jared obeyed, lifting up a hand in farewell.

"Wait, we're just supposed to sit here and wait for you?" I demanded, annoyed, as they headed toward the exits, guns at the ready. I had worked hard to capture that zombie - I was part of their team! And now they were throwing me to the curb?

"Be safe, crazy kids," Jared said in his deep voice. He saluted sarcastically and, with a grin, left the Costco behind KC.

Benji was the first to break the awkward silence. "Um...you have some...weird...friends."

"Thanks," I replied, smiling fondly at the door. "You learn to love them."

Benji got up and started walking around, looking for something to do. "You know what," he said finally, "I'll be right back."

"Be careful," I called after him as he left the store as well.

Benji returned with a guitar.

"It calms me down," he explained, embarrassed, at seeing my inquisitive stare. He plucked out a few chords. The guitar hummed accordingly and I loved the sound. "Um, any requests?" he asked with a smile, his cheeks reddening slightly..

"Oh, seriously? Um, do...do you know Jason Mraz?" Are we actually going to sing songs and talk about our feelings?

His eyebrow arched. "I wouldn't have thought it was your style, zombie-kidnapping-taekwondo-girl."

"Shut up and play the song." My mother had loved the music, and while Benji was right - it wasn't really my style - it was comfort music more than anything.

He did as I commanded, choosing "I Won't Give Up." Fitting. And to my surprise, he sang, too. He was good. Like, really good.

It was incredibly relaxing. Sitting there in a raided Costco in the middle of the biggest city in America, which was also swarming with zombies, I listened to this hardened boy sing and strum his guitar, and I felt completely at home.

My eyelids started to droop. As Benji moved to sit in front of me, somehow guessing that I was a restless sleeper and could easily roll off the couch, I snuggled into the cushy surface. I didn't feel at all comfortable falling asleep around other people - and usually avoided sleep altogether (the apocalypse had turned me into a regular insomniac - but something about Benji calmed me. I sighed softly and drifted into sleep.