Cured [ManxMan]

Prologue

"How much further?"

I rolled my eyes, casting a glare at Mattie. The question had been asked at least ten times by various members of our group, including me, and it was getting old. Mattie tossed a lopsided smile back at me, and I looked away, heat rising in my cheeks. No matter how long it had been, his smiles always had the same effect.

Kiara responded from behind me, paper rustling as she straightened out her map. "Not much further. Should be just around this corner."

"Thank God," Ajay murmured from my right, and I couldn't help but agree. I loved these three people, and we worked well together, but every time we went on a mission, somehow they managed to play on every one of my nerves.

The four of us--Mattie, Kiara, Ajay, and me--were supposed to be picking up a group of survivors from the inner city who made radio contact with the base a few days ago. This was still a common enough mission for us, though as the days passed, they grew less and less as the survivors of the zombie apocalypse found shelter or lost their lives. The city was a wasteland filled with abandoned cars and broken glass, scattered objects of all types and more than a few piles of what may have once been people but now contained only destroyed clothes and picked over bones.

At least no zombies had made an appearance yet, which was worrying if I let myself think too much. The creatures tended to travel in herds, and the last few weeks we'd noticed the herds merging into larger and larger groups. Coming across a single zombie may not be a big deal, as they were slow and stupid, easy to pick off. If you knew what you were doing, even a handful at once meant very little. But a true herd, dozens of zombies together? It was a frightening thought.

Something bumped me on the left. I turned back to Mattie as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders, still grinning. He was only a couple inches taller than me, but he always used them to his advantage, this time leaning so his weight fell on me and I stumbled, laughing as I pushed him away. He didn't go far, tightening his grip so his arm stayed wrapped around my shoulders, and I let him.

"There's that smile." He leaned closer, his lips brushing against my cheek moving to my ear, sending shivers down my spine. "So I was thinking, when we get home, we could break into that bottle of Jack Daniels you've been saving and have a little celebration?"

I leaned back to look at him, his crooked smile and the spark in his amber eyes. "I didn't think you remembered."

He laughed. "It's been six years, Toph. When have I ever forgotten before?"

My elbow drove into his stomach, but it did nothing to dim his happy glow. "I know that, stupid, I just... this is our first anniversary since the whole zombie apocalypse thing. With so much happening, I thought maybe you'd lose track of the days, or something. Besides, after everything, it feels weird to be celebrating."

His arm tightened, drawing my attention back to his face. His smile was gone, a rare occurrence for him. "All the more reason we should," he said. "Just because the world is ending doesn't mean we can't take a little time now and then to be happy."

"Would you two lovebirds give it a rest? This is our turn." There was a teasing note in Kiara's words, and I shot a glare back at her, but Mattie, as always, sent her a smile and took a step away as we turned down the next street. What we found made me reach for the gun strapped to my right thigh, and from the cursing and clicks of safeties flipping off, Mattie and Ajay had reached for theirs as well.

The street was filled with at least two dozen zombies, condensed around a building halfway down the block. It couldn't be a coincidence, so I didn't need Kiara to tell me the survivors were in the building. If any of them survived, there was nothing to be done for them now; the door had been broken down and I could only imagine how many more zombies were inside. Those remaining on the street gathered around two unrecognizable forms.