A Day In September - BTS Zombie au

5: Just Shy of Bratty

—One Week Later —

He was stubborn, Mara had come to realize.

Not only was he quite stubborn, but Mara realized he had a bit of an attitude as well. However much he snapped at Mara, nothing but a harmless quip, she couldn't help but smirk. He tried his best to be intimidating and independent, but Mara could never see him as more than a small chipmunk with full cheeks and pouty lips.

He'd regularly complain about sitting around doing nothing, but Mara always seemed to calm him down before he could get up and snap his weak ankle in half. She didn't want to oppress him anymore than he probably already felt, but she knew she had to keep him from hurting himself.

"You say it like I'm holding you hostage," Mara chuckled, crossing her arms.

With a tut jaw and a scoff, he mimicked her gesture and narrowed his eyes at her.

"Well, you wont let me go," he retorted.

"Would you like to limp your way across the city? Even the dead can walk faster than you!"

"I swear to God-"

He'd try to get up and leave through the door, but he only got halfway until he was yelping, having made a wrong move and regretting his actions. He'd pridefully avoid Mara's 'I told you so' look and slowly drag himself back to sit down.

Mara would chuckle, shrug, and return to the chair that sat at the window.

At least he's talking, she thought.

Only a few days ago did he begin to talk more frequently. He'd usually be quiet, but with Mara's blabbering mouth, he had to use his voice and respond to her at some point.

Mara was not affected by his rude comments, rather she thrived off of them. It was nice to have someone to talk to her, especially when having been alone for so long ever since Phoebe.

Despite his attitude, he was actually really good company.

He used to avoid eye contact often as well, only managing a couple of awkward, nervous glances. He wouldn't shy away from looking at her anymore and was now bold enough to be a brat.

At least that's what Mara thought.

She didn't mind, though.

It was nice to know that survivors of the great apocalypse still had something from their past lives: their personality—though some more favorable than others. Mara liked the bratty male as a person, and she agreed that she'd rather have a bunch of 'em than a bunch of anarchists, that was for sure.

Besides that, Mara had gone out once on a hunt to gather any valuable, salvageable food or water that lay scarce across the barren city of building carcasses and the skeletons of homes. She preferred a shorter walk at about a third of a mile radius. Despite already having checked almost every inch of this radius, she couldn't risk going too far in case the injured male got himself into trouble — or trouble came to him.

Mara had to be completely honest with herself—

Food and water were dwindling.

Mara was growing nervous. She hadn't been frugal enough these passed days she'd been taking care of him. She wanted to make sure she was being hospitable enough, so that perhaps he'd be convinced into staying and healing.

But despite her fear of running out of food, she always tried to reassure him.

She knew, however, that he could tell she was lying.
He knew better, he wasn't a little kid.