Zanvis: ALIVE. (Part two of Apocalypse AU!)

Chapter Fifteen: Zane.

     "Ow! Be careful."
     Travis let go a strand of Zane's hair after hearing the anger in his voice. "I'm sorry. Your hair is a mess."
     "I asked you to cut it, not rip it out."
     "It's a mess!"
     "Travis-"
     "A mess!"
     Zane glared over his shoulder at Travis. He was looking right back at Zane, his face a perfect reflection of what Zane was feeling: regret and sadness. But, the only difference was.. Travis's face still held on to a trace of happiness.
     "You're going to look even more beautiful when I'm finished," the taller male said, a little nod punctuating the sentence. Zane looked back out the window.
     His gloved hands clutched the arms of the chair, and his shoulders were tense. If Travis noticed how intensely on edge he was, he didn't mention it.
     As he gently cut off little pieces of Zane's hair, Travis began to gently hum  a soft song that Zane wasn't familiar with. It was a happy song that bounced along with everything Travis did, and the notes matched so well with Travis's motions that Zane wondered if he was making it up as he went along.
     "Did you know.. that.." Travis began, breaking off from his song. "I used to be on a swim team?"
     Zane raised an eyebrow, keeping his eyes fixed on the window.
     "Yep. Best swimmer on the team. I had two good friends there. Can't remember their names too well- one of them talked like a pirate. It was hilarious."
     Zane slumped back in the chair. Travis started humming again, snipping away.
     "Zane's being awfully quiet," murmured Aphmau after the creaking door to the bedroom announced her presence.
     Keeping his eyes locked on the window, Zane growled: "Have you been listening to us?"
     "Uh, no! Not at all. We were all just... talking. And we could hear you guys talking too, but we couldn't make out what you were saying.."
     Travis brushed a few hairs off of Zane's shoulder, sending them falling slowly to the ground. "What're you guys talking about?"
     "How nice Zane looks with his hair cut."
     Zane drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair. He was already losing his patience with her.
     "We were talking about what the next course of action would be. Of course, since Zane's in charge, we wouldn't make any decisions without talking to him. But your hair does look good, Zane."
    "In charge?" Zane huffed. "Yeah, right."
     "You do make most of the decisions for the group," Travis said, cutting a piece of hair close to Zane's ear.
     He almost flinched at the sound of the scissors. "If you say so."
     The door opened again, but this time three pairs of footsteps came through. The heavy stomps of Aaron, the slow thoughtful ones of Garroth, and the quick, anxious ones of Laurence.
     "How are you doing today, Laurence?" Travis asked. "I haven't gotten to talk to you yet."
     "I just woke up. And uh... I feel better..?" Zane heard Laurence sit down in a chair near them.
     "That's good."
     "Aphmau's been healing me."
     "That's also good. Don't exhaust yourself, Aph." Travis's voice was strangely happy. How was he in such a good mood?
     "Aaron wouldn't let me," Aphmau laughed. Aaron chuckled, proving the statement.
     Travis ran his hand through Zane's hair. "I think you're done. What do you guys think?"
    Zane turned his head to them, the loss of sight in his right eye confusing him for a moment.
     Aphmau grinned happily. "Looks amazing! I thought I was good at cutting hair, and look at you!"
     Aaron's face showed a little bit of approval, but he didn't say anything. Garroth looked proud, and Laurence gave a little thumbs up.
     Zane stood up and looked at Travis. His white hair was short, which was weird to see after him having long hair for so long.
     Travis handed Zane the dull, dusty mirror and smiled a little. He turned to face the window again, letting the light hit his face and hair while he examined his hair. He fought back a gag at his face and focused instead on his hair.
Instead of the long fluffy mess it was before, it was much neater and shorter. On the injured side of his face, the hair was still long enough to cover his eye, but the hair on his left side was much shorter.
"It looks really good. Thank you." He pushed his hair out of his face and messed with it a little, then set the mirror down on the windowsill.
Travis's response was a smile.
"I'm tired of being stuck in this place," Zane muttered, stepping around the chair and brushing gently against Travis.
Aphmau sighed. "Me too. It's boring."
"I want to go out and walk around," he said, putting his hands on his hips and looking around at everyone. "Aaron and Garroth. You've been out there a lot, right?"
"Yeah," the both said in unison, sparking a little laugh from both of them.
"What have you seen?"
"A few small groups of walkers passing through. That's about it," Garroth answered when Aaron didn't.
     "Do you think it's safe to go out?"
     "Walker-wise, yes. But.. I don't know if that's a good idea. Especially with Ein and Gene out there."
     "We'll protect ourselves." Zane looked Garroth straight in the eyes. "Won't we?"
     Garroth's eyes shifted. "Yeah.. But... I just... he was able to overpower you, Zane. And you're really strong."
     "Strength doesn't mean anything. If you get surprised, all of your strength can go out the window. We'll have to be more cautious."
     "Who'll go out?"
     Zane swept his gaze across the people in the room. Travis for sure would go with him, because Zane wasn't sure Travis would stay home even if he asked him to.
     "I'll go," Garroth said quickly, standing up. Laurence gave him a nervous glance.
     "No matter who goes, it's really dangerous..." Aaron sighed. "We could send a bunch of people out and have all of them killed, or we could keep a bunch of them back and have the base attacked. There's not a whole lot we can do in this situation."
     "Well I'm going," Zane said decisively.
     "I am too," Garroth added.
     "So am I," said Travis.
     Laurence, Aphmau, and Aaron looked at each other.
     "I don't know if it's a good idea to have too many people out at once.." Aphmau said, looking between them.
      "I think that we'll be fine with three of us," Zane nodded. "Does everyone agree?"
      "Please be careful," Aphmau said, nodding. Aaron nodded after her.
     Laurence coughed, then nodded. "Be quick."
     After that, they all stood and separated. Except for Zane. He stared intently out the window, making sure there wasn't a walker in sigh.
     A hand rested on his right shoulder. He jumped, whirling around and preparing to attack whoever had snuck up where he couldn't see them. Travis put his hands up and stepped back.
     "Sorry! I shouldn't have been in your blind spot."
     Zane relaxed slowly while Travis walked over to his left side, where Zane could see him perfectly fine.
      "Are you gonna prepare to go out?" Travis asked. "Or are you waiting?"
     "I will, I will. I'm thinking."
     "Oh. Sorry." Travis followed his gaze to a building across the street while leaning down on the window beside him.
     As the minutes passed, he began humming the same song from earlier, proving Zane's theory of him making up the song as he went along wrong by copying every note exactly the same
     Zane took Travis's right hand lightly in his own left one, resting his head on his shoulder.
     "What do you think we'll find out there?" Zane murmured.
     Travis's humming stopped. "I have no idea. Hopefully not Ein, or a radioactive squirrel."
    Zane laughed suddenly. "A radioactive squirrel?"
     "Would you rather fight ten radioactive squirrels or three mutant cows?"
     Laughing more, he closed his eyes. "Radioactive squirrels."
     Travis's head leaned onto his own. "Good choice."
     They stayed there for a while in the silence. Then, Travis's soft, faint humming filled the air, and Zane felt more relaxed than he had been since the apocalypse had started.