Sorrow's Gift

Chapter Forty-One: Karmen

Sleeping on a cot had never been her idea of luxury, but she'd never been so grateful to be sleeping somewhere other than the floor. There were no zombies pounding on the walls. They had power and hot showers. Food.

She'd actually slept a full eight hours without interruption. Other than a beautiful dream about an island with a pristine white-sand beach, she'd been completely out of it.

It was heaven, and she never wanted to leave.

They'd been at the compound nearly a week, and there hadn't been a single breach of the fences. It was safe here.

As soon as she was dressed, she made her way to the main room for breakfast. Parrish was already there, sitting by herself and writing in a journal. Karmen made herself a plate of scrambled eggs—still amazed they were actually getting real hot food for every meal—and plopped down next to her.

"Heya," she said.

Parrish didn't even look up. She just kept on writing. "Hey."

"What are you up to this morning?"

"I think it's called writing," she said.

Karmen glared at her, but instead of her usual snarky come-back, she tried again.

"What are you writing about?"

Parrish studied her for a second before going back to her notebook. "I've been keeping a journal ever since we got on the road. It helps to get my feelings down on paper."

"That makes sense," Karmen said, taking a bite of her eggs. They were warm and fluffy and perfect. "So, what are you doing after that?"

Parrish sighed and closed her notebook. "Why don't you just say whatever it is you're dying to say?"

"Okay," she said, wiggling in her chair from excitement. "I want you to go somewhere with me."

"Where?"

"You see that lady over there? The one with the cute red dress?" Karmen pointed to a middle-aged woman standing by the TV. "She was telling me that there's an outlet mall across the street. A week or so ago, a big group of them went over there and cleared out all of the zombies that were stuck inside. She said we could go shopping for anything we need."

"What do we need?" Parrish asked.

"You know, clothes and stuff."

"We have clothes."

Karmen finished off her eggs and briefly wondered whether chickens could get infected with the virus. "Yes, but all our clothes stink and half of them are covered in blood. The woman was saying they have a Coach store and a Saks Off Fifth outlet over there."

Parrish chewed on her lip for a second, but Karmen could tell she was interested.

"Come on," she said, leaning forward. "The guys are going to be playing with guns all morning. We may as well go have some fun girl time while we still can. Clean clothes? Clean underwear? You can bring your sword if you're worried about safety."

Parrish smiled. "Okay, let's do it."

"Should we ask Lily to come with us?" Karmen asked, looking around for her.

A strange look passed through Parrish's eyes. "Let's just make it the two of us," she said. "For old time's sake."

"Fine by me," she said with a smile. "I'll go tell the guys where we're going."

Getting over to the mall was a piece of cake. Tank's group had routinely done sweeps of the area, and the guard at the gate assured them he'd keep an eye out for them if they needed help.